FORMER IRISH PRESIDENT Mary Robinson has accused the US administration under Donald Trump of bullying other countries “at an aggressive level” and that the behaviour was something she was increasingly concerned about. 

Robinson, who is also a former UN Commissioner for Human Rights and is a member of the NGO The Elders, was speaking at the Irish premiere of The Veto, a documentary about the United Nations, at Trinity College last night. 

She was recounting her experience dealing with the administration at a meeting of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in October last year.

An international vote to approve cutting maritime emissions was delayed by a year at the meeting in a victory for the United States, which opposed the carbon-cutting plan.

The IMO – a United Nations body that governs shipping – had voted in April for a global pricing system to help curb greenhouse gases.

But a vote in mid-October on whether to formally approve the deal was delayed until next year after US President Donald Trump threatened sanctions against countries backing the plan.

Trump officials had “bullied” countries into postponing the agreement, Robinson said. 

“I mean bullying by saying ‘you won’t get visas’, ‘we’ll cut off your funding’… We’d never seen anything like that before.”

Robinson said the UN was facing major challenges and warned that Trump’s Board of Peace project could undermine the international body.

Current President of Ireland, Catherine Connolly, also attended the documentary screening with her husband Brian McEnery. President Connolly did not speak at the premiere but a spokesperson from Áras an Uachtaráin said ahead of the event that she was “looking forward to attending and listening to an engaging discussion”.

The event was organised by Trinity student societies and Article 109, an international coalition of stakeholders seeking to renew the United Nations Charter, the organisation’s foundational document.

The documentary examines the use of veto power within the UN Security Council. The veto allows any of the five members of the council – the UK, US, China, France and Russia – to block resolutions.