The head of Fórsa’s local government and municipal employees division, Dessie Robinson, is retiring from the union today (Friday).

From 1975, Dessie worked for years in Semperit Ireland, where he was a leading workplace representative. An expert in health and safety, he then went to work with the Education and Training Services Division of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in 1997.

Dessie joined IMPACT as an assistant general secretary in 2003. His assignments included responsibility for the Dublin boards and voluntary agencies, Dublin hospitals, special needs assistants, school secretaries and the Dublin local authorities.

He took up the lead position in the union’s Local Government Division and Municipal Employees’ Division last June.

Apart from his outstanding work as a union official for over 19 years, Dessie’s popularity among staff colleagues and elected representatives is extremely difficult to match.

His sharp sense of humour helped buoy many of us up during good days and bad, and he has forged many lasting friendships in Fórsa.

In 2008, Dessie co-founded the Fórsa conference charity cycle, a project that has raised over €160,000 for small but crucial charities with weak funding streams.

He also has a keen interest in terrible music. The tan is real, and we think the teeth are too. And he definitely selects his own range of apparel, some of which comes equipped with volume buttons.

He will be greatly missed by all his friends and colleagues in Fórsa and the wider trade union movement.