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THE EMBATTLED PRESIDENT of UCD’s Students’ Union has written an open letter to students as she faces an impeachment referendum.
A petition calling for Katie Ascough’s impeachment was accepted by the union’s Returning Officer Stephen Devine after it collected 1,200 signatures.
The campaign calling for the impeachment of Ascough was launched after she made the decision to remove a page about access to abortion from a magazine handed out to new students.
Ascough will take annual leave until voting is finished on 26 October.
In an open letter to students, Ascough appeals for students to back her, while saying that she followed the legal advice from the SU’s solicitors.
The legal advice, signed by Richard Hammond of Hammond Good, warns Ascough that the SU could be exposed if it carries the information.
He says that under the Regulation of Information (Services outside the State for Termination of Pregnancies) Act, 1995, the SU and its officers could be fined.
Having had the opportunity to peruse the intended publication, I have some serious concerns about UCDSU proceeding in the manner envisaged. For reasons I will set out hereunder, I have formed the conclusion that distributing the handbook with this text will almost undoubtedly constitute a breach of the Act in one respect, and may well be at risk of being considered a breach of the Act in two other respects, depending on how any case on the points proceed.
“The penalty for breaches of the Act are a Class B fine (not exceeding €4,000) and forfeiture of the offending material (id est on top of the fine, the handbooks could be seized and destroyed). Anyone who is actively involved in the breach of the Act or of sanctioning the breach could be amenable to prosecution.
Therefore, if, for example, it was a Presidential decision to proceed with the circulation of the handbook with the text that I reviewed, even if you did not hand out any handbook yourself, you could still face prosecution.
“The prudent course of action would be avoid proceeding with the current handbook, whether through redesign (if not too late) or cancellation.”
Ascough, who is openly anti-abortion, said that while the information was changed, the magazine still directed students to services to help with crisis pregnancies. She said that the cost was €7,000 and potential fines were far in excess of that.
“Essentially, the page went from showing the abortion information, to directing people to the places to get the same abortion information.”
Ascough outlines her progress in her time in office, including the installation of microwaves around campus, before saying that the move against her undemocratic.
“In the midst of much achievement, a group of students has called for my impeachment because I chose to not break the law.
Another alarming matter is the bullying tactics of a group of students to try and discard a democratically elected SU president. Some members of the Impeach UCDSU President campaign posted pro-impeachment tweets and Facebook posts on the day of my election back in March, before I had the chance to make even one presidential action or decision. It was clear from the outset that some students didn’t want to give me a chance as SU President because of my views on abortion.
“In the interest of fairness, of democracy, and an effective SU, please tackle bullying and use your vote to build a fairer, freer, and more democratic UCD.
We don’t have to agree on the issue of abortion, but we should be able to respect each other and not endorse unfair accusations.
According to the University Observer, four UCDSU sabbatical officers were opposed to Ascough’s decision to reprint the magazine.
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Sounds like a Ponzi scheme… Buy a share over the Internet in a place that could be a very artfully photographed Priory hall. Demand is high, the asset is way over valued. The initial investors cash out at the maximum and when the asset plummets in value and the shares become unsellable, the late investors loose everything. Also seems like it’s completely unregulated and open to abuse by those with inside information as to the value of the assets and property shares.
This sort of scam is nothing new, been several schemes shut down the UK selling people ‘shares’ in London green belt land and selling them on the fact that it could be reclassified for development and increase in value 100 fold.
Well, I guess we have learnt over the last few years that there is no shortage of gullible people out there when it comes to property, especially the Irish!
Crowdfunding? a bid like NAMA in ways.
Fianna Fail would love this…..
i doubt mr tully would appreciate seeing his house thats for sale for almost 450,000 being used at the top of this article
So more foreign direct investment ready to make our property crisis even worse. Good man Enda look the other way as usual.
Hmmmmm.
No bona fide purchaser for value without notice. What could possibly go wrong?
What has equity’s darling got to do with this; what am I missing?
Does this solve the homeless crisis in Ireland? Do we have the same population as the UK with ready cash? This business solution is well on the way by an Irish company by Irish people and they will only be investing in Social houses so we can solve our own problems thanks!
Some tips to reduce rents: (1) govt cancel new 4% prsi tax on rental income (2) govt cancel new 7% usc tax on rental income (3) treat landlords as a business meaning cancel the 25% reduction in mortgage interest against rental income for purpose of calculating tax liable income. All 3 plus property tax have lead in my case to an effective 26% increase in the cost of renting out property which ive not yet passed on. But many landlords in dublin have. Guys THE GOVT HAS TAXED RENT INTO OBLIVION and wonder why rents increase but oh yeah they dont tell Joe Soap this little secret. …..
A lot of women in UK. are using this type of “crowdfunding investment”, to have a property portfolio to eventually make themselves a good pension, time will tell if it works, to me there seems to be a lot of costs involved, for what you might get out of it. Will this start another property bubble? I think so I wouldn’t like to see this happening here again. I am very interested in what Louise has said, how would that work? Would there be rent controls, I heard a TD. talk about that, and said the leases would be 20 years, but these are families, only investors would tuff them out of their home! That won’t work., people need homes of their own,for life, to rent or buy,That is a real need in Irish people.
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