Transitions – Ireland at the UN

As Ireland transitions from a successful and active term as an elected member of the United Nations Security Council, which ended in December 2022, the focus for Ireland’s Permanent Representative to the UN now shifts to the Sustainable Development Goals.

Prior to the conclusion of Ireland’s role on the Security Council, Ireland actively participated with other outgoing members in the process of onboarding the five incoming elected members for the 2023-2024 term: Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, and Switzerland. A new aspect of the onboarding process grants incoming members observer status whereby they may follow all meetings of the Council and its subsidiary bodies and the informal consultations for a period of three months immediately preceding their term of membership.[1]

Another important changeover tool is the annual “Hitting the Ground Running” workshop, which was hosted by Finland for the 20^th year in 2022. As part of this session, departing members, including Ireland, reflected on their time on the Security Council and shared insights into best practice on the Council, for instance how best to manage the workload and navigate difficult dynamics among members. Ireland worked particularly close with member states that would take over the various files that Ireland had led on; for example, Switzerland took over the Syria Humanitarian file, while Malta will now oversee the Iran nuclear file.

In a further transition, Ireland’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Fergal Mythen, is assuming another important role. As indicated earlier, in October 2022, the President of the UN General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi, appointed H.E. Mythen and H.E. Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani, (Qatar) to lead consultations and co-facilitate negotiations on the outcome document - the Political Declaration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Summit. The summit will take place in September 2023, during the 77^th session of the UN General Assembly.[2]

This appointment is significant as Ireland will once again be championing the Sustainable Development Goals. Ireland already played a significant role in the development and adoption of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. In 2014, the President of the UN General Assembly appointed Ireland’s then Ambassador to the United Nation in New York, H.E. David Donoghue, to co-lead intergovernmental negotiations on a new set of Sustainable Development Goals, with the Kenyan Ambassador Macharia Kamau. The objective of the SDG negotiations was to deliver an ambitious plan that would build on the success of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and aim to go further to eradicate poverty while reducing inequalities and tackling climate change and environmental degradation. In a historic moment on the 2^nd of August 2015, it was announced that Ireland and Kenya successfully brokered an agreement between 193 UN Member States and present a final document entitled: “Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.[3]

This year marks the halfway point in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2023 SDG Summit will be convened on 19-20 September 2023, during the United Nations General Assembly high-level week. This will be the second SDG Summit, since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda in September 2015. This year, heads of State and Government will carry out a comprehensive review of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The outcome of the Summit will be the negotiated political declaration, which will be drafted by the Permanent Representatives of Ireland and Qatar.

In advance of the SDG Summit, the annual High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) will take place in July 2023[4]. This forum will be convened under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council. The HLPF is the central UN platform for the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda at the global level. The theme of the 2023 HLPF will be “Accelerating the recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels”. This will be an important opportunity to identify particular areas of concern and to recommend policies, partnerships and coordinated actions at all levels.

H.E. Mythen takes on this ambitious role at a time when the SDGs have faced multiple and interlocking setbacks such as the COVID-19 pandemic, conflicts, and climate change. International leaders will have to navigate these challenges, under Ireland and Qatar’s leadership. They will provide high-level political guidance on accelerated actions to realise the implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals within this ambitious timeframe.

Ireland, a key actor at the inception of the SDGs, will now play yet another significant role in reviving global commitment to this essential universal call to action.