On Saturday 22 February, the instagram account @michael.4.president posted a five-minute-long video, announcing the intentions of a student named Michael Roche to run for President of the UCD Students’ Union.
On Saturday 22 February, the instagram account @michael.4.president posted a five-minute-long video, announcing the intentions of a student named Michael Roche to run for President of the UCD Students’ Union (UCDSU).
Roche’s speech was part of the week’s Literary and Historical Society Debate, ‘This House Would Try Everything Once’, Roche using his speaking time to launch his presidential campaign. Roche would be the first candidate since 2021 to run for the office of President while not currently serving as a sabbatical officer.
At time of writing, the video currently has more than 14.6 thousand views on Instagram, whilst the account also boasts 473 followers. His bio reads, “Sick of the SU? So am I”, encouraging students to vote Michael Roche #1 for UCDSU President on April 1, 2, 3.
Roche began his speech saying, “Ladies and Gentlemen I present to you, UCD Students’ Union. Let us talk about where our €1 million, which comes from our Student Centre Levy, goes.”
Chief Operating Officer (COO) of UCDSU David Fitzsimons states, “UCD Students’ Union receives zero funding from the Student Centre Levy. This levy is collected specifically for capital works and maintenance of the UCD Student Centre and is managed by UCD Sport and Leisure Ltd.”
The Student Centre Levy is a fee paid by all students enrolled in UCD, and currently stands at €254 per student in 2024/25. UCD states online that “The Levy directly funds the operations and loans attached to the running of the UCD Student Centre and its associated facilities which helps support the provision of facilities for student sports clubs and societies.” The Levy also grants students access to two gyms and over 100 fitness classes per week at UCD Sport and Fitness.
This year, UCD Students’ Union received a capitation from the Student Activity Committee (SAC) which totaled €810,000, provided directly by the University. UCD Societies and the Athletic Union Council also sit on the SAC and received similar capitations from the University, receiving €425,000 and €854,000 respectively this year.
Roche continued his speech, claiming “Recently, the Union spent €140,000 on an office refurbishment, including a cinema screen in the atrium.”
In 2019, UCD Students’ Union undertook a refurbishment project that cost the union €148,000. UCDSU COO Mr Fitzsimons told the University Observer that the refurbishment consisted of: “Stripping out, Internal Wall Completions, External Wall Completions, Wall Finishes Internally, Floor Finishes, Ceiling Finishes, Services Installations, Fixtures and Fittings, Painting and Decoration.” He further noted that, “Where feasible, existing infrastructure was retained (e.g., reusing doors, ceiling elements and wiring) to minimise costs.”
Mr Fitzsimons clarified, “The 2019 refurbishment did not include a cinema screen. If the SU, a society, or a sports club requires the use of a screen, they submit a request to the UCD Student Centre, which then handles the matter.”
Roche stated that he had attended a recent movie screening of ‘Everybody’s Talking about Jamie’ in the Student Centre Atrium, an event hosted by UCDSU which took place on Tuesday 18 February. He said, “As I entered, I saw 40 bottles of water lined up for the crowd, couches arranged for the masses, and a paid UCD sabbatical officer prepared for the crowd management challenge of the century. Ladies and gentlemen, four people showed up. So for all the money they spent, directly, indirectly, the union managed to engage just four students.”
UCD Students’ Union has come under criticism for a lack of engagement with the student body since the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the Union claims engagement is now at its highest levels since 2020. 1,448 students bought tickets to the Freshers Ball which took place in The Academy in September 2024, while the ‘Christmas Day All Day Party’ in November 2024 sold 2,398 tickets.
Roche continued, “Despite receiving €1 million of our money they still cannot mobilise 12.5% of the student body to vote. So what do they do? They spend €3,500 every year on new referendum after new referendum which fails to ever meet quorum.”
As stated, UCD Students’ Union does not recieve any money from students through the Student Centre Levy. Roche’s claim about the spending of €3,500 “every year” on referendums requires clarification. As reported by the University Observer, UCDSU spent roughly €3,500 in November 2024 on the referendum to lower the quorum from 12.5% to 10% for constitutional referendums. UCDSU states this money went partially towards advertising the referendum, but primarily for the voting system used called ‘MyVoice’. Prior to this year’s referendum, referenda have been held at the same time as Executive Elections and have therefore not required the same amount of funding as the stand-alone referendum of November 2024.
Roche further discussed payroll costs for UCDSU in his speech: “The union recently allocated €715,000 on wages to employ just 18 people. This is more than double the entire €300,000 budget for UCD Societies. And despite having only 30% of the SU budget, societies in a voluntary capacity managed to attract nearly 20 times more engagement than the union.”
UCDSU currently has 16 staff members and total salaries are budgeted at €806,000, which Mr Fitzsimons claims “includes employer pension contributions and employer PRSI costs.”
Further, the “€300,000 budget for UCD Societies” which Roche referenced is capitation received by the Student Activity Committee (SAC), which UCDSU, Societies, and the Athletic Union Council all sit on. UCD Societies reportedly received an allocation of €425,000 from the SAC this year.
Roche's speech also claimed that UCD Societies attract “nearly 20 times more engagement than the union.” UCDSU has struggled with engagement in recent years, taking a major hit during the covid-19 pandemic in 2020, though it is unclear what figure Roche attributes to union engagement to calculate this figure.
Commenting on last year’s UCD Ball, Roche claimed “there was at one point more people in the clubhouse than the ball itself in the atrium.” The University Observer reported at the time that “the crowd was small”, and that “by 8pm it was clear that this event was not going to reach the attendance records desired by the UCD Students’ Union.” 792 tickets were bought for last year's UCD Ball, whilst 1,448 students bought tickets to the Freshers Ball which took place in The Academy in September 2024.
Roche then commented on the campaign promises of the sabbatical officers, “Then we have their promises, year on year at election time. Cheaper rents. What does UCD do? They put them up every year.”
Though no candidate running for any sabbatical position last year promised “cheaper rents,” current SU President Miranda Bauer said she would “fight for a rent freeze”, and pointed to escalating direct actions to revenue-generating buildings on campus, which she claims is in the works. Current Welfare Officer Ciara Donohue promised to “relaunch the digs drive” in her manifesto, and said she would lobby for more staff to monitor the UCD accommodation pad. This year was the largest Digs Drive since it began three years ago, with collaboration from six universities in Dublin. The Campaigns and Engagement Officer, Saskia McCormack-Eiffe said she would “prioritise lobbying the university to lower rental costs and improve living standards in on-campus housing.”
UCD is in a Rent Pressure Zone, which means that the maximum legal amount they can raise rent by every year is 2%, and the university has done exactly that for the last number of years.
Later in his speech, Roche states, “We need to get back to bread and butter issues, or there won’t be a Students’ Union anymore. Engagement is at rock bottom, and we need to refocus the union on things that matter, such as sanctuary students and effective advocacy for our wider student community.”
Despite previously mentioned ongoing engagement issues in the Union, the turnout at last year’s Executive Elections was the highest level of turnout seen in UCD since the Covid-19 pandemic. In the most contested race, President, 3,518 votes were cast between candidates Miranda Bauer and Marc Matouc. In November’s Constitutional Referendum, with two days of voting, 3,391 students voted; 10.6% of the student population who were eligible to vote in the referendum.
Roche then commented on the makeup of the union executive, “Year after year, they gather in a small room in their newly refurbished atrium and carve out who gets what position, who gets president. We've all heard the rumours. You can't run unless you're a college officer. You can't run unless you've attended the right number of protests, worn Doc Martens, visited Workman's twice a week.”
Criteria to run for any position is stated as such on ucdsu.ie/elections: “All registered UCD students are eligible both to vote and to put themselves forward. All registered students will be given a chance to vote for their next President, Welfare Officer, Education Officer, Campaigns & Engagement Officer and Entertainment Officer. For the Graduate Officer role, only a Graduate Student can run for this role and this election is decided only by Graduate Students.”
The University Observer understands that there has never been a criteria where a candidate has been unable to run for a position due to not having been a College Officer or not having attended the right number of protests. Roche’s own candidacy proves the exception to his claim. He is entitled to run for the office of President, or indeed any other position, despite not currently holding the role of a College Officer himself, provided he collects 150 signatures by 3pm on Friday 28 February.
In an Instagram story highlight titled ‘Facts’, Roche posted a picture of the Students’ Union banner advertisement outside the James Joyce Library, with the caption, “I always wonder how much this costs every year... Such a waste of students’ money...”
In the following story, he reveals a conversation with an unnamed account who claims to “know the guys that charged them (the SU) to put it up”. The unnamed account claimed the advertising banner cost the Students’ Union €5,000. Mr Fitzsimons provided figures for the printing and installation of the banner to the University Observer, citing “Printing Cost: €287 (ex VAT) Installation Cost: €460 (ex VAT)”