Dermot Ahern sees himself as "a sort of honest broker" for the UN, writes Conor O'Clery in New York
The initiative for the high-profile role given to Ireland to promote United Nations reform came from the Irish Government, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said in New York yesterday.
"We felt that from our own strategic point of view that we needed to feed into the UN process," Mr Ahern said in an interview at the Irish Mission. When he led an Irish delegation to meet UN secretary general Kofi Annan in February, "we said we were somewhat worried about the lack of progress on the reform package," he said. "We said that as a small nation with a good history of adherence to the UN process we would make ourselves available and allow that resource to be used."
Mr Ahern was in New York for discussions with Mr Annan as one of four international envoys the UN secretary general appointed on Monday to promote his reform programme. The others are Ali Alatas, former foreign minister of Indonesia; Joaquin Chissano, former president of Mozambique; and Ernesto Zedillo, former president of Mexico.
Mr Ahern has been given responsibility for EU countries, eastern Europe, Russia and Israel. He said that he intended to visit all 47 capitals between now and September, when Mr Annan will present his far-reaching proposals to world leaders at a UN summit.
"With the government jet it is possible to do it," he said.
"During the EU presidency the Taoiseach on occasions visited three countries in one day. I was in Finland and Sweden on one day. I left home at six o'clock one morning and got home that evening."
As to who would pay the costs, Mr Ahern said that this issue had to be decided. "The UN will probably pay some reasonable expenses but Ireland's record in sharing costs in participation with the UN has been exemplary."
Mr Ahern revealed that on St Patrick's Day the 30 Irish ministers who visited world cities were provided with material to promote UN reform, and that the Taoiseach pressed US president George Bush on the issue in Washington.
A major test of Mr Annan's reforms will be the attitude of the US at a time when there is considerable American antipathy to the world body in the aftermath of the failure of Washington to secure UN backing for the invasion of Iraq. The UN secretary general has proposed an enlarged Security Council, a new body to replace the existing UN Human Rights Commission, a fresh commitment to ending world poverty and a sweeping overhaul of the UN bureaucracy.
Asked if his role as envoy for a foreign entity - albeit the UN - compromised his position as Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Ahern said: "I don't see any compromise. We are a very strong supporter of this package and there is nothing in the package that we don't agree with. I don't see my role in this as any different to what we've done over the years not only in the UN but in the EU."
He said he saw himself as "a sort of honest broker" for the UN. If there was any ulterior motive, it would be only to "enhance our international standing". One caveat he made was that "it has to be the case that small nations' influence is not lessened and small nations are not cast aside" in any reforms. As a small nation "we were worried that the whole concept of the UN would become less and less. We rely on the UN as a guarantor of foreign policy. The UN has been the cornerstone," he said.