Joseph Queenan is an

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 ...

politician. He is a member of the

Sligo County Council Sligo County Council ( ga, Comhairle Chontae Shligigh) is the authority responsible for local government in County Sligo, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housing and ...

, first elected for

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christian- ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

and representing the Dromore Electoral Area from then until its dissolution and replacement by the newly merged

Ballymote Ballymote () is a market town in southern County Sligo, approx. 24 km south east of Sligo town in the province of Connacht, which is located in the north-west of Ireland. Ballymote lies in the barony of Corran. A commuter town with a stro ...

and Tubberycurry Electoral Areas ahead of 2014's election. Queenan was re-elected for

in 2014, representing the

Tubbercurry Tubbercurry or Tobercurry () is the second-largest town in terms of both population and land area in County Sligo, Ireland. It lies at the foot of the Ox Mountains, on the N17 national primary road. The village is twinned with Viarmes in Fran ...

Electoral Area ever since.

Electoral history

Queenan first stood as a candidate for Fianna Fáil at the 1999 Sligo County Council election; successful, he took a seat for the party in the Dromore Electoral Area. He topped the poll for Fianna Fáil at the 2004 Sligo County Council election. Queenan was re-elected for Fianna Fáil in the Dromore Electrical Area at the 2009 Sligo County Council election. He was elected for Fianna Fáil in the new Ballymote-Tubbercurry Electrical Area at the 2014 Sligo County Council election, notably finishing ahead of party colleague

Eamon Scanlon Eamon Scanlon (born 20 September 1954) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 2007 to 2011 and 2016 to 2020. He was a Senator for the Agricultural Panel from 2002 to 2007. Personal life Scanlon is a na ...

, the former TD and

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

''RTÉ Investigates'' programme

Queenan was one of three politicians secretly filmed for '' Standards in Public Office'', which aired on

RTÉ One RTÉ One ( ga, RTÉ a hAon) is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís � ...

straight after the '' Nine O'Clock News'' on 8 December 2015. For the purposes of its programme, RTÉ established an imaginary company it named Vinst Opportunities, with imaginary investors searching for ways to set up

wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used Wind power, to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundre ...

s without having to deal with any problems that might arise if the imaginary company and its imaginary investors sought

planning permission Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...

. Discovering that his public

declaration of financial interests Declarations of financial interests are a means of making conflict of interests of people in public office known and to reduce them by making them public. European Parliament Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are required to declare thei ...

did not include a farm, several businesses and a (just recently submitted) application for planning permission, RTÉ contacted Queenan. Queenan met with the imaginary representative of the imaginary company, who secretly filmed him. Queenan told the imaginary company representative: "Really what I can be is a link man or a gopher or whatever between your architects and the local authority. And I will be your eyes and ears because I will know, because they will tell me. We have a good working relationship and if there is amendments to be done or anything more … I will go in and talk to planners and see and encourage and impress on them." Queenan went on to say he was "not looking for anything out of it" but expressed interest in having the imaginary company invest in a property he intended to buy for business reasons. Queenan told the imaginary representative: "It makes good sense, business sense … It would mean an investment of max, say, €200,000". But Queenan also said that this had been "off the top of" his head. This led to uncertainty in RTÉ over Queenan's intentions; thus, the imaginary representative of the imaginary company returned to check if the proposed sum of money would be regarded as a loan or an investment. Queenan responded to the effect that either would be fine as long as it was "above board" and done "for the benefit of Sligo". During the exchange with the imaginary representative Queenan said he expected honesty throughout any dealings he might have with the imaginary company: "I hope everything we say is not being taped or totally confident … I trust you in this now that we are not … I hope you are being as frank and honest with me as I am with you." Queenan responded to RTÉ's airing of its programme on radio, saying the operation had been a "

sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-eart ...

" and that everything the programme claimed to have uncovered had been

hypothetical A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous obser ...

. In April 2018, the

Standards in Public Office Commission The Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) ( ga, Coimisiún um Chaighdeáin in Oifigí Poiblí) is an independent body established in December 2001 by the Irish Government under the Standards in Public Office Act, 2001. It replaced the Public ...

(SIPO) announced that Queenan would face an ethics hearing that September as part of its response to the programme; he was the first of the three councillors called before the hearing. In March 2019, the Commission announced it had found partially against Queenan, stating that he had ''not'' sought money in exchange for political work but that he had "agreed to help the fictitious company" in exchange for payment, that he had been careless in declaring his financial interests and that he had overlooked the Code of Conduct during his "dealings with the undercover reporter".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Queenan, Joe Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Fianna Fáil local councillors Irish businesspeople Members of Sligo County Council Politicians from County Sligo