On November 4th, the second Comhairle of the 2025/2026 academic year occurred. A total of six motions were brought to Comhairle, all of which were passed. A series of candidates were elected for vacant positions, including the Chair and Secretary of the Diversity in STEM committee, members for the Environmental Action Committee, and OCM’s for the Educational, Communications, and Oversight Committee.
Chair of Council, Bailey Armstrong, commenced the meeting by reminding everyone of their responsibilities as members of the Council, adding “If you see some of your friends or class reps that are not here, tell them they are not cool”. Armstrong also emphasised that Class Representatives who repeatedly fail to show up to Comhairle will be removed from their positions by the Council.
Sabbatical officers made their reports to the Union for the second time this term. Student Welfare & Equality Officer Deirdre Leahy announced they had raised over €5000 euro for charity over the course of Michaelmas. Both Communications Officer, Channing Kehoe, and Ents Officer, Orla Norton, mentioned the success of the GMB takeover, with Leahy highlighting the presence of “famous Tiktokker”, Gabe Escobar, who had said the evening was the highlight of his trip to Ireland. “A screenshot of the message is enclosed in the report,” Orla noted. Education Officer, Buster Whaley, highlighted progress with the working group looking at failed credit, and answering a question from a member of council, said that training for school convenors “is being organised”.
After minutes, matters arising from the previous Comhairle, and sabbatical officer reports were quickly resolved, several motions were brought forward ahead of elections. Motion B, to reform the selection of Standing Committees, was the first to be passed after a procedural motion was called by Pól Ó hÍomhair, Oifigeach na gComaitéirí, to move up the vote. The motion mandates that all officers for the Education and Communications Committee, barring Ordinary Committee Members, as well as the First Year Representatives on the Welfare & Equality Committee, are to be selected by open application following the model of Coiste na Gaeilge and the Welfare & Equality Committee.
Motions E and F on the appointment of a Secretary and Chair of the Diversity in STEM Committee of the Union were pushed forward with a procedural motion after it failed to be brought to a vote in the previous Comhairle. When asked for the reason to push up the vote, STEM Faculty Convenor, Eve Martin, who had proposed the motion, expressed frustration over the delay, stating that she “would like to have a committee”, seeing that it had been three months of College already. Both the procedural and main motions were passed and Isobel Beausang was elected secretary and Abigail O’Brien Murray as chair.
Motion A on the rescheduling of exam dates to mandate that the Sabbats pressure college to move them further away from Christmas passed, only dissented by two students who raised concern that moving the exam dates back would be a disadvantage to STEM and Health Science students.
Motion C on the continuance of the Gender Equality Officer’s campaign to pressure College to provide abortion services to students was passed after a short debate. A speaker on the opposition urged against voting for the motion as this would mean Trinity is taking an “ethical stance” and that there are other ways of supporting women in need without “taking a human life”. This was followed by a retort from the proposer of the motion and current Gender and Equality officer, Elisa Zito, clarifying that this is only a motion to mandate the next Gender and Equality officer to continue the campaign, adding that she would continue the campaign on the issue regardless of the result of the motion. The motion was subsequently passed by an overwhelming majority.
Finally, Motion D on the holding of a referendum for the Students’ Union to express no confidence in the Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael government in light of the recent budget, which raised student fees was also passed. Some in attendance wished to debate the merits of the position of no confidence in itself, but this was shelved after the Ceann Comhairle reminded the Comhairle that this motion would only mandate a referendum, not necessarily endorse the position. The motion passed and, while the specific date remains uncertain, the referendum will be brought up before Christmas.
In accordance with the reform of selection for standing committees, elections for only OCM’s for the Educational Committee and the Communications Committee went ahead. Originally, the motion to reform the selection of standing committees was going to reduce the number of OCM’s on the Educational Committee from ten to two. However, one of the candidates, Anna Moore, had called for an amendment to the motion that would keep the number of Ordinary Committee members at ten prior to the election.
Moore’s motion passed, and she along with nine others out of the thirteen who put themselves up for the position were elected. Several key issues that were highlighted by candidates included getting clear communication from lecturers and module coordinators and library facilities, which elected OCM, Eimear O’Hagan, noted were “a disgrace”. Among elected candidates, heavy emphasis was put on STEM student underrepresentation and improving engagement with health science students. First Year Medicine Rep, Fintan Crean, advocated on the behalf of first year medicine students who are the first cohort under the new medicine program, stating that “a lot of us are unrepresented in our thoughts on the course”.
Only one committee member was elected to the Communications Committee as the rest of the positions are to be filled by open application. Matthew Kurt ran uncontested for OCM and was subsequently elected.
Elections for Access, Welfare, Joint Honours, and Archival Committee were held between motions, selecting a Health Science Postgraduate Faculty Convenor, two OCMs each for the Joint Honours Committee, the Access Committee as well as the Oversight Commission, and one OCM for the Welfare Committee. The Archival Committee elected a chair, Matthew Mannion, and three OCMs. The Environmental Action Committee elected a Secretary, a First Year Rep, and a Postgrad Rep. Three OCM’s for the Environmental Action Committee remain to be elected by open application.
A motion to extend the Guillotine time by 20 minutes failed, and the meeting concluded at 8.30pm on Tuesday evening, leaving two discussion items, Part Time Officer reports, and commission reports from the Electoral and Oversight Commission unresolved.
Additional reporting by Charlie Swan, Séan Radcliffe, and Charlie Hastings
