The University of Galway Students' Union () is the representative body of students at the University of Galway in Ireland. Among its former leaders is Michael D. Higgins, the ninth President of Ireland.
The University of Galway Students' Union is a representative student body. Every student who registers at the University of Galway automatically becomes a member of the Students' Union on payment of a student levy. The union is separated into two entities - the Students' Union Representative side and the Students' Union Commercial Services Ltd.
As outlined in the Students' Union (SU) constitution, the function of the union is to "represent its members and promote, defend and vindicate the rights of its members at all levels of society". The Students' Union sits on several University committees, including the University Governing Authority. The union's objectives include providing social, recreational and commercial services for members through the College Bar, entertainment events, the SU shop and other commercial services. The union also part funds Sin Newspaper and Flirt FM.
On a national level, the Union pursues "fair and equal access to education for all sectors of the Irish people", and liaises with the Union of Students in Ireland in this goal. Work of the union has included the organising of a grant information evening to help students apply for local authority grants.
While the president, along with the staff, is mainly responsible for the day-to-day running of the union, the Students' Union Executive is the committee that runs the union on an ongoing basis. It consists of fifteen elected members, whose responsibilities cover different student concerns - from educational issues to accommodation and discrimination. Of the fifteen members of the executive, four are paid sabbatical (full-time) officers, i.e. the president and three vice-presidents, while the other twelve officers work on a part-time, unpaid basis.
Students elect their Students' Union officers. The term of office is from 1 July to 30 June of the following year. To be eligible to run for election, candidates must be a full member of the Students' Union, i.e. a registered student or current executive officer, and receive 20 nominations. Candidates require three nominators who must be full members of the union and club captains (where the position sought is clubs' captain) or society auditors (where the position is societies' chairperson).
The first form of student representation in what is now University of Galway was the foundation of a Student Representation Council (SRC) in December of 1911, with B.A Cusack elected as their first President. In 1913, the auditor of the College's Literary and Debating Society, Conor O'Malley, noted that the SRC had 'never gone beyond the stage of paper'. O'Malley would go on to call upon the alumni and students to establish a 'Union', which at this stage referred to a student building, rather than an organisation, with this style of Student Union building being pioneered by Queen's on the island of Ireland. The council was firmly established by the mid-1920s, and in the 1960s was formally developed into the university's Students' Union, then known as Comhairle Teachta na Mac Léinn.
Restructured in 1964 into the Students' Union (although retaining the Irish Comhairle Teacha na Mac Léinn until later years), the function of the union as per the constitution is "to represent its members and promote, defend and vindicate the rights of its members at all levels of society". Key events from the union's past include: