Kevin Callinan (born June 29, 1960) is an Irish trade unionist. Callinan grew up in the

Northside Northside or North Side may refer to: Music * Northside (band), a musical group from Manchester, EngIand * NorthSide, an American record label * NorthSide Festival (Denmark), a music festival in Aarhus, Denmark * "Norf Norf", a 2015 song by Vince ...

area of Dublin, and began his working life with

Dublin Corporation Dublin Corporation (), known by generations of Dubliners simply as ''The Corpo'', is the former name of the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin since the 1100s. Significantly re-structured in 1660–1661, even more si ...

, as a library assistant. He joined the Local Government and Public Services Union, and later began working for the union. When the union became part of the new

Irish Municipal, Public and Civil Trade Union The Irish Municipal, Public and Civil Trade Union (IMPACT) was a trade union in the Republic of Ireland. It primarily organised workers in education, health, local government and the civil service. It also had members who worked for voluntary an ...

(IMPACT), he was steadily promoted until he became deputy general secretary. In 2018, IMPACT became part of the new

Fórsa Fórsa (; "Force") is an Irish trade union for public service staff. With over 89,000 members,it is the largest public service union in Ireland, and second largest trade union in the state.Niall Murray, 80k-member union to be largest public sect ...

union, and Callinan continued as deputy general secretary. The following year, he was elected to the top post of general secretary. Later in the year, he was also elected as secretary of the public service committee

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 cent ...

(ICTU). He was elected as president of ICTU in 2021, in which post he called for increased wealth taxes to fund improved public services. Callinan is a fan of

Manchester United F.C. Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional football club based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. They compete in the Premier League, t ...

and has described

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former professional football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as the greatest manager of all time and ...

as one of the people he most admires.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Callinan, Kevin Living people Irish trade unionists Presidents of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions Trade unionists from Dublin (city) Year of birth missing (living people)