Paraic McLean has been elected Communications and Marketing Officer of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) on the second count, following a recount requested by his opponent, Niall Harty.
On the first round of counting, Niall Harty lead on the first count with 1,187 votes, 19 more than McLean, out of the poll of 3,452 valid votes. After the redistribution of votes from Cian Rynne and RON, McLean received 1,529 votes while Harty received 1,496.
After the recount, Harty had received a total of 1,502 votes to McLean’s 1,531, with McLean deemed elected.
In a poll conducted by Trinity News this week, Harty was predicted to receive 36% of first preference votes, McLean received 34.5%, with Cian Rynne receiving 18.3%. The poll, which asked 670 people on how they would vote suggested that ultimately Harty would win with 41.7% of the votes, compared to McLean’s 34.8%.
Throughout his campaign Paraic McLean, who has served as Technical Manager and Lighting Designer for DU Players, emphasised his intention to grow and improve the Union during his tenure.
He plans to create an archive of past TCDSU projects to allow future unions to learn from and build upon past campaigns. He also wishes to change the format of student council documents to make them more accessible to students.
In an interview with Trinity News, McLean said that feels the SU needs to engage more with students, remarking that “we do things and tell them what we’ve done. But we rarely ask what the students want”. As the “second face of the union,” he stresses the role of a communications officer lends itself to “giving people the pathways to create what they want.”
Additional reporting by Niamh Lynch and Aisling Grace.
