Galway woman takes national award

A GALWAY entrepreneur has been named the National Established Businesswoman of the Year.

Founder and Chief Executive of Digital Training Institute, Joanne Sweeney was honoured with the title at the Network Ireland Businesswoman of the Year Awards 2026, held at the Galmont Hotel in Galway.

Ms Sweeney progressed to the national final after winning the Network Ireland Galway Established Businesswoman category in June. The award recognises women who can demonstrate the impact created through their business.

Ms Sweeney’s company works with government, public-sector and private-sector organisations on applied AI, digital communications, marketing, training and advisory projects.

With more than 20 years of experience across journalism, public relations, political communication and digital marketing, her work is now focused on helping organisations move from AI experimentation to practical use, with governance and human judgement built into the process.

Next phase

“I am taking everything I have learned and putting it into the next phase of growth, including the development of GovComms.ai," said Ms Sweeney.

“I want to show that a company from the west of Ireland can build trusted AI tools for public institutions, bring specialist knowledge into international markets and grow without losing the human judgement and responsibility that good communications demand,” she added.