Joseph John O'Toole (born 20 July 1947) is a former

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

independent politician An independent or non-partisan politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have political views th ...

, who was a member of

Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann (, ; "Senate of Ireland") is the upper house of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (the lower house). It is commonly called the Seanad or Senate and its memb ...

from 1987 to 2011. He was born and brought up in

Dingle Dingle (Irish language, Irish: ''An Daingean'' or ''Daingean Uí Chúis'', meaning "fort of Ó Cúis") is a town in County Kerry, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The only town on the Dingle Peninsula, it sits on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coas ...

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

, O'Toole was a teacher for ten years and then a school principal in

County Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg , map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...

. From 1990 to 2001, he was appointed General Secretary of the

Irish National Teachers' Organisation The Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) ( ga, Cumann Múinteoirí Éireann), founded in 1868, is the oldest and largest teachers' trade union in Ireland. It represents teachers at primary level in the Republic of Ireland, and at prima ...

(INTO), and from 2001 to 2003, he was President of the

Irish Congress of Trade Unions The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (often abbreviated to just Congress or ICTU), formed in 1959 by the merger of the Irish Trades Union Congress (founded in 1894) and the Congress of Irish Unions (founded in 1945), is a national trade union centr ...

(ICTU). He lives in Kilsallaghan, County Dublin. He was first elected to the 18th Seanad in 1987 for the

National University A national university is mainly a university created or managed by a government, but which may also at the same time operate autonomously without direct control by the state. Some national universities are associated with national cultural or po ...

(NUI) constituency, and was re-elected by the same constituency at each subsequent election until he retired from politics at the 2011 Seanad election. In the Seanad, he was a member of the Parliamentary Joint Finance Committee. His autobiography "''Looking under stones: roots, family and a Dingle childhood''", was published in 2003.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Otoole, Joe 1947 births Living people Alumni of St Patrick's College, Dublin Independent members of Seanad Éireann Irish schoolteachers Irish trade unionists Members of the 18th Seanad Members of the 19th Seanad Members of the 20th Seanad Members of the 21st Seanad Members of the 22nd Seanad Members of the 23rd Seanad Politicians from County Kerry Presidents of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions Members of Seanad Éireann for the National University of Ireland People from Dingle