Contesting the position of TCDSU Welfare and Equality Officer is fourth year student Deirdre Leahy. The final year Occupational Therapy student got involved with the Union last year as a Class Representative and a Welfare and Equality Committee member. Prior to this, Leahy served on the JCR Welfare and Equality Team in Trinity Halls. A social tag-rugby enthusiast, musical theatre veteran and Cork native: Deirdre Leahy’s love of Trinity’s people and potential is embedded into her manifesto and intentions for the year ahead. In speaking to The University Times, Leahy reflected on the ingredients of a successful campaign, the challenges facing Trinity students today, and her plans to make Trinity an inclusive and accessible university for all.
Leahy described her experience of studying Occupational Therapy as the foundation to her passion for social equality. “I chose to do occupational therapy, which a lot of it is about helping people do what they want and need to do. […] And so that was always a passion of mine: accessibility and changing the world to suit people – people shouldn’t have to change to suit the world.”
In fact, Leahy believes her experience as a Health Science student is what makes her an ideal candidate for change. “3% in the last ten years of Sabbat officers have been Health Science students”, Leahy explained. “That’s 97% for the other two faculties. […] You need more representation to be spread equally. Yes, people from different faculties can represent everyone, but those numbers – they’re not adding up, they’re not representative.”
As Welfare and Equality Officer, Leahy believes her presence in the Union could bridge the gap that persists between Health Science students and Union affairs. Others in her course “really don’t know a lot about the SU because they’re off campus, and there’s not as much focus based on it there”. According to Leahy; “each year, [the Union] does a little bit better, but there’s still a long way to go with actually getting the information to Health Science students”.
When asked about what she would do in her first month as Welfare and Equality Officer, Leahy shared that she would put first years first. Social and emotional training for incoming first years students is an aspect of the orientation process that Leahy is seeking to improve.When it comes to consent training and other informative talks, Leahy acknowledged that Trinity Halls residents are the only first year recipients, however Leahy endeavours to have these talks administered to all first year students during orientation week. “I think it’s so important to, in first year, as soon as possible, get that information out so people are aware. Because often people are away from all their support structures, they’re away from their family. It might be their first relationship, […] so to know the signs of an abusive relationship, it’s just something that didn’t get told to me and all my peers the first year – I think it could be really important.”
Leahy’s plans to support Trinity students are not constricted to Trinity soil. Hearing stories of how her peers have “felt so unsupported” by Trinity while on Erasmus, Leahy expressed her intention to implement “supports for both outgoing and incoming Erasmus students”. Her manifesto outlines the avenues to achieving this, such as promoting the Ambassador Program for outgoing students and a Peer Support system for incoming students.
Leahy shared her ambitions to implement a new initiative at the beginning of each semester to distribute abandoned homeware to incoming students. Every semester, accommodation units are left with belongings that outgoing residents have left behind. Leahy wishes to seize this as an opportunity to provide free supplies to incoming students, as “buying all this new stuff can be really expensive”.
A top priority for Leahy is to “reduce barriers to health” by reforming the College Health booking system. “I’ve had so many friends, myself included, having to just go through those three numbers on that website and ring them one after the other at 9am over and over again until someone maybe picks up – it’s definitely not the best way you could do it.” Leahy endeavours to “streamline the service and reduce that stress of evening booking in the first place” by implementing an online booking system. For many students, the thought of having to call and book an appointment puts them off completely, as Leahy shared. She hopes to see this online system boost healthcare accessibility and engagement across the student body.
Leahy shared her fresh perspective on the type of exam support the Union should be providing. Straying from the usual RedBull and PotNoodle distributions during exam season, Leahy wants to deliver partnerships with local businesses to provide nourishing meals as a practical way to improve student welfare during exams. Businesses such as Sprout and KC Peaches were among those mentioned.
Leahy believes that “if you’re actually feeling good, you’re going to perform better. No one can do an exam if their anxiety is spiking, like it’s so hard”. It is on this basis that she aims to work with the Counselling Service to hold Therapy Dog sessions in the run up to exams. “I don’t understand why the college wouldn’t do everything they could to help their students perform better”.
