Donal is a leading trade unionist and life-long community activist. He is standing as a Cross-Community Labour Alternative candidate in the Enniskillen area in the local election on 2nd May to provide an anti-sectarian, fighting left alternative to austerity, division and inequality. Donal has spent his adult life standing up for the community and opposing threats to local services. There is virtually not a campaign in Fermanagh over the past ten years that Donal has not been involved in or supported. He was a founding members of Fermanagh Save Our Services, which has mobilised communities in defence of local GP surgeries and services at the South-West Acute Hospital. He was a leader of movement which halted plans to frack Fermanagh. He has been closely involved in successful campaigns to defend local schools and library services in Enniskillen, and is currently working alongside trade unionists to resist attacks to free school transport provision. As secretary of Fermanagh Council of Trade Unions, he initiated demands which resulted in workers in Fermanagh & Omagh District Council being guaranteed payment of the Living Wage. Donal has been active building trade union recognition across the local economy – in particular in the former Quinn group. He was involved in negotiations with the new owners which resulted in a commitment to provide two new blast furnaces. He has also been fearless in challenging anti-union practices in the region. Donal currently works as Campaigns & Communications Officer for Unite the Union in Northern Ireland. In that role, he has played a leading role in the fight to safeguard the manufacturing sector. Prior to this, he worked as a Senior Economic Consultant for Peter Quinn Consultancy Services and has played a very significant role in the community and economic development of the county as a whole, and in the draw-down of funds for local villages across the county. Donal lives in Belcoo with a family of four children. He holds a MSc (distinction) in Mathematics. He is seeking your support as a socialist, as an environmentalist and as an activist. He is committed to cross-community politics. A strong supporter of LGBT+ equality and the right to choose, he provides a progressive alternative to the backward Stormont status quo. If elected, he will use his council position and allowance to help workers, young people and other sections of the community organise in defence of their rights.
