The United Nations should be at the "heart" of attempts to rebuild Iraq at the end of the war, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Mr Dick Roche called for unity among UN members and said that the time had come to move beyond dissension in the Security Council.
"Given the divisions within the Security Council, we are now particularly concerned at potential damage to the UN system arising from the disunity of its members," he said at a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Affairs.
"The member-states of the UN, and particularly of the Security Council, must act to restore the authority of the Security Council. We expect the UN to play a major role in the post-conflict situation."
Mr Roche was speaking in place of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, who was at the Northern Ireland talks at Hillsborough, Co Down.
He said that the Government was "deeply concerned" by the threats posed by the Iraq crisis. "We are concerned at the threat which any weapons of mass destruction pose to international peace and security, at the threat of defiance, as posed to the Security Council, and at the threat to regional stability."
Ireland wanted the UN to be at the "heart" of the post-war reconstruction efforts and the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, wanted it to take an "important role". President George Bush and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, wanted the UN to have a "vital role".
Mr Roche said that "experienced agencies" should be responsible for the distribution of emergency relief. These included the World Food Programme, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and non-governmental agencies.
Separately, Mr Roche said that Irish soldiers would not be participating in the first European Security and Defence Policy mission in Macedonia. The Attorney General, Mr Rory Brady, had advised against participation because the mission had not been established by the UN. This remained so even though the UN was supporting the mission.
Asked by the committee chairman, Mr Gay Mitchell, whether Irish legislation could be changed to allow participation in the mission by the Army, Mr Roche said he believed that there was no appetite for such a change.