The G20 Summit in Johannesburg has wrapped up with agreement among world leaders to tackle the debt burden on developing countries, strengthen climate-related disaster response and increase financing for the green energy transition.
In his closing remarks, the South African President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed his "deepest gratitude" for the support world leaders had shown throughout South Africa's G20 Presidency this year.
It was the first G20 to be held on African soil.
Watch: What happened at the G20 summit?
However, the world’s largest economy, the United States, boycotted the leaders’ summit in South Africa after a spat with the host nation.
US President Donald Trump has accused South Africa of "white genocide" in widely discredited claims.
Some delegates referred to the US absence as "the elephant not in the room".
The official transfer of the G20 presidency to the next host nation, the United States, was dispensed with after South Africa refused to hand over to a representative of the US Embassy.
South Africa's International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola said it would be a breach of protocol for the president of the G20 to hand over to a low-level official.
The transfer will now take place at a diplomatic level instead.
Speaking on the last day of the summit, Taoiseach Micheál Martin told reporters it had been a "very effective and useful networking opportunity" for Ireland.
Ireland is not a member of the G20 but was invited to participate this year by the South African host.
"Over the 12 months, we've been at every working session," he said, "and I think that Ireland's bona fides is in respect of the issues, and our approach to the issues is generally appreciated among countries from different backgrounds and different traditions".
He said Ireland had a significant development programme in Africa and "it was good yesterday to meet with Singapore, to meet with Australia, to get their sense of the geopolitics of their respective regions," he said.
"So, we gained a lot of insights from those meetings," he added, "and of course, with the presence of EU ministers, the situation in Ukraine emerged yesterday in terms of the set of proposals," Mr Martin added.
"So that all speaks to the value of a gathering like this," he said.
Mr Martin said he had attended a session on critical minerals where leaders "agreed on the need to share and to facilitate access to such minerals in terms of both inclusive economic growth … and particularly in the regions where we have a concentration of such minerals, that there would be local value creation for the economies there".
Asked by RTÉ News if the leaders had discussed global dependence on China for critical minerals, Mr Martin said that no single country was mentioned.
However, he said it was recognised that there had been restrictions on access in recent times, and that that would jeopardise economic growth for all, if that were to emerge again.
"I think the German Chancellor put it very well when he said that no nation can go it alone in the world," he said.
China, which dominates global rare earths and critical minerals production, imposed export controls - later eased after talks between US President Donald Trump and China's leader Xi Jinping.
The Taoiseach said he would be travelling to China in January of next year.
It is unclear how much of what has been agreed under South Africa’s presidency will carry over into next year, after the US takes the reins.
"We're all pretty certain that a lot of the items on the South African agenda won't be carried forward in 2026," Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, South African Institute of International Affairs, said.
"I think we're looking to 2027," she said. The UK will host the G20 that year.
Previously, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed South Africa’s theme of "solidarity, equality and sustainability" as anti-American.
US officials said they would be stripping the G20 back to basics, with a focus on macroeconomics.
Asked if Ireland aligning itself so closely with South Africa’s theme could impact its bilateral relationship with the US, Mr Martin said, "I don't believe so, no".
"There are many European Union member states here," he said.
"It’s also important that we're there to argue the alternative views," Mr Martin added.
