UN General Assembly
1964

11. I would appeal to the representatives here present, particularly the representatives of the smaller States, to remember that if the United Nations were to fail, as the League of Nations failed, it is not the great Powers which would be the first to feel its loss. Rather it would be the weaker States, bereft as we would be of the protection and support afforded by the moral influence of this Organization. The Irish people, which had to fight for its personal and national rights for over seven centuries against great odds and practically without assistance, recognizes that it was the influence of this Organization more than any other factor which brought freedom to half its Members. It is because we are keenly aware of the value of the United Nations as the protector of weak nations and the friend of the poor, and our own best hope for the security and reunification of the Irish nation, that our people are prepared to do their share and, if necessary, something more than their share, to support the United Nations in its peace-keeping activities.