UCD students have voted on a new constitution for their Students' Union, creating a full-time Irish Language Officer.
Results have been announced for the referendum on the proposed UCDSU constitution, alongside the executive by-elections held for vacant College Officer roles.
The constitutional referendum has passed, moving the role of Oifigeach na Gaeilge from a part-time position into a full-time sabbatical officer role.
The total valid poll for the referendum was 4,911, whilst quorum was 4,029.
The total amount of No votes cast in the referendum was 297, whilst the number of Yes votes was 4,614.
Therefore, the referendum passed with 94% of students voting yes.
The voting period for the referendum and elections was held from the 21st of April until the 24th of April at 3pm, following a one-day extension.
Initially scheduled to take place from 8am on Tuesday 21st to 3pm on Thursday 23rd, an extension to the voting period was announced at 1.30pm on Thursday. Official UCDSU communications indicated that “a number of factors which impacted access and visibility at the outset of voting” were the reason for the extension.
Both students and Union staff indicated that there were issues in students accessing the voting platform, with some students reporting having not received an email to vote until Wednesday, the second day of the voting period. A campaign account for the constitutional referendum, YesGaegileUCD, stated via an Instagram story at approximately 10am, “A chlann, many of you may not have been sent the link [to vote] this morning. The Union is having technical issues with it and are trying to fix. We will share the link and QR code as soon as the problem is fixed.”
In a statement to the University Observer, UCDSU President Michael Roche remarked:
"I am writing to share some reflections on what has been a very significant day for UCDSU. This latest achievement feels like the culmination of an exceptionally busy and productive year for our organisation."
"Looking back, we have rewritten the constitution and secured support for it through referendum. We organised the largest student protest in decades and hosted our biggest event since 2010. We also carried out one of the largest surveys in our history and sustained a highly effective “digs drive” for accommodation."
"Our executive team has worked consistently to deliver on behalf of students, and today’s result is another example of that effort. They deserve real credit for their commitment. I would also like to thank Cian Spillane and Callan Ó Cléirigh in particular for their contributions."
"Earlier in the year, a student said to me that nothing had changed. In light of this referendum, it seems fair to say that everything has changed."
By-elections:
Ayla Kurt-Elli was successfully elected to the role of Social Science College Officer, defeating Muhammad Janjua. Janjua received 234 votes, whilst Kurt-Elli received 377 votes. Re-open Nominations received 91 votes in this race.
Mateusz Polinski ran uncontested for the role of Architecture College Officer. Polinski was elected to the role with 73 votes, outweighting the option to Re-open Nominations, which received 21 votes.
Polinski is currently a City Planning and Landscape Architecture Stage 2 Class Rep. Polinski recently raised a motion during the final Union Council of the academic year. The motion, which was carried, was regarding public transport in the Greater Dublin Area and its impact on UCD students.
The remaining vacant positions on the Union Executive, namely Smurfit College Officer; Business College Officer; and Agriculture, Food & Veterinary Sciences College Officer, received no candidates in this by-election.