FORMER TAOISIGH Liam Cosgrave and Dr Garret FitzGerald were among those in attendance in Iveagh House last night at the launch of Ireland at the United Nations: Memories of the Early Yearsby Noel Dorr.
Mr Dorr is a former Irish ambassador to the UN who later became secretary general at the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Describing him as “one of Ireland’s most distinguished-ever diplomats”, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said the author had done “an extremely valuable service to the Irish public” by writing the memoir.
The book illustrated “how Ireland has always punched above its weight” as a UN member state, the Minister said.
The book is published by the Institute of Public Administration, whose director general, Brian Cawley, said it provided a unique and insightful account of what had been called “the golden age of Irish diplomacy”.
Key figures like Frank Aiken, minister for external affairs 1957-69, and senior diplomats like FH Boland and Cornelius Cremin were brought to life.
Mr Dorr said that during the period of the 9/11 attacks in the US and the start of the Iraq war he realised that, although there was a “positive attitude” to the UN among the general public, there was also a lack of understanding about its workings. “I did want to try and explain it a bit better.”
Recalling the likes of Aiken, Boland, Cremin and Conor Cruise O’Brien, he said they were “giants on the earth” to a young diplomat who joined the service in January 1960.