By Ian Curran – Deputy News Editor
A fresh Discovery for Trinity Orchestra
Continuing on their trend of adapting the music of contemporary artists, the Trinity Orchestra will perform Daft Punk’s 2001 album, “Discovery,” live in the exam hall on Friday the 18th of February. The orchestra have had great success in the past in adapting the music of artists such as Radiohead and Sigur Ros. Conductor, Rob Farhat, has every confidence in the endeavour. “I think it’s a great way for the Orchestra to attract the interest of the average college student who is not interested in classical music, while continuing to innovate and do what an orchestra does best – play music for an audience,” Farhat told The University Times.
Finance Bill targets student tax relief
The Finance Bill, the document that enacts the governments budgetary plans, was published last week amid controversy and rumour surrounding the Taoiseach’s leadership. The Bill states the government’s intention cut-back on tax relief for student charges. The Bill states, “Tax relief for student charges and fees will be curtailed also – there will be no tax relief on the first €2,000 of charges for full time students, the first 1,000 for part time students.” In reality, this means that a full-time post-graduate student will lose 400 euro a year and part-time post-grads will lose 200 euro in relief. This is on top of the government plans to increase the student registration fee to 2000 euro for the first-born in any given family.
SU to poll students twice yearly
Students’ Union Council has mandated its Communications Officer to put together a comprehensive survey twice a year to assess student satisfaction with the SU. The survey consisted of questions across a broad range of topics such as student health and welfare, individual student well-being and the perception of SU policy issues. In total 1711 students responded to the survey.
82% of students who took part in the survey said they are generally happy with the job TCDSU is doing, with 6% disagreeing. 72% of respondents said they agreed with the statement, “The Students’ Union accurately reflects the general opinion of the student population in its policies.” The survey also revealed a very high level of student satisfaction in the newly introduced SU Deal of the Week, with 71% of respondents stating that they have availed of it as of week ten of last term. The results also showed that 78% of surveyed students had attended at least one Ents event last term with only 7% complaining of a lack of variety in the events. The TCDSU Communications Offcer, who tabled the motion at SU council said, “This is a hugely important step for the Students’ Union to take, and I’m glad it received such support from reps.” He went on to say, “The Union and its elected representatives will be forced to evaluate themselves in the eyes of the student population – if you were worried that the SU was operating in a bubble before, this new mandate has burst it.”
