By Dan Walsh at the annual meeting of Wexford County Council on Friday
“I must make a very hard decision. Whether it be for better or worse, to resign from the Fianna Fáil Party and remain in the Council for the remainder of this term as an Independent councillor working for the people of the Gorey Kilmuckridge Municipal District, not a decision I took lightly but one that was forced on me”; that was the shock announcement made at Friday’s annual meeting of Wexford County Council held in the Council Chamber, County Hall, Wexford, by outgoing Cathaoirleach Cllr Joe Sullivan.
The meeting was aware that Cllr Sullivan would make a serious announcement, but the members and officials were unsure what it was? But Cllr Sullivan told the members that he had shared his details with local media outlets.
Cllr Sullivan concluded his Cathaoirleach duties with dignity today, gathered his papers and briefcase, walked to the rear of the chamber and took up a new position on the Independent benches.
WexfordLocal.com received a press release with the heading; “I will now outline in more detail my reasons for resigning from Fianna Fail, signed Cllr Joe Sullivan. Here it goes;
1) At the July 2025 meeting of Wexford County Council, Cllr Jim Codd brought a motion calling for the retention of the Triple Lock. I was in total agreement with the motion. If I might quote Micheál Martin, An Taoiseach, from February 2020 as stating the “The Triple Lock is at the core of our Neutrality”. It would appear now that Fianna Fail have changed their policy on this matter and their programme for government states that they wish to reform the Triple Lock, but in my opinion, they intend to do away with it.
“I would ask for a referendum on the matter as it should be a matter for the people of Ireland of how our military are deployed. One can refer to the referendum of the Nice Treaty 2001 and look at the Seville Declarations of 2002 which solidify Ireland triple lock resulting in the referendum being passed in the second time of asking in 2002.
“As with the Nice Treaty in 2001, the Lisbon Treaty was rejected in 2008 and was only passed in 2009 with legal guarantees that Ireland’s neutrality was guaranteed. I believe that Ireland neutrality and the Triple Lock are joined and that neither can be altered without the consent of the Irish people via a referendum.
“The case of the UN Security Council Veto has been made but there is a UN General Assembly whereby Irish troops can be deployed on peacekeeping missions. Wexford Fianna Fáil councillors voted against the motion and as I had the casting vote the motion was carried.
2) At the special Presidential Council meeting of September 19th 2025, the Fianna Fáil councillors voted not to permit Wexford County Council to nominate a candidate for the forthcoming Presidential Election. I was totally at variance with this decision as I believe that the facility of nominating a presidential candidate is one of the very few powers County Councillors have and with the subsequent shambolic performance of Fianna Fáil where their candidate withdrew from the contest vindicated my position and highlighted the ineptness of the Fianna Fáil councillors on Wexford County Council and their inability to read the political mood as it was unfolding and indeed did feed into one of the greatest political embarrassments ever to befall the State owing to Fianna Fáil ineptness at all levels right up to the top, who later acknowledged that the whole affair was a complete shambles!
3) Mercusor: Early January 2026 saw the signing of the Mercusor Deal on a vote of EU countries of 21 For and 5 Against with one abstention. Ireland did vote against the deal for fears over the beef industry. The decision to vote against the deal was only taken at the last minute as the Irish Beef Industry and general Agricultural Sector brought as much pressure as possible to bear on the Irish Government. In the European Parliament, three Irish MEP’s voted to support the deal; notably, all three are urban based, two government MEP’s and one Labour.
“As Wexford is a county steeped in agriculture and produces unquestionably the best food in Ireland and indeed the world, I, as Chairman of Wexford County Council was happy and glad to stand with the agricultural sector in opposition to Mercusor and agree with the farmers in their concerns around the quality of produce coming into Ireland; the EU from the countries and the standards that they were expected to meet not being as high as the produce produced in Ireland and the EU. The Fianna Fáil Councillors were less than enthusiastic in supporting the farmers on this issue, more inclined to seek direction from HQ rather than stand with their own people.
4) January February 2026 also saw the Bord Bia Larry Murrin controversy raise its head when a company attached to Mr Murrin’s business was found to be allegedly importing some beef from Brazil while Mr Murrin, as Chairman of Bord Bia was holding Irish farmers to the highest standard in their production of beef and other food products. Wexford IFA was very prominent in the 36-day protest inside and outside the Bord Bia Headquarters in Dublin. Again, Wexford Fianna Fáil Councillors failed to support the beef producers and call for Mr Murrin to resign.
5) Fuel Protest. During February and March 2026, as a result of the USA-Iran war in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the price of fuel went up considerably bringing out hauliers, farmers and contractors onto the roads to protest. Co Wexford was no different to any other county due the impact of rising fuel costs and significant protests took place in the county, the biggest being at Rosslare Europort.
“At Wexford County Council meeting of March 13th 2026, a deputation was in attendance of the fuel protestors. Their presence at the meeting was hotly contested by some members of the council who directed their ire at me. I had sympathy with the protestors and was supportive of them. Some councillors said they felt intimidated and threatened by the presence of the protestors in the chamber.
“I saw or heard nothing that warranted asking them to leave the meeting. I came in for a torrent of abuse from councillors during the meeting, being called a “disgrace” by one councillor, while another councillor saw fit to go on local radio and muse over whether a vote of no confidence be called in my chairmanship as well as describing the meeting as a fiasco and chaotic.
“This councillor subsequently brought a motion to the next council meeting on May 11th, 2026, calling on members and I to up our standards. This councillor also called on me to reflect on my position at the meeting. I felt hurt, let down and my chairmanship undermined by this member. I got absolutely no support whatsoever from Fianna Fáil councillors, in fact one learned councillor chipped in to offer his support to my detractors.
“As can be seen from the above examples, I can no longer stay in the Fianna Fail Party as there is no forum to discuss my issues nor do I have the support from my two district Cllrs Breen or Kenny or my Party TD, Malcolm Byrne”.: Thank you. Joe Sullivan Cllr.
WexfordLocal.com 