Ongoing invasions in Ukraine and Gaza are jeopardising peacekeeping missions
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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing fighting in Gaza has demonstrated “the potential to paralyse” the UN Security Council, the chief of staff of the Irish Defence Forces has said.
Lieutenant General Seán Clancy, who takes a top EU job next year, told a seminar on the partnerships between Nato, UN, and the EU in the Belgian Ambassador's residence that given Ireland’s history of peacekeeping it is a “matter of concern” that the Security Council has not established a new peacekeeping operation in over a decade.
“I am conscious of the need to enhance the EU’s relationship with the UN,” he said. “A relationship that the UN recognises as a key to its action for peacekeeping.
Last month, it was announced Lieutenant General Clancy had been elected as the incoming chair of the powerful European Union Military Committee.
He will assume the role in May 2025, and it is seen as coming at a crucial time for the role given Russian’s continued aggression in Ukraine, and the fears among neighbouring states over where Vladimir Putin could target next.
At the seminar, Sweden’s ambassador to Ireland Lina Holmström Van Der Weyden asked Lt General Clancy if the transformation plan envisaged to bring much-needed change to the Defence Forces would continue under his stewardship until next May or would that work be carried on by his successor.
“I’ve made a very strong commitment that I will use this opportunity to accelerate, rather than decelerate, in terms of transformation,” he said. “We’ve delivered quite a lot to date. The timeline for the transformation was not going to be fulfilled within my tenure.
“This gives me the opportunity to accelerate further.”
Also addressing the seminar was Dr Rory Finegan, assistant professor in military history at Maynooth University, who suggested the UN Security Council is in a "Cold War redux". He added he believes very few peacekeeping missions will be mandated in future by the security council given the tensions between the US, China, and Russia.
He added Ireland has a “thorny” issue it must look at in the long term, which is the view from other countries that it is a “freeloader” and “laggard” in relation to defence.