Lobby your local TD to support students.
At 11.11am On October 13th 2022, tens of thousands of students walked out of their lectures.
Now, we need to remind TDs why we walked out of lectures, and for them to support the USI Cost of College Campaign.
Who is my local TD?
If you go here, this will take you to a website to find out who your local TD is?
Already know who it is, but don’t know how to contact them? We created a list in the resources below that includes their email and their local and Oireachtas phone numbers!
How do I lobby them?
You have multiple ways to lobby them!
- Email them
- Phone their constituency or Oireachtas office
- Send them a letter or a USI Cost of College Postcard
All the ways to contact them can be found in the resources below!
Resources
Accommodation Demands:
Protect Renters
- Legislation to protect students in digs-style accommodation
- Continuing the eviction ban for students
- Legislative change to allow the RTB to intervene in disputes relating to security deposits
Reduce Rents
- Legislation to enact an immediate rental cap
- Establishing freezes on utility bills separate from rents
- Allowing the RTB to intervene in relation to security deposits
Subsidisation of affordable PBSA from public funds
- Building on public lands new and refurbished PBSA
- Specifically ensuring approved PBSA is affordable in conditions
- Re-establishing the interdepartmental group on student accommodation
Cost of College Demands
Abolishment of the Student Contribution Charge
- Abolition of the fee within the Lifetime of this Government
- Transparency on how non-EU and postgraduate fees are set
- Removing hidden course costs in materials and subsidies
Funding for the HE Sector (inclusive of SUSI reform and funding)
- Funding to increase SUSI grant levels to match the cost of living
- Increasing SUSI rates for all brackets to a living subsidy
- Increased funding to the sector to reduce the staff student ratio to the European average of 15:1
Minimum wage to match living wage
- The normalisation of wages for workers under 20 years old
- A PhD stipend of €28,000 following the PhD review
- A living wage based on the cost of living, not the median income
In these, we ask that you could include the demands of the walkout, but also crucially ask them to support the USI Cost of College campaign. The options available are email, calling and writing, but if you have any other questions or feedback, please email campaigns@usi.ie.
Emailing your TD
A template to email your TD can be found below. It is suggested that you make changes to this template for personalisation, as it is likely that template emails can easily go into their spam folder.
Calling your TD
A phone script is available on how to contact your TD. This is the most effective way to get in touch with someone from their office, but might be the most frustrating too depending on their response!
Writing to your TD
Using similar text to the email, writing to your TD can be done with just a bit more time. Your SU may also have Cost of College postcards, which if not can be requested as such and ordered from USI.
While this may be a slower action, this ensures a more likely response. Ensure to place a return address for responses, such as your home address or your SU’s address.
For students living in Northern Ireland – NUS-USI are running their #CostOfSurvival campaign, which will highlight to MPs their calls for students. This includes a cost of living payment for students, a rent freeze, and free public transport for students. More information on their campaign can be found here.
The objective of this campaign is to encourage your support of the Cost of College campaign. Following the walkout’s success, we encourage you to support our aims of tackling the student accommodation crisis, the cost of living for students and truly publicly funded Higher Education.
The full demands can be found under the tab “Our Demands”. If you wish to support the campaign, or want clarity on our asks, please email campaigns@usi.ie.
TDs will be given two weeks to respond to this. If a response has not been given by then, or you choose not to support the campaign, this will be noted as per the list below to show students who supports the Cost of College campaign, and who does not.
Sign the pledge to vote against those stopping change!
Want to show your support for the Cost of College campaign, and receive updates about future USI actions? Make sure to sign the petition, and ensure to click to approve email updates!
List of TDs to contact
For full contact details, please use this list which includes emails and phone numbers!
Name | Constituency | Party |
---|---|---|
Aindrias Moynihan | Cork North-West | Fianna Fáil |
Anne Rabbitte | Galway East | Fianna Fáil |
Barry Cowen | Offaly | Fianna Fáil |
Brendan Smith | Cavan-Monaghan | Fianna Fáil |
Cathal Crowe | Clare | Fianna Fáil |
Charlie McConalogue | Donegal | Fianna Fáil |
Christopher O'Sullivan | Cork South-West | Fianna Fáil |
Cormac Devlin | Dun Laoghaire | Fianna Fáil |
Dara Calleary | Mayo | Fianna Fáil |
Darragh O'Brien | Dublin Fingal | Fianna Fáil |
Éamon Ó Cuív | Galway West | Fianna Fáil |
Jack Chambers | Dublin West | Fianna Fáil |
Jackie Cahill | Tipperary | Fianna Fáil |
James Browne | Wexford | Fianna Fáil |
James Lawless | Kildare North | Fianna Fáil |
James O'Connor | Cork East | Fianna Fáil |
Jennifer Murnane O'Connor | Carlow-Kilkenny | Fianna Fáil |
Jim O'Callaghan | Dublin Bay South | Fianna Fáil |
Joe Flaherty | Longford-Westmeath | Fianna Fáil |
John Lahart | Dublin South-West | Fianna Fáil |
John McGuinness | Carlow-Kilkenny | Fianna Fáil |
Marc MacSharry | Sligo-Leitrim | Fianna Fáil |
Mary Butler | Waterford | Fianna Fáil |
Michael McGrath | Cork South-Central | Fianna Fáil |
Michael Moynihan | Cork North-West | Fianna Fáil |
Micheál Martin | Cork South-Central | Fianna Fáil |
Niall Collins | Limerick County | Fianna Fáil |
Niamh Smyth | Cavan-Monaghan | Fianna Fáil |
Norma Foley | Kerry | Fianna Fáil |
Pádraig O'Sullivan | Cork North-Central | Fianna Fáil |
Paul McAuliffe | Dublin North-West | Fianna Fáil |
Robert Troy | Longford-Westmeath | Fianna Fáil |
Sean Fleming | Laois | Fianna Fáil |
Seán Haughey | Dublin Bay North | Fianna Fáil |
Seán Ó Fearghaíl | Kildare South | Fianna Fáil |
Stephen Donnelly | Wicklow | Fianna Fáil |
Thomas Byrne | Meath East | Fianna Fáil |
Willie O'Dea | Limerick City | Fianna Fáil |
Alan Dillon | Mayo | Fine Gael |
Alan Farrell | Dublin Fingal | Fine Gael |
Bernard Durkan | Kildare North | Fine Gael |
Brendan Griffin | Kerry | Fine Gael |
Charles Flanagan | Laois | Fine Gael |
Ciarán Cannon | Galway East | Fine Gael |
Colm Brophy | Dublin South-West | Fine Gael |
Colm Burke | Cork North-Central | Fine Gael |
Damien English | Meath West | Fine Gael |
David Stanton | Cork East | Fine Gael |
Emer Higgins | Dublin Mid-West | Fine Gael |
Fergus O'Dowd | Louth | Fine Gael |
Frankie Feighan | Sligo-Leitrim | Fine Gael |
Heather Humphreys | Cavan-Monaghan | Fine Gael |
Helen McEntee | Meath East | Fine Gael |
Hildegarde Naughton | Galway West | Fine Gael |
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill | Dun Laoghaire | Fine Gael |
Joe Carey | Clare | Fine Gael |
Joe McHugh | Donegal | Fine Gael |
John Paul Phelan | Carlow-Kilkenny | Fine Gael |
Josepha Madigan | Dublin Rathdown | Fine Gael |
Kieran O'Donnell | Limerick City | Fine Gael |
Leo Varadkar | Dublin West | Fine Gael |
Martin Heydon | Kildare South | Fine Gael |
Michael Creed | Cork North-West | Fine Gael |
Michael Ring | Mayo | Fine Gael |
Neale Richmond | Dublin Rathdown | Fine Gael |
Paschal Donohoe | Dublin Central | Fine Gael |
Patrick O'Donovan | Limerick County | Fine Gael |
Paul Kehoe | Wexford | Fine Gael |
Peter Burke | Longford-Westmeath | Fine Gael |
Richard Bruton | Dublin Bay North | Fine Gael |
Simon Coveney | Cork South-Central | Fine Gael |
Simon Harris | Wicklow | Fine Gael |
Brian Leddin | Limerick City | Green Party |
Catherine Martin | Dublin Rathdown | Green Party |
Eamon Ryan | Dublin Bay South | Green Party |
Francis Noel Duffy | Dublin South-West | Green Party |
Joe O'Brien | Dublin Fingal | Green Party |
Malcolm Noonan | Carlow-Kilkenny | Green Party |
Marc Ó Cathasaigh | Waterford | Green Party |
Neasa Hourigan | Dublin Central | Green Party |
Ossian Smyth | Dun Laoghaire | Green Party |
Patrick Costello | Dublin South-Central | Green Party |
Roderic O'Gorman | Dublin West | Green Party |
Steven Matthews | Wicklow | Green Party |
Carol Nolan | Offaly | Independent |
Cathal Berry | Kildare South | Independent |
Catherine Connolly | Galway West | Independent |
Danny Healy-Rae | Kerry | Independent |
Denis Naughten | Roscommon-Galway | Independent |
Marian Harkin | Sligo-Leitrim | Independent |
Matt Shanahan | Waterford | Independent |
Mattie McGrath | Tipperary | Independent |
Michael Collins | Cork South-West | Independent |
Michael Fitzmaurice | Roscommon-Galway | Independent |
Michael Healy-Rae | Kerry | Independent |
Michael Lowry | Tipperary | Independent |
Michael McNamara | Clare | Independent |
Noel Grealish | Galway West | Independent |
Peter Fitzpatrick | Louth | Independent |
Richard O'Donoghue | Limerick County | Independent |
Seán Canney | Galway East | Independent |
Thomas Pringle | Donegal | Independent |
Verona Murphy | Wexford | Independent |
Joan Collins | Dublin South-Central | Independents 4 Change |
Alan Kelly | Tipperary | Labour |
Aodhán Ó Ríordáin | Dublin Bay North | Labour |
Brendan Howlin | Wexford | Labour |
Duncan Smith | Dublin Fingal | Labour |
Ged Nash | Louth | Labour |
Ivana Bacik | Dublin Bay South | Labour |
Sean Sherlock | Cork East | Labour |
Aengus Ó Snodaigh | Dublin South-Central | Sinn Féin |
Brian Stanley | Laois | Sinn Féin |
Chris Andrews | Dublin Bay South | Sinn Féin |
Claire Kerrane | Roscommon-Galway | Sinn Féin |
Darren O'Rourke | Meath East | Sinn Féin |
David Cullinane | Waterford | Sinn Féin |
Denise Mitchell | Dublin Bay North | Sinn Féin |
Dessie Ellis | Dublin North-West | Sinn Féin |
Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire | Cork South-Central | Sinn Féin |
Eoin Ó Broin | Dublin Mid-West | Sinn Féin |
Imelda Munster | Louth | Sinn Féin |
John Brady | Wicklow | Sinn Féin |
Johnny Guirke | Meath West | Sinn Féin |
Johnny Mythen | Wexford | Sinn Féin |
Kathleen Funchion | Carlow-Kilkenny | Sinn Féin |
Louise O'Reilly | Dublin Fingal | Sinn Féin |
Mairéad Farrell | Galway West | Sinn Féin |
Mark Ward | Dublin Mid-West | Sinn Féin |
Martin Browne | Tipperary | Sinn Féin |
Martin Kenny | Sligo-Leitrim | Sinn Féin |
Mary Lou McDonald | Dublin Central | Sinn Féin |
Matt Carthy | Cavan-Monaghan | Sinn Féin |
Maurice Quinlivan | Limerick City | Sinn Féin |
Pa Daly | Kerry | Sinn Féin |
Pádraig Mac Lochlainn | Donegal | Sinn Féin |
Pat Buckley | Cork East | Sinn Féin |
Patricia Ryan | Kildare South | Sinn Féin |
Paul Donnelly | Dublin West | Sinn Féin |
Pauline Tully | Cavan-Monaghan | Sinn Féin |
Pearse Doherty | Donegal | Sinn Féin |
Réada Cronin | Kildare North | Sinn Féin |
Rose Conway-Walsh | Mayo | Sinn Féin |
Ruairí Ó Murchú | Louth | Sinn Féin |
Seán Crowe | Dublin South-West | Sinn Féin |
Sorca Clarke | Longford-Westmeath | Sinn Féin |
Thomas Gould | Wicklow | Sinn Féin |
Violet-Anne Wynne | Clare | Independent |
Catherine Murphy | Kildare North | Social Democrats |
Cian O'Callaghan | Dublin Bay North | Social Democrats |
Gary Gannon | Dublin Central | Social Democrats |
Holly Cairns | Cork South-West | Social Democrats |
Jennifer Whitmore | Wicklow | Social Democrats |
Róisín Shortall | Dublin North-West | Social Democrats |
Brid Smith | Dublin South-Central | Solidarity - People Before Profit |
Gino Kenny | Dublin Mid-West | Solidarity - People Before Profit |
Mick Barry | Cork North-Central | Solidarity - People Before Profit |
Paul Murphy | Dublin South-West | Solidarity - People Before Profit |
Richard Boyd Barrett | Dun Laoghaire | Solidarity - People Before Profit |
Peadar Tóibín | Meath West | Aontú |