Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) is to hold a referendum on a proposal to shorten the term time of the Entertainments Officer, after a turbulent final meeting of the union’s council tonight.
Students will be asked if they are in favour of a proposal that would see the union’s Entertainments Officer work only until the end of exams in Trinity’s second term. Currently, the Entertainments Officer works until the end of June and the successor officer takes over straight away.
The motion was proposed by TCDSU Communications and Marketing Officer Paraic McLean as an alternative to an earlier motion proposed by TCDSU President Shane De Rís, which would have seen a referendum held on a proposal to merge the position of Ents Officer with the position of Communications and Marketing Officer.
Speaking at council tonight, McLean said the proposal – which would take effect from 2020/21 – would save the union €6,000. Incumbent Entertainments Officer David Flood spoke in favour of the motion.
In a discussion item on the union’s finances, De Rís spoke extensively about the measures that needed to be taken in order to safeguard TCDSU’s financial future.
When presenting the motion to merge the two union positions, De Rís said cuts had to be made to “secure the safety and security of the union”.
“This is the change to the constitution that we have to take in order to preserve the financial credibility of the union”, he said.
De Rís attempted to bring an emergency motion to launch a referendum on merging the positions, which was met with significant backlash from those in attendance. The merger, De Rís said, would save the union €10,000.
TCDSU Law Convenor Greg Murphy said that “raising this at 9.30pm is not the way to solve this”.
Motions arising from discussion items must be approved by council. McLean’s alternative motion was approved amid an intervention from the union’s Engineering, Maths and Science (EMS) Faculty Convenor, Sally Anne McCarthy.
