Again, (again, again) it begins... (SU Elections)

shay_562 · 20-02-2007 6:06pm

As is the Record, which is (shockingly) of considerably lower quality. Daire McNab, a joke candidate, gets an entire page to himself - must be fun to work at the Record. And I'm collecting opinions to prove someone wrong - is Bartley more hard done by since his column is 1/4 the size of Neil's, or is Neil worse off since the first half of his piece is poorly super-imposed over a photo of him, rendering his name, half his policies and his face virtually illegible/invisible? I'm once again pleasantly surprised by TN though - a very nice (if slightly bitchy) piece on which campaign promises from last year have been fulfilled and which have been left hanging.

Two ways to look at this:

1. People think the president is the person who 'gets things done'.
2. No-one really knows what the president actually does.

Two intriguing hypotheses. I'm going to go with option "2", but it's a close-run thing.

Awayindahils · 20-02-2007 7:10pm

shay_562 wrote:

Two intriguing hypotheses. I'm going to go with option "2", but it's a close-run thing.

That's only because you secretly harbor ambitions.

shay_562 · 21-02-2007 12:46am

Of course I do. Hackery? Check. Actually giving half a **** about this place? Check. Boundless narcissism and arrogance? Check and double check. Hell, I think I'm an ideal candidate.

On that note, Donal, as someone who knows, what exactly is the President's official job? For the last two years, it seems like general overseer/figurehead, with a little bit of PR and management mixed in.

Crash · 21-02-2007 3:17am

shay_562 wrote:

is Bartley more hard done by since his column is 1/4 the size of Neil's, or is Neil worse off since the first half of his piece is poorly super-imposed over a photo of him, rendering his name, half his policies and his face virtually illegible/invisible?

what with the interviews being submitted by email, I don't think you can ever say a candidate is hard done by due to the amount of text that they, themselves, submitted. I can't quite see where that comment would come from Niall at all, or the basis for it. as for the second point, I am slightly annoyed about it, but I'm happy enough with the content, even if only half of it is readable.

On that note, Donal, as someone who knows, what exactly is the President's official job? For the last two years, it seems like general overseer/figurehead, with a little bit of PR and management mixed in.

The following is how its defined within the constitution of the Students Union

the SU consitution wrote:

(f) President
The duties of the President shall be:
(i) To coordinate Union work on a day-to-day basis and
to coordinate Union campaigns.
(ii) To act as the first spokesperson of the Union.
(iii) To represent students on College Board, and other
College committees as deemed appropriate by
Council.
(iv) To be one of the co-Treasurers of the Union.
(v) To deal with staffing and administrative matters.
(vi) To act as liaison between the Union and the Students’
Unions of the affiliated colleges, and co-ordinate the
work of the Union in this regard.
(vii) To ensure that minutes of Union meetings and
relevant documentation are filed in the Union's
records.
(viii) To seek to maintain and improve Union services, and,
in pursuance of this, to liase with Union subsidiaries
as defined in Schedule 5.

schedule 5 refers to a finance document, of which, on the SU website, I can find no information on. The role itself, as dictated by the constitution, would seem to be one of spokesperson/manager - or thats my reading of it. anyone anything different?

shay_562 · 21-02-2007 2:18pm

crash_000 wrote:

I can't quite see where that comment would come from Niall at all, or the basis for it.

It came from being surprised at the disparity between the lengths of the two pieces, following on from a comment about the unusually large allocation of space to Daire by comparison to the other three Welfare candidates. It seemed like poor form on the Record's part to give a large area to one candidate over another; in light of the fact that the surveys were e-mailed, I can see why it might have happened in the case of Education (if not in the case of Daire, where it's mostly a giant photo of him), and yet, I'm curious as to what extent pieces were edited and whether guidelines were given as the the required length of answers (something I would have assumed was a basic necessity in order to ensure that candidates didn't write 5000 words dissertations on their policies and plans). I'm not suggesting you snuck into the Record offices and changed the layout (presumably while twirling your handlebar mustache and cackling) as a campaign strategy - I'm simply saying that the Record should be more careful about giving equal space to every candidate (again, not just in Education but also in Welfare). I'm just as annoyed on your behalf (even if you're not particularly) at the fact that they essentially blotted out half your interview - generally, it was a poor show all round.

Edit: Cheers for the info on President btw.

21-02-2007 4:15pm

Neil McGough wrote:

The role itself, as dictated by the constitution, would seem to be one of spokesperson/manager - or thats my reading of it. anyone anything different?

I'd highlight the 'campaigns' part of what is written, as it is often overlooked. My view of a president is a being who helps the other sabbatical officers with their workload, while acknowledging the work they do and not 'robbing responsibility' for a good thing. This being should run campaigns by hightlighting problems that are wrong, but not focussing solely on one issue. Disability is one which springs to mind which is often overlooked by the 'campaigns officer' (but which other sabbats work on). And not just awareness, trying to actually change things, and again not just for publicity/ego but so that it can actually have an impact on students!

I know a few people who will call me idealistic for stating this, and you know who you are

On a different note, I found two new campaign websites... well, there's nothing there, but they're on the manifestoes at any rate!

http://www.votebyrne.com/ - Andy Byrne, running for President
http://www.unaforwelfare.com/ - Úna Faulkner, running for Welfare Officer

Crash · 21-02-2007 5:12pm

shay_562 wrote:

...I'm curious as to what extent pieces were edited and whether guidelines were given as the the required length of answers (something I would have assumed was a basic necessity in order to ensure that candidates didn't write 5000 words dissertations on their policies and plans).

sorry if that came off slightly aggressive, was knackered at the time of posting :P

there were no guidelines given on the length of the piece at all. I was actually worried about my piece being way too long, (my ideas part is four paragraphs for example) and I asked could someone get back to me if it was when I emailed in the piece, but never got a reply.

as for to what extent pieces were edited, as far as I can remember mine wasn't edited at all. in fact, I think I accidently included a typo in there somewhere.

I'm not suggesting you snuck into the Record offices and changed the layout (presumably while twirling your handlebar mustache and cackling) as a campaign strategy - I'm simply saying that the Record should be more careful about giving equal space to every candidate (again, not just in Education but also in Welfare). I'm just as annoyed on your behalf (even if you're not particularly) at the fact that they essentially blotted out half your interview - generally, it was a poor show all round.

This may be me being biased, but I do think the education and welfare pieces were like that for two different reasons. for instance, the welfare one had such a large piece on dara simply because certain people involved in the record could - no other reason.

Oh, and I only cackle at something evil, malevolent and hysterically funny. while tampering WOULD be funny, it simply wouldn't be quite funny enough to make me cackle, unfortunately.

Also, I look sexy in my TN article

SOL · 21-02-2007 11:07pm

But most importantly let us not forget it is the Record we are talking about, the fact there were words on paper was doing well, I thought. :P Also could someone post a link to it?

21-02-2007 11:20pm

Record isn't online. Only the second issue was placed online.

Agent Smith · 21-02-2007 11:54pm

Name Last modified Size Description

[DIR] Parent Directory 14-Feb-2007 05:54 -
[DIR] _private/ 24-Jan-2007 01:52 -
[DIR] cgi-bin/ 24-Jan-2007 01:52 -
[DIR] images/ 24-Jan-2007 01:52 -
[TXT] postinfo.html 24-Jan-2007 01:52 2k

Apache/1.3.37 Server at www.unaforwelfare.com Port 80

ahoh!

Bartronilic · 22-02-2007 12:05am

That Daire Mcnab's piece in the Trinity News was stupid, he didn't take it seriously and made paedo jokes (so much for my welfare). Not getting my vote. Barry Keane dissed Barry Murphy, no matter what you think of Barry Murphy you're not supposed to go around dissing anybody really, everyone thought it was not cool. Not getting my vote (wasn't getting it anyway).

shay_562 · 22-02-2007 1:41am

Myth wrote:

I'd highlight the 'campaigns' part of what is written, as it is often overlooked.

Could that be read to include things like the Coke/flag campaign? Or would it refer more to student-centric campaigns? Or is it basically one of those "decided form year to year" things? (Sorry for the massive off-topicness, I'm just curious what it is that a President actually does)

SOL wrote:

But most importantly let us not forget it is the Record we are talking about, the fact there were words on paper was doing well, I thought.

A fair point, although given the number of typos, calling it "words" might be a tad strong. I love that the Record's reputation for poor quality is now officially international...

crash_000 wrote:

Also, I look sexy in my TN article

I did love the artsy photos for the Education section - much more aesthetically pleasing than the usual "GIANT FACE" ones.

Bartronilic wrote:

Barry Keane dissed Barry Murphy, no matter what you think of Barry Murphy you're not supposed to go around dissing anybody really, everyone thought it was not cool.

Really? That seems pretty stupid (the "don't say mean things" sentiment, not you guys personally, just to clarify). One of the things I was most disappointed about in Claire Tighe's interview was that she seemed oblivious to the problems with the Record, whereas Neasa freely said that it had had problems; in a year when a motion condemning it was only barely defeated, it's sticking your head in the sand to suggest everything's fine. As for Barry, if he thinks there's a problem with Ents and can see a way to improve it, I have much more respect for him standing up and saying that rather than doing the usual back-patting "Well, everyone's done a great job this year" crap. If you're running to change things, then say that you're running to change things - if anything, Ed's "more of the same" offer would put me off far more.

On that note, what's the general feeling on negative campaigning? As in, I'd see it as perfectly justified to point out one candidate's massive failings/inadequecies in a public forum, but apparently that's considered poor form by others.

Comhra.... · 22-02-2007 3:02am

Negative campaigning is one thing, destroying someone, making them feel like piece of poo on the bottom of your shoe and taking away their will to live is another! I don't see anything wrong with one candidate pointing out faults in his or her opponents ideas. But going after a person rather than their ideas or policies is just plain mean and not the kind of campaign I would like to be involved in. Running for election or helping out with someones campaign is far nicer if both sides get on and are nice to each other, it stops people getting paranoid and developing insomnia*

*it's not always the candidate that develops these conditions, it's often their campaign manager. On that note it's often also the campaign manager who is the nasty one, not the candidate.

But on a completely different note; the job of the president.
In my opinion the president is a campaigns officer and a support. His or her first job is to the other sabbatical officers. It should be the president staying up till 5am with the dep pres and the record team during a production weekend. The president should be helping the Welfare officer fill SHAG packs and help out on stands duing awareness campaigns. The president must make sure that the sabbatical officers are working as a team, making sure everyone is on the same page when dealing with the big or small problems. We have three sabbats on board, to achieve anything they must work together and it is up to the president to make sure this happens. I'm not saying that the president has to come up with all the ideas or lead the attack every time, often the education officer is much better informed. But it is the presidents job to make sure that their is an environment in which the other four officers are able to do their jobs successfully.

As for campaigns I think the president should have a few campaigns that he or she takes the lead on eg reg fee, space costs, more couches, coke, flag, rites of the student (consumer/tenant/employment etc) or whatever else the students at the time see fit and care enough about. But the president should also help and support the other officers in their campaigns. The welfare officer may be running Mental Health Awarenesss week with a stand in the Hamilton but what use is an empty stand? The Welfare officer has countless meetings and also has to make themselves available for case work. The Welfare committee is made up of student volunteers who all have classes. Inevitably the stand will be left unattended. Why can't the president give a hand for an hour or two?

Anyway apologies for the rant. I'm currently unable to turn my brain off.

22-02-2007 11:17am

shay_562 wrote:

Could that be read to include things like the Coke/flag campaign? Or would it refer more to student-centric campaigns? Or is it basically one of those "decided form year to year" things? (Sorry for the massive off-topicness, I'm just curious what it is that a President actually does)

I'd see the campaigns as more student based. It can be decided upon by SU Exec and Council (and, it seems, by the Campaigns Committee). The random nature of student life means that it would be nice to sit down and think up campaigns to do during the year, but a lot of campaigns are reactionary to decisions/events - see Acting Studies course thread as an example!

Saying that, Council and Exec never decided that it was an idea to 'give permission' for any of the campaigns I initiated

. In the end, it would be down to the individual unless it is specified in a motion/decision.

The President sits on a number of committees so whenever you hear a candidate say that they want to see that person in the office less and out being seen more, consider for a moment that if they skip off a meeting to 'be seen' around campus, a decision could be reached at that meeting which would be quite difficult to fight against. From the committees s/he sits on, it follows that they would be in a prime position to try and change some things... for example, Mannion last year was trying to get New Square opened up due to his sitting on Sites & Facilities Committee.

There is often a large amount of reading involved in the committees s/he sits on, which would take up a fair amount of time, but remember the Education Officer has more committees

As for negative campaigning, it can be done to great effect. However, it could come across as bitchy. Often it is wiser to try to avoid it as it could do you more damage then the other person.

Stargal · 22-02-2007 4:41pm

&#231 wrote: »

Also, I look sexy in my TN article

True. I'd vote for you

22-02-2007 5:31pm

Monsieur Wynne (of 'Old Man Wynne' fame) has put together this which has all the manifestoes and posters submitted for view (the posters are just the images you click on).

Careful now, some of them are over 2MB in size. You're probably better off right clicking each of them and saving, otherwise your browser might crash.

Andrew 83 · 22-02-2007 5:42pm

When are the hustings?

22-02-2007 5:45pm

JCR - Friday, 1pm.
Dining Hall - Monday, 2pm.
Trinity Hall - Monday, 7pm.

Boo to Dining Hall hustings not being last.

osd · 22-02-2007 6:07pm

Myth wrote:

Monsieur Wynne (of 'Old Man Wynne' fame) has put together this which has all the manifestoes and posters submitted for view (the posters are just the images you click on).

Careful now, some of them are over 2MB in size. You're probably better off right clicking each of them and saving, otherwise your browser might crash.

Credit to Danger Bob and the EC for allowing me to place the manifestos online. (First time ever I believe)

I'll be going through the manifestos this evening and reducing their file sizes where possible to about a tenth of their current size...

Less of the 'Old Man'... I was born in 1979 and not the 1592 that the agent suggested!!

SOL · 22-02-2007 7:49pm

Just one more question, what did arenea Ltd. do?

Jager Man · 22-02-2007 11:34pm

Myth wrote:

Record isn't online. Only the second issue was placed online.

As far as I know the deputy president is out of the country. Gone to america for the week, dont know why....

shay_562 · 23-02-2007 1:31am

Myth wrote:

As for negative campaigning, it can be done to great effect. However, it could come across as bitchy. Often it is wiser to try to avoid it as it could do you more damage then the other person.

Good advice - the last thing I'd want is for it to reflect badly on the other candidates in the race. And yet...curses. I hate having to make adult, mature choices.

Monsieur Wynne (of 'Old Man Wynne' fame) has put together this which has all the manifestoes and posters submitted for view (the posters are just the images you click on).

Cheers osd. Very handy page there...

SOL wrote:

Just one more question, what did arenea Ltd. do?

...did I miss something or does this make no sense to anyone else?

23-02-2007 10:57am

Jager Man wrote:

As far as I know the deputy president is out of the country. Gone to america for the week, dont know why....

Since what, the second edition?

SOL wrote:

Just one more question, what did arenea Ltd. do?

John Tracey has it on his manifesto. Google throws up nothing. Is it no longer a company?

foxybrowne · 23-02-2007 11:47am

"arenea" must be the wrong spelling. The Companies Registration Office (CRO) company search facility gives nothing for that name. The CRO has details of all Irish registered companies, trading and dissolved.
http://www.cro.ie/search/
There are however lots of companies with "arena" in the name.

xeduCat · 23-02-2007 11:59am

Yup, I did that and also a search on the UK database and found nothing.

23-02-2007 5:44pm

Jager Man wrote:

As far as I know the deputy president is out of the country. Gone to america for the week, dont know why....

I don't know why I didn't pick up on this before.

What the **** is the Deputy President, a person charged with publicising the workings of the Students' Union, doing out of the country on holidays during elections? Are there any posters up highlighting the elections? What are the polling times? Where are the names of everyone running? How about telling first years that everyone can vote, that you don't have to be 18 (people have to be told this) to vote, that if you don't wish to vote you can vote RON? Where are the unbiased leaflets that he is required by both the constitution and a motion to produce giving information on the Coke Referendum, and the Irish Flag Referendum?

wowy · 23-02-2007 6:08pm

The Phil will be hosting its annual Student Union Presidential Debate, this year it will take more of a US Style debate with two candidates taking on each other directly. Andrew Byrne V John Tracey. Both will got an opportunity to lay out their plans and will then answer a series of well chosen questions.

The event takes place on Tuesday evening at 7:30pm in the GMB

All Welcome - Tiger Beer reception to follow

Just letting y'all know that it's going on, and not in a society spamming sense, but rather in a "the topic of this thread being about the elections" kinda sense.

Pet · 23-02-2007 6:23pm

Oh dear god, what was Una Faulkner thinking? Did she write her pamphlet with her feet? In the midst of an epileptic seizure? While drunk?

Bartronilic · 23-02-2007 6:52pm

Ed O'R seems to be alot more realistic than Barry Keane if I am honest. In the UR interviews Ed seems to have things well thought out for when he is Ents Office also.

nutball · 23-02-2007 7:26pm

Pet wrote:

Oh dear god, what was Una Faulkner thinking? Did she write her pamphlet with her feet? In the midst of an epileptic seizure? While drunk?

She should have run on a free-condoms-for-all platform, with the slogan 'Get Faulked!'. But no

.

nutball · 23-02-2007 7:33pm

Bartronilic wrote:

Ed O'R seems to be alot more realistic than Barry Keane if I am honest. In the UR interviews Ed seems to have things well thought out for when he is Ents Office also.

The same Ed O'Reilly who seems blissfully oblivious of global warming, what with his ludicrous suggestion of gas-guzzling patio heaters for the identikit Bess-types who persist in glorified knacker drinking outside the Pav before they head up to the Palace of a Friday? Indeed, he does seem perfectly suited to what Ents has become: catering for the lowest common denominator with generic-catch-all-cheap-booze-n-moozak nights out. Hurrah.

shay_562 · 23-02-2007 9:07pm

What the **** is the Deputy President, a person charged with publicising the workings of the Students' Union, doing out of the country on holidays during elections? Are there any posters up highlighting the elections? What are the polling times? Where are the names of everyone running? How about telling first years that everyone can vote, that you don't have to be 18 (people have to be told this) to vote, that if you don't wish to vote you can vote RON? Where are the unbiased leaflets that he is required by both the constitution and a motion to produce giving information on the Coke Referendum, and the Irish Flag Referendum?

I'd say something, but the last time I commented on the work of Simon Hall I managed to get myself banned.

Oh dear god, what was Una Faulkner thinking? Did she write her pamphlet with her feet? In the midst of an epileptic seizure? While drunk?

Yeah, I had that thought too (though it was more along the lines of letting mentally challenged howler monkeys proofread her manifesto before printing it). Eh, it's not like she's running for Dep Pres. You don't need good grammar to deal with health issues.

The Phil will be hosting its annual Student Union Presidential Debate, this year it will take more of a US Style debate with two candidates taking on each other directly. Andrew Byrne V John Tracey. Both will got an opportunity to lay out their plans and will then answer a series of well chosen questions.

But what about Dave Lorigan, I ask you?

Ed O'R seems to be alot more realistic than Barry Keane if I am honest. In the UR interviews Ed seems to have things well thought out for when he is Ents Office also.

Is this the same Ed whose manifesto offers a section of drunken photos lifted from Bebo in the Record (which he has no control over), the Ed who wants a specific TCD Ents discount card (when any place that's willing to offer student discounts already does so), the Ed who thinks he can get a student bar in Luce Hall just a year after college closed the other student bar for being unprofitable and when college has pretty much already decided how to allocate the space, the Ed who offers "tents with flame throwers" at the Ball and the Ed who proudly offers his experience organising class parties after the fiasco that was last year's OC party? "Realistic" and "well thought out" aren't exactly the phrases that spring to mind.

Awayindahils · 23-02-2007 9:20pm

shay_562 wrote:

But what about Dave Lorigan, I ask you?

Is this the same Ed whose manifesto offers a section of drunken photos lifted from Bebo in the Record (which he has no control over), the Ed who wants a specific TCD Ents discount card (when any place that's willing to offer student discounts already does so), the Ed who thinks he can get a student bar in Luce Hall just a year after college closed the other student bar for being unprofitable and when college has pretty much already decided how to allocate the space, the Ed who offers "tents with flame throwers" at the Ball and the Ed who proudly offers his experience organising class parties after the fiasco that was last year's OC party? "Realistic" and "well thought out" aren't exactly the phrases that spring to mind.

Emm Niall, sweety, there should be a bar in Luce hall by the time it becomes the student center, it's one of the things the union has been working on, so Ed isn't that unrealistic in that sense. He's just stating the obvious.

And I think Dave Lorigan is begining to pick up some votes on the basis of being a nice guy who hasn't become a shadow of a person as a result of having their soul consumed by years of hackery.

Pet · 23-02-2007 11:16pm

The same Ed O'Reilly who seems blissfully oblivious of global warming, what with his ludicrous suggestion of gas-guzzling patio heaters for the identikit Bess-types who persist in glorified knacker drinking outside the Pav before they head up to the Palace of a Friday? Indeed, he does seem perfectly suited to what Ents has become: catering for the lowest common denominator with generic-catch-all-cheap-booze-n-moozak nights out. Hurrah.

Thank you for that concise and accurate synthesis. I know who I WON'T be voting for. The guy's manifesto can basically be summed up as "Laaads, getting drunk is savage. Yay."

shay_562 · 24-02-2007 1:41am

Emm Niall, sweety, there should be a bar in Luce hall by the time it becomes the student center, it's one of the things the union has been working on, so Ed isn't that unrealistic in that sense. He's just stating the obvious.

To be fair, that doesn't exactly stand in his favour; instead, it means one of his main campaign promises is something that'll happen anyway that he's trying to take credit for in advance. Nice guy. And I stand by the rest (seriously, the "Oh my gawd, guys, let's, like, put photos of us being, like, really drunk and **** in the Record! It'll be, like, tote funny?!" thing just made me want to smack him).

The guy's manifesto can basically be summed up as "Laaads, getting drunk is savage. Yay."

I don't so much hold the cheap drinks/getting drunk stuff against him; the primary job of an Ents officer is to ensure that people are frequently merry. It's more that he only seems to care about himself and people who are exactly like him getting drunk - I'm genuinely worried that, if he gets elected, every SU night next year will be centred around Citibar. And while it isn't all that bad (certainly, I've been to worse places in my life), I can see getting sick of it pretty quickly.

mizz.yelof!!! · 24-02-2007 1:57am

shay_562 wrote:

I don't so much hold the cheap drinks/getting drunk stuff against him; the primary job of an Ents officer is to ensure that people are frequently merry. It's more that he only seems to care about himself and people who are exactly like him getting drunk - I'm genuinely worried that, if he gets elected, every SU night next year will be centred around Citibar. And while it isn't all that bad (certainly, I've been to worse places in my life), I can see getting sick of it pretty quickly.

shay ed is a very fair guy and has very successfully held his reign as ents officer is halls this year. he is a guy who sticks to his word, if he promises to do something he will and that is exactly what his campaign is about.

as regards citibar, all i have to say is that he moved up from home for 6 weeks before everyone started back at college again, so that he could get his links and make more contacts so that he could help both us on jcr and this years current su. he spent 6 weeks getting paid nothing sleeping on ppl's couches and floors simply so that he could make a name for himself amongst club reps and as a result of this one of the successes was citibar, yes so now most of his attention goes on that as opposes to other contacts he made during summer but so what, citibar's reopening coencided with us going back to college end of september beginning of october and before this i had never heard of the place. tuesday nite before was never a night to go out and now students from every college in dublin are talking about it. this not success and dedication no?

and by no means are his sole interests in just those who love the cheap drink and to get absolutely mangled, he is just as interested in the smaller societies. he has plenty of brilliant ideas about open mic nights , comedy nights and battle of the band nights that he would all put up should he get ents.

mizz.yelof!!! · 24-02-2007 2:00am

shay_562 wrote:

It's more that he only seems to care about himself and people who are exactly like him getting drunk

shay what do you mean?

Crash · 24-02-2007 2:34am

...I'm so glad i'm not in one of those angry races. Oh, and I'll be having someone to read through this and anything libellous will be removed. and can anyone posting after this post please insure that any posts made are not libellous, and based on proper basis of fact.

Thanks guys,

Neil

europerson · 24-02-2007 10:02am

Awayindahils wrote:

the student center

I'm making a conscious decision not to vote for anyne who spells it that way.

Awayindahils · 24-02-2007 12:49pm

Google spell check gives out if I spell it the other way, and between Economics being Maths based, and political scientists being incapable of writing coherent English, my command of the English language is becoming a little bit mangled.

But then again I don't need votes.

shay_562 · 24-02-2007 4:37pm

shay what do you mean?

What I meant was exactly what I said above; his manifesto seemed rather Citibar-centric, as did the "€2 Drinks!" flyers he's been handing out, and while Citibar is insanely popular with one section of college, there's just as many who wouldn't touch the place with a bargepole. He may very well have contacts with other clubs - where have Halls parties this year been held? I don't live in Halls, so I genuinely don't know what he's been doing out there - but if he's going to sell himself on Citibar, then any of the negative images that go along with Citibar go along with him too. As well as that, if he has been focusing on Citibar more than other clubs this year, that could pose problems in the future - club contacts are insanely fickle things, and his work last summer could be worth nothing if he's been spending all his time working for another club in the 6 months since then.

I'm not trying to make this into an "angry race" - after the unpleasantness with the Smurfs last year, I doubt anyone wants that. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to criticise him for (what I would percieve as) the bad stuff on his manifesto or in his track record. Equally, I'm not trying to pick a fight with you Orlaith, but we clearly have very, very different views of the guy.

Moorsy · 24-02-2007 11:39pm

shay_562 wrote:

What I meant was exactly what I said above; his manifesto seemed rather Citibar-centric, as did the "€2 Drinks!" flyers he's been handing out, and while Citibar is insanely popular with one section of college, there's just as many who wouldn't touch the place with a bargepole.
.

Well to be honest candidates ‘sell’ themselves on what they have achieved in their area. Ed has achieved something outstanding in his area, ents, and for ‘that section’ of college. Any night I have been in citibar it has been absolutely packed and fair play to him for it. If somebody has the innovation and courage to stick their neck our on the line, whether it’s for their own benefit or not, should be respected. You must remember that citibar has nothing to do with halls ents or SU ents, the only connection, as far as I know, is that a trinity student runs it.
I don’t know what way I will vote in ents but getting a venue in Dublin to serve pints for 2 Euro does show good skills.

And on your other point about getting a bar in Luce hall it leads on to another point. The lack of good ents events this year is because there is no longer a venue for gig’s never mind at least a bar, which could facilitate that. Luce hall has to be made into a student centre for any good ents events to happen. It must be allowed to hold gigs and it must have a bar accessible for all students.
Your lacklustre approach of ‘ohh there’s no point in doing that’ is so debilitating to the student union when trying to get things done. Students must support what they want to see, not what they think the rational outcome will be.

TheIceMaker · 26-02-2007 1:48am

Was David Quinn chair of council last yr?

26-02-2007 1:48am

Yep.

Captain Planet · 26-02-2007 11:44pm

Anyone have any thoughts on how candidates did at hustings?

mizz.yelof!!! · 26-02-2007 11:59pm

Captain Planet wrote:

Anyone have any thoughts on how candidates did at hustings?

halls or dining hall steps you talking about?

xebec · 27-02-2007 12:04am

I was at the Dining Hall steps hustings earlier. Some very good speeches, some very poor, some in between and one or two that were mildly amusing...

Claire Tighe sticks out as the best of the bunch, one of the best I've heard in my 4 years tbh.

What was Halls like?

osd · 27-02-2007 12:05am

mizz.yelof!!! wrote:

halls or dining hall steps you talking about?

Either...

(Xebec gave a small rundown on his thoughts of the dining hall hustings on the SU Message boards)

Jager Man · 27-02-2007 1:25am

At hustings on the front square John Tracey (president) was atrocious. He was slated by three questions and then Andrew Byrne got up and gave a fantastic speech, heard he did even better in Halls. Sounds like its gona be a landslide for Byrne, pity bout Tracey, one must feel empathy.

melekalikimaka · 27-02-2007 1:33am

Jager Man wrote:

At hustings on the front square John Tracey (president) was atrocious. He was slated by three questions and then Andrew Byrne got up and gave a fantastic speech, heard he did even better in Halls. Sounds like its gona be a landslide for Byrne, pity bout Tracey, one must feel empathy.

thought the opposite tbh, as did others i spoke to, andy had nothing great to say and didn't have any 'planted' questions

Again, (again, again) it begins... (SU Elections)

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