Donal O'Cofaigh: Cross-Community Labour Alternative - 07810157926

Donal is a leading trade unionist and life-long community activist. In January 2017, he was nominated to run in the Assembly election by the Fermanagh & South Tyrone branch of the Labour Party; however, as the leadership doesn't allow candidates to run for the party in Northern Ireland, he is running as a Cross-Community Labour Alternative candidate.

Donal is a signatory to 'Re-Think - a labour movement agenda for change', a five-point programme launched by leading figures in the trade union and students' movements as the basis for real change in Northern Ireland.

Donal has spent his adult life standing up for the community and opposing threats to local services. He was a leader of the anti-fracking movement which halted plans to frack Fermanagh and Leitrim, organising the 3,000 person anti-fracking G8 march and standing in a local election in Enniskillen in which the other parties were forced to adopt an anti-fracking position in order to prevent his election.

There is virtually not a campaign in Fermanagh over the past ten years that Donal has not been involved in or supported. He has been closely involved in a significant number of anti-closure campaigns around local schools and in campaigns to stop the closure of libraries in Irvinestown and Lisnaskea - the latter campaign was so successful that the town got a new library built.

In the last year, he was central to organising the successful campaign to reverse plans for cuts to opening hours of libraries in Enniskillen and across the whole of Northern Ireland.

He recently initiated the Save our Surgeries campaign to demand action to address the 'catastrophic' collapse in GP numbers in the constituency. This campaign has called protests and a public meeting on the issue. He has supported the Saving Necarne campaign which seeks to preserve Necarne estate in Irvinestown in public ownership and under a community-led development model

As secretary of Fermanagh Council of Trade Unions, he initiated demands which resulted in workers in Fermanagh and Omagh District Council being guaranteed payment of the Living Wage. He continues to work closely with other leading trade unionists in the county in preparing a campaign to defeat any proposals to move stroke services out of the South-West Acute Hospital.

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 and was a central organiser of the Rally For a Future in Ballymena in early 2016. 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 drawdown 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 will only draw the average industrial wage giving the surplus to socialist, labour, environmental organisations and campaigns.

He seeks election to be an activist representative.

Tags: Political Candidate