Jack Leahy
News Editor
The news that the newly-appointed sabbatical officers of Union of Students in Ireland (USI) affiliate institutions will be trained by a number of high-profile political figures has been met with fierce consternation on the representative body’s Facebook page.
On Sunday afternoon, USI updated its ‘cover photo’ to advertise that Higher Education Authority Chief Tom Boland would be involved in a week-long training event for sabbatical officers, and that he would be joined by former presidential candidate Mary Davis and former Fianna Fáil Minister for both Education and Health Mary O’Rourke. The event will be held during this coming week in Athlone.
It is not clear what role Boland shall play at the event, but his presence is the least controversial given that the most part of USI’s anti-fees campaigning – the mandate for which was controversially renewed in May of this year – will take place at his organisation’s table. A USI spokesperson confirmed on the Facebook thread that Davis would deliver a talk on active citizenship having headed the Task Force on Active Citizenship. O’Rourke will give a presentation on how to effectively lobby public representatives.
O’Rourke’s invitation is the most controversial due to her history of voting in favour of increases in third-level fees. In November 2008, during a march against the re-introduction of college fees, students from the Athlone Institute of Technology laid a funeral wreath at the door of O’Rourke’s constituency office. The card in the wreath stated ‘Sincere sympathies on the death of free fees. We will remember this.’
One poster, who goes by the name of ‘Shell Mac’, voiced concerns as to the conflict between O’Rourke’s history on the issue of third level fees and the USI’s mandated stance on the matter:
‘I just find it incredible that the best person who could be found to give advice on lobbying was Mary O’Rourke someone who has taken a stance your members have loudly told you they disagree with. Please listen to the grassroots.’
Labour Party press officer Shauneen Armstrong bluntly added ‘I don’t think I would like to learn whatever it is that O’Rourke would have to teach’, while Brendan Doris, president of USI between 1981 and 1983, stated ‘Ruarí Quinn signing the pledge on student fees must be a clue [as] to where “lobbying political representatives” gets you!’
The presence of all three has been derided by posters for their associations with Fianna Fáil. Fianna Fáil entered government in 1997, two years after the introduction of the Free Fees Scheme, and introduced the ‘student services charge’ which steadily grew to €2,000 under successive governments. Although Davis ran for the presidency of Ireland in 2011 as an independent candidate, she is known to have earned over €190,000 from appointment to state agencies by Fianna Fáil ministers. Boland was appointed to the HEA by Fianna Fáil in 2004. Former president Gary Redmond consistently came under attack for his one-time membership of Ógra Fianna Fáil, the party’s youth division.
Furthermore, it has been questioned what relevance, if any, Davis and her subject matter have in a student representative forum. Former USI Education Officer Bartley Rock said that he finds ‘the “Active Citizenship” agenda a poor substitute for substantive discussion and policy on social policy’, though he also stated his belief that Davis was the best candidate to present such a talk. NUI Galway student representative William O’Brien, who has become well-known for his membership of Free Education for Everyone (FEE), suggested that the substance of Davis’ recent presidential campaign makes her unsuitable to speak to student representative:
‘Mary Davis, from her complete failure of a presidential campaign, achieved little but to reinforce the stereotype that women in politics and society need to appear “sexy” to be sucessful. This is an incredibly poor message to be putting across to students and [in my honest opinion] could be extremely damaging to young women as well as men who want to enter politics. Her campaign was mysogenistic and pandered to the patriarchal view that in order for women to be sucessful, they need to be skinny and photoshop themselves to appear sexy. Her campaign was also evidently dire. Is this the training our officers will be receiving?’
FEE member Joseph Loghnanne, who was part of an occupation at the constituency office of Fine Gael TD for Galway West, Brian Walsh, stated that the invitations were typical of the direction taken by student politics in recent years, telling USI officers to ‘join a right-wing think-tank’ and ‘give us back the Union’:
‘Every time you do something you are criticised. Can you not see how embarrassing you look? You are literally knifing the heart of the student movement by putting their [Davis, Boland, O’Rourke] faces on this page. I don’t care if they were speaking on UFOs, what they represent is corruption, neo-liberalism and an undying commitment to stopping free education ever coming about. Stop destroying the Union, get out and go join a right-wing think tank, give us back the union and let us make it what should be.’
Defending the invitations, Rock – TCDSU education officer in 2006/7, said that Boland’s invitation makes ‘perfect sense’ due to the high level of interaction between the HEA and the USI:
‘Tom Boland makes perfect sense; it’s important that the HEA and USI have an open dialogue with each other (even if their opinions on things such as funding diverge wildly). The purpose is to provide SU officers with a strong grounding in current HE policy (if you’re going to oppose something, know what you’re opposing) and its background and, as Tom Boland is the man setting that policy, it makes sense to have him.’
Rock also defended O’Rourke’s participation in the event on the grounds that she once commanded genuine influence and was a low-cost option due to her location:
‘O’Rourke, like it or not, was an influential politician and, crucially, lives in/near Athlone and would be speaking for free. I dislike the ‘Active Citizenship’ concept as it sounds a little vacuous and devoid of substance but is an influential strand in public policy.’
Former TCDSU education officer Rachel Barry also supported Boland’s inclusion in the event, stating her belief that it is necessary for student representatives to interact constructively with their HEA counterparts:
‘I would have thought that having Tom Boland there would be a great chance for any members to highlight difficulties they have with HEA policy. I found it very useful to do that myself at the last congress; you’re not going to change anything if you work in a vacuum away from the people in charge.’
USI vice-president for equality and citizenship Laura Harmon added that O’Rourke would be speaking free of charge and offering an insight into the functionality of the Oireachtas houses. In support of her organisation’s actions, she gave an insight into how the event would be run and detailed the speakers’ qualifications:
‘In fairness, the timetable for the week has a diversity of speakers and every speaker on our timetable for the week is qualified to deliver their particular module. On the three above: it’s logical to have Boland there as Rachel mentions , O’ Rourke was chosen for length of her parliamentary experience – her module is also being delivered with former usi deputy/campigns officer Conan O’ Broin who is assistant to Robert Dowds TD. For active citizenship, Davis has huge experience in this area. This is also first year USI are providing a checklist of learning outcomes for modules to ensure officers get as much as they can from the week.’
Speaking to The University Times, former NUIGSU equality officer O’Brien said that he has ‘no plans as of yet’ to attend the event in protest, but that he will if such a protest takes place:
‘I have no plans as of yet, but I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if there is a protest at this event. If there is, I shall be there. The USI are just falling from blunder to blunder at the moment and the facade that the organisation is anyting but a boy’s club for FF hacks is very quickly falling with it.’
