A party organised by a member of the campaigns and communications crew is believed to be a contributing factor to the poor attendance at the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) organised public meeting, site which took place on Wednesday November 7th in the Stillorgan Park Hotel. Paddy Guiney, viagra Campaigns and Communications officer, said that the poor attendance was down to a number of factors, “it wasn’t advertised well enough, social media is an add on of advertisement…yes there were no posters on campus but all of my focus is on [the Gilmore 250 march].”
It was mentioned by UCDSU president, Rachel Breslin, at union council that a campaigns crew bonding night out was one of the causes for the poor attendance at the meeting. According to Guiney “a student was organising his own night through UCD Ents and he wanted to promote it.”
Guiney was on sick leave and says that there was poor attendance at both events claiming that only three or four people were at the party. Breslin estimates that there were up to ten members of the campaigns crew at the party, “because the events were together it seemed as though quite a large number of the campaigns crew or people who claim to be a part of the campaigns crew missed the event.”
“Was it a bad idea, in theory because of what the campaigns crew should signify yes it was,” said Guiney in reference to the organising of the party. However, Guiney defended the crew saying that they have worked extremely hard during the course of the Gilmore 250 campaign. He admits that this didn’t look good and he says that it was a mistake.
“It was a bad idea, but the crew, the forum, and the reps have done a very good job volunteering so far and I can’t doubt that, and one little hiccup shouldn’t take away from that element.”
Breslin has taken action on the incident stating, “When something happens once you have to have some flexibility and say that we can learn from this.” However, she mentioned that she didn’t think that it was appropriate that any members of UCDSU should have missed the meeting in favour of going to a social event, “I think that these people should have been at the event and promoting the event rather than focusing on a night out.”
Guiney commented, “I put my hands up…I went to the open forum meeting myself but [the party] was a bad idea.” Breslin wasn’t aware of the social event until after the meeting but has taken action, “it is up to me to deal with and if necessary discipline people who have duties as per their roles with UCDSU.”
By Peter Hamilton
