Kiltoom native bids to be next UCD students' union president

At his home in Kiltoom, Edward Leonard is in the midst of an election campaign like no other.

The 23-year-old is in his final year studying law with politics in UCD, and is one of three candidates currently bidding to become the next president of its students' union.

With in-person campaigning ruled out due to the pandemic, Edward is running an entirely virtual campaign ahead of the online voting in the students’ union election on March 31 and April 1.

"It's definitely strange," he says. "The whole attraction to student elections was always about going around to talk to people, and going from building to building.

"That couldn’t happen this year, so instead you are staring into a screen, messaging people, putting posts into groups, putting posts on Facebook and different social media, hoping you'll get traction. It's uncharted territory for everyone."

The former Marist College student published his election manifesto last Friday, and his local GAA club, St Brigid's, has posted social media messages in support of his campaign.

To further underline the strangeness of these times, Edward has not actually been based on campus in Belfield since December 2019. That's because, at the start of last year, he went to study abroad at Stockholm University.

The pandemic meant that he only got to spend 60 days in Stockholm, flying out on January 17, 2020, and returning to Ireland on St Patrick's Day.

"(Sweden) was very against locking up (due to the pandemic), but then the college went online so I decided to come home," he explains.

"It was a different way of life there, and a different learning environment. I was still happy that I went, but it was disappointing that it finished so early."

Since then he has been studying from home - "college in the bedroom" as he puts it - and he decided to run for the students' union presidency having been involved in student and youth politics throughout his time in UCD.

He is currently a students' union class representative and previously served as the UCD SU Law College officer.

"I've always enjoyed helping out my classmates and others in UCD, representing and being a voice for the students," he says.

"I feel that I have both experience and a fresh perspective. I know how the students’ union works but I’ve also seen it from the outside and hopefully I can put the two together and be a good representative for the student body."

His campaign slogan - 'Setting the Wheels In Motion' - is a light-hearted nod to the fact that Edward is a wheelchair user.

"I wanted it to be funny and serious as well," he says. Politically, he has been a Fianna Fáil supporter in the past but is not currently involved with the party.

Asked about the main issues on which he is campaigning for the students' union presidency, he says: "The main one is showing students what the students' union does and making sure they know that it's always there for them, and how they can benefit from it.

"It's about campaigning for different supports across the campus, reduced rent prices, greater amenities, and - this year more than ever - having course content available online was a big issue."

He said some course lectures during the pandemic have been pre-recorded rather than delivered live, which was unsatisfactory as it was further limiting the opportunities for student engagement.

"For a student, a lecture might be the only opportunity that you get to interact with someone, especially if you're living alone," he points out.

Up to the end of 2019, he lived in on-campus accommodation, and he said that the sky-high rental costs facing students in Dublin was another area of concern.

"(With on-campus accommodation) you’re being told you either have the option of paying €7,000 to €8,000 for a room, a shared kitchen, and a bathroom for nine months, or else you have to commute.

"It's two and a half hours a day there and back (to commute from Athlone), so commuting is just not feasible. I want to ensure that every student can have access to education and that there are no barriers to it.

"Rent prices on campus in UCD have been going up steadily since I've been there, so it's about ensuring that there are rent freezes on campus and that no student is being forced to pay extraordinary rent prices."

With the start of the voting now less than two weeks' away, Edward said there was a lot of uncertainty about how this online election would go.

"We don't know what engagement is going to be like, and how many people are going to turn out," he says.

"I've been messaging people, putting posts into groups, and trying not to annoy people too much!

"It's easier for people to tune out than it would be in other times, when you're going up to them and handing them a piece of paper. We'll just have to see how it goes," he concludes.