Drop in Hours

Due to a heavy schedule of internal meetings for interviews this week, My drop in hours will be limited for the remainder of the week.

Tuesday and Wednesday
11am to 12pm each day

Thursday
12pm to 12:30pm

Friday
12:30pm to 1pm

Semester 1 Review 2009/10

Deputy President and Welfare Officer
Derek Daly

As I sit here typing, I have my manifesto in front of me, so I suppose I’ll go in the order that’s in.

MANIFESTO REVIEW
ACCOMMODATION
General Queries
This is the day-to-day stuff through my door, as suggested in the manifesto, the solicitor has dealt with a lot of the landlord and accommodation queries that I haven’t been able to advise on.
Accommodation Forum
I have had one meeting of this with landlords. Over 800 were written to over the summer, advising that they need a BER Cert and to register with the PRTB. I sent them a leaflet advising of their rights and obligations as landlords, though a small minority were less than impressed by this! I did a lot of work on getting them information in relation to insulation, heating and window upgrades, as well as discounts on oil and deals from Mr. Binman, this in turn was an effort to improve the standard of accommodation available to students. While I’m not sure what the final take up was; a good number contacted me about the Mr. Binman and oil discounts in particular. The forum itself proved a failure, with only 4 landlords attending out of the over 800 written to. I’m going to dump this idea for this semester, but I will be contacting the Enforcement Officer at Limerick County Council in relation to BER Cert.
Village Accommodation
On Campus
I met a number of times with representatives of Campus Life Services. Where issues have arisen on campus I have spoken directly to them and most issues have been resolved. I submitted a scholarship proposal during the semester which I will be following up over the coming months, and hopefully it will be in place for 2010/11. If I manage to pull this one off, I’ll post a specific blog update for it and a news item on the website.
Off Campus
Needless to say, as most of you know, the different villages vary widely off campus. A number of issues have arisen in each of the villages; most were easily resolved, though some solicitors’ letters were required, which soon saw the students vindicated.

WELFARE WORKING GROUP
While I haven’t followed the exact manifesto strategy, I have gone further than what I had planned and opened the group to the entire campus community. Welfare Crew has met 3 times, but attendance has been poor. If you want to get involved in this, it is something that is driven by its members, not my office.
A new Equality Officer has been elected and is quite proactive in organising Equality Week for Week 11, and this may re-ignite the interest of the members of this group. 2 Meetings of Welfare Crew have already taken place this semester.

NORTH CAMPUS
While I remain available for appointments on the North Campus, I am yet to receive one request. It is an aspiration of the sabbatical team to be able to have a presence on the North Campus; however the practicalities, not least as outlined in the manifesto, put a bit of a block in place. For those in other parts of the campus who cannot make it to meet me, I am also available to meet at Kemmy, or anywhere else on campus.

FINANCIAL ISSUES
Budgeting
Since last April (oh f***, that long ago) when the manifesto was printed, MABS has been under ever increasing pressure, so has been unable to come on campus, however, if you are having financial issues, they will be able to help on an individual basis; waiting lists are quite long though.
I have put together an excel file, which gives you a weekly budget for the semester. Aoife sent this to you some time last semester, if you need to get it again, just email me and I’ll get a copy to you.
Grants and Scholarships
This semester is when people need to be aware of availing of grants and scholarships. I hope to run a grant information evening at some point after the Easter break to give students PLENTY of time to get their applications in order. June is the time to get them ready, NOT August!!
SAA is also piloting a number of County Councils with direct bank payments to students, rather than cheques through SAA. You may not know this, but someone from SAA has to physically stand in the bank and lodge a piece of paper to the bank account of each student. In most other colleges, you have to queue to to collect the cheque and then queue to lodge it!
Scholarships are a different kettle of fish, all I can do with this is compile a centralised list, as most are provided externally by companies, but specifically for UL students.
Support Funds
The Financial Aid funding administered through the Union has been reviewed again during my term, the amounts have been reduced and bursaries withdrawn to allow the money to spread further in these tough times. I would like to thank the Financial Aid Committee members for their patience and co-operation in this.
In relation to the Childcare Assistance part of the fund, it is now operating in a way that can easily be audited by the University, where the money comes from, the next on the list here is looking at the back office stuff, which I won’t bore you with.

MEDICAL CENTRE
In relation to assumptions made by staff, I have raised this issue with both the Director of the Student Health Centre and the Director of Student Affairs. While staffing shortages throughout the organisation mean that it is not always possible to re-allocate people, students should just make the reception staff at the Health Centre aware of which clinic they wish to attend (i.e GP/Nurse/STI) as this will affect the waiting time for appointments. Following recent moves to charge for medical services in other institutions we will be opposing any such move here, unless directed otherwise by the student population. This has been made clear at senior levels of the University. ULSU will not accept the University conducting its future financial planning around current circumstances.

CHILDCARE SERVICES
Crèche
On further investigation, I found that the student places in Silver Apples are undersubscribed. Students, while paying the same rate as staff, are avoiding the industry norm, by having places held over the summer months without having to pay (Standard practice is that if you intend returning in September, you pay for June, July and August also.) Silver Apples is also comparable in price with other local facilities.
After School Care
In looking at this initially, I overlooked the fact that most students’ children attend school close to home, as opposed to close to the University, for this reason, this will be taking a back seat this semester, though it has not been forgotten. There’s also a distortion of competition concern from the Silver Apples Committee.

HEALTH
A number of attempts to run a healthy eating campaign have fallen through last semester. I hope to work with Helen from the GingerGirl stall in the Farmers market as a demonstrator and the rest of the stallholders as suppliers to get some healthy cooking demos going.
Cancer is still a concern, but has taken a back seat to mental health and will do again this semester. Cancer campaigns will be online only via Facebook and the info screens.
Sexual Health I think got a good awareness boos during SHAG Week and I put a serious amount of info in to the handbook and on the website. I’ve tried to de-bullshit everything, so I hope it worked.
Mental health was covered in the An Focal Week 1 edition. The ULSU/Please Talk Mugs have gone down a storm and there are a few here for whoever gets to them first after the meeting. The tea afternoon went off a treat. Thanks to the volunteers for that

OUTSTANDING ITEMS
The following manifesto items from above require further work this semester:
• Better utilisation of the Welfare Crew
• Grants and Scholarships
• Health Awareness
• Healthy Living


NON-MANIFESTO ITEMS
LEGAL AID
I undertook a review of the Legal Aid process in August 2009 with the help of Aoife Finnerty (Vice President and Education Officer) and Ruán Dillon McLoughlin (President). Following this review it was decided that we retain the services of the existing firm. As a result of this review, the firm is now also offering Legal Advice Centres once a month on campus. For further info, please contact me.

DEPUTISING FOR THE PRESIDENT
This is a larger portion of the job than I had anticipated. It has allowed me to gain a better insight into a small number of areas within the University which are no doubt important to the representation of the student view

COMMITTEES
Governing Authority takes place each month. There are 32 members of the Authority and it has the final say on any decision taken within the University. As a student governor, along with Ruán and Michael, I have been questioning presentations and putting views of those student who speak to me before it.

Access and Student Affairs – Governing Authority Sub Committee takes place 3 times during the calendar year. A new chair of this committee has been appointed and she is quite keen to use the committee to further the improvement of the life of each student. At the first meeting this year I presented on Student Hardship and the committee was quite appalled at some of the circumstances students find themselves in in this day and age.

The Student Experience Committee takes place bi-monthly and is chaired by the Director of Student Affairs. This is a committee established by President Don Barry to achieve his aim of making UL the ultimate institution for those seeking an exceptional student experience. My main achievement at this committee has been to put the driving of the President’s Award firmly back in the hands of the President for funding. The award structure had been agreed in principle over 12 months ago, and tied down by October. This award is due to commence this semester under the direction of a committee formed by Student Development Officer Aidan Healy.

The Silver Apples Crèche Committee sat for the first time since the 2006/7 academic year. While there are no issues with this committee, I saw a need for it to sit during each academic year to keep all members informed of progress. It also dispelled some myths that float around the place. I was made aware at the committee of a flooding issue that the chair of the committee is seeking to have resolved.

The Alcohol Working Group is looking at ways to promote responsible drinking and events where no alcohol is served. Options include acoustic or comedy gigs in the B1 Canteen and debates around alcohol issues. This committee spills over into the areas of discipline, student involvement and entertainment.

I am building a strong relationship wit the Equality and Diversity Committee which was formerly the EOpps Committee. The HR and other members of this committee were happy to see a student representative on this committee following a number of years absence. The Equality Officer is also a member, but the issue in the past, and currently is that it clashes with classes. This is a committee with some resources at its disposal that can be of particular benefit to the LGBT community on campus and I am focussing on that for the moment. There are other issues such as race and religion etc that the committee can help with in due course.

As such…a lot done…more to do. Here’s to another semester of hard work

D

Drop in hours, today, tomorrow, Thursday

Hey all,

Apologies for the delay in putting these up.

Tuesday 2 Feb
14:30-15:30

Wednesday 3 Feb
11:30-12:45

Thursday 4 Feb
13:00-14:00

Friday 5 Feb
None