 Good afternoon everybody. My name is Michael Collins, and I'm the Director General of the IIEA here in Dublin. Just coming to you a few minutes late, but we're delighted that we're joined by so many people this afternoon and to welcome you to the IIEA's first Global Europe event of 2021, which is supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs. This project, this Global Europe project, aims to address, analyze and communicate to a wider public and debate. The debate on the EU's role in the world and Ireland's role in the multilateral order, with a particular focus, of course, on Ireland's term as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, which began earlier this month on the 1st of January and ends in December 2022. We're delighted, of course, to be joined today by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Defence, Simon Coventry. The Minister was asked with us, I think last May, May the 8th, indeed, before our election to the Security Council, indeed, before the formation of the new government. We're very glad to see the Minister back with us. He will speak for about 20 minutes and then we'll go to the Q&A with you, the audience, and you'll be able to join the discussion in ways that are now, I think, familiar to everybody via the Q&A function on Zoom, which you should see on your screen. And please feel free to send your questions in throughout the session as they occur to you. And we will come to them once the Minister has finished his presentation. We get to as many questions as possible. Sometimes it's not possible to get to every question, but we try and make sure that we get to as many as possible in the time available. A reminder that today's presentation and the Q&A are both on the record. And please feel free to join the discussion on Twitter using the handle at IEEA. There's no real need for me to more fully introduce Minister Coveney. He's well known to all of us, but just in case we have many people on the international stage for whom we might need to make a brief introduction, let me do so now. Minister Coveney is the Minister for Foreign Affairs, as I mentioned, and also the Minister for Defence. He's also the Deputy Leader of his party, the Fina Gail Party. He previously served as Prime Minister from November 2017 to June 2020. And previously was also of course Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, as well as Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. He was appointed as Minister for Defence for the first time back in 2014 and for a second time indeed in 2020. He's a proud corkman representing the Cork South Central constituency. So with that introduction, Minister, it's good to see you again. You're very welcome back to the IEEA floor. It's yours. Thanks very much, Michael, and I really appreciate it. And thank you to all of you for joining us today. I'd like to thank the Institutes of International and European Affairs for inviting me to speak to you. It's always a pleasure to participate in IEEA events, even if they're virtually more recently. Let me start by noting that today marks the entry into force of the treaty and the prohibition of nuclear weapons. This is the first time nuclear weapons have been expressly prohibited in an international treaty. Ireland has a long tradition of support for nuclear disarmament and we played a key role in bringing about this treaty in the first place. I hope it will help to increase pressure for progress towards the goal of a world free from the threat posed by nuclear weapons. As you know, we took up our seats on the Security Council just over three weeks ago. As I told the members of the Council last week, Ireland takes the responsibilities entrusted to us very seriously indeed. Over the next two years, we want to play a constructive but also thoughtful role on the Security Council and to support its vital work in promoting international peace and security. This is in keeping with our values and, of course, our own interests as a country as well. As a small country, Ireland, like so many others, depends on an international rules-based order and the multilateral system for its very existence and its prosperity. The United Nations sits at the heart of that system and at the centre of Irish foreign policy for many, many years. We joined the Council, though, at a very complex moment in international affairs. The threefold increase in the Council's workload compared to when we last served 20 years ago testifies to a very sad reality. Conflicts and their devastating impact, hunger, human rights abuses, the proliferation of weapons and the spread of instability have all increased across the world. Many of the conflicts which we dealt with as a member of the Security Council 20 years ago remain on the Council agenda today. We face an uncertain global landscape marked by tensions and regional rivalries, the unraveling of international arms control regimes, the threat posed by terrorist organisations and other non-state actors and the global challenge of climate change increasingly seen as a multiplier of conflict and instability right across the world. These challenges have been compounded by the coronavirus pandemic and by an increasingly skeptical response from many countries in different parts of the world, questioning the value of multilateralism in a fundamental way. We, however, in Ireland, believe that the UN remains indispensable. We ran for election for the Security Council because we want the UN to succeed. We now have an opportunity to help push back against some of those views and make a concrete contribution to the work of the UN at the highest level. What we heard in President Biden's inaugural address on Wednesday is a welcome change of tone and direction from the United States. His decision to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord and halt the US's departure from the World Health Organization in the first hours of his presidency is enormously significant. And of course, what he said yesterday in terms of extending the New START Treaty is also significant as well. I hope we will also see an early review of the US decision to stop funding UNRWA and the UNFPA as well. There are clearly a wide range of issues that we now have an opportunity to work in close cooperation with the US on as like-minded partners on the Security Council. And I look forward to engaging also with Anthony Blinken and Jake Sullivan and their teams in the State Department and in the NSC to discuss how we can cooperate further. In fact, later on, I'll be speaking to John Kerry in the context of some of the climate challenges that we face together as well. The government have set out our priorities for our time on the Council. We want to help build peace through improving UN peacekeeping. We want to strengthen conflict prevention by investing in early warning systems and addressing factors that lead to conflict. We also want to ensure accountability. Grave breaches of international humanitarian and human rights law should be called to account and they're not being in many cases today. These broad principles will guide how we approach our work on the Council in the future. In a number of areas, we will make a particular contribution as chair of subsidiary bodies or as what the UN called a pen holder on specific resolutions. We will work, for example, as facilitator for the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 on the Iranian nuclear agreement or the JCPOA as it's known. It doesn't get more politically challenging and controversial than that. And we will work with Norway as co-pen holder on the challenging Syria humanitarian file. We will serve as chair of the Somalia Sanctions Committee and work with Niger to support conflict prevention and peace building as a pen holder for the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel. We will work to promote inclusive peace as co-chair of the independent expert group on women peace and security together with Mexico. And we will be addressing one of the key drivers of conflicts as co-chair with Niger of the new independent expert group on climate and security, which we have high hopes for, particularly now given the change and approach coming from Washington. I want to focus today on some of the most pressing challenges facing the Council. The first of these is Syria. Earlier this week, the Council held its first discussion this year on the political and humanitarian situation in Syria. As we approach the 10th anniversary of this brutal and tragic war, the Syrian people continue to endure unimaginable levels of suffering and poverty. Over 11 million people in Syria depend on international humanitarian aid. The situation is particularly acute in the northwest of the country. And our primary concern is the humanitarian crisis and alleviating that suffering. We will be working closely with Norway as co-pen holder on this humanitarian file to ensure that vital aid reaches all of those who need it. And I'll be focusing on that next week when I visit Turkey. We'll also support efforts to achieve a lasting solution to the conflict in Syria. The only way to secure this is through the framework established under Security Council Resolution 2254. I hope to see progress in the meetings of the UN facilitated constitutional committee in Geneva next week and many others do too. We'll continue towards accountability for all instances of chemical weapons use. And I will urge the Syrian authorities to act immediately to meet its legal obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and cooperate with the OPECW. Allow access and destroy all of its chemical weapons. Equally pressing is the question of the Iranian nuclear agreement with the JCPOA. The potential for Iran to develop nuclear weapons is one of the greatest risks to regional and international peace and security. We know that the JCPOA was a major diplomatic achievement and is an important contribution to stability in the Middle East. It remains the best way in our view to manage the threat of nuclear proliferation. We're all aware of the enormous challenge in keeping the JCPOA alive. I'm deeply concerned by Iran's actions breaching the agreement recently, particularly the decision to enrich uranium up to 20% and to begin R&D activity into uranium metal. Earlier this week I spoke at length to Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif to discuss these issues and urge Iran to return to full compliance. I'm encouraged by the new US administration's commitment to re-engage with this agreement. We need collectively to create the conditions and the sequencing, which is equally important, that will allow for full implementation of the JCPOA in the months ahead. And we don't have much time to do it because of the context of the election cycle in Iran and the pressures that that brings. A Security Council facilitator for the implementation of Resolution 2331 on the JCPOA, Ireland will be making an active contribution, a contribution that is very much in keeping with our long standing commitment to disarmament and non-proliferation. And I look forward to that challenge and the meetings that it's going to bring. Another issue where I see prospects for progress is the ongoing crisis in Libya. We've seen positive progress in recent months with the permanent ceasefire announced in October and a decision earlier this week by the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum to move forward on selecting the interim executive authority. This is an essential first step for national elections by the end of 2021. The Security Council must provide every possible support to the political dialogue process that is now underway. And a lot of difficult work also remains to implement the ceasefire agreement and the international community will have an important role in monitoring that ceasefire fairly. I welcomed the appointment earlier this week of Jan Kubis as the new UN Special Envoy for Libya. The EU is also making a tangible contribution to this process, both through our sanctions regime targeted at spoilers of the peace process and through Operation Irene, which is helping to implement the UN arms embargo in Libya and in which a number of Irish Defence Force personnel are currently serving. One issue on which the Council cannot afford to wait is Yemen, where six years of devastating conflict have created probably the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Last week, the UN Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mark Lowcock, warned that five million Yemenis are at imminent risk of famine, five million. That's the population of Ireland. We urgently need to bring an end to this devastating conflict and ensure humanitarian access. The recent formation of the Yemeni government and its return to Yemen are welcome steps, and I condemn in the strongest possible terms the attack on the government at the airport in Aden. We're also deeply concerned by the potential implications of the US decision recently to designate the Houthis as a terrorist organization, particularly the risk of further deepening the humanitarian crisis. I hope to see an early review of that decision by the new US administration. I think that makes sense. One of the longest-running conflicts before the Council is, of course, the Middle East peace process. I've personally been very engaged in this issue, and it will remain a big priority for me. Next Tuesday, I'll participate in a Security Council open debate on the situation in the Middle East. There is no question that this is enormously challenging. We will promote all efforts towards a negotiated two-state solution, as we have done for many years, on the basis of international law and the internationally agreed parameters, which have been endorsed on multiple Security Council resolutions. Adherence to these resolutions is critical, not just in respect of accountability, but to help to rebuild the trust and confidence needed to ultimately restart credible negotiations. I welcome Secretary-General Gutierrez's recent appointment to a new special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, and I look forward to working with him and hope that the period ahead will see a reinvigoration of the Middle East Quartet to help achieve progress and move forward. I've made clear that Ireland is ready to support the process in any way we can. We are constantly offering to be helpful in terms of that dialogue. The Security Council frequently addresses situations in Africa, as we know, but all too often African voices are not heard in those discussions. So we are working closely with our African partners on the Security Council, Kenya, Niger and Tunisia. One area of priority will be to promote closer cooperation between the United Nations and the African Union. The AU does make a valuable contribution to peace and security on the continent and has the potential to do a lot more. Ireland has stepped up our partnership in recent years with the African Union with a focus on supporting their work on conflict prevention and peace building, with a particular emphasis on the role of women. As chair of the Somalia Sanctions Committee, peace and stability in Somalia and the Horn of Africa as a whole will be a key priority of our tenure. We want to use sanctions mechanisms as a tool to prevent conflict, addressing al-Shabaab, financing, advancing human rights and accountability, and maintaining humanitarian access. In Sudan and South Sudan, our focus will be on responsibility for the protection of civilians, as both countries undergo very fragile and challenging transitions. Events in Ethiopia in recent months have been a cause for great concern. All parties do have an obligation to respect international humanitarian law, and the government of Ethiopia must allow unconditional and unrestricted humanitarian access to all areas of Tigray. It's a region that I think many of us in the international community are very worried about at the moment. As both Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence, I'm particularly proud of the contribution made by members of the Defence Forces to the UN peacekeeping operations over more than six decades now. Through their service, Ireland has earned a reputation as a steadfast and valued contributor to UN peacekeeping. Today, there are 529 Irish troops serving in UN peacekeeping operations, including in Syria, Mali, Lebanon, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. And I would like to pay tribute to their service and commitment and thank them for it. The pandemic has made that even more complicated than it otherwise would be. Sadly, we have once again seen the great risks involved in helping to deliver peace and stability, as nine US peacekeepers have been killed in UN missions in Mali and in the Central African Republic since the start of this year alone. And my deepest sympathies go to their families and colleagues. Sympathy, though, is not enough. We have a responsibility to ensure that the men and women serving in UN peacekeeping operations are properly mandated and equipped to do their work effectively and securely, or as securely as we can make it at least. This will be an area of particular focus for us in our work on the Council. And I think Ireland has a lot of credibility in this space and will be listened to. We want to improve peacekeeping mandates to make them fit for purpose and strengthen the link between peacekeeping and peacebuilding. In doing so, we will draw from the long experience of our defense forces. Civilians are protected by international law, but they often suffer the most in armed conflict. And as a member of the Security Council, we will prioritize adherence to international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law. To protect civilians will support the fight against impunity and stand by the International Criminal Court and other international criminal and accountability mechanisms, even if other countries are not doing so. Effective accountability can serve as an essential element in improving compliance with the rules of international law. And the Security Council itself must be a mechanism of holding countries to account. We know that climate change is a challenge for us, but we're also now increasingly aware of how it can be a driver or a multiplier of instability. In countries, for example, across the Sahel, we have seen how climate change is one of the factors that is diminishing land available, a land availability and quality of land, particularly for food production and farming. Competition for fewer resources has led to increased tension and conflict at times. My conversations with ministers from many African countries and small island developing states during the Security Council campaign remind us of the need to do a lot more on climate change and its implications for security. And those concerns, I can assure you, haven't lessened since we joined the Security Council on the 1st of January. At the end of last year, a new expert group on climate and security was created at the Security Council, and Ireland will be co-chairing that group in 2021, providing leadership and promoting a greater climate focus on the work of the Council. I'm very encouraged that John Kerry will be leading US work on climate change. I'll be meeting with him later today, as I said earlier, along with other EU foreign ministers to discuss practical steps of tackling this existential challenge. And I believe a transatlantic alliance on climate and proactivity in that area is not only possible, but also necessary right now. In all that we do on the Council, we're also keen to draw from the extensive expertise, experience and networks of Irish civil society and academia. And I want to thank the IIEA for the support that they've provided in the establishment of the Security Council stakeholder forum. This is all going to be a very challenging agenda and a challenging period for an Irish government and Irish foreign policy. There are many other issues that I could have mentioned, North Korea, the Great Lakes area, Myanmar, Ukraine, Belarus to name but a few, which will also, I'm sure, command our attention over the next two years. We're committed, of course, to being an active member on the Council on all issues. We're not naive, though. I know how difficult it can be to find agreement among member states on the Council, particularly in controversial areas. And the Council has failed to fulfill its responsibility to act on so many crucial issues over the last decade or so. So we will make every effort to build bridges and to create the political connections and consensus necessary to find agreement. We enjoy good relations with all of the other members of the Council, including the Permanent Five, and we will engage openly with each of them. We'll agree on some issues, and I'm sure we'll fundamentally disagree on others, and that may well involve disagreeing with close friends at times. But in doing so, we will not be afraid to bring our views to the table, because that's what we were elected to do. We know all too well from our own experience on the island of Ireland that the work of building peace moves slowly and sometimes takes steps backwards before it's possible to move forward. But we will bring this experience with us to the Security Council, as we do the slow and sometimes frustrating work of seeking agreement in some of the most difficult issues on the global agenda. So I look forward to working with many people who are on this call, who I know are more than willing to offer their advice, their opinions, their criticism, their services. But I can assure you that the focus for the next two years will be to maximize Ireland's input and influence on global affairs, particularly on some of the most difficult conflict issues, so that we can save lives and prevent conflict and also hold state and non-state actors to account where appropriate, to try to advance the cause of peace and stability in parts of the world that desperately need UN and UN Security Council interventions and supports and solutions. So thanks very much, and I look forward to your questions. Thank you very much, Minister, for that incredibly wide-ranging set of challenges and priorities that we as Ireland and US Minister and our UN team have over the next two years. Just before we come to some questions which have already started coming in, maybe I could just center, just talk about the incoming, or they've now arrived, indeed, US administration and obviously a new administration that's committed to the multilateral system, to the multilateral organizations, but what effect do you think that the Biden administration, President Biden and his team and Tony Blinken and others would have on the working of the Council, do you see, fortunately and coincidentally, just as we arrive on the Council, that we now have a new American administration which is committed, or more committed to the way the UN operates and the multilateral system operates? Sorry, are you hearing me there, Michael? Yes, I am. Yeah, sorry. Regardless of who's in the White House, it's the job of an Irish Foreign Minister and the Irish Government to make sure that they have a good and functioning relationship. And, you know, we had a good and functioning relationship with the Trump administration, but we also had very significant differences of opinion in terms of foreign policy and foreign policy approaches, whether that was in the Middle East, whether it was towards the JCPOA, whether it was in the context of climate, whether it was the World Health Organization, whether it was an approach towards advocacy on human rights issues, whether it was migration. You know, it's a long list that while we had a good and respectful working relationship with the Trump administration, it was difficult to work with a country that is a friend when they have a very different approach on so many fundamental issues that are contrary to Irish foreign policy and quite frankly, an Irish value system. So I think what we're seeing now is an administration with a very, very different outlook on the world and how the US interacts with global politics. So we're already seeing that the Biden administration and the people he's chosen to lead his administration are looking to reach out. They're already signaling they want a much warmer transatlantic relationship. They're already signaling that they want multilateralism to work and they want US leadership in that context, which I think is absolutely welcome, particularly within the UN and the Security Council. They've indicated that they want to take a new look at the JCPOA in terms of the approach in the future. And I think that's a very delicate and difficult issue. I certainly wouldn't speak for the US new US administration on it, but certainly it's an opening that I think we need to take. They've been hugely ambitious already on climate, you know, signing up again within hours of the inauguration, signing up to the Paris Climate Agreement. And, you know, John Kerry has already shown that he wants to try to give leadership not only within the United States, but globally on this issue. And we have the first, I suspect, of many engagements with John Kerry later on this evening. So, you know, I think we're in an entirely new space when it comes to policy direction from the world's greatest superpower. And, you know, it is just factually true that the approach of the Trump administration to foreign policy was one of effectively bilateral transaction based politics, you know, where, you know, if it was in the interest of the US, if it was America first and consistent with that policy, then they proceeded with something if it wasn't they didn't. I think the Biden approach will be in many ways the opposite to that to ensure that US influence is used to shape the world in a way that's good for the world and therefore by extension good for the most powerful and wealthiest country in the United States. So we will certainly reach out and like I'm determined that this isn't going to be a transatlantic relationship where Ireland looks to the US for assistance on a whole load of things, which is often traditionally the way we do things. But we also want to try to reach out and help the US to effectively refind its feet in many of the organizations that it's left or its disowned or has criticized to build credibility again because we need a world where the US is a credible partner in all of these areas if we're going to be able to find a way forward. And, you know, that's a really exciting opportunity but a very daunting one as well from an Irish perspective. What I think is interesting is at a time of new leadership in the US, we also have new leadership in the EU. And if you look at the new leadership in the European Commission, if you listen to what President van der Leyen has been saying around what she wants to achieve in the context of a new approach towards a much more positive transatlantic relationship. I suspect we're going to see efforts to try to build a discussion around political cooperation, but I hope beyond that as well in terms of trade and investment, and of course, a joint approach towards dealing with some of these enormous global challenges that are linked to development, COVID, climate, the relationship with China and other parts of the world that are developing and growing at pace. And, you know, to be on the Security Council means that Ireland is in the middle of a lot of that discussion from a security perspective, which I think will also allow us to build a kind of relationships that can benefit in some of these other areas as well outside of the Security Council agenda. Yeah. Minister, just the, obviously, the view of the outgoing administration was something that we're all very familiar with. But it's not a view that's uncommon, you know, in many quarters of the United States, in other words, the dismissal or the lack of appreciation, maybe for want of a better expression of UN bodies and the multilateral order. You know, have we listened to, maybe it was a wake-up call and that maybe the work of international multilateral organizations should be done differently. Is it a wake-up call and have we heard something from the Trump administration, much and all, as many of us would disagree with it, that we need to just be taking on board in the way we conduct our multilateral business? Yeah, I mean, I think there are lessons to be learned. You know, the UN is far from perfect, but it's the best we've got, you know. You know, the World Health Organization isn't perfect, but it's the best we've got. And so many of the UN organizations that are literally saving lives. And I think the figure in terms of displaced populations and refugees at the moment is about 75 million in the world. We know that there are 40% more people going hungry today than 12 months ago. Than 12 months ago, which is primarily the impact of the pandemic. And so, you know, we've got to use the structures that we have and they're good structures, not perfect, but they're good. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't question and improve and ensure we're getting value for money and ensuring that we have streamlined systems, ensuring that there's not silos in the UN that are actually duplicating work when it can be done more efficiently. You know, I think all of those questions need to be asked. And, you know, the US has not only asked those questions but has, you know, in many ways spoken against a multilateral approach in certain areas. But certainly I think that because we have a very UN friendly president now in Washington does not mean that we shouldn't be self critical in a constructive way and be willing to look at radical change if it's necessary. And certainly, you know, I think if you look at the Security Council, for example, there's a need for some change there, the idea that the continent of Africa does not have a permanent representative voice on the Security Council. In my view is just, you know, just simply doesn't reflect reality in the world today, and is still, you know, a post Second World War structure. So, so, you know, look, I'm realistic about the difficulties of making that change, by the way. But, you know, there are things that can improve and be streamlined. And the US is by far the biggest donor to to the UN, even under Trump was still by far the biggest donor has a right to ask the hard questions. And, and the UN and the leadership within the UN needs to be asking themselves those questions. And I think to be fair, they are, you know, I think the, you know, the, the Secretary General has been asking those questions. And we've seen some improvements in those areas. But, you know, when you look at the awesome challenges that the UN faces right now, in terms of a post, and, well, it's not a post COVID world or even close to it yet. But the health challenges, the education challenges, the development challenges, the climate challenges, the conflict challenges. They are just immense. And, and in my view, would be impossible to solve without UN structures and a multilateral approach. So, I can tell you it's a huge relief for a lot of people to see it, a change of direction in Washington, but let's not create an unrealistic expectation either, because I think that President Biden and his team will primarily have to focus for the first 12 months at least on domestic politics and trying to heal their own country, which is terribly divided in the aftermath of the election. And that's why I think the European Union needs to show an awful lot more ambition and proactivity in terms of giving the kind of global leadership that the US can endorse and support and be a partner on. But we shouldn't wait for US leadership on in all of these areas. Okay, a ministry you touched on on the question of of UN reform and a question here from Colin McSweeney Brewer from UCD or Emeritus Professor of Decisions Analysis Analytics, indeed UCD wants to know, just in the context of UN reform perhaps he says, now that Joe Biden, President Biden is in the White House and Britain has left the European Union Ireland need not fear retaliation should have the courage to propose that the five permanent members of the Security Council lose their veto over UN resolution as well. I think if anybody talks on that but maybe you could try to touch on it. Yeah, well I look I mean I would bow to cause expertise here I suspect he he has read many more journals than I have on the and how the Security Council functions and its limitations. But, you know, all I can say is as a politician that's been interested in foreign policy for a long time. History is going to judge the UN Security Council I think very harshly on many conflicts that have just wrought unbelievable humanitarian suffering, whether that's Syria, whether it's Yemen, whether it's Libya, whether it's Iraq, Afghanistan. And, you know, we're not learning lessons. The, the use of the veto for political reasons is far too frequent and political alliances that that create justification for the use of the veto that often prevents the UN and Security Council intervening. But where it where that intervention is desperately needed to save lives and prevent conflict or deter conflict is not happening in the way that it should. And let's just be honest about that. I mean, there are examples of Security Council interventions that have been very effective, but there are also many examples of the veto in my view being abused. I hope Ireland will be able to to call that out when it happens and make it more difficult and more uncomfortable to use a veto inappropriately, even if you're a P five member state. That's not always easy because sometimes we have to be critical of our friends in that regard. But, but you know, if you look at, you know, the use of chemical weapons in Syria, for example. You know, these are, you know, blatant breaches of international humanitarian law. And we have to have a Security Council that actually, you know, uses international law as its benchmark for assessment, as opposed to political alliances and other, you know, global political considerations and like we all know what they are. So to look, you know, I think in some ways it's easy for Ireland to say that, you know, we're a small country, we have the protection of the EU, we're in a part of the world where there's no conflict. Nobody feels threatened by us and by and large we're well networked and we're a wealthy country by, you know, relative standards. But look, hopefully, we will be able to take uncomfortable but principal positions at times when we need to make the use of the veto more uncomfortable. By the way, we're very supportive of what the French have tried to do in the past of, you know, looking at new parameters within which the veto like I think doing away with the use of the veto by the P five. I don't think that's realistic, certainly during Ireland's term in the next two years. But perhaps we could reignite the conversation around the the scenarios where a veto should not be used, particularly when there's, you know, gross violations potentially of humanitarian law or war crimes. And certainly we will look to try to get some consensus in that space. I think it's the one area where there is a possibility for UN reform potentially in the Security Council in the next two years. Some of the other areas I think are more difficult, even if they're equally valid. Very good. I'm going to try and get down to maybe just questions that I mean Minister. So a question from Ireland's UN youth delegates, Khan McCarrick and Tara Grace Connolly. And they say a lot of young people around the world are looking to Ireland to lead on issues like peace and security on Security Council and follow on from the work of previous members like Dominican Republic. Could the Minister speak to the importance of the of the youth peace and security agenda, and about meaningful youth participation in the 2030 agenda on sustainable development. So there, from our youth constituency minister if you'd like to address that. Yeah, no, I mean, I think Ireland's record here is pretty good. I mean this isn't just a Security Council agenda. It's also, it's a health and it's an education agenda. Every time we talk about peace processes, we talk about the need for both women and young people to be involved in those processes for them to be credible, and also effective. And you know if you look at how young people in Northern Ireland have been part of peace dialogue, it's been, you know, it's been very impactful at different times, and of course women as well. So, yeah, like I'd say to Khan and Tara, if they have ideas in that area, let us know, and we'll, you know, we'll, we'll happily talk to them about that. I mean, rest assured, when we're talking about peace and post conflict management. We will always raise the need for both women and young people to be involved in that discussion. And then some of the broader issues in terms of the SDGs, which is, you know, outside of Security Council in many ways, but as part of the General Assembly's work. You know, I think the truth is that the Sustainable Development Goals have had an enormous setback over the last 12 months because of the pandemic and COVID development generally has. If you look at the number of people who are not accessing education now, the number of young people and children as a result of health pressures and resource pressures and so on. It's very, very worry. And so there's a lot of work to do, despite COVID, to find ways of ensuring that that the SDGs still guide, you know, policy and what we do and how we how we focus money. And, you know, if I get some questions on the climate side, I'll, I'll address maybe how, how we might be able to do that. Okay, okay. From from down there locally minister for question from Nick Chisholm, and the senior lecturer at UCC he says the commoners today has a headline stating quote, Ethiopia's government appears to be wielding hunger as a weapon on quote. What is Ireland doing to bring a resolution of the terrible conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, and to ensure humanitarian assistance is made available to all I know you touched on this again. Yeah, I mean look. The answer the honest answer question is we're doing what we can. So I mean I've raised quite forcefully my concerns on this out of foreign affairs in fact that to foreign affairs Council meetings. I've raised it with with Joseph Burrell. I've also spoken to the Ethiopian Foreign Minister at length I mean I had a was close to an hour long phone call with him, trying to understand what the government were actually doing and why. And, you know, we have actually quite a lot of experience of the Tigray region. We've had development programs there, particularly around agriculture. It's, it's one of parts of the Tigray region is one of the very fertile agricultural areas of Ethiopia. We're very concerned that that the Ethiopian government is not allowing independent international inspection teams in there. And, you know, we're also skeptical that the that the conflict is over, you know that it was described as a security operation by the Ethiopian government that that they believe is now done and closed. We find that hard to believe, given the the strength of potential resistance in the Tigray region. We have heard and read about pretty horrific human rights violations in towns and villages. So, you know, this is a, this is a very worrying development because Ethiopia is a really important stabilizer in that part of Africa as a country when you consider the countries that surround it. The the movement of people and refugees that have come from from this this tension and conflict. So, you know, to just to say to Nick like we have expressed our concern very directly to the Ethiopian government. I've spoken to the African Union also about this issue who are also very concerned and to a number of other African foreign ministers who are who are trying to broker solutions, whether that's the South African Foreign Minister, the Kenyan Foreign Minister and indeed others. So, just to say this is not going unnoticed. And just to remind people on the call, I mean, we spend more money in terms of our development partnership in Ethiopia than in any other country in the world and any other country in Africa. It is by some margin our largest program country if you want to call it that. And so, you know, we have strong relationships there and we're trying to use them to really understand what's going on here and to to look for an internationally supported talks process that can result in a in a political solution here, despite all of the violence that's happened today. Yeah, Minister, just to say we've got about 60 questions here. So we're not going to do that. But don't you maybe give me give me a groups of three and I'll try to be as sort of interesting and as short as I can. Yeah, we have some questions here, for example, from Shona Maria of Euro news on the Uighurs. She says the situation with regard to Uighurs in China is now regarded as under the framework of genocide. How can our activity help? And this given our reliance on trade with China and China's permanent membership of Security Council. She has a second question as well. And ministers say maybe we take these in the group. You mentioned breaches of international humanitarian law. Do you think Israel is responsible for ensuring Palestinians and occupied territories have access to COVID vaccine? And question here. Lots of questions in relation to Syria. Again, a question from Nile of Keith of trochera Ireland's commitment to the humanitarian crisis is evident in taking up the co pen holder role for the Syria file and is very welcome. And he wants to know how can Ireland secure renewal of Resolution 253, particularly in the face of strong Russian opposition. So maybe just those questions in relation to the Uighurs, maybe in relation to Syria. And let's see how far we can get on that. Yeah, no, look, I mean, I know that the last US administration described what was happening to Uighurs in China as genocide. That's not a language that's been used by very many other countries, but it is clearly a big concern. I mean, this is something that's been raised in the doll. I've spoken about it very bluntly. I've raised it with my Chinese counterparts. And, you know, there is a, I think a very serious conversation developing across the European Union now on how the EU relates to China in the future in terms of a trading relationship, a political relationship, a serious and honest dialogue on human rights and human rights concerns. And, you know, that is a conversation that I think will develop and probably will develop with the new US administration as well. Because, you know, China is a country that is simply too large and too powerful and too big not to have a relationship with. But we've also got to ensure that we have a credible process by which we can raise legitimate and real human rights concerns. Whether it's Hong Kong or whether it's whether it's the Uighurs or whether it's freedom of expression and a range of other issues. In terms of the Israeli-Palestinian relationship and I mean, there are clear responsibilities and legal obligations for an occupying power in terms of the welfare of populations that they're responsible for in the context of that occupation. And that is, you know, while some on the Israeli side will say, well, the Palestinians made it clear that they didn't want our help. You know, there are obligations here. It's not just in the context of COVID. There are many other obligations as well that I think the Israeli government are not behaving in a way that they should in terms of delivering. Particularly in the context of expanding settlements illegally in occupied territory. And so, look, I don't want to take up too much time in the meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, but, you know, it's something that Ireland is very interested in. Once a strong and good relationship with an Israeli government, but also will insist on on standing up for for Palestinian communities, who particularly in the last number of years, in my view, have been treated very poorly. In terms of humanitarian access into Syria. Yeah, this is a big challenge for us. If the truth be told, one of the reasons why I'm traveling in a few days time to Ankara and to the parts of Turkey that are involved in providing access for humanitarian assistance is because we want to try and develop a real understanding of this issue. The person who asked the question is right. There are concerns in Moscow about keeping open the last remaining international humanitarian access point into Syria. We believe it's absolutely essential that that stays open. But we do need to listen to and understand the concerns of all of the key players here and try to build a consensus around the need to keep this access point open. And I believe it's possible to do that in the context of our relationships with the Russian Foreign Minister and the Turkish Foreign Minister and other countries as well that are influential. But this won't be easy. And anybody who's involved and there are many Argentinos that are anyone who's involved in using that access point to to bring supplies that are essential into into northern Syria knows how important it is. So it'll be a big early priority because the the resolution that's there at the moment allows for that access point to stay open until mid summer. And at that point there's there's clearly a significant risk that it may no longer stay open and there's there's a lot of political work to do to try and make sure it does. Yeah, very good. Just I should read out a question that came in from a Syrian refugee Gaffan Kulani who's a Syrian refugee in Ireland he says, and I think you've addressed most of these issues so but I read it nonetheless. I'm a Syrian refugee in Ireland as three of my brothers were disappeared by the Assad regime. I would like to ask Minister Coveney might Ireland please prioritize in his new role as a member of Security Council, the release of Syrian detainees the vast majority of whom are held by the Assad regime is Ireland going to insist that regime allies such as Russia and Iran pressured the Assad regime to release detainees but Minister maybe before you, if you want to touch on that again, please do so. But just one question I do really also want to get in is in relation it's not related to that particular question. But as that question came from a refugee. I thought I should ask it. Of course, yeah, yeah. But one questions here several questions in on covax in relation to doing one here from a quiver to borrow from the CEO of trokera she says, and the social and economic impact of COVID is fragile and conflict affected countries will contribute to security crisis. How will Ireland work to ensure that whether your countries will build their responsibilities, responsibility towards covax and the most vulnerable people in developing countries, rather than prioritizing fulfilling 100% of their own vaccination needs first to the question. Yeah, they are. And first of all, it's fantastic that we have someone from Syria on the line. And I mean, the straight answer to your question is of course we want to try to ensure that detainees are released. The real challenge is how to do it politically, because, you know, sometimes publicly criticizing is not the best way to get things done. Sometimes it is, and we shouldn't be afraid of it. But sometimes it's, it's also, you know, intense diplomacy and dialogue and building relationships and, you know, looking for ways in which we can get movement from a P five member country and finding ways to persuade countries to to move in that space and like Syria is particularly challenging and difficult in that regard. And we'll have to see where this goes but just to reassure you I mean I'll be traveling to Moscow at some point in the next few weeks I hope I'll be traveling to Tehran I hope as well. I'll be traveling to Washington, London and Paris. So, you know, we will do everything we can to try to to build relationships that can get results, as opposed to simply get a good headline for a few days we're out and just taking a stand but actually there's no difference. And, you know, that's the approach, certainly that I want to try to bring to our term on the Security Council. You know, sometimes we can focus on being, you know, correct from a policy point of view, being purist and taking positions that are necessary and important, but not actually changing anything on the ground. And I think the real challenge for us is to sort of hold true to our value system in terms of foreign policy and international law, but at the same time find ways of building relationships and a political atmosphere that can allow us actually change things for the better. And that is certainly what I'll be focusing on trying to do in relation to COVAX. Yeah, look, I mean, this is a big challenge for the European Union as a whole and we are putting literally billions of euros into funding vaccine programs outside of the European Union. I'm glad to say. But there is enormous pressure on governments to to provide vaccines for their own countries as well. And we need to try to balance those two things. And I've addressed this issue a number of times in in meetings like this one. And you know, it is true to say that it is in the interest of the EU and the US and other wealthy parts of the world to help to vaccinate parts of the world that can't afford to compete with us in terms of purchasing vaccines. Because the truth is that the longer this pandemic persists in different parts of the world, the more of a threat there is for it to come back again in, you know, through different strains and so on to us. So, I mean, I think we have a moral obligation here to to ensure that countries that have far weaker health systems than we have to to provide vaccines. And we are trying to do that and Ireland is contributing financially to that in quite a significant way. It's managing the pressure of of the pace of rollout of vaccine in our own countries. And to be fair to the European Commission, I think they are trying to do both as best they can and and they're trying to lead a global alliance in that space. And that's necessary. I think, you know, countries that aren't as fortunate as we are will remember the European Union and Ireland and others in terms of the assistance that we provide them at times like this. And I think it is potentially an opportunity to develop a very new relationship that's needed between the EU and Africa, for example. In the context of the the ongoing challenges that that that content will have likewise with Latin America, which has been absolutely devastated by by covert. So, yeah, so yeah, it's a it's a fair point. Okay, Minister, we're going to wrap up with just maybe two questions we may we're trespassing a little bit on your time if we may just another minute or two. But just two questions one to wrap up with one is from former colleague indeed and former party leader Alan Jukes and the former director general of the IEA. He says, or he asks, does the minister plan to seek to coordinate the positions taken in the Security Council discussions by the EU member states that are also in on the Security Council. So what role do we have there in relation to coordinating the work of other member states who are other members of the Security Council are members of the of the of the EU Security Council. One final question here then from as to what in the end of the day at the end of two years on our on the Council and what will success look like it will you know how will you measure that success. And it's a question from Richelle, the head of advocacy and concern I would like to commend the Irish government and in particular Department of Foreign Affairs and the vision for Ireland's term on the Security Council. What would success look like for Minister Coveney after two years on the Security Council so they're two questions both from Alan Jukes. Yeah, no I mean on the first question and great to hear from Alan. Yeah, look I mean we're an EU member state, and we will act as an EU member state at times, but I think we'll also, I mean we were very clear when we stood for the Security Council that we would be a voice for for countries all over the world, particularly small and medium sized countries. And, you know, it's amazing we got as many votes across the Pacific Islands, as we got in Europe for to be on the Security Council. We got a huge number of votes across the Caribbean, where you know Canada would traditionally be very very strong. So you know Ireland has managed to reach out to whether it's small and developing states, whether it's African countries that we've had relationships with for many years, whether it's countries across the Middle East because of our consistent position in terms of the Middle East peace process, or indeed whether it's our EU membership so you know for the first year. We'll be working of course with with France as a P5 with the UK as well, I think as our closest neighbor, and with Estonia, who are also on the Security Council with us but in the second year of our term will be the only other EU member on the Security Council, along with France from the EU. And that is, you know, that's a position we've, I'm not sure the EU has ever been in before. But so, yes, is the straight answer we'll be working with them and I've made it very clear to my colleagues across the EU that if they have particular issues that they want raised and they're concerned about that we very much have an open door. So this is a very good example there where I'm sure the number of countries have, you know, deep concerns that they will want raised at the Security Council and, you know, we're there to listen and support. But we're also there to be an independent voice at times, you know, and sometimes Ireland will have a different perspective, for example, to France or the UK on things, maybe on disarmament for example. And I think we need to be consistent with Irish thinking there and Irish foreign policy. What will success look like? Well, it's hard to know and I don't want to start sort of raising expectations and then to be judged on that at the end I think that would be a bit naive. But look, you know, we've put up our hands for some really challenging areas. So, you know, the JCPOA arguably is the most challenging politically that can Ireland contributes to a dialogue and a process that can allow the US to come back in and support the JCPOA as the best way. It's not perfect, but the best way we have to prevent nuclear weapons being produced in Iran. And, you know, that is, we're only days into our term, but this is something we don't have much time on because elections will begin in Iran in May I think. And they will go on in terms of their impact until about September. So, you know, there's a narrow window here where in my view, if there was proactivity, there would be reciprocation, whether that's from Iran or from the US. But we've got to get, we've got to try and agree a sequencing and a process and we've got to work with other countries of course that are much more embedded into this process than Ireland is. But certainly it's a big responsibility in the area of Syria and humanitarian access into Syria. You know, I think this is a big priority for me in the next few months to try to maintain access points into Syria for international aid. Clearly, it's a country that's still terribly divided. There's a complete breakdown of trust. And not only do we need to prevent conflict reemerging in parts of Syria, but we've also got to try to make sure that literally millions of people can get the access to the medicines and the food and the other supplies that they need. It's a big priority. Climate and security is also a big priority and I think it's going to be fascinating to see whether or not with a dramatic change of direction from the US in terms of global leadership on climate, whether we can finally get some real traction in the Security Council on accepting that climate change is a driver of instability that leads to conflict and needs to be part of the Security Council's thought process and planning. And again, Ireland working predominantly with Norway, but also with others, you know, I think is setting ourselves some pretty ambitious targets there. And then, you know, on the things that you'd expect, you know, Ireland will constantly talk about the need for women and young people to be part of decision making and processes. We are co-chairing the Women, Peace and Security agenda mechanism in the Security Council. And I suspect we will be very involved in a lot of discussions around Africa because, you know, Ireland knows Ethiopia really well. Ireland chairs the sanctions committee as regards Somalia. Ireland is going to be very involved in terms of planning across the Sahel, working with Niger. So, you know, these are, and, you know, we have peacekeepers in Mali at the moment both in terms of training mechanism and, you know, and we have an Army Ranger contingent there as well. So, you know, these are important areas. The one for me personally that I really hope that in two years time, if we're having a meeting like this, hopefully in person at that point, I'll be able to talk in much more positive terms about is the Israeli-Palestinian relationship. You know, this is something that Irish people are deeply interested in. You know, I, in my first two years as a Minister of Foreign Affairs, I think I've traveled to Israel and Palestine, I think five times. I really got to know the key decision makers in Washington, Ramallah, and Tel Aviv. And, you know, I've invested a huge amount of time in building relationships in this area. And, you know, Ireland is a country that simply wants to try to facilitate and support a peace negotiation on the basis of a quality of esteem between the two sides, which has not been possible in recent years. And protect and maintain a relationship with both. And I hope that certainly in two years time, we'll either have, you know, significant progress towards a two-state solution, or at least a process that can deliver that. Post-elections in both Israel and across Palestinian territories in the coming months. So yeah, it's not a short list and they're not easy issues to resolve. But, you know, isn't it absolutely fantastic that a small country like Ireland, with all of the networks that we've built globally, are now going to be in the middle of all of these debates on the Security Council. And it's really up to us what we make of this opportunity. And I can assure you I intend on putting a huge amount of political capital and time into trying to make sure that Ireland doesn't waste the opportunity to influence global thinking on these enormous challenges. Minister, listen, we've trespassed beyond what we normally do on your time. So just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for picking up again, just in your wrapping up comments there in relation to climate change. We've had a few questions in on that. You know, it could have warranted a whole discussion in its own right. We've had about 60 or 70 questions in, Minister, what I'm going to do, if I may, we've got all the questions and send them to you. Michael, can I just say one thing about climate that I didn't mention that I'd like to mention, because I know there's a lot of people on this call who are deeply interested and invested in this issue. I mean, I think one of the things that we would like to do, and this is something I'll be speaking on on Monday at the Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels. You know, Ireland would like to play more of a leadership role, particularly in the area of resilience and adaptation, so that this is not just seen as an aid issue, but actually is seen as a policy issue globally. And whether that's for small and developing states or whether it's across the Sahel or indeed many other parts of the world. We've got to try and build models that can allow governments to actually bake in thinking around building resilience and adapting to the new realities, unfortunately, that are unfolding linked to climate, as well as obviously the mitigation challenges. And there is an opportunity, I think, particularly in the buildup to Glasgow later this year, also during Ireland's chairing of the Security Council in September, which will coincide, of course, with the General Assembly in the UN. And indeed, this new opportunity with the US and with John Kerry, and working, of course, with the UK, who are going to want to give a lot of leadership in this space this year. You know, there's a there's a role here that Ireland, I think, wants to and can play. And of course, it's a promise that we made. So, you know, an awful lot of countries across the Caribbean and across the Pacific voted for Ireland to be on the Security Council because they think we understand the pressure points that they're feeling around climate resilience and trying to protect themselves from future change. And it's something that I feel a real responsibility on, given the faith that a lot of those small countries have put in us to be a leader in that space. And so if there are NGOs or academics or others on the line that have, you know, thinking in this area that they want to share with us, we'd be very open to it. Yeah, and in the meantime, all the questions that we got today and their vast number, we will share them with your team minister, so as to kind of, so they would have a sense of the views or the concerns of the 700 people we have online, which is an exceptional number of people for obviously on very, very important issues. But I want to thank you profoundly, I mean, for for sharing this time is extra time with us indeed as they will trespass a little bit beyond what we normally do. But I mean just to salute your ambition and your determination, and to wish you all the very, very best indeed both yourself and your governmental team and obviously to the team in New York and beyond as you carry forward with your responsibilities as members of the Security Council. Thanks a million Michael and thanks to everybody for for joining us. Really appreciate us. Stay safe. Thank you. Thank you minister.