United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan described Ireland as one of the most effective UN member states, at a lunch at the UN headquarters in New York yesterday to mark 50 years of Ireland's membership of the organisation.
"Ireland has been very active in the UN, especially in peacekeeping. As we speak, you have brave Irish men and women working with the UN peacekeeping operation in Liberia. . . I don't know what the UN would have been like over the past 50 years without your contribution," he said.
Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern said the UN has been the cornerstone of Ireland's foreign policy and that the State's participation in the European Union's emerging foreign and security policy complements and enhances its UN commitment.
"The United Nations is as indispensable today as it was the day it was founded. It represents the entire human family and can at different times reflect all that is noblest and, unfortunately, all that is most base in humanity. We cannot ignore its shortcomings. But neither should we turn away from it because of them," he said.
Yesterday's lunch, which was organised by Glucksman Ireland House, came at the start of Mr Ahern's seventh visit to the US this year. In Washington today, he will meet secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, Senator Edward Kennedy and US special envoy for Northern Ireland Mitchell Reiss.
Mr Ahern will seek fresh assurances that no aircraft involved in "rendition" - transferring prisoners to third countries for interrogation - have landed at Irish airports. "We have no evidence that any plane of that sort came to Ireland and we've made it clear to the Americans that we would not support that. . .We will not allow our territory to be used in breach of international norms and laws," he told The Irish Times.
Mr Ahern welcomed a proposal from President George W Bush to increase the number of green cards offered to immigrants to the US but said he was disappointed that Mr Bush's plan for temporary worker visas did not include an automatic path to citizenship.
The Minister welcomed the formation of a new Irish-American immigration lobbying group, led by Irish Voice publisher Niall O'Dowd and former congressman Bruce Morrison. The Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform hopes to use the political influence of Irish-America in support of immigration reform that could benefit undocumented Irish citizens.