Comments on: UCD students overturn Coke ban as Lynam wins Students’ Union presidency

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 02:59:39 +0000

Trew, given your participation in national politics I would have thought you would hold a much different opinion than you do, I’m surprised really, as nearly all of our political parties support the ideas of unions as an essential part of modern Ireland’s socio-political make-up. We all know of course that the right to form and be a member of a union is protected under the constitution, not so many know that it can be made a condition of accepting a job to be a member of a certain union and remain in that union while you remain an employee in that job. (http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/employment/employment-rights-and-conditions/industrial-relations-and-trade-unions/trade_unions)
So the situation in UCD is little different in that regard to the workplace that we are all heading out into. I do not deny that I am pro-union, but I am pro union in general, not just student unions; as nearly anyone who’s studied the 1913 lockout and the importance of union activity in Irish history would be. I also make no pretences that our union is not flawed, but then so is nearly every system; the question is what do those 17,000+ students want to change about the union and how do they propose to do it? Without voting or putting forward new representatives they do want in power and do support, nothing will or can change. So again the issue comes down not participating, everyone has a right to say, but there is no point in just complaining about things and taking no action or making no constructive suggestion as to how change things for the better. Just like we see on a national level where people continue to complain about the political state of Ireland but do little to affect change in the landscape, complaining will get us nowhere but we really ought to come together as a student body and begin having things run as we all would like. I would worry though that there is very little anyone can do no matter how hard they try to get the entire body interested and active in making decisions etc. As when you look at the most recently available figures for voting trends in Ireland from the CSO you can see that Ireland has the lowest voting turnout in the EU, and “Over a 25-year period, turnout in Irish general elections has dropped from 76 per cent in 1977 to about 63 per cent in 2002.” Worst of all “In Ireland just over 40 per cent of young adult respondents aged 18-19, and only 53 per cent of those aged 20-24, indicated that they voted in the 2002 general election.” This shows that a large number of people at university attendance age are simply not interested for one reason or another in making their voice heard. Figures available from the CSO at:
http://www.tascnet.ie/upload/Opinion%20Piece%20by%20Nora%20Owen%20October%2027th.pdf

By: trew21

trew21 — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:59:13 +0000

I appreciate your response elizabeth, and thank you for making the fantastically artibrary leap of faith that my refusal to vote in the SU elections this year (along with the 17,000+ other students who also didnt)therefore apparently makes me part of the “large percentage of the population that refuse to participate in voting for anything”. However, though I hate to dash your evident fondness for sweeping generalisations, I feel obliged to inform you that this is not the case. I am in fact a registered member of a leading political party, actively campaign at each election, and have voted in every referendum, and national and local election since the day I became eligable to vote. The issue I raised (though seemingly wholly overlooked by you in your narrow-minded ‘pro-Union’ response)was actually to do with what you allege to be the “strong Union” we have and the fact that in reality, whether they can legitimately claim to have a mandate of support when only 1400 out of an overall student populus of 17,000+ actually participated in the vote. In my view, and without the need for any blind generalisations, this factually demonstrates a striking disconnect between the student body and those who claim to represent us. And while I do not pretend to know the level of voter participation in national elections of each of the 17,000+ majority who refrain to engage themselves in the contrived annual two-week appearance of the Union reps as they scrounge for votes, I would however regard your presumption that they must therefore be individuals who “refuse to participate in voting for anything” as profoundly foolish, and wholly indicative of your complete tunnel-visioned approach to the discussion. Good luck.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:32:24 +0000

Well if you feel like that off you go and pay fees while you are at it! Without a strong union most of us would not still be in UCD as we couldn’t afford to pay fees. I doubt you have any problem using the Health centre, the SU shops, the student centre, the second hand books shop, the afterhours study area and many of the other facilities we only have access to through the efforts of these “self aggrandizing prigs” as you call them. I have seen what happens to a university when membership of the student union is not automatic and it is not to anyone’s benefit, that is the case in Australia and they now pay fees where before they had free education, the student body is steamrolled by the university administration and there is nothing the union can do as they do not have the membership numbers to say they represent the entire student body, the whole place is run like a large corporation only aiming to make money from the students, charging for absolutely everything. Whether you like the actual people who bother to go up for election or not is irrelevant when you consider the benefit we ultimately get from having such a strong union. Our university would hang us all out to dry and charge through the nose for everything if they did not have to answer to the SU. With your attitudes I’m surprised either of you can stand to live in a republic and are not off on your own little islands somewhere, there will always be a large percentage of the population that refuse to participate in voting for anything, complain about it and then go ahead and have no problem enjoying the benefits of it and complain to no end about any little downside. If you really want to have your say then go up for election yourselves and make some changes.

By: illbredmalcontent

illbredmalcontent — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:13:33 +0000

I concur with trew21, there is nothing more tedious and pathetic than these reformed social pariahs accosting the rest of the student populace on election day. It gets so bad that you have to put a hood up and keep your eyes to the ground in an attempt to avoid there over zealous renditions of empty promises and vacuous spewing. Also the point about the SU participation being removed from compulsory compliance is a valid one. Most people don’t have any interest in these self aggrandizing prigs and we should have the option to remove ourselves from any forced affinity with them.

By: trew21

trew21 — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:11:21 +0000

What remains to be addressed is the scandalous situation that we all must still pay an obligatory subscription fee to this society when only about 4,300 out of the entire student populus would actually consider themselves ‘members’ enough to actually vote. The students “union” should be recast as a student society with optional membership, like any other society, which people can choose to avail of in the freshers tent at the start of term if they should so wish to do so. It may not have occoured yet to the closed-off, politically-aspiring small few who claim to “represent” us, but we’re all not interested in funding the perpetuation of your measly self-serving political careers.See you when you reappear scrounging for votes next year- hopefully more will have come to their senses and the turnout will have dropped by a further 20%.