JOE BEHAN (49) is a former schoolteacher, based in Bray, Co Wicklow.
A long-serving member of Bray Town Council and Wicklow County Council, he held his seats at successive elections but failed to secure a nomination from Fianna Fáil to contest the general election in 1997.
However, in December 2006 he was selected by a committee chaired by then Minister for Finance Brian Cowen, as one of two councillors to stand alongside Minister Dick Roche in the 2007 general election.
Not long before that he had been appointed a school principal, but had taken a year out to serve as cathaoirleach of Wicklow County Council.
He secured 14.5 per cent of the vote in Wicklow in the 2007 election, securing the second seat in the hotly-contested five-seat constituency. He won the seat ahead of Labour's high-profile TD Liz McManus and came within 1,000 votes of taking the first seat from party colleague Roche.
His wife, Agnes, is also a school principal and they have teenage children.
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