Skip to main content

Please be advised that the Embassy of Ireland, the Netherlands website has moved and this page is no longer being updated. The Embassy website is now available at Ireland.ie/thehague.

The Embassy’s History

Find out about the Embassy's history, including where we are and some of our former Ambassadors. 

Diplomatic relations between Ireland and The Netherlands were established in 1945 and Ireland’s first envoy to The Netherlands was appointed in 1950.

Interestingly, between 1962 and 1972, the Irish Ambassador in the Netherlands was also accredited to Denmark!

The Embassy has been at its current location on the Scheveningseweg since 2010, having formerly been located on the Dr Kuyperstraat and the Klatteweg.

In the past Ireland also maintained an Honorary Consul in Rotterdam.

Irish Ambassadors to The Netherlands

Josephine McNeill

Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary

1950 – 1955

Timothy J. O’Driscoll

Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary

1955 – 1956

Brian Gallagher

Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary, Ambassador after 1958

1956 – 1962

James Wilfrid Lennon

Ambassador

1962 – 1967

Eoin MacWhite

Ambassador

1967 – 1972

Sean Morrissy

Ambassador

1973 – 1980

Kester Heaslip

Ambassador

1980 – 1986

James Kirwan

Ambassador

1986 – 1990

Denis O’Leary

Ambassador

1990 – 1995

John Swift

Ambassador

1995 – 2001

Richard Townsend

Ambassador

2001 – 2005

Richard Ryan

Ambassador

2005 – 2009

Mary Whelan

Ambassador 

2009 – 2014

John Neary

Ambassador 

2014 – 2016 

Kevin Kelly 

Ambassador 

2016 – 2021

Brendan Rogers

Ambassador 

2021 – Present

Documents on Irish Foreign Policy project

Learn more about the history of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and our collaboration with the Royal Irish Academy's Documents on Irish Foreign Policy project