Chamber Member Honoured By President

Chamber member, Trish Hegarty, received a special award in Dublin at the weekend in recognition of her role as first woman president of the Union of Students in Ireland in 1986. Trish, who is director of Inis Communications PR and Media Consultancy, said she was honoured to meet President Mary McAleese at the 50^th Anniversary of USI event and that she was delighted to receive the award.

"It was a fantastic evening and it was great to see so many old faces from my years in USI."  Former USI officers who also attended include RTE's Joe Duffy and Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore.

Trish went to Queens University Belfast, and spent a year as Vice President of the Student Union there before becoming Deputy President of USI in 1985. "I would not have had the courage to go for the role of President without the experience of those two years, and the confidence that gave me," she admits. 

After USI Trish went on to become a journalist, working with The Irish Times, RTE and with  BBC Radio Foyle, "because I had learned how important the media was in getting your message across to the public and ultimately in helping to create change."  Now she is back on the other side of the fence, and runs her own PR business - Inis Communications - where she helps others to get their message across.    


Notes:

The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) is the sole national representative body for students in Ireland. Founded in 1959, USI now represents more than 250,000 students in over forty colleges across Ireland.   Almost 300 officers have served USI over the past 50 years, including former Deputy Presidents: Mark Durkan, Garbhan Downey and Paul Cavanagh.

For further info: 

Trish Hegarty 086 1740057, email: trish@iniscommunications.com or website www.iniscommunications.com

USI - 01 7099300,  email  manager@usi.ie or website www.usi.ie