Embassy of the United Kingdom, Dublin

The Embassy of the United Kingdom in Dublin is the chief diplomatic mission of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Ireland. The Embassy is located on Merrion Road in the Ballsbridge area of the city. The current British Ambassador to Ireland is Robin Barnett.[1]

Embassy of the United Kingdom, Dublin
Location Ballsbridge, Dublin
Address29 Merrion Road,
Ballsbridge,
Dublin 4, D04 P272,
Ireland
Coordinates53.3251°N 6.2238°W / 53.3251; -6.2238
AmbassadorRobin Barnett
WebsiteBritish Embassy, Dublin

History
British Ambassador's residence, Glencairn House

Although the Irish Free State was established in 1922, the United Kingdom did not have a diplomatic mission of its own, as the Governor-General represented the British government as well as the British monarch as head of state until 1928, as was the case in other Dominions. By contrast, the Irish High Commission in London (now the Embassy of Ireland, London) was established as early as 1923.[2]

It was not until 1939 that a separate mission, known as the British Representative's Office, was finally established.[3] Following the passing of the Republic of Ireland Act by the Oireachtas in 1948, under which Ireland withdrew from the Commonwealth the following year, the mission was renamed the British Embassy, with its head restyled Ambassador.

The old embassy located in Merrion Square was burnt to the ground during demonstrations by a small number of individuals in a crowd of 20,000-30,000 people on 2 February 1972, following the Bloody Sunday incident in Derry on 30 January 1972 when the British Army's Parachute Regiment shot dead 14 unarmed Catholic civilians during a civil rights demonstration.[4] In 1981 protesters tried to storm the British Embassy in response to the IRA hunger strikes of that year.[5][6]

The current embassy building on Merrion Road was built in 1995 and designed by Allies and Morrison. It is built around a central courtyard, a cloister-like space.[7]

Ambassador's residence

The British Ambassador's official residence in Dublin is Glencairn House, located on Murphystown Road. Glencairn has been the official residence of successive British Ambassadors to Ireland since the 1950s.

See also

References
  1. "Robin Barnett CMG - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
  2. Documents on Irish Foreign Policy: 1939-1941, Department of Foreign Affairs, Royal Irish Academy, 2008, page xix
  3. Defending Ireland: The Irish State and its Enemies since 1922, Eunan O'Halpin, OUP Oxford, 1999, page 151
  4. "1972: British embassy in Dublin destroyed". BBC On This Day. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  5. "1981: Violence erupts at Irish hunger strike protest". BBC On This Day. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  6. "The Hunger Strike of 1981 – A Chronology of Main Events". CAIN. Archived from the original on 31 May 2007. Retrieved 26 May 2007.
  7. "1995 – United Kingdom Embassy, Merrion Road, Dublin". archiseek.com/. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
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