Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) council tonight voted to allocate €7,560 of the union’s Higher Education Authority (HEA) fund to go towards a new student space in Trinity Biomedical Science Institute (TBSI).
TCDSU President Shane de Rís proposed the motion due to the increased cost of completing the project. It was seconded by the union’s Education Officer, Amy Connolly.
Speaking at council this evening, De Rís said: “The School of Medicine are funding 80 per cent and this is the other either 15 per cent or 20 per cent.”
In 2017, Trinity’s School of Medicine agreed to contribute €250,000 to building the designated student space in TBSI. Former TCDSU President Kevin Keane said that the time that “this is a really positive development in and of itself”, but added that “there is a lot more to be done”.
The HEA fund, which is controlled by TCDSU and the Graduate Students’ Union (GSU), can only be spent on one-time, non-recurring costs, and cannot also be spent on services which the College should also already be providing.
Last year, a motion was passed at council to allocate funds to the improve wheelchair access for sports clubs, using money provided by the HEA. €17,497 was secured to pay for equipment, coaching, training and a travel bursary for athletes interested in wheelchair fencing.
