Taoiseach’s powerful and barnstorming UN speech is sure to bolster his legacy
TAOISEACH Micheál Martin visited the United Nations General Assembly this week and delivered what can only be considered a barnstorming performance. His perfectly judged and well-pitched argument, on the global stage, against the tyranny of might over right was a testament to a political tradition in which our island nation is well versed.
His linking of Ireland’s centenaries to the current geopolitical nightmare that is facing Europe was apposite, given the fact that Russia has mobilised its reserve troops only on two other occasions, both of which were upon entry into world wars.
Mr Martin, looking statesmanlike at the UN podium, managed to deliver a stinging rebuke to the despotic Vladimir Putin, who this week came across as a desperate leader imploring the West to believe that his nuclear threats are not a bluff.
The Taoiseach’s measured riposte showed that these threats, and actions during the Ukraine invasion that will potentially be judged as war crimes, placed Russia very much in the territory of a rogue state. This is no small position to take, given the obfuscation of many other world leaders in calling out heinous acts carried out by Russian troops.
His subsequent questioning of Russia’s position on the Security Council, giving it a strategic veto over its own censure, was an appropriate use of the voice Ireland currently enjoys as an elected member of that often criticised body.
As the Taoiseach correctly pointed out, this is not a local issue, because every small nation lying next to a much bigger and more powerful one must add its voice to the condemnation of Putin’s illegal acts.
Among many developing nations, there is the feeling that this is Europe’s problem, and Nato’s problem. Crucially, the Taoiseach evaded accusations of Western bias by sourcing his opinions firmly from the Ukrainians he personally spoke to while visiting the country recently. He also pitched his comments not in the obtuse language of diplomacy that often is the anodyne hallmark of such speeches, but in vivid first-hand imagery easily understood by a much wider audience. By laying out the facts as they are, he made it harder for Putin and his team of state propagandists to dismiss this surgical dissection of the so-called justification for this wretched and destructive war.
Events this week have made the world seem a scarier place. We face the spectre of a looming cold and dark winter of energy cuts and a cost of living crisis that shows no signs of abating any time soon. There is real fear in households, not just in Ireland, of the calamities a global recession might bring. And that’s before the prospect of a nuclear strike being raised by the Russian president.
Against this backdrop, there is some respite in seeing an Irish leader standing on an international stage to deliver a rallying cry the world can get behind.
This newspaper prides itself on holding the occupier of the office of Taoiseach to account for the multiple and varied issues under his charge. As such, we say this week that the current holder, Mr Martin, deserves due praise for this considered, robust and impactful contribution at a historic moment in time.
Notwithstanding what his future holds, this is likely to be the last time he addresses the UN General Assembly. Mr Martin’s legacy will be well bolstered by the powerful message he delivered on this occasion.