Irish Radio Canada

John Concannon has recently been appointed as Ireland’s Ambassador to Canada, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Lucia. His most recent posting was as the Director General of the Global Ireland and Economic Division in Department of Foreign Affairs. John has had numerous leadership roles across both public and private sectors, including with Unilever PLC, Dubarry, Fáilte Ireland, the Taoiseach’s Office, the Department of Culture Heritage and the Gaeltacht, the Department of Foreign Affairs, and has served as Vice President of the University of Galway. No stranger to Tourism, John led the merger of the Regional Tourism Authorities in 2006 in the role of Director of Regional Development for Fáilte Ireland, and following this, he took up the role of Director of Market Development with the National Tourism Development Authority. In 2014 he was appointed Director of the “Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme”, the largest cultural initiative undertaken in the history of the State, and subsequently led the development of the “Creative Ireland” programme, to mainstream culture and creativity across public life. Following this, John was appointed as Director of Strategic Communications in the Department of An Taoiseach. He was selected as Irish “Marketer of the Year” in 2011 for his work marketing Ireland, and was nominated again in 2013 as the creator of “The Gathering”. He has been centrally involved in three Civil Service Excellence Award winning programmes, namely Ireland 2016, Irelands Covid-19 communications response, and Ireland’s successful campaign to win a seat on the United Nations Security Council.