Foreign relations of Ireland

In 1998, both states signed the Good Friday Agreement and now co-operate closely to find a solution to the region's problems.

However, the independent judiciary blocked a number of attempts to extradite suspects between 1970 and 1998 on the basis that their crime might have been 'political' and thus contrary to international law at the time.

Ireland is one of the parties to the Rockall continental shelf dispute that also involves Denmark, Iceland, and the United Kingdom.

However, neither has concluded similar agreements with Iceland or Denmark (on behalf of the Faroe Islands) and the matter remains under negotiation.

The controversial Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in north-western England has also been a contentious issue between the two governments.

[5] In 2006, however, both countries came to a friendly agreement which enabled both the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland and the Garda Síochána (Irish Police Force) access to the site to conduct investigations.

[9] The use of Shannon Airport as a stop-over point for US forces en route to Iraq has caused domestic controversy in Ireland.

[11][12] In July 2006, the former Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern voiced concern over the 2006 Lebanon War.

During the 2008 presidential campaign in the United States, however, Democratic Party candidate Barack Obama was reported as having questioned the necessity to keep a US Special Envoy for Northern Ireland.

His remarks caused an uproar within the Republican Party, with Senator John McCain questioning his leadership abilities and his commitment to the ongoing peace process in Northern Ireland.

[19] Former Tánaiste Mary Coughlan also raised human rights issues and concerns with visiting Chinese Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan.

Gaddafi was sympathetic to their cause and also wanted revenge for the United States Air Force's bombing attacks on Tripoli and Benghazi in 1986.

The Major Crime Investigation Team (MCIT), who was in charge, admitted they failed to interview fellow guests at the hotel who were staying close to the room in which the murder occurred.

[205][206] In November 2012 Morocco recalled its ambassador to Ireland temporarily due to the fact the leader of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, met with top Irish officials, including the President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Eamon Gilmore.

[208] Following Namibia's Independence from South Africa in 1990, Ireland sent 50 Garda officers as well as 20 military observers to the country as part of the United Nations Transition Assistance Group.

As a result, Ireland was the only EU country that did not have full diplomatic relations with South Africa until 1993, when an exchange of ambassadors was agreed with the De Klerk administration in anticipation of the ending of apartheid.

[268] The parallel the Abkhaz Parliament referred to stems from the fact that the breakaway and largely unrecognised Irish Republic (1919–22), enjoyed some form of recognition from the RSFSR.

[citation needed] From 1978 to 2001, a battalion of 580 Irish troops was deployed in Lebanon, rotating every 6 months, as part of the United Nations led force UNIFIL.

Ireland has held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union on seven occasions (in 1975, 1979, 1984, 1990, 1996, 2004 and 2013), and is due to hold it for the eight time from July to December 2026.

The United Nations was founded in 1945, but Ireland's membership was blocked by the Soviet Union until 1955,[421] "partly because of Dublin's neutrality" during the Second World War.

[428] List of major peacekeeping operations:[429] As well as these missions, Irish personnel have served as observers in Central America, Russia, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Namibia, Western Sahara, Kuwait and South Africa.

Since 1998, some people in Ireland have advocated joining the Commonwealth of Nations, most notably Éamon Ó Cuív, Frank Feighan, and Mary Kenny.

[435] Irish development aid is concentrated on eight priority countries: Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zambia, Uganda, Vietnam and East Timor.