By Zöe Percival.

Third year Communications student David Keyes is one of the candidates running for Students’ Union President this year. Although having never run for a position on the union before, he’s hoping this will be his opportunity to bring change around campus. 

His manifesto isn’t complicated, and it’s clear that he’s all about affordability. 

He describes DCU as being in, “an expensive part of the world”, and ultimately, “students will feel that pinch”. 

His first priority is working with Nubar, to bring in student friendly pricing. In his words, “It’s nearly as expensive, or more expensive to buy a pint there than it is across the road in the Slipper”. He believes there’s no reason that a student bar should be so expensive and expressed his concerns for creating cheaper nightlife on campus.

Another one of the key points he wants to get across is the opportunity for DCU to make more use of its own spaces.

“I feel DCU has a great opportunity to have more events than what it has currently, obviously there are great events on campus at the moment but I feel, especially with spaces like the Venue, there’s no reason why there shouldn’t be more live events happening there,” Keyes has observed.

He plans to do this by utilising the already existing Trad and DJ societies. Working alongside Clubs and Socs, he plans to increase funding for inhouse events. His experience with the DJ Society in his first year is what sparked this idea, “all the events were outside of campus, or if they were on campus they were in a classroom or the U building”. 

In regards to Trad society, who hold their weekly sessions in Carthy’s Pub in Drumcondra, David believes, “there’s no reason why they can’t have their events in Nubar or the Venue”. 

As well as that, having held the position of vice chairperson and equipment officer for the Hiking society, he understands the importance of clubs and societies.

“We started the society in second year. It was a new society, and building it was a great experience,” he added.

Urging the promotion of new clubs and societies, he wants to, “have a space and show that there is an opportunity, if there’s an interest there to create different societies”. 

When it comes to student housing, David is living in private accommodation.

“I’ve been there for the past three years, it’s just above a pub”, he laughs, “it’s brilliant”. 

When asked about student accommodation at DCU, he can’t share his lived experience and simply says what he’s heard, “I’ve been told through friends who have been in the student accommodation that it works like a lottery, and not being able to get accommodation at DCU means having to go to private accommodations which have extortionate prices”. 

He mentions another candidate, Peter Lawlor. 

“Peter was on about housing. I definitely advocate for it, I feel if I were to get into office I would strive for cheaper housing and work behind the scenes with AMLÉ,” the candidate stated. 

He maintains that affordable housing is something he has his concerns about, but iterates that, “my main focus would be on more controllable things”.

Looking back at the work of Shane Murphy, DCU’s current Student Union President, he expresses that, “Shane and his work have been brilliant, he’s very hands on and engaging with the student body, he’s done a fantastic job”. 

At the same time, he mentions shortcomings that he wants to avoid, “ for instance, parking. Not a lot has changed there, it’s not exactly a fault of his own but for my campaign I’m aiming to set out goals that are reachable and could be achieved”.  

David is about to start the brunt of his campaign this week, taking a calm approach he says, “we’ll do what we can”.