Joe Brosnan was born in Co Kerry in 1946. He is a graduate of St Patrick’s College Maynooth and was called to the Irish Bar in 1978.

He joined the Irish civil service in 1967 and worked for most of his career in the Department of Justice, serving in various capacities in the Law, EC and Garda and Security Divisions of that Department. From 1981 to 1985 he was seconded to the Law Reform Commission as a Research Counsellor and assisted in the preparation of a number of the Commission’s reports during that period.

In 1985 he was appointed Assistant Secretary in the Law Division of the Department of Justice, responsible for management of the Department’s legislative programme in the criminal law and some other areas. In 1988 he moved to become Assistant Secretary in charge of the Garda and Security Division of the Department.

Joe Brosnan became Secretary General of the Department of Justice in February 1991.

From 1986 to 1992 he took part in various aspects of North-South co-operation on policing and legal matters and attended regularly at Anglo-Irish Conference meetings. During that time he also participated in co-operation among senior officials of the EC Member States and attended EC Ministerial meetings on policing and justice issues.

In 1992 he was a member of the Irish Government delegation to discussions in Strands Two and Three of the Northern Ireland talks process.

In 1993 he went to Brussels to be Chef de Cabinet to the Irish member of the European Commission Mr Padraig Flynn, who was responsible for Justice and Home Affairs (1993-1994) and for Employment and Social Policy (1993-1999).

At the end of 1999 when his appointment with the European Commission finished, Mr Brosnan retired from the Irish civil service and began work as a consultant on public and European affairs. From 2000 to 2003 he was Director General of the Institute of European Affairs in Dublin, an independent, private organisation which does analysis of current major developments in European Union policies and their implications. In 2002-2003 he was the Institute’s representative in the Special Observer Pillar of the National Forum on Europe. He is currently a vice-chairperson of the IEA and is chairman of a Task Force set up by the Law Society of Ireland to review the operation of its regulatory systems and procedures.

Mr Brosnan was formally appointed by the Irish Government to the Independent Monitoring Commission on 7 January 2004.