The University Times Election Special

Election Special

www.universitytimes.ie Tuesday 11 February, 2014

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The University Times Election Special | Tuesday 11th February 2014 3

The University Times Election Poll

Poll Predicts Landslide Presidential Race and Close Welfare RaceA two-day University Times Poll of 1,131 students reveals that the battle lies with the undecided voters.

T he University Times poll was conducted on Thursday and Fri-

day in the Arts Block, the Hamilton, the Buttery, the GMB, the SU Café, D’Olier Street and St James’. Over the two days 1,131 students were polled about candidates, in-formed voting and interac-tion with campaigns.

According to the data col-lected, McGlacken-Byrne, Byrne, Riggs and Murphy are favourites among the vot-ers. The Welfare Race sees Mooney ahead of McFadden by 9 per cent, but with high levels of undecided voters and tight margins in the breakdown, voter turnout might be the deciding factor in this race.

PresidentDomhnall McGlacken-Byrne looks set to run away with the two-horse Presidential Race with 76 per cent of 1,131 students polled saying that they will be voting for the candidate this week. Jasper Pickersgill received 19 per cent of voter’s number one preferences and 5 per cent of students intend on voting to ‘Re-open Nominations’.

McGlacken-Byrne tops

Presidential RaceOverall Race Results

Year BreakdownDomhnall McGlacken-Byrne76%

Jasper Pickersgill19%

Re-open Nominations

5%

0%

0%

50%

50%

100%

100%

First Year Second Year Third Year Fourth Year Postgrads& Others

Domhnall McGlacken-ByrneJasper Pickersgill

Re-open NominationsUndecided

Overall with Undecideds Faculty Breakdown

Totals AHSS EMS HS

Leanna Byrne, Edmund Heaphy & John KeatingEditor, Creative Director & Staff Writer

the polls across all years and faculties according to The University Times election poll results. The candidate is most popular among third year students as 82 per cent indicated their preference to give him their number one. Pickersgill received his highest percentage with first years at 28 per cent, but McGlacken-Byrne overtakes him with a solid 71 per cent. Seventy-nine per cent of sec-ond year students said they will be voting for McGlack-en-Byrne and 17 per cent for Pickersgill. Undecideds are highest amongst fourth years (47%), fifth years and postgraduates (66%). How-ever, without taking this group into consideration leaves McGlacken-Byrne in a strong leading position.

Results were also bro-ken down by faculty, which show similar trends for

the McGlacken-Byrne cam-paign. 73 per cent of students from the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS)

faculty say they are voting for McGlacken-Byrne and 24 per cent for Pickersgill. The same can be seen with

72 per cent for Engineering, Mathematics and Science

Education RaceOverall Race Results

Katie Byrne85%

Re-open Nominations

15%

CONTiNUED »Domhnall McGlacken-Byrne looks set to run away with the two-horse Presidential Race

“

The University Times Election Special | Tuesday 11th February 20144


(EMS) students voting for McGlacken-Byrne and 20 per cent for Pickersgill. With Health Science (HS) stu-dents McGlacken-Byrne has the undeniable advantage as 88 per cent from this faculty will be voting for their HS Convenor.

Education Uncontested candidate in the Education Race, Katie Byrne, is set to get into of-fice safely with 85 per cent of voters polled set to put her ahead of RON.

In the breakdowns accord-ing to year, Byrne is espe-cially popular with second year students as 89 per cent of voters say they are giving her their vote. Fifth year and postgraduate students rep-resented the highest unde-cided vote at 69 per cent.

Across faculties Byrne re-ceived 84 per cent in both the AHSS and HS faculties. Her own faculty, EMS, gave her a 90 per cent top of the polls.

WelfareMooney has pulled ahead of Daniel McFadden in the Welfare Race by 9 per cent. The results showed that 52 per cent of students will be voting Mooney and 43 per cent of students for McFad-den. Preference for ‘Re-open Nominations’ (RON) was low as only 5 per cent of stu-dents opted for this option.

However, with the inclu-sion of students who are ‘undecided’ makes this race even tighter as 43 per cent of students ‘don’t know’ who they will be voting for in welfare this week. This may indicate that there will be a high percentage of those polled that will not be vot-ing, but as Mooney (29%) only beats McFadden (24%) by 5 percentage points when undecideds are included this race could come down to how many each team is able to drag to the polls.

According to the break-down by year, McFadden is popular amongst first year students as 55 per cent of first year students polled in-tend to vote for Dan, giving him an 11 per cent lead over

« CONTiNUED Welfare RaceOverall Race Results

Year BreakdownDaniel McFadden43%

Ian Mooney52%

Re-open Nominations

5%

0%

0%

50%

50%

100%

100%


Daniel McFaddenian Mooney



Totals AHSS EMS HS

Mooney (44%). Ian Moon-ey is the narrow favourite among second year students with 51 per cent, just 5 per cent ahead of McFadden (46%). Among fourth years and postgraduate students Mooney sits in a comfortable position with 68.8 per cent of fourth years and 62.5 per cent of fifth years and post-graduates intending to vote Mooney for welfare. Only 20 per cent of fourth years and 13 per cent in the postgradu-ate/other category said they will be voting for McFadden. That said, McFadden shows a clear lead in his own year coming in at 56 per cent, whereas Mooney falls be-hind at 41 per cent.

Unsurprisingly, 85.5 per cent of students in the En-gineering, Mathematics and Science (EMS) faculty intend on voting for Mooney, their faculty convenor. McFadden has the edge in the Health Science (HS) faculty at 75 per cent. There is very little be-tween the candidates in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) faculty as 47 per cent of students say they are voting for McFadden and 49 per cent for Mooney.

Across all years and fac-

There is very little between the candidates AHSS faculty as 47 per cent of students say they are voting for McFadden and 49 per cent for Mooney.

“ This can also leave this race open to the events of the four days of voting.

“The Story of the Undecideds

The number of undecided students remains steady in all year groups for each race except for the “Postgraduate & Others” group, which includes fifth-year students. The highest number of undecided voters are found in the Communications Race, which has an undecided rate more than ten percentage points higher than every other race.

ulties students that remain ‘undecided’ range from 35 to 75 per cent. As mentioned previously, this could be an indicator of poor voter turn-out, but can also leave this race open to the events of the four days of voting.

CommunicationsSixty-five per cent of vot-ers are expected to vote for Samuel Riggs in the Com-munications Race this week according to the results from The University Times Election poll. PJ Moloney is expected to receive 22 per cent of the vote and RON 13 per cent.

Although the results showed a comfortable posi-tion for Riggs, when ‘unde-cideds’ are taken into con-sideration, our poll reveals that 57 per cent of students do not know who they will be voting for in the Com-munications Race. With undecideds included in the overall breakdown, the per-centage difference between each candidate narrows: only 31 per cent of students will vote for Riggs and 10 per cent will vote for Molo-

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ney. This indicates a failing on both candidates’ parts to reach out to the student vot-ers.

In terms of the year-by-year breakdown, Riggs runs away with first year students with 77 per cent compared to Moloney who stands at 19 per cent. Riggs also beats Moloney with second and third year voters with 74 per cent and 79 per cent respec-tively. Twenty-three per cent of second year voters and 15 per cent of third years said they were voting Moloney. The two candidates are tied in Moloney’s own year as each candidate is expected to receive 47 per cent of the fourth year vote. At post-graduate level, Riggs steals ahead at 57 per cent to Molo-ney’s 43 per cent. However, undecideds are at a high 72 per cent for these students.

Faculty breakdown shows Riggs ahead in each faculty, particularly for Health Sci-ence students at 79 per cent. Seventy-one per cent of EMS students say they are voting for Riggs and 20 per cent for Moloney. In the AHSS faculty Moloney fairs better at 24 per cent, but Riggs remains at a steady 69 per cent.

EntertainmentThe University Times Elec-tion Poll results show that just over half of students polled will be voting Finn Murphy for Ents. Overall re-sults from students polled see Aleksandra Giersz receiv-ing 18 per cent of votes, Finn Murphy 52 per cent and Ben Ó Mathúin 25 per cent. Five per cent of students will opt to ‘Re-open Nominations’.

This race seems to be de-cided as Murphy is the fa-vourite across all years and faculties, with Ó Mathúin only coming close with sec-ond years at 38 per cent to Murphy’s 45 per cent lead. Forty-eight per cent of first year voters intend to vote Murphy, 30 per cent for Ó Mathúin and 21 per cent for Giersz. In third year, 61 per cent of voters polled said they will be voting for Murphy, 19 per cent for Giersz and 11 per cent for Ó Mathúin. The percentage re-

« CONTiNUED FROM PAGE 4

Communications RaceOverall Race Results

Year BreakdownSamuel Riggs65%

PJ Moloney22%

Re-open Nominations

13%

0%

0%

50%

50%

100%

100%


PJ MoloneySamuel Riggs



Totals AHSS EMS HS

This indicates a failing on both communications candidates’ parts to reach out to the student voters.

“ mains at 61 per cent for Mur-phy for fourth year voters, while 27 per cent said they were voting for Giersz, 10 per cent RON and 2 per cent for Ó Mathúin. Although Murphy has the edge with postgraduate and fifth year students, the spread is quite close due to a large amount of undecided voters (63%).

Interestingly, Giersz is second to Murphy amongst AHSS students. Murphy is expected to receive 40 per cent of the vote, while Giersz should bring in 31 per cent and Ó Mathúin 23 per cent. With EMS, Ó Mathúin comes in second with 32 per cent, Giersz at 13 per cent and Murphy ahead at 52 per cent. Similar trends show with HS students, with 55 per cent of voters preferring Murphy, 23 per cent for Ó Mathúin and 19 per cent for Giersz.

How informed are voters?The University Times Elec-tion Poll asked voters how satisfied they are that they will be able to make an in-formed decision based on the information presented to them. Overall the results show a positive trend as 29 per cent of voters gave a ‘four’ and 33 per cent a

‘three’ on a scale of one to five, with ‘one’ being ‘very dissatisfied’ and ‘five’ ‘very satisfied’.

Voters in third year rep-resented the group most confident of their informed decision as 21 per cent gave a ‘five’ and 29 per cent a ‘four’ on our scale. Postgraduate students had the highest percentage of voters saying they were ‘very dissatisfied’ at 28 per cent, but had a neu-tral position overall with 38 per cent at postgraduate level giving a ‘three’ on the scale.

Campaign InfluenceThe University Times also set out to measure how candi-dates influence their voters by comparing interactions in person and via social me-dia. According to the results, online presence has very lit-tle influence compared to in-person contact with either candidates, campaigners or by listening at hustings.

From the 1,131 students polled 43 per cent of stu-dents say they have had no interactions with cam-paigns via social media (Fa-cebook, Twitter, etc.). Those that said they had interac-tions through social media

Being at Home in your Faculty

In the majority of races, candidates poll significantly better in their home faculty. For example, in the President Race, Domhnall McGlacken-Byrne polls significantly better in the Health Sciences Faculty. In the Welfare Race, Ian Mooney polls strongest in the Engineering, Mathematics & Science Faculty – of which he is Faculty Convenor. This is particularly imporant in a close race, and this is where his marginal lead comes from.

This indicates a failing on both communications candidates’ parts to reach out to the student voters.

“



were then asked about the strength of that influence on how they will vote. On a scale of one to five, with ‘one’ rep-resenting ‘no influence’ and ‘five’ a ‘strong influence’, the majority of those influenced indicated a neutral position at ‘three’ (19%), followed by 16 per cent at ‘four’, 10 per cent at ‘two’, 7 per cent at ‘five’ and 6 per cent at ‘one’. Breakdown of students by year also sees ‘three’ being the most prefered option for voters that indicated they have had any social media interaction. Those at post-graduate level indicated the highest level of no contact through social media at 71 per cent.

In comparison, 75 per cent of students polled have said that they have had ‘in-person’ contact with candi-dates and campaigners over the past week. Again, voters were asked to measure the level of influence this had over their decision at the polls on a scale of one to five, with ‘one’ having ‘no influence’ and ‘five’ a ‘strong influence’. Twenty-two per cent of voters indicated their influence as a ‘four’, followed by 21 per cent at a ‘five’’. Sixteen per cent of vot-ers adopted a neutral posi-tion at ‘three’, 10 per cent at ‘two’ and 5 per cent at ‘one’.

Despite in-person contact being the most influential factor for campaigns accord-ing to data collected, per-sonal contact is low among fourth years, fifth years and postgraduates.

Entertainment RaceOverall Race Results

Year BreakdownFinn Murphy52%

Ben Ó MathúinRe-openNominations

25%5%

Aleksandra Giersz

18%

0%

0%

50%

50%

100%

100%


Aleksandra GierszFinn Murphy

Ben Ó MathúinRe-open Nominations

Undecided


Totals AHSS EMS HS

Informed Voters In-person vs. OnlineHow satisfied were voters about being in-formed?

Measuring contact levels between each medium

influence of in-person Contact

influence of Online Contact

Not Satisfied

Low influence

Low influenceSatisfied

Strong influence

Strong influence

75%

57%

In-person Contact

Online Contact

According to the results, online presence has very little influence compared to in-person contact with either candidates

“


Elections in Focus

Candidates Confident As Polls Open

Uncontested, Byrne Set for Sweeping Win

A s polls opened yester-day, both Domhnal M c G l a c k e n - B y r n e and Jasper Pickersgill were confident in

the ongoing success of their cam-paigns.

A number of prominent events

R unning uncontested for Education Officer is 23-year-old final-year Zoology student Katie Byrne. Byrne’s manifes-

to outlines four key initiatives in-cluding accessibility and engage-ment, class rep training, graduate life and exams.

Byrne discussed her proposals in a pre-campaign interview with The University Times and they were also recurrent in her many public addresses throughout the week, in-

Presidential Correspondent, Aisling Curtis outlines the developments in the race to be the chief representative of Trinity students next year.

Education correspondent Sarah Ledden speaks to Katie Byrne about her solo race.

Aisling Curtis

Sarah Ledden

Senior Staff Writer

Staff Writer

took place over the ten days, in-cluding student protests and Hus-tings. At the Hustings, both can-didates took the opportunity to expand on specific points within their policies, as well as engaging with specific groups, such as the disabled and LGBTQ communities. They also attended the protest on Wednesday morning in opposition to the Sochi Winter Olympics, with Pickersgill claiming that the strug-gles of the LGBTQ community are “very personal [and] very pertinent to college life”. McGlacken-Byrne also attended the nurse’s protest against low wages outside the Dáil on Thursday. As a Health Science student himself, he has promoted Health Science issues in his mani-festo and stated that the issue of nurses’ pay “needs to be rectified”.

The candidates significant-ly elaborated on their policies throughout the campaign. Speak-ing to The University Times, McGlacken-Byrne defended the ambitious nature of his proposals, stating that he has spoken to Col-

cluding Dining Hall and LGBT Hus-tings and Cumann Gaelach.

Hustings are unfortunately quite poorly attended, despite the insight they give into each can-didate’s potential future as a sab-batical officer. Byrne presented herself well in handling difficult questions in a pressurised environ-ment, identifying key aspects of her manifesto and tweaking them to fit the appropriate context and audience. It can be hoped that such fluency and flexibility of her poli-cies will see them effectively enact-ed if called to office.

Byrne intends to improve the effectiveness of class rep training while making it more cost effec-tive. In her Hustings addresses she expressed the need for class reps to be more LGBT-aware and more in-formed about the various services offered by the college for students with disabilities, as well as those which are available through Irish.

At Disability Hustings, she spe-cifically expressed the need for lecture materials and facilities to

lege authorities to gauge the feasi-bility of his plans and feels he has “struck the right balance [and] can provide details for every issue” in his manifesto.

He expanded on his proposals for a student complaints system, stating that it would go above the usual college tutor service by fil-tering complaints to the correct people and ensuring problems are followed up on. He also pro-poses increased representation for those with less influence in college, pointing out that “a lot of prob-lems ... stem from red tape and bu-reaucracy”.

Pickersgill also clarified a num-ber of his manifesto points to UT. With regards to accommodation issues, he stated that streamlining the on-campus accommodation process would prevent students being forced to look for accommo-dation off-campus, as well as pro-viding “better information to stu-dents regarding rentals in Dublin”.

Concerning the difficulties sur-rounding obtaining longer library

be adapted to suit the ease of ac-cess for students with visual and hearing difficulties. Byrne also hopes to introduce faculty-specific seminars and expand the GradLink mentor programme to further pre-pare students for life after college.

This week the Leadership Race coincided with two important student protests. On Wednesday morning, Byrne accompanied TCDSU, her fellow campaigners, QSoc, and others to the Russian Embassy in protest of the Sochi Winter Olympic Games. The fol-lowing day, Byrne stood outside the Dáil with student nurses to protest unfair graduate nursing wages. Byrne said was “delighted to get a chance to support” these issues.

Speaking to The University Times, about her campaign expe-rience Byrne said “it’s been a great experience. I’ve loved talking to so many different students all around College.”

Asked about her views on the participation of women in this

hours, Pickersgill stated that the availability of Regent House as a study space over December illus-trates that the college recognises the academic needs of the student body. He is confident that there is “definitely a possibility for ma-noeuvring when it comes to in-creased study space”.

Regarding campaign hitches, McGlacken-Byrne has been ques-tioned by some students over his sincerity. In response, he told The University Times that he is running for president as he feels he has the ideas and the experience to fulfill the requirements of the role. “I am 100% genuine, both about my plans and about my enthusiasm for working to better the SU,” he said.

Pickersgill has also faced press-ing questions from both media and students over his involvement in the Zeta Psi fraternity. However, in a statement to The University Times, he categorically denied any current involvement. Though some of his campaign team are members

year’s elections, she stated: “I was surprised there weren’t more fe-male candidates this year after the SU’s efforts to really encourage more girls to run. I suppose from a very basic perspective, women are intrinsically less competitive. We have evolved as carers and are characterized generally by quali-ties like empathy and coopera-tion. Personally I feel these kinds of characteristics, which possibly contribute to why women are less likely to get involved in politics generally, are also the same charac-teristics that would make women exceptional leaders.”

On how she plans to tackle the issue next year, Byrne said: “I think inspiration is vital. We have so many amazing successful women in every faculty in college. I think really highlighting these amaz-ing women and their work as well as promoting successful women generally would be a great place to start, giving female students something to aspire to. I think Women’s Week is somewhat of a

of the fraternity, he stated that “so-cial ties ... would not impact on [his] stance towards the organisa-tion as a whole”, and that he has “never felt comfortable with the exclusionary and discriminatory aspects of how [the frat] operates”.

The candidates are optimistic that the positive response from the student body will continue over the coming days, particu-larly in light of videos released by both campaigns. Commenting on the University Times election poll (page 2) just before the results were released, Pickersgill claimed to be “confident regarding the re-sults”. Stating that “online surveys … are notoriously unreliable”, he is “looking forward to getting a more accurate snapshot of the opinion of the Trinity electorate”. McGlacken-Byrne also said that such polls must be “taken with a pinch of salt”, although he thinks his campaign is “going down well”. However, he also emphasised that “the only poll that really matters is the big one next week!”

missed opportunity each year as well and I would love to see far more emphasis on this week next year if I’m elected.”

She also said she is delighted that students are approaching her and voicing their problems or sugges-tions for improvements to educa-tion within Trinity. She also praised her campaign manager Damien McClean for remaining “eternally optimistic and supportive”. De-spite being uncontested Byrne stated that she feels “more pres-sure to impress people and prove to them that she really is the right person for the job.” She is “looking forward to the home straight next week when voting starts”.

She really is the right person for the job

“


Mental Health and Student Housing are Key Issues in Welfare Race

I t has been a hectic ten days for Welfare candidates Dan McFadden and Ian Mooney, both vying for a position which last year went uncon-

tested.Dan McFadden, a third-year So-

cial Work student from Donegal, made a point of engaging with stu-dents across campus and beyond this week, regularly appearing in the Hamilton and BioMed build-ing as well as the Arts Block. He has also been visiting the nurses on D’Olier Street and travelling across to St. James’s Hospital to liaise with other Health Science students. On Monday, his Welfare blog ‘Sharing to Help’ went live. The blog allows students to share their college sto-ries and experiences anonymously, promoting welfare awareness in Trinity. McFadden said that he was “extremely proud” of launching the blog which has been updated throughout the week.

For fourth-year Chemistry stu-dent Ian Mooney from Bayside, the past week has shown a bal-ance between chaos and calm, his various Welfare campaign stunts

Welfare reporters Charlotte Ryan and Fiona Gribben describe the goings-on thus far in the two-horse race for Welfare Officer.

Charlotte Ryan & Fiona GribbenStaff Writers

ranging from energetic debates to brief lecture addresses. He be-gan the week campaigning in the Arts Block and Trinity Halls before moving to include the Hamilton, James’s Hospital and D’Olier Street Nursing School. Alongside this was the launch of the Ian4Welfare cam-paigns on Facebook and Twibbon.

Hustings on the steps of the Din-ing Hall on Tuesday afternoon of-fered Dan an opportunity to outline a significant part of his manifesto, the innovative TCDSU Landlord Database. He said he would “per-sonally recruit” landlords to help ease the yearly accommodation crisis facing students. That evening Dan took to the stage at the Q Soc Hustings, where he proposed liais-ing with Q Soc to bring workshops on LGBTQ awareness to Rathmines as a way of tackling homophobia in Trinity Halls.

Mooney also took part in Tues-day’s Dining Hall Hustings, open-ing with a discussion on his own issues with depression and his rea-sons for running for Welfare Offic-er. On the topic of sexual health he cited HIV statistics in Dublin, advo-cating “free condoms at every Ents event” and a wider spread of infor-mation. Mooney continued this fo-cus on mental health at the Q Soc Hustings, stating that this was a key issue among LGBTQ students, particularly transgender students. He said, “LGBT issues aren’t just five days a year, they should be pro-moted throughout the year.”

On Wednesday, both candidates joined the Sochi Protest outside the Russian Embassy alongside candidates from other races. They also spoke on Trinity FM with cur-rent Welfare Officer Stephen Garry, where Dan explained that work placements for students with disa-bilities needed to be re-addressed. The same day, the results of the

Trinity News online poll were re-leased, naming Mooney as the frontrunner with 57% of votes from 724 students, while McFadden fol-lowed with 27%. However, Dan was unfazed by this result, telling The University Times: “I don’t pay at-tention to online polls as I know they can be open to manipulation.” Ian also commented on the poll, saying that while it was “a bit of a boost”, he is “taking it with a pinch of salt”.

With no fines from the Electoral Commission, Dan said he was “ex-tremely happy” with the first week of campaigning and plans to fol-low the same format this week. A major highlight for him has been

“the warm and welcoming atmos-phere” he has received in college. He is also pleased with the greater awareness among students of the college’s welfare services, due in no small part to the widespread distribution of welfare cards by his team.

Both candidates attended the Disability Hustings on Friday, where Mooney highlighted that a collaboration between the Dis-ability Office and Welfare Office “would go a long way”. Ian ex-pressed no worry regarding the re-sults of the upcoming UT poll and stated that “enthusiasm has been on the up all week”.

9

Elections in Focus

I don’t pay attention to online polls as I know they can be open to manipulation.

“

Much to Play For Between Opposing Communications CandidatesPaul GlynnSenior Staff Writer

P J Moloney and Samuel Riggs, the two contend-ers for Communications Officer in the Leader-ship Race, had two very different approaches to campaigning throughout the past ten days, but overall reported a positive response to their en-

deavours.Riggs’s manifesto has encompassed several aspects of the Comms Officer’s role of engaging with students and editing The University Times. He proposes revamping the TCDSU website and having a tab dedicated to explaining the pro-cesses of engaging with the Union and bringing issues to Council sessions, increasing campaign awareness and cre-ating a Health Sciences correspondent for UT and ensuring the paper’s continued distribution.PJ Moloney’s campaign, which revolves around developing “a 21st century multimedia communications strategy”, has been notable for its unconventional approach – all promo-tional activity has been kept online, through a Facebook page and a viral video entitled “Trinity Can Be Happy”, which so far has been viewed over 3,000 times on YouTube. Moloney’s ideas about what the Communications Officer should bring to the table include separating the role of UT editor from Communications Officer, using innovative mul-timedia communication methods, and stressing the need for a strong press office and lobbying mechanism.Moloney’s campaign was the subject of some scrutiny from the SU’s Electoral Commission, and a breach in campaign rules meant that the video had to be removed until midnight on Thursday. Moloney remained in high spirits despite the ruling, joking that it was a “brief trip to the naughty corner”. The video is set to reappear as part of promotion for Trinity Health Week in March.Both attended the main event on the steps of the Dining Hall, as well as the Irish language Hustings organised by Cumann Gaelach on Thursday, and on Friday a Hustings devoted to the discussion of disability-related issues, while Riggs also spoke at the LGBT hustings coordinated by QSoc on Monday. Each gave an opportunity for the candidates to stress policies relevant to the debate at hand – Riggs dis-cussed ensuring representation of minority groups in SU communications at the QSoc Hustings, as well as the pros-pect of appointing an Irish Language Editor for UT at the Cumann Gaelach debate.Discussing the Disability Hustings on his campaign’s Fa-cebook page, Moloney said that it was “possibly the most lively hustings of the week, with a lot of ideas and debate involved”, where he spoke about issues such as the legibil-ity of student publications, video-recording Student Coun-cil sessions, and adapting fonts for students with dyslexia. Moloney also touched on Irish language editorship issues at the Irish Hustings, which was raised by the PRO of Cumann Gaelach. On Friday, both candidates were also featured in a discussion panel on TFM with current Communications Of-ficer Leanna Byrne.


Battle Between Entertainment Candidates Set for No Surprises

A s polls opened yester-day, the candidates in the three-horse Ents race started fo-cusing less on policy

and more on getting students to the polls.

Alex Giersz, Junior Freshman Italian and French student is the youngest competitor in the elec-tions, and one of only two female students running overall. Alex’s campaign focuses on inclusivity and she stressed this point at Dis-ability Hustings on Friday, during which she promised to organise events in places which are accessi-ble for disabled students.

A key point on her manifesto is to arrange events in “new and un-usual venues for a refreshing and exciting change”. Her masquerade ball planned for this Tuesday cer-tainly fulfils this description, as it will take place aboard the MV Cill Airne on the River Liffey.

Alex suffered a slight setback during the week as the Electoral Commission (EC) banned her on-line presence until midnight on Wednesday. This occurred after Cancer Soc, the society to which she will be donating money raised by the masquerade ball, invited their followers to Alex’s event next week.

Ben Ó Mathúin’s campaign also suffered a penalty from the EC af-

Welfare reporters Charlotte Ryan and Fiona Gribben describe the goings-on thus far in the two-horse race for Welfare Officer.

Emer Gerrard & Patrick LavelleStaff Writers

ter he made the mistake of upload-ing two videos without prior EC approval. He told UT on Thursday that he felt “terribly angry and up-set” when news broke of the ban, which was in place until midnight of Friday, February 7th.

Otherwise Ben has been very positive about his campaign, say-ing that his club night in Palace on Wednesday was “a great success”. He also organised another event which took place last night in the Lost society. His campaigners have reported a very positive response from Freshmen students, which Ben may be principally targeting, being a Senior Freshman himself. Some of his central ideas include organising non-alcoholic events, saying: “Alcohol doesn’t always have to go hand in hand with Ents”, as well as “resurrecting the Pav”.

Junior Sophister Finn Murphy’s shark-themed campaign has not received penalties from the EC. Speaking to UT, Finn put it down to experience: “I think our campaign is really showing the difference in experience levels between myself, Alex and Ben. We still have yet to be fined by the EC and have had strong showings at Hustings thus far.”

Finn is delighted with what he has seen as a great week on the campaigning front, declaring his club night in the Village on Wednesday a huge success, with over 950 Trinity students in at-tendance. Some of his central cam-paign ideas include ‘Ents on Tour’ after exams, festivals, a Trinity Film Festival, bringing back PAV Fridays and re-establishing the Ents Crew in order to reclaim a sense of stu-dent ownership over Ents.

However, Finn’s campaign did encounter a hitch on Friday when he failed to turn up to the Disabil-ity Hustings. He later told UT that he was not informed that the Hus-tings would take place, saying: “I was never invited to the Hustings nor was there any mention of it in any of the campaign briefs…[I] would have been in attendance had I been informed of it.”

10

Elections in Focus

T he past week of the Leadership Race has seen numerous candi-

dates fined for breaking the rules of the Electoral Com-mission.

Presidential candidate Jasper Pickersgill and Ents candidate Aleksandra Giersz have been fined three times, the most out of all the can-didates. Jasper’s offences consisted of two instances of pre-campaigning online, unauthorised use of an Arts Building stand, endorsement, gift-giving and sponsorship – this was remedied through a restriction of online presence, a temporary redefinition of the campaign area, a tem-porary suspension of Twitter presence, and a temporary confiscation of campaign ma-terial. Aleksandra’s offences

consisted of pre-campaign-ing, sponsorship, unsolicited electronic communication and undeclared expenditure. Her fines included an ex-tended restriction of online presence and confiscation of campaign material.

Ents candidate Ben Ó Mathúin and Welfare candi-date Ian Mooney have been fined twice. Ben’s offences in-cluded pre-campaigning, use of non-expensed materials, unrequested stunts, unsolic-ited electronic communica-tion and undeclared expendi-ture.

The Electoral Commission’s fines for these offences in-cluded a restriction of online presence and a temporary restriction of campaign ma-terial. Ben was also required to create a new ‘Like’ page for his campaign at the end of his restriction on online campaigning. Ian’s offences involved pre-campaigning, sponsorship and unsolicited

electronic communication. The fines consisted of a re-striction of online presence and a temporary confiscation of campaign material.

Finally, Welfare candidate Daniel McFadden, and Com-munications candidates PJ Moloney and Samuel Riggs were each fined once. Daniel’s offence was pre-campaign-ing, with the fine consisting of a temporary confiscation of campaign material. PJ’s of-fence consisted of unsolicited electronic group communi-cation, with the fine involv-ing a restriction of the use of his campaign video. Samuel’s offence was to do with the conduct of a campaign team member, which resulted in a temporary confiscation of campaign team material.

The candidates that have not been fined so far are Pres-idential candidate Domhnall McGlacken-Byrne, Education candidate Katie Byrne and Ents candidate Finn Murphy.

Record Amount of Fines in The Leadership RaceVladimir RakhmaninDEPUTY EDiTOR

PHOTO BY LEANNA BYRNE FOR THE UNiVERSiTY TiMES


The Democracy Delusion

I n the bubble that is Trin-ity College Dublin, the Sabbatical Elections rap-idly become the be-all and end-all obsession of

a student body that rarely shows half as much enthusiasm as it exhibits during the campaign weeks. Trinity’s batch of refer-endums are characterised by a typically low voter turnout, but the Leadership Race instead sees a massive spike in interest, with a larger electorate presence than any other TCDSU poll. This larg-er turnout is surprising, consid-ering how often that swear word of “student apathy” is bandied about. What is it about these campaigns that are done right?

On the surface, the leader-ship race draws attention due to the benefits it provides College: such a blatant display of student interest gives us sway on both a college-wide and national level, as we show that our student body cares about the direction its SU takes. The elections are purportedly important: we need them to ensure we’re represent-ed by the best of Trinity’s bright-est, so that we can pick and mix the changes we want to see, and so the SU can do its job. We need elections so we can perceive a neat and reassuring modicum of control in who fights for or against the decisions made by those higher up.

This democracy brings us power, both in terms of arous-ing student interest and draw-ing the notice of those who

Aisling CurtisSenior Staff Writer

make the rules. Only it may be less democratic than we’d like to think. Not to generalise – many students are very informed – but a large proportion of us are not swayed by the more complex and sober arguments. Acknowl-edgment of the smaller and more boring issues that need to be solved in the SU falls flat with students, who instead flock af-ter vivid, enticing breadcrumbs – promises of explosive change and no fee increases and free chocolate on Fridays for all. The greyer campaigns, the “boring” candidates, the less aggressive campaigning teams – all are overlooked, as students veer to the bright and shiny, the tiger onesie, the big campaign events. One Trinity student told me that she intended to vote for “the hot one” in one of the races, his in-tentions in office aside. It’s an attitude that represents us better than our leaders sometimes do.

In the confines of College, we are distracted by the allure of ‘Trinity Celebrities’ over the promises of those we perceive as unknown. Though a mysteri-ous process, becoming one of Trinity’s glitterati not only gives you several thousand Facebook friends but also a ready-made rabid campaign team who will fight tooth and nail for your dreams. It’s rare that an elec-toral race does not have one per-son with greater influence than others, purely because they’ve somehow procured that fragile and intangible student fame. A person’s campaign may be thick with potential but their reality may never manifest, simply be-cause they didn’t network like others did, or weren’t as person-able, or didn’t come from an influential big school or study in one of the largest courses. Thanks to a process of dumb luck, they didn’t achieve Trin-ity fame; and, in all likelihood, many of them won’t achieve the winning student vote.

Last year, I stood beside a

polling stand and selected can-didates that I’d heard others mention or who’d had the most Arts Block spotlight or who my friends were campaigning for. So I don’t stand on a pedestal when I say that this is how many students choose which box they tick. Though the elections do have benefits – giving us some control over who informs us and supports us and fights for us – that control is only superficial if candidates are elected based on popularity, looks, or vivid and in-ventive campaign events. While it’s inspiring to see students step-ping outside the comfort zone of the usual ‘ah-sure-be-grand’ attitude of the young Irish elec-torate, it is equally sad to see the demise of ideas that could have been transformational, if only the candidate had joined a few more societies in First Year. Not only that, but such a bias is char-acteristic of Irish politics, where again and again it’s clear that your mates are the ones who’ll get you where you need to go. Endemic in society, this problem isn’t going away – either inside or outside Trinity’s walls.

Of course, you can’t curtail a race based on Facebook friends, and so a solution to this is hard to find. One can only hope that eventually an awareness of all ideas, even the ones that seem convoluted and dry, can be coaxed out of the Trinity elec-torate. Maybe one day that mul-titude of manifestos won’t end up decorating the inside of the bin. Maybe one day candidates’ friends won’t be what snag them the vote. Maybe one day it’ll be ideas – and not inventive cam-paigning – that really draw Trin-ity students in droves.

Students veer to the bright and shiny

“

Is SU a vehicle for careerist hacks and social climbers?Emma McDonnellContributing Writer

“For some, the intricacies and workings of the

SU is common knowledge. For others, naming one sabbatical officer would pose a challenge. As a self-assured first year, I had no concept of the

Students’ Union, didn’t require their services and was quite frank-ly apathetic.

The President is primarily a representative voice-the first spokes-person for the Union; the chief decision maker and the coordina-tor of student involvement in campaigns. SU Presidents are the University’s primary point of contact with national bodies like the Union of Students in Ireland (USI). Previous heads of the TCDSU include prominent politician Senator Ivana Bacik, journalist and social media entrepreneur Mark Little and broadcaster and na-tional housewives’ favourite Joe Duffy. The presidency obviously worked wonders for these three. For those interested, this role can seemingly assist in launching yourself into a role of public affairs.

The Education Officer takes responsibility for all college elec-tions. They are involved with all academic issues from course transfers and appeals for failed exams to increasing library hours. Although there are not as many examples of former Education Of-ficers turned self-made millionaires, the role is not to be underes-timated. The inverted careerist who bides their time at committee level and once finished with student politics, will strive for the op-timal position of power. Beware.

The Welfare Officer encompasses a significant number of du-ties, primarily surrounding student health- mental, physical and sexual. The team run very successful campaigns highlighting is-sues such as equality and diversity. The Welfare office aim to al-leviate the burden of financial woes by offering loans and fight-ing for government grants and financial assistance. This position would appear to be the most vocational of all. Offering yourself as a support to the entire student body is quite a feat, and an admi-rable one too.

The one who conveys all SU occurrences and news is the Com-munications Officer. Via weekly emails, Facebook and posters, they are responsible for keeping students informed. This is par-ticularly important for those based off-campus who can feel dis-enfranchised from student life. The last three Communications Officers have also been the editors of The University Times. It would appear that this post is the most career-dominated as the winners of this race tend to have vast journalistic prowess and media ex-perience. The Communications Officer can plod their way from a humble contributing writer to editorial mastery through their dedication to writing.

Ents are responsible for organising college events from weekly club nights to RAG Week to their magnum opus – The Trinity Ball. Generally considered as the most enjoyable and frivolous of the sabbatical positions, it has its perks but involves a significant level of organisa-tion and foresight to know what pleases crowds.“.”


No Women, No Problem?

I should begin by not-ing that this article in no way intends to minimize or dismiss the two female can-

didates in this year’s Leader-ship Race: Aleksandra Giersz for Ents and Katie Byrne for Education. Rather, these two candidacies help dem-onstrate the problem with using any single election’s candidates to draw broad conclusions or inform half-baked policy initiatives. The gender imbalance of can-didates relative to the stu-dent population remains an important and empirically demonstrated issue, but the massive progress already made can help provide a framework for addressing female underrepresentation in the SU.

A quick comparison be-tween this year and last hints at the randomness with which candidates are nominated (self-nominat-ed actually, but more on that in a bit). This year the presidential candidates are all male, while last year the race was led two to one by females. The Ents race, meanwhile, is tradition-ally the territory of only the most laddish Fish Soc, BESS, or sports captain types (a largely tongue-in-cheek generalization coming from a writer studying Business and Economics). But this year Ms. Giersz stands a good chance of crashing the lads’ party, especially with competitor Ben Ó Mathúin struggling to shed his as-sociation with last week’s Coppers fiasco and facing strict EC sanctions. Such an outcome could be a positive

step toward rehabilitating the image of the Ents office as complicit in a culture of student alcohol abuse.

Ms. Byrne is running un-opposed in the Education and thus guarantees at least one female Sabbatical Of-ficer next year in a post pre-viously contested by three gentlemen. Going back to the 2010/2011 school year, the Ents and Education posi-tions are tied for the fewest number of female candi-dates with one each, so this election’s developments should be cause for some optimism.

It is relevant here to point out that while long-term historical trends show a dis-proportionate number of male candidates in almost all positions, the election rate of female candidates almost perfectly matches their candidacy rate (all data courtesy of Education Officer Jack Leahy). Women have made up 11 of the 39 sabbatical office candidates since 2010/2011 (not includ-ing this year), for a rate of 28%. Welfare is the only po-sition in which women have reached a 50% candidacy rate, but no other position is particularly close to mirror-ing the actual student body demographics.

Meanwhile, looking fur-ther back, since 1996/1997 women have been elected to 25 of the 90 sabbatical posi-tions for an election rate of just under 28%. The Welfare office may upwardly distort this number, with 12 wom-en elected compared to 6 men (but more women run for Welfare, so perhaps the trend still holds). Regard-less, there appears to be no empirical barrier to women being elected to sabbati-cal positions. When female candidates run they seem to be judged equally with their male counterparts in terms of basic credibility. But therein lies the problem: the question has not for some time been why women can’t participate, but rather why more women don’t.

Even attempting to frame

the problem in terms of “men” versus “women” is problematic, and ignores the largely personal factors that affect the decision to run. A survey of the most so-cially active and influential individuals in Trinity would likely turn up many recur-ring reasons for not running for SU: commitment to aca-demics, the time, cost, and pressure of campaigning, or even just a lack of interest in student politics. What you would likely not get, from men or women, are com-plaints about more subcon-scious factors like the social stigmas attached to certain roles (not to say they don’t exist, just that they have less

influence on conscious de-cision making). The largely nebulous reasoning that causes individuals not to run suggests that treating the causes of the gender imbal-ance may not be feasible in the short-run. The symptom, however, can and should be addressed.

The term “gender quota” may give pause to some (se-riously, we need a less pain-fully bureaucratic term for this). But given the substan-tial evidence that female un-der representation initiates at the candidate level, such a solution may be worth con-sidering. Requiring an equal number of male and female candidates would be one

PHOTOS BY LEANNA BYRNE FOR THE UNiVERSiTY TiMES

Daniel O’BrienSenior Staff Writer

option, albeit one that may do more to exclude quali-fied male candidates than to encourage capable female ones.

Regardless of how the practical details are worked out, an effective solution should be more aggressive than a simple “posters and pep talk” campaign that implies a lack of awareness or motivation on the part of Trinity’s female popula-tion. Ideally the SU elections should offer students the greatest possible number of candidates so that those who want to see more female candidates elected aren’t forced to vote for someone with whom they disagree or

find unqualified. However these upcoming

elections turn out, the fact remains that Trinity’s fe-males have been consistent-ly under represented in SU sabbatical positions. Even if this imbalance produces no relevant differences at the policy level (which is un-likely), it is still a problem worth addressing if the SU claims to legitimately rep-resent the entire student body. All available evidence indicates that the lack of female candidates should be the starting point of any solution. It is time for both the Students’ Union and its individual members to start showing some initiative.


Should the Students’ Union adopt the long-term policy to advocate for abortion to be on request of the woman?

THIS ISSUE of abortion has been discussed at length within the college over the past year and a half. At present, our union has a mandate to campaign as a pro-choice union. This mandate is short-term and will expire in 2015.

It states that “the Students’ Union would advocate for the legislation that permits abortion up until a time the foetus would be deemed viable outside of the womb”. This incorporates the first two options of the preferendum that was held in Febru-ary 2013. After distribution of transfers, the pro-choice options had a combined percentage of the vote at 85.35%. At student council in November, an abortion rights working group was established, but no members have been elected to this group as of yet. This is the situation as it stands.

Recently students across the country have been engaging with the issue of abor-tion more and more within their respective universities and moves have been made to mandate multiple students’ unions to hold a pro-choice mandate. These universi-ties include UCD and DCU, NUIG, UCC and IADT. The national student’s union, USI, has a pro-choice stance that was reiterated at last year’s congress.

TCDSU has been a leader in the pro-choice movement since the late eighties. At a time when it was illegal to distribute information on the availability of abor-tion services in the U.K, our union, together with UCDSU and the USI, took the decision to provide this information to women ex-periencing crisis pregnancy in spite of the law.

A case was taken against the Union by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children to prevent them from distribut-ing this information. While the students’ unions lost this case, their actions paved the way for the Regulation of Information (Services Outside the State for the Termina-tion of Pregnancies) Act 1995.

This Act regulates the manner in which our welfare officer gives crisis pregnancy advice, requiring that any information be provided in an impartial fashion. The fear that this impartiality will be undermined by becoming a pro-choice union is un-founded. Impartiality and non-directive-ness in crisis pregnancy advice will still be required by Irish law. Information will still be provided on all available options in an unbiased way.

It is too easy to ignore the practical im-

FIRSTLY, WE BELIEVE that any question arising from the abortion debate must al-ways be dealt with the love and respect that is warranted when dealing with such a dif-ficult and sensitive issue as this. Therefore it is imperative that we recognise that this referendum is not solely, or even primar-ily, a pro-choice/pro-life debate but rather raises crucial questions about the role of the Students’ Union, and the implications of it taking such a stance if the referendum were to be passed. We believe that for the Students’ Union to adopt a policy on this issue is out of sync with the university’s promotion of independent thought and inquiry. Secondly, we believe that for the SU to take a stance on an issue that relates so powerfully to the individual’s right to hold a moral, religious or political stance will leave many members of our college community feeling alienated from the Stu-dents’ Union that claims to represent all students on campus. We also feel that the Students’ Union’s priorities should lie else-where, in advocating issues that will unite our student population rather than divide us.

If we take a look at the mission statement of Trinity College we see that it includes the following statement - it is committed to ”providing a liberal environment where independence of thought is highly val-ued and where staff and students are nur-tured as individuals and are encouraged to achieve their full potential.” From the mo-ment each of us stepped into this university we were bombarded with a wide and excit-ing spectrum of ideas and we are constant-ly learning and growing in the dialectic created between our own personal convic-tions and the ideas of our fellow students and those presented in our academic study. This is one of the foundational principles of any university and we feel for the Stu-dent Union to take such a definitive stance on this issue is not in line with this.

Each of us has the responsibility to edu-cate ourselves on both sides of the debate and the right to advocate on behalf of any whatever position our powers of independ-ent thought and enquiry, as well as our moral and religious convictions, lead us to pursue. We feel that we do not require our Students’ Union to act on our behalf on is-sues which do not represent all students, and in fact stand in direct opposition to the strong moral conviction held by many, which should be respected and celebrated.

plications of having inadequate abortion laws. When abortion was legalised in the USA and Britain, it was to reduce the risks to public health. Extremely limited access to abortion meant that women were tak-ing huge risks by obtaining backstreet and home abortions without any medical as-sistance. In Ireland we have we have never had such problems because our proximity to the UK has acted as a release for the need for access to abortion.

The costs of having an abortion in the UK, if not registered on the NHS, vary depend-ing on the clinic and the length of the pe-riod of gestation. The cheapest procedure costs £360 and is available only when the period of gestation is less than nine weeks. Due, however, to the costs of travel and the time required to organise an appointment, this option is not practical for the major-ity of Irish women seeking abortions. Af-ter sixteen weeks, the cost rises to £1,050 pounds, equivalent to just under €1,300.

Numerous factors contribute to the diffi-culty faced by students organising an abor-tion abroad. International students have to apply for visas and Irish students may have passport issues. Even booking cheap last minute return flights can cost anything from €150 to €250, depending on the day of departure. Students who work lose wag-es when taking time off and students who miss mandatory contact teaching hours may face academic penalties. A woman later into pregnancy may be turned away or told to come back and have a different, costlier and more invasive procedure.

The costs and logistics of travelling abroad for abortion mean that it is an op-tion that is unavailable for many of our fel-low students. It is estimated that for every Irish woman who avails of a legal, safe, and medically supervised abortion in the UK, three Irish people administer abortions at home themselves through the purchase of abortion pills online. The risks and potential consequences of this are huge. Abortion is presently illegal in Ireland and women who self-administer abortions face a criminal conviction and up to fourteen years in prison.

Being pro-choice means our Union would work towards decriminalising abor-tion and for the provision of safe and medi-cally supervised abortion services. Cam-paigning to have safe, legal abortion in Ireland should not impinge upon people’s personal views on abortion, it should rath-er encourage us to face the realities of crisis pregnancy in Ireland. If a majority vote yes in this referendum, it will create a mandate to for the SU to campaign to have abortions provided for, for women who have made their own decisions.

The SU should be an umbrella organisa-tion that is inclusive and representative of all students on campus - as far as can pos-sibly be obtained and therefore we do not feel it is necessary or appropriate for the SU to take a stance on this issue.

Trinity College prides itself on diver-sity, and its policies show a clear desire to make students from all moral, cultural or religious backgrounds feel at home within our college community. Trinity’s five year strategic plan stresses its com-mitment to promoting Trinity as a place of study that seeks to encourage students from what they refer to as “non-traditional backgrounds”. This includes among oth-ers, members of the Travelling community, and those belonging to Ethnic minorities, from as diverse a range of backgrounds as Pentecostal Christians from Nigeria to Ira-nian Muslims. To put an issue of such great moral weight for so many people to a ref-erendum, defies all notions of protecting and celebrating the various minorities that study here. Is it not alienating to know that the Students’ Union that purports to speak on behalf of all students is actively advocat-ing for something that does not align with some people’s moral convictions? We must examine how such a stance will look on an international level as we look also to attract students from wide-ranging cultures. We hope that all Trinity students, regardless of their own personal views on abortion, will vote to protect individuals and allow each student to pursue what they believe to be right, without anyone feeling alienated by their Students’ Union, or feeling that their Students’ Union far from represents them.

We firmly believe that the Students’ Union priority should lie with issues that unite us as a student community and not with one that is so divisive and a matter of personal conscience and conviction. The Students’ Union has hugely important work to be doing; from lobbying against third level funding cuts to constantly im-proving the day-to-day running of our uni-versity – campaigns we can all get behind.

The ‘yes’ campaign talks about trust. We trust all students. We trust all students to respond to matters that bear huge weight in a way that resonates with their convic-tions of their heart and the judgment of their intellect. We trust students to vote that the Students’ Union focus on issues that strengthen the cords of our commu-nity, not divides us. We trust students to vote to protect minorities and not leave anyone feeling alienated by the Union that claims to represent them. We trust if you have taken the time to read this article, you will take the time to vote. Respect all views. Vote no.

Claire Donlon Emily Murtagh


SUPPLEMENT

The Green Pages

if you climb two flights of stairs and go up a worn iron wind-ing staircase at the top of the Museum Building, you will find the Civil Engineering Library where the Green Campus Com-

mittee (GCC) meet. Meetings are infrequent, but adopt the same formalities as any other college committee. Yet the most interest-ing part of the GCC are its mem-bers; all hailing from different strands of the college community, with varying different skills and interests, but collectively dedi-cated to the promotion of green issues and the protection of our environment.

The GCC, formally known as the College Recycling and Environ-ment Committee, describe them-selves as a “forum for discussion” of general environmental issues in Trinity. The committee was es-tablished by the late Simon Perry and has been in existence for al-most two decades with recorded minutes on file since 1993. Since then, the GCC have initiated many programmes involving students, academic staff, services staff and contractors to make Trinity ‘green’.

The most admirable thing about the members of the GCC is that each committee member attends on a voluntary basis. The commit-tee itself is not formally recognised by the college, which makes taking on an issue that people find easier to overlook all the more difficult.

Last April, Trinity College joined an elite number of colleges in the world by achieving the Green Flag status. The flag was awarded by An Taisce, the National Trust for Ire-land, and recognises that the cam-pus reached a medium standard in environmental practices and protection. For many of the mem-bers of the GCC, this international award was the result of many years

Many Members, One Issue

Leanna ByrneEditor

of hard work to make the cam-pus better and more sustainable. What’s more, Trinity College is the only university in a capital city to have been awarded the Green Flag.

For the GCC, the Green Flag is only a stepping stone in their “long slog” towards environmental sus-tainability and awareness. With a Green Campus we are expected to meet a certain criteria, which has proven to be challenging so far. Trinity continues to consume mas-sive amounts of energy, with a net cost of €7.3 being spent on energy and utility costs in the last finan-cial year. From 2010 to the end of 2013, the unit cost of electric-ity has risen substantially by over 50% and, overall, college consumes over 38,000,000 units of electricity each year. That is the equivalent of over 7,000 times the annual elec-tricity consumption of an average private house. Our unit cost of wa-ter has also risen consistently over the last 10 years by 4% to 5% per year due to the rising cost of drink-ing water.

As college is expanding and re-furbishing, it has made an effort in water main upgrades and re-ducing energy consumption. The newly refurbished New Square east residences will be using rainwater harvesting systems to service WC flushing.

Trinity’s current contracts for electricity supplies provide for 50% of all electrical power to come from renewable sources such as wind generation. In fact, the total annual electricity consumption for the Biomedical Sciences Institute is generated on site from a natural gas-powered Trigeneration plant. This avoids transmission and dis-tribution losses in importing the power from the national grid.

Despite all the advancements made, recycling continues to be a major grievance for the GCC. To keep our Green Flag, recycling percentages need to be up at 30% - 40%, whereas Trinity struggle to make it over 15%.

“Getting up to a seventy or sev-enty-five percentage rate of recy-cling is entirely achievable,” said Grounds and Gardens Supervisor, David Hackett. “There’s a lack of care there which leads to contami-nation.”

Even though we have procured

new bins to separate our waste into general waste and recyclables, little change seems to have come to the culture of what we do with our waste. Each day recyclables are finding their way into general waste bins and non-recyclables are contaminating recycling bins. Hackett pointed out that this was costing the college money as we process well over 1,000 tonnes of waste per week. At the cost of €55 per tonne, the college is paying for this out of their central funds while they are making significant cuts to services. Surely paying more atten-tion to recycling would pay-off in the long run?

The fact is that at the heart of re-cycling and green issues is the in-dividual. For recycling to increase the proliferation of information only goes so far if we still consider

waste to be somebody else’s prob-lem. Chair of the GCC, Prof. Ronnie Russell, often finds it amusing that his office overlooks the Green Flag and the Pav, as within twenty me-tres of the Green Flag students fre-quently litter the cricket pitch with cans and plastic cups.

The Environmental and Ethical Trading Officer for the Students’ Union, Julie Trench, does not be-lieve that students ‘simply don’t care’, but argued that it should be easier to care about these issues.

“It shouldn’t be a big task for somebody to dispose their waste. We shouldn’t have to make people learn about this, it should be so well advertised that you don’t have to think about it.”

Head of the TCD Environmen-tal Society, Maya Gryesten Fields, agreed, saying that “it’s easy to

throw around these big terms like environmental sustainability, but nobody knows what that is”. She believes that sometimes the GCC can be out of touch because they think that the students are going to go the extra mile without mak-ing it as easy as possible.

However, Prof. Russell is under no illusion that students are to blame for poor recycling percent-ages. “How could they be if they are not being reminded about it every single day? Students are fo-cused on trying to get through their course, they have little time to consider anything else.”

Although he admitted that see-ing students and staff leaving lights switched on or not bother-ing to recycle is “disappointing to see”, Russell believes that with no environmental management sys-


tem or even an Environmental Of-ficer there is no structure to instill a ‘green’ culture.

“College management are run-ning on a business model and to run a place that is the size of a small township you need to invest in a quality system,” said Russell.

For Russell, it is evident that en-gagement needs to come from the top down with more engagement from the college board rather than a subpopulation of interested peo-ple. “There’s a couple of lines about it [environmental issues] at the end of the annual report, but overall there’s too much lip service. When we talk about our situation with other developing universities they are generally surprised that there is no formal structure in place.”

As 2016 approaches, Trinity will be under review as to whether or

not we can keep our Green Flag that the GCC have fought hard for. The biggest challenge is one that environmental issues always face: taking responsibility for some-thing that will never have immedi-ate short-term effects. While sav-ing money is an argument for us to start recycling, cutting down on energy and lessening water con-sumption to do that is to make an initial investment in infrastructure and signage to do so. You need to spend money to save it. Further-more, people need to care.

It is difficult to point the finger at either the students, the staff or the administration when so much rests on each and every single per-son to do their part. But, with our Green Flag on the line, the least we could do is think before we forget to turn the light switch off again.

15The Green Pages

THE UNDERCOVER ENVIRONMENTALIST Climate change is happening, and we are still not seriously tackling its main cause

Climate change is rapidly moving up the political agenda. As we experi-ence more frequent and more ex-treme weather, as the international climate change models predict we will, people are beginning to ask the

question, “what are we doing to address climate change and its main culprit, greenhouse gas emis-sions”? Is the extreme weather we are experiencing this winter just a taster of what will be “the norm” in the future?

Trinity celebrates its 12th annual Green Week between the 17–21 February 2014. This is Ireland’s longest running college-organised green week and is dedicated to all things sustainable. It was origi-nally set up in 2003 in memory of the late Professor Simon Perry of the Civil, Structural and Environ-mental Engineering Department, who founded the first version of the green campus committee in 1993 and was one of the visionaries behind the Luas light rail for Dublin.

The 2014 Green Week also celebrates Trinity’s re-ceiving of the Green Flag campus award last year from An Taisce. The main challenge for Green Week this year is to reduce waste generation and increase recycling. Trinity currently struggles to get above 40% recycling for waste generated, compared to UCC’s current recycling rate of 75%, so there is plenty of scope for improvement. Other areas of focus are climate change and greenhouse gas emis-sions. As part of Trinity’s green flag application, the green campus committee set the ambitious target of reducing the College’s footprint by 3% per year between 2013 and 2020 (a cumulative total of just under 22%). This compares well to Yale University’s ambitious target of a 43% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions between 2005 and 2020.

The Trinity target ties in well with the official Col-lege policy on Sustainable Development, which commits the College to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, though the official data has yet to be published by the College. This policy was due for official review in 2013 to see how effective its meas-ures have been to date. It is hoped the official data will show a decrease in the College’s footprint as this would be a good first step in seeing if we are do-ing our bit in addressing climate change by walk-ing the walk, not just talking the talk.

A full list of the events to be held during TCD green week can be found on the green pages website (www.tcd.ie/greenpages).

Trinity currently struggles to get above 40% recycling for waste generated, compared to UCC’s current recycling rate of 75%, so there is plenty of scope for improvement.

“

Mandela House, 6 Trinity College, College Green, Dublin 2Phone: (01) 646 8431 Email: [email protected]

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