Ireland's relationship with Tanzania
The history of official representation of Ireland in Tanzania extends back to 1968, with the appointment of an Honorary Consul. In 1975 Ireland initiated a programme of development assistance with Tanzania.
In 1979 this led to the opening of a Development Cooperation Office in Dar es Salaam which evolved to become the Embassy of Ireland following the first appointment of an Ambassador in 2006 during the State Visit of President McAleese.
Cultural connections
Ireland and Tanzania share a love of culture, particularly music, dance and the visual arts. The two countries continue to develop this cultural exchange, with traditional Irish music and dance presented to Tanzanian audiences.
In recent years this has included traditional céilí music and dancing, Sean nós dancing and even a traditional harp recital on top of Mt Kilimanjaro.
In 2023 the Embassy of Ireland hosted an Irish artist in residence, Mick O’Dea, who created a series of portraits of Tanzanian women activists and leaders. Tanzanian artists were invited to work alongside Mr O’Dea and to share their knowledge and skills.
Watch a short video to learn more about this residency.
People-to-people links
There is a small but active Irish community in Tanzania of around 150 people working in sectors such as business, education and development cooperation. This is mirrored in Ireland where the 2022 census counted 120 Tanzanians living and working in Ireland. The personal stories of some of these community members were gathered by the Embassy in a collection, ‘In My Own Words, 40 Years of Irish Tanzanian Relations,’ in 2019.
Further people-to-people links have been created through the Ireland Fellowships Programme which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2024. There are over 200 alumni in Tanzania and in recent years over a dozen Tanzanian students have received fellowship scholarships to study a fully funded Master’s programme in Ireland each year. Read more about the fellowship programme.
Political engagement
In terms of high-level engagement, there was a visit in March 2023 by Minister of State Pippa Hackett, Minister for Land Use and Biodiversity at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
Minister Hackett visited Dodoma and Dar es Salaam during her visit and was guest of honour at the Embassy’s St Patrick’s Day reception in Dar es Salaam.
The Embassy is active on X, formerly twitter, and encourages those interested in our work to follow @IrlEmbTanzania for regular updates.