| Office: | Teachta Dála |
| Term Start: | February 2016 |
| Term End: | February 2020 |
| Birth Date: | 3 June 1958 |
| Birth Place: | Knockbridge, County Louth, Ireland |
| Nationality: | Irish |
| Party: | Fianna Fáil |
| Children: | 2 |
| Alma Mater: | St Patrick's College, Dublin |
Declan Breathnach (born 3 June 1958) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Louth constituency from 2016 to 2020.[1] [2]
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 had 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 has 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 also was a member of the East Border Regions committee, and 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%).[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 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 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]