Ireland–Yugoslavia relations

The Irish revolutionary period attracted significant media attention in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, particularly in Belgrade and Zagreb.[1] It influenced parliamentary debates and the Croat autonomists movement which led to the creation of the Banovina Croatia.[1]

In 1946, the Parliament of Ireland discussed the case of Alojzije Stepinac on two occasions, and adopted a Resolution on Religious Freedom which called on the Minister of Foreign Affairs to share information on the Stepinac case.[2]

In 1955, one year after Yugoslavia defeated England in Belgrade, the Football Association of Ireland organized a friendly soccer game with Yugoslavia at Dalymount Park.[3] The Roman Catholic archbishop of Dublin John Charles McQuaid, supported by various government ministers and senior civil servants, called for the cancellation of the game quoting ″continued persecution of the Catholic Church in communist Yugoslavia″ and especially the case of Alojzije Stepinac, which had inspired earlier mass protests in Ireland.[3] The Irish national broadcasting service Raidió Teilifís Éireann declined to cover the game after its main sports commentator Phil Greene pulled out of the broadcast.[3] As the game went ahead and was attended by 21,400 fans it was interpreted by many as a public protest against conservatisms and excessive influence of the Catholic Church in Ireland in public life.[3]

In 1967, Radio Television Belgrade recorded a documentary on daily life in Ireland which was presented to audiences in the Socialist Republic of Serbia.[4]

The two countries cancelled their mutual visa requirements in reciprocity in 1974,[5] and formal diplomatic relations were established in 1977.[5] In 1980 Ruairí Ó Brádaigh of Sinn Féin, Andy Barr of the Communist Party of Ireland and Billy McKee of the Provisional Irish Republican Army all attended the state funeral of President Josip Broz Tito.