NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF IRELAND PRESENTS CREDENTIALS TO DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF UNOG

Paul Kavanagh, the new Permanent Representative of Ireland to the United Nations Office at Geneva, today presented his credentials to Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

Prior to his appointment to Geneva, Mr. Kavanagh had been serving as the Representative of Ireland to the Political and Security Committee of the European Union since 2004. He was the Deputy Political Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin from 2003 to 2004.

Mr. Kavanagh served as the Political Coordinator in the delegation of Ireland on the United Nations Security Council in New York from 2001 to 2002, and was Deputy Coordinator of Ireland’s campaign for election to the Security Council at the Department of Foreign Affairs from 1998 to 2001.

From 1983 to 1998, Mr. Kavanagh worked within the United Nations system, including as Director of the United Nations Office in Tokyo (1996-1998); Senior Advisor at the United Nations Operation in Cyprus (1992-1996); Special Assistant to Cyrus Vance, the Personal Representative of the UN Secretary-General for the former Yugoslavia (1991-1992); and in the Cabinet of the UN Secretary-General in New York (1983-1991).

Mr. Kavanagh joined the Department of Foreign Affairs of Ireland in 1978, and served in the Embassy of Ireland in Beijing, China from 1979 to 1982. He has a B.A. in modern history and French from the University College Dublin (1977). He was born in March 1956 and is married with two sons.


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