Good morning everybody,

#Forsa2022 got off to a brilliant start when music duo Sephira took to the stage. The Irish duo comprising of sisters Ruth and Joyce O'Leary wowed the audience with a spectacular show. Influenced by traditional Irish music with a classical twist the act have performed to audiences across the world including, most recently, at Maddison Square Gardens in New York for Irish Boxer Katie Taylor's title defence. You can check out their socials HERE.

Our President Michael Smyth then took to the floor to welcome all delegates, staff and guests. He continued his speech by criticising the government's approach to remote and hybrid working. This was picked up by several media sources including RTE, The Irish Times, The Examiner, and The Irish Independent . You can also read the full story HERE.

Conference resumes this morning with an address from General Secretary of Fórsa Kevin Callinan. Kevin will be looking to address, in particular, pay and the rising cost of living. Pay is also the big issue on the agenda this morning with a series of motions to be discussed.

Our head of communications, Bernard Harbor, was on Radio Kerry yesterday to give a preview of conference. You can listen back to the full interview by clicking HERE.

The Fórsa charity conference cycle delegation fought through terrential rain in a bid to reach Killarney in time for conference, cycling all the way from Limericak. The delegation have raised over 230,000 euros for mental health and other charities over the years. A huge thank you to Fórsa’s head of health Éamonn Donnelly and head of local government Dessie Robinson for organising the event.

The Union will also be holding a charity raffle for the Irish Hospice, with several exciting prizes if you’d like to enter the draw. All funds raised in the raffle will go to the Irish Hospice foundation. This fundraiser is a continuation of the Fórsa 4 peaks challenge which took place in August 2021. You can take part in the raffle here.

Conference resumes this morning with the opening of the election ballot boxes. This will be followed by several motions including ones on the Living Wage, Pay Agreements, Climate Change and Remote and Blended Work. Conference will then be addressed by Deputy General Secretary, Eoin Ronayne followed by our guest speaker, Nicolas Schmit. 

Here's a quick look back over day 1 of there conference: https://youtu.be/-jjuPtm2Bu8