THE Trinity Ball, one of Dublin's major social events, was cancelled yesterday because of industrial action by SIPTU, the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union.
At a meeting of the Trinity College Board yesterday it was decided that the ball, scheduled for May 10th, could not go ahead after a notice of industrial action was received from SIPTU in a dispute over pension rights.
The college was informed that from the beginning of next week SIPTU is to initiate a ban on overtime, a work to rule and strike action of up to five days in duration. Since the ball is almost entirely dependent on overtime work by staff, many of them SIPTU members, it was decided that the event could not go ahead.
Some 3,000 tickets have been sold for the ball, many of them at £35 per head, and the organisers expected to sell out the event for the first time in recent years, following the cancellation of last year's ball because of poor ticket sales. The student organisers are expected to lose around £45,000 because of the cancellation.
Prof Frank Boland, Senior Dean of TCD, described the decision as "regrettable", but said the dependence on overtime made it impossible to go ahead with the ball under the circumstances.
Mr Tony Wall, treasurer of the Trinity Ball committee, said he was "very disappointed" and described the cancellation as "two years of work down the drain. At the end of the day, it is the clubs, the societies and the students' union who are going to be out of pocket."
The ban on overtime also means that library, computer and examination facilities for students will be seriously affected. Ms Priya Nair, president of Trinity College Students' Union, said she was "disappointed" that the dispute would affect not only social but academic areas. "My primary concern is the welfare of students," she said.