Jack Leahy
Elections Editor
(Photos by Joseph Noonan)
Ah, 9am on the Monday of campaigns week. Wary that campaign fatigue will set in within at most two days, candidates and their colours set campus resonating to their infectious buzz. By all accounts, it really is a hack’s paradise.
Or at least that’s the theory.
I quite enjoy this time of year, folks. In fact, it’s safe to say that I’ve spent the last number of weeks looking forward to election season more than I’ve looked forward to Christmas since the day that my mother broke the news about Santa. As such, the lack of vibrancy, urgency, or real sense of competition on campus today was a major disappointment.
I arrived before 9am expecting to see the Arts block awash with carefully-chosen colour schemes. What I found was poster space not yet claimed and only presidential hopeful Rory Dunne and Welfare gal Aisling Ní Chonaire setting up. The same goes for the 23:00 start-time for campaigning last night: David Whelan’s campaign page went live at 23:01, a solid ten minutes before a second appeared. Come on guys, where’s the urgency? Do you really want this enough? What happened to first impressions?
Perhaps I’m expecting too much from the first day, but I can’t help but feel that the lack of contested Ents race or joke candidate has taken the edge off of this year’s SU elections. But hey, that’s just one guy’s opinion, and there are eleven people that you’re all reading this to hear about. Here’s how the candidates got on in the last 24 hours:
President
Replacing work-horse Ryan Bartlett is not an easy task, but Rory Dunne, James Kelly, and John Tighe reckon that they’re up to it.
President correspondent Ronan Richardson immediately picked up the perception among voters that Tighe, who describes himself as ‘a student activist’, is ‘much more radical’ than his opponents. While one of Emma Walker’s campaigners reckons he has ‘the most charisma’ of the three, send-year Psychology student Donal O’Cinnéide reckons that Tighe’s left-wing politics are incompatible with what students require:
”[Tighe] was unconvincing, idealistic and unprofessional. It’s the same old stuff, Free Education for Everyone and the rest. We need micro, not macro policies.”
One thing that was notable was that while Kelly and Dunne battled for valuable space by the entrance to the Arts Block, Tighe remained towards of the back of the building near the Thomas Davis theatre. Ronan spoke to Tighe about his choice of position and returned assured that the Free Education for Everyone (FEE) activist was ‘not fazed’ by the fact that his supporters were not jostling for position. Ronan’s coverage of the first day was quite extensive, so you can read the rest in a separate post.
The other two candidates appear primed for a battle that will be won on the ground. Dunne’s striking blue and white campaign materials and eye-catching manifestos seemed to strike a chord with the electorate, but so did Kelly’s well-designed black and yellow posters and t-shirts. Both candidates said they had spent a lot of time designing the shirts, finding the best heat press machine to make the shirts with, and distributing the shirts amongst their campaigners. In terms of numbers, Kelly’s campaigners were certainly the more prominent, with both major campaign buildings on campus looking more Borussia Dortmund than Chelsea. While I’m not inclined to agree that one candidate evidently outperformed another, Ronan’s extensive consultation with potential voters seems to give Kelly a slight win over Dunne in the battle for the all-important first impression vote.
All three manifestos are full of grand ideas, with Dunne’s promise of Trinity-exclusive internships, Kelly’s constitutional overhaul and Tighe’s re-politicisation of Trinity’s student representative body proving the major talking points.
The presidential video debate – available here – was a tentative affair, though Tighe walked himself into trouble by refusing to rule out partaking in FEE-led occupations if denied a mandate to do so by the student body. It’s a debate in which three distinct characters are evident, but more testing questions will have to be put to the trio before a deserving winner emerges. I, for one, am not yet convinced that any of the potential presidents has adequately explained how they plan to lead a national campaign on their own should students vote to disaffiliate from the USI.
It’d also be worth keeping an eye on the Dunne-initiated argument as to the benefits of his proposal to donate 10% of his salary to the Student Hardship Fund. Dismissing concerns that the move is populist, Dunne insists that it will give weight to pleas to college authorities to economise.
However, the day ended on a sad note as James Kelly learned of the passing of a close relative. The Kelly campaign issued the following statement on the matter:
Dear Students,At 7pm this evening I recieved news of the death of a close family member. I am returning home to be with my family for the next few days. The campaign will continue in my absence with Darren O’Gorman fulfilling my duties. Thanks for your understanding.James Kelly.
How Kelly’s absence from the campaign trail will influence this race remains to be seen.
Education
If ever there was a candidate likely to be spurred on by a lack of opposition, it’s Dan Ferrick. The Senior Sophister Genetics student boasts a set of campaign materials that arguably do the best job of identifying him to potential voters; his face features on the back of his yellow and blue t-shirts, and his posters are non-nonsense, traditional election style in their clarity. Add to that a clever use of SU branding (the motorboard being the symbol representing the education officer) and a willingness to address every lecture he can and you have a candidate itching to prove his worth.
Education correspondent Clementine Yost spent the day posing three questions to students: Do you know who Dan Ferrick is, do you know what the education officer does, and will you vote for Dan? While the number of students who are still unaware of what the education officer does is a substantial concern, most of those who stated an intention to vote were receptive of Dan’s campaign and will probably vote in his favour. Except the sports centre staff member, who would vote to re-open nominations. From Clementine’s feedback, Dan’s first task if elected will be to work on publicising the valuable service that is the education officer.
From first impressions, only a massive cock-up on Dan’s part will see students return a RON majority. As long as complacency is kept at bay, I see no problem with that.
Welfare
Welfare correspondent Emma Tobin spent the day discovering that the welfare race would constitute, as always, a competition between nice people trying to prove that they are the nicest. ‘It is welfare, after all. Anything other than sheer loveliness would be counter-intuitive’, she tells me, seemingly aware that she’s in for a hug-filled week.
In terms of design, this race would appear to be the best. With regards manifestos, feedback awards the ‘most catching design award’ to Aisling Ní Chonaire, whose professionally-designed bright pink leaflets have caught the eye of voters. Feedback from students informs Emma that ‘the decision to use a simple booklet layout rather than a pamphlet is not only unique among every candidate, but is also the simplest for students to follow’. The sight of Ní Chonaire still zipping around the Arts block at 16:30 would suggest that she had a good day, perhaps buoyed by a fairly positive reaction to an admittedly well-done campaign video.
However, Emma Walker’s campaign logo – a set of footprints and steps playing on her name – has also gone down well with students, and her multi-coloured facepaint has made her team one of the more noticeable on campus. Walker’s campaign suffered an early blow when her campaign manager and close friend Victoria O’Brien fell ill last night, but positivity nonetheless abounded and team members were confident that their candidate had put in the strongest showing for the day. The well-produced campaign video should cheer her up.
Andy Haughey was given top marks by those with whom Emma consulted for his approachability, and he did appear to be speaking one-to-one with more students than any other candidate. Immediately noticeable, however, is that the text on his manifesto does not adhere to Union disability policy; his shadowed text and transparent background may prove illegible to some students who suffer from poor eyesight. It was an unfortunate error but this guy has optimism to burn and he won’t let it deter the campaign. All the feedback I’ve heard so far pits welfare as a two-horse race between Walker and Ní Chonaire, but it’d be foolish to rule out Haughey just yet.
Impossible to call this one just yet. Right now, I’d say fewer than 500 votes will win it.
Communications
This is the one to watch. On Saturday afternoon, Hannah Cogan, James Hagan, and Owen Bennett took part in a cracker of a video debate due to be released this week. Each of them advocates different means to the same general end: holding the Union to account, involving more students in decision-making and making better use of technology to spread the Union’s message. And boy, are they prepared to argue the differences.
Bennett’s manifesto is perhaps the most stand-out visually due in part to the questionable jumper choice (!) Communications correspondent Fionn O’Dea regards the Mullingar native’s manifesto as the most light-hearted of the three with its tag-line of “I’m Owen Bennett but my friends call me Cabbage” and a smiling cabbage on the back. Interestingly, Bennett is the only candidate to not put a photo of himself on his election poster, instead opting for a cartoon cabbage. The decision to opt for an in-joke on the official campaign material is certainly a risk.
Bennett said that campaign events and “stunts” would likely to be held on “Thursday or Friday”. Bennett’s manifesto was the only the advertise a non-facebook campaign website though the sparsely-decorated Word Press site still contains messages meant for whoever launches the site, one of which states “after you read this, you should delete and write your own post, with a new title above.” Bennett said that from speaking to students he can tell that “people are disillusioned with the SU and that’s why only a seventh of students vote in these elections.” He said that students responded well to his ambition to “redefine to role of Communications Officer”, into a medium for students to get their message to the SU.
James Hagan today alluded to a possible lunchtime visit from his campaign mascot ‘Lobby Lobstar’. Lobby him/herself has, at the time of writing, more friends on facebook than Hannah Cogan’s campaign page has ‘likes’. Hagan remarked that he hoped that Lobby was “obscure enough to stick in people’s minds”. However, following the address for the mascot’s facebook page in Hagan’s manifesto will bring you only to the facebook homepage or your newsfeed if logged in. Despite this, Hagan should be an easily-accessible candidate for students, having included his phone number in his manifesto unlike his competitors.
At the end of the day, Hagan said that he was “very tired but very happy with how the day went.” “I’ve had very few people telling me to f***off!” he joked. He claims that students are responding most to his manifesto’s proposed taxi service, despite expecting the food issue to be the most popular.
Hannah Cogan’s manifesto makes no mention of her online presence, a Cogan campaigner saying that the online presence was “a different realm” and that there was no point trying to fit too much into the manifesto. “We could’ve put a picture of a kitten to fill up space on the back but there would’ve been no point” he said, seemingly alluding to Bennett’s manifesto. Cogan said that her manifesto has been very well received that hers is different to that of the other candidates as it contains “more relevant, more important promises.”
She said that having spoken to students she felt that many would be eager to be more involved in the SU. Soon after campaigning began last night, Cogan had a “disaster” when the external server she was using to launch her page went down. Despite this, she is happy with the uptake on her page. At a lecture address, Cogan said that students were “disenchanted” with the SU’s “lousy way of getting things done”.
Ents
Day one for the Whelan for Ents campaign and Ents correspondent Shauna Watson reckons that the majority are ‘feelin’ Whelan’ more than their yearning for RON. There’s an obvious buzz around the campaign in the arts block, mostly filled by canvassers harassing students, but an atmosphere that exists nonetheless. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the Hamilton building as at peak time for canvassing, campaign teams seem to be lacking across the board. Co-correspondent Nicole O’Sullivan texted to add that despite promise, Team Whelan didn’t play for the Hamilton crowds.
However, the general consensus throughout campus is that not many are aware of Whelan’s manifesto as yet. Initial thoughts of Trinity students are that contrary to other years, Ents isn’t going to be the focus of the elections this term because of its uncontested nature. The students in college who pay attention to the elections seem to know Whelan, either personally or through word of mouth and those who have yet to learn about Whelan’s campaign intend to either remain oblivious or pick up one of his manifestos during the week. Whelan on the other hand is confident that students will react well to his manifesto given the success of his facebook ‘like’ page thus far. The page is bordering 300 likes since is activation at 11pm last night, over 100 hits more than any other SU candidate.
For the upcoming week, two stunts have been organised by Whelan and his campaign manager, Jack Cantillon, to keep up the momentum and generate more interest in his campaign. Cantillon’s persuasive campaigning will be crucial. Just ask the treasurer of the Horse Racing Society.
Candidates will be tested tomorrow, with hustings taking place on the steps on the Dining Hall at 1pm before the much-anticipated LGBT hustings at 5pm in the MacNeill theatre. I’m reliably informed that a number of candidates are worried about the latter, and my hope is that that fear drives them to step forward and prove that they really are deserving of votes. Some candidates have done better than others today, but the races are open and waiting for someone to grab hold of them.
All is still to play for, for those who really want it.
Communications section by Fionn O’Dea
Ents section by Shauna Watson
