Big Reads

Spending a Day with Students’ Union Education Officer Brian Treacy Government Formation XXXIII: The ‘Shinners’ Strike Back? Every UCD Political Society on Solving the Housing Crisis

I can’t afford a coffee on campus, can you?

The time is 8:50am and you’re just about to head into the dreaded 9am lecture that you have pulled yourself out of slumber for. When the scent of fresh coffee beans and pastries catches your attention. What else could be more fitting at this hour? But as you smile thinking about that fresh buttery croissant in your hands, the dream is cut short by the constant reminder that you and your flat mates are all chipping in for dinner tonight and garlic bread is on you. With a wave of students walking out of classes, reality hits and just like that: the dream is over. You shut the lecture door behind you and take a seat.

In fact, you are not alone, your fellow peers are probably feeling the same stresses you do financially when it comes to the issue of food costs and diversity in college. I conducted a small survey across 1st and 2nd year students in the arts and science blocks on campus. 20 students were asked several questions regarding their thoughts on the current food services in UCD. When asked if they regularly buy food on campus 60% told me yes, leaving the remainder of 40% bringing packed lunches. When asked if they would like to see more diversity and improvements to the system over 90% told me they would like to see changes made to the current food facilities on campus. Not one student told me they were currently satisfied with the current accommodations. Here’s some students’ thoughts regarding the issue: “I buy food on campus and most of the time personally I get by, but I think it really depends on the student and the circumstances they are in,” Cadhla Doyle in 1st year tells me. “The snacks can get boring and breakfast foods should be cheaper and more accessible to students in the morning when they are running to class.” She also speaks about the difficulties of accessing snacks that give you high energy and keep you fuller for longer.

One student told me that she can spend over ten euro a day of her work earnings on breakfast and snacks alone. As young people Isabelle Keenan - Opinion Writer

facing increasing rent costs and a lack of mental health services, it would be nice if food and beverage costs would be one less thing to worry about. It seems that food on campus is almost more unaffordable to students than that of food off campus. Something needs to change.

1st year student John Moloney discussed with me his complete avoidance in buying food on campus because of the prices. “I think they should start to introduce meal deals, like the ones that lets say Tesco or boots do for example.” His frustration at the lack of affordable meals and snacks is evident and he is one if many students who have completely abandoned buying food on campus, instead opting to bring a packed lunch. The option should be realistically available for students to do either, but for some this is not an option. Lukas Bubendorfer tells me he hopes to see more vegetarian and vegan friendly options readily available to students within the next few months, as this can be a real issue for students looking for meat free options within their diet between classes.

Food costs should not be an issue for young people in UCD. Not one student I interviewed felt the current system met their needs. We as students, want change and we must be the voice in place to meet our demands. So, the next time you crave that morning coffee and are on a budget, know you are not alone.

Returning to College in my 40s T hrough a series of unexpected, life altering events, I found myself embarking on a post grad in UCD. My name is Rachel and I am a forty-year-old student. I found myself in a precarious situation at the end of Summer last year. I was made redundant after fourteen years in a post that I loved. Apart from bumming around Australia during my ‘gap year’ and job jumping on various J1s, I had never been out of work before...ever. Most people I shared the news with wished me ‘congratulations.’ I’m still not sure that’s the right word for it. I gave myself until January to pull my socks up and get my arse in gear to find my dream job.

Every evening I would peruse various social media platforms and sign up to a plethora of free webinars, claiming to have all the answers and find the right career path for me. Until one night I found an ad from the UCD Innovation Academy offering a Postgraduate certificate through Springboard. It brought back a vague recall I had had when I was obliged to attend my intro office to participate in an information forum with fellow job seekers. I could potentially attend a college course, wait for it lads...for free! A CV was requested, and a Statement of Interest (a wha?) aka a letter of motivation (I had to google it) ...selling myself in other words. Vom. After drafting up a CV and letter and calling upon my father to read it over, (yes undergrads, I still turn to my parents for advice, they are packed full of wisdom that is extraordinarily useful and I no longer take it for granted) he gave me the nod to submit my innermost insecurities to the academy.

I gathered all of the necessary remaining documents and pressed the submit button as a thin layer of panicky sweat presented itself on my upper lip as the portal asked me again and again, “Are you sure?, once submitted, the application cannot be changed.” I gingerly pressed go. No going back now!! I really wanted to have a decent excuse for having to turn down all those jobs I had been offered since I walked out the doors of my office for the last time back in August...NOT! There were no job offers. Despite all of my former colleagues telling me how amazing I was and how any company would be lucky to have me, there was nothing readily forthcoming. I needed to belong. I needed to be busy with something. A short stint in UCD would be just the thing. Several weeks later, I received the email: “Congratulations, you have secured a place on... blah blah blah…” I did a little dance in my kitchen, a bit like Tom Cruise in Risky Business (ah you’re too young!) followed by an “Oh F**k” as the reality of the situation kicked in. I was going back to college!

Fast forward several weeks and day one arrives. I found myself thrust into a system that I had to navigate and navigate fast! Just like signing up for the dole as a job seeker, it was all new to me. A surge of vulnerability reared its ugly head and I questioned why the hell I had chosen this path for myself. I spent the whole of Sunday night trying to figure buses out and ended up finding the perfect public transport solution that would deposit me right into the bowels of Belfield. Only it didn’t quite work that way, and alas there was no sign of my chariot. My first thwarting of the day.

Eventually, through veritable bribery, I made it to campus with some time to spare and plenty of determination to locate the O’Brien Centre. I wandered around the abyss like an eager freshman, trying to pretend that I knew where I was headed and strayed into the Newman building. It bore resemblance to a communist airport with a hint of hospital about it with the various coloured stripes on the floor. I was unnerved and had started to sweat. Why did this have to be so complicated?? Where were all the bloody signs?? Where is the O’Brien building?? After a group of terrifying undergraduates grunted directions at me and I found my shining beacon, I was reassured to discover that the majority of the participants on the course were of a similar vintage to me. Over coffee a number of us decided our first mission was to collect our ‘Ucards.’ Back over to the communist airport, I held my student card like a trophy and thought to myself, Rachel Thornburgh - Opinion Writer

The Students’ Union’s Unsung Hero Spending a Day with Brian Treacy

Starting his day with a cheeky bowl of Weetabix, Brian was about to spend a whole day with me. Madness. He was surely eager to see me at our 8:30am meeting as he beat me to it by a quick minute. Formerly named in the Tribune as “The Thinker”, your SU’s Education Officer agreed to give me a behind the scenes look at an unseen side to the Union. The Cashel native spends up to 60% of his working time on something that never makes headlines, and never gets the recognition it deserves in UCD. The Students’ Union do a lot of things that Belfield at large pays no heed of. Not to say that their work isn’t important – giving the student Conor Capplis - Editor voice a seat at the table on UCD boards and governance is pretty cool – but there’s a lot that goes on that doesn’t get flashy press releases or Instagram stories. This huge part of both the Education Officer and Welfare Officer’s roles is dealing with individual students, something that usually avoids the spotlight. To find out more about the man himself and what goes on with student cases, I spent the day with Brian – more or less.

According to Brian his role is “to advance the student body with regards to anything of academic interest. That could be from assessment to appeals to maintenance grants, different kind of academic policies within the university and how they interplay with the lives of students.” As well as sitting on more boards than he can count, Brian deals with individual student cases every day. Students often turn to the Union for a last resort when the existing University structures fail to help them. Brian says that students would “bounce the idea off the university and student advisors or whatever service, and it comes back at them and it’s not quite solved.” He also suggests that There’s a lot that goes on that doesn’t get flashy press releases or Instagram stories. [...] Dealing with individual student cases is something that usually avoids the spotlight. “ “

Pictured Above: Katie O’Dea (Campaigns & Engagement Officer) and Brian Treacy (Education Officer and Sound Lad).

“students might feel a little bit more comfortable coming to us for peer-to-peer support.”

A lot of student queries come via email, sometimes teasing out simple questions, other times students would pour their hearts out into an email. The kind of problems students usually come to Brian with are regarding lectures, lecture slides, academics troubles. Brian is enthusiastic about helping students, devoting huge amounts of time to “day to day issues students go through” and then adapting policies on an institutional level that reflect the needs of students.

On the day I spent with Brian, he had an individual student case meeting. It was confidential so I got to take a breather from his

not correcting assessments on time, SUSI grants, extenuating circumstances, academic questions around exam time, etc. But these simple queries aren’t the only thing he’s tasked with. Many students have meetings with Brian, coming to him quite stressed out about academic Tip accent for a bit. When we met up after, he explained the general issue and how it was solved. Classic Brian.

He’s also keen on improving UCD’s academic structures through tackling “local issues.” Surprisingly, there’s a relatively low number of formal complaints We then took a break for lunch; Brian bought a chicken and brie sandwich at the library’s SU shop and we chatted in the Tribune office for a bit. He really likes chicken, it’s not really relevant but I thought you might like to know. “ “

in this area in the university, making it difficult to formulate accurate improvements within the academic structures. Because students can’t make anonymous complaints in UCD, Brian says that students are sometimes afraid to speak up through formal structures. He explains that it’s often because of students that come to him that policy is revised to reflect the needs of students following particular cases.

We then took a break for lunch; Brian bought a chicken and brie sandwich at the library’s SU shop and we chatted in the Tribune office for a bit. He really likes chicken, it’s not really relevant but I thought you might like to know. To summarise what makes student cases important to Brian, he tells me: “Fundamentally we are here to represent the voices of our students and the concerns that they have. […] When [students] do come into us, it is rewarding to be able to try and solve the problem that is specific to them. But also, to see their personal story in a broader picture within the university and see the inequality and how it plays out. I think it gives you a great picture of what the university is.”

Brian, a graduate of Social Science here at UCD, is planning on running again for his position as SU Education Officer next year. He’s also applying for Masters courses at UCD as a cheeky backup. I asked Brian what he does when he’s not at the office. He responded jokingly “student politics.” Although we joked about it, the reality is that those running the Union and calling the shots give up a hell of a lot of time for UCD students.

Alas, the day was coming to an end. Brian may have saved the day for every student he met and emailed, but that sort of stuff usually doesn’t make the headlines. He’s like an underappreciated Superman. Good man Brian. He went home late that evening after telling me all the top-secret Union gossip (that’s a joke – don’t come to me looking for Union gossip) and then told me he was planning on having Chicken Carbonara Pasta for dinner. As well as being a big fan of chicken, his actual favourite food is pasta. It may have been a regular day at the office for Brian, but for the students he helped in small ways, he was an everyday hero.

Thanks to Brian for being sound and letting me follow him around for a day.

Academic Spotlight: Dr. Andrew Jackson

Dr. Andrew Jackson is a lecturer of Law in UCD. He is an environmental and planning lawyer and teaches these subjects at undergraduate level as well as Climate Change Law and Policy at post-graduate level. Dr. Jackson has had an interesting career ranging from beginning as a corporate and commercial lawyer in Slaughter and May in London and Paris to pursuing his passion for environmental issues. He has played an integral role in Mahnoor Choudhry - Reporter Dr. Jackson has played an integral role in publishing literature on leading climate and biodiversity issues “ “ publishing literature on leading climate and biodiversity issues and has also acted as one of the driving forces behind Climate Case Ireland, a first-of-its-kind, landmark Irish case brought to hold the Irish government accountable for its failures to adequately address the Climate Emergency - the case is currently before the Supreme Court.

Welcome to Academic Spotlight! This segment takes a look at the people in front of our lecture halls and behind UCD’s leading research. Have you ever wondered what your lecturer does outside of teaching you your degree? This segment delves into the personalities of the people behind your lectures and brings to you a complete snapshot of their stories.

Dr. Jackson is an incredible lecturer whose passion for environmental issues is wellknown in UCD. I sat down with him and talked about everything from his career to the importance of our generation in moulding a greener future for our planet. Let’s dive in!

From Corporate to Climate When working for an international corporate and commercial law firm in London and Paris, “I ultimately decided it just wasn’t for me, both the lifestyle and the work,” says Dr. Jackson. “ I was beginning to think, what am I interested in outside of work, what am I passionate about? And I decided I should align my interests with my career.”

Dr. Jackson then progressed in to the government legal service with the UK’s Department for the Environment and greatly enjoyed the work but, when advising civil servants, felt that, “in meetings with government scientists, the scientists sometimes seemed to lump me in with the policy makers, thinking ‘you are just a lawyer, what do you know?’” This inspired Dr. Jackson to complete a masters in Biodiversity and Conservation in Trinity College. He then completed a PhD, pursuing his interests in research, and later worked as an in-house lawyer for a leading environmental NGO before moving to UCD in 2015.

Lecturing Lecturing in UCD is something Dr. Jackson is enthusiastic about, particularly given the importance of the modules he teaches,

“I love working in a university environment, I find it a really positive environment, working with talented colleagues and students with their lives ahead of them, finding their way in the world.” Dr. Jackson goes on to say that “environmental law and policy is so vital. I see it as critical: if we don’t solve climate breakdown and biodiversity loss, we can forget about all of the other goals we have.” He also feels “really positive about the fact that the environmental law undergraduate class has more than doubled in size in the past year.”

Contemporary Issues in Class Living in a time where School Strikes for Climate are becoming a regular occurrence, I asked Dr. Jackson what impact he thinks they have on his students.

“For me, contemporary movements like the Greta Thunberg-inspired School Strikes For me, contemporary movements like the Greta Thunberg-inspired School Strikes reinforce the sense of urgency, and that helps to create political momentum. “ “ reinforce the sense of urgency, and that helps to create political momentum. I try to bring a sense of that urgency into class and try to emphasise that the climate and biodiversity emergencies are defining issues of our lifetimes and that the next ten years are really crucial. The other thing I try to do is to highlight the unique contribution of law and lawyers.” Where does change begin? at undergraduate stage could see so clearly that these are the things that need to change.”

“I hope people like yourself Dr. Jackson recalled Mary Robinson’s Climate Justice event which he hosted in the law school last year and noted that “as an undergraduate student, she set out her platform regarding the issues she felt were important and she dedicated her career to addressing those issues. To me, it was so inspiring to think that someone and your friends are thinking as you go into your careers, ‘what are the issues presently that are going to be the defining issues of our lifetimes?’ so that in twenty years’ time, you’ll look back and say, ‘wasn’t it crazy that this is the way things were then and somebody needed to rock the boat and change things’. I hope that Fundamentally, I think we should always consider ‘what are the impacts of what I’m doing or thinking of doing on the climate and biodiversity crises? How can I make things better?’ “ “

you see a role for yourselves in that and see how you can use the law as an instrument for positive social change.”

He believes that “every action matters” and that “systemic change and individual change both need to be pursued urgently.”

Advice for Students “My main piece of advice would be to find something that you are passionate about and do that. Because you will be good at it and you will find that if you align what you’re interested in and passionate about with what you do every day then you will love what you do. And fundamentally, I think we should always consider ‘what are the impacts of what I’m doing or thinking of doing on the climate and biodiversity crises? How can I make things better?’”

Government Formation XXXIII: The ‘Shinners’ Strike Back?

In any representative democracy government formation is often a complicated and painful process. However, the general election saw perhaps the most fundamental shift in Irish politics since the civil war. The traditional big parties of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have lost their duopoly and now face a third party in Sinn Féin who also see themselves as a party ready to lead a government. But Conor Paterson - Politics Editor how will this all play out? Can Irish politics adjust to this new reality? Given the arithmetic of the 33rd Dáil, there is no clear path to form a government. In fact, each possible route to the 80 seats needed for a majority seems very unlikely and clouded in political and ideological problems. Even if two of the biggest The traditional big parties of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have lost their duopoly and now face a third party who see themselves as a party ready to lead a government. “ “

three parties go into coalition, they will still need support from more TD’s to form a government. Also, there is a political dimension to all of this. Between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, it would be politically advantageous for each party to go into opposition while the other goes into coalition with Sinn Féin. Both parties contain members and politicians alike who are vehemently opposed to any dealings with Sinn Féin.

After the election of Fianna Fail’s Seán Ó Fearghaíl as Ceann Comhairle, both Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin now come to the negotiation table with an equal number of Dáil seats of 37 with Fine Gael just behind on 35. Clearly any government formed would require two of the big parties. While the traditional civil war parties have ruled out deals with Sinn Féin, it is difficult to ignore the fact that Sinn Féin won the popular vote. If no government is formed and a second election is called it is very likely that with more candidates running, Sinn Féin will win even more seats. Is this enough to motivate Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to put aside their long-held differences and build a government together? So far, the answer has been no. They are not parties used to working together and have both enjoyed trading power for almost a century. Sinn Féin’s attempts to form a government without the big two parties have so far failed and look very unlikely. The numbers are simply not there. It has also expressed a willingness to work with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael but has so far failed to convince either that its past is fully behind it and that they could share a compromising programme for government. Clearly, in this high

stakes political environment, parties will have to shift drastically to form a government or else we could be facing another general election the likes of which we have never seen before.

COMMENT: Media Bias Skewed the General Election

The recent general election exposed many truths: Many are unsatisfied with current policies and want change. But something which received less clout in the weeks leading up to February 8th was the evident partisanship of one of Blathnaid Corless - Politics Writer

the country’s most popular media organisations.

The Irish Independent received significant backlash across social media for what many people identified as a right-wing bias in the run-up to the election. An opinion piece written by journalist Eilis O’Hanlon, titled ‘So why didn’t younger voters care about Sinn Fein crimes?’ sparked much controversy across Twitter. Some referred to the article as ‘just pathetic’, whilst others labelled the Irish Independent itself as part of the ‘Tory Press’. O’Hanlon’s words appeared cynical towards young voters who she claims, ‘seemed to think they were terribly radical and bold voting for Sinn Fein at this election.’

Of course, O’Hanlon’s job in the Irish Independent is to write opinion pieces and she is entitled to hold and express such views. The real issue is the claim from many people of a bias towards certain political parties from the Irish Independent. The paper itself was accused of not giving fair coverage to all major political parties. One recent example of such bias was a decision by the paper not to publish a poll by Red C Research showing voter preferences for a prospective coalition, which showed the top result as Sinn Fein leading a coalition with smaller parties.

Another source of controversy comes from the people at the top of Independent News and Media. Henry Minogue, for example, is the CIO of Independent News and Media. Minogue ran as a Fine Gael candidate for Castleknock in the 2014 local elections. He is also known to be a good friend of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who appointed him to the board of Bus Eireann in 2011 and was accused of political ‘cronyism’.

The real misfortune resulting from this bias is that we, as a nation, lose one of our main newspapers If a platform exercises political partisanship, then readers are left with uninformed opinions. “ “ as a source of objective political information. If a platform exercises political partisanship, then readers are left with uninformed opinions. The media are the eyes and ears of the public – our senses will soon become impaired should one of the country’s main newsrooms engage in biased practices.