Joe Behan

Cllr
Joe Behan
Wicklow County Councillor
Assumed office
May 2014
Constituency Bray
Teachta Dála
In office
May 2007 – February 2011
Constituency Wicklow
Personal details
Born (1959-07-30) 30 July 1959
Bray, Wicklow, Ireland
Nationality Irish
Political party Independent (since 2008)
Other political
affiliations		 Fianna Fáil (until 2008)

Joe Behan (born 30 July 1959) is an Irish politician. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Wicklow constituency from 2007 to 2011.[1] He was elected as a Fianna Fáil TD at the 2007 general election.[2]

A teacher from Bray, Behan was a long-serving member of Bray Town Council and Wicklow County Council,[3] winning and holding his seat at the 1999 and 2004 local elections.[2] He was Cathaoirleach (chairman) of Wicklow County Council from 2006 to 2007, but in accordance with the abolition of the dual mandate under the Local Government Act 2001 he was deemed to have resigned his council seats when elected to the Dáil in 2007.

Behan unsuccessfully sought the Fianna Fáil nomination to contest the 1997 general election in the Wicklow constituency.[3] He did not win a nomination until December 2006, when he was one of three candidates selected by the party for the 2007 general election.[4] He was elected to Dáil Éireann at the 2007 general election.

On 17 October 2008 he resigned from the Fianna Fáil party in protest at the 2009 Budget. Despite claiming in his letter of resignation that: "I intend to adopt an independent stance on each and every issue which comes before the Dáil from now on.",[5] he refused to join a Technical Group [6] and largely continued to side with the government. He stood for re-election in Wicklow at the 2011 general election, but lost his seat receiving 6% of the first preference votes down from 14.5% in 2007.[2]

In 2014, he announced that he would be standing as a candidate for the 2014 local elections for the Bray area.[7] He was elected to Wicklow County Council on the first count, gaining 1776 (just over 14%) first preference votes, 384 more than the quota. [8]

He is an independent candidate for the Wicklow constituency at the 2016 general election but was not elected.

References

  1. ↑ "Mr. Joe Behan". Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved 23 March 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 "Joe Behan". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 23 March 2008.
  3. 1 2 "Roche fails to get FF nomination". The Irish Times. 9 May 1996. Retrieved 23 March 2008.
  4. ↑ Miriam Donohoe (16 December 2006). "FF ends selection saga in Wicklow and confirms three candidates". The Irish Times. Retrieved 23 March 2008.
  5. ↑ "Full text of Joe Behan TD's resignation letter from Fianna Fáil". The Irish Times. 17 October 2008. Retrieved 17 October 2008.
  6. ↑ "Behan opts out of independents' link-up with Sinn Féin". Irish Independent. 12 November 2008.
  7. ↑ "From Leinster House to Local Council". TheJournal.ie. 29 March 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  8. ↑ "Elections 2014 Wicklow". Irish Independent. 24 May 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
Oireachtas
Preceded by
Joe Jacob
(Fianna Fáil)		 Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála for Wicklow
2007–2008 		Succeeded by
Himself
as Independent TD
Preceded by
Himself
as Fianna Fáil TD		 Independent Teachta Dála for Wicklow
2008–2011 		Succeeded by
Stephen Donnelly
(Independent)
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