Declan Breathnach

A native of Knockbridge, Dundalk, Breathnach was educated at Dundalk CBS (now Coláiste Rís) and St Patrick's College (which has become a part of Dublin City University), where he earned a Bachelor of Education. He has worked within primary schools for 35 years as a teacher and principal.[3]

Breathnach has been a member of Fianna Fáil since his early teens. He has served as a Cumann Secretary, member of the officer board of Louth Comhairle Dáil Ceantair (constituency council) and as the Louth constituency representative on the Fianna Fáil National Executive, a position held up until his election as a member of Louth County Council in 1991. Since Breathnach's first election to Louth County Council in 1991, he successfully retained his seat for 25 years, across 5 elections.[4]

He served as Joint Chairperson of the Memorandum of Association between Down Council and Louth Council from 2010 to 2015. He has also been a member of the East Border Regions committee. He has also served as the Chairperson of the Louth County Council Special Policy Group on Infrastructure, European and Cross-Border Matters.

Breathnach served as a Louth County Councillor until 2016. He successfully contested the Louth constituency at 2016 general election, receiving 9,099 first preference votes (13.5%).[2][5] He previously contested the Louth constituency at 2011 general election but was not elected.[6]

Breathnach was the Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on North-South Bodies & Cross-Border Co-Operation and is also Vice-Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. He also served as Vice-Chairperson of the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly.

Breathnach lost his Dáil seat at the 2020 general election, leaving the Louth constituency without a Fianna Fáil TD for the first time in the history of the state. He also unsuccessfully contested the 2020 Seanad election, but was unsuccessful.

On 9 July 2020, Breathnach formally apologised to Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald regarding a tweet from the 11 October 2018. The tweet, posted on the second anniversary of the murder of Garda Tony Golden, has been deleted since. The tweet accused McDonald of being a hypocrite and condoning the deaths of multiple Gardaí, the settlement included a formal apology to McDonald but other terms were kept confidential.[7][8]