Chamber Member to be honoured by President

President Mary McAleese is to make a special award to Chamber member Trish Hegarty, of Inis Communications, at a special event in Dublin tomorrow evening, to mark the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the Union of Students of Ireland (USI). Trish was the first woman to become President of USI in 1988.

"It is an honour to receive a presentation from the President, and I am looking forward to meeting her.   It will also be great to see so many old faces from my years in USI."  Former USI officers due also to attend include RTE's Joe Duffy and Irish 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 1987. "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 US, Trish went on to become a journalist, working with The Irish Time, 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 Mark Durkan, Garbhan Downey and Paul Kavanagh.

For further info:

Trish Hegarty 086 1470057, email: trish@iniscommunications.com or website www.iniscommunications.com

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