The forecast in New York next week is for clear skies and mid-20s temperatures, but a dark cloud will hang over the United Nations (UN) building as world leaders gather for what is, ostensibly, an 80th anniversary celebration of the organisation.
A worsening liquidity crisis combined with the loudening scepticism of US president Donald Trump and a recognition that the UN has become too bloated are contributing to the downbeat atmosphere.
“Some call it the World Cup of Diplomacy,” UN secretary general António Guterres said in his welcoming remarks. “But this cannot be about scoring points. It must be about solving problems. There is too much at stake. We are gathering in turbulent, even uncharted waters.
“Geopolitical divides widening, conflicts raging, impunity escalating, our planet overheating, new technologies racing ahead without guardrails; inequalities widening by the hour and international co-operation straining under pressures unseen in our lifetimes.”
RM Block
Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris will lead Ireland’s delegation at the UN General Assembly in a week when they will continue to press home the Government’s stance on Gaza.
They will also emphasise Ireland’s continuing solidarity with Ukraine while calling out the global implications of Russia, a permanent member of the UN, invading a neighbouring state.
Another key message from the Irish party will seek to draw attention to the humanitarian crisis caused by conflict in Sudan.
Ireland is seeking election to the Human Rights Council for the 2027-2029 term and the Tánaiste will launch the Government’s priority themes, including conflict resolution, the denial of human rights and the collective responsibility to find a will to tackle the challenges outlined by Guterres in his opening address.
The UK and France are expected to formally recognise the statehood of Palestine on the first day of the conference, which will be dominated by a state and governmental level conference co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia on the question of Palestine and the implementation of the two-state solution. That conference was originally scheduled in June, but was postponed with the outbreak of the Iran-Israel conflict.
As one of the more outspoken UN members in recognising Palestine as a state, Ireland’s delegation arrives at this high-level week having led the crowd.
“We were an outlier at one stage,” says Dan Mulhall, who served as Ireland’s ambassador to the US during Trump’s first term.
“We are not any more. You now have France and the UK planning to recognise Palestine. That puts everything into a different context. Their moves are more significant than anything we might do.
“However it happened, a lot of the European parliaments are now moving to the place that Ireland occupied originally. We were leaders along with Spain and Norway in that regard.
“And I always say you are far better off in company. It may make you feel good to be out there cutting a dash and apart from the pack. It was brave thing to do. But the more effective thing is to be part a group of countries that can make a difference.
“The whole scene has changed dramatically over the past couple of years – because of the terrible things that have happened in Gaza.”
Having experienced the General Assembly high-level week annually during his tenure in Washington, Mulhall is familiar with the reality that the intense week of conferences and talks invariably can have a deadening effect.
“There are about 190 speeches given, and most are ignored. The auditoriums are pretty empty and the majority make no impact really.
“It is seen as a great expression of foreign policy by, you know, ourselves and every country at the UN: an annual speech that is given and expresses that country’s point of view on a whole range of issues.
“But the reality is that it is only noticed by the domestic media of that country, to a large degree. There are certain countries, of course, that people will take note of.
“The UN is obviously not what it was meant to be when it was originally established. I think most people feel it needs to be reformed rather than abandoned. I mean, what the UN secretary general says about things doesn’t seem to have count for as much as it once did, and certainly has had zero effect in relation to Gaza.”
The prevailing tone will be set by Tuesday’s address by Trump. A significant reduction in US funding has forced the UN to shave about $500 million (€425 million) from its 2026 budget, with overall staff numbers expected to be cut by about a fifth.
In a recent op-ed piece, former UN under-secretary general Martin Griffiths argued that the body had no shortage of brilliant, dedicated staff on the ground and said blaming the deadlocking powers of the Permanent Five members of the Security Council – the US, China, Russia, France and Britain – as the chief cause of inertia and lack of reform was too simple.
“No, this new lack of relevance stems from a collapse in the UN’s most precious resource: its courage,” he wrote in the Guardian.
“The courage to lead. The courage to bring warring parties together. The courage to find solutions that combat impunity and are enforceable. The courage to try, and if necessary to fail, and try again.”
Having twice met Trump during his first term, Guterres has yet to receive an invitation to the White House this year.
The US Department of State has issued a statement outlining that secretary Marco Rubio’s message will include discussing “the need for the UN to get back to basics, reorienting the organisation to its origins as an effective tool for advancing peace, not a bloated bureaucracy that compromises national sovereignty and pushes destructive ideologies like DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion].”
Allowing that he would be “delighted” to meet the US president next week, Guterres seemed to indicate the sense of powerlessness that has pervaded the mindset when he alluded to the necessity of the goodwill of the United States in assisting with the 120 global conflicts, the highest number since the end of the second World War.
“But we have no carrots and no sticks,” Guterres said.
“And as we have no carrots and no sticks in a world in which we have the geopolitical divides that we have, it’s extremely difficult to make the protagonists of the present conflicts understand the need to come to peace.
“Now the United States has carrots and sticks. So in some situations if you are able to combine the two, I think we can have a very effective way to make sure that some peace processes at least can lead to a successful result.”
