The College Tribune has learned that money raised by the UCD Students Union for the campaign to that was due to be donated to the Together for Yes campaign to repeal the 8th has not yet been sent onto the campaign. This news comes two weeks after polling day on May 25th and over two weeks since the national campaign stopped raising funds. The money which was raised by UCD for Choice through the sale of repeal t-shirts was according to sources close to the group, not sent onward due to the fact that the SU thought the sum was “inadequate”.
UCD for Choice were informed that the SU was seeking additional monies to add to the sum on May 10th but were unaware that the money totaling €450 had been withheld until the 5th of June, 11 days after polling day and the end of campaigning. Furthermore, UCD for Choice were not informed by the SU of the total value of the monies raised until the 23rd of May.
As of the 5th of June, UCD Students Union is still in possession of the money and are still seeking to donate it to the Together for Yes campaign or another relevant cause. It is understood that there are legal concerns about donating monies that were explicitly raised for one campaign to any other cause.
In a comment to the Tribune UCD SU President Barry Murphy has said that “Due to the poorly judged pre-order by UCD for Choice we still have a considerable amount of t-shirts left and the fundraiser has not made near as much as they envisaged and wanted. Therefore we haven’t completely closed out t-shirt sales yet”. He also confirmed that the money that has been raised to date is still being held in the SU charity account and the total continues to rise slowly. He claimed they are in discussions with Together for Yes about still contributing to cover their post referendum costs and continued lobbying efforts.
Aaron Bowman – Co-Editor
