Tonight’s activist hustings could prove to be the turning point in an election that has seen presidential candidates struggle to deliver concise ideas on how they will implement policy changes should they be elected.
Now, however, time is of the essence. With the fourth hustings of the Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) election period being the final opportunity for candidates to address the main campus population, it is more than time for candidates to get into the deeper levels of their manifestos.
So far, despite manifestos and interviews that have pointed out clear issues that the candidates want to tackle – and, in some cases, their plans to do so – most of the men running for TCDSU President have yet to fully flesh out these points at hustings, nor have they managed to ground them in terms with which the average student can engage.
Shane De Rís wants to establish campaign groups and expand consent classes. Paul Molloy wants to campaign to protect accessibility while Sean Ryan wants to create a buddy system to help students find accommodation. These ideas, worthwhile in their way, have yet to be articulated in a way that successfully differentiates one candidate from another.
Even if Michael McDermott, who entered this race as the joke candidate but has emerged at times as the voice of reason, has won crowds with his sharp ripostes at the union’s expense, he has yet to offer anything approaching concrete solutions to the issues he has mocked. If he wants to be taken seriously as a candidate, he needs to move from potshots to policy. His absence tonight might be a disappointment for him, but it leaves the stage open for another candidate to grab the limelight.
Admittedly, the candidates’ struggles thus far may be the result of hustings whose structures have made things difficult (last night’s Equality hustings were tight on time, and candidates were also limited by the clock in the previous two days). However, candidates have been notable by their shared inability to convey a unique selling point to the audience. If they want to set themselves apart, they must figure out a way to get these points across within the confines of a hustings.
Tonight, then, takes on an added significance. Last night, candidates were more likely to grind out long-winded answers than offer compact solutions. Even as McDermott faltered, no candidate stepped up to put themselves in the limelight. A terse exchange between Molloy and De Rís on the Trinity Education Project came close to giving people a taste of how they differed in policy, yet the tension quickly cooled off.
With tonight’s hustings the last in which candidates engage with each other, it is vital that De Rís, Molloy, and Ryan offer their vision, and do so in a way that resonates with the audience. Nobody said being president was easy, and candidates must overcome the problems posed by the structure of the hustings to establish a narrative that voters can buy into.
