Presidential candidate Grace McNally, the Health Sciences Convenor, a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Committee member and third-year nursing student sat down with the News Editor to talk about the “broken system” that “we are living in”, her manifesto, and her reasoning behind running for the presidential seat.
Driven and enthusiastic, she states “I’m definitely the only person who’s not going in with my ego”, and acknowledges that “running for President I know I don’t know everything, I don’t know every person’s issue, what every course is like. But for me it’s that I’m willing to listen the way I was listened to. I was shown empathy, and I was shown a safe space and I want to create that for people”. Her own experience of reaching out in a crisis to the Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU/AMLCT) in her second year “changed everything” for her and made her realise the potential the Union has for the students of Trinity. When describing herself, she mentions her empathy and passion, stating, “I’m also quite angry, but I’m good at using that anger into something positive and into something strong”.
Asking why she decided to run in the emergency election, McNally said that running for SU President “was always something that was in my head, that I was going to do”. She underlines the personal risk for her as a nursing student, having to repeat her vaccinations, certificates and trainings next year but states that she knows “nursing will always be there” for her, while “this [election] is something that is necessary, and out of the four of us I am the best person for it, and I think, […] that that’s a priority for me, it’s something i have to jump onto, even though I am absolutely terrified”.
McNally says that she uses “a lot of personal experiences and experiences from other people and because of my empathy, it pushes me”. Her experience as Health Sciences Convenor she describes as “engaging with students, fighting with faculty”, expressing pride stemming from the connection and engagement she has raised among health sciences students. She underlines that a direct relationship and engagement with the student body is her priority – “I want to be a person that people feel comfortable coming to and talking to” – “I am here, speak to me”. She plans to organise her office hours to reach as many students as possible – on campus, in St. James’s and Tallaght hospitals and to “advertise all the things the SU has to offer to every faculty”, by methods such as posters of sabbats in most student zones and not only house 6, to “have things visible in student spaces”, social media engagement and direct contact. She also wants to bring back the SU booklet, mentioning that this was how she herself first got the idea to contact the SU when in need.
In her manifesto, she mentions her plan to establish a “student-owned housing collective”, underlining the number of students facing homelessness or difficulty commuting. The collective would offer homes across Dublin that “students come in and out for different placements and internships”. She underlines the scarcity of existing Trinity accommodations, stating that these houses would be especially useful for their “emergency accommodation aspect”. When asked about the organisational difficulties and securing funding, she states “I plan on doing things through grassroots […] starting off small, pushing and fighting […] if and when Trinity don’t listen or don’t care, just moving up and escalating”.
Another initiative she plans to implement is “cost-of-living packs”, which she explains to be a form of financial grant for students in need. These would be different per course, evaluated in terms of what students need and aimed at covering the “hidden costs […] not supported by college” such as uniforms, books, field trips or even lunches.
As a Nursing student and Health Sciences Convenor, currently on placement in St. James’s Hospital, she states that “student workers for me are the biggest priority”. Underlining issues such as the unpaid labour of student nurses, the exclusion of students on placement from campus life and the hidden costs of medical and nursing degrees, she says, “they should be getting paid […] that is something I will fight for”. She also plans to work with the college to implement supports and aids for student workers, including accommodations for exams and assignments.
She underlines the importance of Learning Education Needs Summary (LENS) reports, and her plans to expand them to offer protection for pregnant students, as well as those “facing issues on external sites” such as placement or internships. McNally acknowledges that while “we can’t unfortunately stop things from happening, but we can protect you when they do happen and we can look after you after they’re done”. Speaking about mental health supports, McNally says “I think those are huge, and in college those are just insane”, she mentions the long waiting times and overall lack of support. To change that, she plans expanding “drop in services and organising things with mental health services, with Student 2 Student (S2S), with all these people that are here” “having them available to students, having them advertised to students, to know about them”.
Asked about student spaces she underlines that “working to get the SU cafe back in James’s” would be her priority. She doesn’t “think Trinity are establishing the spaces well enough, because we have the room for them but they’re just not being used’ and states that “we’re also losing them to tourists” – “they don’t do anything for students they do it for tourists, and that’s the biggest issue with the student spaces on campus and with campus alone” This leads us to the topic of the Book of Kells blockades, which McNally sees as an example of “students hav[ing] the power” stating that “we could do that blockade again, so easily and Trinity know that, I don’t think we’re taking the full opportunity there, we should be working with Trinity more, we should be getting more funding, we should have our prices be going down”.
Speaking on the importance of direct action, with which she has experience, having organised a protest on behalf of the nurses, as well as being a member of the BDS committee, she says that she is “not afraid to get out and shout, I’m not afraid to lead protests and lead marches” but ‘‘I know when direct action is necessary and needed but I also know when you can deal with things in a meeting or in a letter […] because there’s experience on both sides of that”. She underlines this skill of “knowing when is the right time” as a key part of her experience, which she “definitely […] gained […] from BDS and from the protest with the nurses”.
McNally “disagrees” that the SU should be changed or reformed, stating “I understand why people think that, because the past ten months of the SU was the effigies and then Seán Thim”. She says it’s “so disappointing” how so many people see the SU as just the six sabbats – “which isn’t true – the SU is the PTO’s, the convenors, the class reps, the school convenors, all these people that are putting in so much work”. She stresses the need to keep the SU transparent – “people should know what is going on in a positive and a negative way”. Addressing the voices calling for a reform of the SU she says ‘‘it’s not about reformation, but it’s about giving the union what the union is and what it deserves, where it’s a community and a safe space, where people are able to be themselves and to come forward with their things, to speak at the Comhairles and the union forums […] it doesn’t need reformation, it just needs someone solid to lead it, as the campaign manager and as the chair and that’s me”.
While acknowledging the existence of internal politics within the SU she mentions the multiple parties available to students – “those actively political people go there […] whereas I think the SU is about advocating for students” “it just needs to work, it needs to be a team, more than a government”. Asked about her own political beliefs as a presidential candidate, she describes herself as “a left-wing person because I believe in human rights and advocacy for people who are struggling – but that doesn’t mean that I believe that the union should be a left-wing party”.
Keeping in mind that her term would be shorter than that of a regular SU President (effectively lasting seven months), McNally underlines that to her, the most important thing “is that students are able to know about the SU, that they’re able to come back and use the SU, I want to be remembered as someone who advocated for students, even if it was something that was continued and finished next year”. She finishes the interview underlining her commitment and dedication, saying: “I will be the same person whether I win or lose, I will continue to fight and advocate for students, as Health Science Convenor, as President or as an ordinary nursing student in her third year. I will be the same person and I will fight the same fights, but being President gives me more opportunity to do that”.
