Bernard Davenport (19 August 1939 – 11 June 2018) was an Irish

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

. Davenport was born in Dublin. He graduated from Trinity College Dublin, in 1963 in economics and politics, followed by an MA in economics. He joined the Dublin section of '' The Economists Economic Intelligence Unit under

Garret FitzGerald Garret Desmond FitzGerald (9 February 192619 May 2011) was an Irish Fine Gael politician, economist and barrister who served twice as Taoiseach, serving from 1981 to 1982 and 1982 to 1987. He served as Leader of Fine Gael from 1977 to 1987, and ...

.Economist and diplomat who lived life to the full, ''Irish Times''
/ref> In 1968 he joined the Department of Foreign Affairs as 3rd secretary. From 1978 to 1983 he served as counsellor at the U.N. He became ambassador to Argentina in 1989. During his tenure, on St. Patrick's Day 1992, an hour and a half after he had left the embassy to attend St. Patrick's day functions, a bomb exploded at the nearby Israeli Embassy. The Irish Embassy was empty, but the interior was wrecked. In 1996 he returned to headquarters to work in the Anglo-Irish Division. During his time at the U.N. he had become very friendly with Martti Ahtisaari, then deputy secretary general of the U.N. and later

President of Finland The president of the Republic of Finland ( fi, Suomen tasavallan presidentti; sv, Republiken Finlands president) is the head of state of Finland. Under the Constitution of Finland, executive power is vested in the Finnish Government and the p ...

. This contact was helpful in later years when Ahtessaari was instrumental in getting former Finnish Prime Minister, Harri Holkieri, to be part of the troika with U.S. Senator George Mitchell and retired Canadian General John de Chastelain which engaged with paramilitaries on both sides in Northern Ireland which paved the way for the Belfast Agreement in 1998. He was one of the key people in the run-up to that agreement. As one of the few people in the Anglo-Irish Division with serious U.N. experience, he put a great emphasis on lodging the agreement with the U.N. as an international agreement and was heavily involved with drafting the text to ensure it was compatible with U.N. treaties. He later served as ambassador to Switzerland. His final posting was to the Holy See. He presented his Letters of Credence to the Holy See in September 2001. He retired in 2004

References

Notes

* "The Great Tuam Annual 3", 1992

External links

Speech of Pope John Paul 11 at presentation of credentials by Ambassador Bernard Davenport
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davenport, Bernard 1939 births 2018 deaths People from Tuam Ambassadors of Ireland to Argentina Ambassadors of Ireland to the Holy See