THE referendum to impeach UCD students' union president Loughlin Deegan did not go ahead last Thursday and the issue is now unlikely to rise again.

Signatures had been submitted last month calling for a referendum on Deegan's - impeachment on the alleged grounds of "conduct unbecoming", including claims that Deegan had not made sufficient visits to outlying facilities.

Deegan rejected the criticisms and stated his position to college publications. In the event of a pro impeachment vote, he would have been obliged to resign immediately.

Last week the calling of the referendum, scheduled for the same day as the union's sabbatical elections, was ruled illegal on the grounds that insufficient notice had been given.

To make matters more complicated, those who had submitted the original 600 signatures calling for the referendum indicated that they would withdraw the petition and ask some of those who signed to remove their names. The page would then be resubmitted with fewer than 600 signatures, which would be insufficient to hold a referendum. At the time of willing, the resubmission had not occurred.

Deegan said he was happy that the impeachment was not going ahead on election day since it would only have complicated the issues surrounding the sabbatical elections, although he added that he had not been "particularly frightened by it".