In what was by far the most hotly contested race of last year’s Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) election, Damien McClean secured the position of Welfare Officer with 44 per cent of the vote. Something of a veteran of student politics, the mathematics student had drawn on his experience as former Citizenship Officer and LGBT Rights Officer to convince the electorate of his ability to protect student interests, and build on the self-care facilities that were available in College.
As he campaigns for the role of Vice-President for Welfare of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), speaking to The University Times, McClean acknowledges that his current position is starkly different from the role that he hopes to assume, but his reasons for running for each are very much the same. “It all relates back to students staying in College”, he says. If elected, McClean will be one of 10 full-time USI officers that represent over 370,000 Irish students. “The only thing keeping you out of college should be academic prowess. It should be merit, not money”, the current TCDSU Welfare Officer explains. “The reason I’m running is that we’re lucky we have supports in Trinity, but there’s more that can be done.”
The reason I’m running is that we’re lucky we have supports in Trinity, but there’s more that can be done
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McClean wants to make easier the task of bringing the issues welfare officers deal regularly within their casework to national attention. In the absence of the duty to deal with individual student concerns, he believes that the role of Vice-President for Welfare can be used to “bring student votes up to the governmental stages where they can hear us”.
Moreover, he hopes the role will enable him to improve the resources that are currently available to welfare officers in all of USI’s affiliated colleges. “It’s quite difficult to make external connections because you’re so busy with casework, your job, appearing at meetings”, he admitted. Streamlining access to services and opening lines of communication with governmental bodies, McClean hopes, will better enable the USI to run welfare campaigns efficiently and effectively, on both a regional and national level.
Such efficiency will certainly be needed to address all of the issues McClean mentions in his extensive and ambitious manifesto. Listing his main objectives under the headings “mental health, sexual health, personal safety, welfare abroad, finance and accommodation, consent and addictive behaviours”, McClean is happy to disclose that “on my manifesto, very few of the ideas are actually mine”. However, as his focus is on reflecting concerns that are pertinent to specific colleges, as well as tackling the overarching issues that face every student in Ireland today, this is arguably one of the most impressive aspects of McClean’s bid for office.
“I have my experience of being Welfare Officer in Trinity, but I don’t have the experience of what it’s like in an IT”, McClean explained. For example, his idea for promoting water safety is inspired by issues that repeatedly arise in NUI Galway (NUIG) and Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT). “One problem they have is drug use and being near the water. The water is a very dangerous obstacle, especially when you’re inebriated. When we think of drug safety we think of festivals or Trinity Ball. This is expanding it past that.”
Among the more nationally applicable campaigns on McClean’s manifesto are those that aim to alleviate addictive behaviours, as well the confusion that surrounds student grants. Pointing out that online gambling is an addiction that “is actually affecting our generation a bit more because of the online element”, he expressed his wish to tackle “issues that we don’t seem to address that often”. With this being said, this is not to say that everyone who gamble online will become addicted. There are some people, who can simply play Vera john casino games, for example, and just play for fun. But there could be others who do not know when to stop. It’s about self-control.
Meanwhile, his ambition to remedy the issues with SUSI lies in being actively involved in the preparation of a new system that is due to be introduced in the coming years. “If this is not done perfectly, it’ll mean students without money for weeks potentially. This system, people are so reliant on it that we can’t afford for it to fall through.”
I have my experience of being Welfare Officer in Trinity, but I don’t have the experience of what it’s like in an IT
One of McClean’s most interesting proposals is his plan to provide legal tuition for students’ unions. Outlining scenarios in which a welfare officer could find themselves “with an 18 year old in your office, who has never dealt with the law before and who has four days to decide whether they are going to spend three years in a legal court case or not”, McClean emphasised that “there needs to be a framework so that if you are approached with this, you’ll know straight off who will be able to help you”.
On a related note, the TCDSU Welfare Officer said: “A huge amount of my casework has been people who have had non-consensual experiences.” In light of this, McClean has hopes to launch a national consent campaign, if elected to the USI. This will include enabling union officers and student leaders to advise victims on where to seek appropriate help. “I am not a counsellor”, he points out. “I may be able to help students and advise them towards counselling but I am still another form of signposting. I want to bring that to other colleges.”
However, as popular as the consent workshops McClean helped re-launch in Trinity Hall this year proved to be, this is not something he necessarily wants to replicate across the country. “The workshops we had were quite unique to Trinity, just in our set up in Halls. I don’t want to promise to bring that to UCC because they don’t have the same thing.”
Though his promotion of consent stands out as being a particularly noteworthy aspect of McClean’s tenure as welfare officer, the USI Vice-President for Welfare hopeful attempted to implement many other campaigns, with varying levels of success.
McClean is approaching the USI election slightly differently to how he planned his bid for the TCDSU sabbatical position
The Walk Home Safe campaign, originally due to be launched during Body and Soul week “may not be happening”, McClean conceded. “With the supplemental fees coming in the campaign may have to take a step back and that’s so unfortunate.” Similarly, the rapid HIV testing promised in his manifesto last year has proven to be very difficult to implement during McClean’s time in office. “I’ve been fighting for it as much as I can”, he said. “I have not given up on it yet.”
The Study Balance campaign though, held during Mental Health week, “ticked all the boxes that I had planned for it to”, the Welfare Officer revealed, and a member of Trinity’s counselling service has now been given SAFE talk-and-assist training. “We have trainers within our college, now we don’t have to go externally.”
McClean is approaching the USI election slightly differently to how he planned his bid for the TCDSU sabbatical position. “Before when I was thinking of points, I focused on where there are gaps in the market. Whereas maybe a better way of going about it is asking, ‘how can I improve this student’s life?'”
Conscious that he “would feel very guilty putting stuff on a manifesto that I don’t think can be done”, McClean this year hopes to strike the perfect balance between idealism and realism. “I want to fight and shoot for the stars, but I don’t want to promise things, have students relying on me to and then breaking that trust.”
