Dublin Institute of Technology Students’ Union (DITSU) President Pierre Yimbog has condemned a series “undemocratic” processes at the Union of Students in Ireland’s (USI) national congress last week.
Delegates from Technological University Dublin Students’ Union (TUDSU) left the congress floor in protest, after the Steering Committee of USI’s congress refused to hear the union’s motion to cap affiliation fees per institution.
In an email statement to The University Times, Yimbog said he was disappointed with how TUDSU – the new students’ union comprised of the former DITSU, Institute of Technology Blanchardstown Students’ Union (ITBSU) and Institute of Technology Tallaght Students’ Union (ITTSU) – was treated over the course of the event.
Because USI had themselves brought a motion, proposing a review of affiliation fees, the Steering Committee of USI’s national congress ruled that the two motions were conflicting and thus only one could be heard, prompting TUDSU delegates to leave the room.
Yimbog said that the DITSU motion had been submitted a month prior to Congress, “which would give ample opportunity for a counter motion to be submitted and given priority over the other”. The Steering Committee, he said, “were aware of the supposed conflict for over a month but had not contacted DITSU to make us aware of it”.
Amy Keatinge, the President of the Institute of Technology Tallaght (ITT), said in an email statement to The University Times: “I believe if Steering was aware of both motions conflicting, DITSU should have been contacted to discuss both motions with the USI President before they went to the congress floor.”
The motion DITSU proposed sought to impose a cap on the fees a union pays towards affiliation with USI. Yimbog said that “DITSU are concerned for the sake of TUDSU and the cost of affiliation to USI. It will cost us over €120,000 and make us the biggest member organisation”. These concerns were heightened, Yimbog said, by “inferences made at a National Council meeting when USI Finances were discussed” about the possibility of increasing affiliation fees.
Yimbog said: “It is the right of a member organisation to have their motion heard on the Congress floor. It is totally unfair for that to be taken away from them and very undemocratic. DITSU just wanted its motion on the Cap on Affiliation Fees to be discussed at Congress but that was taken away from them.”
USI President Síona Cahill said in an email statement to The University Times: “Given the concerns raised by the TUDSU delegation on the fact their motion wasn’t discussed on the floor, the Steering committee provided time separately within the timetable to have a specific discussion on affiliation fees and structures.”
Cahill added: “In reality, USI Congress has agreed not to increase membership fees for the last 16 years.”
Yimbog raised issues with the nature of the discussion: “Instead of being a debate, it moved to being an attack on the TUDSU delegation, in particular on DITSU.”
“In the end, the guillotine fell and the debate had to end because we ran out of time for that section. It was obvious by the amount of people on either side of the line for debate what way it would go”, he said.
Keatinge said: “I personally did not feel attacked by the member organisations. I felt the debate allowed the member organisations to speak about the movement they feel so passionately about.”
Yimbog said that “manner in which the motion was taken down was very questionable and somewhat strategic by USI so not to have it possibly pass and impose a cap on their main source of income: affiliation fees”.
Cahill said: “This organisation’s funding structure allows us to deliver on the motions and mandates that congress has and will continue to deliver on in future as a movement. Therefore any change to our funding model must be considered seriously.”
Yimbog said that while the cap would result in a loss of revenue for the USI, it may convince University of Limerick Student Life and University College Dublin Students’ Union (UCDSU) to become members.
UCDSU sent a delegation to attend USI’s national congress as observers. Yimbog said of UCDSU’s attendance: “The fact that they were invited and they did attend, shows there is an appetite for becoming a member of USI. Now it’s up to USI to take that into serious consideration as it undergoes a review of affiliation fees.”
“If nothing is done, and fees end up increasing, they could lose TUDSU and never get UCDSU back in or any other colleges”, he added.
This, Yimbog believes, would render USI “not a Union of 374,000 students in Ireland but rather a Union of Students in Ireland”.
Yimbog was critical of the fact that Congress was held in “a very small room that could only fit 60 people, so not everyone was able to attend”. He also hit out at the fact that only students’ union presidents were offered the chance to ask questions.
Yimbog raised concerns over whether USI had been financially audited recently, in a question put to officers at Congress. Yimbog told The University Times he believes that regular audits are important for “good corporate governance”. “The session started with the Chair of the Finance Committee being defensive of USI finances”, he said.
Cahill said: “TUDSU representatives, myself and all Member Organisations are committed to working positively together on reviewing the funding model of USI, given the length of time since it was last done – it’s just good practice and it’s been widely welcomed.”
USI membership has been a bone of contention for several colleges in recent times. In February, Dublin City University Students’ Union’s (DCUSU) class representative council has voted to make the union executive’s stance on affiliation with the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) neutral.
DCUSU President Vito Moloney Burke expressed scepticism about the cost of union membership. “We’re unsure that our students’ money is going to the best place”, he told those gathered at council.
Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) President Shane de Rís has also previously been vocal in his criticisms of USI.
Following the government budget last year, which disappointed many in the higher education sector, De Rís wrote in an email to sabbatical officers in students’ unions around the country that “I find this response to the Budget extremely and disappointingly weak. Higher Ed funding has been an afterthought for USI, with members of officer-board saying it’s not important since loans aren’t being introduced. This isn’t good enough and we cannot settle for the status quo”.
