Students Urged to Have a Safe Christmas !

by Hazel - USS Fri Feb 11, 2005 00:46 hazel.nolan at gmail dot com 0879050713

My name is Hazel Nolan and this year I am President of USS, as for being from D4, well that’s a matter of opinion personally I don’t think cork is that near Dublin but I am sure someone will have a differing opinion (no one on the USS board is from D4). As regards to being run by third level students, only second level students can run for positions and vote in USS. In regards to the press release, we were not condoning under age sex/drinking, neither were we not “not condoning” underage sex/alcohol. What we WERE saying was that we hoped that whatever students decided to do themselves that they would make sure they did it safely.

As for “They do nothing but issue press releases and take cash of the government”, though as the official representative for the organisation I should and rightly so be angered by this bizarre statement, I am not, as it is obvious that the person doesn’t have the slightest idea about anything in relation to the organisation, and such a petty statement was born out of ignorance.

We have students involved right across the country, from all stages in the second level education system and our membership is growing all the time, in four years we have grown to have over 44 thousand members. We have students on our board from second year to sixth. We do not receive any financial funding or support in the form of resources from the government in any way shape of form. We are one of the only organisations in Europe not to receive funding from the government.

As President it is my firm belief that any organisation is only as strong as its grass roots, this is a view that is shared by all those involved. We travel to schools all over the country and help them with their student councils, we represent students at events where otherwise the student voice would be ignored, as it had been before we were founded, and we finance every inch of this ourselves. We have students on a daily basis contacting us looking for help and advice. Any second level student in Ireland is fully entitled to come to our meetings and vote. We have students involved all the time, not just at our meetings, in our projects. However the fact that we don’t receive funding means that we are restricted in the amount of work we can do, it is inevitable that we have to rely on sponsorship, which we would rather not- this is done because we do not believe that students should have to pay for their voice to be heard and not charging a membership fee means everyone can afford to become involved and represented.

At the end of the day you must form your own opinions, but I would ask that before hand you would at least take the time to research and find out about us before some of you launch into an attack based on completely false information, and think about the second level students that are showing huge commitment and dedication to developing and strengthening the student voice. If we were not doing this who would?

by Stephen Kelly Thu Feb 10, 2005 16:37

I was alerted to this interesting little story just last night by a friend of mine and I must say that I find it hilarious to the Nth degree.

I had no idea I was a member of FF, USS Watcher. Could you possibly inform me of the circumstances of my joining? Or even inform me of my voting habits? As I don't recall ever actually voting in favour of FF (or FG or the PDs, for that matter.)

Perhaps you would like to come out from behind that avatar of yours and THEN spread your salacious lies.

So, then, for the record:

I, Stephen Kelly, am not currently, have never been and shall never be a member of either Fianna Fail, Fine Gael or the Progressive Democrats, nor do I support the overall political positions of these parties.

Is that sufficient? What do I need to do to get it through the skulls and into the operating consciousness of you idiots? I mean, seriously. My role in the USS was that of secretary and I worked at mostly an administrative level i.e. replying to e-mails, organising meetings, keeping minutes etc. I was not heavily involved in any policy decisions.

I refuse to defend myself any further, though, against someone who can so conveniently keep a veil of anonymity (and, hence, irresponsibility.)

by Mary Sun Jan 23, 2005 21:05

I have heard that the USS is run by a majority of thrid level students. Is this true? If so how can they claim to be run by 2nd level students by 2nd level students. Its all a farce!!!
They always seem to be complaining but never doing anything worthwhile?
What is there latest project?
Exactly you only hear of them when their agms come up otherwise they have no opinions!!!

by former USS member Wed Jan 05, 2005 20:46

ACTIVITY
Pick up ONE issue that is important to secondary students (there are loads of them, eg low pay, drink laws, leaving cert pressure, CAO system, war in iraq, etc.). Get your member student councils to organise a protest in a central location. Stand outside schools that are not members and hand out leaflets.

FUNDRAISING
Each member student council should raise money. eg table quizes, non-uniform days, collections, etc. There should be no problem getting the funds together.

I was in the USS at time of strikes in 2001. I would not join them today as they are not doing any serious activity othere than issue idiotic press releases against "underage" sex.

by Juan Pablo Wed Jan 05, 2005 18:24

numbers wise that is,i put all my dollars on that it is strongest in D4 and the like....

by Oisin O Reilly - USS Tue Jan 04, 2005 23:06

Donations to USS should be arranged with Alison Doyle @ ussfundraiser@hotmail.com not the address i put up earlier !

by Oisin O Reilly - Union of Secondary Students Tue Jan 04, 2005 23:03 media at ussonline dot net 085 1421202

The USS is apolitical to stop yfg/ ypd etc. from storming the organisation and using it for political ends!

In relation to our conserativism if you read our press release you will see that we are encouraging 'seinsible drinking' and 'safe sex' not that we are discouraging it !

In relation to taking money from the government --- we do not !!! We recieve no government funding !

And we have achieved government recognition!

Membership in the last 12 months has increased by over 36,000 students and more and more join every day !

In relation to the political affiliations of past officers of the board I am frankly not interested ! They know we are apolitical !

In relation to the distribution of leaflets etc. !! €€€€€€ money money money ! We have none and what we do have is minimal and sparradic ! None of the officers of USS have their expenses paid or anything like that ! We are actually bankrolling USS on a daily basis ! (Contact Alison Doyle @ usswelfare@hotmail.com if you would like to give us some money)

Trying to get students active !! Easier said then done however we noe have an active membership of about 400 ! Not to bad if i do say so myself !

Protests we had one on November 30th ! Oh yeah are any of you members ??? Are you in second level education ???

maybe you would like to help out ! or meet with me !

just to let you know Barry Hickey and Stephen Kelly are no longer officers of the National Board !

Thanking You

Oisin O Reilly
Vice President
Union of Secondary Students

ussvp@hotmail.com

085 1421202

by USS watch Tue Jan 04, 2005 21:57

What anyone gets up to in their own privacy is no-one's business. So long as it's consensual it's not the job of the USS to "not condone" any sexual activity. They can of course say that safe sex is a good idea.

The members of the USS executive should be able to be in any party and should openly say which they're in. The current situation is where they are in parties pushing political positions (eg Hisckey and Kelly were pro-government) but are doing it in an "apolitical" way. It's a disgrace.

They should try to get students active. Lefleat schools, hold meetings and protests. Get active. Don't just sit back and take Government cash.

by pc Tue Jan 04, 2005 21:40

if there all yfg/ypd prove it.
"Barry Hickey is PD, Stephen Kelly is FF"

ok that's two...

to be fair the statement
"The USS does not condone "underage" sex or drinking"

was in response to someone occsuing of doing so, it was an attempt at an "safe" response which clearly does not work...

but that said you can't "set aside and membership or affiliations with a particular political party."

they should list them all ,for all to see

by USS watch Tue Jan 04, 2005 21:19

USS is one of the most conservative organisations going! They do nothing but issue press releases and take cash of the government. They say they are 'apolitical' but they are dominated by wannabe political careerists. Previous officers Barry Hickey is PD, Stephen Kelly is FF. There are plenty more.

The USS was established to get secondary students out onto the streets and to co-ordinate between student councils at time of 2001 ASTI strike. The USS today is a joke. They actually had a position of not supporting sutent walkouts. Their prime aim is to get government recognition as opposed to recruiting students around the country.

Just look at their latest press release! The USS does not condone "underage" sex or drinking. Fucking hell! Nothing wrong with drinking or sexual activity! Surely you are a Union of Students not a Union of Parents!!? USS probably more conservative than their own parents.

by Oisin O Reilly - Union of Secondary Students Tue Jan 04, 2005 19:48 media at ussonline dot net 0851421202

The Union of Secondary Students is an apolitical organisation and this is expressed quiet clearly in our Constitution ! All National Board Members when elected are well aware of this and are asked to set aside and membership or affiliations with a particular political party.

by Oisin O Reilly - Union of Secondary Students Tue Jan 04, 2005 19:30 media at ussonline dot net 0851421202

No if you would care to check our website you will see that this was posted on Tuesday 21st December 2004. Oboviously someone has posted this here.

Link to page with press release.

http://www.ussonline.net/news.cfm

Thank You - If you have any queries please forward them to media@ussonline.net

by pc Tue Jan 04, 2005 13:52

i wish they was a study body when I was in secondary school, just like students unions there alot of problems with them but _its better to have one then not_

if there all yfg/ypd prove it.... no representative body should be dominated by one poltical view or the other, the UCD student handbook is proof of that...

by Kris Kringle Mon Jan 03, 2005 22:22

Fair Play to this timely student campaign, with only over 300 days until Xmas, students need to be aware of all the pitfalls xmas throws up. Congratulations to all involved in this early warning.

by Claire Mc Namara - Union of Secondary Students Mon Jan 03, 2005 21:35 info at ussonline dot net 086 3740231

The USS does not condone underage sex and binge drinking but condones sensible drinking and safe sex. Yet again the USS must defend outlandish comments from a clearly conservative person with little reality perception of the way in which society has changed.