A motion, proposed by Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) President Kieran McNulty and seconded by Ents Officer Padraic Rowley has mandated the union to give €6,000 to Scholar at Risk, Bashana Abeywarden, to help cover his fees and accommodation for attending Trinity.
The motion noted “that the SU is mandated to help Scholars at Risk,” followed by the mandate: “That €6000 is given to Bashana Abeywardena, the exiled journalist from Sri Lanka, to allow him to continue studies in TCD.”
Abeywardena is a Sri Lankan refugee in Germany. A journalist, he was the founder, and later editor-in-chief, of the alternative weekly newspaper Hiru, which was shut under political pressure. McNulty noted that “he is widely known for his astute political analysis” and said that passing the motion would mean “saying that we stand up for our Scholars at Risk.”