Welcome Message
A chairde/Dear friends,
Welcome to the website of the Embassy of Ireland to the United States of America. I hope that you will follow the Embassy’s work through this website and through our official twitter accounts @IrelandEmbUSA and @IrelandAmbUSA
My name is Geraldine Byrne Nason and it is my great personal and professional privilege to serve as Ambassador of Ireland to the United States of America. I assumed my new role recently.
Ireland is proud of a unique and enduring relationship with the United States, which has spanned generations and continues to grow in depth and strength. It is a relationship anchored in shared values and enriched by the bonds forged through the many generations of Irish people that came and made a home here, forming a living vibrant bridge between our two countries. Today over 30 million Americans claim Irish heritage and each year huge numbers of people from both our countries cross the Atlantic to visit, study, work and enjoy our wonderful countries.
The vibrant and vital Irish-American community, right across the USA, gives us not only a special affinity with the USA but also shows that the pride that you take in Ireland and your heritage is crucial to growing those binding ties between the United States and Ireland. I very much look forward to meeting you during my term as Ambassador to the USA.
Over time, the economic relationship between the United States and Ireland has gone from strength to strength and is an important and mutually beneficial one today. The United States is the largest source of Foreign Direct Investment into Ireland. American companies employs hundreds of thousands of Irish people both directly and indirectly. It is not all one way however, as Ireland is both a major market for American exports and is a top ten source of Foreign Direct investment into the United States with over 800 Irish companies employing over 100,000 people across all 50 states. The Embassy will continue work to further enhance our economic ties and to develop our common prosperity to our mutual advantage.
I have just completed five years as Ireland’s Ambassador to the United Nations, most recently during Ireland’s term serving on the Security Council as an elected member, working for international peace and security. That experience has made me acutely aware of the importance of sustaining peace and security on the island of Ireland. As I assume my new responsibilities, I have great appreciation of the vital role the United States has played over the years in advancing peace and reconciliation on the island of Ireland. Looking ahead with optimism to my term in Washington, we will mark several important milestones, one in particular I would like to note here. The landmark Good Friday Agreement was signed on 10 April 1998. Remarkably, 2023 will mark a quarter century since that important day. The United States played a crucial role in bringing about this agreement, and in giving encouragement to sustaining that peace. We will work tirelessly with our American partners, in Government and in Congress in protecting the Good Friday agreement and in consolidating the great progress we have all made since the historic events in April 1998.
Finally, I hope that as Ambassador I can strengthen the inextricable links of our heritage, history and shared values during my term. I also very much look forward to meeting many of you in person, and to growing the friendships and the kinship that binds the people of our two countries. I wish to encourage you to get to know the welcoming team at our Embassy in Washington D.C. and also invite you to engage with our extensive network of Consulates across the United States in New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta and Miami who make up Team Ireland in the USA.
I look forward to hearing from you, and to meeting many of you.
Le gach dea-ghuí, with best wishes
Geraldine Byrne Nason
Ambassador
Biography
Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason assumed her role as Ireland’s 19th Ambassador to the United States in August 2022. Geraldine was Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Ireland to the United Nations in New York (2017- 22). Previously, she served as Ambassador to France (2014-17), Second Secretary General in the Department of the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) (2011-14), Ambassador and Ireland’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the EU (2005-11)), and Director of the National Forum on Europe (2004-05).
During her career, Ambassador Byrne Nason has served in Brussels, New York, Paris, Vienna and Helsinki. As Second Secretary-General in the Department of the Taoiseach from 2011-2014, she was the highest ranking female public servant in Ireland. During that period, she also was Secretary General of Ireland’s Economic Management Council.
On her arrival in New York, Ambassador Byrne Nason led Ireland’s successful campaign for a seat on the United Nations Security Council, and led the New York Security Council team for the 2021-2022 term. Geraldine was Chair of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) for 2018 and 2019. She has also co-chaired high-level political negotiations on the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Nelson Mandela and on the ‘Samoa pathway’ for Small Island Developing States.
A native of County Louth, in 2020 Ambassador Byrne Nason was awarded the Freedom of Drogheda, the town’s highest honour and was the third woman to receive the award of its 35 recipients. In 2014, Geraldine was elected a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, Ireland’s highest academic honour. Ambassador Byrne Nason holds an Honorary Doctorate of Law from Maynooth University as well as Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Literature from Saint Patrick’s College in Maynooth (NUIM). Ambassador Byrne Nason is married and has one son.
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September 2022