The Trinity College Dublin Student Union is at its most consequential crossroads – with two dueling views on the role of politics in union action – begetting a clear motion of confidence from the student body after years of heightened activism. The Union’s increasingly expansive presence in student affairs has invited both support and scrutiny, with detractors pointing to an overreach into political matters outside its scope and purview. However, enforcing such limits on student activism could prove detrimental to the principle of collective action and ignores the storied history of Trinity’s active political life, in favour of a docile endorsement of the status quo. As student voices are increasingly shut out of the political process, this motion serves as an opportunity to establish a unified bloc – with students’ interests at its forefront.
The final line of Chapter 1.5 in the TCDSU Constitution, originally stated: “The Union shall pursue these objectives independent of any political, racial or religious ideology.” This wording, crucial to the 1968 Constitution, reflected a clashing Irish society, where unions had to bridge the divide between persisting socially conservative views alongside the nominally progressive aims of labour movements – a lingering issue, though now put to a vote.
Opponents of the referendum stress that through avoidance of ideology and politics, the Union represents the varied opinions present in the College constituency, preventing sectarian infighting among its ranks. The extent to which such a goal can be adhered to is idealistic, given that decisions on student welfare inherently fall on ideological and political lines – where there are parties that support greater education funding and those that do not, the Union’s position on the issue will inherently be political.
Furthermore, such a revisionist understanding of the Union’s history erases the radical foundations upon which it stands. In 1989, TCDSU provided students with information on abortion services – illegal under the Eighth Amendment of the Irish Constitution at the time – prompting a legal battle that would go to the European Court of Justice. The Union President Ivana Bacik, current Labour Party Leader and TD, was threatened with imprisonment as a result of contravening the law, in an effort to provide students with essential medical care. With Mary Robinson as legal counsel, the case would provide a basis for student activism on the issue and prompt the Government to allow for greater freedom of information.
Such an action, taken a mere six years after Ireland voted in an abortion ban through referendum, certainly represented a “political, racial or religious ideology”, demonstrating the ineffective constraints of Chapter 1.5 in curtailing Union activism, while simultaneously providing an instance of political action reverberating through broader Irish society and laying the groundwork for a paradigm shift on abortion issues.
In recent years, TCDSU actions have been limited to isolated critiques of specific policies, namely lobbying the Government during the yearly Budget, while straying from more expansive and targeted campaigns. Throughout this period, strands of direct action continued to manifest, with instances of library occupations in 2009 protesting book budget cuts as prominent instances.
Union activism would come to a head with the Book of Kells occupation and the BDS Encampment in 2024. Under the tenure of László Molnárfi, TCDSU escalated tactics by shutting down College’s main revenue stream: to protest Trinity’s economic and academic ties to Israeli institutions, the Book of Kells entrance was blocked and the Union received an invoice for €214k of lost revenue. The row would reach new highs when an encampment was set up on campus. Following negotiations and widespread media coverage, Trinity became the first college to commit to full divestment, and the encampment was taken down. In this vein, the Student Union was able to receive concessions from College through definitionally political action, inherently going against its own Constitution.
On the heels of this, the changes proposed by the Electoral Commission at the 3rd Council of 2024/25 seek to amend Chapter 1.5 to “The Union shall pursue these objectives independent of any political party or religious organisation”, while adding a new provision that says “The Union may only adopt a position of no confidence in a government as a matter of long-term policy”. These clauses aim to clear up the inconsistency and legitimise the mandate of TCDSU as a vehicle for student activism.
The new amendments will foster a more vibrant culture of political discourse, where policy decisions are not viewed within a vacuum, and instead considered in the context of broader systemic issues and ideologies. This presents an opportunity to transform the perception of activism from a reactive, crisis-specific tool into a proactive continuous commitment to the welfare of students, prompting community change on both the micro and macro levels. Critics say that this expands the scope of the Union beyond the material interests of students and makes it a launch pad for political careers. Still, it took decades to legalize abortion in Ireland, therefore student unions need to be at the helm of pushing societal change over a longer horizon, prompting change both outside and within Government.
Divergent political views cannot be exiled in the process, as the Union has a responsibility to all its members irrespective of their individual political positions. This presents problems when TCDSU sabbatical officers have a history in party societies on campus, prompting potential conflicts of interest. The latter motion accounts for this, adopting a no-confidence position only as a result of a referendum, but even in this instance the protections from party politics are lacking. Further expanding the democratic nature of Union campaigns to reflect the views of the College community as a whole – beyond partisan loyalties and personal ambition – is necessary to address this. Throughout this discourse, respectful dialogue and communication must be emphasized as means to navigate the complex perspectives within the Union, with leaders accountable to all the voices they have to represent during discussions.
This referendum provides the clearest temperature check on the activism of the previous years and the direction the Union at Trinity should be headed. Student activism has played key roles in pivotal political debates in this country, it would be a shortsighted mistake to muzzle the voices that speak up for students at a time of youth disenfranchisement. A “yes” vote will likely not dramatically expand the Union’s power, whereas a rejection would signal discontent with activism as a principle, slowing down the already rusted wheels of change. Ultimately, should its results be representative, it will require active participation from the College community in substantial turnout. TCDSU has always been political; whether that remains the case hinges on a greater tradition – a responsiveness to its members.
