Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 May 2026
49. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if Ireland is advocating for any reforms of United Nations structures, specifically at Security Council level; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33284/26]
View answerThe UN Charter and the United Nations lie at the heart of Ireland’s foreign policy and our engagement with the world. 80 years after the courageous and ambitious establishment of the UN, and 70 years after Ireland joined, the UN remains essential to the promotion of human dignity and well-being and to efforts to resolve and prevent conflict.
It is also nevertheless necessary to acknowledge that the United Nations is an organisation in need of reform and reinvigoration if it is to effectively address the grave challenges facing the world today including poverty, climate change, a growing disregard for international law and threats to democracy and human rights.
It is in this context that Ireland has welcomed and supported the UN80 reform initiative launched by UN Secretary General Guterres in March 2025. The initiative is designed to be a system-wide process to reform the organisation across each of the three pillars of the organisation: Peace and Security, Sustainable Development, and Human Rights. Ireland is actively engaging across its missions to the UN and with EU partners in the discussions around the UN80 process.
The election of a new UN Secretary General later this year will take place at a pivotal moment for the UN. The next Secretary General will lead the UN during a time of growing geopolitical challenges, attacks on multilateralism and decreased funding. It is essential that all candidates commit to the delivery of the ongoing UN80 reform process to ensure that the organisation is best placed to meet the challenges ahead.
On the Security Council, Ireland strongly believes that reform is long overdue if we are to ensure the Council can respond to threats to international peace and security in a timely and effective manner.
Ireland believes the use of the veto should be abolished, not expanded.
Ireland has also been clear that reform must address the unjust underrepresentation of Africa and other underrepresented regions on the Council, and safeguard the right of small States, including Small Island Developing States, to serve on the Council. On regional representation, Ireland will support any mechanism that garners sufficient support amongst the cross-regional groups concerning their own nominations and rotations for Council membership.
Ireland is a leading member of the ACT group, a cross-regional group of UN member states launched in 2013, which seeks to improve the accountability, coherence and transparency of the Security Council in its current composition. Ireland stands ready to work with all partners to advance the goal of a more effective, representative, and accountable Security Council, and we remain open to considering any initiative that supports the realisation of this objective.
