Martin's spending plans divide USI leadership

USI'S National Council will meet this weekend to discuss the union's strategy in the aftermath of the Budget.

Students attending a meeting of the union's campaign strategy team on Thursday were divided on whether to take protest action and referred the matter to the council. While USI had threatened to take "drastic action" if the Budget did not contain measures to address student poverty, the union's ire has been somewhat defused by the package announced by the Minister for Education on Thursday. Micheal Martin promised £3 million to promote access to third level for students from disadvantaged backgrounds and £1.5 million "to address the non-completion of courses at third level". The union gave a warm welcome to his decision to spend £2.4 million on ensuring mature students living within 15 miles of their colleges can avail of the full third-level maintenance grant.

However, there was not enough in the Budget, or in the Minister's subsequent announcements, to meet USI's demands on the shortage of accommodation affordable to students, an issue which is likely to cause severe difficulty to members again next year. Help has been promised for colleges who wish to build oncampus accommodation, but such measures are unlikely to have an impact on the student housing shortage for a number of years.

The Minister's spending commitments also fall far short of the £100 million extra in student support demanded in USI's "national strategy document"; education officer Darren McCallig says the union "will continue to argue for an across the board increase in grants".

Meanwhile, the UCC students' union has reportedly informed other members of the Federation of University Students Unions that it intends to hold a referendum on reaffiliation to USI.