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    Taoiseach to attend High-Level Week at the United Nations

The Taoiseach will travel to New York to attend High-Level Week at the United Nations.

On Monday he will address a Summit on the Strategic Development Goals, the UN’s shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet by 2030. With progress towards achieving the Goals behind schedule, he will urge Leaders at the Summit to redouble their efforts to secure them.

On Tuesday, he will attend the opening of the UN’s 78th General Assembly, at which he will have a number of meetings, formal and informal, with counterparts from around the world in the margins. He will deliver Ireland’s National Statement to the Assembly on Friday.

While in New York, he will also have a bilateral programme that includes meetings with young Irish people in the tech sector; an address to the Council of Foreign Relations in which he will reflect on Irish foreign policy priorities; and a lunch at which he will express the Government’s gratitude to the Ireland Funds for its continuing work and commitment. He will also visit the Irish Arts Center which is hosting an exhibition of work by artist Colin Davidson.

While in the US, the Taoiseach will travel to Miami, where he will officially open Ireland’s 9th Consulate General in the States and meet with representatives of the Irish community there.

Speaking ahead of the visit the Taoiseach said:

"My visit to the United Nations comes at a time of critical challenge for the world. Ireland has been centrally involved in developing and implementing the Sustainable Development Goals which were adopted in 2015. Progress towards achieving them has been set back by the pandemic, the consequences of conflict, including in Ukraine, and by the increasing pace and ferocity of extreme weather events. I will be urging Leaders to make maximum use of the time ahead to make up this lost ground, and to really focus on ensuring we reach the targets we have set ourselves by 2030. The world’s most vulnerable people in particular, are depending on us.

"I am also greatly looking forward to renewing contacts with the Irish community in New York, including young people working in tech, and Board Members of the Irish Funds who have done so much to promote peace and reconciliation in Ireland.

"I am also pleased to have the opportunity to officially open Ireland’s new Consulate General in Miami - our ninth in the United States, and a further signal of the Government’s commitment to continuing to deepen our diplomatic presence in the Americas."