UK/Ambassador/Ireland

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Employment.png UK/Ambassador/Ireland 
(Ambassador to Ireland)

Start1939
The United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative in Ireland

The Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Ireland is the United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative in Ireland and head of the UK's diplomatic mission in Ireland.

Official title

For several decades the British and Irish governments disputed the respective names of their States: the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" and "Ireland" respectively. The UK's official policy was to refer to Ireland as the "Republic of Ireland".[1] Up to and including the year 1999, the Diplomatic List issued by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office referred to the "Republic of Ireland", while the Irish Diplomatic List referred to "Great Britain".[2] Similarly, Ireland's policy was to use the term "British" when referring to the UK's diplomatic representative, as "UK" implied acceptance of British sovereignty over Northern Ireland.[3] However, this dispute over names was ended following the Good Friday Agreement. Consequently, since 2000 the British Diplomatic List has referred to "Ireland", and the credentials presented by the British ambassador, Stewart Eldon, in 2003, were addressed to the President of Ireland, while since 2001, the Irish Diplomatic List referred to the "United Kingdom".[2] The British Ambassador to Ireland has since been styled officially as "Her Majesty's Ambassador to Ireland".[4]


 

Office Holders on Wikispooks

NameFromTo
Julian King20092012
Stewart Eldon20032006
Ivor Roberts19992003
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References

  1. Papers by Command, Volume 34, HMSO, 1964, page 278
  2. a b Journal of British Studies 46 (January 2007): The Irish Free State/Éire/Republic of Ireland/Ireland: “A Country by Any Other Name”? by Mary E. Daly (Professor of Irish history and principal of the College of Arts and Celtic Studies at University College Dublin).
  3. Diplomacy with a Difference: The Commonwealth Office of High Commissioner, 1880-2006, Lorna Lloyd, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2007, page 74
  4. Examples of official usage of current title: Foreign and Commonwealth Office and British Embassy Website Archived 10 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine.