The Union of Students Ireland (USI) has taken justifiable flak this week following the casual exclusion of parties to the right of and including Aontú from their pre-election survey.
Questioning all seven major Irish parties on their policy positions on contribution charges to their respective stance on the Occupied Territories Bill, the survey results were forwarded to many of the 300,000 plus third-level students belonging to the union.
Notorious even within tertiary institutions for being a left-wing rotten borough operated by career-minded activists divorced from day-to-day student life, the USI was keen to question parties about their stance on trans healthcare among their list of priorities.
https://x.com/ogra_aontu/status/1857069456796647674/photo/1
Derided online by Ógra Aontú as indicative of the shallowness of USI’s claim to represent all students regardless of ideology, the spat will likely fuel the fire on decade-long calls for greater disaffiliation from the representative body.
Cornerstone members of the Irish NGO machine, the USI cross swords with this publication in 2020 resulting in the resignation of its then vice president Michelle Byrne following an undercover operation.
Increasingly more concerned with fighting alleged white supremacy on campuses rather than actual grassroots activism helping their members, one wonders when the first real cracks will start showing within the incestuous SU network in Ireland and open the door for genuine student radicalism.
The worst part of the USI is – students CANNOT opt to NOT join. All students in NUIG (at least) are forced, every year, to pay the SU fee whether they like it or not.
Democracy – communist style!
Student Union = Rich kids from Dalkey with too much spare time .