For this meeting, the agenda was relatively short (that’s a rare occurence…)
As per usual, USI attended to give an update however the representative also gave an update about future updates; instead of taking up council time by always standing up to go through all of the updates of the past month, she would now be submitting written updates. She will still be attending meetings, but istead of standing to go through each item, she would stand to allow to council to answer any questions that they might have about the updates.
Here are the updates from February’s meeting:
- Election trainings for the upcoming elections have been held
- The campaign for Repeal the 8th would be posted soon
- Regarding the National Campaign against loan schemes- it is now important to focus our attention on county councils. It is important to get them to pass motions that support public funding.
- There will be a campaign running in a couple of week, encouraging people to vote in all EU elections.
- Video Doc- accessible now from the USI website. It is a great service to be able to contact a doctor without having to visit one personally, however you cannot get perscriptions which require a medical card (this was asked by one of the councillors).
- The Student Achievement Awards will be on the 19th of April, and nominations are still open if you want to enter. There are categories for class reps and councillors.
In other news, Congress applications are now open and there is a stop for four councillors. There is also an extra (fifth) spot for a Student Media Crew member (who happens to be yours truly). One councilor member raised their concern and said that they weren’t happy that someone from the media crew is to be going without being voted in. They suggested that a councilor member go instead, and take on the role of being a reporter as well as an active member of Congress.
It was pointed out by the President, Boni, that different people would need to have different focuses. A council member cannot possible take on the role of having to vote on motions etc. While also writing about everything that is going on. Therefore it is best to keep the two roles seperate therefore, nothing will change.
In terms of officer reports, BIMM college officer announced that there was a very good turn out at Rock for Rag- lots of money was raised. The VP of Welfare admited that there was not a great turn out at the Consent. This was due to the workshop having been held too last minute and not enough promotion was done for it. The update on dental dams is still pending (read the report on last month’s council meeting if you aren’t sure what I’m talking about!). VP of Events announced that over 18,000 euro had been raised for RAG, which is amazing.
Two motions were brought up during this meeting. First one was brought up by a council member, who proposed to create a survey which is related to the library services. This would ideally be done annually, and it is important because the only way the libraries can make imporvements is by getting feedback.
One council member brought up that libraries already have user groups, and that this motion may seem pointless. However it was argued that not everybody can attend these user groups. This survey could help feed into future development of the library service in Grangegorman. This survey would also give access for all students. The motion ws voted for.
The second motion concerned concerns over the developements over Grangegorman student facilities. Students are disappointed in the lack of information given to students. Meetings for Grangegorman are being held behind closed doors and things are just being told to students, rather than being discussed with them. The council felt that students need to remind the people behind this, that students are the primary users of the future facilities therefore they are the most important and she should be better informed. There was a very long discussion of this during the meeting. However in the end, the motion was agreed for; the President would work with DITSU executives to voice the students’ concerns over these issues. There will be an update on this at the next meeting.
The final item on the agenda was around the motions for USI. However as there are many motions, and people would sit there for hours trying to vote on which motions were to go to USI Congress. Therefore, the voting for the motions would be held online, where council members could fill out the form and fill out in order of preferendce, which motions they want to go forward to USI. Even though you can’t vote, I still feel it’s important for you to know what the nine options were;
- Breaks to be held more often during Congress (these meetings are very long, over a period of 3 days)
- Reduce the number of motions to only 3
- Find a solution as to where students can be sent while waiting to be assigned a counsellor
Affiliations fees (this is an annual subscription fee connected to Congress) - Provide international students with visas that cover the duration of their studies (as this is not the current case)
- Improve how mature students are being supported
- Invite a non-affiliated student’s union to one national council a year- to bridge that gap between these SUs
- Continued support and teaching qualifications for lecturers
- Lobby the HSE to provide training to healthcare providers around transgender issues and their healthcare needs.
And that’s all for the February meeting! Remember that you can keep up with updates on the relevant Facebook pages, and if you’re interested in keeping up to day on the current happenings in DITSU, you are more than welcome to attend Council. Even though you cannot vote on motions, it’s a great way to stay informed!
Visual Artist, student at DIT, and writer for DITSU.tv
I've been writing for DITSU.tv for 2+ years now, still ongoing
I mainly cover events but also like to write a few helpful, lifestyle pieces and here and there
