Wednesday's March Info

MaynoothSU

There are two ways to get to the march from Maynooth:

1. Public transport. Either a bus from the Main Street outside Londis, or a train from Connolly.

2. Private bus run by the SU. We got these because we anticipate public transport being jammers. The cost of a return journey on the bus is e5 and you get one of the yellow tshirts you've seen being worn about the place.

Buses leave from outside the SU between 10:30am - 11:30am from outside the Students' Union Building.

We have 30 buses to facilitate 2,000 Maynooth students.

If you've bought a ticket already, just show up with your ticket in that timeframe and you'll get your tshirt and place on the bus. If you can't find your ticket, no worries, we have your name.

Due to massive (no, really) demand we recommend turning up closer to 10:30 than to 11:30 to avoid a logistical nightmare.

*MaynoothSU

Absolute Zero

MaynoothSU wrote: »

There are two ways to get to the march from Maynooth:

1. Public transport. Either a bus from the Main Street outside Londis, or a train from Connolly.

2. Private bus run by the SU. We got these because we anticipate public transport being jammers. The cost of a return journey on the bus is e5 and you get one of the yellow tshirts you've seen being worn about the place.

Buses leave from outside the SU between 10:30am - 11:30am from outside the Students' Union Building.

We have 30 buses to facilitate 2,000 Maynooth students.

If you've bought a ticket already, just show up with your ticket in that timeframe and you'll get your tshirt and place on the bus. If you can't find your ticket, no worries, we have your name.

Due to massive (no, really) demand we recommend turning up closer to 10:30 than to 11:30 to avoid a logistical nightmare.

*MaynoothSU

Can you still buy tickets tomorrow?

banquo

You can get tickets right up until the last bus leaves. Even at the bus.

Absolute Zero

banquo wrote: »

You can get tickets right up until the last bus leaves. Even at the bus.

Great was mostly wondering about getting them at the busses themselves, thanks banquo

heffo500

I've heard some lectures are canceled. Is this correct for every lecture?

squishykins

Nope. Some have, the german department are awesome =D But no.

cian1500ww

heffo500 wrote: »

I've heard some lectures are canceled. Is this correct for every lecture?

Haven't heard of any, I've a lab exam tomorrow

banquo

First batch of the NUIM 2,000 students just leaving the SU.

Head to the SU now for a direct bus to the march (return journey).

banquo

Second batch of students has left the SU. 6 buses down, 24 to go. Head to the SU now to get a direct return bus to the march. Food upon return to SU this evening.

Daemos

Good luck everyone

banquo

Final NUI Maynooth student count: 3,122.

Good job team.

Lord TSC

*Turns to RTE*

Aye, good job.

In a single afternoon, ye managed to destroy just about all sympathy and good will there was towards students.

catho_monster

The videos on youtube of students, beer cans in hand, singing ole ole ole, could not make me more ashamed to be a student right now.

Liber8or

As usual, a fúcking disgrace.

So, the image of students has now changed from poor, victimised and educated citizens to a drunken, disorderly and violent mob. I know people will say "Well it was only a few individuals", but it is always the exceptions which are written about.

I think football hooliganism is the best image used to describe todays attempt at highlighting 'student issues'.

Lord TSC

Liber8or wrote: »

As usual, a fúcking disgrace.

So, the image of students has now changed from poor, victimised and educated citizens to a drunken, disorderly and violent mob. I know people will say "Well it was only a few individuals", but it is always the exceptions which are written about.

I think football hooliganism is the best image used to describe todays attempt at highlighting 'student issues'.

Even if they say "it was only a few individuals", they can't be surprised at the end result. The media will ALWAYS focus in on the vocal minority and portray them as the majority.

This has been nothing short of a PR nightmare over a topic which no one had any sympathy for students before anyway.

Liber8or

Teamshadowclan wrote: »

Even if they say "it was only a few individuals", they can't be surprised at the end result. The media will ALWAYS focus in on the vocal minority and portray them as the majority.

This has been nothing short of a PR nightmare over a topic which no one had any sympathy for students before anyway.

Ofcourse, and well said. However, we (NUIM) are all a part of USI now and will be branded as violent and disruptive like every other university belonging to this organisation. Student Union representatives struggle with the logistics of a RAG Week or a Freshers Week, how are a couple of SUs supposed to control and organise 20,000 students? A disaster from the beginning.

I would love for anyone to come on here and try and defend 'student victimisation' after today's display. People on the dole, struggling to make ends meet, healthcare costs, social costs, and are they supposed to have sympathy with a bunch of drunks, anarchists and extremists?

Every desire, every objective set out by this 'protest' has now been utterly destroyed, and if anything, they have just handed over justification to the governement to raise fees. Most importantly, any support from people in agreement with FEE, or even on the fringes of perpetuating 'free fees' no longer wants to be associated with what they saw today.

Ironically, writing a strongly worded letter or hosting our own internal protest would have yielded greater results. Isn't it great we conformed and joined the glorious USI? :rolleyes:

LeixlipRed

I won't even get into it with your lot but the majority of people who occupied and protested outside the Dept of Finance were completely peaceful. You call yourselves educated yet you can't look past media (and USI) spin. I seen grown met in riot gear beat defensless girls who were sitting on the street doing nothing but linking arms with people. ****, why do I even bother, you won't listen anyway.

Liber8or

LeixlipRed wrote: »

I won't even get into it with your lot but the majority of people who occupied and protested outside the Dept of Finance were completely peaceful. You call yourselves educated yet you can't look past media (and USI) spin. I seen grown met in riot gear beat defensless girls who were sitting on the street doing nothing but linking arms with people. ****, why do I even bother, you won't listen anyway.

I respect your dedication LeixlipRed, but you can not defend the actions of those who acted as rioters. Everything you achieved by protesting outside the Dept of Finance has been utterly undone by the other crowd of football hooligans.

None of your objectives have been achieved. Instead and in large thanks to the media, students now look like a bunch of drunk, anarchist football hooligans. If you want to remember today as a 'victory', everyone else (which is who you are trying to convince) will only remember the violence that ensued.

Cpt Beefheart

Liber8or wrote: »

I would love for anyone to come on here and try and defend 'student victimisation' after today's display. People on the dole, struggling to make ends meet, healthcare costs, social costs, and are they supposed to have sympathy with a bunch of drunks, anarchists and extremists?

I am trying to make ends meet and worry all the time about how to keep my family afloat financially. I still have huge sympathy and respect for the people who went to Dublin today. Stop generalising.

I watched the 6 o'clock news with a seven year old and a seventy year old. Neither end of the age scale had any less sympathy with what the students were trying to achieve after watching what RTE chose to show.

Eric Cartman

well done students, you f*cked it up again

tips for the future

1) stop getting drunk / stoned going to protests
2) stop bringing left wing nutjobs like sinn feinn , labour youth and the socialists with you, they only cause trouble because of their ignorant narrowminded political views

im aware this only applys to a horrible minority but the media will focus on them unfortunatly. Student protests should be a day to speak up about how you feel about them raising the registration fee, USI by allowing the left wingers to participate in the protest without distancing themselves from them are just hurting their message by allowing these nut jobs to become violent and talk sh*te on television

the video on RTE's website says it all , some tool up against the gards with a bleeding nose and instead of leaving he just keeps going and going and gets pushed again, ofcourse thats whats going to happen when you become a thug about it

mp3guy

LeixlipRed wrote: »

I won't even get into it with your lot but the majority of people who occupied and protested outside the Dept of Finance were completely peaceful. You call yourselves educated yet you can't look past media (and USI) spin. I seen grown met in riot gear beat defensless girls who were sitting on the street doing nothing but linking arms with people. ****, why do I even bother, you won't listen anyway.

You seemed very up for "getting into it" with us before. And we are educated, that's why we know that 3rd level education is not a right.

allandanyways

Maybe I'm just an idiot, but why would you get drunk going to a protest?

You're going to a protest to make a point about something that needs to be prevented/changed. It's not a session!

Seriously, anyone who went and drank/knows the reason behind this, can ye explain this to me?

Lord TSC

LeixlipRed wrote: »

I won't even get into it with your lot but the majority of people who occupied and protested outside the Dept of Finance were completely peaceful. You call yourselves educated yet you can't look past media (and USI) spin. I seen grown met in riot gear beat defensless girls who were sitting on the street doing nothing but linking arms with people. ****, why do I even bother, you won't listen anyway.

I'll actually say I admired the people who had the sit down protest in the Dept. of Finance. THAT was an admirable protest and even if I disagree with what the protests are over, at least it was a peaceful protest which was aimed at a governmental department.

As for us being not able to look past the media spin, it's not us you have to worry about. I never agreed with the march and the things it stood for, but it wasn't me you were trying to convince. It was the general public. And I've seen on the news and read on boards a lot of people say it was a disgrace. Regardless of whether it was the majority or the minority who led to the result, surely even you can admit it was a disaster today in terms of PR and trying to change people's minds?

As for the last comment about people in riot gear beating girls, I hate to break this to you but that's not the image being shown as a representation of todays protest. Rather, it's footage of poor unarmed Gardai being attacked by absolute yobs; people who are attacking the police rather than the other way round.

Liber8or

Cpt Beefheart wrote: »

I am trying to make ends meet and worry all the time about how to keep my family afloat financially. I still have huge sympathy and respect for the people who went to Dublin today.

I also have full respect for those who went to protest peacefully and voice their concerns. Nothing wrong with it at all. Nevertheless, I am simply stating what will be remembered and that is the violence that took place. It is not generalising, it is fact. If you want proof, go on the RTE website and read the article. The majority of it is on the violence. Tomorrow morning, read the papers; I guarantee every image in relation to the protest will be of a violent nature.

My problem lies with the USI not taking the possibility of violence erupting into consideration. Did they honestly believe 20,000 people in a confined area, expressing their anger at the government would result in an entirely peaceful event? And if they were not that naive, surely they must have realised the potential threat any sort of violence will receive more attention than their own agenda and therefore undermine any efforts associated with it.

No matter what happens now; November 3rd will be remembered in all media outlets as the day students vented their anger at the government with violence instead of peaceful demonstration. And, the media is a louder voice than any megaphone or protest chant.

Hopefully, this will be a lesson learned by SUs across all universities for future reference.

On a personal note, the Gardai should have used water cannons and soaked those drunk scumbags. Maybe it would have sobered them up.

cian1500ww

allandanyways wrote: »

Maybe I'm just an idiot, but why would you get drunk going to a protest?

You're going to a protest to make a point about something that needs to be prevented/changed. It's not a session!

Seriously, anyone who went and drank/knows the reason behind this, can ye explain this to me?

I wasn't at it but from what I've seen from Facebook, most people went thinking it was going to be one giant student party or something.

The Waltzing Consumer

Bravo to the Socialist Workers Party and other fringe groups (Eirigi) for hijacking the event and making students look like a bunch of football hooligan knackers.

The Socialists said they had no intention of hijacking our march, they did, and the public will have no sympathy at all for the purpose of the march and the majority who acted legally.

The SWP will cry that when they were making daisy chains and helping one-armed old people cross the street, the fascist Gardai came up to them and beat the crap out of them, girls, boys, pregnant women, deers, pokemon, the lot, for no reason.

If students are annoyed at what has happened, email your local SWP or whatever front group they are and tell them to f**k off and stop with the rent-a-mob attitude they bring to nearly every event they go to.

allandanyways

cian1500ww wrote: »

I wasn't at it but from what I've seen from Facebook, most people went thinking it was going to be one giant student party or something.

This makes me really, really angry. The "fees are bad mmmkay" lot.

I hugely admire people who are genuinely passionate about the cause, but these clueless gobshítes sadden me.

Eric Cartman

The Waltzing Consumer wrote: »

Bravo to the Socialist Workers Party and other fringe groups (Eirigi) for hijacking the event and making students look like a bunch of football hooligan knackers.

The Socialists said they had no intention of hijacking our march, they did, and the public will have no sympathy at all for the purpose of the march and the majority who acted legally.

The SWP will cry that when they were making daisy chains and helping one-armed old people cross the street, the fascist Gardai came up to them and beat the crap out of them, girls, boys, pregnant women, deers, pokemon, the lot, for no reason.

If students are annoyed at what has happened, email your local SWP or whatever front group they are and tell them to f**k off and stop with the rent-a-mob attitude they bring to nearly every event they go to.

+1 , the far left violent groups need to be ousted, its the only way USI will get their point accross, the gardai acted reasonably and it was all these radical far left groups causing the problems only a minority of USI invited students participated in any violence

mp3guy

cian1500ww wrote: »

I wasn't at it but from what I've seen from Facebook, most people went thinking it was going to be one giant student party or something.

Exactly. I'd say a VERY high number of students who attended just enjoyed the fact they could skive off lectures with a "half decent excuse" for one day, to hit up some cool street party. Those students more than likely greatly outnumbered the level headed students that actually went and understood the reason for the march.

Liber8or

I would appreciate some transparency from our SU.

I would like them to describe, in great detail who they contacted about this march, who they collaborated with and who the USI organised the event with. If the SU is aware of FEE, or USI contacting the various Socialist Parties, Workers Parties, Sinn Fein, and asking them to join, then perhaps it would be a gesture of solidarity by NUIMSU to disassociate themselves with those guilty of instigating violence.

I have said this before; the NUIM SU has a responsibility to its students, not its political affiliates - Labour, FF, FG, etc.

Kiwi_knock

allandanyways wrote: »

Maybe I'm just an idiot, but why would you get drunk going to a protest?

You're going to a protest to make a point about something that needs to be prevented/changed. It's not a session!

Seriously, anyone who went and drank/knows the reason behind this, can ye explain this to me?

To highlight the fact that students are so poor all they can afford is Dutch Gold.