Glossaries and abbreviations

Glossary of diplomatic terms

Ambassador
The highest-ranking diplomatic representative. Prior to the appointment of Ireland’s first ambassador in 1946, to the Holy See, Irish diplomats were appointed at the lower rank of envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary.

Chargé d’affaires
A diplomat who will deputise for a serving ambassador in his or her absence, or who will be placed in temporary charge of an embassy while awaiting the formal appointment of an ambassador. The post has no relation to diplomatic rank, but is normally held by mid-level or higher-level diplomats.

Consulate/Consulate general
The official representation of a state, assisting and protecting the interests of that state’s citizens in another state, perhaps through offices in several locations, each of which is headed by a Consul/Consul General. A Consul General is at higher ranking than a Consul.

Counsellor
A high-level diplomatic rank, below the highest-level position of ambassador. Appointments at this level first began in the Irish diplomatic service in the late 1940s.

Credentials
The documentation confirming the appointment of an ambassador, which is presented to the head of state of the country to which the ambassador is posted.

Dáil Éireann
Literally, ‘Assembly of Ireland’: the name of the Irish parliament, originally established in 1919 prior to independence.

Diplomatic bag
The term for packages sent between states and their diplomatic missions, which may not be interfered with or opened while in transit.

Embassy
A diplomatic mission comprising the chancellery, residence and diplomatic and official staff, and headed by an ambassador.

Envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary
An older term for the head of a diplomatic mission, below the rank of ambassador; often abbreviated in the context of diplomacy to ‘minister’; this should not be confused with the religious term or the term for members of a government.

First secretary
A mid-level diplomatic ranking, below the rank of counsellor and above third secretary.

High Commissioner
During Ireland’s 1922 to 1949 membership of the Commonwealth, the most senior Irish diplomatic agents in charge of the Irish mission (High Commission) in London and, from 1939, Ottawa, held the senior diplomatic rank of High Commissioner. After the declaration of the Republic of Ireland in 1949, Ireland’s High Commissioners to London and Ottawa, and since 1946 Canberra, were redesignated ambassadors.

Legation
A diplomatic mission headed by a diplomat below ambassadorial rank.

Second secretary
A mid-level diplomatic rank, in use from the inter-war years and again in recent years.

Secretary general
The term for the highest official in an Irish government department, though the term ‘secretary’ was used more commonly for much of the twentieth century.

Taoiseach
Literally, ‘chief’ or ‘leader’. The term for the head of the Irish government under the Irish constitution of 1937; the equivalent of ‘Prime Minister’.

Third secretary
The most junior Irish diplomatic rank.

Glossary of Irish language terms

Months of the year