View source for Dermot Gleeson

{{Short description|Irish barrister}}
{{About|the Irish lawyer|the BBC Governor|Dermot Gleeson (BBC)}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=June 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=June 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Dermot Gleeson
| honorific-suffix    = [[Senior Counsel|SC]]
| image               = 
| office              = [[Attorney General of Ireland]]
| taoiseach           = [[John Bruton]]
| term_start          = 15 December 1994
| term_end            = 26 June 1997
| predecessor         = [[Eoghan Fitzsimons]]
| successor           = [[David Byrne (barrister)|David Byrne]]
| birth_name          = 
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|1948|04|22|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Cork (city)|Cork]], Ireland
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| party               = [[Fine Gael]]
| spouse              = {{marriage|Darine McCluskey|1978}}
| children            = 4
| education           = [[Blackrock College]]
| alma_mater          = {{Ubl|[[University College Dublin]]|[[King's Inns]]}}|
}}

'''Dermot Gleeson''' [[Senior Counsel|SC]] (born 22 April 1948) is an Irish [[barrister]] who served as [[Attorney General of Ireland]] from 1994 to 1997.

Educated in [[Blackrock College]], [[Dublin]] and [[University College Dublin]]. Gleeson holds [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] and [[LL.M]] degrees and qualified as a barrister at the [[King's Inns]], [[Dublin]]. His father John Gleeson SC was a barrister, the first Chairman of the Workplace Relations Commisison and was later appointed a Circuit Court Judge,<ref>https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/publications_forms/eat-50th-booklet-final.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=August 2025}}</ref> and two of his brothers are also barristers. Gleeson was called to the Irish bar in 1970 and first practised law on the Cork Circuit, away from Dublin, Ireland's main legal centre. In the early 1970s Gleeson was a part-time lecturer in Constitutional Law at [[University College Cork]].

Gleeson moved to Dublin when he was appointed a [[Senior Counsel]] in 1979, at age 30. He is believed{{who|date=March 2022}} to be the youngest 'silk' appointed in the common law world in the last century, beating noted counsel such as the Australian QC [[Tony Morriss]], who was made a silk at 32.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

Gleeson was a leading barrister in Ireland in the 1980s and 1990s before he became a senior government advisor and then a businessman. From 1994–1997, Gleeson was [[Attorney General of Ireland]], serving as chief legal advisor to the government of [[Taoiseach]] [[John Bruton]]. Gleeson is a Bencher of King's Inns. He is also a visiting fellow at the School of Law at [[University College Dublin]].

In more recent years Gleeson became known for his business career. In 2000, he joined the board of [[Independent News and Media]] Plc as a non-executive director and in 2003, he was appointed Chairman of Ireland's largest bank [[Allied Irish Banks]]. His time in charge of AIB Group coincided with the [[2008 financial crisis]], which resulted in the enormous drops in its share price, leading to the infamous 'egging' incident at AIB Group's May 2009 shareholder's meeting.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2011/03/michael-lewis-ireland-201103?currentPage=all |title=When Irish Eyes Are Crying |first=Michael |last=Lewis |date=March 2011 |accessdate=2011-06-10 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606112818/http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2011/03/michael-lewis-ireland-201103?currentPage=all |archivedate=2011-06-06 |publisher=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]] }}</ref> In 2003, Gleeson was appointed ombudsman for the Diamond Trading Company (DTC), the marketing offshoot of diamond mining giant [[De Beers]]. In 2007, he was appointed chairman of the Governing Body of [[University College]], [[Cork (city)|Cork]].

Gleeson is a former Auditor of the [[Literary and Historical Society, University College Dublin]], and winner of the [[Irish Times National Debating Championship]].

He currently resides in Dublin. He is married and has four children.

==See also==

*[[Auditors of the Literary and Historical Society (University College Dublin)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* http://lawlibrary.ie/members/barrister.asp?barID=72

{{S-start}}
{{s-legal}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Eoghan Fitzsimons]]}}
{{s-ttl|title  = {{nowrap|[[Attorney General of Ireland]]}}
       |years  = 1994–1997}}
{{s-aft|after  = [[David Byrne (barrister)|David Byrne]]}}
{{end}}
{{Attorneys General of Ireland}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gleeson, Dermot}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Allied Irish Banks]]
[[Category:Attorneys general of Ireland]]
[[Category:Auditors of the Literary and Historical Society (University College Dublin)]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from County Cork]]
[[Category:20th-century Irish lawyers]]
[[Category:People educated at Blackrock College]]
[[Category:1949 births]]
[[Category:Alumni of King's Inns]]
[[Category:Irish Senior Counsel]]
[[Category:Lawyers from County Cork]]
[[Category:21st-century Irish lawyers]]