Forget Joe Sixpack. Meet Joe Behan

Meet Deputy Joe Behan

Independent TD for Wicklow

I don't often get local in this blog as I prefer to keep at least a semblance of anonymity, but tonight I am inspired to post on the actions of a man with a conscience.

Our member of parliament (or TD as we call them an gailge) for the county I live in,

has resigned from the ruling coalition party this evening.

He will continue to stand, but as an Independent that our coalition government has to "court" in order to secure his vote.

The straw that broke Deputy Joe''s resolve was a decision this week to remove medical cards from the over 70's in our budget.

Older people who would have gone to the doctor to have a cold checked out and treated, will have to think twice and perhaps then develop pneumonia, end up in hospital and then be too frail to be discharged to care for themselves at home.

Thus taking up a hospital bed that an acute patient waiting on a trolley in the emergency room would need. An acute patient who may not then be in a position to receive emergency care in a timely fashion.

It was incredibly short sighted and insulting to the people who built this country and our Joe decided that he just couldn't stomach it, so he did the honorable thing and resigned before having to vote.

Deputy Joe was already popular with me for a number of reasons.

To explain I will give you an excerpt from his resignation letter, you can read the whole thing here:

"I understand the need for party discipline and I have supported the Government line on a number of issues pertaining to my constituency, against my better judgement. They include the Labour Party Private Members Motion on the need for an independent investigation into the tragic deaths of two firemen from Bray and the need for a full time fire service in North Wicklow and the Fine Gael Private Members Motion regarding the provision of ABA Schools for children with autism."

You see Joe is what we Aussies call " A Battler". He attended the meetings before the election to listen to the parents and carers of kids and adults with disabilities.

He attended more meetings and visited homes like mine AFTER he was elected to see first hand how important a tailored and individual education is to our quality of life.

And he lead a rebel group of his parliamentary colleagues behind the scenes to lobby the previous Minister for Education to change her mind and overcome her "blockage" against the provision of such education for the children who need it. Children who are considered "unreachable", and "unmanageable" by the standard special educational services, but who thrive in the type of school that my kids attend now.

Forget Joe Sixpack, our Deputy Joe is a Fair Dinkum hero and I want him to feel the love and admiration that many special parents will be sending out to him tonight.

You can email or send him a message of congratulations for having the cojones to stand up for what he knows is right here.

And if you live in Wicklow be sure to drop by his constituency office and leave him a note, a bottle of wine or a bunch of flowers; "Diana" style, tomorrow.

The rest of you can just comment!

Happy Happy Hammie tonight.

Have a great weekend and drink a toast to our Joe, The little Irish Battler!

xx