Declan Kelleher was the Permanent Representative of Ireland to the European Union in Brussels from September 2013 to March 2020. In that role, he was responsible to the Government of Ireland for the frontline promotion and representation of Ireland’s policies and interests in the EU, including in the crucial negotiations between the EU and the UK which led up to the British withdrawal from the EU in January 2020.

Prior to this, he was Ambassador of Ireland to the People’s Republic of China from 2004 to 2013. From 2000 to 2004, he was the Representative of Ireland to the EU Political and Security Committee in Brussels, which covers foreign and security/defence policy issues, and he was President of that Committee during Ireland’s 2004 Presidency of the European Union. His previous overseas postings were at the Embassy of Ireland in Washington DC (from 1987 to1991) where he was First Secretary for Press and Political/Congressional Affairs. From 1980 to 1983, he was posted at the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the UN in New York and was a member of Ireland’s delegation to the UN Security Council in 1981-82.

Before he entered the service of the Government of Ireland, Declan worked in the private sector as an economic/financial analyst, specializing in the global marine industry. In 2023 he was appointed the Chair of the EPC’s governing board.