On World Mental Health Day (October 10th), Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris launched the first National Student Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Framework to support students’ wellbeing. The report is preceded by a foreword where Minister Harris accounts for the mental health impact of “a year like no other.” “For students, it…

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has warned the government that the “exploitation” of student nurses has been intensified by the pandemic. “Our students are being taken for granted,” INMO General Secretary, Phil Ní Sheaghdha, said. “They are facing huge workloads and risking COVID infection. And while they are doing indispensable work, they are…

Level 5 restrictions, part of the Government’s ‘Living With Covid Plan’ took effect in the Republic of Ireland on Wednesday, October 21st 2020. With many businesses closing and people asked to only travel within 5 kilometres from their homes, only leaving for exercise and the provision of essential goods. Simon Harris, Minister for Higher Education,…

Third-level students are to each receive a once-off payment of €250 euro in a government plan to offset the financial impact of the pandemic on young people, the Budget 2021 revealed. The fund of €50 million is to be divided amongst students who are in receipt of SUSI grants or have paid the €3,000 student…

For most students, their lecture timetable will be unaffected by the Government’s recent escalation to Level 5 restrictions as part of their ‘Living with Covid’ plan. This is due to the fact that Universities and other third level institutes have been operating under Level 3⁠—lectures hosted primarily online⁠—since the beginning of term. As previously reported…

Even though campaigns, collaborations and campus activity bear virtually no resemblance this academic year to previous years’, this does not mean they are not occurring, or are anyway weakened by the shift to an online platform. In accordance with the Government’s public health advice, all activity pertaining to third level institutions are occurring in a…

Due to the Government’s implementation of Level-3 regulations for the entire country, it is now evident that universities, including UCC, will remain operating on a virtual level for the foreseeable future. UCC was already acting in accordance with Government directions, stating that lectures were to be ‘delivered online to the maximum extent possible.’ This directive…

Freshers’ Week 2020 was nearly unrecognisable from previous years. The new cohort of students were welcomed to UCC in a virtual manner, in accordance with public health advice. However, as with every aspect of society, there were a minority of students that did not adhere to the current Government regulations relating to Covid-19 and the…

Images and videos of large crowds of NUIG students gathered for Freshers’ Week acted as a “massive slap in the face” to their peers and the rest of the country, says NUIG Student Welfare Officer Róisín Nic Lochlainn. The footage of gatherings at the Spanish Arch, Shop Street, and Wood Quay in Galway city appeared…

Government advice at the beginning of October asserted that all counties would go to Level-3 of the National Health Plan until October 27th. Since late September, universities across the country have operated under Level-3 conditions – effectively closing UCC with minor exemptions. Under these restrictions, UCC Students’ Union understood their planned Virtual Freshers’ Week of…