Sinéad Loftus | Senior Staff Writer
In its existence, Trinity has never had an all female Student’s Union. The student body came close to electing one in 2001/02 which saw three females occupy the position of President, Welfare, and Ents. Since then, women in Sabbatical officer roles have never exceeded more than one or two over the course of the last thirteen years. But with the nature of the elections this year, that could possibly change.
The popularity of female candidates across the board, especially in the presidential category this year, has made the possibility of an all-female SU team very likely. Each female candidate has proposed promising and sensible mandates, backing them up with valuable experience and strong beliefs. Lynn Ruane, the only female running for SU President his year, has taken the student body by storm and is now one of favourites to win. Her passionate pre-lecture speeches, quick witted responses at hustings and her large and active team of campaigners have made her a strong contender. Ruane’s experience in issues of inequality and mental health, and her long history of involvement with disadvantaged communities have gained the respect of the student body who could potentially make her the first female SU President in over a decade.
Over half of the Welfare and Equality candidates this year are female with each demonstrating immense knowledge and experience in the area they are campaigning for. Muireann Montague, who has a strong campaign following, has had a lot of experience in their area including being secretary of the Welfare Committee, Q Soc liaison officer, tutor with the National Institute for Intellectual Disability and has been an S2S. Aoife O’Brien has had plenty of experience with the SU serving as the current Gender Equality and Officer for Students with Disabilities. And lastly, Louise O’Toole has gained experience for the role of Welfare and Equality officer through her social work placements in her course. She is the PRO for S2S and has worked as the welfare ambassador for the SU. She has also been involved with SU campaigns over the course of her four years and volunteered with VTP in her first year. Each of these female candidates have showed off their capability for the role at each of the hustings and through their manifestos with Montague proving very popular across the board of candidates.
Katie Cogan, who can be found in the centre of a sea of luminous pink hats, is running to be the first female Ents officer in thirteen years. Her experiences include secretary of DU DJ soc, co-presenter of the TFM show ‘still.in.sane’ and has also worked as an S2S mentor. Cogan’s dynamic campaign has proved to be extremely successful and her well crafted responses at hustings have out her as the favourite in the Ents category.
With this increase of strong female candidates, it is possible that we could see the first all-female Sabbat team. Whether or not the student body would be ready for this will become apparent over the next week.
