Breen narrowly lost his seat to Joe Carey of Fine Gael by 456 votes at the 2007 general election.
At the 2009 local elections he topped the poll in the Ennis West electoral area for Clare County Council.
He again stood as an independent candidate at the 2011 general election for the Clare constituency but was again defeated on the last count, this time by Timmy Dooley by 1,501 votes.
He retired from politics at the 2019 local elections.