Róisín Nic Lochlainn has been a NUI Galway Full Time Student Union Officer since 2020, firstly taking on the role of Vice President for Welfare and Equality and most recently, in 2021, taking on the role of SU President.
Her experiences with “the hardships and struggles that come as a direct result of our current broken education system” are what encouraged her to get involved in student politics in the first place.
Speaking to SIN, Ms Nic Lochlainn says; “I don’t think there’s any motivation quite like coming from the place of vulnerability itself. From someone who had to use the welfare officer in my first year of college to being the welfare officer that had the opportunity to help others in the same position. I was an activist long before I was on the Students’ Union, so I was already angered by all of the injustices of the world anyway.”
After winning the presidential race in 2021 with over 50% of the votes, Ms Nic Lochlainn’s passion and experience, derived from her experiences as a student and as the VP for Welfare and Equality, helped her to create a cascade of new ideas and changes for implementation in NUI Galway over her term.
Speaking on what she deems her proudest achievements of this presidential term, she said: “As President, I think my greatest achievements are the ones that are going to have lasting effects for years to come. A lot of the work that goes on in Students’ Unions is often behind the scenes and has to be kept confidential. That being said, I am particularly proud of my work around free pregnancy tests and around period poverty over the past year, which is now in its final stages of procurement. This is something that, I feel, was never taken seriously in previous years by society as a whole, but we are beginning to see change and this will help countless struggling students’ over the years.
“One of my most recent projects, which was actually brought to me by a student, is one that will benefit students for a long time – the student pantry. This is in its final stages, set to launch in the next couple of weeks, with Tesco, Aldi, and Lidl amongst agreed partners. This project will see the Hub being used to store thousands of euros worth of food from these supermarkets that would otherwise be going to waste, now going to students for free.”
Speaking on the upcoming Referendum on Vice President for the Irish Language, which if passed will see the creation of a full-time paid role for Vice President of the Irish Language, Ms Nic Lochlainn also told SIN of her own involvement in the promotion of the Irish language at NUI Galway: “I am immensely proud of how far the union has come over the past 2 years in terms of the Irish language and I hope it continues on that path for a very long time. From working on a 3 year strategy for the union, to hopefully securing a full time Irish language officer should the referendum be passed, and the official name of the Union being changed to the leagan Gaeilge, I would be missing a large part of my time in the Union if I didn’t mention the Irish language.”
Addressing the upcoming election on March 3 which will see a new SU President elected, Ms Nic Lochlainn spoke of the challenges they face and the things that she wants to see implemented this year: “The biggest challenge for whoever is elected as President next will be securing adequate funding for the union. Unlike Trade Unions, there is no legal definition of Students’ Unions, and that leaves us without a certain level of protection. SU funding and autonomy is of utmost importance, and we just cannot afford to leave that off of the agenda.
“There are a lot of things that I would like to see from the newly elected SU president. I think engagement, for all Unions, has always been an Achilles heel. While we have seen huge increase in engagement with events and with SU council over the past 2 years, we need to maintain that increase. Unions benefit all members. I think strategies are key to making sure work is implemented, especially in Students’ Unions where the constant rollover of officers can make continuity of work hard. Establishing a Sustainability Strategy for the Union this year with policies and goals clearly laid out could make it a lot “easier” for incoming officers to achieve things such as carbon neutral SU events and plastic free SU businesses.”
Ms Nic Lochlainn concluded by adding that she is certain that whoever is elected will do a “fantastic job.” She also assured participants that she will still “be around for advice” and finished by wishing all candidates “ádh mór.”
