The draft Public Assemblies Bill is, at best, an unforgivably clumsy piece of legislative drafting, implicating all public assemblies, no matter how innocuous, spontaneous or legitimate, in a constrictive and disproportionate new regime ostensibly aimed only at curing recurrent problems involving “contentious parades”. At worst, it is an inexplicably insidious intrusion into the fundamental right of free assembly.
BY LORCAN MULLEN
Union vice-presidents Barry Duffy and Paul Lilly have survived no-confidence motions brought before last night’s special meeting of the student representative council. The Space played host to a vigorous debate over the efficacy of the sabbatical officers, with councillors Damien Corridan and Anne Pauli presenting well-reasoned, well-researched critiques of the work of the ‘Chuckle Brothers’.
BY LORCAN MULLEN AND CONNOR DALY
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Council Meeting Report: 29/04/2010The Space last night played host to the latest in a series of fractious meetings of the Union’s student representative council. While the prevailing cliché casts students as apolitical layabouts, successive spirited meetings of the body have shown ego clashes and institutional bickering at least to be clearly transcendent of both age and stereotype.
Speaker Alex Redpath addressed councillors’ concerns after the last meeting’s failed vote of no-confidence; votes of no-confidence have been scheduled for VPs Barry Duffy and Paul Lilly at a planned Extraordinary Meeting on May 12th; The Gown’s office suspension was debated and President-Elect Gareth McGreevy’s controversial SUTV plans were reaffirmed.
BY KERRI-ANNE CAMPBELL AND LORCAN MULLEN
Adam McGibbon, the recently elected Union vice-president for welfare, is set for a second daunting electoral challenge this semester, successfully landing the Green Party’s nomination for Belfast South in the upcoming UK general elections. Queen’s University is situated in this constituency.
BY LORCAN MULLEN
Illustration by Niall Mooney (click to view)
The Gown’s news editor, Lorcan Mullen, had a report published in today’s Education Guardian. This report stemmed from The Guardian’s interest in the front story of The Gown’s last issue (‘Leaked Government report: freeze fees, raise grants’).
To read The Guardian’s report online click on the link below.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/feb/23/university-tuition-fees-cap-northern-ireland
A ‘confidential’ government document seen by The Gown has revealed the interim findings of the government-commissioned review into fees and student support in Northern Ireland. The government review, chaired by Joanne Stuart, head of the Institute of Directors in Northern Ireland, has reached a series of conclusions that spell rare good news for the average student in this torrid economic situation.
BY LORCAN MULLEN