Details of the Students’ Union €1.38 million budget was revealed at the Class Rep Council meeting by the Office of Student Life.
The seven-figure sum will be divided between the Students’ Union, the Office of Student Life, the Club Life Committee and Societies Life Committee, it was explained at the CRC meeting on 15 October 2014.
The SU receives €343,700, or 25 per cent of the overall budget. Salaries of the sabbatical officers make up 22 per cent of the SU’s allocation.
The Union of Students in Ireland receive €51,500 from the SU as an affiliation fee.
Despite €25,000 being allocated to class rep training, class reps must pay €15 each if they wish to attend a training weekend in Lilliput Adventure Centre in Mullingar as the SU are subsidising the trip rather than covering the full cost.
€80,000 of the SU’s allocation will be spent on events. This raised questions at the CRC meeting. The breakdown of this year’s allocation cannot be revealed as events such as the summer ball have not been planned yet. Last year’s spending will be shown at the next CRC meeting.
Election expenses were allocated €7,000. There were questions at the CRC meeting as to whether that would be enough money to cover the costs. However, it does not seem that the allocation will be increased.
Other allocations such as Niteline, mobile phones, expenses and contingency are also outlined in the budget.
The Office of Student Life is allocated €381,000. 84 per cent of this money is set aside for staff employment costs.
Office expenses, bank charges, travel and legal fees make up other parts of its allocation. The smallest expense is staff affilliations, making up 0.3 per cent of the allocation at €1,000.
The Club Life Committee receives the largest amount from the budget at €425,000, or 31 per cent. The Societies Life Committee will receive 17 per cent of the budget at €230,000.
This budget is provisional and is expected to be approved in mid-November.
A new motion concerning the attendance of class reps at CRC meetings was discussed. If a class rep misses three meetings, he or she must formally apologise to the chairperson. Many CRC meetings could not go ahead last year as not enough class reps attended to meet the quota.
Officership elections took place at the meeting as well. Actuarial Mathematics student Claire Mullen was elected as Chairperson. Communications Studies student Daniel Duffy was elected as Secretary and Postgraduate Research student and lecturer Steven Conlon was elected as Returning Officer.
The Electoral Committee was also decided upon. Journalism students Hannah Kelly and Kate Donahue, Computer Applications students Eoin O’Brien and Ciara McCauley and International Relations student Andy Dunne make up the committee.
The lack of bike shelters and constantly out-of-order ATMs on campus were discussed at the meeting too.
Laura Colgan
Image: dcusu.ie
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