Impeachment Referendum Scheduled for October 25th-26th
By Aoife Hardesty | Oct 10 2017
The petition calling for the impeachment of UCDSU President Katie Ascough was handed in on Monday evening after collecting 1200 signatures. The Returning Officer of the Union accepted the petition and an impeachment referendum will now take place on October 25th to October 26th.Ascough will take annual leave for the during of the lead-up to the referendum. Campaigns and Communications Officer Barry Murphy who is Vice-President will be acting President during this time.The group behind the impeachment petition have previously spoken to the University Observer about their plans to lead an impeachment campaign. They plan to "use as little money from the SU as possible to fund their campaign" since they "believe [Ascough] has wasted enough SU money already with the re-printing of the Winging It handbooks."In a public statement on the UCDSU Facebook page, Ascough called for students to not the let campaign "impact the day-to-day work of the Union, and that we continue to support and represent students."She asks that people "allow the campaign for impeachment and indeed my own campaign against impeachment to remain outside of SU business."In order for the impeachment campaign to win the referendum, a minimum of 10% of the registered union members must vote, which equates to between 2,000 and 3,000 students, and the majority must be in favour of the motion.If fewer than 10% of union members vote, the impeachment campaign will lose the referendum.