Ultimately, students are a soft target, and young people’s concerns are routinely cast aside by TDs and Ministers. That is realpolitik. Students and young people don’t vote in large enough numbers to make us important to people whose single foremost preoccupation is re-election. On Monday afternoon last, an extraordinary sight met anyone walking through the Arts block. A queue of 400 young people waiting for the Garda to sign the form and register to vote. Finally, it seems the sleeping giant of youth political interest has awoken.

Step one was to register to vote, and that having been achieved, there is now an imperative to use that vote, and wisely. When I say vote wisely, I don’t mean don’t be hung-over when you’re in the polling station, I mean learn who is asking you to vote for them. In some ways putting your name on a ballot paper is the single greatest act of arrogance any person can commit – make them prove they deserve your vote.

If a candidate calls to your door, ask them about education, poverty, unemployment, foreign aid, gay marriage, whatever it is you care about. If their answer is unsatisfactory don’t vote for them – regardless of them coming from the family party. That is not a good enough reason to vote for someone. If their answer sounds good, make sure they aren’t just trying to get out of an awkward corner. These people’s job is to represent your interests, so it is very important to make sure they actually believe what they are saying.

Read manifestos and election literature. Watch TV debates. Listen to local radio and attend local debates. At the end of this process you might be shocked to realise that you actually support “X” party rather than “Y” party. That’s ok. That’s the process.

Most importantly of all. On the 25^th of February, go home and VOTE. We have received a concession from the University that you will be allowed to go after 12 noon. Everyone realises this is an epoch-changing election. Make sure you are part of it and VOTE!

Off-campus, we have seen the Student Support Bill finally enacted as one of the last acts of the Seanad before its dissolution on the 1^st of February. From 2012 the grants system in Ireland will finally begin to be repaired. Four years of student campaigning made this possible, and the Presidents’ signature on the Student Support Act 2011 is a huge victory, and proof conclusive that when the student movement concentrates on something, it will be achieved. Our concern that the collapse of the Government would kill the act has been proved unfounded, and we now have the luxury, if that is the right term, to start negotiations with the new Government with a fairly clear slate.

The imminent general election focuses the mind somewhat. I will never forget the power of standing on stage on the 3^rd of November watching 40,000 students chanting in unison “I am a vote.” The sad reality is that many of that crowd are not registered to vote, and our primary effort was to register as many as possible. Thanks to both the Trojan effort of a handful of hardy volunteers and USI’s voter registration road show, something in the region of 800 Maynooth Students have registered to vote before the deadline last week. Thanks must be paid to Dennis and Gavin of Maynooth Garda Síochána for their generous gift of time to sign and stamp about 500 forms in three hours on the 7^th of February.

The next step is to ensure as many students as can actually go home and vote. The election being on a Friday is helpful, and thanks to Professor Chris Morash, Academic Council has agreed to end all non-essential academic activity on the 25^th at midday to facilitate the mass exodus this will require. Every other SU in the country is engaged in a similar process, and the help of Academic and Support staff organisations has been of great assistance.

The final element of the General Election campaign has been the General Election Candidates Debate, co-presented with the Bizz Society. By the time you read this it will have happened, but I am looking forward to our five candidates introducing themselves to our members and getting people more informed about the issues at the ballot box.

After six months work, my last meeting of 2010 finally broke the back of a major non-visible problem we’ve had for years. The student levy has expired and the Union will now begin negotiations for the next ten years of student facilities in NUI Maynoooth which must be completed by June of this year at the latest. Other facilities issues include the continued expansion of recycling facilities and the chronic delays being suffered by the canteen construction team. There is little enough we can do about snow, but we are doing our best to have it open its doors no later than mid-April 2011.

While you were all doing exams I was working on our commercial services. At the beginning of my term of office the Union was operating one shop and one bar. Already we have doubled that to two shops, a café and a bar. By the end of the year, I am aiming to have doubled that again. This is excellent news as the more we offer, the cheaper we can make it all. My one-liner during my election campaign was “better cheaper services for you” and we are definitely getting there.

Controlling such a large portfolio of commercial services however is a delicate balance for an organisation that changes its management every year. To that end, I am delighted that the new Constitution is going to referendum this week, and I encourage you all to vote yes. The old (2008) constitution was a good document in many ways, but poor in very many others. Our new constitution, as well as fundamentally changing the Union’s representative structures also dramatically increases our capacity to handle large-scale corporate services. It is a modern constitution for a modern Union, and ultimately will make the union better at doing what it does, and more responsive and capable of change in the future.

I would like to finally thank the Exec, the Constitutional Review Committee and all who contributed to the collation of the 2011 draft Constitution. It is an excellent document, and I believe it will stand as one of MSU’s core strengths in the years to come.

Now, on the 25^th of February, go home and VOTE!

Much Love,
Aengus

Your Union President

The referendum is happening this Wednesday, the 16^th of February in the Arts Block between 9.30 and 6.

What was wrong with the old one?

The 2008 Constitution (the current one) was a minor revision of a document from much earlier. Some problems people had with the Union then were fixed, but the structures were effectively left unchanged. I have a copy of the constitution from 1982 on my desk, and things haven’t changed all that much since then!

Specifically there were serious issues around the legalities of the document, and problems with staffing and employment. We also have to complete the re-branding from NUIMSU to Maynooth Students’ Union, officially including our members in St Patrick’s College, as well as students who are studying for NUIM or SPCM degrees, but not on Maynooth campus (including Kilkenny and Froebel).

There were also some very careless typographical errors which exposed the Union to some serious problems. For example: Article 10.3 and 12.1 aren’t there at all, and article 12.5 appears twice. Technically this means neither the Executive nor Clubs and Societies Council are valid constitutional organs of the Union. There was also the impenetrable numbering system, i.e. Article 17.6 (b) (iii) [which has to do with RON appearing on election papers].

Aside from just fixing these problems, we had an opportunity to re-imagine the Union, as a modern organisation – a blank slate. To that end there are some major changes to our methods and organisation in the new document.

A New Better Union

For ease of reference I’m going to work through the document in order, highlighting the changes from the 2008 document and explaining why they are there. Sometimes the changes will be minor re-phrasings or spelling corrections, these will be ignored so this doesn’t turn into a thesis. At other times the changes are major, and I will go into some depth discussing them.

In all, there are 17 articles and eight schedules of the proposed constitution.

Article One – Name “The name of the Organisation shall be Maynooth Students’ Union. The name of the Union in the Irish Language shall be Aontas na Mac Léinn, Má Nuad.”

I think that pretty much says it all. Under the 2008 constitution we are still called NUI Maynooth Students’ Union, implying an exclusion of SPCM members.

Article 2: Aims and Objectives.

This is a list of what it is the Union is for. While the list hasn’t changed much we have merged some objectives which overlapped, and added a few principles which are common in other unions worldwide (such as the democratisation of higher education).

Article 3: Membership.

Under the 2008 constitution, only full time students were members of the Union, meaning about 2,000 students in Maynooth were not members. Including these students in our membership strengthens the Union’s negotiating abilities and increases the scope of our ability to represent the full campus (and off-campus) student community.

We have also created something called honorary membership, which is a facility for honouring people who have done good things. Separate from the University’s honorary doctorate scheme, students can now celebrate people we feel are deserving of an honour.

Article 4: Rights and Obligations of Members.

This article has not been significantly altered.

Article 5: Government of the Union.

Two changes here. The Executive, through the President have been empowered to function without Union Council during the period between the 1^st of July and Union Council’s first meeting in October. There is also a new caveat on intellectual property, meaning that anything created by an officer or staff member of the Union while carrying out their duties remains the property of the Union, not of the individual.

Article 6: Referendum.

Article 7: Union General Meeting.

These articles have changed only very insignificantly.

Article 8: Union Council.

The structure of Union Council has changed a good bit. The members of Union Council now have the right to elect their own Chairperson and Secretary. Up until now the Returning Officer has filled this role, but his / her job is to run elections. We have been blessed with dedicated and excellent ROs in the past, but it is now time to split the job into two separate posts.

The subcommittees of Union Council have changed slightly to get into line with the new officer structure.

Article 9: The Executive.

The current executive has three sabbatical officers, five topical officer and three special representatives. The new exec will have four sabbatical officers, one topical officer (Oifigeach na Gaeilge), four faculty representatives and two special representatives.

These are as follows:

President

Vice President for Clubs, Societies and Union Development

Vice President for Services, Events and Communications

Vice President for Welfare and Equality

Irish Language and Cultural Affairs Officer

Arts, Celtic Studies and Philosophy Representative

Science and Engineering Representative

Social Sciences Representative

Theology Representative

First Year Representative

Postgraduate Representative

Functionality of the exec has changed slightly also, the exec now must meet occasionally during the summer months, allowing the exec begin its work in July, rather than waiting until late September.

Article 10: Officers of the Union

I don’t want to get into too much detail on the officers of the Union – that’s for another day, and these articles can be read by those interested without me boring everyone else in this article with them.

However, the faculty reps require some explanation. These allow a new means of representative accountability, and allow a cleaner pathway for concerns of individual students to reach the sabbaticals. Also these four officers are without specific additional portfolio, allowing them engage more fully in the Union’s broader campaigns.

Article 11: Impeachment and Discipline

This article is now a legal means of dealing with serious breaches of discipline by elected officers. I sincerely hope it is never needed, but it is important that it exists.

Article 12: Clubs and Societies Council

This article has been significantly strengthened, allowing clubs and socs have more of a say in how their money is spent, and making the whole capitation procedure more transparent.

Article 13: Board of Trustees

Due to the complex nature of the SU’s evolution it has been extremely difficult in the past to ensure our legal independence. This new Board of Trustees replaces the existing trustees of the Union, who are employees of the University (Bursar and Registrar), and insists that the Union is self-determining.

The Board has been designed to ensure oversight and is based on elements of DITSU Ltd. and NUI Galway’s board of directors. The Board is now theoretically capable of incorporating to safeguard Union services. The duties of the former Guardianship of the Constitution have been merged with the Board.

Article 14: Elections and Resignations.

Article 15: Policy.

Article 16: Interpretation and Amendment of the constitution.

Article 17: Revocation and Enactment.

These articles have not changed significantly.

VOTE

Over the next few days there will be many people available to discuss the changes to the constitution with you if you have any questions. Ask your class rep, a member of the exec, a club or society president or read the new constitution online and make up your own mind.

There will be a public meeting at a time to be confirmed where the President will give a full presentation on the new constitution and answer all your questions.

Get a copy of the constitution: Online, In the SU, at the Stands around campus.

The university has been working on a new mobility and traffic management plan for the last eighteen months, and most of you will have noticed the first step this semester when the one-way system was introduced to the north campus ring-road. This had the joint benefits of allowing the road be granted a certificate of safety from the National Roads Authority (which a two-way road would not have received) and also created about 90 new parking spaces on the road.

The next steps of the plan are of more ambiguous benefit, but I will lay them out here. At the very least, I can assure you they are not as bad as you think they are, but there are some fairly drastic changes about to take place.

- Aengus

Parking

The problem:

There are at present about 2,500 cars trying to park in 1,500 spaces on both campuses. A huge number of these cars are being brought to college unnecessarily i.e. people who have no business in the college but park here anyway because it is free or staff and students who live within an easy walk or near public-transport links. There are those who drive into college from Parsons Street, taking up a space and making it impossible to find a space after about 10am. Furthermore paid-parking is about to be introduce in Maynooth village, flooding the campus with shoppers.

Doing nothing is not an option.

The proposed solution:

Parking permits will be introduced costing €20 per semester for students. The north campus will be divided into five zones each with a specific purpose.

Student only parking: Students’ Union car-park (car-park one) Student permit holders only (150 spaces).

Staff only parking: around Auxilia, Student Services, St. Annes, Rowan House and Education House (150 spaces).

Pay & Display: Between Callan Building and Canteen (20 spaces) – for visitors.

Ring-road spaces: For carpooling – i.e. more than one permit displayed (90 spaces).

Undesignated: Car-parks 2,3,4,5 and all others – permit holders only (600 spaces).

This cost of a permit is significantly less than the original proposal thanks to the SU. This sadly was one of the only suggestions we made which was taken on board.

What will that achieve?

The argument is that the permit will stop people who don’t need to drive into college doing so, and will play the largest part in the promotion of alternative modes of transport to college.

No, if you buy a permit you are not guaranteed a space, but there will be less cars on campus so it will be easier to get one.

When it will happen:

The pay and display site behind the Callan Building is opening in the next week or so. The rest of the zones will operate from the start of semester two.

Enforcement

The problem:

If you have permits but no means of enforcing them people will just take the piss.

The proposed solution:

The clampers who currently run parking enforcement will be replaced by a new company APCOA. They have been instructed to phase up their operations so no-one is caught badly in the first year or so up to full parking enforcement. What this means is so long as you have a permit and are not parked unsafely you will not be clamped – for now.

There will also be a rigorous clamping appeals process, whereby APCOA will have to prove they took all reasonable measures before clamping, and also that the car was dangerously parked. There will be a student representative on the appeals committee.

What will that achieve?

Hopefully within a year or so, the new permit system will operate fairly and people will have an opportunity to appeal their fines.

When it will happen:

From now.

Kilcock Road Works

The problem:

In order for the new library to be built the footbridge has to come down and the Kilcock Road has to be retrofitted to accommodate the new level of pedestriantraffic that will ensue.

The proposed solution:

A pelican crossing will be installed linking the north and south campus at ground level, a roundabout installed at the main college gate to the north campus and the road will be narrowed, slowing traffic.

What will that achieve?

Hopefully no-one will be knocked down while running from their 10am tutorial in John Hume to their 11am lecture in Lower Loftus.

When it will happen:

Preliminary works will be commencing from December. The exact timetable is yet to be agreed but from the moment the first stone is turned to completion is a period of two years.

Aside from acts of God, I am a member of the tendering panel to select theoperator of the new restaurant / canteen. I am bound by a non-disclosureagreement to stay silent until the successful bidder has been agreed, but Ican promise that all the bids have been excellent so far, and I am sure we willhave something quite exciting when it opens.

A three hour meeting of the Academic Council may not be most people’s ideaof fun, but at that meeting we got the date of the Gathering finalised andlectures suspended for the afternoon of that day. This was no doubt helpedby it being the 19th item on the agenda of 21.

The Exec meeting on the 7th of December was the first at which our newPostGrad rep was present and he’s already working his tail off for hisconstituency.
The coolest thing I’ve had the pleasure of doing ex officio was being askedto marry fifteen couples by the LGBT society for their marriage equality demonstration. I obliged, and was thrilled to be asked.

Much Love,

Aengus

Your Union President

December 8th, 2010

Aengus Ó Maoláin – MSU President

Today, as you are reading this article there are some 8,600 students in Maynooth. Some 40,000 in the National University of Ireland. 120,000 in the seven Universities. 250,000 pursuing level seven and higher degrees. 300,000 in the higher education sector. Every one of them is the same as you and different. Students are a diverse and wonderful group of people. We have more sheer numbers than the Irish Farmers Association and the Irish Countrywomen’s Association combined. Now only the Unemployed make up a larger proportion of sectoral Ireland. Yet, students are seen by those in power as a soft target – and in truth we are. Students traditionally don’t vote, don’t write into newspapers or call into the radio. Students rarely join political parties or push political agendas. With a few notable exceptions students don’t protest or make their presence felt all that much on the national stage. We simply sit there and take it.

I will not deny that the government is in a tight spot. Due to their own mismanagement of our resources our national debt is nearly a third of our GDP, worth around €20,000 for every man, woman and child in Ireland and it is our generation that will be paying off that debt for the rest of our lives.

It is my opinion that the only way for Ireland to recover some of its former glory is through having a highly-skilled and innovative work-force. We need to educate our people to the point of being the envy of the world. Education, in short, is the key to Ireland’s recovery.

We understand that on Budget Day, the 7th of December, at least €500 million will be cut from the Department of Education’s budget, and there is every possibility that the cut will be worse. Due to the Croke Park agreement, pay and pensions, which make up 75% of the budget cannot be touched, leaving only €1.8 bn in non-pay where the axe will have to fall. These figures may be nauseatingly high, but let me take it down to bare bones for you. The following is a prediction, and not even an overly pessimistic one of what next year will look like for students.

Registration Fee: Doubled to €3,000 per year.

Maintenance Grant: 10 % cut.

Reckonable Income limits: Raised by 10%.

Capital Expenditure: 40% cut.

Student Aid Fund: 50% cut.

Fund for Students with Disabilities: 20% cut.

What does this mean to you?

Imagine John. He’s 19 from Ballyfermot and has just started studying Law. Right now his parents are PAYE employees and they just fall out of the reckonable income bracket to receive the grant, so he has to work all summer in his uncle’s butchers to earn the €1,500 registration fee and enough to get him through until Christmas. He will now have to find a job with enough hours to earn him €3,000 and won’t be able to access the student aid fund to help him if he runs out of oil in his house in November because the fund has been bled dry already.

Then there’s Ali. She’s a 25 year old from Roscommon with cerebral palsy. This year she already had to wait five weeks before receiving a note-taker so she can study for her exams in January. Next year she may not get one at all. What’s worse, if her CP deteriorates she will have to go part-time and won’t receive a cent from the FSD as part-time students cannot apply.

Andy is 18 from Castlebar and qualifies for the lowest non-adjacent rate for the grant. His application is still being processed and he can’t use the library. Next year though, the reckonable income level is raised and he no longer qualifies. He has to find some work somewhere to pay the €3,000 registration fee before September. His parents are retired and can’t help as their pension has just been cut. He has no choice but to drop out of college and go on the dole or emigrate.

The outlook is bleak unless we make our presence felt. Students do have a voice and we have to use it. I have spent the last three months talking to TDs, Senators, Ministers – people who have the inside information here. What every one of them has told me is the same. Whoever shouts the loudest will get hit the least.

Students got hit hard in the last budget with the registration fee rising from €900 to €1500 and the grant cut by 5%. Unless we say enough is enough we’ll be hit even harder this time. The students of Ireland are uniting for one great demonstration on Wednesday the 3rd of November and Maynooth students need to prove their worth. Over 30,000 students from all over Ireland are going to take over Dublin for a day. If they are coming from Letterkenny, from Castlebar, from Cork and Waterford and Sligo what else can we do except send a powerful contingent from Maynooth?

Maynooth, we simply will not be able to tolerate the cuts proposed and the only way to beat them is to shout the loudest. All the students of Ireland are counting on you turning out on the 3rd. Get a ticket for the bus from the SU and a t-shirt, register and be there. Stand up for education not emigration.

Remember, remember the 3rd of November.

Much Love,

Aengus

Your Union President.

The Student Support Bill is a piece of law that takes the awarding of grants out of the hands of VECs and Local Authorities and places it under a single unified agency, which will work a lot like the CAO, which is a very slick organisation. Furthermore the multiple existing grant schemes will be amalgamated into one, logical and comprehensive scheme. As Kildare is permanently on the worst offenders list for grant delays this is particularly welcome news for our students here in Maynooth.

Getting the Bill passed by the Oireachtas has been about as easy as moving a mountain, and it has been in process since February 2008 in its current form. Right now, the Bill has passed its last committee stage and is on the way to the Seanad. From there it goes back to the Dáil one last time before hitting the President’s desk. I and my colleagues across the country have been working really hard to make sure the Student Support Bill is passed before the Dáil implodes spectacularly as it surely will in the coming months. Right now that lobbying is in the form of multiple emails and phonecalls with Senators with whom I have a good professional relationship such as the NUI panel and Senator Alex White who is married to a member of NUIM staff. Our work so far got the bill through the joint committee on education in a single day, so I have high hopes we can get it done.

The Government’s so-called National Recovery Plan is horrible. According to the plan the Registration Fee will be renamed the Student Contribution Charge and will be increase to €2,000. Even though that is less than we initially feared, the change of name and even a single euro increase is unacceptable. Students will be forced to drop out in their thousands and our economy will be severely damaged by the impact this will have on the quality of our work-force. The grant may be cut yet again in the budget due on the 7^th of December, causing yet more strife and drop-outs as students simply no longer have the money to tolerate such cuts. The stone has been bled dry. Worse, in a way, for our long-term prospects is the €1 cut to the minimum wage. This means that we will have to work longer and harder to reach a basic living income, and the €2,000 target for the reg fee over the summer may prove impossible for some. Then, when we leave college, either the dole or a pathetic income of €7.65 awaits us if we’re lucky. Dublin Airport’s new terminal two starts to look lovely for a single visit with a Qantas ticket in the back pocket.

Our tactic here is simple. With the loss of the Donegal bye-election the Government needs its independents more than ever before, and we have assurances from two of the most important of them that they will fight for us, but we need more and the intense lobbying required is being handled in a dedicated and professional way by nearly every SU in the country.

In local work, the Teaching and Learning committee of the Academic Council met recently and has finally agreed to set a 25 hour per credit threshold on all modules. This brings NUIM into line with the Bologna process and in the future transferring from NUIM to other colleges will be significantly easier, as every college in Europe will eventually be at the same threshold. Don’t worry about specifics, as it won’t change much for you, but it makes things easier if you want to do a year abroad.

Next week I’m sitting in as the contenders for the canteen tender compete in bloody warfare for the coveted title. We’ve a pretty comprehensive idea what students want from the canteen but if you have any specific ideas I always welcome emails to president@nuimsu.com

Finally I am delighted to welcome Robert Dixon, a research postgraduate student of physics to the MSU executive committee as our Postgraduate Officer. Robert was co-opted unanimously by Union Council two weeks ago and is settling in nicely. His full SU induction will be soon over and he will be delighted to hear our postgraduate’s enquiries and I have no doubt he will serve his constituency with dignity and distinction. Welcome aboard.

Much Love,

Aengus

Your Union President

November 26th, 2010

After the lobby, I met with USI’s campaigns officer and deputy president, Cónán Ó Broin andEastern Area Officer John Logue to discuss some home truths. Honestly, I told them Icouldn’t guarantee a large turn-out from Maynooth for the national march – how wrong couldI have been? For the next few days I was in quite a depressive mood and felt completelyover-burdened until on that Friday morning I was staring at the latest media digest and said– Fuck it, we’re either doing this or not and worrying is helping no-one. We laid out a 17-dayplan, starting from the 18th of October and ending at 11.30 am on the 3rd of November toillustrate the issues to you as clearly and loudly as possible and get people on buses. Thatday, USI’s education officer described us as the best prepared union in the country – havingzero track-record to live up to proved an asset rather than a liability as I saw it.

Thanks to the heroism and immense dedication of a team of volunteers including SarahKennedy, Laura Feeney, Kellie Fagan, Dean Phelan, Steven Dunne, Sorcha Vaughan, RuaidhriBoland, Steven Gaynor, Kyri Smith and the indefatigable exec – Shmick, Declan, Kyle, Sinéad,Caoimhghín, Pat, Rob and Liz, we estimate over 3,000 turned out from Maynooth. Comparedto the 17 that made the effort to attend the last national protest, it is safe to say Maynoothmade its presence felt. I have never felt such gratitude to each and every member of theunion who went out of their way to stand together with their fellow students across thecountry to defend the basic principles of equality of access to education for everyone.

Let me be absolutely clear. This was the largest event the Union has ever mobilised, and bythe Union I mean every single student in Maynooth, Kilkenny or Blackrock. Be proud. I havegone into more detail about my thoughts on the march itself and the next steps elsewhere inthis paper, so I will move on to a more general report now if that’s ok with you…

Our new shop has opened in the arts block, and while some teething issues are being sortedout, the launch has been successful. The cheapest photocopying in Maynooth remains, asalways, courtesy of your Union. Any suggestions about the shop please send them into me byemail – I’m eager to make the most out of our new premises so let us know what you wantand we’ll do our best.

The Halloween ball was a great success. We’ve admittedly had a few dodgy nights in the barthis term but the formula of cheap tickets + banter seems to be working. We’ll try and keepprices down as much as we can, but that will affect the quality of acts we get – don’t expectanyone huge for €5. The comedy nights are kicking off shortly with David O’Doherty startingthe series and Neil Delamere on the way on the 7th of December. Arts week is also well intothe planning stage and there’ll be some craic to be had there – without giving too much awaythere will hopefully be more than one person humming hail to the chief…

The first issue of the print was, and let me be blunt here, AWESOME. I assume the issueyou’re currently reading is also – fair play Rob and all The Print team. Compared to everyother SU newspaper I’ve seen this one is by far the best and a vast cavernous improvementon any previous paper to be seen in Maynooth.
Healthy Mind Healthy Body week was also a great success, and Liz and her welfairies arefuriously working on Mental Health Awareness Week which will include some really greatevents and awareness raisers. Movember is also underway, which is why I’ll be looking like a1970s footballer for the next month in case you’re wondering!

Much Love,
Aengus, Your Union President

November 5th, 2010

Shortly after I was elected I met an old friend who had a long history of SU politics – hissingle piece of advice was “know the one thing you want to achieve.” At the time I had sucha huge manifesto that it was a big ask for me to sum it all up to a single point, but soon itcame. My single priority is to make the SU a massively more professional and respectedorganisation than it has ever been before. It is my hope that I will leave the SU in asignificantly better state than when I started in July.

I hope we’ve gone a long way to achieving this goal, and I am thrilled with how well the teamis doing. Here follows some highlights of the last months.
For the first time ever the SU has a plan of work. This is a summary of all of our manifestos,and the entire exec is chipping away at it. Preparing this document took me a good chunk oftime but I am delighted we have it in place. Copies are available in the SU if you want tohave a look and see how we’re getting on – we’re already about half-way there. I have alsobeen preparing a new draft constitution for the Union, based on my observations of theshortfalls of the SU, and of international best practise. The document will be presented to theConstitutional Review committee as soon as it is elected.

Another major priority was to greatly increase our level of membership engagement, thetemporary website is a great improvement, and the final version will be brilliant when it is upready to go. Our use of facebook and face-to-face engagement with students has increaseddramatically, and we are always willing to talk to people with ideas.

We have also developed a media strategy for the first time in living memory, which is helpingto improve our good relationship with the local community and we are well positioned to dealwith urgent issues. For example in one week last month I was interviewed by Radio naGaeltachta, 2FM, i105, FM 104, 98 FM, KFM, Sunday Times, Liffey Champion, Leinster Leader,Irish Independent and the Irish Examiner.

Our submission on the University’s new parking plan was taken on board, and some clemencyhas been shown to students. I remain slightly sceptical, but at least the financial burden onstudents has been significantly lessened since the original proposal was made. More info willbe available soon.

The arts block refurbishment has stalled in recent months, but will be resuming very shortly,this will include the much deserved consignment of the blue chairs to the skip, way moreposter-space and a brand new stationery and printing shop run by the SU in the annex – keepan eye out as when the next phase starts it’ll be lightning fast.

We have been negotiating several lucrative sponsorship deals for the Union, including withHot Press and Domino’s Pizza, and hopefully they will all be nailed down by the end of thismonth. We have also completely changed how catering is provided to you – food is nowavailable in the bar again, and Chill, our new cafe will be open by November. On the subjectof the bar, it has been redecorated and the drinks deals have improved greatly. Cans are nowavailable for €2.50, making us the cheapest bar in Leinster!

Our national reputation is improving bit by bit. Being members of USI certainly helps and weare all working within the organisation to get the reforms we are looking for pushed throughas well as adding Maynooth’s unique voice to national debate. I have also been electedchairperson of the University Students’ Union Presidents group – which makes Maynooth lookdeadly. Among other major initiatives I have been working with UCD, NUIG and UCC SUs on
a policy on the abolition of the NUI, which is very near completion.

For the next few weeks I will be working basically full time on mobilising our students for theNational Student March on the third of November. If we don’t play our part, and organiseourselves properly the consequences could be catastrophic. I believe this to be the singlemost important event of my year so far, and I hope to be talking to most of you about it overthe coming weeks.

There has been loads more, and my report to Union Council will be published online closer to the time, and will go into much more detail.

Much Love,

Aengus, Your Union President

October 17th, 2010

It is safe to say the last few weeks have been the most exhausting and rewarding of my time as President. Everyone being back means we can really focus our campaigns and advocacy responding to what you want. This report will cover basically the last month, from mid-August to now.

Most of August was taken up on campus development issues and getting as many things finalised as possible before everyone came back. An awful lot of University committee meetings were jammed into a short space of time in the last week of the month and there were three national meetings of SUs (Dún Laoghaire & Waterford (USI) and Limerick (USUP)). We also finalised all but two of our major sponsorship deals for the year, including Domino’s pizza which you may have noticed handing out free food all week, and Hot Press. My hope is to have the remaining deals in place by mid-October so we can have our full cabinet of free stuff to give out.

We are in ongoing negotiations with the Bursar’s office (basically NUIM’s accountants, but better) regarding a great deal of issues which require clarification at present and we have expended a good chunk of time on this. We have also made successful contact with Aoife Ní Dheá, my counterpart in Froebel College Blackrock, which is merging with NUIM over the next few years and have a basic plan for how we’re going to interact with each other for the next year.

We are also happy to announce that Chill our new café has been confirmed and we are aiming to open the doors by mid-October. Food will also be restored to the bar from Monday.

On the subject of the bar, you may have noticed the fact that it looks much cleaner and brighter than last year. In the course of about ten days, the entire place was repainted, and the new branding was installed which makes the place look much more inviting, and hopefully will make people feel a little more ownership of what is ultimately their bar.

Recognising the fact that now, more than ever, none of us have any money, we have also introduced Carling and Stonehouse cans for the pittance of €2.50 which has been welcomed by everyone as far as I can see. The SU Bar is now the cheapest in all of Co. Kildare, and as long as people keep supporting the Union’s services we’ll keep doing our best to drive down prices across our range of shops and services. Also, we had our first €5 bar ex in about five years, and based on hefty consultation rolled out a pretty good freshers’ week ents line-up, that would have affordable tickets. The Hardy Bucks, Republic of Loose, Cast of Cheers, and Fight Like Apes all featured heavily in the feedback we sought on who you wanted to see in Maynooth. Basically, you got what you wanted, which is always nice!

In early September we began to cover our end of USI’s pre-budget strategy to lobby every government TD by October. Our five assigned TDs were Seán Fleming (FF – Laois Offaly), Áine Brady and Michael Fitzpatrick (FF – Kildare North), Seán Ó Fearghaíl and Seán Power (FF – Kildare South). To date we have met two and had to postpone one meeting due to the deputy in question being in Lourdes. Deputy Fleming, in fairness, was a fantastic guy, and has written to Ministers Coughlan and O’Keeffe on our behalf based on the four key policy issues: the Maintanance Grant, Student Services Charge, Student Assistance Fund and Graduate Unemployment. Deputy Power was also extremely pleasant and we look forward to receiving copies of his correspondence with the ministers.

I have also been doing a fair bit of spokespersoning in relation to the above for the local media, as for us to succeed nationally we must connect with local people, and make them think about student issues when talking to their TDs. The interview with Radio na Gaeltachta was the only one where the presenter was not broadly welcoming of our proposals for some reason, but we live and learn.

The Exec had its first meeting where we approved our Plan of Work for the year. This is common practice in most other SUs, but has never been in place in Maynooth before. I am delighted to say we’ll be publishing the Plan of Work as soon as the website is ready, and we have already in fact accomplished more than half of its nearly 100 points.

As you will most likely know by now on Thursday the 16^th of September we staged a demonstration outside the opening ceremony of the new Iontas building. Without the guidance of Union Council, bearing in mind the limited number of students available and having taken on board a large number of diverse opinions we decided a silent protest and press release was the most dignified and respectable option. Balancing the wishes of those who would have us burn the building down and those who would have us thank Minister Hanafin for allowing the grant to be cut by 5% last was extremely difficult. It is my sincere opinion that the decision made was the correct one, and that the demonstration went extremely well. Again, in terms of changing voters’ minds, we opted for a demo whereby our issues would be the story, not our conduct.

Orientation week was hilariously busy. Between the three sabbats we clocked up 180 hours or so of work and had a ball talking to all 2,500 new students in the college over the course of the week. The evening events were very successful and I think we’ve a good batch this year. Any first-years reading … Hi again!

During Orientation week, the first meeting of USI’s Hunt Report Strategy Response Group took place in Dublin. The hunt report is a survey of ways to save money in the third-level sector, and bits of it will be very very bad for students. Other parts will be broadly welcomed. Thanks to USI’s response group and their very high calibre of members (including me, by the way) we’ll have a solid response when the report comes out.

Finally Freshers’ Week. This week was even busier than orientation week, which I thought was unimaginable, but apparently not. The week started with  a great series of meetings with senior academics including the incoming President of NUIM Professor Tom Collins. The exec held its second meeting, loads of ents happened and the seven University Presidents were hauled before the Oireachtas Committee of Public Accounts to explain why they have spent such an obscene amount of money on pensions and allowances. I, along with the other three NUI SU Presidents and USI’s President and Deputy President attending the committee and were as shocked by the revelations as the media has become. The universities alone have handed over a pension liability of €2.1 billion to the state. Furthermore, the minimum expected work rate of lecturers appears to be 15 hours.

Anyway, don’t worry about all that. We’re working on it.

As always, if there’s anything I can do, fire me off an email to president@nuimsu.com

Much Love,

Aengus

Your Union President