Motley Magazine Issue 6 Volume VIII

YOUTUBE SENSATION

TYLER OAKLEY

10.02.15

ALBUM REVIEWS 50 SHADE OF GREY FALL OUT BOY THE CHARLATANS KODALINE

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Childline: Not Just for Christmas

Team Editor: Ellen Desmond editor@motley.ie Graphic Designer: Cathal O’Gara Deputy Editor: Eoin McSweeney Current Affairs Editors: Eoin McSweeney deputyeditor@motley.ie Laura Cashman currentaffairs@motley.ie Features and Opinion Editors: Claire Crowley features@motley.ie Hannah Kingston deputyfeatures@motley.ie Entertainment Editors: Laura Hussey entertainment@motley.ie Kelly Doherty deputyentertainment@motley.ie Fashion Editor: Emily Horgan fashioneditor@motley.ie Creative Director: Laurence Keating creativedirector@motley.ie Webmaster: Andrew Shortall Public Relations Officer: Méadhbh Crowley Staff Writers: Adam O’Reilly Sorcha Lanigan Rachel O’Shea Contributors Aaron Noonan, Eleanor Reid, Alex Allen, Elaine Hanley, Killian Down, Peter O’ Brien, Max Farrell, Leah Driscoll, Alex Cregan and Padraig Power.

Special Thanks Kieran Murphy, John Murphy, Audrey Ellard Walsh, The UCC Media Executive, Barry Nevin, Paidi Brady, ARC Cancer Support House, Pieta House, Laura Harte and all the Webprint Team.

Very Special Thanks Jamie Martin, Megan Sarl, Kodaline, O Emperor, Shaun Barry, PJ Gallagher, Foil Arms and Hog, Tyler Oakley, Laura Allen, Amy McGovern and the people at Cadbury’s for fueling this issue.

Pieta House Cork Address: Highfield Lawn, Model Farm Road Bishopstown Cork

Phone: 021-4341400 Website: http://www.pieta.ie To Donate: http://www.pieta.ie/index.php/donate

otley Issue 6 is at times, a contradiction in terms; we speak about problematic drinking behaviours and then pages later we tell you to have a glass of water ready next to your bedside during RAG Week. We tell you you’re far too Bootylicious to be tied down for Valentine’s Day and then ask you to check out our Lonely Hearts column. In sum, this issue we nailed it. Motley is a title that implies diversity and this eclectic issue has something for everyone.

I don’t know who came up with the name for Motley, or why exactly, but it suits a UCC magazine perfectly. UCC is one of the most varied places you could be and it has so much to offer. It pains me that so few people are aware of the opportunities freely available to them around campus. This week alone there’s a Journalism Conference, Gender Equality Week, Disability Awareness Week and Love Week.

Mairia Cahill will speak in UCC this week about justice for victims of sexual abuse and rape. On Wednesday, Bressie and Joanne O’Riordan are giving a talk about breaking down the barriers around them. It’s, all in all, just a typical week in UCC, and a typical issue of Motley.

This week, it’s also my two year anniversary of deciding I want to become a journalist. It was at the 2013 UCC Journalism and Media Conference that I decided to retire my short career as an aspiring psychologist. At that conference, several journalists portrayed the media in a way I had never seen it before. They spoke about journalists giving a voice to those who cannot otherwise have their story told and it was the first time I’d ever stopped to think about what the world would be like without the media. It would be a lot worse, was the conclusion I ultimately came to.

In 2014 more journalists died while doing their job than ever recorded before. We hear about it sometimes, but only if it’s a young, white, male Harvard graduate.

One of the articles in this issue discusses the recent Charlie Hebdo tragedy and the attack on freedom of speech that went with it. An opinion piece between these pages examines the flaws of becoming an armchair activist; tweeting 140 characters to portray an image of caring but at the same time; not really caring at all.

However, it only takes 8 characters to tell someone you love them and those characters can be arranged in an infinite number of ways to do an infinite number of things. I’m vehemently of the belief that actions don’t always speak louder than words because making a word is an action. It’s the lack of sincerity behind it all that oftentimes needs a readjustment.

February has somehow established itself as a strange month on the calendar for me. It’s annually the month when I make a difference and reflect on what the world on my doorstep has to offer me, and what it’s taken away from me. It’s usually the month of the year when I decide to stop wasting time and shake off the winter blues. This time of the year in UCC is the perfect time to get inspired or learn a bit more about ways to take action. There’s everything from talks about UN Women to ‘Psychological Speed Dating’ coming up; there’s Jailbreak and Relay for Life for the more charitable among you. There’s a step for everyone to take and we’ve done our best to take some steps, record them and put them on paper.

There’s a step for everyone to take and we’ve done our best to take some steps, record them and put them on paper.

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Laura Cashman speaks to a resident of the Kinsale Road Accomodation Centre about the reality of living in Direct Provision in Ireland he history of Direct Provision in Ireland is a short one. Increased inwards migration in the 90s meant the government had to adopt policies in accordance with this.

In 1999, the Direct Provision system was introduced on a pilot basis. It was legalised as policy in April 2000. In 2001, the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) was created with a remit to manage the operation of the system. These introductions saw widespread changes to the treatment of asylum seekers in Ireland, notably with the reduction of access to social welfare support. Asylum seekers in Ireland are not obligated to stay in Direct Provision centres but without access to social welfare, the right to work or to further their education, most have little other choice. The majority of asylum seekers spend three years in Direct Provision, with a significant number of people residing for 7 years or more in the centres.

The inadequacies of Direct Provision have recently come to light following a series of articles in The Irish Times and a High Court case C.A and T.A versus the Minister for Justice, Minister for Social Protection, the Attorney General and Ireland. The case, brought to court by a young mother and her son residing in a Direct Provision centre and supported by the Irish Refugee Council, challenged the system from several different angles. These included the lack of legislative basis for the system and for the weekly allowance of €19.10 per week; the violation of a range of human rights

including the right to privacy and family life, the rights of children, and the rights to autonomy and freedom of movement and residence; the right to work; and the lack of access to social welfare rights.

On November 14th 2014, Mr Justice Colm Mac Eochaidh delivered his decision.

While finding unannounced room inspections, the monitoring of presence and absences and rules against guests in bedrooms were unlawful, the lack of oral evidence meant Mac Eochaidh found the challenge of a breach of human rights and the payment of the allowance was unsuccessful. The challenge to the rights of the child and the right to work were left outstanding. Many activists remain disappointed on some decisions within the case. Reacting to the ruling, Nasc, a Cork based NGO focused on migrant rights, CEO Fiona Finn, said they are “deeply disappointed.” However, the moment remains a watershed in Irish judicial history and the history of Direct Provision in Ireland. It enthralled the Irish public and raised awareness of what many claim is the Magdalene Laundries of our time. Yet, a recent Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll reveals 54 per cent of voters said asylum seekers should be kept under Direct Provision. A mere 31 per cent said they should be given refugee status and allowed to work and claim benefits. The polls show surprisingly, it is the 25 to 34 cohort closely followed by 18 to 24 year olds age group that are most hostile to abandoning the Direct Provision system.

On Friday 30th January 2015, Motley spoke with a resident of the Kinsale Road Accommodation Centre. The following investigation is based on her ten year experience, interviews with representatives from the Irish Refugee Council and NASC, with support from reports from the Reception and Integration Agency and the Free Legal Aid Clinic. The investigation aims to reveal the truth behind the closed doors of Direct Provision and allow readers to decide where their vote would lie.

In 2012, the Irish Refugee Council released a report on Children in Direct Provision and found, at the time, that 1/3 of all asylum seekers living in Direct Provision in Ireland are children. This is approximately 2,000 people. Considering the time period in Direct Provision can range from less than one year to seven years, many children will go through the primary or secondary school system while residing in the centre. Children are encouraged to attend local schools but the aforementioned report found that it is difficult for parents to secure places in schools for their children. This alone raises issues of access to education for children in the system. However, access issues do not stop here.

As mentioned above, asylum seekers are prohibited from accessing social welfare.

This includes Child Benefit, with children in

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the system only receiving a mere €38.40 compared to €135.00 per month for Irish citizens. However, Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance (BTSCFA), which is afforded to all Irish children in primary and second level schools, is given to the children in Direct Provision. This provides for school books, uniforms and basic materials. But at €100, is it enough? The report also found that issues of transport to and from the schools and space issues for homework/study is an issue in the centres.

A resident in the centre told Motley that her children were lucky that they were not uprooted from their schools on a whim, but this is not the case for all parents.

“You have no control over your life.

You can be in Cork today and Galway tomorrow. If they ask you, you have to move. They don’t take into consideration that you may have children who are settled in to their school. I have a friend whose child, between senior infants and second class, he has moved six times.”

This places undue stress on both child and parent and adds to an already unstable living arrangement.

On a personal level, many parents in the centres recognise the importance of education.

“I push him in school. Because I know he is a migrant. Not even a migrant, because some migrants are lucky and they have their residency but he doesn’t even have that and that is against him. Because of that I want him to do well… It’s a barrier on him already and I want to do well.

Sometimes I tell him to read and he says why do I have to read so much and I say because you have to… Sometimes I joke because I say then you are going to buy me the jeep that I’ll drive”

The basic right to further your education is non-existent for adults in Direct Provision.

While residents are encouraged to attend daily classes, they remain repetitive, unstandardized and unregulated.

“The funny thing about the classes is that I’ve been here for ten years and every year we do the same course. I am a degree holder in my country. I hold a BSc in Business Management and Administration. Then to come and be made do a level three course.. That is fine but then you have to repeat the course every year.”

The delivery of classes is encouraging but the provision of education in the centre clearly needs reform and resources.

The Irish Prison Service states the Prison Education Service in Ireland prioritises; “literacy, numeracy and general basic education… and broad programmes of education are made available which generally follow an adult education approach. Programmes are adapted to take account of the diversity of the

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prisoner population and the complex nature of prison life. Junior and Leaving Certificate courses are available.

FETAC accreditation is widely used with assessment by portfolio compilation.” In comparison, the Direct Provision education system is archaic. In the system, a resident claims; “you are not allowed to work. You are not allowed to further your education.

You are controlled”.

According to a 2009 Free Legal Advice Centre report, most asylum seekers are provided with full board accommodation.

A 2007 Reception and Integration Agency report confirmed those living in the centres are not allowed cook food independently. This situation is one of the central concerns of asylum seekers in Direct Provision at the moment. RIA is aware of this, after surveying 604 cases stating this over seven years. The state ensures that three meals are provided every day but often the food does not meet dietary, religious or cultural needs.

Quite simply, the system does not provide any flexibility. As well as this, there are concerns over nutritional value of food in the centres. The Irish Refugee Council maintains that many children suffer from chronic gastric illnesses and Motley heard directly that “Low iron is the one thing here that especially women, suffer from. And not because they’re pregnant.”

This seems to be because of the low nutritional value of food provided.

In addition, parents and children appear to be suffering due to restrictive breastfeeding procedures in the centre.

Parents are unable to independently decide when to wean their children completely to solid food. Those who choose not to, or cannot, breastfeed are provided with baby formula but only until the child’s first birthday when a letter of cessation is sent.

On December 9th, 2014, the Irish Times published an article titled, ‘How direct provision became a profitable business.’ The article confirms; “there are 17 firms which receive about €50 million a year to run 34 accommodation centres across the State, providing for about 4,000 asylum seekers. A glimpse inside their accounts show that many are highly profitable and have recorded six or even seven-figure pre-tax profits.” When business interests are placed over the welfare of the inhabitants, we have to ask does profit come before people? Nutrition may be the first aspect to suffer in this case.

On this note, in a statement, RIA claims; “RIA constantly engages with its contractors to ensure that value for money is being achieved and that the contractor is complying with standards of accommodation, bed-usage, health and safety etc, as set out in contracts and in other legal provisions.”

Figures recently released to Sinn Féin’s Michael Colreavy from 2002 to 2014, have revealed that sixty-one asylum seekers - including 16 young children died while in Direct Provision. Ms. Frances Fitzgerald, Minister for Justice, has replied saying one of the deaths was believed to have been a suicide in a hospital and three of the infant deaths were believed to be stillbirths. RIA stated that neither the HSE, coroners nor health care providers have ever indicated that the Direct Provision system played any part in the deaths of asylum seekers and that health services to asylum seekers are provided similarly to Irish citizens.

However, while the same services apply to the asylum seekers, the Department of Health & Children has no role in the management of the system. The environment they reside in also cannot be claimed to be a healthy one.

“The system alone is killing. I’ve seen a lot of people who come in here and they’re healthy. But over 60% of the people in direct provision centres are on medication” Depression is a big factor. Asylum seekers as a group are a vulnerable people and the system does not seem to account for this.

“It is mental torture. It’s more mental than physical. And I’ll tell you the truth I think physical torture would be better for me. Because if you see me you will know I have a wound. But when its mental you will not know what people are going through.”

Suicide rates cannot be confirmed due to death certificates being inaccessible to RIA but Motley heard first-hand accounts of the effect of the system on people’s mental health.

“We had a case here; the man was so frustrated, so frustrated he tried to commit suicide.. At the end of the day, you know what he said he said to them at the hospital, he wanted to go home and they said why do you want to go home, you came here. He said it’s better for him to go home and die at home. At least if he dies at home his family will see his body rather than him to die here.”

Lack of privacy is a significant issue.

Single residents share a room with several other adults, and parents live in one room with their children. Facilities such as bathrooms are often shared.

To date, there was no independent complaints mechanism within Direct Provision. However, Mac Eochaidh stated in the above-mentioned case that it was not acceptable that RIA would be the final arbitrator in a dispute between the residents in their homes, and the commercial accommodation provider.

This breaches the legal principle that nobody should be a judge in something that they have an interest in. The residents are entitled to an independent body. This process is ongoing.

Independent Donegal TD Thomas Pringle stated in September 2014 that, “reports of prostitution and safety issues for children are nothing new for anyone who has worked in this area.” Motley has heard first-hand accounts of these aspects.

“We had a case where a child was molested.. sexually molested and the only thing they did was transfer the guy that did it… And now they are so scared, you know children, they are told not to talk and they don’t and now we don’t know what happens. Most women that have children they are worried. Because if I go look for my daughter and I don’t see her I panic. Because you don’t know what is happening and you don’t know other people’s characters.. and yet they are living with children. It’s a difficult thing for parents to be living among strangers you don’t even know. When you have your own home you can control that.

“When we talk about prostitution in Direct Provision… women begin to sleep around for money, it’s not like standing on the street but you see someone comes to take her. Even the Irish men they are used to this, at times they drive around here and they are waiting for women to come down to ask if you want to go with them. You wonder why? Women have responsibilities, they have children to take care of, and you have your own problems to take care of.

It’s very difficult.”

RIA says house rules, such as random room searches and curfews, are designed for the safety and protection of residents.

Many residents and campaigners feel as though these rules are a breach of human rights and from the above accounts we have to ask, if they are indeed providing a safe environment for these people to live in.

Ireland’s policy on refugees and asylum seekers is governed by the Refugee Act 1996. Ireland also participates in all EU Directives on asylum except the ‘Reception Directive.’ The Reception Directive allows asylum seekers to access the labour market after six/nine months.

In March 2013, Ireland also opted out of participating in legal revisions for the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) on this basis. Ireland is currently only one of two EU states that prohibits asylum seekers working. Giving these people the right to work would provide them with autonomy and dignity but that has been stripped from them.

“As an adult you have responsibilities. We are all supposed to have responsibilities.

Even as a child, I know that my child loves when I give her responsibility and she is happy because she done it well. She has a sense of achievement. But, here adults lack responsibility. They have no sense of achievement. Nothing, they don’t have it.”

Although the Irish Human Rights Commission, the state body that is tasked with protecting human rights, urged the state to allow asylum seekers to seek work or access regular social welfare if in the country six months, Fitzgerald has ruled out providing employment rights. Fitzgerald did not give any justification to her decision and her colleague Aodhan O Riordain, Minister of State at the Department of Justice, supports extending employment rights after a period of time.

We have reached a crossroads on the legalities of asylum law in this country as well as a time when human rights activists have begun questioning our fragile system.

Change appears to be on the horizon. Last year, President Higgins claimed the system was “totally unsatisfactory in almost every aspect,” a petition asking for the end of the system was presented to the Dáil with over 2,500 signatures and a case was brought to the High Court. However, the system very much remains in place with abolition or even reform low on the Dáil agenda. In the words of an asylum seeker; “I don’t know what tomorrow will bring.

Sometimes I find it difficult to find the right words.. . I could go on and on and on about Direct Provision. But really it is not a life you would even wish on your enemy.”

For more information on Direct Provision go to :

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Editor Ellen Desmond asks the students what should be done to tackle UCC’s drinking problem n the 30th of January UCC released the results of a study entitled ‘Hazardous alcohol consumption among university students in Ireland.’ The study, led by UCC researcher and PhD candidate Martin Davoren, showed some worrying results and called for “national intervention” to help tackle the issue of problematic drinking behaviours among university students. The results of the study were covered extensively by the media both locally and nationwide.

The Irish Times ran an article with the headline ‘Two-thirds of students report hazardous drinking.’ It was also picked up on by joe.ie, her.ie and breakingnews. ie – to name a few. Among the most worrying of results that have arisen from the study was that the gender gap has narrowed in terms of hazardous

drinking patterns; female students are now drinking as dangerously as their male counterparts. Studies done in the past have shown a bigger gap between the drinking patterns of males and females and this narrowing difference in behaviour clearly goes to show that as times goes on the problem of worrying alcohol consumption among students is getting much worse and not better; despite UCC introducing a number of initiatives in an attempt to tackle the problem.

Mark Stanton of the UCCSU said in response to the survey: “The results of this study should be seen as a call to action nationally - it is important to remember this isn’t just an issue for UCC students, or students in general.

A national conversation needs to take place and students need to be at the

heart of the discussion, not the topic of it.

Over the last few years, students’ unions in UCC, UCC Student Health Centre and the UCC Health Matters initiative have done fantastic work in highlighting and mitigating the harmful effects of dangerous drinking, but this needs to happen nationally if we’re going to turn a corner.”

Other than Stanton’s response, Motley could find no evidence of students being asked their opinion on the matter – or better still - how to tackle it. I sat down with a small group of students to discuss the findings and to see their reactions. They all wished to remain anonymous but were more than open to discussing the matter when approached and agreed that is was a pivotal way to go about dealing with the situation.

Of the three male and three female

The UCC and Hazardous Alcohol Consumption Study showed….

Two thirds of students consume a hazardous level of alcohol on a weekly basis

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Approx 17% of males were consuming more than 6 units of alcohol at least 4 times per week

Higher prevalence of HAC associated with later years in college, studying Business & Law or being a current smoker

students who I spoke with, four were drinkers and two were non-drinkers.

It was unanimously agreed upon by the group that the results of the study were “unsurprising,” “about right” and even “not half as bad as I would have expected.”

One female student who claimed to be an “infrequent drunker” (i.e a binge drinker) said she was surprised about the reaction among the national media and the non-students seeing these results.

“I thought the drink culture in UCC was more than evident and in reality, when you’re living in it, the reality is actually much worse than what these results show.

Drinking is what most people’s college day revolves around and it’s very unusual that there’s someone like me, who wouldn’t go drinking every single week, just now and again. The college can fluff up their anti-alcohol attempts to the media all they like to give a good name to the college but the fact is none of the current initiatives are actually any good. They’ve no impact on individuals or pretty much at all, well like, other than gathering data which I guess they need.”

The students all agreed that the University does try to counteract the problem, and were all aware of initiatives like e-PUB and the work of UCC Health Matters in particular. They went so far as to show they respected the attempts and one male even said “fair play to be honest” when I told him 13,000 people have taken the e-PUB test over the past 5 years. The same student, when he had taken e-PUB, said his friends and him compared results and gloated about who was “in the worst situation” in regard to alcohol consumption levels. “It’s probably bad that I wouldn’t give any of it a second thought, though. Don’t really think anyone would,” he said about learning that he and his peers all drank to an unhealthy

level. Upon leaving he still didn’t see himself giving it a second thought. In sum, the initiatives have reached out to

Only 8.4% of men and 5.8% of women were non-drinkers

students but nothing has hit home with them.

“I know they all say it’s a problem and it’s not good when you need to do work or something the next day and I know there’s always a mess and stuff sometimes... but I’ve never seen anything that worrying happen, even after someone’s been really, like, seriously dangerously drunk. It’s always grand then the day after once they’re sorted out.”

The students also all agreed that national intervention as suggested by the study probably won’t work but that a national discussion probably is needed to find what will work. “The sponsorship ban thing is totally pointless,” said one male, “everyone is aware of drink, we’re not kids, hiding branding even just a bit or a lot isn’t going to help anything. It’ll probably make it all more mysterious, or like, something like that, for younger people anyway.”

One of the non-drinkers said peer pressure to drink “was probably, no definitely, a thing…everywhere in Ireland, though, not just here” but she and the male non-drinker both admitted it was not a problem they had encountered much once they explained they just didn’t want to consume alcohol. “Well, except for the classic ‘are you on antibiotics or

Students say students have the answer The reality may be much worse

something’ joke,” the male laughed. The group came to the conclusion, without being prompted, that the student body are the ones who have the information, and that they should thus be the ones asked for the solution. They all acknowledged it was a problem and said they were all long aware of it, but the four drinkers left with no intention of changing behaviours or attitudes until they were given a good reason to.

“It’s a question you will get asked though.

You’ll be asked all the time why exactly it is that you don’t drink or why you don’t want to do it. It’s not the norm at all to not be drinking, even not drinking on the one night out or as a long term thing. They will be genuinely curious, you know, it’s not all just bad they just don’t understand why someone wouldn’t want to. You’re the different one, doing the unusual thing, if you aren’t hammered.

Not the one who is plastered off their face asking you about it. You’ll be asked ‘why not?’ even if you’re not being pressured or if the person doesn’t want to pressure you. If a person doesn’t want to drink just for the one night they’ll need to make up an excuse or be coerced – and it’s done in a friendly way… like the people drinking will just want to see their friend have fun. You’ll be grand if you have an excuse though, usually.”

Students are unsure national intervention will make a difference

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After more abortion controversies in 2014, Motley’s Eoin McSweeney examines the laws surrounding the moral debate. he abortion debate in Ireland has been a source of discussion for decades.

Across dinner tables, at parties and in lecture halls, the people of Ireland discuss the moral implications of legalising abortion. We wonder at what stage the foetus becomes human, whether fertilisation is enough to constitute the creation of new life and when does it become necessary to prioritise the life of the mother. No other topic has divided opinion like this and so moral views are distributed in a haphazard manner.

These moral discussions usually revolve around the right to the life of the unborn and the rights of the mother. However, at times, people forget the actual laws surrounding abortion in Ireland,

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in particular, how much protection is afforded to the mother, and so practical solutions aren’t forthcoming. The legal aspect of abortion needs to be explained and understood before any meaningful change can be suggested.

The most controversial aspect of abortion has been the threat of suicide on the part of the mother and how this may warrant an abortion.

To give a brief history of Ireland’s abortion laws, we must first look at Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution. “The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.” This section of the Constitution has been a source of

great controversy. This is due mainly to its absolute protection of the right to life of the unborn, and the ambiguity of the short text. In the past, it has been left to the courts to decide the degree of protection afforded to the child and the mother.

As an example, we can look at the most famous abortion case in Ireland, the X Case. It involved an unnamed 14 year-old girl who had been raped by a neighbour and became pregnant. The girl told her mother about her suicidal thoughts in relation to the unwanted pregnancy and so travel to Britain was arranged so that an abortion could be performed. However, before they travelled, they asked the Gardaí whether a DNA sample from the foetus would be needed as evidence. Upon

hearing about the plans for the abortion, the Attorney General at the time, Harry Whelehan, sought an injunction to protect the constitution and namely Article 40.3.3.

The case raised a number of issues.

The topic of allowing abortion to legally happen in Ireland was not up for debate, however it was recognised that the life of the mother had to be protected. It was decided that in cases where there was a real and substantive risk to the life of the mother, an abortion could be a necessary option. The reasoning behind this, was given by Justice Hugh O’Flaherty of the Supreme Court at the time: “The stark situation is, if someone who is pregnant commits suicide, you lose the mother and the child.”

A result of the case was three referenda.

The twelfth amendment proposed that even in cases where the mother was suicidal, the prohibition on abortion would stand. The thirteenth amendment proposed that the mother could travel abroad for an abortion and the fourteenth amendment specified that the prohibition of abortion would not limit the right to distribute information about abortion services in other countries. The latter amendment was also a result of SPUC v Grogan, another landmark Irish case, which dealt with the distribution of information regarding abortions in other countries.

The former amendment was not passed, however the latter two were, 40.3.3 now also reading: “This subsection shall not limit freedom to travel between the State and another state. This subsection shall not limit freedom to obtain or make available, in the State, subject to such conditions as may be laid down by law, information relating to services lawfully available in another state.”

Of course this granted a number of rights to the mother that were previously non-existent. However, unfortunately, the law regarding abortion in Ireland was and still is unclear. This was quite obvious from A, B and C v Ireland. Three women, who had already travelled to Britain to obtain an abortion, brought a suit in the European Court of Human Rights. They asserted that restrictive and unclear law violated a number of provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights.

In an incredibly interesting judgment, it was found that by being forced to travel, the women’s rights were not being violated, as Ireland was “legitimately trying to protect public morals.” However, it was found that Ireland failed to provide clear and comprehensive guidelines as to when a woman was entitled to an abortion in Ireland. This is where major problems have arisen. While it is clear from the law and the Constitution, being forced to travel abroad for an unnecessary abortion is not a violation of any basic human right, it remains to be seen in what circumstances a woman may obtain a necessary abortion when her life is at risk.

This is where there is a problem with the abortion laws in Ireland. We can discuss the total legalisation of abortion all we want as a nation, ultimately we won’t see a change in this regard anytime soon (this is despite the fact that according to a report from the

Department of Health in Britain, 4,484 women travelled from the island of Ireland to Wales and England to obtain abortions in 2013). However, it is quite obvious that the law at the moment is not sufficient due to the fact that the mother’s life is not being protected. Changes can be made with regards to this and these alterations to the law could save lives.

Recent abortion controversies in Ireland have made headlines abroad and brought the topic into the public spotlight again. The death of Savita Halappanavar was a great tragedy and highlighted flaws in the Irish legal system. This incident involved a woman in Galway University Hospital being denied an abortion even though there was an evidently strong risk of death due to her contracting septicaemia after a miscarriage. After this debacle, the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Act was passed, more than twenty years after the X Case.

The Act’s primary aim is to define the circumstances where an abortion may occur in Ireland.

The controversial aspect of this legislation has been the allowance for abortion in cases where the mother is suicidal.

This has been condemned by academics on both sides of the debate and has been described as both too restrictive and not restrictive enough.

For example, UCC lecturer Dr Maria Cahill has written several articles on the topic

and has taken a stance of Constitutional Protection. The Government seems to have legislated these changes because of pressure from the European Court of Human Rights following the A, B and C case. As Dr Cahill points out, does it say in the Constitution that a suicidebased exemption is entirely legal? Most certainly not. In an article in the Sunday Business Post, she points out that; “The legal reality is that there is no obligation on the Government deriving from the Constitution or from the European Court of Human Rights or from the Supreme Court to propose legislation for a suicide-based exemption from the right to life.”

On the other hand, there is the argument that this bill does very little to change the situation for mothers. To not give a women the choice to have an abortion when her life is at risk seems to support a society of unequal citizenship. As another UCC lecturer Siobhán Mullally puts it in an article on human rights: “In Ireland we will continue to deny access to a safe and legal abortion even in cases of rape, incest, and fetal inviability.” This situation has been highlighted by another abortion controversy in 2014. A young suicidal women was denied an abortion, even under the new Act. She went on a hunger strike and eventually the baby was delivered via Caesarean section.

Even more shockingly, in December, a pregnant woman was declared brain dead, but was kept artificially alive in a hope that the foetus could come to term. Eventually, the High Court ruled that all life support should end as the foetus had no chance of survival. Even the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, had stated that he would not object to this; as there wasn’t a way that either the mother or the child could be saved. However, in the future, what if the child has a better chance of survival?

Questions will remain.

The law in Ireland has clearly failed a number of women, but it is what we must work with. In the discussion on abortion, people get caught up in the moral debate and seem to forget that there are laws and a Constitution that cannot be ignored. While it can be argued that the law we follow could be outdated, the Constitution belongs to the people and there has to be a steadfast majority to make a change and at the moment the country is split. To fix the problems that are indicative of the Irish legal system, we must look at them legally and objectively, without moral quandaries.

As Dr Cahill points out in a separate article; Ireland radically protects life. We don’t have a death penalty, we have a policy of military neutrality and we protect the life of the unborn. We may embrace this as something to be proud of, but the life of the mother must also be cherished.

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Adam Duke examines the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks s the dust settles on the terrorist attacks on Charlie Hebdo, the world remains steadfast in our support of freedom of speech. Most of the twelve people who died in the satirical magazine’s offices were murdered because of their unwavering belief in this most inalienable right. Specifically, they were murdered because of their decision to publish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad — a n act impermissible by ardent adherents of Islam. From the carnage and debris of France’s worst terrorist attack since 1961, those twelve have been propelled into the international lexicon as martyrs of the human right to freedom of speech. This is a small but noble consolation for which they lost their lives.

While every terrorist attack is an attack on freedom, the attack on Charlie Hebdo was somehow more blatant; more overt. To say freedom of speech was directly attacked that day might sound overwrought, but I can scarcely think of a context that would warrant such a declaration more.

Cherif and Said Kouachi executed twelve people, ostensibly because

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they were offended by a cartoon that blasphemed their beliefs.

In the wake of such this horrific and unjust incident, the phrase ‘freedom of speech’ has been used a lot. #JeSuisCharlie instantly took hold online, becoming the international symbol of solidarity with not only those who died, but those who believe in the human right to speak freely and openly without fear of violent reprisal. Anyone who tweeted, spoke or affirmatively acknowledged #JeSuisCharlie understood that that right was not afforded to those twelve who were gunned down on January 7th.

It is appropriate, but easy, to stand up for freedom of speech when the alternative is represented as terrorism and cold-blooded murder.

However, when we take to the streets in solidarity with those murdered, or tweet #JeSuisCharlie as a statement of our right to speak freely, what is it, exactly, that we support? Freedom of speech is not absolute, it is not all-encompassing, and it cannot be summarised or accurately portrayed through the words “je suis Charlie.”

There’s an interesting quote by Noam Chomsky, from his film Manufacturing Consent that I believe to be inherently appropriate when discussing matters of free speech: “If you believe in freedom of speech, you believe in freedom of speech for views you don’t like.” That is to say, we do not have to agree with somebody’s view on something in order to defend their right to say it.

To apply this to the context of Charlie Hebdo, the cartoons that led to the carnage might genuinely offend you, or they may be in direct opposition to your conviction to not insult Muslims. Obviously, insulting muslims is not a nice thing to do, and kindness and respect go a long way in society, but a strong belief in freedom of speech thus compounds us to stand up and defend the right of Stéphane Charbonnier and his colleagues to offend Muslims without fear of violent reprisal.

That much, we can surely agree upon. But what about those who voice opinions against the separation of Church and State? Or those who believe that scientology ought to be the prescribed religion in this country? What about those who are against same-sex marriage laws?

Arguably, any rational-minded person will likely be offended or at the very least bemused at the mindset of someone who would hold a genuine belief in any of these ideals. Beliefs such as these are obviously to the detriment of society, but those who hold these views are entitled to their opinion, to their freedom of speech, just as we are entitled to say they’re intrinsically bad ideas.

A strong belief in the freedom of speech however, is not the belief that people can do what and how they see fit. As said, freedom of speech is not

absolute, and to believe otherwise is a logical fallacy. Despite the innateness of your right to freedom and freedom of speech, it is not your most important political right. That is actually order and security. If you do not live in a state that has order and keeps you secure from violence and persecution, then your life is cheap and your ‘freedom’ is worthless.

Thus, a free-for-all in terms of freedom of speech is an impossibility.

Limits must exist. Incitement to violence, for example, cannot be considered ‘free speech’, because those who have that violence thrust upon them are not free. Oppression and persecution are a direct contradiction with freedom. Stealing, such as copyright infringement, and child pornography should be outlawed for obvious reasons, while sworn declarations and affidavits in court are integral to protecting the freedoms of those who make them and others and maintaining justice. This is not an exhaustive list of the limits of free speech, but you understand where I’m coming from.

The above are all common laws — w e would be hard pressed to find people who disagree with them. Beyond these common laws though, which generally equate to non-violence and non-exploitation of others, we are free to act how we wish, even if it offends others’ sensibilities. This is the nature of free speech.

Obviously, this does not mean that we should be flagrantly offensive all the time just because we can. The world is a tolerable place to live in only because humans are kind to one another. To bring this back to Charlie Hebdo, freedom of speech does not mean that we should all draw cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, for the sake of being offensive. Charb and his colleagues did not offend these die-hard Muslims purely because they got a kick out of it. Their cartoons were symptomatic of their broader, leftist, political views and thus represented how they believed society should progress. The lesson in this is that being offensive is well and good, but

it should have a higher ideal than just pure offence.

It may sound like an absurd question, but it is worth exploring: Why is it that we must defend freedom of speech so unwaveringly? After all, we in the Western world live in relatively free societies, with few restrictions.

We have strong negative and positive rights. We are, in the context of world history, more free than we have ever been. Obviously the massacre of Charlie Hebdo is a tragedy, but, thankfully, these attacks are few and far between.

So do we still really need to so fervently insist that free speech be an inalienable right, a right that in these days gives a platform to voices that demand that marriage be reserved only for a man and a woman, or demands that immigrants be collectively deported for ‘taking our jobs?’ It may seem like a welcome trade-off to restrict our free speech so that people such as these aren’t afforded a platform on which to espouse their retrograde views.

But it isn’t. Freedom of speech doesn’t exist just for me and you, or for those who espouse bigoted views. It isn’t for the greater benefit people who are hateful toward immigrants or gay people, or people who already enjoy great freedoms.

Freedom of speech is the resounding language of progress.

Without it there would not have been a gay rights movement to begin with, and the proponents of a ‘No’ vote in Ireland’s upcoming referendum on same-sex marriage wouldn’t sound like the bigots that they are. There wouldn’t be a referendum to begin with. Without free speech there would not have been a collective backlash against Catholic orthodoxy in this country over the last two decades. Without it there would not have been a civil rights movement in the United States in the nineteen sixties. Without it there would be no online freedom.

All of these movements, and countless more, were inherently unpopular ideas in their genesis, but freedom of speech allowed them to

flourish. Who knows what the future will bring, and what the next unpopular idea will be that makes all of us that bit more free. Without freedom of speech — g ood and bad — there would be no progress.

And so, we defend free speech without hesitation not just in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, but always, because in Saudi Arabia, Raif Badawi exercised his human right to speak freely against his government and is in the process of receiving a thousand lashes for it. We defend it because Malala Yousafzai received a bullet to the head from the Taliban because she believed in education for girls. We defend it because a gay man or woman in this country cannot yet get married. We defend it because twelve people were murdered because a cartoon was published, and four others were murdered because they were Jewish.

We defend it because, somewhere in the world, someone is oppressed and without the human right to speak freely, they will never be able to liberate themselves.

We defend freedom of speech so that people who believe in the progress of society will have the courage to speak up and make genuine change. Those with retrograde views will have their say too, but it is up to society and not governments to decide what is good speech and bad speech, and history shows that unprogressive views will be the detritus left behind as society continues to advance.

This article also now appears on Aaron Noonan’s personal blog “Louder than Bombs.”

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’s Killian Down accepts the brutality of combat sports, but also explores the beautiful side of the contest.

As Benjamin Franklin once quipped, there are two certainties in life. We will all pay taxes, and we all invariably die. If I may be so bold, I would like to add another certainty to that list; albeit a more temporary one. That is the certainty that as I write these words, Ireland is in the midst of an economic recession. Whatever the future may hold, as of February 2015, no man wise or witless can deny this fact. The Live Register is indeed alive and well, unemployment is at an overwhelmingly high level and tales of financial woe are the sound track of Joe Duffy’s Liveline.

Somehow though, against this backdrop of scarcity and the necessitated frugality that invariably follows such hardship, between 1,500 and 2,000 Irish sports fans travelled to Boston, Massachusetts, this past January. The spectacle worthy of their hardearned money? Under ten minutes of mixed martial arts.

The match-up I am speaking of is of course that between Irishman Conor McGregor and Dennis Siver in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC. There were other fights on offer that night that served as appetite-whetting entrées, but there is no doubt that were it not for the main course of McGregor, the travelling Irish faithful would not have been in attendance.

The question that I found myself asking when faced with this apparent paradox - that people would be willing to fork out the money for a transatlantic trip despite the economic turmoil faced by most - was simply why? What is it about Conor McGregor, and on a deeper level combat sport in general, that captivates and transfixes? What is it about this gladiatorial voyeurism that so enthrals members of an educated, civilised society?

Many will argue that it is McGregor's braggadocios nature and love for grandiloquence that, like boxers

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Chris Eubank Sr. and Muhammad Ali before him, has fans so rapt. Indeed perhaps this, along with McGregor's seemingly prophetic predictions as regards the outcomes of his fights, does explain the Irish brawler's own specific success. The people of Ireland however have been engrossed by combat sport for hundreds of years and will continue to be long after McGregor becomes a mere memory captured in faded footage on Reeling in the Years.

It is abundantly clear to anyone who has watched even a round of boxing or mixed martial arts (or "cage fighting" as it is sometimes referred to; usually by those who condemn the sport) that there is an inherent, inescapable brutality in combat sport.

To argue otherwise would be foolish and amount to a denial.

Take for example Britain's Olympic Heavyweight champion turned pro-boxer, Anthony Joshua. He is the new golden boy of British boxing, an attractive, wellspoken, media-friendly fighter who is charged with returning the tired heavyweight division to its former glory as boxing's most prestigious weight class. Joshua comes across as nothing less than a gentleman, a PR Manager's dream come true. His amiable personality does not however make it any easier to watch as all 106kg of Joshua pummels yet another opponent within a matter of mere minutes of the opening bell tolling. One cannot help but wince and leave out an audible groan any time yet another victim of Joshua's falls limply to the canvas or leans dazed against the referee as he steps in to put an end to the slaughter.

You see, it simply would not do to have British boxing's big hope to be seen to lose. As such, the 25 year old has been led by his gargantuan hand

through a series of fights against semi-professionals and journeymen who stood no chance of inflicting more than a graze on Joshua. It is these non-contests in which we see boxing's most brutal side. Fans yelp with a slightly perverse glee as Joshua knocks out opponent after opponent, barely breaking a sweat. Herein lies an element of boxing that many spectators can never fully reconcile themselves with.

Of course needless to say, not all fights, be they boxing or MMA, are so one-sided. After all, not all match-ups are made with the sole purpose of gifting one fighter’s fight experience. They are intended to be competitive sporting contests between two athletes of somewhat similar talents.

This does not mean, unfortunately, that they thus lack in malignancy. Even one of boxing's brightest stars, Muhammad Ali, has been left scarred by boxing.

Despite holding a professional record of 56 wins and only 5 losses, which suggests, maybe naively, that he has not suffered like those unlucky enough to face Anthony Joshua for example, Ali now suffers from Parkinson's Disease, a common side effect of head trauma. Even years after the last punch has been thrown, the brutality of boxing lives on.

The sport of MMA is a relatively new one which has only risen to prominence in the last twenty years. As such, the long-term effects of such savage combat which encompasses not only fists but shins, knees and elbows, remain to be seen. One can only imagine though that they will almost certainly outweigh those suffered by former pugilists.

Yet for all this barbarity, all this viciousness, there lies within combat sport a definite beauty. The finest fighters possess a grace and ease of movement that is a sight to behold. How can someone watch Conor McGregor throw a tornado kick and not be in awe of his agility and flexibility? Or bear witness to Manny Pacquiao's spectacular dexterity and speed as he throws a four punch combo before nimbly dancing away from his opponent?

That such beauty could exist alongside such brutality seems a contradiction in terms, and yet it is clear from more traditional mediums of movement such as ballet that brutality and beauty are not mutually exclusive. According to the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, out of 61 of the most common sporting activities, only American Football is more physically demanding than ballet. Just because a dancer does not leave the stage with a bruised and bloodied face in the manner of a boxer does not mean that practicing their art does not carry serious inherent risks.

Yet, because we cannot see it we are comfortable in our faux-ignorance. We dismiss combat sports as the pastime of a brute, whilst placing other sports and forms of movement on a lofty pedestal and deeming them more worthy of our attention and praise. While it would take a fool to argue that combat sports are not at times brutal, it would take a blind man not to appreciate their beauty.

’s Leah Driscoll gives her opinions on the measures being taken against new drivers For the first time in 7 years, Ireland saw a rise in the amount of road deaths in 2013, compared to the year before. The Road Safety Authority have hit back hard in response to this statistic with the introduction of numerous rules and regulations; the majority of these tackling learner or newly qualified drivers. These regulations include an increase in the number of questions in the Theory Test and the introduction of a minimum amount of hours to be spent with a driving instructor before taking the exam. These regulations, while being expensive and irritating for learner drivers, do serve an important purpose of training and educating a learner before allowing them to be qualified to get behind the wheel.

However, the RSA’s most recent decision to introduce the Novice plates - which must be shown by drivers with less than two years’ experience - appears to be both inane and an unfair singling out of mostly younger drivers. The RSA defend this choice by claiming that the purpose is “to reduce the number of collisions, deaths and injuries among learner and novice drivers, particularly among the high risk 17 to 24 year olds, during the learning to drive period and period immediately after they

pass their test” (rsa.ie). However, it is difficult to see how displaying an N-plate will reduce the number of collisions on the road. Will it instead give fully qualified drivers an excuse to blame a new driver for a collision that may not have been their fault?

Might it give older drivers an undeserved sense of superiority and complacency on the road?

We need only think back on the driving tests of forty years ago to see the difference in training and skill of new drivers today compared to the older generation. Driving tests were far easier to pass and licences were far easier to obtain- in some cases, if the driving centre was too busy, learners would just be given their licence and sent on their merry way; without undergoing any exam at all. Of course, the roads in Ireland today are much safer because this system no longer exists but these drivers are still on the road today. As of August 2014, it will take

about the same amount of time to get a full driving licence without any restrictions as it takes to get a degree in most UCC courses. If these rules apply to young drivers, perhaps older drivers should have to undergo a revision course of some kind, in which they may even learn rules of the road they were never taught.

Something needs to be done about the number of deaths on Irish roads, but learner drivers have been targeted enough. It is time to examine other aspects of driving that are making our roads more dangerous- such as poorly placed cycling lanes, or focusing on those with high penalty points. If the RSA’s aim is to monitor high risk drivers, then why don’t they shift focus from newly qualified (and often more careful) drivers, to repeat offenders; whose disregard for the rules of the road have already been displayed more clearly than any N-plate.

Ellen Desmond speaks with Childline volunteer Megan Sarl. Megan is one of the dedicated volunteers ready to be on the other end of the phone for a child in need. or every euro it cost to run Childline in 2013, 5% came from government funding and 95% came from public donations. Ireland leans incredibly hard on its charities; this country would simply not function without the contribution that non-profitable organisations give to Irish life.

It’s often easy to forget that these charities need society as much as society need’s them.

Childline came into a flurry of national media attention in the latter half of 2014, when it became apparent that the charity was in urgent need of more funding. According to Megan, the worst of the emergency is over.

“We had a very tough couple of months here at the ISPCC because we were going into Christmas and the New Year being very unsure if Childline would be able to remain open 24 hours a day in January, but the general public of Ireland have been fantastic.

As a result of the Save Childline Emergency Appeal I am very happy to say that Childline will not be closing its night time service within in the next two years.”

However, just because the appeal is at an end it doesn’t mean the fight to keep funds coming in will stop for Childline. Like any charity, it’s a day in and day out battle to keep things ticking over.

“We still are not fully answering all the calls with get and this is where the support of the public comes in.

We are hugely grateful to the people in Ireland who have supported us over the last 26 years and we are very much looking forward to that continuing for the next 26.”

Megan’s voluntary role as a Childline volunteer sees her placed right in the action of making a difference. As a volunteer she is there to pick up a phone and talk through things with a child in need.

In 2013 80,000 hours of free work was completed by volunteers like Megan; to ensure there was someone there to listen when a call comes through.

The average number of hours per volunteer comes in at around 141 a year.

“Childline has a very strong commitment to children and our motto is ‘always here for children.’ Childline is the only 24 hour service in Ireland that is there for young people all the time. We are here at Easter, New Year’s Day and even Christmas Day.

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Christmas Day 2014 we received 1,200 telephone calls, texts and messages from children. Childline facilitates the high number of calls because we have such dedicated volunteers who give up a couple of hours during the holidays and come into an ISPCC office and listen to children who are in need of someone to listen to them; this really is the only reason (how the calls are answered). I myself have covered Christmas night for the last 3 years and I have truly enjoyed volunteering on Christmas evening and talking to young people about how they are feeling on a day that can be very lonely for many children out there.”

Answering a phone to hear a child in a bad situation may sound terrifying to many of us, but Megan says being a Childline volunteer is a very worthwhile experience which she wholeheartedly recommends to anyone with an interest in protecting children and their rights.

“The impact that Childline has on me personally is really huge. I find it quite hard to put into words how much Childline and the ISPCC mean to me. It is extremely rewarding and the fact that I get to make a difference to a child’s life no matter how small is a very rewarding thing. I would go as far as saying that being involved in Childline has changed my life in a very positive way. I get to work with young people who can be very vulnerable and when a child lets a Childline facilitator into their life, even if it is just to say they had an okay day at school, I feel this is a huge step for a child who may not have someone at home to talk to. I love that I get to be that person to ask how their day is and if they did anything nice in school.”

There are an unfortunate number of issues presented to children in the 21st century and many of them are difficult to deal with, especially if they don’t have the support they need from someone in their life. Megan highlighted bullying and mental health as two of the most frequent problems she hears Irish children speak about.

“Bullying is a huge issue for children today in Ireland, be it on social media, in school or at home.

Bullying can affect young people in huge ways, sometimes at home a child may not feel as if they have a trusted adult in their life they can talk to about what is going on and that is where Childline is there to talk to the child about how they are feeling and explain that no one has the right to call them names, or make them feel sad or lonely. Also mental health is a huge aspect of our calls and this is a very prominent issue for young people in Ireland today.

Mental health is a word that covers an umbrella of words and feelings. Young people have talked to Childline about how lonely they feel, some people feel quite depressed, anxious and suicidal.”

Childline is important for young people because sometimes there isn’t someone in their life who they feel like they can talk to and that is what Childline does. Despite the large amount of time and effort put in by Megan and those like her, in one year there can be up to 220,551 unanswered calls due to a lack of funding. Facing into mid-February, Christmas is now a thing of the past and with it a lot of the giving nature the media likes to associate with the holidays. But Childline is there to answer calls every single day – it’s an ongoing effort - and it’s not just for Christmas.

The service has 60 very active volunteers at present in the Cork unit but is always looking for more people to join the team. Childline volunteers are fully trained before they start talking calls. “The training is just incredible,” says Megan, “you get trained to be the best listener a person can be!”

If you would like to volunteer with Childline in Cork please contact Ann-Marie Spillane on 021-4509588 or Ann-Marie.Spillane@ispcc.ie.

Information evening will be held in the coming weeks and the next Childline training course is due to start at the beginning of March. Please visit https://www.ispcc.ie/shield for information on ISPCC Shield Anti-Bullying Month from March 1st to 31st.

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For the month that’s in it, we recently we opened an online Lonely Hearts column. Motley Staff Writer Sorcha Lanigan has gathered together some of our favourites. ith Valentine's Day fast approaching, couples everywhere are beginning to morph into hideous dew-eyed, rosy-cheeked, inseparable monsters; selfishly flaunting their love in the form of last-minute bouquets of wilted flowers, cheap chocolate hearts, a dinner for two in overcrowded, over-priced and over the top fancy restaurants. This leaves us singletons bitter (could you tell?), resentful, and stuffed full of those cheap chocolate hearts that we had to buy for ourselves in the hope that the cashier would think we had a boyfriend - I mean significant other.

Mature Student, Male, Business and Law Undergraduate Come and join me for a night of fun, friendship, passion and maybe more…. If you stay over perhaps you can join me in my 9am lecture the next day and help me sate my lust of repetitively raising my arm to ask painfully pointless and often redundant questions that delay each class - I can last all day. Young lady preferred but loud voice, sense of humour and a penchant for anecdotes about 'the good old days' are a must. I don't know how to work the damn internet so please contact through magazine. Best.

Postgraduate Med Student, Female, 23.

I break hearts but only so that I can examine and conduct cardiology reports on the ventricles and pulmonary veins to obtain my 1st class honours degree. I'm well used to performing physical examinations in my training so don't be shy; there's nothing that I haven't seen before, honeys. As a med student, my vastly extensive knowledge of the human body can only serve to be of benefit to you.

If you've had your heart broken, let me be the one to stitch it back up again, with love, care, and an atraumatic 8x3 suture needle, F.

Well, put down those chocolates and stop knitting sweaters for your many cats because Motley has just the thing for you. We have painstakingly compiled a highly selective list of exclusive bachelors, each equally desperate - I mean interested - in sparking up a passionate l'amour in time for Valentine's Day. Read on and remember; an open-minded spirit and a nonjudgemental attitude will carry you far in the hopes of bagging one of these refined Romeos. (Caveat: non-enjoyers of pun-making should perhaps look away now).

Undergrad Law Student, Female, 20

Sugar, if you're looking for someone to have fun with, I put the laughter into manslaughter.

Sophisticated lawyer-in-training seeks older gentleman for some fully legitimate, consensual fun. Liable to have a good time, rarely objects, but will you be the one to take legal ownership of my heart as a licensed property? The jury is still out.

Answers to the name Sue Fr. Damages, apply within magazine.

Undergraduate, Psychology Student, Female, 18 Hey, I know what you're thinking….but that's mostly because I'm being trained to analyse and assess your behaviour and emotive thought process. Help me get out of my head by letting me into yours. I'm a-Freud that I like to take things slow at first but as my friends tend to call me 'psycho-bunny' behind my back, that may be a good thing.

Postgraduate Dentistry Student, Male, 29

Whether you swallow or spit, I can get rid of that nasty taste in your mouth. In my spare time I enjoy making people feel uncomfortable, and awkward small talk where the other person can't speak, and Computer Science Student, Male, examining tonsils, if you know what I mean.

19 I'm highly passionate about oral care so come join me under the anaesthetic for a free Baby I can make your hard-drive rev, your one-on-one consultation; I can make your gums as beautifully pink as your blushing cheeks. Don't engine hot, and I'm fluent in enough dirty code to make your heart race as fast as the new be shy, I don't bite- but I will need you to so that version of Firefox 2.0. I can plug in your wires and I can examine your we'd have a truly awesome connection. Let me overbite for crooked indentations. See push your buttons and hack my way into your magazine for heart. If things move swiftly enough, perhaps our future children could even call me Data. See contact details. I look magazine for contact details. No Windows users forward tooth hearing need apply. M. from you.

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Undergraduate Zoology Student, Male, 20 Wildlife lover; often engages in cat fights and fowl play, seeks a mate for life- or at least one night.

Before you ask, yes I am a complete animal in bed….by which I mean that I like to be patted and brought inordinate amounts of food every night.

Like a koala bear, I need at least 20 hours of sleep, so I won't pussyfoot around it; you will have to do most, if not all, of the work in the relationship.

Underhraduate Mathematics and Music Student, Male, 19 A microcosm of beats and melody, mixed with the disciplinary schooling of the mathematical world, I would almost compare myself to a hybrid of Einstein meets Elger, sorry, compare them to me. Prepare to be mesmerised by my off-the-hook bitchin' keyboard skills which most girls seem to find a turnoff, but then I just start talking about the Fibonacci sequence and they usually shut up - in fact sometimes they're so mind blown that they forget to return my SMS text messages. If you're the type of gal that likes to keep your Husker Dü vinyls in near mint-condish while calculating if you can also afford the limited collector's edition, then hit me up with your digits- I'm good with numbers.

Philosophy Student, Male, 23 As a student of the great philosophers, it is my theory that romance is dead. But so is my mother.

Male, 23; inherited wealth. Enjoys pondering the quandaries of existential angst after a few naggins in The New Bar.

Undergraduate, Poetry and English Student, Female, 21 I don't have much money But if you want to be my honey Then my flair for rhyme and the written verse Should prevent an early hearse.

Yes I know my degree has no worth But then again, it could be worse.

Join me for dinner Because you're onto a winner.

Yes I know I could be thinner But if you're with someone else Then I think you should bin 'er.

Because in the bedroom, I'm no beginner.

Amidst the whispers of a commercial revolution coming soon to Cork City centre, Alex Cregan gives a brief review of one of Cork’s best known cafés I know New Year’s resolutions don’t usually stick but this year I set myself a challenge. Having always considered myself a bit of a “foodie,” I aim to visit and review one Cork restaurant or café every month. First, I wondered where to begin my food adventure. With such varied options in Cork City, I was like a kid in a candy shop; spoiled for choice. I decided where to start when I was listening to Neil Prendervile on Red Fm. The recent commotion about the global companies setting up shop in the city was running riot on his show. At the centre of it all was two local businesses; Sober Lane and Idaho Café.

Having previously been to Sober Lane (and not feeling very impressed) I started in Idaho Café.

Sitting behind Brown Thomas, on Caroline Street (the side street between Debenhams and BTs - near Scoozis), the shop front looks like a tiny pub, but with a feminine touch. The moment I walked into the café, myself and my girlfriend were immediately hit the smell of coffee, the sound of chatter and by cluttered tables and chairs. It was almost impossible to feel fully comfortable there. We were seated near the door, blocking entry and exit but quickly moved, out of courtesy to the other customers. One of the two staff (I presume the owners) immediately tried to settle us in. She proceeded to take our orders, and to disappoint me by telling me that they were out of waffles. I settled for the chocolate cake (€4.95) and

an Americano (€2.20), but still feeling disappointed.

My girlfriend went for the same, with hot chocolate (€3.20) instead of the coffee.

Service was so quick that I hardly got the opportunity to look at the décor, but it was both quirky and bland. When the cake arrived, my mouth watered. It looked perfect. I cut off a piece with my fork, and a party ensued in my mouth. The cake was great and I know my cake. Perfectly moist in the centre, rich enough to have flavour, but light enough to not feel too guilty about having it! It was served with a mini pot of whipped cream, which was not needed due to the perfect texture in the centre. Well worth €5 and even more. My coffee was nice and strong. I love strong coffee, so I was in my element. The coffee was almost too cheap. We pay the same amount in the student centre for the dribble that is their coffee and I would gladly pay more for the coffee I got in Idaho.

My girlfriends’ hot chocolate was nice but nothing special. We were charged €3.20 for it; which was a bit outrageous. We could have got the same hot chocolate anywhere else for almost a euro cheaper.

All in all, we were happy leaving Idaho Café.

We paid in and around €15 which, looking back, is fairly reasonable considering the amazing cake and the quality of the coffee. I would highly recommend going there for a light bite or a simple cuppa and a chat.

Peter O’Brien gives his thoughts on armchair activism The terrorist attacks that occurred in Paris and Australia last month opened the topic of terrorism up to a global audience; as these horrific events tend to do. We sat glued to our television screens praying for the survival of hostages and an end to the unfolding events. We debated long and hard at dinner tables, workplace and college cafés as to what would motivate people to commit such atrocities; denouncing their actions and their terrorist beliefs. We felt strong, and informed, morally righteous and brave, commenting on these events from the comfort of our living rooms, surrounded by loved ones. We slept well that night knowing we had taken a stance against terrorism, having even found the time to shoot off a quick Tweet or Facebook status before bed and joining the worldwide chorus of “Je Suis Charlie.”

However, over the days that followed, the media coverage of those events in Sydney and Paris grew less and less and hence our dinnertime conversations turned to different topics. Our strong beliefs and anger against terrorist activities had now faded, only to be reawakened at the world’s next calamitous event. Once again we could all come together to tweet slogans, and denounce radicalistic activities so that we could feel like we were making a difference.

I am no political activist. I am a 20 year old student with no idea as to what I am going to do with my life, yet, it troubles me that I knowingly go about my life, every day, worrying about trivial matters such as my next holiday destination, or assignment deadline, when in Pakistan a primary school teacher is being burned alive and her students are made to watch.

I don’t believe myself to be an inherently bad person, but it troubles me that my moral conscience can let me be aware of these events while I carry on my normal life and do nothing about it. I don’t wish to be a political martyr, nor a politician for that matter, but I feel until the greater world population starts to do more than Tweet sporadically and denounce terrorist activities, we, in essence, as a rational thinking race of people, are part of the problem and not the solution.

We must exercise our right to free speech and protest if needs be. We must become both more politically informed and accountable for what goes on in the world we live in, no longer hiding behind computer screens. Yes, the medium of social networking is a revolutionary tool that has allowed the international community to come together as one in times of both joy and despair and is a device that is critically important to the society we live in today. But when do we reach the point when words simply aren’t enough? I borrow a popularly used phrase from the English language: “Actions speak louder than words.” In recent times this popular phrase has been reserved for clichéd Rom-coms and the turbulent love lives of its characters; yet now its true meaning is ever so poignant.

It seems that western civilization can only begin to understand terrorism on a basic human level when it is spoon fed to us by the media, leading mass amounts of people to rally behind issues that they don’t fully understand. The much publicised killings in Paris led to worldwide outrage, and justifiably so, yet more than 2,000 people were massacred in Baga, Nigeria, by Jihadist group Boko Haram between the 3rd and 7th of January to little or no media coverage.

No breaking news cycle, no live reports and no international outrage. Amnesty International claims it is the group’s “deadliest massacre” to date with local groups giving up on trying to calculate the death toll. This catastrophic event was largely

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ignored by Western media and thus, those of us who consume its output. Surely there is a blatant disparity in justice here between overwhelming supports for the crimes committed against a first world country as opposed to those committed against a “lowly” 3rd tier, developing nation? I quote Simon Allison, a journalist of the Guardian Africa Network who commented on the events in Baga and its lack of Media attention: “There are massacres and there are massacres. It may be the 21st century, but African lives are still deemed less newsworthy - and by implication, less valuable than western lives.”

Take for example the #BringBackOurGirls campaign that led to worldwide solidarity and unity amongst the international community yet yielded little or no success as 10 months later, most of the 200 girls taken captive by the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram are still missing, with the terrorist group’s power increasing day by day in Africa. I do not believe in the lip service that is paid solely to trending hashtags via the medium of Twitter and Facebook making a worthwhile difference in the world as we have come too far as a society to accept this as the limits to our social and political accountability.

While the sentiment, I’m sure, was greatly appreciated; the bitter reality is that the thousands of tweets that carried the “Bring Back Our Girls” hashtag essentially failed and did not lead to a safe return of these girls to their families.

Western culture lives in a “me, me, me” society where our everyday interests are to satisfy our own wants and needs. This effective “trend” of Tweeting and Facebooking political messages in support of a political/anti-terrorist movement achieves little other than fuelling our own imagined political and social welfare agendas, tricking ourselves into thinking that we are actually making a worthwhile difference.

The brutal reality is atrocities such as the growth in power of groups such as Boko Haram show that we as a group of people just don’t care that much about the strife our fellow man endures in war-torn countries on the other side of the world. I fully support people’s opinions against terrorism, on any platform, yet for every action there must be a reaction, and ours must be more than just 140 characters.

Are you sick of being surrounded by Valentine’s Day propaganda? Hannah Kingston is here to teach you about the perks of being a Single Pringle this February. eople of UCC, Cork, the world; I’m here to tell you that you don’t need a significant other. All you need in the pursuit of happiness is chocolate and sex.

I have always wanted a boyfriend, from the age of fourteen; I would have prolonged conversations with my bestfriend about why this wasn’t happening for me. We would despair at the fact that we were alone and question our singlehood that, at that age, seemed like a branded curse of being undesirable.

We would exclaim “Is it because I’m weird, or fugly or not skinny enough?” Why, why, why, why did someone not want to watch movies with me and hold hands and be grossly in love? I just couldn’t understand it. Unlucky in love, I felt like a pre-pubescent Bridget Jones. It all went in that vein, for six more years, throughout flings and the “meeting” days; I was hopeful that one day someone would like me enough to only want to kiss me and nobody else.

Those six years passed and each year I became more certain that I would spend my evenings with my cat watching Come Dine with Me and having a sneaky cry at the fact that I was alone while everyone else was all happy and cosy and in love. Then 20 came; that magical age when the freakish insecurity that seems to accompany puberty began to dwindle away. That year that someone made me feel a hundred bucks for the first time in my short life.

He was a chef, I was a waitress, need I say anymore?

Chemistry, laughter, sneaky glances across the pass. I was determined to shift this guy before I went back to college. We became best friends, and took this friendship outside of work two weeks before C-Day. We went for cocktails, Sea Breezes if I remember correctly, and the rest is history.

Fast forward two weeks and I’m in a relationship. I was ecstatic; it felt like I had finally found someone that didn’t just want me for a sneaky boob grab. I bounced into college feeling fresh for Freshers’ Week. Yeah. he’s not there but I don’t want to kiss anybody else because he defines perfection for me. This “Honeymoon Period” lasted for about four months in which we were constantly whispering sweet nothings to each other, going to the movies, doling alcohol and spooning. It was bliss.

I used to have an l issue with public displays of affection but I was being transformed; we became one of those disgusting allover-each-other-all-the-time couples. I was really happy; until suddenly I wasn’t.

Here’s the thing, people. In my youth I had a sufficient amount of chocolate but not enough sex. Or, well, not enough of the right sex, but anyway my point is, I became fixated on the idea of needing to be attached to another human because I didn’t

know what it was like to be shackled down to the enslaving nature of love. I realized early on that I hated the feeling of someone having the power to put me up or down. I began to absolutely detest and resent the fact that I had become a victim to it. In short, I loathed being in love. I found the warm fuzziness of it utterly repulsive. Yes reader, you’re probably thinking “What is this girl’s problem?” I spent so long yearning for a manfriend and then as soon as I get one, I feel like Tinkerbell in a jar being suffocated. The fact that we were such good friends made it more difficult to end it but it had to happen.

Now that it’s coming up to Valentines Day, I want to tell all you Single Pringles that we should be pretty happy about our situation. Let me explain to you why I know for a fact that we don’t need to be down in Scoozis sharing a pizza with someone on V-day.

Chocolate is key. When I was going to break up with the Ex, I asked him to bring chocolate to the house for Stage One of the break-up - to sweeten up the bitterness that was sure to follow. When we had said what we had to say, the chocolate made me feel less sad but then I wanted to feel happy so we drank a bottle of vodka and had the best sex I’ve ever had in my life. Boom; I’m single but I’m happy because I have had my daily allowance of chocolate and sex.

Now, the following days of the break-up; was I feeling a bit lonely? Yes, but not for Ex; for the spoons and cutesie messages. What do I do? I go to Centra and spend a fiver on chocolate and then I have six G&Ts. I feel better but I also want to feel happy. The next night I go out and bring someone home for “rebound-get-over-ex-sex.” Boom, tick, happy.

Stage three, they send you an acceptance-of-the-relationship being over text. It’s all long and mature and makes you feel strangely sad. So I eat one of those big ass mother-trucker Toblerones, Do I feel better? No actually, because that’s a disgusting amount of chocolate but feeling nauseas takes my mind off the fact that my beliefs are wavering and I’m being to think that I am, in fact, destined to be cat-lady for the rest of my life. The Tuesday night came. Ah, Tuesdays. Want to guess what happened? Yes and yes, all better and the break-up is completed.

Boys and girls, being single is fabulous. The only reason you want to be in a relationship is because you don’t know to appreciate the wonderful facts that you are A) in no way accountable for your actions. B) Don’t have to compromise C) have more time to spend with the most important person; yourself. We are in our prime, why settle down when you can run free through the meadows of promiscuity? Go out there, grab your bag of cats and your chocolate and find someone to just have some sneaky happiness with.

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The UCC charitable societies that are also going to benefit from efforts this year are: Barnardos | Friends of MSF | Hope Foundation | Simon Community | St. Vincent de Paul | Surgeon Noonan | SUAS

UCC “The minute I walked in the door of Cork ARC, I felt a peace come over me.

The house gave me a place where I could feel supported and safe.”

– A visitor to Cork ARC. “In 2014, we received over 5,500 visitors to Cork ARC Cancer Support House; a reflection of the need in the community for our services,” according to Claire McCarthy of ARC, who recently spoke to Motley’s Claire Crowley.

Visitors to Cork ARC Cancer Support House can call without an appointment and chat in confidence to a trained volunteer in a relaxed atmosphere. It’s a drop in centre and the volunteers and staff are the most welcoming people you could find. ARC is an incredibly genuine charity; which is an ethic so very apparent in those who work there.

“Our aim is to provide therapies that complement the medical model, so as to make a difference to the lives of those affected by cancer and all our services are provided free of charge.”

When undergoing cancer treatments, doctors often refer patients to ARC for further supports and as financial issues can always be a major problem when taking on cancer, it’s of huge benefit and relief to many that all the therapies they provide are completely free of charge. Can you imagine the injustice if a cancer patient had to pay for a counsellor or psychologist on top of all the other medical bills, just to ease their journey?

“Support services at Cork ARC Cancer Support House include counselling, yoga and meditation, art therapy, tai chi, support groups and information on general welfare and benefit entitlements.”

The atmosphere of the house is the exact opposite to the clinical, hospital side of things that a cancer patient will be all too familiar with; ARC offers a form of escape and relaxation.ARC

House is situated just across the road from The Honan Chapel, and can give students affected by cancer just as much as students can give them out of the RAG fund. It’s said far and wide that one in three people will be affected by cancer in their lifetime but that number is incorrect; one in three people may be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime but everyone is affected by cancer – it’s a modern day epidemic that touches everyone’s lives. ARC is a unique charity in Cork and a very small one, on which an awful lot of wellbeing depends.

“The minute I walked in the door of Cork ARC, I felt a peace come over me. The house gave me a place where I could feel supported and safe.” – A visitor to Cork ARC.

There is no similar service to Pieta because we are there at the cliffedge. It is a crisis intervention service that steps in when someone is thinking about or has attempted to take their own life.

R&G WEEK

Pieta House Joan Freeman founded Pieta House, a centre for the prevention of selfharm and suicide, in 2006. It is a service that was the first of its kind in this country, a service that began a much needed conversation about suicide.

Pieta House is the only organisation in Ireland providing a free, professional, face to face, therapeutic service for those in immediate affliction. Word spread fast from the beginning and soon the service was inundated with both those in need and supporters who wished to assist the new establishment. Last year, Mrs Freeman spoke to Hannah Kingston about what makes Pieta House so different and so important.

“There is no similar service to Pieta because we are there at the cliff-edge. It is a crisis intervention service that steps in when someone is thinking about or has attempted to take their own life. Pieta also differs as a patient does not require a referral from their G.P. Nor must the person make the phone call for themselves because sometimes someone in distress cannot make that call.”

It’s unfortunately come to be a fact that Ireland is not the most progressive of countries, in many regards, and though the little island has indeed made some big changes in relation to attitudes on mental health, the country as a whole still has a long way to go – particularly in terms of attitudes and mental healthcare systems.

“Public attitudes on mental health have progressed slightly, but there is still shame and embarrassment attached to not being okay; which can be seen in recent talks of new legislation to not state the cause of death

by suicide on a death certificate. It is so important for numbers of such causes of death to be accounted for. There needs to be an ongoing conversation about suicide to remove the factor of shame.”

People often forget that this is something that can not only affect their loved ones or people in the wider community but that it’s a threat to every individual person – it’s of utmost importance to look after your mental health.

“Suicide can affect anyone; they are not necessarily those who have been affected by a long-term mental illness. They may have led a totally ordinary life until they are faced with an unexpected or dramatic change, whether its work related, financial difficulties, the loss of a relationship or a death. Today, it is hard to remain mindful and therefore it is increasingly difficult to face personal challenges. It can happen to anyone.”

UCC’s counselling services are far from optimal and with the pressures and stresses that come from University life, Pieta House is somewhere students really and truly can turn if the going gets extreme and intervention is needed.

“Everyone needs a structure, which can be very challenging for first year students in particular as life suddenly changes dramatically.

It is quite unfair that young adults go from the very strict regime of the Leaving Cert to the un-routine life of college.

This can be distressing. Pieta is a free service, which will talk through any problem a student may have which leads them to self-harm. We can help this person through talking, through compassion, respect and dignity.

or ery elf an o

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odaline’s latest album was as much as surprise to the band as it was to their fans, with rumours of a certain One Direction star lending a helping hand with the writing process.

Following the overwhelming success of their first album, In a Perfect World, it was going to be a hard feat for the band to equal it in terms of quality and in worldwide recognition. Coming Up for Air sounds like a hit record from start to finish, with every track having the potential to be a chart topping success in its own right. Songs like Honest and Autopilot convey raw emotions which are amplified by lead singer Steve Garrigan’s vocal performance. It’s clear that even

merican Beauty/American Psycho is Fall Out Boy’s sixth studio album and certainly worth the anticipated release, following the reception of their fifth album, Save Rock and Roll. The band provides listeners with another quintessential Fall Out Boy album; just the right balance of pop and punk. Outstanding vocals by frontman Patrick Stump are only surpassed by the poetic lyrics of Pete Wentz.

“I’m the best worst thing that hasn’t happened to you yet,” Stamp croons in the titular song. The album’s treasure is the outstanding track titled after Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction actress, Uma Thurman. The Guardian described American Beauty/American Psycho

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though the band finished this album in less than eight weeks, the song writing talent amongst the Dublin natives is overflowing; an outstanding achievement considering their friend Ed Sheeran took over two years to write and release his much awaited second album X.

eing the soundtrack to one of 2015’s most anticipated so far, you’d expect it to reflect the racy, sexiness of the film, but I’m afraid it isn’t so. The soundtrack is more like something you’d hear the relaxation room of a spa, rather than the bedroom of Mr Grey.

Also the album seems to be a bit of a cheap rehash of songs for Beyoncé, who’s taken the lazy path remixing Haunted and slowing down Crazy in Love. Other songs the soundtrack has trawled out the archives and rehashed for the film include Frank Sinatra’s Witchcraft, Bruce Springsteen’s I’m on Fire and Nina Simone’s classic I Put a Spell on You, a decision which leaves much to be desired. The album features

extremely talented female singers: Ellie Golding, Jesse Ware and Annie Lennox, but sadly their dulcet tones aren’t enough to lift this album from its boredom inducing medley. Overall the album is good if you want some background music but not worth the investment in a soundtrack.

as an important record because few bands are “poppy enough to get radio play and rock enough to play the big arenas.” Fall Out Boy can often struggle to find their place between rock and pop but it’s fair to say that the tracks on this album will be gracing the Billboard Top 100 list throughout 2015.

o kick off 2015 The Charlatans have presented the world with their 12th studio album, Modern Nature. This release comes over 25 years since their debut album, Some Friendly, and is the first release from The Charlatans since the passing of Jon Brookes (drummer). It’s a warmer compilation than many would have expected from a band with a recent loss, but the death of a member is something The Charlatans have unfortunately experienced before, with the death of keyboardist Rob Collins, earlier in their career. Living up to its name, Modern Nature is current and comes across as fresh

and natural from a relatively old band who have proven here that they clearly not running out of steam. Look out for Keep Enough; a song in homage to the late Brookes, and the striking track Let the Good Times Be Never Ending.

Ellen Desmond chats to Jamie Martin, one half of the Martin brothers duo that make up Cry Monster Cry here’s a niche on the market at the moment; it’s certainly in fashion to be an Irish folk pair and better still, an Irish folk pair of brothers. Cry Monster Cry, made up of brothers Richie and Jamie Martin, are one such pair. But they are a little bit different to any current musical status quo. They go under the guise of the ‘folk’ label but in Jamie’s own words, that’s only because it’s the easiest way to explain it.

Comparisons to Mumford and Sons and Fleet Foxes are regular for Cry Monster Cry but upon inspection, what they are doing is actually totally original. “We just want to try to do something a bit different,” Jamie Martin told Motley.

Including beats from tribal african drums and synthesizers, they do appear to being doing exactly what they want and though comparisons with other acts are bound to occur, everything from the sound to the name of the Martin brothers’ project is interesting. Cry Monster Cry came from the brothers’ love of fairytales and incorporating folktales and mythology into their music.

“I guess we also really liked the two aspects to the name, like Cry Monster Cry could be seen as sort of calling out for the danger of the monster or it could be seen as a monster having a softer side. We really like to incorporate that into songs and stuff so we went with that one and it has kind of stuck.”

But with such a booming niche there surely comes a lot of competition.

Jamie Martin spoke about how it’s one of the things that drives them on.

“It can be difficult. It’s an interesting problem that the Irish music industry is so good and there’s so much talent, which I guess is a good problem to have. And even now especially because it’s so much easier to make high quality music than it was years ago like you can make it relatively cheaply; you can record it and send it out yourself. So there is a lot of competition but that’s what drives you to really up your game and to sort of do the best you can.” And I guess we’ve been very lucky with the response we’ve got. We just recorded a couple of songs and released an EP, we didn’t really think that it would take off, it was just something we wanted to do for ourselves - it was just something we were interested in and then, the response was huge and it sort of grew from there.”

Cry Monster Cry’s latest single Postcards is getting a dream response and the video that accompanies it, in particular, is receiving an impressive critical response. The idea for Postcards came to Richie in his sleep and once they worked out the themes and angle they wanted to take, it was evident they wanted friend Ian lloyd Anderson to star in the adorable and thought provoking video.

“I liked the idea that you could sort of write a small piece of advice to someone on something small like a postcard and it would be a nice little way of sharing big life ideas and then the video grew from there.”

Postcards was also recently song of the week on The Louise Duffy Show. Jamie admitted that he thinks Irish radio

stations could sometimes do more to publicise and support the talents we have in this country.

“I think it’s great to see radio stations supporting Irish music like ours because I think a lot of stations could do that more to really promote that there is such good music in Ireland.

There’s such good artists. They really could put a lot more of it out there but we have been delighted with the response we got ourselves so far.”

Following the positive reception their first EP (The Fallen) received, there was only one logical next step for the brothers and that was a full length debut album. “We put a lot of work in ourselves because we’re control freaks,” laughed Jamie, over the phone. The upcoming album, Rhythm of Dawn, is set for release on March 6th. It took nearly two years to record because of the intricate themes and motifs running through it. This is just another example of a product from Cry Monster Cry displaying an admirable dedication to their craft and indicating just how original they are as artists.

“It starts like its night time - it’s got real dark undertones - and then by the end of the record it’s supposed to be like the listener has come full circle and it’s now morning. It’s supposed to run like a sort of cyclical thing where you can listen to it a couple of times and these themes will emerge. That took just a little bit of time to just tie in the lyrics and the imagery and the themes and make it all one cohesive piece of work. But we’re delighted with it we really wanted to do something a little bit more interesting like that. I hope it works. I don’t think we’ve done it in a way that will alienate people or anything.”

It’s always incredibly interesting to hear about the dynamic between musicians who work together and never more so than when the band or duo are siblings. In recent months, we’ve spoken to MKAI, Hudson Taylor and Hermitage Green, all of whom are bands of brothers and all of whom agree the positives outweigh the negatives. For the Martin brothers, the situation is similar.

“I think if you’re working with a family member, like a brother or a sister, on anything, it’s sort of a blessing and a curse because you have all this shared history that can come in very handy when you’re writing songs and coming up with ideas and things. But I think as long as you try to respect each other and give your sibling the respect you would give to any other co-worker.”

For Jamie and Richie Martin things are truly gathering momentum at the moment. Rhythm of Dawn hasn’t even been released to fans yet but the brothers are already writing new songs and looking into touring Ireland and the wider world. With dates unconfirmed but an interest in playing Cork and Donegal before venturing abroad, Jamie assured fans that news will be available on their website as it comes. Until then though, they are facing into an exciting few months. With a gig in Whelan’s, Dublin, set for just days after the release of a long-awaited first studio album, the best is yet to come from Cry Monster Cry. “Once I have my own vinyl in my hands and like, smell it, I think that’s going to be the highlight because we’re just complete music nerds.”

Rhythm of Night is available from March 6th. Cry Monster Cry play Whelans Live in Dublin on March 14th.

t seems like now more than ever before countless Irish artists are hitting the big time on the world stage.

Dublin’s Kodaline is no exception. If truth be told, these four indie-pop rockers are among the Irish acts that have been leading the way both here and abroad. Their debut album In A Perfect World stormed the national and international charts. At home they beat Adele’s record for the longest time in the top 10, had a triple platinum selling album and spent 82 weeks in the Irish charts; more than impressive achievements for a debut album.

It may have seemed like it was a quick rise to fame in 2012 for the band, but its members have been working towards their goal since secondary school. The band from Swords started with Steve Garrigan, Mark Prendergast and Vinny May sharing a love for music and performing at local venues.

In 2006 they appeared on the RTÉ show You’re A Star, where they performed as 21 Demands and finished as runners-up. They released their single Give Me A Minute, which became the first independently released track to top the Irish charts. In 2012 they found what their group had been looking for when their friend and bass player Jason Boland joined in the mix. Just a year later they released their career changing debut album.

Speaking of the oddity of now being such a high profile band living in a small Irish town like Swords, Prendergast commented; “People don’t really come up and ask us for pictures here [Swords]. They kind of give you a look, a weird look, like I know you from somewhere. When we’re out in the pub at night time,

people come up and have a chat and are just really nice.”

With such an impressive first album, some would think that there would be huge pressure from the band’s label to make their highly anticipated second LP a success, , the but as Prendergast told situation is quite the opposite.

“We put more pressure on ourselves than our label or our management. We wanted to better our first album. Everything happened so quickly and naturally on the album. The first album we didn’t have a bass player so we couldn’t really play ‘live’ as such. But with this album a lot of it was just the four of us playing in a room and the songs were done really quickly.

So we pushed ourselves that way, played them live in the studio so when it came to playing them live on stage it was actually easier.”

What’s special about Kodaline is that they have achieved what many artists in Ireland spend their lives trying to achieve, becoming commercially successful internationally. Their songs have appeared in some of the world’s biggest television shows and films; All I Want, for example, has appeared in Catfish The TV Show, Grey’s Anatomy, The Vampire Diaries and The Fault In Our Stars, to name but a few.

Clearly an ambitious bunch, it was unsurprising to learn that becoming internationally successful was always extremely important for the band. Prendergast explained the reasons behind this: “It was very important that we didn’t just break in Ireland. You can tour Ireland in less than two weeks and play in every place. We wanted to tour constantly; we wanted to play everywhere. Our next tour is all over the UK and Europe and that’s only five weeks, then we’re off to

America. It’s great doing shows with your friends and it’s great that we get to do it all over the world.

It’s not like we set out to be a big band everywhere, it just sort of happened… but it’s not awful!”

When it came to writing the new album it all came together easily.

The members separately came up with ideas and then brought them to the rest of the band. An insight into a band like Kodaline’s creative process is always an interesting one, and Prendergast explained some of the journey behind the making of Coming Up For Air. “Well there were a few motifs floating around from tour. The song Autopilot was recorded in a hotel room. It took two or three hours to write and record the entire thing.

There’s a chemistry that you get when you write with someone that

you don’t get by yourself.”

Writing the album in the short time frame of eight weeks was very unusual, even the band weren’t expecting it as Steve Garrigan admitted; “If you’d told us at the start of the summer that we’d be finished our album by autumn we wouldn’t have believed you. It happened so quickly.” Similarly, Prendergast divulged that “there was no plan for it. We were expecting to record in January or February, but we got it done so quickly, we were like f*ck it’s finished!”

Having played venues across the world with full stadiums of 14,000 people, Kodaline still prefer the smaller more intimate venues like Whelan’s in Dublin. “We were playing festivals in the summer to huge crowds and then we came

Kodaline s Méadhbh Crowley chats to Kodaline’s guitarist, Mark Prendergast, about fame, their new album and Dublin’s potential busking ban.

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home and played two nights in Whelan’s for Motor Neuron Disease. To go from huge venues to such an intimate venue it was great, people were right there in front of you. When you’re playing a big show you’re about fifteen feet from the crowd so you can’t make out faces, but with a small gig like Whelan’s you can hear people heckling you. When they sing along it’s actually louder in a place like Whelan’s rather than The Point. I’m not going to say it’s not incredible playing The Point, and the adrenalin that you get, but playing a smaller venue is just as much fun but it’s a totally different experience. “ In the past weeks, friend of the band Ed Sheeran praised Irish audiences for being the best, and stated that he comes back time and time again to get the phenomenal

experience. Prendergast agreed with Sheeran describing his own experience; “It’s great playing everywhere, but the Irish audience sings and they sing to every song, even listening to the radio they will sing along. The energy level doesn’t drop, you walk on stage and get a huge cheer and you’d think it would be hard to keep that energy going, they just don’t stop singing and are up for the craic and so are we. It’s great!! Irish crowds and Scottish crowds are very similar - they’re just up for it, they sing and have a good time.”

Something close to the heart of Kodaline is busking, with both Prendergast and Garrigan performing on the streets of Dublin as teenagers and later Kodaline famously performing beside the Phil Lynott statue St Patrick’s Day celebrations. This week, after Dublin City Council proposed the ban on amps and busking all together, a concerned Prendergast expressed his sadness and disappointment at this decision.

“I think it’s terrible. When you’re walking down the street in Dublin you hear different people playing different music, you can hear it from afar and it attracts you in. I think it’s what makes the city in a way; it’s the soundtrack to the city. Keywest are probably the biggest band that does busking in the city and its how they make their living. Now they’re being told that they can’t play here and can’t do this, its bullshit. There should be a referendum where people vote. I don’t know, who doesn’t want music to come out of the city? It’s basically putting a ban on music.

The video Keywest made and the awareness they’re getting is great, we’re behind it as well and hopefully that act doesn’t get passed.”

As the interview comes to an end Mark looks to the future and what we can expect tells from Kodaline in the coming years: “If we can match and better the success of the first album and we can continue to tour, because touring is quite addictive. The first album gave us a taste of how this can become a career, because it doesn’t really feel like a job at the moment. If we can keep doing that, and the shows get bigger, that would be amazing.

The fact that people care about the band is crazy.”

Kodaline’s new album Coming Up For Air is out now. They will play Live At The Marquee in Cork on 25th June 2015. Tickets are on sale from 9am on the 12th of February.

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Editor Ellen Desmond chats to The Riptide Movement’s lead man, Mal Tuohy 014 was undoubtedly a turning point in The Riptide Movement’s career. It saw them secure not just a number one album, but a gold selling album and a sold out release launch performance at Vicar’s Street. Next stop, their fan favourite song All Works Out garnered a nomination for Best Irish Song of 2014 – and it was one of the most played songs on Irish radio in 2014.

It was also only just last year when we saw the purveyors of “energetic, feel good, Rock ‘n Roll with a lot of soul” sign with the Universal Music label and, as it expected, this move went hand in hand with their ascendency into the ranks of top new Irish musicians.

“Coming from a DIY band that self-released two albums already, we understand what’s involved in promoting and marketing an album, so having Universal take over the release of our latest album (Getting Through) has been unreal. We have a great team of people who really get the band and have our backs covered. We’re now getting the air play that we could never have got as an independent, self-releasing artist and with having Universal behind us, it feels more like being in a band, more ‘rock n roll’ than having to run a business.”

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Indeed, their snowballing rise to fame appears to have rolled its way into 2015; it was just a few weeks ago when the Meteor Choice Music Prize announced its shortlist for best Irish album 2014 and The Riptide Movement’s third album, Getting Through, made the cut. The list is riddled with some of the biggest acts, new and old, on the scene at the moment; James Vincent McMorrow, U2, Sinead O’ Conner, Damien Rice and Hozier to name a few. Listening back to Getting Through there is no major surprise the decision was made to include it on the shortlist, but for a newly signed band like The Riptide Movement, it’s an impressive round up of names to even be included in.

“We got a call from the label and management congratulating us.

I’d actually completely forgotten about when the announcement was going to be made. We’re delighted though, it’s a great list of nominees this year, some big names and some great albums. It’s nice to be included on the list.”

The band first started to make noise in around 2006 before securing a safe level of interest in 2010, so it’s been a long road for Malachy ‘Mal’ Touhy and the rest of the Riptide crew to sew together the support they’ve been receiving over the past 12 months. Despite their tangibly recent climb, their

holidays and all that,” says the frontman, “It can also be difficult on relationships too.”

The Lucan lads have only recently seen their music creeping up on the international industry, but Riptide has long been popular with audiences on home turf. Day after day we don’t notice as the surplus of aspiring musicians pack up their cases and give up. A booming industry though it is at the minute, it couldn’t be more competitive at the same time. The first step to success for an Irish band is breaking through to a level of nationwide unusual name rolls off the tongue recognition in Ireland. So, what does with the ring of an old household it take to impress an Irish audience name. and gather such a strong home “Like all bands starting off, the following? band name is always a tough one “Obviously it must be the music to settle on. We wanted a name first and foremost but I also think that had some meaning and made a statement. The Riptide Movement it’s the band’s personalities,” claims was that name, and of course, we’re Tuohy, “We’ve been playing as a band for 8 years now. We’ve all all avid surfers!” been friends since childhood and Like all musicians, Mal Tuohy, I think that comes across in our John Dalton, Ger McGarry and Gar Byrne have had their fair share music and live shows. Added to that, we’ve always done things our of ups and downs on their way to own way. We have always played becoming The Riptide Movement the music we wanted to play and that we recognise today. Even the smallest of achievements often take navigated our own journey on our own terms.” a huge sacrifice and for anyone The world is watching the Irish working in a band the situation is music scene very carefully right no different.

“I guess the most difficult aspect now and music fans are consuming of playing in a band is missing a lot the Green Isle’s creative output ravenously. In recent weeks Motley of family events, weddings, parties,

has spoken to a plethora of Irish acts from all ends of the spectrum of success. It’s been unanimous that lucky breaks are important but can only give you so much in terms of progress in the industry; it ultimately comes down to raw talent and business drive.

“I guess it’s different for every band. We have our own story but no matter what your story, or path is, the principles remain the same.

If you have good tunes, a wellproduced album or EP and a good live show, you’re halfway there. The other half is drive, work ethic, luck, and building the right team around you, as in management, booking agent and label.”

With three studio albums to their name, they’ve already we’ve began writing material for their next release which they hope to start recording in late 2015 and a release date coined for 2016.

“If people like Getting Through they’re going to love what’s coming next!” exclaimed the musician.

The pressure is on now to better their last output and The Riptide Movement are looking to do it in quite a short space of time. With a backlog of hypnotic, too-soft-to-belabelled-Rock anthems but tunes that seem almost purposely penned to be chanted back by crowds, the creators behind the catchy tracks, surprisingly, put together their music

we've always done things our own way.

We have always played the music we wanted to play and navigated our own journey on our own terms.”

through typical jam sessions and individual brainstorming. However, Tuohy looks to the greats for inspiration and references Bob Dylan as one of the acts he would most love to work with.

“All things considered I think of myself as a songwriter first and foremost, so who better to collaborate with than Bob Dylan?

In my opinion he’s the best lyricist / songwriter I’ve ever heard. He’s a poet that weaves words together so simply and effortlessly, yet his songs and lyrics are so deep and profound. A wizard with words; a true wordsmith.”

Mal Tuohy and his band have put in the decade and dedication needed to push their craft to where it is now. They are a band on the brink and it has taken time, and been a rollercoaster, but they have arrived.

The ultimate goal for 2015 is now “world domination or at the very least for the band to break internationally.”

2014’s All Works Out will be released internationally on March 9th of this year and will be followed by an international release of Getting Through on June 1st.

“Sure it’s taken time, from busking on Grafton Street to opening for The Rolling Stones, from trying to get radio to play us for years to having one of the most played songs on Irish radio and from selling our debut album from a guitar case on Grafton Street to a number 1 gold selling album; I wouldn’t change a thing. We’ve grown up as a band in public and it’s been a real journey; a journey of progression and people have seen that progression. They’ve been on the journey with us, we’re their band and in reality, the journey is only really just beginning. We’re only a few miles in; it’s a marathon not a sprint.”

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Is Spotify worth it for musicians?

Is it just another scam on the big market of freely available music? posed the popular question to several different Irish bands.

“Richie my brother is a big Spotify fan about I for the last two years, I was adamantly against it. I know our music is up there, it has to be up there, our publisher put it up there.. but I just don’t feel it’s right because we’re just not being paid. I looked into it and I think 100 plays equals one sale. So, if someone buys our single on Ti unes they’ll pay 99c for it and for that to reach the same on Spotify it has to be streamed 100 times. It could be lowered, really, if they lowered it to 50 or 25 I’d be happier. But having said that then, Spotify made our account official, which means we get to run ourselves a profile and the more an artist runs their Spotify and makes playlists and the more the fans love the profile, then the more followers they get and the more listeners they get. So I was kind of forced against my will to use Spotify originally and then I started using it and I have to say I love the fact that I can discover new artists and go back and do my homework on the old songs. Like, as a tool for that and a tool for promotion it’s great. Artists have to be thinking on their toes and embrace things like Spotify, not really as a money making tool but as a social and promotional tool.”

Jamie Martin, Cry Monster Cry

“We’re the kind of band, the more music we can get out to people the better and a lot of people are starting to go with Spotify instead of Ti unes. For one thing, it does hurt album sales but on the other hand it does get your music out to more people and you’ll sell more tickets to the gigs. As much as it is important to us to sell albums and make a living, once people are listening to our music we don’t really mind. We wouldn’t take our music off Spotify, it’s too important for a young band like us.

Someone like Taylor Swift, she can afford to take her music off Spotify.

She’s basically a super power, might as well be president of America.”

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“I’ll give you an example I suppose from when we weren’t known. We were known in Limerick but outside of that we weren’t, until we did a few videos. We did a few covers of different songs and things like that and videoed them and put them up on YouTube – which is something that’s free. So people saw it, liked it, and then spread it. And then our name and our band became popular, to some extent. So without that, we might not now still be a band. So that was a form of releasing our music, so that was through YouTube, which is free. And then, Spotify, you might see yourself as spending a tenner a month on Spotify but basically for a band like us, it is like giving your music out for free as well. So, in one extent, when we use YouTube we use it to our own advantage. And now, if we’re to do the same with Spotify, if we

were to stick to our morals we would probably have the same opinion as we did with YouTube. It’s the same method. Yet, we probably feel hard done by, as a band. Probably because you put so much time and effort and you put so much thought into writing those songs. And then you just say, there you go, take it. But at the same time it’s spreading our music and giving people a chance to listen to our new songs, and hopefully if they like it, then they’ll come to gigs and if they come to gigs at least we’ll earn our living from that. I’ve just kind of resigned to the idea and the fact that forget about trying to make money through selling your music, just focus on trying to make money through gigs, just living off gig money.”

“I don’t think you really have a choice. For us to pull ourselves off Spotify would be completely counterproductive. I think it’s great, I always check out new bands, like it’s not as good for artists because they don’t get paid what they should but unfortunately it’s kind of hard to change it. It’s such a massive thing but for us I think it’s a good thing, it’s better to have people listening to our music and liking it and then coming to a show, which is your main output now; there’s no harm in that.”

Just after the release of their new single, Switchblade, ’s Laura Hussey caught up with O Emperor’s Paul Savage and Phil Christie. recently spoke with two members of the Waterford quintet, O Emperor. Having all met in primary and secondary school, the Rock group we now know formed after years of gigging under different guises while in college in Cork. After finishing up with their time as students, the band produced and recorded their first album, Hither Thither, which earned them a Choice Music Nomination for Irish Album of the Year. Their second album, Vitreous was responded to with equal praise by audiences and critics alike. While their debut afforded listeners a “sophisticated (and) genre blending sound,” Vitreous, on the other hand, is more abrasive yet somehow provides a “hazy summer mood.”

The band has played a multitude of festivals since their formation, including Electric Picnic and Longitude to name but a few and gracing the stage with bands such as MGMT and Villagers.

Growing up in Waterford their musical influences were certainly varied. Phil Christie revealed that “we tended

to listen to a lot of older stuff, we still play a lot of that stuff in our covers, so bands like Pink Floyd.” Paul Savage then added that “anything we could get in to, you start with Oasis and Nirvana and you might diverge off into maybe Jimi Hendrix. We've gone through all the phases. I listened to Slipknot at one point which I probably shouldn't mention. I had a ‘People Equals Shit’ t-shirt at one point, it’s one of those things you wear it to piss off your parents but I haven't listened to them in a good 15 years, thankfully, our tastes have changed.”

O Emperor are currently starting back into live performances again after devoting much creative time to their EP and album. Like most bands, it’s the live performances that generate much of the enjoyment the members get out of creating music. “Yeah we're looking forward to playing again we haven't played live in a while but it’s something we really enjoy doing,” says Savage, before Christie adds, selfdeprecatingly, that “we usually tend

to just keep our heads down but now in future we’ll bring the audience into it more and not appear so grumpy. I think this new venture is going to be a little bit more positive.”

Last year, Taylor Swift shocked fans by withdrawing all of her albums from Spotify citing that music is art and Spotify contradicts this ethos.

Motley questioned O Emperor about this given how readily available their music is on Spotify and their decision to allow their single Switchblade to be downloaded for free from their website. Savage. explains that for their band, like for many others, it would be counterproductive to take music off a streaming system that is taking over. “I don't think you really have a choice,” admits Savage. A fair point when modern day audiences are so used to consuming their music for free.

O Emperor’s first big gig of 2015 was part of Quarter Block Party, the newest arts festival which came to Cork from the 6th-8th of February.

The festival took over South and

North Main Street and boasted music, theatre, discussion and positivity throughout the weekend. “It’s a good weekend of music,” according to Savage, “it’s the first year of the festival, some friends of ours are organising it so we hope it goes well.”

O Emperor also played TDC on the 6th of February.

For the first time in a while, audiences in 2015 can look forward to hearing a lot of the band’s newer material; ‘we're using this Cork gig as a first venture out with new stuff, yeah it’s going to be a small gig and quite intimate, we're just going to throw out some new stuff. Our single at the moment is Switchblade, it’s a free download on the 2nd of February, so the week of our gig it'll be on our website. Switchblade is from an EP called Lizard - Brendan came up with the name - and that'll rear its head around March.”

Their new single Switchblade is available for download online now.

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The critical reviews for Seventh Son have been far from spectacular. They’ve been dismal at best, really. With an 11% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 5.8/10 on the usually reliable IMDb, Motley thinks the impressive cast of Second Son may have been a bit hard done by. Its fantasy, violence and the supernatural starring Julianne Moore and Jeff Bridges – you can’t go too far wrong. It’s no Lord of the Rings but it’s worth the sit.

Bradley Cooper is a big deal right now. It would appear he’s having his own personal version of a ‘Mcconaissance’ and has left the realms of The Hangover to prove himself as capable as a serious actor; one worthy of respect.

American Sniper sounds like it’s going to be a straight out product of Uncle Sam propaganda. With Clint Eastwood directing, however, it’s much deeper than that. A truly captivating watch, American Sniper will leave you thinking about more than you bargained for.

With Jamie Dornan leading the way as notorious Mr Grey, Fifty Shades is easily the most anticipated book adaptation in years. Considering the somewhat cringe-worthy release date of Valentine’s Day, all the warnings really have been put out there that this is not a film to watch in the cinema with a new friend, for the laugh. E. L James’ Fifty Shades trilogy is probably going to be hailed as some sort of sexually liberating bible in the future, but no one’s too sure what to expect from the movie. It’s been noted that the on screen sex time is into record breaking territory but it’s a 100 minute movie; will audiences be satisfied with the remaining minutes?

This one’s not set for release until February 27th so audiences are a bit blind about Focus right now.

Naturally, as with all Will Smith’s projects, this one is being widely anticipated. What we do know, however, is that Focus sees Smith partner up with Margot Robbie – who he will later star opposite again on Suicide Squad. If Focus isn’t the biggest blockbuster of 2015, Suicide Squad certainly will fight its own in 2016 and DC fans are going to be thirsty for a taste of what’s to come.

There’s an audience for everything and while Hot Tub Time Machine might not garner the more mainstream viewer base that The Hangover series did; it’s a comedy and it’s doing its job. With a name like Hot Tub Time Machine, you’re probably not going to be misled on buying a ticket for this one. It’s a push to say a sequel to Hot Tub 1 was needed but is a sequel ever really needed? Probably worth a watch for a mind-numbing escape.

There’s a lot of buzz around the release of Jupiter Ascending and mostly because of the delectable cast. Eddie Redmayne, Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis; to name a few. This film is pretty basic sciencefiction stuff and there’s not much there audiences won’t have seen before. Seeing such a juxtaposition of actors all in one place makes Jupiter Ascending worthwhile. It’s something new on the table from a lot of them too.

Big Hero 6 got itself a tasty 90% review on Rotten Tomatoes and has audiences worldwide punched right in the feels. It comes from the team that churned out Frozen; a team who clearly know what sells. It’s another animated feature film making cute of technology and aspects of Big Hero 6 recall Wall-E; but this time the lovable robot is inflatable and cuddly.

Northern Ireland, since London is so diverse anyway.

Q. Have you ever written a sketch that you thought would be hilarious and the audience has just not responded as expected?

All: Oh yeah loads of times!

After their show in UCC, Elaine Hanley caught up with the Irish comedic trio, to ask Foil (Sean Finnegan), Arms (Conor McKenna) and Hog (Sean Flanagan) a few questions.

Q. So guys, my first question has to be, what are the reasons behind your names in the act; Foil, Arms & Hog? Foil: It all started from slagging each other about how we performed on stage. So, I got Foil because I play the “straight” man all the time, like a comedic foil. Basically, I got no jokes and everyone was bouncing their jokes off me and I just had to stand there and take it.

Hog: So basically when we did crazy stuff, he’d be the normal guy.

Arms: Yeah exactly and then I got “Arms” because I couldn’t do the normal guy. I kept moving my arms and legs, being a really clumsy person.

F: Yeah we used to slag him for that…

H: They were struggling to come up with a slang word for me because I’m so great. Then they were like “Oh you hog all the good lines and the good parts” so that’s where “Hog” came from.

Q. Where did you meet?

F: We met in UCD in the Drama Society, we were all involved in student plays…

Q. What were you all studying in UCD? F: Very serious things. I was doing architecture.

H: I was doing Civil Engineering!

F: Very serious stuff!

A: Frowning. I was training to become a professional frowner.

F: Definitely the most serious studies of all of us, he even has a Masters!

H: He wanted to do it to PhD, but they wouldn’t let him since it was too depressing.

Q. Can you give me an example?

A: We had this sketch about an old couple who had been together for about thirty years. In this sketch we wrote, we reveal that the old woman Q. So how did you get into making A: Live is much more fun. YouTube is like was actually killed 25 years ago, and YouTube videos? doing it joke by joke and then stopping the man who accidentally killed her F: Lads, why did we start doing that to turn the camera. took her place and became the old again? Very good question! lady. We wrote about ten drafts of H: Deep intake of breaths….Basically Q. Is there a fear with doing YouTube this… we had one very good idea called videos, that you don’t know if it’s H: Like “Mrs. Doubtfire.”

“The Book Chef” which we threw on funny or not to other people until its F: In the end they stay together. film. uploaded?

A: We were in Brighton at the time…

All: Absolutely!

Q. So how did an audience react?

H: No wait! That wasn’t the first one! It F: You put it up and you just wait for F: They didn’t get it. was “Green Issues” to win a car! feedback.

A: Actually I think we should invest F: Right, here’s our gripe. I can’t even H: Yeah you just keep crying to yourself more time in that! remember who ran the competition that it only has four likes in fifteen H: Yeah like an EPIC sketch, like an but we were told that there was a minutes. hour long special! competition to win a Volvo!

A: Probably shouldn’t put them up at H: A Volvo! three in the morning though…

Q. So how do you respond when an F: A NEW Volvo! audience doesn’t respond?

H: It was the dream when you were Q. Some of your sketches feature A: Bin it straight away. Just say “Well 23!

Irish stereotypes, like the Catholic that was crap” and move on.

A: A good, safe car. priests. Do audiences outside of F: Or sometimes we’ll keep going to F: So anyway we made a video to win Ireland realise the religious humour see if there are any laughs, to see if the competition, and it had to promote of these sketches? there is anything that we can save. green issues. So we named it “Green F: Sometimes it works better outside of H: Yeah sometimes it even endears us Issues”. It was the best video submitted Ireland! Yeah sometimes the only things to the audience if we admit that it’s by far! audiences associate with Ireland are something new.

F: They pulled the competition! The Catholic priests and potatoes.

F: It’s kind of cheating, but it works. day before!

H: It’s not like we’d do it on the street in front of a church!

Q. How long have you been Q. So moving on, what is it like F: It’s not as funny though in places waiting for the success you are now performing live compared to filming where it’s not an issue. In London experiencing? a video for YouTube? it wasn’t received as it was in say, A: It takes an awful long time to build an audience.

F: Ireland is obviously where we’re experiencing the most success, but over in the UK we’re catching on! I think the thing is, we’ve been doing it for so long…

H: We’ve been doing it for about seven years now…

F: We just don’t know what will happen in the next year!

Q. And finally, tell me about your tour coming to Cork in 2015?

F: We’ll be in City Limits Comedy Club on the 27th and 28th of March as part of our Irish Tour.

A: An absolutely great comedy club!

H: Yeah we’ve always been really well received in Cork, hopefully it will continue!

Eoin McSweeney meets Irish funnyman PJ Gallagher hat has been the funniest moment of PJ Gallagher’s long stand up career? “Oh God I've no idea, but it's a tossup between a fella getting chased around the stage by security for refusing to leave until he was allowed do his Jake Stevens impression, or the time a Russian man took me off stage and threw me over his dinner table.” This is one of the most unorthodox answers that Motley has ever heard, but it doesn’t take long to get used to the eccentricities of the comedic genius (well, genius could be stretching it, but we won’t dwell on that just now).

As one of Ireland’s most popular comedians, PJ Gallagher is making a highly anticipated comeback with his first Irish tour in two years. He is taking to the road with a total of 14 Irish dates set for 2015 and a his brand new show, Concussion. He will be performing in Cork Opera House on Valentine’s Day, and if the story behind the name of the show is as wacky and hilarious as the actual performance, the audience will be in for one hell of a night.

“I always wonder why a stand up gig needs a name at all, but these days you're told it's a thing you have to do. I've had weird names before for shows; Take After Yourself and be Smile was the name of my first DVD and now it's Concussion. It doesn't really mean anything other than I was actually suffering from concussion when we needed to design the poster.”

Gallagher is, of course, most famous for the work that he has done on television and he has featured in numerous programmes such as Next Week’s News, Meet Your Neighbours and his masterpiece, Naked Camera. Working on the latter, he created a whole host of zany and incredibly funny characters; his most famous creation being Jake Stevens, an atypical “ladies man.”

“They are always based on more than one person. I used to try and just think of the funniest things about three or four different people and then mix them together. Jake Stevens was based on about four different people who were all pretty normal but you mix it all up and you get one nutcase.”

A natural on the stage, Gallagher has played sold-out shows throughout Ireland as well as the biggest and best comedy festivals that the country has to offer, including Kilkenny Cat Laughs and The Vodafone Comedy Carnival. His absence from the stage is

“Maybe I'd still be a motorbike courier, I liked that and the other fellas were always dead sound that I worked with. Truthfully though I have no idea, I really can't even imagine what I'd be at right now at all.”

“Richard Pryor was and still is the best I've ever seen and I love what Chris Rock can do too.

Nowadays I think Bill Burr is as good as it gets and of course Jason Byrne will always be my favourite stand up in the world. If it wasn't for him I would never have done anything.”

“There's no venue better than Vicar Street.

It's huge, but it feels so small when the show is happening. I'm not really sure why but the atmosphere there is always electric. It's why the last two tour dates of the tour are there.”

Do you ever get hecklers?

“Yeah sometimes but generally if it's just one line here and there it's fine. Sometimes it's a battle if they are really drunk or something, so it's different every time. The main thing is don't panic, everyone else there is on your side.”

because of his work on television and even more recently his role on the radio with The Breakfast Show on Classic Hits 4FM. He also was heavily involved in charity work and he recently did the Route 66 Motorbike Challenge in Aid of Temple Street Children’s Hospital which he described as “life changing stuff.” After playing roles on nearly every format possible, it was interesting to learn what medium of comedy Gallagher has found the most enjoyable.

“The better the TV stuff goes, the better the live shows do. At the moment I'm just loving the radio stuff on 4FM more than anything and that's the most enjoyable thing I've done to date, if I'm honest. I love it, like I said it's the best job I've ever done and after 20 years of stand up and ten years of TV I have a whole other chance to be new again. That's a big deal to me. I've wanted to give radio a go for a very long time now so it's a huge buzz.

Truthfully, I want to do this for a very long time.”

So does this mean the end of Gallagher’s work on television? Thankfully not and he has a few ideas left: “Well, this Wednesday I have The Stage Fright documentary on and I'd like to do more of that kind of thing and yeah I'm always trying to think up new TV plans. I'll just keep my fingers crossed on that one and keep at it.”

The documentary aired on Thursday the 29th of January and will be available on RTÉ Player. In his early years he battled with stage fright, which gives hope to all aspiring performers. He had to come to a decision: Either find a way to get over the fear, or give up something that he was really good at.

“Yeah I used to get very nervous but it was ten years ago now since we started and it feels like I wouldn't have the guts to do that stuff at all anymore. I'm enjoying it more than ever now the whole stage fright thing is dealt with.

It's great to just be able to turn up and enjoy the shows without the panic. Gigging here is always deadly anyway though and it's been way too long.”

An exciting future awaits PJ Gallagher and it begins with Concussion. As a final question, Motley asked the comedian what would be the first thing that he would do to make someone laugh. “I'd say OK ‘close your eyes,’ then run away. I ain't making nobody laugh for free.”

Tickets for Concussion are on sale now from usual outlets nationwide.

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ithout a doubt 2014 has been the unofficial “Year of the Internet Personality.”

Dozens upon dozens of our favourite internet personalities have made the jump from computer screen to mainstream media and many have officially been awarded the title of fullblown “celebrity.” None have made the jump more seamlessly than Motley Magazine’s old friend Tyler Oakley. We spoke to the Michigan born star last year about his success on video-sharing platform, YouTube, but nothing could have prepared him for what 2014 would bring him. While we saw several online personas surpass the competition by releasing their very own product lines, including everything from clothes to cosmetics, films and even a number one record or two, Tyler Oakley dominated the online world in the last twelve months; winning a rake of awards including two Teen Choice Awards and two Streamy Awards but it didn’t end there.

Rainbow-weaved Oakley attended a conference in the White House where he acted as an advocate for the LBGTQ* community, speaking with President Barack Obama on various social issues and topics - showing a more serious side to the quirky socialmedia junkie. The Obamas were so impressed with Oakley’s compassion and input that he was invited to return to the White House to film a one-on-one video with First Lady Michelle Obama. The two sat down to talk education, social issues and The Reach Higher Project; preaching the importance of third level education. Oakley admitted to Motley that this was one of his proudest moments “Both opportunities were an absolute dream come true. The fact that our current administration recognizes digital influencers and the impact they can have on youth is incredible. Both the President and the First Lady were so charming and personal and I’ll never forget either experience.”

When the digital diva isn’t busy hanging with the Obamas you can find him out fundraising for his various charities; Oakley has worked with several youth-oriented charities, abut his main focus has always been The Trevor Project. The YouTuber has always raised significant amounts for his charities but outdid himself in 2014 when, for his 25th birthday, he rallied up his large online following and raised over $500,000. According to Oakley he “works with organizations that both hit close to home personally and directly affect my audience. Knowing that The Trevor Project, which is the leading national organization for crisis and suicide prevention, can literally save the lives of today’s youth encourages me to continue to support them in any way I can.”

Aside from fundraising for The Trevor Project, he has also hosted the star-studded red carpet event Trevor Live - an event hosted annually by the charity interviewing prominent LGBT* celebrities like Neil Patrick Harris and Jane Lynch.

There’s no denying that Tyler Oakley has established his place in the hierarchy of online personalities, so is the next natural step in his career to move to television? We asked the YouTube sensation to imagine he was filming “What I Did in 2015” and what might it look like and his future with YouTube.

“There are plenty of projects I’ll be working on in 2015 outside of YouTube, but I’ll always recognize YouTube as an incredible platform that has given me

so much. I’ve always said I’ll do YouTube until I no longer like it and I still love every aspect, even seven years later.”

Nowadays, even the biggest celebrities are not oblivious to the powerful platform that online streaming has become. Stars like Lisa Kudrow took to the web to host their own shows with overwhelming success. The late comedy legend Joan Rivers used YouTube to launch her own casual chat show, In Bed With Joan, giving celebrities the chance to get busy under the covers with Joan herself. The sharptongued comedienne was very aware of the rising stars of the digital world and had several YouTubers feature on her show including Tyler Oakley.

“Being interviewed by Joan Rivers for her web series was an electrifying experience. Typically, with a collaboration you’ll know the direction that the video will take. With Joan, however, she was fresh, raw, and real - with surprises throughout the entire interview.”

Oakley jumped straight out of Joan Rivers’s bed and straight into his own American tour, The Tyler Oakley Slumber Party Tour, offering a fans an intimate setting where they witnessed everything from skits to Q&A sessions. So what’s involved in creating an interactive tour, you ask? Well, according to the man himself; “When it came to creating a tour, I wanted to make sure I was offering something worthwhile, unique, undeniably me, and an all-around good time. ‘The Slumber Party Tour’ is a huge production with so many incredibly talented people coming together behind the scenes to put on a show.” Naturally, a tour of any kind is a nervewrecking process but Oakley assures Motley that “the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

Meeting fans all around the world has always been a dream so being able to go on tour and meet so many of them is just the best.” Overall the tour has been a commercial success, hitting over 40 cities in America.

Oakley went on to speak about how important the influence people in his position have and addressed the abuse of such power in the case that saw fellow YouTuber Sam Pepper sexually exploit women and said, “All I can do is try to be my best self and encourage my viewers to be their best selves as well. As far as the YouTube community goes I will always support other creators who have the same mind-set. I have zero tolerance for anyone that doesn’t use their influence for good.”

Recently, the internet was submerged in the tragedy that saw a young transgender girl, Leelah Alcorn, take her own life due to severe depression caused by anxiety surrounding her sexual-identity.

As an LGBTQ* spokesperson Oakley expressed his sympathy exclaiming; “It’s devastating to know there are people out there who feel alone and unsupported. Tragedies like this only encourage me to be more inclusive and understanding.” Even though a darkness was left on the web, hope was soon returned when online sensation Connor Franta spoke openly about his sexuality for the first time in a YouTube video entitled Coming Out - which has almost received 7,000,000 views to date. Commenting on Connor Franta’s coming out story Oakley encouraged others to do the same, assuring his fans that “being unapologetically yourself encourages others to do the same, I’m supportive.” Oakley even went on to speak about the forthcoming same-sex marriage referendum due to arrive in Ireland next year and assured us that equality for everyone was on the horizon and he tells his Irish fans to “Keep fighting. I believe in you!”

Of course, we couldn’t let Tyler Oakley go without speaking to him about his two favourite topics; music and boys. What’s on the star’s iPod at the moment?

Well, some artists he’s really into at the moment include; Leland, Allie X, Betty Who, Chet Faker…“but I’m always looking for new music to love, and adding them to my Spotify playlists. As far as the Grammys go, I’m rooting for Beyoncé.” So with the music out of the way, we had to ask the adorable 25-yearold who he was currently infatuated with and the results were less than shocking; according to Oakley his current online boyfriends include Big Sean, Nick Jonas, Zac Efron, Darren Criss, and Zayn Malik.

With another exciting year behind him and with a golden ticket into 2015 success we’re all just trying to jump on the ride.

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@OakIeysBooty is there anywhere you want to travel to this year?

- Ireland, obviously. @tinytroyler most scarring video that you made?

- The Chicken Nugget Challenge - both years.

@tyandtroye if you could only post one more video what would it be about and who would you include in it?

- It would be just me: telling the world to follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, and Vine.

@theyremyotp what trend do you hope dies out in 2015?

- People thinking it’s cute or funny to be rude.

@FrozenOakley what is the one piece of advice you would tell your 14 year old self?

- Chill out.

@brokeoakley what would you say to your viewers who are struggling with low self-esteem?

- I think you’re great!

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@troylertots how does it feel to know you've changed so many lives for the better?

- It’s very humbling.

@nicelyoakley the most epic song of this year?

- Hopefully it’s the first single off of a surprise Lady Gaga album.

@GnarlyTroyler what worries you most?

- When you try to kill a spider and it gets away, but it knows where you sleep… you know what I mean?

@radassoakley describe your fans in 3 words?

- Passionate, hilarious, inspiring

Emily Horgan takes a look at what London Fashion Week had to offer for men’s fashion With winter 2014’s bitter weather barely thawed out, it seems a bit bizarre to already be focusing on Autumn/Winter designer collections for 2015/16.

However, after London’s showcase of what the top designers have to offer from next October onwards, curiosity cannot be ignored.

The overall feel of London Fashion Week was not that different from many others before it. The designs, although eye-catching, did not necessarily shock or awe the fashion followers. It is safe to say that trainers and ankle skimming Doc Martins will still be a staple for the coming year, however many of the designers made it their business to be as playful and off the wall with the male silhouette as possible. Taking the collection of Burberry Porsum, paisley shirts were paired with feminine trench coats, synched at the waist, and subtle animal prints clashed with patterned scarves. As for the trousers, skinny seems to be a thing of the past as tailored, straight legs seemed to be the fashion port of call for the majority of designers.

Calvin Klein brought a very wearable collection into the mix, with wintery charcoal greys flecked with hints

of blues and blacks, but the real statement pieces here were the jackets. For jacket lengths, come Autumn/Winter, there are two main options: trailing hemlines or cropped and elasticated. Textures varied across the week, with less and less denim being seen throughout the designers’ textile repertoire.

As for the catwalk shows themselves, Givenchy showed its dark side with a satanic and dark vibe from start to finish. Deep reds and blacks littered the runway, with models donning faces painted like demons and pinned lips, fitting in well with the ‘darkest obsessions’ brief. As for the fashion itself, tailored pinstripes screamed ‘the Adams Family’ and is a noteworthy look for the coming autumn. Well worth a look.

Comme Des Garcon, Topman Design and Valentino were all worth a mention, making wearable yet super stylish pieces with a nod to quirky tailoring and colour. However, as with all fashion weeks, the street style was the main event with the personal taste and character of the male attendees taking the forefront.

Fashion blogger Padraig Power, aka LandofPod, shines a light on some of the best men’s fashion blogs at the moment.

Fashion is subjective and can be scary for men to delve into, with fear of criticism always looming in the background. Recently however, it has become more accepted (and attractive) for men to express themselves via their wardrobes, and fashion blogs have undoubtedly played their part. Although daunting, there are lots of blogs out there that can help. From high fashion, to street-style, blogs which help you to find your wardrobe basics and those which teach you the correct pant length, there is literally something for everyone. So without further ado, here are my top seven menswear blogs.

In no particular order, I’m going to begin with hespokestyle.com. I’m not usually interested in blogs which are all about one person’s outfits, but this blog is the exception. Although quite dressy, this blog shows how to dress up and down your wardrobe essentials.

I love how he also enhances his looks with items often overlooked, such as in his leather duffle post - he’s definitely one to watch for your classic, male style.

Next, I have my favourite, fashionbeans.com. This blog has everything. Focusing on high fashion, it shows you runways, top trends and style upgrades. It aids you in finding the style and fit that’s right for you and the street-style portfolio makes my heart sing - it is gorgeous and will definitely have a style for you.

Blacklapel.com is the perfect inspiration for suit style.

The two things which spring to mind for this blog are:

young, fashion-forward and anyone who follows this blog’s style will certainly stand out. Although not the most accessible of the blogs, as it is run by a rich kid with a designer budget, it stands out for style and will give inspiration to those who are a tad more daring.

Not restricted to fashion, thisfruitblogs.com is comprised of fashion, art and homeware. Again, it holds great inspiration, but I also like that it changes things up and isn’t one dimensional. You should give it a look if only for the pictures - it’s every Instagrammer’s dream.

Articlesofstyle.com is nice for both the fashion newbie and the connoisseur. Perhaps veering to a more mature audience, this blog covers everything, from your basic essentials, to how to wear your garments, to how to fold a shirt! It is perfect for someone who wants to learn.

Finally, I have quite an obvious pick, but one which I love nonetheless. Malefashiontrends.tumblr.com is simply a picture blog showing high fashion from pictorials, to the runway, to street-style. I personally love college ball and internships/job interviews. Whether this blog and I scroll through it daily to get some easy you want to look effortlessly chic at a ball or you’re style inspiration. a commerce student who wants to stand out in the office, this is the blog for you. I particularly love how If you enjoyed this article, make sure to check their ‘looks of the week’ aid in adding a subtle splash out Padraig Power’s blog LandOfPod.wordpress.com or follow him on social media at @ of colour.

Mybelonging.com is not for the faint-hearted. It is landofpod.

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uch to the dismay of many fashion houses around the globe, colour-blocking has returned this year -albeit in a more patterned and segmented form. While many labels decided to showcase monochrome collections, some of which were -as André Leon Talley would say- downright clinical, others such as Balmain, Moschino and Etro embraced Spring’s saturated colours and provided a breath of fresh air in a currently cinereal and cadaverous juncture. Milan effectively provided colour-to-colour resuscitation.

From D-Squared’s typography-inspired animal prints to Etro’s pattern mash-ups, no shade went untouched. It’s easy to forget that these showcases are designed to be more daring and dramatic than anything we would ever find in our favourite highstreet store. With this in mind, here’s how recommends you take inspiration for making your very own SS15 Style.

You can’t escape it. In order to pull off colour this year you have to radiate confidence and exude a sprezzatura style. While most UCC males are only too happy to fill their wardrobes with monochromes and anything else that covers stains, you’re not most guys, are you?

You’re reading the fashion section and you know how important it is to stand out in a collegial sea of dreary hues. And, most importantly, once you’ve mastered segmented and pattern colour-blocking, everything else is a cinch.

Start by getting rid of the fear of bright colours and welcoming them into your personal style. Integrate structured patterns gradually into your wadrobe through one of the many brightpatterned shirts and colour-saturated skinny jeans available from the likes of Topman and Asos If you don’t think you’re man enough to pull off citrus hues or pineapple prints, then try to start by grounding your outfits with bold single-

colour pieces that are complimented with darker hues and monochrome textured garments in order to create a more blended effect. This will allow for statement pieces to take centrestage. Conversely, you can always use a bright saturated garment as your base piece and layer more conservative colours around it if you don’t want to look too flashy as the coloured piece will become subdued by the muted tones.

If you’re still not swayed by this colour blocking trend, there’s still hope. Colour-flecking is always a popular trend on the highstreet and is a great way of sprucing up any tailored ensemble. Another method of adding color this season is through tailored tonals. Trading in that navy blazer for a block-coloured seperate to instantly make an impact -whether you’re at work in the office or on a night out.

Dressing in strong colours is not for the fainthearted. It has to be well-thought and seamlessly executed. It truely is an ‘all-or-nothing’ affair, and if done correctly and to form, it will always be an affair to remember.

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