Remarks by Micheál Martin, National Day of Commemoration, 10 July 2023

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Your Excellency, the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am delighted to see so many of you here today, and I regret missing the opportunity to meet you in my home place of Cork yesterday for the National Day of Commemoration ceremony.

Let me take this opportunity to welcome the recently arrived Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland, His Excellency Archbishop Montemayor who has embraced the additional role of Dean of the Diplomatic Corps.

I would also like to acknowledge and thank His Excellency Ambassador Mahraoui of Morocco – for so effectively and enthusiastically taking on the role of Acting Dean of the Diplomatic Corps for over six months.

I also warmly welcome the many of you who represent Embassies accredited to Ireland on a non-resident basis and have travelled to Dublin to be with us today.

This Commemoration day, as we reflect on our past, on the sacrifices and the successes that brought us here, I am reminded of the words of James Joyce:

“I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today.

I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day.”

This is true, not only of us as individuals, but also of the countries we represent.

We are at a moment of real jeopardy. The number and severity of the crises facing us is daunting. Our resources seem stretched and exhausted at times. The promise of a better future can seem naïve.

Trust is difficult right now. Trust between countries is strained, and within countries trust is being damaged by attacks on democracy. But we owe it to future generations to take a breath, break our challenges down to manageable steps and to not just proceed, but succeed.

This we can do only if we trust, and commit. Ireland knows that if we do this, if we trust, and commit, we can overcome our greatest challenges.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement which was born out of such a vision by the sustained work of leaders from across these islands.

By trust here, I mean doing what we say we will do. Living our values as nations and honouring our pledges.

We have some way to go before we achieve this trust fully. It is not easy, interests collide and the pressures can be great. But we can and we must keep going forward together.

Next week I will travel to South Africa and Mozambique, and would like to devote some time with you today focusing on the importance of Africa in our shared future. I am convinced that, in the decades ahead, the development of Europe and the development of Africa will be very closely linked.

When I think of the future, first and foremost I think of young people – Africa is the region with the youngest and fastest growing population. Africa is bringing new music, art, technological innovation, ways of thinking and energy. In Ireland we are very proud of our creative industries and we look with excitement at what is emerging in all of these fields driven by young Africans and people of African heritage.

I am thinking for example, about this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale. It was curated by Lesley Lokko, from Ghana and Scotland, focused on Africa. It was rightly titled ‘The Laboratory of the Future’.

The potential Africa brings as a diverse continent is immense: the huge potential of the African Continental Free Trade Area; Africa’s vast potential in renewable energy and green transition materials; the impressive growth rates that African countries have managed to achieve, even against a challenging global backdrop.

How all of us, Europeans, Africans and the global community, build trusting and equal partnerships will shape the future of the world.

We have some work to do – we do not always get it right, but we can and should persist in learning from and with each other. After all, we know from our own experience that development is not a simple linear experience.

I believe that the best way to build lasting trust is through dialogue. For Ireland this means upholding our commitment to multilateralism and the rules-based international order, with the UN at its core.

As a country we are deeply proud of the service of our peacekeepers and we are proud of the trust you have placed in them – they are the frontline of Ireland’s commitment to multilateralism.

On this day, every year, we pause and remember all those we have lost. This year we have Private Seán Rooney who lost his life in service in Lebanon, and his family, at the forefront of our thoughts.

Commitment requires courage, but it also means acknowledging where the existing international frameworks are not building trust, where they are not the solid foundation we need them to be.

I am reminded of the support we received from African Members of the UN General Assembly during our term on the Security Council. Much of the multilateral architecture put in place almost eight decades ago has served the international community well.

But our international institutions need to better reflect today’s realities: of a UN family with 193 Member States, more than a quarter of them African. I believe that responding to change will build our trust, not weaken it.

On this National Day of Commemoration, we cannot but think of all the lives lost in wars worldwide, especially on our own continent, in Ukraine.

Russia’s illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine, in blatant violation of the UN Charter, has fundamentally challenged the multilateral system itself. It is with that clear understanding that Ireland’s unequivocal and steadfast support for the people and Government of Ukraine, has been expressed and implemented.

As you know, while Ireland is a militarily neutral country, we have not been politically or morally neutral in the face of Russia’s abhorrent aggression. We can and do speak up for our values.

We have provided almost €200 million in bilateral support for Ukraine since February 2022. This includes stabilisation and humanitarian support as well as non-lethal military assistance through the European Peace Facility.

And we have welcomed almost 90,000 Ukrainians , equivalent to 1.8% of our population.

They have been welcomed with open arms and open hearts by the Irish people, and they have enriched our communities. We will continue to welcome them for as long as they need.

Many millions of Ukrainians have found temporary refuge across Europe, as they flee the brutal and unprovoked attack on their own homes. European unity in response to this war has been unprecedented, and we must ensure that it endures as we enter a critical phase of this war.

Ireland knows and values the unity of the European Union in building trust between nations. We have relied on it ourselves in our own recent history – the EU continues to provide a solid path for our own future and we will continue to be a strong voice for Ukraine in the EU.

We must ensure that Ukraine receives all necessary support in the coming weeks and months, as it continues to suffer Russian bombardments, and exercises its inherent right to self-defence – as recognised by the UN Charter.

In some quarters, there has been a certain perception that Europe may have turned its attention from Africa to focus on our own challenges, whether through the COVID-19 pandemic or Russia’s war in Ukraine.

I can be very clear: Ireland is a steadfast partner of Africa.

We are fully committed to our partnership, and the EU’s partnership, with Africa. We are fulfilling our obligations to Ukraine, yes. But in doing so, we have not diverted a single euro from our international development programme away from Africa.

We view our obligations to Ukraine and to Africa as mutually reinforcing, not mutually exclusive.

I know that many of our African partners also stand by Ukraine in defence of the UN Charter and the rules-based international order. Many have stood up against the unprovoked and illegal use of force by one nation against its neighbour. I want to acknowledge and express my appreciation for that solidarity. I know that it is not necessarily easy.

Ireland sees our commitment to promoting and protecting human rights as a cornerstone of what we want to leave behind for future generations.

This year marks a series of anniversaries for the global human rights framework, 75 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 30th anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.

We see our place in the world as one that goes far beyond our immediate neighbourhood – we are interconnected in people, in trade, in our multilateral relationships far beyond those physically closest to us.

Since the adoption in 2018 of the Global Ireland Strategy, the government has been committed to doubling Ireland’s global footprint and impact by 2025, including through the opening of 26 new diplomatic missions.

Regional strategies – including in Africa, the US and Canada, the Asia Pacific region, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Nordic region – are bringing focus to our ambitions on a regional level, building also on the work of new missions in, among other locations, Dakar, Santiago, Bogotá and Wellington.

This investment from Government is being matched by Irish companies who are equally ambitious and are looking beyond our traditional markets, such as the EU and North America, to further afield in Asia Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

I also look forward to announcing our first Middle East and North Africa regional strategy later this year.

It will provide a framework for Ireland's important work in the MENA region, and I look forward to visiting the region in September.

Ireland continues to attach significant priority to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I have been deeply troubled by the negative trajectory over recent months and years, including increasing violence and civilian casualties. Deepening our bilateral relations strengthens our capacity to engage in a full and frank exchange with all partners on this issue, which I intend to raise during my forthcoming visit. I remain firmly of the view that the only way to deliver just, lasting and comprehensive peace and security is through relaunching meaningful negotiations between the parties on realising a two-State solution.

When we look to Africa, over just the last five years we have opened a further three Embassies on the continent, further widening our footprint. We have also added to the staffing of our now 14 Embassies across the African continent, so that we are at the same time deepening our presence also.

I participated in the EU-AU Summit in Brussels last year, which brought together the leaders of our two continents with a common purpose: to build a closer and more effective partnership. We agreed an ambitious set of commitments and I know both the EU and AU and our respective member states are working to deliver these.

Next week, in South Africa and Mozambique, I look forward to building on our excellent relations with both countries, particularly with respect to our political, cultural and economic relations.

In both countries, as well as meeting government representatives, I will meet with some of the growing number of Irish companies who are expanding their presence in these strategic markets, as well as some African companies that are invested in Ireland.

I look forward to seeing the important contributions that Irish people have made to their adopted lands, much as the people of so many African countries have contributed so richly to the fabric of modern Irish society.

I am excited to share Ireland’s experiences and to learn from others. At the heart of Ireland’s transformation in the last 50 years has been our transition to being an open trading economy. And just as importantly, our transition to being an open and inclusive society.

For me, two factors have been central to those transformations – education and regional economic integration, through our membership of the European Union.

Realising the potential of both took some time, but when we did, they have made all the difference. And they have been bolstered by enormous advances in gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

Mutually beneficial trade and investment has been at the heart of Ireland’s journey, as I am confident it will be for the countries of Africa, particularly as the almost boundless potential of the African Continental Free Trade Area begins to be realised over the years ahead.

I am delighted that trade between Ireland and Africa is at an all-time high, reaching almost €8 billion in 2021. The opportunity to expand this economic partnership and generate sustained, inclusive economic growth is immense.

An important part of my visit next week will also be to see some of our international development partnerships in action. Ireland is proud to have played a significant role in the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development and the agreement on the Sustainable Development Goals (the SDGs) in 2015.

We are now halfway through the lifespan of the Goals and we have to be honest and acknowledge that progress has not been as we would like it.

There have been major setbacks on poverty indicators. There is serious work to be done here. In some cases, progress has been lost whether through the impacts of conflict, fragility, climate change, or the pandemic. But we have the chance now to redouble our commitments to 2030.

I know that Ireland, as co-facilitator of negotiations on the Summit’s political declaration, will again have your strong support to achieve an ambitious result which recognises the urgency of the situation.

A key part of returning to the progress we want on the SDGs will be the scaling up of financing, including addressing issues related to debt. Here again we have an opportunity to build trust between us and we should embrace it.

An area of real challenge in making progress on the Goals has been around nutrition and food security. The food security situation worldwide remains alarming, especially in Africa.

This year, Ireland will provide some almost a quarter of a billion euro on nutrition and agri-food initiatives through our international development programme.

We are redoubling our work with partners, including USAID in Malawi and the Horn of Africa, to tackle severe malnutrition, especially in young children, and to underscore our commitment to longer term transformation of the global food system.

I also want to emphasise the government’s clear commitment to scaling up our response to climate change. How we respond now will have a real impact on the lives of those who come after us.

In our approach to international climate action, Ireland prioritises the needs of countries and communities which have done least to contribute to climate change, but which are most vulnerable to its impacts.

We fully recognise that climate finance is an important enabler for developing countries to build resilience to climate change and to pursue low-carbon development pathways.

I want to repeat to you today our commitment to achieving the target to provide at least €225 million in climate finance per year by 2025.

This represents a more than doubling of our climate finance. In addition to scaling up our climate finance, Ireland will also continue to advocate for those who are most vulnerable to climate change and who are at risk of being left behind.

I was honoured to lead Ireland’s delegation to COP27 in Egypt towards the end of last year, where we were successful in agreeing the establishment of the Loss and Damage fund, among other milestones.

I want to thank you for the trust you placed in Ireland throughout those negotiations.

In conclusion, today, our National Day of Commemoration is for us a reminder that no matter how many, and how deep, the challenges we face, they can be overcome – through the common purpose we forge and collectively deliver on.

What we do today, will be what future generations have to build on.

We owe them the very strongest foundations we can set – based on the highest principles, the strongest relationships, and the most effective multilateral institutions.

I wish to personally thank you all, our friends and partners, for being here with us on this important day, and to reflect our sincere appreciation and respect, I now ask you to join me in raising your glasses to the Heads of State represented here today.