Welcome to Maria Sheehy, Consul General to Ireland in Milan

A cháirde, Amici, Friends,

I am delighted to have been asked to serve as Ireland’s first Consul General in Milan and, together with my colleague Deputy Consul General Frank Bradley, am honoured to represent Ireland across the regions of Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Liguria, Lombardia, Piemonte,Trentino-Alto Adige, Valle d’Aosta and Veneto.

The opening of this new Consulate is part of the Global Ireland initiative to expand Ireland’s presence overseas and is a testament to the importance Ireland attaches to our close relationship with Italy.

Ireland and Italy enjoy exceptionally warm and friendly relations with strong people to people links at the heart of this. Today, many thousands of Irish people have chosen to make Italy their home, just as many Italians have based themselves in Ireland for work or studies. We share a deep affection for one another’s culture with hundreds of thousands of visitors travelling between the two countries each year.

Our aims in establishing this new mission are to strengthen the excellent relationship between Ireland and Italy, to enhance trade, investment and cultural links between our countries and to support Irish citizens living and travelling in the region.

As we establish this new Consulate, we will work with partners to strengthen these connections. This will include the Irish Embassy Rome and the three Irish state agencies already present in Milan; Bord Bia-Ireland’s food Board, Enterprise Ireland, and Tourism Ireland.

I very much look forward to meeting many of you here in Milan and throughout the region over the coming months. In the meantime, we hope you find this website useful and would ask anyone with an interest in further developing the relationship between Ireland and northern Italy, particularly in the area of economic, cultural and societal links, to please contact the Consulate through our contact page. For all our latest news and events, you can find us on X and Instagram.

Le gach dea-ghuí / con cari saluti/ with best wishes,

Maria Sheehy

Consul General’s biography

Maria Sheehy took up her position as Ireland’s first Consul General to Milan in September 2024

Before taking up her assignment in Milan, Maria served as Deputy Director of the EU Institutions and Coordination Unit at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin, specialising in the areas of Rule of Law and Irish representation in the EU Institutions.

Prior to this, she was Consul and Cultural Attaché at the Irish Embassy in Rome.

She has previously worked in the Department’s International Security Policy Section and in its Asia Pacific Unit with a focus on South and Southeast Asia.

In addition to her time in the Department of Foreign Affairs, Maria spent four years working in the Irish Department of Justice as Ministerial Liaison Officer and as Deputy Director of the Garda (Police) Governance and Accountability Section.

Prior to joining the civil service, Maria spent a number of years studying and working in Japan, Poland and South Korea.

Maria holds a BA in History and Irish from University College Dublin and an MA in Interdisciplinary European Studies from the College of Europe, Bruges.

She is joined in Milan by her husband and two young children.

www.ireland.ie/en/italy/milan