The broken UN, and Ireland's role: 'There's cynicism among member states towards our so-called neutrality'

The broken UN, and Ireland's role: 'There's cynicism among member states towards our so-called neutrality'

The absence of a coherent international response to the crises in Gaza and Ukraine has raised questions about what used to be called the international rules-based order. Does it still exist at all, or has the reality of raw military and economic power trumped every other consideration?


Against that backdrop, what role, if any, does the United Nations have to play? And what is Ireland's role within the UN?


On today's podcast Niall McCann, who recently left the United Nations Development Programme after more than a decade working throughout the UN system in positions in Africa, Europe and the Middle East, talks to Hugh about what he found at the UN, why it isn't working and how he thinks it should be reformed.


He also explains why Ireland's standing within the UN is lower than is sometimes suggested.



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Episoder(1005)

Pressure builds on Labour as austerity bites: Collapse, part two

Pressure builds on Labour as austerity bites: Collapse, part two

Inside Politics is coming to Galway in May for a live recording. Get your tickets here.In part two of this three-part series on Labour's harrowing experience in government from 2011 to 2016, Pat Leahy...

6 Apr 43min

Collapse: How Labour went from boom to bust

Collapse: How Labour went from boom to bust

Inside Politics is coming to Galway in May for a live recording. Get your tickets here.When Labour came to power in 2011 Ireland was in the depths of an economic crisis that had several more years to ...

3 Apr 44min

Is Ireland taking anti-Semitism seriously enough?

Is Ireland taking anti-Semitism seriously enough?

Oliver Sears, founder of Holocaust Awareness Ireland, joins Hugh to talk about his growing alarm at the rise of anti-Semitism in Ireland and what he sees as the failure to take it seriously. They disc...

1 Apr 1h 3min

Government can't help helping as fuel costs soar; and how many TDs are too many?

Government can't help helping as fuel costs soar; and how many TDs are too many?

This week the Government decided to unveil a €250 million package to help citizens meet the elevated cost of fuel. And this could be just the start of a series of new efforts to keep down the cost of ...

27 Mar 46min

Was Seán Lemass really Ireland's greatest taoiseach?

Was Seán Lemass really Ireland's greatest taoiseach?

Seán Lemass is remembered as the man who changed Ireland.Several opinion polls have noted Lemass as the country's most admired taoiseach.He never left any papers of autobiography, but rather twenty-tw...

25 Mar 47min

'In the pocket of US multinationals': How is Ireland seen by Europe?

'In the pocket of US multinationals': How is Ireland seen by Europe?

Eoin Drea is a senior researcher at the Wilfried Martens Centre, the official think tank of the European People’s Party (of which Fine Gael is a member), and an occasional contributor to the opinion p...

23 Mar 41min

In the shadow of the war in Iran, inflation and energy costs look set to climb ever higher

In the shadow of the war in Iran, inflation and energy costs look set to climb ever higher

Ellen Coyne and Jack Horgan-Jones join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:· Israeli strikes on Iranian natural gas infrastructure marked an escalation in the US-Israeli war on Ira...

20 Mar 44min

The Taoiseach in the court of the mad king

The Taoiseach in the court of the mad king

Taoiseach Michel Martin has been meeting US president Donald Trump as part of the annual St Patrick’s Day pageantry. Martin once again faced the challenge of outlining Ireland’s positions on issues fr...

18 Mar 30min

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