Dirk Lagast

My mother was on her own. It was a struggle and fight against prejudice to get anywhere. I know poverty and inequality, and I keep fighting against it.

Career

Dirk Lagast been a member of the party since 1980. During his studies, Dirk had no time for holidays: he used every free moment to earn a penny as a job student. Despite a scholarship, extra income was needed. I spent the remaining limited free time with the Jongsocialisten (young socialists), and later with the Actief Linkse Studenten (Active Left Students).

First job: educator

After a period as a CPAS welfare recipient, he got his first job: educator in a shelter for the homeless. Afterwards, he was a training worker at the Foyer in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean. In 1995, SP deputy Michiel Vandenbussche asked Dirk to become his parliamentary assistant. Two years later, he helped deepen district contracts at GIASS (the regional interministerial delegation for urban solidarity).

Jack-of-all-trades

Dirk has been in the Koekelberg municipal council since 2001. Until 2006, he was alderman there, and from 2016 to 2018 he repeated that mandate. Since then, he has been a municipal councillor. On 1 March 2019, he was appointed president of the CPAS Council in Koekelberg and he works part-time as a VGC Council official.