It’s not news that this year’s presidential race lacks a Lynn Ruane-type character, like Conor Parle noted on Thursday. But it makes it easy to see why this year’s election lacks the same buzz. Maybe it’s the less diverse range of candidates, maybe it’s the severe lack of women running or perhaps it’s just the lack of build-up to the elections this year. Nevertheless, the atmosphere in college, especially in the Arts Block, is excitingly chaotic. It is the time of year that student politics is most visible, and the sights are now set on the second week – with polling opening on Monday night in Trinity Hall.
The campaigns kicked off on Sunday night, but the competition got serious after the Dining Hall hustings on Monday afternoon, where Stephen Carty was outperformed by both Kieran McNulty and Daniel O’Brien, who gave rousing, emotive speeches – something that very easily could have set up the race to be a two-man one between McNulty and O’Brien. Since then, however, the landscape of the race has changed dramatically, with Carty devoutly upping his game by having a strong on-the-ground and online presence, and performing well at subsequent hustings. The peak of this turnaround came on Thursday when he announced a promise to donate €5,000 of his salary to the Trinity Access Programme (TAP). Responding to criticism that this amount would make up only a small proportion of the budget of TAP, Carty noted to The University Times that it would be a “small part of the budget but a large part of my salary”. At the end of yesterday, his team stood under Front Arch holding orange boards, made from wood salvaged from the construction site at Luce Hall, wishing people a good weekend and asking them to vote for him.
McNulty started off strong, giving an animated, emotive speech on the steps of the Dining Hall. In contrast to this speech on Monday, he has since been more restrained and conversational at the following hustings. He has had a relatively strong on-the-ground and online presence, with his Facebook page receiving the most likes out of all the candidates. Overall, he has been extremely consistent and seems to be getting the best response from the three – something that is indicative of a front runner.
The week started well for Daniel O’Brien when he gave a strong, personal speech at Dining Hall hustings, and benefitted from a camera crew from the RTÉ documentary following him around. Since then, his on-the-ground presence has been smaller than the other candidates and focused primarily on the Arts Building. While he has been eloquent and informed at hustings, it’s not matched by the fervor of Carty’s turnaround or McNulty’s dedication.
The ents race has proven to be controversial, with Caolán Maher breaking many of the Electoral Commission (EC) rules, most notably by giving out cans in Trinity Hall. Maher has performed well in hustings and his campaign has been received well on the ground. However, questions have been raised over the fairness of how Maher has been conducting his campaign, which has led to members of competing campaign teams being on high alert for further infractions. On Thursday, Maher’s campaign manager confirmed that he was on 35 out of 100 credits. If candidates are fined to a point where they have no credits, they can be struck off the ballot. While Maher claims that he “[knows] the [Electoral Commission] guidelines”, he will have to be very cautious in the next week if he is to remain on the ballot – even though no-one has ever been struck off the ballot, at least in the current format of elections.
At hustings, Maher and Padraic Rowley have enjoyed the best response from the audience. Online, Maher and Rowley are neck and neck when it comes to Facebook likes, with Rowley coming out barely on top. Rowley’s ideas about inclusive and creative events, backed by his experience in societies, echoes those of Conor Parle’s last year and have been well-received. Katie Browne and Grace O’Boyle have been more reserved when speaking at hustings. The week has seen possibly the most diverse range of ents election events in the last few years. From comedy gigs and mindfulness events during the day to trad sessions and big club nights, the range of events this year has been impressive. Ents candidates will continue to hold events this week in the hope that they can win over voters, but it looks like the main battle will be between Maher and Rowley.
Two candidates are running for Education Officer, and the race has lacked anything majorly contentious. Patrick Higgins and Dale Ó’Faoilléacháin have generally agreed on most issues at hustings. The only real recurring clash is over the importance of having union experience to be Education Officer. Ó’Faoilléacháin, who currently serves as Health Science Convener of TCDSU, stressed the necessity of union experience at hustings held by The University Times and An Cumann Gaelach while Higgins disagreed, arguing for the importance of the casework aspect of the role.
Last year, the welfare race provided the most controversy, when rumours were spread about another candidate. This year’s race has lacked any controversy thus far. Aoibhinn Ní Lochlainn, Eamonn Redmond, and Andrew Wafer bring a good variety of policy ideas to the table in their manifestos. The candidates appear to have had a very strong on-the-ground presence. At hustings, however, candidates have tended to shy away from debate, instead politely relaying their manifesto points. At a hustings held by Q Soc and Trinity News, the debate heated a little when Ní Lochlainn implied that Redmond had presented her a point included in a graphic she published earlier that day as his own idea. Ní Lochlainn’s very strong on-the-ground presence and online presence probably put her ahead of the other candidates and is not surprising given her experience in the union, specifically on the welfare committee. Students tend to engage more with welfare issues than any other, as they directly affect every single student. As such, accommodation has suitably been given a lot of air time in all candidates’ manifestos and also at hustings.
The Communications & Marketing Officer position is only coming into its second year and as such, the policy ideas that the two candidates, Emmet Broaders and Glen Byrne, have been interesting. While last year, the debate was dominated by the balance between communication and marketing, this year the discourse is more diverse. Broaders, at Q Soc and Trinity News hustings, said he thought communications was more important but his manifesto includes ideas to tweak the advertising policy of the Communications & Marketing Officer. Byrne thinks both communications and marketing are equally as important and interdependent, making the point that the more we communicate with students, the more advertising the union will get, and the more advertising the union will get, the more avenues of communication it can afford. Broaders has been questioned on his “points by proxy” idea, which aims to encourage more people to speak at council and engage by allowing people to make points through an officer. Byrne has emphasised transparency throughout the campaign, suggesting progress and work reports. Both want to live stream council. There is no clear winner in this race yet.
Voting opens after Trinity Hall hustings on Monday and while the results do not always reflect who has run the best campaign, campaigns are important – and they are not over yet. Two years ago, welfare candidate Ian Mooney won by just 94 votes, or 2 per cent of voters, after transfers were reassigned. Candidates must be careful to not grow complacent.
Correction: 20:46, February 13th, 2016
An earlier version of this post stated that no-one has ever been struck off the ballot in the TCDSU elections before. The current version reflects that it has never happened in the current format of elections.
Correction: 20:30, February 14th, 2016
An earlier version of this post stated that Aoibhinn Ní Lochlainn implied that Éamonn Redmond presented his manifesto point as his own idea. In fact, it was a point included in a graphic she published earlier that day.
