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From top: Candidates running in this week’s University College Dublin’s Student Union executive elections and votes being sorted and counted in UCD this afternoon 

Votes are being counted in UCD after students voted in their Student Union executive elections yesterday and Tuesday.

The latest results from the counts this afternoon show Marcus O’Halloran is leading in the UCDSU President race – with 493 votes (36%) ahead of Michael Foley who has 365 votes (27%).

Earlier this week, Mr O’Halloran released an apology to students after it emerged he was a member of a Facebook group, called ‘Girls I’d shift if i was tipsy’.

University Observer reported on Monday:

“The group, which as of this morning was open and public, consists of male UCD students and appears to have existed since 2012, with most of the activity taking place this February. All of the group’s members are men, and an early post in the group reads “right lads all girls have been removed from this group so its now a lads only group hence ya can talk more freely about girls id like to shift if i was tipsy”.”

“The latest post in the group is a photo of two students captioned with “Bitta cross breeding going on here” and two emojis depicting a white person and a person of colour wearing a turban, while another recent post shows two students, one male and one female, asleep in a bed together. Most photos in the group depict couples in nightclubs.”

“Complaints made about the group also addressed UCDSU presidential candidate Marcus O’Halloran’s membership of the group. O’Halloran has been a member of the group for over a year and has “liked” the majority of the page’s posts, including the two mentioned above. 22 of the group’s 47 members have cover photos or profile photos endorsing Marcus O’Halloran’s campaign for president.”

In his apology, Mr O’Halloran said:

“This group is not representative of my opinions on women’s rights or gender equality. There is a “Lad” culture prevalent across UCD and as president, I would like to run a sexual harassment awareness campaign to combat cat-calling and the objectification of women.”

Concerns raised over “derogatory” UCD students’ Facebook group (University Observer)

Pics: UCD Students’ Union

H/T: Catherine Healy

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25 thoughts on “Ah, Lads

    1. Huh?

      In the actual apology, rather than the edited version here, he did try to explain himself:

      “I would like to sincerely apologise for my actions on this facebook page. I understand that liking these posts was unacceptable of me. I would like to make clear that my activity on this page was non-existent up until the 9th /10th February this year, and my presence came as a result of another party adding myself to the group. Liking these photos was not intended to cause harm, offence or objectification to any of the parties involved especially to the young women depicted. All parties portrayed in these photos are personal friends of mine and know about these posts. This group is not representative of my opinions on women’s rights or gender equality. There is a “Lad” culture prevalent across UCD and as president, I would like to run a sexual harassment awareness campaign to combat cat-calling and the objectification of women.

      If elected, I will strive to work with the gender equality coordinator and with societies on campus to create an environment where all students can enjoy their time at university without persistent and unwanted attention of a sexual nature. I recognise sexism is rampant on UCD campus, if elected as Student Union president I intend to combat sexism and to educate students on its effects. I will implement this in my first few months of presidency of the UCDSU.”

      1. Don Pidgeoni

        Hmm, not much of an apology tbh but it would be great if it did end up challenging #topladbants

      2. realPolithicks

        The problem with these apologies is that they only occur after the person is caught. The fact that he was a party to this facebook page in the first place says a lot more about his character than any apology he might issue.

    2. Neilo

      ‘Lad’ culture? Name a’Jaysus…the workday world will hammer out any kinks (he observed, green with envy of the student life).

  1. Seán O'Reilly

    No mention of one of O’Halloran’s opponents in the race being an ex-news editor of the Observer no?

  2. donkey_kong

    oh jaysus. . man judges women based on looks and then has to apologise.
    when will this PC horror end.

    1. Someone

      Man saying, wow, that woman is hot/beautiful/sexy or, she’s not my cup of tea is a little different from saying on a public online forum that you’d get up on her only if you were drunk.

  3. 15 cents

    .. but this is a student union election .. it doesnt matter. not in the real world. where the rest of us live.

  4. figleaf

    If the group doesn’t represent his opinions on women, why join and throw Likes around like a wally.
    He such a man.
    Down with Marcus O’Halloran.

  5. Jones

    Cue the winner spending the next ten years repeating, deferring and switching courses as he/she moves from one Soc/Union to another, thinking they’re Van Wilder and everyone’s mate only to realise at 29 that they still haven’t finished second year; their ‘mates’ are 20 and are only sociable with them to get cheap into nightclubs; and that wearing sweat pants during the day isn’t socially acceptable.

  6. Mr. T.

    It’s funny to watch the birth of future politicians. They’re all the head boy / head girl types from school who were always trying to make friends with the teachers.

    They grow up then making friends with business leaders and end up doing their bidding for them, for pats on the head and positions on various boards of directors.

    They never represent those who vote for them.

    1. Weedless

      Maybe the people who vote for them should remember that next time they’re in the polling booth rather than just recalling the time the candidate showed up to the right funeral.

  7. Joachim Gillespie

    493 votes = 36%, so 1369 voted for President.

    What’s the eligible electorate or whatever ya ma call it in UCD? Well over 10,000 anyway?

    So your average student in UCD doesn’t give a fupp about the student’s union, which tallies with my experience back in the day.

  8. dylan

    jeeaysus thats a low turnout. 493 votes secures a grand job and wage and gaff for the year. Unreal.

  9. illuminati16

    Always found those SU types to be complete knobs and absolutely no craic trying to make themselves craic Central . Real try hards

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