Delvin man elected to represent cabin staff on Fórsa committee

A Delvin man has been elected to a Divisional Executive Committee (DEC) of the Forsa trade union as a cabin crew representative.

Dermot Mullen, who works in aviation, was elected over Christmas to the DEC of the Fórsa ‘Services and Enterprises’ division, one of six divisions in what is Ireland's second largest union, formed in January 2018 following the amalgamation of the Civil, Public and Services Union (CPSU), IMPACT and the Public Service Executive Union (PSEU).

A native of Delvin, and educated at St Ernan’s NS and at CBS, Mullingar, Dermot has been living in Mullingar for the past 15 years.

His early career was spent in the hospitality sector: he had a pub in Delvin and later moved on to The Crossbar in Mullingar.

“I was always interested in aviation and in 2010 my mother died tragically of motor neurone disease, so I decided to apply to an airline and I started my aviation career in 2012,” says Dermot.

His work as a member of the cabin crew sees him undertake both long-haul and short-haul duties, but like so many, he was furloughed when flights stopped during the lockdown, and so he took up employment with Home Instead Senior Care, caring for the elderly in the community.

Dermot has always been interested in politics and indeed, before his aviation career started, he even ran in the local elections. Over the past year, he became actively involved in trade union affairs:

“I was on a cabin crew committee, and I was elected to this new role so I will be serving on both committees.

“Election to the DEC is of significant importance as we are able to share with other branches within the services and enterprises division concerns and issues that cabin crew across Ireland face and raise awareness of problems we face,” says Dermot.

Obviously, one of the major concerns among staff at the moment is that of Covid: “With all the different variants out there, there are huge issues facing aviation, to get people back flying and also the hospitality industry - which I was previously in - has been hugely hit, and it’s basically to get people back living a normal life – but most importantly, to be there and reach out to one another for people’s mental health, because with all the lockdowns number one priority is your mental health and you have to be there for people and listen to everyday problems.”