Political discussion society
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The Political Discussion Society was established in 1967 to ensure discussion of issues of national and international importance. The Society is politically oriented without a political agenda and reaches out to all facets of the student body culminating in a cross section of the University. We see it as our role to promote amongst the student populace and the broader centre of population in the West of Ireland, an awareness of the issues affecting contemporary Ireland.
The Society meets every Monday evening at 8pm in the O' Flaherty Theatre in the National University of Ireland, Galway.
[edit] Campaigns
Politics in our Time was the principal campaign of 2004/2005. The aim of the campaign was to reach to out all facets of society and help highlight politics as a vital element in the lives of all. Our aim was to raise awareness of Politics in NUI Galway, and through this campaign we hoped that politics would be perceived as a vibrant and appealing component of University life.
Meetings of Politics in Our Time include G.A.A. Commentator Michael O Muireachtaigh, Actor Mick Lally, Minister for Community Rural and Gaeltact Eamon O Cuiv T.D. and Aengus O Snodaigh TD Sinn Féin Whip in Leinster House and spokesperson on Justice and Equality and International Affairs. Leader of S.D.L.P Mark Durcan, to name but a few.
There were campaigns on campus with information desks supplying information regarding United Nations, The European Union, Past Presidents of Ireland, Irish Political Parties and The European Constitution. We found that this campaign targeted people who might not attend our meetings regularly and so kept them updated with political information.
The society also visited Dáil Eireann followed by visiting RTÉ Studios for Questions and Answers where members of the Society partook in asking the panel Questions. We also brought thirty members of the society to Brussels in February to visit the European Parliament and Commission. Special thanks to Sean O Neachtain MEP North West Constituency for helping us organize the trip .
Women in Politics The Women in Politics Campaign begun in 2004/2005 and was a new initiative highlighting the increasing role that women are taking in political life at a national and international level. The Society hosted a number of meetings during the term to illustrate the enhanced contribution of women in politics and the historical contribution of women in the past.
Meetings included Mary Lou McDonald a member of the Sinn Fein Ard Chomhairle and MEP for Dublin. She previously worked as a consultant for the Irish Productivity Centre, a researcher for the Institute of European Affairs and a trainer in the trade union sponsored Partnership Unit of the Educational and Training Services Trust. She previously worked for the party in coordinating the work of Sinn Féin elected representatives across the island.
Dana Rosemary Scallon in 1997 became a candidate for the office of President of Ireland though an independent candidate with no party political organisation behind her, she came in a credible third, ahead of the candidate of the mainstream Irish Labour Party. In 1999, again as an independent, she contested and won a seat in the European Parliament representing the Connacht- Ulster European Elections constituency.
Nell McCafferty was born in 1944 in Derry. She graduated from Queen′s University, Belfast and then studied in France. She was on the dole for two years in Derry, with sporadic employment as a substitute teacher, before finding her true calling in her late twenties when she became a journalist. In over thirty years in that profession she has been one of Ireland′s most controversial commentators.
