Healthcare activist Tinsley wins Tatler award

COMMITTED healthcare activist and part-time journalist Orla Tinsley was last night named 2009 Irish Tatler Woman of the Year at a ceremony in Dublin’s Mansion House.

The 22-year-old has been a tireless campaigner for better services for cystic fibrosis sufferers, a disease which she herself suffers from. Her lobbying helped to force the Government into a U-turn on its decision to postpone funding for a dedicated adult cystic fibrosis unit in Dublin and the unit is now expected to be completed in early 2010.

Alongside her work as an activist, Ms Tinsley has managed to carve out a successful career as a journalist, a career she forged after winning the President’s Award for Excellence in Extra Curricular Activities at UCD where she studied English and ancient Greek and Roman civilisation.

The judging panel at yesterday’s awards said they chose the young woman for the top award to commend her “unwavering commitment to bettering the situation of cystic fibrosis patients in Ireland and for bringing their plight to the public eye with admirable elegance and passion”.

Also honoured at last night’s awards was celebrity chef Rachel Allen, who was presented with the Tatler Woman of the Year Entertainment Award.

The judges said they had chosen the Ballymaloe Cookery School-trained chef because, “as one of the best known faces in Irish television, Rachel Allen has succeeded in forging an international career and bringing Irish food, and the wealth of produce Ireland has to offer, to the international stage.”

Irish boxer and soccer player Katy Taylor was honoured with the sports award.

The 23 year-old Wicklow-born fighter is the reigning world lightweight boxing champion, a title which she has won twice.

She is also an internationally capped soccer player, though she has put her football career to one side temporarily as she attempts to win the top prize when women’s boxing makes its Olympics debut in three years’ time.

Irish Examiner columnist and public relations guru Terry Prone was presented with the Tatler’s media award and celebrated author Cecelia Ahern won the literary award.

Also honoured at last night’s event was GOAL aid worker Sharon Commins.

She was presented with a Special Achievement Award for the “strength and tenacity she showed during 107 days she and her Ugandan colleague Hilda Kawuki were held captive by kidnappers in war-torn Sudan.

Ronan Keating’s sister Linda was honoured for her work with the Marie Keating Foundation which, since her mother’s death, has achieved a number of milestones including the refurbishment of the oncology waiting room in St Vincent’s Hospital, the transformation of the garden waiting area of the Breast Care Unit in St James’s Hospital and the oncology waiting room of Sligo General Hospital.