The NERI Lecture titled 'Dónal Nevin, 1924-2024: A Centenary of Achievement' was presented by historian, Mr. Francis Devine. It took place on Tuesday 13 February 2024 at 17:00 in the Royal Irish Academy, 19 Dawson Street, Dublin 2, D02 HH58.
Find the PowerPoint, notes and video from Mr. Francis Devine's presentation at this NERI Lecture.
Details of seminar:
NERI Co-director, Dr. Tom McDonnell welcomed everyone to this NERI lecture titled 'Dónal Nevin, 1924-2024: A Centenary of Achievement'. A presentation of flowers was made to Mrs. Maura Nevin (Dónal's wife).
Mr. Owen Reidy, General Secretary, ICTU introduced the topic and the keynote speaker, Mr. Francis Devine, historian. Francis made a 30-minute presentation. Subsequently, a discussion was open to the floor where Mr. Owen Reidy acted as chairperson and presented questions to Francis. NERI Co-director, Mr. Paul Mac Flynn concluded the Lecture and thanked Francis and Owen.
Abstract:
Donal Nevin, 1924-2012, born in Limerick, son of a cabinetmaker and second youngest of eight children, was a gifted school student who joined the Statistical Branch of the Department of Industry & Commerce in 1941. Impressed by Young Jim Larkin’s politics in challenged inequality and poverty, he joined the Labour Party, going on to become a central adviser. Nevin was active in the Workers’ Union of Ireland Clerical Branch and, in 1949, was appointed to a research position in the Irish Trade Union Congress (ITUC) in response to the new demands for statistical and economic data to support claims before the Labour Court. For three decades from 1950, Nevin produced Trade Union Information, a tremendous resource for industrial relations practitioners and economic and social commentators. He was a prominent contributor to the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland and published in its Journal. Throughout his career, however, much of Nevin’s prodigious and scholarly work was unseen by the public. It mostly appeared in internal ITUC policy discussions, submissions to Government, policy bodies like the Prices Advisory Board or was delivered to trade union, Labour Party or People’s College seminars and conferences.
Nevin was a key Labour Party activist, drafting policy positions for Party Leader William Norton and the emerging figure of Frank Cluskey. With the formation of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) in 1959, Nevin was appointed Research Officer. With the WUI – and in contrast to the majority of the trade union movement – Nevin supported entry to the EEC in 1973. He served on the European Trade Union Conference Executive and on the European Social Fund Advisory Committee. He strenuously urged Government implementation of EU Directives on worker’ rights, working conditions, equality and vocational education. In the 1973-1977 Fine Gael-Labour Coalition, Nevin’s influence – not least on Cluskey – was reflected in the creation of Combat Poverty and implementation of progressive social welfare reforms. After the PAYE Protests, he served on the Commission on Taxation and later the Working Group on the Integration of the Tax and Social Welfare Systems. Nevin was a founding member of the Economic Social Research Institute, Governor of the Irish Times Trust and member of many boards and commissions. He was active in the Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement, Divorce Action Group and countless progressive campaigning organisation.
Nevin supported State enterprise to create jobs and – echoing the politics of Young Jim Larkin – welcomed the Programme for National Recovery, the first social Partnership Agreement in 1987. From 1982-1989, Nevin was ICTU General Secretary but his prodigious output of scholarly works continued in retirement. He was made Honorary President of the Irish Labour History Society in recognition of his significant contribution to the subject which included 1913: Jim Larkin and the Dublin lock-out (1964); Trade Unions & Change in Irish Society (1980); and Trade Union Century (1994). His compilation of James Larkin: Lion of the Fold (1998) reflected his lifelong admiration for Larkin and it was followed, remarkably, by James Connolly: ‘A Full Life’ (2005); Between Comrades: James Connolly – Letters & Correspondence, 1889-1916 (2007); James Connolly: Political writings, 1893-1916; and Writings of James Connolly: Collected Works (2011).
Recognised as a ‘father figure of Irish labour history’, Nevin received honorary doctorates from the National University of Ireland (1989) and University of Limerick (2001). After his death on 16 December 2012, the ICTU-affiliated Nevin Economic Research Institute was established in his memory and President Michael D. Higgins delivered the inaugural Donal Nevin lecture in May 2013. In this Centenary Lecture further recognises Dónal Nevin for his remarkable, decades-long commitment to social justice, fairness at work and an economic development that would produce the most widely and equitably shared wealth. Much of what he contributed to national and international policy formation was unheralded, its beneficiaries unaware of his part in its creation. That said, Nevin was self-effacing, a classic ‘back-room boy’ who craved no personal recognition. He merely did his class duty to challenge and eradicate society’s inequity. By any standard – whether trade unionist, economist or scholar, historian – Donal Nevin was a remarkable human being with kindness and concern for others central to his being.
Biography of the presenter and respondent:
Francis Devine, a retired SIPTU College Tutor and an Honorary President, Irish Labour History Society (ILHS), published Organising History: A Centenary of SIPTU, (Gill & Macmillan, 209) and, with John Cunningham & Sonja Tiernan, edited Labour History in Irish History: Essays Celebrating Fifty Years of the ILHS, (Umiskin Press, 2023). He has recorded My Father Told Me and An Ownerless Corner of Earth, CDs of traditional songs, and his Blue, Birch and Bronze, a collection of nature poems and photographs has just been published by Umiskin Press.
Owen Reidy was appointed General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in October 2022. Before taking up this role he was the Assistant General Secretary with responsibility for Northern Ireland since 2016. A union official with over 24 years full-time experience in the Irish trade union movement he started his union career as an official with SIPTU in Mayo in 1998. During his 18 years in SIPTU, he represented and organised workers across the Republic of Ireland in the aviation, state and related agency, finance, contract cleaning and security services sectors. From 2013-16 he was a member of the SIPTU management team leading one of the Union's 5 Divisions, the Transport, Energy, Aviation and Construction (TEAC) Division. He led several significant industrial disputes during that period including the Greyhound lockout, the Luas dispute and disputes in the CIE transport group. He is a father of 2 and from Donegal.