Joe Behan

{{short description|Irish politician (b. 1959)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}

{{Use Hiberno-English|date=July 2022}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|honorific-prefix = Cllr

|nationality = Irish

|image =

|office = Wicklow County Councillor

|term_start = May 2014

|term_end =

|constituency = Bray West

|office1 = Teachta Dála

|term_start1 = May 2007

|term_end1 = February 2011

|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1959|07|30|df=y}}

|birth_place = Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland

|death_date =

|death_place =

|constituency1 = Wicklow

|party = Independent

|otherparty = Fianna Fáil {{small|(until 2008)}}

|spouse =

|website = {{URL|joebehan.ie}}

|alma_mater = Carysfort College

|}}

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.{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Joe-Behan.D.2007-06-14/|title=Joe Behan|website=Oireachtas Members Database|access-date=27 September 2019|archive-date=27 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190927144023/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Joe-Behan.D.2007-06-14/|url-status=live}} He was elected as a TD at the 2007 general election.{{cite web|url=http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=5310|title=Joe Behan|work=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=23 March 2008|archive-date=14 June 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614025657/http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=5310|url-status=live}}

A former teacher and primary school principal from Bray, Behan was a long-serving member of Bray Town Council and Wicklow County Council,{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/1996/0509/96050900009.html|title=Roche fails to get FF nomination|date=9 May 1996|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=18 October 2008|archive-date=22 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022184827/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/1996/0509/96050900009.html|url-status=live}} winning and holding his seat at the 1999 and 2004 local elections. 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. 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.{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2006/1216/1166137964497.html|title=FF ends selection saga in Wicklow and confirms three candidates|author=Miriam Donohoe|date=16 December 2006|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=18 October 2008|archive-date=22 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022184837/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2006/1216/1166137964497.html|url-status=live}} He was elected to Dáil Éireann at the 2007 general election.

On 17 October 2008 he resigned from Fianna Fáil in protest at the 2009 Budget. In his letter of resignation he stated: "I intend to adopt an independent stance on each and every issue which comes before the Dáil from now on."{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/1017/breaking76.htm|title=Full text of Joe Behan TD's resignation letter from Fianna Fáil|date=17 October 2008|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=17 October 2008|archive-date=27 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210927171537/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/full-text-of-joe-behan-td-s-resignation-letter-1.830321|url-status=live}} He stood for re-election in Wicklow at the 2011 general election as an independent, but lost his seat receiving 6% of the first preference vote, down from 14.5% in 2007.

In 2014, he announced that he would be standing as an independent for the 2014 local elections for the Bray local electoral area.{{cite web|url=http://www.thejournal.ie/from-leinster-house-to-local-council-the-former-td-who-resigned-his-seat-is-going-back-into-politics-1384533-Mar2014/|title=From Leinster House to Local Council|date=29 March 2014|work=TheJournal.ie|access-date=27 April 2014|archive-date=28 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140428022944/http://www.thejournal.ie/from-leinster-house-to-local-council-the-former-td-who-resigned-his-seat-is-going-back-into-politics-1384533-Mar2014/|url-status=live}} He was elected to Wicklow County Council on the first count, getting 1,776 (just over 14%) first preference votes, 384 more than the quota.{{cite web|url=http://elections.independent.ie/2014/local-election-2014/area/bray-wicklow|title=Elections 2014 Wicklow|date=24 May 2014|work=Irish Independent|access-date=2 June 2014|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606231353/http://elections.independent.ie/2014/local-election-2014/area/bray-wicklow|archivedate=6 June 2014|df=dmy-all}}

He was an independent candidate for the Wicklow constituency at the 2016 general election but was not elected. He was re-elected to Wicklow County Council in the 2019 local elections on the first count, having topped the poll in Bray East with 1,880 (just under 29%) first preference votes.

Behan stood as an independent in Wicklow for the 2020 general election. He received 2,988 first preference votes (4.2%) and was eliminated on the 13th count.