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Thursday, 18 September 2025
We spoke with BA in Law and Accounting graduate, Aisling Meehan, who runs her own agricultural legal and tax practice and a family farm in Co Clare. A familiar face to many within the farming community due to her legal advice column in the Irish Farmers Journal, Aisling also plays an active role in shaping agricultural legal and tax policy in Ireland, as well as advocating for women in agriculture. Aisling shares the reasons why she chose Law and Accounting ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ, how her co-op experience helped to define the direction of her career, and her fond memories of student nights out in the Lodge.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I grew up on an award-winning dairy farm – Rathlahine Farm in Newmarket-on-Fergus, County Clare. My parents would have been well known in farming circles being one of the first pioneers of grass-based dairying in the west of Ireland.
Growing up we took an active part in the family farm and were encouraged to make a way of life in rural Ireland. We developed a fishing lake on the farm that I managed from the age of 12, which helped develop my entrepreneurial spirit and contributed to my decision to move home in adulthood and set up my own legal and tax practice, which is now located in Sixmilebridge in Clare.
After my leaving certificate, I did the BA in Law and Accounting in UL and graduated with an honours degree in 2004. Following this I applied for a dual traineeship to train and qualify as a solicitor through the Law Society of Ireland, qualifying in 2008, and also a chartered tax adviser through the Irish Taxation Institute, qualifying in 2007. I also undertook the Green Cert, which is an agri qualification, and qualified as a young trained farmer in 2006.
My husband Brian and I have four young children – two boys and two girls ranging in age from 8 to 3 years old – and together we farm 26 hectares of land in Sixmilebridge and a further 40 hectares of land in the Burren. We contract rear replacement stock operating as a Registered Farm Partnership. I loved growing up on a farm and this contributed to our decision to purchase our own farm.
Why did you choose to study Law and Accounting ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ?
I loved accountancy as a subject in secondary school in Laurel Hill in Limerick. English was my worst subject in my leaving cert while accountancy was my best.
I came from an entrepreneurial background and felt that having a background in law and accounting would always stand to me in business. I wanted to have my own business some day and did not necessarily see myself working as a professional in accountancy or law.
I wanted to do something a bit different than your traditional business undergrad. When I researched the offerings available to study law and accounting in Ireland, UL had the best offering. I equally loved the campus when I went to the Open Day as it was close to the city and to home.
What did you enjoy most about your course?
The course was varied and challenging but rewarding. Drifting between such diverse modules such as law, economics, financial accounting and tax, you’re using so many different parts of your brain.
I had never been really exposed to tax before, but my tax electives were probably my favourite electives during the course. The tax lecturers ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ helped instil in me a love for tax, as they did for many other students in UL.
Here ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ, we encourage our students to ‘Stay Curious’. What keeps you curious?
The area in which I work is rapidly changing. Farming is heavily regulated with new legislation coming in regularly from the EU changing the way farmers have to farm. With each CAP reform, typically 5-year cycles, it transforms the grants and subsidies available to farmers and thus farmers need to adapt their structure to gain the best advantage.
From a tax perspective, each Budget brings changes to tax legislation and practice updates change the legal environment. You need to keep pace with these changes or be left behind.
My role as an agri and rural advocate in print, radio and television forces me to research new areas and become competent on various topics I otherwise would have no opinion on.
Hosting the next generation of UL students on co-op at my practice also keeps me curious.
Email: business@ul.ie
Postal Address: Faculty Office, Kemmy Business School, ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ, Limerick, Ireland.
