USI-AMLÉ is on Life Support: Do we Issue a DNR Notice or Re-Engage?

By Current Affairs Reporter Jack Walsh

During the recent UCC student union elections, a referendum on whether the UCCSU should remain affiliated with USI-AMLÉ was held. Due to the frankly lacklustre campaign ran by USI-AMLÉ to encourage UCC students to vote ‘yes’, I found myself asking more and more questions about the organisation. When the referendum failed to meet quorum (for the second time in as many years) we stayed affiliated by default. This seemed entirely unsatisfactory, and I wondered if there was a deeper meaning to USI-AMLÉ’s apparent reluctance to draw attention to the referendum. As turns outs, there was. It seemed symptomatic of wider issues, that on further examination, led me to reach the conclusion that USI-AMLÉ is on life support.

I was warned that once you go down the rabbit hole of student union politics, it’s very hard to get out. The following article is the result of my deep dive on USI-AMLÉ over the last few weeks, and perhaps proves the aforementioned point. So, with fair warning of what’s to come, let’s begin to unpick whether USI-AMLÉ deserves to be resuscitated.

What is USI-AMLÉ?

It’s probably worth establishing, as seemingly a good chunk, if not a majority, of the student body are not aware, what USI-AMLÉ actually is. The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) or Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn (AMLÉ) is the national representative body for the more than 360,000 affiliated students in third level education on the Island of Ireland.

Immediately, I ran into problems with this description. First of all, I discovered that because of a trilateral agreement between the NUS, USI and NUS-USI, member organisations (MOs) from the NUS-USI region (the North) have an equal say as MOs from the Republic in the running of USI. While I am a big advocate of cross-boarder cooperation, my more practically minded sensibilities were somewhat confounded at having two jurisdictions, which have extremely different education sectors, tied together in this fashion. Trying to create a cohesive policy for the Republic and the North is a lot like trying to fit a round peg in a square hole as what works for the North may not work for the Republic and vice versa.

Secondly, it became apparent to me that USI-AMLÉ is more akin to a representative organisation of the individual MOs: a union for students’ unions. Indeed, its own constitution states it is a ‘confederation of Students’ Unions’ and while individual students are classed as ordinary members, from speaking with people involved in the movement, very little effort is sought to facilitate their engagement outside of the MOs with only online options offered for ordinary members to attend Comhairle Náisiúnta and little effort made to engage those who  bother to show up. Whether you believe that USI-AMLÉ should be just a representative body for MOs or a super-sized students’ union like the MOs themselves may be influenced by what comes next.

What’s wrong with USI-AMLÉ?

Let’s begin with democratic legitimacy. All student unions face a challenge on this front. In UCC, for example, turnout at the most recent set of SU elections was just under 14 per cent (TCD was 12 per cent) while the 27 per cent turnout in 2020 for UCC was the highest it’s been in recent times. USI-AMLÉ can only dream of reaching such figures. In the case of UCC and TCD, turnout for their respective USI-AMLÉ elections this year, to elect the Coiste Gnó, was an abysmal 0.4 per cent in the case of UCC and >1 per cent for TCD.

Any organisation requires by-in from its members in order to achieve the necessary legitimacy to pursue an agenda. Imagine if turnout was at these levels for general elections? Whatever about legitimacy concerns when turnout hovers around the 60 per cent mark, if it dropped to levels seen in student union politics the system would simply cease to function. So why is student union politics different? It shouldn’t be. Leaving aside the individual MOs and their voter turnout, if USI-AMLÉ is to sustain its assertion that it is a truly democratic organisation this involves having adequate buy-in from its members. At the moment it doesn’t have this. Coupled with other structural problems, it makes for a gloomy picture.

Comhdháil: The Elephant in the Room

The big-ticket item on the USI-AMLÉ calendar every year is Comhdháil. It tends to attract a lot of attention, mostly negative (you only need to search #usi24 or #usi23 on X) and is held up as being emblematic of USI-AMLÉ’s current rather sorry state. The annual congress is often dismissed as a booze-filled get together in some swanky hotel where nothing is achieved. Yes, there are some positives before getting to the negatives. It is an opportunity for MOs to network, forge connections and come together in solidarity to seek solutions for the many challenges facing students. However, in its current broken state – much like USI-AMLÉ itself – the negatives vastly outweigh the positives.

Firstly, there’s the cost. Booking out a 4-star hotel for a couple of hundred delegates over four days doesn’t come cheap: in excess of €92,000 in fact. Furthermore, despite every UCC full-time student contributing €5 per year for USI membership as part of the capitation fee, UCCSU has to pay €400 per delegate in order to attend Comhdháil. In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis and when students face dire accommodation struggles, is this really the right message to be sending? Especially when there are many ways to significantly reduce costs. Suggestions put to me included sourcing cheaper accommodation such as hostels, hosting it at a university where conference facilities would be cheaper or free, holding portions of it online, and not printing a copy of the hefty Clár for all 300+ delegates.

Then there’s the drinking. Don’t get me wrong. I like a party as much as the next person, but when you’re working - which delegates who attend Comhdháil are supposed to be - laying off the alcohol until the evening isn’t too big of an ask. It’s really playing into negative student stereotypes when some people can’t keep off the drink when they are meant to be representing their student members by following motions and debates. Thankfully, from speaking with 2024 delegates, it appears that this year the drinking culture seemed to have improved in addition to the quorum issues of last year which was nearly beyond a joke.

Leaving the above critiques aside, fundamental issues with Comhdháil still remain, from the strict control exerted by the Coiste over the agenda to the inability to amend motions on the floor. The characterisation of debates being a ‘talking shop’ with a tendency for the same voices to crop up again and again was deemed fair by those who have attended. A robust mechanism for holding officers accountable is also lacking with a desire from attendees to see more direct questioning of the Coiste Gnó. 

What are The Solutions?

As with any problem, there are solutions. USI-AMLÉ is no exception. I hope, at this point, my reasoning behind the headline has become apparent. USI-AMLÉ is on life support, suffering from a lack of democratic legitimacy, multiple structural problems, and prolonged inertia. The diagnosis may be damning, but remedies exist.  

There are two clear options as I see it for resuscitating the organisation. The first is to go nuclear which would see UCCSU leave, severing its affiliation with USI-AMLÉ. This might give the organisation the jolt it so desperately needs. However, given that two referendums have failed to meet quorum in recent times, without an orchestrated campaign advocating a ‘no’ vote this option seems unlikely to happen, or even desirable if the organisation is worth saving. Furthermore, if UCDSU, the largest SU in the country, can leave and no changes are made, a departure by UCCSU mightn’t have the desired effect.

The second option involves trying to reform from within: not from the top down but the bottom up. On this front, change is apparently already underway. An emergency motion tabled by UCCSU president-elect Katie Halpin-Hill was successfully passed during Comhdháil 2024. It seeks to reform USI-AMLÉ by means of a constitutional assembly, modelled on the Irish Citizens’ Assembly looking at issues such as the aims of USI-AMLÉ, its legal status, how representatives are held to account, and how it engages with the grassroots. In the words of one observer, it takes the ‘power away from the union hacks’ who clearly have proved unable, or unwilling, to implement meaningful constitutional change. Electoral reform for the Coiste Gnó may also be on the cards via another route, with a motion by TCDSU successfully passed mandating the exploration of direct elections which would address some of the accountability issues.

Should We Save USI-AMLÉ?

This may come as a surprise given what I’ve said thus far, but I fundamentally believe USI-AMLÉ should be saved. Despite its many, many faults USI-AMLÉ, and indeed the broader student union movement, is vitally important. SUs are in themselves a powerful force for good. Leaving aside their more ‘political’ aspects, they provide important services to students. Take our own union here in UCC. Over the last twelve months it has organised food banks, distributed free sanitary products, organised commuter breakfasts, a tenancy rights campaign, and numerous social events. However, all SUs need to become better at showing students what their unions do, and can do, for them.

With regard to USI-AMLÉ, its particular inability to deliver for students over the last few years is crippling and driving further disenfranchisement. The organisation’s glory days, spoken about longingly by those involved in the SU movement, should not be confined to the past. If the attitude of change present at this year’s Comhdháil is sustained, then there’s a chance to really save the organisation. It will have to be from the bottom up as required to enact lasting change and if it’s not grasped, or if this change is resisted from above, then USI-AMLÉ doesn’t deserve to survive.

Instead, it should receive the DNR notice many still believe it deserves.