Lack of interest in Irish officer position at NUI, Galway S.U.
March 22nd, 2005 | by aobaoill |Foinse has a report on the lack of interest in the Irish Language Officer position in the Students Union at NUI, Galway. Seemingly nominations had to be reopened, and the election has yet to be held, when nobody applied for the position originally. There are quotes from various SU reps, including my old friend Dave Finn who is now serving as Returning Officer for the union.
2 Responses to “Lack of interest in Irish officer position at NUI, Galway S.U.”
By Simon McGarr on Mar 24, 2005 | Reply
According to the paper, they thought that people didn’t want it as there would be too much politics involved. Surely the actual problem would be too little politics. Nobody with political ambitions wants the dead end of a single issue post- they want the platform of the President, or Education officer if UCG has such a thing.
By Andrew Ó Baoill on Mar 24, 2005 | Reply
My thought is that people were worried they would end up not emeshed in what I call “politics with a small ‘p'” – that is the small-scale machinations, adminstrivia and committee-attendance that is boring to most people. So if you’re interested in doing something about Irish use on campus you really don’t want to have to sit through executive committee meetings where you’re discussing reports from the joint consultative committee with the vice president for buildings and plumbing, or whatever. (Not that such VP or committee exists, but you get the idea.) So it’s not so much politics as the bureaucracy that many people mistake for politics (or that too much of politics devolves into being).