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