Societies slapped with ban at UCC

Right-wing historian David Irving's aborted visit to UCC two weeks ago is still sending out shock waves in Cork: four societies involved in the protests against the visit have been banned from the college. The societies in question, Young Sinn Fein, the Socialist Party, the Socialist Society and the Socialist Worker Student Society, all protested Irving's appearance at a college debating society - protests which UCC authorities said were a threat to security.

These societies - effectively the bulk of left-wing representation in the college - are now no longer entitled to the privileges and facilities afforded to recognised societies in UCC. In the short term, none of them intends to challenge the decision by the Societies' Guild that they be suspended due to "their gross interference with the activities of other societies in college" (according to an official document cited in the University Examiner). Instead, they intend to lobby students directly and take their campaigns to a wider audience.

Michael Murphy, secretary of the Socialist Party's branch in UCC, condemned the ban as "knee-jerk and naive". The four societies, he said, had formed an umbrella group and were using loudhailers and a stall in college to get their message across. He said the societies would eventually appeal the decision through proper channels but that at the moment "more people have been joining the party" since the protest.