Lecarrow's Shane takes over as DCU Students' Union President

By Rebekah O'Reilly

Lecarrow native Shane Frawley Murphy officially took office as Dublin City University (DCU) Students’ Union President in June.

Son of Stephen Murphy and Tracy Frawley, Shane grew up in the South Roscommon village of Lecarrow with his siblings Conor (20) and Finn (13). He attended Athlone Community College, where he first developed an interest in politics during Transition Year. Shane went on to study Economics, Politics, and Law in DCU, from which he will be graduating this October.

“I’ve always had an interest in politics, and in the way decisions are made in Government,” Shane said, when asked what made him pursue the role of Students' Union President.

“Being a student is changing. With the cost of living and the political climate, it’s gotten much harder for families to send their children to college. People are commuting over an hour and a half to campus, and they don’t know where their next meal is coming from.”

In his final year, Shane was actively involved in the Students’ Union and various college societies. “I could see that coming up to Dublin for lectures was becoming difficult, and that’s where the motivation came from for me,” he said. Shane was elected as Students' Union President in March of this year, following a campaign based around lowering student fees, easing the burden of the accommodation crisis, and ensuring student wellbeing.

Having officially taken up the role in June, Shane said the real work begins on September 8, when students return to campus.

“It’ll be all boots on the ground to make life easier for students, and to make life easier for students’ families,” he added.

Reflecting on his election, Shane said: “It was definitely a proud moment on a personal level. There are over 20,000 students in DCU, likely bigger than the Athlone electoral area. It wasn’t something I stumbled into; they wanted me, and I wanted to do the work for them. Now the focus shifts to actually looking after them and doing what they asked me to do.”

The DCU Students’ Union is part of the national body, the Union for Students in Ireland (Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn), representing more than 360,000 third-level students across the country. Shane believes that his team can create real change over the next year and lay the groundwork for future generations of students.

“A year is a relatively short time in the grand scheme of things. The list of things that we can do that would benefit students and their families [is] longer than I have time to rattle off.

“My hope is that, at the end of the term, we can look back and say we did make a difference for students, we did make their lives easier. That doesn’t necessarily mean getting everything done, but if we can lay foundations so that the next team can finish the work, then that’s success.”

With a busy year ahead of him, Shane added that he’s looking to spending his weekends at home in Lecarrow.

“That’s my downtime, being with family and friends. Even though the job follows me everywhere, going back to Lecarrow at the weekend keeps me grounded.”