SU sets €15,000 Rag week target

The Students’ Union have announced a target of €15,000 for this year’s Rag week, which started on Monday.

Last year, the event fell short of reaching the €17,000 target set by the then SU, with the week only managing to raise just over €7,000 for charity.

Rag week, which has been renamed as Raise and Give week due to the negative connections associated with the week in the past, will be collecting money this year for the DCU student assistance fund, Special Olympics Ireland, Alan Kerins African project and the Unicef Haiti appeal.

The Rag ball, which this year comes under the guise of the Life-Wired festival, is always the biggest event of the week - and it kicks off on campus this afternoon.

The ball will see over 13 various musical acts taking to two stages.

The event is lining up to be the biggest ball ever seen at the university, and is a step up from last year’s widely praised Moxygen festival in the Helix.

Alongside the 11 hours of live music, as reported in the last issue of the College View, there will be a Garda presence at the event.

According to SU president Alan Keegan however, “their presence will give a peace of mind to the organisers and the students.”

He said that given the huge success of the Moxegen festival last year, it was decided to go with the festival theme again this year, “but we wanted it bigger and better than it had ever been before.”

Speaking to the College View ahead of their appearance tonight, lead vocalist of The Coronas, Danny O’Reilly, spoke of the importance of Raise and Give week.

“I think it’s great that the Unions try to raise the money themselves through events like this… we love getting involved,” he says.

“We always look forward to playing out at DCU. It should be a good bit of craic,” he added.

At the event, the main two stages will be based in the old bar and the venue – both in the Hub – and will be running acts simultaneously.

Outside on the green there will be a marquee set up where Phantom FM will be broadcasting live along with some acoustic acts that will play throughout the day.

SU president Alan Keegan says that he thinks the, “festival will be fantastic… DCUSU has never tried anything near as big as this and it is shaping up to be absolutely brilliant.”

While at €25, this year’s event is more expensive than the price of Rag balls in previous years, the SU have claimed that this price is required to cover all the expenses involved in the running of such a huge event on campus.

DCU events manager Shay McNelis collaborated with both the Maynooth and Galway universities in securing the line up for the event.

Given all three colleges are sharing the acts it is hoped that a greater proportion of money from ticket sales will be able to go towards helping this year’s Rag week charities.