# Embassy of the Philippines, Dublin

The Embassy of the Philippines in Dublin is the diplomatic mission of the Republic of the Philippines to the Republic of Ireland. It is located in the Ballsbridge suburb of south central Dublin, within the Dublin 4 postal district.
Although the current embassy dates from 2024, the Philippines also maintained a previous resident embassy in Ireland between 2009 and 2012.

## History

Although diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Ireland were established in 1984, relations were initially conducted through an honorary consulate in Dublin. A resident embassy in Ireland was not opened until the presidency of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, when the Philippine Embassy in Dublin was opened on July 9, 2009, offering consular services a week later.
Expansion of the Philippines' diplomatic presence abroad during the Arroyo presidency was not without controversy: in 2010, Senator Franklin Drilon questioned the need for embassies in countries with small Filipino communities, including a number of countries in Europe, and called for a review of the Philippines' diplomatic presence worldwide. This would lead to the closure of ten posts under Arroyo's successor, Benigno Aquino III, and ultimately to the closure of the Embassy by October 31, 2012, which took effect nearly three months earlier on July 16, 2012. Ireland was then placed under the jurisdiction of the Philippine Embassy in London, with services provided through a reopened honorary consulate, although Filipinos in Ireland have asked for the Embassy to be reopened due to the limited services provided by the honorary consulate.
By 2019, the Philippine government had begun considering reopening a resident mission in Ireland, with Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. announcing that the Philippine Embassy in Dublin would reopen as part of an expansion of the country's diplomatic presence under Aquino's successor, Rodrigo Duterte. On November 15, 2022, during budget deliberations for the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Senator Loren Legarda announced that the Embassy was one of four missions that would reopen in 2024, and the DFA, spurred in part by the opening of the Irish Embassy in Manila in 2021, itself confirmed during a debate on Ireland–Philippines relations at Trinity College Dublin on May 30, 2024, that a resident mission in Ireland would reopen in late 2024.
The advance team setting up the Embassy announced that they had arrived in Dublin on October 29, 2024, and are preparing to immediately begin offering consular services once the mission has completed all the required procedures for opening, doing so for limited consular services on December 6, 2024.

## Chancery

The chancery of the Philippine Embassy in Dublin was first located at 77 Sir John Rogerson's Quay, a temporary chancery that operated until a permanent chancery was inaugurated at the fourth floor of Hainault House on St Stephen's Green on November 30, 2010, coinciding with Bonifacio Day. An open house for the Filipino community in Ireland was held two days before to celebrate the occasion.
With the embassy's reopening, it was first headquartered at Baggot Rath House in Sandymount, near Aviva Stadium, before relocating to a temporary office space in neighboring Ballsbridge, near the Royal Dublin Society, on December 6, 2024. Two weeks later on December 19, 2024, it announced that it had begun the process of looking for a new permanent chancery.

## Staff and activities

The Philippine Embassy in Dublin is provisionally headed by a chargé d'affaires, pending the reception of a new ambassador appointed by the Philippine government. The current chargé d'affaires is Eric R. Aquino, while the last resident ambassador was Ariel Y. Abadilla, the Philippines' first (and so far, only) resident ambassador to Ireland. A career diplomat who was appointed to the position by President Arroyo on February 17, 2009, he previously served as Consul General at the Philippine Consulate General in Honolulu. His appointment was confirmed by the Commission on Appointments (CA) on March 4, 2009, and he presented his credentials to Irish President Mary McAleese on June 29, 2009. Abadilla was subsequently recalled with the Embassy's impending closure, and at the time it closed it was headed by Hjayceelyn M. Quintana as chargée d'affaires.
With the embassy's impending reopening it is set to be headed by a new ambassador, Daniel R. Espiritu, who was appointed to the position by President Bongbong Marcos on August 4, 2024. Prior to becoming ambassador, Espiritu, a career diplomat, served as the DFA's assistant secretary for ASEAN Affairs. His appointment was confirmed by the CA on September 10, 2024.