SIN Vol. 21 Issue 10

NUACHTÁN SAOR IN AISCE VOL. 21 Issue 10. 03 MAR 2020

Student Independent News

WINNER: BEST NEWSPAPER AT THE NATIONAL STUDENT MEDIA AWARDS 2019

Fury as University implements 4% hike on student accommodation

By Paddy Henry (Deputy.sined@gmail.com) The cost of on-campus accommodation in NUI Galway is set to increase by around 4%, ahead of the next academic year.

The hikes will see the cost of a single bedroom in the recently opened Goldcrest Village rise to €6760 for the academic year, while in neighbouring Corrib Village, the price of a similar room will be set at €5950.

The decision was made by a five-person panel, which included the University’s Chief Operations Officer, John Gill, University Bursar, Sharon Bailey and representatives of Atalia Student Residences DAC (Designated Activity Company), an NUI Galway-owned company in charge of the operation of the University’s student accommodation complexes.

The University has defended the soaring costs, citing increasing operational costs and expenses associated with upgrading and development.

In a statement given to SIN, a spokesperson for the University claimed that their rates were low in comparison to other universities; “The University has a range of price points to meet the needs of a wide range of students, and our on-campus accommodation is among the lowest priced of any University in Ireland”, they said.

Defending the hikes, the University stated that Corrib Village provided a range of accommodation packages, with prices ranging from a weekly rate of €100.80, to €163.50. They argued that this represented an average 3% increase on the previous year and claimed that rates for Goldcrest Village saw a “marginally higher” inflation.

Atalia Student Residences DAC recorded profits of €463,212 for the year ending 31st August 2018, double their return from the previous year.

The University has claimed that “significant investment” has been made into Corrib Village in recent years and said that the development of a new 674 bed facility, due to come on stream in time for the 2021/2022 academic year, will be funded by borrowing.

Although the increase falls within the legal Rent Pressure Zone limit of 4% per annum, the

NUI Galway Students’ Union has voiced its strong opposition to the proposal.

Clare Austick, President of the Students’ Union in NUI Galway, expressed her fury at the University’s decision to raise rates, criticising the University for profiting from the ongoing accommodation crisis, stating; ”We are outraged that in the midst of an accommodation crisis, the University is again looking to profit from the desperation of students looking for accommodation”.

She accused the college of reneging on promises it made in their recently launched Strategic Development Plan for 2025, in which the University pledged to create “additional affordable and sustainable oncampus accommodation for our students. Ms Austick

added, “We’re very frustrated by the increase of 4%, particularly since the University only launched their Strategic Development Plan externally last month, which included a piece on a commitment to creating affordable accommodation. It says a lot about them that they can’t commit to what they had in the plan”.

Clare Austick met with University President, Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, earlier this month, and following discussions, both parties agreed to issue a joint letter to the University’s Board of Directors, condemning their decision. The pair have also requested a meeting with the head of Atalia Student Residences.

More on Page 2

INSIDE: STUDENTS’ UNION ELECTION SPECIAL Pages 4 – 11 Interviews with full-time candidates & outgoing officers, and student opinions on what the SU should be doing for you!

2 N E WS & F E AT U R ES

SIN Vol. 21 Issue 10

INSIDE

ELECTION SPECIAL: Meet the full-time candidates 4–11 Students’ Union President 4–5 Vice-president: Welfare and Equality Officer 6–7 Vice-President: Education Officer 8–9 Outgoing Officer Interviews 10 Vox-Pop: What do you want to see from the SU next year?

11 Threshold warns of rental scams 14 Royal visit road closures set to cause disruption to University students 15 NUI Galway student takes on ‘Ultimate Hell Week’ 16 101.3 Flirt FM - New Radio Shows and Streams for Semester 2! 17 Homophobia still rife in the new decade 18 Rent Hikes: who can actually afford them? 19 Mature Student Column 20 The Grazer app: to help or hinder tensions towards veganism 21 It’s all good, I know the bouncer! 22 Despite an increase in reporting sexual violence, people still blame the victims of rape and sexual assault. 23 Something is rotten in the state of NUI Galway’s accessibility facilities 24 How to incorporate more movement into your daily life 26 Five Easy Ways to Practice Self-Love 27 Adele & Diet Culture: Is there a one-size-fits-all way to lose weight? 28 The Rise of Permanent Makeup 29 #BeKind – What we could learn in the aftermath of Caroline Flack’s death 30 The Tommy Tiernan Show: The best talk show on TV? 31 Miss Americana: Taylor Swift documentary review 32 NUI Galway’s newest club: The International Gaelic Football Club 34 Records shattered in Athlone 35 Cian McCormack: Fighting for a Dream 36 Galway United season preview: A new beginning 37

EDITOR: Mark Lynch editor.sin@gmail.com LAYOUT: Shannon Reeves An bhfuil rud éigin le rá agat?

Cur litir chuig an Eagarthóir chuig editor.sin@gmail.com

Find us online:

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By Mark Lynch Hello, SIN readers! We have an extra special issue of SIN for you for the week that’s in it. With Students’ Union election candidates tearing up and down the campus looking for your vote for the positions of President, Welfare and Equality Vice-President, and Education Vice-President, SIN brings you exclusive interviews with all 9 candidates across the 3 different roles.

We also catch up with the outgoing full-time officers, and we talk to regular students of NUI Galway around campus, to find out what exactly they want their Students’ Union to be doing.

Remember, the Students’ Union are there to represent every single one of you students out there on campus in Galway, and off campus too. They should be held accountable by us, as the student media, and you, as the people they’re elected to represent. If there are things you want to see on campus, they’re your outlet to try and make changes on your university campus.

Many people don’t know who makes up the officers within the Students’ Union, or what they do, or if they do anything.

The truth is they do a lot of work, and you’d be surprised at the changes a well-run SU can make. Therefore, don’t hesitate to go to them with any needs or concerns, as they are there to help.

Back to the issue at hand, the SIN issue that is, and we have 32 pages that aren’t about the SU elections if you’d rather ignore it entirely! Our front page tells the full, scandalous story of the company in charge of the University’s student accommodation increasing rent by an average of 4%.

Having sat down at the forum with the University President and students of NUI Galway in the James Hardiman Library myself, it was clear that he was willing to co-operate with students in having an open discussion on the matter. What’s worrying is that the person supposedly at the head of the University, can be seemingly bypassed so easily on a decision that will affect the students immensely.

Of course, having him make every decision would lead to a tyrannical mess and delegation of responsibilities makes sense, but the hastiness with which this decision was made without his consultation, never mind approval, calls into question the way the University operates at the highest level.

Across the other sections, we have an eye-opening piece on homophobia on Page 18, in which Shauna McHugh outlines how it is still prevalent in Ireland in 2020. Along the same trend of opening eyes, Maeve Charles writes a piece about shaming victims of sexual

assault in our opinion section which must be read, although as a caution, it does, of course, deal with very sensitive material. In lifestyle and fashion, Sadhbh Hendrick examines the culture behind extreme dieting and looks at how realistic some of those diets are. We have two reviews of Taylor Swift’s new documentary, Miss Americana, with varying opinions in the arts and entertainment section. In sport, the NUI Galway Athletics Club and the International Gaelic Football Club take centre stage. And, as always, you have the chance to win some very useful SU Card credit in our homemade Crossword Competition. To think, I’ve only mentioned about 5% of what’s inside. Find somewhere comfortable for yourself, sit back, relax and keep reading.

Fury as University implements 4% hike on student accommodation (Continued from Page 1) A planned relaunch of the University’s Strategic Development Plan, which was to be attended by both Ms Austick and Prof. Ó hÓgartaigh, was cancelled on Tuesday 18th of February. A forum, attended by the University President, where students could express their discontent with the decision, was held instead.

An online petition demanding the rate increases be revoked has amassed over 1,500 signatures online.

Criticism of the University’s decision has come from governance structures within NUI Galway. Eoin Neylon, a former student of the college and current member of the University’s governing body, Údarás na hÓllscoile, has said that he will reconsider his position on the panel should the 4% rent rise be implemented. Speaking to SIN, he criticised the University and described the cost of accommodation as a finan-

cial barrier to education; “When I see NUI Galway implementing rent hikes, it doesn’t send out the right signal. My main caveat is the promotion of education. Putting up financial barriers in a time where rents are already spiralling, I don’t think the University should be contributing to this”, he said. “We have a lot of people coming to us who cannot afford third level and these increases will put more pressure on families. €750 a month for a box room in Goldcrest Village is ridiculous and will drive up prices in the private rental market”, he continued.

Newly elected Galway West TD, Mairéad Farrell, also took aim at the decision, claiming that the rising cost of accommodation and high tuition fees are pricing people out of an education. Deputy Farrell stated, “Third level education, particularly in Galway, is becoming increasingly out of reach for many families. The increasingly unaffordable level of rent for student

accommodation is a major factor in this.

I am very concerned at news that NUIG, along with UCD, DCU, UCC, NUIM, UL and TCD are looking to increase rent in on campus student accommodation by the maximum amount of 12% over the next three years”.

“This is against a background of the most expensive tuition fees in the EU; actively excluding those who do not gave the financial means to access education.

Rising rents will only exacerbate that.

Many students will now wonder how they can afford to live in Galway or any of our major cities”, she added.

Objections to rent hikes have been commonplace in NUIG over the past few years. In 2018, students demonstrated against Cúirt na Coiribe’s decision to impose an 18% increase on rates. NUI Galway’s Students’ Union took the Terryland accommodation complex to court over the matter through the Residential Tenancies Board but were subsequently defeated.

March 03 2020

NEWS EDITORIAL

By Paddy Henry Hello again gach duine, welcome back to yet another issue of SIN. Moving away from elections, we have plenty of other stories inside, including my piece on the Corrib and Goldcrest Village rent hike scandal. There is also Caoimhe Killeen’s reports on whether the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will impact upon students getting to college on the 5th of March, with the city expected to be on lockdown. Sadhbh Hendrick brings us the story of Professor of History Emeritus at NUI Galway Nicholas Canny being conferred with the Royal Irish Academy’s highest honour, The Cunningham Medal. Also inside, Rachel Garvey investigates whether a tram line for Galway is coming down the tracks, following research from an NUI Galway mathematician which found that Galway was the perfect city for a light rail system, while Harry King gives us his report from the recent Ireland at the Heart of Europe talk, which took place in the Aula Maxima theatre. All this and more inside, including Ellen O’Donoghue’s story from the celebration of Irish Traveller Ethnicity Day which took place in the college late last month.

As always, if you hear any whisperings around college that you think would be worth reporting, do let us know, we’re always happy to hear from you. My email is deputy.sined@ gmail.com if you’d like to contact me. Our next meeting is Monday 16th March in AM127 at 6pm. There’s free pizza and we’re all very nice so do come along.

FEATURES EDITORIAL

By Shauna McHugh Hello, lovely readers!

Welcome to another issue of SIN, and to what is fast becoming a precious commodity, as this is our third last issue! It’s hard to believe that we only have this issue and two others left before the semester is over, but we’re all determined to go out with a bang, and make the remaining editions of SIN our best yet.

True to form, my trusted team of columnists are helping with just that. Jody Moylan shares some eighties nostalgia in his latest instalment of the Mature Student Diary, which is a fantastic read throughout. Honestly, it’s worth having a look at even if you’re just curious about what life with a pilot for a Dad is like! Meanwhile, as midterm season takes over our lives, the library is busier than ever. Our final year writer Sadhbh Hendrick has many pearls of wisdom to share – this week, they’re about library snacking etiquette. Meanwhile, in her First Year Diary, Aoife Burke details the stress of preparing for summer exams whilst dealing with an arm injury.

As uproar over the college’s rent hikes continues, Tara Trevaskis Hoskin details how this will affect the average student. Also in this issue, Rachel Garvey poignantly explains why it’s more important than ever to think before you type. Somebody who could have benefitted from thinking more ahead of their comments is Father Ted creator Graham Linehan, whose transphobic comments are investigated by Ellen Kissane.

If you were left without power by the recent Storm Dennis, our Aoife could have helped you pass the time! She’s put together a list of

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innovative ways to pass the time during such occasions. Meanwhile, Alice O’Donnell has the latest on how vegans are finding love online…

With such a jam-packed issue ahead, you’d best get to reading it!

Until next time, Shauna.

OPINION EDITORIAL

By Anastasia Burton Hello, bonjour, Привéт! It’s me again, your favourite opinion editor! Boy, oh boy, was rag week tough?! How’d y’all find it? Anyway, this goddamn weather, I feel like it’s become a regular thing for us to complain about it, but honestly… Would it be so bad to get a tiny bit of dry weather? I wish to once again say a huge thank you to all of my amazing writers who always do their best to contribute to SIN! I may not reply to emails, but I see them! Emails are dreadful and I get such a volume of them that I can’t get to them all! But I see you! Thank you, gentle readers, for always picking up our paper and giving us feedback whenever you can!

As I’ve mentioned before... Rag week! I personally hate it, but how do you feel about it? Why don’t you read our article and see?

Bouncers can either be the easiest part about your night or the hardest. Want to read more about bouncers and what others think of them?

Come on over! How do you stay positive during storms? I know I’ve been feeling rather sad over the lack of sunshine! Read our article and see how you can cheer up during such a gloomy time. NUI Galway facilities. This is a topic as old as time and it needs more attention! Go check it out! Addictive apps, they’re all over! I know I love browsing Insta! What’s your favourite app?

LIFESTYLE AND FASHION EDITORIAL

By Catherine Taylor Hello again, everyone and welcome to our special election edition of SIN! With exams looming, what better time to sit back and relax with some tea (or a can) and give your college newspaper a read? This is the new and improved method of procrastination.

As always, the lifestyle and fashion section is full to the brim with all the celebrity content you could ask for. Here’s the lowdown on everything we’re talking about this week.

For starters, we’re discussing everyone’s favourite guilty pleasure reality show, Love Island. Now that the first Winter series has ended, Sarah Molloy is investigating whether it’s really worth our time. Is the show mere harmless fun, or is it perpetuating harmful beauty standards? Read on to find out.

Beauty buffs rejoice, because we’re looking into the “permanent makeup” phenomenon, whilst fashionistas can relive their early 2010’s glory days when Gossip Girl reigned supreme. In our new Gossip Girl series of Styled by the Show, this week, Valerie McHugh is recapping all the best looks ever to grace Blair Waldorf’s petite frame. XOXO. Elsewhere, Sadhbh Hendrick takes a look at singer Adele’s substantial weight loss and whether there truly is a one-size-fits-all, surefire method to dropping the pounds. Read on to see whether weight loss really is as simple as a caloric deficit or keto diet.

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With exams coming down the line faster than a speeding train, many of us are feeling the stress, but not to worry! Opinion editor Anastasia is looking at all the simple ways we can indulge in self-care when we’re feeling overwhelmed.

And speaking of self-care, why not head over to our Foodie Diaries column and rustle up the amazing Isabel Dwyer’s latest recipe?

It’s delicious, nutritious and full acknowledges our obsession with avocadoes. A win/win.

All this and more in the new issue of SIN. As ever, you can get in contact with me at lifestyle.sined@gmail.com. Enjoy the issue!

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT EDITORIAL

By Sarah Gill Fancy seeing you here.

With another issue of SIN comes another jam-packed Arts and Entertainment section and I’ve got to say - the writing team are by no means losing their momentum. As with every issue, there’s a great selection of reviews, creative pieces and social commentaries that will definitely get you thinking. In honour of the release of Billie Eilish’s Bond theme, Utku Muratoğlu has put together the ultimate top 7 007 theme songs - take a peek and see if you agree. Stevie Buckley has penned an incredibly open letter to Jameela Jamil in the wake of the tirade of public criticism she’s been on the receiving end of lately, while Alanna Phelan has given us a succinct report on the death of Caroline Flack, reflecting on the aftermath on this tragedy. When something like this happens, it stops you in your tracks. It shouldn’t take something as grave as this to remind society to be better and we can all be better.

SPORTS EDITORIAL

By Darren Casserly Hello everyone, and welcome back to issue 10 of SIN. In this issue, Darragh Nolan covers the now infamous Huston Astros cheating scandal, who not only stole the 2017 World series, but the chance for honest teams to compete for the 2018 and 2019 World Series.

A bit closer to home, I take a look at Galway United ahead of the start of the 2020 Airtricity League season.

From the world of kickboxing, Keith Faherty talks to Galway Native Cian McCormack about his career in amateur kickboxing in Ireland, what his hopes for the future and how he prepares for a fight.

In athletics, Harry King writes about pole vaulting phenomenon Armand Duplantis, who broke his own world record and looks set to become the greatest pole vaulter of all-time.

Finally, in the Club Spotlight section, Ilka Denker tells us about the NUI Galway International Gaelic team, and how international students can get involved, what is involved with the club and the benefits of joining.

As always, a big thanks to the contributors and if you would like to get involved just email me at sport.sined@gmail.com

INSIDE: ELECTION SPECIAL!

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STUDENTS’ UNION

ALEX COUGHLAN

DENIS MORTELL

By Mark Lynch

By Mark Lynch

Alex Coughlan is running for the position of Students’ Union President on a campaign based on access to education and listening to the students of NUI Galway. The current Disability Officer spent two years as a class rep and one year as Gender and LGBT Rights Officer before taking up their current position on the Executive Committee. This experience, Alex says, allows them an insight into how improvements can be made to the Union. “From my experience over the past couple of years, I’ve seen what we can do, but I’ve also seen what we can improve and that’s where I want to look forward, to look into what we can do and to use the platform to try and better the experience for all students, and to make improvements where we can”.

Student consultation is a vital part of improving the Union’s representation of all students, says Alex. “I’m prepared to ask them what they want. One of the key things that I really want to do is to actually conduct a full review of the Union – what we do, how we do it, and whether or not it’s working”. This review, they add, would be wide-ranging, from the day to day running, to the election process, to the SU Constitution, and could take the form of focus groups, surveys, and anonymous feedback from the entire student body.

Housing, fees, and the general cost of education are the key issues that Alex feels are affecting students in 2020. However, they prefer to encompass these issues under the umbrella term of access to education. In keeping with the USI’s (Union of Students in Ireland) campaign, Alex highlights the fact that barriers to education can be physical and financial, and they are keen to break those barriers. “For example, if a building is inaccessible, that eliminates a good number of the population from being able to even access that in the first place. If the fees are too high for someone to attend from a low socio-economic background, then they don’t get to attend college, or they have to take on 2 or 3 jobs to pay for it, which obviously has a knock-on effect on your studies. I’ve worked 2 jobs my entire time as a student. So, it’s looking at access and all the ways that access comes up and various ways it presents”. Alex points to the way buildings are designed, the software

that comes with the campus PC suites, I hope the review I want to carry out and the expansion of support services, would address, because it would give especially for those with disabilities, people a forum (for criticism)”. They as examples of how to improve access continue, “It’s something that has to education. come up this semester even with the In terms of how to go about these referendum, that there were groups improvements, Alex feels having a of students that felt marginalised by written student-staff partnership that push. As a student from a queer focused on certain goals would be one and disability background, the creaway of ensuring the University has to tion of those positions felt like being “put their money where their mouth invited in and it’s a case of, if people is”. This would look to bring in the don’t feel represented, then we need practical changes mentioned above, to look at how we can invite more stuas well as ensuring functionality on dents to the table”. campus. “On a very basic level, people One of the reasons cited by the outwant basic services and infragoing SU President, Clare Austick, for structure to work. That the Students’ Union referendum this is something that semester was the inefficiency of havdesperately needs ing such a large Executive Committee. to be done and Alex feels the Exec is still workable funding needs with 19 officers. “It is something that to be looked is feasible and it’s about, again, sitting at for that. So, down and asking people how they feel it’s obviously is best to organise and finding what’s f ighting for best for the most people. Scheduling is those things going to be something that comes up, on a very pracbut that comes up every year, whether tical level, more you have 16 or 18 people, realistically. microwaves, more Especially when you have part-time water coolers, more officers, because realistically, in office working lecture seats”. hours, they’re in class, particularly Alex claims they are willing when you have a lot of arts and scito negotiate on student issues with the ence students. A lot of times, the time University, but stresses the imporbetween lunch time and evening is tance of taking industrial action when just taken up by class, so it’s lookneeds be. Given the example of the ing at what day works for people and recent rent increase on student then narrowing it down to a time accommodations by Atalia within that frame and Student Residences, seeing who’s availAlex insists there able when, but it’s are ways students something that’s One of the can be heard, absolutely doakey things that I “Depending on ble. It just takes really want to do is to the outcomes a bit of organactually conduct a full with the meetising and a review of the Union – ing with the willingness to what we do, how we do Board, they try new things it, and whether or not may decide to at the start of it’s working.” reverse the decithe year”. sion, given the Alex has this amount of bad press final message for that they’ve gotten out of voters on the fence. it. There are options, there’s “I believe in a rights-based protesting key meetings of Údarás (na Union. I believe in a Union that values hOllscoile) or UMT (University Manits members’ voices as much as it values agement Team). There’s the option of the voice of the President. Ultimately, I strikes if it comes down to it, walkouts, see what I’m doing as to facilitate, and like, there are options. It’s a case of to lead, yes, but also facilitate the work looking at what the outcome of the of others, to facilitate the work of VPs, next while is and whether or not that part-time officers and to give people decision will be reversed”. the space to run the kind of things they One of the most common criticisms want. I’m pushing for a Union that is of the Students’ Union is its ability to active and politically active on campus represent and engage with all students. and that values input from everyone, all Alex hopes to address this with open of our members, no matter what their discussion. “If a group of students is experience is with the Union previously. coming to the Union and saying, ‘we That’s what I want to see, and that’s the feel that we’re not represented’, then kind of structure that I lead towards. I that’s something that, as a body, we would hope that that is something peoabsolutely have to take on board and ple identify with and certainly I would we have to ask why. It’s something that ask for a No.1 vote”.

ple. It’s just, if you’re the voice for that group of people, you’re the voice for Denis Mortell is a Final Year Arts stu- that group of people, regardless of dent whose desire to run for Students’ the number of students”. He added, Union President is long-running. Hav- “It’s not a thing of experience. I think ing been a class rep from the start of his at the end of the day, you can have first year, he was initially enthusiastic more experience, but if I truly believe about being involved in the Student’s in myself more, I can definitely get a Union, before losing interest as he pro- better job done. If someone believes gressed through college and saw how that it’s just experience that makes the SU was run. “From the first day, them good at their job, then that’s the I wanted to be President. I lost that a wrong way of thinking. If I believe and bit in second year, but now I’ve spent if I act on all my things, if I canvass the last 3 months planning out all the the strongest, that should be the real things that I want to do. I was talking to decider. If I prove to all the students people, some of my friends, who were on campus that I’m the one who really interested (in the Students’ Union) in feels most strongly, most positively first year, who couldn’t even about the Students’ Union, name the President or then I should be the one the Vice-President, to go forward. Just and I think when experience isn’t it gets to that, enough”. He also “I’m a it’s not good, points out that workhorse. And I’ve b e c au s e i t ’s he still acts as no problem speaking to the Students’ an unofficial people, I’ve no problem Union. It class rep for being the one voice for should go to his economics everyone else. 20,000 every corner class. people is the same as of the UniverDe-stigma20 people.” sity; it shouldn’t tising mental just be a group health is also of of friends or just a massive importance clique. I find that it’s a to Dennis’ campaign. clique these days more so than a “It’s still something that’s being union of students”. pushed under a table, everyone says Engaging with students is key for ‘yeah, let’s bring a change, let’s bring improving the Students’ Union, says a change’, but the University aren’t Dennis. “One thing that I want to inte- tackling it well enough. I’m lucky grate is having open hours from the enough to never have had to avail of Convenors for students. Let’s say the the counselling services. But, if I did, Convenor of Engineering sits at the SU if things went not great for me in the desk for an hour, 4-5, 3-4, whatever next couple of months, I wouldn’t even time they’re free, and any student know where to start looking on campus from the engineering college can go to find counselling services or anyup to them and talk to them. For me to thing, because I feel like they’re hidden find the Convenor of Arts, I wouldn’t away”. He feels that marking the even know their name and counselling services with I’m a final year Arts stua large green X would dent. (That would) take away from the bring the connectaboo of walktion from student ing in to try to Convenor to and improve the Council in your mental 3 steps”. Denis health. “We also wants to all go to the bring regular student doccharity events to t o r, w e a l l campus, to bring take care of our students together physical health for worthy causes, on an open basis with the students decidand mental health is ing which charities the just taking care of ourfunds would be raised for. selves still. Why should that be Denis feels that his work ethic concealed? Why should that be hidand his belief should make up for his den away? Why should that be quiet? apparent lack of experience on the Stu- It should be vocal, you should be able dents’ Union Executive Committee. to say ‘oh look, there’s the counsel“I’m a workhorse. And I’ve no problem ling services’. It should be completely speaking to people, I’ve no problem destigmatised and keeping it hidden being the one voice for everyone else. away is something that riles me up 20,000 people is the same as 20 peo- too much”.

ELECTION SPECIAL PADRAIC TOOMEY

By Mark Lynch Despite a promise Padraic Toomey made to himself in secondary school, to never get into student politics, the current Clubs’ Captain finds himself in the running for Students’ Union President after seeing, this year, how the SU can accomplish goals and help students. “(In the SU) You actually feel listened to, you have say and that’s why I got into the Students’ Union and got to love it again”.

Representing over 20,000 students is nothing of a deterrent for Padraic, as he points to his compassion and outgoing nature. “I love talking to people. I love listening to other people’s experiences.

I think I can represent a large number of students just from the sole fact that I want to hear how people are doing, what they want in life and what they want from the Students’ Union. So, I think, I’m a good representative for the Union, and especially as President, because I can actually represent them and talk to them, because I want to hear what they want”.

Padraic is adamant that equality and removing the barriers to education are key to his would-be term of presidency. This includes financial barriers, such as the cost of accommodation. “I think students are being priced out of education and the University is trying to become more of a business than a public body. If you were to think of a primary school and there was a money-making w ay t h e re , i t wouldn’t be right in your head. Universities’ sole purpose should be for education and betterment of students and betterment of society. But that’s not seen a lot, especially when university-owned property is pricing students out of the place”. He continues with praise for the USI’s national campaign, Break the Barriers. “I love the Break the Barriers campaign, I think we really need to push for it, because there are barriers to education. The repeat fee could even be seen as a barrier to education. Everyone should have an equal opportunity for everything. I want to make sure students are always taken care of and always remembered”.

One of Padraic’s tasks this year as Clubs’ Captain is the organising of Clubs’ Ball, which, combined with his experience organising trips and events for sports teams, gives him event management skills that make

his goal of a one-day campus festival of the rent increase in Corrib Village realistic, according to him. “I want and Goldcrest. “You need to show that more events on campus. I want just a students really care. Really, this isn’t better atmosphere on campus, where affecting us. Right now, this is affecting we feel valued”. future first years and future years on Padraic also says that making things that, because it’ll just keep going and as easy as possible is an important step it’s the new people who get screwed for any change, and simple things like the most. While it doesn’t look like it giving out keepcups and labelling bins affects the rest, it does, because the clearly and thoroughly can make private sector goes up as the puba big difference, while as lic sector goes up. I feel like many classrooms as I get passionate about possible should it because I really be kept open for want it just to “I love the study in the run stop and I know Break the Barriers up to exams. the only way to campaign... because These all make do it is just if there are barriers to up basic issues, you make your education. Everyone according to voice very should have an equal Padraic. “I loud and show opportunity for feel like every that you won’t everything.” university in stop unless it’s the country talks stopped. You’ll about more microwant the students waves and more water raising their voice and coolers on campus, but even protesting it. It’d be crazy if water coolers come back to the envi- we didn’t protest it”. ronment. If people find it easier to buy As the Clubs’ Captain, Padraic has a bottle of water, they’ll buy a bottle had experience of the inner workings of instead of refilling one. You need to the SU, without becoming too attached. make it as easy as possible. And micro- “I think I have the best of both worlds waves – it should be a basic thing that because I was on the outside and then this you can heat up your food and enjoy year, I got into the inside, I learned eveyour food. Even seating, the lack of rything I needed to know, like best ways seating, in my head, these are all basics to talk to someone in the University and – seating, food, water. It shouldn’t be how to deal with people in the University. easier to buy a bottle of Coke I think it’s a good advantage to have an than refill your water outside view, but by being in the Union, bottle, which it is you have a support network, but also find here on campus”. it easier to find out information on how to On the point of talk to University staff, let’s say, because student engage- it is an art in itself to even know what’s ment, Padraic the best way to contact certain people”. wants to take Having been captain of the swimactive initia- ming club before his current role, tive, including Padraic says he knows what it’s like giving students to participate in and organise large the chance to groups. “I really enjoyed it and I meet the Execu- learned that I love working with peotive Committee once ple and what’s the best way to work a month for a coffee with people, how to make sure everyand a chat. He also spoke thing’s running smoothly and ensure of the importance of including people actually feel like they’re enjoystudents of the College of Hotel Man- ing it too, and that nobody’s doing too agement in Shannon, and regular visits much work because they’re sharing to that campus. the workload”.

Physical and academic accessibility As a final message to voters on the are also essential to Padraic’s campaign. fence, Padraic says: “At the core of it, I He says he was a big fan of the Univer- want students to be valued and I want sity of Sanctuary initiative, which the University to stick with what it says allows more people to access education. when it talks about respect and openHe also says, in terms of physical access, ness, and for students to feel respected the University should have a system in even for the basics. For microwaves, place for students to flag broken doors, for water fountains, for seating, they lecture seats, etc. to the buildings office, feel that they are taken care of and similar to the way that ISS works for valued and respected because, at the technological issues. moment, not all the time you do. They Padraic then outlined how he would just keep adding students and don’t go about representing the students increase the funding and how we’re on important matters that need to actually taken care of, so I really want be taken care of, using the example students to feel valued”.

STUDENTS’ UNION PRESIDENT

Another issue of utmost importance to students today is the price of student accommodation, which Denis feels the Students’ Union isn’t doing enough to combat. “Back when I was in first year, we had the Cúirt shakedown. Why isn’t something like that happening again? We made national news with the Cúirt shakedown. We need to vocalise when we’re being put down or stepped on. If we stand up to it in an organised fashion, the university will be scared almost to push us down again. We need to light the fire underneath the heads of the University and make sure that they don’t screw us over again. That goes across the board with private housing as well”. Denis also wants to see workshops brought in where student tenants in private housing can learn more about their rights, while he feels that he’s the right person to negotiate with the University on difficult issues. “I’ve no problem going there, and I know they’ll all be against me if I’m coming in with something like housing. They want to widen their pockets, but I’m ok to go in. I’m stronghearted. I’ll go in and I’ll talk to them for hours and hours and hours until we come to an agreement that benefits the students, not this 10 or 12 people at the top”.

Denis is keen to maintain a strong on-campus presence should he be elected, which, he says, may come at the price of certain involvements with the USI at a national level. “If it’s something that benefits us and helps the people on our campus, then yes, 100%, but if it’s something where we’re going up to protest against something and it’s almost just a protest to protest, I’d feel like we should take a step back and focus on ourselves. That’d be a day where I’d be on campus. That’d be a day where the VPs would be on campus and that might make a difference. I want to be the President who’s on campus. I want to walk down the concourse and have people know me. So, I’m not saying to ignore the USI, but I think we should focus more so on ourselves than the USI”.

Denis has a number of other initiatives he would like to bring to campus, which are outlined in his manifesto. These include backwards vending machine, which would reward students with SU card points for recycling glass on campus, a oneday campus festival involving only students, and re-styling NUI Galway merchandise. He would also like to add more defibrillators outside on campus, bring back the shuttle bus from Corrib Village to Lidl and make sanitary products for women much more available on campus.

As a final message for voters on the fence, Dennis says: “You should vote for me because I bet you’ll have seen me on campus. That’s it. I’ll be shouting and roaring and making sure everyone sees me on campus”.

5

STUDENTS’ UNION

6

ELLEN O’DONOGHUE

SIMEON BURKE

By Mark Lynch

By Mark Lynch

Ellen O’Donoghue is in third year of her undergraduate degree, where she’s studying Journalism, Gaeilge and English. She explains that she’s wanted to run for the position of Welfare and Equality Officer for a long time, but now feels that it’s the right time for her. “I’ve always wanted to run, since first year.

This year, I saw everything that was happening and I have nothing against the SU, but I think that there’s kind of a disconnect there, and since I’m only 20, I think I’m in the right headspace to do it, so I just decided, why not?”

Ellen says that her biggest concern for students today is mental health, and she outlines that she’s seen first-hand that changes need to be made. “I’m big into mental health and I have a few friends with disabilities. I can see what’s wrong and I’m sick of waiting around for things to change, so I just decided I’d change it myself”.

In terms of how she wants to go about making change, Ellen says she has plans to revamp the counselling services at a low cost and effort. “I want to work on the counselling services. They really annoy me and it’s a really clinical place in there, so I want to paint it, like, little steps.

What I want to do is a lot of little things i n s t e a d o f re a l l y b i g , e x t rava g a nt things that some people lay out, and I don’t really see the point (in doing that) because it’s really hard to get a lot of big things done in a year”.

Ellen was class rep for her first year, but aside from that, has never before been involved in the Students’ Union.

This, she explains, is part of why she wanted to run this year, as people sometimes see the SU, and those involved in it, as a separate entity entirely to the rest of the students.

“I’ve never been involved (with the SU). I was class rep for Journalism in first year, but I had no idea what I was doing. I went to one meeting. I would know a lot of people who are studying different things, and not that people are scared of the SU, but they’re up in the Bailey Allen and there’s a kind of stigma around them. So, I want to break that. I get along with so many people and I’m not ‘one of them’”.

Ellen has other specific ideas that she feels would help, especially first years, acclimatise to life away from home. “One of the main things I want to do is an NUIG survival pack for first years. So,

“I want to work on the counselling services.

They really annoy me and it’s a really clinical place in there, so I want to paint it, like, little steps. What I want to do is a lot of little things instead of really big, extravagant things that some people lay out.”

the incoming first years would get a wee pack with, say, recipe ideas for cooking for one, because I still struggle with that. I’m more a meal planner, but if I knew in first year

how to make enough dinners and how to budget, and budget realistically, I would have been much better off. A lot of the times, when you Google it (budgeting), it doesn’t take into account going out and drink and vodka and stuff like that, so I’d like a realistic one of those that includes how to get exercise in, or ways to exercise at home if you don’t have the confidence to go to the gym, stuff like that just to keep yourself right”.

As well as mental health, counselling, and help for first years, accommodation is another one of

Ellen’s key points. “I want people to stop looking at the University like it’s a business. It’s actually registered as a charity, but they’re treating it like a business. DCU students are saying that now as well, and I want that to change. I want to show that students are not just students, like we’re not stupid, if that makes sense!” Ellen adds that she would be willing to work diplomatically with the University to achieve small steps, especially at first, to problems like these. “I think it (my method) would be small steps.

I’d rather make small steps than make a big fight out of it. I’d rather go in and see what their opinion is and try compromise on it and build blocks, like, because I’m not going to miraculously save everyone €750, but if I could save people €100, I’d be happy”.

Ellen believes it’s difficult to know if all of her aims would be achievable in the one year, but that it would be important to get the small things done. “I think I won’t know until I get in there, but I think there’s a few of them that would be (achievable). It’s not hard to get somebody in, like get a nutritionist or something like that, to do up 10 different meals and you can alternate that over 2 weeks, and then (for the counselling services) it doesn’t cost much to get some cushions or blankets or paint. I was thinking of going through Facebook marketplace and stuff, because I know there’s a lot of people that give things away for free on that, and if I could just get 3 cushions, if someone was doing up their sitting room, it would make it a lot better”.

Ellen is also no stranger to working in large groups that are pushing for change. “I actually volunteered with JIGSAW and Foroige until around 2018, so I’m used to working with fairly big groups. There was a lot of us with Fóroige, it was the national panel or one of those things, and there would have been about 50/60 of us in that, and we’d be put into separate groups and then alternate each other and ideas and stuff. Then with JIGSAW, I was on the youth advisory panel, so there was about 20 of us there, so it’s something I’m used to”.

As a final message to voters who are on the fence, Ellen says: “I want to rebuild the bridge between you and the SU”.

Simeon Burke is running for the position of the Students’ Union Welfare and Equality Officer because of growing concerns he has with the way the SU is run and the representation of all students. He asserts his reasoning behind running, “To look at the bigger picture, I’m running to promote real inclusivity and diversity and hopefully get students involved in the Students’ Union and ensure that students feel included in the Students’ Union, who I know, at the moment, just don’t feel it’s there for them at all”.

Simeon outlines that he has concerns over the Students’ Union’s commitment to representing any students who he says, “don’t ascribe to a certain type of ideology”, and their commitment to inviting debate with differing opinions. “I am concerned about issues around inclusivity and diversity. When I say that, I mean real diversity, in every way because, I think at the moment what you have is a diversity in everything but opinion, to a certain extent, and that’s an issue”. He references an example of the Students’ Union posting a video, which he felt alienated students who believed same-sex

Simeon believes that he will change that by being ready to engage with any student. “(I am) somebody who has respect for all beliefs and really treasures the idea that we have a union and we have a student society on campus that respects every belief and says to every student, it doesn’t matter what your perspective is, what your belief is, what your lifestyle is, where you come from in regard to all of these different ideologies and beliefs, you feel welcomed and respected. I am somebody who is

tolerant and respectful and I hope that if I was elected, I hope that’s what I would be characterised by and that’s certainly what I would aim to be characterised by – a respect for all students and an approach that says it doesn’t matter what your perspective is, what your belief is, you’re welcome, you’re respected and your voice matters because I think that’s missing at the moment”.

Simeon also high“I think at the lights interactions moment what you have he’s had with is a diversity in everything students who but opinion, to a certain extent, h av e a s k e d and that’s an issue... If you have him to abolish a Students’ Union, no matter the Students’ what your beliefs or what your Union, as well as the poor turnpersonal positions are, you out in recent have to develop respect by-elections, and inclusivity for all as symptoms of students.” a deeper, underlying issue within the Students’ Union, which marriage he feels nobody has yet to is wrong, as an acknowledge. “I just think that if example of the Union failing to we really want to see engagement, we represent all students. “This is the Students’ need to recognise the fact that we have Union that represents me and that repre- to tolerate discussion and we have to tolsents my friends and represents, apparently erate people in the Students’ Union and every student on campus, but they put up a we have to welcome everybody into the video mocking anybody who believed that Students’ Union and say, ‘look, it doesn’t same-sex marriage is wrong. That’s just matter what you believe in these issues, problematic. If you have a Students’ Union, we’ll have a debate about them’, because no matter what your beliefs or what your a debate is, at the end of the day, the corpersonal positions are, you have to develop nerstone of the proper and successful respect and inclusivity for all students”. democracy and a proper political system”.

ELECTION SPECIAL

RÓISÍN NIC LOCHLAINN

By Mark Lynch Róisín Nic Lochlainn is running for the position of Welfare and Equality Officer because she has seen first-hand the difference they can make. “I’ve been through a lot of things that people who go to the Welfare Officer would be going through, so in first year, the main reason I said I want to do this is because Clare Austick actually helped me when she was Welfare Officer when I was in digs and I just had no rights. When you’re in digs, the landlord can throw you out whenever they want, so that’s the main reason I want to run. As well, I’ve been an activist since I was 16, so community activism, political activism.

I’ve been at housing protests, and the water charges, I came up from Antrim to fight them. I want to help people, basically”.

In terms of the qualities and skills set she has that could benefit her in this role, Róisín says her own personal experience will allow her to help others who are struggling. “I think to be in activism and politics, you have to have compassion, you have to have basic empathy and, like I said, I’ve been through a lot of the things a person would go through, wanting to drop out, financial issues, not liking your course, missing home, all that, so I know how it works. I would say it’s one of the most important roles because being at college, you want to feel welcome, you don’t want to be miserable all the time”.

Róisín says the financial aspect of university is what’s affecting the most students. “My biggest thing would be affordable accommodation. With the 4% rent increases, the SU is meant to be there to represent the students and I don’t feel like the SU has done that. If you look at UCC, they’re camping out there until the rent increases have been reversed. My main thing would be lobbying the SU President and the Atalia board and TDs to get affordable accommodation”. As well as this, she would like to see students engage in the SU’s actions. “The SU’s work has to be directly associated with the students, so, let the students have their input and lobby the boards, as I said, and the President and the Bursar and have direct action, have protests, have camp outs, lobby TDs, all that kind of stuff. Create a mass movement, because I don’t think we’ve seen that done, maybe since repeal, but on housing, you don’t really see a lot done but it is an issue that is big to me”. She added, “A lot of people don’t know that it was pro-

posed in legislation to let a third party of a political society for 3 years now. person handle the deposits between the It wouldn’t be anything as big as that tenants and the landlords so that the (the SU Exec), but I was the chairperlandlords can’t keep people’s deposits, son and it was mainly me organising but it never actually passed, so (I will everything, liaising with the rest of also be) lobbying for that to get passed, the committee. We’ve organised prohopefully starting a campaign and pro- tests, events that would come under testing that. Also the health unit as equality, so that well, I think that the fact that kind of thing for some things, you have would be to pay fees is ridiculous.

Healthcare should be free”.

“The SU’s work has Róisín is to be directly associated a l s o ke e n t o with the students, so, let the take action students have their input and on issues like lobby the boards and the President mental health and the Bursar and have direct and tenants’ action, have protests, have camp right. “I’d like outs, lobby TDs, all that kind of to give mental stuff. Create a mass movement, health training because I don’t think to class reps, lecwe’ve seen that done turers, societies, on housing.” clubs, anyone that deals with students, and suicide prevention awareness, stuff like that. I familiar to also want to look into hiring a fullme. Just working as time campus psychiatrist on campus, well, like, I’ve been working precarious because counsellors only being there at jobs since I was 16”. certain times is ridiculous”. On helping She’s never taken up any position student tenants, Róisín says, “I want before within the Students’ Union, to set up a scheme to deal with living although Róisín doesn’t see that as a conditions, because in some places, negative thing. “I think, personally, there’d be mould and that. I want to it gives me an advantage because create a scheme where students can it’s someone from the outside going honestly put reviews of their accom- in. I’m just an ordinary student like modation without fear of being kicked everyone else. I go to the SU Council out. And reduce parking fees, abolish meetings and the Working Group for exam repeat the levy to see how we can reduce that, so I have an insight into it, but I think it’s good I haven’t been on the SU. I think someone new should come in that’s not on the inside and I also think there needs to be some reform of the SU. It’s always just people already in the SU that go for positions and I think, especially for Welfare and Equality, it has to be someone that isn’t just wanting a step up the ladder and a job. I think it should be someone in it who cares about people”.

As a final message to voters who are on the fence, Róisín makes this plea: “You should vote for me because I have experience in activism. I’ve been looking to change things for 4 years now. Nothing really is happening. My main things are mental health, affordable accommodation and breaking fees, because people can be repeat- the barriers to education, because we ing exams for any reason, like mental all know someone that’s either had to health, and you can’t just decide when decline their offer completely, because you have a down day, it can happen they just simply can’t afford to live here, any time”. or drop out halfway through college and Róisín points to her own political go home. I want to fight the landlords involvement as the experience she and lobby TDs to make a big change. I needs to work effectively in the Execu- want to bring in better Wi-Fi as well, tive Committee. “I’ve been chairperson and more parking spaces”.

WELFARE & EQUALITY OFFICER

Accommodation is also something that Simeon considers a big issue for students today and feels the Students’ Union is not putting their resources into this as much as it should, which is another reason that engagement is low.

“I think in terms of these part-time positions, we have a position for LGBT and ethnic minorities. I would ask, what are those officers doing of value for students?

I think they should go, and I think what we should be doing is focusing on practical issues and accommodation is one of them. I would say if we had an officer for accommodation, rather than officer for LGBT or ethnic minorities or postgrad students, I think students would benefit a lot more practically from that”. Simeon also points to the closure of Caife na Gaeilge as a situation where he felt the Union’s priorities weren’t right.

Following the news that two NUI Galway students died fighting for ISIS, as well as the revelation of the misuse of funds by the Galway University Foundation, Simeon says he expected more and better representation from the Students’ Union. “I go back to people saying it should be abolished. That will grow unless it actually becomes meaningful and I think, in order for it to become meaningful, it needs to start taking practical decisions and I would be in favour of radical reform and abolishing a lot of these positions”. Simeon also questions the practicality of the USI, whose membership fee, he says, should be going to students of NUI Galway instead.

He also feels that, should he be elected, the SU’s response to the University management would be more united. “I think it should be the students pulling together and saying we’re not going to accept financial intransparency, we’re going to demand an apology from the UM, and if they don’t apologise, we will use our clout to make them apologise”. Simeon believes it would be an improvement if “we emanate a message of pulling together to stand up for our own rights and that we can do it and take on the University Management if needs be. We’re not there to cause trouble, but we need to be able and willing to cause trouble if the need arises”. Simeon also points to his experience representing NUI Galway as a Law student, as well as his membership on the committee of An Cumann Staire, as examples of his willingness for working in teams.

As a final message to voters on the fence, Simeon says: “I think the Students’ Union is rotten at the moment. I think it’s hugely messed up and if I was elected, I would promise to shake it up and try make it more representative of the students. I’m concerned about the suitability of other candidates to this role. I’m very concerned about the way the Students’ Union is going. We need a Union that’s inclusive, that’s really diverse in opinion as well as everything else, where every student feels welcome and we need the will to radically reform the way things are done. So that’s what I would hope to bring to the SU and if you have common ground with me on any of those things, I’d appreciate your vote”.

7

VICEPRESIDENT

STUDENTS’ UNION

8

KENNY COOKE

By Mark Lynch Kenny Cooke is running for the position of Education Officer in order to help students and use his experience to improve things for students on the NUI Galway campus.

He sums up why he put himself forward for the position, “I just wanted an opportunity to make things better for students around here”.

He says his personality would make him an Education Officer who can listen to students and fight for them when needs be. “First of all, I’m friendly and approachable. It’s all well having someone who can do it (the job), but if nobody’s going to go up and talk to them, they’re not going to get much done. I’m quite good with people, I think, but also, I’m not afraid to say what I’m thinking. If I see something that I think isn’t right, I’m not afraid to say ‘right, well, actually, I’ve a problem with this, what can we do to sort it here?’”.

On the kinds of issues he intends to rectify for students, Kenny says that Irish language students are a priority for him, as they’re currently being ignored. He also points out that a re-shaping of the Executive Committee, due to the merging of the Colleges of Engineering and Science, is an urgent issue that needs solving. “The Convenor of Science and Engineering in these elections coming up is going to be one position rather than two, and that is an awful lot of work. Just being the Convenor of Science this year, it’s quite stressful, more so than I thought it was going to be. There’s no overlap socially or academically (between the two colleges). It’s too wide a margin, so in the next week or two, I’m going to be working with Cameron and Sachi (Sinha, outgoing Convenor for Engineering) because the three of us have to just sit down and figure out what’s going to happen”.

Kenny also highlights the distinct lack of water coolers around campus, and outlines how he’d like to see what the University’s plan of action is after Brexit.

“I’d like to work with the University and see, for students from the 6 counties, after Brexit, what sort of supports are they going to be afforded? Nationally, you know, that’s one issue, but what’s the university going to do to support students, are they going to charge them the domestic Irish fees, EU fees, non-EU fees, what’s the story?” He says that he also wants to reform exam timetables, with final years getting priority.

From Kenny’s own experience, wherein he was narrowly over the margin to receive the SUSI grant, he understands the financial struggles that affect students, and the barriers to education that they create. “I think access to education is a big barrier. There are other

countries which we have a higher GDP than, which we’re per person wealthier than, and they have a higher access to education. I don’t see how it makes sense if we want to be this modern progressive society, when we can’t send every person who wants to go to university, to university. There’s a disconnect and it’s the same with accommodation. You’re effectively recreating a two-stream class system which we’ve been emerging from the last 100 years. Education is slowly going that way because of all these extra

SCOTT GREEN I’m in my fourth year now and I see how it works, I see how the system works. I’m close enough to know the procedure for certain things but there are a lot of things I can see I’d like to change about the way it operates. I don’t think I’m too close to see changes that need to be made. I’d like to try heighten student engagement. I’d like to encourage more people. I hear all the time ‘Kenny, you’re in the SU’. Well, actually, we’re all in the Students’ Union, it’s just that I’m taking this involved role in it. I’d like to encourage people to not see it as ‘there’s these people over here and they’re in the SU and they can sometimes do things, but we can’t’, when the whole point of the Students’ Union is empowerment. I’d like to encourage people to not think ‘you’re in the SU’, but ‘we’re in the SU’. We can do something, we just need to get together and see what we can do”.

Kenny feels he has experience to help him assimilate into this role.

“I have experience from when I was growing up. I was in the scouts and you learn leadership as you progress up along it. I’m on a management team back home for a unit of Order of Malta, Birr-Roscrea, so that’s a leadership role where you’re involved in the decisionmaking process. Being on the Exec as well, that’s leadership itself. As the Convenor of Science, you are effectively in a similar role, as the SU Education Officer is to the Convenor what the Convenor is to the Class Reps. I’m on the committee of Rover Soc as well, I’ve been in positions where I’ve been the decision-maker and I’ve been able to motivate people to keep going”.

Kenny has this to say to voters on the fence: “I just feel like I’m the right candidate for the job. I have the drive, I know how the SU

costs, so, on paper, yeah, we have free third level education. Realistically, there are a lot of barriers for people to get into university”.

Kenny then explained what he could do for students to tackle these barriers. “As Education Officer, you’re a voice for the students. You can go and lobby to the University and I’m not sure what, directly, the Union can do. We don’t have the funding or the resources to start doing that, but we could ask the University for bursaries.

“I think access to I was at that meeteducation is a big barrier. ing last week There are other countries in the library, which we have a higher GDP than, where Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, the which we’re per person wealthier University Presthan, and they have a higher access ident, said they to education. I don’t see how it might be able to makes sense if we want to be find bursaries for this modern progressive accommodation. If society.” we could encourage more of that, if the system isn’t going to change, we could at least encourage the University to be more accomworks. I don’t modating for students who do come up see it as a disadvanagainst financial difficulties, because it’s tage being close to how it has worked. I a real issue”. see it as I know the procedures and how As someone who has been involved to go about things and get things done in in the Students’ Union for a few years the Students’ Union. I’m approachable. I now, Kenny is keen to reject the notion have a lot of ideas which I would say are of a ‘they’ who are involved in the SU, good and would be good moving forward and the rest of the students who aren’t. and I feel like I’d be the right voice for the “I’ve been involved since second year, students of NUI Galway”.

By Mark Lynch

and fees, as well as physical, with many buildings difficult to manage for people Scott Green is running for the position with restricted mobility. It can also come of Students’ Union Education Officer, in the form of access to information and primarily, to give back to the student com- study materials, which Scott says needs to munity. “I’ve got a lot out of the Students’ be reformed. “I think one of the best things Union and I felt it was time to give some- we can do right now is look at how we thing back, because provide our education. Could we move I’ve quite away from heavy tomes of infore n j oye d mation and could we move to a more digital ecofriendlier approach?”

“It’s up to us to They also reference Open Scholarship, bridge that gap with which Scott goes whatever community it is on to explain, that are saying the Union isn’t “It’s about movdoing enough. The Union, as an ing away from organisation, has a hand in quite a licenced, publot of different aspects. The more lished products we do, the more we have to do and trying to well, and at the heart of the mind open inforUnion, we’re here for mation on those every student.” same things”. They add that this ties into removing unnecessary costs to students as well. my time here Scott also has many ideas for in NUI Galway, the new redevelopment of the James participating in the Galway student move- Hardiman Library, such as social spaces, ment and student community. I felt that, a 24-hour study space, a sensory room, and since it was in my power to give something a few more group study rooms. back, that I should and I felt that this posiThey are also keen to draft a studenttion was the best use of my abilities, the staff partnership in order to encourage best combination of my skills and expereal engagement. rience.

“Basically, Scott is the current SU Council Chairperson, and has previously been Convenor for Science, which they say gives them a wealth of experience representing students. As well as this, they say their own experiences through university make them a suitable candidate, having gone through DARE, being a SUSI applicant and dealit’s ing with the deferral process. a doc“I’ve gone through a lot of the ument channels and I’ve dealt with a lot of that sets up the problems personally and helped others both students and through the problems that the Education the University to work collaboratively to Officer is expected to anyway. I’ve become agree to, and then by certain deadlines, quite familiar with a lot of the structures improve the student experience, mainly that are already here and I can apply that. based on the student experience and I will admit that I don’t know everything. engaging students more and using that It’s up to me to reach out to students and information and those channels to actuwhen my information is lacking, to get that ally improve the student experience in from them. The combination of experience the way that students want, as opposed and skills is only the beginning. It’s also up to, say, the way the University thinks it to me to reach out and fill in the gaps in my should improve”. Scott also highlights how knowledge that I don’t have”. they’d like to build more of a relationship Scott feels that the rent crisis is the with the Shannon College of Hotel Manmost pressing issue for students right agement. now, but focusing on access to education Despite the failure of the SU Referenin general is their goal. This comes in the dum this year to cut down on the number form of financial access, which they say of Executive Officers, Scott believes they is restricted by accommodation prices have the ability to work in, and lead, in a

ELECTION SPECIAL EMMA SWEENEY

By Mark Lynch

ics and just working with a lot of students in general, I think that’s given me a lot of experience, and also, I’m still always trying to learn”. She continued, “education is so important and a lot of students can’t get through it because they don’t know who to turn to, they don’t know where to go, they don’t know what resources they have available to them and there is a wealth of resources available on campus that is there for them – they just don’t know about it”.

Emma feels she has the right tools to work with staff and management within the University in order to represent students and make changes.

“This year, I’ve met with people in the SU itself and I’ve spoken to them about how to get things done. I think it’s important to know the right people and know the right paths to go down so you’re not overwhelming yourself.

I think it’s important to know where to start and be logical about it so you start small and build up, as you don’t want to create a bigger problem from not knowing where to go. I’ve learned a lot of problem-solving skills over the last year, so to be able to start small and know the right pathways, talk to the right people, make those connections with the right people straight off the bat”.

Despite having never been involved in the Students’ Union before, Emma feels her dealings with officers this year means she’s not com-

Emma Sweeney was the last candidate across all 3 full-time positions to submit her nomination, but she admits the role of Education Officer was one she had considered for a while, “I was thinking about it for a while and a few people said to me that I’d be good for the position so I said, let’s have a serious think about it”.

Working as the graduate intern at CÉIM, Emma says she has been heavily involved in helping students this year, “I’ve seen a lot of areas where teaching and learning could be improved and ways that student engagement could be improved, especially for younger students and any students who are struggling. We’ve seen it a lot through CÉIM. We’ve seen the pitfalls and we’ve seen where we can help them and I’d like to be another voice to be able to help them and liaise between staff and students”. She also explains how her work in CÉIM has given her many transferrable skills to help her as Education Officer, “I’ve learned how to approach academics more and I’m open to hearing a lot of students’ opinions this year. I think I can really help to improve their experience overall and being so heavily involved in the education side of it has given me a real idea of what students need and what experience they’re looking for”.

Emma adds that her own experience of third-level education would be helpful in understanding people’s struggles, “I think that (my) experience of education, going straight through from Leaving Cert to college, and the transition was a little bit tougher as well because I was younger and just the struggles that you deal with. I went on Erasmus as well – it wasn’t so much a struggle but it’s another experience that needs support and “Education students need to know where is so important and to look for the support, so I’d a lot of students can’t get like to be another place for that and where students through it because they don’t can feel safe, where they know who to turn to, they don’t can find the support know where to go, they don’t know and the options they what resources they have available have, because I know I’ve to them and there is a wealth of experienced it myself, as resources available on campus – every other student has they just don’t know experienced it. So, student about it”. engagement is really what I’d like to see happen more and that’s really why I’m running, to improve the student experience”.

Emma outlines how she believes strongly in education and giving people ing from an every opportunity to get through the eduentirely outside point of view. “I feel like cation system. “I’m not from the best area I am somewhere in the middle. Last year, in Galway, so I’ve seen a lot of people not it wouldn’t have even dawned on me to pass through the education system. For me, run for a position like this. I was just a it’s important to give every student every regular student, wasn’t involved with the opportunity they can have to pass through SU. I knew it existed and had really good that education system and not get stuck friends who were on the SU, but I feel like in a rut and have to drop out for whatever now I’ve worked with a lot of them for the reason. I also think being involved in the last year and I see the really good work education side, meeting a lot of academics they can do. I feel like because I was that this year, working with a lot of academstudent in first and second year, where I

had no idea what was going on in the college, I feel like having no background in it, in a way, is beneficial as well, because I’m learning and I’m trying to help people come along. I’ll have a fresh view of what it will be like. I know I haven’t the experience a lot of people have but I think I can bring a fresh perspective to it”.

Emma also runs a martial arts club in her spare time, while she has been heavily involved in CÉIM throughout her whole university life.

According to

her, this will help her work in the large Executive Committee efficiently. “I am really used to working with all sorts of different people, knowing people’s strengths and weaknesses and knowing where they have to improve. I feel like I can see straight away where the problems lie, how to move things along a bit quicker and making sure that everyone feels important and heard is always super important”. She added how her other responsibilities would also help her in a leadership capacity, “I’ve had the experience of having to work through college, so I don’t just do college, I also work. So I think trying to balance those things is really important and I feel like I’ve been in a lot of leadership positions. With CÉIM, I was a leader for 3 years. With running a club, I’m a leader there every week, so I feel like being in a leadership position is something that I’m comfortable with and something I’m used to and I’m quite used to speaking on behalf of minorities. I can really help with student engagement and student experience, and also just being a leader”.

As a final message to voters on the fence, Emma says: “I want to show that I’m a driven and committed candidate and I will work for whoever, because I’ve always balanced work and college and I feel like I am driven in my other aspects of life. I’m quite highly motivated and I feel like I understand the problems and the flaws with certain aspects of the University and certain things that can be improved, and I think my experience over the last couple of years has been really important.

EDUCATION OFFICER

team that size. “The only time I’ve been on the exec is when there has been 19 people, because I only came on 2 years ago, so I’ve worked specifically in that environment with that many officers before. I’m vice-chair for Galway Community Pride and I was involved as their fundraising co-ordinator last year and that’s a committee of about 15 as well, and then in terms of the Writing Soc committee, that I’ve been on for, some would say too long now at this stage, that usually ends up around 10/11, so I’m no stranger to what some would deem as large committees. I’m no stranger to operating either at the top of or anywhere within those structures”.

Scott says that their experience in the Students’ Union, and the processes of getting things done, is of huge benefit, although it doesn’t mean they know everything. “I think I can get the benefit of knowing how the ‘inside track’, as it were, works, while still missing some things, because I don’t know, for example, as a postgraduate student, what the Union is or isn’t doing for me, because I’ve never had that experience.

As someone who doesn’t use a mobility aid, I don’t know how accessible the majority of our events are, because I’m not involved with the majority of our events. And I can talk about my experience with the Union but there are experiences, even in terms of student life, that I will not and have not experienced. It’s not necessarily up to us to go ‘the Union does this or doesn’t do this’, it’s a case of, if students are coming to the Union saying ‘we don’t feel represented’ or ‘you’re not doing enough on X’, it’s up to the Union to address that and work on that on themselves”. They continued, “It’s up to us to bridge that gap with whatever community it is that are saying there’s not enough of this from the Union, or the Union isn’t doing enough on Y. The Union, as an organisation, has a hand in quite a lot of different aspects. We’re not solely an academic body, we’re not solely a welfare body, we’re not solely a science body. We do an awful lot. The more we do, the more we have to do well, and at the heart of the Union, we’re here for every student and we shouldn’t necessarily shun anyone if they point out flaws in our system”.

As a message to any voters who are on the fence, Scott says: “I think I’m bringing fresh ideas to the table. It occurs quite a lot that education manifestos have been accused of being the most same-y. I would be hesitant to look at any others and mine and say that they’re very similar. That’s not because I don’t want to focus on the issues that are there, but it’s just that we know a lot of the issues that are existent, we know they’re there, we know we have to work on them. It’s what you can do surplus to that, and I think I’m the only candidate that’s bringing my mix of experience, skills, and outside qualifications, as well as inside qualifications, in terms of the Union, to this role. And that’s why I think I’m the best fit. Nobody’s bringing to the table what I am”.

9

VICEPRESIDENT

10

STUDENTS’ UNION

Outgoing SU President welcomes increased student involvement in elections

By Paddy Henry Being the President of the Students’ Union can’t be an easy job. In fact, most would see a remit of representing the interests and concerns of 19,000 students as an almost insurmountable task. The often-cited cliché of “Who would be a politician?” springs to mind.

However, for Chemistry graduate Clare Austick, the role of representing the interests and welfare of the student population has a certain appeal to it.

Looking back at her time in NUI Galway, she says she had never envisaged taking up such lofty offices on her arrival to university in 2015, but gained a passion for helping students from early on in her studies through her role as a class rep in both her second and third year. “I was an engaged student”, she remarked, “but absolutely not I would never have seen myself as SU President!” she continued.

While she has had multiple successes at the ballot box in her time in NUI Galway, she has also suffered setbacks. In 2016, she ran for the part-time position

of Convenor of the College of Science, losing out on that occasion. However, she credits those setbacks as a learning experience which helped her better understand where her interests lay, telling SIN, “I was a defeatist after not being elected Science convenor”, she recalls, “Not getting Science Convenor was one of the best things that happened to me. It made me see that my passions lay elsewhere, mainly in the welfare side of things”, she added.

Having decided to run for the top job last year, after previously holding both the full time Welfare and Equality position and the now reformed, part time equality portfolio, Clare felt like her experiences within the Union executive helped her to a certain extent, but reassured people running for office with no prior experience on the Executive Council that it isn’t essential. She commented, “I suppose having the experience as part-time Welfare Officer and also in the Full-time Welfare and Equality Officer role was somewhat advantageous, as I would have seen how the Students’ Union works and I would have been familiar with its structure.

But, if you have no experience, we do a twoweek crossover in the summer to help people get used to the role”, she added.

Looking back on her successful election campaign last year, the President remembers the feeling of “exhaustion” that came over her after a long hard fought campaign, and encouraged anybody running this time around to prioritise their own health and wellbeing during the campaign. “I was wrecked!

It is so overwhelming; you give your all for 12 hours a day in the lead up to the campaign. The key thing is taking care of yourself. If you don’t do that, you can’t be the best candidate that you can be. It’s important to make sure you’re eating well and sleeping well and to always remind yourself why you are running in the first place”, she said.

Nine candidates have put their names forward for the three full-time positions this time around, an increase on last year. The President welcomed the heightened engagement, but insisted that unsuccessful candidates should not feel like losers,

nor should they feel deterred from being involved in student politics in the future. “It’s brilliant to see such a great engagement in this year’s elections, and it is great to see that people want to engage with the Union. Even if somebody doesn’t get elected, you never lose, either you win, or you learn.” she said.

“Adapt and overcome” says outgoing Welfare and Equality Officer

Outgoing Education Officer feels Postgraduate and inclusivity achievements were important

By Caoimhe Killeen

By Paddy Henry

“Even though I planned on running, I thought ‘yes, I’m doing it’, and put in the nomination. The Sunday before election week, it all just hit me, and I thought ‘Oh no.

What am I doing?’”

That was the start of a hectic election week back in 2019 for Brandon Walsh, who eventually became elected into the role of Welfare and Equality Officer as well as a Vice President of the NUI Galway Students’ Union. His time in office has been a hectic one, full of twists and turns at every bend, but it has ultimately been a positive year for the Science undergraduate.

Brandon had been no stranger to the Student’s Union, having previously gained experience through working in different committee positions on societies such as GigSoc and Dance Soc, and even held the position of Societies Chairperson, a part time officer position in the Students’ Union. Even before running for the position, Brandon recalls “I would have been involved in campaigns through canvassing and being a campaign manager since I was in first year… I think that’s what scared me more before I knew in depth how campaigns work”.

Yet, Brandon had always held an interest in the Welfare and Equality position. But like most people, he had his doubts about running for election, recalling, “I didn’t think I could run because most people do think, ‘Oh, I don’t know if I could do it because it’s really intense’”.

Thankfully, a good support network surrounded him during the election process and once elected, he got down to business with his original aims, including improving the counselling service and

a focus on mental health issues.

Yet, he quickly found out that “being in the role, sexual health would have been a lot more prevalent”.

After a conversation with the medical director of the Student Health Unit about the increase in numbers of people reporting being sexually assaulted after their drink was spiked, he set about on various initiatives such as the “Pegless” campaign to highlight the issue. He also managed to implement some mental health related ideas, such as introducing an anxiety resource pack with online resources for students on work placement, which is due to be set up next year.

Unfortunately, there’s only so much that can be achieved in a short space of time and in Brandon’s case, his biggest regret is not being able to improve the counselling service due to underfunding. “As much as I want to change it, it’s not going to happen in my time”, he admits. “So, it’s about putting the things in place so that it can be worked on again in future years, in years to come”.

With that in mind, the main advice that he offers to this year’s candidates running for election is to adapt and overcome. “Be adaptable, and remember that people voted for you for a reason…

Because sometimes you forget it, and have really hard times thinking, ‘Why am I doing this? It’s completely thankless, I’m not achieving anything’. But remember, people voted you for a reason, and having people sitting here and talking on your couch and talking to you about problems and just being able to listen is such an important and valuable resource you have to offer. So, stay strong and you can do it!”

A year is a long time in politics. This much is certainly true for Cameron Keighron. The current Vice President and Education Officer has moved up through the ranks within student politics.

Taking on one of the full-time roles may have seemed like a natural progression for them, having started in the college all the way back in 2012.

But for Cameron, their activism began long before their first steps onto the concourse eight years ago. It stemmed from a desire to help people in need from an early age.

“I have been involved in activism since I was very young, I have always wanted to help make society better, but having been in college helped me channel that into productive campaigns or arguments”, they said.

The former Postgraduate Taught Officer, who holds an MSc in Regenerative Medicine (Stem Cell Biology) saw from their time in the role that issues relating to Postgraduates weren’t being fairly represented which led them to taking the plunge into running for a full-time role within the Union “I felt that postgraduate issues and inclusivity in education were becoming more prevalent and I wanted to contribute my experiences as a postgrad who had disabilities to that area. I wanted to ensure that we continued the great work from last year, I wanted to make sure that accessibility to education remained a key focus of the role I took over”, they said.

“Personally, I felt like it was the right time for me, that I had gained a lot of experience to ensure I could understand how I could represent students but also that I understood how to engage relevant students in the discussions they should be part of.”

Cameron feels that their heavy involvement within the SU executive before the full-time position helped them adapt. “My previous roles helped to a certain extent, but I don’t think anything prepares you for a full-time role, and how to balance all the work and emotions you feel through it. No one ever understands the role until they live it, you take on a lot of what students feel and what they are going through, but you help them navigate the university policies. That’s a lot to take on, I can’t fix your issue but here is the route in policy that can help. The roles I had helped me to evaluate situations and also understand some of the processes in place, but the most Important thing to learn is how to ask for help and guidance”.

Cameron highlights certain achievements that they are particularly proud of. “I think I’ve done a pretty good job but that is always subjective. I’ve helped secure over 100k into inclusive education and learning, one of my core objectives. I’ve helped engage more Postgraduate reps than ever. I’ve helped frame our student digital pathways progression in terms of what’s important to students (exam results, registration etc) and I’ve helped ensure the student voice is paramount to what the university does, that is the most important thing any officer does. You need to make sure the student voice is centre to everything you do, and I feel like I’ve done that this year. I’ve also ensured I’ve been adaptive in my policy to ensure I’ve reflected the student voice”, they said.

Cameron has this message for their successor: “The most important thing is to always ensure that what you do is in the best interest of all students. You speak up, you shout, you send an email, you represent a student because you feel that it will effect change to put the student population in a better position”, they concluded.

ELECTION SPECIAL

11

NUI GALWAY STUDENTS HAVE THEIR SAY:

What do you want to see next year’s Students’ Union do?

By Mark Lynch

SHANNON

I would like to see more microwave facilities on the north side of the campus, as there are only 2 microwaves to work between Áras Moyola, the Engineering building and the Cairnes building.

MARY

over there, whereas it’d be a lot handier to be on campus.

Even the hours of guests visits to the gym are very hard to make. They’re early morning or late at night, so cheaper gym service would be great of the SU has any power to do that.

LOUISE

3rd Year Occupational Therapy

Final Year Commerce and Accounting I’d like to see more microwaves in the Cairnes building.

RORY

3 Year Arts

4th year Financial Maths and Economics

What I’d like to see is more plugs in the north of the campus.

I want the SU to bring more microwaves to campus.

JOHN

ERIC

I think the SU should focus on the rising cost of living for students, the 4% hike in rent for student accommodation here in Goldcrest and the overall cost of the exam fees, repeat fees, Kingfisher cost (though I know there’s been a lot of debate about that). So I think, try to make student life not a luxury, because it’s a necessity, not a luxury for those who can afford it.

I would like the SU to be working on campaigns that students can relate to – political ones, but also student-related campaigns that the majority of students could empathise towards. I think the work the SU do already is really good, sufficient, so keep it up.

rd

1st Year Commerce

1st Year Corporate Law

ZHONNA

1 Year Civil Law st

TANNER

3rd Year Business and Finance Something I’d like the Students’ Union to do is have more microwaves, both in Smokey’s and obviously, there’s one over in Friar’s.

But it seems like the only place you’re able to microwave stuff is Smokey’s and there’s always a line, which is kind of inconvenient.

ADAM

3rd Year Science I’d like the Students’ Union to look at the increase in student accommodation prices and also, there’s society issues, but mainly the cost of current student housing, which is ridiculous.

TEDDY

2nd Year Biopharmaceutical Chemistry The one thing I’d like the SU to do is look after the microwaves in the Hub and Smokey’s,

The issues I would most like the Students’ Union to address would be the sustainability agreement that we have in the University and how our CocaCola deal affects that.

EOGHAN AND LUKE

Final Year Mechanical Engineering Eoghan: A problem that I encounter frequently that I want the SU to fix is the lack of microwaves in the Engineering building. There’s one here (on the first floor), but around busy times, there’s a queue of 5/6/7 people and when everyone puts it on for ¾ minutes, that’s your whole lunch gone, so another microwave would be handy.

Luke: What I would like to see the SU do is help provide cheaper gym services on campus. At the moment, the gym services in Terryland are a lot cheaper and people are being drawn

LAURA, AOIFE, ANNA

Laura: I think the SU should focus on helping students, particularly the OTs, because we don’t get any of our placement subsidised – no travel, no accommodation.

We have to pay for our uniforms and they cost €150 and sometimes we’d only wear them once, whereas the nurses get theirs subsidised. We also have to pay for our vaccines as well, which is a big financial burden on some students.

Aoife: I agree with Laura and I think the vaccines is a really important one, because it’s like €35 each and then a blood test as well, so you’d probably spend about €100 on vaccines in first year for placement.

Anna: I think the SU should really focus more on what students actually need. Doing something like a survey every year, or going around to students and asking them before the end of each year what they want for next year and to continuously have good ideas from the students, and see who’s going to benefit more from their campaigns and things.

JEREMIAH

1st Year General Science I think the SU should sort out spacing issues and just making sure that all the students in the college have a place to be, which is very important.

EVA

3rd Year Arts with Children’s Studies I would like the SU to help with anything with day to day students life, so more access to seating and more staffing within the student resources, so student counselling and the health unit, and more microwaves!

CIARA

3rd Year Science I think there should be more focus on the entire student body rather than just specific groups of people.

Again, all the counselling services and health services need to be improved. There’s no point having them there if they’re not useful or resourced.

And more seating, more areas where you can just chill out

STUDENT VOX-POP

3rd Year General Nursing

especially the handles, as they don’t have handles and it would be really great if they looked after that. And look after study rooms, probably create more for just literally study, that would be great.

#NUIGSU20

AN CÓRAS

CIANVÓTÁLA Mura mbeidh tú ar an gcampas Déardaoin an 5 Márta agus más mian leat vótáil i dtoghcháin oifigí lánaimseartha Chomhaltas na Mac Léinn, beidh tú in ann an Córas Cianvótála a úsáid le do vóta a chaitheamh ar líne.

Próiseas simplí dhá chéim atá ann:

1 2

Cláraigh Logáil isteach ar láithreán gréasáin Chomhaltas na Mac Léinn roimh an meán oíche, Dé Céadaoin an 4 Márta agus cláraigh le haghaidh an Chórais Cianvótála.

Vótái Lógáil isteach ar láithreán gréasáin Chomhaltas na Mac Léinn le linn na n-uaireanta vótála Déardaoin an 7 Márta (10:00 r.n. – 8:00 i.n.). Má chláraigh tú, beidh tú in ann an Córas Cianvótála a úsáid.

Lean na treoracha le do vóta a chaitheamh.

 TOGHCHÁIN CML

Tá an Córas Cianvótála éasca le húsáid agus go hiomlán faoi rún. www.su.nuigalway.ie

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Osclófar Ainmniúcháin: 10:00rn Dé Céadaoin, 19 Feabhra 2020 Dúnfar Ainmniúcháin: 5:00in Dé Céadaoin, 26 Feabhra 2020

Lá an Toghcháin: Déardaoin, an 5 Márta 2020 www.su.nuigalway.ie

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14 NEWS & F E AT U R ES

Threshold warns of rental scams

By Paddy Henry Housing charity Threshold has warned renters of an increase in the occurrence of rental scams in the west of Ireland in recent weeks, with a specific concentration of scheming being reported in Galway City.

One such hoax sees would-be swindlers, purporting to be landlords online, offering accommodation at a rate far below the market value.

Threshold has made note of the fraudulent tactics and are currently dealing with several cases. Karina Timothy, Western Regional Services Manager of Threshold, spoke about the influx of reports in the city recently, stating, “Our Galway office has seen a marked increase in the number of rental scams being reported by our clients over the last few weeks. Our advisors have been dealing with a number of cases in which those seeking rented accommodation have come into contact with people purporting to be landlords, but whose claims are ultimately exposed as illegitimate.”

Another scam, where fraudsters charge prospective tenants for property viewings, has also come to the attention of the charity. Threshold gave an example of the case of a Galway-based mother who expressed interest in a two-bedroom property in Salthill, priced at €700 per month. The woman received a reply from the hoaxer over WhatsApp, where they sought a fee of €70 from her to view the property, “We would be very concerned that should our client not have become suspicious, she may have proceeded and inadvertently given the scammer access to her bank account.” explained Ms Timothy.

Suggestions that the rental con may be a coordinated effort by criminals was supported by Karina. Backing up this claim, she outlined the similarities of some of the illegitimate ads being reported to the charity, “My opinion is that it is a coordinated effort. The ads are almost carbon copies of each other. The stories behind them were exactly the same, so yes, maybe it is a coordinated operation.” she told SIN. The charity outlined several “red flags” when it comes to highlighting accommodation scams, including overseasbased landlords and landlords charging rates far below the market value. They advised renters to approach property advertisements with “vigilance and suspicion” and advised any house hunter in doubt about the legitimacy of their potential future landlord to contact them; “An important rule of thumb for renters to remember is, that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Renters need to approach all property adverts and correspondence from prospective landlords with vigilance and suspicion. If something seems off, do not provide any additional personal details, especially bank details.

Review the materials and information that has already been supplied and try to spot inconsistencies. If in doubt, call Threshold and we can advise you on the next steps to take”, they added.

The Western Regional Services Manager of the charity also noted that anybody looking for accommodation should be aware of hoaxers on house hunting group chats on social media, “Scams on social media are something we have heard of anecdotally. “People are using any means they have to find accommodation. These scams are a low blow and are yet another aspect of the accommodation crisis” she said.

SIN Vol. 21 Issue 10

NUI Galway celebrates Irish Traveller Ethnicity day as first Irish Traveller is elected to Údarás na hOllscoile

By Ellen O’Donoghue NUI Galway celebrated Irish Traveller Ethnicity Day by hosting an event on Traveller involvement in the Irish education system just a day after the first Irish Traveller was elected to the NUI Galway Údarás na hOllscoile.

The ‘Travellers in Education: Building a Sense of Belonging’ event took place on Wednesday 26 February and tied in with the anniversary of Travellers gaining ethnic status, while celebrating Traveller culture and heritage, including music, craft traditions and language.

Just before the event, it was announced that Owen Ward, an Irish Traveller who is a Professional Master of Education student at NUI Galway, had been elected by postgraduate students onto the University’s Údarás na hOllscoile (Governing Body of the University). This is the first time that an Irish Traveller has been elected onto a University Governing Body in Ireland.

The event showcased the rich cultural heritage of Irish Travellers through the Traveller Living Exhibition that was open to the public from 10am-2.30pm outside Áras na Mac Léinn. The exhibition, a vibrant reaction of Traveller life in the 1950s, included a fully restored barrel-top wagon, a traditional tent, a flat cart, a working tinsmith, a storyteller and a campfire. Irish traditional music and Sean-nós dancing also featured.

Parallel to the showcase, the Access Centre facilitated workshops to highlight pathways into University, specifically medicine and law, while outlining the multiple support structures available to potential students.

“The Access Centre is delighted to collaborate with our student societies, the Office of the Vice-President for Equality

and Diversity, and Traveller Organisations across our region in organising this unique event,” said Imelda Byrne, Head of NUI Galway’s Access Centre. “The first of its kind in any third-level institution in the country the event is core to the University’s strategy, particularly the values of openness and respectfulness delivered through the School of Sanctuary programme. We are proud and excited to host this event”, she added.

A panel discussion took place in the Bailey Allen Hall, focusing on the student experience and Travellers in education, with Hannagh McGinley, PhD Student in Education; Owen Ward, Access Centre; Martin Ward, WestTrav; Senator Alice Mary Higgins, Dean of Students Michelle Millar, and others. The panel also heard from current students and graduates from NUI Galway amongst other higher education institutions about their experience in higher education.

Owen Ward, Schools of Sanctuary Coordinator at NUI Galway, said: “This event highlights the openness of NUI Galway and participating schools where equality, diversity and inclusion is embedded within all its actions. This creates the opportunity for all students, including Irish Travellers, to commence building their sense of belonging at NUI Galway, while building bridges between all communities”.

On his election to Údarás na hOllscoile, Owen said, “As an Irish Traveller who has overcome many barriers, this successful outcome demonstrates how open and respectful NUI Galway has become. This reflects the values of the current strategic plan at NUI Galway. I plan to bring a proactive postgraduate voice to this forum and to represent the diversity of issues that affect postgraduates on campus”.

The event was organised by the University’s Access Centre, the Mincéir Whiden Society and in collaboration with local schools participating in the NUI Galway Schools of Sanctuary programme. The participating schools were St. Mary’s College, Our Lady’s College, Scoil Bhríde Shantalla and Scoil Chroí Íosa.

NUI Galway’s Schools of Sanctuary programme aims to empower students to cultivate their sense of belonging within education while enhancing their knowledge of pathways into Higher Education. The programme is an important element of the NUI Galway University of Sanctuary initiative and the University’s Strategic Plan.

Is a tramline on the tracks for Galway city?

By Rachel Garvey Traffic congestion has been an ongoing problem for Galway city, and the idea of a single tramline going through the city has been touted as a potential solution to the city’s traffic woes. A recent study by Dr Michael McGettrick, from the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Applied Mathematics in NUI Galway, has found that it is more feasible to construct a one-line tram in Galway city to help solve traffic congestion than in most other urban centres. Dr McGettrick’s study was recently published in the International Journal of Public Transport, with the study showing that Galway city’s shape is close to rectangular, with the measurements stretching to 15km from East-West and North-South 5km.

Dr McGettrick believes that it is more feasible to have a tramline in Galway city than any city that is circular. One person is less likely to take a tram ride in a circular city and due to Galway’s shape, it would prove to be very efficient to construct the tram line through the centre of the rectangle,

going parallel to the longer sides for Galway East-West. In an article dating back to 2017 by Insider on Galway’s growing traffic problems, the ideology of a “Light Transit Rail” was mentioned. It is predicted by the North Western Regional Authority that the population of the North Western Region of the country is set to rise to one million over the next two decades. Concerns have been raised that a population boom of the magnitude predicted will bring an influx of new workers into the city travelling by car, which will only add to Galway’s traffic problems. Building a light rail network for electric trams is seen by many as a potential solution to the traffic crisis, however, efforts to get the plans on track have been ignored by transport authorities.

The study has argued that tram travel has three basic travel components; getting to the tram stop, traveling on the tram line itself and lastly, getting from the stop to your intended destination. Many trips, which require extensive travel to reach the tram stop itself, have been deemed “unfeasible” by the report.

The construction of a ring road around Galway City has been seen as another potential solution to the city’s traffic chaos, and an oral hearing to discuss the matter began earlier this month. NUI Galway had opposed the planned Ring Road development, as it would have seen part of the Dangan Pavilion removed, but have since dropped their opposition to the road’s development.

Dr McGettick’s work also says that calculating feasibility and infeasibility of Irish cities is simple, as they don’t have a huge variation in population density due to the lack of high-rise apartments. The research has examined the mathematical aspects of feasibility, but other aspects that haven’t been analysed may be important, including environmental, sociological, political and financial.

Recently returned Independent TD Catherine Connolly has been a big promotor of the idea of the proposed “GLUAS”. McGettick’s report has been welcomed by the GLUAS Team, which is advocacy group for the introduction of a light rail system in Galway City, similar to that of Dublin’s LUAS.

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March 03 2020

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Royal visit road closures set to cause disruption to University students

By Caoimhe Killeen Road closures in Galway city centre are expected to cause disruption for NUI Galway students commuting to college, following confirmation that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are to visit the city next month.

Images surfaced on social media of a Garda road closure notice issued to local businesses, stating that major streets such as Willamsgate Street, Williams Street, Shop Street, High Street, Mainguard Street and Abbeygate Street will be closed from 6am to 2pm on Thursday March 5th.

Their visit of the Royal couple to Ireland was confirmed on the Kensington Palace Twitter account, which stated that, “The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will undertake an official visit to Ireland between Tuesday 3rd March and Thursday 5th March”. This was followed by confirmed reports of the couple’s visit to Galway.

NUI Galway Students’ Union President Clare Austick states that the main focus of the University should be that no main buildings will be closed on campus, “It is important for the students to still have access, as we are concerned they would be locked out as with the RTÉ General Election debate.

It’s also important that the University remember

their primary concern is the students, and to keep them at the core of their decisions”, she said.

Carol Byrne, Executive Officer of the North Western Garda Press Office, states that An Garda Síochána is liaising with the Department of Foreign Affairs in relation to their Royal Highnesses’ visit in locations in both Galway and Dublin.

She states that “An Garda Síochána planning for this operation will ensure that the nature and scale of our policing and security operation is proportionate and impact minimally on normal activities.

Traffic restrictions for the visit will be kept to the minimum required. No road closures have been confirmed at this time. Gardaí have commenced liaising with business and local residents in the key locations and will continue to communicate directly with them prior to and during the visit.

Our objective is to share as much information with the public as soon as we are in a position to do so”.

SIN understands that their itinerary will include a visit to the Galway 2020 offices, as well as to Tiġ Ċóilí and Salthill-Knocknacarra GAA Club, although the exact details of the visit are yet to be revealed. The visit will be made at the request of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which is speculated to be a diplomatic visit in the wake of UK departing the European Union on January 31st.

NUI Galway Academic Awarded Royal Irish Academy Highest Honour

NUI Galway research confirms Céide Fields are an early Neolithic Settlement

By Sadhbh Hendrick

By Paddy Henry

Nicholas Canny, Professor of History Emeritus at NUI Galway, former President of the Royal Irish Academy, and founding Director of NUI Galway’s Moore Institute, has been awarded the RIA’s highest honour, the Cunningham Medal, for distinction in research and for furthering the aims of the Academy.

The medal was presented to Professor Canny at a special ceremony at the RIA. Professor of History in NUI Galway, Dr Pádraig Lenihan, spoke of the significance of Canny’s achievement, stating; “The Cunningham medal is awarded by the Royal Irish Academy every three years for ‘outstanding contributions to scholarship’ and I will speak of Nicholas’s scholarship rather than his important backroom work as President of the Royal Irish Academy, member of the Scientific Council of the European Research Council and vice President for Research here at the National University of Ireland Galway”. He continued, “Nicholas was not one of those researchers who grudged time spent teaching undergraduates. He happily lectured first years and survey modules. He was a committed and caring teacher. I know him as a colleague and as my doctoral supervisor, what the Germans call Doktorvater”.

Hugely successful in his field, Canny opened up three fresh fields of research and historical debate. A 1979 article ‘Why the Reformation Failed in Ireland: Une Question Mal Posée’ concluded, notwithstanding the title, that the Protestant Reformation did not definitively and conclusively ‘fail’ in early modern Ireland. His second book, Kingdom and Colony: Ireland in the Atlantic World, 1560–1800, summarised an argument that Ireland was treated as a place to be colonised, rather than as a kingdom to be governed, building on the earlier work of D.B.Quinn to suggest that it provided a template for English colonisation in North America.

NUI Galway’s Palaeoenvironmental Research Unit has discovered that the Céide Fields, situated on the north Mayo coast, date back to the early Neolithic Period.

The Céide Fields are one of the best-preserved ancient farming landscapes, not only in Ireland, but in Europe, thanks to the extensive growth of blanket bog that covered, and preserved these landscapes. The research has revealed that the fields may date back to the year 4,000 BC. The Neolithic period began in around 10,000 BC and is known to be the period of time in which people first began to farm.

The Céide Fields have been the subject of detailed study by archaeologists and other researchers for well over half a century. The dating of the stonewall field systems to the Neolithic period relies on evidence derived from archaeological surveys and excavations, pollen analysis, study of bog-pine timbers, i.e. bog deal, and radiocarbon dating.

The research was carried out by NUI Galway’s Professor Michael O’Connell, Dr Karen Molloy and Dr Eneda Jennings. It found that the Céide Fields were farmed more intensively than any other Neolithic farming area recorded in either Ireland or Britain. Speaking about this, Professor Michael O’Connell, Professor Emeritus at NUI Galway said: “This new research not only confirms the early Neolithic age of the field systems but also leaves no doubt as to the intensity of the initial phase of Neolithic farming in north Mayo. This started at 3800 BC and lasted for 400 years. Not only was it of long duration, but the fossil pollen data, provided by pollen analyst, Dr Karen Molloy, at NUI Galway, suggests that it was more intensive than any farming of Neolithic age so far recorded in Ireland or Britain”.

Professor Nicholas Canny was awarded the Cunningham Medal by the Royal Irish Academy at a special ceremony.

Canny’s most influential book, Making Ireland British 1580-1650, presented a major study of the colonization of Ireland. It is a product “of many years work in archives in Britain, Ireland and North America, of debates won and lost; it builds not only on his own work but on the work of others whom he has inspired, provoked and antagonized”. Canny showed great skill, innovation and judgement in deploying and comparing such a wide range of sources, both literary and documentary.

The Cunningham medal reflects great credit on him and some reflected glory on his department and the University. Professor Daniel Carey, MRIA, Director of the Moore Institute, said: “This is a major honour to one of the university’s most distinguished graduates, with an international reputation as an historian and leader in research policy and administration. His career has been an inspiration to colleagues in the humanities at NUI Galway and across the country”.

The NUI Galway research has shown that other factors, as well as a shift towards a wetter, cooler climate contributed to the way in which Neolithic farming waxed and waned at the Céide Fields.

The study revealed that other factors, such as deforestation, soil acidification, and impoverishment through prolonged use with little or no replenishment of essential nutrients, were also involved. However, abandonment of farming, in the context of a considerable population decline triggered by cultural and socio-economic factors, was probably more important than any fluctuations in climate.

The research also discusses pine growing within blanket-bog contexts, which happened frequently throughout the new stone age. This is due to the fact that many radiocarbon dates are now available from fossil pine timbers preserved by bog, not only at Céide Fields, but also elsewhere in Co. Mayo, including Erris, Garrynagran and Shanvallycahill. The new information, which relies mainly on research carried out by Dr Eneda Jennings at NUI Galway, sheds additional light on landscape development and climate change during prehistory in western Ireland.

Professor O’Connell spoke about the archaeological significance of this, stating that it puts the Céide Field’s classification as a Neolithic site being all reasonable doubt. “The substantial and multi-disciplinary body of evidence now available demonstrates, beyond all reasonable doubt, that the pre-bog field system at Céide Fields pertains to the Neolithic and indeed the earlier part of the Neolithic as known from Ireland, Britain and much of north-western Europe including Scandinavia, a view that is also shared by most archaeologists and other palaeoecologists”, he said.

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SIN Vol. 21 Issue 10

NUI Galway student takes on ‘Ultimate Hell Week’

By Paddy Henry The notion of being hauled out of a bus in the middle of nowhere, thrown into freezing water and forced to do press-ups, while an imposing drill sergeant stands above you hurling obscenities in a voice filled with gravel and distain, would, for most, be an accurate depiction of hell on earth. But for Gary Elbert, a Third Year Journalism student in NUI Galway, that notion had a certain appeal to it and signed himself up for RTÉ’s hit endurance series, Special Forces; Ultimate Hell Week.

Sitting back in a lounge chair, coffee cup in hand, Gary cut a relaxed figure. Hard-faced, and battle scarred, evidently, he has taken a few knocks in his time. Motivated by previous struggles, and a defiance of conforming to sample, he applied to the programme to test himself to the very limit, and to put the final nail in the coffin of the person he says he one was.

“To be honest with you, my primary reason for applying to ‘Hell Week’ was that I wanted to discover how resilient I was. I wanted to discover how tough I was. I wanted to really expose myself in that way and see what would happen. But, more than anything, a few years ago I was drinking very regularly, I was a heavy drinker, I was a heavy smoker.

While I was living in Galway, I felt my life was going absolutely nowhere, I just felt awful every day and I didn’t know how to treat myself but gradually I started to turn things around”.

From Gary’s perspective, his melancholy and antipathy towards life stemmed from what he sees as an endemic problem within Irish society: working class people getting stuck in a rut, “I was depressed and anxious. I felt like I was going nowhere in life. I lost my way; it can happen to anyone”, he said. “I feel like Irish society has a lot of traps, especially for working class men like myself, and I have fallen into a lot of those traps. I was a promising student in school, but I completely lost my way, so that was the person I became, almost inadvertently, without even realising it, and years then go by and you think, ‘What am I doing with my life?’

Trying to turn the tide, Gary took up kickboxing in 2013. It was the catalyst that set his life on an entirely different course. A path that, before, he would have deemed impassable. He credits his brother for sparking this change in him. “My

brother started training in Brazilian Jiu jitsu in Kildare and that was the trigger for me to start training. I was a boxing encyclopaedia, but growing up in Tipperary, I had no outlet”, he told SIN. Stepping into a kickboxing gym for the very first time was an “eye opener” for Gary. He had expected savagery and wildness, what he got was encouragement and support, crediting Pete Foley from Black Dragon Kickboxing for seeing potential in him when nobody else did. “Pete saw the potential in me and started giving me fights, I fought in a few places. But more than anything, kickboxing removed a latent anger that I’ve always had. It gave me a nice outlet where I could unleash”, he remembers.

Looking back on his maiden encounters with Gary, Pete recalls being struck by his “indomitable spirit”. He reminisces, “Gary came into me white collar boxing, but he quickly became a K1 fighter and fought in an All-Ireland title fight. He was dropped in the first round, but he got up and won the last three rounds. It ended up as a draw, but it won fight of the year. That just sums up Gary, he is just pure dogged, as the saying goes, it isn’t about the dog in the fight, it’s about the fight in the dog”.

Buoyed by the confidence kickboxing gave him, Gary took another leap into the unknown.

In 2015, he enrolled in an NUI Galway access course, quenching a thirst for education, which stemmed back to his childhood. The Roscrea exile took great satisfaction from the validation University gave him. Without it, he claims he wouldn’t have taken the plunge into Ultimate Hell Week in the first place, “When I did the access course in 2015, I started to realise that there was more potential there. It made me realise that what I had to say and what I had to offer in University was valid, it was interesting, things just kind of fed off each other, you know, and as college started to improve to set myself higher challenges and higher goals and that’s what led me on to Hell Week”, he said.

“Four or five years ago I would have seen the advertisement for Hell Week and gone; ‘That’s not for me, I can’t do that. I’m not good enough’. I would have just put myself down. But when I look at it now, college gave me confidence, kickboxing and martial arts gave me confidence and they fed off each other to the point where I ended up going on the show”, added Gary.

Talking about the show itself, the kickboxing scholar described the escapade as a “psychological and physiological assault”. He spoke about the unrelenting nature of the challenges he faced on the show. “There’s no break. We met up at the Citywest Hotel and got on a bus, the next thing we know, we’re up in the Wicklow mountains. The bus stopped in the middle of a little lane, we were pulled off the bus, screaming and shouting, lying face down in a steam doing press ups in freezing cold water. That was the start of it and there was no let-up, it was just constant”. He continued, “The first night, we had 45 minutes sleep, then we were pulled out of the bed. They changed the clocks wherever we went, we were suffering from sleep deprivation while doing extreme endurance events.

It was constant psychological abuse. Think of it as

your worst nightmare that just goes on for a week nonstop”, he said with a sense of pride in undertaking such a Herculean feat of endurance.

Giving his assessment of his experiences on the show, he spoke about how his involvement on ‘Hell Week’ made him realise that he had more in him, “I learned more about myself down there than I did in the last five years. I learned that there’s more in me”. He added, “You learn more about yourself in the bad times than you do in the good times. For a lot of people on Hell Week, they had seen the darkness. Their resilience had been tested before in life and they wanted to calibrate their resilience again and they wanted to see how resilient they were, and this was the ultimate test.”

Watch Special Forces: Ultimate Hell Week on Mondaya at 9.35 pm on RTÉ 2.

NUI Galway study shows scale of unmet service needs for families of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

By Paddy Henry An NUI Galway study has found a staggering proportion of children and adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have unmet service needs.

The study, which was undertaken by health economists in the University, and was the first international study to examine the predictors of unmet service needs and debt while controlling for predisposing, enabling and need factors, revealed that services provided to people living with ASD were not adequate in 74% percent of cases.

Service needs were said to include access to occupational therapy, social skills training and access to speech and language therapy.

The report found that the unmet needs for social skills training were reported for 46% of 2-4 year olds, 47% of children aged 5-12 years and 61% of adolescents aged 13-18 years, Parental

reports of unmet needs for occupational therapy for children showed 79% of children aged 2-4 years, 69% of children aged 5-12 years and 59% of adolescents aged 13-18 years had unmet service needs for occupational therapy in the previous 12 months. It highlighted that 88% of children aged 2-4 years had an unmet need for speech and language therapy, with 57% of children aged 5-12 years and 48% of adolescents aged 13-18 years also having an unmet need for speech and language therapy.

It is hoped that the study will help shape policy ahead of the launch of Ireland’s forthcoming National Autism Strategy.

The findings from the study, based on a national survey on the economics of Autism Spectrum Disorder in Ireland among 195 families, with 222 children aged between 2 to 18 years of age in 2014/2015, show the financial impact ASD has on families, as well as the strain on services.

It found that 33% of families incurred debt in the previous 12 months specifically due to the child or children’s condition resulting in an average ASD related family debt of €3,260 per year. It also revealed that families that had two or more children with an ASD were significantly more likely to experience unmet service needs, while families that had two or more children living with the condition were also significantly more likely to incur debt in the previous 12 months specifically due to the child’s condition. Áine Roddy, the study’s lead author, said that the study highlighted the scale of the work required in bringing the quality of services for children living with ASD up to standard, stating; ”The publication of this study provides timely evidence on the magnitude of unmet service needs and the susceptibility to future unmet needs experienced by children and adolescents who are autistic in Ireland. The financial and

quality of life implications of not addressing the needs of autistic people with appropriate services and supports are profound. Policymakers need to understand that we need to spend in order to save, as research shows that autism is the most expensive condition internationally due to the substantial economic burden on State expenditure for adult assisted care provisions, institutional care costs and high unemployment rates (80%) among autistic adults”.

Last April, a motion put before Dáil members in Ireland to set up a Parliamentary Committee on Autism and publish a National Autism Empowerment Strategy received unanimous political support. Roddy argued that a national strategy on autism is “long overdue”, stating, “Ireland is still awaiting the delivery of an overdue National Autism Strategy which requires a framework that draws from evidence-based research in partnership with the autistic community”.

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March 03 2020

NUI Galway hosts Citizens’ Dialogue about future of Europe with Vice President of The European Commission

By Harry King On the 20th of February, NUI Galway hosted a Citizens’ Dialogue on the future of the Europe, centred around Galway’s position at the heart of Europe.

The panel was made up of Dubravka Suica, Vice President of the European Commission, Noelle O Connell, who is executive of the European Movement in Ireland and Maria Walsh, the newly elected MEP for the Midlands-North-West constituency in the European Parliament.

In a full capacity at the Aula Maxima theatre, Noelle O Connell gave a short speech in which she spoke about the European Movement in Ireland, the longest running established Irish organization for dealing with EU affairs. She spoke about the importance of debate and dialogue among all citizens in the EU in a time where discourse is becoming more and more polarised. She also referenced the strong undercurrent for the EU in Ireland. To end her speech, she paraphrased the French writer Joseph Joubert when she said; “The aim of argument, or of discussion should not be victory, but progress”.

After her, Dubravka Šuica addressed the audience.

She began by thanking everyone for receiving her so kindly and began to discuss why she was there. She explained more about her role and position as Vice President for the European Commission for Democracy and Demography. Firstly, she talked about how there has been a change in demographic in populations across Europe, especially in the eastern part, and that the people who feel left behind by those who are representing them are beginning to blame democracy. It is now a strategic agenda of the Commission to try and bridge the gap between politicians and citizens through Citizens’ Dialogue meetings across Europe. She emphasised that she wanted these discussions to be open, transparent and inclusive. The Commission hopes to talk to citizens and provide feedback to them thereafter. She considered the current landscape in Europe and how “Politics is not business as usual anymore. A civil society is of utmost importance”, and she also remarked that “Trying to figure out where the key areas of dissatisfaction among communities are is vital”.

Specific challenges she mentioned included how life expectancy has increased and how this change could impact upon the pension age. She talked about it as an opportunity, rather than an obstacle to overcome. The Commission are also working to improve portfolios surrounding work/ life balance, freedom of movement and living standards in general. She concluded by speaking about the importance of working together and explained that the Commission doesn’t want to interfere with individual member states political agendas, but rather to provide a toolbox for member states to face the challenges previously mentioned.

Next to take the podium was Maria Walsh MEP. A big part of her role within her remit in the European Parliament is helping people understand what she calls “life beyond the M50” and the importance of showcasing the west of Ireland as a great place to live and do business. She described the EU as a union where small states are protected and praised the solidarity Ireland was shown thus far in the Brexit process. She pointed out that Galway 2020 is great for the region but is very small in the broader context on what we have given and got from the EU over the years, and how the Union gives us a framework to share things that were unimaginable a generation

ago. She discussed the importance of embracing the current challenges at this critical time in politics. On closing, she mentioned her delight that the panel was all female and encouraged positivity and engagement.

After this, it was time for the audience to engage.

An online question forum was introduced, and instant results were projected on the screen so everyone could see. To begin, a poll was made available to the audience to vote on how well they felt represented by the EU. To the delight of the panel, only 14 percent voted negatively.

The largest number of votes suggested between a 40%60% satisfaction rate with their representation. The Vice President was very pleased and said she couldn’t ask for much better. Maria Walsh also echoed her sentiments but was interested in engaging with the fourteen percent.

A range of topics were then brought up by the audience, including the need to engage rural communities with activities in Brussels, reassurance of solidarity, backing the competency of European Commissioner for Trade, Phil Hogan, economic growth, uncertainties around Brexit and lack of funding complemented by a need for a more welcoming work environment for the LGBTQ+ community.

SIN asked about the Brexit transition period in light of the recent election, where, according to the RTÉ exit poll, just 1% of people surveyed said Brexit was taken into account when deciding who to vote for. Referencing this poll, SIN asked if we should be watching the trade negotiations with more intent considering their possible ramifications on every aspect of Irish life. Dubravka Šuica declined to comment concretely and explained that the Commission doesn’t want to interfere with individual member states agendas, but rather listen to citizens and try and figure out solutions. She also mentioned that across member states, there are different worries in every country. She did, however, comment earlier in the evening that the transition period, which concludes at the end of the year, is possibly too short.

Maria Walsh addressed its importance and said that the 1% was hard to understand, particularly from a business point of view. She also commented that regardless of the make-up of the next government, that they agree to move forward and with purpose.

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101.3 Flirt FM - New Radio Shows and Streams for Semester 2!

By Paula Healy Flirt FM’s new schedule for semester two has been filled, as always, with variety, diversity and character. The FM licenced community station right here on campus, now approaching its twenty fifth year on air has something for everyone, especially those bored with the constraints and repetitiveness of talk and advert filled commercial radio.

We have a lot exciting of new additions to our line up - We have Irish language chats with Bagún & Cabáiste hosted by Tess & Andrea on Thursdays at 1pm, the gloriously named Wholesome Homo Corner with Nessie & Gráinne (pictured) coming to you on Tuesdays at 11am. Since September we’ve revamped the breakfast line up the latest additions being the Flirty Feminists on Tuesday; Amy, Maeve and Eimer, Wednesday’s Coffee Cats; Patrick and Palesa and Harry joins Dan on the Thursday Lie-in.

Our international game is stronger than ever welcoming True Americans Sydney & Katherine at 11pm Tuesday. From South Africa we welcome the calming sound of Leo who has just begun his Love Without Judgement show 11am on Fridays. One of our big undertakings was expanding Flirt FM Saturday broadcasting over the past few years, giving us a wider scope and making us the most active student radio station in Ireland. Tom Murphy explores routes to education through interviews on Access Stories at 2pm while Shomari and Lyndan now are bringing you SNL (geddit!?!?) on Saturday at 7! Seun’s

Nightdrive has moved to Saturdays at 9pm too.

These are just our new additions though! Wednesdays sees High Key host Chinwa and as many people as she can fit in a studio bringing you right up to early lunch through an African/Irish lens. Stalwart Laoiseach slowly is becoming the queen of Thursday evenings with Alphabet Scoop, a thematic free flowing show making its way through the eh, alphabet with co-hosts Hannah & Paul. Psychedelic Wasteland with the sultry voiced Kevin ‘Hyperspace’ Hanley fills the need for deep space exploration on Mondays at midday and between then and Felipé’s welcoming trip into the world of global science at 4pm on Friday there is little left to cover on daytime Flirt FM. Across the evenings you’ll find Metal \m/ Monday nights, alternative, leftfield and indie through Tuesday and Wednesday and more Electronic and Dance themed shows as we move toward the weekend, with RRRadio Brasil are now on 11pm on Friday - Our sports coverage focuses on the weekend, Seo Spóirt, the Irish Language sports show on Friday at 1pm and then two episodes of the Weekend Kickoff with Dave Finn and the crew tog out on Friday at 3pm.

If you don’t walk around with a large radio on your shoulder (though I recommend this) all day then you can stream everything from our website where you’ll find regular competitions, city listings all the details you need to get involved with the station and the other 50+ show’s that I couldn’t fit into this article.

Connecting Ireland’s student cities and towns

Clifden

Dublin Airport

Galway

Dublin

Limerick

Cork Cork Airport

Book online at www.citylink.ie or call 091 564164

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SIN Vol. 21 Issue 10

Homophobia still rife in the new decade

By Shauna Mc Hugh Irish society in 2020 could be argued to be fairly diverse. We said yes to gay marriage, which became legal in the Republic of Ireland in November 2015, and was also legalised in Northern Ireland this January. We repealed the eighth amendment in May 2018, giving women in Ireland more bodily autonomy than ever before. With each passing generation, this University, the wider scale of Galway, and indeed Ireland as a whole, has become more welcoming,

pond in Britain, but we often don’t recognise these issues as being equally prevalent here. Many of us laugh at, or even pity the idea of ‘Making America Great Again’ or keeping Britain exclusively for the British, but sadly our own nation is far from perfect.

No reminder of this is quite as harrowing as the recent attack on Gavin McCrea, a revered Irish writer who identifies as homosexual. Just weeks ago, he was physically assaulted in Dublin for daring to be “a faggot”. The most disturbing part of this incident is that it did not surprise Gavin in the slightest. After years on

that can happen to me on a Dublin street that has not already happened. There’s no abuse I haven’t heard.

No punch or kick I haven’t felt. Knives, syringes, bottles, torn cans: they’ve all been brandished at me, and were I to see them brandished again, it would simply be the old tape replayed. Unpleasant but not novel. A fright, yes, but one that, by now, is a bit jaded…Getting murdered: only that would be new for me.”

The attack, which took place on February 1st, was carried out by six teenage boys. Gavin escaped with a broken nose and fractured cheekbone. Gardaí are

‘Call It Out’ is the 2020 nationwide campaign to highlight and address the harm caused by homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in Ireland.

Their research has found that 1 in 3 members Irish LGBTI people have been threatened with physical violence, while 1 in 5 have been punched, hit or physically assaulted for being a member of the queer community. with people of all nationalities making the Emerald Isle their chosen home. We see the accusations of misogyny and ableism that have plagued Trump’s presidency in the States, or the racist attitudes that have become associated with Brexiteers across the

the receiving end of homophobic abuse, McCrea had resigned himself to the fact that being gay in Ireland made him a target for such attacks. In his own piece for The Irish Times in the aftermath of the assault, Gavin wrote; “I’m not afraid, I believe, because there’s little

investigating the assault as a hate crime, after homophobic insults from his attackers made their motives behind the violence all too clear. Despite the brutal nature of the assault, McCrea has depicted it as par for the course as a gay man in Ireland.

Homophobic abuse is what first caused Gavin to leave Ireland in his early twenties, before returning to become the University of Limerick’s most recent writer in residence. As The Irish Times reports, the author had previously spent almost two decades living in Spain, and so coverage of his assault in the Spanish media has been extensive, and has provided a damning view of how Ireland treats its LGBTQ+ community. It was a sad reflection of what little effect our reforms have had, as Spanish news outlets read “Attacked for being homosexual in the EU in the 21st century” and “A writer beaten up for his sexual orientation in Dublin is a reminder that legislative advances do not dissipate centuries of intolerance”.

It is hard to deny the hard truths behind these international headlines, when equally disheartening reports are coming to light closer to home. ‘Call It Out’ is the 2020 nationwide campaign to highlight and address the harm caused by homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in Ireland. Their research has found that 1 in 3 members Irish LGBTI people have been threatened with physical violence, while 1 in 5 have been punched, hit or physically assaulted for being a member of the queer community. It’s important to celebrate the progress we’ve made, and we shouldn’t discredit Ireland’s recent reforms. For the Gavins and the nameless victims of these statistics, however, we must endeavour to enforce the changes that Ireland has voted for.

First Year Diary

Final Year Diary

By Aoife Burke

By Sadhbh Hendrick

Hi there, everybody!

Can you believe we have only 6 weeks left of college?! It seems a lifetime ago that we were being shown around the college. I type this very gingerly as I had an accident last Wednesday and I slipped on the ice. I ended up in A&E and although nothing is broken, my left arm is very sore and weak. My elbow has swollen up, meaning I can’t open doors with my left hand or carry trays of food, so I have been living off salads since returning to college yesterday. I can use my arm for a while but then it gets tired. So, I am going for another x-ray in a week. On the plus side, I didn’t have to clean the house this month as I had a sore arm! I’m glad I got a lot of my assignments done before I had my accident, so I am just preparing to do lots of reading. I

have another essay due at the end of week 12 which I am going to tapping away at. It’s about the regulation of social media in Ireland and needs to be 2,000 words.

I’m starting to look forward to the exams, as I have been making flashcards for my law exam and also starting to cross reference for the English exam. We have to compare two plays in the exam so I will probably compare The Suppliants with Juno and the Paycock. They are moving through the material at breakneck speed so I’m constantly on my toes. I’m enjoying learning about how radio works and still occasionally help out with presenting Trivia Matters with Brian Currie, Fridays from 2-3. I have a strategy for carrying my laptop across campus as I can carry light objects in my left hand. I will need to wait at least another week until I can carry anything heavier in my left hand.

Besides all that, this is the third last issue of SIN! I don’t think I will attend the “Smedias”, but good luck to all nominated. I think it’s a fantastic team working on SIN. Best of luck also to all fourth-year journalism students. It’s the final countdown. I’m still sure I want to do an English degree, although I equally love law and I think the law department here is fantastic. I hear rumours that we will get to study Shakespeare next year and I am really looking forward to that!

I decided to send the first chapter of my book to a publisher in London and it is currently before a board of editors who will decide whether to ask for the rest of the book. I will know in a couple of weeks if it’s accepted. It’s only 15 pages and if it’s rejected, I can always self-publish on Amazon. Guess what I will be working on for my summer holidays?

I feel guilty that I have missed a few English lectures but I know I will be okay in making up for them. Now I must go back to studying! See you around!

Aoife X

Dear Diary, Woahhhh, we’re halfway there, woaahhh, living on a prayer.

Alas, we have hit the halfway mark. Yay. Ha ha.

There are few things that provide as little comfort in college as the proclamation of what week it is.

Week 6, great. Only 6 weeks of lectures left, sure, but also only 6 weeks until the NUIG exam papers website gets hit with more traffic than the M50. Is that something really worth rejoicing? I think not.

Perhaps it is with a slight hint of desperation/realisation that I am so willing the slow movement of these last few weeks. As that villainous ‘real world’ guy gets closer and closer, suddenly a 9am double in IT125 seems a little more bearable. Just about.

Since I do enjoy a half board residency within the walls of the James Hardiman, I feel entitled to broach the following topic; snacking in the library.

Firstly, let it be known that snacking of any form in this book laden building is actually forbidden but since few of us students seem to abide by that, please let us commence a discussion on library snacking etiquette. Before we begin, despite what you may be inclined to believe after considering my snack proposals, I do in fact not suffer with misophona. Which, according to WebMD (totally reliable, trust me), is a disorder in which certain sounds trigger emotional or physiological responses that some might perceive as unreasonable given the circumstance. Let the games begin. To begin, we examine all hydration methods; tea, White Monster, coffee, White Monster, hot chocolate, White Monster and oh yeah, water. Whatever floats your boat is acceptable in this department.

Hydration is, in fact, key. One exception to this rule is downing some Cully & Sully from your Thermo Flask at 11am, yeah nasty. On a secondary note, a quick mention of the water filters. It’s great that we have gone all #SaveTheSeaTurtles with our hydroflasks, however, the queue for the filter is often unacceptably long. As lovely as it may seem to go and fill up every single person’s bottle at your desk, the resulting

queue is practically a fire and safety hazard. You’re doing more harm than good as the man says. On to snacking of the edible sort.

An assortment of nibbles, if you will. Can we all please accept that munching away on crunchy/ crumbly/odour emitting foods is just. not. okay. Yes, that does include, and is not restricted to; apples, chilli nuts, crisps or entire packets of rice cakes (controversial). Don’t get me wrong (or hunt me down), I am not impartial to any of the above mentioned snacks in the appropriate environment. My studious little eardrums absolutely do not appreciate a symphony of apple crunches or rice cake nibbling, though. Pretty certain I’m not alone in this one either, jus’ sayin’.

By the time this entry is published, the finale of Love Island will have been and gone. I don’t really fancy making predictions but know this, not having an excuse to shut myself off from socialising from 9pm onwards won’t be appreciated, if I’m honestttt.

So, let the days get longer and the Sparch weather get closer. Enjoy the quickly passing remaining weeks loyal SIN readers.

GRMA, Sadhbh x

N UAC HT

March 03 2020

RENT HIKES: who can actually afford them?

By Tara Trevaskis Hoskin It has been announced that the price of the University’s on-campus accommodation will be raised by 4% in the next year. This is the highest rate the company can increase prices by due to the rent pressure zone, and will make a single room cost €750 per month. This has sparked outrage among many already struggling students. Clare Austick, President of the Students’ Union here, has called the

a growing university and students need a place to live but there are limited places and the demand is high. He goes on to say that by increasing the price of rent, “everyone’s standard of living goes down, as they have to spend more money on rent, it leaves everybody with less money for living expenses”.

This puts pressure on students like James, who have to work as well as study in order to keep up with living expenses and rent. This puts certain students at an unfair disadvan-

Around the country, students are organising protests and campaigning against these rent increases in the midst of a housing crisis. increase “another barrier to access to education for students”. DCU and UCD have also announced plans to increase rent for their student accommodation this week.

Around the country, students are organising protests and campaigning against these increases in the midst of a housing crisis. I spoke to three NUI Galway students to hear their opinions on the rent hike.

James is a 20-year-old student from Cork, who works part-time on the weekend in order to help afford his rent. He believes the company (Atalia Student Residences), who control both Corrib Village and Goldcrest, are “selfish” to increase the price. “The demand is there, so they know they can keep increasing it”, he states. He is right. NUI Galway is

tage, as they have to devote more and more time to work in order to afford the rising living expenses.

Anna from Wicklow believes the rent increase “will affect everyone, even the people who can afford the rent increase, as it will still affect their standard of living”. She agrees that it is a barrier to education and, for some, makes the prospect of third level education simply inaccessible. “If you can’t pay your rent, you can’t go to college, which prevents people from getting a better job in the future and paying their rent then”. By locking people out of university with enormous rents, it leads to a vicious cycle of people not only struggling as students, but in later life, as job opportunities are limited without a

third level degree. There is also a fear that by on-campus accommodation increasing rents, “it makes it the norm for a rise in prices in student accommodations elsewhere”. Anna says that this is a real worry for all students.

Lile is an international student from London who moved to Galway to attend NUI Galway this year. She was shocked at the state of the housing crisis. “It’s as hard to get accommodation in London as it is here, apart from on campus accommodation, which is actually easier to get in London”. All of Lile’s friends who attend university in London live in on-campus accommodation that is provided by the university. She believed the rent was able to be increased here as “students are desperate to find accommodation”. The privatisation of on-campus accommodation has led to “the University putting a private company’s interests before its students’”, in Lile’s opinion.

James, Anna and Lile all mentioned that better legislation is needed for protecting students in rent pressure zones. Anna believed that “a set price that both students and landlords could agree on” would alleviate the burden of rising costs every three years. Lile suggested that “rents should be relative to the economy rather than changing every three years regardless”, and that the University has a duty to ensure “students come before private companies”. It is clear that even in a rent pressure zone, problems still arise with increasing rents and this puts an undeniable pressure on students of all backgrounds.

Separating Art from Artist

By Ellen Kissane Graham Linehan, the co-creator of much beloved Irish sitcom Father Ted, has recently come under fire for his comments comparing trans medical treatments to Nazi experiments. These voiced opinions, having been condemned for being both transphobic and for trivialising the Holocaust, strike a wholly different tone to that of the light-hearted, priest-oriented comedy show. Yet, both emerged from the same source of imagination and will be tied together in public perception from this point forward. Linehan is far from being alone in stirring up publicity for reasons unrelated to his work, and so it begs the question: how do we reconcile the problematic views of public figures with their works which we know and love?

Social media and the age of the internet have brought an additional element to being a celebrity creator. Artists and entertainers are no longer known primarily through their bodies of work but now can choose to share their day-by-day thoughts with the world, including opinions that may be unpopular or controversial. Ugly, forgotten tweets from years past are often the downfall of the newly famous as they will inevitably be found and hauled back up to the present. This has been enough to end careers, such as comedian Roseanne Barr’s television show being

cancelled after a slew of racist outbursts she released over social media. Other artists with problematic views, such as Kanye West’s offensive tweets on slavery, have escaped harsh punishment.

If we are to look back in history, we see that any problematic personal views of artists would not have warranted the same public response as they do today. In medieval times, the work of an artist was regarded in the same way as any other trade, with the artist no more than an anonymous craftsman.

By viewing a work of art as a commodity, as this early perception denotes, it is possible to reconcile any uncomfortable feelings towards the artist with the view that their product can be enjoyed as a product of labour unconnected to its creator. The baroque painter Caravaggio, for example, despite his inclination towards crime and violence during his life, saw his career suffer only after committing possible murder. However, the tendency of more recent human history to elevate the artist on a pedestal makes this ability to disassociate the work from the person extremely difficult.

The very compulsion to reconcile problematic views of the artist with their work suggests the constant struggle we have with the realisation that good art isn’t always made by good people – an essential unfairness that throws off our sense of how to

handle the disparity between notions of morality and talent. Perhaps this unease is an improved monitoring of who we choose to elevate in our culture. It could be argued that social media has slightly removed the reverence with which artists have been held until now and have made them available to be criticised more freely than was possible in the past. The #MeToo movement is indicative of this and the reassessment of the extremely problematic behaviour, and not just views, of creators that went under-criticised in times past, such as Roman Polanski and Woody Allen.

Whether we can reconcile an artist from their problems depends on how willing we are to separate the individual from their work. This perspective acknowledges that the role of art is not to act as a moral compass but to recognise the flaws of the human experience as well. When one considers the sad and alienated lyrics of the music of The Smiths, it is not difficult to imagine how Morrissey’s anti-immigration views developed from these emotions, even if they are not an excuse for them.

However, perhaps the internal struggle that the public undergo to reconcile these two elements of a public creative figure indicates a positive development in raising the standard of what we expect of an artist’s role.

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CREATIVE PASTIMES: What to do when the electricity runs out

By Aoife Burke After Storm Dennis recently caused power cuts that left many of us twiddling our thumbs and dying of boredom in the dark, SIN is making sure that you’re prepared for the next bad storm. With more gloomy weather forecasts ahead, or if you’re just bad at paying the electricity bills, it’s never too early to start planning for the next power cut! Our resident columnist Aoife Burke has compiled a list of the best electricityfree activities to get you through the next storm.

It’s officially storm season! So it’s the middle of the night and you hear a roll of thunder. Bang! The electricity goes.

So what can you do if this happens? The most important thing is to be prepared. I have battery candles in case the lights go out. You can also use the torch on your phone.

I would recommend buying a portable charger in case your phone battery runs low. So what can you do with little light and no electricity?

1. KNITTING: Knitting is a fantastic pastime. It’s so easy to learn and you can knit yourself a scarf while the storm thunders on outside. I am currently knitting myself a beige scarf, as beige goes with everything.

2. BOARD GAMES: Again, by the light of battery candles, you can play everything from Monopoly to Scrabble with family and friends.

3. CARDS: Snap is a favourite game of mine and so is “Jim Rummey” ... Maybe even poker!

4. READING: If you have sufficient emergency light, how fun would it be to read ghost stories! Then again, maybe you won’t sleep...

5. LISTEN TO RADIO: If your phone is still working, you can listen to music or the news.

6. RAID THE FRIDGE: Before all the food and milk goes off. You can probably eat everyone’s food as there’s no way you can tell which belongs to who.

7. CALL SOMEONE: If the phone lines still work, you should check on neighbours. Also have a natter.

Chances are they are going through what you are and have nothing else to do except talk.

8. PLAY WITH LEGO: You are never too old for Lego.

Always fun!

9. USE UP THE LAST OF YOUR COMPUTER BATTERY: Hopefully there’s internet 10. FIND SOME PLAY DOUGH: I’m sure the young ones won’t mind sharing.

11. PLAY HIDE AND SEEK IN THE DARK: You can spend endless hours with your housemates/young family members trying to find each other 12. CHARADES: by candlelight. A great chance to spend time together.

13. HEAT UP ALCOHOL OVER THE FIRE: Make some hot whiskeys for everyone!

If all else fails, you need tea lights and a torch. Try reading a magazine by candle light while eating that bar of chocolate you have been saving for a special occasion. Raid the freezer for ice cream and share it out. You never know when the power is coming back, so make the most of it!

20 N E WS & F E AT U R ES

SIN Vol. 21 Issue 10

Mature Student Column

By Jody Moylan One of my earliest memories is of sitting in the back seat of my father’s Talbot Alpine as he drove down the runway at Knock airport. It must have been 1984, and the last leg in the construction of ‘Ireland West’. I can almost whittle it down to a Sunday; the day we’d visit our relatives in Mayo, and a day when all building workers would have clocked off work. If not exactly the work of God, it was, at least, a project that had

been summoned and delivered by one of His earthly disciples, Monsignor James Horan. It might seem strange to think that access was so open back then, to such a site as an airport build, but really that Ireland of my early youth is a long time ago now, even if I don’t like to admit it.

I began to think about the 1980s this week, after I re-watched the brilliant documentary series Seven Ages; a must for anyone interested in the Irish twentieth century since the foundation of the state in 1922. The ‘80s was truly a twilight period, existing at the end of an old world, and while popular culture, for example, was looking forward with a refreshingly light air, many aspects of the decade were truly looking back. It’s hard to believe that the airport in Knock was originally founded not on the idea of helping westerly emigrants with their forlorn commute to all the cities of England, but on bringing foreign tourists to the shrine of its titular town. Coming 100 years after the apparitions of — to give them their dues — Our Lady the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, Saint John the Evangelist, Jesus Christ (in the form of the Lamb of God) and some angels, the green light given by the then-Taoiseach Charles Haughey was an apt example of a long marriage of devotion with a wilful ignorance to the pressing issues of the day; a country about to drop

into a deep recession being one of them. And even though it’s hazy now, I still remember that about the 1980s; the distinct feeling of being ‘under’ something greater, of a kind of authority still presiding, of the normal person just having to accept their lot.

In something of an irony that Karl Marx would have appreciated — he had great ideas on what, exactly, religion was — one of the biggest scandals of the 1980s revolved around a young teenage girl who sought solace by a grotto of the Virgin Mary, while her all-destructive guilt was founded on the moral message of her church.

The case of Anne Lovett happened around the same winter months of 1983-84 as the Kerry babies scandal; a tale of a washed up infant in Cahersiveen that reads like a nineteenth century work of fiction based around God, sin, and moral authority. Ireland in the 1980s, as the Irish Examiner recently put it, ‘was a place where a Catholic version of Sharia law prevailed’. This kind of ‘code for living’ was truly at its height in the decade where, really, true Christianity had itself been asphyxiated in the ‘hypocrisy of unchristian Irish Catholicism’. This extended itself to the ban on divorce (upheld after the ‘no’ referendum of 1986), tight restrictions on contraception, and a continuing ban on samesex relationships. The truth is that all of that

goofy nostalgia for the decade is based off the pop culture people saw on their TVs, and heard on their radios. I still remember watching The A-Team on Saturday afternoons, or trying to catch a glimpse of Magnum P.I. before I was sent to bed. While Gay Byrne’s Late Late Show had a very definite golden age during the 1980s so too did American drama, with Dynasty, Falcon Crest and Dallas all big hits with anyone who yearned for a glimpse of the high life (which was practically everyone in that recession and emigration hit era). But, like the story of the road leading out of the one-horse town, great hope and optimism emerged too through Irish sport, and the arts. I thought of this a few nights ago while out with a friend, when Johnny Logan came on, booming out ‘Hold Me Now’ through the sound system. We were reminded that it was this that won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1987, the same year that Stephen Roche won the Tour de France. Though both competitions have since descended into farce in their own distinct ways, back then, they were the only shows in town, or at least some of the only shows we could watch on our very limited television schedules.

And really, they were some of my fondest early memories, like rallying down the runway at Knock airport. All a long time ago now. Even if I don’t like to admit it.

To Simpler Times #NUIGSU20

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When confronted with the phrase ‘my earliest memory’, what initially springs to mind? Were you five? Or four? Or are you lucky enough to remember being just three years old?

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into their room before 8 a.m. on a weekend morning, but not my mum. She often jokes that she would only stick certain programmes on because she immensely enjoyed them herself! Between Scooby Doo, The Teletubbies, Blue Peter and, of course, the wonderful Recess, Mum could see the beauty in all of them, an

I can still see the BFG’s Sophie spiraling through some kind of nineties-esque, kaleidoscopic vortex on our crackly, eight-inch T.V., the box longer than the screen, and remember loving every moment of it.



An rachaidh tú san iomaíocht?

OIFIGEACH PÁIRT-AIMSEARTHA

By Maeve Winters

I fear that many of us living the hectic NUI Galway life think only seldomly of our earliest memories, if at all. Between exams, weekend jobs, nights out, the struggle of maintaining contact with schoolfriends who’ve moved away (or stayed home, depending on the individual) and the even bigger struggle of paying the extortionate rent to which many of us are obliged, it’s pretty easy to forget about everything except the present. Save, of course, for those omnipresent flurries of fear relating to the big, universal unknown commonly referred to as ‘the future’. But... what about the past? The only state of time that’s constantly had all of our backs, and carried us into becoming where, and who we are now?

Generation Z is often stereotyped as being ‘the first generation not to recall a time before the internet’. While I can’t speak for any other members of this generation, I can nonetheless disprove this statement, by using myself as an example. Casting my mind back to c. 2005, I remember snuggling up under a warm double duvet with my mum and my little brother. I was around five at the time. This seemed to happen every rainy Saturday morning, and in the absence of the internet, we would watch cartoons (with the occasional Roald Dahl adaptation or Bob Ross episode thrown in) for hours at a time. Anyone else would probably have been driven demented by two children barely past the toddling stage bursting

ideal which I’ve always strived to achieve. I can still see the BFG’s Sophie spiraling through some kind of nineties-esque, kaleidoscopic vortex on our crackly, eight-inch T.V., the box longer than the screen, and remember loving every moment of it.

My world back then seemed so small and safe. I remember making baking-soda-and-vinegar volcanos on the huge rock left untouched by the builders in our back garden, baking tray upon tray of homemade fudge and sometimes playdoh, meandering down our little bo’reen to pet next door’s newest baby donkey, spending endless hours whacking a tennis ball against the wall on a sunny day (my dad, being the clever man that he is, left the wall at the gable end of the house free from any downstairs windows when he designed our home, for this very purpose). I know that my childhood experiences are probably unique and sure, it’s possible that not everybody in our midst remembers a time before the internet, but whatever your earliest memories are, I’d like to invite you to look back on them every now and then, especially when the present’s getting you down. To ground yourself with carefree memories of a time before assignments, emergency tax, puberty, and maybe even before school. Look back at your favourite childhood cartoon, or even try belting a ball against a wall (trust me, it’s more fun than it sounds!). Because no matter how awful today seems, all it may take is a hosepipe in the sun to return to that freedom once more.

N UAC HT

March 03 2020

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THE GRAZER APP: to help or hinder tensions towards veganism

By Alice O’Donnell Have you heard of Grazer? No, me neither.

However, Grazer, launched in March 2017, is promising to become a very popular buzzword within conversations in the next few months.

Grazer is a self-described “dating & friends” app.

However, there’s a catch. Grazer is open only to those with a vegan-based lifestyle, with its tagline reading ‘The Plant-Based Network’. Despite a slow start, Grazier was rebranded and repurposed at the beginning of this year and has gone from strength to strength in the last two months.

Creator Lewis Foster told the Metro earlier this month that the goal of the app was “to be a connector that catalyses action to spread veganism

further into the mainstream”, continuing to state his belief that the only way for veganism to truly become universally popular is for vegans to start meeting up and socialising. However, it must be asked, in what manner is veganism being pushed into the mainstream world by this app? While it is undoubtedly a fantastic way to meet other vegans, with the first line of its app description reading ‘Grazer isn’t for everyone’, surely there is also danger of further alienating the general public from the vegan lifestyle?

Veganism, despite being an extremely valid lifestyle choice, has faced a huge amount of criticism and ridicule from the general public since its first flicker of modern popularity in 1960s America. No other food diets, such as those of a vegetarian or

It’s time to be kind

By Rachel Garvey Cyber-bullying. We hear about it often enough with celebrities, but when do we ever hear about it in our own normal world? We see celebrities being targeted online, their clothes being criticised or their love life being exposed when it was supposed to be a secret. These are headlines we are constantly scrolling across on all social media platforms, but we read them and forget about them afterwards.

That’s the sad reality of today’s world; to us, it’s just another headline, another tragic story, but

have come across as friendly humour for individuals, but for the teacher in question it could have made a big impact on their life. People can so easily hide behind a screen and think that their actions have no consequences, and that is a dangerous false statement. The website ask.fm, for example, has been linked to teen suicides, one of which was a 15-year old from Carrick on Shannon, Co. Leitrim.

The National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NADP) conducted a meeting with Facebook officials, with the outcome proving to be a pleasing one, as both parties teamed

coeliac lifestyle, has had joke after joke preformed at their expense. But then again, has any other food diet so extremely separated itself from the general public?

At Dublin Vegfest this year, amongst many great talks, was one entitled “Resolving resentment towards meat-eaters”. Veganism can sometimes seem like an exclusive group, with a sort of ‘either with us or against us’ mindset. This extreme divide is exemplified within media, especially newspapers. Stuck between trying to appease older, more conventional readers while also trying to seem young and with the times, newspapers, such as The Telegraph, end up publishing articles which not only contradict each other, but also add to the vilification each side sees within each other. On one extreme, articles such as “It’s not meat-eaters that need a morality check – it’s vegans” (published last week), and “The rise of veganism threatens to rip out of the countryside” paint vegans as a privileged, semi-militant group out to destroy farmers’ livelihoods. On the other hand, articles such as “I put my dog on a vegan diet – and so should you” and “Five reasons to go vegan, according to science” seem to not just praise, but promote veganism. While seemingly advocating for a vegan lifestyle, media outlets are also simultaneously ridiculing and scorning the

lifestyle, and only add to the confusion of attitudes towards vegans.

The general public as a whole are aware of this divide, and with multi-million euro companies and governments weighing in, opposing views are getting more and more distant from each other and crystallising. With most major restaurant lines now offering vegan alternatives, and supermarkets catering to vegan options, veganism has never been more accessible to an individual. However, some believe that companies are taking it too far, with controversial television personality Piers Morgan dubbing companies that provide vegan alternatives as being “PC-ravaged clowns”.

There is definitely a deep divide between veganism and meat-eaters. Will creating a vegan-only app only increase tensions, or will it actually defuse the situation by creating a positive community for vegans? The questions this app raises can also be applied to a wider context. Is it possible to be inclusive to a minority whilst not simultaneously being exclusive to the majority? And similarly, is it possible to take two contrasting views in society, and find a happy medium, or is the best one can hope for an understanding of opposite viewpoints? Either way, Grazer is paving the way for a new vegan experience in the world.

EVENTS PLANNER 02-06 MAR //2020

sultnuigalway

It doesn’t matter whether we are in primary school, secondary school, a university or working in a job, online bullying can happen to anyone. Suffering in silence is not the answer, but if we work together, there is a possible chance that we can tackle this problem. it’s something more to other people, it’s their lives that are being published to a worldwide audience.

We may think it’s just another article, but we are reading about someone’s misfortune.

Following the recent news of Love Island host Caroline Flack as she took her own life, individuals on social media have been sharing on their timelines the quote “Be Kind”. Cyber-bullying should be treated more seriously nowadays, it needs to be stopped, but how can one possibly stop someone from across a phone or a computer screen? In schools, it is a known obstacle. However, while it may be a known problem, it is usually kept quiet among those that suffer at the hands of it. An article on Independent.ie by Katherine Donnelly stated that the social media app Facebook has agreed to help Irish schools tackle cyberbullies after a compromise was made at a meeting between the senior Facebook executives and officials at the Department of Education. In a study dating back to 2013, a school in the Dublin area was experiencing delays from the app in having offensive material posted about a teacher removed. A second case earlier that year stated the app refused to remove an offensive photograph and text of a teacher at a school in Limerick as Facebook “did not believe it violated its standards on bullying and harassment”. It may

together to stop cyberbullying. The majority of Irish cyber-bullying cases are connected to those who attend primary and secondary schools, reports of it in third level institutions holds a small number. However, a recent case from 2018 reported that a 21-year old took her own life after years of being cyber-bullied. The article can be accessed on Independent.ie, where the mother of the deceased is urging parents to check their children’s social media accounts. Her family also spoke out about how she made an attempt to take her own life back in 2016 near the beginning of the cyber-bullying.

However, it doesn’t matter whether we are in primary school, secondary school, a university or working in a job, online bullying can happen to anyone. Suffering in silence is not the answer, but if we work together, there is a possible chance that we can tackle this problem. By working together, we must be able to talk to someone if we are feeling threatened online because once you speak out about your story, then others will too. By speaking out, you are helping others to take a step forward, a step they were unable to take alone. We can also help others by reporting any offensive material that is geared towards someone; a friend or a stranger, so that the social media platform can have it removed.

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22 O PI N IO N

SIN Vol. 21 Issue 10

Is it too late to stop climate change?

By Niamh Casey

Climate change, and environment issues in general, are the most talked about topics these days, and for good reason. It seems it’s every other week that a new environmental disaster is being reported on and at this stage, we are becoming desensitised to it. For over a month, we were reading gut-wrenching reports about the fires in Australia, before that, it was the rainforest and there’s always huge pieces of ice breaking off from the North Pole, which is endangering species everyday with the mass melting of the Antarctic ice sheet. With all

this news of despair and disaster regarding climate change, it is easy to think that no matter what we do, nothing is enough. That no amount of carbon tax or environmentally friendly products can save our climate now, but this isn’t necessarily the case.

We have made some strides of late, especially with the global effort we have seen so far, and people seem ready to act fast (the everyday citizen, that is) along with many celebrities and public figures. Huge achievements have been made no doubt. This global effort is clear when we look at the number of trees that can be planted just with a strong driving voice behind the campaign. It is this mass effort that is needed, and the next step

truly is to target large companies. It may sound neo-communinstic but hear me out.

It is large, un-economically friendly factories that produce nearly three quarters of global carbon emissions. To be exact, 71%, according to a new report from climate change non-profit CDP in conjunction with the Climate Accountability Institute. In fact, it is 100 specific companies that produce the largest contributions to global carbon emissions.

Here’s where the possibly radical suggestion comes into play, but the solution is clear.

Either changes are enforced on these companies or they get manually shut down by international forces. Change has to happen, and it has to happen soon. Urgent times call

for urgent responses and as a whole, people have really made great strides in the right direction to help climate change prevention.

However, currently, it’s not enough to save us, but all is not lost. If the power of driven people can plant 1.6 billion trees in a year, a feat which we saw in 2019, then that same power can get 100 companies, and more, to change their ways, or get them shut down.

Hope is not lost and it’s not time to give up the fight. We just need a bigger, worldwide and possibly extreme effort from every global citizen. Is it time for a revolution? Possibly. Is it possible to prevent climate change? To a certain extent, yes. Can we do it? I think so, we just have to act now.

It’s all good, I know the bouncer! Waiting on a sunny day

by Rachel Garvey There was a time when bouncers scared me to the core. They looked intimidating and the thought of getting on their bad side haunted me. The thought of them jabbing their finger in your face and growling how they would remember you if they were to see you again. The next thing you know is that every bouncer knows who you are. I won’t lie, I was only properly introduced to Galway’s nightlife scene back in March 2019, Saint Patrick’s Day to be exact. One of my best friends seemed to be talking to every single bouncer in the places we went to during our little drunken adventure, except for the fact that he is our sober designated driver (and I do applaud him for not drinking, he’s a dote!) Anyways, back on topic!

I had a bit of a knot in my stomach on that night for various reasons, but the main one was would I get in anywhere without a proper ID? My hero of a best friend came to the rescue then, by saying those three magic words, “She’s with me!”. Did you think for a minute those three magic words were “I love you”? No, the first statement works more in my favour. It must be every bouncer’s kryptonite, but don’t tell them that, if they become aware of their weakness then the words merely won’t work anymore. It’ll be our little secret.

I quickly became a familiar face among Galway’s bouncers in venues such as Supermac’s, The Skeff, Garavans, DNA and Coyotes, all thanks to friendly connections. When your best friend introduces you to a bouncer, then do yourself a favour and extend your hand, slap on the brightest smile you can and make small talk. Once you have performed those small tasks over

the space of a few weeks, the bouncers will become more than an acquaintance, you will become a friend. Isn’t becoming their friend so much easier than being one of their many enemies? I have even become really good friends with them, and a handshake then becomes a hug and a friendly chat and a laugh. Isn’t that better than two bouncers on either side of you, dragging you out the door for unruly behaviour? Take my advice and stay on their good side, it’ll make your nights out on the town so much more easy-going. We also need to remember that at the end of the day, we can’t hold grudges against them, they are following guidelines for their job in order to keep people safe as well as keeping a good name for the venue they are assigned to. We all know that valid IDs and good behaviour will work in your favour when dealing with bouncers, so why do we do the exact opposite?

Our actions do have consequences, surely we all know that. If a pub or club is caught selling to underage people, then they could potentially be closed down. The person behind the bar could end up with a criminal record as well as losing their job. The bouncers have a duty of care towards those that come to them, so if they deny you entry, then they are denying you for a reason. We all need to stop bad-mouthing them. Ask yourself, what would you do if you were in their shoes? There are two sides to every story and all we seem to care about is our own side of the story, how we were denied entry into a bar because we didn’t have an ID or if we were too intoxicated, when the reality is we are being rejected for our own safety and for the safety of others. I have given you the ingredients, please mix them together correctly and your nights out will become so much easier. Bouncers are there for our safety, so be kind to them and they will be kind to you.

By Harry King It’s best not let the weather affect your mood too much in Ireland. It’s only natural to be feeling a little blue with all the storms at the minute.

What’s worse, you think it’s going to be a beautiful day and five minutes later there’s thunder and you’re cursing the skies for telling you lies.

Here are a few recommendations to try and find some energy despite the weather.

LISTEN TO RTE LYRIC FM IN THE MORNING; Whilst this method may be somewhat old fashioned, Marty in the morning is bound to put a smile on your face. His upbeat, positive affirmations are bound to make you laugh. He also plays a great selection of music, from Beethoven Symphonies to soul classics to get you moving through your morning routine. He usually reads a joke or two too.

USE THE WEATHER AS AN EXCUSE to do activities indoors. Use it as a way to stay inside and catch up on some coursework. On the other hand, you could head go the cinema or bowling.

There’s no reason a rainy day can’t be as productive as any other. If you focus on the things you can do, you can get loads one.

MUSIC, MUSIC AND MUSIC. One of God’s many great gifts to humankind. I would highly recommend listening to as music as possible all the time, but especially on a bad day. There are countless uplifting classics to get you through the day from every genre. If you want to directly sing about the weather try ‘Pocket full of Rainbows’ by

Elvis, ‘Blowing in the wind’ by Bob Dylan, or the old reliable ‘Here comes the sun’ by the Beatles.

READ A BOOK. The weather may present an opportunity to submerge yourself in the literary world. A lot of books take a little time to get into.

Set aside some time to read and it can be a very rewarding and relaxing experience. I would recommend Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens or Michelle Obama’s autobiography for some non-fiction. Or Terry Hayes’ I am Pilgrim and of course, there’s never a bad time to return to Harry Potter with regard to fiction options.

LISTEN TO PODCASTS. The quality and range of different podcasts is ever improving and evolving. Personally, I think the New York Times have a couple of great quality podcasts. “The Daily” is a news podcast that has a look at some of the breaking stories usually described by some of their investigative journalists. If the news is getting you down, check out their “Modern Love” podcast, which is a collection of essays and stories about love that people send in. It’s usually read by an actor and it is sure to help regain your faith in the world.

Whilst all of these ideas are very simple, the essence is, instead of letting the weather get you down, there are so many enjoyable activities you can do that will make you feel better if you choose to give them your attention. There’s also nothing wrong with being bored. To quote the American poet Henry Wadswort Longsworth, “The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain”.

TUAIRIM

March 03 2020

23

Despite an increase in reporting sexual violence, people still blame the victims of rape and sexual assault.

By Maeve Charles

Shame on me.

You taught me that. You didn’t mean to, but you did.

You don’t even know what I’m to blame for yet. You don’t even know who I am. What happened. What I did or didn’t do. You blamed me for it though. You made me feel ashamed and you don’t even know why. So, who am I? I’m a sexual abuse victim. No, I’m not an attention seeker. I am a person. I live. I breathe, just like you – except you don’t think I’m like you. But the scary thing is, is that I am.

I live in Ireland, just like you, meaning I could easily have been you.

One in every three people in Ireland will be sexually assaulted in their life.

So, if I’m not your sister, I’m your brother. If I’m not your father, then I’m your mother. If I’m neither of your best friends and none of the above, I am you.

85% of people who commit sexual assaults are known to their victims.

So if you think you’re safe because you don’t go out on Friday nights or you don’t party in foreign countries - you’re not. Because it’ll probably happen in your home. And if it doesn’t it will happen in theirs.

You’re probably wondering why I’m telling you this. Was it just to scare you?

Partially it was. But I wanted to let you know that if it has happened to you that you are not alone and you should not be scared to speak out.

Rape is Ireland’s second most serious crime, after murder.

It’s time we start treating it like that.

Scared yet?

You hear stories like mine every day on the news, on the radio, in the papers, on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr. It’s everywhere. The shock factor is gone. The word rape doesn’t disgust you anymore, but it should.

You think that when I tell the Gardaí my story that I’m looking for attention. You think I’m making it up, that it is my fault, that I’m ruining his or her life (girls do it too, don’t let their long hair or makeup fool you). You think I regret my drunk actions, that I was ‘asking for it’, that I should just shut up and get over it instead of wasting the Gardaí’s time.

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Am I right? Do you think that?

I hope I’m not, but we’ve all thought these things. Even me.

And that’s what victim blaming is. Blaming victims for the actions of their perpetrators.

And it ruins them – tearing their sanity to shreds from the inside out, until eventually they believe that they deserved what happened to them.

But no one deserves this. No one deserves to hate themselves for something that wasn’t their fault. So, why do we do make people think that they do?

The truth is, we are scared. We don’t want to accept it yet. We want to distance ourselves from the victim. Subconsciously hoping that by doing so, the same thing won’t happen to us. But it will, and putting the blame on victims is only going to make it worse for you when it does.

When it does happen, do you want to be scared to tell people because you know they’ll blame you for it? Because you know that they’ll tell women to cover up and tell men to man up. If you really didn’t want it to happen, you wouldn’t have let it.

Maybe you won’t tell anyone. You’ll only go to the Gardaí. You’ll keep it low profile. You don’t want to make a fuss.

CERTIFICATE CEREMONY Tuesday 7th April 2020 at noon in the

Bailey Allen Hall, Aras na Mac Leinn, NUI Galway

But if you do report it, you know it probably won’t be heard don’t you?

You know that 95% of cases reported to the Gardaí fall out of the system before they’re seen before the courts. Only one in a hundred reported rapes end in conviction.

So think of this university. 18,000 students.

One third of them will be raped or sexually assaulted, 6,000 students.

Half of them will be detected. 3000 students.

One in ten will report it, 300 .

95% fall out of the system, so that leaves us with 15 students left.

One of them will get justice. Maybe 2 if we’re lucky. Doesn’t seem fair does it?

That leaves 5998 perpetrators out there walking around doing their everyday business, continuing with their lives as if they did nothing wrong. The number might actually be closer to 5000, due to repeat offenders. If they get away with it once, they’ll think that they can again.

These people, I call them perpetrators. Newspapers call them monsters. You call them Mam. Dad. Neighbour. Friend. Family. You know them and they know you.

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24 OPI NIO N

SIN Vol. 21 Issue 10

Something is rotten in the state of NUI Galway’s accessibility facilities

By Stevie Buckley During my time in NUI Galway, I have realised that there are some things that the University is lacking. However, instead of investing in these facilities, the University has been embroiled in controversy in the past over its charity throwing away money which could be used in these important services and facilities. In this article, I would like to skim through a few services I believe would be beneficial to the university and its students.

The first facility I would like to see put in place is a sensory room for those with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), sensory processing disorder (SPD) and others who feel they would benefit from it. People with ASDs and SPD can easily become overwhelmed by things such as the light levels in lecture halls and the noise in what seems like every seating area in the University. A sensory room

would give these people time to relax and unwind in a place where they aren’t bombarded with loud sounds and bright lights. The premise of this room would be a quiet place with sensory-friendly lighting and maybe a bit of soft instrumental music. The University could even add in a few weighted blankets for those who

out the assistance cables tied up or cut. As a person with a disability, I find it hard to struggle from the end of the concourse to the middle just so I can use a toilet. I have only found two accessible toilets in the arts/science building, which is the building I’m most often in. Also, it seems to be a general trend around the college that able-

I would like to see more seating on the concourse as well. I often find myself sitting on the floor before lectures. It’s hard for me to get up from the floor, especially on the days I’m dependent on a cane, but sitting down is something I need to do or else I’ll faint. I remember the Students’ Union having a petition for more seating

I would like to see more seating on the concourse as well. I often find myself sitting on the floor before lectures. It’s hard for me to get up from the floor, especially on the days I’m dependent on a cane, but sitting down is something I need to do or else I’ll faint. want them! Of course, people with hangovers after a night out could potentially use it, as long as they’re quiet, respectful and don’t spend the time on their phones!

The next facility I would like to see in the University is the introduction of more accessible toilets, preferably with-

bodied people use the accessible toilets to get changed/do makeup/skip the queue in the toilets. I understand that not all disabilities are visible but if you see people running out of accessible toilets, please spare a thought for us disabled people who just spent ten minutes waiting to do a pee.

on the concourse a few years ago, but it seems like the only seating we got from that was The Hub Central, which doesn’t cut it for me when I have a lecture at the other end of the concourse.

Another thing we need is more accessibility infrastructure in the

University in general. When I have a bad day, I find it hard to walk, and especially hard to ascend and descend steps. However, the only way to get into the arts/science building without climbing steps seems to be to go the whole way around the library and use the ramp there. Whenever I have a 9 am lecture I need to climb those steps because if I go around the library I will be late, because I just about have enough time between when my train gets in and when lectures start to get from the train station to my lecture hall.

These are some of the facilities I think NUI Galway really needs. I hope that the University will work with the Students’ Union in order to provide some of these facilities. I would like the University to realise that it is hard for a lot of disabled students to go to university and that there are ways to make it easier for these students.

Life through a Snapchat filter

The hotspot for chaos

by Rachel Garvey

by Rachel Garvey

We all have a favourite app on our phones, one which we use on a daily basis (obviously, because otherwise, why is it known as our favourite app?).

I have asked a lot of people this question, to which I have gotten replies of Instagram, Tik Tok, Snapchat and even Tinder because we love to exercise our fingers by swiping left and right. People get bored, I understand that, while there are others out there trying their best to find their Prince Charming or a Queen to sit next to them on their imaginary throne. The most addictive app on my phone is Snapchat, the filters tend to wipe out any other app from being my favourite.

Throughout the years, Snapchat has become altered in ways we never imagined. I remember downloading the app back in 2014, and back then, you

could use the few filters that the app had, snapping people through photos or conversing through the blue chat room, but now there is a whole new variety of Snapchat tools; SnapMaps, new and updated Snapchat filters and the famous Bitmojis. It really has changed a lot over the years, but the changes are proving to be good. However, some people are in two minds about their privacy in relation to SnapMaps, but the app has taken care of that by giving Snapchat users the chance to ghost mode their location.

Anyways, moving on from the technical side of things, I am here to tell you why Snapchat is the most addictive app on my phone. I’m a little bit of a blogger so I use Snapchat for that main purpose.

On a daily basis, I post entertaining anecdotes that have happened to me during my daily routine and I have had quite a lot of followers private message me to keep telling me to keep it up

and how they get a lot of entertainment out of reading my material. Not only do I share funny anecdotes that happen in my day to day life, but recommendations, advice, funny videos and relatable memes. Whenever I get a day off from work, I usually go to cute little cafes that are dotted throughout Galway city, like the Secret Garden, Java’s Crepe Café, Pascals and so many more places. There are followers of mine that are from France and Germany and America that are currently planning a trip to Ireland, specifically Galway and having these small recommendations posted on my story is only adding fuel to the fire while they are planning their visit around Galway city.

I wouldn’t say I’m addicted to Snapchat, but someone would only say that if they are addicted. Oops! Guess it’s time to take a visit to Snapchat Anonymous.

Even in work, when I’m busy packing shelves, my phone will be buzzing away in my pocket, the sweet vibration of a Snapchat from a close friend or a streak from a fellow follower and there’s just this insane temptation to take my phone out and check the app, but I need this job, so I shall not give my boss a reason to fire me. Could you imagine if we were allowed to use Snapchat during our work hours? Taking selfies with customers with the dog filter? That would just make working all the more fun, but for now, I’ll just keep my phone tucked safely in my pocket. Living life through a Snapchat filter is all fun and games until your friends screenshot your not-so-finest moments and use them against you on your birthday, but that’s an entirely different story for another day.

Why do I get the feeling that people are still recovering from ‘RAG’ Week? You poor souls deserve a week’s recovery in bed with unlimited food and access to Netflix. I’m just pulling at your leg, get yourselves up and out of that state in amongst the pool of empty beer bottles, cans and tightly squeezed bottles of tan.

You have only yourselves to blame for your recent pounding heads and sickly stomachs. However, I do hope that your week was a good one and that you took full advantage of letting off steam within safe limits of course. I didn’t exactly take part in the chaos that is ‘RAG’ Week, but I was merely an innocent bystander who stood on the sidelines and watched as the battle unfolded in front of me, sometimes stepping out of the way to dodge an unnecessary situation.

‘Donegal Tuesday’ was not the night for a sober person to be drunk, but when your best friends want to take a trip to Java’s Crepe Cafe, you find it impossible to say no. We comfortably seated ourselves at the window where we had a full view of the street and the large line that was waiting impatiently to get into Electric. Comments of “Jaysus, is she not freezing in that dress?”, “I wonder will he get in, he’s absolutely hammered”, and “Oh my days, watch the car coming towards you” were thrown in amongst our conversation of more normal things.

It was like watching live reality TV except it got to a certain point where the waitress had to lock the door to the cafe as a precaution. Storm Ciara was busy twisting her cold fingers around any bit of skin that was visible. Maybe I

felt sorry for the way things turned out with Storm Ciara leashing her rage upon our city of Galway during ‘RAG’ Week, the one week where the girls really don’t want their hair and make-up and fake tan ruined, but it is what it is.

Fast forward to midnight and my best friend and I are standing in front of Coyotes, conversing with a few promotors and acquaintances. When you are surrounded by a sea of intoxicated people, it really is an interesting experience, especially when someone gets arrested right in front of you and you have to step out of the way of cameras gearing towards the scene that unfolds beside you. It’s even worse when your partner in crime feels hungry and has a craving for something from McDonald’s. I have never touched so many stranger’s bodies in my entire life and I didn’t like it, I value my personal space. It was also interesting to see how much patience an intoxicated person has in comparison to someone who is sober.

We are so impatient when we are sober and I learnt that when waiting in line to use the electronic menu, but the situation was diffused with a friendly drunken smile from whoever was in front of us.

Then I accidentally bumped into a friend from work and I threw up my hands, saying, “I really don’t know what I’m doing here!” for him to reply “Yeah, I was meant to meet a girl here and friends”.

I asked rather excitedly if he was going on a date with this girl and his reply was simple, “No no Rachel, I don’t do dates!”. At that moment, all I could think about was my date with my bed and with that one thought, it wasn’t long before I was home and the best date ever had commenced.

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Register Log on to the students’ union website before midnight on Wednesday 4th of March and register for Remote Vote.

Vote Log on to the students’ union website between 10am-8pm Thursday 5th of March

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26 FA SH IO N & L I F EST Y L E Improve your moves: how to incorporate more movement into your daily life By the Well Crew How much do you a move a day? As students, we can be quite sedentary and with long days in lectures, we may struggle to get our recommended 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise a day, five days a week. Physical activity is essential to improve our strength, energy, sleep, mood, weight maintenance and flexibility, to name but a few benefits. Physical activities are needed to benefit our short term and long-term health. To get more active and add more fitness into our lifestyle, we must move every day.

Here are some tips for getting more active and moving daily: • Choose an activity you enjoy such as dancing or swimming.

• If you get bored with an activity, try a new one, or a different type of this activity such as different dance classes or gym classes.

• Set goals and chart your progress, such as increasing your daily step count, or the distance you walk or jog.

• Health apps and step trackers can help to keep track of these goals.

• Don’t punish yourself if you don’t hit your goal or if you miss an activity class, try again the next day!

• Get active with others: support from friends, family, colleagues etc can keep you motivated and make movement feel more enjoyable.

• Short bouts of exercise and movement add up. 10 minutes of activity at a time counts towards your recommended 30 minutes of physical activity per day.

• Different settings provide plenty of opportunities to move more: –– Shopping centres are a great place to walk indoors and increase your activity levels.

–– At home, active housework counts towards physical activity by sweeping, hoovering, listening to music and dancing, balancing on one foot while brushing your teeth or watching TV! Ad breaks can provide opportunity to do short bouts of exercise like walking up and down the stairs.

–– In college, join a club or society that requires movement! Commute to college by bike, scooter or walk, or go for a jog or walk with friends between lectures.

–– NUI Galway has its own biodiversity trail which provides a scenic view to fit in a short bout of exercise and catch up with friends during the college day.

• Challenge yourself to be more active and move every day!

• Keep an eye out for the HUB’s upcoming Sports Week and the Marchathon.

SIN Vol. 21 Issue 10

You Can Call Me Queen B: Why Gossip Girl’s Blair Waldorf is a Fashion Icon

By Valerie McHugh

Hey there, Upper East SIN-ners, it’s Gossip Girl here.

This week, I am looking at the tip-top dress sense of the girl we all love to hate.

Blair Waldorf is a lady with pricey taste, but she’s never worn an outfit that wasn’t completely Blair-tastic and fit for a total style queen.

We could look at how unrealistic this style sense is for any of us mere Brookly-

“Girls are made of sunshine beams, but me? I’m a honey queen.”

This outfit layers shades of yellow and orange together, whilst also layering some quirky patterns. It’s a bold ensemble, mirroring Blair’s own intrepid personality. Blair was born to stand out, and this outfit certainly does not blend in. Why be an ordinary mean girl in dull clothing if you can be a blazing mean girl with eye-catching skirts?

Roses are red, Chuck Bass is blue. Oh, dear Chuck, doesn’t she love you?

Oh, Chuck Bass, what do you see? A vision of beauty that is your lover B? A girl can never have too much volume in her skirt, and red is a colour fit for a heartbreaker. As a copycat queen of hearts, holding both Nate Archibald and Sir Charles Bass’ heart on a stick, red will always be the perfect choice our fiery Ms Blair.

Mirror mirror on the wall, do I have the trendiest necktie of them all?

Blair may be lacking some basic ‘p’s and q’s’ in the manners department, but she is definitely not lacking accessories in the fashion department. This mustard French beret is trés chic, and her matching yellow handbag and necktie are more compatible than her and Dan Humphrey ever were. Her ensemble is finished with a gorgeous grey coat, which seems to have lost its sleeves. Maybe she charitably gave them to one of her wannabes so they could get a proper taste of what it was like to be a style icon.

Can we have non-uniform day…. every day?

Nobody that attends Constance Billard High School seems to have an Irish mammy on their backs on a Sunday evening, making sure their uniform is spick, span and crease free. Like the other students, Blair makes her own decisions, and she decides to jazz up her dated school uniform with a red satin hair band, white crochet tights and a striped blouse.

A school dress code could never be strict enough to stop a Waldorf from adding a piece of her personality to her outfit.

An angel in disguise This white dress is exquisite, and highlights Blair’s softer side. She proves you can be both fierce and sweet at the same time. Accompanied by a patterned pair of black tights, Blair could easily compete with the prettiest of short wedding dresses with this ensemble.

You know you love B, Xoxo Gossip Girl

ners, or we could celebrate her fantastic fashion for its iconic twists on that everyday ‘working-girl’ look.

The latter is prettier to look at, so here are some of Blair’s most memorable outfits from the series.

FAIS EAN

March 03 2020

7

NÓS MAIRE ACHTÁLA

27

Is Love Island Exploiting our Insecurities?

We have all become familiar with the Love Island routine. By the time the clock strikes nine, we can all be found in our pyjamas, gathered on the couch with popcorn and chocolate, ready to commence our nightly tradition. At least, this has become the norm in my house every evening. We all bundle up, ready to lose ourselves in the glamorous world of the villa, where there is no rain lashing at our windows or wind howling through the night. This TV show has become an obsession for many of us, but what is it about the fantasy that has completely stolen our focus? Is the show just a harmless way for us to wind down in the evenings, or is it representative of problematic beauty standards developing in our generation? Love it or hate it, Love Island has become one of the biggest sensations on TV today.

For years, Love Island has come under fire for perpetuating harmful ideals of unrealistic body perfection. Each season, we are introduced to a fresh batch of tanned, toned and TV-ready singletons. They have achieved levels of conventional beauty that most people can’t reach without spending a ridiculous amount of money. We watch Love Island for the glamour, drama and Twitter reactions, but we get inspired by the contestant’s fashion choices, hairstyles and overall aesthetic.

They are an aspiration that we can achieve if we buy their hair extensions, shop their Pretty Little Thing edit or try their teeth whitening kit. This is what Love Island really profits off. This is the simple reason why the TV show and all the contestants that participate in it get such attractive sponsorship deals; it is because we are buying the beauty standards they are selling.

Five Easy Ways to Practice Self-Love

By Anastasia Burton It’s not always easy to catch a break when you have college, work, and a million other responsibilities in your life. Often, we find ourselves lost and feeling a little depressed about anything and everything. Your self-esteem lowers when you are upset and so does your desire to go out into the world and put your best foot forward. Therefore, it is important to practice self-love and to embrace yourself the way you are! Below, we have gathered five easy ways that you can practice self-love to prevent you from burning out.

1. TIME OFF Dedicate one day a week to catching up on sleep and resting. This may mean that you can skip college, but one way to avoid being guilty about absence is to choose a day when you only have one or two lectures. Remember, your mental health is more important than lectures and it is completely normal and okay for you to take time off if you need it! Throughout this weekly day-off, you can catch up on some much-needed sleep and do little things that make you feel happy. This is guaranteed to give you more energy the next day and will give you that little bit of self-loving back!

2. MEDITATION I know that you must be sick of hearing about meditation, however, it is very helpful! Meditation doesn’t have to be you sitting crossed legged somewhere and humming to yourself! It can also be you just sitting back and listening to some music and daydreaming or simply reading a book in silence. It is important to give yourself time to wander in the clouds and take a breather if you feel overwhelmed throughout the day.

3. SPA DAY! A spa day does not mean you have to go to an expensive beautician and change your entire appearance for a little over the price for a small Gucci bag. A spa day could mean that you can

spend an evening applying face masks and making your body feel cleansed. You could take a bubble bath or an extra-long hot shower. Maybe use a body scrub? Possibly give yourself a pedicure and a manicure? Light a yummy smelling candle! Put your favorite undies on! Stay in bed with a cup of hot chocolate and enjoy yourself! Give yourself a little pampering.

Most of us have an understanding of this already, but when, if ever, does it go too far?

It’s one thing to buy a dress online because your favourite Islander wore it beautifully last night, while it’s another to feel like you need to get lip and cheek fillers just to come close to looking like the people you see on your screen. What we’re seeing is more than just a trend; Love Island has managed to accelerate a societal shift in how we view beauty. In the years since Love Island has rocketed to fame, the number of us choosing to undergo cosmetic procedures has shot up alongside it. While many of us have adopted minor, safe beauty methods such as lash extensions and spray tans, there are also riskier measures being undertaken to achieve the Love Island look.

Unregulated products and procedures are becoming seen as a budget-friendly alternative to get the desired look of any influencer. Love Islandinspired package deals are being sold to people who are hoping to achieve the look that might one day get them on the show. People are even opting to travel abroad to get work done because of lower prices. The dental tourism industry has grown remarkably in recent years; however, a lot of the time patients have to seek medical help when they return home due to complications, poor quality

work or a lack of aftercare. The same problems exist when travelling abroad for plastic surgeries.

Yet, these procedures are becoming so normalised that we seem to forget that they are, in fact, medical procedures. We look for the best bargain when we should be looking for the safest solution.

I think that the industry that Love Island is part of abuses our insecurities by selling us solutions to problems we didn’t even know we had. Our seemingly constant need for self-improvement has been magnified by reality TV shows and the influencers that participate in them. Although, Love Island has positive aspects to it as well; it gets us talking about these issues, as well as others that have been highlighted on the show. It’s a topic you can talk about with so many people. I love watching it with my friends, but I have to keep in mind that while I might be busy laughing at something ridiculous happening on screen, someone else in the room might be feeling anxious because they’re obsessed with having lips just like the ones they’re seeing on TV. We must remember that Love Island is a fantasy; it’s not real life. Now, it’s all over for another few months, but if the thought of the show returning in the summer is affecting your mental health, please leave it off and talk to someone about your feelings.

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4. MAKE A LIST This may sound very odd but, writing a list of things you like about yourself will make you feel a lot more confident. For example, “I think I’m good at writing” and “I like my eyes”. Compliments don’t always have to come from someone else to be true. If you like something about yourself then there is no shame in saying it! It is important for you to also understand what your strong features and attributes are. Although it’s nice to receive compliments from third parties, it is a lot better to have the ability and the confidence to look in the mirror and point out all the things that you like about your appearance and then list the things you believe you are good at!

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5. MAKE TIME FOR FRIENDS Going out with your friends, whether it be for a cup of coffee or a night out, is very important. It’s important to have fun and to get out of the house for some fresh air and company. College life isn’t all about study and getting a job at the end, it’s about building yourself up as a person and a personality. Friends will always try to cheer you up when you are feeling low, will always try their best to bring your confidence up and could also share their thoughts about what they think are your best talents.

Loving yourself isn’t all about looking good, it is also about feeling good. You must feel good about yourself when you look in the mirror and when you are doing something you love. Don’t be afraid to take time off to give yourself a breather and to catch your thoughts. It’s okay not to be okay and to feel like you need a rest. You deserve to be happy and to be loved!

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28 FA SH IO N & L I F EST Y L E

SIN Vol. 21 Issue 10

Adele & Diet Culture: Is there a one-size-fits-all way to lose weight?

By Sadhbh Hendrick The seemingly permanent emphasis on scrutiny regarding the shapes and sizes of both men and women fuels many a debate. We look to Instagram and see a stream of transformation posts. Tune in to a podcast and listen to the benefits of a caloric deficit. Then, there’s an article almost shaming you for not trying Keto. Intermittent fasting commands an entire stage of its own. In an age where body positivity is finally attempting to emerge from the darkness of fat/skinny/tall/short/round-shaming, I intend to explore the land of fad diets and ‘drop 4 dress sizes’ articles, and most importantly, their impact on our peer group today.

Following singer Adele’s weight-loss, the media has been scrutinising her personal trainer, while fitness experts have been weighing in on her methods, which apparently involved cutting her food down to 1,000 calories a day and exercising profusely. Is this method sustainable in the long-term, or does it set a dangerous precedent for young women attempting to get healthy? Being honest, your guess is as good as mine. I could write an article examining one (or all) of the most popular dieting methods out there.

Each provides an array of strong and scientifically correct evidence. Weight loss or gain is not as simple a solution as a quick Google search might suggest.

If that was the case, the National Center for Health Statistics wouldn’t be reporting obesity levels in over 93.3 million adults in the US. As an overview, let me quickly synopsise the above-mentioned diet methods. Caloric deficit is exactly what it says on the tin. Consuming less calories than you require. The keto diet is a low carb/high fat diet. Reducing carb consumption allows your body to enter a metabolic state called ketosis, where fat is burned as an energy source. Intermittent fasting describes a meal timing schedule involving fasting and scheduled eating times over a given timeframe. The cynic amongst you may suggest that, regardless of your method, the same number of calories will be consumed whether or not you live only on steak or only allow yourself a 4-hour grazing period a day. You wouldn’t necessarily be wrong either.

I suppose it all reverts back to my earlier point that it is just not that simple.

Firstly, we all have different ‘ideal’ body types in mind. Whilst both social and printed media may influence the ‘perfect summer body,’ there is no doubt that my idea of a perfect figure differs from yours. Unfortunately, today we are under the spell of over-filtered, under-flawed pictures. Rozanna Purcell springs to mind as a rare exception to this rule. The Irish food blogger makes a conscious effort to post less than perfectly polished pictures to show followers that, hey, that six pack/ those abs/ those ridiculously perfect teeth/ that unbelievably shiny hair/ that flawless tan/ the ice-sculpting worthy jaw line/ that perfectly proportioned nose, they might not be as genuine as you’d like to believe. After her own struggles with an eating disorder, the model, affectionately known as Roz, goes that extra mile to try and remind us that laughter lines are beautiful.

Thick thighs, tiny thighs, whatever size your thighs

are, they’re yours, so they’re beautiful. In short, our ideal body types and goals all differ so how could it make sense for one diet plan to suit us all?

I am a strong believer that dieting, as a standalone concept itself, is not sustainable. Regardless of the hashtag-able title it has or the number of medical papers reviewing it, dieting is not a quick fix to a long-term problem. Unhealthy weight or size comes about as a result of poor lifestyle choices.

How would it be possible to solve a problem as complex as this by simply following your favourite PT on Instagram? Don’t get me wrong, there is a wealth of knowledge out there and educating ourselves is key. However, I strongly believe that a lifestyle change is the single most effective ‘diet’ there is.

The concept of dieting itself denotes connotations of restriction. Human nature encourages us to defy restriction and break the ‘rules’ with ‘cheat days’ and ‘cheat meals.’ Life is too short to impose such horrors upon ourselves. Being a slave to a grim meal

plan for 6 days and ‘breaking the rules’ on the 7th day doesn’t seem very beneficial to me. I believe that some aspects of each of the currently trendy diets have benefits.

Indeed, it may very well be a suitable lifestyle change for you to mainly consume food associated with the keto diet. Similarly, intermittent fasting might slot into your daily schedule like a dream.

If that’s the case, you will see whatever results you are hoping to achieve. If it’s a constant struggle or battle against yourself, how sustainable is that really going to be for you? Of course, dieting and body image isn’t at all a fickle subject and my constraints of a 900-word article may not do it justice.

Please do remember that if this issue runs deeper than a few Instagram posts and thoughts a day, there is help available to you. Visit www.bodywhys. ie or reach out to a college counsellor or doctor. In short, pardon the pun, but I do believe that when it comes to dieting, one size does absolutely not fit all.

The Foodie Diaries: Prawn & Potato Bowl

By Isabel Dwyer This recipe is for the fish lovers, the sweet potato aficionados, and the guacamole worshippers. It’s for anyone out there who wants all of the above, all at the same time. It’s garlic prawns and paprika sweet potato cubes, served with oodles of guac. I had this meal for four consecutive dinners last week. Think tex-mex bowl meets Spanish holiday.

For this meal, you’ll need: prawns, garlic, butter, lemon, a sweet potato, paprika, an avocado, spring onion and spinach. When it comes to the prawns, you’re going to want to splash out on those of a decent size,

as they’re pretty much the main event of the dish.

You can get reasonably priced, fresh, raw king prawns in Lidl, or (if you’re scared of the raw stuff) some frozen, cooked ones in Tesco.

If you want to skimp on the ingredients, the paprika can be left out. For true, banging flavour, however, it’s a must. To save some dollars on your avocados, try going into Tesco at the end of the day and picking up the ones at a reduced price.

These are perfectly ripe, yet the poor Tesco folk believe them to be gone/going off. Nobody, tell them. It’s better for all of us this way.

As you might have guessed, there are three parts to this meal: the prawns, the potato, and the guac.

The best part is you can prepare all three aspects pretty much at the same time. Start by chopping up your sweet potato into small cubes. The smaller the cube, the quicker the cooking time. Depending on the size of the potato, I find about a third per person works. They don’t have to be perfect cubes either. The more rustic, the better. Throw these chunks onto a baking tray and drizzle a little bit of whatever oil you have over them. Now dust in paprika. The best way to mix everything in is to do so with your hands, making sure the cubes are evenly coated. We don’t want to leave any little cube out. Now place in the oven at about 180 degrees for fifteen minutes, or until they’re soft to bite into and crisp on the outside. Avoid adding too much oil, as by doing so you’ll prevent a real crunch from forming on the edges.

Meanwhile, chop up a spring onion or two and couple wedges of lemon. Mash your avocado in a bowl (I use a whole one) and add the chopped onion,

plenty of lemon juice, and salt. Season according to taste. If you like heat and have chilli flakes on hand, feel free to fire in a few. As for the prawns, the way you prepare them will depend on whether they’re frozen or not, and precooked or not. For all frozen prawns, I like to defrost them quickly by placing them in a bowl of boiling water. After a couple of mins, drain and repeat. If they’re uncooked, add to a pan on high heat with some chopped garlic, butter, and a drizzle of oil. The oil will stop the butter from burning. Once the prawns have turned pink on all sides and are opaque, they’re ready to go. For precooked prawns, you simply want to heat them in the garlic butter mix. Either way, make sure to heat thoroughly.

Once all three segments of the dish are ready, simply plate up together on a bed of spinach. Drizzle the garlic butter from the pan over the top.

There you have it, a difficult-to-name but very delicious bowl of goodness.

FAIS EAN

March 03 2020

7

NÓS MAIRE ACHTÁLA

29

TRAVEL JUNKIE:

Kyiv, Ukraine

By Anastasia Burton Kyiv is the capital of Ukraine, with a population of almost 3 million people.

In October of 2018, Ryanair announced direct flights to Kyiv at an affordable price. Ukraine has seen an increase in tourism thanks to the TV series Chernobyl, and since there are no direct flights to any city near Chernobyl, people use Kyiv as their starting point. However, Kyiv itself has a lot of fantastic tourism sites to explore! Also, keep in mind that Ukraine is not in the European Union, which means that they have their own currency, and many do not speak English. The currency is hryvnia, which is 26.3 for each €1. It is advised that you look around for the best price for currency exchange upon arrival. Do not exchange your money at the airport, as it is not financially beneficial due to the high service charge rate.

Kiev Pechersk Lavra This is a historic Christian Orthodox monastery standing since 1051. This site is free to enter and explore but beware of the excessive amounts of golden icons.

Gold is a symbol for Ukrainians, not only of wealth, but also of respect. If you look closely, you will see that a lot of older people will have golden teeth and most citizens would be seen wearing golden jewellery. Most churches and monasteries in Ukraine have paintings of holy saints embedded with gold, as well as the building itself. It is a beautiful sightseeing destination if you are a fan of art and architecture.

Independence Square Maidan Nezalezhnosti is the central square of Kyiv as well as the largest square in the city. This is a very good place to take pictures and sit down for a cheap coffee. From here, you can take a walk and appreciate the layout of the city. Around this square, you will find the singing and dancing water fountains. When it gets dark, the water fountain begins to light up in different colors and shoot up into the sky, playing some internationally loved tunes.

The Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts This museum contains one of the largest foreign exhibits in Ukraine. The entry for this place converts to about €2 or €3 and you will not be bored! The estimated time spent at this museum is up to three hours. The museum is not far from the heart of Kyiv and, during the USSR, was ranked third due to its value and size. There are tours available in English at the museum to tell you about the pieces inside. There are also little notes next to the artifacts with a little info about each one. There are student discounts, so bring that student card!

Museum of Toilet History Not going to lie, this one was mainly for the s***s and giggles. This museum is not known for being very large, however, it does contain the world’s largest amounts of toilet-related souvenirs!

Entry is around €3, and it is guaranteed to not only inform you, but also entertain you.

National Opera of Ukraine Are you a fan of opera or ballet? Then don’t forget to give this place a visit!

While in Ireland and in most European countries, ballet and opera are quite expensive, in Ukraine it is affordable enough not only for foreigners, but also for the citizens. Ukrainians love going to shows and it is part of their culture to try and make time to go and watch a play every now and then. If you ever wished to visit the third oldest opera house in

Ukraine (established in 1867), your trip to Kyiv would be very beneficial. Tickets cost as little as €10 and you can get the best seats in the house for an additional €10. For the citizens of Ukraine, it would be quite expensive, but luckily the exchange rates are an asset to visitors.

Keep in mind you will not be permitted to enter if you are wearing clothes that are overly casual.

National Art Museum of Ukraine This museum is dedicated to Russian and Ukrainian art, which, if you’ve never seen before, will take your breath away! If you were ever curious about

the Kozaks and the legends of Ukrainian culture, you must give this place a visit. Entry is like the other museums mentioned in this article (€3-ish in conversion) and student discounts may apply. This museum is not overly large but is rich in the pieces that it displays.

I hope you found this guide helpful! Keep in mind that there are a lot of churches and monasteries you could visit, all beautiful and rich in history. There are museums all over the city and food is both cheap and delicious! Make sure to check out the Ukrainian traditional menus and dishes like; Borsh, Vareniki, and Piroshki.

The Rise of Permanent Makeup

By Ewelina Szybinska

Eyebrow Tattoo: How it works

Permanent makeup is becoming more popular as beauty standards soar the world over. This article will explore what permanent makeup options are available and whether these treatments are worth our consideration and hard-earned money.

The options, as you will soon discover, are endless. Trying not to question their effects on us as a society is not that easy. Some view permanent makeup as a negative influence caused by social media to reach unachievable beauty standards. Some argue that if it makes us feel better, then why not, right?

Whatever your opinion, here’s a breakdown of some permanent makeup options, their cost and the public’s thoughts on each.

depends on your pain threshold. The results are worth the money when completed by a specialist!

Cost ranges from €200 for first treatment and from €100 for touch ups.

Lip Pigment: How it works

look to the lip, avoiding any harsh lines.

So, what are the benefits? Aside from drinking from cups and not leaving behind any stains, it defines the contour of the lips and can even optically enlarge them.

Cost ranges from €350 for initial treatment, again followed by €100 touch ups. The prices really depend on where you go. This is just an estimated cost.

Eye & Lip Liner: How it works

Tattooing, also known as microblading, is an increasingly popular cosmetic procedure. It aims to achieve bolder brows which look completely natural, as the technique involves creating fine strokes using pigment. The microneedles resemble the texture of actual hair. This is a semi-permanent look which needs touch ups four to six weeks later. You can enjoy the results for up to a year before receiving the full refreshment of the pigment again. If you’re wondering about the procedure being painful, it all really

There are a few different permanent makeup options for lip tattooing. Have you heard of lip contouring, tattooed lip liner, full tint or lip blush? They all simply involve applying colour pigment. The lip blush is very popular, as it’s seen to be the most natural way to accomplish a ‘natural’

Permanent eye liner is really a semipermanent cosmetic procedure. The industry uses the word ‘permanent’ to

make the procedure sound more attractive. Applying eyeliner every day may be a hassle, so if it’s something you do quite regularly, this might be a good option for you. The procedure carries the same risks that would apply to a regular body tattoo.

There are two main types of eyeliner that may be of interest to you. A tight line involves adding pigment between the layers of your eyelashes to darken the lash line. The second type is basically adding the pigment above the lash line and it resembles a drawn-on eyeliner look. Is this procedure a bit too much?

Well, again, it all comes down to personal opinion. If you’re into it, go for it.

Cost is usually €100.

These options appear to be the most popular cosmetic procedures under the label “permanent makeup.” Although, it could very well be called semi-permanent, as touch ups are needed to achieve a desirable look. It is recommended to look for the best specialists and carry out detailed research before undergoing any procedure.

30 A RT S & E N T E RTAIN M EN T

SIN Vol. 21 Issue 10

#BeKind – What we could From one learn in the aftermath of zebra to another Caroline Flack’s death

By Stevie Buckley

By Alanna Phelan On the afternoon of 15 February, the day after a Valentine’s Day spent apart from her partner Lewis Burton due to a court order, former Love Island host and popular British TV personality Caroline Flack took her own life in her East London apartment.

She was found just hours after she learned that CPS intended to pursue a court case against her concerning charges of assault against Burton last December. Their reasoning behind this decision appears dubious to say the least – Burton himself had refused to press charges, citing the situation as a misunderstanding and claiming that both had suffered physically and mentally from the altercation - police officers who had arrived on the scene described both as being ‘covered in blood’, noting that Flack was in a particularly disturbed state.

But the whispers of CPS hoping for a ‘show trial’ and some subsequent positive publicity regarding Flack’s case seem to have been lost in the uproar of shock, upset and anger of the media and public alike following her death. Despite many of the heartfelt messages and statements from Flack’s co-workers, friends and fans that came from a place of empathy and love, it is undeniable that the coverage of her death on social media and the British tabloids has been at best hypocritical, and at worst downright exploitative.

Domestic violence against men is still a seriously overlooked issue in the UK and Ireland, and from that standpoint, a temporary removal of Flack as the host of Love Island made sense, due to the show having a history of suicides and severe impacts on its contestants’ mental health. But trial by media is a dangerously slippery slope – though no one knew the full circumstances surrounding her charges, social media users and so-called

ever will get the most clicks, the most retweets... It seems that the only thing the public loves more than a burning at the stake is a senseless tragedy. Flack has ascended to near-angelic proportions in the rags that were still gleefully detailing every aspect of her downfall just weeks earlier. The same Twitter users calling Caroline disgusting and cruel names and pronouncing her to be ‘cancelled’ in January now share think pieces discussing how the media is solely to be blamed for her passing.

Even the use of the #BeKind campaign that her death has inspired has a ring of irony to it - can another hashtag really end this new cycle of online bullying, thinly veiled in moral justification in that it holds the rich and powerful ‘accountable’ for their actions? Have we really gotten to a point that we need to be explicitly told not to spread hate or abuse online, no matter how warranted we may believe it is at the time? Forget the

Despite many of the heartfelt messages and statements from Flack’s co-workers, friends and fans that came from a place of empathy and love, it is undeniable that the coverage of her death on social media and the British tabloids has been at best hypocritical, and at worst downright exploitative. tabloid ‘journalists’ did not hesitate to condemn Flack and share every painful detail of her unravelling professional and personal life to a public that was eager to watch the inferno consume her. I don’t think it is a controversial claim to suggest that the vast majority of them did not really care whether or not Lewis Burton had been injured, or if Flack was to blame – it was an opportunity to demonise and drag down a rich, successful and attractive woman, and so they took it.

Looking at the headlines and hashtags now, there is something almost grotesque in how quickly the narrative has shifted in the wake of her death. What-

Demons of the night

By Anastasia Burton I have demons in my head, They keep tormenting me, They scream and stomp all around my bed of freshly made confidence.

I cry for them to stop, to hush just for a moment, Let me fix my bed and sleep, They don’t listen to my pleas and ignore my silent tears.

I hide my shameful demons from the world, I’ll answer, “I’m fine” and “It’s okay”, I’ll lie and lie about my shameful demons, because I’m privileged, I have a home, I have clothes, I have food and I am safe.

campaign for a moment – sharing it online doesn’t automatically make you a better person. Just be kind, online and in real life – no hashtag needed.

We have become far too quick in appointing ourselves jury, judge and executioner with this mob mentality of celebrity ‘cancel culture’ – it is easy to diffuse the blame when it seems that everyone else is doing the same thing. Caroline Flack was not perfect – none of us are – but she did not deserve to be left believing that the world would be better off without her. Nobody deserves that – no matter how rich or famous they are.

To Smile Effortlessly

They would prescribe drugs to me, test me like a rabbit, Look at me as though I was no more than a helpless chit, Complaining about the next generic thing.

“It’s for attention” said my mother when I wished to end it all, Leaving me completely defenseless overall.

By Alanna Phelan

Every day is a struggle to push down my sobs, The demons never stop their uncertified bobs, My head spins with thoughts of suicide, If only it was so easy to decide.

Buckles on boots jingle as feet swing feet Above the pavement, kicking crispness Into the morning air, bouncing to a beat Silent to all others, harmonising body and street The red petals, and blue blooms of bruises Unravel in this golden-brown promise of healing

They say the demons hush and go away once there’s nothing left for them to break, I shall stand undefeated, because God help me if I don’t get some sleep.

CREATIVE CORNER

Sandpaper throat, sobbing without tears, Hesitant, staring blank as the ceiling Searching for familiar nightmares While the volts surge through stagnant air Leaving the frame reeling God, what is this feeling!

The rotting old roots wither and decay, From their husk, the body electric revived!

Daughter of Daphne seizes the day The brutes of night now her prey Her cheeks ache, still learning how to rise Without command, a smile revealing.

Dear Jameela, I am writing this in light of recent developments regarding people’s perceptions of you on social media. I want you to know that you’re not alone, and that there are some people that are similar to you, even if you think there aren’t.

There are people, as you know, claiming that you are making up your Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and that you only have Munchausen’s. I am in a similar situation to you regarding chronic illness. I have EDS and I know it is not the slightest bit fun. You find yourself waking up in the morning asking, “where will the worst pain be today?” and “which joint will dislocate next?”, which are things nobody ever wants to ask themselves.

With EDS, there are days that are better and days that are worse. Many of us only show our good days on social media and, in the rare occasion we show a bad day, we mainly do it to raise awareness. Unfortunately, only sharing our good days leads to people thinking that we are faking because we say we have a chronic illness and the only pictures people see of us are smiling and doing things – no pictures lying in bed crying with the pain or with support braces and/or canes or the likes.

There was also the whole debacle around people dragging you for coming out as queer. By the way, congratulations on coming out! I saw people on your Instagram asking why you have a boyfriend if you are queer. It must take all your energy (the little you have when you have EDS) to explain yourself to strangers. I’m not heterosexual either, believe it or not. Even though I’m not famous, I know that a good support network can work miracles. Your boyfriend obviously loves you for who you are, and you have plenty of fans that would be willing to support you.

Linking to the paragraphs regarding the Munchausen’s accusers and the coming out situation, another question nobody wants to ask themselves when they wake up is; “what will some troll try to pull me up on today?”, which must be exactly what you think every morning. I have no experiences of the trials and tribulations that come with fame but based on my experiences of bullying in my childhood and teenage years, I have found myself asking a similar question in the past. It isn’t fair (and never will be) that anyone has to ask themselves questions like that and it really takes its toll, especially on days when you have low mental reserves.

I really admire your work with the I Weigh Community. It’s amazing that you are working through all the drama and can push it aside to work on something that adds so much to the world. I admire that you are able to work on striving towards inclusivity and spreading positivity, despite the exclusion and negativity you face from haters on a day by day basis.

I don’t know why anyone would pick on such a talented, kind soul who has problems that don’t involve internet trolls. I don’t get why someone would accuse you of faking such a painful, destructive chronic illness and all the problems that come along with it. I hope that you will someday be accepted by the online community and that your pain will not be trivialised by those trolls who try to take you down.

From one zebra to another, I believe you.

Hope this finds you well, A friend you’ve never met.

C U LT ÚR

March 03 2020

7

SIAMSAÍOCHT

31

What’s on in Galway — March 03 – 16

By Sarah Gill All dressed up with nowhere to go? Not on our watch. Whether you’re after a good night out or a quality gig, there’s always something occurring around Galway city to keep you well away from your pew in the reading room. Take a look and start planning your next night out…

NT Live: Fleabag at Pálás - Sunday, 8 March If you haven’t already binge watched the BBC hit TV series Fleabag, you really need to get on it. On International Women’s Day, Pálás will be screening the hilarious awardwinning one-woman show that inspired the

series, written and performed by leading lady Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Over-sexed and self-obsessed, Fleabag is the height of entertainment.

Drink and Draw: Paint your Pet - Saturday, 14 March Doesn’t your pet deserve their own portrait, hanging pride of place above the fireplace? Head along to Electric Nightclub for an evening filled with painting, cheesy music and quality craic. Just send them across a photo of your furry friend and they’ll whip up a stencil, provide you with a canvas and all the materials you need to do them justice. Oh, and there’ll be booze!

Basement Project at Áras na Gael - Monday, 16 March The legendary St Patrick’s Eve yard party is returning to their home in Club Áras Na Gael for the first time in three years and you won’t want to miss out. Kicking off at 6pm, there’ll be two areas of tunes and an unreal lineup that includes the likes of Maedbh O’Connor b2b Chaz Moloney, Paddy Hogan, TripdiscO, Ootep, Skinthippy and Liam Reddan. Yeah, it’s going to be class.

Junior Brother at Róisín Dubh - Friday, 13 March This experimental alternative folk singersongwriter hails from Kerry and is known for his humorous, sometimes heady tunes.

Strange stories unfold with reckless abandon on an idiosyncratic guitar and foot tambourine accompaniment. ‘Hungover at Mass’ is always a crowd favourite and - come on we’ve all been there.

Galway Street Club in Róisín Dubh - Monday, 16 March The city’s favourite street performer collective, Galway Street Club, have made it a tradition to return to the Róisín for their annual Paddy’s Double Header with two shows, on Monday and Tuesday. It’s always a high-energy, varied set that features everything from blues, rock and ska to folk, americana and trad played like you’ve never heard it before.

The Tommy Tiernan Show: The best talk show on TV?

By Saoirse Higgins The Tommy Tiernan Show first aired in 2017 and has become a massive hit with Irish audiences. The show is amid its’ fourth season and has taken RTÉ by storm. It has evidently become one of their most watched shows, with everyone hooked to their seat to see who the next guest will be.

The basic premise of the show is that neither Tommy Tiernan, our host, or the audience know who the guest will be, meaning no research or set up questions are prepared.

So, why is this show so popular?

The heart of the answer to that question lies in the authenticity that Tommy Tiernan brings to the show. Anyone who has watched the show will know that Tiernan is able to evoke answers from the guests that no other host seems to match. The guests seem to fall into a comfortable state and forget about the audience or the camera watching.

A great example would be an episode that aired in late January. A Cork man came on the show and spoke of how he moved from being a heroin addict to now finishing a degree in the University of Limerick. The story hit home with a lot of viewers.

Tiernan was able to handle the topic in a respectful and dignified way. He asked the right questions and knew when to be silent. This gives the show a very conversational aspect and makes it seem that Tommy and his guest are just chatting over a pint at the local pub.

However, it’s the personal answers he’s able to arouse from celebrity guests that have really caught the public’s eye. We are so used to the light, fluffy content that celebrities are restricted to on late night talk shows with hosts like Graham Norton and Jonathan Ross that Tiernan shocks us with genuine conversation.

I think the best example of this is when Brendan O’Carroll came on the show. Brendan O’Carroll,

Sonic the Hedgehog – Fast paced and light-hearted fun Directed by Jeff Fowler Starring James Marsden, Ben Schwartz, Tika Sumpter and Jim Carrey

By Owen Kennedy The reputation of video game adaptation movies hasn’t been good since their conception. With absolute stinkers like Super Mario Bros. (1993), Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and Resident Evil (2002) staining the walls of cinema for years, people had left the concept of video game movies back in the 90’s and early 00’s. But then WreckIt Ralph (2012) came out and wasn’t a complete failure, despite having very little relation to video games as a whole. This has, however, given studios a newfound confidence in video game movies, with Detective Pikachu (2019) being a good example of both critics and audiences now warming up to the idea of video game movies again. And now with Sonic the Hedgehog tearing up the box office, we seem to have come around on video game movies.

Sonic the Hedgehog stars the famous blue blur Sonic from the video game series of the same name.

Ben Schwartz provides the voice behind the cerulean critter and he does a really good job with it, giving us Sonic’s boundless energy and delivering his lines with

the infamous cheekiness the character is known for. The entire cast is doing a solid job throughout the movie, but Jim Carrey is excellent as Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik.

He does a great job portraying the famous villain and is honestly having a blast with the role, despite him going overboard with his goofiness at certain points.

The comedy, while inoffensive, was somewhat lacking I felt. The funniest gag in the film was a Sanic Hegehog reference in the first 10 minutes of the film and nothing really reached that same level of humour for me. This is also a film that has a rare case of where it doesn’t have enough fan-service, which is quite weird, I know. We get references to the games, like the town Sonic lives in being called Green Hills and the rings he carries making their iconic jingle whenever they’re shown, but the film takes a very casual and normative approach to the source material. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I think with the nearly 30 years’ worth of material it was surprising to see the lack of it.

To summarise, Sonic the Hedgehog is a lot better than anyone would’ve given it credit for. It’s definitely not a masterpiece of cinematic achievement, but for what it is, an enjoyable experience that can be liked by anyone so long as they don’t have their expectations set at an all-time high.

6/10

famed for his portrayal of Mrs Brown on Mrs Brown’s Boys, graced Tommy Tiernan’s screens in January. The interview as usual started off light, with him talking about his experience living in the US. Yet, as the interview continued, O’Carroll started to open-up about his child that has passed away quite a few years ago. This came as a small shock to Tommy who admitted he never knew about it. It allowed a very genuine conversation of grief to take place as Brendan shared his experience.

Tommy Tiernan has been well liked by the Irish public for years. His comedy shows are genius and hilarious. Yet, no one expected him to bring a funny, heartfelt and refreshing take to the late-night talk show. He has raised the standard for talk shows to come. The success of the Tommy Tiernan Show tells us that people want authenticity on their screens.

Tiernan’s interviews are memorable and will be for years to come and it will be exciting to see how the show expands as it gains in popularity.

32 A RT S & E NT E RTAIN M EN T

SIN Vol. 21 Issue 10

With the release of Taylor Swift’s Miss Americana on Netflix, SIN’s Aoife Burke and Matthew Geraghty gave it a watch, and came to different conclusions about the show.

Miss Americana: Taylor Swift documentary review

By Aoife Burke I have sat and watched Miss Americana several times and I can only say it shows Taylor Swift in a whole new light. We see her spending time with her family and her boyfriend and showing her vulnerable side. She says she loves praise and applause and cannot deal with negativity. We also see her take on the formidable Marsha Blackburn, a politician who is anti-women’s rights.

We catch a glimpse of her little kitten Benjamin Button and also Olivia, who she carries around in a see-through backpack. Also, we get some of idea of the incredibly lavish lifestyle Taylor leads. Private jets, enormous mansions, yet she is not immune to heartbreak. We learn her mom had cancer and all of Taylor’s mistakes are made public and not easily forgiven. Her father admits he is “terrified” about

her giving her political opinion and her mother even says she is “worried about her safety”. They don’t want people to stop coming to her concerts.

Her father even said he bought bulletproof vehicles.

This is, after all, America.

I did feel that the documentary did a lot of chopping and changing between scenes and Taylor didn’t admit anything too deep. She did, however, admit to suffering from an eating disorder and over-analysing pictures of herself. It is important that she tackled real issues and, of course, it was an opportunity for her to showcase new music. I really loved ‘Only the young’. It was about the 3 million Americans who were about to turn 18 in the next few years and they can go out and vote and overthrow Marsha Blackburn. To be honest, Marsha made my blood boil and I cannot see how anybody could vote against protecting women and the LGBTQ+ community.

I loved her costumes, especially the silver “glitter ball” costume that only Taylor could pull off. I was amazed to see the reaction of the crowd when she leaves her apartment and Taylor gets in the car and says, “I’m highly aware that was not normal”. There was no sign of her brother Austin in this clip, but it does feature her best friend Abigail, as the two sit down for a meal and glass of wine.

I am always in awe of how many people turn up for her shows and that she sells out stadiums. Miss Ameri-

In Miss Americana, Taylor Swift confronts her complicated role as America’s sweetheart

By Matthew Geraghty

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The first in a number of high-profile pop-star documentaries set to be released this year is Miss Americana, directed by Lana Wilson, with ten-time Grammy award winner Taylor Swift as the focus.

Miss Americana delves deeper into some of the topics Swift has started to become more vocal about in more recent years, but also sees her open up (but not totally) on a variety of new topics.

The documentary follows Swift as she navigates her way between the end of one album-era, Reputation and the beginning of another, last year’s Lover. We witness her at different points of her life, roughly over a year.

One of the most eye-opening moments for me, someone far removed from inside the pop universe is when, despite the adoration of millions, a huge team behind her and a host of celebrity friends, Swift candidly admits feeling lonely and not having anyone to ‘share’ her success with. We can only guess that maybe the issue is that there’s not really anyone who can understand what it is to be Taylor Swift: to have that level of success, from such a young age, in front of the whole world.

Wilson takes viewers into the studio to witness the production of three different tracks and getting to see one of the biggest artists of our time working on her craft feels like a privilege. However, the main focus of this documentary is not exclusively music. Here we watch a young woman, at the height of her career, in the glare of the world’s media, come to terms with how to use her platform on important issues.

Swift’s silence on who she would be voting for in the 2016 U.S. election was nothing short of deafening and one of the most interesting moments in the documentary was when she confronts her team over going public as a Democrat. Swift makes the decision to support a Democratic candidate in the 2018 Midterm Election vote, regardless of how it will affect sales, despite being warned profusely not to do so by her management.

Another fascinating moment was when she pointed out the need for female musicians to reinvent themselves with almost every album,

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cana follows Taylor’s life from a child prodigy to a super star. She reads extract from her journals as a child. There is also no mention of Scott Borchetta who discovered her.

It is a very carefully constructed documentary that is designed to give Taylor’s side of the story, without giving too much away. I was glad to see she talked about the sexual assault trial, as I think it gives similar victims hope that they too, would be believed.

I’m glad to see she is using her power and influence for the common good.

with the same pressure not applied, or at least not as fervently, to men in the industry. This was something that has resonated with viewers online, with Swift voicing just another facet of the high levels of sexism that still operate in the music industry.

Another moment that stood out was when Swift received a call telling her that ‘Reputation’ had not received any Grammy nominations for the ‘big’ categories of Album, Record or Song of the Year.

Upon hearing the news, a defiant Swift says, ‘it’s fine, I just need to make a better record’.

It is clear that unlike many of her contemporaries, Swift still holds the opinion of the Recording Academy in very high regard and that she still seeks to make music to impress the Academy is disappointing for fans. However, shortly after the release of this documentary, the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards were held, with Swift notably absent from the crowd, seemingly snubbing the Academy after ‘Lover’ also failed to pick up any major nominations – so, maybe she has finally learned to let go of the idea that it’s the Grammy’s and not her or her fans, who get to decide on whether or not she has made a good album (Perhaps this will signal a new sound for TS8?).

Despite these and more moments of interest – which include a searingly honest admission about an eating disorder and how the family have been coping with her mother’s cancer diagnosis, it fails to function as a true documentary.

It is too stage managed and it’s questionable whether Wilson had total creative control or not. Although the topics discussed were of interest, it at times flowed like a box-ticking exercise.

It would have worked better had Wilson pushed Swift harder on some of the more controversial topics, such as the Kim Kardashian/Kanye West snapchat incident.

After years of being ‘a good girl’ in the public eye, Swift is learning to undo the effects of that damaging title and be a little less guarded nowadays, but it felt like she still knew the cameras were on at all times and it would have been interesting to see a completely unguarded Swift probed more on some harder questions.

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34 SPORT

SIN Vol. 21 Issue 10

NUI GALWAY’S NEWEST CLUB:

The International Gaelic Football Club

By Ilka Denker “(Sport) has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to the youth in a language they understand.”

These words, spoken by Nelson Mandela, sum up in a nutshell the reason for establishing NUI Galway’s newest club: The International Gaelic Football Club. Set up in September 2019, the International Gaelic Football Club primarily emerged by the efforts of Erasmus Administrator Nigel Collins.

Nigel had attended a conference in Leuven that thematised the difficulties international students across Europe experience to integrate into a new college. Mostly, groups from different nationalities would stay with people from their respective countries. Nigel was trying to come up with an activity to help international students to integrate and create social networks amongst different nationalities. When Nigel received an invitation from the University of Limerick to an international Gaelic Football tournament

for various tertiary institutions, he thought it to be a great initiative. By forming an international NUI Galway team, Nigel says: “The idea was that we could give the international students something that is fun and uniquely Irish. There is a cultural and social element to it.”

With David Henry on board as a coach, assisted by Nigel and occasionally Conor Ó Beoláin, the International Gaelic football team set off on a high note from day one. David and Nigel taught the students about Gaelic football from a grassroot level, including not only the technicalities of the sport, but also the foundation of the GAA and its workings. Numbers kept on rising with every training to the point that NUI Galway could compete with three international Gaelic Football teams at the UL competition last October.

Although the international Gaelic Football team cannot boast any trophies so far, the success of the initiative created a series of ripples. Student Union’s Club Captain Padraic Toomey says:

“While we didn’t win 1st place, we did accomplish something better. We had made a group of students who did not

know each other become a group of friends.”

Based on the immensely positive feedback, Nigel is planning another International Gaelic Football tournament, this time around to be held on home grounds; the NUI Galway Dangan Sportsgrounds. “We could not just bring a wall down on this. It should be there for many other students to enjoy and experience”, voices Nigel. Padraic Toomey is also involved in planning the blitz-like event, which is to take place on March 14 th between 11am and 2pm and is partly funded by the ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Project Fund’. The teams will be fed after the competition and given the opportunity to mingle with students from other colleges.

The International Gaelic Football Club is all about that unity Nelson Mandela is talking about. It is about reaching out across nations. The club does not just start and end at the Dangan Sportsgrounds, it is something

the international students take home.

Padraic Toomey adds that “when (the international students) inevitably go back home, they will remember this, as it is such a unique experience”. Two of the players from last year’s squad have gone on to play Gaelic Football for their universities, as it turns out that there are over 400 GAA clubs across the globe.

Trainings are well under way every Friday between 5 and 6.30 pm and are open for all international students to join. The team meets up in Sult after training, a well-liked feature for all players, as Saurabh Hebbalkar says: “I joined to make a lot of new friends, and especially for the Friday beer.”

The NUI Galway International Football Club offers a once in a lifetime experience for all international students and is enjoyed by players and coaches alike, as Nigel states, “it is hard for the positivity not to sink into you. The positivity and enjoyment factor come across to everybody”.

The GAA is amateur in name only

By Darren Casserly The GAA is the largest amateur sports organisation in the world. This is a statement that, at least at inter-county level, needs an asterisk next to it following the release of the 2019 budgets, which shows that GAA county teams spend over a combined 30 million euro for the first time.

This is also an increase of 2 million on 2018. This makes the sport bigger than the League of Ireland and looks like it is only going to keep growing into the future, with more new stadiums being built at capacities of as much as 45,000 (such as the redeveloped Páirc Uí Chaoimh), which looks to be the future for GAA stadiums.

However, the most surprising thing to a lot of people who would not follow the GAA that closely, is that GAA teams are not in financial ruin, but for the most part are earning a healthy profit through sponsorship, fundraising and gate receipts.

Galway GAA has earned nearly 2 million euro from gate receipts alone. This just goes to show how far the sport has come in the last 20 years. This isn’t the sport of your parents, at inter-county level anyway, with not just increased finances, but also increased quality on the pitch. This increase in funding has allowed county players to train more, train better and become far greater athletes than there was a mere 15 years ago.

While players are still no getting direct monetary benefits of playing intercounty GAA, indirect benefits are becoming more and more generous.

There always was an aspect of county players being able to land cushy jobs through their football connections.

The way players benefit from playing for their counties has changed, with sponsorship deals becoming more available and more lucrative than ever, with a great example of this being Bernard Brogan, who has been the face of Supervalu for several years now. The cushy jobs have also gotten more lucrative for players and all you have to do is look at the Cathal

McShane saga that went on recently.

He had a trial with an Aussie rules team and looked almost certain to be leaving Tyrone this off-season, but surprisingly announced that he was to stay with Tyrone following a job offer from the Keystone Group. This was met with much scepticism from GAA fans who know this kind of story all too well.

However, saying all this, at club level, for the most part, these changes have not had much of an effect, with the game remaining very much the same as it has always been from a financial aspect. From a footballing aspect at the top end of the game, there

has been a lot of improvement, in large part thanks to teams like Corofin, who have driven the quality of football at club level to an unbelievable degree on their course to claiming three club All-Ireland’s in a row.

Whether you like it or not, the intercounty game will never be the same as it was thanks to the funding around the game, but from a fan’s point of view, there is only positives that can be gained from this. With better quality games making the game more exciting in football and hurling, who knows what the future will hold for a game that is changing and improving quicker than ever?

SPÓ IRT

March 03 2020

35

Records shattered in Athlone

By Bridget McDyer Saturday, the 15th of February, saw athletes from across Ireland migrate to Athlone IT, for the Irish University’s Athletic Association’s (IUAA) Indoor Intervarsity Track and Field competition. This competition proved to be NUIG AC’s most successful intervarsity performance to-date. The men’s squad earned team bronze medals, with the female squad going one better, to claim the 2nd best female intervarsity team in the country.

Not only did the squad shine on an overall basis, a total of 11 individual medals were won, with 9 NUIG records and one IUAA record smashed along the way. Given these great performances, a very ecstatic team Captain, Bridget McDyer exclaimed her delight with the weekend’s showing.

“As captain, I’m so proud of the team. At the beginning of the year, we knew we had something

special, especially after our performance at road relays, earning a team medal and both teams finishing in the top 6. I think this championship has showed that we are a serious contender across all disciplines as we work to continue strengthening each one. I’m delighted with the team as a whole and with each individual performance. I am looking forward to cross country in March but especially to outdoors in Dublin in April, where I hope we can once again get the team into the top 3 and build on the dedication of athletes and coaches. A mention as well to the sports unit, who’ve been vital to us as a high-performance club, providing us with the necessary resources and support to achieve at the highest level”.

The level of talent in each event line-up was next to top class, and the races did not disappoint. A standout performance worth mentioning was provided by Pierre Murchan, an NUIG sport’s scholar,

who took the men’s 3km title with a vengeance.

Taking out an early lead and fast pace, he ensured he shattered the IUAA record in the process. More NUIG records were broken in the men’s 800m, weight for distance (WFD), shot put, 1500m and also in the women’s 60m hurdles, 400m, and WFD. The highly anticipated and hotly competed relays closed the competition in Athlone, with the NUIG ladies storming home to gold and taking the NUIG record with them in tow.

To the outsider, (perhaps due to our social media output), medals and records may seem like nothing new to NUIG AC. This may be true, but these achievements act as just the tip of the iceberg. Our athletes make these results seem easy, almost effortless, as they submerge themselves amongst the best of Ireland’s athletic talent. What goes unnoticed however, is the hours of handwork behind every performance. With every sport, a level of commitment is required to succeed, and our athletes are no different. Evenings are spent in Dangan facing Galway’s gruelling elements. Early alarms are set to hit the gym before college, and numerous nights out are turned down in the face of upcoming competition. It is for this reason that it is pertinent to commend the achievements of all of our athletes, from the record breakers, to those who featured in the heats. They all represent the hardworking, committed ethos that NUIG AC embodies and we look forward to seeing the results of their perseverance over the 2020 season.

36 SPORT The Houston Astros deserve to be stripped of their World Series win

By Darragh Nolan Baseball can be something of a slog at times. 162 regular season games, which can often last upwards of five hours. But the payoff is nothing short of amazing. Every pitch thrown has the potential to connect sweetly with the bat and go far. Every hit is a chance at a stunning defensive play, pure poetry in motion.

It is an edge of your seat chess match, and the tension is only heightened when the playoffs arrive, when the stakes are at their highest. The stunning throw from Kris Bryant to win the 2016 World Series and end the Cubs’ 108-year drought was a moment that will live on forever.

Plays like that are priceless. They’re the very reason we watch America’s pastime from all over the world.

José Altuve’s two-run walk off homer to topple the mighty New York Yankees in the 2019 ALCS was one of those moments. Game 6, the Houston Astros with a 3-2 series lead. American League Reliever of the Year Aroldis Chapman is on the mound with a 2-1 count at the bottom of the 9th.

The ballgame is tied at 4, the Yankees have two outs and Houston doesn’t have much on deck. If Altuve and the Astros want to go to the World Series and avoid Game 7, they need to score now. Then, Chapman drops in an 84mph slider and the 5’6” Altuve unleashes power no man that size has any right possessing. 6-4 Astros. Game over.

The Astros may have lost that World Series to the Washington Nationals, but that play from Altuve would have gone down in legend as one the very greatest postseason finishes in the history of the majors. That is all for naught, now that Houston has been caught out for stealing their opponents signs at their home games.

This method of cheating allowed Houston’s staff to see the opposing catcher’s signal to his pitcher. They would then communicate the sign to the batter on homeplate, who knew exactly what pitch to expect.

Ex-Astros pitcher Mike Fiers blew the whistle on his former team, which led to a league investigation that found the team was stealing signs for the entire 2017 season and part of the 2018 season. But who’s to say this didn’t continue into the rest of the 2018 season and beyond?

Why stop cheating until you get caught?

Regardless, the 2017 season, in which Houston won its first World Series in franchise history, is utterly tainted. They returned to the ALCS the following year, which is also somewhat dubious. 2019 saw a second AL Pennant in three years.

Are we really to believe that the team’s success was maintained through 2018 and 2019 but they just decided to stop stealing signs? This entire era of Houston baseball carries an asterisk now. Including Altuve’s game-winning home run. A rare nugget of gold that has been stolen from baseball fans, just like the Houston Astros stole a World Series from the L.A. Dodgers in 2017.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has failed to properly exact punishment on the Astros. They’ve been fined $5 million, their GM and manager both suspended and since fired. Their first-round picks for 2020 and 2021 have been stripped. It’s not enough.

The World Series win needs to be struck from the record.

The sport of baseball has only just emerged from the shadow of the steroid era. The Hall of Fame has thus far avoided honouring those found guilty, including all-time home run leader Barry Bonds. This time, it’s the responsibility of the league to make sure the achievements of cheaters are taken away.

The Commissioner’s Trophy is sacred. The Houston Astros should be stripped of theirs to keep it that way.

The silverware, the sport and moments of playoff glory must be protected against those that disrespect them.

SIN Vol. 21 Issue 10

CIAN M CORMACK: C

Fighting for a Dream

By Keith Faherty I recently met Kinvara native Cian McCormack from Co. Galway and travelled around with him to explore what a magnificent career he currently enjoys in kickboxing.

The ambition of becoming one of the best fighters in Ireland has become an obsession to Cian McCormack, as it’s been an ambition he’s held throughout his whole life. In his youth, he would wake up in the early hours of the morning and switch on the TV and watch the UFC, mixed martial arts sport, and watching this got him very interested in the sport.

“When I became a teenager, watching a lot of fighting on YouTube, my dad wanted me to get into the sport, (he) never really pushed me as he didn’t want me to push me away [from the sport]”.

Watching him in the ring with his trainer, going through his different skills that he uses, different exercise drills, and also the discussion of his healthy diet, it’s clear to see how committed he is.

“Becoming dedicated to the sport, I went out, got my own punch bag and made a point of it, doing a few sessions for few hours a day, keeping me motivated, mentally strong, while looking out the window and thought of myself representing my own country in a major event at amateur level.” “[I started] When was 14 years, [and I’ve been] doing it since, I’m 21 now, I’ve fought loads of times”.

“Getting to major tournaments would be another thing that will help me challenge more in my career, after joining a local kickboxing club in Galway City, Black Dragon’s Club, with all the hard training, I got chosen to represent Ireland at International level. if we want to go to different countries, the promoter there, who’s flying us over, pays for us, or if we go to a tournament, we have pay for it ourselves”.

“Getting the call to represent Ireland, when, at the time, I didn’t think was possible, as only my father got me to take an interest in the sport”. e describes that he looked to take different aspects of different fighters, “You can only be yourself as a fighter, do it just as well as them and trying to take as much things from each one of them”.

Watching him in the ring with his trainer, going through his different skills that he uses, different exercise drills, and also the discussion of his healthy diet, it’s clear to see how committed he is. While attending the gym, he goes through various things to assess his strength and weaknesses from every fight he was involved in.

Going for long training sessions throughout the week, meeting and chatting with some of his fans gives him enthusiasm, if he has fights coming up in the long run. At home he has healthy diet, eating plenty of protein in the morning, plenty of wheat, porridge or scrambled egg that will build his strength, then would go out take long walks to have breather to take a breather and get ready for his next training session ahead of the fight that he is in preparation for.

Cian is getting ready to represent his country at international level, when he takes

on Belgian champion Dario De Brabander at the famous Lamiro Fight Club Gym in Brussels, in a fight that will be under Pro K-1 rules. “I haven’t fought within a year so it will be a massive challenge for me to get to the standards that I need to be at to be able turn professional in the future”. He will go down to the gym during the week with his shins and gloves in preparation for the biggest fight of his career and a win for him on the day would be his greatest achievement ever.

At amateur level “[we’re]not even in the Olympic because our sport wasn’t really recognised at an amateur level, we’re relying on people’s sponsorship, so we don’t get sponsored by the sports council”. On getting this fight for Saturday evening, Cian explains that he and his team “get sponsors for the bigger fights so a show like that can happen”.

SPÓIRT

March 03 2020

37

Galway United season Young Duplantis breaks preview: A new beginning pole vault world record

By Darren Casserly In football, a year is a long time and no example for this is more apt than the transformation Galway United have undergone. Going into the 2019 season, there was little expectation from Alan Murphy’s young squad and that lack of expectation came to fruition to a degree, with the Tribesmen struggling for much of the season. This 2020 team, however, is a different side, one with more experience and more quality throughout the team.

This ability to have such a different squad has come down, as always, to one thing: money. The Comer brothers, who have been funding the team since it’s reformation in 2014, have decided to increase their investment this season, following a break last year where Galway had to rely on themselves. It’s no surprise then that, last season, Galway had one of the smallest budgets and youngest teams in the league.

Even with several new signings in the mid-season window, United had a squad that had quality but didn’t have the budget to make anything of a late season push. The young squad got to grips with First Division football, turned United’s season around and gave the fans a reason to hope for the 2020 season.

This hope has been turned into expectations through the signings that Alan Murphy has made, with a mix of youth, experience and talent from the likes of Shane Duggan, Mikey Place and Timmy

Molloy. This new look United side is undoubtedly the strongest that has been at Eamonn Deacy Park since they were in the Premier Division. For the first time in a long time, Galway United also have a deep squad with several quality players able to play in any position, something they definitely could not have said last season, with Murphy relying heavily on the Under-19 squad to bolster the senior side.

However, one thing that hasn’t changed is the huge turnover of players year to year with this side. Just about half of the United side from last year has been retained, and with 14 new signings coming in, Murphy will have to make sure that this squad gels quickly, as a poor start could be detrimental to Galway’s promotion hopes.

In terms of promotion, Galway’s chances look pretty good, with a more experienced and deeper squad than nearly any other in the league, with only Drogheda and Cabinteely looking like the other most likely contenders for promotion. We have yet to see how well this team can play together, as we have seen from the 2018 side, which, on paper, looked to be the strongest side but, in reality, never looked like a team. However, it’s not just on the pitch that changes were made, Alan Murphy has added to his backroom staff, with the addition of former United players, Colin Fortune as assistant manager and Derek O’Brien as first team coach, so there is a lot to look forward for Galway fans this season and I’m going to be bold and say that Galway are going to be promoted this season and return to the top flight.

By Harry King Armand Duplantis broke his own world record in the pole vault when he cleared a phenomenal 6.18 meters at the Indoor World Grand Prix in Glasgow. His previous record of 6.17 was established one week earlier in Poland. Duplantis is an American-born Swedish pole vaulter and is only twenty years old. He is coached by his father Greg, who was a world class pole vaulter himself in the eighties and nineties. Duplantis, who is nicknamed “Mondo”, has apparently been pole vaulting from the age of three. The Duplantis family have a pole vault set up in their back garden in Louisiana.

Duplantis, who was silver medalist at the World Championships last year in Doha, gave an insight into his recent run of form by referencing his decision to turn professional and leave university; “I wasn’t going out every night, but I tried not to let athletics overpower me where I couldn’t live any life.” Whilst he collected $30,000 for the achievement, when he spoke to the BBC, his focus seemed to be on Tokyo and moreover the outdoor season. “I am excited for the outdoor season. The Olympics is the biggest thing an athlete can compete in and that is when I want to be at my best.”

Duplantis seemingly has the formula to entertain and draw attention to his event, through pace and confidence. He is part of a new wave of young athletes bursting on to the athletic circuit. Sergey Bubka, the former Ukrainian Pole Vaulter, broke the world record numerous times and also claimed Olympic gold and numerous World Championships. He has called Duplantis “A beau-

tiful talent” and has praised him for drawing attention to the sport. Like with any young prodigy, a lot of pressure is being heaped on his shoulders, particularly because athletics is still looking for the next Bolt. “The position I am in I never really imagined, people talking about me leading the whole sport of track and field? I am just a pole vaulter; it is such a strange and unique event.”

It certainly runs in the family. He talks often about his two brothers, one of which is currently playing baseball with the New York Jets and his younger sister, who, according to their mother Helena, has an impressive personal best of 3.58 meters.

Renaud Lavillenie, the previous world record holder, is somewhat of a mentor for Mondo. In a short documentary, Duplantis recalls going to see Lavillenie and hoping for a picture, only to first be up against him a mere three years later.

It sets things up nicely for the Olympics, as the American Sam Kendricks will want to make Duplantis wait a little longer for Olympic gold after Kendricks took gold in the World Championships last year. The field events across the board will be really competitive, including the heptathlon and decathlon. Whilst we may never see the likes of Bolt again, there is no shortage of superstars coming through. We will certainly be hearing a lot more about this young man, as his charisma and talent have already been celebrated on the world stage. His last Instagram post after the world record is a picture of him with the crowd and a caption that speaks to his youth and ambition “Here’s to the ones who dream.”

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