On Tuesday and Wednesday last, 2nd/3rd April, Patrician Academy Student Council representatives Hugh Ahern (Secretary) and Harry Brennan (Public Relations Officer) attended the Irish Second Level Students Union (ISSU) Annual Assembly online and in Dublin. Around 200 second level Student Council representatives from across Ireland attended the Annual Assembly over the two days online and in person.
On Wednesday, Hugh was elected to the Irish Second Level Students National Student Executive as the Communications Officer. Hugh will sit on a 12-person executive which will be led by Jack McGinn as President, and their term will begin in June, and end in June 2025.
This election was following a week-long campaign and a two-day Assembly.  On Tuesday, the Assembly was online and delegates debated policy mandates which will shape the policy direction of the Union for the next coming years, while they also looked at constitutional amendments for the Union.
On Wednesday, Hugh and Harry had an early start when they travelled to Liberty Hall in Dublin for the election day which is the most important day of the Annual Assembly as this is where the representatives from the 600+ member schools elect the next executive to lead the Union for the next 12 months.
The day began with an address from outgoing President Shari Ifan and then moved on to hustings where they heard from the 28 young people seeking a national position. It was a very tight race for many of the places, especially for Education Officers. They heard from the Studyclix, Conradh na Gaeilge and were also briefed on the union developments around  the  Civic Edu-cation Lobby Programme; this was followed by an announcement on the right to work scheme launched that morning.
At the close of the event at 4:30pm they were told the names at the successful candidates which included Hugh as the next Communications Officer. Hugh said “I am delighted to be elected as the ISSU’s next Communications Officer for the term of 2024/2025, I am looking forward to beginning representing student voices at a national level from June.”
The role of the ISSU is to represent the students of Ireland. Its main activities have three stated strands: to provide training, guidance and advice to students and to equip them with the skills needed to become involved in the decision-making processes in their own school communities; to work with other organisations to bring the views of secondary school students to the attention of policy-makers and the media; and to provide services to the membership of ISSU on the principle that control of those services lies with the membership
Learning of Hugh’s election as Student Council Coordinator Mrs. Regina Glynn commented, “I would like to congratulate Hugh on being elected to the ISSU 12-person National Executive as the next Communications Officer. What a great honour this is for us the Patrician Academy to have someone from our school elected at this level. It was a great day for Hugh and the Patrician Academy Student Council.”
This is the first time that a student of the Patrician Academy has been elected to the National Executive of the Irish Second Level Students Union.