Martin: Government preparing to recognise Palestine as independent state

"Our view is as part of the Programme for Government that in terms of the recognition of Palestine, the Palestinian state, our view is that we favour it."

However, speaking at the UN in New York, Mr Martin added that the timing of this will be critical and the "impact of taking such a decision has to be weighed up".

He suggested that such a strong declaration from Ireland would have to be done in the context of making an impact and "adding value to getting a resolution to the crisis".

Right now the Government is engaged with all parties to the conflict and to all of those who are committed to trying to resolve this. We don't want to preempt those engagements.

Asked directly if this will happen within the lifetime of this Government he said: "It well may very well, but that's a call we will make. We're doing some assessment in relation to that internally within the Department."

Mr Martin, along with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan, and Health Minister Stephen Donnelly are all attending the UN in New York this week.

Much of the discussion so far has centred around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Despite being at the halfway mark of achieving the 17 goals, two-thirds of child-related indicators are off-pace to meet their targets.

Asked about a lack of progress on the goals, Mr Martin said countries need to "re-energise" and reboot" to ensure the targets are met.

"We can't surrender to fatalism in respect of the achievement of those goals. And if you keep delaying targets and setting them back, that in itself creates an atmosphere or an environment where you even get a slower implementation of those targets," he said.

The UN General Assembly has adopted a declaration to accelerate SDGs with UN secretary-general António Guterres stating now is the time for a global plan to rescue targets.

Mr Guterres was speaking at the opening of a high-level forum at UN headquarters where world leaders adopted a political declaration to accelerate action to achieve the 17 goals, which aim to drive economic prosperity and well-being for all people while protecting the environment.

The SDGs aren’t just a list of goals. They carry the hopes, dreams, rights and expectations of people everywhere.

World leaders adopted the SDGs in 2015, promising to leave no one behind. The goals include ending extreme poverty and hunger, ensuring access to clean water and sanitation, as well as green energy, and providing quality universal education and lifelong learning opportunities.

Each goal contains targets, with 169 overall, but he warned that currently only 15% are on track, while many are going in reverse.