MEET MICHELLE HEALY – LLM GRADUATE AND CANDIDATE IN THE SEANAD ÉIREANN ELECTION 
02 April 2020
Michelle Healy, an alumna of both University College Cork (UCC) and Queen’s University Belfast, who spent a decade as a United Nations (UN) humanitarian worker across Africa and the Middle East, was a candidate in this year’s NUI Seanad Election, finishing sixth after the first count in a field of 19 candidates.
Under the Seanad Electoral (University Members) Acts, 1937- 2015, the National University Constituency – of which UCC is a constituent member – elects three (graduate) members of Seanad Éireann.
A BSc graduate of UCC in Government and Public Policy (2005), Ms Healy has a Master’s Degree in Human Rights Law (2006) from Queen’s. During her year in Belfast, she was a member of the Ladies Rugby Team and a Class Representative for her degree programme. Ms Healy attended a reception for Queen’s graduates held in Cork in February.
As a humanitarian professional, Ms Healy has worked for social justice and equality with UN agencies and international charities. She advocated for the rollout of HIV education and prevention programmes across East and Southern Africa with UNICEF.
In Sudan and South Sudan she led projects that resulted in the clearance of thousands of kilometres of mine fields and the roll out of education programmes. She also negotiated the establishment of security and stabilisation programmes with the police and armed services.
In all, Ms Healy was responsible for rolling out an estimated 100 million euros worth of humanitarian and international development programmes in partnership with various national governments.
After spending 10 years working in war-torn regions across Africa and the Middle East, the former UN aid worker returned to Cork in 2017 to take on a new role at UCC.
For much of the last three years, Michelle Healy has been leading on the delivery of the Hub Building, a brand-new student services facility in the centre of the Cork university, described on the UCC website as “a new and inclusive social dynamic at the centre of the campus which will facilitate learning communities, networking, student interaction, internationalisation, and student friendly service provision.”
Along with the successful delivery of the Hub, Ms Healy was also elected to the UCC Governing Body last year.
Delighted on finishing a respectable sixth in her first public election, Ms Healy gave the reasons for running on her website, saying: “I decided to run in the NUI Seanad election because I am passionate about bringing positive social change to Ireland and I wanted to stand up for social justice, equality, and sustainability.
“My mission in life is simply to make this world a better place for others. I’m doing this because I know so many people in Ireland today who are being left behind.”
Passionate about student engagement, access to education along with diversity and inclusion, Ms Healy had promised - if elected - that her priority areas would include housing, healthcare, education, childcare, women’s rights, disability rights, equality and inclusion, climate action, sustainable transport, arts and culture, along with Seanad reform.
Though single award holders from Queen’s were not entitled to vote in the election, those who also hold qualifications from a NUI Seanad Éireann constituency university or college could do so.
Further information is available on Ms Healey’s website – www.michellehealy.ie – and you can follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn. Finally, you can contact her directly at healy4seanad@gmail.com.
General enquiries about this news story to Gerry Power, Communications Officer/Editor The Graduate, Queen’s Development and Alumni Relations Office; telephone: +44 (0)28 9097 5321.
Photo credit (headline): Seanad Éireann
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