Séamus Boland (69) dropped out of school when he was about 13 years old to work on the family farm when his father got sick.
From “the bogs of Offaly”, a young Boland had dreams of becoming an actor. All that suddenly seemed closed off to him when he hit his teenage years.
Later this week, he will become president of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), one of the European Union’s (EU) lesser known bodies.
“This is where I look around and say how in the name of God did I get here?” Boland says.
The EU forum was set up in 1958 to give civil society, trade unions and business some input into the European policymaking machine.
“I grew up experiencing poverty: the usual making ends meet, all of that on a small farm … I’m old enough to remember electricity coming in” he say
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