Chartered Accountants Ireland claims top honours at Association and Institutes Awards 2025

Chartered Accountants Ireland has been crowned the standout winner at the Association and Institutes Awards 2025, securing both the overall excellence award and the collaboration award at a prestigious ceremony held at The Royal Marine Hotel, Dublin.

The awards, now in their second year, brought together 136 attendees to celebrate the remarkable achievements, innovations and contributions made by associations and professional bodies across diverse industries.

The event, hosted by Joe Rooney, saw 31 companies compete across 64 entries for 12 trophies recognising exceptional leadership, membership engagement, advocacy endeavours, educational initiatives and overall organisational impact.

Chartered Accountants Ireland, established as the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland by Royal Charter in 1888, is Ireland’s leading professional accountancy body. The organisation represents 39,000 members across more than 100 countries while educating 6,600 students. The body actively engages with governments, policymakers, regulators and business groups on key issues affecting both the profession and the wider economy.

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A spokesperson for Chartered Accountants Ireland commented: “It was a great honour to achieve this recognition and these two important awards, reflecting the high standards set in our work for members, students, firms and the public interest. Well done to all the project teams who worked on the submissions, to all the deserving winners on the night and Association and Institutes Awards for a great event.”

The chief executive award was presented to Susan Treacy, who heads up Healthtech Ireland, an independent trade association for manufacturers, developers and distributors of health technology products and solutions to the health system in Ireland.

“The strength of our sector lies in shared purpose,” Treacy said. “This award reflects a healthtech community committed to collaboration – leveraging its national footprint to deliver tangible outputs and value while driving innovation and system-wide transformation across Ireland’s healthcare.”

The quality of entries at this year’s awards was particularly noteworthy, according to judging coordinator Willie Donnelly, who observed that the competition attracted submissions from a broad spectrum of professional bodies. “As you would expect from the professions, the quality of the applications was particularly high and therefore competition was intense,” he noted.

The Institute of Directors Ireland was the award winner in the large institute category. Chief executive Caroline Spillane said: “Good governance is vital to every organisation’s success. It builds trust, drives sustainability and supports ethical leadership. This award rightly spotlights the importance of advocating for strong corporate governance standards in fostering resilience, competitiveness, and long-term growth in Ireland.”

Ronan Power, chief executive at Solar Ireland, said the organisation’s award shows what is possible when committed members, a dedicated team and industry partners work together. “Ireland’s solar sector is making real progress, proving that collaboration and innovation can accelerate our clean energy transition and build generation for generations,” Power added.

Winners of the Association and Institutes Awards 2025

The Hardware Association of Ireland was the winner in the learning/professional development award category. Aoife Kinsella O’Reilly, business development and marketing manager, stated: “This award recognises our commitment to quality training and the vital collaboration of our members, trainers and partners in supporting the ongoing development and growth of the 26,000 employees in the hardware and building materials sector.”

Niall Cotton, chief executive at Freight Transport Association Ireland, described FTAI’s publication award as “brilliant recognition for all our team and for the partners that we’ve worked with over many years”.

Sean Bortolozzo, event lead at Business River, the awards organiser, commented: “It was fantastic to see such strong engagement from all the finalists and winners at this year’s Association and Institutes Awards – an incredibly high standard of competition that will only help drive greater interest, energy, and innovation in the sector.”

Awards judges

Willie Donnelly (judging coordinator) – director of research and innovation, The Technical Higher Education Association THEA
Odhran Allen – chief executive, AOTI – Association of Occupational Therapists of Ireland
Ciaran Bollard – chief executive, director, The Corporate Governance Institute
Vanessa Brady – chief executive, founder, The Society of British and International Interior Design
Angela Guillemet – founding partner, Association Innovation
Alan Leach – chief executive, director of marketing, West Wood Club
Dorothy O’Byrne – managing director, CCMA Ireland
Richard Burton – chief executive, International Institute of Nutrition & Health
Sean Quigley – non executive director, governance consultant and executive & team coach, Quigley Coaching & Consulting Services.