The ISSU Story

Student Voice in second-level education in Ireland has existed since the 1970′s. Here is brief time line of Student Voice at second-level in the repulic of Ireland since then….

Early 1970′s 

Irish Union of Secondary Students (IUSS)

1975

OBESSU, the Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions, was founded in Ireland 1975 by the national school student unions from the Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark), United Kingdom and Ireland the aim of the organisation was to create an all European school student organisation that could be a platform for cooperation between the national school student unions. The OBESSU office was based in Dublin, but later moved to the hub of European affairs – Brussels.

2004-2008

Union of Secondary Students’ of Ireland (USS): USS was founded during ASTI Teacher strikes in January 2001 by Shane O’Donnell, Lorcan Fox, Graham Barry, Carly-Anne Gannon and Lyndsey  O’ Connell. With the help of the Union of Students in Ireland, the founders invited schools from all over Leinster to send two representatives to a meeting, which took place in University College Dublin on 28 March 2001.

2008-present

Irish Second-Level Students’ Union (ISSU): The was born on August 12th 2008, under the name Irish Secondary Students’ Union, and renamed in March 9th 2009 to the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union as it is known today.