The King has left the Building

I was unsure whether or not to do a ‘Goodbye’ to the Student Movement Blog but I said ‘Why Not?’

So after 3 years, I move on from the world of Student Politics. Student Politics; that was always an expression I didn’t like, maybe it’s because I came from a smaller college where the role of the SU wasn’t to focus on Policy and wasn’t to analyse structures, but was simply to assist and support students and give them the best College Life they could. Even when the big fees debate started again 2 years ago I didn’t like hearing about ‘Student Politics’ I preferred students activism, but that’s just an opinion of mine.

I spent two great years in Tralee. In these 2 years I got to meet more people than I ever could’ve imagined. I remember many nights in an apartment in Sean Mhuileann, with a group of lads who I had the best craic of my life with, drinking cans and watching Prison break in the dark on a Thursday Night, and god forbid if anyone came in and opened the door while it was on.

I remember pretending I was hammered with Shane Hennessy on a Friday night after coming back from the Cinema, and him having a fake fight with Ryan O’ Donnell and Shane driving away only to come back crying and pretending he had crashed his car, crying ‘My mom is gonna kill me’.

I remember watching James Barry sitting on a speaker in Lady’s Lingerie on a fancy dress night with his legs covered in blood and leading the crowd in a dance. I remember spending 3 hours on the Monday before the Halloween Ball painting boxes for J.T. Deenihan’s amazing Optimus Prime costume. I remember Locking Katie Sheehy in the front office with a mouse while I cowardly hid in the back office shouting at her to ‘Ring Security. And I remember watching Jerry Fitzgerald be absolutely hammered after 2 pints when he was after finishing up his Drama Festival.

But besides all the beering and messing I feel I achieved so much for students. I hope that I did them proud. And no day will I ever be as proud to say that I was a President of the SU in Tralee as on November 20th 2008 when 1000 IT Tralee students marched the streets of Tralee. It was a moment that I will never forget, and it is one of the best feelings I ever had.

Tralee is a great place. I really enjoyed my time in the Union there and miss the students there.

And onto this year. I really didn’t know what to expect, a lot of people told me ‘Ah, you’ll never stick it out,’ and ‘You’ll be gone in 3 months’ and I have one thing to say, I’m still here. I have only one thing left on my manifesto complete, and that is a line saying, ‘I will not resign’ well at 5 o’ clock this evening, I will cross that line off. I also didn’t know what to expect from the COs in the south, in particular UCC was a CO I was worried about as really I didn’t know there team at all.

And on July 2nd when I went to visit them I was nervous to be honest, but when I did meet them, I was so relieved when they were such a nice bunch and they took me for a nice 5 star lunch. (Maybe they were trying to impress as much as I was). And I can say that I made so many new friends down their, in Ian Murphy and Daithi Linnane in particular, and of course Eoin, Ian, Shelly and Rebecca.

It was a year of so many twists and turns with the Week of protest, I sa a Union that I didn’t really know too much about and a Union who I guess when I first started, I didn’t expect a whole lot from, run an amzing protest in IT Carlow. Kate, Gary and Emma are 3 of the nices people that I have had the honour of working with this year. They are in the Union for the right reasons and they made my trips to Carlow memorable ones or unrememberable at times (I know that’s not a word).

I spent manys a day on probably on the worst road in Ireland the Waterford to Limerick road to go to LITSU. Limerick is a city I never really went to when i was growing up so my first few visits usually ended up in me getting lost. But when I found my way around it I always liked getting into the Union and chatting with the always happy Siobhan Young or the always chilled out Will Hickey. Will has this amazing ability to make everything seem like it’ll all be grand and it was always a refreshing experience to got to see him.

To my 2 ‘smaller’ colleges. Who says size matters? LSAD and TI are two place I might not have spent a whole lot of time in but they were 2 places that always seemed to have the craic. I’m delighted to see these 2 COs were back involved this year, and I hope they continue to be there next year. Sean Wynne is probably one of the craziest Bastards I’ve ever met and Darren O’ Sullivan wasn’t too far behind. And Darragh Scott is a man who can only strengthen TI because again he is there for the right reasons.

Going back to IT Tralee was always somewhat surreal. I always enjoyed it but it was always surreal. I have to say I’m proud of the job that the lads did this year. Katie lead the Union so efficiently and she can be incredibly proud of the job she did as President and I’m so happy to see that she took to new heights. And she was complimented by a brilliant pair in Ciara Enright and David Scott who always put their heart and soul into everything they did. And now it’s a complete honour to see my old friend from Cois Ceim Scotty is taking up the mantle as president. And he has two great officers in Mick Thompson and Katie Ni Shithigh.

And finally WITSU. What can I say that I haven’t said already. I am honoured to have shared an office with you this year, Murph I always enjoyed the banter about Politics that I didn’t really understand. Paddy Mc . . To be honet Paddy I didn’t know what to expect from him, but he made my job so much easier. Paddy put his heart and soul into the year and did a job he can be proud of. Paddy was probably th most liked officer in the country and I can honestly say  I wouldn’t have gotten through the year without him. Thanks Paddy.

And Cabbage, 3 years I’ve worked with you and after 3 years I can say I consider you one of my best friends. I couldn’t have asked for anyone else who could take over as Southern Area Officer, I’m delighted it’s you. Enjoy it. I have no doubts Cathy will do an exceptional job. She is a hero.

I’m not finished with the cheese yet. To all the friends I’ve made over the years in USI, in particular Martin Dunne, Michael Fogarty, Rory O’ Connor and the one and only Luke McGahon, good luck in the future.

Luke McGahon is another man who I have to thank for all his help over this year and over the last 3 years. He has done so much for me and he is an absolute hero.

To the Officer board I worked with, Peter, Dan, Hugh, Ciaran, Linda, Laura, Chris, McGarrigle, Aodhan and Kim, cheers for a great year. We may not have always agreed but I think we can be proud of the year we put in and proud that finally USI had no resignations this year.

To Nora, I just want to say thanks for all the help you gave me. Thanks for everything. You’ll never know how thankful I am.

I’m proud of they year I’ve put in. I may not have always made the right decision but I hope that everyone always understood that I was there with the best interests of the Students and of the organisation. I leave this mad Students’ Union bubble a very different man (about 2 stone heavier haha), I leave as someone who is a completely different person to the one who walked in.

I look back on the 3 years, and with all the BS that I’ve gone through, if I could go back and do it all over again, I would do it in a heartbeat.

So Ladies and Gentlemen, The King of the South has left the building.