Sir, - Against all the odds, Brian Cowen has succeeded in securing a place for Ireland on the UN Security Council. His achievement offers us a unique opportunity to join with like-minded nations in achieving an overdue extension of the council's permanent membership.
When it was established in 1946, the United Nations had 51 members, of which five were permanent members, and six were non-permanent members, of the Security Council. Today membership of the United Nations has risen to 188 nations. The majority of these nations have been effectively relegated to quasi-observer status; a mere 43 of the 188 member states have served once on the Security Council and as many as 79 have never held one of the 10 non-permanent seats on the council.
Ireland must use its new influence to further the claims of the nations of Africa, Asia and Latin America, so often the subjects of UN initiatives, to a voice in determining the shape and focus of such initiatives. A Security Council in which members of G8, that exclusive club of the world's industrial nations, hold all but one of the permanent seats, is no longer acceptable. Empowerment of the Third World is an essential element of a viable reform programme that will restore legitimacy to the UN.
Mr Cowen's remarkable diplomatic coup owed much to the support of developing nations. It behoves us to ensure that their confidence in Ireland is not misplaced. - Yours, etc.,
Noel Coghlan, Hillcrest Park, Lucan, Co Dublin.