Ireland's Foreign Relations in 2020

Abstract

Abstract:This review examines Ireland's foreign relations in 2020. It sets out the particular challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic and outlines the evolving domestic political landscape, including the election in February 2020 that led to the historic first coalition involving both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. The review then gives an account of Ireland's relations with the EU, the UK and the USA, with Brexit representing a recurrent theme across all three relationships. Ireland's engagement beyond Europe and North America is addressed, including its successful election to the UN Security Council and its foreign military deployments. Finally, the deaths of a number of significant figures in Irish and international politics are noted.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons attribution license, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Open Access funding provided by IReL.