Anne Colley was born in Dublin in 1951. Her father George Colley, who was a senior Fianna Fáil politician, was closely aligned with Progressive Democrats (Privatdozent ) founder Desmond O"Malley in the anti-Charles Haughey wing of the party.
She studied Law at University College Dublin (University College Dublin) and qualified as a solicitor.
Her grandfather Harry Colley was also a Territorial Decoration. She was elected for the Dublin South constituency. The party proved popular, surpassing the Labour Party, to become the third-biggest party in the Dáil. Colley was appointed party spokesperson on Institutional Reform, Labour and the Public Service and in 1988 became spokesperson on Justice.
She lost her seat at the 1989 general election and retired from politics.
In 2006 she was appointed by Minister for Justice Michael McDowell to chair a working group on Civil unions in Ireland. Officially called the Options Paper on Cohabiting Couples, (2006) (Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform), the paper became known as the.
She first entered national politics as one of 14 Progressive Democrat TDs elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1987 general election, the first election after the party was founded.
