Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE PRESIDENT OF the Union of Students (USI) in Ireland has blamed a “small cohort” in DCU for the decision of the university’s students’ union to declare a recent referendum affiliating it to the USI “null and void”.
In an email to the student body, the president of DCU Students Union said this evening that the vote last month to re-affiliate with the USI was of questionable constitutionality, saying the SU’s executive had not held an information campaign or promoted the referendum.
Last month 768 students at DCU voted in favour of affiliating with USI, the national representative body for students, after a decade’s absence with 642 voting against the campaign.
However in an email to students this evening, DCU SU president Paul Doherty said:
The constitutionality has been challenged in relation to Article 9.1.6 which states that ‘The Students’ Union shall be responsible for the posting of the wording of proposed constitutional changes and the promotion of each referendum’.
“In the case of the USI referendum DCU SU Executive did not to hold an information campaign or promote the referendum. Therefore, as protector of the Constitution I must now declare the USI affiliation referendum null and void.”
However this evening’s decision to declare that result null and void has led to USI’s outgoing president John Logue insisting that his union will seek to “protect the democratic decision of DCU students”.
Logue said in a statement: “It is evident from the events that have transpired since the result of the referendum that a small cohort in DCU is intent on subverting the students’ decision by any means necessary.
“This has culminated in the highly questionable decision by DCU Students’ Union today to declare the referendum null and void. USI will now take any measures necessary to ensure that the constitutional right of DCU students to join and form a union is vindicated.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Meanwhile in the real world……
Unfortunately some of them guys will be our future politicians.living in a bubble already
Well said Paul.
Bit like the referendum, keep on voting until you give the answer the leaders want.
This is just a practice run for our future leaders.
Unfortunately these fools grow up, join a party, get into government and well make further foolish rules and stuff! Taking into account that the FG candidate didn’t reach the quota and got only 10% of the overall votes in East Meath, well it looks as if we are stuck with fools supporting an idiot, who runs the village!!
Its not the 1st time something like this has happened in DCU , The vote was really close with very low turn out. as a DCU student I welcome the Decision by my Democratically elected SU President who is “the protector of the constitution” and I thank him for actually doing his job. DCU has excelled in the past 10 years without the USI. There was also a very strong and unwelcome’d presence from USI staff on campus during the elections and a number of my fellow students told me they felt pressured into voting yes because of that presence. Such a presence was not allowed on the UCD campus during their referendum. The USI is a waste of money and resources. Fees are still going up, as for contact with the minister/department of education, anybody can make a phone call or send an email or request a meeting which they will get 9/10 times if its a reasonable topic that needs discussion.
Sean, who called this election in the first place? What kind of students are pressured into voting a certain way by USI? It’s hardly run by Jimmy Hoffa. In any event it’s farcically meaningless.
It was called because a student collected the required amount of signatures to force a referendum, it was not the initiative of the SU. An example of a situation on Election Day was up to 4 usi staff members waiting outside a lecture room and ushering people towards a polling station. Nobody brought a tommy gun, but you can see why students would have said they felt pressured. It was very annoying and they (USI staff) made it very difficult to get to lectures as they blocked up walk ways there was that many of them. Not to mention delaying the start of almost every lecture on polling days.
How exactly has DCUSU excelled without national representation? It’s Department practice not to engage with disaffiliates.
One example, DCU received a substantial cut to the Student Assistance Fund this year. Most affiliated colleges had significantly smaller cuts imposed because of USI’s impact.
Sean T. Uninformed and uneducated opinion!
Someone better tell the Department. I was president of a non affiliate university SU and my university president was extremely helpful in getting me access to the minister, and even Corporate Affairs got us meetings with the Taioseach anytime the opportunity arose on campus.
Spend the €80k on staff of your own who can gain experience and provide continuity!
My successors at a non-affiliate achieved huge increases to hardship funding arising from the SUSI crisis which USI has press released but had no results on!
USI propaganda a plenty here today.. The referendum was not constitutionally valid, now if the USI are proposing that DCUSU scrap that section of their constitution and ratify the decision it is bot an institution worth joining.
Side note, USI might be overly bitter about this due to the UCD decision and the NUI Maynooth decision.. they are very much becoming a Union of (some) Students of Ireland
NUI Maynooth actually vote today in
From my experience, student unions are usually made up of complete wasters doing half arsed courses, and they form little SU cliques. People doing proper college courses (usually far more talented individuals) don’t have the time for it. As such you’re left with these clowns running the show.
A fair reflection of politics in general in the country.
Splitters!
The second time in two years that DCU SU has ruled a referendum “unconstitutional” because they did not like it. They have absolutely no respect for the democratic choice of the students and will go to any lengths to have their way. It is a disgraceful decision from DCU SU president Paul Doherty who came out against the result of the USI vote just days after it happened. I hope USI take this case to the courts to ensure the students of DCU get the union representation they voted for
Surely taking the SU to the court will drain even more money from the college ?
I suggest you read the constitution and you’ll see why Doherty’s hands were tied. I disagree with the fact that the SU never did the informations campaign because they were obliged to, and it was a huge error on their part. However, this referendum was unconstitutional, how on Earth can anybody say Doherty has made the wrong decision here?
The USI is completely useless and impotent.
DCU and UCD would be better to set up their own students’ union with a more radical edge rather than one run by closet Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael members
Get into bed with UCD and you’ll be worse off. If you think USI is run by Fianna Fail and Fine Gael you’ll be even more shocked by how right-wing UCDSU is.
Since when were any of the Student Unions right-wing? This unwillingness to respect the wishes of the body of people the DCU SU claim to represent reminds one of their bigger brothers, the Trade Unions who are full of pretentious lefties.
The facts of the matter is USI ran a good campaign. The No to USI campaign was shit and almost non existent. To now complain that USI had too many people campaigning is just sour grapes and a cop out. No one was “forced” to vote in any way, it’s not Zimbabwe in DCU but after the declaring of this referendum by Paul Doherty you would have to question if the DCUSU have been taking tips from Robert Mugabe
Well said. I campaigned respectfully for two half days, avoided being in sight of the polling station as was asked of me and mainly spoke to students coming in and out of the Business block. There were class addresses done before lectures started and lasted only a couple of minutes at most.
I can count on one hand how many students fobbed me off. The vast majority were polite and many asked good questions. There was virtually no opposition presence on the ground bar a few poorly done up posters.
You know nothing of the sort. I’ve never voted FF or FG and never will.
Very Easy to run a good campaign when you have the money to back it… and as a student of an affiliated IT (unfortunately) I don’t see why I should be paying to have members of USI running around DCU while they could be doing something constructive like putting together proper proposals to help improve the education system in Ireland instead of putting out pointless press releases that basically say “were not happy with this”.
Well if reports (which were out during the election, I remember reading them on Facebook) that the USI broke rules and didn’t allow a fair and balanced campaign, than the result should be null and void. If the USI are so confident that students want to be in their union, why not allow for a repeat?
I have nothing to do with DCU/USI or student unions btw.
According to DCU they’ve loads of Money since they don’t pay an affiliation fee, so if they want to run a no to USI campaign they could have. Furthermore it costs nothing to go out and talk to your students and is fairly inexpensive to make some posters.
Having a national voice and being united Is now more important than ever, I don’t see what’s so bad about that.
The point of this is though, is that the students democratically voted to affiliate to USI, and if that’s what the students want then that’s what they should get, the pay for support and representation from their union, and in this case they absolutely haven’t gotten it.
@ Niamh… DCU may have loads of money but their union has to stay neutral in a referendum as an ex officer in Tralee you should know that. For students to mount a sufficient No campaign it would have a huge impact in their college work and financially for them also…. Having a national voice is important but one that costs so much to run as USI is just isn’t feasible anymore USI needs to become a lot more cost effective
@Paul, I don’t know if you are aware but USI costs €5 per year. Thats less than a can of coke and a sandwich – for national representation you can’t get much better than that. Also, USI have currently not recieved affiliation fees from one large MO for the last 18 months with €180,000 owed to them.
The union did not have to stay neutral. The officers can take unpaid leave from the union executive and campaign on behalf of the no side. Also I would like to point out that the No side in UCD was significantly better funded and ran by volunteer students.
USI is currently under attack by YFG. This is becoming more and more apparent as time goes on. Fine Gael itself has a long tradition of ignoring unions and attempting to undermine them. The recent motion at YFG conference calling for membership of the local union to be optional is far from an attempt to offer students choice – it is an attempt to remove unions so that little fight is brought to Fine Gael as they attempt to introduce a graduate tax.
This decision by DCUSU is an insult to democracy, students of DCU voted to affiliate. If DCUSU had a problem with the election procedures it is their duty to create a new set of procedures – not whine about them and attempt to remove democratic voice from their students.
Also I’d like to point out that a TD costs us each €13.50 – where is my ability to seek refund and request that they cost me much less than that as I don’t believe that any of them currently represent me.
The USI however has represented me in many ways throughout my time in third level – certainly alot more than my Fine Gael representatives have.
@Ben or some people €5 is a lot…. The YFG motion for giving students the option to not join their local union is fair… why should somebody be a member of an organisation if they don’t want to be.. your argument is clearly one sided… If membership to a union was outlawed you we be shouting that it is undemocratic but somehow being forced to be a member is totally democratic…. In relation to the money owed to USI If a MO hasn’t paid membership fees for 18 months how are they members still?? Clearly other colleges can learn something from this…. Also If your not happy with your TDs its very simple vote for someone else next time that’s democracy…. Also my local TD and Senator has done a lot to help me in different situations while USI has done nothing for me
Apologies Paul but USI have done alot for you, don’t blame the USI when you refuse to take part. USI has been at the forefront of social change for the past 53 years. It is largely thanks to them that I am not considered a criminal for the person I love.
IT Tralee recieved double funding on its SAF this year thanks to the USI – did you know that? USI protected 97% of grants this year. An amazing figure seeing as Fine Gael and Labour are doing their damn best to take every single penny off the poorest in society. USI sits on the HEA – representing you at the very highest peak of the third level sector. Yes I agree they need to reform in some ways, especially in regards to student engagement however I am attempting to change things from the inside by getting involved and proposing ideas to get it done. Again the motion to YFG was an attempt to steal a students voice from them, if the motion was simply to allow students to have free will then I would agree – but I will not stand by silently while YFG attempt to make it easier for FG to pass graduate tax legislation.
Also – a small point €2250 is alot, but thats the fees this FG/LAB coalition have placed on students – the €5 for USI comes out of that. So in comparison I know which I’d rather pay…
Sorry but those 5 euros ad up to 60k with 12 thousand students. Goodbye grants to societies…. Or perhaps it’s the counselling service that would take the hit?
All so the USI can write strongly worded letters to the Taoiseach.
And Ben. Every year they threaten to get rid of the grant. So that every year you campaign and when it ‘only’ gets increased by 250 you can pretend like its a win.
Seems to me like they’ve just budgeted a 250 increase year on year.
This is what free education gets you. If all these yoyo’s had to pay for their own education they wouldn’t have time for all this irrelevance. Why do students need a union in the first place? Are they being forced to work in inhumane conditions for no money?
Students Unions are the only thing giving struggling students a voice at the moment. Students are paying more and more to go to college and getting less for that. Support systems such as counselling services and increasingly being attacked and the impact of the Employment Control Framework is having a severe negative impact on the quality of graduate degrees. There are many, many reasons why Students’ Unions are needed and now, more than ever, the national representation that USI provides is extremely important to the student body.
what a load of arse. The Logue fella interrupted my favorite lecture of the week, networks & internets, and I’m still none the wiser as to what a yes/no vote would achieve yet I’ve lost a good 5 minutes of education. I could however guess what a yes/no vote would do and my guess is arse.
100% behind ya there, he should never have interrupted our class, but sure they thought we’d just vote yes with a prod or two!
Because the wannabe politician thought that he was ‘making a difference’ instead they proved they are nothing but a burden on the university
Fantastic result for Fine Gael & a wake up call for people on here predicting the party’s demise. A huge big swathe of this country recognise we’re going in the right direction.
Oh look, its Kevin the troll. Kevin seriously, don’t take this to heart but go away and never come back. Nobody wants to hear about you and your failure of a party you call FG, there nothing but s#%t talkers and scam artists.
What direction would that be Kevin …down the swaney ? Closing garda stations , making more difficult for working class kids to access 3rd level and a transport minister who wants women at the sink !!!
Sorry wrong article? Or trying to hijack the tread. Dont think we will fall for that.
Usi has always been rudderless. Problem is the turn around of students. Should be an actually career. Elect president older wider and not a student. Someone with trade union experience.
This is missing so I understand why some want to stay outside
Off topic?
Mr.Know- failure of a party. 70+ seats in Dáil Éireann says differently. Wee bit sore today after you realised you represent a meaningless minority that society is happy enough to ignore? Boo hoo.
@lorraine- you need to have that amnesia looked at. The money for Garda stations etc disappeared through the fingers of the last Government. You mightn’t have the common sense to understand that cuts were preordained before this Government came to power and that they’re doing well at damage ligation but can I suggest that if you’re not that engaged, its best to stay quiet.
Socrates- wrong article. Phone problems.
@kevin shaw. Hardly huge swathe, now was it? Big Pity vote. No offence meant. And Hogan capitalised. You spout party tripe. Consistently. Answer the difficult questions here. Or stop posting!
Kevin my hats off to you. Intentionally or not that was successful hijacking
So because the DCU SU president failed to do his job and run an information campaign, it’s void?
What an absolute stitch up. DCU SU are a joke.
As was mentioned, DCU had to content with external campaigners who were brought in by the USI. In UCD, the campaigners were obliged to be from within the university community. To suggest that reversing the adoption of a vote which was already questionably representative is an affront to democracy is a ridiculous statement. Johnny boy, you need to #ThinkBeforeYouType
No SU has any legal authority to restrict access to campaigns on campus. Only a Governing Authority of a 3rd Level Institute has the legal authority.
Usi know this but its a real vote killer when you point out that an SU acts ultra vires in their campaign regulations.
Sorry cassidy but plenty of lies have been told. So lets set the record straight on this one and put the usi to bed.
The dcu class rep council was told by interested parties that usi campaigners had to be allowed on campus. This is false !!! This was clear misinformation or brutal legal advice. I have a solicitors letter to prove that usi have no right to demand to be on a campus. Thus the dcu su was pushed into a decision that they did not agree with. Allowing them on campus in the first place.
Which both paul and mr.logue confirmed was the only reason the vote went the way it did. FACT!
In comparison to the no campaign usi had 30 plus officials roaming the halls breaking numerous regulations and being repeatedly fined and hassling students to vote on something they knew nothing about essentially.
Furthermore students were misled on the issue completly. The yes campaign led students to believe that it would be a 5 euro levy while now it appears likely the students union would have lost 1/4 of its budget.
A loss of that much really will not be good for students and noone can deny that. Furthermore if usi continue to threaten us well let it be seen that usi forced through an unconstitutional and an unfair referendum and they claim to represent students ?
Well we in dcu stand united our union is united and we will not bow to threats from usi or mr. Logue. We will not bow to external preasure and i for one look forward to 10 more years without usi. #10moreyears
Didn’t you campaign for USI affiliation Nathan?
Started with the no and changed to the yes on the information that was available to myself. However i want democracy and i want transparency and the more and more i have peered into the inner workings the extent usi is willing to go to preserve its conservative ways i cannot nor will i support it. Also the straw that broke the camels back is Mr.Logue threatening this university. You can have all your opinions Derek and are entitled to them but this whole affair runs so much deeper. A member of council said that such action would open a can of worms. Consider it opened…..
The usi ahahahaha
Makes me feel even better for not voting in it now. I’m sure there is better ways to spend that €80k
DCUSU spend 8 times more on Events than on Education issues. That money goes to being part of an issue based campaigning organisation – which dcusu obviously doesnt have the intent or training to do so atm.
get up outta that Sean the college spends money on education the SU is there to entertain “That money goes to being part of an issue based campaigning organisation” sounds like drivel mate.
The SU shouldnt be there to “entertain” if thats the case I would have even more serious questions about DCUSU
They voted yes because they were given a lollipop??? Dear god and these people are old enough to vote in real elections!!
I fully back USI’s decision to tackle the ‘small cohort’ of DCU student union executives. Because thats what it is essentially…personalities getting in the way of students voices. That’s a dictatorship right there!
Think an explanatory note should be included with this article! Sorry Journal headline is badly written apologies to editor. What is this about?
I seem to remember DCU SU botching an executive vote when I was in college in 2003. They a referendum/preferendum on fees up in the last three years. I’m pretty sure there have been other such f*ck ups. Is it too much to ask SU activists in DCU to learn from the major mistakes of their predecessors!
Nothing ever changes it seems at DCU SU. When I was there 24 years ago, the then DCU SU President, Clare Daly, was also trying to subvert the will of students by rigging a referendum.
Ah the Journal, giving us a look at John Logue’s “handsome” mugshot one last time!!!
Re my earlier post. Wrong article. Sorry posters.
have your say