USI braces itself for congress

Paramedics will need to be on hand for the USI annual congress in Ennis, Co Clare, from April 10th to 14th. With more than 127 motions on the table, there could be a real risk of multiple paper lacerations, laryngitis, RSI and back problems. The congress will be in many ways the culmination of a year of reappraisal and restructuring for the union. During this time many observers believe it has moved a great distance towards its goal of representing students to professional standards.

The motions cover areas of USI administration and finance, constitutional amendments (24 of them), national affairs, welfare, education, international affairs and another batch of constitutional amendments (21 of them this time). As well as the serious business of sorting out anomalies in the constitution, of which there are obviously quite a few, the congress will be debating such national issues as the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, the Northern Ireland Assembly, battery recycling and motor insurance.

Racism, student safety and same-sex marriage will be tackled under the heading of welfare. In education, student costs and education funding in the North are only two of the topics to be looked at.

In the international arena, the Austrian government and the management of Sellafield will be watching with keen interest to see which way USI votes on them.

The congress is also where next year's sabbatical officers are chosen. Nominations have closed, but those hardy souls who put their names forward have until Thursday to withdraw from running. Sometimes people think they might get it uncontested, apparently.

Those who allowed their names to go forward originally were:

President: Julian de Spainn (USI deputy president); Ian Russell (USI education officer)

Deputy president: Cian O'Callaghan (USI welfare officer); Gareth Williams (USI Dublin area convenor)

Education officer: Aoife Braiden (NUI Galway union deputy president (welfare));Anna Browne (NCAD union president); Colm Jordan (DIT Aungier Street union president)

Welfare officer: Alison Gibney (UCD union welfare officer); Michelle McAuley (DIT Cathal Brugha Street union president)

Equality officer: Rory McDaid (St Pat's Drumcondra union president)