The University Observer sits down with this years Sabbatical Officers to discuss their work this year, and the progress made on each of their campaign manifestos from last year.
President Miranda Bauer
Revitalising Campus
One of Bauer’s manifesto points from March 2024 was to revitalise campus, and create a sense of belonging, by ensuring ‘every initiative extends to students in Newstead, Richview and Smurfit campuses.’ Bauer spoke of her progress on this matter this year, “I don't remember if ever in my time we had an SU going into Richview and this year we did. We did some events, like the charcoal drawing. When we were doing the exam stands, like we did exam breakfasts in Richview and things like that.”
She placed an emphasis on bringing Union visibility to Richview, and highlighted that all SU posters have also been posted around Richview, “We just have to work on that and keep it up.”
With regards to social spaces, Bauer highlighted that ‘taking back Building 71’ is very much in the works, “It's in the process,” she said, and confirmed that the plan is still for the SU offices to be moved to the more central location.
Irish Language
Bauer spoke about the promotion of the Irish Language within the Union this year, a source of pride for her personally. “We are doing a lot of progress in the Irish language within the union, which I am very happy about, and I think it's long overdue.” She continued, “You probably can see that a lot of our posts now are bilingual also, our all student email is being translated and has a link that says ‘Click here for Gaeilge’.”
Housing/Student Accommodation
The single biggest issue facing students in UCD is accommodation, whether it be on or off campus. In Bauer’s manifesto last year, she said “It might be necessary to escalate our actions, direct actions such as sit-ins and blockading revenue-generating University buildings”, of which there has been a distinct lack of so far this year. She replied, “You’ll have to wait and see,” and instead pointed to the work carried out by the Student Union Action Group for Housing (SUAGH).
“Escalations come with a critical mass of people [...] there has been significant progress in campaigning for housing [...] We established a group for action on housing, We did a canvassing action before the general election, and there are standing meetings with that group as well.”
With regards to the living conditions in student residences in UCD, Bauer commented, “I'm not sure whether the accountability procedures for these things are good enough to be honest, I agree that it's unacceptable that a building has mice for ages.” She continued, “I think the best thing to do for students would be to organise and to consider all these things as a collective and decide what we think and what we think we need from the University.”
Union Engagement
On the infamous topic of SU Engagement, Bauer feels that this year “It has gone quite well.” She notes the gradual increase in engagement since COVID, stating “It’s not something that will just happen. A part of it happens a bit organically,” and called for future elected union officials to “continue to fight for it and work towards it.”
Sabbatical Team
When asked how she would assess her year as President, and the achievements of the sabbatical team as a whole, Bauer noted, “I thought it was very good. Part of my manifesto was to improve internal structures and improve effectiveness within the union, and I think that’s something that I achieved quite well.”
Running Again?
We finished our interview with Miranda by asking her if she was considering running again in the upcoming Executive Elections, “No, Jesus, no” before changing her answer, “Yes, for the position of laying in my bed for a whole year and sleeping.”
Some words of encouragement for next year’s SU President? “Start planning early, start organizing the logistical bits early, basically have your calendar set up weeks ahead.”
Education Officer Tia Cullen
Policy Work
Cullen’s campaign manifesto had a strong focus on policy, something that as Education Officer, she is very passionate about. At the beginning of the year, she debriefed class representatives and college officers on important university policies,helping them to understand the policy's complexities. Cullen was also part of the working group that created the new Additional Considerations Policy, a student-orientated policy soon to replace the current Extenuating Circumstances Policy. She has collaborated with the SU Irish Language Officer on an Irish Language Policy promoting the use of the Irish language in the Union. Further, Cullen sits on multiple policy review working groups and committees throughout UCD, and highlights multiple policies currently undergoing positive changes, such as the student academic misconduct procedure and the student fitness to practice policy.
Cullen’s manifesto also committed to creating simplified University Policy Guides for students, something she admits is still underway, but she hopes to have completed by the end of the year, emphasising that her case work with students and board and committee meetings must often be prioritised and takes up the majority of her time, “in terms of me being able to make the best guides that I can, I need to be able to give [them] all the time that I'd like to give them.”
Accessibility
The Education Officer’s manifesto also mentioned improving access to lecture recordings for students, which Cullen states she has been working on behind the scenes at university board meetings. Although certain schools are unreceptive to the idea, she notes that the Associate Dean of Science specifically is passionate about it, and as far as she knows there has been a positive impact for students in the School of Science.
Similarly, Cullen has been addressing the drop in HEAR admissions and applications to UCD and the hidden costs students face in college at university board meetings. She states that a lot of faculty within University Management also want these changes, but highlights the “huge funding gap in higher education” as the main barrier to providing the level of supports that students need, adding “there needs to be some level of collaboration between the university and students’ unions to lobby government to fill the funding gap in the first place.”
Lobbying the Government
The Education Officer is also mandated to lobby the government to abolish the student contribution charge, which Cullen states is something she spoke passionately about and pushed for at a meeting with the Government Minister for Further and Higher Education, and that the union continues to advocate for. On whether lobbying the government is an effective method of change, Cullen affirms that face-to-face meetings are important, “once we get in the room with whoever it may be in government [...] we use our voice and we advocate for students. So the more we do it the more hopefully likely they are to do something, and we know the more we use our voice the more likely they might be to make it a priority.”
Case Work
Issues have been raised at SU Council regarding late exam results for students, and Cullen explains her role in remedying these situations for students. She firstly encourages class reps to raise their concerns with module coordinators. If the issue persists, she steps in to raise the breach of academic regulations through the relevant streams, “if there's a lack of adherence to university policy that's a huge issue,” she says, adding “if [module coordinators] are not adhering to them that's something that the Students’ Union isn't okay with.” Cullen affirms that in the majority of cases, the issues are quickly rectified when she steps in. If they aren’t, she escalates the situation “up the food chain.”
Fees and Financial Assistance
Cullen also intended to increase financial support for students in UCD in her election manifesto, something she says has been considered in the selection of the UCDSU Charity Partner this year: the UCD Foundation, which funds the Student Support Fund and Student Emergency Fund, both directly accessible for most UCD students. All of the money raised for charity through UCDSU events this year goes towards the Foundation.
Engaging with Students
Cullen’s manifesto also had a focus on providing exam info sessions, academic workshops, Trade Union Week, town halls, providing clinical care packs, and continuing the clinical uniform sale, all things which have successfully taken place during her term. The Education Officer also notes the provision of breakfast and dinner for students during reading week, with over 200 dinners provided by the SU. The achievement Cullen is most proud of, however, is delivering a strong sabbatical officer presence in all three exam centres last semester, providing support for students if issues arose, as well as free pens, sweets, and bottled water.
Welfare Officer Ciara Donohue
Trans Healthcare
The Welfare Officer Ciara Donohue spoke with us about the increased supports the SU are providing to Transgender students in UCD on both the Belfield and Smurfit campuses. Continuing on the work from last year’s Welfare Officer Jill Nelis, Donohue stated, “We now provide binders, tucking underwear and trans-tape. Before it was just tucking underwear and trans tape and there were students who were asking specifically about binders so we said we may as well.”
She then highlighted how Trans students would avail of the services provided, “A student has to contact either myself or Kylie (the Graduate Officer); they can either book a meeting with us through the website or just send us an email and we'll meet with them. We have a safety information sheet because there's different information and safety guidelines for binders as there is for trans tape and you have to be very careful when using those products.”
Students can then make an informed decision themselves about what options they would like to pursue. “We have an order form that can only be sent out by myself or Kylie [...] They can fill in the order form, we order them and once they arrive in the SU office we contact the student and they can pick it up and if they're a Smurfit student they can meet with Kylie on Smurfit campus.”
Harm Reduction
Donohue proposed the creation of a Harm Reduction Policy in her election manifesto, but admitted that other aspects of the job have been the source of more of her focus, ie. the creation of a Policy of Social Class.
She did explain that a policy on harm reduction is in the works, however, and stated that a key focus of the policy would be that “students should be empowered with the information to make their own decisions” and might include areas where the union will continue to provide for students, “anyone can pick up a drink cover from the SU helpdesk at any point,” and she noted that “At events there are posters in the bathrooms with consent information and harm reduction information.”
She did however note that there has been a logistical challenge in distributing anti-spiking lids and equipping posters in external events that have taken place this year.
The proposed collaboration with Students for Sensible Drugs Policy for a harm reduction information campaign “has been in the works alongside the policy.”
Housing/Accommodation
The biggest issue facing students, housing, was rightfully a significant focus of Donohue’s manifesto. The Digs Drive was continued this year, and saw the largest levels of collaboration between Students’ Unions in Dublin since it began three years ago. Donohue highlighted the Student Union Action Group for Housing (SUAGH), which was formed this year, noting, “We have a group of engaged students who want to campaign and fight so we've been working with them a lot.”
She hinted at potential future direct action with regards to housing, “We haven’t heard whether or not rents are going to be increased for next year (on-campus) [...] We suspect they will, so we have actions and campaigns planned if that happens, from SUAGH.”
Period Products
Students have raised concerns this year about the lack of availability of free period products across both campuses, with many dispensers empty for prolonged periods of time. “It really is an issue,” Donohue said, “every year we are guaranteed €25,000 from the University towards period products and this year we got an additional €25,000 from the Higher Education Authority [...] They should have increased the restocking, it should be more frequent and it's something I have been continuing to bring up. I think before the end of the year there's supposed to be extra dispensers installed around campus because there's currently only a couple of bathrooms that have dispensers.”
Direct Action
With regards to direct action, Donohue highlighted the current state of student accommodation as an area in which students feel most passionate about. She stated, “We are in planning stages of direct action around that because that is an issue that we think students feel strongly enough about that they will go to a protest on and do direct action on.”
The Year Looking Back
Donohue felt that this year has been “Amazing” for her personally, “It has really been a really great experience.” As for the sabbatical team on the whole, “I think our team has actually worked very well together and has supported each other's priorities this year.”
Whether or not she would be running for a position in the upcoming SU Executive Elections, Donohue commented, “The jury is still out on that one.” The deadline for nominations is this Friday, February 28.
Graduate Officer Kylie McCardel
Work on PhD Stipends
PhD stipends and working conditions for PhD workers was understandably a key focus of Kylie McCardel’s election manifesto. She explained the current issues with PhD stipends, and spoke of her work on the matter, “On the surface level, it's basically saying if you're going to do a PhD, if you have an approved study area, here's €25k for the year. The Issue is, the Irish Research Council is not who gives everybody a stipend, they don't give nearly enough money out.”
She continued, “You're still looking at people who are paid not even close to minimum wage. They don't qualify for PRSI, you can't get a pension. And outside of that, there's just no protection for leave. You still have people who are on stipends that are smaller because they're from NGOs, and the university has no obligation to match it [...] And then even worse is people who are having to fund their own PhD.”
Looking at it from a UCD perspective, McCardel commented on President Orla Feely’s recent attendance at UCDSU Council, “I think that she is one of the first presidents that I've interacted with, especially since my time at UCD, who cares. There's a difference between caring and actually actively fighting for something[...] I think if she wanted to, she could change a lot.”
Working with the Postgraduate Workers Organisation (PWO)
Another key part of McCardel’s manifesto was working with the PWO. On PhD students in particular, she comments, “there’s not really a realisation that that classification gives them membership in the SU.” She says that raising more awareness of the role PhD students can make to the SU is going to be a key focus of the next steps of the Graduate Officer going forward.
Outside of this, McCardel points to town halls that she has conducted in conjunction with the UCD branch of the PWO, under the leadership of acting-head Jack McNicholl. She recalls meetings with McNicholl “about what's the best, the best steps are to increase PhDs lives and their quality of life.”
Smurfit Shuttle Bus
The shuttle bus that operated between the Belfield and Smurfit campuses last year have stopped this year. McCardel argued that, “Estates won’t pay the money for it,” after having asked “many times over the summer.” When asked how much the shuttle bus cost to operate, McCardel said, “I think it’s €60,000. That was for running it five days a week from 10am-3pm, one-way, every thirty-ish minutes.”
Furthermore, she commented, “There needs to be money allocated for this. You can't claim that you want an interconnected community and then not give the community access to each other.”
Access to free period products and trans-affirming products
McCardel highlighted accessibility to both free period products, and free access to Trans-affirming products in Smurfit, as well as Belfield. She does, however admit that, “We haven’t done a tonne of promotion in it yet because, one, we don’t have any outside funding for it as of now, and two, no money. We’ve told UCD Services, for if they have somebody who’s coming to them saying they’re transitioning, they have access. I’m very happy with the starts of it.”
As for access to period products, McCardel highlights an issue with stocking, “The products are there, the issue is that when the cleaners go through, they don't always restock it.” She highlighted potential concerns that people might take the entire stock if it immediately replenished, but argued, “I'm sure that's going to happen. That's just how people are. But you still need to have something that is available for, you know, the rest of us.”
There were talks of refilling just once per week, to which McCardel argued, “If in that week you see that it's empty, it shouldn't go the remaining three or four days until it's refilled.” This has been a key focus of McCardel’s this semester, she admits.
Reflections
Reflecting on her year in the job, McCardel rules herself out of running in the upcoming SU Executive Elections, and says that the job “kept me incredibly busy, which I can’t complain about.”
As a particular highlight, she noted her work on a fee freeze, stating “Recently a professional doctorate programme was supposed to have their fees increased by 38%, it was supposed to go into effect for this current academic year, but they pushed it back to next academic year.”
She hopes that puppy events will take place within the next month, and is proud of the work she has done with the PWO and the PhD society.
To close, she wants to raise awareness of her presence to postgraduate students, “awareness that I'm here, even if you've done it before and you're confident about finding the solution yourself, it's always nice to have somebody to lean on.”
Campaigns and Engagement Officer Saskia McCormack-Eiffe
Engagement and Manifesto Points
McCormack-Eiffe’s campaign for Campaigns and Engagement Officer last year had a central focus on driving engagement. Her manifesto committed to restructuring class rep elections to maintain momentum in the Union, with the joint ‘lower quorum and reschedule class rep elections’ referendum held in November aiming to achieve this. McCormack-Eiffe affirms that engagement was good, the 10.6% voter turnout the highest in recent years, but looking back she would have “been out on the ground a lot more,” as the referendum ultimately failed to reach quorum and pass. Due to a complication with the returning officer, sabbatical officers were initially told they would be allowed to campaign for the referendum, before this was later overruled. McCormack-Eiffe tells us how she restructured class representative training at the start of the year, breaking people into groups of their interest areas and encouraging their feedback for the direction of the union, which she believes has helped retention rates at Students’ Union Council meetings this year, as she says “four or five hours of info dumping sometimes just doesn't work.”
Certain points of McCormack-Eiffe’s manifesto are still in progress, such as the educational videos on how to take STI tests in collaboration with the Welfare Officer, “I have the STI tests in my locker, I just have to take them. They’re happening,” she says. The revamp of the Food Voucher Scheme and the provision of a food bank for all UCD students are also still in the works; she states there was an element of "naivety" as to what could be done with the food vouchers, originally an SU scheme later handed over to Student Advisors.
While McCormack-Eiffe believes the scheme still does not work to its best ability, she states she spoke to the Head of Student Advisors to address this, and adds “obviously the advisors are stretched thin with them too.” However, through her efforts in consulting with schools, Healthy UCD, student advisors, and Maynooth students’ union, McCormack-Eiffe is optimistic that a food pantry will be in place by the “end of year.” She says, “we're just still working out a few of the kinks,” adding that it may be small, and will operate on a referral basis through student advisors, chaplains, and the SU.
She confirms she has been cleaning up the SU website, fixing broken links, and has endeavoured to ensure the SU Instagram page is accessible through dyslexia friendly fonts, closed captions, and alt-text, when possible. Her ‘student’s guide to elections handbook’ took a digital twist, and were published through Instagram in the lead up to the Irish General Elections in November, and can now be found on the SU Instagram highlight reels.
Lobbying
Like many of the sabbatical officers, McCormack-Eiffe spends time lobbying government officials and university boards to improve standards for students. She says communication with government ministers via email is generally unresponsive, and gaining face-to-face meetings are important, the Union having met with the Minister for Education in September to raise student issues. McCormack-Eiffe also says the C&E Officer doesn’t sit on as many university boards as she anticipated, which she finds “frustrating at times” and “restricting in the things that you want to do.” This is something she would potentially like to change about the role.
Campaigns
In terms of her work on student issues such as the housing and cost of living crises, McCormack-Eiffe notes the success of the “Digs Drive” this year, collaborating with four other Dublin-based Students’ Unions, the establishment of the Students’ Union Action Group for Housing (SUAGH), and the large turnout for the USI Walkout in protest to Budget 2025 in October. When asked if students should expect another walkout style event this year, the Campaigns Officer said that “at the minute there's nothing in the works.”
The C&E Officer is particularly proud of the effort put into the ‘save the 145 bus’ campaign, and the success of the SU’s petition, which gathered over 5,000 signatures. She states that their next steps will now be releasing a statement with DCU and building a collaborative campaign with them to learn about students’ commuting experiences. When asked if direct action and protest should be expected, McCormack-Eiffe replies affirmingly, “You have to pick what students are angry about when you go to protest, and students are angry about the buses per se.”
ENTS Officer Neo O'Herlihy
Student Talent
Last year, O’Herlihy’s campaign manifesto had a strong focus on student talent, endeavouring to establish a student showcase night on UCD campus. The current ENTs Officer says his interpretation of student talent has broadened, now incorporating students' businesses and student creatives. He has built on the work of previous sabbatical officers, of getting students in for markets or performing on UCD Christmas day, and transformed these temporary spaces into a weekly Wednesday staple, in the form of the Wednesday Craft Market in the Student Centre Atrium.
One of O’Herlihy’s manifesto points was to make it easier for students to set up their own events by creating a series of templates available from the SU for event proposals, he admits he hasn’t done this, but caveats by saying he has realised it’s not needed; “[the SU] need to work on our own stuff and see where other people can be incorporated into it.” He uses their Drink and Draw Events in collaboration with DrawSoc as a successful example of this.
Campus Activity Development
The ENTs Officer further wanted to optimise the existing spaces available on campus, making sure that there are entertainment amenities available in casual student hangout areas like the Newman basement and the Village. Before buying anything, he states he wants to ensure there is stakeholder (student) interest, that equipment will be used. O’Herlihy then informs us of the forthcoming student ENTs survey, a major focus of his time as a sabbat, which is “nearing its final stages” and once published will inform how the SU plans events and the facilities they provide based on student feedback.
Accessibility
O’Herlihy’s manifesto also committed to improving SU event accessibility, and he has been consulting affected students directly regarding their experiences of certain venues, and sharing the accessibility information for each event hosted by the SU ahead of time, allowing students to make informed decisions about which events they attend. O’Herlihy states he has realised not every event can be fully accessible. He notes that a lot of city centre venues have stairs, or don’t have wheelchair lifts, which severely limits accessibility, and so the SU ensure “our students are as safe as possible” when they do attend. He says that the SU provides a balance of events which are “fully accessible and partially accessible, as long as you don't go down the this is not accessible for anyone [route].”
Events and Feedback
Another key focus of O’Herlihy’s manifesto was event consistency, “When you're engaging with the Students' Union, it's also nice to have something familiar, and something more than just the faces that are familiar. Also the kind of settings as well.” He says that by hosting the same events each week, you attract a returning crowd, something he has seen with the SU’s Drink and Draw Events with DrawSoc.
The biggest events of the year for the ENTs Officer are Christmas Day, the Fresher’s Ball, and UCD Ball. Though this was a UCD Estates decision in the interest of student safety, not an SU one, O’Herlihy recognises that the presence of security this year for Christmas Day was excessive. Despite this, the atmosphere created at SU events during the day, specifically a tumultuous game of pass the parcel, was still a highlight of his year.
O’Herlihy also cites the desire to create a “consistent profile” of events as a reason for outsourcing many events to city centre venues; the easier access to the resources already existing within these venues means the union can arrange events more frequently. O’Herlihy compares this years’ Freshers Ball to last years to demonstrate the progress made, “I would say [there was a] noticeable improvement because I was there at both of them. It was nice being in a crowded room.” He also confirms that there will be a UCD Ball again this year, and they are currently considering off-campus venues.