A new UCDSU Constitution is to be drafted and put to referendum in March 2026, as confirmed at UCDSU council this evening. The council also approved the Student Union Budget, received a presentation from AMLÉ and passed a motion to create a commuter student campaign coordinator.
Constitutional Review
UCDSU President Michael Roche submitted a motion to establish a Constitutional Review Committee, starting the process of creating a new constitution for UCDSU. Tonight’s motion passed overwhelmingly.
The Constitutional Review Committee will consist of four sabbatical officers, an independent chairperson, a representative of the UCDSU board, two members of UCDSU council, two students who are not on UCDSU council, two non-voting members of UCD faculty and UCDSU staff members to provide administrative assistance. Roche also made clear that stakeholders in the constitution, including the University Observer, will be invited to meetings as appropriate.
The Constitutional Review Committee will set out to draft a new constitution by December 2025, with a final version due in February 2026. The new constitution will then be put to referendum to the whole student population.
Budget
UCDSU President Michael Roche took questions from the council about the proposed budget for UCDSU for the current academic year. He started by stating “At a board of directors level I’ve introduced a reserves policy” and mentioned a goal of reaching €100,000 in reserves in the next “four or five” years. Later, it was confirmed by UCDSU Chief Operations Officer, David Fitzsimons, that at the start of this academic year, the reserves were already around €98,000.
Roche said that in a change to previous years, he is committing to presenting the budget again at the final council of the year and showing what was actually spent in each category. He says that in previous years the full amount that has been budgeted in each category has not really been spent and he seeks to make clear to council at the end of the year what is actually spent.
Much of the conversation around the budget focused on AMLÉ and how much students were paying. AMLÉ is mentioned at a cost of €182,667 in the budget. One member of council asked whether all students were paying €5 or if part time students were paying €2.50 as planned. Roche said that the university “don’t have the software at current [sic] to be able to charge full time students 5 euros and part time students 2.5 euro.” He claimed that UCD offered to charge all students €5 but that that proposal would be “offensive to the council”. He said that UCD has options - don’t collect the money or build the system to collect the money.
Answering some other questions from council members, Roche said that it was not the intention of the council to keep large surpluses, humorously quoting Charlie McCreevy, stating, “if we have it we’ll spend it”. He also joked that “the money was just resting in our account” in relation to the wages that should have been paid to six sabbatical officers while there were only four in office. He said that the money has not yet been reallocated, nor has the €23,000 that would have been spent on exam buses should the university not have taken on that cost.
After an accusation that the budget was wrong by €1, the budget passed overwhelmingly, in stark contrast to last year’s budget which was rejected and sent to a second council meeting.
AMLÉ
Two speakers from AMLE (Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn) were present at council this evening. VP for Campaigns Faye Ní Dhomhnaill and VP for Dublin Region Daniel Walsh presented the report. The speakers noted various protests and lobbying efforts AMLE has been involved in thus far. A number of questions were posed from Council members, largely regarding the value that students are getting from membership of AMLÉ. The speakers maintained that AMLÉ provides distinct benefits for students, including access to the MyAMLÉ app, access to national communication links, and AMLÉ’s seat on the board of the Higher Education Authority (HEA).
New Sabbatical Officers
Both the Campaigns and Engagement Officer Kelvyn Fields and the Entertainment Officer Luke Sherlock were permitted to speak at council, on their first day of assuming their roles. This follows the sabbatical officer by-election, which occurred from the 22nd to the 23rd of October, with results announced on the 24th.
Commuter Student Campaign Coordinator
UCDSU Education Officer Matt Mion submitted a motion on the establishment of a commuter student campaign coordinator. The motion, which was seconded by disability rights campaign coordinator, Eimear Timmon, establishes a clear mandate for the new position, including the responsibility of promoting awareness of commuter student issues, “organise campaigns and initiatives to improve the experience of commuter students” and addressing the needs of students who face long commutes. The motion passed with a clear majority with no speakers against.