On Monday, November 24th, in the Elizabethan Room of Teach 6, Trinity’s Politics Society (Pol Soc) hosted a hustings on the upcoming Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU/AMLCT) referendum of “No Confidence in the 35th Government of Ireland”, which is currently a Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael coalition government.
Hustings were opened at 3:15 PM in the Elizabethan Room of Teach 6 by Clodagh Hanna, the chair of Trinity’s Politics Society (Pol Soc), to an audience of about 20. Speakers on the pro side (supporting the referendum) were Patrick Keegan of Ógra Shinn Féin at Trinity, Arlo Tavel of the Trinity Social Democrats, and Matthew Butt of Trinity Labour. Speakers on the con side were Cathal Horgan and Andrew Rosbotham of Cumann Theobald Wolfe Tone (Trinity Fianna Fáil).
The advent of the referendum follows TCDSU/AMLCT Comhairle (Council) 2, held on November 4th, where the motion to hold a referendum to adopt the long-term policy of “No Confidence in the 35th Government of Ireland” passed overwhelmingly. The referendum is set to take place at the same time as the Bye-Election for the president of TCDSU/AMLCT later this week, from November 26th to 28th. The motion also explains that if the 36th government retains Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael as “leading” parties, this referendum would be automatically carried to the 36th Government.
If the referendum is carried, it will be the first time TCDSU/AMLCT would take a position of no confidence in the Government of Ireland. The union’s ability to take a stance of no confidence in the Government comes after the amendment to Chapters 1.5 and 8.1 of the Constitution that was passed by referendum on February 7th earlier this year. The additional clause in Chapter 8.1 of the constitution now reads “The Union may only adopt a position of no confidence in a government as a matter of long-term policy”.
The first speaker in favour of the referendum was Keegan. He cited the permanent €500 student fee increase in Budget 2026 by the Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael government, comparing it to Sinn Féin’s own programme. He also mentioned the government’s lack of “concrete action on Palestine”, through “failing to pass the Occupied Territories Bill” and “not taking action on U.S. weapons coming in through Shannon [Airport]”. Keegan also said “the Government has a duty and constitutional obligation to prepare for unity”, but added “it wants to hold on to power”, and “partition failed everyone”. He also touched on housing, saying that there was “a new plan, but no new measures”, citing “over 5,000 children in emergency accommodation”, adding that they “had a target of 21,000 beds for students, but only achieved 15,000”. Keegan said the referendum had to carry to “send [the government] a message that they cannot ignore”, “we will not accept a future defined by their failures”.
The first speaker against the referendum was Horgan, who mentioned several Fianna Fáil policies in support of students, including 1000 more teachers and aides for students with special needs . He also mentioned, “the Trinity student body has some of the highest makeup of students from private schools, fees will go into SUSI grants”. On Palestine, he said, “you can only say that we are leaders in Europe”, “we are again and again pushing for the Palestinian area”. He also said “there is more cross-border water infrastructure being built than at any point in Irish history”, among a list of construction projects, which he ended with “no matter what you think of Fianna Fáil, we have always been pro-construction” which was met with laughs in the audience. He also mentioned “investing at the immigration level” and other social investment projects, ending by saying “Now that we’re finally addressing issues, you lot have no confidence in them”.
Tavel was the second speaker, and he opened by thanking the speakers for the opposition for “taking on the daunting task of defending our government”. He asked, “What have Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael done for students in this government?” He said that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gail have “routinely fail[ed] to build long-lasting solutions to the problems that students face”. He said, “higher education funding is still below pre-crisis levels, making colleges rely on exorbitant foreign student fees”, and that the government “scrapped housing targets”. He initially ended by saying, “a government that fails to plan is a government that plans to fail”, but realised he had more time and added a poem, “The government does not GAF about you or me / In Australia is where we shall be.”
Rosbotham spoke second for the opposition, saying, “student fees have decreased”, referring to the €500 permanent decrease versus the €1000 temporary decrease in place during COVID-19. He discussed investment in apprenticeship and said the proposition was pushing for “provocative” politics, where his side was “about unity”. He mentioned Fianna Fáil’s housing priorities, including “300,000 homes by 2030, aiming for 55-60 thousand homes per year, double the current rate”. He characterised this as “the largest, most strategic investment in our country’s future in history”. He said, “if you think there’s no public investment in this country, I would really disagree with you”, adding that this was “not political manoeuvring”. He also mentioned the government increasing Gardaí visibility with “1,000 new Gardaí”, which added “2.3 million hours of garda visibility on our streets” with investment in body cameras, “delivering real protection”. He said “[There have been] so many more Gardaí on our streets, more Gardaí cars protecting people, specifically young women”, and “I’ve definitely noticed a difference”. He finished saying “confidence in the government is earned”, citing metrics including unemployment, social investment, and a permanent fee decrease. Ending with “we as Fianna Fáil affirm our confidence in the government”.
Butt, the third speaker for the proposition and the final speaker of the hustings, opened with a joke that he was “the only Irishman speaking for the proposition”. He responded to Cathal about the SUSI grants saying, “I’m on SUSI. I know the money can come from elsewhere. We don’t need to take the money out of the pockets of working families to fund the SUSI grants”. He said “500 euros is not that much for those earning 100k per year”, but “we have to take care of the working-class students at the college”. He said, “Simon Harris promised to abolish student fees, like most promises Mr Harris makes, it has vanished into thin air”. He said, “If I’m paying my student fees and it is more than it was last year, that is an increase. It does not matter what language you use to describe it”. He said, “Students are an integral part of the workforce, but they are consistently, in their workers’ rights, repressed by the government.” He cited that the government “failed to abolish subminimum rates for u/21s” which he called “a direct violation of workers’ rights and we are the party of workers rights” (referring to Labour). He finished saying, “These workers need to organise. The solution is unionisation, we have the weakest working rights in Europe.”
At the end of the debate, the speakers were asked to respond to the question “Why do you believe your side of the debate better serves the interests of students?” Keegan cited the fee increase and said, “TCDSU is not standing up for its members if this fails” and “we’re here for students, not ministers”. Tavel said, “Our side is the one that represents the interests of commuters and the interests of students”, also mentioning the student housing crisis. Butt said, “Four more budgets for burger barons and billionaires do not serve the interests of students”. Horgan noted that in recent years TCDSU/AMCT had become “more politicised”, and this was “the first time in recent history where candidates are fully backed by parties”. He added, “When you’re in a party, and you get a student fee motion pushed, now your Soc Dem [sic] career has taken off”. Horgan added that his side was the one for “people who need help the most”, referring to funding SUSI. Rosobotham cited, “student transport and accommodation, reduced the student fees permanently” and said that fee reduction could occur “through the lifetime of the government”. He ended by saying “the government is serving the interests of students more than the opposition”.
At the end of the debate, when the floor was opened for audience questions, and after a moment of silence, Horgan apologised for not being an audience member before asking, “How can the SU say that they advocate for students if turnout is so low?” Chair of Trinity Fianna Fáil, Cumann Theobold Wolfe Tone, Bevin Maloney, said they were the largest party society on campus in terms of membership, and are often overlooked. She stated: “As the chair of FF, I was aware this referendum was happening one day ago”. This sentiment was echoed by others, who shared that they were unaware of a hustings, organised by the Electoral Commission, scheduled to take place tonight for the presidential bye-election. “They haven’t posted that anywhere, how are we supposed to know that?” one audience member said. Horgan quipped, “This is a point we can all agree on, we don’t know about anything”. The hustings ended there.
