Stage 4 Sociology and Social Justice student, Naomhán Mhaonaigh, promises a new face for the Student Union, and an affordable canteen for students.
Naomhán Mhaonaigh is one of two candidates vying for the role of Education Officer, in yet another contested race in the 2024 UCDSU executive elections. They are a Stage 4 Sociology and Social Justice student, and the current class representative for Stage 4 Social Justice.
Mhaonaigh cites their extensive external experiences, such as being a delegate on the Shared Island Youth Forum, and their time spent working on the National LGBTQ Youth Strategy, as invaluable qualifications for the role. Specifically, Mhaonaigh mentioned how a certificate in Youth Leadership and Community Action showed them how “small things could have a big impact for a lot of people”.
Whilst Mhaonaigh does not possess the same history in the SU as other candidates, they claim their time as a class rep has given them a “good understanding of heavy internal workings of UCD and the SU”. Mhaonaigh was familiar with the boards that the Education Officer sits on, and the problems within them, but in discussions of delivery methods would often stray away from mentioning SU mechanisms, instead showing a preference for the external organisations they have experience with, or remaining vague.
Mhaonaigh’s manifesto emphasises ‘access’, ‘equity’, and ‘inclusion’. Their short-term goals cover LGBTQ+ inclusion by introducing pronouns to classlists. Furthermore, with regards to neurodivergent accessibility, Mhaonaigh would fight for more quiet spaces on campus and advocate for sensory kits to be available on loan from the library.
For Mhaonaigh, the casework with students is the most important part of the Education Officer’s job. They emphasise the need to be approachable, stating “I would make it my mission” to go out to different schools in person and make sure that students are “not just seeing me on a poster”. This echoes the shared desire for increased visibility and engagement with the SU from other candidates.
“I would make it my mission" to go out to different schools in person and make sure that students are “not just seeing me on a poster”.
Beyond this, Mhaonaigh’s manifesto leans towards tackling education issues at an institutional level. They firstly aim to refine existing academic supports by introducing “subject-matching in the writing centre” to ensure that relevant advice is always available. When asked to elaborate on this, Mhaonaigh stated that “sometimes you go into the writing centre, and it's great, and other times you go in and [you] just have no crossover in the subjects that you, or the other person [do],” regarding this as an undermining of the support provided by the writing centre. This refinement would accompany another of Mhaonaigh’s manifesto points, an “open access module on academic writing” that students can always refer back to.
Mhaonaigh places a particular focus on reducing classism on campus, acknowledging that the cost of campus life is a heavy financial burden for many students, creating the necessity to work intense hours to the detriment of their education. From the cost of society balls, to the cost of food, campus prices are a burden for many, and minimise students’ ability to participate in the college lifestyle, with Mhaonaigh concluding that “it's not an inclusive space if you can't afford to be there.”
“It's not an inclusive space if you can't afford to be there.”
This leads to perhaps Mhaonaigh’s biggest ambition, which is the introduction of an affordable and nutritious canteen. “The answer”, Mhaonaigh says, “is in making the whole institution more affordable, not giving people canned food and hoping for the best,” before going on to outline the relevance of an affordable canteen for a sustainable campus initiative, under the ‘Good Health and Wellbeing’ SDG. Whilst Mhaonaigh does not anticipate “cutting the ribbon” in their potential time as Education Officer, they would aim to get the momentum going and show the need for it.
“The answer”, Mhaonaigh says, “is in making the whole institution more affordable, not giving people canned food and hoping for the best.”
Furthermore, Mhaonaigh would fight to increase the retention rates of students who entered UCD through alternative access routes. They plan on promoting a higher uptake of ‘Universal Design for Learning’ training for staff and Sabbats, in collaboration with Access Lifelong Learning, to encourage a readily accessible classroom design. This is a process which is already happening, but Mhaonaigh hopes to speed things up and encourage the university itself to provide the funding. They state that lecturers do want to make their classes more accessible, but often are not told what specific accessibility needs students in their classes may have, something Mhaonaigh empathises with.
“Mhaonaigh would fight to increase the retention rates of students who entered UCD through alternative access routes.”
Building on Mhaonaigh’s aspirations for institutional changes, anti-racism sits high on their agenda, with a plan to introduce anti-racism and inclusion training for all students twice a year. When asked how they envision this training being implemented, Mhaonaigh stated “my proposal would be it goes through the SU, or in collaboration with different professors who have expertise in the area,” and “bringing in outside organisations to help deliver it.” Whilst they recognise that engagement may not be high for such training, Mhaonaigh’s goal would be that it is brought in for First Years, “so that it’s kind of done at the very beginning, so that there's no questions, [showing] this is the standard that we're at. This is what's acceptable, and what's obviously unacceptable on campus.”
Building on Mhaonaigh’s aspirations for institutional changes, anti-racism sits high on their agenda.
On this note, Mhaonaigh was asked about the current SU’s support for Palestinian solidarity and UCD BDS campaign amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and confirmed that they would continue the SU’s work in this area, adding that “it's really important especially to hold the university to account, because they're not stepping up”.
With big ambitions, Mhaonaigh admits that “most of [their manifesto points] would take an entire year, and then a few of them would be, unfortunately, maybe in the next five years”. There is also perhaps a strong lean toward welfare policies in Mhaonaigh’s manifesto, but they state that welfare and education are strongly connected, and an area open for collaboration, though admitting they had not yet reached out to any of the campaigning welfare candidates.