Jack Leahy
Elections Editor
After what to many must have seemed like an endless period of manifestos and t-shirts, voting has finally begun with hustings and balloting in Halls this evening.
Today is a day that requires some clarifications, so let’s get straight into today’s action with a brand new section:
Electoral Commission
Contrary to what was published yesterday, the EC is not investigating anything to do with presidential candidates Rory Dunne and James Kelly. The publication of the article and the provision of the information to UT were the result of miscommunication on behalf of a number of relevant parties and contributors to the blog. We believed we had been provided with sufficient information from a more than reliable source to include the point in the blog, but that turned out not to be the case. However, there was no intentional fabrication involved.
So, just so we’re clear, while the claims are still making their way around campus and the EC is aware of them, Dunne has not lodged a complaint and Kelly is not under investigation. Sunshine and rainbows!
Siobhán Fletcher, chair of the EC, requested the withdrawal of the offending section of yesterday’s blog and was rounded on by notoriously brave internet posters using contact details like ‘[email protected]’. Words like ‘chaos’ were invented to describe elections without regulation; the EC are mandated to compose and enforce electoral regulations, creating a document whose first demand is the maintenance of a fair election.
Prior to campaigning, all candidates agree to observe the regulations and the EC makes sure that such promises are upheld. Fletcher’s comment was a request based on her responsibility to candidates to ensure a fair election. With her clarification having been considered, I don’t disagree.
Ents
Both David Whelan and campaign manager, Jack Cantillon, were very excited to head out to halls this evening; “Along with running around the place like mad men with our campaign team, we’re projecting a giant “Whelan for Ents” poster on to the ground from the top of Halls.”
Considering Trinity Halls was the beginning of Whelan’s involvement in Ents as he served as the JCR Halls Ents officer, there was a lot of focus around his visit out there tonight; “When, Dave was running for Ents officer there he put 100 ruby duckies in the pond overnight to freak everyone out,” Cantillon commented. “We’re hoping the projector will have the similar results and help kick start a, hopefully, winning week’s voting.”
Alongside the projector stunt tonight, Whelan’s has also launched a Valentines extravaganza, offering a cinema deal for “all the loved up Trinity students out there.” The deal includes two cinema tickets for €7 in all Savoy and Screen cinemas valid tomorrow until 7pm only. Whelan also has a cinema food deal on offer including “a special yogurt surprise for our gentlemen friends.” Sounds graphic!
After a week filled with hard grafting for votes and tough campaigning, the pair have confirmed that they shall continue their conjoined hip election season with a romantic cinema trip; “We’re not sure what we’re going to see yet so any recommendations are welcome! With the 5 euro medium popcorn, medium drink as well how could you say no!” Indeed, with an offer at that price not only would it be hard to say no to a cinema trip but hard to say no to Whelan for Ents if this is just a taster of the potential deals to come.
Welfare
A quiet day on most fronts, with Andy Haughey, Emma Walker, and Aisling Ní Chonaire crowding the Arts block and Hamilton with campaigners and making sure to maintain a high level of one-on-one campaigning.
Regardless of who wins, all three of the candidates can take pride in drawing significant attention to welfare issues through their campaigns. Almost every student asked to tell us who has impressed them names a welfare candidate, making it the race in which students are most invested. Take a bow.
Despite coming in for criticism for her latest campaign video, Walker has admirably retained the smile and zeal that have defined her throughout the campaign. In response to criticisms sent to The University Times this week, the Walker campaign team released the following statement:
Unfortunately it seems that the subject of Emma Walkers latest campaign video has been misinterpreted.
The objective of the video was to highlight the fact that many students and indeed the general population see mental health as a taboo and something that cannot be spoken about openly. This is an issue that Emma hopes to tackle.
The aim of the video was to draw attention to the fact that many students struggling with mental health issues suffer in silence, the message “mental health, a silent killer” was not intended to take away the voice of mental health but rather to give it one.
We apologise if this video caused offence to anyone in the college community.
Sincerely,
Victoria O’Brien
Emma Walker’s campaign manager
Hopefully that’ll be an end to that. In other news, all three candidates were well-received and loved and cuddled and kissed and other nice things at Halls hustings, with one student, rather disappointing in his unwillingness to stir controversy, telling UT reporters that
Andy’s a lovely guy and people love to listen to him. Everyone seemed to like Aisling and Emma has a great way with people. Can I not vote for them all?
Thanks for that insight, anonymous Halls-dweller.
Haughey has made the first grab at last-minute undecided voters with the release of this video with popular SU man (kinda) Aaron Heffernan.
President
With neither Kelly nor Dunne involved in any real headlines, the day’s focus returned to a third horse in John Tighe. All three candidates increased their campaign drive once again, probably setting the world record for the most campaigners on the go at once in the process. (Disclaimer: I said probably) Something that occurred to me only today was that I have not been in either the Hamilton or the Arts block for more than five minutes in the last week without seeing someone dressed in Kelly or Dunne’s colours.
Dunne held a popular ‘wifi clinic’ in the arts block, as part of which a technically adept student made an effort to repair connectivity problems for students. It went down fairly well and will run again tomorrow.
A UT reporter present at Halls hustings commented that he believed Dunne to have come off best, though added the not inconsiderable caveat that there were more Kelly supporters visible. Tighe continues to impress at hustings events, dispelling once and for all the prejudicial perception held by many students of him. He’s not like that, though – he’s actually quite intelligent.
Communications
This race has been dominated by verbose policy debates, so it was a welcome change to see Owen ‘Cabbage’ Bennett campaigners dressed in morphsuits and running around campus carrying – you guessed it – cabbages. A bit of light relief that seemed to go down well.
Nothing much to comment on in teams Hannah Cogan and James Hagan, with – you guessed it again! – campaigners out in large numbers throughout campus.
Those present at Halls hustings commented that Cogan and Bennett provided much of the same rhetoric as before, with Cogan’s polemic style and Bennett’s concision surfacing once more. Hagan’s policies – particularly the proposed SU taxi service – were subjected to the most questioning, but I’d imagine Hagan would take that as a sign of engagement with his policies.
Education
Dan Ferrick had campaigners out in large numbers and spoke well and was well-received at Halls. While we do have a dedicated education correspondent, I feel bad in a way for not affording this race the same coverage that the rest seem to generate of themselves. That said, Ferrick will probably be happy to work away without attracting unwanted attention.
Unless I find/fabricate some good dirt on this guy in the next few hours then he’s got this race sewn up. I don’t fancy my chances.
Voting begins tomorrow on campus locations, so it may already be too late for some candidates to make an impression. Having spent the last week analysing campaigns and skipping lectures, I should be in a position to make some predictions. As if! President, Communications, and Welfare will all go down to the last couple of hundred of votes and I’m not brave enough to guess which way the students’ favour will fall. I will, however, predict another bad year for RON.
Pick up a copy of the election special tomorrow on campus – Patrick Geoghegan, Joe Duffy, and Senators Averil Power and Ivana Bacik all feature.
Ents section by Shauna Watson.
