A new student space in the Buttery vaults, which will open every evening, was announced by Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) President Shane de Rís this evening.
Speaking at TCDSU Council tonight, De Rís said that once the Buttery restaurant closes each day at 4pm, the vault space will be opened to students. De Rís said that the space would be open until “10pm or 11pm” for students’ use.
Before being used as part of the Buttery restaurant, the vault space was previously the students’ union bar.
The opening of the vaults as a student space has been supported by Provost Patrick Prendergast, the Director of Students Services and the Dean of Students.
De Rís said that the space would be another area for students to use if they were staying late in College studying.
Student space has been a massive issue for the union, with students continually requesting more spaces around campus where they can study and relax.
In January’s council, those present voted to allocate €7,560 of the union’s Higher Education Authority (HEA) fund to a new student space in Trinity Biomedical Science Institute (TBSI).
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 that the College should also already be providing.
At a meeting of council in December 2017, then-TCDSU President Kevin Keane announced that €250,000 would be provided by the School of Medicine to create a new student space in the TBSI.
