On 13 March a record number of students cast their vote in the annual University of Galway Students’ Union elections, with a total of 4,895 votes cast, a record turnout.
75 percent (3,464) of those historical votes went to Maisie Hall. President Elect Hall is known as an all-rounder, whose friends describe her as a “Duracell bunny”, full of energy and enthusiasm.
Involved in countless committees down the years and responsible for organising multiple independent ski trips, not only did Ms Hall seem, in the context of an unbiased nature, the best candidate to do the job well, but also Maisie Hall’s strong polices clearly resonated deeply with the issues close to the hearts of students at the University of Galway.
One of Maisie’s campaigners claimed “If you weren’t lucky enough to know her prior to her campaign, you should sit back and enjoy watching President Hall pleasantly exceed your expectations.”
Other successful campaigns that deserve a notable mention are Seán De Búrca who was elected the Vice President and Education Officer, Paddy Murnane who was elected Vice President and Welfare and Equality Officer, Rachel Aine Ní Mharascáil who was elected Vice President for the Irish Language – a position previously held by outgoing SU President Faye Ní Dhomhnaill.
In recent years, young Irish people have been criticised for their underrepresentation in Irish politics and overall lack of engagement in Irish politics.
Most recently their low turnout in the Irish General Election held in November last year.
Some political analysts have claimed they believe Irish politics appears to be moving towards a place of indifference amongst young median voters.
However, the record high voter turnout in the University of Galway Students’ Union Elections says otherwise.
The mutual feeling around campus was that the stakes were high, and students answered that with a resounding response, to the tune of nearly 5,000 votes.
Shedding light on why he believed the stakes were so high and why the voter turnout was so large, Vice-President Elect Seán De Búrca spoke to us and poignantly said: “I think the turnout was so high because students wanted to show that the only thing we are intolerant of is intolerance itself, the only thing we hate is hatred itself, and our solidarity with the most marginalised is unwavering.”
Strong policies from Hall ranged from expanded counselling supports, increased Bialann services during weekends and exam seasons, earlier final year repeats, more accessibility and inclusion (students’ main reason for voting for her campaign), an end of year festival and, let us not forget, free butter in the Bialann, yes, free butter, an unusual aspect of Hall’s campaign that grew legs and became a symbolisation of the need for greater transparency around Bialann pricing, and the university in general.
The list of policies goes on and if one chose to read that list, they’ll likely conclude that Hall appears to be disinterested in the politics game and solely motivated by how she may help the students at the university in a meaningful and impactful way.
Students, whether they’re continuing their studies, graduating, or even prospective students, will look to Hall’s presidency, with anticipation of how she, and the other successfully elected candidates can work collaboratively to create impactful change for good within University of Galway.
Samuel is a final year Economics major from BA Government who enjoys writing about the economic and political world from a professional point of view. However, any opportunity to delve deeper and question the world around us, through a keenly observational and philosophical gaze he never fails to grab with both hands.