Esther Lynch, Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the School of Law and Criminology, has become the first Irish person to be elected as General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). Esther has extensive trade union and legal experience at an Irish, European and International level and has played a key role in developing trade union strategies in Ireland and internationally. Her trade union experience began when she was elected as a shop steward in the 1980s. Before joining the ETUC, she was the Legislation and Social Affairs Officer with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU). Esther was elected as ETUC Deputy General Secretary at the Vienna Congress in May 2019, after four years as Confederal Secretary.
Esther was appointed as Adjunct Senior Lecturer at Maynooth in 2014, and gave her inaugural talk in May of that year on 'Regulating for Decent Work - Combating Unfair Terms in Employment Contracts'.
Professor Michael Doherty warmly congratulated Esther on behalf of the School: “Esther has been a tireless champion of decent employment practices for many years, and her election as General Secretary of ETUC reflects her international standing in this regard. She has also been a great friend to the School and University here in Maynooth, particularly in the generosity she has always shown to academic researchers working on labour and labour rights.”