Gay Mitchell
Question:37 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will outline the progress to date on Ireland's campaign for a seat on the UN Security Council. [12860/00]
Written Answers. - UN Security Council.
Brian O'Shea
Question:72 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs to make a statement on the progress to date of Ireland's campaign to seek election to the Security Council of the United Nations; and the number of states which have, so far, pledged support for Ireland's election. [13078/00]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 37 and 72 together.
Ireland is seeking election to one of the two non-permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council which are designated for the "Western European and Others" group of states for the two year term 2001-02. The election, which will take place at the UN General Assembly in October, is being contested by two other candidates, Norway and Italy. Turkey withdrew its candidacy on 10 February 2000. Successful candidates will require the support of two-thirds of those states present and voting. In effect, this means that the support of around 125 states will be needed to secure election. The election is by secret ballot.
The Government and the Minister for Foreign Affairs intend to maintain fully the level of lobbying activity as the campaign intensifies in these final months of the campaign.
Since the Minister for Foreign Affairs came to office, he has taken up the Security Council candidacy in the course of a number of bilateral visits and, most recently, at the United Nations NPT review conference in New York. I, myself, accompanied the Taoiseach to the EU-Africa Summit in Cairo last month where I undertook a number of bilateral meetings to promote the Security Council candidacy.
I should also like to put on record the excellent work done by Minister of State, Deputy Dan Wallace, and Minister of State, Deputy Cullen, at numerous international conferences and fora at which they have taken the opportunity to lobby intensively. The Dáil will be aware that since this is a strongly contested election, I am reluctant to indicate the exact level of support committed to Ireland at this stage. Let me say simply that our candidacy continues to attract a high level of support.