Diarmuid Hegarty (Griffith College)


Diarmuid Hegarty BComm LLB is the President of Griffith College Ireland. He is also Chairman of the Friends of the Vocal Arts.

Biography

Diarmuid Hegarty was born in Dublin. He studied Commerce at University College Dublin and obtained a Barrister at Law degree from the Honorable Society of King's Inns. He speaks conversational Italian and Chinese and fluent French.

Career

From 1969 to 1973, Hegarty trained to be an accountant with Coopers and Lybrand.
In 1974, he became a Taxation Consultant with constituent firm of Deloitte and Touche. That same year, Hegarty founded Business and Accounting Training, which grew into Griffith College Ireland. In 1978, BAT college was incorporated.
In 1992, he became President of Griffith College Ireland. From 1999 to 2006, he served as a board member of Griffith College Karachi. In 2018 he was elected to the Council of Dublin Chamber of Commerce.

Professional qualifications & memberships


Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland

Previously a member of the Irish Tax Institute

Establishing Griffith College

Diarmuid Hegarty founded Griffith College as the Business and Accounting Training College in 1974 and the college operated from Milltown, St. Stephen's Green and Morehampton Road, Dublin,

The name was changed to Griffith College when the college moved to the former Griffith Barracks in 1991.
As President of Griffith College Diarmuid Hegarty is actively involved in promoting the Bologna Process for a Europe-wide Higher Education Network.Griffith College is now established as Ireland's largest private third-level institution with over 7,500 students.

Various offices held

1981 – 1988: Member of Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland

1981 – 1984: Chairman of the Accounting Review Committee of Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland

1982 – 1984: Chairman of the Inflationary Accounting Committee of Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland

1982: Represented Ireland on the Accounting Standards Steering Committee

1985 – 1987: Chairman of the Parliamentary and Law Committee of the Consultative Committee of Accounting Bodies in Ireland

1987: Member of the Financial Services working group Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland

1996 – 1998: Advisor to the Ministry of Finance, Government of Vietnam, in relation to the establishment of a proposed Vietnamese Association of Accountants

1998 and 1999: Advisor to the Irish Government under the Strategic Management Initiative Financial Management Working Group

1999 – present day: Member of Baggot Street Community Hospital Board

1999 – 2000: Keynote speaker at various international seminars on Information Technology

2000 – 2008: Member of the Blackrock College Financial Advisory Group

2000 – present day: Rotating Chair of Higher Education Colleges Association. As Chairman of HECA he spearheaded the quest for Quality Assurance in tertiary private education

2001 – present day: Appointed by Minister for Education and Science, Dr Michael Woods, to the Higher Education and Training Awards Council

2001: Advisor to the Pakistani government in the area of education and investment in the IT Sector

2001: Appointed by the Government of Pakistan as Honorary Consul for Pakistan at Cork, for Co. Cork, Ireland

2004: Nominated for Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year

2004: Chairman of Friends of the Vocal Arts in Ireland

2004 – 2009: chairman of the board of Marketing of Las Adelfas Hotels

2007 – 2011: Chairman of the Higher Education and Training Awards Council Audit Committee

2008: Chairman of the Irish Higher Education Qualifications Network Sub-Committee on Pastoral Care

2010: Member of the High Level Group on Irish Education

2011: Chairman of the Higher Education Colleges Association,

2011 – 2012: Vice-Chair of the Irish Higher Education Quality Network

2011 – present day: Member of Baggot Street Community Hospital Strategy Committee

2012: Received an Honorary Professorship from the Beijing Information Science & Technology University in China and was made an Honorary Member of the University's academic board

2012 – 2013: Chairman of the Irish Higher Education Quality Network
2018 - Elected as a Council Member to Dublin Chamber of Commerce

Other roles

Aside from academics and education Hegarty is Chairman of the Las Adelfas Hotel partnership, in which he has extensive business interests. He is also the Vice-Chairman of the Ireland-Pakistan Business Council.