Patricia O'Brien (born 8 February 1957)is Ambassador of Ireland to Italy. She served as Ambassador to France and to Monaco from 2017 to 2021. She had served from 2013 as the Permanent Representative (Ambassador) of Ireland to the United Nations and other International Organizations at Geneva. From 2008 to 2013, she served as Legal Counsel and

Under-Secretary-General An under-secretary-general of the United Nations (USG) is a senior official within the United Nations System, normally appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the secretary-general for a renewable term of four years. Under-s ...

for Legal Affairs at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

, the first ever woman to hold that position. In this role, she led the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs. She was appointed by UN

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Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...

in August 2008.UN press release on appointment of Patricia O'Brien
/ref> Prior to joining the UN, O'Brien served as Legal Adviser to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ireland since 2003. Previously, she was a Senior Legal Adviser in the Office of the Irish Attorney General and Legal Counsellor at the Irish Permanent Representation to the European Union in Brussels. O’Brien has three children.

Early life

An Irish national, O'Brien was born in Brunei. She spent her childhood in Nigeria, Cambodia and the Congo, and Ireland, where she attended the boarding school, Our Lady's school, in Rathnew. Her father was a barrister who worked for the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

and

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Education and early career

O'Brien was a lawyer at the Irish Bar from 1979 to 1988. She spent one year at the Bar of British Columbia, Canada. Between 1989 and 1992, she taught at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

in Vancouver. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in legal science in 1978 and a Master of Arts degree in 1987, both from

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

. She has a Barrister-at-Law (BL) from Kings Inns, Dublin (1978) and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Ottawa, Canada (1990).

Awards

In October 2017 she received the ''Woman Lawyer of the Year '' award from the Irish Women Lawyers Association. She received an honorary doctorate from

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

in 2019.

References

External links

Speech at IIEA June 2016
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Patricia 1957 births Living people Under-Secretaries-General of the United Nations Ambassadors of Ireland to France Permanent Representatives of Ireland to the United Nations University of British Columbia faculty Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Irish barristers Irish women ambassadors