Colm Larkin is from Magherafelt, Co Derry. He studied at St. Patrick’s College, Armagh, and read P.P.E. at Balliol College, Oxford. From 1974-2004 he was an official of the European Commission. He was Deputy Chef de Cabinet to Commissioner Peter Sutherland and Chef de Cabinet to Commissioner Ray Mc Sharry. He was Director of the Commission Representation in Ireland from 1993-1998.

He was a member of the Delors Task Force which established the European Peace and Reconciliation Programme. From 1998-2001 he was Special Adviser to Seamus Mallon, the Deputy First Minister of the Northern Ireland Executive. In 2004 he was awarded an M.B.A. by University College Dublin. Since leaving the Commission he does some third level teaching and is a consultant on EU affairs with clients in both the public and private sectors. He was appointed to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission in 2007.