Richard Ryan (diplomat)

Richard Ryan (born 1946) is an Irish poet and diplomat.

Born and educated in Dublin, he was an English professor and visiting poet at the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, USA from 1970 to 1971, and published two volumes of poetry in the early 1970s. In 1974 he joined the Irish diplomatic service. He served as Irish ambassador to Korea (1989–93), Japan and Spain (1994–98) before becoming Ireland’s permanent representative to the United Nations from 1998 until 1995.

He was also ambassador to the Czech Republic between 2009 and 2011. He is currently Irish ambassador to the Netherlands.