UN General Assembly
1994

and properly resourced, could rapidly acquire an expertise 18 and authority that would significantly enhance the peacemaking capabilities of the United Nations. The United Nations is now conducting more peace- keeping operations and has more personnel in the field than at any time in its history. Ireland is participating in many of these operations and devotes a significant proportion of its defence forces, and of its defence expenditure, to United Nations peace-keeping. That is one reason why my Government is particularly concerned at the under-funding of peace-keeping operations and at the failure of certain Member States to pay their assessed contributions. But there is a deeper and more important reason. The Secretary-General has pointed to the difficulty in finding personnel for the many new demands on United Nations peace-keeping. Recent experience has shown that a Security Council mandate no longer ensures that an operation will soon take place. I can think of nothing more serious or more damaging than the failure of the Organization quickly to mount an operation at the outbreak