Minutes of UCDSU’s Union Council, which directs the policy of the students’ union, as well as those of the Union Executive, which oversees its day to day running have not been updated in almost twelve months at the time of going to print.
The minutes, which are typically published on UCDSU’s website, have not been updated since March 2015 in the case of the Executive and April 2015 in the case of Union Council.
Union council is the fortnightly meeting of class reps through which UCDSU is accountable to the students of UCD. The Union Executive meets weekly and is made up of the elected sabbatical officers, college officers and Irish language officer.
As student engagement with the union remains low, increased transpareny in the undertakings of the union has been raised as a means of encouraging students to get involved with the student representative body.
To this end, the constitution of the UCDSU includes a clause (9.12) which states that “The Union secretary shall take minutes and publish same and the attendance list, of each meeting of the executive once it has been approved for publication, not later than one month after the relevant meeting…”
While council meetings are not mandated to be recorded, it has become standard practice to do so. Speaking to the College Tribune last week, Union president Marcus O’Halloran said that he had no knowledge that the minutes had gone unpublished, stating that “they’ve all been approved and ready to go” and that they will be uploaded within one week.
- Seán O’Reilly, Editor
