The Embassy’s History

In 2005 Ireland opened an overseas development assistance office in Sierra Leone, officially marking the beginning of a warm relationship between Ireland and Sierra Leone. Since then we have expanded in size and in numbers and we have increased our financial support to Sierra Leone. In 2014 we upgraded our presence to an Embassy and in 2016, Catherine Campbell was appointed the second Ambassador of Ireland to Sierra Leone.

Ireland has had an active engagement with Sierra Leone since the end of the conflict in 2002 and opened a Representative Office in Freetown in February 2005, covering both Sierra Leone and Liberia. Ireland is one of only four EU donors resident in Sierra Leone – the others being the UK, the European Union and Germany. Ireland’s development programme with Sierra Leone aims to support long-term reconstruction and development working in close collaboration with the Sierra Leonean government and other partners, such as United Nations agencies and NGOs. In 2013 Ireland’s new Policy for International Development, One World One Future, announced that Sierra Leone is now one of Ireland’s Key Partner Countries.

In 2014 the Representative Office was upgraded to a full Embassy and in 2016, Catherine Campbell was appointed as the second Ambassador of Ireland to Sierra Leone.

Ireland provided over €110 million in assistance to projects in Sierra Leone between 2005 and 2016. Funding support has focused primarily on food security and nutrition; and gender and governance, including human rights initiatives. In 2014 and 2016, we also directed support to the Ebola response.