Security Council

The Security Council is the primary UN organ for the maintenance of international peace and security. Ireland has been proud to serve as one of the 15 Members of the Security Council on four previous occasions: in 1962, 1981–1982, 2001-2002 and 2021-2022.

Ireland was elected to the UN Security Council for its fourth term in 2020, running in the Western European and Others Group against Norway and Canada. We served on the Council as an elected member from 2021-2022. During this term, Ireland lived up to its pledge to be an inclusive, ambitious, and responsive Security Council member.

Ireland’s two-year term on the UN Security Council was underpinned by three core principles:

• building peace, including strengthening UN peacekeeping and peacebuilding globally;
• strengthening conflict prevention, by addressing factors that drive conflict;
• ensuring accountability, through working to end impunity for those responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.

The two years Ireland spent on the Security Council were marked by a myriad of crises – from the Taliban takeover of Kabul, to the crisis in Ethiopia, to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Amidst these crises, Ireland lived up to its pledge to be an inclusive, ambitious, and responsive Security Council member, and led a number of key resolutions and initiatives that will improve the work of the Council, as well as the experience of peacekeepers and humanitarians on the ground, in the years to come.

Ireland continues to engage actively as a non-Council member, participating in open debates and advocating for reform and increased transparency of the Council. Read Ireland's recent statements before the Security Council.