Here is the letter received by the UCD Students' Union from UCD regarding the cancellation of the UCD Ball 2011.

You can download the original PDF file here or read the text below..

31^st March 2011

Mr Paul Lynam

President UCD Students' Union

UCD Students' Union

UCD Student Centre

University College Dublin

Belfield,

Re: License for UCD Ball 2011

Dear Paul

Recent discussion with you on the proposed holding of the 2011 Student Ball has been most useful in understanding the implication of the event. Student health and safety is of paramount importance to us all. The event license granted by Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council for the UCD Ball 2011 requires that all plans and proposals submitted, as part of the application shall be implemented in full. This includes section 4.3 of the Students' Union event licensing application which states that the "UCD campus will close to both pedestrian and vehicle traffic, except emergency services and event related transport, from 13:00hrs on Thursday April 21^st", thus effectively stopping all university activity and closing all buildings. This requirement was included for health and safety reasons following a review of the 2010 Ball by the statutory authorities.

In considering the operational impact of this requirement of the event license, the following points must be considered:

• On the proposed afternoon of the Ball, approximately 12,500 students are scheduled to attend lectures, tutorials and practical classes.

• The UCD Veterinary Hospital acts as the primary emergency on call centre for a large area and requires 24hr access. This is similar for the National Virus Reference Lab.

• External companies and organisations such as NovaUCD campus companies, NIBRT, the Medical Bureau of Road Safety, and the EPA have offices on campus.

• UCD operates seven major research institutes staffed by UCD and visiting staff.

• UCD Crèche operates a service until 6.15pm each day for children of students, staff and parents from the local community.

• UCD Sports Centre operates facilities for students and external patrons of the campus. These pre-booked facilities are particularly busy on Thursday evenings and an Easter Sports Camp for school children is scheduled to take place that week.

As we are not able to close the campus in accordance with the event licence granted to the Students' Union, we therefore are unable to facilitate the UCD Ball 2011 on campus. As you are aware the anticipated student demand means that a smaller event on campus would not satisfy requirements and would attract the same health and safety concerns.

We understand that you have being investigating plans for alternative off-site venues for the UCD Ball 2011 and we are happy to work with you in this regard, as we support the concept of an end-of-term student ball.

Yours sincerely

__________________________________________

PHILIP NOLAN

Registrar and Vice-President for Academic Affairs