The foreign relations of Ireland are substantially influenced by its membership of the European Union, although bilateral relations with the United States and United Kingdom are also important to the state. It is one of the group of smaller nations in the EU and has traditionally followed a non-aligned foreign policy. Ireland has historically tended towards independence in foreign military policy, thus it is not a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and has a longstanding policy of military neutrality.
Angelo Raffaele Sodano, GCC was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church and, from 1991 onward, a cardinal. He was the Dean of the College of Cardinals from 2005 to 2019 and Cardinal Secretary of State from 1991 to 2006; Sodano was the first person since 1828 to serve simultaneously as Dean and Secretary of State.
Robert James Nicholson is an attorney, real estate developer, and a former Republican National Committee chairman. He was the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs from January 26, 2005, until October 1, 2007.
The Secretariat of State is the oldest dicastery in the Roman Curia, the central papal governing bureaucracy of the Catholic Church. It is headed by the Cardinal Secretary of State and performs all the political and diplomatic functions of the Holy See. The Secretariat is divided into three sections: the Section for General Affairs, the Section for Relations with States, and, since 2017, the Section for Diplomatic Staff.
Mary Ann Glendon is the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and a former United States Ambassador to the Holy See. She teaches and writes on bioethics, comparative constitutional law, property, and human rights in international law. She supports government bans on abortion services and "writes forcefully against the expansion of abortion rights."
David J. Cooney is an Irish diplomat.
Anne Maree Plunkett is a senior Australian public servant and career diplomat. She was the Australian Ambassador to Portugal from 2012 to 2016, with non-resident accreditation to Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe. She was previously Australian Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland and the Holy See (Vatican) between 2006 and 2008.
Miodrag Vlahović is a Montenegrin politician and former diplomat.
Giuseppe Leanza KC*HS was born in Cesarò, Italy. and ordained on 17 July 1966.
Holy See–Ireland relations are foreign relations between the Holy See and Ireland. The majority of Irish people identify as Roman Catholic, according to census data. However, views on actual church dogma both on social and spiritual matters varies significantly, and weekly mass attendance is below 40%. The Holy See has an Apostolic Nunciature in Dublin.
Bernard Davenport was an Irish Ambassador.
Kenneth Francis Hackett served as the United States Ambassador to the Holy See from August 2013 until January 2017. He was previously president of Catholic Relief Services (CRS).
Emma Madigan is an Irish diplomat and was the former Ambassador of Republic of Ireland to the Holy See, the first woman ever to hold the position.
Larry Wang or Wang Yu-yuan is a senior diplomat of the Republic of China (Taiwan). He is a native of Wujin County, Jiangsu Province. He is proficient in English and Spanish.
Sally Jane Axworthy, is a British diplomat who was formerly the British Ambassador to the Holy See.
Gilda Bolt-González is a Nicaraguan diplomat appointed as Nicaragua's ambassador to the Holy See in 2019.
Margaret Ann Louise Jobson is a Jamaican diplomat. She has served as a member of diplomatic staff and as ambassador of Jamaica to Germany, with dual accreditation to a number of European countries.
Frances Collins is an Irish diplomat and is the Ambassador of Ireland to the Holy See, the second woman to hold the position.
