Taoiseach urges support for vaccine rollout to developing countries

Taoiseach Micheál Martin urged support for international efforts to roll out vaccines to developing countries as he told the United Nations General Assembly that the Covid-19 pandemic has "cast a shadow over our world".

He said the crisis “caught the world off-guard” and put “into stark relief” how there has not been sufficient progress on reducing poverty, increasing access to quality health care and education, nor in combatting the climate crisis.

“Had we made more progress in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, our societies would have been more resilient, better prepared to weather the storm, and lives would have been spared,” Mr Martin said.

Mr Martin’s speech comes at the end of a five-day visit to New York during which he also led a Security Council debate on climate and security as part of Ireland’s presidency of the UN’s top table.

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Mr Martin referred to the General Assembly debate saying: “This week, in this hall, a series of alarms have sounded. They have sounded for conflict; they have sounded for Covid; they have sounded for climate.

“We have heard the alarms – now we must respond.

“I believe that this is what the General Assembly – our Assembly of Nations - was created to do – our purpose, our obligation.”

He told other world leaders that the pandemic has “deepened global inequality, even as it has heightened our sense of interdependence”.

He said: “The people of the world now look to us, to this General Assembly Hall, to act and to lead.

“We cannot let them down.”

Mr Martin said: “Let us commit to tackling this pandemic together, to make ‘leave no one behind’ more than a mere slogan.”

He said: “Vaccine inequity is a moral test for our global community.”

Vaccine donations

The Taoiseach urged all UN Member States to continue to support the Covax system for the global rollout of vaccines as “the only way we can meet the target of a fully vaccinated world by mid-2022”.

The General Assembly was told that Ireland is in the process of donating 1.3 million vaccine doses to low-income countries, mainly through Covax, with "a further significant donation planned in 2022".

Ireland’s support to global health since the outbreak of the pandemic has reached more than €200 million, Mr Martin said.

Mr Martin referred to Ireland’s membership of the UN Security Council for 2021 and 2022. He said: “We do not take this responsibility lightly. Our own experience of conflict on the island of Ireland has taught us that building peace is painstaking, long and often frustrating.”

Mr Martin said: “Progress has not always been possible. Too often, the council has been divided. It is a lesson hard learned that when we, in this building, are divided, it is the most vulnerable who suffer the consequences.”

He said that for many, the decade-long war in Syria is "is emblematic as the failure of the United Nations and of the Security Council in particular".

Mr Martin said: “On too many occasions, in the face of immense suffering, the council choose inaction.”

He said that along with Norway, "Ireland is leading work in the Security Council to ensure that humanitarian aid continues to reach all those who need it in Syria".

He highlighted a council resolution in July that ensures the continuation of a vital UN operation that provides aid to 3.4 million people in north-west Syria.

But he said what Syrians need most is a political solution.

In a wide-ranging speech outlining Ireland's foreign policy concerns and goals Mr Martin also told the General Assembly that Ireland has consistently urged the council to act in response to the deteriorating situation and violence in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.

UN resolution

The Taoiseach reiterated Ireland’s commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons and Ireland’s belief that a “just and lasting peace is possible” between Palestinians and Israelis through a two-state solution.

Mr Martin said “the world has watched in horror at the violence and chaos in Afghanistan”.

He said: “Millions of Afghans require urgent support, including those recently displaced by conflict, violence and intimidation.”

The international community has a responsibility to “stand with” Afghan women whose rights are threatened by the new Taliban regime, Mr Martin said.

Mr Martin highlighted how Irish peacekeepers have served on UN missions for more than six decades and more than 500 are currently deployed.

He said Ireland stands by the International Criminal Court as “the cornerstone of the international system of criminal justice”.

He reiterated Ireland’s belief that “climate change is the single greatest challenge facing our generation”.

The Taoiseach said: “Its impact is devastating on our environment and ecosystems and our collective security is at risk.

“We have seen, time and time again, that the most catastrophic impacts disproportionately affect the most vulnerable and the least responsible.

“We can see the adverse effects of climate change already exacerbating conflict and insecurity, compounding other drivers of conflict such as poverty, inequality and human rights violations.”

Ireland wants a UN resolution to make the link between climate change and conflict a permanent item on the Security Council's agenda though this is opposed by Russia, China and India.

Mr Martin said that Ireland will reduce its carbon emissions by 51 per cent by 2030 compared with 2018 levels and "along with our partners in the European Union, we will achieve net neutrality by 2050".

He said: “It is also critical that we meet our collective commitment to provide $100 billion in financing to developing countries.

“We cannot fail – our future depends on it.”