The Oversight Commission’s (OC’s) Report on the President as Chief Campaigns Officer was brought to Comhairle 2 on November 4th, but was not addressed in council due to lack of time. The report details timelines former President Seán Thim’s time in office, and the OC’s investigations into complaints filed about campaigns.
From the 15th of September onwards, the Oversight Commission (OC) received requests regarding the President and their role as Chief Campaigns Officer, and investigated the matter. The report presented was a summary of the investigation, and was compiled before Seán Thim’s resignation as SU President on October 31st.
The main allegations against the President were a lack of active involvement with the BDS campaign, a lack of substantive presidential reports, and the existence of an alleged unelected advisory committee. While the OC found that the President was not in breach of most of the mandates, and it could not be concluded whether an unelected advisory committee exists, the OC brought several important points to the attention of the Comhairle.
Firstly, it was underlined that “if such a body [the unelected advisory committee] exists, it would be required to adhere to all relevant clauses of the Union’s Constitution.”
Secondly, the President said that the concept idea for the “Flip the Fees” protest came from an unnamed UF member, and the campaign plan for Flip the Fees shared by the President was edited on Google Docs by an unelected individual, which was not shared with the UF. As the EC has cited “a duty to the President to include UF in the setting of campaign strategy”, the OC has interpreted the President’s actions of concealing information from the UF as a breach in the Constitution.
Thirdly, before the Flip the Fees protest, the Chair of the OC was contacted by an unelected individual “reaching out on [the President] Seán’s behalf” inviting members of the OC to join a Stewarding group chat for the protest, furthermore, two unelected individuals chaired a stewarding training session. Citing the same clause of the Constitution, the OC stated as yet again the President did not include UF in the discussion about stewarding, and the improperly constituted Union body did not adhere to the General Governance Regulations of the Constitution, both the President and said body breached the Constitution.
Furthermore, other independent OC investigations have revealed that by not publicising any office hours in the weekly emails for weeks 2, 3, 6, 7, the President is in breach of the Motion on Sabbatical Officer Office Hours (requiring that “Sabbatical Officers schedule at least 2 hours per week during term time […] and that these will be publicized by the Students’ Union in the weekly email.”). The President was also found to be in breach of the mandate to “create a strategy taskforce around the Union’s campaigning around sexual violence to an chéad Chomhairle” (brought to the last Extraordinary Comhairle by former President, Jenny Maguire). Seán Thim’s failure to bring a President’s report to Comhairle 1 has also been found to be in breach of the Constitution.
Following the investigation report, the OC presented the following recommendations. Acknowledging the President’s struggle with mental health and its impact on their duties as President, the OC raised awareness of supports available to all Trinity students. Furthermore, the OC recommended that the President engage with training available from AMLÉ, especially catch up on training missed due to their absence from SUT+ (August 2025), noting that such training could potentially have assisted the President in fulfilling their constitutional duties and obligations.
Seán Thim did not respond to a request for comment.
