Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Our Common Agenda (OCA) is the UN Secretary-General's vision for the future of global cooperation. It calls for inclusive, networked and effective multilateralism, and for turbocharging action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to better respond to and deliver for people and planet. It outlines possible solutions to address the gaps and risks that have emerged since 2015, calling for a Summit of the Future to be held in 2024, where a Pact for the Future will be the outcome.

Ireland has strongly supported the UN Secretary General’s work, including through reflecting OCA elements in the recently adopted SDG Summit political declaration, which Ireland co-facilitated, and engaging in the Summit’s preparatory Ministerial meeting in September of this year, during which we called on countries to be brave in our ambition.

The Pact for the Future and its related components – including the New Agenda for Peace, the Global Digital Compact, and cross-cutting issues such as human rights and gender equality – is about much more than even the SDGs. It aims to address areas of concern Ireland has highlighted for many years and sought to address through consistent and considered engagement with the multilateral system.

We have worked with partners for decades to strengthen international law, to press the need for disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation. We continue to contribute many Irish peacekeepers to UN Missions across the globe. We have grasped how global challenges must have global solutions, and have engaged deeply in the UNFCCC processes, playing a leadership role to deliver progress last year on the creation of a new Climate Loss and Damage Fund.

These goals are key to the work of my Department, and Ireland continues to emphasise them in EU and international fora, while also specifically encouraging our partners to seize the opportunity the Summit of the Future presents.