Greg DalyUCD students who believe their student union should cease calling for the repeal of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution have hailed as a moral victory a referendum defeat in the college.
UCD Students for Fair Representation (UCDSFFR) said they are “truly heartened and energised” by the campaign that ended with a 36% vote for the union to adopt a neutral stance on abortion. It currently supports the repeal of Ireland’s constitutional protections for the unborn, with the wider goal of legalising abortion on request.
While not all members of UCDSFFR, which initiated the referendum campaign, oppose abortion, the group’s members believe their union shouldn’t claim to represent over 30,000 students while adopting such a highly divisive stance. Energetic abortion campaigning, they say, has left some students feeling excluded from their union, while others have felt free speech was being infringed upon.
Commenting on the result of the vote, in which 4,761 students voted, a UCDSFFR spokesperson said the referendum has been a “major step forward” entailing one of the largest referendums in UCD history, and showing that a significant number of UCD students are unhappy with how their union represents then.
“We have broken the stigma of single-mindedness on this issue, and it has been truly heartening to hear healthy discussion echoing the halls of UCD around this referendum,” the spokesperson said.