Our Speaker

Carol Mc Sherry has worked as a Special Needs Assistant for 24 years in a primary school in County Meath. Before that, she worked in banking. She was elected as Equality officer on her Fórsa Union branch, the North Dublin, North Leinster SNA branch in January 2020. Since then, she has completed three years as the Chairperson of that branch, and is now back in her preferred role as the Equality and Training Officer. Carol is also on the National Executive Committee of Fórsa Union and recently became the Vice Chair of the Education Divisional Committee.

She is a proud member of the Meath Trades Council and believes that Trades Councils are an untapped resource in Trade Unionism, although thanks to the hard work of many, increasingly their work is being recognised. Thanks to the Meath Trades Council, she is on the Meath Strategic Policy Council for Economic Development, Enterprise, Tourism, EU Affairs and Rural Regeneration. She completed a course in Maynooth University on Community Development for Climate Justice and Feminism in 2024.

She has brought successful motions on safe access zones, assault leave for SNAs, housing and has a pending motion on improving membership benefits for parents with a critically ill child for the Fórsa bi-annual conference in May 2026.

As Ireland prepares to hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, this is an opportunity for Trade Unions in Ireland to address the Irish laws governing them, some of which must be improved in order to comply with an EU directive. It has never been so important not only to join a Trade Union but to also play a part in the strengthening it.

Jim O'Brien — a Navan man who recently celebrated his 80th birthday — has lived by a simple creed: "I always believed in standing up for what is right." A carpenter, trade unionist, artist, and lifelong Labour Party member, Jim co-founded the renowned Crannac Co-Op, which became famous across Ireland for its quality furniture.

The co-op grew out of a three-month sit-in after his furniture factory closed in 1972 — a stand that secured proper redundancy pay and allowed workers to buy the business themselves.

Beyond his trade union work, Jim has been a passionate protester and campaigner on local and national issues — from divorce referendums to Palestine solidarity. Married to Rosaleen, a fellow trade union leader and lifelong friend of Tommy Grimes, who together made the monument to Jim Connell in Crossakiel possible.

Jim remains an active artist and advocate, still painting and still protesting. "I have no intention of giving up standing up for what I believe is right."

Tiernan is a member of the Financial Services Union and a Meath Council of Trade Unions delegate to the ICTU Youth Committee. A long-time trade union and political activist, he brings a Socialist and Republican perspective to contemporary political events.

Now Co-Chair of Navan Sinn Féin, Tiernan hopes to keep the Red Flag flying over a 32 County Democratic Socialist Republic, as proclaimed in 1916.

Leonie Cooper AM was first elected to the London Assembly in 2016, sitting as a Labour & Co-operative Member for Merton & Wandsworth in South West London. Having won the seat from the Conservatives — who had held it for 16 years — she has successfully defended it twice, growing the majority from just over 4,000 votes to 27,000.

Leonie has been Chair or Deputy Chair of London's Environment Committee since 2016 and also sits on the Housing, Fire and Police Committees.

Leonie has always been an active trade unionist — gaining recognition in several workplaces as a workplace rep, and serving on the National Executive Council of Amicus (now Unite). She brings an international Labour perspective to questions of housing, environment, and workers' rights.