Some supporters of USI president Dermot Lohan have joined his strongest critics to condemn tactics used to avert a debate on his dismissal.

The president of UCD students' union, John Nisbet, has called on Lohan to face up to such a debate. He says the tactics of some of Lohan's supporters cannot be justified.

A special national council in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, called to debate Tallaght IT's proposal that Lohan be dismissed, was abandoned when the absence of a number of colleges supporting Lohan ensured there were not enough unions represented to commence the meeting.

Lohan's opponents say that had the meeting gone ahead, they would have had the two-thirds majority needed to unseat him.

Two attempts were made by the independent chairman to hold a quorate council. On the first count, 14 colleges were found to be attendance, three short of the quorum. On the second try, half an hour later, the number present had fallen to 12. At this stage, colleges opposed to Lohan's presidency said they had seen representatives of colleges supporting Lohan on the stairs leading up to the council's room and sitting in the bar of the hotel.

While there was no suggestion that Lohan himself orchestrated the boycott by his supporters, some of his staunchest allies admitted before the meeting began that they were willing to render council inquorate if that was what it took to avoid a majority verdict against the USI president.

Lohan left both meetings when they were declared inquorate, depite calls from member colleges to continue informal discussions.

The independent chair of the meeting, Paul McMenamin, told delegates who remained in the meeting he understood their frustrations. He described the situation as "farcical".

John Nisbet, who himself was handed "no confidence" votes by his own union executive and council, has called on Lohan's supporters to stop "running away".

"If there's one thing I've learned from this year and my own problems it's that you should go in and face the music," he said.

Nisbet and his colleagues may have put paid to Lohan's chances of running for a second term by backing a bid by UCD students' union education officer, Charlie McConalogue, to become USI president. McConalogue's nomination went in on Friday and he has the full backing of Nisbet, whose resignation McConalogue called for earlier this year.

The students' union at Tallaght IT has vowed to continue its efforts to have Lohan dismissed. It is exploring the possibility of holding an emergency USI council meeting, which would require a quorum of only 14 unions.