Richard Ryan (born 1946) is an Irish poet and former diplomat. Born in 1946 and educated in Dublin, he was an English professor and visiting poet at the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, USA from 1970 to 1971, and published two volumes of poetry in the early 1970s. In 1974 he joined the Irish diplomatic service. He was also ambassador to the Czech Republic between 2009 and 2011. He later served as Irish ambassador to the Netherlands.