Des Geraghty

Des Geraghty is from Dublin’s Liberties and has a lifelong engagement with Traditional Music and Song (Béarla agus Gaeilge). As a teenager he attended the Pipers’ Club in Thomas St. and St. Mary’s Traditional Club in Church St. Dublin. He has participated in numerous Fleadh’s from the early 1960s onwards.

He sings and plays the concert flute, translates Irish and English poetry and songs and has produced and directed many musical events. He is the Chairman of the Clé Club, the traditional music and song club in Dublin’s Liberty Hall.

He is the author of three books, a memoir of his friend Luke Kelly, an anti-racism book entitled Forty Shades of Green and more recently, ‘We Dare to Dream – Of an Island of Equals’. He was  a full-time trade union representative for 35 years in the ITGWU and then SIPTU, where he was elected General President. He also had a spell as a Member of the European Parliament (1992-94) and has served on many boards including those of RTE and TG4.