Left Wing candidate elected Deputy President of UCDSU

dublin | politics / elections | news report

Saturday March 08, 2008 01:25

by Marvin A. Gaye - UCDSU

Left wing activist and Labour Youth member Dan O'Neill has been elected Deputy President of UCD Students Union, Dan beat physiotherapy student Isobel O'Connor by over 400 votes.

Dan put forward a left wing platform and all year has been advocating a grassroots approch to student union activism. Some of the main points of his campaign included abolition of the registration fee, no to a charge for the healthcare centre and improving disability access on campus. This year Dan founded UCD students for free healthcare, an independent activist group which was instrumental in preventing the college authorities from charging for the healthservice and in putting pressure on the union adminstration to fight the fee.

Given the conservatism in the Irish Student movement, this was a good victory for progressive student activism.

In other news, Left leaning activist and Labour Youth member Rory Geraghty was beaten by Fianna Fail member and USI eastern area officer Paul Lynam to the postion of Education Vice president. Aodhan O'Dea and Gary Remond were elected unnopposed to the position of President and Entertainments officer respectively. Engineering student Conor Fingleton defeated Young Fine Gael's Scott Ahearn, Green Party member Conor Pendergrast and Pyschology Student Ciara Broderick in the hotly contested Welfare Vice Presidential race.