Appointment of Director of Public Prosecutions

The government has today appointed Ms. Catherine Pierse to be the next Director of Public Prosecutions. Ms. Pierse will succeed the current Director, Ms. Claire Loftus, when she completes her term of office on 7 November next.

Catherine Pierse has extensive experience of working in criminal law, most recently as the Head of the Prosecution Support Services Division in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. She previously held the roles of Head of Legal and Governance in the Policing Authority; Senior Enforcement Lawyer in the Central Bank of Ireland; Legal Adviser in the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission and prior to that as a criminal defence solicitor. Educated in UCC and Queen’s University Belfast, Catherine qualified as a solicitor in 2001.