Ireland's relationship with Romania

Ireland’s relationship with Romania is an evolving and warm bond, which is continuing to grow year on year. A Romanian Embassy was established in Dublin in 1994 while Ireland opened a resident Embassy in Bucharest in 2005, two years before Romania joined the European Union.

Irish trade in goods with Romania had a combined value of over €600 million in 2023, while the two-way trade in services with Romania totalled over €1 billion.

While Romania and Ireland bookend the EU member states from East to West, the distance between the two has not hampered the development of strong ties based on shared EU values, cultural and sporting ties.

Committed Europeans

Ireland’s continued support for European Union enlargement is matched in the enthusiasm by our Romanian colleagues. Since Ireland and Romania joined the EU in 1973 and 2007 respectively both countries have benefitted significantly from their membership of the union.

Both nations have embraced their membership of the EU and seized the opportunity to bring about positive change for their citizens through enhanced economic, political and cultural ties. Both Member States share the belief that these same opportunities should be afford to all those countries who can fulfil the required conditions to join the EU.

The enlargement of the European Union has taken on new consequence since Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Romania’s history and its geographic location mean that the Romanian people have special cultural, geographical, and familial ties to Moldova. These ties have fostered strong positive relations between the nations and are driving Romania’s support for enlargement. Ireland stands alongside Romania in actively promoting the Republic of Moldova’s ascension to the EU.

Literary ties

Long before diplomatic relations of Romania and Ireland were established a wayward Dublin writer caught the imaginations of readers all over the world with a gothic tale from the depths of the Transylvanian forest. Bram Stoker’s Dracula inspired by Romanian folklore continues to draw large number of tourists to Bran Castle the supposed home of Vlad the Impaler and tie Romania and Ireland together through myth and legend.

While Romanian and Irish literary ties began in 1897 and they persist to this day. The most recent episode of literary connections sees a reversal of impact, Romania writers making their mark in Irish literary fields. This year, 2024, the estimable Romanian writer Mircea Cărtărescu won the Dublin literary award for his novel Solenoid.

Sporting Friendships

The rugby union tradition in Romania has persisted since 1914 when the domestic league began and has survived a century of changing national realities. It would take nearly sixty years before Ireland would meet Romania in an international game, and from this point the nations have met regularly in Summer Tours, the November test series or in the Rugby World Cup.

These international matches are always hard fought with honest rugby and the fans on both sides thoroughly enjoy the experience though perhaps not always the result.

The opening match of the 2023 World Cup saw Ireland face Romania, and while the score sheet was somewhat lopsided it didn’t diminish the enjoyment of the Romanian and Irish fans.

With such a shared love for the game, it is not surprising that Rugby has been a common feature of Irish community events in Romania. This continued connection between our two rugby nations will be celebrated in 2025 with two test matches taking place in Romania