MS ANNE COLLEY

Anne Colley was appointed to the Legal Aid Board in October 2001, and was appointed as Chairperson of the Board in September 2003. She was re-appointed Chairperson in December 2006. She qualified as a solicitor in 1974 and is a consultant solicitor in the firm of Dillon Solicitors in Dublin following the merger of her own firm with that firm in 2004.

A former Progressive Democrat T.D. (Member of Parliament), she is a former member of the Council of the Law Society of Ireland. She is a member of the Private Residential Tenancies Board, a former member of the Government Commission on the Private Rented Sector and a former Chairperson of the Refugee Agency. She also chaired the government Working Group on Domestic Partnership, whose report in late 2006 led to draft legislation that is shortly to be introduced providing for same sex civil unions.