UN General Assembly
1976

174. As a small nation which has experienced the economic and social problems arising from the absence of a well-developed industrial base, we in Ireland are in a position to appreciate to some degree the difficulties which the countries of the third world are seeking to overcome; and as a State member of the European Community we are associated with that Community's considerable efforts, of which the Lomé Convention is an important example, to improve economic relationships between developed and developing countries. 175. But this whole issue is one which demands action by the world community as a whole on a very large scale, and the task before us is immense. Pressing as our other problems may now appear to be, it is possible that from now into the next century this may be one of the greatest issues we have to face on this planet.