New Irish Ambassador in Ottawa
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HIS EXCELLENCY the Irish Ambassador to Canada, Declan Kelly. He has served over 30 years with the Department of Foreign Affairs.
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Ireland's Ambassador to Canada Declan Kelly was born in Dublin. He is married with three children, Ruth, Declan, and Richard. Since February he and his wife Anne are proud grandparents of their first granddaughter, Isabelle Kathleen Kelly.
Ambassador Kelly entered the Irish Foreign Ministry in 1973. In a career stretching over 30 years he has been Chief of Staff to two Foreign Ministers and the Taoiseach. In July 1985, he was appointed Deputy Head of Mission in Ottawa.
In 1992, he was appointed Consul General for the Western United States based in San Francisco. Between 1998 and 2002, he was Director of the Press and Information Division at the Foreign Ministry in Dublin.
In 2002, he was appointed Ambassador to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. He took up his present post as Ambassador to Canada, Jamaica and the Bahamas last October.
Ambassador Kelly has travelled extensively during his Foreign Service career. He has been to the White House in Washington on two occasions, meeting both President Reagan and President Clinton while accompanying the Taoiseach and Foreign Minister.
He has attended many EU Summits visiting most EU capitals. As director of press he accompanied the Foreign Minister at many of the negotiating sessions in Dublin, London, and Belfast aimed at implementing the Good Friday Agreement.
In 1999 he travelled to East Timor on two occasions with the then Irish Foreign Minister. He has also visited many African countries which are in receipt of development assistance from Ireland.
In his spare time the Ambassador likes to play golf, read, especially political biographies and history. During his previous posting in Canada, he owned a camper and travelled extensively throughout Canada with his then young family.
Ambassador Kelly expects to make a trip to western Canada in the next few months. Watch these pages for more information.
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