MINISTER FOR FOREIGN Affairs Simon Coveney will visit Berlin tomorrow to mark the symbolic handover from Germany’s membership of the United Nations Security Council to Ireland. 

Ireland will take its seat on the Council on 1 January 2021. 

The visit will allow Coveney and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany Heiko Maas to discuss the significant strengthening of relations between Ireland and Germany, under the 2018 joint plan of action. 

“Ireland and Germany are unwavering supporters of the United Nations and multilateralism. We believe the Security Council has a vital role to play in preventing and resolving conflict,” Coveney said, speaking ahead of the meeting. 

“Ireland will work on the Council to strengthen conflict prevention, support peacebuilding efforts, and ensure accountability for breaches of international law,” he said. 

“We will also engage actively across the entire Council agenda, dealing with many of the world’s most difficult conflicts.” 

During the visit, Coveney will also meet with leading members of the Bundestag, and discuss the latest developments with regard to Brexit. 

“While the negotiators have much work to do in the coming days I continue to believe that with political will, a deal can be done,” Coveney said. 

Coveney will also discuss Brexit with Maas, and the current state of bilateral relations between Ireland and Germany. 

“Bilateral relations between our two countries have flourished in the two-and-a-half years since I launched our new strategy for Ireland in Germany,” Coveney said. 

“We have added value and depth to a whole range of bilateral and European areas of cooperation. In the coming months, we will look at how to renew the Strategy and identify new goals which we can together pursue as firm friends and partners within the EU.”