Come Here To Me!

Unlike some in this photo, Gary Redmond still has an elected job.

Some interesting news today, that the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) have re-elected Gary Redmond for a second term as President. Redmond of course was the USI President who moved quickly on November third last to condemn students engaging in “anti-social behaviour” before it was clear just what had happened at the Department of Finance on Merrion Row.

His union went on blame “left-wing’’ groups for the “destructive and anti-social violence”, and continued to hold this view even after the state broadcaster RTE broadcast incredible footage of the events at Merrion Row. It was surely unprecedented for the state broadcaster to raise such questions. A protest the following night was attended by well over 500 students, and not alone did Redmond not show: he issued another statement of condemnation.

The USI went on to call for the scrapping of the Croke Park Agreement, in a bizarre move out of touch with their historic links to education workers. Of course it was all unsurprising from the man who The Phoenix wrote “…can hardly be described as the Irish answer to Daniel Cohn-Bendit.” Of course Daniel Cohen-Bendit, for all his sins, was never a member of Fianna Fáil.

So, it’s another year in a Crumlin office for Redmond, and a bizarre chapter in the history of the Irish student movement continues. What are they like?