The last time Carol Bellamy was in Dublin was 15 years ago, when as head of New York city council she came to see how the buses run here. Today, as the executive director of UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, she ranks with Mary Robinson as one of the most powerful women in UN politics.
In her address to the Department of Foreign Affairs seminar on aid yesterday, Ms Bellamy pressed the case for development aid to be channelled to multilateral organisations such as the UN.
Her arguments were closely monitored by Department officials and representatives of the aid agencies. At present, about one-third of Ireland's annual aid budget of £122 million goes to the UN and other international bodies, but many question the value for money these organisations provide.
Yesterday, she trenchantly defended the UN against claims that it was excessively bureaucratic, over-centralised and overpaid. "The UN is by no means the worst-run organisation in the world. It's far too easy to say that it is a bureaucracy."
UNICEF is currently undergoing an internal restructuring programme, which should result in substantial cost savings and increased efficiency, she said.
It has been reported that the new UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, wanted to merge the various UN bodies involved in development. However, Ms Bellamy says that what is now proposed is the creation of an over-reaching framework to ensure better co-ordination between the different bodies.
"We couldn't afford to lose the ability of the UN to act as an advocate for children," she says.
Ms Bellamy describes the appointment of Mrs Mary Robinson as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as "terrific". "The UN is lucky in that she promises to be clear, concrete, strong, careful and successful. She has a golden opportunity to enhance the relationship between UNICEF and the UNHCHR."
Born in 1942, Ms Bellamy is a child of the 1960s, and spent time with the Peace Corps in Guatemala. She was a lawyer and banker before switching to the public sector in New York. She has been head of UNICEF since 1995.
As the unofficial guardian of the world's children, many things worry her. Although development can claim many successes, and the economies of many poor countries are growing at present, the disparity between rich and poor is also growing at an ever-increasing rate.
"There are so many other impediments to development, for instance the amount of violence in the world, not just in wars but in the street and in families. Growing urbanisation makes it more difficult to define communities, aid levels are falling and there is an increasing lack of interest in development issues."