Editor's introduction: Ireland and the United Nations—after 50 years of membership

Abstract

This issue of Irish Studies in International Affairs is primarily concerned with marking the 50th anniversary of Ireland's membership of the United Nations, which occurred in December 2005. The volume draws from papers presented at the November 2005 annual conference of the RIA's National Committee for the Study of International Affairs and from some others submitted directly to the journal. The papers reflect the diversity of Ireland's engagement with the UN system and also the key issues facing the United Nations today. The challenges facing the UN were highlighted in the aftermath of the failure of the New York summit in September 2005 either to agree on fundamental reform of the UN's structures or to provide an impetus for the wealthy states within the UN to increase their financial commitment to development in a bid to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These goals had been agreed five years earlier at a similar summit, but they are increasingly unlikely to be met--especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Irish minister for foreign affairs Dermot Ahern, in a contribution drawing on his opening address to last year's conference at the RIA, sets out the place of the United Nations in Irish foreign policy. His paper ranges across matters such as structural reform, non-proliferation, the responsibility to protect human rights and the MDGs, and in doing so it provides a comprehensive statement of Ireland's position on the wide variety of issues confronting the UN in the aftermath of the 2005 New York summit. Mark Malloch Brown, chef de cabinet to the secretary-general of the United Nations, presents an interesting analysis of the challenges facing the United Nations in the aftermath of the attacks of 11 September 2001 and the subsequent US-led 'war on terrorism', from the perspective of someone at the heart of the UN secretariat. As with the minister's paper, this article is based on Mr Malloch Brown's address to the annual conference of the National Committee for the Study of International Affairs, which was most grateful that he travelled from New York to speak. It was an extremely well received contribution, and I am pleased to be able to publish it here for a wider audience. Lieutenant-General Jim Sreenan, the chief of staff of the Irish Defence Forces, addresses what has been the most visible aspect of Ireland's UN commitments for most Irish people-Irish military involvement in UN peacekeeping and peacesupport operations. Richard Heaslip and David O'Donoghue's articles analyse in