With just two weeks left until polling day on May 25th, travel bursaries have been made available for Irish students to travel home
The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) welcomes the UK wide ‘Home to V8te’ campaign from NUS-UK alongside NUS-USI to campaign for Irish students studying in institutions in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to travel home to vote in the referendum on the Eighth Amendment on May 25th.
Speaking about campaign, USI President Michael Kerrigan said:
“Any Irish citizens studying in the UK can get in touch with their Students’ Union and avail of a travel bursary fund that Students’ Unions can apply to. Students can get between £55 and £110 to pay for the flights home to vote ‘Yes’ on May 25th”
Olivia Potter-Hughes, NUS-USI President said:
“We hope that this will inspire many students across the UK to join this fight for the shared goal of reproductive justice in two jurisdictions on the island of Ireland. Cross-border collaboration and solidarity are central features of abortion rights activism on the island of Ireland and NUS-USI is firmly committed to this approach. Reproductive justice delayed is reproductive justice denied: we need free, safe, legal and local abortion access in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland now. The active support and solidarity of NUS and its member unions is vital to help us achieve this aim”
Wexford native Séagh Kehoe, who is studying a PhD in Contemporary Chinese Studies at the School of Politics and International Relations in the University of Nottingham said:
”It is absolutely vital that anyone who is eligible to vote in the referendum on May 25th does so. This is a huge opportunity, a once-in-a-generation chance for everyone to have a say in shaping the future of Ireland and the kind of society we want to be a part of. Every single vote counts. For many of us currently scattered around the globe, Ireland will always be home and we want to return at some point. We want to make sure that it’s a safer, fairer and more compassionate place for everyone to live”
This week, USI announced that Students’ Unions all over Ireland have directly registered 26,979 new student voters in the in the lead up to the referendum to remove the Eighth Amendment. USI is the national representative body for the 374,000 students in third level education on the Island of Ireland, and is a member of the national civil society campaign, Together For Yes.
For more information, visit www.nusconnect.org.uk/hometov8te