Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee has welcomed a renewed and “conciliatory” US commitment to the transatlantic relationship and signs that Washington is open to reform the United Nations.
At the Munich Security Conference (MSC) on Saturday, dominated by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and the future of Iran, McEntee did not rule out the possibility Ireland could sign up to a French proposal to extend its nuclear shield to protect other nations.
McEntee was upbeat after US secretary of State Rubio’s address, describing Europe as an essential partner for the US. However, Rubio said Europe must follow the Trump administration’s shifts on security, economics and migration policy – and abandon its “climate cult”.
McEntee said this echoed views of other Trump administration officials she met recently in Washington, that “there are challenges but that the relationship between the US and EU is essential”.
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“I think his speech was conciliatory, though there were clearly conflicts still there,” she said. “He talked about climate change as if it was not real. You only have to look at home and see people’s cars under water in the last week to know that the environment is changing and that we really do need to step up.”
McEntee said the last tense year in transatlantic relations, from trade threats to the Greenland crisis, “has shown us how much more we need to be united ... and more ambitious in Ireland and in the EU.
“Europe is united and needs to stay united and needs to step up when it comes to our overall security.”
In his address Rubio said the US had intervened in Gaza, Ukraine, Venezuela and elsewhere in part as response to a “powerless” UN.
Unlike more derogatory Trump administration remarks in the past, however, McEntee took heart at how Rubio said the UN “still has tremendous potential to be a tool for good in the world”.
“The way I took it, he said it needs to be reformed,” said McEntee. “The UN has served us extremely well ... but we all agree that there is change and reform needed to reform it from within to reflect the world we live in now.”
Amid ongoing concerns over Russia, and its future ambitions in Europe, McEntee did not rule out Ireland being part of a French-lead nuclear deterrent shield, as floated by French president Emmanuel Macron on Friday. She said this could fit into a broader push – backed by the Government and the wider population – to participate more in common European security plans.
“Where we can within our Constitution, within our parameters, where we can do more and be part of more, that’s where I want us to be,” she said. “Anything that is proposed, there will always be a need for us to look and see if this is something we can be a part of.”
McEntee said the upcoming maritime security strategy would address growing security and environmental concerns over a Russian-steered “shadow fleet” in European waters.
The Minister said strategy would “most likely be boarding [a] ship as opposed to seizing it”.
She said Ireland was open, too, to tapping EU funding pots to become a player in the defence field – in particular drone and drone-countering capabilities – without impacting the country’s tradition of neutrality.
“We don’t have a defence sector for all the obvious reasons,” she said, “but it is not to say that we cannot have businesses in Ireland involved in the defence sector.”
Asked about Government and Oireachtas dependency on Microsoft software and web services, McEntee said such platforms were “hugely beneficial and allow us to do more than we have ever done before, but there are risks to it”.
European digital sovereignty has featured prominently this year in Munich, following accusations by the International Court of Justice that Microsoft blocked service access to a chief prosecutor facing US sanctions – charges the US company denies.
“It is about diversifying, not moving away from any one company, brand or platform,” said McEntee, “and making sure we have the right types of structures to mitigate those impacts.”
In bilateral meetings McEntee flagged Ireland’s ambitions in its upcoming EU presidency on Ukraine and in the Middle East.
“We will use our voice and do what we can on Ukraine,” she said.
On the postwar situation in Israel, McEntee described as “appalling that Israel was not allowing enough humanitarian aid into the West Bank”. Though Ireland would not join the Trump-lead Board of Peace, and its efforts in the region, McEntee said: “We want to be as active and engaged as we can, given our past history”.
In Munich McEntee met the foreign ministers of Iceland, Moldova and Palestine and the defence ministers of Lithuania and Switzerland as well as United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Middle East (Unrwa) and Kent Walker, Google’s president of global affairs and chief legal officer.
