Mr O’Brien brings a wealth of political and community sector experience to the role, including over 20 years working in policy, advocacy, frontline and outreach roles in the community and voluntary sector and almost five years as a minister of state in government.

He worked for over two decades with community sector organisations including Crosscare and the Immigrant Council of Ireland. In this time, he worked with some of Ireland’s most at-risk communities — including migrants, people experiencing homelessness and young people at risk — in a range of policy, advocacy and outreach roles.

He has authored reports on the immigration system and minority access to the social welfare system and homelessness supports. He led several projects aimed at increasing migrants’ political participation in Ireland and sat on the Monitoring and Co-ordinating Committee of the National Migrant Integration Strategy.

He has also worked as a human rights observer in Palestine.

Mr O’Brien was elected as a TD for the Green Party in November 2019 and served as minister of state across three different government departments from 2020 until 2025.

During his time in government, he launched the national action plan against racism, Ireland’s first national philanthropy policy and introduced the pursuit of human rights as a charitable purpose under the Charities (Amendment) Act 2024.

Mr O’Brien said: “I have followed and admired the work of the ICCL for decades, so it’s an absolute honour for me to take up the helm at the organisation at this critical time for civil liberties.

“With human rights under threat at home and abroad, there has never been more need for an organisation like ICCL, which is often the last line of defence when it comes to protecting the rights and freedoms of people in Ireland.

“My professional life has been consistently guided by human rights and equality. For over 20 years, I worked in community organisations, serving and supporting some of our most at-risk communities. I have always worked to try to ensure that every member of Irish society is treated fairly and equitably.

“I am energised to be returning to work in civil society and bringing my perspective, commitment and experience to ICCL.”

Colette Kelleher, chairperson of ICCL, said: “On behalf of the board of ICCL, I am delighted to welcome Joe to the ICCL team.

“We conducted a rigorous recruitment process during which his extensive and extremely pertinent experience and skills became clear to us.

“With a lengthy career in the community sector and extensive experience in policy-making, advocacy and within politics, he brings a huge amount to the role.

“We look forward to working with him in the coming years.”