Taoiseach Micheál Martin is to use Ireland’s presidency of the United Nations Security Council to urge world powers to take action to prevent conflicts linked to climate change.
Mr Martin is on Monday beginning a five-day visit to New York to coincide with the annual UN General Assembly meeting.
Ireland is chairing meetings of the Security Council this month, and Mr Martin will lead a discussion on Thursday on climate and security.
He will address the UN General Assembly on Friday, where he is to outline Ireland’s views on the Covid-19 pandemic and the ethical obligation to share vaccines with less developed countries.
Ireland is expected to donate 1.3 million vaccine doses by the end of the year, with more to follow next year, and has pledged €7 million in funding for a Covax initiative to support the global rollout.
Mr Martin will also deliver a foreign policy statement covering ongoing conflicts, the importance of upholding international human rights and the delivery of the UN’s sustainable development goals.
Ireland holds a temporary seat on the UN Security Council this year and next.
Ireland’s presidency of the Security Council this month allows it to schedule meetings to discuss its foreign policy priorities.
While the main General Assembly debate will be in person, other meetings will be held online due to the Covid-19 pandemic. President Michael D Higgins and Ministers Eamon Ryan and Colm Brophy will participate in some of them from Ireland.
The Taoiseach’s engagements in the US begin on Monday when he meets New York’s new governor Kathy Hochul.
An Irish-American Democratic Party politician, Ms Hochul was sworn in last month following the departure of Andrew Cuomo, who denied sexual harassment allegations made against him but resigned from his role.
