The Taoiseach and Tánaiste are both in New York this morning to attend the United Nations General Assembly.
Four Cabinet members will be in the United States this week for the biggest summit since before the pandemic.
This week sees one of the most extensive ever Irish delegations at the annual UN General Assembly.
The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Tánaiste Micheál Martin, Green Party leader Minister Eamon Ryan and Health Minister Stephen Donnelly will all attend meetings at the high-level summit.
The biggest of those today is a global summit on the Sustainable Development Goals which Ireland is co-hosting.
UN General Assembly kicks off this week. Countries from around the🌎will gather to act on global issues.
As Ireland marks 100 years of peace building, we will advocate strongly for our values of fairness, equality and solidarity#Ireland 🇮🇪 at #UNGA23🇺🇳
This is #GlobalIreland pic.twitter.com/j4ucRLX7Hp— Irish Foreign Ministry (@dfatirl) September 16, 2023
Just 12% of the goals - across areas like gender equality, climate, education and battling poverty - are on track to meet their 2030 targets, after COVID-19 and Ukraine took precedence over the past few years.
Ireland will be tasked, along with Qatar, with securing a new global agreement to get things back on track.
Leo Varadkar will lead the delegation in those talks while Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin attends a summit on the Middle East peace process after his visit to the region in recent weeks.
The occasion marks the first time both a Taoiseach and Tánaiste will miss the start of a new session in the Dáil.
