SU Elections: Thirteen candidates announced with just one uncontested race

The candidates have been confirmed today ahead of a two-week campaign period between March 1 and 11

Thirteen candidates have put themselves forward to run for a position in Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU).

The candidates have been confirmed today ahead of a two-week campaign period which will take place between March 1 and 11.

Current TCDSU Education Officer Megan O’Connor announced the candidates from the steps of House Six this evening.

President

Ben Cummins

Ben Cummins is a final year BESS student. In his second year, he was elected president of the Junior Common Room (JCR) in Trinity Hall. This past November, he was vocal about the Movember initiative and participated on a team of Trinity Movember Ambassadors to raise money for men’s mental health awareness. 

Luke MacQuillan

Luke MacQuillan is a Junior Sophister PPES student. He is currently a financial analyst in the Trinity Student Management Fund (SMF). MacQuillan was also Head Boy in his final year of secondary school at Clongowes Wood College. Additionally, he has been involved with rugby and debating. 

Leah Keogh

Leah Keogh is TCDSU’s incumbent Welfare and Equality Officer. She is a recent Social Studies graduate and previously served as the Undergraduate School Convenor for her course and a class representative. She was the Secretary to Council for the 2017/18 and 2018/19 academic years, during which time she held the dual role of Chair of the Oversight Commission. She was uncontested last year in the Welfare Officer race and was elected with 87.9% of the vote.

Education Officer

Bev Genockey

Bev Genockey is a third year zoology student from Meath. Genockey is the union’s Deputy STEM convenor and previously served as a class representative and Biology convenor. She is the chairperson of the Diversity in STEM committee and a Laidlaw scholar.

Daniel O’Reilly

Daniel O’Reilly is a Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering student from Lurgan, Cavan. He has worked in several positions in the union, including as a class rep and EMS convenor, and is the current STEM faculty convenor. He was Secretary of the Engineering Society and Head S2S Mentor for Engineering, as well as being involved with the VDP society.

Welfare and Equality Officer

Dylan Krug

Dylan Krug is a Junior Sophister Biological and Biomedical Science student. Currently, he is the class representative for Environmental Science. He has been an Ordinary Committee Member on the Welfare and Equality Committee this year and was an ex officio representative on the Student Advisory Board. He is an editorial board member of The Eagle: Trinity College Law Gazette.

Cathal Ó Riordáin

Cathal Ó Riordáin is a Senior Sophister Music student from Ashbourne, Meath.  He has been involved with TCD Jazz Society for a number of years, serving as their Big Band Leader since 2019 and leading workshops for the society. He has also been involved with DU Players, doing sound design for the society’s productions, and sings in the Campanile Consort choir.

Sierra Mueller-Owens

Sierra Mueller-Owens is a final year law and political science student. She has worked with the students’ union since her third year when she was elected as a class representative, and is TCDSU’s current Gender Equality Officer. She was consent facilitator for this autumn’s first virtual Trinity Halls consent workshops and has represented Trinity at the Union of Students in Ireland’s (USI) Pink Training.

Communications and Marketing Officer

Aoife Cronin

Aoife Cronin is a Senior Sophister English and Sociology student. Cronin is currently the Public Relations Officer for Icarus and was PRO of the Trinity Arts Festival. She is the Design Editor of the Social and Political Review and has been involved with the Philosophical Society’s (the Phil) public relations as its Librarian and Pro-Librarian.

Ents Officer

Greg Arrowsmith
Greg Arrowsmith is a Junior Sophister PPES student. He has previously been the Social Secretary for the DU Hockey Club and a member of DU Sailing Club committee. Arrowsmith has been involved in organising charity mental health awareness events, and is a chef on the committee of the newly formed DU BBQ Society.

Antonia Brady
Antonia Brady is the Entertainment Manager on the DU Players 2020/21 committee. She wrote the society’s “Murder Mystery” event that was ran in November in collaboration with the Law society. From Navan, Brady is a fourth year Drama and Irish student.

University Times Editor

Emer Moreau
Emer Moreau has been the Deputy Editor of the University Times since December 2020, before which she was one of two assistant editors. Her appointment as Assistant Editor in June came after serving as News Editor in her second year. Outside of working with UT, she interned in the Irish Times in the summer of 2019. She is a third-year student in English and psychology. 

Peter Caddle
Peter Caddle is a Senior Sophister Philosophy student, and holds the title of ‘Chief Project Co-ordinator’ at The Burkean, a right-wing online publication that has previously attracted criticism from students. The University Times, in its editorial pages, has previously condemned The Burkean, describing it as “a publication with almost no credibility”.

Nominations for the TCDSU Sabbatical Elections opened on February 1 and closed today at 5pm, just before the announcement of candidates at 5:30pm. The campaign period for the candidates will run from March 1 to March 11.

No posters will be allowed on campus during the campaigning period, in a bid to stop an influx of students coming to campus on the election days.

Voting will take place online, which is different from previous elections, where students voted in-person on campus.

TCDSU membership is built into student fees, and the union represents students studying at Trinity. 

During the campaign period, candidates running in the elections will be permitted to do most of their campaigning online, however, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, no students will be permitted to campaign on campus.

The Electoral Commission (EC) oversees the election process and the campaign period, ensuring that no candidate breaches any of the rules laid out in the constitution and that all votes are counted correctly.

Should a candidate breach any of the rules during the election period, the EC can choose to give that candidate a strike on each occasion, which may result in them being struck from the ballot. 

Additional reporting by Jack Kennedy, Finn Purdy, Kate Glen, Audrey Brown, Kate Henshaw and Jamie Cox.

Lauren Boland

Lauren Boland was the Editor of the 67th volume of Trinity News. She is an English Literature and Sociology graduate and previously served as Deputy Editor, News Editor and Assistant News Editor.

Shannon Connolly

Shannon Connolly is the Editor-in-Chief of the 69th volume Trinity News, and a Senior Sophister student of English Literature and Philosophy. She previously served as Deputy Editor, News Editor and Assistant News Editor.