[7][8] In November 2005, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern visited Croatia during which he met with Croatian President Stjepan Mesić, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, Parliament Speaker Vladimir Šeks and many other officials.

Taoiseach Ahern expressed his support for the Croatian accession to the EU, and described relations between Croatia and Ireland as "very cordial and friendly".

Both Prime Ministers emphasized the importance of deeper economic, cultural and scientific cooperation between Croatia and Ireland.

Prime Minister Sanader stressed that Croatia took the Irish experience in facilitating the process for the incorporation of companies and the opening of trade businesses.

During her three-day state visit, she visited Dublin and Galway, which has been selected European Capital of Culture for 2020 together with Croatian town of Rijeka, and met with representatives of the Croatian community in Ireland, Irish president Michael D. Higgins, Prime Minister Enda Kenny, leaders of the Irish Parliament, Lord Mayor of Dublin Brendan Carr and Mayor of Galway Noel Larkin.

There is a long line of relations between the Croatian and Irish people as exemplified in the lives of Saint Donatus of Zadar, Laval Nugent von Westmeath, James Joyce, William Butler Yeats, and more recently Thomas Crowley.

[18] In 1813, von Westmeath became Chief of Staff for the Imperial Army and led the campaign that liberated Croatia, Istria and the Po Valley from the French viceroy Eugène de Beauharnais.

"Having discovered that the deadline had passed, Meštrović had made magnificent design and generously donated it to the Irish Free State", wrote Yeats.

[19] James Joyce eloped to Pula as a 22-year-old man with his girlfriend (later to be his wife), Nora Barnacle to teach English with the Berlitz Corporation.

[20][21] Irishman Thomas Crowley is considered to be a hero in Croatia because of his active role in the Croatian War of Independence.

He participated as a commando in battles at Dubrovnik, Livno, Mostar, Popovo Polje, Operation Maslenica, the liberation of Škabrnja and Zemunik, where he was wounded.

[22] From 1993 to 2011, Irish businessmen invested 139.3 million euros into Croatian economy and thus took 18th place among top investors in Croatia.

[28] On the night of March 30, 2024, two Croatian citizens named Josip Strok (31) and David Družinec were attacked on their way home by a group of men in Clondalkin, west Dublin according to the Foreign Ministry of Ireland.