Twelve candidates are to run for six positions in the 2017 Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) elections, with three candidates running in the presidential race: Thomas Emmet, Kevin Keane and Bryan Mallon. The races for the positions of Ents Officer, Education Officer, Communications & Marketing Officer and Editor of The University Times are uncontested.
Emmet is a fourth-year history student and the current Environmental Officer for TCDSU. He has also served as Treasurer on the DU History committee for the past two years and was previously a class representative. Keane, a fourth-year law student, is the current President of SUAS Trinity. Keane is the current Safety Officer of Trinity Basketball, has previously served as OCM of the TCDSU Welfare Committee and is the current Deputy Chair of TCDSU’s lobby groups. Mallon is a third-year Irish studies student and the current Chairperson of Dublin University Gaelic Football Club (DUGFC). He is also the current Vice-Chairperson of Fianna Fáil Wolfe Tone Cumann and served as a class representative last year.
Last year we saw a contested education race, a break in tradition in a race that tends to see candidates run unopposed. This year, Alice MacPherson, a fourth-year history and English literature student, runs uncontested. MacPherson is the current TCDSU Convenor for the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) and serves as Secretary to TCDSU’s Education Committee, having previously served as Deputy AHSS Convenor. She was also elected member of the Women in Leadership Working Group 2014 to 2015.
With the announcement of five candidates, the race for the position of Welfare Officer is set to be hotly contested. Meabh Cullen, a third-year environmental science student, is the current TCDSU Officer for Students with Disabilities and was an ambassador for the disability service for two years. Laura Grady is a second-year BESS student and the current volunteer co-ordinator for the TCDSU Welfare Committee, having served as first-year representative on the committee last year. Damien McClean, a fourth-year mathematics student, currently holds the position of Citizenship Officer of TCDSU, having previously served as the union’s LGBT Rights Officer. He is a global Student Ambassador with Trinity’s Global Room and has previously been a Peer Supporter with S2S as well as serving as member of TCDSU’s campaigns committee. Emma Purser is a fourth-year world religions and theology student and the current Liason Officer for Q-Soc, Trinity’s LGBT Society. Purser is an S2S Peer Supporter, a member of the TCDSU Drugs and Alcohol Policy lobby group and was PRO of the TCDSU Welfare Committee last year. Rachel Skelly, a third-year geography student, is the current Gender Equality Officer of TCDSU, having previously served as a member of TCDSU’s Welfare Committee. Skelly served as a member of the union’s consent committee, helping to instigate the consent workshops in Trinity Hall, and is the current Field Trip Coordinator of Trinity Geography Society.
The Communications & Marketing race is uncontested this year, having seen two candidates run every year since its separation from the position of The University Times Editor in 2015. Úna Harty, a third-year nanoscience – physics and chemistry of advanced materials student is the current Oifigeach na Gaeilge of TCDSU and the Public Relations Officer of Trinity Publications. She is the Editor of SUAS Trinity’s Stand magazine, as well as Trinity News’s Trinity Life section, and also serves as the graphic and layout designer for tn2 magazine and as a staff writer for the Piranha. She is currently Senior Sound Engineer of Trinity FM as well as OCM of the Central Societies Committee (CSC). She is a current sub-publicity member for DU Players and was Freshers’ Fest director. Last year, Harty was Editor of Scéala na Scéime and she previously held the position of Drama Officer for An Cumann Gaelach.
The Ents Officer race, which tends to be hotly contested, is uncontested this year, with third-year business and computer science student Jonah Craig running unopposed. Craig is the current treasurer of the Trinity Ents Committee, having served last year as JCR Ents Officer and Trinity Ents representative. He is an OCM of Dublin University Business & Economics Society (DUBES) and an organiser of Bora Bora, a popular club night among Trinity students, and served as a class representative last year.
The current Deputy Editor of The University Times, Dominic McGrath, a third-year law and political science student, is running uncontested for the position of Editor of The University Times. McGrath has previously served as News Editor and as the acting Assistant Editor during last year’s TCDSU Elections.
This year’s elections period will see a reduced campaigning period compared to previous years, with campaigning taking place from Tuesday February 14th until Wednesday February 22nd. This year, the traditional Sunday night poster run and Dining Hall hustings will no longer take place, with the first hustings instead taking place after a meeting of TCDSU’s council on Tuesday February 14th.
Voting begins on Monday February 20th with the count night taking place on Wednesday February 22nd.
Correction: January 20th, 2017
An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Damien McClean served as TCDSU’s LGBT Rights Officer last year. In fact, he was in the position in 2014/15.
