This is the second time Grace McNally, current Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU/AMLCT) President, former Health Sciences convenor, and Junior Sophister Nursing student, sat down with the University Times to talk about her candidacy for the chief role in the union.
When asked about her unprecedented run for a second term (McNally won the November bye-election, and has been in office since December), she said she made the final decision the night before, “it wasn’t the case of ‘I dont know’ […] It was more ‘I know what I want to do and I know my plans’”. She recalled asking herself: “‘Can I see myself being here for the next year?’ And I could”. She added, “Even though I’m very tired, I’m also more excited, and I enjoy it more than I hate it, which I think is a big win.”
A nursing student herself, McNally has always been outspoken about health science students being her priority: “I know that there will not be someone in this position who will have that similar want and push like I have […] they won’t have that same passion and urgency that I do”.
McNally’s manifesto is virtually identical to the one she ran with in the November bye-elections. She said she “knew she wasn’t going to achieve [a lot of her manifesto points] in half of a term […] it was more of a case of creating that ground where I can”. “I knew [a lot of things] were […] things that would need a lot of time. Especially the nursing stuff. Most of that is quite beyond the college”, she added. Nevertheless, she’s proud of the progress she’s made with her work on divesting from the Coca-Cola company, as well as steps towards abolishing the STARS (Staff Time and Rostering System) for unpaid student health workers.
One of the “biggest parts of the Presidency” for McNally is the role of Chief Campaigns Officer. Previously a member of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Committee, she brought valuable experience to the role. When asked if she felt “ready to jump into campaigns”, she exclaimed with a laugh: “Definitely! […] it’s really exciting that it’s all finally happening”. She notices: “It’s quite frustrating for a lot of the campaigns, because it’s just been silence since September, until now. Most of the campaigns are very much in their baby steps […] it’s a lot of background work, and emails and lobbying”. She talked about her hopes for the second term, saying: “knowing if I was here again in July, [she would like] getting to really spearhead it”. She said she would “love the opportunity” of “getting more into the heavy stuff and more intense work”.
Speaking about campaigns she would prioritise next year, she said she “would want to […] amalgamate health science students. [She] would love to see campaigns happening on St. James’ campus”. “I want students to come in and be angry or say what they need to say and feel comfortable in that space, because health science students don’t. […] I was in that position as well, where I just didn’t care”. She also mentioned how bringing back the SU Cafe in St. James’ (closed since Covid) is another one of her priorities: “showing [the students] the Union is here for you, the Union does want to support you”.
McNally also underlined that “a lot of the ongoing campaigns have to stay ongoing, like period poverty”. Speaking on that issue, she noted “we should have increased our funding and the amount of bathrooms [which are stocked]”. She said she plans to “look at doing that […], but it will probably have to be a little bit more aggressive […] a lot more direct action in September for that”. In her manifesto, McNally also talked about “advocat[ing] for reliable and consistent abortion services through college health”. She stated she “completely stand[s] with [the campaign], it’s so so important”.
One of McNally’s chief manifesto points is to expand the housing options available to Trinity Students and begin the work on establishing a student-owned housing collective. The motion of Support for Student Housing Cooperatives was raised by Lorenzo Cheasty (TCDSU Housing Rights Officer) at the January Comhairle and passed, mandating TCDSU to proceed with work on the matter. McNally expressed her admiration for Cheasty’s “brilliant” hard work.
McNally noted that such an initiative has only been done once in Ireland (Queen’s University, Belfast, where it took six years) and that “[her and Cheasty] were both very aware this is not an overnight thing […] it is really important that we lay everything down really, really well, so that this is successful in like eight years to come”. They have been undertaking an “extreme amount of research into it” and “working and lobbying with the college” to “start bringing forward different policies and different things that we can do to cement this in the ground”. She admits the scale of the project, stating: “So that’s where we’re at for now, and it would be very similar next year”.
One of McNally’s more innovative manifesto points in November was the “cost-of-living packs”, which would provide financial aid for students in need, tailored to their specific requirements. These reappear in her new manifesto. She stated she brought the issue up with the finance committee of the college, as she doesn’t “want the SU to have to be the one funding these. […] I have a kind of deal made up for myself – when the college could do it, I want to push them to do it”. She said: “It’s looking very positive […] and it’s something [the finance committee] actually seemed to be sharing support for. […] I do think it is something we could start doing in September […] or next Christmas maybe”.
The University Times also asked McNally about the motion on the creation of a Sexual Violence Task Force, which she brought to the last Comhairle, and which passed (the motion was supposed to occur at the first Comhairle of the year, but it was not proposed by the president (Seán Thim) at the time). She said that “for [her] in September, a really big thing is to get students okay with the idea of this again”, referring to the student body’s distrust in the SU, following the effigy scandal last April. She talked about wanting to organise additional training for the newly established committee, “so that it will be really good for campaigns in September, but also for that added layer of protection and accountability”.
McNally also talked about her plans for boosting student engagement with the Union. She underlined the importance of class reps, and said: “We’ve been hosting a lot of coffee mornings, trying to do things during the day that are aimed at students. […] It would be good, pushing it out to broader people”. She also said she wants to “link in with counselling […] to arrange things with the SU and counselling so that there’s more available, outside of the waiting times, and signing up”. She stated, “Sometimes it’s just students receiving the basics that college isn’t giving them, by us showing that it’s there and giving it to them in a different way”.
Asked about her candidacy, McNally responds: “I’m the only person who’s been in this position, which I know can seem like an advantage, but it also is a little bit of a disadvantage, because I feel like there’s a lot […] I have to prove to people […] because I haven’t done like these huge public things”. However, she spoke with gratitude about the support she’s received from the other Sabbatical and the Part-Time Officers. She also mentioned her background: “That whole, like, health science student coming from an unsupported faculty […] I’m from the west of Ireland, I’m not a Dublin person, I’m a renter. […] I feel like I do see things in a little bit of a different way. I’m loud when I want to be, but I also know when something can be done through an email or a meeting”.
The interview ended with McNally underscoring her love for the role: “When you’re in that position where you don’t know what to do, but you want to do something, having someone there for you saying, yeah, let’s try this, I really like being that person. I’m really grateful that I get to be that person”.
— Update: 16th February 2026, 3:01 pm —
The above article was edited for grammar and tense, in addition to changing the phrase “Chief Campaigns Manager” to “Chief Campaigns Officer” . The content of the article has not been changed otherwise.
