Technological University Dublin ARROW@TU Dublin DIT Student Union Dublin Institute of Technology 1994 The DIT Examiner: the Newspaper of the Dublin Institute of Technology Students' Union March, 1994 DIT Students' Union Follow this and additional works at: https://arrow.tudublin.ie/ditsu Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation DIT Students' Union: The DIT Examiner March, 1994. DIT, 1994 This Other is brought to you for free and open access by the Dublin Institute of Technology at ARROW@TU Dublin. It has been accepted for inclusion in DIT Student Union by an authorized administrator of ARROW@TU Dublin. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License The DI Ex a • e The Newspaper of the Dublin Institute of Technology Students' Union March '94 With his latest film, last week, the High DIT Cathal Brugha Irish women are Schindler's List, Court decided that- Street Is tike no increasing their par­ Steven Spielberg part-time DIT lee- other DIT con- ticipation In politics. has shown us that turers were entitled stltuent In one The times may be a he has. for now, put to full voting rights. lm portant aspect. changing, but are away childish things. The decision has The Students' they changing The result is stun­ been welcomed 'by Union has an enoughl ning. PAGE .. PAGE]the TUI -----~~~~~~~PAGEem plorment 5 officer. PAGE 9 --------~====~----------- 0 ve l 0 he Minister for Education, . Yet last week Ms Bhreathnach told unhappy with the present proposals rigid in its interpretation of the Ia~ he T Niamh Bhreathnach, has said the Dail that of the five VECs who have from the VECs, given her statutory ~ a lot of sympathy with the mini~ that she is still ~ery disappointed' submitted a full list of recommenda­ obligation to ensure gender balance and because she was a prisoner of legiSlation with the recommendations made tions, none have reached the required the dearly set out policy of government to an extent. by VEC's on appointments to gender balance. Of the fi~ VECs who on the matter. *Sh~'s trying to get .it right at the Governing Bodies, despite the fact have submitted a partial list of recom­ The dispute over women's represen­ beginning. Shes anxious that it be up that Dublin VEC believes that its mendation, she said that only one had tation on the boards of the Dublin and running as soon as possible." final list of nominations for the exceeded the 40% female representa­ Institute of Technology and the coun- The CDVEC had also been in dis­ governing body of the Dublin tions she is scdring fur governiug bod­ . try's 11 RTCs h:ts left them without pute with the Department over its Institute of Technology meets with Ies. governing bodies since the end of insistence that a rq>resentative organisa­ the requirements regarding Mr Costello expressed surprise at the january. Local vocational education tion with the power to nominate one women•s representation upon ~·s st'Uloe. committees have repeatedly said that member of the OIT's governing body. which the Minister is insisting. •1 would RpCat that we ha~ fulfilled they are unable to implement the The CDVEC has now· changed its orig­ the spirit and the letter of the 40 per Minister's gender balance guidelines. inal appointment, Forbairt, which had Mr Joe Costello, TD, Chairman of cent requirements and we arc happy They have pointed out that mat they been turned down by the department, City of Dublin VEC told the DIT that we have done so, • he said. He cannot furcc nominating bodies to alter to the Marketing mstitute of Irdand. &amincr that of the final list, two of its pointed out that th~ out of six nomi­ six nominees are women as are two of rheir choices and are not legally obliged "We understand that this is accept­ nees would be 50 percent. the five nominating bodies. "Two out to do so. able, " said Mr Costello. The Minister said that she was anx­ Mr Costdlo said that although there of six is 33.3 per cent and two out fi~ The Minister said that she would be ious to appoint governing bodies as had been some resentment that the is exactly 40 per cent,"' said Mr sbonly makinc an ao-.acan-t - soon as possible but that she was very Department of £ducation was being to the best way to proceed on the issue. Costello. President of USI. "SPUC have being referendum. Little can now be achieved trying to silence us and dose us down by SPUC apart from vengeance." Stu e s for over five years now and they appear The Student Support Trust is cam­ to show no sign of relenting in their paigning for donations to raise suffi­ misguided legal crusade·" cient funds to enable them to satisfy Tony O'Brien, Chief Executive 40f the they unions' debts, or alternatively to Irish Family Planning Association, provide for the establishment of new t union structures, if they do not survive ToT e described the action taken by SPUC as OverC "S-P, S-P-U, S-P-U-C, SPUC OFF!"' The cl} .ang around the city centre last Wednesday as students marched peacefully from Parnell Square to Dail Eireann, demonstrating against what thy called the attacks by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) on students' u~ions. More than 500 people took part in sought by SPUC. the hastily arranged march. "It was a Two weeks ago SPUC successfully decent enough attendance," said Helen applied to the High Court for the O'Sullivan, USI's Women Rights appointment of a receiver to recover Officer. She conceded that the unsea­ costs of .£29,000 awarded in 1989 in sonably pleasant weather on Wednesday the SPUC V Grogan and Others abor­ was a considerable asset in that respect. tion information case. In that case, Among the speakers at the rally were SPUC obtained an injunction prevent­ TD £amonn Gilmore, a former presi­ ing 15 officers of USI, TCD and UCD dent of USI and Ms O'Sullivan. Sh.e students' unions from providing infor­ told the DIT Examiner that USI would mation on abortion clinics. Garda/ help one lost $0U/ find the rest of his friends Since those costs were awarded to now be looking to pay the· money "legal but it isnot moral". the current action. Among the trustees SPUC, the case has been to the claimed by SPUC. USI and TCD stu­ "The action is the death rattle of a are TDs Jim McDaid, Liz McManus, dents union have met with their legal Supreme Court and the European failed campaign to deny the fundamen­ Derek McDowell and Alan Shatter, advisers to discuss the issue and there Court of justice and back to the High tal human rights of Irish citizens. A playwright Frank McGuinness and was a Jenera! feeling that they would Court. Final costs could be over campaign which has been comprehen_­ Senaters David Norris and Mary not he able to avoid paying the costs £200,000 according to Tom Duke, sivdy rejected by the Irish people in a Henry. DIT Examiner DITSU, DIT Kevin Street, Kevin St., Dublin 8. Ph/Pax: 4783154 his week in one the most ferociously busy across the DIT. Posters adorn every T flat, vertical surface in the constituent colleges and frantically campaigning can­ didates will be impossible to avoid. Election week is noisy, intrusive, invigorating, exciting and, above all, relevant. To you, the student. It is is easy to be dismissive, to play no part in the run up and then simply cast an ill-considered vote on polling day. Any half-wit can do that. It is far better for all concerned that you watch what's going on, see who's running, listen to what they have to say and decide who makes the most sense. Then cast your vote. ol""" ~ ... 1 ... ,. ···~· · •... Students' Unions and students' unions' politics are important. They are there to deal with issues that affect students, individoally or as a whole, be they relatively localised or national. True, they have been denounced occasionally as cliquish and Crowd Control irrelevant vessels for ego trips bu~ the vast majority of people standing for election do so for the right reasons. In any event, It is your choice who represents you, so if you don't bother to turn out on polling day, can you justifiably complain in the future? This is the third edition of the DIT Examintr. We are happy with the start we have made and have listened carefully to both the praise and the criticism that has come our way. Both are welcome. We would also welcome letters from students and staff because it is through such feedback that we can learn more about the issues that are most affecting people. If there any DIT events coming up in the next month or so, please feel free to let us know. Write to the above address, or fax or phone. Editor John Carroll Students On The Streets Of Dublin Last Week Protesting A,alnst SPUCs High Advertising Manager Bryan Sheridan Court Action A,alnst USI And Trinity Students Union Production Rory Quinn Photography Clare Cavendish Printed by The Meath Chronicle DIT Student u e ,. To Increase DUBLIN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY STUDENTS UNION he number of full-time stu­ cation, we must question che viability T.dents within the Dublin of such schemes. There can be no Institute of Technology is set to doubt that the present students' educa­ S1lJDENTS UNION SHOPS increase by almost 15% over the tion will suffer as a result of this next year and a half.