After the second year of online elections, the University College Dublin (UCD) Students’ Union sabbatical team for 2021-22 has been elected. The UCDSU Elections results were announced to a crowd of over 100 people on Facebook Live, at 6:15 pm on Friday, April 2nd.
Students’ Union Sabbatical Executive Officers:
The Students’ Union’s Sabbatical Executive Officers are elected full-time officers. There are 6 elected officers, Campaigns and Engagement, Education, Entertainment, Welfare, Graduate and the President.
Ruairí Power won the Presidential race by a landslide receiving 71.6% of the vote, a total of 1487. Power acted as last year’s Welfare Officer. The Presidential election was this year’s only contested race with Ed Leonard and Liam Coyle also competing for the position. Leonard received 372 votes, 17.9%, while Coyle finished with just 191 votes, 9.2%. There were 25 votes to reopen nominations out of a total valid poll of 2075. The President is the face of the Students’ Union and the CEO of UCDSU Commercial Services Limited.
Power told the College Tribune: “I’m buzzed with the result. It’s been a massive honour to have been part of the sabbatical team for the past year and I can’t wait to hit the ground running. Thanks very much to everyone who supported me for the past year and to my very very sound campaign manager Míde for all of her help. Fair play to Ed and Liam for both putting themselves forward.”
In concession, Leonard told the College Tribune: “I’d like to congratulate Ruairí on his victory and wish him the best of luck for the upcoming year. He has done great work this year as Welfare Officer and I’ve no doubt he will continue that into next year. I’d like to offer my commiserations to Liam and thank him for all he’s done while representing Business students. To all the people who voted for me, I will be forever grateful for your support.”
In concession, Coyle told the College Tribune: “Firstly, I would like to thank the students who trusted me with their vote. I also want to thank Edward and Ruairí for being worthy opponents. The SU President will need to chart a clear direction and bring impactful change for students during the upcoming year, I hope Ruairí can bring that, I will be willing them on”.
Campaigns and Engagement officer candidate Darryl Horan was elected to the position, amassing 1488 votes, 91.6%, with a total of 136 people voting for nominations to be reopened. Horan ran uncontested for the position. In his victory speech, Horan was pleased with the outcome saying he would like to “thank friends, family and comrades”.
Horan told the College Tribune: “I want to say a massive thanks to everyone that got involved in the campaign and those that trusted me with their votes. A particular thanks to friends, comrades and my campaign manager Sadhbh who have been there with me since the start of this campaign. We are going to have our work cut out for us this year and I look forward to building some fantastic campaigns.”
The uncontested Welfare race saw Molly Greenough win the election with 1628 votes. 94 people voted to reopen nominations. There was a total valid poll of 1722. Greenough told the College Tribune: “I’d like to sincerely thank the students of UCD for trusting me to be your next Welfare officer. This is not a task I take on lightly. While I’m preparing for a difficult year and a lot of hard work, I’m thrilled to be fighting in your corner. I will not let you down. Shout out to my beloved campaign managers, Robyn and Lucy. All my love to you both and the rest of the campaign crew/supporters!”
Education officer candidate Aoife Bracken was elected to the position, amassing 1544 votes with a total of 122 people voting for nominations to be reopened from a total poll of 1656.
The uncontested Entertainment race saw Sarah Michalek win with a total of 1516 votes. 190 people voted to reopen nominations. Reflecting on her campaign, Michalek told the College Tribune: “Hey everyone, firstly thank you so much to everybody who voted; your vote is so important! I also want to thank my campaign manager Emma and everybody who helped out with my campaign – couldn’t have done it without you! I’m really excited to continue on with the role and make it better than before, we’re in for a year of great craic!”
Graduate Officer candidate Carla Gummerson was elected to the position with 687 votes from a total poll of 734. Gummerson ran uncontested for the position. Speaking to the College Tribune Gummerson said: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that voted for me. I am very excited to be given another opportunity to support students. I will continue to advocate for student needs and issues on a local and national level. I look forward to working with the new team in the upcoming academic year”
A total of 2,245 students voted in this year’s elections, compared to just 975 last year. However, it is still a poor turnout as the figure represents less than 15% of the student population eligible to vote. Overseas students who are on a semester/year abroad in UCD are not eligible to vote.
The Sabbatical Team is as follows:
President – Ruairí Power
Entertainments Officer – Sarah Michalek
Campaigns & Engagement Officer – Darryl Horan
Welfare Officer – Molly Greenough
Education Officer – Aoife Bracken
Graduate Officer – Carla Gummerson
Students’ Union College Officers:
College Officers are part-time volunteer officers; their role is designed to act as the primary means of communication between students and the SU Executive. Ronan Cloney & Miranda Bauer were elected to the two seats of the Arts Humanities and Social Sciences College Officer. In the first round of votes, Cloney received 189 votes and Bauer received 305 votes. Shane Lynch also ran for the position however he only scored 72 and was disqualified as he fell below the quota of 193 votes.
Irish Language Officer Louise Mahon was elected to the position after receiving 1068 votes from a total poll of 1658. Mahon ran unopposed in the race for Irish Language Officer. Billy Egan was elected this year’s Science Officer. Egan scored 242 points while his opponent Eoin Fagan finished with just 133 votes. There were 11 votes for Reopen Nominations from a total poll of 386.
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Eoin Martin took the seat of Law College Officer this year receiving 174 votes. There were 15 votes to Reopen Nominations from a total poll of 189. Martin ran unopposed in the race for Law College Officer. Maria Wall has been elected the Agriculture, Food Science & Veterinary Science College Officer with a total of 123 votes, Reopen Nominations took home just 18. The next Health Sciences College Officer will be Louise Costello. She received 178 of 189 votes. A total of 11 students voted to Reopen Nominations. This year’s Engineering and Architecture Officer will be Meserah Abdullah. Abdullah received 145 votes. There were 22 votes to Reopen Nominations from a total poll of 167.
The full list of elected College Officers is as follows:
Arts, Humanities and Social Science Officer – Ronan Cloney & Miranda Bauer
Science Officer – Billy Egan
Irish Language Officer – Louise Mahon
Law Officer – Eoin Martin
Agriculture, Food and Vet Science Officer – Maria Wall
Health Science Officer – Louise Costello
Engineering and Architecture Officer – Meserah Abdullah
Business Officer – N/A *
* A by-election will be held to elect the Business College Officer Position. There were no validly nominated candidates for this position.
Hugh Dooley – News Editor
Emma Hanrahan – Assistant News Editor
