NUACHTÁN SAOR IN AISCE VOL. 22 Issue 09. 09 MAR 2021
Student Independent News
WINNER: BEST NEWSPAPER AT THE NATIONAL STUDENT MEDIA AWARDS 2019
University warns students over online conduct Fractious council meeting causes uproar on social media By Conor Brummell, Ellen O’ Donoghue and Paddy Henry Students at NUI Galway have been warned about their conduct on social media by the university. The warnings came following an online meeting of the Students’ Union Council on Monday, 22nd of February, where the conduct of some participants sparked concern among many of those in attendance. SU Council is made up of elected class representatives, but students are also entitled to attend. Simeon Burke, an attendee at the meeting, repeatedly interrupted council proceedings, questioning whether the SU Executive supported fining students who were found to have breached Covid-19 guidelines. His conduct led to exasperation among members, who expressed their displeasure at Burke’s conduct. This led Burke to demand an apology through the Chairperson on several occasions. This demand went unfulfilled. Following this, the Chairperson muted Mr. Burke, who then protested through the display of a handwritten sign which read “Student Sworn At No Apology.” Doctored images of Burke holding the sign circulated on social media, many of which reflected adversely on views he holds which are perceived to be right wing. In the days that followed the council sitting, upon becoming aware of the social media postings, Dean of Students, Prof. Michelle Millar contacted students who might have been perceived to be in breach of the code. Prof. Millar instructed that the offending tweets be deleted, and reminded the students in question of their responsibilities, stating that the use of “disparaging” language “may damage the reputation of NUI Galway and the named person(s).” SIN approached Prof. Millar for comment and has not received a response at the time of publication.
The University’s communications with students regarding alleged breaches of the University’s social media policy resulted in online protests condemning the reprimands which garnered widespread attention on social media. At least one student refused to delete his tweet, instead posting another meme on Twitter relating to Burke. The meme was accompanied alongside a screenshot of an email from Prof. Millar with the hashtag #FreeCian which then trended nationally on Twitter. The tweet also claimed that because the user’s tweets were published on his personal social media account, then no rules had been broken. NUI Galway’s social media guidelines state that, “The University is conscious of the fact that a lot of the content on social media sites is user-generated, and thus, may pose legal and reputational risks for NUI Galway if such content is inappropriate or illegal. It is therefore important and expected that all employees and students follow the same behavioural standards online as they would in real life.”
These behavioural standards are asserted as being in accordance with the University’s ethos and Code of Conduct. The University’s social media policy also states that social media usage must also be in read in conjunction with the Staff and Students Codes of Conduct, the Social Media Guidelines (Marketing & Communications Office), and the University Data Protection Policies and Procedures. It is further provided in NUI Galway social media guidelines that “Social media should not be used to breach the data protection rights of other individuals, to post material that would reasonably be deemed inappropriate, obscene, discriminatory, threatening, defamatory or slanderous towards any individual or entity,” “It should also not be used to bully, harass or intimidate members, to express support for illegal activities or organisations, to promote or advertise a commercial product or solicit business or membership or financial or other support in any
business, group or organisation except those which are officially approved by the University and to post content that could pose a security risk for NUI Galway or its members.” It notes that students must always be respectful and express good judgement and common sense when posting online. It also says students should strive for accuracy, ensuring that anything they write is not defamatory. The policy also warns that posting online can lead to debate from those who hold opposing views. Students are also warned not to post or share information which is confidential or proprietary to the University. “Care should be taken to use good ethical judgement and to ensure that all University privacy and confidentiality policies are adhered to. Those who fail to do so risk disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal,” the policy finishes. Continued on page 2
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SIN Vol. 22 Issue 09
INSIDE
DSS Funding, Change of Council name and USI voting discussed in SU Class Rep Meeting 4 SU election information evening kicks off campaign season run-up 6 Great buzz all around for SHAG Week 7 INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY – SIN looks at some of NUI Galway’s leading female figures
8 – 9
Stand up for Superior Judges 9 Award- Winning Journalist Frank Greaney Gives Advice to NUI Galway Students 10 Earth and Sustainability Week at NUIG 11 SIN Online Polls Show Worrying Trends for Current Government 12 Student Diaries 13
The Dig review - it’s better than it sounds, I promise. 14
Guilty pleasure or new favourite fantasy world – Fate: The Winx Saga 15 The joy of children books 16 The hypocrisy of Disney 17 Indoor Plants for Beginners 19 SOCIAL MEDIA DETOX: How to take a break 20
How have first-year students been able to adapt to college this year? 22
Students need study space – NUI Galway study space closed for almost 60 days 23 Common sense approach needed for students that breach Covid-19 guidelines 24 Do social media companies need to crackdown on conspiracy theories? 25 Has NUIG done enough for students’ mental health throughout this academic year? 26 Two NUIG students receive All-Star awards 28 Galway United edge Finn Harps in first game of 2021 30 Fox leads the pack at Galway WFC 31
An bhfuil rud éigin le rá agat? Cur litir chuig an Eagarthóir chuig editor.sin@gmail.com
Find us online:
www.sin.ie EDITOR: Paddy Henry editor.sin@gmail.com LAYOUT: Shannon Reeves SPECIAL THANKS: Ellen O’Donoghue
EDITORIAL The following is written on behalf of our editorial team. The last few weeks have seen NUI Galway dominate social media discourse in university circles. Not for the first time, a cohort of social media savvy NUI Galway students put weight behind a cause that evoked strong opinions. NUI Galway has perpetually prided itself on being an institution that has produced some of Ireland’s best researchers, scientists, politicians, and businesspeople. However, of late is has inadvertently become a production line for some of Ireland’s best social media strategists and campaigners with movements like #FreeCian and #RIPoffNUIG gaining so much traction they trended nationally on Twitter. If only the higher-ups saw the potential of getting these savvy strategists on side for once. Perhaps then we would be seeing more #HereisWhere tags than posts berating this old institution. The means that students adopt to protest have always been radical, just over a year ago concerned scholars occupied the quad, two years prior we saw the Cúirt shakedown. The current situation means that social media has become the battleground for expressions of exasperation, and nobody seems to do online protest as well as students at NUI Galway. Over the last two decades, SIN has covered these protests, reported on the facts, and has stood steadfastly behind the principles of reporting on such issues in a factual manner. We are unperturbed by biased leanings, despite many of our volunteers perhaps holding their own personal viewpoints on specific matters. We have always held ourselves to the highest of standards in ensuring that the truth prevails, and issues are covered fairly, accurately and above all else, striking a balanced chord. This has always been the case, since the first volume of the first issue of this great paper was put to print. We live in an era where the media has become so deeply entrenched and partisan. As a result, those that strive to see the woods from the trees have opened themselves up for onslaught and vilification, trial by social media and intimidation.
The latest in a conveyor belt of NUI Galway related controversies has seen this publication fall victim of this rhetoric. First of all, on behalf of the editorial board, and of all who give up their time to produce thirtytwo pages out to the student body on a fortnightly basis, I would like to say the following: SIN abhors homophobia, racism and sexism. This paper is written and produced by members of our Students’ Union and upholds the values set by the Union in this regard. Our writing team prides itself on its diversity as much as it does on its commitment to good journalism, and good reporting. Secondly, our reporting on such issues has recently been brought into question on social media. We wish to address concerns that we have not reported on these issues before, we wish to highlight the fact that we have always taken a cautious approach to reporting on such topics, with the acknowledgement that such issues need to be handled in a sensitive manner with consideration to the potential implications that they could have for this paper, the Students’ Union, and those involved in such incidences. However, given the scale and the severity of the claims made over the past fortnight we feel that we must provide a fair and balanced account of the events that have transpired. This statement has been made with full confidence in our writers who have endeavoured to cover stories with the upmost of integrity. SIN will continue to hold ourselves to the level of professionalism that we have always prided ourselves on.
University warns students over online conduct Continued from front page In an email to the University community, President of NUI Galway, Professor Ciarán Ó hOgartaigh stated, “We do not routinely monitor social media interactions of our community and are therefore normally reliant on inappropriate content or suspected breaches of our social media policy being brought to our attention... as and when appropriate under our policies, we must and will follow up on all such reports without fear or favour.” In response to the University’s reproaches, students complained online about the conduct of some others in attendance at council. In an email sent to The Dean of Students, which was seen by SIN, one student claimed that another student had “continuously ignored the rules of the Comhairle in regard to speaking time, addressing another speaker, agendas and general etiquette and basic decency.” Simeon Burke ran for the role of Vice-President/ Welfare and Equality Officer in 2020 and campaigned heavily on a platform which promoted free speech and the “welfare of the many, not the few”. During his campaign, Burke stated that: “Students across campus are telling me that you are
only welcome in our Students’ Union if you are 110% committed to the promotion of LGBT,” and he pledged to be a representative for all students irrespective of “your belief, your race, your colour, or your gender.” Furthermore, after campaign posters of his were allegedly taken down and burned, Burke posted a video drawing comparisons between the behaviour of the Ku Klux Klan and those who allegedly destroyed the posters. In a statement released on the 2nd of March, Burke alleged that members of the Students’ Union Executive Committee worked to exclude him from council proceedings, and that he was “targeted by an abusive and hate-filled online campaign.” Furthermore, the Castlebar native expressed his dissatisfaction with social media posts from Midlands-North-West MEP Luke “Ming” Flanagan and Dublin South-West TD Paul Murphy arising from these events. SIN reached out to both Deputy Murphy and MEP Flanagan but did not receive a response at the time of publication. In his statement Burke claimed that he had taken his complaints to An Garda Síochána and SIN understands that an investigation is ongoing.
NUACHT
March 09 2021
NEWS EDITORIAL By Caoimhe Killeen Hi everyone, welcome to Issue 9 of SIN! I debated starting off this editorial in many ways. Some were completely formal, some probably a bit too informal. I doubt seeing a Brooklyn Nine Nine reference in a student newspaper would seem very professional, so instead I’ll just settle for a brief introduction. Hi, my name’s Caoimhe and I am a second year Journalism student still trying to figure out the weird and oftentimes confusing world of online college while running on coffee fumes. Oh, and the new Deputy and News Editor apparently. I’m incredibly grateful for this opportunity having written for SIN since the start of first year (throwing myself right into the deep end as it were) that’s been given to me by my predecessor Conor Brummell who is a fantastic journalist and has left some very big shoes to fill. Still, I do love a good challenge and getting stuck in on this issue was a hectic but rewarding experience and I’m looking forward to putting a couple more jampacked issues for you all. Of course, I could not have done it without the assistance of the new Co-Deputy and News Editor, Ellen O’Donoghue. Her guidance and sub-editing in all of this has helped an enormous amount, as well as her patience as I quickly learn the ropes. Before this turns into a cheesy acceptance speech at an awards show, here’s what to expect from the news section in this issue. First off, our editor Paddy Henry gives us the lowdown on the latest SU council meeting. I have covered what went on during the SU council meeting and the SU election information evening as well as a piece on how “Lawtech” could deepen a digital divide in the court system. My predecessor Conor Brummell has an article on how International Students for Change has submitted a petition for better conditions for International Students to the Government. My Co-Deputy editor Ellen O’Donoghue writes on how a new NUI Galway study has shown LGBT teens are twice as likely to volunteer than their peers, as well as the SU’S new Shave or Dye campaign (which she is partaking in by the way, so make sure to donate!) Saoirse Higgins has covered an enlightening talk on the Mother and Baby Homes delivered by NUI Galway lecturer Dr-Sarah Anne Buckley which was organised by the History Society. Read about how this year’s spring edition of SHAG week was carried out online by Laura Quinn, while Tara Trevaskis Hoskin writes on how anti-racism workshops ran by the new SU Societies Chairperson Barry Sugrue attracted over eighty students. Finally, Paris Ediagbonya writes on CÚRAM presenting their research agenda for new medical devices in the EU, and Valerie McHugh writes on how an NUI Galway researcher has been given extra funding to develop a telescope that may identify forms of extra-terrestrial life. As always, if you want to pitch an idea or get involved with writing for SIN, do not hesitate to contact myself or Ellen at deputy.sined@gmail.com. We’re pretty much open to anything and everything (within reason.) Stay safe and stay hydrated!
FEATURES EDITORIAL By Saoirse Higgins Hi everyone and welcome to issue nine of SIN! I hope all of you are keeping well. I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since the college closed due to Covid19. A year since we held a physical copy of this very newspaper in our hands. Like all of you, I miss college and just life in general. But there’s a light at the end of this very long tunnel and we’re nearly there. So, forget about the pandemic for the moment, grab a cup of tea and tuck yourselves into the features section.
First off, we have our columnists. Aine, Cormac and Tom give us their takes on life, Covid-19 and much more. Our very own arts and entertainment editor, Alice, took the Covid-19 column and it dives into the difference between life now and a year ago. For our articles this week, Ellen O’Regan sat down with journalist Frank Greaney and produced a great piece where he talks about his career. We then jump to Stephen who took a shot talking about lent and how he thinks it should be dealt with. Niamh Casey then had a chat with welfare officer Róisín Nic Lochlainn and talked about the motion to change the Student Union Council to its Irish equivalent. Our columnist Tom Molloy did some twitter polls and gathered information on the students’ opinion of the current government. Catch all that and much more in the latest issue of SIN.
ARTS AND ENTS EDITORIAL By Alice O’Donnell Hi everyone! I think I can now for sure say winter is finally behind us! I’ve never been so happy to see daffodils in bloom, or actual sunny weather. When bars and restaurants are shut and friends can only be talked to over a screen, there’s such joy in nature. It’s really nice to be able to go on a walk without having to bring an umbrella ‘just in case’! To start us off, Niamh Casey has a look at children’s books. It’s a pity so often children’s books are left in childhood and written off when people reach adulthood. Niamh looks at Winnie the Pooh, and what makes its writing so magic, no matter your age. In a similar theme, Stephen Holland reviews Saturday Night Fever. Despite being over forty years old (it’s basically reached its middle ages!), the film remains a must-watch favourite. It delves into topics of conversation far deeper than just dancing, such as peer pressure, self-confidence and love. Also on the topic of literature and film, Rachel Garvey has a look at manga and anime. The Japanese entertainment genre is sweeping the world, and Rachel goes into what are some anime/manga to get started in, and what makes them so enjoyable. I hope everyone has settled in semester two. I’ve just found the time has flown, and I’m sure I’ll be saying the exact same thing in the next issue! I know this is a busy time for everyone, so I just wanted to really thank all the fabulous contributors who write such interesting and comprehensive articles, making this section one I’m so proud to present. If you have any interest in writing for SIN, the arts and entertainment section accepts creative writing, reviews and basically anything to do with entertainment. If this sounds like something you’d be interested in getting involved with, for sure shoot me an email at artsentertainment.sined@gmail.com.
FASHION & LIFESTYLE EDITORIAL
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thank all the contributors for making the paper what it is and also if you are interested in writing for the paper or just have any questions about it, you can email me at opinion.sined@gmail.com.
OPINION EDITORIAL By Darren Casserly Hello again everyone and welcome to issue nine of this years’ edition of SIN. As always, there is plenty to look forward to in the opinion section, with everything from conspiracy theories to the Irish language being written about in the section. Firstly, Nessa Gorrell has a great piece about how first years are adapting to college life, and I for one definitely feel for them, as we all know how hard it is this year and even more so when you can’t make new friends and the supports have clearly not been there for students. Sophia Hadef questions if the pandemic has been good for the environment with people stuck in the 5 kilometre radius and not having as big of a carbon footprint, there are definitely lessons we can take from the last year and added care for the environment is one of them. Rachel Garvey writes about how online shopping has been one of the things that has helped people’s moods in the pandemic and there has been a rise in the amount of online shopping people have been doing, with many people’s morale at an all-time low even the small things can have a huge impact Úna Kehily gives us her opinion on how young people feel about the Irish language with the news that Irish is one of the fastest growing languages on Duolingo, the language is not going to die with this generation that’s for sure. We have these and a lot more for you to enjoy in this issue. Finally, as always, I would like to
SPORTS EDITORIAL By Oisín Bradley Hi everyone, and welcome back once again for Issue nine! Semester two is flying by, with plenty happening in NUI Galway both inside and outside of our virtual classrooms. I hope that all of you are doing well and getting through your online classes. Let’s jump into Issue nine! Once again, we have our regular feature of Galway’s men abroad in English football as the competition hots up for tickets to Belgrade, as Stephen Kenny finalises his plans for the opening World Cup Qualifier vs Serbia. We also take a deep dive into all things Galway United and Galway WFC, as the former announces a familiar face is returning to the fold. Elsewhere, it’s fantastic news for NUI Galway’s GAA prospects as two of our students were awarded All-Stars at the annual convention in recent weeks. Mayo’s Oisín Mullin won an All-Star as well as young Footballer of the Year, while Cian Lynch’s exploits with the small ball en route to lifting Liam McCarthy saw him receive an All-Star of his own. Finally, the NUIG Rowing Club announced a strategic partnership with Rowing Ireland, a move which is great news for the college’s chances of producing top rowers in years to come. Enjoy the read!
o T s g Thin TO! D R A W R O F LOOK HEN WE’RE BACK W
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More cocktail options
2 More SU card deals which will save you money everyday
By Anastasia Burton Hello, my beautiful hoglets! Time really flies when you’re having fun. This issue is full to the brim with amazing stories and ideas and I hope we can carry this energy throughout the next few issues as we near the end of another great year at SIN. For those who have contributed to this issue, I thank you as you are the ones keeping this paper fascinating. I hope you are all staying safe and healthy and are avoiding unnecessary contact. As we find ourselves in the midst of another prolonged lockdown, I can only hope you guys find entertainment and companionship within the pages of our student paper. As always, we are all very approachable editors and love it when you send over your own ideas. So please continue to bless our paper with your great work and who wouldn’t want to be a published journalist while still at university?
4 More competitons 3 Free porridge in the morning won’t be going anywhere
where you can win tickets to the best concerts that will take place again
5 More drink
promos where you get to taste new upcoming drinks for free
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SIN Vol. 22 Issue 09
Students’ Union launch DSS Funding, Change of Council name and Hair Raising fundraiser USI voting discussed in SU Class Rep Meeting By Ellen O’Donoghue Co-News Editor
NUI Galway Students’ Union launched their Hair Raiser charity fundraiser on Monday 22nd February as part of their 6-month Charity Challenge Campaign The Charity Challenge is an initiative to raise funds for the SU supported Charities, the Galway Rape Crisis Centre, Galway Autism Partnership and Helplink Mental Health. The Students’ Union’s fundraisers to date have raised a surplus of €5,000 for the charities so far. The campaign is ideal for those who are sick of their lockdown hair and want to do a bit of experimenting, as the participants will be shaving or dyeing their hair to raise funds for a good cause. Those taking part in the challenge are to sign up before asking friends and family to donate and vote for which hairstyle they should get - this could be anything from pink stripes or a mohawk, to pink stripes and a mohawk.
Numerous part-time officers, and the President of the Students’ Union himself, Padraic Toomey, have signed up already. Students’ Union President Pádraic Toomey said: “We are really excited about our next Charity Challenge! So many of us are lamenting our lockdown hair, myself included, so this will be a great chance for a new look for a good cause. I can’t wait to see what ‘hair raising’ hair style I end up with when people start voting and donating!” Students’ Union Education Officer Emma Sweeney added: “This challenge is open to all – students, staff and the public. We are asking everyone to lend us their heads for three amazing charities this March. It’s going to be great craic and you never know, a purple mullet might really suit you!” As of the 26th February, around 20 people had signed up, with this number rising by the day. If you would like to sign up, you can do so by visiting: https://t. co/wZtoYxEfbv?amp=1
By Caoimhe Killeen. Co-News Editor Various motions such as increased Disability Service funding, a name change for the Class Representative Council, changing the voting systems for Union of Students in Ireland (USI) positions and an amended code of conduct to let An Garda Síochána patrol on-campus student accommodation were discussed in the Students’ Union Class Rep Council meeting last Monday. The event was held online on Zoom due to the pandemic. The first motion to be discussed was that of the SU providing increased funding for the Disability Support Service, which would allow them to provide more officers for students with specific needs, and for increased supports such as soundproof booths. The motion was passed by an overwhelming 99.47%. Disability Rights Officer Patricia O’Mahony who spoke in favour of the motion stated that she was “delighted” to see it passed. A motion to record online lectures once on-campus teaching resumes was then discussed. It was edited to benefit those who are unable to attend lectures and those who may benefit from such recordings and was passed by a large majority of 98.48%. A similar motion brought forward by first-year Biomedical Science rep, Laura Ilupeju to grant second years access lectures to aid in their module choice for next year was also passed by 97%. SU Welfare and Equality Officer Róisín Nic Lochlainn successfully put forward the motion to change the official name of the Class Rep Council to “Comhairle na Mac Léinn” by 90.4%. She noted to
council that “there is a particular importance regarding our status as a bilingual union” and that the name of the council be changed to “give proper recognition to its bilingual status.” “I am delighted that the motion passed without much opposition” stated Nic Lochlainn. “I know that centuries ago many universities were closed due to religious reasons, the only reason OÉG stayed open as a university could stay open was because of its cultural involvement. Under culture came language, so I think we have a specific duty to promote Gaeilge at all opportunities and to really live up to our status as the only bilingual college in the state. Hopefully, it is the start of many positive changes to come.” Níc Lochlainn also backed a motion to change how the Union nominates representatives to the Union of Students Ireland. The motion brought forward by 4th year Mechanical Engineering student Conall McCallig to be open and voted on by all members of the student body. Both Toomey and Education Officer Emma Sweeney spoke against the motion. “I believe that NUIG deciding on who their candidate is overall is a strong statement and when candidates come to our hustings, they really try to know NUIG issues to win our vote” stated Toomey. “In the end, I will always support how council votes but it’s important we always hear both sides of any debate.” A motion mandating the SU to withdraw a previous motion passed on the student Code of Conduct was also brought up. Council noted that the change of the Code of Conduct was passed in good faith so as to limit Gardaí involvement with the motion not being put forward to a vote at council,
A call for the SU to defund An Garda Síochaná was also put forward in relation to their handling of various national issues such as the Mother and Baby Homes and the shooting of George Nkencho was put forward, It was not put forward to vote so as to make the motion clearer for the next meeting. A call for the SU to campaign against the government’s efforts to ratify the EU-Canada Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) was also discussed. The proposed agreement which has not yet been signed into domestic law would provide an Investor Court system under which multinational corporations could sue the state over breaches in investment protection standards and in public policy measures. It was brought forward in the belief that the public interests are that of NUIG SU members and that such an agreement would provide conflict to those beliefs. The motion was passed with the SU stating that they would plan events to bring awareness to the topic. Publicly funded education was the next motion to be brought up in the belief that “the health services and academic support services are of great importance to students, which must be free at the point of delivery.” This was bought forward as factors such as the student contribution fee, rental prices, and other higher education costs. A committee to oversee the campaign consisting of the President, Welfare and Equality Officer and Education Officer alongside a paid student respresentive on placement, at least six Ordinary Committee Members was also proposed, which would meet three times per semester, with a review of its own performance and recommendations to be brought up before April 2022. The motion was successfully passed.
International Students for Change submit petition to better conditions for International Students to the Government By Conor Brummell International Students for Change have submitted their petition to the Government, calling on them to better policies relating to healthcare, insurance and immigration status for students coming to Ireland for college. According to the petition, “International students have not been adequately considered in Ireland’s Covid-19 response” and that students who moved to Ireland from other countries have face a myriad of problems because of this. The petition was submitted to the Department of Education, Department of Justice, Department of Health and the Department of Further Education, Research, Innovation and Science. The petition is calling on Minister McEntee to amend the following in Ireland’s Covid-19 response to International students:
Resolve the immigration appointment and application backlogs. This could be accomplished through the implementation of a fast, secure,
country-wide, fully online renewal process. To avoid passports being lost or held for excessive periods of time, this could be accomplished via a “sticker system,” whereby applicants submit their details online and are issued a “sticker” in the mail that makes their permit valid until the Covid crisis is over. In addition to the online “sticker system,” issuing residence permits for non-EU students that last for the duration of a student’s study, as done in the United States and the Netherlands, would help improve the situation; additionally, removing the yearly renewal process would help with the immigration appointment backlogs. As non-EU students are already under an obligation to report any change in detail and can only work 20 hours per week and thus would be unable to support themselves financially in Ireland’s high cost of living, there is little risk of these students using their residency cards to stay in Ireland under false pretences. In addi-
tion, these issues have been addressed through simple mechanisms already done in other EU countries.
Re-classify international students to avoid unreasonable healthcare costs. Under no circumstances should students be forced to pay healthcare costs of 600+ euros following the Court of Appeal ruling (3). We therefore request that international students be declassified as Ordinary Residents.
Consider international students when making policy decisions. Take care to consider issues concerning international students when making future decisions regarding residency, visas, GNIB, health, housing, and the overall Covid response, to prevent further issues from arising. When contacted for a comment on the petition, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice told SIN that, “From the outset of the pandemic, the Department has worked to provide
assistance and assurance to people who use our immigration services, including non-EEA students. “While there have been some delays due to Covid-19 restrictions, the Department has continued to work steadily to deliver improvements to its immigration services. These include the introduction of an online process for the renewal of registrations for those based in Dublin; the removal of the requirement to submit a passport when renewing an Irish Residence Permit (IRP); pre-clearance schemes to allow customers to apply for residence permissions prior to travelling; the introduction of online forms and payments; renewed focus on eliminating processing backlogs in key areas; and working towards the delivery of a new more user-friendly website. “Due to the restrictions imposed as a result of the pandemic, the Department also provided six extensions of Immigration permission to April 20th 2021 to provide some certainty to people who require an immigration permission to remain in the state.
“Issues in relation to the type and cost of health insurance for non-EEA students is a matter for the Department of Education and Skills and health insurance providers. Other policy developments in relation to non-EEA students are a matter for relevant sector stakeholders including the Department of Health, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and the Interim list of Eligible Programmes (ILEP),” the statement finished. The Department of Health, the Department of Further Education, Research, Innovation and Science and the Department of Education were contacted for comment, however they had not replied at time of publication. At the time of writing, the petition has 281 signatures. The Health Insurance (International Students) Amendment Bill, which is intended to make it easier for international students to obtain health insurance was put before the Seanad last week.
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6 NEWS
SIN Vol. 22 Issue 09
SU election information evening kicks off campaign season run-up By Caoimhe Killeen The beginning of an unprecedented run up to this year’s election season occurred at the Students’ Union election information evening, held virtually due to the ongoing pandemic. Students’ Union President Pádraic Toomey, Education Officer Emma Sweeney and Welfare and Equality Officer Roisin Nic Lochlainn were joined by guest speakers, former Students’ Union
Last year’s successful election candidates took part in the information evening.
President Phelim Kelly along with Claire Austick, who is Toomey’s predecessor and the current Vice President of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI). The three current full-time officers took the opportunity to recall why they ran for office last year, shortly before the pandemic hit. For Emma, it was her work with the peer-volunteering scheme CÉIM that sparked her interest in student politics, having never being involved with the Students’ Union before being elected. “I was never a class rep, but I worked really closely with a lot of my classmates to solve issues. And then I worked with CÉIM for a year, and I was still studying at the same time. But CÉIM really lit the fire for me to be like we really need student engagement, we really need to push student welfare and there’s so many issues that these students are bringing to me that I feel that I could solve and that I feel like that I could help them with. “And it wasn’t just the CÉIM issues, it was more specific issues that I really enjoyed helping them with and that’s kind of where my passion lies with, trying to do the best I can for people and do the best I can for them.” Like Emma, Róisín had never held a position in the SU before running for election. “When I came to college, I saw the hardships as I was one of those vulnerable students and it made me want to run for welfare and help those students.”
Clare Austick’s help as Welfare Officer when Róisín was in first year was cited as another reason for her deciding to run after some indecision on her part. “My friends really gave me a push and I just went for it, cause at the end of the day what’s the worst that can happen?” Pádraic Toomey was the only officer who had prior SU experience, having held the position of Clubs’ Captain before being elected President last year. “I saw the problems that were going on in clubs and I guess that’s why I wanted to run and here I am now [as President]. I just saw problems that I wanted to get fixed.” Social media campaigns could start during the information evening, but Pádraic advised that if candidates did so, they may not have enough content to keep them going until the actual election day in April. “Start when you want to when you think it’s the right time so that you can build up momentum and that you won’t run out of steam.” “Also, you get exhausted of campaigning and I can only imagine how tiring an online campaign is going to be. It is very tiring, and it can be quite strenuous so you need to pace yourself or you will run out of steam” added Emma. “It’s also good to post on your private social media pages to announce that you’re running”, advised Austick. “But I think it is important that if you do
set up a Facebook page, you get your friends to invite people to share and not just like the page. So, try and make it as easy and accessible as possible.” Given the restrictive nature of how students can campaign this year, social media was advised as the best way to campaign. “Use all the social media platforms that are available to you. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, WhatsApp group chat, everything. Email lectures asking if you can do a virtual shout out for five minutes before the start of class”, advised Roisin. Voting this year will take place online, with an increase in voter turnout expected. “There’s no registration, so you can vote within twenty seconds and can carry on with the rest of your day. So, it’s very important you message everyone the link on the day to tell them to please vote. We will probably see an actual increase in voting because of this”, added Pádraic. Council Chair nominations open at 10am on the 8th of April and close at 5pm on Thursday 15th April. The election will be held at the last SU Council meeting of the year at 6pm on Monday 26th of April. Nominations for full time offer positions open on 7th April at 10am and close at 5pm on 14th April, with part time officer nominations opening on the 14th April at 10am and closing at 5pm on the 21st of April. Election day falls on Thursday 22nd April for full time officer positions from 10am to 8pm, while part time officer elections run on Thursday 29th April, from 10am to 8pm.
Anti-racism workshops attract over eighty students
NUI Galway research paper shows that digital divide is at risk of increasing
By Tara Trevaskis Hoskin
By Caoimhe Killeen
Over eighty students took part in Anti-Racism Workshops ran by the Students’ Union late last month. They were facilitated by Galway One World Centre and ran between the 21st and 35th of February. Newly elected Societies Chairperson, Barry Sugrue, organised the workshops in collaboration with Students’ Union Vice-President Róisín Nic Lochlainn and Clubs Captain Kirsty Moran. The workshops, which took place over Zoom, focused on themes such as privilege, how to be an ally and understanding micro-aggressions. They looked at racism from the perspective of both those oppressed and those who come from a place of privilege. Mr Sugrue believes that more understanding is always welcome, saying; “We can always do more not even just as a college but as a people to understand the privilege we might hold or maybe how to be an ally or if you are a victim of these issues, understanding that a bit more” he said. There was also a practical approach in how to deal with racist situations should you encounter them. Students were equipped with the skills to use if a situation arose and they needed to intervene. “We were given a scenario of a racist attack on a hypothetical student and we were put into breakout rooms to discuss the best way to deal with it. Students came back with different answers but there was a right answer in how to deal with it properly. “Not that people were wrong, I think the message was anything is better than nothing but there are best ways to handle a situation.” Sugrue explained. The organisers were extremely pleased with the turnout, among the students and there were ten societies represented. Sugrue attributed some of this success to the online
element; “one of the beauties of the zoom era is that we are able to have more participants at once.” He also mentioned that this is something the Student’ Union will take into consideration when planning future workshops. The Societies Chairperson stressed the importance of the Students’ Union holding events such as AntiRacism Workshops and Inclusivity training, stating, “At the end of the day what the Students’ Union’s function is, is to act for students, so to provide something students need is absolutely fantastic.” The Galway One World Centre who ran the workshops are a locally based voluntary organisation with a focus on development education and solidarity work. The organisers believed it was best that the workshops were ran by a group independent from NUI Galway. Mr Sugrue praised them for how they delivered the seminars; “they made sure that everything happened in a respectful and appropriate manner.” The organisers also recognised the importance of other anti-racism work done in the college by both the Disability Support Service and the Access Centre. Sugrue is hoping to provide more inclusivity and diversity training through his role as Societies Chairperson in the future. He hopes that students found the workshops both informative and beneficial; “what myself and Róisín (Nic Lochlainn) are both hoping is that students will have more of an idea of where they come from whether that’s a place of privilege or a place of the not so privileged and being affected by these issues.” These workshops were provided in the hope that people will be more educated on the issue of racism and in turn be more equipped to tackle it in real life. “Once we change the present, we will be able to change the future and future generations.” Barry Sugrue finished.
A lecturer in NUI Galway’s School of Law has released a paper warning that developing and increasing software in the Irish courts comes at a cost of strengthening existing biases in the justice system. Dr Rónán Kennedy’s paper titled “Algorithms, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in the Irish Legal Services Market” examined the use of Lawtech which is powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI). It advises on the benefits and complications that could arise from implementing it into both the Irish legal system and the courts. The paper states that while such technology could provide better access to the justice system through improved access to legal information and advice online, it could also deepen a digital divide by barring those with little to no IT skills from accessing these legal services and relying on outdated data and documents. It also stated that Oireachtas members should consider how this AI powered technology should best be regulated and managed by lawyers and judges as a long-term policy question. Dr Kennedy has stated that this technology is “part of a wave of change and innovation in the legal services market, globally and in Ireland. It could save consumers and businesses money and time and be a sector for economic growth. “However, it is not a silver bullet to solve the problem of access to justice. As Artificial Intelligence (AI) is used more by lawyers and courts, it could lead to fairer outcomes or repeat existing biases.” Dr Kennedy warned that these new AI powered software programmes could illegally discriminate in focusing on characteristics that determine social class, such as someone’s home address or height. “It is unlikely that AI can or will ever replace humans…
if this software is not carefully designed, it could make prejudice even more difficult to remove from the justice system.” Dr Kennedy also advised that areas that required immediate legislative intervention were validating digital signatures for wills and legal proceedings as well as admissibility of digital recordings in court. He further stated that the Oireachtas should investigate whether some legislation should be completely digital from the offset. This research was carried out through a Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) grant to contribute to their Spotlight series research under their Public Interest Fellowship. The series consists of advisory papers which give TDs and Senators in-depth briefings on a single policy issue. Dr Kennedy is one of six professors who is currently working under the Oireachtas Library and Research Service under the SFI fellowship programme and has stated that under the programme he has been provided the opportunity to learn more about how the Oireachtas operates. “The SFI Public Interest Fellowship provided a very interesting opportunity to learn more about how the Oireachtas operates, the important work of legislators, and how researchers can contribute to the development of policy. “My findings raise important questions that lawmakers and everyone involved in legal services should consider. The pandemic has shown how useful technology can be, but we need to have a debate about how we manage tools like remote court hearings and AI assistants for lawyers and judges to ensure that all of the impacts are positive.” Dr Kennedy’s paper is available in the Spotlight paper, which is published through the Oireachtas Library and Research service.
NUACHT
March 09 2021
7
Galway NUI Galway professor gives enlightening NUI Researcher given funding to talk on mother and baby homes develop a radio By Saoirse Higgins
The NUI Galway History Society hosted an information event on the mother and baby homes which was delivered by Dr Sarah-Anne Buckley. On the evening of February 26th, esteemed historian Dr Sarah-Anne Buckley broke it down for students on the difference between the mother and baby homes and the Magdalene laundries, what the final report of the commission details, and what happened to those who were in the homes. “I’m in awe at the compassion and empathy students feel for survivors.” Dr Buckley said when the talk began.
The talk largely consisted of breaking down the final report of the commission. Dr Buckley explained that 18 institutions were investigated, 14 of which were mother and baby homes. The other four were county homes. The commission investigated the period between the opening of the institutions up until 1998. The commission estimates that 56,000 unmarried women were committed to these institutions and that 57,000 children came out of them, “it is understood that 1% of the population of Ireland in the 1950s was institutionalised. Arguably the highest in the world at that time.” Dr Buckley remarked. Dr Buckley explained the extent of the atrocities that went on inside the homes. There were many accounts of rape, abuse, and incest. There are many testimonies that show repeated abuse in different institutions.
According to Dr Buckley, there was a high infant mortality rate in the homes, in the region of 40-50% in some institutions. The mother and baby home in Tuam had one of the highest rates. Dr Buckley gave her opinion that it was likely the government at the time was aware of the high infant mortality rate. The final report of the commission is over 2,000 pages and Dr Buckley recommended reading specific chapters that you are interested in. There is a full chapter on the Tuam mother and baby home. The Tuam home is believed to have been one of the worst homes in the country, with an understanding that conditions were similar to a 19th century workhouse. Dr Buckley also made the point that the commission is not perfect, “Commissions are contentious. They leave a lot of people behind.” Dr Buckley is a co-principal investigator of the Tuam Oral History project, which aims to form a public archive of stories from survivors of the Tuam mother
and baby home. “Oral history is how it felt to them,” she said, “I think oral history should be given more weight.” she said. They are still looking for survivors to come forward, so if you or anyone you know are in contact with someone who was in the Tuam mother and baby home and they would like to share their story, you can get in contact with Dr Sarah-Anne Buckley. If you would like more information about what the mother and baby homes were like, Dr Buckley has been involved with a podcast that told the stories of three survivors of the Tuam mother and baby home. Entitled ‘Others: Stories of the Mothers in the Tuam Baby Home’, it is narrated by Cillian Murphy. Dr Buckley ended the talk with why it’s important to keep exploring this side of Ireland’s history; “When talking to survivors, a lot of them expressed that they just wanted young people to know about their history. I think it’s important we keep interrogating this, it’s not just in our past.” she finished.
Great buzz all around for SHAG Week By Laura Quinn The bi-annual Students’ Union Sexual Health Awareness and Guidance (SHAG) Week took place late last month. This year’s SHAG week events, hosted virtually in line with current Covid19 restrictions focused on key issues impacting on the sexual health and wellbeing of students, including sexual self-confidence, contraception, STIs, safe online sex and sexual education reform. “We had a brilliant SHAG week, we had a solid 30-40 at every event which I think is even more than the events usually get when they’re physically on campus,” said Students’ Union VicePresident/Welfare and Equality Officer Róisín Nic Lochlainn. “It was so wonderful to see that young people actually want to get involved and learn, especially when it comes to the sex education and consent side of things.”
A panel discussion looking at sexual education reform in the Irish education system took place on Wednesday, February 17th. A recent report found that relationships and sexuality education taught in Irish schools was outdated and in need of a major overhaul. Concerns were also raised over how a schools’ ethos may influence what is taught to pupils. These issues were discussed by a panel consisting of Amy Burke of End IBSA Ireland; author of Republic of Shame Caelainn Hogan; representatives from Active* Consent and Galway Rape Crisis Centre; and NUI Galway student Róisín O’Connor.
“We still have a long way to go in Irish society in terms of breaking down the taboo of talking about sex. We want our students to be educated about their sexual safety and this should begin in the school system,” explained Students’ Union President Pádraic Toomey. “After many of us not even hearing the mention of sex in schools and with Ireland’s history of shame when it comes to the topic of sex, it is so so important that Student Unions’ around the country continue taking this no-shame, fun approach and that most importantly students enjoy it and take something away from it,” added Róisín. Róisín also praised the Gnéas le Grace Workshop that took place on Tuesday February 16th, which was an interactive workshop focused on body positivity. “This [body positivity] is one of the things I really want to focus on while I’m in the Students’ Union. Especially with Covid, our counselling service has
seen an increase in eating disorders and we are all stuck at home with mirrors, cameras, and our own thoughts all day.” As expected, it was the student favourite Sex Toy Bingo that stole the show on the 19th. An impressive €790 was raised for the SU Charities - Galway Rape Crisis Centre, Galway Autism Partnership and Helplink Mental Health - from ticket sales. The event, hosted by comedian Steve Bennett, had 196 attendees and 34 sex toys from SexSiopa.ie were given out as prizes. “We’re all about encouraging people to practice safe, pleasurable sex and what better way to encourage it by making it fun? Especially during Covid we would prefer if students would learn how to love themselves sexually instead of meeting up with others, so free toys were great for that.” More information regarding sexual health and wellbeing can be found on the SU website: https://services. su.nuigalway.ie/site/view/2379
CÚRAM Present Research Agenda for Medical Devices in the EU By Paris Ediagbonya CÚRAM Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Research Centre for Medical Devices at NUI Galway have presented a research agenda to European Union policymakers and Medtech industry leaders. The aim is to put forward a centralised research agenda for the development of medical device technologies. Researchers with CÚRAM are working alongside industry partners and hospitals to design and produce these ‘smart’ medical devices, such as implants which will respond to the individual body’s environment to provide relief to areas where it is needed.
CÚRAM aims for this technology to be affordable and to provide revolutionary benefits to patients with chronic illnesses such as heart or musculoskeletal disease, wound healing, and diabetes. Professor Abhay Pandit, Scientific Director of CÚRAM, hosted a webinar at NUI Galway where he presented ‘smart’ medical device technology which would potentially help those with chronic illnesses and improve their quality of life. The webinar titled ‘A Research Agenda for Medical Devices in the EU’ aimed to pitch a unified plan to researchers and academics from the industry, with the help of the European Union’s Horizon Europe programmes.
Some of the topics discussed at the webinar included medical device research in Europe, Artificial Intelligence medical devices, advanced therapy medicinal products and medical devices for the Sustainable Development Goals. Many MEPs and research and industry leaders from the US and the EU spoke at the webinar such as Sean Kelly MEP, Maria da Graça Carvalho MEP, Professor Mark Ferguson, SFI Director General, Chief Scientific Advisor to the Government of Ireland and Chair of the European Innovation Council Advisory Board and Karina Angelieva, Deputy Minister of Education and Science, Bulgaria.
CÚRAM launched a consultation white paper before the webinar which provided an opportunity for stakeholders to contribute to their medical device research agenda. The objective of the research agenda is to inform decision makers at an EU level. This includes informing them of research agendas both nationally and regionally and the implementation of the European Union’s Horizon Europe, a research and innovation programme established in 2021. A series of upcoming webinars and panel discussions are to be held in the coming months. More details can be found on their website at c uramdevices.ie.
telescope that may identify signs of extraterrestrial life By Valerie McHugh
NUI Galway Researcher Dr Evan Keane has been allocated essential funding to explore how the next generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) radio telescope can be developed to identify signs of extra-terrestrial life. The telescope, in its design stage, is expected to be installed in varying locations spanning 8,000 kilometres to maximise its abilities in the search for technological signatures of extra-terrestrial life. Radio telescopes are renowned for their suitability in determining technological signatures of life from exoplanets. The radio waves transmitted can encode large amounts of information. Research is being carried out to investigate the logistical aspects of this program including exploration of assorted frequency bands, astrological algorithms and distance between satellite dishes. Speaking on this new funding, coming from an ngVLA Community Study run by the United States’ National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Dr Keane said: “I am very excited to be investigating how to tackle perhaps the most difficult challenge there is in science. These searches for techno signatures are also now happening on Irish soil too. “With my collaborators in Berkeley, and across Ireland, we have been enabling a techno signature search system on the Irish Low Frequency Array station in Birr, Co. Offaly. This is a great opportunity for upcoming Irish scientists to tackle these questions at home.” Before joining the NUI Galway staff in January, Dr Keane was an established Project Scientist for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project in the UK. He was also a Dynamic Theme Scientist for CAASTRO and a Senior Postdoctoral Fellow within the Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing at the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. Since arriving at NUI Galway, Dr Keane has established a joint summer internship programme with Berkeley, which will hire two research interns to work in Birr with the telescope this summer. For more information on the next generation Very Large Array radio telescope, visit https://ngvla.nrao.edu/page/science.
8 F E AT U R E S
SIN Vol. 22 Issue 09
International Women’s Day By Saoirse Higgins Features Editor
Dr Sarah-Anne Buckley
Dr Sarah-Anne Buckley is an esteemed historian of gender, women and childhood in Ireland who has worked as a professor in NUI Galway for several years. She is the co-author of the best-selling
book ‘Old Ireland in Colour’, which is only one of her many accomplishments. She is also the co-principal investigator on the Tuam Oral History Project which aims to form a public archive of stories from survivors of the Tuam Mother and Baby Home. Dr Buckley has also worked on projects like the podcast entitled ‘Others: Stories from the Tuam Mother and Baby Home’ which tells the tales of three survivors narrated by Cillian Murphy. Dr Buckley brings a lot to the table for NUI Galway and was kind enough to sit with SIN to discuss her thoughts on women’s equality, influences in her own life, and how she got to where she is today.
Who was the most influential woman in your life?
In general, do you think women are treated equally in Ireland?
I have had and still have some very important female mentors, friends and family that have helped me in enormous ways, but the most influential woman has been my Mam. It is a cliché, but if you are lucky enough to have someone in your corner who is that supportive and challenging and knows you that well, I think it’s pretty special. She has a steeliness to her and a determination I’ve learned from, but she’s also from West Cork and great craic which is a great bonus.
In general, do you think women are treated equally in Ireland?
Nothing is that serious. Almost everything is recoverable.
I believe we are seeing steps in the right direction, but I think that Ireland has a long way to go in terms of reaching full gender equality and righting the wrongs of our past. We only need to look at the mother and baby homes, the lack of adequate reproductive rights, the lack of laws on imagebased sexual abuse, the way victims of abuse are treated by our legal system, and how late we were on marriage equality, to name a few. I only mention this as it is something personal to me, but even when you think of pregnancy and miscarriage - women are generally told not to announce pregnancies until the 12-week mark because it is usually prior to that that miscarriages occur, and what could be worse than having people know the shame of miscarriage? That tradition of keeping it a secret until the 12-week mark is to shame women and make sure that anything that goes wrong is kept a secret. We do need more women in politics, but not necessarily electoral politics. We need to empower more women to become leaders in their communities, trade union organisers, etc. That includes women of colour, non-binary, and trans women. I, myself, am an Irish Republican, but even learning about our history and Irish movements - the women that played a role in the revolution still are not talked about half as much as the men are. We all know Pádraig Pearse, James Connolly, Joseph Plunkett etc. (and rightfully so), but what about Helena Molony, Rosie Hackett, The Gifford Girls? Ireland doesn’t want to give women credit for the work that they do and the role that they play in Irish society. The revolution would have fallen apart had it not been for the women. In terms of today’s society, I am from Antrim and we only got marriage equality last year. We had to get our reproductive rights through Westminster in Britain. So, while I feel that there are positive steps forward as seen by repeal, endIBSA, influential women like Mairéad Farrell in the Dáil, I still believe we are far behind other countries. We need more women at the forefront of organisations, but not just any women - women that will put women’s issues to the forefront.
I think that we still have areas in which women certainly are not – from the gender pay gap, to the unequal distribution of caring duties, to the violence and abuse women and non-binary people suffer to varying degrees on a daily/weekly basis. I think this is perpetuated by other factors, like social class, race, ethnicity etc. and I still believe we live in a society that is quite patriarchal, and while we have made large advances, it is not equal in my mind.
What advice would you give your 20-year-old self? What quality of yours do you think brought you to where you are today? Blind optimism and a confidence that I can complete stuff if I set my mind to it. Finishing my PhD was probably one of the proudest moments in my life – just seeing it through and I think that however you get there try to do a bit every day and it’ll build up over time.
Do you think women’s rights have progressed much in your lifetime? I think they have; I feel more comfortable in Ireland today than I did fifteen years ago but I think that’s the result of grassroots activism and women/non-binary people putting their personal lives, their stories, their fight out there for the rest of us. By the time ideas come into mainstream understanding many people have fought for many years and we need to acknowledge that when the politicians are taking credit.
Róisín Níc Lochlainn
Róisín Níc Lochlainn is the current Vice President for Welfare and Equality in NUI Galway’s Students’ Union. She has campaigned in the time before and during her position for women’s issues such as image-based sexual abuse, consent, sexual abuse & harassment and much more. She has been successful in achievements in her time as officer when it comes to helping students receive rent refunds, hold sexual health awareness talks, integrating Irish more into the lives of students with a motion to change the name of the student council and encouraging sustainable actions in students. Róisin has been very open about her own experiences and has helped many women across NUI Galway come to terms with their own experiences. Róisín sat down with SIN to share her thoughts.
Who is the most influential woman in your life? Not so much in my life, but the most influential woman that I look up to would be Angela Davis.
What advice would you give young girls when it comes to home and/or work life? To be loud, to be outspoken, and to always stand up for what you believe in. Being loud and outspoken might make you some enemies, but they’re not the kind of people you would want in your life anyway. The right people will appreciate that you speak out on what you are passionate about, the wrong people would label you a troublemaker, “Here’s to the ‘crazy’ ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes … the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. … the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” Advice for women my age and older: to be the person that they needed when they were younger! And, dump him.
GNÉ -ALTANNA
March 09 2021
9
Stand up for Superior Judges – SIN looks at some of NUI Galway’s leading female figures Áine Cleary Amber Gilgan, and Clíona Ní Laoi
What quality of yours brought you to where you are today? I think resilience. I think if we’re speaking in terms of being welfare officer, I think I have personally been through a lot of what would be considered traumatic events in my 21 years, but I have come out stronger and want to help people who might be in a similar position to what I have been in. I also think being passionate and outspoken is important because people know that I will stand by my principles and try to fight for what I think is right so I think that’s a quality everyone should have.
Do you think NUI Galway offers many opportunities for women? I think all universities, including NUI Galway, could do more, but there are opportunities there. It was great that the counselling service got LGBT+ ally training this year and in terms of the SU we’re constantly seeing more women class reps and more interest in SU positions from young women. The committees that I sit on all have an equal gender balance, but I do think there needs to be more efforts by men, especially older men, to take women seriously, to not speak over them, to realise that they are just as capable, if not more, as them. I think a massive step forward would be if campus living would offer the option on applications for students to have the choice of living with other LGBT students if they so wish.
Emma Sweeney
Emma Sweeney is the Vice President for Education in the Students’ Union here in NUI Galway. Emma does great work behind the scenes, helping students with any issues that happens with their education. She helps students with issues related to grants, examinations, the library and so on. She has done great work especially when it comes to reopening study spaces for students that has just come through earlier this month. She sat down with SIN to give her insights on women’s equality and much more.
In general, do you think women are treated equally in Ireland? I think there is much more of an equal treatment of women than there was ten years ago. I think more can certainly be done to improve and promote equal treatment but there has definitely been a shift in the right direction. There are still issues with the gender pay-gap and lack of representation, but I think we can look back proudly on the
work that has been done in terms of promoting more women into higher roles in politics and the media and with the women 20x20 campaign there is certainly more work being done to promote women in sports.
Who is the most influential woman in your life? My mom is definitely the most influential woman in my life. She is incredibly supportive and, as cliché as it sounds, I certainly wouldn’t be where I am today without her. She has always been the heart of our family and always makes someone feel like the most important person in the world. With her, there is no such thing as a bad day and that positivity is so infectious. She recently went back to college which was a huge inspiration to me, and she managed to run a household while being one of the top students in her class and a support to all her classmates.
International Women’s Day is an opportunity to celebrate the significant influence of women on the Irish Courts and society. We looked at three inspirational women who have inspired generations of female lawyers. Ms Justice Mella Carroll was born in 1934. Her father was a founding member of An Garda Síochána and a barrister. She was a highly respected, accomplished judge and one of the most influential women in Irish legal history. Ms Carroll obtained a degree in German and French from UCD and studied law at the Kings Inns. She became a senior counsel in
What advice would you give young girls when it comes to home and/or work life? I think balance is incredibly important but also putting yourself first. I didn’t realise how important that was until this year. Last year I worked two jobs and was doing a diploma in college, I didn’t realise how much of a toll that had taken until I really reflected on how I treated myself that year. I also tried to be in too many places at once and couldn’t sit still. My big piece of advice would be to try and find a balance and look after yourself - if you don’t, how can you look after anyone else?
What quality of yours brought you to where you are today? Determination and hard work would be the two qualities that have not only brought me here but opened a lot of doors. Determination and reaching my goals was something that was instilled in me from years of martial arts training - you get out what you put in and that’s why I think determination and perseverance are incredibly important. When people see you work hard and are determined to do things to the best of your ability, they recognise and appreciate it.
Do you think NUI Galway offers many opportunities for women? I think, historically, NUI Galway was a very different place. I think now there are much more opportunities for women. There is no doubt that more needs to be done in promoting women in NUI Galway but if you look at the very senior roles, there are definitely more women than five or six years ago. This has also been helped by making sure there are gender quotas to enable women to get more opportunities, and with committees like the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion committee, it recognises the need to make NUI Galway a more equal campus. Societies like WISTEM are also incredible for promoting women in more maledominated fields. As we’ve seen from our three interviewees, NUI Galway have some great women in their midst and, as we see another International Women’s Day come and go, it’s important that we acknowledge how far women have come and the accomplishments they have achieved. There is also a need to make sure we always strive towards equality for everyone, and that NUI Galway help foster an environment of equality in the 21st Century.
1977 and she was the first woman to be elected chairperson of the Bar Counsel. In 1980, Justice Carroll was the first woman in Ireland to become a High Court judge where she served for 25 years, one of the longest serving High Court Judges. Ms Justice Carroll was confident in dealing with both commercial and criminal law. She made many ground-breaking decisions during her career including SPUC v Grogan in 1989 and in the infamous case of the ‘Black Widow’ where she restricted reporting on the accused’s appearance during the trial. Justice Carroll was chairwoman of the Second Commission on the Status of Women, in 1993, which was a statement of Irish women’s demands for equality, many of which were subsequently implemented. Justice Carroll held the office of Chancellor of Dublin City University at the time of her passing in 2006. These are just some of Justice Carroll’s many accomplishments throughout her incredibly inspirational career. She is a role-model for women who wish to pursue careers in law. Ms Justice Mary Eleanor Laffoy was born in Born in Tuam, Co Galway in 1947, would become one of the most prominent female members of our legal profession. She graduated from UCD with a BA and law degree before going on to the King’s Inns. In 1971 she joined
an almost exclusively male Bar, slowly overturning a monolithic ethos. She was amongst the small number of women that became senior counsel in 1987. Ms Justice Laffoy has made the most remarkable contributions to the law. She was involved in numerous landmark cases, including the Cityview Press and the Matrimonial Home Bill case. She is regarded as the expert on land law and conveyancing. She gave the judgment rejecting a challenge to the ESM Treaty and on ‘the A case’. She is regarded as having significantly developed our Courts’ human rights jurisprudence under the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003. She is currently the President of the Law Reform Commission & chaired the Citizen’s Assembly between 2016 and 2018. It was Laffoy’s career as a Supreme Court Judge between 2013 & 2017 that really showed her true nature as an outstanding legal mind and a role model to all, regardless of gender. Now retired, she has made the most imperishable mark on our legal system and on our community. Another influential Irish Judge is Dr Síofra O’Leary, a University College Dublin graduate who later went on to study in the European University Institute where she received her PhD on European Law. She is currently a Judge at the European Court of Human Rights, acting as Ireland’s representative having replaced Anne Power in 2015. There were three Irish candidates who went forward for the role and it is with great honour that a woman has once again been elected. Dr O’Leary is a perfect example of how a hardworking and determined woman
can achieve whatever she puts her mind too. Dr O’Leary has shown a number of years of dedication to her job with work being done in lectures directing practitioners, government agencies and academics on fundamental rights, EU law and European courts of Justice practice and procedure from the years 1992-2014. She has shown great leadership skills by being elected President of ‘Section V’ which is an administrative body within the Court. Alongside working for the courts, Dr O’Leary has published three texts concerning employment law, EU citizenship and community citizenship. Her dedication to her work for the European Union is unmatched, this type of devotion is inspiring to all women and no doubt very demanding however, encourages women to choose to challenge themselves. These three women and more are huge inspirations to young women today who wish to help make a difference and be acknowledged by the courts for tremendously hard work and time that has been put into their profession. They continued to choose to challenge themselves in order to make a change.
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SIN Vol. 22 Issue 09
Award- Winning Journalist Frank Greaney Gives Advice to NUI Galway Students By Ellen O’Regan “You’re seeing history literally unfolding before your eyes, and to be able to bring that news to people is exhilarating.” These are the words of award-winning court reporter and NUI Galway alumnus, Frank Greaney, who has forged a hugely successful career reporting on some of the most high-profile cases to come before the Irish courts in recent memory – such as the Ana Kriégel murder case, the Mr. Moonlight murder case, and the Belfast rape trial. Frank returned to NUI Galway this month to give a webinar titled “Media and the Law” as part of the Law Society’s Centenary Celebrations, and SIN spoke to him about his version of success, the importance of his role in the
justice system, and his winding career path which began as a Corporate Law student, feeling a little lost. “I realised halfway through that it wasn’t for me. I found that I was more interested in the stories. The legal principles were very interesting, but I always wanted to know what happened next,” he said. Taking time out to travel and write after his undergraduate degree led to a “lightbulb moment”, and the decision to pursue a career as a journalist. Unphased by a rejection from NUI Galway’s MA Journalism programme, Frank started writing for the Galway City Tribune (which he still does to this day), and fell in love with broadcasting when he was accepted onto the programme the next year.
Graduating in 2009 in the height of the recession, and unable to find a permanent job, Frank cut his teeth on the freelance circuit. “That’s when my degree came in really handy. I was able to go down to the courts, spend my last couple of quid on a laptop and a recorder, and I just started following stories,” he said. Gambling that last couple of quid paid off, as Frank has become established as one of the top court correspondents in Ireland, now broadcasting the latest news for Newstalk, Today FM, and many regional stations. With a recently published book “Crowded House: The Definitive Story Behind the Gruesome Murder of Patricia O’Connor”, and a three-in-a-row streak at the Law Society Justice Media
Awards, Frank is not short of tangible evidence of his success. But what matters more to him is the importance of telling these stories, for both the public, and the people involved. “Not everyone can get into a courtroom, but it’s very important that people know what’s going on. In the likes of the Supreme Court, almost on a daily basis decisions are being made that in one way or another affect each and every one of us as Irish citizens, so it’s very important that those stories are covered and spoken about,” he said. Frank believes court reporters also provide an important platform for the loved ones left behind. “During a trial all you can do is tell people what’s happening on a given day, but afterwards you can begin to tell the victims’ stories.
“In the likes of the Supreme Court, almost on a daily basis decisions are being made that in one way or another affect each and every one of us as Irish citizens, so it’s very important that those stories are covered and spoken about.”
For some families who are left behind, that’s a really important platform for them to have.” He mentions section 252 of the Children’s Act, which protects the identities of child victims in criminal proceedings, but also inadvertently robs families who have lost children in violent circumstances of the opportunity to share their stories publicly. “When that platform is taken away from a person, that’s when you realise how important it is to report on these cases. It gives people a voice and a platform where they might not otherwise have one.” “It does make me feel a little bit uncomfortable accepting accolades on the back of these tragic stories that I’ve covered, but equally I think they’re important stories to tell and it’s important to do that respectfully.” Covering “stories that would make your skin crawl” as a nine to five would weigh on anyone, but Frank has some positive takeaways. “Seeing and writing about that kind of cruelty day in day out, listening to someone talking about how much they miss someone, how much they loved them, and how precious life is, it gives you a better appreciation for the people who around you and the people and things that really matter.” Frank also has these words of wisdom for NUI Galway students in particular: “When I was a student at NUI Galway, I was a young fool who felt a bit lost and really had no idea what he was doing with the rest of his life. Just because you don’t know what you’re doing with the rest of your life now, doesn’t mean you won’t figure it out along the way, and half the fun is getting on that path. My one piece of advice is, you’re in a fantastic university, you’ve been given every opportunity, if you’re feeling a little lost when you’re leaving don’t despair, because things have a funny way of working themselves out.”
Motion made to change the name of the student union council to Irish By Niamh Casey Welfare Officer Róisín Nic Lochlainn has successfully brought a motion to the Student Union Council to change the official name of the council to Comhairle na Mac Leinn. Róisín feels that the responsibility to display the college’s unique bilingual status in Ireland can be shown through incorporating the Irish language into our everyday vernacular. Proposed methods of doing so include naming our organisations to adhere to the Irish heritage of the college. “We know that centuries ago while many universities were closed due to religious reasons, the only reason OÉG, [Ollscoil na hÉireann Gaillimh], stayed open as a university was because of its cultural involvement.” Róisín
explained, “Under culture came language, so I think we have a specific duty to really live up to our status as the only bilingual college in the state. The same should go for our Comhaltas which should be promoting the use of Gaeilge at every opportunity and making students that are gaeilgeoirí feel welcome, seen and appreciated.” Róisín speaks personally about the importance of integrating Irish into the college’s spoken word, “As someone who comes from the six counties where our cearta teanga are stripped from us, I think we should embrace our native language and be proud of it, and I think that pride was shown when students voted overwhelmingly in favour of this change at Comhairle. “Going from having basically no signage at all at home, to the organisation
I work with having its primary name as gaeilge - it is amazing to see! Beatha teanga í a labhairt!” The motion to change the title of Student Union Council runs even deeper. In Article 18 of the Students’ Union’s constitution it states that “The Union shall have two co-equal official languages i.e. Irish and English”, and Oifigeach na Gaeilge, Erin Mac An tSaoir, points out that in accordance to this article the Irish version of the official title of the Students’ Union should be normalised in order to encourage the use of the language in daily conversation. Welfare Officer Róisín stated that “It was our Oifigeach na Gaeilge, CC’d, that brought this to comhairle in semester one. I was delighted that the motion passed”.
Having spoken with Erin Mac An tSaoir, the Oifigeach na Gaeilge (or Irish Language Officer) for the Students’ Union, it is clear that there is a passion among NUI Galway students for the Irish language, with an overwhelming percentage of the student body citing that they wish they spoke better Irish; “Students want to speak Irish and it’s about creating institutional changes that accommodate for those students and gaeilgeoirí”. NUI Galway is currently the only higher-level institution to hold the title of ‘bilingual college’, which means that it is the university that many Irish speakers aim to enrol in. Róisín Nic Lochlainn has stated that “I am keen to put in place a plan with University management to increase the number of
Irish-medium courses available so that we would finally be able to live up to our ‘bilingual’ status.” Irish Language Officer Erin is clear on his goal for the Students’ Union to start using Irish more fluently, “I think it is important that the name [of the union] is Irish, it makes the college more welcoming to gaeilgeoirí. I feel as an institution that the Students’ Union is responsible for leading the example in the use of Irish in campus life”. Students are encouraged to provide feedback on how they would like to see the Irish language incorporated into their lives. You can leave suggestions and recommendations on ways you would like to see the language incorporated into the college’s institutions at www.nuigalway.ie/ gaeilgebheo.
GNÉ -ALTANNA
March 09 2021
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Earth and Sustainability Week at NUIG By Lucy Kellly
Climaton
As sustainability and climate action has been drumming up support and momentum over the past few years, student interest in taking action and staying informed has also increased. In turn, last month, there was an abundance of virtual events surrounding sustainability, wellbeing and climate action. Various different societies, groups and supports services held events for students to attend to broaden their knowledge of all things sustainability. While there were amazing events held, I wanted to highlight the amazing opportunities, as a student, I got involved in throughout the week.
Starting this month, NUIG students have the opportunity to develop their ideas and projects surrounding the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12, responsible consumption and production, and SDG 13 Climate Action. The development of the Climathon is an initiative of the French Embassy Ireland and is being offered to all campuses across the country. The main aim for the groups is to develop policies, social projects, and frameworks to adopt responsible and reduced consumption and navigating the effects of climate change. Through weekly sessions the groups are given the necessary skills to develop their projects! This effort is not for nothing, as students will have their chance to pitch their projects to pitch their ideas and potentially present their final
pitch at the Climate Tous Ensemble and implement their solutions on campus. Students were given the opportunity to meet likeminded students, find out more about the Climathon and gain a deeper understanding of the SDGs and the work that is happening across campus to improve the sustainability and consumption.
participating in this session, I developed a new-found sense of empowerment in how I can contribute to positive change. It was also brilliant to see students actively engaging in such important conversations and showcasing the perspectives and what we can offer.
Good Food for All
With all the overwhelming information we are told on a daily basis about climate change and the environment we often forget to process how we feel and understand our position in climate change and climate action. The eco-café allowed students to gather in a safe environment to speak about how the climate crisis was impacting them and allowed students develop skills and tools to help develop healthy processing skills to help understand the changes in the climate. At the crux of the café, was the need to properly look after ourselves and manage how we process and feel about the climate crisis before we can take part in creating positive change. Through understanding and developing tools for coping with the information we are given on a daily basis, we can start to have more mindful and productive conversations surround climate action. With all the other events happening across various societies and groups, the students of NUIG were offered many tools to engage and better understand climate change sustainability and how to create positive change!
Later in sustainability week, students got the opportunity to take part in an independent dialogue session held by World Vision Ireland, as part of the development of the UN Food Systems Summit later on this year. NUIG students had the chance to have their voices heard on all things food systems related. With guest speakers from the Chefs Manifesto, SDG hubs and activists, a real flavour of all the different aspects of food systems was given. Within the session, participants were broken into different groups to develop dialogue on how food systems can be made more sustainable and equal for all. Several different perspectives were showcased in the development of the discussions, from farmers, to policymakers, students and activists. With all these different perspectives coming together to really delve into how food systems can be fixed and made more equal, through social justice, policy and more. This workshop proved just how important it is to develop open lines of communication between different groups to help develop and understand how food systems can be made more equal and sustainable. In
Eco-Café
Covid-19 column By Alice O’Donnell Day is-anyone-even-still-counting of lockdown. And it’s nearly been a year. It was last week, as I walked across the Cathedral Bridge that I realised it’s nearly been a year. A year since meeting up with friends in Sult, a year since library crushes, and a year since Bialann chatter. There was something so staggering about it. A year. A lot can happen in a year; people change, hobbies grow, friendship forms. And yet these last 365 days have stagnated. Change now comes in the form of restrictions, the cyclic nature of lockdowns and waking up to log into Zoom and going to sleep with screen eyes. A year. I sometimes wonder who I might be now if pandemics were left to science-fiction. I wonder how the past year might’ve formed me; who I would’ve met, what I would’ve done. I remember looking out at the torrents of the Corrib, and I imagined in the surf I could see apparitions of what could’ve been. The mirage of friends never met; memories never made. A lost year, the tick of time slightly off beat. Today I had to go to campus to collect a library book. I thought back to the last time I went into the library; a nondescript day in March, the day lockdown was announced. I remember sitting where I always sat; a first-floor window seat, and around me students were packing up, elbows jostling each other as laptop screens go dark. As I chatted to my friend about her upcoming holiday, my mind was debating many books I should take out. I had two history essays to do, the shorter one due in a week and the long one in a month and a half. I can remember eyeing the hardback tome I needed for the longer one, and then putting it back on the shelf. Because there was no way we all wouldn’t be back to college in a month, no way life would dare be paused for so long. I wished my friend a happy holiday, and left the library. Not knowing I wouldn’t step back through those glass doors for nearly a year. Vibrant yellow stickers now line the carpeted lobby, carefully directing the path. A glass barrier separates me from the librarian, and he won’t take my ID card, but taps the counter, waiting for me to let go of it before
he picks it up. My face-mask itches, and I hope he finds my book quickly. The world is so clinical now. And I know it has to be, know that the physicality of company is a dangerous risk. The unseen virus, an assassin, jumping from one victim to the next. I understand the need for it all, but that doesn’t mean I accept it. Before I head back, I decide to wander around campus. I walk under the covering of the Arts Millennium Building, thinking back to the class I had there last year. It was on a Friday, and the thin walkways between desks and chairs were always cluttered with suitcases, waiting for buses to board. I walk towards the concourse, look through windows at Smokey’s, wondering what on earth that pigeon has been surviving on for the past year. I hope he’s doing okay. It’s unnerving to see campus so void, filled only with empty buildings. Even during the summer there had always been postgrads fluttering around, hands gripping Smokey’s coffees as they tried to balance a stack of papers. I miss my friends, but I also miss strangers. I miss the bustling corridors of the Concourse, I miss having to share a table in the Bialann with another group of friends you know nothing about, but every so often you hear titbits of their conversation and make eye contact with your own friend and try not to laugh. I miss packed lecture halls, and the search for your friends amongst all the heads before you have to take a seat. I miss the physicality of others; the presence of strangers. The buzzing conversations in Smokey’s, the chatter in lecture halls before the professor arrives. A year. Covid-19 has taken the facetted face of life and fractured it. Caring is no longer sharing; caring is staying two metres apart and decided that maybe a Zoom call would be the safest way to meet up anyway. When strangers are no longer potential friends, but potential carriers. Each one of us has experienced this past year, but done so isolated, separated from others. I can’t wait until the endless age of hand sanitising, social distancing and Zoom calls is over. “Anyone fancy a bap from Smokey’s?” Those words cannot come soon enough.
Volunteer this year for the ALIVE Certificate from the President of NUI Galway alive@nuigalway.ie www.nuigalway.ie/alive
Deadline Fri 23rd April
12 F E ATU R E S
SIN Vol. 22 Issue 09
Lent me your ear SIN Online Polls Show By Stephen Holland We are now the midst of Lent, but does that really mean anything in the world we live in today? The purpose of Lent is for Christians to prepare for the coming of Easter through penance and self-denial. It lasts for 40 days in commemoration of the 40 days and nights Jesus spent fasting in the Judaean Desert. As if through mimicking his actions, by abstaining from something that we enjoy, we can more thoroughly understand Christ and thus be brought closer to God. It is a noble concept, but in 2021 it can all feel a little bit old world and outdated.
When I was a child, I took Lent very seriously. Me and my two sisters would give up sweets every year. No chocolate, no jellies, no biscuits. If it was sweet, it was off limits. Occasionally we would make an exception for the St Patrick’s Day parade when sweets would be thrown out to the crowd. Although to me this felt sinful, like I had broken a scared pact with God. I knew I should not do it, but the ChupaChups from the Sligo scouts brigade were just too enticing for a seven-year-old to pass up. But my monk-like devotion to the practice of Lent may not be as noble as it first seems. This was because there was an alternative purpose to my abstinence. Every year on the first day of Lent I would secure a tin box. This I called my “sweet tin”, and every time I was offered something sweet throughout the 40 days of Lent, I would be more than happy to accept it and quietly store it in my sweet tin. Like a squirrel gathering nuts for the winter, I would fill my sweet tin with every variety of surgery treat. Then, on Easter Sunday, I would gorge on 40 days’ worth of snacks, making the whole process of self-denial redundant. I had merely mastered the art of delayed gratification and would reward myself in an obscene display of gluttony. As I grew older the practice fell away and by the time I’d entered my teens I no longer participated in it. But this year has got me thinking deeply about the concept of Lent. The idea of a Lenten sacrifice, a daily discipline based on self-determination, resilience, and strength feels oddly appropriate for 2020 and 2021. What are some of the most absurd answers you could think of if someone asked you pre-Covid what you were giving for Lent? I’ll give you some of mine: “I’m giving up going more than 5km from my house.” “I’m giving up meeting anyone outside of my own household.” “I’m giving up visiting anyone, or going anywhere, or doing anything.” The restrictions have been difficult for everyone but, when you think about it, that’s what Lent is all about. Restrictions. Except this time, it has not lasted 40 days, it has lasted for more than a year. But what we have done, and what we accomplished together, has saved countless lives and that is truly commendable. The idea of Lent is that if you take away the things you enjoy, you will appreciate them more when they have been returned to you. It is a mindful practice that allows you to truly get to know and respect the things you enjoy. I miss my friends. I miss my freedoms. I miss travelling, and festivals, the cinema, and the pub. But, just like Lent, this too shall pass. Unfortu- nately, there is no sweet tin that can include all the experiences we have missed out on over the past year, but we certainly won’t take our passions for granted after this is all over. So, when someone asks if I’ve given up anything for Lent this year, I say no, because we have been living in a constant state of Lent for so long already. Covid-19 has been like the longest 40 days of our lives but there is an end in sight. Hallelujah.
Worrying Trends for Current Government by Tom Molloy. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re one year into a global pandemic. On March 12th, 2020, then-Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, announced that Ireland was going into lockdown in an attempt to supress the spread of Covid-19. This was just over four weeks after a general election that left Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and Sinn Féin within three Dáil seats of one another. Sinn Féin received almost a quarter of first preference votes with each of the other two parties both receiving over a fifth. It wasn’t until the last week of June that a unique coalition government was formed between Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and the Green Party. Over a year on from that election, SIN investigated the current political climate amongst NUIG students by conducting a series of polls on famously diplomatic social media platform Twitter. SIN asked a series of eight questions and began with, “Where would you place your views on a Left/Right political spectrum?”. An overwhelming 70.3% of 101 respondents answered “Left”. 15% identified as “Centre”, 10% responded with “I don’t self-identify” while 5% believe themselves to be right wing in their views. At this point it’s worth pointing to the Irish Times’s exit poll conducted on election day last year. The age group 18-24 is the one we’re focusing on here. It showed that 13.6% of exit poll respondents aged 18-24 gave their first preference to Fianna Fáil, 15.5% to Fine Gael and 31.8% Sinn Féin. This leaves 39% of first preference votes going elsewhere. So, how did our SIN poll respondents answer the question, “If a General Election were held today, to whom would your first preference vote go?”? A whopping 45.5% of respondents said that their first preference vote would go to Sinn Féin, 11.1% would vote for Fine
Gael, while only 5.1% would vote Fianna Fáil. This leaves 38.4% in the “Others” category. What’s interesting here is that more people clicked “Sinn Féin” than “Others”. SIN then moved on to people’s opinions on the performance of our current government. SIN asked, “In your opinion, is the current government doing a good job overall?”. 72% said they are not, while 22% said they are neither doing a good or bad job. This 22% is perhaps a reflection on the malaise people are feeling at this moment in time. On to government personnel. A staggering 87% of respondents stated that Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, is doing a bad job. Not very good news for the Wicklow TD considering we’re in a global pandemic. Three-quarters of respondents believe Donnelly’s predecessor, and current Minister for Higher Education, Simon Harris, is doing a bad job in his current role. And, finally, 78% of respondents expressed dissatisfaction with Micheál Martin’s performance as Taoiseach. SIN’s seventh question was, “In your opinion, have third-level students been overlooked by the Government during this pandemic?”. Unsurprisingly, 83% said that they have been overlooked. This is very worrying for the current government. SIN finished by asking a general question, “In your personal opinion, are you in favour of extending the lockdown, or do you want to see the country opening up?”. Two-thirds believe that it is necessary to continue the lockdown. This is interesting in the context of what happened in Dublin last month. So, what does this data tell us? Well, from a political point of view, it shows that NUIG students who responded are very much left leaning in their political views, which reflects polling that has been carried out by companies in
SIN’s online poll: “If a General Election were held today, to whom would your first preference vote go? 5.5%
11.1%
45.5%
Fianna Fáil Fine Gael 13.6%
15.5%
Sinn Féin
38.4%
Other 31.8%
39%
The Irish Times’ exit poll on at the last General Election, February 8th 2020. (First preference, 18–24 year-olds)
the last year. More pressingly, perhaps though, it shows that NUIG students feel neglected by the current government and ministers. The sheer volume of negative responses to our polls is something that they should pay heed to.
A staggering 87% of respondents stated that Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, is doing a bad job. Three-quarters of respondents believe Donnelly’s predecessor, and current Minister for Higher Education, Simon Harris, is doing a bad job in his current role. And, finally, 78% of respondents expressed dissatisfaction with Micheál Martin’s performance as Taoiseach.
GNÉ -ALTANNA
March 09 2021
Mature student diary By Cormac Culkeen A very good morning, afternoon, or evening folks, whenever you happen to read this. As I write this it’s a beautiful sunny day. The sky is an expanse of bright blue, and white clouds gather and curl in the distance. Sparrows and finches dart in and out of the feeder that I have hung on the balcony. It feels like the heel is off our collective throat. The evenings have brightened ever so slightly. You can taste spring in the air, feel a slowly growing charge as the land starts to wake up, the lovely moist smell of fresh clay. The breezes have gotten warmer and bring the scent of greenery, faint as a murmur. All is well with the world. Until I flick on the news that is, and I see our so called ‘leaders’ spraying their word ecoli everywhere, seriously messing the place up. I’m generally not one for
political screeds, but surely we could have done better than a Taoiseach who comes across like a sweaty lawyer whose only client is a sheep? Worse, we have a Minister for Health who looks and sounds like a Bond villain dreamt up by a committee at the Mr. Price shareholders meeting. Is it so hard to have a coherent policy on a programme for vaccination and public health, not one that seems to have been written on the back of a shebeen beermat after the puke has been wiped off it? Most of Europe and Britain are getting their act together, but there are Sult regulars who’d make a better fist of things than the gabbling, pass the parcel coop that is Leinster House. Anyway, rant and spewage of bile over. Sorry about that. It’s just bloody frustrating and enraging to see such ineptitude in attempts at getting life back to some semblance of normality, and I’m sure many of you feel exactly the same.
I hope that you’re all happy, healthy and mobile and that you’re all making as good a life as you can at the moment. We’re all missing the routine and interactions that make college life so enjoyable, and hopefully we’ll all be able to avail of it soon. Look to the changing seasons and the fact that we won’t feel so entrapped, believe me being able to walk in the sunshine and watch the world in its dance around you is one of life’s simple, unalloyed pleasures. Take it all in. Read a book. Listen to music. Buy a newspaper. Make yourself an enjoyable sandwich. Dance. Watch a good series (I seriously recommend ZeroZeroZero) or a movie. Try something new, in whatever limited means you can. I guess what I’m trying to say is keep your space as open as you can. Grab any positive, no matter how small. Most important of all: Be kind to each other. Stay in touch with your friends and offer help and support where you can. Keep the heads up and stay contrary.
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Mol na Meáin Le hEímear Nig Oireachtaigh Don eagrán seo, labhair mé le Seosamh Mac Seoin. Is as Éirinn é, ach tá cónaí air i Nua Eabhrac anois. Tá sé ag obair mar aisteoir agus mar mhainicín thall ann. Bhí mé ag iarraidh labhairt leis faoina shaol sna Stáit Aontaithe, chomh maith leis a ghrá don Ghaeilge. Ach ar an gcéad dul síos, bhí mé ag iarraidh fáil amach faoina phost mar mhainicín. Is é an bhrionglóid é do go leor daoine, ach céard é an rud is fearr faoi? Dar leis, is é sin an taisteal – “I mí Eanáir 2020 d’oibrigh mé i Londain, Páras agus Nua Eabhrac. Chomh maith, tá gníomhaireacht agam i Milan anois. Tá mé ag tnúth le bheith ag obair ansin i 2021.” Nach gcloiseann sé sin go hiontach! Nuair a thagann sé chuig an aisteoireacht, is breá leis an chaoi inar féidir leat pearsantú a dhéanamh ar na carachtair. Bíonn sé ag obair go dian ar roinnt scripteanna, agus is breá leis an bhfeabhas a thagann air mar gheall air sin – “Ní hamháin go bhfuil tú ag cur feabhas mar ealaíontóir ach mar dhuine fosta”.
Final Year Diary By Tom Molloy Hi all, and welcome back to my final year diary. March is upon us. It’s almost been a year since this country went into lockdown for the first time. I think it’s fair to say it’s the most surreal year any of us have experienced. At the time of writing, 4,319 people have died from Covid-19 in Ireland. On the upside, however, a vaccination programme has begun, albeit in a slower fashion than we’d like. The absolute devastation, tragedy, and grief that this virus has inflicted on Ireland and the wider world means absolutely nothing to some people, however. A large crowd gathered in Dublin on the last weekend in February protesting “against lockdowns”. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so dangerous. People wearing hoodies with “RTÉ Sold There[sic] Souls” printed on the back of
them. As to what that means, your guess is as good as mine. These people live in a fantasy world where everything they read on Facebook is true. It’s understandable that during times of stress, anxiety, and insecurity people will be more drawn towards conspiracy theories. This is no excuse for stupidity though. When one reads the absolute nonsense that some of these people are coming out with, one can only feel sympathy for their families. Imagine spending lockdown with that level of delusion. Some of the theories I’ve read are just outrageous. The Sunday Times spoke to one person who was talking about a massive conspiracy involving missing people and keeping RTÉ’s top stars looking young. We’ll all celebrate when this pandemic is over but, Jesus, some people are beyond medical help. In brighter news, literally, spring is well and truly upon us. Saoirse and I are
going to attempt to get back in touch with our walking routine from last summer. There should be some beautiful locations for walking or hiking in your vicinity no matter where you are, especially when travel restrictions are relaxed. Down here around Limerick we have loads of places. Hiking in Moylussa or Keeper Hill, or just a leisurely stroll on the grounds of Curraghchase or Glenstal Abbey. Every county has loads to offer. We have to take positives from all of this, and I think one of those positives is finding a new sense of appreciation for this country. I believe springtime really brings it to life. This is a positive appreciation for what this country has to offer, completely different to the brain-dead, ignorant, and toxic “love” for Ireland some “patriots” drone on about. Anyway, thanks as always for taking the time to read my ranting. Stay safe and I’ll talk to you later.
First year diary By Aine Fogarty Welcome back everyone. It’s a new week and a new issue of SIN. We are nearly into the middle of March and fully back in the swing of things. Routines are back in order and assignments are slowly trickling in again. This would’ve been around the time RAG week would be but sadly we have missed out. I haven’t been up to much since I last wrote my diary, but I have begun a sort of lifestyle change I’d like to tell you all about. I’ve never been one to stick with an exercise regime or a health plan, but I think I’ve come up with something I can do and keep up with while keeping on top of my workload. Since it’s looking like we’ll be stuck with the five kilometre travel restriction for the foreseeable future it’s the perfect time
to get in some walking. I have a forest close to my house that I used to love to walk through and if I have a free hour in my day before another lecture I try to go for a quick walk even if it’s just fifteen minutes. I put in my headphones and shuffle my playlist or pick a podcast and use the time to think and destress from the work I was doing beforehand. This is an easy way to get in some exercise that can be fun and not have you dead tired afterwards. I’ve always struggled with my diet and the types of food I eat. I have a deep love for white bread and any form of sugar that making the change to eating healthier is hard for me. I’ve tried a million different times to change up what I eat but have always ended up giving up. I think I’ve figured out my problem. I need to choose healthy foods I actually enjoy and not force myself to eat things I’m
not really a fan of. I always associated the word ‘healthy’ with boring salads and all my carbs being brown, but I can still eat well while enjoying what I’m eating. I’ve always had fun cooking and trying out new recipes so incorporating new healthier foods into my meals has been a fun new addition into my days. This lockdown is a disappointing and frustrating time, but it can also give you the opportunity to get walking and get cooking. Reading back through this, I realise that I sound like one of those positive lifestyle motivators and I am cringing on the inside. I am still your typical stressed out college student but now I get dressed for half an hour of my day to get some fresh air (straight back into my pjs after) and spend a bit more time on my meals. I hope you enjoyed this diary entry and I will update you all again soon.
Dúirt sé gur breá leis dul ag taisteal, ach leis an gcoróinvíreas bhí sé gafa i Nua Eabhrac le tamall anois. Ach, mar a luaigh sé féin, beidh Nua Eabhrac i gcónaí bríomhar, fiú le linn paindéime! Tá sé fós ag obair, agus is breá leis na deiseanna atá ar fáil i gcathair cosúil le Nua Eabhrac. Faraor, “ní thuigeann na Meiriceánaigh searbhas ar chor ar bith”! Airíonn sé uaidh a chlann agus a chairde anseo, cosúil le gach uile dhuine atá thar sáile faoi láthair, is dócha. Cheap mé nach mbeidh mórán deiseanna aige an Ghaeilge a labhairt thall i Nua Eabhrac, ach bhí mé mícheart! Toisc go bhfuil gach rud ar líne anois, tá sé in ann freastal ar ranganna le Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin i nDoire Dé Máirt agus déanann sé ióga dátheangach le Cumann Cultúrtha Mhic Reachtain i mBéal Feirste chomh maith. Tá Craobh Conradh na Gaeilge ann i mBrooklyn agus in Albany. Tá cairde aige thall ann agus ní labhraím siad ach as Gaeilge. Tá sé iontach le cloisteáil go bhfuil an pobal Gaelach chomh láidir sin. Mar dhuine atá chomh cruthaitheach, is é an rud is fearr leis faoin nGaeilge ná go bhfuil an pobal é féin cruthaitheach freisin. “I mo thuairim féin, is í an teanga an rud is speisialta faoi Éirinn.” Chomh maith leis sin, tá go leor agallamh déanta aige le mí anuas. Má tá tú ag iarraidh Seosamh a sheiceáil amach, is féidir leat éisteacht lena agallaimh ar RTÉ RnaG, BBC Raidió Uladh nó Raidió RíRá. Má tá tú ag iarraidh é a fheiceáil ag obair mar mhainicín, is féidir leat dul chuig a Instagram, @josephjonesnyc.
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SIN Vol. 22 Issue 09
The Dig review - it’s better than it sounds, I promise. By Alice O’Donnell Arts and Entertainment Editor Picture the scene. Me, sitting at the dinner table. A steaming bag of Chinese yumminess in front of me. And the homepage of Netflix on my laptop. I know I can’t be the only one who has this issue. The food’s ready, but there’s nothing lined up to watch. And then you’re faced with the impossible conundrum – waste time finding a good film to get into but allow your food grow cool, or pick a mediocre film that makes your piping hot meal not as enjoyable as you were hoping it would be, because you’re distracted by how mediocre the film you picked is. Okay, first world problems I admit. But still. Yesterday I found myself in that exact situation. The crisp dakgangjeong chicken with a side of dumpling - my meal very rapidly cooling as I desperately searched Netflix for some good viewing. Eventually, panicked now that my crispy chicken was more soggy chicken, I clicked on a near random film and tucked into my meal. The Dig. Although admittedly a dull name, The Dig gripped me from the get-go. Maybe it was the fact I had absolutely no idea what to expect from it, but I was captivated by the film as the plot developed. The Dig is set in south-eastern England, where aged, single mother Edith Pretty (played brilliantly
by Carey Mulligan) decides she finally wants the mysterious mounds on her estate excavated. And so begins The Dig. The film is set in 1939, and does a truly terrific job at comparing the micro versus the macro. The film is solely focused on the dig, and yet the events of the outer world cannot help but leak into the story; the soldiers training nearby, the RAF flying overhead, radio announcements. There is something especially poignant about the excavation of an ancient burial mound while the world is on the brink of such a devastating war, of the creation of so many new nameless graves. Ralph Fiennes plays Basil Brown, the sole excavator first hired by Edith Pretty. His performance is truly stand out, and I wouldn’t be surprised if
he doesn’t bag an award or two for his role. Basil Brown is an extremely knowledgeable man, but has little formal education, and is clearly looked down upon by his well-to-do colleagues. He reminded me of my great-grandfather, in his soft, bumbling country accent. The relationship between Basil (a gentle working-class man) and Edith Pretty (with her wealth and upper-class sensibilities) is beautifully explored. The friendship formed between the two is really the core of the story. I had never watched any work by Simon Stone before, but his directorial guidance on the film is masterful. There’s a delicacy in his scenes; a wistfulness of a time long-gone. At moments it almost felt like I was there, and was simply watching the characters react. At 1:19:17, Rory Lomax (the cousin of Edith, played by Johnny Flynn) looks around while the sun behind him sets. The moment can only last a few seconds, and in any other film probably would’ve been cut. It’s invaluable in The Dig though. There’s such a rawness to the scene, so atmospheric you actually feel like you’re there, beside Rory as the setting sun blinds. The movie is full of moments like these, scenes of such delicacy, that despite only lasting a few seconds, they leave a lasting impact on the film.
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The only criticism I would have on the film is the inclusion of a love story. Okay, so I love love stories as much as the next gal, and I adore a good love story. The Mia and Sebastians of film. But the one thing I cannot stand is the addition of a love story just so the film can say hey look, we have a love story! I was disappointed in the romance element. Every other relationship in the film was delicately explored, and in comparison the romance felt heavy handed and rushed. It was jarring for something so blunt to be included in a film all about the unsaid, the unspoken. It felt like a cheap tag on; like getting a full course meal and then the waiter brings a little plate of stale bread sticks. Like Huh? Why would you think this is necessary? However, even though I didn’t love the love story, it’s not jarring enough to take away from the rest of the film. I really would recommend this film to anyone. The theme of death is beautifully explored, and in made poignant with the threat of war superimposed over the story, as well as the finds of the ancient burial mound. If this film had to be boiled down to one question, it would be this. When we die, what do we leave behind? Admittedly a bit of a heavy topic for a Chinese takeaway, but the film deals with it in such a way you’re left feeling invigorated, not drained by such a deep question. It’s honestly been so long since I’ve watched a film of such calibre as The Dig. It reminded me of films such as Atonement and La La Land; and even if you’re not a history nerd like myself, I really would recommend this film. 4.5 out of 5 stars from me anyway and add the extra .5 if there’s a Chinese takeaway involved.
The Night Cinema Changed Me. By Liam De Brùn When I was 17 I thought about saying goodbye forever. The world was moving too fast for my young mind to process. People who I expected to stay forever fled as they pleased. There was no pause button. No matter how defeated I felt. The world kept moving. Too scared to ask for help. I retreated into my thoughts that didn’t care about me. I didn’t want to see the future and what I could be. On a cold winter’s night, I went to the cinema. With overpriced popcorn and a seemingly never-ending fizzy drink, I sat in the dark. Surrounded by strangers staring at a screen. We shared a spark. My life changed. Opening by telling there’ll be another day of sun. Vibrant colours, upbeat songs, and a love story had me hooked for the next two hours. It was the first time I felt peace in months. My smile regained its power. Ryan told me of a city of stars. Even if I can’t see them. They’ll keep shining and cause me no harm.
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As the credits rolled it dawned on me, I didn’t want to go. My story was just beginning. There were too many films to be watched with people I’d never meet. The magic of cinema will never fleet. Films don’t have the power to save us. What they can do is reignite the fire within. Showing you that love and happiness are possible to achieve. All you need to do is believe. Cinema doors may still be closed. The impact it has on me will never go.
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Guilty pleasure or new favourite fantasy world – Fate: The Winx Saga By Fiona Lee Fate: The Winx Saga is one of the most recent Netflix Originals to grace our lockdown binging sessions. It is a remake of the Nickelodeon cartoon Winx Club and follows five teenage girls navigating their lives through school in the Otherworld. Family trouble, relationships, new friendships, and deadly monsters are only some of the challenges they face. The show has gotten a lot of slack as of late for its writing, acting, and
general level of cringe. There is no doubt that the show has its moments where the writing feels it’s taking a step away from the sophisticated, but if the world can fall in love with the likes of Riverdale, I don’t see why people have decided to become especially judgmental this time around! If we all decide to let go of these presumptions and quick, harsh impressions, we will see that there is stellar work done in the show in many forms: the relationships, world building, modern influences, aesthetics, and ancient magic.
The Relationships While audiences may frantically search for love interests, the friendships formed in this show are far more meaningful than any romantic moment. Gone are the stereotypes of female roommates giggling on the first day, so excited to be the best of friends immediately, or have an intense, nonsensical rivalry. The five girls (Bloom, Aisha, Musa, Terra, and Stella) are all strangers to each other on their first day, and whilst there are occasional awkward moments of forcing a friendship, it was not a quick and easy thing. As the show went on, you can see their friendships forming despite themselves, as they experience the awful, the fun, the vulnerable and the frightening moments, together.
The World If you have any interest in Irish mythology, the world created is enough of a reason to check out this show. The Otherworld in Fate is a magical parallel realm to Earth, and is split into seven continents, among which only three are revealed so far: Solaria, Linphea, and Eraklyon. It is inspired by Celtic mythology in the way that it is described to be at the edge of the world and is the home of the gods and spirits of the dead. It is believed to be the home of ancient magic where fairies-with-potential are invited to develop their abilities. Fairies of the Otherworld are innately Irish, as are the monsters, symbols and practices men-
tioned throughout the series. Whilst season one focuses on one kind of monster (the burned ones), there is so much opportunity to explore more elements of the world in future seasons. Also, one could not help but notice the stunning landscape in which the series is filmed that complements the mythical world so beautifully. I was delighted to find out that the show was filmed in County Wicklow on our very own emerald isle. I will be heading there for a hike when things with Covid-19 improve!
The Magic The magic of the fairies in this world are influenced by the natural elements (earth, air, fire, water), but light and the mind are also singled out as their own kinds of magic. Their magic is controlled by their emotions and is heightened when they entire the school’s stone circle, which is like a fairy ring that Irish children may have looked for in forests and fields growing up. The writers were not lazy in thinking about how the fairies can manipulate these elements in their magical arts. They are not just throwing about fire and water at their enemies and hoping for the best! For example, light fairies are capable of harnessing powers such as invisibility, astral projection, and illusion manipulation. Moreover, mind fairies have an affinity for empathic perception, pain manipulation, and telekinesis. During the series, the girls’ magical abilities and
control develop dramatically, so future seasons promise even more creative and extraordinary depictions of magic.
Modern Influences This is a small note, but I thoroughly appreciated the show’s use of social media. I have noticed that, recently, a lot of shows being released are not set in the present day. We love a good regency drama or ‘90s throwback, but it seems lazy in the sense that writers get to avoid the strong influence that social media has had on young people’s lives. Despite its magical setting, the characters in Fate: The Winx Saga still use Instagram and message each other in group chats. Not only is technology present, but it is occasionally pulled into the plot, subtly, in a way that makes perfect sense. It does not take over the story or take away the fantastical atmosphere. Mixing magic with reality lets a modern audience be more engrossed in the story.
The Soundtrack There is not much to say about this other than it is absolutely brilliant. The songs are carefully picked to depict the delicate, ethereal atmosphere, but others build with stronger drums and energy that fit the more dramatic scenes perfectly. I have discovered many new artists from it, and if you enjoy the general aesthetics of the series then you will be listening to it non-stop to relive them in your own world.
I’ve got Saturday Night Fever By Stephen Holland Saturday Night Fever was first released in 1977. The movie was a massive commercial success and had a colossal effect on popular culture in the late 1970s. It helped to popularise disco music around the world and cemented John Travolta as a huge movie star. The soundtrack includes songs by the Bee Gees and is still one of the greatest selling movie soundtracks of all time. These days, the film is mostly remembered for its extended dance routines, which you do have to admit are still incredible. But this movie is so much more than that, and if you can look past its cheesy exterior for a moment, you will find a film that has a lot of say about the era it comes out of. Saturday Night Fever tells the story of Tony Manero, a young working-class Italian-American from Brooklyn who spends his weekends dancing and drinking at the local discotheque. He is working a dead-end job, his parents do not respect him or support him, gang violence and racial tensions have rav-
aged his neighbourhood, and he feels hopeless, restless, and trapped. The one thing he is good at is dancing, and when he is out on the floor, he is a champion. On the surface this may feel like a pretty vapid movie, just your average run of the mill coming-of-age character study. But Travolta’s performance elevates the character Tony Manero into something much more interesting than that. His feelings of utter hopelessness at the possibility of working in a hardware story for the rest of his life. His reactions to the prejudices and chauvinism of his friends. His inability to fully express himself to Stephanie Mangano, his dancing partner, and the girl he loves. You feel for Tony. He is a smart kid who never got a chance, who has never been given the opportunity or the tools he needs to fully embrace his potential both professionally and emotionally. Tony’s friends’ worship and idolise him, but the film itself never does. It allows us to see the truth behind the façade, that he is trapped in a selfperpetuating class system, where success is always just out of reach.
While it is Travolta’s performance that carries the movie, there are some fantastic performances by the supporting cast. Donna Pescow plays Annette, a woman hopelessly in love with Tony, but the feelings are sadly not reciprocated. In a desperate plea to get his attention she agrees to go for a drive with his friends while excessively drunk, and what follows is quite frankly difficult viewing. Her heartfelt sincerity and unrequited pining make her character’s journey one fraught with tragic misery. Barry Miller plays Bobby C, a young man conflicted about whether he needs to marry his girlfriend, who has fallen pregnant and is determined to keep her baby. Bobby’s anxiety, sense of duty, and the lack of empathy from his friends, becomes a real indictment to the negative consequences of toxic masculinity, at a time where men were encouraged to bottle up their feelings, rather than express themselves in a healthy manner. But of course, we cannot ignore the dancing. In preparation for the movie John Travolta danced for three hours
every day to get into shape, and it shows, he is fantastic. Tony Manero’s white suit, which he wears in the final dance number, is one of the most iconic costumes in movie history. Legendary film critic Gene Siskel said that this was his favourite movie of all time and described Travolta as “like a peacock on amphetamines”. The film captures the vibe, rhythm, and atmosphere of 1977 so well, and includes some of the best dance routines ever committed to film. What sets this movie apart is that it defies expectations. From the outset, it
feels like it is just going to be a piece of broad entertainment. Produced just as disco music was taking off in America it could have been a cash grab, a cheap attempt to tap into what was popular at the time. But what you get is a thoughtful intelligent film, a fully realised character study, a cultural critique of ethnic class struggles, and most importantly, a disco dancing spectacular. Do yourself a favour and give this old movie a chance, and while some aspects may feel a little bit outdated, I think it has tapped into something special. 4/5 stars
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SIN Vol. 22 Issue 09
A cartoon? You couldn’t be more wrong! FairyTail
By Rachel Garvey Anime; the one word that people think is linked to the world of cartoons. Manga; the one word that people think is linked to the world of comic books. Those thoughts are very wrong and here are some evidential facts to give you a clearer picture. Anime is not a cartoon, it is an art form and Manga is simply not a comic that you can read left to right, it is a small book filled with incredible anime sketches of any particular anime that has to be read right to left starting from the very back of the book. Anime is starting to become more of an obsession amongst people, it hooks them in and never lets you go, but that’s not a bad thing though as anime is like a little escape into a world of fantasy away from the stresses of the real world. Never watched anime before? Well, here are some recommendations:
A guild full of wizards who cause chaos everywhere they go, but the bonds they hold with each other are simply inspiring. We are introduced to Lucy Heartfilia, a solo wizard who hopes to join the famous wizard guild; FairyTail, and it’s not long before we are taken on an adventure once she becomes a member. From cute little flying cats to dragon slayers, this anime is a really good starting point for first time watchers, with the soundtrack and funny storylines to add to the greatness of it all to hook you in. One thing to learn from FairyTail is the importance of friendship and how family isn’t just blood relatives, the bonds among the guild members will have you falling in love with the characters quickly.
Attack on Titan This anime takes on a different genre, horror. Attack on Titan has gotten mixed reviews from audiences with viewers either really liking it or really hating it. Personally, I thought it was
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brilliant. If you’re into the horror side of things then this particular anime is for you as it involves blood, guts and a dramatic storyline about gigantic humanoid creatures who terrorise villages. The main character, Eren, along with his friends Mikasa and Armin, take us on their journey of loss, death and battle training so they can fight the Titans and free mankind from this despair. After the first few episodes, you’ll find it hard to skip the opening song and when you find you can’t skip it then you’ll know that you’re becoming an AOT fan.
Sword Art Online Like FairyTail, Sword Art Online is also a good starting point for first time watchers. If you like gaming and virtual reality, then this anime gives you it all in one big package. Kirito, a normal teenager who loves to game has recently acquired the newest virtual reality headgear for the game Sword Art Online. The headgear, called NerveGear causes Kirito to be transported into a world
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Death Note This Manga is known worldwide and is not only an anime, but a movie too! The plot introduces us to a student, Light Yagami, who finds a notebook labelled “Death Note” that was dropped by a death god. Upon searching through the pages of the notebook, he finds different names written down, but any name that is written in the book will die. Light has taken it upon himself to use Death Note as a way to rid the world from evil, but will he be successful? Or is the notebook going t o t u r n h i m i nt o the very thing that he is trying to fight against?
The joy of children books By Niamh Casey
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where he can battle bosses and meet new people. Things take a turn for the worst pretty quickly. When anyone tries to log out, they find that the log out button is missing. The only way to get out is by battling all the bosses on all 100 floors, but if you are killed in battle then your life in the real world will also come to an end.
There is something incredibly mentally cleansing about reading a piece of classic children’s literature. The simple language combined with delightful images makes the experience of revisiting these works so enjoyable, and one might even say soothing. Reading children’s books can be a great way to get back into the habit of reading. College work can often lower your desire to pick up yet another thing to read and the activity can become a chore, especially when the option to just watch a movie or a series is there and made easily available on platforms like Netflix or Disney+. Watching TV is an effortless way to unwind that doesn’t require much brain power, but the easy-toread text of a children’s novel can have the same effect. Rediscovering classic children’s literature is a great pastime to try out, and there aren’t many other options more iconic to start with than the Winnie the Pooh volume by A. A. Milne. There are very few people who can say that they have never heard of the iconic bear, or even of the other characters, such as Piglet or Tigger, and that is because of the lovable, innocent and deeply emotional association many of us have with the collection of work by Milne, who began writing the series in 1926. His work continues to reach the hearts of millions of children (and adults) all over the world, especially since most have, at some point, owned an item or clothing with the Winnie the Pooh branding on it. The iconic bear has been associated with Disney Studios since the 1930s, when they bought certain rights to use the ‘look’ of Pooh, created by Stephen Slesinger, with his famous red shirt, along with some stories in cartoon featurettes. Milne’s works became fully franchised in 2001 when Disney bought the full licencing rights to Winnie the Pooh. So with such a long history of cartoons and films, it’s easy to forget the written origins behind the endearing cast of characters that we are all so familiar with.
I recently rediscovered the book series with the unsuspected help of Pinterest, which, true to its style, recommended to me images of quotes accompanied with illustrations from the original works. It sent me down a rabbit hole, and honestly it’s one I am glad I fell into. The original collection contains ten books, throughout which we are introduced to the various characters as they go on adventures with Christopher Robin, the boy whose imagination plays host to the wonderful world of Winnie the Pooh. Winnie the Pooh and his friends go on adventures together, meeting new characters, all with distinctive personalities, strengths and weaknesses which are explored and developed further with every new adaptation. The characters are famously based on the author’s son and his toys, and it was his son’s games that gave Milne the inspiration to create the series. After returning from fighting in World War One, Milne took great comfort in watching his son play and imagine up games, and he wanted to capture the feeling in the stories of Winnie the Pooh. The language and quotes in the books are so genuinely moving and thought provoking that if they weren’t in a children’s book you would assume some great genius or philosopher said them, and truth be told, Milne was both of those things. For literature that is aimed at children, there is a lot of insight, and perhaps even wisdom, that any age group can take away from reading the series. As much as the storyline has evolved and taken on a life of its own in time, the core messages of friendship and compassion are still present, yet they are at their most raw form in the collection published in the 1920s. The themes in children’s books were much less simplified than it can be nowadays, which means that they’re just as enjoyable to read for adults as they are for children. It is its themes that make the Winnie the Pooh series a classic piece of literature, and just like any other classic piece of literature, they are well worth a read if you can get your hands on them, and before you know it you might find yourself quoting them to your friends and family.
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The hypocrisy of Disney By Donagh Broderick One has to wonder why celebrities continue to use Twitter when it often seems to invite career damaging controversy for them. Recently, actor Gina Carano who readers may recognise as the popular character Cara Dune from The Mandalorian was fired from Disney over a tweet she recently put out. In the tweet she compared the demonising of Republicans in the US to the manner in which the Nazis turned people against their neighbours before ever carrying out their atrocities. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back as Disney has been looking for an excuse to fire her since last November over a number of other tweets such as voicing suspicion of election fraud and mocking the use of pronouns in Twitter bios. While holocaust and Nazi comparisons are commonplace these days Carons’ comparison was perhaps more nuanced than her opponents may give her credit for. She was highlighting how the vilification of others is the first thing that happens before any actual murder is committed against them.
Now of course Disney is within their rights to fire and hire whomever they choose to do so and given the company’s desire to maintain a family friendly image and avoid potential controversy it is easy to see why they chose to fire Carano. There is precedent for this too. James Gunn, the director of The Guardians of the Galaxy films, was temporarily fired by Disney over paedophilic jokes he made on Twitter before both fan and actor support saw him brought back, although in Gunn’s case he had made such tweets prior to his employment at Disney. Time will tell if this choice will be a smart decision for Disney which is already struggling to maintain and grow the subscriber base for Disney plus with The Mandalorian being a major draw to the streaming service. Carano has at least managed to land on her feet and has secured a new directing and acting job with the Daily Wire. But if Carano’s comments were too controversial or unacceptable then it must be asked why has The Mandalorian’s titular star, Pedro Pascal not been fired? Like Carano, he too has made low bar Nazi comparison tweets comparing border detention centres to concentration camps and Trump voters to Nazis. It would not be hard to do either as he has frequently not even been on screen for his scenes in full armour, only lending his voice in the editing process. Or how about Liu Yuifei, who played Mulan in the recent live action remake? The actress made comments defending the Hong Kong police Added to this, Mulan was filmed in a region that is rounding up, interning, and sterilising their Muslim minority. If people are going to make Nazi comparisons to anything today, surely this is the comparison most deserving of that?
When Taylor Swift signed up to Big Machine Records as a 14-year-old girl, straight off her Christmas Tree farm in Pennsylvania, she signed away the rights to her first six albums in exchange for a cash advance. Although this was common at the time (bearing in mind that this was 2004, when artists needed support from a label to get off the ground), it has caused some problems for her recently. There’s no clear-cut story here, there are many disputed claims from both sides. Swift claims that her only opportunity to earn back her masters was to create six more albums with Big Machine, to earn her first six back one at a time. However, she knew that the owner of Big Machine was planning on selling the label. Once he sells it, anyone can buy it, and essentially her, for however long it takes her to make six more albums. Big Machine disputes this, claiming that she had every opportunity to buy them back. The label was eventually bought by Scooter Braun, a high-profile person in the music industry, who also manages Justin Bieber and Kanye West, both of whom are well-known for having various disagreements with Swift. In November last year, Braun sold her masters to an investment fund, which Swift claims was done without her knowledge. Swift announced in August 2019 that she will re-record all six of her albums, to regain some control of her works. This brings us up to February
12th, 2021, when Swift released ‘Love Story (Taylor’s Version)’. For the public, it may not seem like much, but for her fans, it is everything. Knowing that you’re supporting the artist themselves while you listen to a song makes a difference. The significance of this can’t be understated, in my opinion. Taylor Swift represents the struggle that so many artists have, between making money and having creative freedom and ownership. When she signed that contract, she had so little life experience. It could easily be argued that she didn’t know what she was signing up for, really. To come back ten years later and re-release the album, I think that that sends a message to Big Machine that she has the most powerful part of her masters, which is the support of her fans. This support is part of what makes the masters profitable and asking her fans not to support them cheapens them. There has been some controversy around this re-release, especially when it was announced that these ‘new’ albums would be eligible for a Grammy. Some people have questioned whether this is a money grab for Swift. I honestly don’t think so. Taylor Swift has more than enough money, she doesn’t need to re-record old albums to make more. I think that this move is to show control. As I mentioned earlier, she wants to prove to Big Machine that her
The decentralisation of news – something to encourage or dismiss? By Donagh Broderick
This perhaps highlights the sheer vacuity of Disney’s progressive, family friendly image which only follows the money. This is why Disney chose to remove black actor John Boyega from marketing material for Star Wars in China where darker skinned people are viewed more negatively and why they continue to keep on actors such as Yuifei who garner sales in the Chinese market. It is also why they keep the likes of Pascal. Because the loudest voices in the English seeking world are not angry over these things. This is why Disney will threaten to stop filming in Georgia over their more restrictive abortion laws, as opposed to refusing to film in a country like Jordan where abortion laws are also quite restrictive. It’s an easy virtue signalling victory that is not actually all that difficult for them to work around. When it comes to Disney, progressive branding is nothing more than a means of making money and one that will be easily dropped when those that care are not looking or when it threatens the bottom line.
Taylor Swift – lack of a love story between her and her record company. By Eimear Geraghty
17
fans will follow her to her new label, and they’ll support her whatever she does. Any attempt made to profit off her old masters, beyond selling them on, will ultimately fail. If you’re looking for my opinion on the copyright dispute, I think Swift is in the right here. I find it unlikely that she had opportunities to buy her masters and didn’t take them, considering how deeply she cares about the issue. Offering a cash lump sum to a 14-year-old in exchange for rights to their first six albums seems unethical to me. I don’t believe that she fully understood the consequences of this at the time and re-recording them seems to be one of the few options that was available to her. I, for one, am looking forward to the rest of the Fearless (Taylor’s Version), which is due for release at the start of April. I’m hopeful that once all the albums are re-recorded, she will be at peace with this, and will be in a position to move on from it.
If you could sum up what the internet has allowed for in one simple sentence it would be the decentralisation of information. Gone are the days when libraries and archives held monopoly on information stores. So too has this happened with our news. Today it is possible to learn the news without paying for hefty subscriptions and far more information from a variety of different angles and sources can be found on any topic, political or otherwise. This decentralisation in news reporting in particular has allowed a new generation of internet savvy independent journalists, be they the likes of Lauren Chen or Kyle Kulinski. For all their flaws such individuals are not bound by the same corporate limitations of their legacy counterparts and are able to really shine, doing the jobs of media conglomerates at a fraction of the cost they do it for. Of course, in this era, where anyone can spread information to lots of people and do it quickly, many people worry about the spreading of fake news. This has painfully come to light in the United States where conspiracies around Russian collaboration and voter fraud marred the last two presidential elections and have resulted in the well-meaning but ham-fisted attempts of tech platforms to stop their spread. Many may wonder if we have entered into a ‘post truth’ era now that fake news spreads so fast online and the ease at which anyone can share their side or opinion of a story, certainly there are no standards anymore for what type of news makes it to people’s attention, and which does not. To these people I would simply ask one question, one that well known Israeli Hhstorian, Yuval Noah Harari, poses in his book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century: When exactly was this glorious era where truth reigned supreme and fake news was always dismissed? It certainly wasn’t the 2000s where fake news pushed several countries into war in the Middle East. It probably was not during the 1950s when McCarthyism was in full swing. History is littered with examples of fake news and people complaining about its prevalence or affects. The key difference today is that fake news spreads faster than ever. But so too does real news. The decentralisation of information has also led to the decentralising of narratives and control over them. I propose we embrace Harari’s solution, at least partially, and actually show a willingness to pay for quality information. But that won’t solve everything, partisan outlets often still charge despite their biases. Like all new technologies social media presents its challenges. For us today it is our responsibility to adapt to them and find solutions, not rid ourselves of the usefulness of it. Now more than ever knowledge on even the most obscure topic is within our ability to learn and master. Social media and the internet have allowed each and every one of us access to more information than any of our ancestors could have helped to even read. The burden falls to us to learn how to sort the facts from fiction.
18 FA SH IO N & L I F EST Y L E By Anastasia Burton Fashion and Lifestyle Editor Howdy, my fellow declutterers! Here we are again talking about make-up and to be honest, I have some exciting news! I have finally added a few new items to my project pan bag. As some of you may already know I started this journey last year where I seriously sat down and looked at my hoarding habits of makeup and realised… It’s a disaster! So much money spent on items I did not need yet bought because of my favourite celebrities or influencers. I highly encourage all of you to start your own little project pan and see how long it takes you to finish a product and you will notice that with time your interest in buying every new shadow ever is not the best idea. So, let’s review my beauty bag from February to March:
SIN Vol. 22 Issue 09
BEAUTY BAG REVIEW 2. Maybelline Lash sensation - Using
4. TheBalm sexy mama anti7. Anastasia Beverly Hills shine translucent powder - Using Subculture palette - Purged
I am not impressed with this mascara. It’s not as volumizing as I thought it would be and not very comfortable to apply which is also a tad sad. I think I will use it for the rest of March and purge.
1. Elf hydrating face primer - Purged
3. Rituals miracle lightweight foundation – Using
I finally made the decision that this is not the best primer for me, and it does not suit my skin type. I now use moisturizer instead as it makes my skin feel less caked on.
I’m enjoying this foundation even though it’s a little dark for me. Once I apply concealer and powder it evens out and looks really natural which I love.
Finally, at long last. I have been tired as hell of this palette and thankfully one of my friends wanted to take it over. Obviously, everything was disinfected before handing over and both of us are healthy. I think the palette is beautiful, but I was so tired of it after a year and a bit of usage. I cannot even. Again, I am not using this enough to so much as scrape the tip of the powder. I think I will end up purging this as it makes no difference to my collection and is super old.
8. TheBalm BalmBeach longwearing blush - Using
5. Rituals miracle bronzing powder - Using
This is a nice blush and I think that a few more uses will hit pan. I will use this for a maximum of three more months and purge as it is super old.
9. Catrice liquid camouflage high coverage concealer - Using
Stitch
Bitch FUÁIL IS FUADAR
I love this little bronze palette, it’s so natural. I really enjoy how it blends and that it does not look like mud on my face. Wonderful little palette.
6. Revolution vivid Baked highlighter - peach lighting using
This concealer is great! So nice to blend and sit perfectly on the skin without caking and obvious clumps. I really enjoy it, but I find it hard to grab the product with the applicator which I think is because I used it too much.
10. Huda Beauty obsession eyeshadow Coral – New and using I replaced my Anastasia Beverley Hills palette with
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So far so good in terms of this highlight. It’s natural enough unless you pack it on strong and it blends pretty easily. I see myself using this for the next three months at least and see where it will go as I seriously have so much highlight.
this one and I cannot describe my disappointment. I don’t know why people are loving Huda products when this is the ashiest palette I have ever used. The shades are not pigmented, they do not blend and when they do blend, they blend to nothing. I am super disappointed by this palette and I am thinking about purging it. So, this is my update on the beauty bag declutter project pan! Hope you are enjoying these and make sure to tag me in your progress pictures!
FAIS EAN
March 09 2021
7
NÓ S MAIRE ACHTÁLA
Indoor Plants for Beginners By Laura Quinn If my plants were actual humans, they would be last-at-the-school-gate, yoghurt-on-jumper children. I am an incredibly lacklustre plant mother. By some miracle of fate, however, none of them have succumbed to my neglect, which is why I feel that my tale may inspire aspiring horticulturalists, whose fears of accidental plant slaughter have prevented them from developing their green thumbs. I own eight plants in total, the oldest of which (a venerable cactus) will be celebrating its sixth birthday next August. Keeping a plant alive is dependent on three things - light, water and room temperature; but some are more sensitive than others. For a beginner, it is best, to begin with, plants that require very little care before branching out. Cacti are one of the more popular as house plants. They are low maintenance and drought-resistant.
In layman’s terms - you can forget to water them for weeks and they will still be alive. Originating in the desert, cacti love sunlight; so, it is important to keep them somewhere warm and bright. The general rule of thumb is to water cacti once a week but ensure that the soil is completely dry before doing so. Overwatering cacti can cause waterlog, rot and less commonly spinal shedding (those little prickly things are the spines). Succulents also make excellent starter plants and come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and colours. While the term succulent just means ‘water-storing plant’ (which technically makes cacti succulent), plants commercially branded as such are usually characterized by their thick, tough, and waxy leaves. They require the same levels of care as cacti and the two types complement each other really well when used as décor. Aloe Vera is a great succulent to have around the house due to its medicinal
properties, as its leaves contain a gel that can be used to soothe burns and reduce the appearance of acne. If that isn’t enough to sell you on Aloe Vera; Cleopatra used the gel on her face and body in her everyday beauty regime, so if it’s good enough for royalty… While cacti and succulents are the easiest plants to care for, they don’t quite fulfil the bohemian décor fantasy that plagues everyone’s Pinterest feeds. Frondy plants (palms, ferns, etc.) tend to require more specific care but are the next step in your botanical journey. Whether you are buying your plants in a florist or a hardware shop, it is essential to get the scientific name of the plant so that you can research it. There is a wealth of horticultural knowledge available online, but make sure you trust the site before using its tips and tricks on your new plant. My personal favourites are Woodies.ie and Planterina on Youtube (although it is seldom I remember to implement
their advice). One very useful piece of information that I picked up online is that over-watering your plants has nothing to do with how much water you give the plant but refers to how often you water it. In fact, when watering, leave them under a running tap until the soil is saturated, and then let the excess water drain off before returning them to their positions. Lastly, fertilizing your plants isn’t essential, but it does keep your plants happy and healthy. You can use natural ingredients such as eggshells, coffee grounds and banana peels to do this, but the liquid indoor plant food that they sell in most garden centres is also great for your plant babies. Sin é! Hopefully, I have imparted some plant care knowledge, or at the very least assuaged the fears of a few future plant parents. The main things to remember are water, light, love - and picking them up on time from school.
Cheap and easy recipes By Eadaoin Counihan Bored of sandwiches? Living the same day over and over again? Want a healthy and tasty lunch? Lucky you, here is the answer. The answer is lunch rice. Eat it for lunch or eat it for dinner, tea, or breakfast. All ingredients can be found in Aldi, Lidl or Supervalu. No doubt in Dunnes Stores or Tesco too. Adapted to suit your tastes. If vegetarian throw in mushrooms or whatever you prefer instead of bacon bits. A bacon bit alternative I love is pancetta. It makes the dish slightly saltier. If you’re not a fan of pork use another meat. Stir-fries are a good way to use up leftover meat from the day before. Don’t like pepper, put in a vegetable you do like. This dish is easy to reheat and filling.
Lunch rice Serves four INGREDIENTS • 225g rice • 600ml stock • 1tbsp oil • 1 chopped onion • Bacon bits (or mushrooms)
• 1 pepper • 1 diced courgette • 85g frozen peas • 85g frozen sweetcorn
EQUIPMENT • Chopping board, saucepan, frying pan, knife, weighing scales (optional)
METHOD: 1. Boil rice in stock of choice according to rice packet cooking instructions. 2. Cut up the onion, courgette, and pepper. 3. Fry onion and bacon bits. 4. Add pepper and courgette and fry. 5. Add sweetcorn and peas and fry. 6. Mix boiled rice and the fried mixture together. 7. Eat and enjoy!
Need some comfort food as this lockdown extends? Afraid you will fall down the rabbit hole of junk food? Wish there was a lunch that was tasty, healthy and filling? No need to worry, the answer is here. Cajun Wedges. Ingredients are all cheaply available in Aldi and SuperValu. Some of them may be lingering around the house already. Spices are a purchase of no regret. Also, the leftover Cajun spice mix can be put in a jar and used again another time.
Cajun Wedges Serves 2 INGREDIENTS: • Four potatoes • 1tbps Salt • 1tbps Black pepper • 1tbps Garlic powder • 1tbps Onion powder • 1tbps Paprika • 1tbps Cayenne pepper • 1tbps Oregano • 1tbps Thyme • 2tbsp oil
EQUIPMENT • Baking tray, chopping board, two bowls, knife
METHOD 1. Preheat oven to 200˚C. 2. Chop potatoes into chunks and leave to sit in a bowl of water.
3. Mix spices in a small bowl. 4. Drain potatoes (removes starch) and mix with 2tbsp oil.
5. Add spice to preference. 6. Cook for 35-40minutes. 7. Eat and enjoy!
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Video Game recommendations By Donagh Broderick Stellaris is a grand strategy game created by Paradox Interactive the creators of Heart of Iron and Europa Universalis. Stellaris can best be described as one of those free mobile games that would proclaim ‘build fleets, expand your empire, conquer the galaxy!” but with the added lure of ridiculously fleshed out mechanics. In the game Stellaris, you create an interstellar ‘empire’ although it can be a democracy, dictatorship, machine mind, hivemind or even a megacorporation and are let loose into a galaxy of mystery and danger. As you expand your empire you need to carefully manage your resources. Perhaps you will create alliances with your neighbours and uplift the primitives you discover, or subjugate them all to your rule? Do you build a powerful economy capable of maintaining enormous fleets or do you emphasize scientific research and have better ships than your opponents? The beauty in Stellaris is that it allows for a myriad of different playstyles, and unlike a lot of strategy games even goes out of its way to make a pacifistic playstyle viable. Juggling all of these demands, especially if you end up in a war with your neighbours, may not sound super relaxing, but Stellaris is unique in its layout. For one, the game can be played without sound. If an enemy declares war on you or if a hostile fleet enters one of your systems, the game with a pause or otherwise shows you a visual notification of what has happened, meaning the game is an excellent one to throw on a podcast in the background while playing. That said the game is certainly still worth playing with sound as it’s calming and wonderous soundtracks is definitely one of the best in a game that there is. Stellaris is also great for role-playing as an empire, be it one from fiction or your own imagination. As well as your government ethics and type, players can also set things such as their trade policy and war doctrine and even design their own species which allows you to completely immerse yourself in the game’s mechanics and play as the likes of the Imperium of Man from Warhammer 40k or the Federation from Star Trek. As you play you may find yourself taking action or making decisions during event chains based on how the empire you created would act. The folks over at the Templin Institute on YouTube have already taken to this and are on their second season of ‘Stellaris Invicta’ where they roleplay as an empire they made and create a dramatized narrative of the events of their playthrough. While Stellaris does have some preassigned victory conditions players will probably find themselves not caring for them as they pursue what they believe is the right victory for their empire. Whether that’s becoming the galactic superpower that has vassalized everything in other empires in the galaxy or creating a galactic federation. Between decadent fallen empires unpredictable marauder fleets, the mysterious treasures or dangers behind the enigmatic L gates, the plethora of event chains, or the looming threat of the endgame crisis, Stellaris keeps the galaxy fresh and alive and not just a digital boardgame as you play. Stellaris was designed as a PC game first and foremost and as a result, the console version can be a bit clunkier to play but this certainly is not a major obstacle. However, players should know that even on modern consoles, time in Stellaris still passes much slower than on PC, meaning playthroughs can go on considerably longer than you may want. With the Megacorp expansion having recently arrived on console and Nemesis soon to arrive for its PC counterpart there never has been a better time to get stuck into Stellaris.
20 FA SH IO N & L I F EST Y L E
SIN Vol. 22 Issue 09
Social Media Detox: How to take a break By Sophia Hadef By being connected all the time, we no longer know how to take a break, a real break. Our mind is always craving new things. And it can become quite exhausting. No surprise that so many of us have already experienced burnout. And without necessarily going that far, to feel a certain feeling of overload and exhaustion, sometimes even depression, when we are too connected. The screens can take us away from real life, so we sometimes need to calm down. To balance the screen-time is what we truly need. Screens, and especially social networks, plunge us into a conflict of the immediate and the principal. In a tech-obsessed civilisation where more than 500 million tweets are sent every day, and billions of people use Facebook regularly, how do we know if our social media use has become abusive? Here are some tips for breathing and disconnecting from the online world. Use apps to help to disconnect I regularly use ‘screen time’ in my iPhone settings. It is helpful to select which app to block for a particular time, which one to allow, and limit your consumption of specific apps like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Those apps can be very addictive, and it is good and recommended to take a break and use them carefully. You can also order a unique box to help you to reduce your screen time. Injoy.ie provides a box
called Shelf Control with a timed lock container to lock your devices away. If you really want to disconnect. It is good to realise that we may be dependent on an app, but it is better to help ourselves. Screen time can be very damaging for the eyes; we all experienced an intense headache after staying on the phone or working on the laptop for too long. Try to figure out what is best for you, an app, small breaks, or more significant breaks. Take some time for yourself to enjoy calm and good for mental activities such as reading, walking, drawing, or painting. Turn off the notifications. This can be an excellent way for those who don’t want or can’t take big breaks. I use that option a lot. Many apps on my phone are turned off. I have to go through the app to see if I have any notifications. If I don’t, then I’ll never know. And for some apps like Instagram, it is really helpful. Return to the basic functionality of the phone. What if the obstacle was the mere presence of the app itself? They are designed to make you dependent, with attractive designs and catchy colours. In order to facilitate your break, you can change the colourimetry of the phone screen to turn it into black and white. To do this, go to the settings of your smartphone. In case those tips don’t work for you, there is always a drastic solution: buy an old telephone from the early 2000s, with the sole function of being contacted. Good luck!
Mental Health Column By Rachel Garvey
Mental Health Supports
Acmhainní Meabhairshláinte Don’t be afraid to reach out, you’re not alone. Ná bíodh eagla ort cabhair a lorg; níl tú leat féin. NUIG Counselling- email counselling@nuigalway.ie NUIG Student Health Unit - Phone 091 492604 NUIG Chaplaincy - email chaplains@nuigalway.ie Text NUIG to 50808 Samaritans - Phone 116 123 Bodywhys - Phone01 2107906 or email alex@bodyhys.ie Pieta House - Phone - 1800 247 247 or Text HELP to 51444 BeLonG To - Text LGBTI+ to 086 1800 280 or email info@belongto.org Spunout.ie - Phone01 675 3554 or Email hello@spunout.ie COPE Galway - Phone 091 778 750 or email info@copegalway.ie Women’s Aid - Phone 1800 341 900
A problem shared is a problem halved. Laghdú gach anró é a roinnt. NUIGalwayStudentsUnion www.su.nuigalway.ie
@nuigsu
It’s so hard to believe that it’s March already, a full year since the pandemic hit us. I remember being on my 6-o clock break at work when I heard Micheál Martin speak about the extended Level five lockdown until April 5th. My stomach dropped when I heard those words and my fellow co-workers sighed and frowned in despair. It’s been hard enough for us all, as is dealing with our workload and customers and studying on top of that. Studying and assignments on weekdays and then on the weekend we put away our books and replaced them with a name badge and a safety knife and one final touch: a mask. Whenever I get home, I sit down for a few minutes to think. There are huge numbers of people out there who suffer from anxiety and depression and I am one of those people. I have to think about how I’m going to keep my mind busy and my wellbeing safe on my days off. For the students who share accommodation with friends, you have a major advantage, that being you have social contact in your home, but there is the difficulty of not being able to see your family members if you’re living away from home. The recent outbreak among students was quite worrying, so I genuinely hope you’re all being safe. It’s a little different for me as I live alone, and my social contacts only reach as far as those I talk to at work, but outside of work, I’m left to my own. That’s hard, really hard because not being able to see my friends or family in person is something, I thought I’d never have to experience. It’s something all of us thought we would never have to experience, but I say to myself “Rach, things are bad now, but it’s only temporary, you’re doing great!”. We need to be there for one another, but that doesn’t mean that we have to spend every second of the day and night with our housemates, it just means that we should set aside a little time for both ourselves and other people. Perhaps, sitting
around the table together having tea or coffee with a packet of your favourite biscuits or watching a film together on Netflix, you could even make it your own movie night and buy popcorn and sweets for it. We need to be able to find joy in the little things and during uncertain times like these, it should teach us to come up with ideas for creating an aura of happiness, and to give ourselves something to look forward to! I’ve found joy in cuddling up in a blanket in my room and watching horror movies. I’ve found joy in peeking into my post box every morning to find a parcel I’ve ordered. I’ve found joy in sitting on my doorstep while it’s sunny with a cup of tea and even though I’d rather see my friends and family in person, I keep telling myself that one-day social distancing and wearing masks will be a thing of the past, a part of history that we hope won’t repeat itself. Part of me is thinking that April is so far away, and my mind goes a tad bit crazy because I’m thinking what can I do to get by day to day? Thankfully, I have found an answer to this dilemma; daily to-do lists! Whether it’s an app on your phone or sticky notes, writing out little to-do tasks is a great way to occupy your time throughout the day, whether it be cleaning, taking a walk or setting aside time for yourself then write it down! It not only keeps your mind focused, but it keeps you from being alone with your thoughts and now is not the time for anyone to be alone with their thoughts. We all feel how big the impact is of this pandemic, but there are people out there who feel the impact on a more sensitive and emotional level, which is why we all need to be there for one another. If you can’t be there for someone in person then you’d be amazed at how much a phone call or a text message can brighten someone’s day: “Thinking of you, hope you’re doing well”. Look out for one another and look after yourselves!
NUI Galway Students’ Union Ents Presents/ Cuireann Comhaltas na Mac Léinn OÉ Gaillimh
St.Patrick’s Day Lá Fhéile Pádraig
DAY HUMP hoolie
Cóisir na Céadaoin Crua
Speed Friending
MUSIC
COMPETITIONS loads of prizes HostED BY Comedian Steve Bennett + your SU Officers 7.30pm Wednesday 17th MARCH on Zoom. FREE Tickets via Eventbrite 7.30i.n. Dé Céadaoin 17 MÁRTA ar Zoom
@nuigsu
NUIGalwayStudentsUnion www.su.nuigalway.ie
22 O PI N IO N
SIN Vol. 22 Issue 09
How have first-year students been able to adapt to college this year? By Neasa Gorrell Moving from the secondary-level structured education system to a third level university is difficult in most years for the vast majority of students. Regularly, it is a change from a system that saw us up, dressed and out to the school bus or car before 9 am for our day of structured classes - to, all of a sudden, - a form of self-determined, self-structured, and self-motivated education. Yet, for this academic year’s lot of first-year students, the transition proved to be extra-challenging, as they had to navigate the world of university studying all on their own. With the pandemic slowly taking hold of the general Irish population towards the end of the autumnal season and a lack of planning for a second lockdown situation, the Government and Universities chose to close their doors to all of the student population across Ireland. Thus, leaving every third level University student, including the first-years, in a bit of a pickle, to put it lightly. Now, having started the second semester of this year of online University study, a handful of first-year NUI Galway students have weighed in on the learning experience they have endured so far. Unfortunately, many students admitted that they have found this year to be a struggle, whereas some have adapted quite well. But, overall, there are problems which need to be addressed. One of the most significant and worrying responses from first-year students was that many had felt a severe lack of motivation to direct their self-guided study. Being
at home for the most part, with learning conducted online, saw students struggle to focus and commit to the university learning curriculum. Some first-year students spoke to SIN about about their struggles this year has brought. “College has been hard for everyone this year as there is little to no social aspect and learning online is difficult motivation wise.” “I found online learning quite difficult to adapt to and struggle a lot with finding the motivation to get up and get things done but connecting with others on my course gave me a needed boost!” While another first-year student added, “A lot of self-discipline is needed to stay on top of everything. I’ve reached out to lecturers and tutors for help before, but I don’t think I’ll ever fully adjust to not having a set timetable.” A resounding amount of students that had responded told how they often found themselves distracted by their phones or surroundings, bearing in mind that not every student has the same level of access to adequate study space in their home environments. One first-year student told of their struggles in this regard, “It is very boring and isolating doing everything at home… I find it hard to get the motivation to keep up with all the work that is assigned, and it is especially difficult to stay concentrated during lectures because it is so easy to just go on your phone instead.” Other students commented on the struggle to adapt to new learning styles and technologies.
“It has taken a lot of organization to learn to use new technology and keep on top of everything. It is also a massive change with regards to the style of learning. The focus is much more on understanding and applying everything you’ve learned to your studies, rather than learning a set curriculum.” “One of the hardest things to get used to this year was the independent learning. In school, we were mostly spoon-fed information, whereas, in college, we are given more of an outline and have to do additional studies on the topics ourselves to grasp the topic fully. I found that very hard to adapt to, especially from home.” Unfortunately, many first-year students mentioned that the circumstances of online learning had caused struggles with their mental health. “Dealing with mental health issues has also been a huge challenge this year, and when there is barely any divided between work and leisure, it is very hard to take a break and look after myself fully.” “I feel as though my mental health has really suffered and that this has impacted on my ability to learn. I often find myself suffering from burnout, especially with having to look at screens. After a day of online classes, I find myself not willing to go on any social media apps or reach out to friends. I just can’t keep living through a screen.” On the upside, there have been many supports made available to students that have brought positivity into this year of change.
With the introduction of online learning and socialising with peers in person entirely off the cards, NUI Galway and the Students’ Union have made various online learning supports and online events available to help students adjust to University life from home. Many of the first-year students we spoke to told us how these supports had helped them so far in this academic year, “Obviously, socialising with anyone has been difficult, and I still don’t know the majority of people in my course, which is crazy! Thankfully, through a few on-campus labs last semester and online events and workshops provided by the Students’ Union, I have made a few online friends. In fairness, NUIG Confessions has also provided quality entertainment over the past few months, making me feel as though I am actually in college with other people and not sat alone at my desk.” “Group work has been a good form of assessment as I actually prefer using Zoom and Teams for this type of work, but think I need in-person lectures to get most out of the college learning experience.” “I like the way that live lectures are now recorded and that we are also offered pre-recorded lectures in advance of class, as it allows you to do your work in your own time. It also means that the module material is also easily accessible for revision.” “There were a few stressful times, but for me, it has been great. The CÉIM leaders were an excellent resource and helped with questions or worries. I found the lecturers respectful and kind,
and this has helped a lot with learning. One negative aspect was the lack of time in tutorials for learning how to write academic standard assignments, essays or reports.” With this regard, many students who opted to live on campus said that they had felt more like they were a member of the college community than had they stayed at home. They also said that they felt lucky to have bonded with their housemates during a difficult time and feel as though they had made friends for life. Other students who remained at home gave credit to the Hump Day Hoolie hosted by the Students’ Union here at NUI Galway for enabling them to feel connected to their peers and reducing the effects of isolation. Many first-year students also credited the Students’ Union for keeping them engaged with events and information. Overall, this year proved to have been a mixed bag of cans for many students, first-years included, with varying accounts of the ups and downs experienced across the board. Hopefully, with technologies and learning strategies improving, NUI Galway will implement better Universal Designs for Learning to improve accessibility and inclusivity for all students. In the meantime, keep your head up, keep trying and keep positive. Together, we will get through this, and one day, when we are all vaccinated, and the coronavirus is a distant memory, we’ll be back on campus sitting in the sun by the Big Yellow Thing or wondering where the Smokey’s Pigeon is lurking.
Young people and the Irish language By Úna Kehily The internet has made language learning more accessible than ever and the arrival of apps like Duolingo has opened up Irish to a new generation
of learners. In fact, Irish is the fastest growing language on Duolingo, with over one million weekly users worldwide. It’s also the most-learned language in Ireland, ahead of Spanish, French and German. Lessons are quick
and easy, lasting only five minutes each, and can be done from anywhere as long as you have internet connection. The app is set up to reward users for their continued use and has taken language learning out of the dreaded secondary school classroom and made it into a gamified and gratifying experience. However, it’s not just on Duolingo that we can see an increase in interest in the Irish language. Despite the apparent psychological scars left by Leaving Cert Irish, younger people are recognising the significance of their national language. From conversations with friends and from what I see online, there is a renewed interest in learning Irish and engaging with Irish language media. TG4 has seen a surge in viewership and is now the 6th most watched channel in Ireland, ahead of Channel 4 and BBC Two. On TikTok and Instagram, Irish-language content has taken off, with accounts like Bloc TG4 creating content aimed
exclusively at the younger generation. Comment sections are no longer filled with “What’s the point in Irish” or “Irish is a dead language”. Instead people are expressing interest in learning and enquiring about where they can start. All of this is positive. However, is casual online engagement with a language enough to master it? Learning a language requires long-term concentrated effort. Five minutes a day on Duolingo or watching a short TikTok will never be enough to provide you with the complex grammar and extensive vocabulary you need to achieve fluency. Additionally, young people in the Gaeltacht need to be empowered to speak their language, not just native English speakers. There is no doubt that Gaeltacht populations are in decline and without the younger generation to keep the communities alive, it is likely that they will continue to diminish. Promotion of the Irish language can’t just be aimed at the individual and their deci-
sion to learn, it must push for thriving Irish-speaking populations in the Gaeltacht regions. Ultimately, there is no point in a language unless there is a place to speak it. It needs community to be kept alive and to be renewed. The young people who are showing interest in Irish now need opportunity to use it, not just in a learning setting, but in everyday life with friends, in workplaces and out in the community. We need to take the momentum that Irish has at the moment and turn that into a movement for change beyond Duolingo.
TUAIRIM
March 09 2021
23
Students need study space – NUI Galway study space closed for almost 60 days By Neasa Gorrell There seems to have been a running theme during this pandemic among all of the stories we hear reported about NUI Galway. For me, it is that many of the choices they have made appear to be antistudent. As in, NUI Galway purposely continues to make decisions that have not taken into consideration the best interest of the students. These may be decisions about financial issues, which have unfairly burdened students and their families, or the matter of showing compassion for exam procedures or assessment – which they have been disinclined to do. So far, the choices of this educational institution have not been for us, the students. They have been for the benefit and the prioritization of the institution. From encouraging students to find accommodation for this academic year, which saw hundreds of students sign leases and accommodation deposits over to landlords to no avail of any on-campus classes by the end of the autumnal season, enforcing exam repeat fees which are unjustified during the best of years, to now – keeping the study space closed. As is, NUI Galway students are the only thirdlevel university students on the island of Ireland who have no access to any on-campus facilities, which would aid their academic learning. Yet, we’re still expected to pay full fees? Despite being so inadequately assisted in our learning? Despite having no access to supports? Despite already paying for the accommodation fees, electricity bilsl, Wi-Fi, and technology just to have access to online study materials? In light of this, the Students’ Union at NUI Galway has been vocalising the issue on students’ behalf. It seems again and again that the diligent and hardworking Students’ Union at NUI Galway is continually fighting for the student body during this academic year. This time around, they have been campaigning on their social media pages for the study space at NUI Galway to be reopened, and rightly so. NUI Galway students deserve access to adequate study space, reading materials and internet connection. It would be wrong to assume that all students have equal and fair access to a positive study environment or materials. Those who do not have these supports should not be left to make do with what they have – that is not how education in Ireland should function, especially with the exuberant fees paid.
With that said, we spoke to representatives from the Students’ Union here at NUI Galway to understand why the issue of the closed study space is highly concerning and how the implications of this closure are affecting the academic capabilities and welfare of NUI Galway Students. On this, President of the NUI Galway Students’ Union Pádraic Toomey said, “The playing field for adequate study space has never been as unequal. Students who cannot afford luxury student accommodation will have to do exams or study at their bedside, with spotty mobile data for Wi-Fi connection in many cases, and are still only given one chance to sit their exams, unlike other universities who have compassionate examination provisions in place in light of the pandemic.” To this, Pádraic added, “It is very disappointing that we are the only university with no study space open to students. It further makes students believe in the ‘#RipOffNUIG movement’, and as we have seen over the past number of weeks, many Leaving Certificate students have been thinking of studying elsewhere before picking NUI Galway.” With regards to student well-being, VicePresident for Welfare and Equality, Róisín Nic Lochlainn, had this to say, “For NUI Galway to be a university which claims to focus on student wellbeing, it doesn’t seem as though NUI Galway has taken into account all of the factors that weigh on a young person’s wellbeing. These include academic success, secure accommodation and a safe study environment. In this case, it appears NUI Galway has failed to acknowledge that not all students have safe conditions or equal access to study at home.” To further this, Róisín added, “Any student could be having to share smallenclosed spaces with other people at home or could be sharing an unstable Wi-Fi connection or device, all of which would cause disruptions to their learning environment. I am growing increasingly concerned for the well-being of NUI Galway students each day that study spaces remain off-limits.” Evidently, there is a call for concern when it comes to this issue. It is essential to hear from the students who chose to remain renting in Galway so as to have access to the study space, as they are the people who are being disadvantaged and disregarded. On this, we spoke with several final year students who chose to remain renting in Galway despite everything in the city being closed, solely
because with the university library being open, it meant they had access to supports and a safe study environment where they could study. One student told us of the struggles she has faced throughout this year as a final-year student, and with the closure of the library, how everything is more difficult, “This year has been very difficult for myself, like many other students. Whether it’s been extortionate rent costs or the challenge of online college, I’ve never faced so many obstacles at university level. Without study space on campus, all of my college work is now done from my bedroom. I find it so hard to attend lectures, study, work, and sleep all in the same room. This is especially difficult as I chose to rent in Galway so that I had the option of study space on campus, and that has since been taken away.” One student told us how his academic capabilities had deteriorated due to lack of study space, “A lack of designated study space has had a massive impact on my performance in college work this year. The library on campus provided a quiet study space for students in final year like myself to complete assignments in a positive work environment with little to no distractions. Being in my rented accommodation does not offer the same type of environment to which I could perform at the highest potential to achieve high marks on assignments.” Another student added, “I find it very difficult to be able to sit down at my desk in my room for more than an hour to get
any quality work done. In a library or designated study space with other students working provides an added motivation for students to focus and work for longer. Going to the library to study was the only bit of normality left in my schedule. Now my world is encapsulated to the walls of my bedroom where I sit endlessly for hours trying to focus before returning only hours later to sleep.” Another final-year student added, “I believe that study space on campus is essential, not only for those who don’t have sufficient internet connection to access lectures or do not have a secure space in their home to study but also for those of us in final year trying to complete extensive research projects or dissertations from home.” Overall, it is quite clear that the students who stayed in Galway during this pandemic to have access to adequate study space have been unduly suffering as a consequence of the library closure, academically, as well as carrying the financial burden. As NUI Galway is currently the only university in all of Ireland to have closed its doors entirely to its students, after a long list of inconsiderate choices on their behalf, now would be an excellent time to show some level of compassion and restore access to adequate and safe study space. It is unfair that any student’s academic capabilities should suffer due to a choice maybe by their university. NUI Galway, do better. This article was written prior to the announcement that study spaces on campus would reopen.
Has Covid-19 been good for our environment? By Sophia Hadef The coronavirus crisis has occurred in the gradual confinement of most of the world’s population. It started in January 2020 in Asia, most prominently in China, and in March 2020 for Europe. Fairly quickly, the effects of this confinement on the environment were seen The slowdown in global economic activity has decreased, road and air traffic and has had an influence on global Co2 emissions. One of the first consequences of the lockdowns was an improvement in air quality. On a global level, first, a study published in Nature Climate Change suggests that the pandemic would have resulted in a nine percent drop in Co2 emissions (between January 1st and April 30th 2020). NASA scientists observed a 10 to 30 percent decrease in nitrogen dioxide emissions in the Wuhan region between January 1st and February 25th 2020. Finally, the quarantine also had an impact on many species, allowing them to roam more freely in their native habitats. In the Calanques National Park, dolphins, puffins, herons, and gannets have been observed on various occasions. Dolphins have also been sighted in the port of Sardinia and the Canals of Venice. But, even if these events have multiplied, the population was more likely to observe them during lockdown. However, all of us staying at home also brought some negative aspects. The first and most obvious is the dramatic increase in internet use. In Italy, Telecom Italia has seen a 70 percent increase in internet traffic following the closure of schools. In France, traffic
increased by more than 50 percent from the first days of confinement. This increase in consumption has had an impact in Co2 emissions in the digital sector. Another consequence of this health crisis is the increase in bad habits around the disposal of facemasks. We see more and more masks thrown on the sidewalks, on the beaches, etc. It is estimated that these masks will take almost 400 years to decompose completely. The economic difficulties that will follow this health crisis should not obscure the timid advances that have emerged during the confinement: promotion of local agriculture, Irish production, regional businesses, etc. The Covid-19 crisis has affected us all: either because we continue to work to take care of others and ensure their primary needs, or because we are confined. How can we not question our financial and governmental system, our decisions in society and our lifestyles at this moment, in a period where everything seems to be suspended? Will this forced curtailing of human activities have a permanent impact on the climate and the environment? Researchers realised that the coronavirus represents a real threat to the planet. The provisional actions taken to deal with this pandemic are not built as a sustainable answer to the challenge of climate change. We should instead be looking for an organised transition over the long term. To achieve manageability with the Paris climate agreements, strategies for emission reduction must be implemented, and a concrete plan of action should be put in place.
24 OPI NIO N
SIN Vol. 22 Issue 09
Common sense approach needed for students that breach Covid-19 guidelines Aaron Deering It was very disappointing to see the events that unfolded in Carysfort Avenue last week. Shocking scenes of students lining the street drinking and blaring music in College Court brough shame and embarrassment to the student community across the country. Students in Galway also found themselves in a similar position back in September with the Spanish Arch incident. It must be pointed out though that these students in both Limerick and Galway are in the minority as the vast amount of students are abiding by Covid-19 guidelines even NUI Galway admitted this in their recent interview with RTÉ stating ‘that the vast majority of almost 19,000 students have adhered to public health guidelines’. In the same interview it was revealed that the University is requiring students who breached Covid-19 guidelines to write a 2,000-word reflective essay in which they are required to assess the impact that their behaviour could have had on their friends, family, and wider society. Students will also be made watch the RTÉ Investigates documentary: Covid-19 The Third Wave which they can use to help draw upon before they begin writing their essays. On the other extreme there has been strong calls for students who attended the
party that occurred in Carysfort Avenue, College Court in Limerick to face expulsion from the University of Limerick. I don’t think either of these approaches are using common sense. No student should have to face expulsion for one mistake that they did. I’d be the first to say they were idiotic for breaking the Covid-19 guidelines, but they shouldn’t have their whole lives and careers destroyed over one mistake. In the heat of the moment there is a lot anger and sometimes the common sense approach is lost. Fianna Fail Senator Ollie Crowe’s comments of sending in the army in response to the Spanish Arch incident spring to mind. I think if a student is a repeat offender and
has constantly broken the guidelines and restrictions despite warnings only then should they face expulsion from their university and rightly so. NUIG’s reflective essay punishment in contrast doesn’t go far enough as many students will know that it is too easy to write an essay of 2,000 words as students have often banged out an essay of that length in one night. Students won’t even read their reflective essay when it is finished and will fail to properly comprehend the impact their actions could have had. The consequences just simply aren’t enough for the students to properly learn about how to be proper responsible adults rather than shrinking
from their responsibility by properly following the Covid-19 guidelines for the safety of everybody else in society who are abiding by the guidelines. I think the only way to properly deal with students that are breaking the restrictions is by introducing fines as it will probably send them the message that drinking and socialising in mass groups is a serious offence and should not be taking place. The fact is many students across Ireland including myself are living at home for the year and have been unable to see our friends and socialise the way we used to. We’d only love to have the opportunity to socialise with our friends again but we haven’t as we made the sacrifice
just like everybody else in Ireland who has sacrificed their social lives to try and help fight the Covid-19 pandemic so why should we keep have sympathy for those that break the guidelines and are shirking from doing the responsible thing? The fines don’t have to be massive but should still be enough to make students think twice about gathering in such large groups. I understand how frustrating it has been for third-level students as we have seemed to be forgotten about by the government and in the national media amongst all the worries about the leaving cert while having no social outlets has not helped especially. At least students in primary and secondary school have in class schooling to act as their social outlet. We have nothing. The important thing is that we have to bear in mind that after a year of this pandemic the end is finally in sight. Come the summer our cohort could be vaccinated so for the sake of just a few more months I hope we don’t see anymore repeats of what happened in the Spanish Arch or in College Court. I know the next few months will be challenging and will come with more frustrations, but we’ve made it this far and if we can just focus on being positive we will be able to socialise with our friends in beer gardens and even the Spanish Arch come summer once we’re all vaccinated, So cheers to that, roll on the summer.
What on Earth Are Members of the Students’ Union Executive Committee Doing Signing Away Students’ Rights? by Simeon Burke On Friday the 8th of January, I opened my email inbox to find a message from the Dean of Students at NUI Galway wishing me a Happy New Year. Upon reading to the end of the email however, ‘happy’ is the last word I would have used to describe myself. This was clearly no ordinary New Year’s greeting. After a number of notices regarding exam policies and the provisions in place for supporting students in crisis, the Dean of Students announced that “emergency revisions” had been made to the ‘Student Code of Conduct’ due to Covid-19. These changes meant that certain behaviour was now in breach of the code and, therefore, punishable by official reprimands, fines, or expulsion from the University. The email went on to say that “examples of such behaviour” included breaching National Public Health Guidelines, failing to self-isolate while experiencing Covid-19 symptoms, or participating in a gathering in breach of National Public Health rules. The Dean of Students then signed off with a statement that the University’s Academic Council had approved these changes just before Christmas.
It immediately seemed clear to me what had happened. Having been thwarted in its attempt to remove students’ rights through the Community Promise at the beginning of the academic year, the University management had come up with a new way to do the same job. They would change the ‘Student Code of Conduct’ in such a way as to undermine students’ rights and freedoms. The worst was yet to come, however. Interested in finding out who was on the Academic Council that had signed off on these draconian changes, I was very disturbed to discover that seven members of the Executive Committee of our very own Students’ Union (whose mission – lest we forget – is “to promote, defend and vindicate the rights of its members at all levels of society”) were sitting on the Council when these changes were ratified. This number included two of the full-time officers – both on full-time salaries paid for by the student population at NUI Galway. So let’s just take a step back for a moment and examine this extraordinary situation. NUI Galway Students’ Union (which is being paid for by the students) is sitting down with the University management to write rules which allow for students to be fined
hundreds of euro if they break National Public Health guidelines. But I thought our Students’ Union was supposed to fight against fines for students! NUI Galway Students’ Union (whose mission is to promote and defend students’ rights) is getting together with the University management to organise the restriction and undermining of students’ rights. But I thought our Students’ Union was supposed to fight to protect our rights! NUI Galway Students’ Union (which is supposed to act as a check on the University’s power) is signing of on changes to the ‘Student Code of Conduct’ which facilitate the University management in dictating how students conduct their private lives. But I thought our Students’ Union was supposed to safeguard students from the power of the University management! What on earth is going on here? How – in the name of common sense – is the Students’ Union signing off on fines for students and agreeing to the undermining of students’ rights? Has the Executive Committee forgotten that its purpose is to fight for students and defend their interests when they are threatened by the University management – not the other way around? Something has gone detrimentally awry here.
The principal purpose of any Students’ Union is to fight for the rights of students. That’s why Article Two of the Constitution of NUI Galway Students’ Union (a legally-binding document passed by referendum on 10th March 2012) states: “The mission of the Union shall be to represent its members and promote, defend and vindicate the rights of its members at all levels of society.” If this document means anything anymore, it means that our Executive Committee was elected – first and foremost – to defend our rights, to be our voice, and to speak out when our freedom is threatened. It means the Executive Committee was put in place to hold NUI Galway and the Government to account and to always put students first in any negotiations it enters into. However, our Students’ Union has completely failed in this responsibility. Not only has it failed to effectively protest against the University’s introduction of radical restrictions on the rights and freedoms of students, but it has joined with the management to sign off on these restrictions. Not only has it stood by as the University punishes students with fines and forces apologies from others, but it has helped set these drastic measures in stone and strengthened the University’s hand in this dictatorial policy.
What an anomaly! What a travesty! A Students’ Union that is supposed to represent its members, instead signing away their rights and subjecting them to a dictatorial system. I for one cannot regard the actions of the offending members of the Students’ Union Executive Committee as being acceptable in any way. If they had any respect for students’ rights, they would resign without delay and make room for others who would actually do the job the Constitution obliges them to do and represent the students. Last year, the students of NUI Galway paid over a quarter of a million euro to finance the Union’s staff and officer costs. The figure will probably be similar for this year. We do not pay them this colossal sum to sit down with the University management and introduce fines for students who break Covid-19 guidelines. We certainly don’t pay them to co-operate with the University in undermining and eliminating our rights. But as far as I can see, certain members of the Executive Committee seem to think we do. It’s high time, we saw a fundamental change of policy within our Students’ Union. In fact, it’s urgently necessary if we’re going to salvage the few rights we have left or ever win back the ones we’ve already lost.
TUAIRIM
March 09 2021
25
The Government’s Response to this Smiling like an Lockdown has been Very Unclear Amazon package as well as Unnecessarily Harsh By Rachel Garvey
By Daniel Falvey This government managed to put us in level five less than a month after they took us out of it, which has been disastrous for people’s mental health and the economy, but ever since Christmas Eve they have been very unclear and they have managed to confuse the entire population as to when we can start going back to some sort of normality. Ireland was meant to be in level two from the 18th of December until the 3rd of January, and then it was looking like we would be in level three for a while, although we were instantly put into a harsh lockdown from Christmas Eve onwards for obvious reasons, however we had very little warning from the government or even clarity as to when it would be lifted, although very few people would have thought we would be in level five after the 5th of March. When we were told the 5th of March in January it really shattered people, not only because of its time length but also because we knew it would only be level three or four after a long level five. In
this month the government were exceptionally unclear as to whether we will be out of level five, as well as being unclear on whether schools and construction could properly reopen. Last week it was announced by the newspapers that the government would be extending level five until the end of April, although Micheál Martin had said we would be in a severe lockdown till the end of April, which gave people hope that we may go into level four instead, which still is definitely a severe and harsh lockdown, although not as harsh as level five. Leo Varadkar had also said that a severe lockdown does not mean a level five lockdown, which in some way lifted peoples hopes up, and gave people optimism that we would be in level four by the 5th of March. We are then told on the 23rd of February that level five will be extended until after Easter. It also took a very long time for the government to properly speak up about when the restrictions will be eased, and this also made people that bit more confused. This shows a lack of clarity and unprofessionalism from the government.
The lack of clarity and unprofessionalism this government has had about this lockdown is incredible and it really shows how disengaged and out of touch the government is from the lives of ordinary people affected by this harsh lockdown, in particular young people. It shows how unwilling the government are to ease restrictions to make ordinary people’s lives easier, and the extension to level five is unnecessarily harsh. The government should have eased the 5-kilometre travel ban, they should have allowed controlled outdoor gatherings, as well as allowing driving lessons to go ahead and even controlled outdoor dining in pubs and restaurants. None of these would have caused a huge increase in coronavirus cases, and these would all be allowed in level four. Even though level four is still quite a harsh lockdown as no visitors are allowed and retail, gyms, hotels and barbers would still all be closed, a slight easing of restrictions would have done many people the world of good who are struggling in this lockdown, as well as being able to minimise the coronavirus. We need our government to listen to all its people and not just listen to what NPHET call for.
Do social media companies need to crackdown on conspiracy theories? By Donnacha Broderick With the advent of social media has come with a slew of new conspiracies and a plethora of old ones have gotten a new lease of life. Whether it was the idea that Trump colluding with the Russia to win the 2016 election or mass voter fraud orchestrated by the Democratic party won Joe Biden the 2020 election such conspiracies have marred the last two US presidential elections and have led to major court decisions and investigations. Many may feel that social media should crack down on such obvious conspiracy theories or disinformation to stop more people being duped by them. However, this would be akin to throwing fuel on the fire. Ask yourself this. When has anyone every been convinced that a belief they hold wasn’t true by being told they were allowed to express it? Holocaust deniers certainly do not abandon these beliefs just because it’s illegal to
express them in some countries, it fuels these beliefs more than anything. When many questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 US election, a very legitimate question is not allowed to be asked in an open society, especially given the circumstances, any post dealing with it was flagged on social media. Even those of us here in Ireland had posts on our social media flagged with pop ups about the American election that were either linked to ’legitimate sources’ or were removed, altogether. Because, you know, preventing people from speaking about the results of an election will definitely legitimise it even further. Facebook of course had abandoned this approach given how spectacularly it has backfired and how it has helped fuel conspiracies previously. Yet still they decided to give it another crack following the recent election. They should have learned their lesson the first time.
The issue is not helped by the sometimespartisan nature of certain conspiracies theories. No doubt some readers will object to at least one of the examples given at the start of this article being labelled as such. This partisan aspect of the problem only makes finding a viable solution more difficult as people see it as their opposition just trying to shut them down. You may also recall the coordinated removal of Alex jones from major tech platforms, even LinkedIn did so, despite Alex having never used his profile. The result? The Infowars app skyrocketed in popularity before it too was inevitably removed. In our era of social media, the spread of conspiracies shas been harder than ever. Whatever the answer to this issue may be is difficult to say certainly is no quick fix. One thing is for certain however, using the hammer of censorship is not the best means to handle this problem.
I never expected the phrases “Add to Cart”, “Buy Now” and “We’ll e-mail you a confirmation message when your order has been processed” to become part of my vocabulary, but they’re now part of my everyday life. Before the pandemic, the only time I bought stuff online was from Wish, but even then, it was just little bits and pieces, keyrings, and miniature collectables. I’m the type of person who prefers to see something in person before buying it and trust me, I’ve learned my lesson from purchasing Anime earphones online and receiving a snowman’s head that served as a Christmas tree decoration. It still baffles me to this day because the product label clearly stated “Earphones”. I still have the strange decoration to this day, but I still would like to know where my original purchase ended up? Covid-19 has taken our shopping privileges away from us; the fact we can’t even walk into a shop today and browse around is simply unforgivable. It was a weekend ritual for us, but little did we know that our ritual would be ripped away from us like a page from a notebook, the jagged edges from the two torn parts reaching out to one another as they pleaded to stay together. Sounds a tad bit dramatic, right? Dramatic, but true! All the shops that smiled with their open doors as we entered through are now closed, our smiles wiped away as their doors shut with the unknown knowledge of when they would open again. It’s hard to know who to rely on, who to trust when it comes to the news of when the country can start to open back up again. A date is set, but it’s like a catfish Tinder date who keeps changing the date, moving it forward to the point where we give up and try to move on with something else. Online shopping has become our coping mechanism because we’re all facing various withdrawal symptoms at this stage and shopping virtually is the only way we can medicate ourselves to keep our sanity intact. At least we can still be grateful for all the supermarkets to still be open as well as electrical and homeware stores, essential browsing in them is better than nothing, right? We need to feel that sense of normality when walking into a shop and taking a trolley or basket and shopping for the essentials and the luxuries. I get this little sense of joy when going to the small homeware sections that supermarkets have or looking through their selection of DVDs and books, we need to learn how to find joy in the little things. Personally, I feel like online shopping gives us something to look forward to as we are living in uncertain times, not knowing when our country will open back up, not knowing when we’ll get to see people again. You feel that addictive rush when you buy something online, that small feeling of adrenaline and utter excitement and you automatically mark it down in your calendar of when delivery is to be expected. Despite a pending due date for delivery, you still check your post box or front door every morning to see if the package arrives. There is a major feeling of disappointment when you find out that your package hasn’t arrived yet, but the feeling of excitement is so worth it at the end when you get your parcel. My postman is well used to me by now because I order so much online, but I’m starting to wonder does my Amazon logo-like smile creep him out?
26 OPI NIO N
SIN Vol. 22 Issue 09
Has NUIG done enough for students’ mental health throughout this academic year? By Surnaí Molloy At the end of September 2020, I naively believed that online learning would make my Final Year easier than any other. This, needless to say, did not prove to be true. Now, in March 2021, after three months of headaches and eye pain, an optometrist has recommended I get glasses. Despite perfect vision, my eyes were strained too much by my study routine; this is only one of many strains that study during lockdown caused. The college experience has been stripped of all that made it enjoyable. It has been reduced to a bare and daunting workload, with nothing at all – no friends, no study in cafes, no weekends at home – to soften it. As a student in Arts, I have often felt afflicted by anonymity. At most, my lecturers may have vaguely recognized my face. But now, I am not even a face to them - I am no more than my student number. An entire semester went by without me physically speaking to anyone within NUIG. I have no reason to assume this semester will be different. Every single email from NUIG acknowledges how difficult the situation is. Yet NUIG stoically evades making it any easier. The emails urge students to rest, exercise, remain healthy. These emails are difficult and frustrating to read; the workload and schedule given makes a healthy lifestyle nearly impossible.
Last semester was hard. It was lockdown in the heart of winter, and winter is difficult in normal circumstances. Confined within a lonely room, work was squashed between sunrise and sunset; a very narrow margin. Mental health, physical health and academic success had to be - still has to be juggled, at least one always sacrificed. Despite this impossible situation, there was no help. One of my modules generously included a “pandemic point” to help achieve a good grade in trying times: one single percent. When the pandemic first began, I was on an exchange in Canada. When all courses were moved online and there was huge disruption in students’ lives - for example, having to move country with three days’ notice -, the Canadian University responded by making exams optional. Continuous assessment could count for 100%. The University had been criticized in the past for its attitude towards mental health, but after a number of suicides on campus, it made mental health its top priority and this was the result. Not only did NUIG not cancel exams, it placed them after Christmas. After a year of fractured plans, strained optimism, isolation, uncertainty, insecurity and fear - how could NUIG take away our Christmas?
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A few days of catching up on sleep and blearily celebrating the end of the darkest time of year was all I had before re-entering the stifling and suffocating routine needed to submit three essays and sit four exams. The exams themselves were lonely and without relief. No celebration afterwards, no camaraderie. No ability to simply raise one’s hand if something goes wrong. My first exam stalled. Another was delayed five minutes by a malfunction in the exam’s availability. It was fixed, five minutes were not given back to us, and there was no recompense for the cold sweat and panic it caused. I can speak only from my o w n e x p e r i e n c e . Other students in different courses may have felt more support. Having said that, I am also conscious of how lucky I have been. I have had many supports independent of the University that have made this year manageable. In particular, I have already established Galway as my home and I am living with friends. For anyone in harder circumstances, I have very deep compassion. It should be said that none of the lecturers were explicitly unkind. Many were warm and thoughtful. But none reached out to me personally. How
could they? I am one student in a class of over a hundred. The system itself does not provide an opportunity to give support. I know from speaking to friends that there has been a sense of “drowning”. Of being locked within one’s own head; one’s own room. There is no distinction between worklife and home-life, and nothing to alleviate the stress and claustrophobia. It takes a huge effort to plough through this sediment of University experience.
One of my modules generously included a “pandemic point” to help achieve a good grade in trying times: one single percent. It seems incredible to me that NUIG has not put more effort into supporting its students. All I ask for is time. Time to do the things needed to maintain mental and physical health. Less work, less stress, less pressure. A “pandemic point” counting for more than one percent: try twenty. Reassurance that this pandemic won’t undermine four years of work. Compassion that rings true. But at this point in the year, I do not expect anything more than hollow sympathy from the University. All I can trust is that spring will make it easier.
Has the virus crushed our spirit? By Stephen Holland Gautama Buddha once said, ““the past is already gone, the future is not yet here. There’s only one moment for you to live, and that is the present moment”. People have always tended to either live in a rose-tinted recollection of an Ill remembered past, or with an over-exaggeration estimation on the possibilities of the future. Never has this been truer than under the gaze of Covid-19. With nothing to do but ponder over memories from the before times, or to dream of the day someday soon when things will have gone back to normal. The question I wish to investigate today is, have people lost hope in the future thanks to this virus? My answer to this question would be: No. We have not lost hope in the future, but I think we may put too much hope in it. Every conversation I have is about what we will do in future, how great things will be when we can, or remembering back to when we used to be able to do this or that. But we are alive today and whether we like it or not the days keep coming as they are dealt. It is with great difficulty that I try not to focus so wholly and completely on the future. The future is coming no matter what, and I am really looking forward to doing all the things that I have missed out on this last year. But we also need to make peace with the present. Even if the days are not as full of events and excitement as we once hoped, that does not mean that this is all wasted time. Many people reading this are students. I have seen so many think pieces about all the things that students have lost out on. The social experiences, the friendships, the memories to last a lifetime. But you are all still pushing forward towards your
degree, you are all still accomplishing something of value each day, you are all developing and growing as people under very difficult circumstances. When I hear this idea that people are giving up on the future because of the pandemic, I cannot help but dismiss it. People get jaded, people get fed up, people may get overwhelmed, and have days where hopelessness takes over. But I do not think people have given up and in times of great struggle I believe that is when the resilience of the human heart is at its most noticeable. The cold miserable winter has finally come to end. Spring is here, flowers are blooming, and the sun is beginning to shine. Now as we see the finish line ahead of us, I would like to try and take a step back, take a deep breath, and live in the present moment. To look around and see all the great things that people are doing right now. The students who have managed to study online with so little guidance. The frontline workers who kept this country from falling into utter chaos. The scientists who have managed to develop a vaccine quicker than we have ever seen in history. Without so many people taking stock of the situation, living in the present, and figuring what can be done to fix things now; we would not have this future to look forward to in the first place. Time is transient, it does not really exist. All we have, and all we have ever really had, is the present moment. Living in one moment and then seamlessly moving into the next. Do not lose hope in the future because the future is coming regardless. But if you can hold onto some hope in the present, no matter your situation, then change will come. There is an old saying, that when things are bad remember: It will not always be this way. When things are good also remember it will not always be this way. This too shall pass.
Seachtain na Gaeilge Irish Language Week 1-18 Márta 2021 1st-18th March 2021
Dé Luain 8 Márta / Monday 8th March • 19:30 Tráth na gCeist / Table Quiz
Dé Máirt 9 Márta / Tuesday 9th March • 19:00 Painéal Cainte “Ba bhreá liom Gaeilge a labhairt, ach...” / Panel Discussion “I wish I could speak Irish, but...”
Fáilte roimh chách
Dé Céadaoin 10 Márta / Wednesday 10th March • 17:00 Comhrá le hEoghan MacCormaic faoina eispéireas Gaeilge a fhoghlaim sna H blocanna / Conversation with Eoghan MacCormaic about learning Irish in the H blocks • 19:00 BródSoc: Anseo agus Aiteach / BródSoc:Here and Queer • 19:30 Cóisir na Céadaoin Crua (dhátheangach) / Bilingual Hump Day Hoolie • 20:00 ‘Ar Son na Gruaige’ le Cumann Gaelach / Shave or Dye Fundraiser with Cumann Gaelach
Déardaoin 11 Márta / Thursday 11th March • 15:00 Caife Cainte le Cumann Gaelach / Chatty Café with Cumann Gaelach • 19:00 Lit & Deb “Adhmaíonn an teach seo gur cheart go mbeadh an Ghaeilge riachtannach i scoileanna” / Lit & Deb “This house believes that Irish should be compulsory in schools” • 20:00 Scannán agus Scíth / Movie Watch Party
Dé hAoine 12 Márta / Friday 12th March • 17:00 Gaeilge 101 - Irish for Beginners with Ciara Ní É • 19:30 Paisean don Fhaisean le Áras na nGael / Passion for Fashion with Áras na nGael
Tuilleadh eolais ar fail ó su.welfare@nuigalway.ie • More information from su.welfare@nuigalway.ie
#OÉGaeilge
NUIGalwayStudentsUnion www.su.nuigalway.ie
@nuigsu
28 SPORT
SIN Vol. 22 Issue 09
NUI Galway Announce New Partnership with Rowing Ireland Oisín Bradley
NUIG will become a Pathway University, to develop talented pathway athletes for international selection at Under-23 and eventually Olympic level. In addition to this, the partnership will provide value to NUI Galway coaches as Rowing Ireland help to further train the college’s coaches to improve the rowing programme on campus. This will in turn increase the number of NUI Galway athletes on the national squad. The college’s Director of Sport and Physical Activity, Mike Heskin, expressed his delight with the new partnership.
Sports Editor NUI Galway have announced a new partnership with Rowing Ireland as an official ‘Rowing Ireland Partner Pathway University.’ It is hoped that the new partnership between the two bodies will help develop the high-performance programme at NUI Galway. This partnership seeks to build on the relationship between the two bodies over the past number of years.
Coiste Gno EXECUTIVE
COMMITTEE
2020 -2021
“We are very excited about this New Partnership with Rowing Ireland’s High-Performance Programme,” he stated. “The University has been developing partnerships with a number of the High-Performance Sport programmes in Ireland involving both domestic and Olympic sports. These partnerships will prove hugely beneficial to our University athletes by providing a clean pathway for them to archive their athletic goals. “We are especially delighted to be in partnership with Rowing Ireland to build on the existing relationship which has provided Olympians in our recent past. We hope to see a number of other sports follow Rowing’s Lead and operate a highperformance programme from the NUI Galway’s campus.” he said, Rowing Ireland and NUI Galway will form a close working relationship, thus developing a sustainable pathway of young athletes from Junior to Under-23 World Championship level prior to progression into the senior Olympic team. NUI Galway head coach, Ciro Prisco will continue to build on his experience as part of Rowing Ireland’s High-Performance coaching team (Under 23 World Championships 2019 and Junior European Championships 2020) by taking up the new position of temporary High-Performance assistant coach, working with the team at the National
Two NUIG students receive All-Star awards By Oisín Bradley
Vice President / Education Officer Leas Uachtarán / Oifigeach Oideachais
Vice-President / Welfare and Equality Officer Leas-Uachtarán / Oifigeach Leasa agus Comhionannais
President / Uachtarán
Emma Sweeney
Pádraic Toomey
su.education@nuigalway.ie 086 385 3658
Róisín Nic Lochlainn
su.welfare@nuigalway.ie 086 385 3659
su.president@nuigalway.ie 086 385 5502
Oifigeach na Gaeilge Irish Language Officer
Mature Students’ Officer Oifigeach Mic Léinn Lánfhásta
Gender and LGBT+ Rights Officer Oifigeach um Chearta Inscne agus LADT+
Disability Rights Officer Oifigeach um Chearta Míchumais
Erin Mac An tSaoir
Michelle Mitchell
Maeve Arnup
Patricia O’Mahony
091 493 570 su.gaeilge@nuigalway.ie
085 853 7011 su.maturestudents@nuigalway.ie
091 493 570 su.lgbt@nuigalway.ie
085 212 0689 su.disability@nuigalway.ie
Postgraduate Taught Officer Oifigeach na nIarchéimithe Teagasctha
Postgraduate Research Officer Oifigeach na nIarchéimithe i mbun Taighde
Clubs Captain Captaen na gClubanna
Martin Smyth
Sebastiaan Bierema
Kirsty Moran
087 781 0130 su.pgtaught@nuigalway.ie
091 493 570 su.pgresearch@nuigalway.ie
Convenor of the College of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences / Tionólaí Choláiste an Leighis, an Altranais & na nEolaíochtaí Sláinte
Evan O’Flaherty
Convenor of the College of Arts, Social Sciences & Celtic Studies / Tionólaí Choláiste na nDán, na nEolaíochtaí Sóisialta & an Léinn Cheiltigh
Claire McHale
085 882 4797 su.clubs@nuigalway.ie
091 493 570 su.arts@nuigalway.ie
Convenor of the College of Science and Engineering / Tionólaí Choláiste na hEolaíochta agus na hInnealtóireachta
Societies Chairperson Cathaoirleach na gCumann
Barry Sugrue
Fionn Sexton Connolly
087 775 0227 su.scienceengineering@nuigalway.ie
087 155 5949 su.socs@nuigalway.ie
085 225 2185 su.council@nuigalway.ie
Aoife Buckley
091 493 570 su.medicine@nuigalway.ie
SU Council Chairperson / Cathaoirleach Chomhairle Chomhaltas na Mac Léinn
Convenor of the College of Business, Public Policy & Law / Tionólaí Choláiste an Ghnó, an Bheartais Phoiblí agus an Dlí
International Students Officer Oifigeach na Mac Léinn Idirnáisiúnta
Niamh Quinn
Cheyanne Nwaonukwube
085 732 8570 su.business@nuigalway.ie
087 659 1874 su.international@nuigalway.ie
087 606 5095 su.ethnicminorities@nuigalway.ie
Victor Igonin
@nuigsu
Ethnic Minorities Officer Oifigeach na Mionlach Eitneach
NUIGalwayStudentsUnion www.su.nuigalway.ie
Rowing Centre while combining his duties as NUI Galway head coach, overseeing the club programme’s development on the banks of the River Corrib. Commenting on today’s announcement, HighPerformance Director Antonio Maurogiovanni, said “We are delighted to have NUI Galway as a partner in supporting the High-Performance Programme Pathway. Along with our partnership with Queens, NUI Galway will have an essential role in our High-Performance programme’s success in the years to come. “We welcome Ciro Prisco to our High-Performance team in an important role as Assistant Coach for our High-Performance Senior Athletes. Ciro will be a valuable member of the team, and we look forward to working with him and supporting him alongside his role in NUI Galway.” Michelle Carpenter, Rowing Ireland Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are delighted to welcome NUI Galway as a new partner and as a Pathway University. NUI Galway has a history of producing World Class athletes, and this partnership will benefit both NUI Galway and Rowing Ireland for the future. This partnership is a testament to the vision and hard work that our High-Performance Team has put in. I want to thank Antonio Maurogiovanni and Fran Keane for their hard work in getting this over the line.” she said,
It was a momentous occasion at the All-Star awards for the 2020 season, as two NUI Galway students picked up awards for their achievements in last year’s competitions. There were nominations for many of the college’s students both past and present, and there was much pride in NUIG GAA circles as the University picked up a gong apiece in the two respective sports. In hurling, Limerick and Patrickswell man Cian Lynch picked up his second All-Star of his career, while in football, Kilmaine youngster and defensive powerhouse Oisín Mullin picked up his maiden All-Star. It’s been a rollercoaster of a year for Oisín Mullin, who only truly broke into the Mayo panel in 2020. However, the man from Kilmaine took to the tasks handed to him with a level of ease, marking some of the biggest names of the game in his side’s Allianz League campaign and their run to the All-Ireland SFC Final, including the likes of Con O’Callaghan.
Mullin made his Championship debut in Mayo’s campaign opener against Leitrim and earned rave reviews in games against Leitrim, Roscommon and Galway, as well as in the All-Ireland series vs the likes of Tipperary and Dublin. Whilst there were times in the Tipperary clash where James Horan’s charges seemed open defensively, for the majority of the Championship campaign there was a sense of solidity at the back, and Oisín Mullin was an intrinsic part of that watertight nature, and such exemplary performances saw him land the Young Footballer of the Year award. Whilst the youthful Mullins impressed despite his years, Cian Lynch of the Limerick hurlers is a man who has completed the exceptional achievement of two All-star awards now. The 2020 All-star will be added this to a cabinet which is over-flowing with accolades. The All-Ireland medal which he picked up last year is his second to date, and will go alongside his 2018 Hurler of the Year gong. The half-forward was a central figure as the Treaty County swept assuredly to Munster and All-Ireland glory, chipping in with a score or two in every game en route to the decider in Croke Park. Lynch earned rave reviews as he stepped up to the plate in the dying echelons of the All-Ireland semi-final vs Galway, firing over two scored and raising the white flag as the game was in the melting pot. The dependable half-forward may not have got his name on the score-sheet in the decider, however a sumptuous move from the man from Patrickswell almost resulted in him rattling the Waterford net. Both men will be targeting a defence of their provincial crowns this season, and many around the GAA circles of the University will be hoping that they will be able to replicate their exceptional form in their county colours on the pitches of Dangan in the maroon of NUI Galway before long.
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NUIGalwayStudentsUnion www.su.nuigalway.ie
30 SPORT
SIN Vol. 22 Issue 09
Galway United edge Finn Harps in first game of 2021 GALWAY UNITED 1 – 0 FINN HARPS By Oisín Bradley Galway United’s Francely Lomboto struck late in the day to seal victory for his side on home turf as both the Tribesmen and Finn Harps made a return to action for 2021. Lomboto displayed a killer’s instinct and a sense of ruthlessness to pounce upon on mistake in the rearguard from Lee McLaughlin to find himself oneon-one with debutant goalkeeper Luke McNicholas. Lomboto, who is entering his second season with United, showed an unerring sense of calmness under pressure to slot the ball under the outstretched McNicholas and into the net to make it a winning start to the season for his side on the banks of the Corrib. Whilst the goal spelled defeat for Harps and Ollie Horgan on his return to his hometown, there will be plenty learned
Francely Lomboto
from a dogged clash in Eamonn Deacy Park, not least regarding the new faces on show for the men from Ballybofey. The visitors made a number of changes from their last eleven in their FAI Cup loss to Shamrock Rovers, with five different players coming into the fold from the off. One player who was not present on the day was Conor Barry. The Galwegian recently made the switch from Galway to Harps, but was unavailable. John Caulfield’s eleven on the other hand was vastly different, with only Maurice Nugent remaining from their promotion play-off defeat at the hands of Longford Town. Ex-Finn Harps man Mikey Place started the clash against his former club on the bench, but came on at half-time. A lot of ring-rust was on show in the opening 45 minutes, as both sides were looking to shake off the shackles of the long gap between fixtures. That said, the first half was marginally one where Galway United caused the most issues and they probed from the off, utilising the power and physicality of Padraic Cunningham, who recently resigned following his stint with the Galway Gaelic footballers. Cunningham’s presence on balls over the top proved to be difficult for the Harps defence to handle It would be Harps who tested the goalkeeper first, with Stephen Doherty’s speculative shot from 25 yards barely challenging Conor Kearns between the sticks for the Tribesmen. At the other end, Cunningham’s power saw him nip into the box and get a header off. The header was somewhat tame, and proved
a simple catch for Mark Anthony McGinley in the Harps goal, but not before the linesman raised the offside flag. The 17th minute saw a moment of quality from Galway United new man Ruairi Keating as he surged down the flank, however his dangerous ball across the six-yard box was dealt with by Kosovar Sadiki, who displayed a sense of composure himself to turn it behind. It wouldn’t be long after before the Finn Park outfit were causing issues themselves, when Adam Foley called Kearns into action after getting the ball out from underneath his feet and unleashing a powerful snapshot. Kearns was forced to make a smart save and concede the corner. In the 24th minute, Horgan’s men were on the edge of their seats momentarily once more, as a looping Mark Russell cross found the head of Jamie Browne. Browne’s close-range attempt narrowly sailed over Kearn’s crossbar. Whilst the defences performed well to snuff out the danger on a number of occasions across the opening half, the fluidity of the passing and interplay was somewhat lacking on occasion. There was cause for concern for Harps as the clock ticked towards the half-time whistle. Stephen Christopher’s attempt from a tight angle on the left caused some issues for keeper Mark McGinley as it squirmed away from his gloves. However, Foley was on hands to spare the blushes of his number one as he headed the ball over the bar and behind for the corner kick. Both sides made a multitude of substitutions at the changeover, with net-minder McNicholas, Ethan Boyle, Ryan Rainey and Will Seymore all making their first appearances since signing for Harps in the off-season.
For the Tribesmen, Conor McCormack and David Hurley made their debuts amongst a raft of other changes. Harps undoubtedly started the half as the brighter of the two sides, and put significant pressure on the hosts under the Galway sun. Nine minutes in, Sean Boyd found himself unopposed on the edge of the penalty area. The shot from his left-boot contained a great deal of power, and Kevin Horgan had to be at his very best with a strong glove for his first save of the afternoon. Will Seymore tried his luck with Horgan wrong-footed, however his first shot since signing from Sligo Rovers was a pea-roller which inched wide of the left upright. Try though they might throughout the half, both sides struggled to break the deadlock and find their groove as they tried to get back up to speed. In fact, the deadlock lasted until the 84th minute, when Lomboto displayed the ice in his veins when faced with the simple task of converting his one-on-one against Sligo Rovers loanee McNicholas. Lomboto’s finish was simple, and means that Galway United can leave Eamonn Deacy Park content with their lot in their
first outing of the season. However, when the first whistle blows on March 26th in Eamonn Deacy Park for the League of Ireland opener against Shelbourne, that this result will be in the minds of very few.
GALWAY UNITED: Conor Kearns, Chris Horgan, Carlton Ubuazuonou, Maurice Nugent, Stephen Walsh (triallist), Gary Boylan, Stephen Christopher, Mikie Rowe, Colin Kelly, Ruairi Keating, Padraic Cunningham. SUBS USED: Kevin Horgan (GK), Chris Horgan, Shane Duggan, Conor McCormack, David Hurley, Killian Brouder, Mikey Place, Wilson Waweru, Francely Lomboto, Liam Corcoran Ethan Connolly FINN HARPS: Mark Anthony McGinley, Mark Russell, Jamie Browne, Kosovar Sadiki, David Webster, Shane McEleney, Tony McNamee, Ryan Connolly, Stephen Doherty, Adam Foley, Karl O’Sullivan. SUBS USED: Luke McNicholas (GK), Ethan Boyle, Christy McLaughlin, Sean Boyd, Will Seymore, Ryan Rainey, Ryan Sharkey, Lee McLoughlin, Joel Bradley, Ronan Gallagher.
Stephen Walsh confirms Galway United return By Oisín Bradley
Team mangaers John Caulfield (L) and Ollie Horgan (R)
Stephen Walsh has once again returned to Galway United as preparations are well and truly underway for the 2021 League of Ireland First Division campaign. Walsh, who has already had multiple stints in the maroon of Galway United in the past, was included in John Caulfield’s starting eleven for the visit of Finn Harps to Eamonn Deacy Park in late February. In the last ten years, the wily and experienced defender has racked up 200 appearances for the Tribesmen, in the midst of spells at the likes of Athlone Town, Longford Town and Galway Hibernians. During his most recent spell at the club, Walsh was the captain for the 2019 campaign, and returns to Galway United for his eighth season of League of Ireland football. In an interview with Galway United’s in-house media, the League of Ireland
veteran expressed his joy at re-signing for United. “I am delighted to be back playing with my hometown club.” he said exuberantly. “When John (Caulfield) contacted me and offered me the chance to play with Galway again it was an easy decision for me to make and I’m thankful to John and the backroom team for offering me this opportunity. “I have had some great times playing with Galway already such as winning promotion with the club in the 2014/15 League of Ireland season and I hope to create many more great memories with the Galway supporters and my teammates under the Friday night lights at Eamonn Deacy Park.” Galway United face Bohemians in their final fixture of pre-season action on Friday, March 12th at 7:30pm, before they kick off their 2021 League of Ireland at home to Shelbourne on March 26th.
SPÓ IRT
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Tribesmen under scrutiny as International pressure heats up By Oisín Bradley The World Cup qualifiers are looming large for the Irish national team, and many Galwegians will likely be under Stephen Kenny’s microscope as he looks to finalise his squad for the upcoming clashes with Serbia and Luxembourg. Here, we will be examining the form of many of our local talents as they look to make an impact on the trajectory of their clubs and put themselves in the shop window ahead of a busy international window.
Conor Shaughnessy – Rochdale Conor Shaughnessy’s spell at Rochdale has shown little signs of improvement, and he has struggled to turn around a fairly torrid season for the Spotland outfit. The Dale have recorded a measly two points out of a possible 18 since the Galwegian’s arrival from Leeds United in late January, although in Shaughnessy’s defence he was involved in both games. Shaughnessy was in from the first whistle as Rochdale recorded a 0-0 draw at home to Plymouth Argyle. Three days later, Shaughnessy started again in midfield as his side were involved in a 0-0 draw again, this time on the road to bottom club Northampton Town in Sixfields Stadium. That’s about as good as it’s got for Rochdale, who blew the chance to open up a six-point gap on the relegation zone in a 0-2 defeat to Burton Albion. Shaughnessy started once again, and was subbed for Conor Grant 72 minutes in as The Dale tasted an all-too-similar feeling of defeat. The two-goal defeat to Burton Albion sees both sides move level on points, and providing the men from the Pirelli Stadium get a single point from their two games on hand, Rochdale will be dropping below the watermark and into the relegation zone.
Greg Cunningham – Preston North End
Ryan Manning – Swansea City
Cunningham is a man who seems to have settled in well in his second spell at Preston, and is getting plenty of game time under Alex Neil. The former Mervue United man didn’t have the best return to his former club Cardiff City, as Preston North End were swiped aside with consummate ease in Wales in a 4-0 defeat. Cunningham played the full game for his new side against the promotion-chasing Bluebirds. Another full 90 minutes followed for Cunningham, and a 0-0 draw vs Queens’ Park Rangers was the result as Preston looked to bounce back from the Cardiff defeat on home turf. It was a much-improved result in late February, as a swashbuckling Cardiff City powered to a 3-0 win over Huddersfield Town, in a game where Cunningham recorded a clean sheet and another 90 minutes on the pitch. Preston North End sit comfortably in mid-table currently, with nine points separating themselves and the top six.
Swansea City have been enjoying a promising season in the Championship this season, and look well-placed to secure promotion to the top tier of English football. That said, it is unfortunate for both Galway and Ireland that Ryan Manning has contributed very little to his side’s good fortunes. Manning has made only seven league appearances for the Swans this season, and has only been on the winning team twice, recording a solitary assist in the campaign. The Galway man made an appearance from the bench, replacing Jake Bidwell in Swansea’s trip to take on Huddersfield town. Unfortunately, when Manning took to the pitch much of the damage had already been done, and Swansea headed back to South Wales with a 4-1 defeat. Fellow Irish international Conor Hourihane scored his side’s only goal of the game. Manning was forced to watch on from the bench for the next two fixtures, as Swansea recorded a 1-0 victory over Coventry and a 1-3 loss against Bristol City at the Ashton Gate Stadium.
Daryl Horgan – Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe’s woes are continuing as they sit rooted to the base of the Championship, and one man who has played a key part Gareth Ainsworth’s charges is Horgan. Horgan played 14 minutes of a scoreless draw at The Den against Millwall, coming on in the 76th minute for Gareth McCleary, before being benched for a 1-0 win over Reading at Adams Park. That 1-0 win proved to only be a brief respite from the regular running order, as a 2-0 defeat to Norwich City followed at home. Horgan came on in the 68th minute of the clash, replacing Anis Mehmeti. Wycombe now sit a monstrous eleven points from safety with the majority of the season played and will likely be spending the off-season preparing for another season in League One.
Fox leads the pack at Galway WFC By Oisín Bradley It’s change aplenty for those at Galway WFC, with centre-back Shauna Fox taking over as the club’s Senior Team captain for the 2021 SSE Airticity Women’s National League campaign. Fox is a player who has been on the books at Galway WFC for much of her time in football, joining the club at its inception in 2012 when she was still in her mid teens. Aged 24, this will be Fox’s ninth year at the club, and despite only being in her mid 20s, the former Castlebar Celtic woman will likely be seen by Billy Clery, Dave Bell and the rest of the management team as a Senior figure in the dressing room. Fox is taking over as captain from her centre-back partner for much of last season, Keara Cormican. Per the new skipper, the women from the West have their eyes firmly set on the top of the Women’s National League as they target the club’s
first piece of silverware in the upcoming season. “Overall, (we) strive for success as a team and aim for the top of the league in the coming season,” Fox stated. “We’re forming a very good team with a mix of both youth and experienced players, and pre-season is going good, so hopefully that will show as we go into a fresh start.” Clery’s side’s pre-season schedule took somewhat of a hit in late February with the cancellation of a pre-season clash with the reigning League champions Peamount United in Athlone. However, the pre-season schedule for the girls in maroon is still jam-packed, with two games vs Athlone Town on the menu as well as clashes with new coach Dave Bell’s former side Shelbourne prior to the resumption of action in the Women’s National League. Fox, Clery and the rest of the Galway WFC squad and backroom team get back into competitive action at the end of the month, when Cork City make the trip to Eamonn Deacy Park on March 27th.
Swansea City are currently fourth in the Championship and will be looking to leapfrog those ahead of them into the automatic promotion places.
Aaron Connolly – Brighton and Hove Albion Aaron Connolly is another man for whom minutes have been few and far between this season, and the former Mervue man has found Premier League minutes hard to come by for the Seagulls. Connolly remained on the bench as Brighton lost 2-1 at Selhurst Park, with Graham Potter preferring the strike partnership of Leandro Trossard and Neal Maupay. Five days later, Connolly was in from the off in a 1-0 loss to relegation-threatened West Bromwich Albion. Connolly made way 61 minutes in for Danny Welbeck, a man who made many of the highlights after his penalty miss in a game littered with notable moments. Brighton and Hove Albion sit sixteenth in the Premier League at the time of writing, three points off the drop zone.
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