What’s next for Ireland’s trade union movement? Dr Alan Eustace gives his view
Posted on: 10 November 2026
“And it’s hard to make predictions about this, but it looks as if the trend is good, that union membership will probably grow as a result of this industrial action. That’s normally what happens across Europe when there’s industrial action. So we might expect to see an increase in membership for trade unions."
The pay dispute of the last few months between public sector unions and Government has shown the broader public what the movement can do, and should leave trade unions better equipped for future challenges, according to Trinity College Dublin employment law specialist Dr Alan Eustace.
In an interview with Trinity Communications, Dr Eustace said that while definitive data was not available yet, it seemed likely that union membership has grown across the board because of the high profile of recent industrial action over union calls for a new multi-year pay deal.
“After a long period of industrial peace, the trade unions have begun to flex their industrial muscles a bit. They’re more organised, more in touch with their own membership. And there’s been an upsurge of public awareness of how trade unions operate, what collective bargaining is, and the impact that strikes can have in a country where we don’t have very many strikes at all.
It’s always hard to gauge public opinion exactly, but on the experience of the first full day of industrial action, there was a lot of public support for the trade unions.
Dr Eustace, from Trinity’s School of Law, said he viewed the dispute as a “temperature check of the health of the trade union movement” in this country.
“And it’s hard to make predictions about this, but it looks as if the trend is good, that union membership will probably grow as a result of this industrial action. That’s normally what happens across Europe when there’s industrial action. So we might expect to see an increase in membership for trade unions. We might expect to see more experience among the members that are already there.
“And that’s really important if there are any future industrial disputes, because you need to have experienced and well-trained members in leadership positions to run a dispute like this – an industrial action campaign like this. That’s the case for both public and private sector unions. This dispute has obviously involved the public sector unions, but it’s likely that there will be a spillover effect into private sector unions.”
ENDS
Media Contact:
Catherine O’Mahony | Media Relations | catherine.omahony@tcd.ie