26 candidates are running in Trinity Hall JCR elections, with 11 positions up for grabs.
Candidates’ manifestos focus on issues of sustainability, community, and easing Freshers’ transition to college life. Here’s what Halls residents need to know about the candidates.
President
Yvonne Stack
Stack wants to make it easier for incoming first years to transition to college life and intends on continuing welfare breakfasts and social activities in the sports hall, and increasing access to study areas in times of high demand. In addition, she aims to promote sustainability by ensuring that all apartments are equipped with compost bins at the start of the year and starting a “swap shop” for clothes amongst residents.
Divyum Singhal
Singhal plans to create a JCR that is “inclusive, accountable, and representative”. He aims to make drug testing kits, free menstrual products, and spike protection lids available to all Halls residents and plans on creating a guidebook for newcomers to the area. He is also a proponent of later hours for Oldham House during exams and designated study spaces and has discussed these ideas with current TCDSU members.
James Carey
Carey aims to create a single document at the start of the school year with all JCR officers that outlines their ambitions for the year titled One JCR. He hopes to improve engagement between JCR and residents by sending out anonymous surveys to Halls residents and wants to host house-warming events for each house in Freshers Week. To facilitate an easier transition to college life, Carey plans to create an in-depth guide to Dublin with the help of Publications, International, and Welfare officers for Freshers week.
Vice President/Treasurer
Leah Malone
Malone intends to run workshops at the start of the year to teach students about budgeting and wants to work with Fashion Soc to introduce a “Halls swap shop” to improve sustainability. She aims to increase the budget for JCR welfare events, such as welfare breakfasts, and revise ticket costs for JCR club nights. Malone plans to continue the Halls food pantry initiative but make it a more regular monthly occurence.
Secretary
Paul McConkey
McConkey plans to create a leaflet or poster with tips and tricks to help with money management for new Halls residents and intends to compile a “student essentials” list of the best places for coffee, food, and nights out. Like other candidates, McConkey aims to improve sustainability by providing compost bins in every Halls kitchen starting next year. He also aims to reach out to local businesses in order to get student discounts for Halls residents in return for advertising on JCR socials.
Caoimhe Howley
The core focus of Howley’s manifesto is sustainability and to improve the environmental impact of Halls. She also plans to host monthly “swap shops” in the Halls cafeteria and to organise gardening lessons in the botanical garden. In addition, she intends on ensuring that all single-use materials used in Freshers’ society fairs are recycled properly and that the Trinity Green Halls Instagram page is reactivated.
John Crofton
If elected, Crofton aims to use his position on the JCR to lower rent prices for residents and ensure better student renter rights across accommodation. He also aims to find an alternative to the Halls window frosting policy which he says makes rooms “dark and dull”. Lastly, he hopes to create a communal greenhouse to foster community building and sustainability.
Welfare Officer
Theresa May Sweeney
Sweeney hopes to improve student welfare by implementing a four to six week workshop halfway through the term where students could interact on a weekly basis and learn skills to help support their well-being. She also wants to collaborate with groups such as Well Woman Centres or the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) to raise awareness on the importance of STD screening for men and women and she plans on advocating for self-testing kits. Sweeney also aims to host a workshop to discuss the importance of protecting oneself when drinking on nights out and hopes to provide drink stoppers and lids to Halls residents as well.
Emer Munnelly
Munnelly is the current first year rep on the TCDSU Welfare and Equality Committee and she wants to utilise the JCR welfare instagram by appointing a designated PRO and vice-PRO on the welfare team. She wants to guarantee “fast response time” to incidents at JCR club nights and hopes to ensure that anti-spiking lids are provided for all incoming Halls residents. In addition, Munnelly aims to host consent and inclusive sex education talks and workshops. Socially, Munnelly plans to bring back “hangover brunches” after JCR events, and intends to organise study session nights during exams where snacks and non-alcoholic drinks will be provided.
Ents Officer
Peadar Walsh
Walsh wants to make nights out more enjoyable for residents by lowering ticket prices, providing drink deals, and acquiring more “free cans” from brand partnerships. He aims to diversify venues for JCR events and “reform” prinks to improve DJs, furniture, and quality of drinks. Walsh plans on hosting “Pints With Peadar,” a weekly opportunity for Halls residents to provide feedback to and chat with Walsh over pints at Mother Reilly’s. Walsh wants to implement anti-spiking measures, drug safety awareness campaigns, an anonymous reporting system, and mandatory consent workshops.
International Officer
Caroline Sander
Sander plans on hosting a “Fáilte go Baile Átha Cliath (Welcome to Dublin) Party” to provide tips to students on getting around and things to do in Dublin. She aims to celebrate “multicultural holidays” at Halls such as Thanksgiving, Diwali, Holi, Lunar New Year, and Oktoberfrest, while integrating Irish ones like St. Patrick’s Day, and wants to work collaboratively with other JCR members and residents to improve the quality of Halls events. She is also dedicated to ensuring that the Halls international trip is “unforgettable”.
Sports Officer
James McDermott
McDermott hopes to set up inclusive events like “Get into GAA” for international students who want to try Gaelic games such as Gaelic football, hurling, and handball. He aims to run tournaments for sports such as ping-pong, badminton, chess, arm wrestling, and five-a-side football. McDermott wants to continue pilates and circuit training classes at Halls and hopes to implement weekly “Halls runs” to build community and promote positive wellbeing.
Music Officer
Naoise Barrett
Barrett wants to bring more trad music to the Halls community by hosting weekly or monthly sessions for all trad and non-trad musicians to get to know each other. She plans to host mixers and dance parties for any musicians and those interested in music of any genre, as well as themed karaoke nights. She also wants to work with the director of the Halls musical to expand the orchestra beyond “the usual few classical instrumentalists”, and to include musicians from “all styles” of music.
Katie Brady
Brady wants to continue open mics and karaoke nights throughout the year in collaboration with Mother Reilly’s. She aims to work alongside the International Officer and other student societies to host events that promote different types of music from all over the world, ranging from Irish traditional to reggaeton. She hopes to host more “in-house” events like peer-led jam sessions and work alongside the publications and communications officers to try to set up an online “Halls playlist”.
Evie Gibbs
Gibbs intends to create a joint Spotify playlist which each resident will have access to for canteen prinks and to continue karaoke and open mic nights. She also aims to create a Halls “classical ensemble” open to every musician in Halls, regardless of ability, as well as a “Trad Soc” for Halls residents only. Gibbs wants to encourage social media promotion of the Halls musical on college-wide platforms, and to increase resident interest by allowing resident input on which musical is performed.
Mimi Savage
Savage wants to create playlists to be played at all prinks in the canteen and plans on hosting more music-themed Halls nights out. She hopes to introduce more open-mic nights, as well as a karaoke night, and to provide a platform for Halls residents to play DJ sets at prinks as well.
Publications Officer
Alina Lavrova
Lavrova aims to work with the Communications and Marketing officer “to help students get a quick response” on JCR social media channels. She also hopes to encourage student engagement with the JCR blog and ensure that students are not “afraid of sharing their thoughts” through this medium. Lavrova also plans on creating a “starting pack for new residents” with information such as the “best places to study [and] what to do in Rathmines”.
Reuben O’Neill
O’Neill plans to create an “anonymous suggestion forum” where “residents can submit concerns and topics” pertaining to current events that would then be posted about on JCR social media platforms to educate the wider community. He also hopes to liaise with the Tech Officer to discuss the Oldham House computer room and the possibility of hosting “graphic design classes” there. O’Neill hopes to strengthen the JCR’s online mediums by forming a “Publications Sub-Committee to aid in writing articles for the Hall’s Herald.”
Conor Healy
Healy hopes to bring back the Halls blog and proposes that students could submit blog posts “to the JCR publications email, with the option of remaining anonymous”. He also hopes to improve the Halls Herald and provide a platform for students to write longer articles in the publication. Healy aims to establish a committee of students’ to create social media content for Instagram or Tiktok with social media competitions to win free tickets to JCR events. Healy is Correspondent for Government in Trinity News.
Amberlie Collins
Collins hopes to create a blog where “students can post about their experiences” and read about the experiences of 2nd year students who can talk “about their courses and give advice.” She also hopes to use the Halls Herald to achieve a similar goal. Collins aims to create “welfare logos and t-shirts” and organise “halls hoodies for all students at the end of the year” to remind students of their time at halls.
Glen Moore
Moore aims to launch a Trinity Hall podcast with input from JCR officers. Moore hopes to work with the Ents Officer and others to increase social media use for “promotional content related to different Trinity Halls events.” Moore plans on working with “different college societies to promote different college events” to residents, especially in the “first few weeks of Trinity Hall.”
Communications and Marketing Officer
Alina Lavrova
Lavrova believes that the relationship between the JCR and societies could be better. Lavrova he aims to post photos on Instagram and Smugmug as soon as possible following JCR events to ensure that students are reminded of the “good memories” they made on those nights. Lavrova also hopes to provide students with discounts and vouchers through social media and collaborate with societies to get this done.
Glen Moore
Moore aims to start a ‘Capture Trinity Hall’ Initiative to provide students with the “opportunity to capture small pieces of their college experiences on camera.” He also hopes to increase the presence of disposable cameras at JCR events as he believes “they make for brilliant memories.” In order to improve communication between the JCR and Halls residents, Moore is a proponent of student surveying on social media pages in relation to “nights out and other services and facilities provided in Trinity Hall and on campus.” Moore hopes to work with college societies to “promote different college events, especially during the first few weeks of Trinity Hall.”
Amberlie Collins
Collins wants to improve JCR social media accounts to promote Halls events more effectively. She aims to create a JCR Tiktok account and create promotional videos about nights out and Halls events. She hopes to create a “get to know me video” involving all JCR members to allow students to familiarise themselves with their JCR representatives. In this same vein, she would like to “create a video tour of Halls” to teach new residents about how to navigate the area. Collins also aims to provide sponsorships and discounts for Halls residents and plans on contacting “as many businesses as possible” to achieve this.
Ben Power
Power aims to create a “highlight reel” of Trinity societies during freshers week that would be posted on various social media platforms to encourage Halls residents to make new friends. He believes it is critical that the JCR increase their presence on social media and in order to do this, he aims to revive the Halls Twitter page and expand JCR Tiktok and BeReal content. Power also believes that Halls has a “huge potential” to acquire sponsorships and brand deals with around 1,000 residents on the premises. Lastly, Power proposes the creation of a Halls “meme” page which would operate somewhat like ‘Sidechat’ to increase communication amongst residents.
Daniel Roche
Roche plans on creating “WhatsApp group chat links” for every apartment once rooms have been allocated and sending them to students via email to ensure that roommates start to talk before move-in day. He also aims to create guides for late entrants to Halls so that they are not “behind on information because they were accepted later than other students.” Roche plans on producing a “digital welcome pack” for new students which will include “essential information about the accommodation, the campus, and the surrounding email” as well as suggestions for “local restaurants, pubs, and clubs” and “transportation options.”
Tech Officer
Peter Dillon
Dillon hopes to work with “IT services to ensure T-Ball ticket release is smooth” and that “wifi is secure and tested before the release of the tickets.” Dillon aims to host a wifi workshop in Freshers’ Week to provide students with the opportunity to “pop in if they are having any wifi problems” in the initial days of set-up. He is also a proponent of QR codes in Halls and believes that utilising them more on notice boards to link to “booking welfare appointments, Whatsapp groups” and more will be helpful for residents. Finally, Dillon plans on fixing the tech issues associated with the functioning of the JCR email accounts and website.
Emma Murphy
Murphy believes that “Halls would benefit from an IT services desk” and that providing this service in Oldham house once or twice a week would help address “connectivity difficulties”. Murphy also plans on creating “an informative video on how to set up Trinity Wifi” and providing “coding workshops” to residents in “courses like business and psychology now [have] mandatory programming modules.” She also aims to swap “physical room cards” for “virtual key cards” as she believes these would be a “far more convenient” alternative.
