Pat, like most of the young people in the St. Paul’s Parish started out as a Cub Scout / Macaoimh in the St. Paul’s Scout Unit. He progressed up through the sections until he was old enough to become a leader. Pat always believed that he should give back some of the skills that he learnt as a scout to those who came after him. He became an Assistant Scout Leader in January 1981, a position he held till October 1988. Pat took a year off to re-charge the batteries and in September of the following year he returned to take over the troop as Scout Leader in St. Paul’s, a position he still holds to this day in 2007.

Pat as many people will know is a very enthusiastic and committed leader. Traits he expects all his Assistant Leaders and Scouts to have. Pat’s belief is that if he’s prepared to put in the time, effort and skills, he expects no less from his Assistant Leaders and Scouts.

As Assistant Scout Leader in the 20th Waterford, Pat was part of a team that came 5th in the Melvin (All Ireland Scoutcraft Competition, CBSI), this spurred Pat on to try and win this prestigious event. When he took over the troop completely in September 1989 after his break, he started to mould his troop and set the standards that he felt were possible. He has had numerous Star Scouts, National Scouts and has the highest number of Chief Scout Award Holders in the Scout County. This is magnificent for the troop as it helps drive all of its members to seek to attain the highest award a scout can achieve with Pats help.

This type of scouting comes from dedication and commitment, commitment to the highest standards of scouting and this has been proven by the number of times the troop has won the Melvin Trophy, which is now called ‘The Phoenix Challenge’ in the new Association. Pat was one of the first leaders to make sure equality was to the forefront in scouting and in 1996, the St. Paul’s team that won the Melvin Trophy was the first ‘mixed’ team to win the trophy and Claire Guilfoyle was the first female Patrol Leader to lead the winning team.

Pat is very proud of his troops National achievements, not just all of the Melvin Trophy’s, but also the former National Orienteering Competitions. Put all the National Events that Pat has won with the Regional / County competitions, you would think he has achieved all he needs to. But each new Scout Year brings new challenges and new Scouts to Pat and his team. He passionately believes they deserve a shot at the best in the country and in order to do so they will achieve a lot of scout skills and more importantly life skills in their time in the troop. He starts each new Scout Year as if it was his first, with tremendous enthusiasm and commitment. His programme is not competition based but activity based, where the whole troop, and not just a team of scouts, get the benefit of Pat and his Assistant Leaders skills and knowledge. The programme is fun based but he asks for commitment from the scouts to their Promise & Law and to the troop. His activities take them on various types of hikes, weekends away, annual camps (home & abroad), County Activities and National Activities.

Pat is a very ‘open’ leader and is always looking for ways of improvement from his peers, but he is extremely willing to go to, or invite other troops to come and see what he is doing or if he can be of help in anyway. This offer has been taken up by a number of troops within the old Region and the new County structure.

In this era of limited time and holidays, Pat has always taken his troop on Annual Camp and has always offered, in the true scouting spirit, to take other troops with him, if their leaders are unavailable or not able to do so. Pat believes that annual camp is the culmination of the Scout Year and no scout should be deprived of that experience. Pats commitment to having quality programme for Annual Camp has had him to the forefront of planning a number of the old Regional Scout Camps.

The huge amount of skills and knowledge that Pat has acquired over the years made him an excellent choice for the National Training Team and since 1995 Pat has been helping to train adult leaders in Scouting Ireland CSI and now Scouting Ireland.

While running his very successful Scout Troop and being a member of the National Training Team, Pat was part of the Regional Team, as Assistant Commissioner for Scouts from 1996 to 1999 and through a number of initiatives that were introduced at that time, the standard of scouting improved immensely within the Region. He has also been part of the ‘Marking Teams’ that help run the National Competitions which take up more of his time with planning and preparation.

Prior to the formation of the new Scout Association, Scouting Ireland in 2004, Pat held the position of National Commissioner for Scouts in Scouting Ireland CSI, which he took up in November of 2001 and had direct responsibility for the formation of all programming to help guide and direct the scout age group and was one of the team responsible for promoting and working towards the updating of the scout bible ‘The Scouting Trail’, one of the highlights of Pat’s term of office in the old Association. As National Commissioner for Scouts, Pat had the added responsibility of being a member of the National Executive Board of Scouting Ireland CSI, a role he took very seriously.

With the formation of the new Scout Association, Scouting Ireland, Pat was elected to the position of National Commissioner for the Over 11’s, and again this was a key position as Pat had to come up with a strategy and policy to drive the standards and programme for this age range which covered the Scout age range and the much older Venturer age range.

Pat has been very committed to doing this, but like every position there comes a time when you have to evaluate your contribution and time commitment and Pat had to take the decision to step down from his National position to concentrate on his local scout activities.

The St Paul’s Scout Group has just recently re-furbished their Scout Den and this was largely due to the work of their then Group Leader Breda Murphy and Alison Parle together with the Group Council. Breda has stepped down from her position as Group Leader and Pat is now the new Group Leader. This is not the first time Pat has done this, prior to Breda taking the position, Pat ran the Group for a couple of months while they ‘recruited’ Breda to the job. In true scouting fashion Pat will continue running his beloved Scout Troop.

In the Scout Promise, we say ‘To give and not to count the cost’, this is very much true of Pat. He will always ‘get in there’ and get the job done. He never looks for recognition and will shy away from it. Pat has been awarded a number of Service Awards and Merit Awards by the Association and has been recognised by the community he has worked in unselfishly as an adult volunteer for nearly 26 years in 2006 by being awarded the Youth Leader of the Year Award by the Waterford Voluntary Youth Council for all of his work locally with the youth of the St. Paul’s Parish and surrounding areas.