(pic: @TCDSU_President)
The Students' Union at Trinity College has told the university that it does not intend to pay a bill of €214,000 that was levied on the union for what the college’s Financial Services Division says were losses it incurred as a result of protests backed by the Students’ Union (SU).
In what was a highly unusual move Trinity College Dublin (TCD) sent an invoice for the amount to the Students’ Union just days before students embarked on an encampment in solidarity with Palestine and days after Trinity SU president László Molnárfi warned of an escalation of student action, advising on social media platforms that the Students’ Union was "organising something massive after [the] exams".
The invoice listed four dates when protests were held and the SU was given until 30 May to pay the bill.
However, in a letter sent today to the financial services division the SU said that students at the university had exercised "their lawful right to peaceful protest".
"If a loss of revenue coincided with such peaceful protests, none of which resulted in any arrests by An Garda Síochána, then such is a cost to the university of operating in a liberal democracy where peaceful protest is both lawful and encouraged," the letter, which is signed by Mr Molnárfi, states.
Students' Union refuses to pay Trinity's €214,000 fine
The Students' Union at Trinity College has told the university that it does not intend to pay a bill of €214,000 that was levied on the union for what the college's Financial Services Division says were losses it incurred as a result of protests backed by the Students' Union.