Taoiseach Micheál Martin has stated that the UN Security Council is more “dysfunctional” and divided now than it was during specific periods of the Cold War.
Speaking to Gript this week before a Cabinet meeting, the Taoiseach claimed the council in its current form is “not fit for purpose”.
“There were occasions in the past when you could get a consensus, when you could get motions passed through the Security Council,” he said.
“But that is, for many years now, it has been paralysed”.
A journalist for Gript questioned why the Taoiseach felt the body was not fit for purpose now given that the Soviet Union was “an extremely aggressive, expansionist entity” and a member of the council throughout the 20th century.
The Taoiseach replied that the council had become increasingly dysfunctional due to current members ignoring international law.
“We had a situation only recently where Iran was supporting Russia through the provision of drones to Russians to kill Ukrainians,” he said.
“And Russia was a member of the Security Council, and it had invaded Ukraine, and Iran supported it. And that’s how dysfunctional it has become, unfortunately”.
The Gript journalist then asked if the Taoiseach would say it would have been easier to get consensus during the height of the Cold War.
Martin replied that this was the case “at times,” noting that even during the Cold War “there were channels” of communication and productive diplomacy.
“But Russia has changed a lot even since then,” he said.
“And obviously the Cold War was not a good period either in international relations. But certainly, we are at, you know, in terms of globally, in terms of multilateral-based rules, we’re in a very dangerous and unsatisfactory position”.
The UN Security Council consists of five permanent members with veto power: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Ireland recently completed a two-year term as an elected member of the Security Council in 2021-2022.
The Taoiseach has, in recent years, argued that the lack of consensus on the UN Security Council has stalled Ireland’s use of the Triple Lock for overseas peacekeeping deployments, as the Government is required by law to receive the approval of the Security Council before it can deploy more than 12 Defence Forces personnel abroad.
This is at odds with previous statements he has made on the subject, however.
During a Dáil debate on December 18th 2013, while serving in opposition, Micheál Martin strongly condemned attempts to weaken the Triple Lock system.
“Earlier this year, Minister Shatter signalled that he would try to water down Ireland’s commitment to the Triple Lock, which is the core of our neutrality,” he said.
“He presented the idea that it was contradictory, and that we were giving unsavoury countries a veto over our actions. This is an argument which has been behind the efforts of a wing of Fine Gael to erode neutrality over the years. I and my party completely reject this.”
He continued: “Yes, the United Nations isn’t working as it should, but we must not abandon it as an essential part of the international system.”
Martin expressed comparable views earlier that year, on June 25th, when he resisted suggestions from the then-Defence Minister Alan Shatter to relax the triple lock requirements for international military operations.
“It appears that Fine Gael is arguing that Ireland is failing in its European responsibilities and is allowing Russia and China to have a veto over our peacekeeping activities,” he said.
“This is nothing more than an out-of-touch ideological obsession on the part of Fine Gael which ignores the facts of Ireland’s international standing.”
He went on to defend the existing arrangement, insisting that the policy “works” and enjoys “complete popular legitimacy”, and therefore “there is no reason whatsoever to change it.”