Government ministers have rejected criticism of the United Nations by President Michael D Higgins. Four members of Cabinet are in New York for high level meetings - with Eamon Ryan to address the UN Security Council today.
President Higgins claimed the UN was losing credibility and is unable to stop war and famine. Tánaiste Micheál Martin, meanwhile, wanted to focus on the positives of the bloc. "Millions and millions of people around the world would be destitute and very much the poorer without the United Nations and without agencies of the United Nations," he continued.
"So, I would have to say from my own personal observations as Minister for Foreign Affairs and as Taoiseach before that, that it is far from irrelevant and is very relevant to the lives of ordinary people all over Africa and the Middle East."
