David Begg (born 7 March 1950) is a former General Secretary of the main Irish organised labour body, the

Irish Congress of Trade Unions The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (often abbreviated to just Congress or ICTU), formed in 1959 by the merger of the Irish Trades Union Congress (founded in 1894) and the Congress of Irish Unions (founded in 1945), is a national trade union centr ...

, between 2001 and 2015, and later CEO of major development charity Concern Worldwide. In 2021, he was appointed as chairperson of the Workplace Relations Commission for five years by

Damien English Damien English (born 21 February 1978) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Meath West constituency since 2007, and previously from 2002 to 2007 for the Meath constituency. He served as Minister of State f ...

. He has also been a director of Ireland's Central Bank (1995–2010), a governor of the Irish Times Trust (2001–2011), a non-executive director of Aer Lingus, a member of the National Economic and Social Council (NESC), and of the Advisory Board of Development Co-operation Ireland.

Early life

Begg was born in north

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

. He worked in the ESB and became active in the trade union movement.

Education

Begg holds master's degree in International Relations from DCU and a PhD in Sociology from

Maynooth University The National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM; ga, Ollscoil na hÉireann Mhá Nuad), commonly known as Maynooth University (MU), is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. It w ...

. He is an Adjunct Professor at Maynooth University Institute of Social Sciences (MUSSI).

Controversies

After the ''Jobstown Protest'' in November 2014, which saw a sit-down protest occur in front of

Tánaiste The Tánaiste ( , ) is the deputy head of the government of Ireland and thus holder of its second-most senior office. The Tánaiste is appointed by the President of Ireland on the advice of the Taoiseach. The current office holder is former Tao ...

Joan Burton Joan Burton (born 1 February 1949) is a former Irish Labour Party politician who served as Tánaiste and Leader of the Labour Party from 2014 to 2016, Minister for Social Protection from 2011 to 2016, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 2 ...

's car, David Begg stated that he believed that Burton's assistant, Labour Party official Karen O'Connell, was beaten and kicked. Some protestors were subsequently taken to court for false imprisonment but acquitted and subsequently charges were dropped against the remaining protestors. On 13 January 2016 the same Tánaiste, Joan Burton, in her role as Social Protection Minister, appointed Mr Begg as chair of the Pension Authority.

Book

Begg's study of Northern European open economies, ''Lost in Transition'', was published internationally by Palgrave Macmillan in February 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Begg, David Alumni of Dublin City University Alumni of St Patrick's College, Maynooth Irish trade union leaders Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 1950 births