WHILE PRESIDENT Michael D Higgins earned a standing ovation for his speech, his former Labour colleague Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn, in contrast, raised the hackles of delegates for “snubbing” an opportunity to address the congress.
USI president Gary Redmond accused Mr Quinn of “running scared” from the reception he might have received for breaking electoral promises on fees.
Mr Higgins’s address touched on problems he, and much of his audience, saw in the education system, the erosion of values in society during the boom and how young people ought to play a central role in revitalising Ireland.
A reference to one of his first periods in office, as president of the UCG students’ union some 47 years ago, drew laughter and applause.
“I actually organised one of the very first student protests back in 1965,” he said, explaining that the demonstration was over landladies in Galway moving students into shared rooms or out of their lodgings in favour of tourists who were willing to pay more.
“We went from the Archway out to Salthill,” he recalled. “I remember the placards well. They were funny ones because we were all very original at the time. One said, I remember, ‘Three in a Bed is too Many’. Probably we reached a stage, while I was later in university, where people would say ‘three in a bed is not enough’.”
An analogy about the buccaneering nature of Irish society for much of the last 15 years, which he said placed a financial rather than human focus on how citizens were valued, was also well received.
“It was quite different, I might say, from Pirates of the Caribbean because, even in the film, you were allowed rather some gentler side of the Caribbean and of the pirates, but in this case none.
“It was unending, open acquisitiveness and the way of the world and these assumptions were very much superior to any other considerations.”
Mr Redmond said that morale on college campuses “isn’t good at all”, with concerns about job prospects, rising third-level fees and funding cuts – matters seen as consequences of the actions of the aforementioned pirates – responsible.
Mr Higgins also praised the USI for its campaigning in the area of mental health in recent times, a gesture that left USI welfare office Scott Ahearn taken aback.
“Oh my God,” Mr Ahearn said. “It’s an honour to be acknowledged by the President of Ireland. I don’t think many people can say that. I’m only 25. I can’t wait to ring my dad.”
