8th September, 2010

For Immediate Release

Maynooth Students’ Union Snubs Hanafin Visit

Maynooth Students’ Union has refused to attend the opening ceremony of a new Humanities and Social Sciences building in NUI Maynooth which is due to be opened by Minister Mary Hanafin on Thursday the 16th of September.

In a letter to the President of the University, Professor John Hughes, the Officers of the Union outlined four reasons for their decision to boycott the ceremony but welcomed the construction and opening of the building as a great asset for the University in years to come.

The letter states: “All students, both undergraduate and postgraduate, welcome the new building and the facilities it offers and the Students’ Union continues to support all endeavours to further improve Maynooth’s reputation as a centre of excellence in education.”

The letter continues: “There are nearly 100,000 people under the age of 25 who are unemployed and the current government has done pathetically little to tackle this scourge on our society – this is an unforgivable waste of talent. Our constructive proposals for a national graduate internship programme have, to date, fallen on deaf ears and an increasing number of our graduates are losing hope of ever finding fulfilling employment in Ireland.”

“We are aware that the cabinet is considering increasing the Student Services Charge to €2,500 per student. Any increase in this charge is going to result in an increased reduction in the retention rate, with parents losing jobs and part-time work unavailable to defray the cost for students themselves. It is completely unacceptable to increase such a charge when neither the Minister nor Department of Education, the HEA [Higher Education Authority], the IUA [Irish Universities Association], the IOTI [Institutes of Technology of Ireland] or any college has a definition of what a ‘student service’ is.”

“The cabinet is believed to be considering a further 5% cut to the maintenance grant this year. This will undoubtedly have a detrimental effect on the welfare of all current students, particularly those returning to college after having lost their jobs that have invested so much already and will be left unable to continue in education.”

“The Student Assistance Fund may be cancelled altogether, leaving students most in need unable to afford the most basic essentials while in college in the event of unforeseen circumstances. This would be particularly callous and cruel.”

“It is most unfortunate that Minister Mary Hanafin TD has been chosen to open Iontas, as this government has shown no compassion whatsoever for students’ well being. The cabinet is considering further cuts to basic student services and to the third level sector in general. It is unclear to us why the University should be honouring the Minister, even though she is a notable graduate, at this time.”

“We cannot applaud any member of this cabinet while our students and graduates remain so vulnerable and will not be attending the opening ceremony.”

(from p13 of The Liffey Champion)

New NUIM Students’ Union President to create link with Maynooth Community

The new President of the Student’s Union at NUI Maynooth, Aengus Ó’Maoláin, is working on creating a link between the students of the university and the community of Maynooth.

Aengus, along with Vice Presidents, Liz Murray and Rob Munnelly, will spend the year representing the interests of the students of NUI Maynooth and St. Patrick’s College, tackling anti-social behaviour and creating a sense of common ownership of the town.

From Clontarf in Dublin but lives in Carton Court in Maynooth, Aengus was elected President after a lengthy campaign.

“I had no intention of running for President until December when a few people had said to me that I should go for it” said Aengus, who has taken a year’s sabbatical from his thesis for his Masters in Music to undertake the job as President.

Aengus, along with Vice Presidents, Liz Murray and Rob Munnelly, will spend the year representing the interests of the students of NUI Maynooth and St. Patrick’s College, tackling anti-social behaviour and creating a sense of common ownership of the town.

Aengus was involved with the campaign to stop the former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, being appointed as a visiting Professor last year and his campaign for President focused on giving the students of the college a stronger voice.

“I felt there was some disconnect between those that are high up in the college and the students” he said.

“November 24^th is the second anniversary of the canteen burning down and they are only starting to rebuild it now.”

“There are just small things that are just being dropped and not dealt with.”

“I started in the college in 2005 and things are considerably worse since then, because of the dreaded ‘R’ word and other things.”

“It’s the students that are always at the bottom of it.”

“For example, for lectures, handouts used to be printed out and now the students have to access them on the internet and print them out themselves. That can be upto €60 a year ”

“University isn’t a bunch of administration.”

“There are 8,000 or 9,000 students and 900 staff so it should be the students that have a say.”

“There are loads of little things that if they were tweaked would make everyone’s lives a little bit better.”

Once he was elected, one of the first thing he did was take up his seat on the Maynooth Community Council.

The Community Council has always invited a representative of the Student’s Union to be on the council and this hadn’t been taken up in the past, but Aengus felt that it was an essential part of connecting the residents of Maynooth and the student population.

“I would love for us to know what’s going on in Maynooth and to be able to represent the students if an issue comes up in the Community Council” he explained.

“We are trying to put out the message to students: ‘Live in Maynooth, Study in Maynooth, Respect Maynooth’.”

“Most of the students are very good but some need to be reminded that they need to respect the area.”

“In my five years living in Maynooth as a student of the college, I have never felt anything but pride in the way students and residents live together in a culture of mutual dependence and respect.”

“The fact is, we all love living in Maynooth and want to do as much as we can as residents for the town, despite the fact we individually are only likely to be here for a few years.”

“I want to engage in the wider community.”

As President of the Student’s Union, Aengus regularly has up to 30 meetings to attend each week but he is determined to attend all of the Community Council meetings.

“My job seems very clear but it’s not” said Aengus.

“There are a lot of aspects to it and I am the chief negotiator for the students.”

“Being on the Community Council is a vital part of that.”

“It could be that Community Council comes up with a good idea and I bring it to the students or the other way around and we could find out about things that are going on in the town and be involved.”

“An example is the festival in the town, which we didn’t know anything about, and we could have been involved.”

“I think for next year, which will be coming to the end of my Presidency, if there are gaps in the festival we will be able to recommend stuff and that will be a culmination of the work that we’ve done to connect with the community.”

Aengus was thrown in at the deep end when he was elected President because it when the President of NUI Maynooth, Prof. John Hughes, resigned.

“For the first two weeks I worked 50 to 60 hours each week because we had to get to work making sure that the students had a say in who would be the next President” he said.

He will be very busy again once all of the students start back for a new semester, particularly with 2,000 new students to get to know.

But Aengus is up for the challenge and is looking forward to the year ahead, helping to create a greater spirit of communication and community.

Plan of Work: The plan for the year, in formal written form is now complete and will be available online soon – the plan runs to 20+ pages and summarises what the exec will be doing until June.

35^th Anniversary: Maynooth SU was founded in 1976, which makes 2011 our 35^thanniversary, so to celebrate we’re having a conference, to discuss ideas for what we can do for Ireland as a whole. The conference will include speakers from the last 35 years of the Union and will culminate with the inaugural John Hume lecture – more news as it develops.

TD Lobbying: I have written to every TD in Kildare eliciting a response on their stance on fees and the registration fee. So far only one has come back to me, Emmet Stagg (Labour) with a very good response, but I’ll let ye know more as the remaining six respond.

Parking: We’ve submitted a student-friendly proposal to the relevant authorities on the new parking system due to be introduced next year. You will have to pay to park on campus, but we’re making sure of two things: 1) you won’t have to drive to college and 2) if you do have to drive you won’t be screwed on the price of a permit.

Union Reform: This project is still underway, and I can now call myself an expert in Students’ Union constitutions. If you want to submit ANYTHING to the Constitutional Review process please email me!

Ents: Planning is well underway for the year, and freshers’ week is booked. We’ve consulted with you about what acts you want to see and are working away on the aggregated wish-list to see what we can realistically get in Maynooth.

New Shop: The Union will be taking over a site in the Arts’ Block Annex to replace our old shop in the late lamented canteen. This shop will sell stationery and branded stuff (A4 pads, hoodies etc.) and will do printing, binding and photocopying for the cheapest price in Maynooth.

Finally: look out for this Thursday’s Liffey Champion for an interview with me!

Get Involved in Your Union:

The three main areas we’re looking for volunteers for are as follows; joining one of the Union’s crews will not only get you a load of likeminded friends, but also get you great CV-filling experience, and a first hand insight into the workings of the Union.

Welfairies: Maynooth SU’s welfare crew, helping out with everything from handing out condoms to running events during welfare campaign weeks. Email vicepresident@nuimsu.com

Newshookers: Get involved in the communications side of the Union, from writing in the Print to making videos to selling ads. Email communications@nuimsu.com

First Response Squad: Get petitions signed, march, demonstrate, shout into a megaphone, get yourself on the news – this group will be the first response group to crises and ad-hoc campaigns that emerge during the year, your typical student activist stuff. Email president@nuimsu.com

Much Love,

Aengus

President Aengus Ó Maoláin, VP Welfare and Education Liz Murray and VP Communications and Development Rob Munnelly spent Monday to Friday in working groups, classes and training sessions ranging from talks from Brian Power (who basically runs the grant system) to Dave McGreal, a longtime employee of WestMeath VEC who has reduced the entire grant application form to a single A4 page.

Colm McGivern inspired everyone with his Class Rep training ideas. Dr. Patricia Morgan shared some insights from the university perspective on the nature of postgraduate programmes.

In short: Aengus had some great talks with the other SU presidents, Liz got some great welfare ideas and campaigning tips, and Rob got to meet Tom Lowe, the only other Comms officer in the country.

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The Challenge is an international business competition, with the UCC team now representing Ireland at the global final on August 5-6th at Taylors University College, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The UCC team will compete against other international teams including representatives from Australia, UK, Hong Kong and China in the world finals.

The competition tests the business, managerial, and creativity skills of the participants and is a prestigious global contest.

Professor Ciaran Murphy, Head, Department of Accounting, Finance & Information Systems in congratulating the students has affirmed how “the team’s success demonstrates the quality of management accounting programmes taught at UCC, reflective of the combination of technical financial management competences with the development of key presentation and communication skills required of business graduates today.”

Top spender UCC, spending €1.28m on flights. UCD was second with €995,000, Trinity with €848,000, NUI Galway with 550,000, DCU with €504,000 and University of Limerick with €161,000.

Flying ‘Business Class’ is believed to be behind the excessive cost. It is not known how much NUIM has spent on flights in that year.

We were seriously impressed.

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In the press release, the Union said that “The current recession will result in a huge hike in the number of people seeking to return to college, including mature students and graduates wishing to up skill. This will put added pressure on the students grant system.”

You can download grant forms from studentfinance.ie

NUIM voted overwhelmingly to join the Union of Students in Ireland last February.

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However, there is some speculation on boards.ie and Facebook as to just how seriously the article’s editor takes the subject. It seems to be entirely about communism and anarchy.

Some quotes:

The society was incorporated into the college as the Glorious People’s Revolutionary Proletariat’s College Literary and Scientific Society in 1852, under the patronage of Aidan Rowe, Professor of Anarchy, Anarchic Literature and Anarchic Science. By 1860, under the auditorship of Aidan Rowe, the society had achieved significant prestige among the anarchic classes of the city, who attended its meetings in large numbers, and its activities were reported in great detail by the local alternative media. The 1860-1870 period was the most successful decade of the early society, with figures such as Aidan Rowe, Aidan Rowe, Aidan Rowe, Aidan Rowe, Aidan Rowe, Aidan Rowe, Aidan Rowe, Aidan Rowe and Aidan Rowe occupying the liberal-capitalist government’s offices in protest at the dictatorship of the markets before being ejected by a Garda.

The article’s headings include Foundation, Incorporation into the Glorious People’s Revolutionary Proletariat’s College and Early Development, Independence and Civil War, The Free State Era, and World Records. And entire section is dedicated to the ”Karl Marx Memorial Medal”.

It has been proposed that the article be deleted for ”containing too much factual information”.

Image from the site:

At midnight on the 1st of July I became constitutionally empowered as President of Maynooth Students’ Union. Now, a week on, I thought I’d share some of my reflections on the week just gone, and fill you in on what’s been happening.

The first few days in work were always going to be a little strange. Sitting in ‘Brian’s’ Office on my own was very odd. I’m still not entirely used to it now. Having been briefed and signed into office by Ian Russell (Student Activities Officer and Union Manager) I levelled my sights on the single most important event that is likely to happen to NUI Maynooth this year: the replacement of John Hughes as President. As it stands, the University Statutes make no provision for automatic student representation on either of the committees concerned with the selection process, so that problem aside, I’ll be spending a fair amount of time addressing that particular issue over the summer.

There was a huge volume of paper-work to get through on the first day, but while I was getting through that I also became a publican! Seriously though, I’m a licensee for the SU Bar, so I had to sign the license on day one and review and approve the safety procedures and provisions in place for the building.

The invaluable Mary Mac Court then trained Rob and I into how the Union works on a practical day-to-day basis. Things like phones, procedures, printing, binding, post, fax – vital information. I was also in contact with our friends in Crumlin (USI) over a couple of matters that we had discussed before the changeover.

On Friday, the work was much the same – documents to revise and preparation to be done for upcoming meetings, case-work, emails, and letters. These are the bread and butter of the job – identify a problem, fix it, repeat steps one and two. I contacted the entire exec to make space for them to drop by to discuss their plans for the year, and just to say hello. Finally on Friday I contacted the presidents of all the University SUs, and hopefully the seven of us will be meeting before the month is out to discuss University specific issues we can co-operate on.

Monday was fantastic, but rough. Liz was home from her holidays and the three of us spent five hours working through our plans for the year. We hope to compile a plan of work, based on this meeting in the next few weeks which will be available for people to check out once the website is online.

All the plans we had put together on Monday began to take shape in earnest on Tuesday, Liz is working closely with some really exciting groups relating to mental health stigma reduction, and Rob has already started nailing down the basics for the first year hand-book.

We decided to once and for all solve the problems in the constitution this year, and I’ve taken personal command of the project. I’ll be formally inviting submissions from interested parties soon, but if you have any ideas now, let me know at president@nuimsu.com and I’ll take them on board. I’m aiming for a referendum by October, which seems rushed, but if we do the job right, the practicalities are actually easier if we can combine the referendum with the First Year and Postgrad rep elections. So, I’ve been thinking deeply about what we need, and studying the constitutions of loads of other SUs to see how other people have solved the same problems we have. Serious thanks are due to the USI team for helping me out with documents for this process.

Then, as it was my birthday, the staff and sabbats threw me a little party. This was lovely, thoughtful, but more than a little mortifying as I really amn’t a birthday person.

On Tuesday afternoon there was a big meeting with Shay McNelis, our events co-ordinator, examining some of the plans in place for next year, and I can tell you there are some corkers in the pipe-line. Again, if anyone has any ideas for acts they would like to see us bring to the college then send in ideas to president@nuimsu.com.

I spent most of today working on internal communications with University personnel, and handling a bit of case-work, while also fitting in some work on the Constitutional Review. I’ve got a mental day tomorrow so I’ll be spending the next few hours preparing for the meetings that will be filling my morning, and making sure everything’s ready to go.

Now that I’m officially in office, I can finally finish by saying this. If you need anything, let me know! Call in or drop me a line or an email and I’ll get cracking on it.

That’ll do for now.

Much Love,
Aengus,
Your Union President.