Eilís O’Neill

Embassy of Ireland, Spain

As Consular Manager at the Embassy of Ireland in Madrid, my role is to provide management support to the consular team at the Embassy, which is Ireland’s busiest consular mission. Spain is a very popular destination, and every year we deal with around 1 in 4 of the total number of consular cases which involve Irish citizens around the world.

While most holidays and periods living abroad go smoothly for Irish citizens, the Embassy’s dedicated and customer-service oriented team is always ready to help if things do go wrong. In 2015, we provided assistance in connection with 73 deaths of Irish citizens and 50 arrests, as well as hospitalisations.

We work closely with local public administrations and always seek to provide up-to-date consular information and travel advice for our citizens.  In addition to providing support to those who run into difficulty while in Spain, I also help oversee the Embassy’s passport and visa services, as well as additional Embassy services in relation to citizenship and certificates.