The Tánaiste has criticized Donald Trump after he said he is freezing US payments to the World Health Organisation pending a review of its warnings about coronavirus and China.
The US president said the Covid-19 outbreak could have been contained at its source with lives spared had the UN health agency done a better job investigating reports coming out of China.
The United States contributed nearly $900m (€823m) to the WHO’s budget for 2018-19, according to information on the agency’s website.
Simon Coveney tweeted that Mr Trump withholding funding was an “indefensible decision” in the midst of a pandemic.
He wrote: “So many vulnerable populations rely on WHO – deliberately undermining funding and trust now is shocking.
“Now is a time for global leadership and unity to save lives, not division and blame.”