Deputy Director General, Office of the Attorney General of Ireland
Faye Breen is Deputy Director General of the Office of the Attorney General of Ireland, a role she has held since November 2022. In this capacity, she supports the Director General in the leadership, strategic direction, and overall management of the Office, and works closely with the Attorney General in the provision of legal services to Government.
Ms Breen advises extensively on constitutional and public law matters, with particular expertise in electoral law. She has led the legal advice on significant domestic legislative developments in the electoral field, recently including the Electoral Reform Act 2022 and the Seanad Electoral (University Members) (Amendment) 2024. She also provides legal advice on complex issues arising in the context of referenda and elections, including questions relating to constitutional requirements and democratic processes.
Ms Breen has more than twenty years’ experience in the Office of the Attorney General, during which she has held a number of senior legal positions across a wide range of practice areas. As Advisory Counsel Grade I (Assistant Secretary General), she led a legal team responsible for advising on immigration, international protection, public procurement, utilities regulation, and electoral law. Her work in these areas involved ensuring compliance with the Irish Constitution, European Union law, the European Convention on Human Rights, and other international legal obligations. She also played a key role in litigation strategy and legislative development, providing strategic legal advice on complex and often high-profile matters affecting public administration.
Earlier in her career in the Office, Ms Breen worked extensively on criminal law at both domestic and international levels, advising on extradition and surrender, mutual legal assistance, proceeds of crime, forensic evidence, and prison law. Her work in this area included engagement with European Union and international legal frameworks governing cross-border cooperation in criminal matters.
Prior to joining the Office of the Attorney General in 2003, Ms Breen practised as a barrister at the Bar of Ireland, appearing before courts at all levels, from the District Court to the Supreme Court. She was called to the Bar in 1998 and her practice encompassed constitutional, commercial, employment, European Union, and refugee law, and included both advocacy and the provision of legal advice and drafting in a broad range of proceedings. During this period, she was a lecturer in EU law on the Diploma in European Law at Technological University Dublin (then Dublin Institute of Technology).
Ms Breen holds a Bachelor of Civil Law from University College Dublin (1995) and a Degree of Barrister-at-Law from the Honorable Society of King’s Inns (1998). She has further strengthened her specialist expertise through advanced diplomas in Electoral Law and Politics, Public Procurement Law, and Asylum and Immigration Law. She holds a Master of Science in Business (Leadership and Management Practice) from University College Dublin (2025).
She contributes to academic and professional legal discourse through lectures and speaking engagements and she has published papers on mutual legal assistance in the European Union and developments in Irish law. She regularly delivers lectures to electoral law students at the Honorable Society of King’s Inns.
