The Irish Trade Union Congress (ITUC) was a union federation covering the island of Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

.

Until 1894, representatives of Irish trade unions attended the British Trades Union Congress

Trades Union Congress

The Trades Union Congress is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in the United Kingdom, representing the majority of trade unions...

. However, many felt that they had little impact on the British body, and decided to form their own federation. This met for the first time in 1894. Although some Irish delegates continued to attend the British TUC, their decision to bar representatives of trades councils from 1895 increased dissatisfaction, and the ITUC soon became the leading Irish union federation. In 1900, the British TUC asked the ITUC to amalgamate with it, but this request was rejected.

In 1912, the ITUC established a political arm, becoming known as the Irish Labour Party and Trade Union Congress. The political wing evolved into the Labour Party

Labour Party (Ireland)

The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in the Republic of Ireland. The Labour Party was founded in 1912 in Clonmel, County Tipperary, by James Connolly, James Larkin and William X. O'Brien as the political wing of the Irish Trade Union Congress. Unlike the other main Irish...

. Despite the Partition of Ireland

Partition of Ireland

The partition of Ireland was the division of the island of Ireland into two distinct territories, now Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland . Partition occurred when the British Parliament passed the Government of Ireland Act 1920...

, the ITUC continued to organise throughout the island, but tensions arose between the unions based in Britain and with members in both Britain and Ireland, and the Irish-based unions. In 1936, the organisation formed a commission to examine the issue. William X. O'Brien

William X. O'Brien

William X. O'Brien was a politician and trade unionist in Ireland.Born in Clonakilty, County Cork, O'Brien moved with his family to Dublin in 1897, and quickly became involved in the Irish Socialist Republican Party...

 put in a proposal to form ten industrial groupings with no overlaps to negotiate on behalf of workers - in effect, this would have passed existing union activities to ten industrial unions. This and three other proposals were discussed at the 1939 conference, but O'Brien and his supporters walked out and formed the Advisory Council of Irish Unions. This comprised eighteen unions based in Ireland, and accounted for about half the ITUC membership.

The Advisory Council cut ties with the ITUC in 1945 and formed the Congress of Irish Unions

Congress of Irish Unions

The Congress of Irish Unions was one of the two governing bodies that emerged after the split in the Irish trade union body the Irish Trade Union Congress in 1945. The split developed under pressure from an anticipated fresh labour-state relationship, and alleged 'British domination in ITUC'...

. After long negotiations, the two organisations reunited in 1959 to form the Irish Congress of Trade Unions

Irish Congress of Trade Unions

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions , formed in 1959 by the merger of the Irish Trade Union Congress and the Congress of Irish Unions , is a national trade union centre, the umbrella organisation to which trade unions in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland affiliate.-Influence:There...

.

Secretaries

1884: John Simmons

1899: Hugh McManus

1900: E. L. Richardson

1910: P. T. Daly

1918: William X. O'Brien

William X. O'Brien

William X. O'Brien was a politician and trade unionist in Ireland.Born in Clonakilty, County Cork, O'Brien moved with his family to Dublin in 1897, and quickly became involved in the Irish Socialist Republican Party...

1920: Thomas Ryder Johnson

1928: Eamonn Lynch

1941: Cathal O'Shannon

Cathal O'Shannon

Cathal O'Shannon was an Irish politician, trade unionist and journalist.Born in Randalstown, County Antrim, he was educated at St. Columb's College, Derry. He became a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and was involved in Conradh na Gaeilge, writing articles for the Peasant, Sinn Féin...

1945: Thomas Ryder Johnson

1945:

1950s: Ruaidhri Roberts

Presidents

Year	Name	Union
1894	Thomas O'Connell	Dublin Trades Council
1895	J. H. Jolly	Cork Trades Council
1896	James D'Alton	Limerick Trades Council
1897	P. J. Leo	Waterford Trades Council
1898	Richard Wortley	Belfast Trades Council
1899	James McCarron	Amalgamated Society of Tailors
1900	George Leahy	National Association of Operative Plasterers National Association of Operative Plasterers The National Association of Operative Plasterers was a trade union in the United Kingdom founded in 1859. It merged with the Transport and General Workers' Union in 1968.-See also:* List of trade unions* Transport and General Workers' Union...
1901	Alexander Bowman	Municipal Employees Association
1902	William Cave	Cork Trades Council
1903	Walter Hudson Walter Hudson (politician) Walter Hudson was a Labour Party politician in England. He was Member of Parliament for Newcastle-upon-Tyne from 1906 to 1918.- References :...	Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants The Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants was a trade union of railway workers in the United Kingdom from 1872 until 1913.The ASRS was an industrial union founded in 1871 with the support of the Liberal MP Michael Bass. Its early years were difficult...
1904	William Walker William Walker (trade unionist) William Walker was a prominent Irish trade unionist.Born in Belfast, Walker became a joiner at Harland and Wolff and quickly became active in the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners...	Belfast Trades Council
1905	James Chambers	Dublin Saddlers' Society
1906	Stephen Dineen	Irish National Federal Union of Bakers
1907	James McCarron	Amalgamated Society of Tailors
1908	John Murphy	Belfast Trades Council
1909	Michael J. Egan	Cork Trades Council
1910	James McCarron	Amalgamated Society of Tailors
1911	David Robb Campbell	National Union of Life Assurance Agents
1912	Michael O'Lehane	Drapers' Assistants' Association
1913	William X. O'Brien William X. O'Brien William X. O'Brien was a politician and trade unionist in Ireland.Born in Clonakilty, County Cork, O'Brien moved with his family to Dublin in 1897, and quickly became involved in the Irish Socialist Republican Party...	Irish Transport and General Workers' Union Irish Transport and General Workers' Union The Irish Transport and General Workers Union, an Irish trade union, was founded by James Larkin in 1908 as a general union. Initially drawing its membership from branches of the Liverpool-based National Union of Dock Labourers, from which Larkin had been expelled, it grew to include workers in a...
1914	James Larkin James Larkin James Larkin was an Irish trade union leader and socialist activist, born to Irish parents in Liverpool, England. He and his family later moved to a small cottage in Burren, southern County Down. Growing up in poverty, he received little formal education and began working in a variety of jobs...	Irish Transport and General Workers' Union Irish Transport and General Workers' Union The Irish Transport and General Workers Union, an Irish trade union, was founded by James Larkin in 1908 as a general union. Initially drawing its membership from branches of the Liverpool-based National Union of Dock Labourers, from which Larkin had been expelled, it grew to include workers in a...
1916	Thomas Ryder Johnson	National Amalgamated Union of Shop Assistants, Warehousemen and Clerks
1917	Thomas MacPartlin	Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners The Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners was a New Model Trade Union in the 1860s in the United Kingdom, representing carpenters and joiners....
1918	William X. O'Brien William X. O'Brien William X. O'Brien was a politician and trade unionist in Ireland.Born in Clonakilty, County Cork, O'Brien moved with his family to Dublin in 1897, and quickly became involved in the Irish Socialist Republican Party...	Irish Transport and General Workers' Union Irish Transport and General Workers' Union The Irish Transport and General Workers Union, an Irish trade union, was founded by James Larkin in 1908 as a general union. Initially drawing its membership from branches of the Liverpool-based National Union of Dock Labourers, from which Larkin had been expelled, it grew to include workers in a...
1919	Thomas Cassidy	Typographical Society
1920	Thomas Farren	Stonecutters' Union of Ireland
1921	Thomas Foran	Irish Transport and General Workers' Union Irish Transport and General Workers' Union The Irish Transport and General Workers Union, an Irish trade union, was founded by James Larkin in 1908 as a general union. Initially drawing its membership from branches of the Liverpool-based National Union of Dock Labourers, from which Larkin had been expelled, it grew to include workers in a...
1922	Cathal O'Shannon Cathal O'Shannon Cathal O'Shannon was an Irish politician, trade unionist and journalist.Born in Randalstown, County Antrim, he was educated at St. Columb's College, Derry. He became a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and was involved in Conradh na Gaeilge, writing articles for the Peasant, Sinn Féin...	Irish Transport and General Workers' Union Irish Transport and General Workers' Union The Irish Transport and General Workers Union, an Irish trade union, was founded by James Larkin in 1908 as a general union. Initially drawing its membership from branches of the Liverpool-based National Union of Dock Labourers, from which Larkin had been expelled, it grew to include workers in a...
1923	Luke Duffy	Irish Union of Distributive Workers and Clerks
1925	William X. O'Brien William X. O'Brien William X. O'Brien was a politician and trade unionist in Ireland.Born in Clonakilty, County Cork, O'Brien moved with his family to Dublin in 1897, and quickly became involved in the Irish Socialist Republican Party...	Irish Transport and General Workers' Union Irish Transport and General Workers' Union The Irish Transport and General Workers Union, an Irish trade union, was founded by James Larkin in 1908 as a general union. Initially drawing its membership from branches of the Liverpool-based National Union of Dock Labourers, from which Larkin had been expelled, it grew to include workers in a...
1926	Denis Cullen Denis Cullen Denis Cullen was an Irish Labour Party politician and trade union official. He was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Labour Party Teachta Dála for the Dublin North constituency at the June 1927 general election. He lost his seat at the September 1927 general election having only served 3 months as a...	Irish Bakers' Amalgamated Union
1927	J. T. O'Farrell	Railway Clerks' Association
1928	William McMullen William McMullen William McMullen , sometimes known as Billy McMullen, was an Irish trade unionist and politician.Born into a Protestant family in Belfast, McMullen began working in the shipyards and became an active trade unionist...	Irish Transport and General Workers' Union Irish Transport and General Workers' Union The Irish Transport and General Workers Union, an Irish trade union, was founded by James Larkin in 1908 as a general union. Initially drawing its membership from branches of the Liverpool-based National Union of Dock Labourers, from which Larkin had been expelled, it grew to include workers in a...
1929
1930	Thomas J. O'Connell Thomas J. O'Connell Thomas J. O'Connell was an Irish trade unionist and politician, and was leader of the Irish Labour Party from 1927 to 1932....	Irish National Teachers' Organisation Irish National Teachers' Organisation The Irish National Teachers' Organisation , in Irish Cumann Múinteoirí Éireann, which was founded in 1868, is the largest teachers' trade union in Ireland. It represents teachers at primary level in the Republic of Ireland, and at primary and post-primary level in Northern Ireland. The head office...
1931	Denis Cullen Denis Cullen Denis Cullen was an Irish Labour Party politician and trade union official. He was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Labour Party Teachta Dála for the Dublin North constituency at the June 1927 general election. He lost his seat at the September 1927 general election having only served 3 months as a...	Irish Bakers' Amalgamated Union
1932	Louie Bennett Louie Bennett Louie Bennett was an Irish suffragette, Trades Unionist and journalist and writer born in Ireland. In 1927 she was the first woman to be elected President of the Irish Trades Union Conference and in the same year was elected to the executive committee of the Labour Party. She was also the founder...	Irish Women Workers' Union
1933	Sean P. Campbell	Dublin Typographical Provident Society
1934	Michael Duffy	Irish Transport and General Workers' Union Irish Transport and General Workers' Union The Irish Transport and General Workers Union, an Irish trade union, was founded by James Larkin in 1908 as a general union. Initially drawing its membership from branches of the Liverpool-based National Union of Dock Labourers, from which Larkin had been expelled, it grew to include workers in a...
1935
1936	Michael Drumgoole	Irish Union of Distributive Workers and Clerks
1937
1938	Jeremiah Hurley Jeremiah Hurley Jeremiah Hurley was an Irish Labour Party politician. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Labour Party Teachta Dála for the Cork South East constituency at the 1937 general election. He was re-elected at the 1938 general election. He died in 1943 during the term of the 10th Dáil but no...	Irish National Teachers' Organisation Irish National Teachers' Organisation The Irish National Teachers' Organisation , in Irish Cumann Múinteoirí Éireann, which was founded in 1868, is the largest teachers' trade union in Ireland. It represents teachers at primary level in the Republic of Ireland, and at primary and post-primary level in Northern Ireland. The head office...
1939	Patrick T. Daly	Irish Transport and General Workers' Union Irish Transport and General Workers' Union The Irish Transport and General Workers Union, an Irish trade union, was founded by James Larkin in 1908 as a general union. Initially drawing its membership from branches of the Liverpool-based National Union of Dock Labourers, from which Larkin had been expelled, it grew to include workers in a...
1940	Sam Kyle Sam Kyle Sam Kyle was an Irish trade unionist and politician.Born into a Protestant family in Belfast, Kyle joined the Independent Labour Party. He became an active trade unionist, and at the 1918 UK general election, he stood in Belfast Shankill for the Belfast Labour Representation Committee...	Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union
1941	William X. O'Brien William X. O'Brien William X. O'Brien was a politician and trade unionist in Ireland.Born in Clonakilty, County Cork, O'Brien moved with his family to Dublin in 1897, and quickly became involved in the Irish Socialist Republican Party...	Irish Transport and General Workers' Union Irish Transport and General Workers' Union The Irish Transport and General Workers Union, an Irish trade union, was founded by James Larkin in 1908 as a general union. Initially drawing its membership from branches of the Liverpool-based National Union of Dock Labourers, from which Larkin had been expelled, it grew to include workers in a...
1942
1943	Michael Keyes Michael Keyes Michael J. Keyes was an Irish Labour Party politician. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann on his second attempt in 1927 as a Labour Party TD for Limerick. He lost his seat in the second election in 1927 and failed to be elected in 1932, however, he returned to the Dáil in 1933. In 1949 he joined...	National Union of Railwaymen National Union of Railwaymen The National Union of Railwaymen was a trade union of railway workers in the United Kingdom. It an industrial union founded in 1913 by the merger of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants , the United Pointsmen and Signalmen's Society and the General Railway Workers' Union .The NUR...
1944	Robert Getgood Robert Getgood Robert Getgood , sometimes known as Bob Getgood, was a politician and trade unionist in Northern Ireland.Getgood joined the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union , and later became its Textile Officer. He also joined the Northern Ireland Labour Party...	Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union
1945	Gilbert Lynch Gilbert Lynch Gilbert Lynch was an Irish Labour Party politician and trade union official. He was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Labour Party Teachta Dála for the Galway constituency at the June 1927 general election. He lost his seat at the September 1927 general election having only served 3 months as a...	Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union
1947	John Swift	Irish Bakers', Confectioners' and Allied Workers' Amalgamated Union
1948
1949	James Larkin, Jr	Workers' Union of Ireland Workers' Union of Ireland The Workers' Union of Ireland , later the Federated Workers' Union of Ireland, was an Irish trade union formed in 1924. In 1990, it merged with the Irish Transport and General Workers Union to form the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union .- Formation :The WUI was formed in 1924...
1950	Sam Kyle Sam Kyle Sam Kyle was an Irish trade unionist and politician.Born into a Protestant family in Belfast, Kyle joined the Independent Labour Party. He became an active trade unionist, and at the 1918 UK general election, he stood in Belfast Shankill for the Belfast Labour Representation Committee...	Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union
1951	Helen Chenevix	Irish Women Workers' Union
1952	James Larkin, Jr	Workers' Union of Ireland Workers' Union of Ireland The Workers' Union of Ireland , later the Federated Workers' Union of Ireland, was an Irish trade union formed in 1924. In 1990, it merged with the Irish Transport and General Workers Union to form the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union .- Formation :The WUI was formed in 1924...
1953	Con Connolly	Cork Workers' Council
1954	John McAteer	National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers The National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers was a British trade union.The union was founded in 1921 as the National Union of Printing, Bookbinding, Machine Ruling and Paper Workers when the National Union of Bookbinders and Machine Rulers and the National Union of Printing and...
1955
1956	J. Harold Binks	Clerical and Administrative Workers Union
1957	Norman Kennedy Norman Kennedy Norman Kennedy was a trade unionist and politician in Ireland.Kennedy was a prominent member of the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union. He served as President of the Irish Trade Union Congress in 1957...	Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union
1958	Jack Macgougan Jack Macgougan Jack Macgougan was a trade unionist and socialist activist in Ireland.Born in Belfast to a Protestant family, Macgougan became an active trade unionist at an early age, and joined the Socialist Party of Northern Ireland, a Northern Ireland Labour Party-affiliate split from the Independent Labour...	National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers The National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers was a trade union in the United Kingdom.The union was founded as the Tailors and Garment Workers' Union in 1920 with the merger of the Scottish Operative Tailors and Tailoresses' Association and the United Garment Workers' Union...
1959	Walter Carpenter

Source: Donal Nevin et al., Trade Union Century, p. 437