Like most people, the first question I ask Patrick Bonner is whether he is related to his namesake, soccer legend Pakie Bonner. He is, but only distantly.

Donegal native Patrick came to Galway to study business at GMIT because his father had "the best days of his life" in college here. Although it was a last minute decision, following a panicked CAO application, it's easy to see he has been happy here.

Having attended boarding school throughout his teenage years, Patrick felt Galway was near enough to home for comfort. "I was away from home too much at boarding school and I can get home easily from Galway," he says, although he agrees that it's a nice distance too, allowing plenty of freedom.

He loves Galway's atmosphere and thinks it's a real young person's city. "It's nice and small like a college town, not big and sprawled like Dublin - and you don't have to travel far to get to college, it's a great place for young people. The only thing I would change is the weather!"

Taking an active role in several aspects of college life has meant Patrick is now entering his sixth year at GMIT. Four as a business student, albeit one involved with Ogra Fianna Fáil and the Students' Union, and now two in the Students' Union as a sabbatical officer.

"I'm going into my sixth year here! Galway has a really friendly atmosphere and social scene, I've really grown to love the place."

He has just finished a busy year as the union's Vice President with responsibility for welfare and academic issues for the college's 7,000 students. The geographical spread of GMIT, between Galway, Castlebar and Letterfrack, presents its own problems, but he has spent a year trying to work on integrating the different campuses. Castlebar's campus has its own full-time Student President.

Most welfare officers spend a lot of time organising information and awareness campaigns, and Patrick is no different. He ran campaigns of significance to students.

"On the welfare side I did the 'Don't Walk Home Alone' campaign, the road safety campaign and a mental health campaign. A big issue this year was making the SU more approachable for students, and to be on the corridor. People could ring me any time."

And they did, he says. On the corridor at GMIT, on the street and sometimes even in pubs and nightclubs. "Students sometimes come up to you in pubs and tell you their problems, but that's part of the job - I actually liked it." It's something he welcomed as welfare officer and will continue to welcome as president, because "if students don't know who you are they won't come to you and they won't know the issues."