Today, USI and Students’ Unions who represent Social Care students have collectively written to CORU, the Ministers for Further and Higher Education; Health; and Social Protection, Quality and Qualifications Ireland and the Higher Education Institutions urging them to convene discussions with a view to mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on social care students. Social Care students across the country are facing difficulties in securing and completing placement due to the current COVID-19 restrictions. This is likely to result in many students failing to meet the 800 practical placement hours required by the relevant professional body, CORU meaning that many students […]
[…]referendum in two weeks’ time. The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) warned the Government today (Thursday), that students are ready to demonstrate their electoral power in the upcoming Seanad referendum. With voter registration drives underway on campuses across the country, USI expect to have 10,000 students registered on the Student Elector Registration Database (SERD) by polling day on October 4th. Students who sign up to the database will be contacted by USI encouraging them to vote in the referendum and setting out USI’s position. USI is encouraging students to vote ‘No’ to the abolition of the Seanad, to provide […]
[…]but the higher education sector is becoming increasingly exclusionary as financial struggles force some to make the heartbreaking decision to abandon their education altogether. USI is calling on the Government to make provision in Budget 2025 to properly address the student financial crisis and make going to college a realistic aim for every young person in Ireland.” Among the key asks in the USI Pre-Budget 2025 Submission are: Fund the building of the 30,000-bed shortfall in student accommodation Reduce fees by €1,500 now and introduce a plan to abolish fees over the next few years Free public transport for all students Read […]
[…]on the third anniversary of the vote to remove the Eighth Amendment from the Irish constitution. Today marks three years since almost 1,500,000 people voted yes for a more compassionate Ireland where women can make their own decisions in pregnancy and access abortion in Ireland. While we look back on the struggle for bodily autonomy and access to abortion care here in Ireland that resulted in that referendum win, we continue our fight – many counties across Ireland do not have access to abortion care and many women still have to travel to receive this healthcare. It has now been […]
Today, USI welcomed polling results commissioned from RED C by Amnesty Ireland to determine public opinion on access to abortion ‘without restriction as to reason’, and on 5 other grounds covered by the Citizens’ Assembly ballot. USI President Michael Kerrigan noted, “USI has been leading the charge on access to reproductive rights since the 1980s. It’s clear that the public are becoming more, and more informed about the issue and are starting to come to their own conclusion: people must have a choice over their own bodies. “Public opinion is far more in line with the recommendations made by the […]
