Member of 'Yes' Campaign Releases Open-Letter
By Dylan O'Neill | Oct 26 2017
Amy Crean, of the 'Yes To Impeachment' Campaign has released an open letter on Facebook moments ago. It reads as follows:Voting has now closed. I want to say a sincere thank you to absolutely everybody who got out there and voted, to everyone who canvassed, to everyone who engaged throughout this referendum and to everyone who showed the student politics can be revitalised.Current estimates put the vote at around 6000 votes, which would be the single highest vote turnout in the history of the union. Whatever way this goes, that is an absolutely incredible achievement and I am so proud to have been a part of a movement which mobilised so many people.I want specifically to thank Finn, who drove this campaign from day one, for their passion, motivation and encouragement; Sadhbh, for organising so many canvassers and encouraging the astonishing level of support; Aoife for her dedication, advice, and ability to keep me sane; and all of the campaign team for their work and compassion. I have been so honoured in being a part of this, and want to emphasise to everyone who has offered me their thanks that this campaign has been so, so much bigger than me. To everyone who gave their time, words of encouragement, their advice, their skills - thank you.To the sabbatical officers - Eoghan, Robert, Niall, Barry - I want to express not only thanks but admiration. Your conduct throughout this, in the face of a storm of allegations, has been consistently respectful, driven, and truly a testament to all of you and your good character. Whatever the result, I hope the Union becomes a more supportive community for you all.Lastly, on a personal note: this campaign has been tough. For all involved. I, and many of my team, have been verbally harassed and consistently belittled online and in person whilst canvassing. But beyond that, I personally have been targeted for helping to lead this campaign. I have received death threats, had my personal media combed through and publicised, and been accused of numerous false allegations. That is not acceptable conduct for any campaign; we have stuck to the facts and challenged someone in a professional capacity, not a personal one. I stand over my previous comments on this presidency, as I have discussed in interviews and at hustings; but I do emphasise that they were made in a personal capacity. The attempt to not only use that to delegitimise an entire campaign, but to frame me as vindictive, has been genuinely upsetting. The lies that came to frame me as vindictive - that were openly called out, disproven, and since retracted - were not acceptable conduct. The sabbatical officers faced similar unacceptable, vicious lies, and I want to publicly address those and say that these were not true or fair. This is not the way campaigns should run, and we have tried to not engage or encourage this conduct, but it needs to be addressed that personal targeting and undermining was part of this referendum in ways it never should have been.I am so proud to have been involved in such a mobilising, professional, and respectful campaign. I am proud to have worked with an incredible team of passionate, kind, and dedicated students. And I am so, so proud to see the student body engage with their union in such an unprecedented manner.Thank you.