Keegan rejects UCDSU president’s call for a referendum on rejoining USI

Pressure is mounting on the Students’ Union to stage a referendum on whether to rejoin the Union of Students of Ireland (USI) after UCDSU president Gary Redmond stated the decision should be put to a student vote.

“I would strongly encourage DCUSU and its executive to at the very least consider holding an affiliation referendum in the coming months to allow their members to decide,” he said.

“Now is the time for us all to unite, work together and represent the best interests of our members which we feel is through USI.”

However SU president Alan Keegan has rejected the idea of holding a referendum on rejoining the USI and says it is no surprise that Redmond is supportive of an expansion of USI.

“It’s understandable that UCDSU, with such a strong influence on the running of USI would be supportive of its expansion, however, we do not believe at this time that this is the best option available to DCU,” he said.

“It is almost certain there shall be no referendum on USI in its current structure,” he added.

Tensions between the two SU presidents became evident last month, when the College View reported that Keegan sent an email to Redmond describing UCD’s withdrawal from the Forum for University Students’ Unions of Ireland (FUSU) as “counterintuitive”.

Keegan is critical of USI’s many “overpaid” sabbatical positions and its “severely limited decision making structures”.

“DCUSU used to be strong followers of the USI campaigns however when we protested about the structural problems, we were ignored and subsequently disaffiliated,” he said.

In an interview with the College View, USI president Peter Mannion argued that DCU students would benefit from being affiliated to USI.

“DCU does not have a voice on a national scale for their students. Anything that would strengthen their voice and in turn strengthen our voice within those negotiations would be beneficial to everybody”.

According to Mannion, USI is an extremely active organisation that has secured numerous benefits to students at a national level.

“The amount of representation we give to students is clearly evident. We sit on everything from the Higher Education Authority right down to the Higher Education and Training Awards Council and all the access bodies - USI have done a lot of work. We’ve stopped cuts on disability payments for students, and the student assistance fund, things like that. The representation that we get on a national scale we work for.”

He added: “But again we don’t know what the students in DCU want, because we as a national organisation have no communication with DCU. But again it has to be the students decision - maybe it is a good time to join USI, maybe it isn’t - but ultimately it is up to the students to do that. But USI is a national organisation and is the sole representation organisation from the Government’s side.”

The USI in recent months has been extremely vocal against the re-introduction of fees, at one point staging a sit-in protest at the Department of Education.

According to Mannion: “The students’ unions and the USI put in an awful lot of time and resources (into the fight against fees) and that “if there wasn’t a USI we surely would agree that there would be fees back now.”

However Keegan rejected this claim.

“Although USI and non-affiliate unions, mounted a tremendous campaign against the reintroduction of fees, I do not think that they are solely responsible for it,” he said.

Mannion argues that at the moment, given that DCU isn’t a member of the USI, the union “don’t know what the students in DCU want, because we as a national organisation have no communication with DCU.”

Keegan says though that there is no reason why the USI could not be in contact with them despite their non-affiliate status. He says: “If USI genuinely believe that without paying the €50,000 membership fee, DCU may not receive a letter, email or phone call then that is indicative of what is wrong with the organisation itself.”

USI has been the main student representative body in Ireland for the last fifty years, with three out of seven universities and 13 out of 14 Institutes of Technologies affiliated as members.

Any real push for a referendum from union council is unlikely, however, one of the main arguments Keegan would present against a proposal relates to the cost of joining USI.

Students would be charged a fee of five euro each to receive the union representation.

According to Keegan: “Expecting an increase of €50,000 to our budget through the capitation fee paid by students of DCU is unrealistic and would be a massive strain on our resources.”

Mannion however disagrees, stating that it isn’t the students’ unions that pay for the affiliation but the students themselves.

“We charge students five euro to become a member of USI, so that’s five euro per student, it isn’t the students’ union that pays that… I don’t buy the argument that it’s too expensive - because the money does not come from the coppers, should not come from the coppers of the students’ union - it should come from the students that we represent.”