THE
The official publication of Maynooth Students’ Union
Thursday 1st March 2012 - Volume 3, Issue 9
Editor@ThePrint.ie
Students’ Union Election Season In Full Swing Across Maynooth CONOR O’BRIEN News Co-Editor @ConorWOBrien
Friday 17th of February saw the closure of applicants for the MSU elections, and the election campaigns began in earnest. Amid the hustings that took place over the last two weeks in the build up to this Wednesday’s elections, the sabbatical officer candidates also partook in a formal and well-attended debates on Tuesday 28th of February and Thursday 1st March, where they were presented with an opportunity to plug their manifestos and credentials before being grilled on a variety of issues both by The Print and Student Observer, followed by taking questions from an open floor. Contributors for both The Print and The Student Observer provided live coverage of the events via Twitter, resulting in the hash tag #msuelec12 trending a total of four times throughout the day: twice as the third most popular topic in Ireland during Tuesday’s hustings and twice again as second most popular topic during Tuesday’s joint debate. In total, two candidates opted to run for the position of MSU President for 2012/13: Seamus Reynolds and Naoise O’Cearuil. During both hustings and the evening debate Seamus Reynolds touted his extensive background in activism, including participation in the IrishPalestinian solidarity campaign and organisation of the La Senza Liffey Valley occupation, as well as skills accrued through his MA in Equality Studies as testament to his suitability for the post.
Naoise O’Cearuil focussed his campaign around three main points: the reintroduction of RAG Week with a strong charity focus, the recruitment of a Mature Student representative and the implementation of a strategic plan for the Students’ Union. When questioned about his lack of Students’ Union experience, Seamus retorted that his activism outside of the union more than compensates for this, voicing an opinion that many running for positions within the Students’ Union do so only as a “CV builder.” Likewise, Naoise defended his decision to stick by RAG Week despite the apparent toxicity of the name, believing that through clubs and socs it can be made into a family-friendly and charitable event beneficiary not only to students but the local community as a whole. Meanwhile, Seamus stressed that issues such as suicide (“the biggest killer of young men in the country”) and drop-out rates should get precedence, but insisted that as a representative of the student body, he would support RAG Week or indeed any initiative that bore the support of the majority on campus. Both candidates reaffirmed their opposition to the implementation of increased fees and/or registration charges. Three candidates presented themselves for the positition of Vice President for Welfare & Equality: Podge Sheridan, Danielle Clare O’Sullivan and the current holder of the position, Fiach O’Neill. The position most paramount to ensuring the well-being of Maynooth students has thus far been catagorised by discussions regarding the
effectiveness of campaigns, additional services to students and Union’s message of equality. Four candidates are running for the position of Vice President for Services, Events & Communications, the position which encompasses the management of The Print. These are last year’s unsuccessful candidate Malachy Callan, final year Economics & History student William Blumlein, Theology student Steven Fleming and NUIM Media Society Vice President Ailbhe Mahon. This race has been characterised by discussions of relevent experience and the progression of The Print to becoming a more online-based new source. The final sabbatical position being contested, Vice President for Clubs, Societies & Union Development, features the largest number of candidates. Six individuals are hoping to be elected into the role: current Faculty Representaitve Lorna Deegan, current Dance Society committee member Katie Dobosz, FEE activist Eoin Griffin, Style Society President Maeve Kavanagh, Drama Society Vice President Cain Lynch and Bizz Soc President Peter Quinn. Topics discussed frequently within this race include training for Clubs & Societies’ committee members, measures to improve the current Class Representative system and the great potential for the role as it enters only its second year in existance. Other positions being contested include the Theology Faculty Representative, the Science & Engineering Faculty Representative and the Arts, Philosophy & Celtic Students Representative. There were no candidates for the position of
education”. McCarthy has seen her maintenance grant cut by €3,900 in the budget, while Rowan has seen her own grant reduced by €2,440 and Robert Johnson faced a cut of €3,700. These hits have the same regard in relation to students who obtain non-adjacent rates. Previously a student who lived more than 24km from their place of study received the (higher) non-adjacent rate to reflect additional costs such as accommodation. However, this was changed and the distance required to qualify for the nonadjacent rate rose -From 24km to 45km for both new and existing grant recipients from September 2011. As well as this, mature students had previously automatically received the non-adjacent grant, irrespective of the distance from their place of residence to their place of study. This reflected the fact that they often have additional costs such as childcare, mortgages etc. Now, however, mature students no longer automatically qualify for the
non-adjacent rate of the grant and are required to meet the new criteria i.e. their place of residences must be greater than 45km from their place of study. These changes have affected 25,000 existing students, with an average loss of €1,700 each. Those in receipt of the top rate of maintenance and the additional special rate have seen their grant reduced from €6,355 to €2,545, a reduction of €3,810 or 60%. Considering that these students have been classed as being disadvantaged, there is no doubt that this has led to some students dropping out of education. Gary Redmond has referring to the withdrawal of supports from the most disadvantaged students midway through their courses as “nothing short of a disgrace”. From a Maynooth perspective, these changes have affected Students from most parts of Dublin, as well as a number of students in south Kildare.
The two candidates for MSU President. Social Science Faculty Representative, meaning that nominations for this position will have to be re-opened at a later date, likely in conjunction with a selection for referenda being proposed by the current Students’ Union President. For more information on each candidate putting themselves forward, browse pages 11 to 15 of this issue of The Print. NUIM Media Society have also filmed both the midday hustings and the evening sabbatical candidate debates. These can be located via The Print’s Facebook page: Facebook.com/ ThePrintMSU.
Students’ High Court Case Against Budget 2011 Non-Adjacent Grant Cuts Continues MARK DILLON
The High Court has heard a challenge from three students regarding an “unfair and unjust” decision by the Minister for Education to cut their maintenance grants. The students involved are Medb McCarthy from Clare, Iesha Rowan from Galway and Robert Johnson from Monaghan, students of NUI Galway, Galway-Mayo IT and Dundalk IT, respectively. The case is a result of a decision taken in Budget 2011 to severely cut student supports, not just for new students entering college that year, but also for students already in college who had relied on having that support when deciding whether to go to college, what to study and where. It has the full support of the Union of Students of Ireland (USI), with USI President Gary Redmond being of the opinion that it is “a shocking indictment of the Minister for Education that students are left with no other option but to resort to the courts in order to be able to stay in college and complete their
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The current President of USI, Gary Redmond.
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