The College Tribune spoke to Drogheda native Ciara Moroney about her ongoing campaign for the role of Entertainments Officer in the upcoming SU Election. Ciara, a final year Pharmacology student and the current auditor of Food Soc, is running uncontested for the position.
Ciara feels her work with Food Soc over the years, culminating in her position as auditor, would lend itself well to the role of SU Ents Officer. In fact, her time with Food Soc was what drew her to the position in the first place. When she was approached for the role of ENTS officer, she felt everything fell into place.
When asked why she in particular is suited for the job, Ciara explained that her connectivity with students as FoodSoc auditor is key. “I go to all the events, I’m there, I’m present, connecting with students … that connectivity is really important for the position.”
Given her close ties with FoodSoc, we asked whether she would struggle to focus on societies other than her own. Ciara responded that having worked with other societies, this would not be an issue. We asked whether she was in favour of collaborating with societies more generally and she responded that “it’s a great way to go … I do agree that you should be working with the societies to engage more with the students.”
We asked Ciara whether she thought her race being uncontested was down to a lack of engagement with the SU in general, or down to a particular issue with the ENTS role itself. She believes there is an engagement problem this year, potentially due to the transition from being online to in-person: “I know for myself from working with Food Soc how hard it can be to transition from being online”. This is why she has included the use of the UCD campus as a major goal in her manifesto, believing it would “boost people’s willingness to take part in the SU.”
With regards to this transition into what will likely be the first academic year with zero Covid restrictions since pre-pandemic times, we asked whether Ciara felt equipped to rise to that challenge. Although she was reluctant to give away any ideas too soon, she mentioned that she would like to bring back some older events as well as new ones. Additionally, she felt, having enjoyed her first year fully on campus, she has a good knowledge of what campus life can be like without restrictions.
The use of the Entstagram was something Ciara felt was done well this year, and is something she hopes to maintain. She sees it as a good way to “reach a lot of people at once”. More crucially, it will aid her in another key aspect of her manifesto, which is inclusion.
Ciara believes we should join the USI, seeing it as “an opportunity to communicate with those in the same position as you” and a medium through which to “exchange ideas”.
Ciara left us with a final message: “Whoever you decide to vote for in the upcoming election the most important thing to remember is to register to vote, you can do this on the SU’s website … it’s a right that you have and you should use it. […] Count on Ciara for Ents because I want to make a better UCD community and student life and increase the community feel on campus.”
Rosie Roberts Kunts – Assistant News Editor
