President:
Aisling Curtis & Edmund Heaphy | Senior Staff Writer & Creative Director
The second last day of the presidential race saw both candidates continuing with campaigning, focusing in particular on encouraging a large voter turnout.
Domhnall McGlacken-Byrne spent the day making his usual lecture addresses in the Arts Block and the Hamilton, as well as visiting D’Olier Street, the BMSI and the JCR café. With the final day of voting tomorrow, McGlacken-Byrne thanked everyone who has voted so far, both for himself and for any other candidate. He acknowledged that “these two weeks can be a strain for ordinary students, being flooded with manifestos and campaigners”, but stated that this high level of engagement is essential in order to “achieve a good turnout and let people have their say in their representation next year”.
Jasper Pickersgill maintained his campaign presence in the Arts Block and Hamilton, as well as appearing at other campus locations in order to further interact with students. Sebastian McAteer, campaign manager, stated that the campaign was making a substantial effort to “drive turnout” and convince “the last few undecided voters to head to the polls”.
Both candidates also participated in the Trinity St. Vincent de Paul (VDP) “Take Me Out” event at 7pm. Both Pickersgill and McGlacken-Byrne were successful, each coming away with a date. Pickersgill performed a card trick as part of his effort to woo the women participating. McGlacken-Byrne made the sound of a motorcycle coming down a country road. McGlacken-Byrne and his date were also the winners of a musical chairs-like game where respective couples had to form sexual positions as fast as they could when the music stopped. This won them a three-course meal at the The Church restaurant.
Speaking to The University Times just after the event, McGlacken-Byrne said “if I am elected, what has happened tonight will in no way form part of my presidency”. When asked about one of his talents displayed during the event – where he placed his entire fist in his mouth – he jokingly said “that was not me”.
Pickersgill also spoke to The University Times after the Take Me Out event about his final-day strategy: “I will be getting more lecture addresses in, trying to get out the vote, and will try and make my way down to the Biomedical Sciences building again – there’s a lot of students down there that don’t even know about [voting] yet.”
Also speaking about his final-day plans, McGlacken-Byrne said that he planned to “just keep going and reach the finish line” and that he would try to “keep the momentum going and try to see it through” and “somehow think of a way of thanking everyone who got behind the campaign”.
Tomorrow, both candidates intend to maintain a high campaign presence in the run up to the close of polls and the counting of the votes. Both are looking forward to the announcement of the final result.
Communications:
Clare Droney | Senior Staff Writer
As the voting continued today, the campaigners involved in the Communications Race were more subdued, especially as no campaign t-shirts were allowed near the polling areas.
However, Samuel Riggs did maintain his presence around campus. He told The University Times this evening: “I’m delighted with my team, who showed real dedication and strength today, braving the storm to do some campaigning, and I’m very excited and confident for tomorrow night!”
He continued: “Over the past week and a half, its become more apparent than ever that the Comms Officer next year won’t be just a social media buff – they will become the mouthpiece for the entire college, the person who makes sure that no-one is left out, and everyone feels as though they have a voice, and are given equal representation in the SU.”
Sam continued, “This position is one of great responsibility – it requires dedication, strength and, above all, the ability to listen to students, and do your best to meet their needs. The Comms Office needs to evolve, and I know that I’m the man to make it happen,”
Speaking to UT, PJ Moloney said: “Everything depends on the turn out on Thursday. I still have a lot of people who want to vote for me who didn’t get to vote yet. I think it’s tight. I think people see that I have won the debate on the issues with Sam trying to say he agrees with me on the key issue of UT editorship even while saying at the same time that he doesn’t think it will work.
“People see that Sam is not a candidate of change and is really enthusiastic about student journalism and would just like to be full time editor of UT. People are tending to vote for me because I didn’t shower them with paper and because I set out clear limited ambitions for next year – real changes that I can and will deliver.”
Welfare:
Fiona Gribben | Staff Writer
In the final day of campaigning Dan McFadden and his team divided their time between the Arts Block and the Hamilton, focusing more on the latter. His team are continuing to hand out cards detailing the numbers of Trinity’s welfare services which has proved very popular with students in the past week. Enthusiasm has been in abundance with Dan and his team and with the narrow margin of the University Times poll and the high number of undecideds, hope remain high for the results tomorrow.
Discussing the importance of student engagement with their Students’ Union, Dan is hopeful that voter turnout is high: “The welfare officer is an important role and one which requires experience, ideas and approachability. I hope that students will vote to ensure that their next welfare officer will encompass these things,” he said.
We are currently awaiting comment from Ian Mooney.
Education:
Bernard Ryan | Staff Writer
Unopposed Education candidate Katie Byrne was relatively happy with the events of the second-last day of the Leadership Race, with an even spread of campaigners across the Arts Block and Hamilton as the campaign started to quieten down.
Her campaign manager Damien McClean was spotted in the Hamilton ushering students to the polls as polling picked up in mid-morning. On meeting this correspondent in the Arts Café at lunchtime with supporters, Katie was positive and happy with the UT Opinion Poll which put her in a commanding lead over the option to Re-Open Nominations. After a quick lecture address to encourage students to vote, she spent the rest of the day around campus dragging people to the booth. “I think everyone is exhausted at this stage but we’re all looking forward to four o’clock tomorrow afternoon so we’re still keeping in high spirits!” she stated.
Ents:
Emer Gerrard | Senior Staff Writer
With campaigning coming to an end and the votes due to be counted after 4pm tomorrow, the Ents candidates all seem to be glad to see the exhausting period come to a close. Both Alex and Finn said they were unwell, with Finn explaining he was “fairly sickly” and Alex stating she was “feeling awful”.
Ben, on the other hand, was in good form, saying he was “looking forward to hearing the results tomorrow” and thanked his team “for being so supportive and hardworking”. He was very positive about his capabilities, stating: “I am the man for the job”.
Both Ben and Finn urged students to get voting throughout the day. However, Finn said that he was concerned that “the weather is killing the crowds”. Meanwhile Ben emphasised the importance of voting saying, “it’s our SU and people should voice their opinions by having a vote”.
