The postgraduate and equality hustings – the second hustings the 2025/26 students’ union election cycle – took place just before the fifth council on Tuesday, February 18.
At the first themed hustings, the eighteen candidates were faced with questions relating to postgraduate and equality matters.
University Times
The two candidates for the University Times (UT) Editor first faced questions about the lack of postgraduate representation in the newspaper’s coverage and editorial decisions. Charlie Hastings said that “this highlights a larger issue in UT”, in which the paper does not adequately reflect the student body. Sajal Singh further pledged to cover postgraduate issues more if elected, suggesting a specific section in the paper for postgraduate student issues.
Singh echoed her own sentiment when it came to further representing marginalised groups in college, pointing to her articles about the struggles of international students and student parents. Hastings also promised to install “a visibility editor” to attract minority voices. Focusing on welfare within the paper, he remembered “when [he] was kept laying out the newspaper for 36 hours straight on the weekend”, saying that this should not happen again.
Oifigeach na Gaeilge
I dtús báire, bhí ar na hiarrathóirí labhairt ar chonas a gcinnteodh siad crosbhealaíocht na Gaeilge ar gcampus. Chuir Niamh Leddy béim ar fhorbairt na Gaeilge ar gcampus go dtí seo, ag rá go bhfuil “mórán le dhéanamh fós,” agus chuir sí an coláiste i gcomparáid le COBÁC, áit ina bhfuil ceathrar ag obair in Oifig na Gaeilge, agus níl ach duine amháin i gColáiste na Trionóide faoi láthair. D’admhaigh Aoife Ní Bhriain an “éacht ata déanta ag an aontas i mbliana”, agus chuir béime ar a díograis chun obair thaobh le na hoifigigh shabóideach chun cinntiú go mbeadh siad in ann a gcuid Gaeilge a úsáid.
Chuir Leddy béim ar thionchar Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla ar dhátheangachas an choláiste, agus luaigh Ní Bhriain an tábhacht a bhaineann le gluais Gaeilge a chruthú chun dul i ngleic leis an easpa Gaeilge sa léachtóireacht na tríú léibhéal faoi láthair.
(Both candidates first faced the question of how they would ensure the intersectionality of the Irish language on campus. Niamh Leddy highlighted the developments in translation across campus, noting that “so much still has to be done,” and highlighted the difference between UCD, which has four full time Irish language officers compared to Trinity’s one. Aoife Ní Bhriain acknowledged the “incredible progress that has been made” by the current Students’ Union, and noted her commitment to collaborating with all sabbatical officers to facilitate their Irish use.
Leddy highlighted her awareness of the remit of the Irish Language Act in influencing the bilingual nature of college, while Ní Bhriain noted the importance of providing the glossary of Irish language terms to try and tackle the current lack of Irish level education at a university level.)
Entertainments
The four candidates for Entertainments (Ents) Officer fielded questions on the breadth of the issue of accessibility in Ents, be this monetary, linguistic, or physical. Yuv Garg noted that many events are inaccessible students based on cost, beginning his speach by stating that “TBall tickets are fucking expensive”. He said that his sober events would be cheaper than typical events, but struggled throughout the night to elaborate on his manifesto points to directly answer the questions posed.
Finn Hallwood was questioned alongside Orla Norton on the lack of Gaeilge in their manifestos. While Hallwood said that this was somewhat addressed in a subsection of his manifesto, he went on to promise more ceilí and traditional music sessions if elected.
Norton shared that being of Irish heritage but only moving to the country at 18 years old, she “would have really really appreciated” having Gaeilge integrated into her first-year college experience.
John O’Hara was questioned about the current inaccessibility of the Ents’ online promotional graphics this year, which he as PRO is tasked with. “This is something that has been raised with us recently”, he said, but claimed that “there are no guidelines for the PRO” to improve this.
Communications and Marketing
Sole communications and marketing candidate Channing Kehoe maintained a confident and straightforward approach as she fielded questions regarding postgraduates and the Irish language.
Kehoe vowed to diversify the students’ unions communications, saying that postgraduate students can be “disenfranchised by not having social media posts on multiple platforms”. They promised also to include the Irish language through the role “in creative ways, not just to tick a box”.
Welfare and Equality
The questions posed to the welfare & equality candidates centered on issues of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), Irish language, the drug narcan, and the issue of TCDSU being overly focused on campus students.
Asked what concrete actions they would take to ensure EDI was not just a tick the box issue, Nina Crofts spoke of confronting any time when “liberation was not achieved on campus”, while John Garvey honed in on individual level work with ethnic minorities. Discrimination was central to Deirdre Leahy and Bhargavi Magadi’s answers – Leahy drew attention to a report on “how much discrimination is faced by students on placement”, and Magadi highlighted how “discrimination experienced by ethnic minorities is often done by people who think they are helping them”.
Crofts was notably called out on a key campaign promise to make the drug narcan accessible on campus, on the basis of current Irish legislation banning the dispensing of narcan without a prescription. Crofts challenged this by saying it “was not necessarily true”, but also said that “if that’s a movement happening right now, we need to make sure college health is equipped to provide prescriptions”.
The other three candidates were all challenged on their oversight of including Irish in their manifestos, wth each making various concessions as to different college services they’d make available in Irish next year – a bilingual booking scheme for Leahy, events for Garvey, and workshops for Magadi.
Leahy drew on her experience as an occupational therapy student to give the most compelling answer to a question asked to all candidates on whether the union is too focused on campus students, with less and less health science students coming to council. “I know the issues, because I am one of those students”, Leahy said. “I have that personal experience that I will bring to this role”.
To the same question, Crofts promised to do case work on and off campus, emphasising that the lack of union presence [off campus] is a real travesty”. Garvey and Magadi both made reference to ensuring campus supports are available at off-campus location – Garvey recalled the success of supports at Oldham house, while Magadi cautioned that there are lots of student issues unheard “because they can’t make it to campus”.
Education
The two candidates for education officer were both asked first about how they would handle the busy schedule of the education officer, who sits on the most committees of any of the TCDSU sabbatical officers. Conchúr Ó Cathasaigh, who answered first, highlighted his experience in the union which would help him in “making a strategic plan and outlining what I hope to achieve”. Buster Whaley said that it would come down to prioritizing the work of the education officer, and that his “first and foremost priority would be casework and appeals”. He highlighted the need for structural reform and said that the amount of casework and appeals are in part due to college’s failure to address student issues. He also highlighted that his manifesto point of modular billing would hopefully reduce the amount of casework and appeals.
Ó Cathasaigh was then asked about the success of postgraduate integration into the union. In response, he said he would formalise the structures that incorporate postgraduates and postgraduate representation in the union, and that he would engage them through faculty assemblies.
When Whaley was asked about how he would engage postgraduate students in the union, he answered that his goal would be to find common ground issues between undergraduate and postgraduate students to unite on. He commented that he would want to take a college-wide and interdepartmental approach to postgraduate and undergraduate issues. Whaley was also asked about the lack of mention of the Irish language in his manifesto. He answered that the Irish language can be quite daunting for international students, and would promote the “outreach and facilitation of learning of the Irish language”.
President
The three candidates for TCDSU President were faced with a wide range of questions about the status of Gaeilge on campus, LENS reports being respected, and their priorities if elected.
Patrick Keegan began the night by stating that “we need to introduce [Gaeilge] into every aspect of academic life”. He further focused on his participation in LENS reports protests, adding that “it’s shameful that 48% of students do not have their supports properly met by College”.
Giovanni Li distinguished himself in saying that he wanted to abolish the current student contribution fee, saying that students in French universities “don’t even need to pay tuition at all” — which is incorrect. Li shared that this would be his top priority, if elected. When questioned about the class implications of his proposal to employ students as cleaners of other students’ rooms, he rejected this assertion.
Seán Thim O’Leary was questioned about the lack of recognition of Palestine in his manifesto. “I want to say that I am 100% pro-Palestine”, and credited his opponent Keegan for the work of TCD BDS this and last year. He ended the hustings event by saying that if he could achieve anything next year, he would want to instil a sense of hope into the union.
