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THE UNION OF Students in Ireland (USI) has today elected Roscommon native Joe O’Connor as its new president for 2013/2014 at its annual congress.
O’Connor has served as the president of the GMIT Student’s Union for two years before this and was also previously the Vice President for Welfare.
The USI said today that O’Connor, who has an honours degree in Accounting and a Masters in Strategy and Innovation Management has personal experience of coping with the increasing cost of third level education, having relied upon the maintenance grant throughout his time in college.
Speaking today, O’Connor said the the need for “effective national representation is more acute than ever” as families struggle with increasing fees and “dwindling student supports”.
“At this time, 10,000 vulnerable students are still waiting on their first maintenance grant payment from SUSI and countless secondary school students wonder if they can afford to attain what should be their right; an education that best equips them to play their part in our country’s recovery,” he said.
“I have spent the last three years dealing with students facing these enormous difficulties first-hand. These experiences will not only inform my term as USI President but also provide the necessary motivation in our fight to protect access to higher education.”
UCD’s Paddy Guiney was elected to the position of Vice President for Campaigns. Guiney has stated that re-affiliating UCD is one of his top priorities.
Results for other positions on USI Officer Board 2013/2014:
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Hahahaha. And the non-story of the year award goes to…
USI is the biggest joke of an organisation if I’ve ever seen in this country. Worse than any quangos. To get elected as President of USI you’d almost want to better your own career at the expense of the students.
Fantastic alumini they’ve got too. Pat Rabbitte and Eamon Gilmore who betrayed the left, Gary Redmond John Logue who are both Fianna Failures.
And yet you won’t identify any areas for reform to take place or how he will encourage the union to grow into something you would support. Negativity without solutions are fruitless.
So being politically involved is a crime? Regardless of their various personal view points being a member of a party/political movement shouldnt be stigmatised.
At least they show up and try rather than being an armchair activist and moaning constantly abd presenting no solutions!
@ Joe, Student unions should organise multi-institution protests and actions themselves and cut out these middle men who cost its members a fortune in fees every year, money that could be used for direct action or a hardship fund rather then disappearing into the financial blackbox that is the USI.
Delighted for Joe he has given so much to student movement over the few years. Excited to see what he achieves next year in the top job! Well done!!
Let’s hope he’s not another Fianna Fáiled in disguise like so many before him
Cheap shot
Do you have any good in you at all. Cant you just congratulate the guy.
Gary Redmond, seen recently at the Ógra Fianna Fáil conference in Sligo.
John Logue, let into Leinster House to attend a Fianna Fáil debate during which he got himself arrested.
The last two have been closet FFers. I think it’s a fair question to ask whether this guy is also associated with the party that has caused such damage to our country over recent years.
David, members of USI were present in the observer box during that incident to witness a debate relevant to the student movement. There was an invitation sent to MO’s for students to attend as well, so please don’t suggest that that attendance was due to any personal political affiliation, as opposed to it being part of his role as President of USI.
For once, Higgins makes sense. These boys are careerists.
Hopefully he’ll take a much more enlightened view to third level funding. I’m in that large group of people who neither qualify for the grand system or can afford to pay fees and attend college. I would love to avail of a student loan system similar to the UK or Australia, but the USI have only ever resisted such common sense suggestions which would help those in the middle. Instead we just get a head in the sand approach with the unrealistic expectation that we can have free third level for all.
I completely agree – pushing for free fees for all is getting us nowhere. Unfortunately though, regardless of the USI president’s personal opinion, there’s not much he’ll be able to do as he has to follow the mandate of USI which was established (most recently) last May.
@Kevin – Good point. The system in Australia is the way to go. Everybody still gets to go to college and then once you earn over a certain amount when you are working a small percentage is deducted from every pay. This idea we have of free everything is silly and it cannot last. I wouldn’t hold to much faith in your USI however as I think they are a pretty pointless bunch. They don’t really do much to be honest except maybe have a little protest when any minister visits a campus.
Maybe he might just be an Independent person who can act for the benefits of students..
Does anyone in the real world really care who the chief schoolkid/wannabe politician is?
Best of luck to him.he has a big job head of him.
Paddy Guiney, and his predecessors did such a good job with campaigns and communications in UCD that the position is to be gotten rid of at the end of this academic year. And now he’s got the job at national level? Not surprising that his own university voted to disaffiliate.
Does this mean we won’t see that fetching mugshot of John Logue on every USI story on the journal? I shall miss that picture!
So he has not actually been a student for 3 years, that will be helpful in appreciating the stresses and strains of the current student body.
Delighted for him..and wish him the best of luck, he’ll defentily need dealing with the fools we have in government
It’s a fair question to ask about the guy’s political situation or are people apolitical and naive enough to say if doesn’t matter whether O’Connor is affiliated with one of the parties he is meant to be fighting against for students’ interests. Having googled around I would suspect he has labour sympathies which is a disaster for students with a Labour education minister in as it means we will get no real opposition from USI, as per usual.
O’Connor supported slave labour for students aka Job Bridge as a ‘graduate employment’ initiative so the fact he can’t tell the difference between employment – you get paid – and gross exploitation – you don’t – doesn’t inspire confidence http://gmitsugalway.com/j-stuff/press/175-usi-welcomes-5000-new-places-on-job-bridge-initiative.html
He also likes to present himself as a ‘reasonable’ alternative to FEE who USI harasses constantly for actually doing something about students’ interests other than lobbying their pals in government and he was not in favour in campaigning for the abolition of fees during the referendums held to try and get student support for the USI leadership’s sell-out policy. Nothing will change here with yet another careerist in office.
Wait to see Logue pop up as a political lackey
A union with as much influence as a fart in wind.
Well done Joe!
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