Joe Costello (politician)
Joseph Costello is an Irish Labour Party politician who served as Minister of State for Trade and Development from 2011 to 2014. He served as a Teachta Dála for the Dublin Central constituency from 1992 to 1997 and from 2002 to 2016. He was a Senator for the Administrative Panel from 1989 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2002. He served as a Councillor on Dublin City Council from 1999 until the end of the dual mandate lead to him passing the seat to his wife Emer Costello. He was re-elected to the Council in 2019.
Costello was born in Geevagh, County Sligo and was educated at Summerhill College, Sligo, St Patrick's College, Maynooth and University College Dublin. He worked as a secondary school teacher before becoming a full-time public representative.
He joined the Labour Party in 1985, and in 1989 he was elected to the 19th Seanad Éireann on the Administrative Panel. He remained there until the 1992 general election when he was elected to Dáil Éireann. Costello lost his seat at the 1997 general election but was subsequently elected to the Seanad again. Costello was re-elected to the Dáil at the 2002 and 2007 general elections.
His wife Emer Costello is a former MEP for Dublin. He was director of elections for Michael D. Higgins during the 2011 presidential election.
On 20 December 2011, he was appointed as Minister of State for Trade and Development, a position he served in until 15 July 2014. He was dropped as a Minister of State in a reshuffle in July 2014. He was then appointed to the Dáil Public Accounts Committee.
He lost his seat at the 2016 general election. Costello made national headlines in 2017 when he said a snap election could breach the Irish Constitution, as constituencies needed to be revised to take account of changes in population in the 2016 Census.
He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Dublin Central constituency at the 2020 general election.
