The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) today welcomed the decision by the Irish government to hold a referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment. The Union is calling on the Cabinet and both houses of the Oireachtas to make haste with the referendum procedures so holding a referendum in May 2018 can be facilitated. USI President Michael Kerrigan said, “What we have is effectively a repeal of the Eighth Amendment. Healthcare has no place in the constitution, and we will remain cautious of the wording of the referendum bill to see what the enabling clause will look like. We will […]
[…]abuses faced by Palestinians at the hands of Israel. Today, May 15, is the anniversary of the Nakba, or ‘the Catastrophe,’ where Palestinians were expelled from their historic and ancestral land. Since then, ongoing actions have created over eight million refugees and over 800,000 internally displaced people through territorial fragmentation; segregation and control; dispossession of land and property; and denial of economic and social rights. The student movement has historically been at the forefront of important societal change, and on this day of commemoration, USI stands firmly with the Palestinian people against Israel’s ongoing apartheid regime. […]
[…]workshop which was held by Minister Mitchell O’Connor in Dublin Castle on the 4th October 2018. The aim of the work shop was to hear first-hand from institutions, academics and students about what was really happening in our higher education institutions with regard to sexual violence and harassment. The Expert Advisory Group, which was chaired by Dr. Anne Looney from DCU, was tasked with devising standards that all institutions will be required to implement. The group’s membership included: Tara Browne – National Women’s Council of Ireland/ESHTE, Síona Cahill – Union of Students in Ireland, Dr. Louise Crowley – University College […]
[…]Quinn of fee reductions for returning emigrants and the children of Irish families living outside the EU. The USI first raised the issue of fee treatment for returning emigrants with the Minister at a meeting held on December 3rd, and proactively suggested changes to the residency requirements for students in these circumstances, by using Junior Cert or Leaving Cert education as criteria to qualify for ‘EU-level’ residency for the purposes of calculating fees. The changes now proposed, which apply to anyone studying for 5 years or more at primary or post-primary education in Ireland, go further than that in terms […]
[…]finished the current academic year, and are looking at finance options for postgraduate studies. The new interest rates available at Bank of Ireland will make studying at 4th level a more affordable option. In addition, postgraduate students will be able to borrow up to €7,500 and defer repayments for up to one year while they complete their course of study. Joe O’ Connor, President of the Union of Students in Ireland, said “The cost of studying at postgraduate level is extremely prohibitive for very many people, and this has been an ongoing issue since the removal of almost all postgraduate maintenance […]
