A student encampment in support of Palestine is continuing on the grounds of University College Dublin.
Around 50 students at the university established the protest yesterday evening and say they will remain camped beside the campus lake and its O’Reilly Hall until their demands are met.
The action is being coordinated by UCD Students’ Union and its BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) group.
UCD SU president Martha Ní Riada told RTÉ News that the action was “in solidarity with the people of Palestine”.
“We want UCD to recognise that a genocide is happening and to divest and cut ties with Israeli institutions,” they said.
The students have published a list of actions that they want from UCD.
They include the severing of academic and other links with Israeli institutions and companies, the cutting of ties with any companies involved in weapon or other military manufacturing, the establishment of scholarships for Palestinian students and pathways for Palestinian academics, and the removal of Israeli goods and supplier contracts from the campus.
The students are also demanding a public statement from UCD calling for “an end to the genocide of the Palestinian people by the settler state of Israel”.
Student Éabha Hughes is among a number at the encampment who have end of year exams to sit next week. The 3rd Year History and Politics student has one exam on Wednesday and another on Friday.
“A genocide is a lot more important than exams,” she told RTÉ News. “I can retake my exams, but people are losing their lives.”
“The majority of what I study is about genocide and wars and occupations and apartheid, and I don’t understand how I can maintain a belief in my educators if they can’t even do the bare minimum and call for a ceasefire,” she told RTÉ News.
“What is happening in Gaza has galvanised young people” said another protestor, Fionnuala, who did not want to give her surname, “especially after the success of Trinity, we are seeing that direct action can have a tangible impact”.
The UCD encampment follows similar action taken by the Students’ Union at Trinity College Dublin.
A camp established there just over a week ago ended on Wednesday after TCD made a public commitment to a range of measures including divesting from all investment in companies active in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and on a UN blacklist.
Students at other universities have also been taking action in pursuit of similar demands.
On Friday students at Maynooth University engaged in a sit-in as part of their campaign to get that university to sever ties with Israeli institutions.
The UCD students said their action was part of a “global student-led initiative advocating for an end to the genocide of the Palestinian people”.
“In solidarity with similar movements on campuses worldwide, UCD BDS and the Students’ Union view this as a necessary escalation to amplify their voices and demand accountability from college leadership,” they said.
The group said the encampment would be “a peaceful expression of empathy and solidarity” and that “no ill will” was intended towards anyone, including students, staff, or management.
“UCD BDS and the Students’ Union are committed to implementing all necessary safety measures and precautions to ensure the well-being of participants and the entire UCD community. This includes full awareness of responsibilities and consideration for ongoing exams, assessments, and campus activities,” they said.
“As students and staff within University College Dublin, we will no longer accept the morally inconsistent and continued feigned neutrality of the university in the face of an ongoing genocide.”
The students have said the encampment will continue until their demands are met.
RTÉ News has contacted UCD for comment.
Last November, in response to concerns raised by students, UCD President Professor Orla Feely said:
“Were it to be our practice to take an institutional position on geopolitical matters, we would be inhibiting the freedom of members of our community to express their individual positions and suppressing our ability to sustain and respect a diversity of views.”
