The president of UCDSU, viagra Mícheál Gallagher, sales has responded to the ongoing conflict over membership of the SU caused by Samuel O’Connor’s attempt to disaffiliate from the Union.
“It has been claimed that the Students’ Union Executive took a decision that was of ‘supreme cowardice and buck passing.’ This simply is not true, viagra ” stated Gallagher.
“The Executive take the UCDSU constitution seriously and after a long discussion on the matter a vote was held and a motion was passed,” he added. The motion that was passed states that: “Exec write to the student saying that the constitution currently does not allow for students to leave (Article 3.1), so until and unless the constitution is amended (some constitutional amendments are expected alongside SU Executive Elections Spring 2014) it is not possible for resignation to be accepted.
“It has always been my intention to restructure UCDSU in a more progressive fashion and to propose an amendment in the Spring of 2014 within a constitutional review to allow for those seeking to opt out of UCDSU membership, while maintaining access to services such as welfare support, to be able to do so.”
Gallagher also stated that he was “disappointed that Mr. O’Connor has decided to play this out in the media” and claimed that “UCDSU has been nothing but fair and open with him regarding his options and the constraints placed on UCDSU by its constitution.”
O’Connor’s decision to challenge the union follows a preferendum taken by the student body in October of this year through which UCDSU formally ratified to advocate for abortion upon request of the woman.
Mr. O’Connor, a member of the UCD group Students Against Abortion, believed that he and those who shared his position were consequently “no longer represented by the union” and therefore presented it with a petition asking for it to reverse its pro-choice position.
When this was unsuccessful he requested that he be allowed to resign his membership of the Union. In a request sent to Mr. Gallagher on November 29th, O’Connor stated: “I wish to announce my resignation from the Union with immediate effect [and] hereby relinquish any right to any service which the Union currently provides me.”
A meeting of the SU executive was held on Monday, December 2nd, which rejected Mr. O’Connor’s resignation.
Mr. O'Connor described their decision as a “flagrant disregard” of his right to freely associate as per the Irish Constitution and stated further that he was considering legal action against the Union. He added that he is “prepared and indeed morally compelled to take this fight to the very highest levels.”
Poll: Should students be allowed to leave their students’ union?
In full: Mícheál Gallagher’s statement issued Tuesday, December 3rd.
