Joe Ryan is a politician and former secondary school teacher based in Wexford Town. He retired from teaching in June 2022 after 32 years. He served as a Labour councillor on Wexford Borough Council from 2004 to 2014, and during that period he held the offices of Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Wexford. He was also vice chairperson of the County Wexford VEC, chairperson of the VEC Audit Committee, and a board member of Wexford Harbour Commissioners.Ryan, who was born in Dublin, graduated from Trinity College with a science degree and earned a Higher Diploma in Education from St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. He is a second cousin of Frances Fitzgerald, a former Fine Gael TD who served as Minister for Justice and Equality and as Tánaiste. She also served as Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, and as an MEP for Dublin.

He ran for Wexford Borough Council in the June 2004 local elections. He received 382 first preference votes (5.49%) and, after the final count, secured the 10th of 12 seats, becoming one of five Labour candidates elected to the newly formed Wexford Borough Council.

Ryan reclaimed his seat in the 2009 election with 356 first preference votes. The following year, in June 2010, he succeeded outgoing Mayor Philomena Roche, a Fine Gael councillor, as Mayor of Wexford, and his party colleague George Lawlor became Deputy Mayor.

In 2014, he ran for a seat on Wexford County Council after the Local Government Reform Act abolished the Wexford Borough Council. Labour’s popularity had declined significantly since the party entered a coalition with Fine Gael in 2011, falling from around 22% in early February 2011 to 7% in May 2014 due to unpopular austerity policies. Ryan received 449 first preference votes (2.82%) but narrowly lost the final seat to People Before Profit candidate Deirdre Wadding.

Following his electoral defeat, Ryan remained active in the Labour Party, and in November 2016 the party appointed him as a Local Area Representative in Wexford Town.