Éabha Hughes is running to be your next Welfare Officer.
After six years navigating UCD as a class representative, committee member and activist, Stage 4 History and Politics student Éabha Hughes is now seeking election as UCDSU’s Welfare Officer. Now twenty four, Hughes began as a class rep during Covid, is currently the Stage 4 History Class Rep and sits on multiple union groups including the constitutional review committee, the cost of education working group and the student-staff school history group. She is also the co-founder of the UCD Palestinian advocacy group known as UCD BDS. Hughes spoke to the University Observer on why she should be your next Welfare officer and how her “politics is always rooted in care for other people.”
On what motivated her to run for Welfare officer Hughes points to all she’s been through while at UCD: “I’ve been in UCD for 6 years, I’ve applied for extenuating circumstances, both on time and retrospectively. I’ve taken a year of absence both on time and retrospectively . . . I’ve very seriously nearly dropped out twice. I’m here because I care about it, and I want to do well.”
When asked what the single most important part of the position is, Hughes said, “I think it's casework. I think it's the meeting people face to face and being able to adequately and accurately whether it be signpost or offer practical advice and support.” But she also emphasised the role of lobbying, having seen in her time involved with the union, “that people underestimate the amount of lobbying that the union does,” with much of the sabbatical officers' time being spent on committees and boards where they advocate for students' needs.
Hughes wants information on resources and supports to “be publicised to the point where you know exactly where you need to go for help at any time.” In her time at UCD she’s found visibility is a major issue both generally and personally, stating, “I was already struggling when I had to look for help” and “that kind of prolonged the process and made it even more tiresome.”
She “would like to see the Union…streamline access to already existing supports while expanding on them as well and making them better because there’s a lot to be made better.”
She points to procedures pertaining to reproductive health that can be accessed in the student health service as an example, that most students don't even know about. Hughes also spoke about how “there’s virtually no license rights” for students living in digs in Ireland, saying she would like to see the union work more with CATU, the tenants union and also the RTB in keeping students informed about their rights and to lobby both AMLÉ and local TDs on the the issue. The Student Emergency Fund is another resource that Hughes feels students should know more about.
“When bystander training is introduced, it actually does impact reporting, and it does impact calling people out.”
Hughes would like to see more diversity in terms of events like International Student Day, noting its importance as “so many people who go to this university have international backgrounds” and “celebration of diversity is huge to them.” Citing the high fees international students are charged Hughes said, “if the university is so hellbent on taking all their money then the very least we can do is make sure that they are adequately supported and represented.”
On how the union has developed over her time in college Hughes “would hate to see it become a more centrist organisation or body.” For Hughes, “the purpose of a union is inherently political,” and “the union is only in line with opposition parties because the government is so set on kicking people out of their houses and raising rents…which is an issue that directly pertains to student welfare.” However also feels that “striking the balance” is important in terms of ensuring student engagement saying “the depoliticisation of the union pissed some people off … but it also spoke to the wider student population because…the engagement was so low between the union and the students.”
When asked on the feasibility of some of her proposed measures to tackle cost of living like a rent-freeze, Hughes pointed to her experience building and running the 2024 UCD Palestine Solidarity Encampment as proof of her capabilities to deliver results, saying, “I’ve done it before and I can do it again” and “I’ll advocate to the strongest of my abilities and I have no issue with breaking the boundaries with what is acceptable or diplomatic - that’s what I can do. Recounting the encampment effort, Hughes highlighted that “UCD only cares about reputational damage”.
Hughes wants less emphasis on the outsourcing of counsellors, saying, “It prolongs the process with you getting matched to someone,” who suits you and, “it's not like they've been university vetted or anything.” Most importantly she stressed that UCD “have the ability to pay a competitive salary.” For her, it’s “a huge thing for me having a counselling staff that reflects the population of UCD.”
If UCD was to outsource counsellors, Hughes would much prefer UCD does so “on the basis of…match[ing] the population to the student,” working with advocacy networks like Black Therapists Ireland to ensure UCD’s diverse student population’s needs are met.
In terms of issues relating to sexual consent and emergency response at UCD, Hughes says there “needs to be a complete overhaul of the system…because it’s not working” and “an audit of the active consent framework…that's the start of what needs to happen.” She thinks UCD should replace its reporting tool with Speak Out, the platform currently used by most universities and “that not many people using the reporting tool just suggests that there is such a lack of trust.” Hughes wants mandatory interactive in person active consent workshops to replace the current program and thinks “when bystander training is introduced, it actually does impact reporting, and it does impact, calling people out.”
For both her proposed mental health programmes and sexual consent, Hughes favours a top-down approach, with an emphasis on collaborating with student groups: “I think that a huge part of the training needs to be student leaders and the auditors of each group…you're trained and so you can call it out and report [it]...if I'm to be the Welfare Officer, there'll be a lot of collaboration between the societies and sports clubs and the union.” On disability access, she wants an audit of all buildings with decision making on the topic centralised rather than made by each school individually.
Hughes believes that her personal and professional experiences are “The reason why…the campaigns that I’ve attached myself to or started have been successful,” coming down to “how much I care about them,” and she will carry this approach into her role as Welfare Officer.