In an interview with the College Tribune Stephen Darcy, Entertainments Vice-President, said that he was “heartbroken” about the cancellation of the Mystery Tour which was scheduled to be held on Wednesday last.
Cancelled due to poor ticket sales, Darcy stated that the loss made by the cancellation was minimal, “the only cost was the printing charge which wasn’t substantial.”
He explained that “two [of the locations] were daytime clubs and there was no expense in opening them; the final club was open anyway so there was no expense there.”
Darcy further stated that the twenty buses booked for the event were hired from a company used regularly by the Union so a deposit was not lost.
At Union Council, questions arose regarding the lack of publicity of the event which mainly took place over social media. Roisin Conran, Business Programme Officer, argued that “a lot of people didn’t know it was on, it was a last minute thing … people need to be given advance warning to save for tickets”.
Eoin Heffernan, Ents Officer elect, told the Tribune that he was busy with his studies and didn’t see much publicity. Pat de Brún, UCDSU President, stated that “the fact that it was postponed twice did not leave enough time to promote it effectively.”
Darcy stated that the facebook event for the Mystery Tour was the biggest one so far this year. There were 336 attending and 1,000 tickets available.
He tried to explain that “there are so many facebook events” that students don’t click attending but there was a lot of interest which “unfortunately didn’t translate into ticket sales.”
When asked why he felt students did not purchase tickets, Darcy replied that it was “just a combination of people having no money … UCD Ball tickets going on sale at the same time … there was just too much on”.
The ‘Spin 103.8 Student Races’ at Leopardstown occurred on the same day as the planned Mystery Tour. UCDSU sold over 900 tickets, making an estimated profit of €930. De Brún also felt that the huge popularity of the student races “completely overshadowed” the mystery tour.
Darcy told the Tribune that he hopes to put on the Mystery Tour directly after the exam period, “I might put it to a student poll to see if there’s enough interest”.
In relation to the UCD Ball, he confirmed that sales are “well past” the 3,000 mark but he was not allowed to reveal the exact figures.
Students have complained that the line up is disappointing with some hoping that more acts may be announced but the Ents Vice-President told the Tribune that “there’s no major surprises coming up … we’ve spent our budget in terms of acts … [but] there may be another one or two little acts”.
In his manifesto, Darcy promised to have a carnival on site but he has failed to follow through on that. “The guards wouldn’t let us this year … it was a nice idea [but] I can’t argue with the guards … after last year, I’m doing anything to keep [them] sweet.”
Darcy is confident that the event will be a success, “we’re so prepared for it and it’s just a matter of selling it out now, the hard part now.”
Conor Fox
Roisin Conran, Business Programme Officer, argued that “a lot of people didn’t know it was on, it was a last minute thing … people need to be given advance warning to save for tickets”.
– If this is the mentality coming from the COMMERCE BLOCK then students are being screwed by bankers and government alike!