Vol. 509 No. 6
49 Mr. Broughan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the amount of money owed to Ireland by the United Nations arising from involvement in UN peacekeeping and peace enforcement operations; the steps, if any, Ireland is taking to exert pressure on other countries to discharge their debts to the UN in order that its financial position will be strengthened; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20860/99]
At the beginning of this month, the UN's finance and budgetary committee was informed that arrears due to the UN currently totalled $2,510 million, including $1,831 million for peacekeeping. Ireland is owed approximately £9.5 million for the cost of providing Irish personnel to United Nations peacekeeping missions abroad. Since 1 January 1999, the UN has repaid arrears of approximately £3 million owed to Ireland, almost entirely in respect of UNIFIL.
Continuous efforts are made by the Department of Foreign Affairs to recover from the United Nations the moneys owed. The Department, through the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the United Nations, makes ongoing representations to the United Nations Headquarters for the recovery of the moneys paid out, generally by the Department of Defence. During the visit in January to Ireland by the UN Secretary General, I raised the issue of UN arrears in respect of our participation in UN peacekeeping operations.
The financial crisis which hinders the UN from paying outstanding moneys is a direct result of the failure by many member states, in particular the US, to pay their assessed contributions to the UN regular and peacekeeping budgets in full and on time. This situation has resulted in a serious day-to-day UN cash flow problem. Ireland and its EU partners have strenuously argued that all UN member states must honour their financial obligations.
The US is the major debtor and any improvement in its arrears situation would ease the situation considerably. Discussions are currently under way between the US administration and congressional leaders on redressing this situation and we are hopeful that progress can be made during the current session of Congress. During my recent visit to the General Assembly, I joined my EU colleagues in raising the matter with Secretary of State Albright.
We hope that efforts to resolve the UN financial crisis will lead to a reduction and eventual clearance of debts owing to Ireland and other troop-contributing countries. Ireland's permanent mission to the UN in New York will pursue actively this issue.
