PHIL Ní SHEAGHDHA, President of the Irish Congress of Trade Union (ICTU)  will speak at the forthcoming Spirit of Mother Jones Festival.

She will examine the role of the trade union movement in Ireland and the future of collective bargaining in the ever changing world of AI and the digital revolution. 

Phil was born and raised in the West Kerry Gaeltacht and is a proud advocate for the Irish language. She trained as a general nurse at Jervis Street Hospital in Dublin and later completed a postgraduate specialisation in intensive care nursing at Kingston Hospital in London.

Phil has extensive international experience, having worked as an ICU nurse in Ireland, Australia, the UK, and at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York.

She joined the Irish Nurses & Midwives Organisation (INMO), in 1998 and went on to further her education, completing a Master’s degree in Industrial Relations, a Higher Diploma in Employment Law, and a qualification in Economics. Phil served as the INMO’s Director of Industrial Relations from 2008 to 2018, before being appointed General Secretary in 2018. 

She is a strong and resilient advocate for her members. Phil has become one of the best known trade union spoke persons due to her regular media appearances and her cogent and factually informative arguments for her members who work in the front lines of the Health system in Ireland.    

She is currently President of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), Ireland’s national trade union federation, and serves as one of two Vice-Chairs of the ICTU Public Services Committee.

Phil will speak on Thursday 23rd July at the Maldron Hotel Shandon at 2.30 pm. All are welcome.