Irish Government In Charleston
Who represents the Irish in Charleston?
We have three levels of representation from the Irish Government.
The main one being at the Irish Embassy in Washington. Regionally, in the SouthEast, we are represented by the Consulate General of Ireland in Atlanta.
And very proudly, in 2020, we got our own Honorary Irish Consul right here in Charleston. We're one of only ten smaller cities in the US to an Honorary Consul. It's a sign of how far the Irish have come in Charleston.
Irish Embassy in Washington
The Irish Government in the US is represented by the Irish Embassy in Washington. The current Ambassador of Ireland to the US is Geraldine Byrne Nason
https://www.ireland.ie/en/usa/washington/
Follow their Twitter account
Consulate General of Ireland, Atlanta
For us in Charleston, the Irish government in the SouthEast is represented by The Consulate General Of Ireland, Atlanta.
The current Consul General is Caoimhe Ní Chonchúir.
What the Irish Consulate Does
The Irish Consulate in Atlanta does a lot of things.
They can authenticate documents, help you find documents such as Certificate of Freedom to Marry. They can help you determine if you qualify for Irish citzenship. They can issue emergency travel documents. If you need a visa to travel to Ireland, they can help with that. They do not issue passports though!
If you are in need of urgent help, the Consulate should be your first port of call. The excerpt below is from their website.
If you are an Irish citizen and in urgent need of emergency assistance, please contact the Consulate at +1 404 554 4980 and leave a message on the answering machine. The answering machine is monitored regularly and the Duty Officer will contact you as soon as possible in cases where it is a genuine emergency.
Alternatively, you may contact the Duty Officer at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin at + 353 1 408 2000.
For this reason, I recommend to every Irish citizen to go ahead now and put these numbers in your phone.
Consulate General of Ireland, Atlanta : +1 404 554 4980
Duty Officer at the DFA in Dublin: +353 1 408 2000
Irish Embassy in Washington DC: +1 202 462 3939
Follow their Twitter account & subscribe to their newsletter.
Honorary Consul of Ireland, Charleston, SC
In December 2020, Charleston got its own Honorary Consul, Brian Duffy.
Look for the Irish flag flying outside Brian's office at 96 Broad Street.
Brian Duffy brian.duffy@honoraryconsul.ie +1 843 720 2044
Irish Ambassador Visit To Charleston
We've had excellent ties with the Consulate over the years, in particular with Consul General Shane Stephens, who was very helpful in our early years. He was responsible for bringing the Irish Ambassador To The US, Daniel Mulhall, to Charleston in 2018.
