USI has elected its new officer board for the 2014-2015 academic year on April 1, 2014.  This page contains all information on the elections.

The results (April 2) for the USI Officer Board 2014/15 positions are as follows;

USI President Laura Harmon

·         Leas Uachtarán Gaeilge/USI VP for Irish Language Feidhlim Seoighe

·         USI VP BMW (Border, Midlands and Western Region) Conor Stitt

·         USI VP Southern Region Martin Lynch

·         USI VP Equality and Citizenship Annie Hoey

·         USI VP Campaigns Glenn Fitzpatrick

·         USI VP for Welfare Greg O’ Donoghue.

·         Nominations will re-open for USI VP Academic Affairs and Quality Assurance.

Procedures for elections are given in the USI Constitution in Schedule D.

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All candidates may submit a 500 word candidate’s statement for inclusion in the main Congress Document.   All candidates may also submit a photo to be printed alongside their statement.

The statement and photo should be sent via email to: manager@usi.ie by 12 midday on Tuesday 18 March. Any not submitted by this time will not be included in the document, with no exceptions.

In February 2014 three of the four candidates for President of USI took part in a filming to answer four questions relating to the election.  The responses are given below.

Answering questions are: Kevin Donoghue, Laura Harmon and Denise McCarthy. Steven Fleming could not attend the event due to previous arrangements.  He has an option and open invitation to submit answers should he wish to.

Why are you standing for election to be President of USI?

Outline your vision for USI

Are you the right person to win this battle and why?

What makes you the best person for the this role?

Each member students’ union sends a number of students as delegates to USI Congress.  The number is determined by the number of students at the member students’ union, for which affiliation fees are paid. Each delegate has a vote in the elections.  The  delegation entitlement (ceteris paribus)  for each active member union is as follows:

DITSU 20
UCCSU 20
NUIGSU 18
TCDSU 18
QUBSU 18
UUSU 18
Cork ITSU 13
MSU (Maynooth) 11
WITSU 10
LITSU 8
GMITSU 8
Athlone ITSU 7
ITCSU 7
DKITSU 7
ITTDSU 6
ITSSU 6
ITBSU 5
ITTSU 5
IADTSU 4
LKITSU 4
NCISU 3
ST Angela’s 2
Stranmillis 2
St Marys 2
BMC 2
NRC 2
NWRC 2
SERC 2
SRC 2
SWC 2

In respect of a Member Organisation for which affiliation fees have either not been paid or have been partially paid a Member Organisation shall have the delegate entitlements, if any, as recommended by Finance Committee (having considered the circumstances of the Member Organisation) and as approved by National Council, provided always that such entitlement shall not exceed the entitlement of the Member Organisation on the basis of their number of ordinary members for whom affiliation fees would otherwise have been paid.

Final nominations received by Steering and Elections Committee are as follows:

President

Donoghue, Kevin (Vice-President for the Border, Midlands & Western Region, USI Officerboard)

AITSU; DITSU; DKITSU; GMITSU; ITCSU; ITSSU; ITTSU; NCISU; NUIGSU; QUBSU; STACSSU; TCDSU; UCCSU; UUSU; WITSU.

Fleming, Stephen (Maynooth Students’ Union)

GMITSU; MSU.

Harmon, Laura (Vice-President for Equality & Citizenship, USI Officerboard)

AITSU; DITSU; GMITSU; IADTSU; ITBSU; ITCSU; ITSSU; ITTSU; MSU; NCISU; NUIGSU; QUBSU; SMUCBSU; STACSSU; SUCSU; TCDSU; UCCSU; UUSU; WITSU.

McCarthy, Denise (Vice-President for Welfare and Deputy President, USI Officerboard)

AITSU; DITSU; GMITSU; IADTSU; ITCSU; ITSSU; ITTDSU; ITTSU; LYITSU; MSU; NCISU; QUBSU; TCDSU; UUSU; WITSU.

Re-Open Nominations (Obligatory Alternative)

Vice-President for Academic Affairs & Quality Assurance

Lynch-Frahill, Gavin (University College Cork Students’ Union)

AITSU; DITSU; GMITSU; ITSSU; ITTSU; NCISU; NUIGSU; QUBSU; STACSSU; UCCSU; UUSU; WITSU.

Re-Open Nominations (Obligatory Alternative)

Vice-President for Welfare

Leahy, Jack (Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union)

DITSU; IADTSU.

Nic A’Bhaird, Saoirse (NUI Galway Students’ Union)

DITSU; GMITSU; NUIGSU; TCDSU.

O’Donoghue, Greg (National College of Ireland Students’ Union)

DITSU; GMITSU; IADTSU; ITBSU; NCISU; NUIGSU; TCDSU; WITSU.

Re-Open Nominations (Obligatory Alternative)

A fourth candidate did receive a nomination from one member organisation but did not receive the requisite second nomination to be validly nominated to contest the election. Any nominated candidate who wishes to withdraw may so do by 17:30 on Friday 14th March, 2014.

Vice-President for Campaigns

FitzPatrick, Glenn (Dublin Institute of Technology Students’ Union)

AITSU; DITSU; DKITSU; GMITSU; IADTSU; ITBSU; ITCSU; ITSSU; ITTSU; ITTDSU; NCISU; NUIGSU; STACSSU; TCDSU; UCCSU; UUSU; WITSU.

Lenihan , Tom (Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union)

DITSU; GMITSU; IADTSU; ITSSU; MSU; NCISU; NUIGSU; QUBSU; UCCSU; WITSU.

Re-Open Nominations (Obligatory Alternative)

Vice-President for Equality & Citizenship

Hoey, Annie (University College Cork Students’ Union)

AITSU; DITSU; GMITSU; IADTSU; ITCSU; ITSSU; ITTSU; LYITSU; MSU; NCISU; NUIGSU; STACSSU; TCDSU; UCCSU; WITSU.

Re-Open Nominations (Obligatory Alternative)

Vice-President for the Border, Midlands & Western Region

Loughnane, Joseph (NUI Galway Students’ Union)

GMITSU; STACSSU; NUIGSU.

 Stitt, Conor (NUI Galway Students’ Union)

AITSU; GMITSU; ITSSU; LYITSU; MSU; NUIGSU; STACSSU.

Re-Open Nominations (Obligatory Alternative)

Vice-President for the Southern Region

Lynch, Martin (Limerick Institute of Technology Students’ Union)

ITCSU; ITTSU; LITSU; UCCSU; WITSU.

Re-Open Nominations (Obligatory Alternative)

Vice-President for the Irish Language & Culture

Seoighe, Feidhlim (Irish Language Officer, USI Officerboard)

DITSU; NUIGSU.

Re-Open Nominations (Obligatory Alternative)

Some Students’ Unions arrange Hustings events, either to gauge the position of their members vis-á-vis candidates for elections or to create mandates for their Congress delegates. These are not in a strict sense binding or formal and there is no formal requirement for candidates to attend these. They are usually closed events for SU members only.  Where USI is informed formally of these dates, they are listed below:

Date SU Location Time Status
19 February Dublin Institute of Technology SU Room 259, Bolton St. 18.00 Mandating
 3 March NUIGSU IT250 IT Building 6pm TBC
 4 March GMITSU MacNeill Theatre, Hamilton Building 5pm TBC
 11 March TCDSU MacNeill Theatre, Hamilton Building 7pm Binding (See Below)
 12 March IADTSU TBC 6pm Binding (See Below)
 18 March WITSU Auditorium, Cork Road Campus 17.30  TBC (See below)
 19 March  UCCSU and CITSU  G01, Kane Building, UCC  18.30 Joint event with CITSU – UCC mandating, CITSU not mandating

Notes:

TCDSU Hustings 11 March

TCDSU invites all USI election candidates for the positions of President, VP Campaigns, VP Welfare, VP Academic Affairs & Quality Assurance, and LU Gaeilge, to attend our USI hustings at a meeting of Council on Tuesday March 11th. The meeting will begin at 7pm sharp and will take place in the MacNeill Theatre, Hamilton Building.
The results of the vote taken at Council are binding for the TCDSU delegation to USI congress.
The running order, questions structure and speaking times will be decided by the chair in due course but given that an ordinary meeting of Council will take place around the hustings, candidates are advised to prepare for no more than 3 minutes of speaking times.
Please email a copy of your manifesto to secretary@tcdsu.org by 5pm on March 5th to ensure circulation to reps with the Council agenda.”

IADTSU Hustings 12 March:

IADTSU would like to formally invite candidates running for all positions in USI to Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design & Technology on Wednesday at 6pm. They will be given four minutes to speak, then questions after all candidates in their respective position have spoken. Then one minute each for summation at the end.

WITSU Hustings 18 March:

WITSU will follow the same running order as agreed for the DIT Student Union Hustings for 2014.

Each candidate will have 3 minutes max to speak.  WITSU will then open the discussion to the floor for questions. Questions will be towards the position and not individual candidates.  Questions must be answered within the 1 minute time frame allowed.

All candidates: please contact Stephen O’Rourke at WITSU to confirm attendance.

 

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