The Embassy’s History

Find out about the Embassy’s history, including our former Ambassadors and Chargés.

Ireland established formal diplomatic relations with Portugal in 1942, when it opened a Legation in Lisbon, headed by the first Charge d’Affaires, Colman O’Donovan.
The Legation was upgraded to the rank of Embassy in 1975, one year after Portugal’s Carnation Revolution on 25th of April 1974. Ireland’s first Ambassador to Portugal, following the democratic transition, was Kevin Rush who presented credentials to President Francisco Costa Gomes in 1975.

Back in 1942, the Legation of Ireland was located first in Rua de São Bernardo and later in Rua da Imprensa à Estrela, in the heart of historic Lisbon. Later, in 2010, the Embassy moved to the leafy environs of the Avenida da Liberdade, to a modern building occupied also by the Embassies of Australia, Canada and Slovakia and by the Lisbon stock exchange and economic and media enterprises. The Avenida, created in the 19th century from parklands and gardens in the style of the Champs Elysees, is today the centre of bustling commercial and banking activity.

Irish Charges d’Affaires at the Legation of Ireland in Portugal, 1942- 1975

Irish Ambassadors to the Republic of Portugal, 1975-Present

The History of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

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.