New British Ambassador to Ireland announced

A new British Ambassador to Ireland has been appointed to replace Ivor Roberts who has served in the post for more than three years, it was announced today.

Stewart Eldon, who played a key role in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office during the Gulf War, is to replace Mr Roberts, who is set to leave Ireland for his final posting in the Diplomatic Service, the British Embassy in Dublin said.

Mr Eldon, 49, who is honoured with an OBE and CMG (Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George), is married to Christine. They have a daughter, born in 1982, and son, born in 1985.

His most recent posting was in America as Deputy Permanent Representative at the UK Mission in New York, during one of the most turbulent periods in history for the country.

In the early 1990s he served as deputy head at the FCO Middle East Department and worked as Deputy Crisis Manager during the Gulf War.

Between 1993 and 1994 he worked at Harvard University at the Centre for International Affairs, which he left to take a three-year post on the UK Delegation to Nato.

He has previous experience of his new posting - as six years after he began work at the FCO he was head of the Republic of Ireland Department, a position in which he served from 1982-1983.

Mr Eldon replaces Ivor Roberts, who was born in Liverpool in 1946 and studied languages at Oxford University before joining the Diplomatic Service in 1968.

Mr Roberts who in 1974 arrived in Dublin in February 1999 to take his position as ambassador.

Among his previous postings were Lebanon and Belgrade. During his time in Belgrade he conducted negotiations on behalf of international mediators with the Yugoslav authorities and the Bosnian Serbs.

He was also involved in the negotiations for the release of British soldiers held hostage by the Bosnian Serbs.

In 2000 he was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

The British Embassy said it was still uncertain what his next role would be, though he intended to remain in the Diplomatic Service for one more posting.