JILL CORISH

Award Year: 1994

Course: Social Science, Development Studies, Library & Information Studies

Activities: St Vincent de Paul Society

It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years since Dr Art Cosgrove invited us for a President’s Award! I have very happy memories of my time in Belfield studying Social Science from 1991 to 1994. There were about 120 of us in the class with the women outnumbering the men by about 10 to 1! Our lecturers from the Department of Sociology and Social Policy at the time - including Ann Lavan, Helen Burke, Geoffrey Cooke and Des McCloskeygave us global views of social problems and their causes. Those lessons stayed with me when I was fortunate to return to UCD in 1995 and again in 2013.

Back in the 1990s, I was co-Auditor of the UCD St Vincent de Paul Society along with Michelle McLoughlin. Our activities included visits to residents at the Cheshire Home in Monkstown, St Mary’s Donnybrook, and prisoners in Mountjoy. One of the highlight activities was when we organised the SVP Intervarsity Conference at UCD and the excitement of welcoming Uachtarán na hÉireann Mary Robinson to open the conference.

Occupation: Librarian

I also thoroughly enjoyed the fun of being in the Belfield Folk Group with students from different faculties and the great support of the St Stephen’s Chaplains: Fr Seamus Connell, Fr Gerard Tyrrell, and Fr Kieran Fitzgerald.

I particularly remember waiting by the pay phones in the Library building in 1994 for the phone call that lead to my next volunteering adventure in Cameroon!

Mary Dobbs

Award Year: 2006

Course: Law

Activities: FLAC; French Society; Law Society; Literary & Historical Society; Philosophy Society; World University Debating Championships 2006; Hockey Club; University Observer; Peer Mentor

Whilst my studies in UCD were essential to my career and proved stimulating and worthwhile, it was the activities outside of the classroom that really made the experience special. As a lecturer now, I encourage students to participate fully in university life – whether in extra- or co-curricular activities, the experiences enable the development of a wide range of skills that will stand to them, just as they have for me. It also is a superb way to make friends who share similar interests.

With the variety of activities available in UCD, there is of course a temptation to try out everything there and then. I naively and enthusiastically joined 13 societies and clubs in Freshers’ Week in 1st year! Clearly too many to maintain, but I did end up heavily involved in a few of them, including the L&H, LawSoc, French Soc, and what was then FLAC. We organised regular debates, talks, night events, helped students with legal issues, put on plays in French, and much more. Along with many friends, I wrote for the Observer on occasion and we hosted the World Universities Debating Championships. Separately, a few of us also mentored students in the years below.

Occupation: Lecturer, Queen’s University Belfast

A few of us were asked to write a brief note on our experiences in UCD, leading to a Facebook discussion reminiscing about times we shared in UCD. Times when the All Blacks gate-crashed the Strauss Ball, the 80’s Day with Face from the A-Team (both times!), JK Rowling read Harry Potter putting on the various voices, John Nash and Noam Chomsky discussed their research, the annual race around the Lake between those running for L&H auditor, and indeed when a friend rallied to the defence of a controversial guest speaker at a debate using his umbrella as a shield. Some cringing ensued, but still some great memories and some wonderful friendships.

Rossa Fanning

Award Year: 1998

Course: Law

Activities: Law Society; Students’ Union Returning Officer

Occupation: Senior Counsel

I began life in UCD as a callow seventeen-year old BCL student in October 1993. Ours was a generation untouched by either the Celtic Tiger or technology. We had little money, wore unfashionable clothes, and socialised in town only to a very limited extent. As an undergraduate, Belfield was my universe.

My personal interest was debating. In the days before politicians and public figures could tweet, they had perhaps a greater interest in attending student debating societies to debate the issue of the day than is now the case. On occasion there seemed to be a vital significance to student debates on controversial political or moral issues. Even if not at that level every week, they at least offered the twin mitigating virtues of free drink and cheap entertainment.

I participated in Law Society and L&H debates extensively as a fresher. I joined the committee of the Law Society in my second year and was its Auditor the following year. I ultimately enjoyed some success in competitive debating, winning the Irish Times debate and reaching the semi-finals of the World Universities Debating Championships with Ian Walsh, who remains a close friend. In the latter part of my student career, whilst a postgraduate and tutor in the Law School I served for a couple of years as Students’ Union Returning Officer, a role which I enjoyed greatly.

At a remove of twenty years, one memory stands out, albeit for the quality of farce rather than significance. In October 1995, the Law Society held an ordinary meeting on the question of whether natural law was superior to the Constitution, an issue that the Supreme Court had been required to consider earlier that year in the context of an Article 26 reference on the Abortion Information Bill. Amongst the combatants was the late Mr Justice O’Hanlon, well known for his Catholic views on moral issues, who took the view that natural law prevailed, if necessary, over the terms of the written Constitution. In the course of explaining this position to the students, an initial trickle that quickly became a steady flow of inflated condoms began to descend upon the person of the speaker, released by two enterprising students who had clambered up the rafters and concealed themselves in the ceiling above the podium in Theatre M for this very purpose.

To be fair to Mr Justice O’Hanlon, whose moral views were profoundly unsympathetic to the deployment of condoms in any circumstances, he was not to be deterred and continued his address regardless, seemingly impervious to the audience of undergraduates rendered hysterical by this unexpected development, as did all the subsequent speakers, including Michael McDowell, who were required to wade through a sea of inflated condoms in order to reach the podium and address the Theatre on the topic.

The stunt was of course intended to satirise the traditionally Catholic views of a retired High Court Judge, but one now reflects, with some disappointment, that this was the most creative use that undergraduates of that era could consider putting several dozen condoms to.

Devin Finneran

Award Year: 2014

Course: Animal Science

Activities: Students’ Union; Commerce & Economics Society; Fashion Show

Occupation: Job seeker; Producer, UCD Fashion Show

2017

University College Dublin plays host to an astonishing hive of activity; no matter what your interest you will find your niche.

From being a Students’ Union Class Rep to being elected as Ag & Vet PRO, second year was a complete whirlwind but I became hooked on campus life and have never looked back. As an Agriculture student I saw the clear divide between our faculties and the Students’ Union. They could offer so much more than my peers could ever imagine and I wanted to be involved in attempting to close that gap. I coordinated teams composed solely of Ags and Vets to fundraise for cancer research, arranged Think Positive breakfast mornings with faculty societies and SU Class Reps to highlight the supports available, and represented students on various University boards.

In third year I came into my stride and had, without doubt, made the transformation into “one of those people”. As well as being Ag & Vet PRO, I was asked to be Secretary of the Commerce & Economics Society and Assistant Producer of the UCD Fashion Show. Although this combination of widely diverse projects stretched my attention span far past where my studies could ever compete I would never relive it any other way. Through my experiences that year I believed that my perspective, especially coming from a different faculty, would help the Commerce & Economics Society return to its former glory and I was elected Auditor for the 102nd Session.

Getting involved has given me back so much more than I could ever have expected. I have met some of my best friends, whom otherwise I would have never encountered, I’ve developed as a person, and also gained invaluable experience.