Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 30 Sep 1997

Vol. 480 No. 6

Written Answers - UN Modernisation Proposals.

Proinsias De Rossa

Question:

72 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will give details of the Government's proposals for the modernisation of the United Nations which are listed as a priority in An Action Programme for the Millennium; the proposals, if any, he made in this regard during his recent visit to the UN; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14717/97]

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. R. Burke):

The Government believes it is essential that the United Nations system be modernised so that it can more effectively face the complex and difficult challenges in the coming millennium, particularly in fulfilling the major objectives of the UN charter, namely to secure international peace and security and to promote the economic and social development of all member states.

The main objective of this effort must be to have a UN system which is revitalised, more coherent in purpose and more co-ordinated in its activities, and which has set itself clear and key priorities for action.

The EU has developed its position on reform of the UN, and has made a substantial set of proposals for renewing the activities of the UN in the economic and development sector, an area of particular interest to poorer developing countries. Ireland fully supports these proposals. They include such suggestions as a new Deputy Secretary-General to oversee the reform process in this area, a more unified and better co-ordinated UN presence and activity in developing countries, an amalgamation of the departments responsible for development programmes in the UN Headquarters in New York, a better pooling of resources and expertise among the various UN programmes to ensure a better impact of these on the ground in developing countries, and a more prioritised and coherent approach system wide by the various UN agencies in tackling poverty reduction and underdevelopment.

I was pleased to note that many of these proposals were taken up in the comprehensive package of reform measures drawn up by the UN Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, and presented to the UN General Assembly on 16 July last.

In my statement to the UN General Assembly last week I reaffirmed the Government's commitment to the modernisation of the UN and pledged our full support for the reform proposals of the Secretary-General, as a fair and balanced compromise between different approaches of member states on the reform process. Ireland will continue to work with our EU partners in seeking the agreement of all member states of the UN for implementing these proposals to modernise and revitalise the UN system.