Geraldine Byrne Nason, Permanent Representative of Ireland to the United Nations and Security Council addresses the Security Council meeting on Non-proliferation June 30, 2021. (Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe)

By  Gary  Raynaldo    DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

UNITED NATIONS  –  NEW  YORK  –   Ireland’s current UN envoy Geraldine Byrne Nason will be heading to Washington DC later this year where she will  serve as Dublin’s ambassador to the United States.  Nason has been Ireland’s  Permanent Representative  to the UN since 2017.   Ambassador Nason will be replaced in the UN by Fergal Mythen who is an assistant secretary in the Department of Foreign Affairs.  Ireland’s current ambassador to the US is Dan Mulhall. In September, Ireland took over as President of the UN Security Council Wednesday for the month of September. Nason served as the President of the Security Council during that month.  Ambassador Nason became the first Irish woman Permanent Representative ever to serve as UN Security Council President.  

“I am very proud to be the first Irish woman Permanent Representative to ever sit as President of the UN Security Council.  This is a huge responsibility. The last time Ireland sat in the presidential chair was 20 years ago. We plan to listen as well as to lead. Women, peace and security will be a thread running through our presidency.  Women being in the room at the table is where we belong”

-Geraldine Byrne Nason, Permanent Representative of Ireland to the United Nations 

Geraldine Byrne Nason, Permanent Representative of Ireland to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for the month of September, briefs reporters on the programme of work for the Security Council at UN world headquarters in New York Sept. 01, 2021. (Credit: UN Photo/Evan Schneider)

Nason joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1982.  She was Director for Governance at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris in the 1990s.  She has served at the UN in New York, Vienna, Geneva, and Helsinki. Nason served as Second Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach from 2011 until 2014, making her the highest ranking female civil servant in the country.    In August 2014, Nason was appointed Ireland’s Ambassador to France and Monaco.   In August 2017, Nason was appointed as Ireland’s permanent representative to the UN in New York by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, replacing David Donoghue. Nason was tasked with trying to secure Ireland a seat on the UN Security Council in 2020, which  was successful.

IRELAND  Believes Multilateralism  Is The Key To Solving  The Global Challenges World Faces 

“Ireland has always engaged with the UN in a serious and substantive way. It is an inherent part of who we are.  It informs how we act globally and it shapes our international outlook – our belief in Empathy, Partnership and Independence. Ireland’s candidature for election to the Security Council for the 2021–2022 term will further deepen our UN engagement.”   

-Ireland  United Nations Security Council  Campaign statement in 2020