UN General Assembly
2013

The membership of this Organization has conferred primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security on the Security Council. Accordingly, we look to the Council to show leadership in response to international crises. Membership of the Council is a privilege for any State, and Ireland has been honoured to serve on it on a number of occasions. But the permanent members of the Security Council have a special responsibility to work together in a way that enables the United Nations to live up to the commitments made in its Charter. When the United Nations fails, or delays action, we are all the poorer for such setbacks. But when the United Nations works, we can achieve great things together. And those successes, such as the definition of a post-2015 development agenda, should serve as an inspiration and a springboard for the international community’s responses to the other great challenges of our time.