DENIS RYAN
Newcastle West
IT has been an incredible year for the chairman of the Dell Redundant Workers Association Denis Ryan.
From when the redundancies in Dell were announced on January 8, 2009, Denis has become the figurehead of two groups, led the charge for better redundancy payments for staff at the computer plant, engaged TDs from across the region - and sat in the European Parliament as the €23m European Globalisation Fund was passed in November.
"If someone came along to me prior to January 8 last year and told me I would meet Jose Manuel Barroso, go to Strasbourg, and meet decent politicians, I would not have believed them," he beamed.
Denis reserves praise for those who have worked with him this last year - whether they are politicians, or other members of either Dell group.
He says: "It's been amazing. It's been a journey you couldn't dream about. But again, it's down to people. It's people with good ideas. It's going to be tough for the next year or so, but once we get the structures to help people, that's all we hope for."
Father of a 17-month old baby Darragh, Denis jokingly points out that he is now on first name terms with Limerick East's TDs, councillors, and MEPs - "when before, I would be genuflecting to them!"
A veteran of two other recessions, Denis has been made redundant from a major corporation before - Krups in the 1990s. Unlike last time, he has been so busy with the Dell Redundant Workers Committee that he has not had time to reflect on the fact his livelihood was stripped away from him last year.
It is this state of mind he feels very grateful for, saying: "I have not had time to get negative. I keep meeting positive people, keep looking for someone to help."
Denis is also lucky in that he has cleared a lot of "mickey mouse" debts as he calls them. Sure he has the mortgage, and the car loan. But unlike many people, he has cleared his backlog from the credit card splurge in recent years.
One thing he has had to put on hiatus is his plans to open his own business - a gardening company.
"I had my gardening business up and running (when I left Dell] and even now I don't think I can get back to that up and running. You start off just looking for something to do - and then it comes to me in the form of an association," he concluded.