DCU Voices

DCU VOICES 50 DáraineMulvihill was given a 10pc chance of survival after contracting severe meningitis as a teenager. She talks to Barry Lenihan about her recovery, living with disability, and how her DCU years provided the impetus for her national and international broadcasting career. Heads slowly turn as a blacked- out Mercedes winds its way onto campus. Students are criss-crossing between lectures, but stop in their tracks to witness one of their own head off for an important meeting. President Mary McAleese needs advice and Dáraine Mulvihill is urgently required at Áras an Uachtaráin. Her college books are tossed aside and any plans for revelry are put on hold. “I was asked to be on the Irish Council of State by President McAleese in 2004,” explains Dáraine (BA Communications 2005), “and a meeting was called so they sent this blacked-out Mercedes to come into the campus and pick me up. It was funny as it was a time when people were coming out of class, and they were staring and wondering ‘where is your one off to?’ The reluctant role model ALUMNI PROFILE Barry Lenihan (BA Journalism, 2013) Reporter at RTÉ @BarryLenihan DaráineMulvihill receives the Outstanding Achievement Award for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the DCU Alumni Awards 2020