David Begg (trade unionist)

Begg holds master's degree in international relations from DCU and a PhD in sociology from Maynooth University.^[6] He is an adjunct professor at Maynooth University Institute of Social Sciences (MUSSI).^[3]

After the Jobstown Protest in November 2014, which saw a sit-down protest occur in front of Tánaiste Joan Burton's car, Begg stated that he believed that Burton's assistant, Labour Party official Karen O'Connell, was beaten and kicked.^[7] Some protestors were subsequently taken to court for false imprisonment but acquitted and subsequently charges were dropped against the remaining protestors.^[8]

On 13 January 2016 the same Tánaiste, Joan Burton, in her role as Social Protection Minister, appointed Begg as chair of the Pension Authority.^[9]

In 2022, University College Cork (UCC) were given a place on the Board of the Workplace Relations Commission when UCC HR Director Barry O'Brien was appointed to the board.^[10] In 2023, while a board member of the Workplace Relations Commission acting for UCC, O'Brien breached an employment contract and unilaterally fired the Dutch professor Wim Naude from UCC with no notice, no due process or right of appeal.^[11][12][13]

In the wake of a scandal in which a bicycle shelter at Irish government buildings cost the Irish taxpayer €336,000, a wall at the front of the Workplace Relations Commission building in Dublin was found to cost nearly half a million euros from public funds in 2022 and 2023.^[14][15]

In September 2025, Begg resigned from the board of the Mater Hospital while stating to Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, "you may be the health minister but you're not God."^[16]