Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) will continue to send its weekly email in Irish, after a heated debate at council this evening saw contention over a discussion item brought by TCDSU Communications Officer Paraic McLean.
McLean brought a discussion item to gauge opinion on the removal of the Irish-language email, but continuing sending the English-language version. The move was proposed to reduce translation costs for the union, as well as ensuring that items submitted late could be included in the email.
McLean reported that of 1,183 students clicked on a link sent out in one of the weekly emails. Meanwhile, only 40 clicked on a link that takes them to the Irish version in the week with the highest readership for the Irish version.
The email is currently translated by TCDSU Oifigeach na Gaeilge Cúnla Morris, at a cost of €15 per week to the union.
Members of council spoke on both sides – TCDSU International Officer Molly McCrory said: “I know from personal experience that no one reads the email.”
On the other side of the debate, Rory Codd, the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) Convenor, argued: “I would consider this an essential service provided by the SU.” Codd suggested that the budget for other services such as class representative training be reduced in order to maintain the Irish email, which he said is “part of our identity of an Irish identity”.
Morris, who spoke in both English and Irish, “because I think both are important”, said they would be willing to translate the email for free if the issue was purely a financial one for TCDSU.
McLean said he would abandon the idea, given the strength of the response.
Correction: 21:50, November 6th, 2018
An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that 1,183 students opened the weekly email last week. In fact, 1,183 students clicked on a specific link sent out in the email. TCDSU cannot track the open rate of the email due to college data regulations.
