Council Reject UCDSU Budget and Seek Further Clarity from Board of Directors.

Image Credit: Oisín Gaffey

Representatives of the Students’ Union attending the second Council of the year voted overwhelmingly on Monday night to reject the proposed budget, citing lack of clarity and specificity in terms of its allocated spending.

Representatives of the Students’ Union attending the second Council of the year voted overwhelmingly on Monday night to reject the proposed budget, citing lack of clarity and specificity in terms of its allocated spending. Student representatives attending Council spent more than thirty minutes debating the proposed budget, and supplied SU President Miranda Bauer with a number of questions to bring to the Board of Directors. 

The budget presented at council anticipated the Students’ Union running in a deficit of €14,856 for the year, leaving the ‘Closing Reserves’ at €12,791. SU President Bauer stated that this is not a cause of concern, as she believes, “We are a Union, we shouldn’t be sitting on massive reserves.”

The proposed budget recorded an expected income of ‘€1,067,000’, excluding advertisement money raised by The University Observer which had not been accounted for. The accounts budgeted for ‘€398,357’ in ‘Student Activity’, whilst also budgeting ‘€683,499’ for ‘Support Activity’. 

Further clarity was sought by Council on ‘Election Costs’, for which €25,000 has been allocated, ‘IT Costs’, for which €17,352 has been allocated, and ‘Payroll Costs’ for which €547,371 has been allocated. 

Similarly, the Chair expressed surprise when quoting the proposed budget’s ‘Opening Reserves’, which stand €5,313 above the reporting ‘Closing Reserves’ from last year’s budget.

Finally in relation to the proposed budget, Council requested further clarity from the Students’ Union Board of Directors after The University Observer highlighted that last year’s budget stated ‘Ents events’ generated ‘€57,000’ of income, whilst in the budget proposed to Council on Monday 14 October that figure stood at ‘€3000’. ENTS Sabbatical Officer Neo O’Herlihy in response stated that the union are outsourcing event production to external companies such as Freshers Ball and The Academy. However, further clarity on how this would impact ‘income’ was sought by Council.

There were no motions on notice at Monday’s council, nor were there any items for discussion.

The 2023-2025 SU Strategic Plan was put forward as an ‘item for noting’, but due to council running overtime was pushed to the next meeting of council on 4 November. The strategic plan was created to address the ‘key challenges’ and weakened relationship between the SU and students in a post-Pandemic era, and outlines how the SU will improve awareness, engagement, and participation. The four core pillars of the strategy are to ‘promote awareness of the SU’, to ‘drive participation and engagement’, to ‘represent student outlook on key issues’, and to ‘activate a clear vision for The Student Experience’.  

All College Officer and Sabbatical Officer Reports were clearly passed. Gaeilge Officer Kate Lawlor announced that Seachtain na Gaeilge will take place on 18 to 22 November in the Autumn semester, and on 24 to 28 February in the Spring semester. Education Officer Tia Cullen announced a Fees and Student Levy Town Hall, which will take place at 5pm on Tuesday 22 October. Graduate Officer Kylie McCardel promised that ‘puppy therapy’ would come to campus ‘soon’, in collaboration with the DSPCA. 

President Miranda Bauer used her time to encourage students to participate in the UCDSU Student Walkout at 11.30am on Thursday 17 October. Organised by the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), the walkout encourages students to leave their lectures and congregate outside O’Reilly Hall to protest the current costs associated with higher education, and the ‘lack of measures to support students’ in Budget 2025. 

One question on notice was presented by Hemanand Chandrasekaran, who asked if there had been “any prior consideration or ongoing discussion about relocating the Smurfit School to the main campus.”

The written response from SU President Baueur, understood Chandrasekaran’s concerns “regarding discrepancies between the facilities at the Smurfit School and Belfield Campus” before acknowledging that, “While UCDSU doesn’t have any control over decisions related to campus locations, we have been actively working with the Smurfit community to improve the student experience.” An issue raised during Chandrasekaran’s question was the fact that the Smurfit Shuttle Buses have stopped operating. 

Student Union Returning Officer Eoin Heffernan took the floor to discuss College Officer and Entertainments and Campaigns Forum elections. Heffernan, who is new to the role of returning officer this year, revealed that of the five council roles opened for election on September 27th, two were filled and moved forward to election.  These roles were The RAG Committee Coordinator on the Entertainments Forum and The Student Residence Coordinator on The Campaigns Forum. 

After nominations closed on October 4th, the council member in the role of Production Officer on The Entertainments Forum resigned from their role, meaning that a total of four positions were available to be filled on the night. 

Prior to this council meeting, one nomination was received for the role of Agriculture, Food & Veterinary Science College Officer. This was from Tara Toye who received no competition from the chamber. Toye was therefore elected Agriculture, Food and Veterinary Science College Officer.

Next, stage 3 Politics student and Literary and Historical Society Social Secretary, Wedge Egan nominated himself for Productions Officer on The Entertainments Forum. Also running for Productions officer was Pritanshi Sharma, though a late addition to the ballot. After electronic voting during council, Egan was elected Productions Officer on the ENTS Forum this year.

With no nominations for the role of Disability Rights Coordinator received in advance of council, Sociology and Social Policy student Brendan Mackey, and Masters in Sociology Class representative Shauna Young, who ran for UCDSU Welfare Officer earlier this year, nominated themselves for the role on the night. Young noted her desire to work with Disability Power Ireland in the role if elected. Winning the vote, Young will serve Council again this year as Disability Rights Coordinator, following on from her time as Non-Alcoholic Events Coordinator in the ENTS forum last.

The role of First Year Promotions Officer, which was limited to first year undergraduate students, received a number of nominations during the meeting. Fallon Becker, Emma Hand, Julia Robu, Dave Francis Shelley and Ben Neary, who noted his job as a bartender in Copper Face Jacks, all put themselves forward for the role. After the voting period, Emma Hand was elected First Year Promotions Officer.

Contributing Writers: Oisín Gaffey, Lucy Warmington, Adam Schmitz