University Observer - Volume XIX - Issue Two

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the

University Observer Op-ed

Primary Focus

John Logue and Mark O’Meara

Religious patronage of primary schools

X I X

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OTWO

Features

on the USI referendums

V O L U M E

Armando Iannucci

I S S U E

I I

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W W W . U N I V E R S I T Y O B S E R V E R . I E

Over 50% University provide €750,000 to dissolve Student Club of class rep Accounts reveal seats left yearly losses of up vacant to €156,000 Student Club staff call off strike action

BY AOIFE VALENTINE · DEPUTY EDITOR

Nominations for class rep candidates closed last week with just over 160 nominations for the 204 seats available for Union Class Reps (UCRs) at UCD Students’ Union Council. Only 52 of those seats were contested, with 103 seats being left vacant altogether. UCDSU Campaigns and Communications Officer Paddy Guiney was satisfied however that he ran a successful ‘Run for Class Rep’ campaign, saying: “The results came out and I’m happy enough with the results to be honest. It was a very good campaign and I’m very happy with how the Convenors and the other Sabbatical Officers worked and Exec and Campaigns Coordinators. I think it is a good result.” This year’s nomination results show a huge issue arising in terms of representation within the Union of postgraduate students, with nearly 90% of graduate seats remaining unfilled. Guiney puts this down to a “lack of interest” but he feels next year this problem won’t be quite as prevalent as the new Constitution introduces a full time Postgraduate Officer into the sabbatical team. “I do have quite a lot of graduates sitting there but… I think the introduction of the Postgraduate Officer seat next year is a huge step forward in that sense, but in the mean time we’ll be working to fill those graduate seats.” Guiney is happy with progress made this year in terms of reaching out to smaller faculties. “I always continuously hear that the Union isn’t very well perceived in the smaller buildings traditionally so I put a large emphasis on Agriculture and Veterinary. In Veterinary, for example, this year four of those stages are contested: first, second, third and fifth year. Numbers are up on last year for small buildings.” The elections are due to take place today and tomorrow (October 2nd and 3rd) with the fi rst Union Council taking place on October 4th. Class rep training will follow this Saturday, and according to Guiney, the costs traditionally associated with the event have been cut dramatically. “Class rep training isn’t a weekend away this year. We got an offer of having it completely free of charge in a college in Maynooth, so we’re going to take council members to Maynooth at 9am and we’re going to do a day’s training there. It’s significantly reduced on last year; we’re not really spending any money on it.” Next week, the campaign for class reps will begin again, to elect the secondary class reps the new constitution requires. These class reps are not voting members of Union Council but will assist the Union Class Reps with many of the more social and entertainments responsibilities of the role. Guiney explains: “I’ll be running informal elections for class reps and it’s literally a hands-up approach; that’s how they’re elected. These class reps will act as an overflow for the UCR, they’ll work with the UCR. Each class will have a class rep along with the original seats of UCR.”

Legal advice being sought regarding former treasurer Possibility of Club reopening

The Department of Education has criticised the HEA report suggesting university mergers. BY EMER SUGRUE · EDITOR AND AOIFE VALENTINE · DEPUTY EDITOR

The University has agreed to provide €750,000 in financial assistance to the Student Club Committee in order to allow it to conclude its business and meet its responsibilities. The Club’s nine staff members took redundancies on August 31st this year, however they still had not received payment as of Monday September 24th when the Club’s AGM took place. Mandate Trade Union, which was representing the Club staff, had been due to start strike action yesterday, Monday October 1st if the €150,000 payment had not been received, however this has now been resolved. The University has also agreed to settle the remaining debts of the Club,

including a payment of €140,000 owed to the Students’ Union by the Club, and the fees owed to McNally Business Services for compiling the Club’s financial records and accounts. UCD Students’ Union President Rachel Breslin, commented that the Union “weren’t expecting to recover” the money owed to them “given that the Club is insolvent”. She stated it was “quite a significant amount of money because it includes fees that the accountants had provided that we could have been forced to ourselves cover in the event that the Student Bar couldn’t.” The AGM marks the first time the financial records of the Student Club have been released since 2007. It was revealed that between 2007 and 2012, the Club’s yearly turnover dropped

from €1.34 million for 2006/07 to just €805,000 for 2011/12. McNally’s stated the Club’s overheads and fixed costs were not supportable, with the accounts marking sustained losses going from €47,000 to €156,000 in the same period. In addition to the failure to file accounts, successive Student Club Committees held no meetings or AGMs in this period, despite being constitutionally obliged to do so. Although details of the members of the Committee for each year were not available, it was confirmed that the responsibility to publish accounts and call committee meetings during this time resided with the then Student Club Committee Treasurer and Secretary, David Carmody, who had been in the role since 2005.

The Committee have confirmed that the are seeking legal advice regarding the actions of the former Club Treasurer and Secretary. A member of the Club Committee stated at the AGM: “As a committee, we want to see it followed through. It’s an issue that is still ongoing.” Following the provision of funding from the University, Breslin stated: “If we were to look at [legal action], it would be at the individual not at the university, for liability.” Now that the Club’s financial difficulties have been resolved, it is a possibility that the Club will reopen in a reduced capacity as an occasional venue. Breslin said: “We’re working at the minute on a plan for the future of the bar. I think students will be very happy with it but nothing has been set in stone just yet so it’s something that will develop over the next few days... It was quite clear that the existing structure didn’t work so we’re trying to find something that will.” The Club’s license expired last Friday, September 28th, and its renewal will depend on the outcome of the Committee’s negotiations with the University, as the premises returned to the University’s control as part of the financial agreement.

UCD-TCD merger condemned by Education Minister BY DANIEL KEENAN · NEWS EDITOR

A Higher Education Authority (HEA) commissioned report on higher education has recommended that University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin should be merged, however Minister for Education and Skills Ruairi Quinn has voiced concerns over such a merger. A statement from the Press Office of the Department of Education read: “The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairi Quinn, is anxious to ensure that the review adheres to stated government policy and the National Strategy for Higher Education. Any divergence has the potential to significantly derail the process of reform which is already well underway.”

“The Minister has concerns about some of the recommendations in the report from an International Panel which were not in accord with stated government policies, such as the suggested merger of Trinity College and UCD. Such a merger is neither feasible nor desirable.” The Department of Education has delayed the publication of the report, which was scheduled for release last week, due to a discomfort with how the report drastically diverges from the National Strategy for Higher Education. Head of Communications of the HEA, Malcolm Byrne says the report is “just one of a series of reports around changing the structures of Irish

higher education. Over the summer, we would’ve received submissions from all Higher Education institutions, where they would’ve set out what they viewed as their priorities and where they feel like they fit into the National Strategy.” Speaking specifically about the delayed Higher Education report, Byrne says that one of the ideas of the HEA was to get a completely independent report on how Irish higher education could be improved: “One of the things which we as the HEA thought would be useful would be to get an international perspective on the Irish education system.” The report does not come internally from the HEA, but was compiled by an

international team of education specialists: “These are highly respected international education experts. They came together to simply give their perspective as to what they would’ve seen as the optimal configuration for the Irish system,” says Byrne. “The views they expressed are not the views of the HEA or the views of the Government. It was simply an independent international perspective to contribute to the debate.”

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