Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee has said she does not see a situation where the Government agrees to join US president Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin did not rule out the possibility of Ireland’s involvement in the international board last week, as a way to influence its work around the reconstruction of Gaza.
“I think we’ve been very clear that we don’t see a situation where we will be joining,” Ms McEntee said on Thursday. “I don’t see any scenario, and we’ve been clear on that, where we would be members, or join the board.”
The US-led board was originally intended to focus on Gaza as part of a peace deal ending Israel’s two-year war in the Palestinian enclave fighting the Hamas militant group.
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A broadening of the new board’s remit, the powers invested in its chairman, Mr Trump, and the involvement of Russian leader Vladimir Putin as a member have led most European governments to reconsider signing up to the project. There are also concerns the board could be used by Mr Trump to undermine the position of the United Nations on the international stage.
[ Ireland’s reluctance to speak out against Trump’s Board of Peace is shamefulOpens in new window ]
“The board has met and they have obviously signed – those who wish to join the board. Ireland was not there, Ireland was not part of it,” Ms McEntee said. The Government would remain a “very vocal” supporter of the UN and its mandate, the Fine Gael Minister said.
Ms McEntee’s comments tally with a position expressed by Tánaiste Simon Harris last week, where the Fine Gael leader told the Dáil he did not see any scenario where Ireland signed up to the board as it was currently constructed.
France, the UK and a number of other European countries have similarly indicated they would not be accepting the invitation to sit on the board.
The US president is seeking $1 billion (€836 million) each from countries as the price of securing a permanent seat on the board, whereas other governments invited would serve on the body at the discretion of the chairman, Mr Trump.
[ Trump is ‘power-crazy’ and Board of Peace a delusion of power, Mary Robinson saysOpens in new window ]
Speaking in Brussels, Ms McEntee said a spotlight needed to remain on Gaza to address the dire humanitarian conditions on the ground there.
“The focus has to remain on ensuring that more aid gets in. People [are] quite literally starving, because there’s not enough food getting in,” she said.
“This has not been talked about enough, but we do need to work in whatever way that we can to move to the next stage of implementing the peace plan,” she said.
The amount of food and other aid getting to people in Gaza was “not anywhere near enough”, she said. “The weather is getting increasingly worse, where supplies are reducing – more access to life-saving medical aid is really needed more than ever,” she said.
It is understood negotiations are at a very advanced stage to reopen the Rafah crossing, the main route in and out of Gaza, which has remained mostly closed since May 2024.
An EU mission managing the crossing point, facilitating the movement of people and goods, is expected to be re-established before the end of this week.
Israel had committed to reopen the closed crossing as part of the US-brokered peace plan.
Ms McEntee, speaking before a meeting of EU foreign ministers, said Gaza would be firmly on the agenda during Ireland’s six-month term holding the rotating council of the EU presidency, in the second half of this year.
