UCC Students' Union to Hold Referendum on Eighth Amendment Campaign

UCC Students Union have announced that they will be holding a referendum to decide if and how they will campaign on the the subject of Abortion rights and the Eighth Amendment. The matter was discussed at the end of last week’s Student Council when Students' Union President Aidan Coffey announced that they had received a petition of 500 signatures from a student calling for a referendum. Some class reps were concerned that the decision to go to referendum was done by SU Exec without consulting Student Council first, but the SU confirmed the Referendum was called for by a student petition in accordance with the SU's Constitution.UCC has a history when it comes to campaigns regarding the Eighth Amendment. In 2009 the "Students For Life" Society was suspended following complaints from students who were not allowed set up a "Pro-Choice" Society. Three years ago Student Council passed a hotly debated motion calling for the Deputy President & Campaigns Officer to "campaign for the provision of abortion services in Ireland." This mandate had a short timeline of only a month, but was looked at as UCCSU's official stance on the issue until it and other mandates were deleted under last year's controversial "Wipe the Slate" motion. On the other side of the issue, the application for a 'Love Life' society was rejected by the UCC Societies Guild in 2013/14, with their application going to a court of appeals of all society Auditors. The application was again rejected by this court of appeals, with no new application being made publicly.The petition was reportedly worded in a way that suggests the referendum will be on whether or not the SU should campaign to repeal the Eighth Amendment, but the Students' Union are considering a "For, Neutral, Against" ballot system used by other Universities in the past.