Peter Cassells (born 1949) is an Irish former trade union leader.
Born in Navan, the older brother of Gaelic footballer Joe Cassells, Peter worked for the herbalist Sean Boylan before moving to Dublin and finding employment at the Department of Social Welfare. While there, he completed a part-time degree in economic and social policy, and met his first wife, Marina. [1]
Cassells moved to work for the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) in the mid-1970s. Marina died at the age of 29 from leukaemia, and Cassells then devoted much of his time to the trade union movement, becoming its Economic and Social Affairs Officer, [1] then General Secretary from 1989. As General Secretary, he oversaw the development of the Social Partnership arrangements, and when he stood down in 2001, he became chair of the National Centre for Partnership and Performance, and also spent three years as chair of Forfás. [2]
At the 2004 European Parliament election, Cassells stood as the Labour Party candidate in the East constituency, but was narrowly defeated. [2] While remaining active in Labour, he supported the Fianna Fáil candidacy of his nephew, Shane Cassells. [3]
Retiring in 2019, Cassell chaired the Edward M. Kennedy Centre for Conflict Intervention at the National University of Ireland Maynooth, serving on the council of the European Movement Ireland, working as an independent consultant and mediator, and sat on a number of boards. [4]
Barry Desmond is an Irish former Labour Party politician who was Minister for Health from 1982 to 1987 and Minister for Social Welfare from 1982 to 1986. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1969 to 1989, a Minister of State from 1981 to 1982, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Dublin from 1989 to 1994, and Ireland's member of the European Court of Auditors from 1994 to 2000.
The Co-operative Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom, supporting co-operative values and principles. Established in 1917, the Co-operative Party was founded by co-operative societies to campaign politically for the fairer treatment of co-operative enterprise and to elect 'co-operators' to Parliament. The party's roots lie in the Parliamentary Committee of the Co-operative Union established in 1881.
Richard Graham Corbett CBE is a former British politician who served as the final Leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party (EPLP), from 2017 to 2020. He was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Merseyside West from 1996 to 1999 and then for Yorkshire and the Humber from 1999 to 2009, when he lost his seat, and again from 2014 to 2020. He attended Shadow Cabinet meetings and was a member of the Labour Party's National Executive Committee.
Peter Denis Sutherland was an Irish businessman, barrister and Fine Gael politician who served as UN Special Representative for International Migration from 2006 to 2017. He was known for serving in various international organisations, political and business roles.
Simon Francis Murphy is a British charity executive and former politician who was a Labour Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1994 to 2004.
The Labour Party has been part of the political scene in Ireland throughout the state's existence. Although never attracting majority support, it has repeatedly participated in coalition governments. The party was established in 1912 by James Connolly, James Larkin, and William O'Brien and others as the political wing of the Irish Trades Union Congress. It intended to participate in a Dublin Parliament that would follow passage of the Home Rule Act 1914, which was suspended on the outbreak of World War I. Connolly was executed following the Easter Rising in 1916, and was succeeded as leader by Thomas Johnson. The party stood aside from the elections of 1918 and 1921, but despite divisions over acceptance of the Anglo-Irish Treaty it took approximately 20% of the vote in the 1922 elections, initially forming the main opposition party in the Dáil Éireann (parliament) of the Irish Free State. Farm labourers already influenced by D.D. Sheehan's Irish Land and Labour Association (ILLA) factions were absorbed into urban-based unions, which contributed significantly to the expansion of the Irish trade union movement after the First World War. For much of the 20th century, the Irish Labour Party derived the majority of its Dáil strength from TDs who were relatively un-ideological and independent-minded, and were supported by agricultural labourers. It was originally organised, and contested elections as, the Irish Labour Party and Trades Union Congress, until a formal separation between the ITUC and the political party occurred in March 1930.
Gerritje "Gerda" Verburg is a Dutch politician and diplomat of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and trade union leader
The National Centre for Partnership and Performance (NCPP), based in Dublin, Ireland, was an Irish government agency that was established in 2001 to promote and facilitate workplace change and innovation through partnership. The NCPP's goal was to contribute to national competitiveness, improved workplace productivity and performance, and a better Quality of working life for employers and employees alike. It combined research and advocacy to achieve these aims.
Roger John Liddle, Baron Liddle is a British political adviser and consultant who is principally known for being Special Adviser on European matters to the former Prime Minister Tony Blair, and President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso. He also worked together with Peter Mandelson on books outlining the political philosophy of the Labour Party under Blair's leadership. He is the co-chair of the international think tank Policy Network and was Pro-Chancellor of the University of Lancaster until 2020.
The European Movement UK is an independent all-party pressure group in the United Kingdom which campaigns for a close relationship with European Union, and to ensure that European values, standards, and rights are upheld in British law post-Brexit. It is part of the European Movement International which pushes for a "democratic, federal, enlarged European Union". It is the most prominent pro-Europe group in Britain.
Stephen McGonagle was a Northern Irish and Irish trade unionist.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, formed in 1959 by the merger of the Irish Trades Union Congress and the Congress of Irish Unions, is a national trade union centre, the umbrella organisation to which trade unions in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland affiliate.
David Begg is a former General Secretary of the main Irish organised labour body, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, 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.
Sam Nolan is the secretary of the Dublin Council of Trade Unions and a political activist.
Donal Nevin was an Irish trade unionist.
Shane Cassells is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who has served as a Senator for the Labour Panel since April 2020. He previously served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Meath West constituency from 2016 to 2020.
Peter McLoone is a former Irish trade union leader.
Luca Visentini is an Italian trade unionist. Elected general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) at the organisation's 5th World Congress in Melbourne, Australia, in mid-November 2022, he stood aside on 14 December 2022 following his arrest and conditional release in relation to the Qatar corruption scandal at the European Parliament. On 11 March 2023, the ITUC General Council voted to dismiss Visentini for accepting funds from Antonio Panzeri.
Richard Pickering was a British trade union leader.
Peter Joseph Tevenan was an Irish-British trade unionist and politician.