In the lead-up to Brexit, political debate in Britain has been dominated by the notion of ‘‘backstop’’ – the British Government’s commitment that, whatever the UK’s future relationship with the EU, it will not impose a hard border on the island of Ireland. As Taoiseach Leo Varadkar reaffirmed when meeting President Trump on March 14, Ireland has always been clear that Brexit posed serious risks for the Northern Ireland peace process, risks the backstop is ultimately designed to address. At the same time, Ireland is also the one EU member state set to be most adversely impacted economically by Brexit. The focus on these threats has, to some extent, drawn international attention from other major developments in Ireland – its remarkable economic recovery from the Euro crisis; sweeping social change exemplified in recent referenda on abortion and marriage equality; and, on the centenary of its independence, the state’s firm commitment to global engagement. To consider all of these and to reflect on Ireland’s role in transatlantic relations post-Brexit, please join us for a discussion with The Honorable, Dan Mulhall, Ambassador of Ireland to the U.S.
Daniel Mulhall
was born and brought up in Waterford. He pursued his graduate and postgraduate studies at University College Cork where he specialised in modern Irish history and literature. He took up duty as Ireland's 18th Ambassador to the United States in August 2017. He joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1978 and had his early diplomatic assignments in New Delhi, Vienna (OSCE), Brussels (European Union) and Edinburgh where he was Ireland's first Consul General, 1998-2001. He served as Ireland's Ambassador to Malaysia (2001-05), where he was also accredited to Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. From 2009 to 2013, he was Ireland's Ambassador to Germany. Before arriving in Washington, he served as Ireland's Ambassador in London (2013-17).
Ambassador Mulhall maintains a keen interest in Irish history and literature. He is the author of A New Day Dawning: A Portrait of Ireland in 1900 (Cork, 1999) and co-editor of The Shaping of Modern Ireland: A Centenary Assessment (Dublin, 2016). A keen advocate of public diplomacy, Ambassador Mulhall makes regular use of social media in order to provide insights into the work of the Embassy, to promote all things Irish and to engage with Irish people and those of Irish descent around the world. He provides daily updates on his Twitter account @DanMulhall and posts regular blogs on the Embassy's website
