TCDSU Council round-up

The First council of the new year saw 4 motions passed tonight

Trinity College Dublin Students Union (TCDSU) tonight passed four motions at council. The first motion sought to provide a crossover document template for school and programme convenors, which was followed by a motion calling for €10,000 from the HEA fund to be spent on Trinity’s laptop rental scheme. Another motion requiring €7,560 HEA funding for TBSI student space was also presented. The final motion encouraged support for the INMO nursing strike.

Ray Carey was elected new Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) Faculty Convenor, while Darragh Flood was elected Sports Officer in an uncontested race. The position of Student Parent Officer remains vacant as it was not contested by any council members.

A motion was passed on the school convenor crossover document template. Education Officer Aimee Connolly must now provide a crossover document template for school and programme convenors no later than second last council. This motion was proposed by Sally Anne McCarthy, EMS Faculty Convener and seconded by Brian Kennedy, Science Programme Convener.

TCDSU President Shane De Rís put forward a motion on Trinity’s laptop rental scheme. The motion called for the release of €10,000 from the Higher Education Authority (HEA) fund to purchase 17 new laptops for the scheme, as the council mandate noted that the original laptops are “no longer fit for purpose”.

A second motion was introduced by De Rís calling for an additional €7,560 to be released from the HEA fund for the completion of the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute Student Space. According to the mandate, extra funding from the HEA is necessary to ensure the completion of the project. The motion was passed.

The final motion presented at council requested support for the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) in their upcoming strike action. De Rís outlined the limited job prospects for student nurses upon graduation in Ireland, with low wages and harsh working conditions. The motion passed after De Rís encouraged the students present to join the INMO action.

Council also heard from Orlaith Tunney from the Careers Advisory Service speaking on the MyCareer portal service. Tunney encouraged students to engage with the service and welcomed questions and comments on how to improve the visibility of the service, before presenting a short talk explaining the service.

Sarah Moran

Sarah Moran is the current Head Copyeditor of Trinity News. She is also a Senior Sophister English Literature student.