JOE O'TOOLE was born and grew up in Dingle, Co.Kerry. He attended the CBS in Dingle,qualified as a teacher at St. Patricks College of Education in Dublin and has a degree in English and Economic and a diploma in Higher Education.

Joe was a classroom teacher for ten years and then school principal for a further ten years in Rolestown NS in County Dublin.

First elected in 1987, Joe has been an independent member of Séanad Éireann, representing the NUI constituency, for over twenty years.

In Seanad Eireann, Joe takes particular interest in education, human rights, economics, environment and foreign affairs. Joe has contributed views and influenced policy on many subjects, always standing up for ordinary workers, for minority groups and for the individual against big business.

In 1990, Joe was appointed General Secretary of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO), Ireland's largest teaching union, and served in that postion until 2001.

From 2001 to 2003, Joe served as President of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions [ICTU].

In 2002 Joe was appointed by Government, to Chair the Audit Review Group which reported on Audit Compliance, Corporate Governance and Regulation of the Accountancy profession.

From 2002 until 2007 Joe was a member of the Leinster House Commission. The seven Commissioners are responsible for the budget and administration of both houses of the Irish Parliament.

Joe published his autobiography Looking Under Stones in 2003.

CURRENTLY
Joe is;

• Chairperson of the Cooperation Ireland Leinster House Liaison Group, an organization committed to building bridges between the communities in Northern Ireland and throughout the island of Ireland.

• A member of the Irish Audit and Accounting Supervisory Authority [IAASA] and a member of the Audit Subcommittee of IAASA.

• The Vice Chair of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board [PIAB], the statutory body through which all injuries claims must be processed.

• A member of the National Management Committee of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), Ireland’s leading sports organisation and Europe’s most successful amateur sporting body.

• A director of Croke Park Stadium, Ireland’s premier sporting centre;

• A member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources.

• A member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Scrutiny.


Throughout his career Joe has consistently fought for the rights of employees over the demands of big business. He was a leading force behind the social partnership approach, which created the conditions for Ireland's economic success from the early nineties to today.