Irbe was born in Lielsatiķu “Sīļos” (now Brocēni in Gaiķi Parish, Saldus Municipality) in the Courland Governorate of the Russian Empire.

In 1887 he went to Moscow to continue his training and minister to the German community at the church of Sts Peter and Paul where he was ordained on April 13 of the same year.

He was consecrated bishop by the Archbishop of Uppsala Nathan Söderblom on 16 July 1922 in St James's Church in Riga.

Nonetheless, Irbe encountered significant problems during his term as bishop notably the mutual intolerance and oppression of the German and Latvian Lutherans, the loss of the Church of St. James (since 1923 the Cathedral of the "new" Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Riga) and issues with Riga Cathedral.

On 10 November 1931 Bishop Irbe convened an extraordinary synod in which he announced his resignation, the reason being that the government passed laws which interfered with church autonomy.