Wholihane chosen as Guild President Elect

After securing the support of 59 of the 81 Auditors in attendance, Jerome Wholihane was elected the Societies’ Guild President for the 2015/16 academic year last Thursday.Wholihane, who this year served as the Guild’s Policy and Sponsorship Officer, held off competition from Rob O’Sullivan and Aisling Ivers who received 11 votes apiece.Following the announcement of the results, Wholihane was over-joyed with the outcome: “I’m delighted to have been elected and can’t wait to work with the great team of OCMs [Ordinary Committee Members] and the Finance Officer that got elected as well. I'm excited to build on the great work that Aaron [O’Sullivan] and the outgoing Guild Exec have done this year.“My main priorities once taking office will be working on the Student Hub project, developing a communications strategy and developing our plans around alumni links and showcasing society members’ employability. The number one thing, though, will be meeting with all the OCMs and working with them to see what their core goals for this year are as well.”In a change to previous Societies Guild AGMs, the Finance Officer position was directly voted upon by Auditors. The position, which was won by Kyle Malone in an uncontested race, was previously filled by one of the elected OCMs.Among Malone’s key aims is a desire to offer further support for societies who wish to travel abroad for non-competitive purposes. Within his manifesto, the current Pharmacy Society Auditor outlined the need for a concrete policy to be introduced in relation to these trips, in order to ensure smaller societies are not precluded.Whilst gender equality has been a longstanding issue for several bodies within UCC, the Guild will once again find itself at the fore in combating this problem. The addition of an eighth position has resulted in an exact 50/50 gender balance on next year’s Executive, although it has now been six years since a woman held the office of either Clubs or Societies President.The remaining six OCM positions were filled by Cliadhna Dineen, Pat McCarthy, Paidi Brady, Kelly Doherty, Cassie McElligott and Daniel O'Driscoll, with Anna Heverin narrowly missing out. Dineen earned the strongest backing from those in attendance, receiving a total of 72 votes. McCarthy and Brady received 64 and 63 votes respectively, while Doherty, McElligott and O’Driscoll each earned 61 votes.