Trinity News Vol. 62, Issue 6

Trinity News | Tuesday 16 February

Volume 62, Issue 6

trinitynews.ie

The Leadership Race 2016

NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR 2015

Photo by Aisling Crabbe

Presidential candidate McNulty holds comfortable lead in Trinity News student poll • Winning candidates also predicted in welfare and eduction races • Entertainment and communications & marketing races have tighter margins Dylan Scully InDepth editor

Owen Ward Statistics editor

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TRINITY NEWS poll conducted over a three day period, from Wednesday 10 February to Friday 12 February has predicted contests in the entertainment and communications & marketing races. Meanwhile Kieran McNulty, Dale O’Faoilléacháin, Aobhinn Ní Lochlainn, and Sinéad Baker ared expected to come out on top in the races for president, education, welfare, and editor of the University Times respectively.

In total, 635 students were surveyed and answered questions about who they will vote for in the upcoming SU elections, as well as questions about which issues they care about most and whether they think the outcomes of the election will have an effect on them.

One key feature of the poll results however is the large number of students who re-

sponded with “Don’t Know”, with these set to have a significant part to play in the final outcome of the elections.

There is approximately a 4% margin of error in the results presented here.

Kieran McNulty has a comfortable lead over both Stephen Carty and Dan O’Brien in the race to become the next President of the Trinity College Student’s Union, taking 33% of the vote. Carty and O’Brien are tied on 18% but interestingly the second largest response came from those who answered “Don’t Know”, making up 29% of the vote.

Everything is still to play for going into the second week when both Carty and O’Brien will be hoping to double up by swaying the undecided voters.

When the results are broken down across faculties, the number of “Don’t Know” responses is actually greater than all three other candidates amongst Health Science students. A lot of Health Science students who were polled, particularly those in St. James’ Hospital and D’Olier Street, remarked that they felt isolated from the college and disconnected from the SU in general. McNulty polled best in the faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, with Carty performing his best and outdoing O’Brien amongst stu-

Examining the results of our Leadership Race poll

InDepth p.6

dents of Engineering, Maths, and Science.

Out of the 635 students polled, only 43% responded saying that the outcome of the SU elections would have an effect on them directly.

Junior Freshman students were the only ones who thought otherwise, with 55% claiming that they thought the election results would affect their lives directly. Almost 80% of Senior Sophister students said that the outcome would have no effect on them directly, but this is probably in light of the fact that it literally couldn’t have an effect on them, as they will be leaving the college next year.

An issue raised quite a lot over the course of the election campaign to date was that of women in leadership.

Four of the six sabbatical officers for 2015 were female.

This year however there is no female candidate for the roles of President, Education, or Communications and Marketing. Despite this, 47% of women responded saying that the SU results would have a direct effect on their lives, comparing to only 37% of men, suggesting that female students were in fact more interested in the elections than male students. If the results are broken down by faculty we see that 54% of Arts, Humanities, and Social

Vice provost Linda Hogan talks about the Trinity Education Project

Features p.8

Sciences students responded “yes” to the question, compared to only 37% and 34% for the faculties of Engineering, Maths, and Science, and Health Sciences, respectively.

This is perhaps reflected in the fact that all three of the presidential candidates come from the faculty of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.

When asked what issue matters most in the leadership race, by far the most pressing issue for students was student fees, followed in second place by housing.

Students were also asked about which political party they will vote for in the upcoming General Election on Friday 26 February. Fine Gael came out on top with 22% of the vote. Perhaps an unusual result, considering the fact that student fees and the repeal of the eighth amendment are two of the most important issues in the eyes of students. Fine Gael have historically been a more socially conservative party, and have recently announced that they would introduce a student loan scheme if elected on 26 February. Realistically, the introduction of a student loan scheme means the increase of student fees. The party’s popularity amongst students probably stems from the fact that they resided in office over the massive success of the same-sex marriage refer-

endum last summer and also reflects the sense of disillusionment with the other big political parties such as Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, and Labour who failed to keep their promise to not increase student fees following the 2011 election.

Whoever is eventually elected to the SU will be hoping to build upon the huge success of outgoing president Lynn Ruane, who has had numerous appearances on national tv and radio shows, and is also at the forefront of the campaign to introduce sexual consent classes to college. She has recently had an article about sexual consent published in the Irish Times.

Once elected, the new SU will seek to use Lynn Ruane’s success as a platform to fight against student fees, to repeal the eighth amendment, and to come up with a practical solution to the current housing crisis affecting students.

- Full coverage and breakdowns of results in our InDepth section - Polling by Jessie Dolliver, Eva Short, Lia Flattery, Conall Monaghan, Rory O’Neill, Caoimhe Gordon, Conn de Barra, Oisin Vince Coulter and Niamh Lynch

Can young voters Exploring the trust another party to science behind dance with the devil? seduction

Comment p.13

SciTech p.20

Inside

Homespun comedians, pedagogical gamers, socially-conscious clothiers, philanthropic fooderies, Galway-based drum and bass, ichorous artisans theatrical entrepreneurs, and more

>> >> >>

DU trampolinists are up in the air at the Glasgow SSTO

Sport p. 24

Trinity News | Tuesday 16 February

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What They Said

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I’m proud of the open-mindedness of Trinity students, and of their willingness to challenge themselves. Of all the virtues which we seek to cultivate, tolerance and empathy are arguably the most important, because without these we cannot live in peace with each other

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As a nation, we must start asking serious questions about sexual consent and violence and we must address these questions to ourselves and to the people responsible for governing us

Young people in Ireland understand that their vote is their voice

USI President Kevin Donoghue on the launch of USI’s #MakeASmartVote

UCD Students’ Union Vice President and Consent Campaign Leader Hazel Beattie on the UCD revenge porn controversy

Provost Patrick Prendergast speaking on TCD World Hijab Day

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I decided to run in this election because I believe the Seanad is missing a committed champion of education and because I believe I can be that champion TCDSU President and Seanad Éireann candidate Lynn Ruane in a recent Facebook post

UCD inquiry dismisses revenge porn allegations According to an article published earlier this month in UCD’s College Tribune, as many as 200 students formed a Facebook chat group in which explicit photos of female students were shared without their consent Eva Short Editor-at-large An investigation chaired

by Registrar and Deputy President of University College Dublin (UCD) Professor Mark Rogers into the existence of the “UCD 200” Facebook group has dismissed the allegations and found no definitive evidence of the group’s existence, Trinity News has learned.

According to an article published earlier this month in the College Tribune, UCD’s student newspaper, as many as 200 UCD students, predominantly studying agricultural science, formed a Facebook chat group in which explicit photos and anecdotes of female students were shared and rated without their consent.

The report recognised that “identifying the [Facebook page] is the only mechanism

for assuring a definitive outcome,” and that failure to find evidence of such a page allowed for only one conclusion to be drawn, though Rogers conceded that “failure to identify such a site, no matter how intensive the investigation, could not represent absolute proof that such a site did not exist.”

The report states that evidence cited in the Tribune article, written by politics editor Jack Power, was “based on hearsay from anonymous comments on Yik Yak.” Rogers was unable to find any student who had any “firsthand sightings” of Yik Yak postings specifically referring to the existence of the alleged page.

The report does, however, confirm the existence of a Yik Yak sent by an individual claiming to be a member of the UCD 200 page. The Yik Yak states: “I don’t even partake in what’s happening. I personally only have sent two photos and a story or two.”

The report quickly added that due to the anonymous nature of the Yik Yak app, it is impossible to determine the identity of the author of this post, making the veracity of the claim impossible to verify.

Tribune article author Jack Power, in speaking on RTÉ Radio One’s Marian Finucane Show, has maintained that he stands by the story, arguing that the paucity of evidence of the Facebook group could be due to the fact that students participating in the page would risk incriminating themselves and risk expulsion had they decided to come forward.

An email sent to the UCD student body regarding the report findings also requested that the Tribune publish a clarification to point out the “lack of first hand evidence” of the allegations. The email cites the “widespread public reporting of up to 200 students involvement in the activity under investigation as

fact” as opposed to allegation, though it does not claim that the Tribune ever attempted to obfuscate the truth of the information at hand at the time of reporting.

This is not the first time in which the use of Yik Yak in Irish universities has lead to investigations. Earlier this year a Yik Yak thread in University College Cork (UCC) lead to accusations of dealing cocaine being levelled against UCCSU Welfare Officer Katie Quinlan. Quinlan has denied the allegations in a post written on TheBuzz.ie and no evidence supported the drug dealing claims has come to light.

Presidential candidates criticise the SU for failing to support Students Against Fees group despite union mandate This comes after the majority of candidates signed pledges promising to oppose fees if elected at a small SAF rally on Monday Niamh Lynch

er and structures in a better way.”

Senior reporter

Speaking to Trinity News, fellow candidate for the SU presidency Kieran McNulty weighed in on the debate: “My thoughts on it are that there is a mandate there to fight against increases in fees. I think the SU should be doing all it can in the run-up to the election. And if elected, that’s what I’d do. While the president is the chief campaigns officer, all sabbats (sabbatical officers) have mandates and should keep to them.”

In an interview with Trinity News in early February, McNulty also commented that he was “a little annoyed that there was no sabbatical officer at the march [on February 3],” considering that “the SU have a mandate now to fight against fees.”

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HE CURRENT SABBATICAL officers of Trinity College Dublin’s Students’ Union (TCDSU) have been criticized by some candidates in the SU elections for failing to adequately support Students Against Fees (SAF), a group established to oppose the introduction of student fees and loans, despite the union’s mandate to do so.

Female researchers at Trinity honoured for their contribution to science The eight women received their awards at a ceremony in Áras an Uachtaráin The event was organised to commemorate the women who have recently played a leading role in science research in their discipline.

Una Harty Senior reporter

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IGHT FEMALE RESEARCHERS from a variety of scientific disciplines in Trinity College Dublin were honoured by President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins and Mrs Sabina Higgins at a celebration of ‘Women in Science’ in Áras an Uachtaráin recently.

The women honoured were assistant professor in physics, and director of the Trinity Walton Club, Arlene O’Neill; professor of comparative immunology, Cliona O’Farrelly; professor of mathematics, Sinead Ryan; professor of statistics, and director of WiSER, Eileen Drew; professor of botany, and director of research in the school of natural sciences, Jane Stout; professor of computer science, Siobhán Clarke; professor of geography, Anna Davies; and professor of civil, structural and environmental engineering, Sarah McCormack.

Speaking at the event, President Higgins said: “The contribution of women in science is all the more valuable

as we work to locate science within a paradigm of sustainability.” He went on to praise the women’s achievements to date: “They are breaking new ground and paving the way for new generations of women who will also wish to use their talent and creativity to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and maths, and play their unique role in crafting a better world.”

As well as researchers from Trinity, representatives were drawn from all the universities and institutes of technology in Ireland, to be commended for their groundbreaking work.

The honour follows the award of a prestigious Athena SWAN award to Trinity for furthering equality for women in STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine) disciplines last year.

WiSER (Women in Science and Engineering Research) was established in 2006 with the aim of “recruiting, retaining, returning and advancing” women in academic science, engineering and technology (SET) in Trinity.

This comes after the majority of candidates signed pledges promising to oppose fees if elected at a small SAF rally on Monday February 15.

Presidential candidate Dan O’Brien criticised the current team of sabbatical officers at the University Times and An Cumann Gaelach hustings held on Tuesday February 9.

Expanding on his comments to Trinity News, he was particularly critical of the lack of a sabbatical officer presence at an SAF rally in support of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland on February 3.

O’Brien said: “What my criticism is more about is symbolically, on the day [February 3], especially if Lynn [Ruane, the current SU president] can’t be there, the education officer, who’s next in line, should be there… Just someone, just for the sake of appearances, at the very least [since] you have a mandate.”

Stephen Carty, also running for SU president, told Trinity News: “I think the SU have had a lot to deal with and we have to appreciate that they put work into stuff behind the scenes, but in my opinion the SAF campaigns are really just gathering momentum now and I’m sure they will put in loads of work to them now. When elected as a sabbat it is your duty to work relentlessly on the mandates in the union and to achieve them, regardless of personal feelings. That being said, people are free to have their own personal feelings, we are not a dictatorship, and everyone’s views do not have to be aligned.”

He added: “When I was there on the ground at the rally, I just didn’t feel like I was attending an SU-backed event. I felt I was attending something quite impassioned and quite powerful, but something that had been done from a very grassroots perspective. I think the union can complement grassroots structures with its own pow-

Molly Kenny, current SU education officer responded to the criticism saying: “I think that for everything, and for any member of the union, they shouldn’t have to campaign for something that they don’t believe in. So I think each and every year the job of the union is to try and arrange and organise the best possible capacity for partici-

pation in any event that the union would be mandated to support, and I don’t think personal preference should take any weight on that.”

She continued: “I think that even for the candidates that are running, if the SU has a stance on it, it’s really none of your business whether you care for that stance or not. I don’t think it’s our [sabbatical officers] duty to play a significant role. I think that’s the point of our part-time officers and our sub-committees for things. For almost everything we have a referendum stance on, so for example, we support the Students Against Fees initiative, and the President sits on that group, but I think it’s more that the union should be there to foster student enthusiasm towards it.”

The SAF rally took place on Monday in Front Square and all election candidates were invited to attend. All present signed the pledge which stated that candidates should commit “to the best of [their] ability, to fight against student fees, in particular any increase in them.” Candidates also agreed to “support Students Against Fees in their efforts, and if elected take part in the campaign to ensure education remains open to anyone who wishes to access it.” The only candidate in the race for University Times editor, Sinead Baker, and all four Ents candidates were not present at the rally.

Trinity News | Tuesday 16 February

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Ruane launches crowdfunding campaign to subsidise Seanad bid She is running on “a platform of education, childcare and access – be that access to fair pay, mental health services, healthcare or equal opportunities”

Jessie Dolliver Senior reporter

Austrian ambassador to Ireland addresses refugee crisis at SOFIA and DU Germanic Society event He also spoke at length about the history and development of his nation Shubhangi Karmakar Contributing writer

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HE AUSTRIAN AMBASSADOR to Ireland, Dr Thomas Nader, spoke to members of Trinity’s Society for International Affairs (SOFIA) and DU Germanic Society on Thursday February 11 in Regent House. Nader discussed the historical and on-going parallels in the Austro-German and the Hiberno-British relationships, the national and Europewide impacts of the refugee crisis, and the possibility of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union (Brexit).

Dr Nader narrated in fine detail his country’s turbulent history and relationships with Germany and with the wider global community, from its origins in the Habsburg Empire to its current position as a small neutral

European Free Trade Area (EFTA) and EU nation.

There was a discussion on how the equal relationship between Austria (then the Habsburg empire) and Germany (then Prussia) came to a very rapid decline after the first world war, largely due to “an end to secret diplomatic treaties,” disagreements about “the right to self-determination of ethnic minorities,” and the notion that the post-war ‘Austria’ was merely “the rest, the leftovers,” of a vast empire from which several groups had seceded to form their own nations.

Nader recounted the “political trauma and economic disasters” that splintered Austria post-war into militias supporting either a “sovietstyle dictatorship,” or a return to “the monarchy.” He cited the poverty generated by the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and bad fiscal policies as only some of the inciting factors leading to civil unrest and eventually a turn to fascist dictatorship in Austria.

He conveyed how until 1945 Austria had seen about one major war per generation, which came to a head with an estimated 50-80 million people being killed in second world war, before people realised a pressing need to find an alternative solution “which was greater than the need to find a counter solution based on [individual] national competencies or public opinion.”

Nader stressed the importance of the formation of the “European communities,” which as he put it “act as a super-national body, to remove [specific] resources from national companies and move them to a larger institution” where the boundaries and specific interests of states cease to exist and conflict is thus mitigated to a large extent.

Some analogies were drawn between Austro-German and Hiberno-British trade links, though he hastened to add that the relationship between Ireland and England

was “more of a relationship between colony and colonial master,” while the Austrian and German ties are more “equal” in that regard.

The issue of the key mandate of power being the power of the masses also concerned him, both with relation to Brexit, and to the global move to the political right in the wake of the migrant crisis, which has greatly affected Austria, with 90,000 residents now legally titled refugees. He believed that if a refugee has to “fear for [their] life, [they] should take shelter in the first place [they] find,” but added that as quite a privileged and safe nation, it was only Austria’s duty to welcome as many refugees as they could possibly take. He stated that to reach a similar proportion Ireland would have to take about 45,000 refugees, “not to mention how many Britain should.”

He noted, however, that with “fears [that] the refugee crisis won’t be resolved by this summer, and afraid with

the euro crisis in Greece, [there is a concern for Britain and others that] the EU isn’t a viable place to be.” Nader remarked also that trends in the Brexit referendum, as in any recent election which has skewed European politics to lean further right, show that it “removes all logic” from voting as there are many other considerations to be made in either predicting or influencing how people will vote based on their own personal and, on a larger scale, national, vested interests.

Toward the end of his speech, he again addressed the refugee crisis in his own nation and reaffirmed that Austria have a “moral obligation to help those who really need assistance.” Upon questioning, he elaborated that this applies to both “legal and illegal” refugees, however, he reminded the audience that this needs to be balanced with “how much of a strain it puts on resources before [they] can’t afford to give [the refugees] a decent quality of life.”

Candidates continue to announce for Trinity constituency in Seanad election Ed Davitt is the latest candidate to announce for the Trinity panel Cathal Kavanagh Staff writer

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ANDIDATES CONTINUE TO announce their intention to run for the University of Dublin (Trinity) constituency in the elections for the 25th Seanad Éireann, with Trinity graduate Ed Davitt having announced his candidacy most recently on February 11.

The other candidates announced so far are president of Trinity College Dublin’s Students’ Union (TCDSU) Lynn Ruane; computer science graduate Eoin Meehan; long-standing senator David Norris; neuroscience graduate Sabina Brennan; medicine graduate Anthony Staines; and journalist and former member of the Armed Forces Tom Clonan.

Ed Davitt is one of two candidates running for the Seanad on the platform of seeking votes for citizens who have emigrated from Ireland. He is a signatory of the Emigrant Manifesto, which claims emigrants are being disenfranchised by being denied the right to vote in Irish elections. A Trinity History graduate with an MA from UCD, he currently lives in Brussels. He has previously been employed by Greenpeace and the Green Party in Ireland and Europe. Another emigrant, Barry Johnston, is running for the Seanad on the NUI panel.

The current president of TCDSU, Lynn Ruane is likely the most well-known Seanad candidate to current TCD students. Elected to the position last February with over 42% of the first-preference vote, Ruane ran on a platform of reducing inequal-

ity and increasing access to higher education. After leaving school at the age of 15, she spent a number of years working in addiction services and counselling, before coming to Trinity to study PPES through the Trinity Access Programme. She has been extremely active over the course of her year in office, opposing the introduction of higher fees and loan schemes, and making a number of appearances in the national media. She lives on campus with her two daughters.

Born to emigrants in London, Eoin Meehan learned programming in the very early days of modern computing, eventually working for a number of organisations including Intel and Bank of Ireland. In 2006, he enrolled in Trinity as a mature student to take an M.Sc in Computer Science. He has since worked on projects with the School of Computer Science, Dell, and the European Union, and co-founded a start-up of his own. Owing to his experience in the sector, tech issues are to the forefront of his campaign. Some of the areas he is focussing on include digital privacy, data protection, cyberbullying, and access to broadband.

David Norris is the longeststanding senator on the Dublin University panel. A Foundation Scholar during his time at Trinity, he was a lecturer in English Literature until 1996. A long-time civil rights campaigner, he was first elected to the Seanad in 1987. In 1988, after previous rulings against him in the Irish courts, the European Court of Human Rights struck down Ireland’s criminalisation of homosexuality in the Norris v. Ireland case.

Norris has remained a highly visible public figure in recent years, most notably for his role in the Marriage Equality campaign, his boundless enthusiasm for the work of

Lynn Ruane, president of Trinity College Dublin’s Students’ Union (TCDSU) and candidate in the Trinity constituency for Seanad Éireann, has announced a crowdfunding scheme to subsidise her election campaign.

She is running on “a platform of education, childcare and access – be that access to fair pay, mental health services, healthcare or equal opportunities.”

The crowdfunding scheme was publicised on Ruane’s political Facebook page accompanied by an explanation of the necessity of the financing. Ruane is running as an independent candidate and, as such, she “will receive no financial assistance from a national party fundraising network” and that her “campaign will be almost entirely self-funded.”

The Facebook status goes on to explain that the most significant overhead of the

campaign will be printing literature to post to registered electors: “While the Exchequer pays for the postage, candidates have to pay for the printing of over 50,000 copies of their campaign literature to be sent to every graduate.”

Ruane can afford to cover €1,000 of this cost, according to the fundraising website, however the total expenditure adds up to €2,800.

In appealing for donations, she said: “Every euro donated will contribute to my efforts to reach as many Trinity graduates as possible” and that this will enable her to “increase my chances of being elected and advocating in the Seanad for the issues I have campaigned on my entire life.” €880 has been raised by 23 donators in 10 days. Ruane commented on how quickly the call for backing was responded to: “It’s going really well... [It] was up to over 800 in a couple of days.” On the crowdfunding site, she stated that she was “overwhelmed and delighted” to have raised so much already.

NCAD Student Action view appointment of interm director with “absolute scepticism” Caoimhe Brennan Staff writer

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CAD STUDENT ACTION have criticised the appointment of Bernard Hanratty, a former managing director at the Citigroup Bank, as the acting director of the National College of Art and Design (NCAD).

Speaking to Trinity News, the group said that they regard the “appointment of the new interim director with absolute scepticism.” They added that they “hadn’t been given any evidence that improvements would be made,” although they would be delighted to be proven wrong.

“We hope that our negative stance on the issue proves to be unnecessary, but remain pessimistic as such a surprise would require an absolute deviance from the college management’s recent trajectory of neoliberalism, educational compromise, and complete disregard for students’ input,” they said.

“The root of all of the issues that we have faced as a

college, and that education faces internationally,” they explained, “stems from a morally deplorable neoliberal agenda. This agenda is one which sees a dramatic decline in both student and staff welfare. It has permeated every aspect of our education systems. In our college decisions are made, not out of artistic or educational concerns, but from an apathetic, capital driven stance.”

Former director of NCAD Declan McGonagle stepped down in September last year citing personal reasons.

Prior to this, students of NCAD staged several sit-ins and protests against the mismanagement of the college and its accounts after it was revealed that NCAD core funding had been cut by 52% over the past five years due to €104 million being unaccounted for as accounts were only up to date up to 2012. An increased student intake of 75%, a shortening of the undergraduate degree from four to three years, and a lack of studio space for undergraduates and postgraduates were also major factors in the students’ decision to protest.

USI calls for political parties to commit to abortion referendum Kevin Donoghue: access to free, safe and legal abortions in Ireland is “critical to advancing gender equality James Joyce, and his unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2011.

Sabina Brennan graduated from Trinity in 2007, and received her PhD in neuroscience in 2011. Before this, she had spent 16 years working for Irish Life PLC, and spent time as an actor, including appearances in Fair City. She works at the Institute of Neuroscience in TCD, and was involved in the grant of €138m to TCD and UC San Francisco from Atlantic Philanthropies, to establish the Global Brain Health Institute. She pledges to focus on human rights, health, education and equality. Promises include commitments to work to remove gender discrimination from the constitution, increase access to higher education, and increase the legal rights of intersex people.

After studying medicine in Trinity, Anthony Staines studied Epidemiology in London, and completed a PhD in the University of Leeds. He

worked in the Department of Public Health in UCD for 10 years, and is now an academic in DCU, where he is the chair of Health Systems.

He intends to use his position in the Seanad to concentrate on issues of public health policy, and to work to improve “access, quality, safety and resources” in the health service. He also pledges to support more equitable access to higher education. A supporter of Fine Gael, he lives in Skerries, Co. Dublin with his family.

Tom Clonan graduated from Trinity in 1987, before joining the Defence Forces, where he served both at home and in the Middle East. He became prominent in the early 2000s for his doctoral work documenting sexual harassment and assault within the Defence Forces. His work and experiences as a whistleblower have been featured in documentaries by RTÉ and TV3. He lectures at DIT’s School of Media, and has written two books. He writes

for a number of national publications, including the Irish Times. Living in Dublin with his family, his 13-year old son suffers from physical disabilities, and has to use a wheelchair. Clonan’s senate campaign focuses largely on disability issues, seeking to end discrimination in the areas of education, health and employment, while fighting for the rights of carers.

All Trinity graduates have the right to vote and elect three senators to the upper house of the national parliament. The condition was established in 1937 under the country’s new constitution, and the University of Dublin panel has sent a total of 22 people to the Seanad since that time. The college’s current trio of senators, David Norris, Ivana Bacik, and Seán Barrett, are all well-known in both national and campus life. Ivana Bacik and Seán Barrett, have not yet confirmed whether or not they will seek re-election in 2016.

Jake Trant Staff writer

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HE UNION OF Students in Ireland (USI) has called for political parties to commit to holding a referendum on repealing the Eighth Amendment if elected in the coming general election.

USI has called for the repeal of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution (Article 40.3.3), the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 and the Regulation of Information (services outside the State for the termination of pregnancies) Act 1995.

They called for the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act to be replaced with laws that ensure “safe and legal access to abortion, at a minimum, in cases of rape, incest, risk to health or fatal foetal impairment.”

In a press release, president of USI Kevin Donoghue said that: “Irish women should have access to free, safe and

legal abortion services, at the very least when a woman’s life is at risk – including from suicide, and in cases of rape, incest or fatal foetal abnormality.” He further spoke about how access to free, safe and legal abortions in Ireland is “critical to advancing gender equality and the position of women in Irish society.” He referred to the fact that: “The cost of travelling to the UK is too restrictive,” therefore making it almost impossible for many women to travel there.

Almost 25% of women who give Irish addresses when availing of abortion services in the UK are aged 18-24.

Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) is also in favour of of repealing the Eighth, having a mandate since a 2014 referendum on the matter to publicly and actively campaign for abortion on request of the woman.

Trinity News | Tuesday 16 February

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Trinity researchers CEO Magazine ranks Trinity’s awarded grants worth €4.5 MBA in Global Tier 1 of MBAs Trinity was the only Irish university on the list million The competitive grants enable mid-career researchers to carry out ground-breaking research, build their research teams, and develop innovative ideas Lia Flattery News editor

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WO RESEARCHERS AT Trinity College Dublin, assistant professor in geography, Martin Sokol, and European Research Council (ERC) research professor in chemistry, Valeria Nicolosi, have been awarded prestigious ERC Consolidator Grants, worth a combined total of over €4 million.

The grants, which are highly competitive, enable mid-career researchers to carry out ground-breaking research, build their research teams and develop innovative ideas.

These two ERC grants are the only ones to be awarded in Ireland for this funding cycle. The ERC is part of the EU Research and Innovation programme Horizon 2020.

Sokol, who is also a founding member and co-organiser of the Global Network on Financial Geography, will use the funding to investigate the process of financialisation,

the growing power of finance over societies and economies, in order to gain a better understanding of how banks, states and households across post-socialist East-Central Europe are interconnected by financial links with each other and with a wider political economy.

In a statement, Sokol explained: “The objective is to examine how states, banks and households in post-socialist contexts have been financialised and to consider what implications this has for the societies in question and for Europe as a whole.”

He continued: “Eastern Europe will be used as a laboratory to understand how finance penetrates every nook and cranny of post-communist economies that were previously built on completely opposite principles. The project will open up new horizons in studies of finance, its geography and its future role in society.”

Professor Nicolosi, who works out of AMBER, the Science Foundation Irelandfunded materials science centre, located in Trinity, will concentrate on developing a new type of extremely long

lasting battery that can come in any shape or size and can be planted in any type of material, be that clothing, a mobile phone, a car dashboard or even inside the human body (e.g. for an Implanted Cardiac Device).

This grant will allow her to form a multi-disciplinary research group to create this new battery. Nicolosi is Ireland’s only four-time ERC recipient, and has secured over €11 million in funding for her research in the past five years at Trinity.

In a press release, Nicolosi said: “I am delighted to be awarded the European Research Council’s (ERC) Consolidator Grant. Since 2011, the first year of my ERC Starting Grant, my group has grown from three to 25 people. The ERC Grants I have been awarded were not only important in helping fund our research and grow our team, but to also help leverage more funding and realise partnerships with large multinationals. What is key is that these grants allow us to take the next step with our research – whether it is the licensing of technology or starting up a new company.”

USI deputy-president Annie Hoey, announces bid for presidential position Speaking to Trinity News, she outlined higher education funding as the number one priority should she be elected Niamh Moriarty Senior reporter Annie Hoey, current deputy president and vicepresident for equality and citizenship for the Union of Students Ireland (USI), announced on February 10 that she will be running for the role of USI president.

Speaking to Trinity News about her candidacy, she said that she believes her current position will be of benefit to her, having deputised for the current president Kevin Donoghue and worked alongside him for the past year.

She has also met with Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan and with the Higher Education Authority (HEA), the latter she deemed as “crucial” given the ongoing negotiations around the Technological Universities Bill 2015, which sparked the striking of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) in early February.

Hoey explained that the experience that she has gained from sitting on the HEA’s Access Board in negotiating and fighting for students’ interests will stand to her if elected.

She outlined higher education funding as the number one priority should she be elected, adding that, amidst the possibility of incomecontingent student loans and the aforementioned bill, figuring out “where the money is going to come from” and holding the government accountable to “quality assurance” on any prospective plans for funding will be key.

Asked about what she per-

ceives to be the most challenging undertaking in mediating between student and government interests, she stated that the sheer scale of the task feels, at times, “insurmountable… like an avalanche.” However, she said that USI’s most powerful force is the fact it has “student movement as [its] backbone.” By engaging and activating students on the ground, getting their point across on boards, “[where] you don’t hear the word student mentioned for two hours” at times, becomes a far louder and a far more potent intention, she said. She was adamant that she would never accept any result from negotiations that did not have the best outcome for students at its core.

According to Hoey, having experience of working on multiple USI and student-run campaigns, such as Students Against Fees, Yes Equality and Pink Training, means that she will be strongly orientated towards fostering civic engagement.

Hoey outlined that student activism, citing the Students Against Fees movement, is “something [she] want[s] to nurture.” It will be crucial for the upcoming resistance against the introduction of loan schemes: “[We] don’t believe that there should be fees. Education is a public good,” she stated, adding that public opinion has moved to support this, with many feeling that fees do not “encourage progression from secondto third-level education.”

Having mobilised many students for the Yes Equality campaign, Hoey claimed that that movement has politicised and engaged students and that the hunger for “social change” incited in

students would only work to benefit the Repeal the Eighth campaign, should a referendum be called: “It will be a different kind of campaign…

It won’t be [mobilised] on one side, but it won’t be a 50/50 split,” she said, citing the recent figures found by the USI that 85% of students want to back the campaign.

Hoey has worked on many issues pertaining to women’s rights, and obtained a postgraduate certificate in women’s studies from University College Cork (UCC). Speaking about the obstacles facing women in leadership, she recalled her own experience as a first year in college, seeing a female part-time officer in UCC Students’ Union (UCCSU) speaking to students, who would later to go on to become her mentor and was the inspiration for her involvement with student politics.

When asked to comment on Trinity’s current lack of female candidates in the SU election, she admitted that it is a slow process toward obtaining equal representation, and that it will not come all at once: “The year after I won [a sabbatical officer position in UCCSU], there was an all-male sabbatical team.”

According to Hoey, although it can be “disheartening” and sometimes act as an obstacle, she stated that the feeling that there is no space for women can also act to spur women on in spite of it: “I view it as a brief obstacle,” she stated, in relation to her running for president as a woman, but added that, ultimately, that doubt worked only to cement her decision.

Megan Thompson Staff writer

T

RINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN’S postgraduate course Master in Business Administration (MBA) was ranked in the Global Tier 1 in CEO Magazine’s 2015-2016 MBA rankings. Trinity was the only Irish university on the list.

This comes after Trinity’s MBA was ranked 5th in Europe by Eduniversal in December.

In compiling the rankings, CEO Magazine examine the learning environment, class sizes, tuition fees, quality and make-up of faculty, delivery

methods, and the international and gender diversity within the course.

In a statement from College, Michael Flynn director of the Trinity MBA programme expressed his delight at the result: “We are delighted with Trinity’s result in the CEO Magazine MBA rankings. The survey provides valuable insight into the character and content of an MBA programme allowing people to evaluate MBA offerings in a meaningful way where issues such as the quality of the programme and its ability to facilitate career change and advancement can be assessed.”

Professor Andrew Burke dean of Trinity Business School stated that: “The

Trinity MBA is one of the few MBAs in the world which adopt a major business projects learning approach which involve students working with firms on corporate strategy, SME high growth and social enterprise projects. They do so to the exclusion of any other coursework for a period of six months on the programme. So it is good that firms are recognising the unique value added that the Trinity MBA can generate for businesses and it being reflected in these rankings.”

CEO Magazine began publication in 2008 and started its annual MBAs ranking in 2012. For the ranking they examined colleges in North America, Australia and Europe.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy hold conference in Cork Alice Whelan Contributing writer

S

TUDENTS FOR SENSIBLE Drug Policy (SSDP) chapters of Ireland convened at the Boole lecture hall in University College Cork (UCC) Saturday February 6. They are calling for change in drug policy and education in Ireland, reflecting the growing number of college students in favour of the liberalisation of education and policy surrounding drugs.

Among the speakers was Jake Agliata, USA & International Outreach Coordinator for the main branch of SSDP in Washington DC. There are currently 278 chapters worldwide in 13 different countries. He stated Ireland’s recent plan for legalised injection facilities makes the country somewhat of a model for progressive drug legislation in Europe, behind the likes of Portugal, whose decriminalisation policy provides inspiration for a similar harm-reduction structure proposed by the Oireachtas Justice Committee.

Agliata urged students to participate in the upcoming election in order to influence policy: “Vote for candidates that are going to continue this trend of sensible drug policy in Ireland.”

Members of the DCU, UCC and CIT societies outlined recent developments within their chapters. DCU’s Dan Kirby highlighted the referendum passed by NUIG’s Student’s Union on the legalisation of cannabis, noting that DCU had plans to hold a similar referendum. He also congratulated those present on SSDP’s invitation to speak at the Oireachtas in regard to the decriminalisation of drugs.

The SSDP society in CIT had conducted an insightful survey of 73 CIT students, revealing 38% of students had never taken substances, 62% had taken substances at some stage in their lives and 21% had consumed substances

within the past week of the survey.

Of the 38% who said they had not taken drugs, 92% said that decriminalisation would not make them more likely to take drugs. Society chairman Martin Conlan stated: “The people who would be taking drugs [under decriminalisation] would be the people who were taking drugs anyway.”

In deciding to take drugs for the first time, 87% of students said that the health risks associated with the drug were more of an issue than its legality. The survey also noted that the majority of students agreed to the statement that educating people more about the effects and side effects of drugs would reduce the rate of misuse and the harms of such.

Katy McLeod of the Scottish Drugs Forum, and operations and communications director of Chill Welfare, emphasised the need for practical measures to ensure safe drug use for recreational users at events. Chill Welfare is a social enterprise set up in response to drug-related deaths at festivals and aims to promote safe usage. In her talk, she outlined the rise of new synthetic drugs imitating popular substances, such as synthetic cannabinoids and methoxetamine, a popular substitute for ketamine, an anesthetic drug used illicitly as a hallucinogen.

She also addressed the challenges to safer drug use on the nightclub circuit, where many owners turn a blind eye to drug use instead of implementing safety measures, for fear of losing their licenses due allegations of complicity.

The medicinal uses of cannabis, and the advances that have been made in treatment of illnesses including cancer, was key for Tom Curran, partner of the late “Right to Die” campaigner, Marie Fleming. Cannabis was the only thing Fleming found effective in dealing with the symptoms related to her Multiple Sclerosis, with the couple secretly growing medicinal strains of marijuana in their home for years.

Curran spoke on how the media constructs a negative image of drug users: “people’s perception [is] that everybody is abusing out there, instead of focusing on the fact it is a result of not having an effective drug policy. Psychotic episodes do happen, but only in case where the person is predisposed.”

Tim Bingham, National Lead Trainer for the Naloxone demonstration project, HSE Addiction Service, was able to highlight the innovative new scheme for dealing with the rise of overdoses related to heroin and opioid use.

Naloxone is a synthetic drug that is administered to opioid users in the case of an overdose, sustaining the subject for long enough until an ambulance arrives. In response to the realisation that 40% of users die in the company of others, Naloxone kits and training have been given to family members and hostel workers to prevent such instances repeating themselves.

Research from the LSE IDEAS international drug policy project has shown that prohibitionist drug policies have largely failed, and have caused collateral damage in terms of human rights abuses and socioeconomic consequences.

Dan Kirby, Chairman of the DCU chapter of SSDP, commented on the recent death of Alex Ryan, after consuming what he believed to be 2 – TBC, but which in fact turned out to be another synthetic hallucinogen, nicknamed “N-bomb.”

Kirby stated: “It really brings to the forefront what we’re trying to do.. there’s a real human element. It’s nice to talk about statistics but when you actually see something like this and you know it could have been one of your friends .. it could have been anyone, that we really want to enact something that would bring some sort of reduction and we want to stop tragedies like this happening.”

Agricultural greenhouse emissions “underestimated” according to Trinity scientists Jessie Dolliver Senior reporter

S

CIENTISTS FROM TRINITY College Dublin have found that relying on data which excludes land-use history in annual reporting on agricultural land use in Ireland has led to an underestimation of cropland emissions by 46%.

Research fellow in botany at Trinity and first author of the study, Dr Jesko Zimmermann stated that: “By looking at the 2008 to 2012 greenhouse gas commitment period set in the Kyoto protocol, we could show that relying on annual data and not including landuse history led to an underestimation of area reported as cropland by 45.7%, which in return impacts greenhouse gas accounting.”

Agriculture is one of the largest industries in Ireland.

Grasslands, which are utilised by grazing animals for meat and milk production,

dominate Irish farming land.

As a result, Ireland is under international observation with regards to a number of environmental issues including phosphorus and nitrogen pollution, and large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions.

Reporting on these issues requires precise knowledge of the area of grasslands and of other agricultural land-use.

Failures in this could lead to inaccuracies in greenhouse gas accounting.

Most accounting assumes that about 90% of Irish agricultural area is being used as pasture, with a relatively small area dedicated to arable land. Accounting has also assumed that there is little change in land use over time.

Zimmermann, said that “agricultural land use in Ireland is much more dynamic than annual reports suggest.”

That is to say that there may have been more land being

used for crop production than recorded.

Speaking to the Irish Times, O’Brien, the EPA research fellow who took part in the study, said that the actual level of underestimation represents a small amount of carbon release from lands generally. “There are other aspects of land use that have a bigger impact on our numbers, for example draining lands, particularly draining for peat recovery. This has a much greater impact on our inventory numbers,” he said.

The research by Zimmermann was in collaboration with teaching fellow, Dr Ainhoa González; fellow emeritus, professor Mike Jones; professor of botany, Jane Stout; Phillip O’Brien of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); and Stuart Green of Teagasc, and was published in the journal Land Use Policy.

Trinity News | Tuesday 16 February

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Trinity News | Tuesday 16 February

Features

Eva O''Brien speaks to vice-provost Linda Hogan about the Trinity Education Project

page 12

Leadership Race 2016

The presidential interviews K

IERAN MCNULTY, a fourth year law student, has been heavily involved with various student societies and the SU throughout his college career. He is the current SU citizenship officer and has been a prominent member of both the TCD Law Society and the European Youth Parliament.

Opening up our interview, McNulty first discussed his position on the introduction of student fees or loans. This is not a matter of ambiguity for McNulty, who participated in a recent march of the Students Against Fees group, which he has been involved with “since the first meeting.” In terms of campaigning on this matter, he related his beliefs that “the next few months would be crucial” and that “we could be looking at loans being in-

S

TEPHEN CARTY, OR “The Bull”, as he’s referred to back home in County Roscommon, is a third-year Sociology and Social Policy student. His involvement in student politics stems back to first year when he was elected as a class representative. Last year he served as the Vice President/Treasurer of the JCR and currently holds the position of Sports Officer, a Part-Time Officer role within the SU. I began dissecting the contents of his manifesto by enquiring about the ‘Improving College Infrastructure’ point in which he states: “Our students shouldn’t have to sit on the ground because all the sofas are always taken; we should just have more.” When I suggested the potential complications within fire safety regulations he responded: “This is another thing that could be hit by red tape, but we have to keep on at the college. I think there is space.” Once pressed about whether he had investigated the logistics of acquiring more couches he said: “No.

D

ANIEL O’BRIEN is a fourth year BESS student, assistant managing editor of the University Times (UT) and speaker coordinator for the Trinity Economic Forum (TEF). He feels that he has the necessary skills to tackle issues relating to all aspects of student life, both at national and university levels.

His manifesto touches on an array of topics from mitigating cuts to the Student Counselling Service using funding from the Higher Education Authority (HEA), to continuing to advocate for change on the national front with campaigns such as Repeal the 8th and revoking the ban on MSM blood donations.

His outlook is that student issues are rarely abstracted from societal issues. Asked why, if this is the case, there has been criticism of the current SU president Lynn Ruane’s focus on national issues, he stated that Ruane is right to put a large emphasis on political matters: “I think it’s a little bit of a false dichotomy, in the sense that students who disagree with Lynn, disagree

troduced in April, [or] May.” He mentioned that he was “a little annoyed that there was no sabbatical officer at the march,” considering that “the SU have a mandate now to fight against fees.” He also stressed the importance of fee certainty and consistency for non-EU students.

Conversation then turned to what sets him apart from other presidential candidates, with McNulty summarising that his “drive and a willingness to listen” are what characterise him as a leader.

McNulty felt that the SU is representative of the student body, but perhaps does not “act well enough” or “communicate well enough” with the student body about concerns.

He mentioned, as examples, the lack of debate before the SU’s consent campaigns or be-

fore the issue of student loans was discussed at SU Council, because the Council agenda was only distributed to class representatives the day before Council.

According to his manifesto, McNulty aspires to “remove the difficulties students have with the SU.” Asked to elaborate on this, he said: “If you’re a part time officer and you’ve been involved for a few years, there’s this idea that you’re a hack, and they move in very similar circles. In that way they are isolated.” However, he asserted that this has been improving, and that more students are now bringing projects to the SU, like the campaigns to Repeal the 8th, divest from fossil fuels, and the 1916 commemoration campaign.

Speaking of communica-

tion, McNulty described his proposed “online petition system” for recording more minor student issues, whereby proof of student concern for a particular cause or problem could be presented by the SU when “going to Board [University Board, the College’s chief governing structure].”

When asked about the importance of individual student advocacy compared with the advocacy of larger groups, he commented that: “It’s always important not to lean on just one student’s opinion,” but that in reality many campuswide movements have originated from the actions of an individual or small group.

Questioned about fulfilling the SU’s Repeal the 8th mandate, he stated: “I’m absolutely in favour of repealing the 8th amendment. I’m pro-choice.

You know, I have a little sister, and I hate the way our society has treated our women for 30 years.” This topic lead to his observation that personal politics should be transparent in SU leadership, but that “whatever students mandate you to do, you must be gladly willing to do, and gladly willing to push.”

Speaking of the MSM blood donation ban, which the SU was recently mandated to campaign against, McNulty asserted: “It is, as it stands, homophobic… It’s not the 80s anymore,” and described the ban as “another frontier to equality that we haven’t broached yet.”

McNulty also praised Trinity’s divestment campaign for “the amount of students and the amount of passion behind this,” while he heavily

criticised the limited mental health and counselling resources provided by College, pressing that a solitary mental health week is not enough.

Asked which of the many SU mandates and issues he would prioritise as president, if any, he admitted that this was a difficult thing to do. He stated: “I would like to focus on, in my year, the SU becoming more effective on student issues, and for the students to realise that the SU is fighting in their corner.” He added: “Of course, if the fees issue is still a huge thing if I come in in July, if it’s still up in the air… that would be point one also.”

McNulty also appeared to have major intentions for student accommodation, including Trinity Hall workshops on renting as a student, a more developed landlord network,

and a daft.ie “rent-a-room” scheme. He highlighted the necessity for students of finding “a place in May, [or] June, because once August and the CAO results come in, you’ve got so many more students looking for rooms.”

He was inspirited when discussion turned to employment, and discussed plans for student courses providing training in bar and barista work, a developed alumni career network, a jobs/careers portal, and the unfortunate lack of a computer science and engineering careers office.

I have not checked.”

Another of his manifesto points which proved prominent was a paragraph about the environment. Carty explained his aspirations to apply for the Green Flag if elected. He plans to phase out food trays in the Buttery which “would save 15,000 gallons of water a year”, he claimed. I questioned him on the practicality of such a plan; how could people carry their food, to which he responded, “When the trays are gone people will have to adapt. They can make two spins.” Carty highlighted some more college inefficiencies as “something (he) feels strongly about” such as the rebranding of the Trinity logo and the thrice-yearly powerwashing schedule:“If we did that twice instead of three times that’d save money.”

Of course, the topical problem of a lack of plugs in the Lecky library arose to which Carty versed:“Why are we saying this cannot be done? Let’s rip up the carpet. This is the status quo again like. We say no and that this is what we want;

keep barraging.” He had some further points to make on the condition of the library saying that in first year he thought that it was “the mankiest thing (he’d) ever seen in (his) life.”

He went on to say that poor college infrastructures like such inspired him to make a change, such as the setting up of the gym in Halls which was a project he established last year with the JCR. I was curious to find out whether Carty saw being a committee member of the JCR an advantage or a disadvantage to his campaign for SU president. He made reference to other candidates, Dale Whelehan for Education and Emmet Broaders for Communications and Marketing, who also held positions on the JCR alongside Carty: “Maybe this year I do. The three of us [could be]… splitting numbers.” He stated that he was proud of being a part of the JCR and that he could make a difference but that he was not going to “push it to the max” in his campaign for president.

I moved the interview onto

more pressing issues such as the recent increase in student fees, of which Carty had no point about on his manifesto.

But he was clearly impassioned by the idea of building a campaign against student fees: “I don’t think our students should be taxed anymore for an education. We are giving our student contribution.” He referred to the movement in England in which they stood against increased fees, saying they went “absolutely mental” and “played havoc”.

He explained how he believes that we need to motivate the whole student body in order to start our own movement.

“First thing I’ll do when I’m elected is that I’m going to get onto every SU president in every college in Ireland and we’re gonna try and move this.

We have to realise this and we have to go and get them. Commit to it.” He went on to say that “There’s no point in just having 1,000 students from Trinity. We need to get 1,000 students from all the colleges and put them on Kildare Street. Make a national thing

out of this. Make publicity.

Student activism is alive.”

Another of his manifesto points suggested the idea of starting up a freelance work scheme aimed exclusively at Trinity students to suit the college-work balance, something he claimed to have struggled with during his junior freshman year when he worked for Alchemy, a nightclub in Templebar. He told me about a similar project that is underway in Southampton University. “You sign up with the SU and you’d be on a jobs listing”.

He revealed that he has been in contact with the 3 Arena, the National Concert Hall and the Aviva stadium and “they’ve all agreed to go into partnership”. Carty promised “even if I’m not elected I hope it happens.”

Carty displayed annoyance towards the topic of Student Union transparency, and expressed that “every year we see involvement in the SU, transparency in the SU, get the SU out of House 6.” His approach in tackling the problem of a lack of transparency would

be to set up an open forum where first years in particular can voice their opinions.

“Give them as many opportunities as possible and that their opinion matters. If you let someone know that they’re appreciated then they’ll come out of their shell.”

When asked about his competitors in the leadership race, Carty was quick to praise the two candidates, Kieran McNulty and Dan O’Brien. He stated that he has “the utmost respect for Kieran” and also commented on O’Brien’s “nice haircut”.Carty went on to say that “I mightn’t have a polished CV, or in-depth knowledge of the running of the SU as the rest of them, but one thing I can guarantee that I will not be beaten on and that is ambition and the drive” He boasted that he “will not be passive and that is something that nobody nor no candidate can beat (him) on.” Furthermore, he displayed his passion for defending the student body, stating: “[he] wouldn’t be running for president if [he] wasn’t.”

He went on to exhibit his levels of confidence for the leadership race: “I fully expect to win this election, because I’m Stephen Carty. I have not gone into one thing and thought this is not going to happen.

With me I’m literally running towards something and you don’t even have to point. If I’m tackling something, it’s head on. They call me “The Bull” Carty back home because I show the horns and I go into it.”

I then inquired about his position on how much of the SU’s time should be spent on internal and external issues, to which he responded with a metaphor. “You always do club before county. And if you want the glory, you’ll play for county. First and foremost, you’re elected as president of Trinity College. And first and foremost that makes you president of Trinity College Students Union, but sometimes you cannot affect the internal without affecting first the external.”

with the idea of Lynn to some extent. They disagree with someone who takes such a radical stance, and I mean radical in the sense that she takes an approach, empirically, [that] SU presidents haven’t taken before.”

In real terms, however, O’Brien admitted that there is an inevitability that the next president will drift more towards the middle ground: “My personal hope as a president would be to make sure I never drop the ball on any internal issues.”

Speaking about the recent announcement of income contingent loans for students, O’Brien felt that this move would be detrimental to students and has the potential to drive a further wedge between social classes in terms of access to education. Referring to the success of the Trinity Access Programme (TAP), he said: “We’ve made inroads against this impression of higher education as a bastion of the elite” and described the loans as a “regressive step.”

Given many in government feel this is the only feasible option to address the fund-

ing crisis across the education sector, O’Brien asserted that students need to tackle the issue head on: “The alternative for students is to make sure that a party that gets elected or a coalition that gets elected has students at the forefront of their decisions.”

Short-term, he said, this means turning out on election day; Long-term, it means making student voices heard: “It’s going to be building a sustained narrative as to why education is not a charity you’re throwing money into, why education is a public good that has spillover benefits for everyone in society.”

Asked how students can resolve the current discord between the SU’s mandate to campaign for abortion on request and the nationwide reluctance to stray too far from the 8th amendment, O’Brien saw it as a campaign that will be harder to increase support for compared to the initiative behind the referendum on same-sex marriage: “We have to admit that abortion specifically, but even the 8th amendment, is not as much of a uniformly supported idea

as marriage equality was and you do have to be sensitive to that.” Even some students who would normally be inclined towards leftist policies, he stated, stand on the pro-life side of the debate. Though he is personally committed to supporting the mandate, he conceded that: “Maybe that’s a longer fight that we need to commit to” and said that he is committed to putting structures into place for continued campaigning extending beyond the next presidential term.

At university level, O’Brien’s manifesto outlines a plan for a working group to investigate the most effective way to tackle gender disparity in the SU. He admitted that this year’s election candidates lack the female representation of last year’s race: “The result we saw last year was a sustained Women in Leadership campaign that ended up with the first majority female sabbatical team… and certainly that’s not going to be the case this year.” The Women in Leadership campaign was spearheaded by the then education officer Katie Byrne, but failed

to continue “partially [due to] a cost reason.”

Speaking about representation in the SU in a broader context, O’Brien argued that it comes down to the efficiency of the part-time LGBT rights, international students and disability officers’ roles: “The efficacy of those roles depends on who, year on year, gets elected, how seriously they treat their job, [and] how competent they are inherently, and that’s not optimal for anyone.” Here, he felt his experience as the assistant editor of UT could be of use.

Having managed a team of 50 editors, he promised to “set expectations at an above average level so that people know what they need to be doing in their roles in more concrete terms.” He was quick to point out that a solution won’t be straightforward. Each group will require specific responses “to bridge that gap in engagement. It’s not really a one-sizefits-all thing.” However, being an international student himself, he felt that his experience with the struggles involving national policy that they face, such as the long queues at the

GNIB for registration, will enable him to represent that cohort of student society more adequately than the other candidates.

Asked about the SU’s muchdebated insularity in terms of wide-reaching engagement with the student body, O’Brien conceded that: “Where there’s smoke, there’s definitely fire.”

The SU’s expectation that students will “parse through these massive documents and constitutions” in order to inform themselves is unrealistic. He described his role as a journalist as “bridging the gap between the technocratic side… and making those developments relevant to students,” which he plans to apply to his role in the form of a weekly column update, informing students on the SU’s weekly business.

Utilising apps such as Smartvote and Poll Everywhere, O’Brien hopes to engage students in a two-fold manner: The former encouraging students on the margins to go out and vote, making elections more accessible, and the latter being to make the SU aware “of [how] a representative

sample of students feel about an issue.” Using new technologies makes for an appealing manifesto promise, but he admitted that these tools alone would not be sufficient in tackling the lack of engagement from students outside of the SU. His plans also involve sabbatical officers engaging with students around campus on a weekly basis, “not with the purpose of pontificating to them,” but rather for them to get a grasp of the issues most pertinent from the perspectives of the students. The idea is that these measures together will highlight “headline issues” and, in doing so, will draw more people to SU Council meetings. He cited the Students Against Fees and Fossil Free TCD campaigns as examples of this: “They [the headline issues] get people through the door.” In turn, he hopes students will come to view the Council meetings as “the best place for them to say something; for them to hear what their representatives are saying.”

- By Jessie Dolliver

- Una Harty

- Niamh Moriarty

Trinity News | Tuesday 16 February

Features

9

Examinging the language of economic recovery Eóin Ó Murchú examines the problems with framing the national economy in the medical terminology of recovery Eoin Ó Murchú Contributing writer

I

N MOMENTS OF disaster and crash, people seek stability. The language of the ruling class, however, often creates a facade of stability, and masks a continuing crisis. In recent months it has been hard to ignore the talk about the recovery we are experiencing here in Ireland.

Recovery is an interesting term. Medically it refers to returning to a healthy state. Its use may be traced back to 30 September 2008, 15 days after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. An emergency meeting was convened between senior political figures and banking directors. The contagion from the American subprime loan crisis was cascading towards Europe and talk of the “boom getting boomier” all but vanished. The prescription received that night was to offer a complete blanket guarantee to the banking sector. This move served to inoculate financial interests from excessive risk. As a result, ten times the national debt and more than twice the value of the economy was shovelled from the private to the public sector. Since then, the country has received bailout funds in exchange for austerity and structural reforms.

direction of economic activity. However, the associated mantra that a stronger economy results in a fairer society, which we now hear repeated across many European centre and centre-right parties, is a fallacy. GDP fails to take into account the daily life of an

boost its GDP, but no financial report will catalogue the impact of the environmental devastation. The same can be said about the economic surge taking place due to cheap oil.

To complement GDP, GNP (Gross National Product) can be added to the economic ar-

everyday citizen. Fears and aspirations, which can dominate a person’s entire perspective are omitted from this crude metric on which has been bestowed the authority to conclude: recovery. Income inequality isn’t measured, and its toxic effects are glazed over.

Socioeconomic rifts open, catalysing a sense of otherness and division. Gentrification, or socially stratified urban spaces have already sprung from Ireland’s recovery, and gated communities separate the upwardly mobile from communities who’ve managed to miss this rising tide.

Another flaw with using GDP is that it tells you nothing about the hidden costs which cannot be so easily measured.

A country may fell a thousand hectares of forest and

mamentarium. GNP takes into consideration the repatriation of profits declared in Ireland by multinationals. This would be an insightful figure to include in an Irish discussion, considering our predilection for foreign direct investment.

Thanks to the Central Bank, we now know that goods produced abroad but owned by an Irish entity can be classified as exports despite never touching Irish hands or Irish soil.

accept the economy as one entity, growth will always be welcomed as beneficial. However, countries contain more than their economies. They are not only factories, shops, and the stock market; they are nuanced, complex societies wherein cultural, spiritual,

moral, and personal webs of life are interwoven.

The Socratic method of reasoning or even palliative care medicine weren’t developed out of desire for profit, but out of curiosity and compassion.

However, no leading business executive would deny the ben-

all individuals, even if the larger economy is thriving Another question arises in our discussion of growth and recovery. To what can we attribute the taking of our medicine? Expansive cuts to the societal safety net of welfare have been deemed inevitable

efits of critical thinking, nor would any healthcare trustee ignore the savings palliative care can yield. It is clear that the fetishisation of immediate growth can preclude future growth. The paradoxical nature of this short-term growth trade-off highlights the recovery narrative’s internal contradiction. A more honest metric for growth, or health, would be vigilant to the basic needs and cultural development of

to balance the books and make the country stable. In a fiscal act of bloodletting, we have been afflicted with austerity in an effort to streamline our economy and allow it to grow.

Like traditional bloodletting, however, there is a risk that it may do more harm than good.

The IMF, along with many well-regarded and conservative economists, has started to publish papers questioning the economic benefits of austerity. What, however, is the cause of Ireland’s growth if not the prolonged belttightening exercises? Looking at Ireland’s economic history, state-subsidised foreign investment has been preferred over cultivating indigenous industry. To this day, Ireland exports not manufactured goods, but financial and high-

Medical metaphor

To continue this medical metaphor, the financial sector received an emergency transfusion from the taxpayer to guarantee the country’s credit ratings. The narrative constructed was “we are all in this together”. We needed to tighten our belts, and if we kept to the Troika’s orders we would come out the other side, healthy. Nearly eight years have passed since then and there is an election on our doorstep. Those in power are heralding the return of prosperity thanks to the medicine of austerity. The message is clear: we are recovering. But for whom exactly is this diagnosis made?

One of the metrics often used to gauge recovery is Gross Domestic Product. GDP is perhaps the blue-ribbon metric for growth. It gives a good indication of the net

Reductive metrics

To restrict ourselves to a single number as the sole barometer for economic recovery is both short-sighted and dangerous. This treats the nation as one body with one recovery, rather than the interaction of many bodies and many recoveries. If we

tech services to the global market. Indeed, the growth from such multinationals is bloated due to Ireland’s status as a tax haven, but job growth is present. From 2008-2013 nearly 10,000 high-wage, high-tech jobs in the ICT sector have come to Ireland, with this trend undeniably benefiting from quantitative easing in the United States.

It is critical to observe that this increased investment has nothing to do with the fiscal bloodletting of Transylvanian excess. It is the direct effect of a state-led strategy to attract global capital. This policy has a long tradition in Irish politics, dating back to the 1960s and helps explain how we have come out of our recession in contrast to Greece. The idea that we have made adult choices and dutifully taken our medicine belies the truth behind our ability to provide a ready-made niche accommodating foreign capital’s global supply chains. The eurozone and, to a lesser degree, any incumbent political party has little to do with it.

The disturbing premise of this recovery narrative is the idea of never-ending growth.

By mimicking Bram Stoker’s Dracula the quest for growth becomes inhumane and relentless. A recovery, or return to stability, should end. Medically, things that grow uncontrollably are pathological. If we constantly need to grow and compete, then we prescribe to ourselves a constant justification the medicine of austerity. By idolising the language of growth, failing to recognise the casualties of that growth, and continuing to measure Ireland’s recovery with such crude metrics, we will always hold passports as citizens of an ill country.

-Illustration by Sarah Larragy

Deconstructing Disneyland Meet the students from Notre Dame who balance their studies with placements in Dublin’s marginalised communities Tadgh Healy Features editor

F

IGHTING WORDS IS a creative writing initiative based close to Croke Park, and co-founded by Roddy Doyle.

Run by volunteers, it gives primary school children the opportunity to write stories of their own. Shortly after Chinese New Year, Maggie Blake, a student of history from the University of Notre Dame volunteered at the centre for the first time.

“The first day I was there, their story was about a sparkly dog called chopsticks, whose best friend was named noodles. Chopstick’s biggest wish in life was to was to eat noodles – not his friend the dog, but the food. Also, his biggest fear was One Direction.”

The week after, Blake explains, the children were writing a story about a superwoman, and were debating what her biggest wish might be.

“One girl raised her hand and she said: “I think her biggest wish should be that everyone loves her and that she has lots of friends.”” Blake continues: “I was with the girl at the end as she was writing her own ending, and she said: “I think I’m going to end it where everyone is saved and they’re all happy.”

CBL

Blake volunteers with Fighting Words as part of Notre Dame’s CBL (Community Based Learning) program for study-abroad students in Trinity or UCD. Established in 2009, the program places Notre Dame students in a number of social-service organisations and initiatives across the city.

These include an after-school centre in Ballymun called the Aisling Project, homelessness charities, tutoring refugees working towards their Leaving Cert, and home visits to elderly people requiring help with technology or relief from

loneliness.

Rosie McDowell, director of the international wing of Notre Dame’s CBL program, explains that one of the central motivations for extending the CBL program beyond the main campus was to combat the “Disneyland perceptions” American students often have of Western Europe.

And unique to Notre Dame is a connection to Ireland. Over 80% of the student body are Catholic, the mascot is a leprechaun and the university’s nickname is “the fighting Irish.” Although Blake had visited Ireland before arriving in January for her semester abroad, she says that there certainly does exist a perception of Ireland as “a faraway land”, informed by films such as P.S. I Love You. McDowell agrees, explaining that the CBL placements aim, at the very least, to expose students “to a country beyond the mystical, mythical, historical Ireland of homegrown wooly sweaters, Claddagh rings, St. Patrick and leprechauns.”

While admirable in educating students about the realities of post-recession Ireland, and providing extra hands in the under-funded voluntary sector, Notre Dame’s CBL program might be criticised as using systemic social problems as a means for credit-orientated educational opportunities.

However, Eimear Delaney, Assistant Director at Notre Dame’s O’Connell House on Merrion Sqaure, points to the “win-win” strong relationships the CBL program has built up with many organisations in Dublin: “We are in regular dialogue with many of these places, and we often get asked, “When are the Americans touching down?”” Delaney adds that the children are also particularly fond of Notre Dame’s volunteers: “We work with kids a lot and they just

adore Americans – they think they’re movie stars.”

Past experience

It is also apparent that students selected for the CBL program tend to have a wide range of experiences volunteering with marginalised communities well before they arrive in Dublin. Blake, for example, who grew up in Detroit, herself founded a notfor-profit with her older sister whilst still in high school.

Named Blanket With Love, the charity made fleece blankets which were then donated to homeless shelters. She adds that after arriving at Notre Dame, she, like many others, was encouraged to continue to pursue these altruistic interests: “It was something I liked, and especially with my Poverty Studies minor I wanted to keep being involved. Actually, as one of my classes I went to a juvenile prison in South Bend once a week and hung out with the girls there.”

Blake explains that at Notre Dame, choosing to study abroad is a very popular option. The vast majority of students apply for a place on either a single semester or year-long scheme, and perhaps due to the university’s historical ties with Ireland, Dublin is one of the most competitive destinations. Delaney says that therefore successful applications often demonstrate an aptitude for the CBL placements as well as academic ability.

There are currently 18 students from Notre Dame studying in Trinity, and interestingly there is a stark gender divide with only 3 men in the cohort. All are given accommodation on campus, yet McDowell explains that another of the CBL program’s virtues is that it immediately ensures students escape the often insular environment of campus

life: “The students live and take courses on the south side of Dublin. Most of the organisations [we work with] are situated on the north side of the River Liffey. We are asking the students to literally and figuratively cross the bridge to engage with their placements.”

Because American students require credits in addition to those provided by their academic work in college, they also take part in further classes organised by the Keough Naughton Institute for Irish Studies in O’Connell House.

The institute recently produced a documentary series on the 1916 Rising for RTÉ, and fosters many links between America and Ireland.

Regardless of their major, students are required to take classes in Irish history, and have the option of taking a

weekly course on Irish literature run by Trinity alumnus and renowned Joyce scholar Declan Kiberd.

Laid back

This necessity to meet additional requirements not asked of the average Trinity student might suggest the Notre Dame contingent would find free time in short supply. However, Blake insists that from her experience the contrary is true: “It’s a lot less intense here.” She goes on to explain that her classes in Notre Dame were much more directed, with homework given every day. “Whereas here,” she says, “it’s more, “here’s what you should read at some point before the exam.” It seems more laid-back here which is a nice break from the go-gogo of Notre Dame.” Despite

this, Blake couldn’t have more praise for the competence of Trinity’s academic staff. She intends to major in Irish history, and credits her “super intelligent professors” for honing this interest.

Delaney nods that throughout the study-abroad process “the priority is to study.” That said, Blake explains that over the upcoming weekend she intends to travel to Galway, and hopes to visit many other locations across the island during her semester abroad. There is a sense that Notre Dame are invested in much more than the academic progress of their students. Indeed, during the 12-week semester, Blake is required to submit 6 journals detailing her thoughts about her experiences in Ireland. Delaney and McDowell agree that these journals are perhaps the

most useful tool for mapping student development not so easily measured by an exam.

McDowell finds that in the journals students often find themselves looking back to America and reevaluating past assumptions. An extract from the journal of a past student given a CBL placement in the homelessness sector is exemplary in this regard: “The United States ideally seeks to give everyone a chance. The nation’s moral fibers were constructed on rugged individualism and the Protestant work ethic. To be an ideal American is to materially gain through hard work and determination.

It seems that homelessness is a by-product of the sometimes dog-eat-dog nature of the United States’ work ethic.”

- Photo by Tadgh Healy

Trinity News | Tuesday 16 February

Features

10

Climate change and coffee drains

The book club goes online

Global warming is placing a student's beverage of choice under threat Caoimhe Gordon Online features editor

E

Leah Moloney is a 19-year-old Psychology student in Trinity, and founder of one of the most popular book clubs in the world, Between Two Books.

Niamh Lynch Senior reporter

A

T THE AGE of 15, a tweet Leah Moloney sent out received significant traction.

In it, she suggested creating a club where her favourite artist, Florence + the Machine, would recommend various books for her fans to read and engage with. Less than 4 years later, Moloney is in regular contact with Florence Welch, frontwoman of the band, and boasts more than a total of 43,500 followers across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Moloney was recently featured in the Guardian discussing the club, which she founded with her friends, Abbie Whitehead and Heather Hale.

It began in 2012 when Welch tweeted a picture of herself outside Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon with the caption “booksbooksbooksbooks”. After Moloney’s tweet, to great surprise, Welch responded offering help and support. “I’ve been a fan since I was 13, so for me to actually get a reply from her at that stage was the biggest thing ever,” Moloney says.

“She just didn’t reply to fans, she barely used her Twitter, she was quite elusive and enigmatic – so to get that reply was just crazy.”

Reading list

Shortly after this, Florence was promoting Between Two Books at a gig in Indianapolis, where Welch’s first choice of book, Opposed Positions

by Gwendoline Riley, was set.

Since then, Welch has chosen 18 different books for the club’s growing number of followers, ranging from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald to Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch.

The Flows - fans of Welch - are currently reading The WindUp Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, on the recommendation of the Maccabees and Patti Smith.

Although the project has a huge following, it’s run singlehandedly by fans and lacks a timetable for when new books are recommended, reflecting the musician’s erratic schedule. “It’s all through Florence.

I am very, very fortunate that she’s so lovely about it and she’s so helpful and kind and anything we need, she’ll do for us. It’s all directly her recom-

mendation.”

Speaking about one of Florence’s most recent choices, Moloney says, “when I was finishing the Leaving Cert we were doing a lot of poetry in school. I really enjoyed it and everyone in my class seemed to hate it. So I went to Florence with an idea and I said it would be really interesting if we could actually do something where we promoted poetry and we showed everyone how amazing it is. Everyone loves song lyrics - poetry is es-

The “Flows”, fans of Florence Welch, are currently reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

by Haruki Murakami, on the recommendation of the Maccabees and Patti Smith.

sentially the same thing, it’s a very similar form of writing.

So then Florence said “okay we’ll read Mira Gonzales” who’s a young, LA poet. What she writes about is very relevant to people who are students and in their early 20s.

Then we also read some Ted Hughes, mixing old and new.”

Challenging choices

Moloney says she is always pleased with Welch’s choices: “When we first started, I was only 15. I would like to think I’ve always had more of a mature taste in literature anyway. But, for example, we read Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston and that was in the colloquial language of the South in the 30s so it was quite hard to understand. You really had to concentrate on the words. It was mingled with very metaphorical, symbolic, poetic language so I found it really hard to read but at the same time that’s one of my favourite books so it was well worth it.

“I‘m very grateful for that because it means that I’ve been introduced to certain authors I wouldn’t have otherwise been introduced to at that age.” Moloney adds that she would love for her Psychology coursework to inform her reading of the books chosen, remarking, “we studied creativity as part of my thinking module so obviously a lot of that comes into what I’m reading because those writers would be very creative so it’s interesting to see the underlying thought processes.”

Moloney also feels that she is better equipped to manage the book club since she started college: “I think because the Leaving Cert is so focused on getting the points, there’s more leeway to do extra curricular things in college because we’re not under as much pressure. That said, I might change my mind when I’m in third year! But definitely I find that it’s easier now because in 5th and 6th Year, I felt that I had to invest all of my time in just studying for the Leaving Cert.”

Social media

Social media is an integral part of Between Two Books and since its inception Welch herself has become a more active user: “with social media, you can reach such a wide audience, it’s very universal.

You’re connected to so many

people, which can be a really beautiful thing, even though it can be a bit overwhelming - our Instagram has 27,500 followers, it’s crazy. At the same time it would be lovely, perhaps, if individual little groups could come together and have proper book discussions over wine or tea. I’ve been able to witness first hand the growth of the book club but seeing people properly engage with it - that’s the best thing that’s come out of all this. People have come to me and said “I didn’t think reading was cool to do but because Florence is doing it and you’re doing it, I’ve gotten into it. I’ve realised it’s really enjoyable and it opens up so much.” It’s amazing that I’m working with Florence and using her status for something good, which is advocating a love of literature.”

As with any online venture, trolling is an issue for Between Two Books: “It hasn’t been all smooth running, I’ve seen some less pleasant things. You know as popularity grows, the proportion of people who don’t exactly get along with you or agree with your views is obviously going to get bigger. But luckily, I think it has a lot to do with the demographic

that we appeal to, they’re generally really creative, dreamy type people who just want to spread love and such. Hopefully we can keep it that way.”

Creating Between Two Books has afforded Moloney many opportunities. She has met Welch backstage many times when she was performing in Dublin. At her most recent concert, Moloney presented Welch with a set of books by Irish writers. She has also considers L.A. band Haim as friends after being introduced to the three girls when they were the support act on Florence + the Machine’s UK arena tour in 2012. Last summer at the Beauregard music festival in Normandy, Welch invited Moloney on stage after recognising her in the crowd.

Moloney does not envisage any drastic changes in the future and will continue the club’s structure. However, she is open to future collaborations: “Emma Watson only launched her [book club] a couple of weeks ago. I will probably get into that or who knows maybe a future collaboration – watch this space!”

VERY YEAR, A similar trend emerges among the Trinity student body as the days begin to grow shorter. The temperature appears to be the only thing dropping faster than the average student’s enthusiasm to attend lectures. There only seems to be one necessary activity to pursue, only one phrase to utter, only one text message to type: “Will we just go for coffee?” Ara, go on, replies the average student, throwing caution to the wind (as well as the majority of their belongings in the current weather situation that our fair nation currently finds ourselves in). Then comes the inevitable discussion over where one can locate the finest cup of joe and instead of fifty minutes typing frantically on your MacBook or, God forbid, actually scribbling on some good old fashioned refill pad paper, thousands of students enter a caffeine induced haze of joy and return to campus full of new hope and confidence for the library sessions that lie ahead.

Over 2.25 billion cups of coffee are drank daily all around the globe and the consumption of coffee has risen by 43% over the past 15 years.

In 2014, coffee sales in Ireland reached ¤81 million, according to Euromonitor consumer report. Coffee is the second most traded commodity after oil. In a post published by the now “Tab” article-obsessed Facebook page “Spotted at TCD” last year, a bin overflowing with empty takeaway cups of coffee illustrated the Trinity student body’s capability to consume high quantities of caffeine, a fact supported by over 1.2 thousand likes the photo accumulated. However, as the trend of coffee consumption in Ireland continues to rise, a lack of awareness about the threat to the current availability of coffee due to the inescapable climate change exists.

When we are asked to ponder the troubling topics of global warming, it is evident that many of us would not even consider that our beloved beverage of choice would be threatened by the changes that are occurring at rapid speed. The main- and most frightening- images that come to mind when discussing such themes usually involve the unstoppable rise of temperatures, more natural disasters and the melting of ice caps in Antarctica. All of these factors cannot be wilfully ignored nor understated any longer. The importance of this subject is constantly stressed in recent times.

UN Action urged

Ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference last December, hundreds of thousands of climate change activists participated in over 2000 events across the globe to pressure world leaders into making a true effort into achieving their aims of the conference- the production of a legally binding agreement between developed nations to curb greenhouse emissions after 2020. The many effects of climate change are wider than many of us have fully considered and may eventually affect your morning brew.

There are 124 different species of coffee in existence all over the globe. However, it is likely that out of all these varying types, you have only come into contact with the two most popular. In second place lies Robusta, which makes up 30% of the earth’s coffee production and mainly features in the production of instant coffee. However, the undisputed king of the coffee species is known as Arabica, contributing the other 70% of the market share.

Grown most commonly in Ethiopia, Brazil, Vietnam and Columbia, the plant is actually quite fragile. The sensitive crop can only withstand the certain environmental factors that it has become adapted to. However due to climate change, the crop has had to endure many unexpected changes to their circumstances, including higher temperatures, long droughts punctuated by intense rainfall, more resilient pests and plant diseases. These drastic changes have impacted the

growth, flowering and fruiting of the plant and have led to lower crop yields for continuous years. Naturally, this can only lead to increases of prices internationally by 25% due to decreases in supply and higher wholesale prices.

Many major research studies have been completed that offer startling insights into the future of coffee production if change is not accommodated for. In 2012, research completed by the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, England conveyed the stark reality for wild coffee in Ethiopia, where Arabica originated. The grave figures they gathered predicted that the number of locations where it would be possible for wild Arabica coffee to grow could be reduced by 85% by 2080. A joint report published by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security attempts to forecast the situation the coffee industry will find themselves in in 2050.

Brazil alone could see its coffee stock depleted by 25% by 2050.

What's the solution?

Simply planting more plants alongside those who have flourished in the past and hoping for the best is not an option in this situation. It takes three to five years to be able to harvest coffee from a plant for the first time. One of the most vocal about the challenges the industry has to face has been Doctor Timothy Schilling, executive director of the World Coffee Research institute, which is funded by the global coffee industry. In an interview with BBC News, he was frank about the disconnect between those who consume the coffee and those who produce: “”Richer countries buy it, roast it and drink it, but have not paid for the agronomy. Only now is the industry waking up and seeing the need for it. The coffee industry has realised no-one else is doing it – it’s going to have to be us.”

So now before you feel a frenzied urge to go out and consume as much caffeine as possible, there have been many plans and ideas considered and discussed to prevent the eventual wipe-out of the crop. A relatively simple strategy that has emerged is to move the plants to a higher and cool area in order to attempt to avoid the general increase in temperatures.

However, this remains an unfeasibility in several low lying nations, particularly Brazil where coffee is produced on plains. Adaption manoeuvres also remain a possibility, for example the planting of trees to offer shade to the crops.

The main battlefield where the struggle for the revival for the Arabica crop is fought is not on the flat open plains of Brazil or the peaks of Ethiopia.

Instead, the future of the crop lies within a laboratory. Schilling explains that the eventual aim is “to recreate Arabica, but with better breeding.” At present, the crop lacks diversity, making it more susceptible to picking up illnesses.

This will not be a simple nor a swift process. Schilling believes that the process will span decades as it involves old fashioned breeding with the introduction of some modern techniques. Furthermore, an agenda that the World Coffee Research institute have endorsed is another breeding program, involving both Robusta and Arabica: “We need to take all the good things of Robusta and combine them with Arabica. Robusta is hardy and produces a lot, but it has a notoriously awful taste.”

The complete extinction of coffee from our daily lives remains almost as likely as students ignoring the 50% off Insomnia promotion. So continue to savour your daily cappuccino, your latte, your flat white and if you have notions, your macchiato and chai latte. However it is worth bearing in mind that changes to your daily cuppa may still occur. Unavoidable price increases are hovering over the horizon that may make your heart skip a beat- almost like the aftermath of that triple shot Americano during those blasted study weeks.

Trinity News | Tuesday 16 February

Features

11

Internet connection Doireann Ní Dhufaigh Staff writer The internet’s most enticing proposition is that it is a space where no one need ever feel alone.

Friendship and romance are just a few clicks away, and difference is seen as a badge of sophistication, not of shame. What the internet promises is contact. It seems to offer a solution to those crippled with social anxiety in their physical lives, a way out of the loneliness to those who perceive everyday human interaction as threatening. People can develop bonds through their shared interests, without ever leaving the safety of their bedrooms.

But propinquity, as those living in urban environments know only too well, does not equate to intimacy.

Access to others is not enough to dispel our own inherent feelings of isolation. Some feel their loneliest in a crowd. The process of communication is formed only in small part by words; the rest is body language, eye contact and tone of voice.

Curating oneself

Behind the screen the lonely person can maintain control. They can write themselves into the person they want to be, and construct other people’s identities to feed into this illusion as well. One can filter one’s image, shrouding unappealing elements, and emerge improved, as a digital avatar aimed to attract likes. But the social engagement this produces is not intimacy. How can intimacy possibly be achieved when every exchange is so carefully curated? Creating and presenting a perfected self may attract Instagram followers and Facebook friends but it won’t fix one’s own internal dissatisfaction; in order to feel good about oneself, one needs to be seen as a whole person, awkward and unhappy as well as charismatic and photo-ready.

After all, through social media it is only carefully chosen glimpses of ourselves that we offer up for evaluation. We should be wary of the capacity of online spaces to fulfil us in the way we wish they would. With all the technology available to us, and the infinite choice it offers, we have the chance to reimagine others as we wish them to be, not as they truly are; it’s a seductive but really quite unsafe habit of mind.

The idea that communicating through a computer screen ensures security is a dreadful illusion. The once reliable sheet of bright glass

no longer separates the real from the virtual. Increasingly, internet users have become aware that their online following can turn on them at any moment, resulting in the confusing of retribution with misdirected hostility, in a frenzy of shaming and scapegoating. Twitter itself is essentially a cyclic approval machine: one surrounds oneself with people who feel the same way, and will validate one’s feelings. If someone gets in the way, they're screamed out. It isn't social justice; it's a cathartic alternative.

This atmosphere of surveillance and punishment destroys intimacy, fostering in its place only an ironic disconnectedness. My own sense of ease with Facebook began to diminish when the Spotted at TCD page started posting shots of people unaware: asleep on couches, embracing their significant others, and unknowingly exposing their bottoms as they hunched over textbooks in the library. Realising that it has become a site of shaming and derision at the expense of others eroded my belief that it was a safe space.

Can we find intimacy in an online world of unparalleled exposure?

to boost egos). For the most part, it seemed to work well, this way of existing, the gifting back of attention and information with others. It felt like a community, a lifeline considering how cut-off I otherwise was.

But as time went on, I began to sense that something was changing, and that it was harder to achieve a genuine connection. Likes themselves seemed drained of meaning; they can measure someone's popularity, but usually, liking something is just a way of letting a friend know they were heard, a kind of mechanical pat on the back. In a digital landscape built on attention and visibility, what matters is not so much the content of one’s updates but their existing at all, and the reaction they invoke. Social networking works in a system of metrics, metrics that help form hierarchies (perhaps to mimic actual offline hierarchies).

To find out how popular someone is on the internet, one need just check the average like count they harvest

through their pictures and posts.

This awareness of rank feeds the underlying anxiety and insecurity embedded within these networks.

Photography becomes an acquisitive ritual on nights out for most young people, with that creepy mantra “pics or it didn’t happen” taken as social dogma.

Social networking is still, at its roots, corporations’ attempts to map users’ activity and create capital. Companies store data and utilise it to tailor advertisements. This marriage of the corporate and the social, the uncomfortable sense of being watched by invisible eyes, means we have to be more careful of what we say, and where. This fear is made all the more potent when we realise that our digital traces will be there long after we die.

Every stupid remark we make, every Google search, and every embarrassing club photo can never be erased entirely, and they add exponentially to the ever-growing dis-

tance between the static, online self, which is recorded in a timeline for as long as the servers survive, and the always changing real self, which strays further and further from the past self (still existent online, though not in reality save for in the memories of the person) every day.

We are being watched and we cannot control our ever-morphing digital surroundings. We need to be seen, and this need frightens us. But as long as we can distinguish the real from the virtual, and encourage compassionate usage, intimacy may stand a chance. Critiques of the technological society often seem possessed by a fear that what is happening is profoundly unnatural, that we are becoming post-human; but our anxieties surrounding image are innately human: am I attractive? Do I need improvement?

We must not disregard the internet’s ability to dissolve isolation, to build community and closeness. It is not a coincidence that the trans

rights movement has thrived in a time when self-creation is facilitated by technology. The internet is often used as a tool by those whose gender, race or sexuality are considered marginal or taboo, to construct identities and online communities from which they can draw strength.

Perhaps we are capable of adapting, of acclimatising to this environment of unparalleled exposure to find the togetherness we crave.

- Illustration by Daniel Tatlow-Devally

A false refuge from loneliness

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, a technique that focuses on finding solutions to people's anxieties and neuroses, is often delivered through computer programmes as a kind of D.I.Y therapy session. One woman, who sought help through the NHS after a serious bout of postnatal depression was told to use this programme in between sessions: “I don't think anything has made me feel as lonely and isolated as having a computer programme ask me how I felt on a scale of one to five, and - after I'd clicked the sad emoticon on the screen - telling me it was ‘sorry to hear that’ in a prerecorded voice,” she told journalist Oliver Bergman. Her point is that what vulnerable people need is real human connection, that fundamental feeling of being listened to, and hopefully understood, by another.

Every thoughtful person knows that self-understanding isn’t something that can be achieved through filling out an online questionnaire, or indeed through any form of technology. Recipients of therapy may have issues with their mental health, but they probably aren't under the illusion that a computer can feel bad for them.

My own use of social media peaked during a period of isolation.

It was the autumn of 2014 and I had just moved to Dublin. In many ways, the internet made me feel safe. I liked the contact I got from it, the chatting with friends, the stockpiling of positive regard, the Facebook likes (the little functions designed

Why are computer science drop-out rates so high?

A lack of understanding from prospective applicants, pushy parents and attractive job offers all contribute to computer science having the highest drop-out rates in College

Eva O'Brien Staff writer

“S

O THIS IS what you’re all going to be doing for the rest of your lives,” one lecturer joked to a class of first-year Computer Science students some years ago.

One of the people in the class was Kevin H, who was already seriously questioning his decision to study the subject.

Speaking to Trinity News, his immediate response to the joke, he says, “was to think, ‘nope’”. It was this moment, in his view, that consolidated his decision to leave his computer science course: “There wasn’t any going back from that.” He left the course in October of his first year.

He is one of a very large number of students who have dropped out of computer science related courses in Trinity. According to Higher Education Authority (HEA) figures published in the Irish Times recently, the rates for non-progression in these courses are typically double the average drop-out rate in College. Computer science has a non-progression rate of 28%, computer science and business 17%, and computer science and languages a massive 50%, while the average across all courses in Trinity is just 9%.

Finding an explanation

Discovering why these numbers are so high, and how they can be reduced is a task occupying a number of Trinity staff members. The class that made Kevin’s decision final was in double programming.

It is widely acknowledged that this subject in particular can be very troublesome for students who have to engage with it. Meriel Huggard is behind the establishment of a dedicated programming centre to help students with programming. In 2003, she says,

she could see that there was a clear need for it: “Problems with programming are worldwide”.

She noticed the success of maths and programming support centres in the UK, and suggested that Trinity set up something similar. “We were one of the first,” she says, “but almost every university in Ireland has one at this stage.”

Since then a lot has changed, especially in the computer science and programming world.

“When it started off programming was something fairly new and fairly alien to most people”, Huggard explains.

“Most people coming through now have some experience of some aspect of it”.

Ciarán McGoldrick is a lecturer in engineering, and teaches at the centre. He is keen to emphasise that the reason for the high drop-out rates are not all related to programming itself, and student motivation is a hugely significant factor. This is certainly true of Kevin, who admits that when deciding to study computer science, “I didn’t really give it a whole lot of thought”.

His decision was motivated by ideas that were not really related to the reality of the course, but in “the coupling of my vague interest in computers with the word on the street that there is a lot of money to be made from them”.

His previous experience of computers in no way prepared him for the challenging reality of what he needed to learn.

“There’s a huge difference,” he says, “between using a computer and understanding how it operates. I think people get lost somewhere in the space between those two things.”

Misguided perceptions This chimes well with McGoldrick and Huggard’s dayto-day experience of the disconnect between people’s previous computer experience, their reasons for studying the subject, and the immediacy of needing to solve problems using the alien lan-

guage of computers.

“People might really want to be a games programmer or something,” explains Huggard, “but there’s a slight disconnect between playing a lot of computer games, and learning the skills needed to create those games.”

Even more problematic can be the people that come in not because they have a genuine interest in programming or computers, but because they have been pushed to do so, often by parents who, in McGoldrick’s words, “have a strong perception of where their children should be going.”

They have both experienced the phenomenon of parental pressure at open days, where, he says, “the number of parents that are coming in have increased exponentially in the past few years.”

In some cases it seems as though the parents are, if not actually putting pressure on a student, at least nudging them towards what they perceive to be the right direction: “Often you will be asked many more questions by the parent than by the student,” Huggard adds.

That a student might not be truly motivated in what they are learning is a problem in any area of study, but particularly in programming, where an unsolved problem is not only an academic issue, but an emotionally draining experience, according to those who have intimate experience with these problems. Sessions at the programming centre are deliberately scheduled so as not to coincide with the day an assignment is due. This is because, McGoldrick says, “we want to discourage that kind of last-minute dependency.

You get a situation where people are slightly more emotional, slightly overwrought.”

Huggard explains that the nature of a programming problem inevitably makes an issue harder to handle: “You may have simply left out a semicolon or forgot to close a bracket somewhere, and eve-

“

They have both experienced the phenomenon of parental pressure at open days, where, he says, “the number of parents that are coming in have increased exponentially in the past few years

rything else could be perfectly correct. The fact that the computer then spits it back at you and just says it’s wrong – that can be incredibly frustrating.”

This has led to some unexpected teaching tools: “We used to have a box of tissues in the centre!” Huggard adds, although McGoldrick does insist, “It’s not that we’ve got groups of crying or hysterical men and women in there, it’s not like that – it’s just people are a little more uptight, more tense.”

Because of the investment that people need to put into solving any problem in programming, it requires a special kind of dedication. In Kevin’s view, it is especially important that people know what they are getting into, and that they will be prepared to commit to what the course will ask of them. “I think potential applicants need more information really,” he says. “The maths content of those courses can

be quite problematic for people too. I don’t think people really get what they’re letting themselves in for.”

Attractive salaries

When people are truly committed, however, the outcomes can be extremely positive. McGoldrick points out that not all of the drop-outs from computer science related courses are due to a lack of ability; on the contrary people might be very skilled and leave instead because, “Students get very attractive offers and leave to pursue those. I wouldn’t underestimate the power of a very attractive salary with a high-profile company and good career prospects. It is the case that we do lose some students to job opportunities.”

The outlook is not entirely a source of worry: with the right resourcing, McGoldrick contends, “It should be well within the remit of any of our students coming in who satis-

fied the basic requirements.

It comes down to motivation.

Programming does require a lot of effort.” It is an effort that can repay great dividends, but this takes time and continued persistence. Huggard likens it to a skill such as being able to play a musical instrument: “To become an expert programmer takes many years, it’s like becoming an expert musician.

You can’t decide to be a concert pianist tomorrow and just start learning the piano today.

When you first start learning your fingers might fumble.”

McGoldrick says that programming is best described as a creative skill. “I did engineering years ago, before I moved across to computer science. Some of the people I was in college with back then currently work as programmers for Oracle and Google, and they would refer to the ‘craft’ of programming. You’re always learning and developing.”

Trinity News | Tuesday 16 February

Features

12

"It’s a big time commitment, it’s a big resource commitment"

Speaking to Vice-Provost Linda Hogan, Eva O’Brien examines the early challenges facing the Trinity Education Project

Eva O'Brien Staff writer

T

HE TRINITY EDUCATION Project is the first of its kind: “We have had discussions about particular aspects of the Trinity education over the years,” explains Vice-Provost, Linda Hogan, who as project sponsor is spearheading the project as a whole. “But I don’t really know when was the last time there was a comprehensive review.”

In some ways this is not that surprising. We are all familiar with the fear of change; the temptation to cling to the disadvantages of an old system rather than face up to the challenge of creating something different, something new. This is a challenge that the Trinity Education Project is attempting to overcome as it undertakes a complete review of each aspect of education in Trinity. In the words of the vice-provost, speaking at the recent Forum on Assessment on January 27, the project aims to “ensure that our undergraduate curriculum is developed and enhanced.”

The project has grown, in part, out of a series of surveys and forums begun five years ago. Molly Kenny, Education Officer for the Students’ Union, explains that the project is about fundamentally questioning “what Trinity students want from education.” She is enthusiastic about the approach taken, emphasising that “it wasn’t about ‘I want better lectures,’ it was about – what do you want to be?...

There’s this idea about what it would be great to instill in people. I think it’s an amazing idea.”

It might be “an amazing idea” to ask for the first time what we really want from education, but the harder work comes in finding out what that idea means and balancing the views of everyone it affects. This is one of the key challenges that the project has faced, and with varying degrees of success. Dr Ciara

O’ Farrell, introducing the Assessment Forum, praised the variety of attendees, saying it was “really representative of the many disciplines in college,” and that it was “really important that all these perspectives are heard.”

The forum was made up of a majority of academics, with at most one student at each table. Yet asked whether the level of student participation was an issue, Kenny argues that if anything the problem is in the opposite direction: “I think that academic staff actually feel like they are not included in the process at all. But then that’s the nature of anything, there’s loads of staff members, every department is getting consulted, but not everyone

in every department is getting their voice heard.” The Assessment Forum is a case in point of how the difficulties of balancing democratic inclusiveness with decisive and clear results play out in practice.

Alternative assessment

If graduate attributes give a direction to learning, assessment determines the shape that this learning takes. And this is one aspect of the project that appears to particularly command attention; the viceprovost identifies with it particularly. “I would have to say that’s what has excited me the most,” she says, recalling the conversations that took place at the Assessment Forum.

“People were really interested

in alternative assessments – that could be transformative for us, and it could certainly help us to ameliorate the negative effects of the rote learning at Leaving Cert.”

A new model for assessment does not sound like a particularly life-changing suggestion, but that is because most students will think of assessment as the business of writing essays or sitting exams, with approximately 80% of all assessment across Trinity currently taking these forms. Perhaps it is not surprising, however, that when presented with an opportunity to come up with alternatives, there was very little agreement across the forum about what direction the change should take.

Can we have more projects and researched-based assessment, many people suggested, rather than confining these student-led assessments to one final-year project? Should attendance and participation be taken into account?

Should there be more assessment of transferrable skills, such as communication and teamwork? Can assessment focus more on practical skills, such as using new technologies? Perhaps students should be given the opportunity to decide how they are assessed themselves?

Taken altogether, the variety of suggestions, while interesting, meant that there was little chance of reaching consensus. The discussion was “broad but not deep”, suffering from one of the problems most commonly identified with the manner of assessment itself.

There seemed broad consensus on very few issues, and these were in general quite vague and non-specific. Most people, for example, seemed to agree that we need to move away from “a culture of testing” to “learning to learn,” but there was no definition of exactly what this meant; most agreed on the need for extra resources, but there were many different ideas about how these resources should best be put to use. The Vice Provost admits: “a big challenge is trying to make sure that all subject areas understand the needs of other subject areas…to try to get a college-wide commitment to a kind of an agreed agenda.”

All members of the college community, students and academics alike, are invited to participate at each forum, making the forums arguably the most immediate way in which students across Trinity can affect the change in their education as it is taking place, although it is questionable how successful the project has been in making students aware of this opportunity.

The long-term

If there have been several challenges in bringing the project to where it currently stands, there are many more

All members of the college community, students and academics alike, are invited to participate at each forum, making the forums arguably the most immediate way in which students across Trinity can affect the change in their education as it is taking place

ahead. There is a fairly long time frame laid out for bringing the proposals to their fruition, and this will involve, some possible hiccups, the vice-provost anticipates. “I think the first thing that will be difficult,” she says, “is that when we have our new program architecture, we’re going to be asking all subjects to look again at their undergraduate education.”

This is due to happen in the next academic year, 2016 to 2017, with the new education program coming into effect the following year. “It’s a big time commitment, it’s a big resource commitment. Even if people are really excited and up for it, it’s still going to be challenging.” It is subject to agreement, which is by no means guaranteed.

“There’s also the ‘unknown unknowns,’” Hogan imagines.

“There will likely be unintended consequences. We’re anticipating that there will be knock on effects on some things, but there will probably be issues that we can’t really anticipate. I worry a bit about that, I have to say.”

Kenny hints towards some of these unintended issues, speaking about the transition period of the project, particularly in relation to the semesterisation of exams. “It shouldn’t be mandatory for third and final years, because you are all used to this system, and that would be really unfair. I wouldn’t allow that.”

Nevertheless, nearly everyone involved with the project seems to agree that although there may be a long and bumpy road towards its completion, it is a road well worth taking. Although much progress has been made, there is a long way yet to go.

Trinity News | Tuesday 16 February

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Trinity News | Tuesday 16 February

Comment

How to move past the “future of Irish” discussion: stop looking for a solution that will fix everything page .17

Can Trinity be a global leader despite unethical investment?

In the wake of TCDSU’s first ever Divestment Week, senior reporter Jessie Dolliver examines what impact College’s investments and activities have on its image.

Jessie Dolliver Senior reporter

T

HE CURRENT SABBATICAL elections come at a pivotal time for the Irish student movement. The Cassells Report on funding Irish higher education is, according to all reports, set to recommend a student loans system accompanied by an increase in fees. There is a strong chance that the General Election will produce a government intent on the implementation of these measures. Fine Gael plan for a loans system as a funding measure to plug the hole in the finances of the Irish higher education system. This will mean a dramatic increase in third-level fees from the current registration charge of 3000.

The Students Against Fees campaign has collected and published the personal testimonies of students from working class communities and low-income households.

The facts are simple: student loans will push people out of higher education and close the door on working class students.

It is as fundamental a duty as one could imagine for the Students’ Union to fight any attempts to introduce a loans system. We should vote accordingly in the upcoming sabbatical elections to ensure we have an SU leadership committed to protecting students’ interests.

Fighting back

We don’t yet know the full extent of the government’s plans, but they are counting on student resistance being weak. They are not without justification in their belief that students are an easy target – since the beginning of the economic crisis, we have been. Public funding for education has been cut, fees have been raised despite the theatrical pledges of the Labour Party to stand up for students and not increase the student contribution. The fightback has been shaky, with numbers on the annual USI march dwindling year on year.

Ireland has, so far, shown little of the militancy displayed by other student movements across the world, such as in Quebec and Chile.

If we do not show more fight,

then student loans will come in as easily as every other anti-student measure since 2008.

The campaign has been served well by the presence of a committed anti-fees SU president this year. Students Against Fees had to fight within the SU to win it to our position. The first motion proposing to mandate the SU to oppose loans was defeated, prompting the formation of our independent campaign.

After weeks of hard work and putting the anti-loans argument to students, a second, more complete motion that mandates the SU to oppose any increase in fees was passed nearly unanimously.

This does not yet mean, however, that the full energies of the SU are at the disposal of the anti-fees campaign.

Lukewarm climate

This year’s SU sabbatical team has come under criticism for their lack of visible support of the anti-fees campaign. This is with the honourable exception of President Lynn Ruane, who has been instrumental in supporting the campaign since its inception.

Our march in solidarity with the Teachers’ Union of Ireland strike in early February was publicised with the assistance of SU resources.

Yet other elected officers have been criticised during the current sabbatical election campaign for not attending the march.

The reply so far has been that the SU President has chief responsibility for campaigns and that different sabbatical officers work with different campaigns. Formally, this is true. But this line of defence gives a worrying impression weeks before the general election.

Fighting student loans is of paramount importance for the student movement. If they’re introduced, students will be saddled with a mountain of debt upon graduation. Opportunities for lowincome students to attend university will shrink even further.

The SU is mandated to oppose loans. The issue deserves the full support of our elected sabbatical officers.

This affects every student in the most fundamental way. It is not good enough that there was no visible support from the SU leadership at the first

major action organised by the anti-fees and loans campaign.

If we are to succeed in defeating loans, the student movement will need a great deal more commitment than has been shown so far. The Students’ Union is the representative body for the entire student community. It has to send a message to all political parties currently canvassing for our votes that student loans is a red-line issue, and we are ready to fight on it.

Grassroots action

We in Students Against Fees are proud to be described as a “grassroots organisation” – that is how we want it to stay. We consider ourselves to be in the tradition of the NCAD Student Action group that successfully won the resignation of their college’s Director last summer. This was an organic, entirely student-driven campaign that highlighted the corrosive effects of austerity and neoliberal policies on our education system.

We do not want to leave all campaigning and organisational responsibility on the doorstep of the SU. Rather, we want to continue organising a campaign from below that will have the unequivocal support of our elected sabbatical officers, who are mandated to oppose fees.

We want as many students as possible to play a leading role in this campaign. The SU should help to facilitate that and demonstrate their determination to stop the introduction of loans. So far this has not been forthcoming.

Trinity is currently in the midst of our annual Sabbatical elections for the SU. If you care about loans, if you care about fees, then make this an election issue. Those asking to lead our SU need to be fully committed opponents of a loans system. If our sabbatical officers are not themselves committed, then they will not be able to provide the leadership and energy to build a campaign – as they are mandated to do. This doesn’t just apply to the position of president – we need a united team of sabbatical officers who will utilise the full power of the SU to campaign as vigorously as possible to stand up for students against the government.

The criticisms raised during the sabbatical election campaign so far highlight

some deeper problems in our SU. The Students’ Union is a behemoth of bureaucracy, officialdom and careerist hack culture.

If this is a clichéd line of criticism, then it is only because it points to problems so deep-set and fundamental in student politics, not just in Trinity or even Ireland, but in general. Irish Students’ Unions, however, are so bureaucratic and officer-driven that many students feel very little genuine relation to it as a democratic and collective assembly of the student body.

Who can honestly say that the SU effectively expresses and implements the will of students?

The problems in our SU are beyond the scope of one meagre opinion piece, but here it should suffice to say this: we need more of the radical student militancy displayed by NCAD Student Action, which we are trying to recreate in

Students Against Fees. This is the perfect antidote to the equilibrium of everyday SU culture.

Real student resistance has to be built at the grassroots level. When our movement wins, it is because of strong organisation, principled commitment to our cause and the mass mobilisation of students themselves. We should not look to the machinations of SU bureaucrats meeting with politicians in Leinster House.

We need a democratic campaign of students that will hold our SU to account and refuse to accept the direction in which our education system is travelling.

We can look to an international tradition of student fightback. Students in the University of Amsterdam last year occupied their college in protest against cuts. They established a campaign called the New University calling for the democratisation and

“

While we still have millions invested in these hugely damaging industries, alongside similarly irresponsible stocks in arms and tobacco, other universities are streaming past us in terms of sustainable investments

decentralisation of education.

Their occupation highlighted the aggressive corporatisation of education in the age of neoliberalism. Months later, the baton was picked up by NCAD students. We can also look at the renowned mass student movements in Quebec and Chile that brought hundreds of thousands out on to the streets.

It’s time for us to take our place in the international student movement against austerity and the corporatisation of our universities. With loans on the horizon, Ireland needs a student movement willing to fight. It isn’t going to be handed down to us by the Students’ Union or USI. It needs to be built from the ground up. It will be our responsibility to keep our elected leaders in check and pressure them to carry out their mandate.

TCDSU’s “I Am” campaign misses the point by a country mile The campaign provides some useful information on asexuality and bisexuality, but falls unforgivably short of making a real difference.

Dee Courtney Digital editor

A

T THE JOINT Trinity News and Q Soc hustings on February 11, I asked the presidential candidates to highlight some of the problems facing bisexual and asexual individuals in Trinity.

Since they were keen to emphasise the I Am campaign as an example of the SU’s commitment to LGBTQ rights, I wanted to see if they could answer. They couldn’t. While most candidates in every race spoke articulately on gender-neutral bathrooms and claimed their commitment to opposing the MSM blood ban, they couldn’t or wouldn’t speak on bisexuality or asexuality.

Unsurprisingly, the campaign falls similarly short.

When I heard that the SU were running an awareness campaign about underrepresented queer attitudes, I was delighted. Finally, after months of marriage equality campaigners and critics alike discussing “the rights of gay and lesbian couples”’

my identity – and the unique problems faced by those in my community – was going to be acknowledged. Then I saw the campaign, and went straight back to grumpy, jaded, sarcastic Dee. Thanks for trying, SU. Clap.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m thrilled that the SU is recognising the diversity of sexual identities. And it is important to do so; asexual and bisexual people may get some comfort and vital resources from knowing that their identity is being acknowledged. The campaign also has some useful information on asexuality, along with some excellent points about how to call out erasure and recognise the existence of bisexuality. But in my eyes, the benefits end there because the campaign falls unforgivably short of making a real difference.

Biphobia

The biggest problems the website’s article raises with being bisexual are exclusion from queer events, a lack of bi-specific events and a lack of representation in the media. Now, those are important issues and I’ll get to that a little later, but let’s start with what the website doesn’t say.

Biphobia and bi-erasure are not synonymous, but the website fails to highlight biphobia at all. It doesn’t mention the slut-shaming, the perception that all bi people are prone to infidelity. In the same way that women are victim-blamed by a narrative that they were “asking for it”, this affects bi women and men disproportionately because we’re seen as greedy and promiscuous. This makes us more vulnerable to harassment and assault, and victimblaming after the fact. We’re also victim to the same lack of safety that other queer

people face in clubs and other social scenes. At the hustings, I asked the Ents candidates to address this problem and beyond saying they’d get Q Soc involved, they didn’t answer. I expect this lack of awareness from the Ents candidates; I don’t expect it from a bi visibility campaign.

And that’s why this particular line really got to me: “Many bisexual people often have a lot of trouble in relationships, with people refusing to engage with them because they’ve slept with someone of the same, or different, gender.”

If rejection was the biggest relationship problem facing bi people, we’d all be a lot happier. The slut-shaming and ignorance I spoke about already infect every part of our lives, including our relationships. Monosexual partners often become jealous, refuse to trust us, use our sexuality as a reason to accuse us of betrayal and infidelity. It can break a relationship you already have, not just prevent you from having one. The kind of sexual violence levelled against queer women can happen in a relationship too; your boyfriend might alienate you from your friends because he now can’t trust you around anyone.

These are extreme cases, yes, but if we don’t acknowledge them in a bi awareness campaign then where will they be acknowledged?

Alienation

The fact that bisexual people are alienated from queer culture is a huge problem, and the campaign is right to highlight it. But it isn’t just the concept of alienation from LGBT life; it’s the impact of that alienation.

Bi people often don’t feel welcome in queer spaces or

straight spaces. It can leave you lonely and isolated, without a support circle, which increases the risk of depression and suicide. Some bi people essentially pretend to be straight or gay to fit into whatever space they’re in, which internally as well as externally erases their identity.

More than that, the kinds of services that we need often don’t cater to us. Queer training often glosses over the nuances of sexuality; counsellors and welfare officers are ill-equipped to deal with us if this campaign is anything to go by. And because we’re accused of being straight or “straight-acting” by other queers, there is painfully little incentive to provide those services because we’re seen as less a part of the community and therefore less in need.

It is, therefore, a good idea to highlight this issue, but it was highlighted in an unhelpful way. Moreover, it’s frustrating that the campaign doesn’t offer any kind of solution.

Otherising

When you venture into the asexual section of the website, there is more information there – and some of it is downright confusing. Take these two lines: “If someone comes out to you asexual, don’t ask them about their sex lives – you wouldn’t do it to the person you just met in a tutorial, so why another stranger?”

“Recognise that there are levels of comfort in talking about sex with asexual people – some may be very comfortable, others much less so. If you don’t know their boundaries, just ask.”

That first line was pretty promising, right? Until it was shot in the foot by the next one. I think I speak for many

queers when I say I’m tired of the lazy and insensitive, “Don’t know the basics? Just ask this queer individual to painstakingly explain them to you at length, as if they haven’t done it three times already this week.”

And yes, this is a more personal question that you can’t Google. But it’s otherising and alienating to have people asking invasive questions – even if those questions establish boundaries. If you’re a good enough friend of an asexual person then the two of you will figure out boundaries. And if they’re a stranger, why would you otherise them by treating them like a case study?

It’s also disappointing that the information doesn’t acknowledge the spectrum of sexuality – most people have heard of asexuality, but many have no idea what demisexuality is. Taking one step forward and one step back is unhelpful to queer people.

Since its main purpose seems to be awareness, it’s strange to me that it not only consists solely of posters and online information but also that this information hasn’t even been spread effectively.

If you don’t venture as far as the SU’s website, the only part of the campaign you’ll see is the words “I Am Bisexual; I Exist.” If people ignore us before they see the posters, I don’t see why they would make the effort to click through and find the information.

So what do we need to do now? Should we cut our losses and scrap the campaign? Obviously not. We need to move beyond awareness campaigns and provide more space for people with diverse identities; leaving it up to Q Soc isn’t enough. The SU should publicise events that are rel-

evant to bi and asexual people. They should lobby the counsellors to run bi and ace workshops and they should provide accurate information that helps us and our allies instead of confusing the issue.

This campaign is a start, but it’s one step on a very long road.

Trinity News | Tuesday 16 February

Comment

15

We need reasonable debate if we’re to challenge Fine Gael’s place in the next government We’re bombarded by marketing in almost every form of media, pushed to engage in faster and Niamh Moriarty

Online news editor

W

ITH A GENERAL election coming up, we are at the height of political strategic manoeuvring.

Frank Underwood wouldn’t get a look in; fiscal space, recovery and stability are the latest buzzwords being bandied about by government powers, with opposition parties vowing to bring in better transparency and put an end to government corruption and the ever present thorn in the side of the current government – Irish Water.

The task of separating out the sexy soundbites from concrete policy goals is a difficult one, and one many apathetic voters will choose to ignore. This is to the detriment of all of us. If we allow political media narratives to dominate the electoral campaign, we fall victim to the empty promises those narratives perpetuate.

Growing up during the radical transition from the Celtic Tiger era to the recession means that many of us are suspicious of dominant political figures and disillusioned by their inefficacy in holding those responsible for the crash accountable.

The surge of student engagement in the same-sex marriage referendum is a display of our passion to challenge the problems facing every facet of society. Meanwhile, the increase in political engagement by working-class communities, many spurred on by the anti-water protests, means we are seeing an up and coming effort to achieve more left-aligning representation in government.

It makes for an interesting election, but it would be naïve to think any radical change will incur.

Empty rhetoric

Current polls for the election indicate a combined 23 per cent support for Independent/Others.

According to the Irish Times, this includes Independents (including the Independent Alliance) at 14 per cent, AAA-PBP at just over three per cent, Renua at about one per cent and the Social Democrats at just under three per cent.

From the perspective of young people, the stabil-

ity the coalition is boasting about doesn’t really hit home.

The cuts to the education sector are evident here in Trinity. There have been reports of underpaid and overworked teaching assistants, while serious deficits in staffing resources for certain departments have led to discontinued modules.

Labour’s backtracking on their commitment not to raise the student contribution has also garnered criticism, while the effect of the housing crisis on students and the lack of full-time employment for graduates all have a negative impact on our opinion of the current government powers.

But the rhetoric spewing from opposition parties, trying to appeal to that disillusionment, is just about as effective as Enda Kenny repeating “keep the recovery going” four times in his opening speech at the first leader’s debate.

The joint manifesto of AAA-PBP is clearly an attempt to incite and gain votes off the back of public outrage and populist ideals, and while some of their goals are admirable, to think even a handful of them could be attained in one term is a pipe dream that will only serve to alienate those who hopefully vote for them.

If they truly want a substantial left in government, a unity bigger than this would be needed.

Unreality

Right2Change has acted only in a symbolic way, and a lack of pragmatism from the left has stopped parties from merging together. This means that voters eager for change will be likely left yet again with a small cohort of bemoaning TDs in opposition.

Sinn Féin has bolstered substantial support at 20 per cent in the most recent polls, but I highly doubt this will be the case come election time.

Besides, the only way they will go to government is if they, God forbid, get a majority. I cannot see them taking second-in-command next to Fine Gael. Their policies, as always, have little grounding in reality and would be a detriment to our economy, which relies so heavily on the international market.

This unreality is a theme spread across all of the political debate, and it’s one that’s detracting from our right as

voters to question our government leaders on what outcomes this election will truly bring.

Fianna Fáil demonising Fine Gael and vice versa is laughable, given that Fine Gael practically continued on the trajectory Fianna Fáil had set in place anyhow – and although the fiscal space debacle has hit Fine Gael, there are similar holes in the economic policies of those parties trying to attack them for it.

Cooperation needed

We need to hear how parties will cooperate with the likes of Fine Gael; instead of superlative demonisation, we need to hear how they intend to hold them accountable and not end up in the same state as Labour is in now once they’re five years down the line.

The Social Democrats have not ruled out coalition with any party, and Renua fancies itself as a potential watchdog.

Both will be hoping to get their existing TDs re-elected and are potential partners, along with independents, should Fine Gael come in short of the 80 seats needed for a majority.

Renua’s flat tax and stance on abortion, however, are issues that may prove damaging to them, and it’s uncertain whether Fine Gael would be reciprocal in wanting to join them in government.

As for a possible Fianna Fáil partnership, though some are predicting it as a likelihood, I would trust in the intuition that the crash is too recent in people’s minds for this to happen.

We may be outraged, but we need to hear more than fabricated sympathy from our candidates. Plans proposed by Fine Gael – to cut taxes, to freeze student fees while also committing to investigating a loans system, to keep abortion off the cards, to bring in an “ambitious” healthcare system while they failed to implement reform in their last term, and their auction politics proposals – must be brought under scrutiny in the debate leading up to the 26th, if we’re looking at them returning to government.

My vote will go to those who manage to do so without falling back on equally vague policy objectives and populism in the process. One can dream, can’t they?

Otherwise, I fear the outcome will rest on the “devil we know is better than the devil we don’t” strategy, with a possibility of a single-party government being suggested by some; and I would hate to see the look of smug satisfaction on Enda’s face if that proved to be true.

Illustration by Daniel TatlowDevally

“

The task of separating out the sexy soundbites from concrete policy goals is a difficult one, and one many apathetic voters will choose to ignore.

If we allow political media narratives to dominate the electoral campaign, we fall victim to the empty promises those narratives perpetuated.

Growing up during the radical transition from the Celtic Tiger era to the recession means that many of us are suspicious of dominant political figures and disillusioned by their inefficacy in holding those responsible for the crash accountable.

Student fees and the curse of disillusionment Conn de Barra Staff writer

T

HE POSSIBLE INCREASE of student fees and imposition of a loan scheme has become a more publicly contested debate in recent months. In Trinity, the Students Against Fees group was formed to challenge this.

It’s a debate whose outcome will clearly have an effect on Ireland’s economically disadvantaged populace, yet mass support will be needed if opposition to the proposals is to be effective. The problem is encouraging the youth of Ireland as a whole to take action, which is no easy task when the country’s political climate has soured in the wake of the latest recession.

Last week, I interviewed former welfare officer candidate Tom McHugh about students’ thoughts on the issue of increased loans and fees. He said that privately educated students may lack an appreciation of the crisis.

The problem extends much further than this, though; I wasn’t privately educated, yet I do come from a well-off background. I’m fortunate enough to have parents who can fund my education without a second thought, having saved money from decades of hard work while raising four children.

In this position, it’s easy to forget where it all comes from. I started to take notice of the fees and loans crisis when I covered a meeting last month, headed by the Students Against Fees group.

Had it not been for this, I wonder if I would have been aware of the crisis as I am now.

I like to think of myself as fairly left-leaning in my politics, as I’m sure do many students. College is often stereotyped as a place where left-wing politics flourish.

But this can sometimes mask deeper divisions that prevent

much of Ireland’s youth from enjoying the opportunities college has to offer. A potential result is a generation of armchair liberals – people who claim they want a more equal society, but whose will to action is limited because they don’t appreciate how our society is unequal.

Disillusionment

The other likely cause of inaction is disillusionment with politics in general. Even at the Students Against Fees meeting, there were worrying signs. One speaker voiced concern of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), going down the “manifesto route”, while foregoing grassroots politics and losing touch with students on the ground. Trinity SU (Students Union) President Lynn Ruane, who was present at the meeting, suggested this was being done so the Union could build up “political capital” - in other words, ideals must be balanced against realpolitik.

USI President Kevin O’Donoghue, also present, replied saying that division within a movement is always a potential risk. He said this can occur when different groups collaborate over a shared concern but have slightly different agendas from each other. Crucially, what was not said at the meeting was what steps would be taken to ensure that such division would not occur this time. Instead, there were repetitive statements that unity must be preserved.

Of course, even if O’Donoghue or USI Deputy President Annie Hoey (also present) had given promises about unity, that in itself would not have been enough.

This is the catch-22 that arises. A political group must promise things to its followers, yet promises are constantly made (and broken) in politics, meaning the public probably won’t believe what they’re promised even if it’s 100% genuine.

Uncertainty, apathy

There is also the difficulty in predicting the future. One

could lay down a constitution dictating how the alliance of USI, Students Unions, and anti-fees groups would remain intact, but who’s to say this constitution would not be ignored or stretched in the future to allow for some group’s own gain?

Earlier in the year, I saw Professor Louise Richardson, principal and vice-chancellor of the University of St Andrews, give a talk on behalf of the DU Caledonian So-

ciety. An expert on international relations and terrorist groups, Professor Richardson was a Trinity student in the 1970s, when the Troubles were raging in Northern Ireland. When asked about the atmosphere in college during this time, Professor Richardson gave a surprising answer: there had been little discussion of the North at all.

Perhaps this was due to the cultural revisionism that dominated Irish historiog-

raphy for much of the 20th century – the state trying to keep the threat of radicalism at arm’s length. Or perhaps – as I wondered on later reflection – could it have been that students saw little point in discussing the North, as tension and conflict had been prevalent for centuries? Had this issue been out there for so long that people no longer took any notice of it?

Perhaps one could draw a similar conclusion from the

Has Ireland’s political climate impacted idealism? current economic crisis.

Since 2008, we have been hearing of rising unemployment, homelessness, cuts to welfare and education, and emigration. I heard of these problems long before I understood the causes. At that point, I accepted them as “grown-up stuff”. My lack of understanding of economic terms played a role here, reducing this crisis, in my eyes, to a load of jargon that I couldn’t hope to understand.

Apathy in the face of constant bad news was also raised at the Students Against Fees meeting. There was general agreement for a student demonstration against imposing loans, but there was some debate over where it should be held. One participant argued against Leinster House, saying that there are protests outside it so often that nobody takes any notice anymore. Have we reached a stage where anger and protest has become mere background noise?

When it comes to College administration, the signs are not encouraging, as D. JoyceAhearne noted last October in a TN Comment piece. College’s Strategic Plan for 20142019 stated that its mission is providing “a liberal environment where independence of thought is highly valued and where all are encouraged to achieve their full potential”. The plan is littered with these wishy-washy statements, which are ultimately useless in any serious “strategic” discussion. Promoting independent thinking and a high academic calibre is what college is supposed to do anyway, right? Why keep bringing it up?

Despite the plan’s claim to make students a priority, there was no mention of the 5% cuts to capitated bodies such as the SU itself. The document’s tone comes across as evasive and keen to distract readers with vague platitudes of “strengths of community” and the “ability to attract talent.” Such an approach will either confuse the students the college claims to represent, or else widen the rift

between the students and the administration with its patronising tone.

Outlook uncertain

There have been some encouraging signs in the past year, from the election of a TAP student as SU President, to the formation of Students Against Fees in response to an unpopular Students Council vote on funding last November. With another SU election drawing near, economic issues are firmly in the spotlight, particularly when it comes to accommodation.

I confess I didn’t take any interest in last year’s election until the second-last day of voting. A few hours looking over interviews and policies (with the begrudging attitude of “I have the ability to vote so I may as well use it”) made me notice the issues students face, if only for a brief while.

It’s likely that many more students will do the same this year. But going into the Arts Block this week, it’s hard not to miss the students who keep their heads down so they won’t be targeted by canvassers, or else take pamphlets just so they can be on their way faster.

The SU election is a forerunner of the general election that will occur the following week. Various political parties promise to address thirdlevel education funding. Fine Gael promise to introduce loans, which the USI and Students Against Fees vehemently oppose. Others, such as Sinn Féin and People Before Profit, promise to abolish fees altogether.

If the former approach is applied, will students be spurred to protest, or will they accept it? If the latter, will it be out of agreement, disillusionment, or apathy? And if fees are abolished, what could this mean? Will this policy be dealt with effectively or will it turn out to be another empty electoral promise?

What this comes down to is, could the issue of loans and fees catalyse a shift in student attitudes towards politics?

Photo by Matthew Mulligan

Trinity News | Tuesday 16 February

Comment

16

Should students vote for the Social Democrats? Err, yeah?

A er having been let down by Labour, can young voters trust another party to dance with the proverbial devil? Absolutely. Éamonn Sweeney Contributing writer

I

N THE LAST five years, Ireland’s students have borne the brunt of the harsh policies of austerity implemented by the outgoing Fine Gael and Labour government. Increased student fees, reductions in maintenance grants and cutbacks within universities have all left many feeling disenfranchised and neglected by the coalition parties. Among students, it is felt that the Labour party’s promise of being a strong social democratic check to balance the centre right has fallen flatly.

It does seem that Fine Gael will be returned as the largest party to the 32nd Dáil, but the present coalition will fall well short of majority. This increasingly likely scenario comes as the disjointed opposition parties of the left rule out coalition with those they describe as “the parties of austerity”. That is, every party on the left bar one.

The Social Democrats have notably refused to rule out coalition with Fine Gael, or any party for that matter. This point stands out as remarkably flexible for a party that is seeking the votes of those who reject the austere policies that have brought Ireland back from the brink.

It raises many questions for students who are still at the cold face of cutbacks.

While they might hold social democratic principles as their closest ideological “fit”, the idea of propping up a government lead by a party that has hurt them so viscerally is objectionable.

After having been let down by Labour, can young voters trust another party to dance with the proverbial devil? Absolutely.

government speak otherwise.

Young people can see little evidence of the counter-balance against Fine Gael that Joan Burton wishes you to believe.

Instead, their small (but real) victories have benefitted public sector unions and pensioners, backtracking on promises made in 2011. The spectre of Ruairi Quinn, a minister who oversaw the increase in student “contribution” to 3000, signing a USI pledge in 2011 still haunts Burton and co. For a party composed of many former student activists, their connection to the student body of 2016 is lacking.

The Social Democrats on the other hand, on the face of it at least, seem acutely aware of, and are tapping into, the malcontent of students. Recognising their dissatisfaction with the parties of old, Soc Dems have put forward an agenda for changing the culture of parochi-

alism synonymous with Irish politics. Young voters are rightfully weary of the promises of politicians, but the Social Democrats’ leaders’ records give reason for students to trust.

Without the baggage of the older parties, the Soc Dems trio of leaders have each carved out paths of principle both inside and out of the party fold.

Proven record

One of these leaders, Stephen Donnelly, even before co-founding the Soc Dems, stood out from the crowd as an independent. He has been particularly vocal on student issues, having written in The Irish Times that the crisis of funding in universities is the “greatest threat” to prosperity.

Indeed, Trinity students saw first hand Donnelly’s competence at last November’s Students Union party debate, where he was widely recognised as a clear winner on the night. His strong contributions on the banking crisis, coupled with his educated background

as a management consultant, mean that for many he is a beacon of sense.

This is amidst an opposition so easily written off as being populist and incapable of managing our finances, let alone of serving as a party of government.

The political records of Roisin Shorthall and Catherine Murphy, the two other co-founders of the Social Democrats, again tell their own tales of principles in politics.

The former was a Labour party junior minister who left the government benches amidst a political scandal over the perceived cronyism of a Fine Gael minister.

Shorthall’s experience as an outspoken and occasionally controversial member of the Labour party should earn her kudos amongst students disillusioned with their performance in government.

Murphy made

headlines last year for using her privilege as a TD to reveal banking arrangements that existed between billionaire Denis O’Brien and the former Anglo Irish Bank.

This eye-raising move came as O’Brien had prohibited RTÉ from reporting the matter. Her pressure and stinging criticism of Fine Gael led the government to open a formal inquiry into the matter.

Both of these women have encountered the harsher edge and often the ire of Fine Gael in the last five years. Yet both are insistent that coalition with our largest party is on the table for the Social Democrats. This position may well cost them votes, but looking closely, we see a party that wants to make real change, not shout from the sidelines.

ship appear adamant that any foray into the government benches with Fine Gael, will not be simply to ‘make up the numbers’. Instead the party seems keen to say that while its door is open to potential suitors, Soc Dems want their pillars of honest politics, a strong economy, and a fair society to be embedded in the DNA of the next government.

If young voters want to see stronger social democratic principles why should they rule out a party that is willing engage with Fine Gael?

Politics requires principled pragmatism, and if you want to get real change in the next Dáil, there is little point in resigning yourself to the opposition benches.

If we re-

Principled pragmatism The Social Democrats’ leader-

Baggage-free

The comparison of the Soc Dems to the Labour Party is, on the face of it, distinctly unfair. While Labour regularly fly the flag of being Ireland’s true party of the centre left, their history and legacy of the last

ally want to see social democratic principles in the next government, and believe that Labour has failed in this regard, then students should have no problem voting Social Democrat.

Fine Gael stand reluctantly on social issues. The eighth amendment, which evidently weighs heavily on the minds of students, is notably absent from their manifesto. Going into government with a much weakened Fine Gael presents itself as the best way to see progress on these issues when the Dáil resumes in April. The past strength of the Soc Dems leaders and their pragmatic approach to politics should give students confidence in their ability to elicit change where Labour has failed.

While the possibility of change and hard policy outcomes is a very real prospect from such a pairing, we must remain realistic in our expectations. With only three sitting TDs amongst 14 candidates, the Social Democrats face an uphill battle in gaining the electoral traction needed to implement their objectives.

Soc Dems haven’t promised the world, as many accused Labour of doing in 2011. Indeed this overpromising has been attributed to much of Labour’s malaise in the run up to this election. Instead, Soc Dems have promised us principles and leadership. Whether they get to act on these after their first election remains to be seen.

The prospect of yet another centre right government may disillusion many students who hoped for greater change. Students can be confident, however, that if they want a strongly lead, articulate voice of reason on the left, then the Soc Dems can do this better than anyone else currently involved in Irish politics.

-Illustration by Anna Hardstaff

The fashion industry makes us puppets of consumerism We’re bombarded by marketing in almost every form of media, pushed to engage in faster and faster fashion Jessie Dolliver Senior reporter

I

ARRIVE AT Front gate in the morning. The route I take to the Hamilton depends on how I look that day. If it’s a good day I’ll barrel down past the Arts Building and the Berkeley. If I’m feeling worse about myself, I’m inclined to wind down by the GMB or the Museum Building.

This has less to do with what my hair or my makeup looks like on any given day, and more to do with what I’m wearing. When I walk around the city, I find myself looking at people’s outfits before I look at their faces, and that scares me. Generally I like to maintain that appearances are not something to value in any comparable way to the other aspects of a person.

When did they become important to me?

Why do we feel compelled to buy new clothes when there is nothing wrong with what we have? This is actually not a difficult question to answer, although some might disagree with me. The answer is the fashion industry.

We’re bombarded by marketing in almost every form of media, pushed to engage in faster and faster fashion.

Seasons are no longer divided into the simplistic duality of fall/winter or spring/summer. There is an acceleration of trend turnover. Some estimates put the number of these new “micro-seasons” in a year at 52. Studies have shown that the average person is exposed to more than 5,000 advertisements a day.

That figure is 10 years old, so it’s most likely higher.

Through this exposure, we are made to feel that there is something missing from our lives – shampoo, a fancy car, a Rolex – and that if we could only procure that product, then we could achieve happiness. Insecurities are constantly forced upon us, and we are taught that the way to remove them is through consumption. So the more often

advertisements, new trends, and insecurities compel us to feel unattractive and out-ofdate, the more money these companies make.

Self-expression

To a certain extent I suppose we communicate who we are through what we wear.

Whenever I enter a new space or community, I feel a tangible panic to define who I am as clearly as possible.

Others might feel the same.

Perhaps when we are younger, too, we feel this desire to quickly sketch the outlines of our personalities, as if we are uncertain of them. Almost as if we’re afraid they’ll shift and shimmer away. As if when we find discover a new trait or passion within ourselves, we need to shout, “Look! Look what I’ve found here! Turns out I like Surrealism! Someone write that down!”

We express ourselves in any way we can – through song, and dance, and blogs, photography, poetry, art, sport, and inevitably through fashion.

I’m probably getting too abstract here, so I’ll use an analogy. Many fish emit light from organs called photophores that appear as luminous spots on the body.

Scientists now believe the blue-green luminescence is used for inter-specific communication. So in the same way that one dragonfish might recognise another because of its flishy flashy photophores, I might recognise someone who I could get along with because I like their Monet t-shirt.

Obviously the fashion industry has its benefits. However, it is also deeply flawed.

I see it as one of the most ingenious scams ever pulled off. Of all the examples of built-in obsolescence in the 21st century – renewed software designed to render old phones useless, cars that won’t sputter past 15 years on the road, college textbooks which publish a new edition every second year – fashion is the most obvious example.

It’s also the example we would think of last, perhaps

because we apply such cultural connotations to it. Yet clothing sold in high street stores is intentionally poorly made. If it falls apart, the consumer has another motivation to buy. Besides, nowadays, if you buy a shirt to be “on-trend”, within two weeks that trend is over, the shirt will have fulfilled its purpose, and it is then useless.

Globalised production

It’s not only the fact that we are commercially and socially conditioned to waste our money on the fashion industry that bothers me.

Globalised production means that we can outsource the massive-scale production of our clothes to developing countries with low-cost economies. There, workers are paid disgraceful and inhumane wages for their labour and work in dangerous conditions.

Thereby fashion house giants can buy in bulk for cheap, and sell to us – still at a low price, but with a considerable mark-up from what they paid. We often forget that fashion houses are above all companies, and operate like any other industry: buy cheap, sell dear, and do this as much as possible.

As citizens of the Global North, we can afford to buy and discard oceans of fabric every year. Someone has to pay, and we all know who it is.

What happens if a company’s employees in Bangladesh, Cambodia, or India rise up in protest of hours, for example? If they say there are no more margins to push, and that the product just cannot be made cheaper?

Do you think Topshop care?

Of course not. They pick up, leave, and settle on the chest of another impoverished community who have nowhere else to turn to. This is how it works. A handful of people profit from the violation of the humans rights of millions. It has been estimated that one in every six people in the world are employed in some part of the global fashion industry.

There is a feminist inequality underlying this industry

also. The factory managers are middle-aged men, and the sewers are often young women. Displays of resistance are met with violence.

The CEOs of Zara, Topshop, H&M, River Island, Next, and Gap are all male. The list goes on. Another example of a capitalist trading system in which those dominating the bottleneck of power are men, and those at the bottom are women and girls. And that isn’t even starting on the modelling industry.

Environment

Then there are the environmental repercussions.

When producing the raw ma-

terials and fibres for clothing, nitrogen fertilisers and pesticides are overused. This damages the soil and causes cancers, birth defects and mental illness in local populations. Tanneries pollute water sources irreparably.

Suicides among farmers are at an all-time high.

However, most textile waste produced today is made of plastics or plastics by-products and is non-biodegradable. It will sit in landfills for more than 200 years I’d like to make the point that this cannot all be offset by charity shops. Buying your clothes from a Temple Bar vintage shop and bopping

around campus in 90s leather jackets and mom jeans is surely a lot better than buying from Penneys. However, the vast majority of clothes chucked into charity shops simply pass through, and are shipped to be “donated” to developing countries, which then destroys local industry.

The global fashion industry is the second most polluting industry in the world after the oil industry. It is growing on an exponential and infinite scale – in a world that is utterly finite.

I’ve never found it easy to relate the negative facets of this industry to my own life until recently. When I stroll

up Dame Street to get my bus. I pass the massive hulking H&M. I feel a need to go in, pick up anything – despite the fact that I didn’t need any new clothes, and couldn’t really afford them if I did.

It’s a very strange sensation – to be aware of the fact that you are being manipulated, but to feel a certain way regardless. It makes me fearful for the power that these near omnipotent companies have, and makes me reconsider the frailty of my own free will.

Trinity News | Tuesday 16 February

Comment

17

Moving past the “future of Irish” taboo

Trinity issues should be the SU’s priority Bláithín Sheil argues that the SU should leave controversial politics to be expressed by cause-specific groups Bláithín Sheil Online comment editor

T

HE STUDENTS’ UNION is elected by Trinity students to work in their interest and to represent them as members of the College community.

Similarly, the Dáil is elected by the citizens to represent the views of the people in important law making and administrative decisions. The Dáil is to citizens as the Students’ Union is to students.

In essence they have the same role: to represent. But they represent two very different groups of people, and therefore, their roles are slightly different. Or at least they should be.

Trinity is diverse. We are diverse in our nationalities, in our gender, in our age and stage of life, in our backgrounds, in our political views, and in our moral convictions. This diversity leads to the question: should the SU should be taking firm views on national issues, or should they be focusing on Trinity issues?

It seems that the Students’ Union is becoming more and more definitive on political issues. We have voted to oblige the SU to campaign to repeal the 8th Amendment.

Blanket mandates

The idea of a mandate is not necessarily a bad thing in itself. Some of the issues involved are extremely important and personal to students, and it is crucial for a student to feel supported and represented by their SU. Moreover, the majority of students are of the same opinion in these matters, so it is not entirely unreasonable for the SU to support their stance. National issues are quite often student issues, so it is fitting for the SU to take a stance and devote time to these causes.

However, once the SU is mandated to campaign, this cuts out a whole group of students who are of a differ-

ent opinion, and the Union becomes no longer fully representative of the student body. Moreover, every minute spent campaigning on a national issue is a minute not spent dealing with the many areas that could do with improvement within Trinity itself.

No issue is straightforward, and there may be elements of the minority view that are worth noting, something that the Union cannot do if mandated otherwise. The danger with strict stances being taken is that the SU no longer acts as an SU. Instead, it risks becomes a quasi-political party.

Moreover, if the SU becomes too political and too involved with national issues, it can forget its first and primary role: to work on behalf of Trinity students, in relation to Trinity-specific issues.

National issues should only be dealt with if Trinity issues are adequately covered first.

Luckily, this has not happened yet, and it must remain this way.

Furthermore, representation is not always representative. Representatives speak for the majority, as it was the majority that put them there.

This can leave any minority group within college unrepresented by their SU, the very group that’s meant to be their voice.

Choose carefully

It is outlined in the strategic plan adopted by the SU in March 2015 that their goal is to represent “Trinity students on Trinity issues.” It is then stated that they will participate in social and political campaigns “which serve the interests of our members.”

Therefore, the SU should choose carefully what it asks the student population. It should be sure, when taking a stance on a national issue, that this national issue directly affects Trinity students themselves. All other national issues, such as a position on water charges, the direct provision system, and boycotting Israel, although important issues of our time, are neither directly relevant to students,

If we ever want to truly answer the question of the “future of Irish”, then we have to stop looking for one solution that will fix everything.

Mia Ní Challaráin Contributing writer

P nor to the SU. Where there is controversy, there is often a division of opinion. We do not know who is right or wrong, and when the question is of an ethical or moral nature, finding the answer becomes even more unclear, next to impossible.

Every country will have divisions in opinion; left-wing – right-wing, pro-choice – pro-life, pro-water charges – anti-austerity, socialists – privatists, and the list goes on.

Each side asserts firmly that they are correct.

These differences are unavoidable in government, and there will always be an underrepresented minority. But at least in government, the minority groups have seats.

They also have a platform to express their views. If a Students’ Union, on the other hand, is mandated to represent one view, and one view only, this leaves no space for the voice of the minority whatsoever.

When one is of the majority opinion, it is very difficult to understand why the minority don’t agree with you. It seems perfectly clear what stance the SU should take, because you truly believe it is the right position. But the reality of any society is that opinions

differ, and so some issues are better left to the students themselves.

For example, although it seems that a huge majority of the country support the prochoice movement, there is in fact a strong and active prolife movement, supported by many students, which argues some reasonable points. This issue is not clear-cut. There are different scenarios in which abortion could be allowed, meaning that it is not a simple “yes or no” question.

It really is a debate with many different avenues and many different viewpoints. One can be pro-choice in a number of different ways, under different conditions.

So even though the SU must campaign to repeal the 8th, even at that it is not fully representative of all prochoice students, as there are varying degrees of this stance.

Encouraging dialogue

Rather than taking stances on national issues, the SU should instead be facilitating and encouraging dialogue between opposition groups from within the College community. This would allow students to have adequate exposure to multiple sides of a debate before reaching their

own conclusion.

It would be more beneficial to students for these debates to be facilitated, and to allow societies based on these issues to develop. It evens out the platform for debate and gives students who have yet to make up their mind an opportunity to hear different arguments be played out before making their own decision.

If the SU were to take a stance on every issue, it would be borderline oppressive, as any student societies expressing or supporting a view other than the mandate would have to receive support from the SU. A referendum for the SU to oppose water charges was defeated last year, leaving this particular debate open to flourish within campus.

There is much more to a student body than our support of 21st-century battles with equality, sexism, consent and more. A student body is extremely diverse, and contrary to common belief that all students are chronically left-wing, there are some right-wingers among us.

The SU should leave controversial politics to be expressed by cause-specific groups, thereby ensuring the opportunity for everyone’s voice to be heard.

What recovery? Politics for the rest of us “The Recovery” isn’t just disconcerting optimism and government spin. It’s a defence of the indefensible.

It’s the cheery face of government policy that punishes poverty and entrenches deprivation and precarity Seán Egan Contributing writer

F

OR MANY THE February 26 General Election looms large: pundits, politicos and beleaguered canvassers alike rabidly consume their daily drip of election coverage, ranging from poorly researched fiscal plans to increasingly grandiose Alan Kelly pronouncements.

The 2016 election will be significant insofar as it may signal the end of Ireland’s vacuous civil war politics, a deadweight on Irish political discourse that has endured decades of crises without buckling under the pressure of corruption, poverty and growing inequality. Instead it fostered a sense of disconnection and hopelessness within the population, especially among the poor many whose boats failed to rise as predicted in the tide of Celtic Tiger decadence.

These are the same unfortunates who have had their fate sealed by the bank guarantee, and who have seen their standard of living fall steadily under five years of coalition governance: defaults on obscene mortgages, vanishing medical cards and cuts to basic standards of social provision. An aura of social Darwinism emerged in an economy not previously known for its equity. After years of regressive budgets, alarming rises in deprivation and significant social unrest, the centre isn’t holding the way it used to.

The narrative of the recovery is an essential element of the coalition’s electoral mythmaking. It’s been bolstered by bus ads staffed by rosylooking caters announcing the carefully crafted lie: “Let’s keep the recovery going.”

Apparently the Fine Gael creative team thinks that a low-paid position in the foodservice` industry is a boon.

Recovery narrative

Fine Gael are peddling the idea that their last years of

policy making were not savage cuts that contributed to the impoverishment of struggling families and an exodus of the nation’s youth, but a penance for our collective financial sins. This recovery narrative promises our emergence from this recession, shedding our taxation burden, gainfully employed, and ready to consume, leap onto the property ladder and retroactively save faltering pension funds or seemingly insurmountable debt.

Ignoring the fact many economists’ view of our economic future is decidedly grimmer, this narrative is also predicated on the abandonment of a significant section of Irish people. Hundreds of thousands of Irish people cannot rely on their health service, can’t pay rapidly increasing rents and find adequate pay and job security almost illusory. An economic recovery won’t counteract the drastic dismantling of essential services and the transfer of wealth upwards that’s occurred in the lifetime of the past two governments.

“The Recovery” isn’t just disconcerting optimism and government spin. It’s a defence of the indefensible. It’s the cheery face of government policy that punishes poverty and entrenches deprivation and precarity.

In any discussion of Irish politics, optimism is rare, and usually suspect. My entrenched lefty pessimism aside, over the lifetime of this government, multiple tropes of Irish politics were disproven. The massive turnout among non-traditional voters during the Marriage Equality referendum is illustrated by the mass registration of young people and the astonishingly high percentage of Yes votes counted in the most deprived areas of Dublin. Jobstown, the site of Joan Burton’s besiegement by activists, voted 87% Yes. This mass entry of voters into the electoral process is politically relevant ahead of this election. It illustrates that a large section of the population, previously uninterested in dull and disheart-

ening political affairs, will engage when presented with a tangible opportunity for progressive change.

Labour got almost 20% of the vote in 2011. Demographically speaking, it has been abandoned by all but its most affluent supporters. Sinn Fein is the most popular party among people under the age of 35. Among young people and those hit hardest by the establishment parties’ austerity policies, there is appetite for change. Sinn Fein, AAAPBP and an assorted crew of left-wing Independents are receiving growing support from voters for whom politics-as-usual is an unacceptable result. A high turnout among disadvantaged communities and among young first time voters would be a significant challenge to the dominance of conservative politics in Ireland.

“

Join a union, march on the streets. You’re a student, for God’s sake Community mobilisation

Over the lifetime of this government, communities brutalised by austerity have mobilised in a way not seen before. Mobilisations against the property and water taxes have drawn hundreds of thousands and spawned local resistance groups in most every town across Ireland. Mobilisations of this size, mirrored in miniature in many towns and cities besides Dublin, are of massive significance.

These protests, combined with the local movement to resist water meter installation, represent a very tangible anti-government, antiausterity sentiment that will

fuel Sinn Fein and the left’s rise in popularity.

These protests are often derided for their naff imagery (bad water puns, strange plumbing-related costuming) but they represent a real desire for a more equal, just society. The anti-water charges movement isn’t simply people fed up of addition taxation. It is connected to the frustrations felt by ordinary people made to pay the cost of a crisis created by the wealthy.

This sentiment was summed up perfectly by AAA-PBP election candidate Cllr Brid Smith when she proclaimed at a recent protest, “We need to put manners on the rich”.

The anti-water charges movement should not be dismissed as a major political motivator ahead of the election. It has been Ireland’s answer to the Occupy movement, albeit with less catchsloganeering and even fewer attractive bohemians.

While the recently formed Social Democrats look to Northern Europe for inspiration, citing a Scandinavian system of social capitalism, the focus for the Irish left ahead of the election will be on Southern Europe and the massive gains seen by the radical anti-austerity left in Spain and Portugal.

These electoral gains follow years of fervent organising and represent not only a backlash to growing inequality, but also a deep distrust of the long-ruling political moderates. Spain’s two moderate parties received their worst ever combined result in the recent election. Ireland is on track to follow them. This doesn’t open the door for Ireland’s left government, but it will be a significant blow to the established political axis that has ruled comfortably for so long.

Challenging neoliberalism

In fact, a vital aspect of the Ireland’s fledgling left’s contribution to the discourse has been its position as the lone challenger of EU mandated austerity directives.

Unlike the government parties’ slavish devotion to

austerity and Sinn Fein’s criticisms (which are prefaced by a promise to remain within established fiscal parameters), the Irish radical left’s advocacy for debt repudiation represents our best hope of true resistance to growing inequality and deprivation.

Despite their liberal reputation, European authorities have been ruthless in their treatment of financially strapped eurozone nations.

The security of irresponsible banking institutions has taken precedence over the basic welfare of millions of European workers. Neoliberalism is so ingrained in European policymaking that any resistance to these austerity directives is met with dire threats and ultimatums.

It’s fundamentally unrealistic to believe that a government can implement the sweeping changes needed to seriously challenge poverty and inequality while burdened with the massive debt of the bank guarantee. It’s a damning indictment of our skewed political discourse and the deep cynicism of the elected leaders that concern for the most disadvantaged part of the population is derided as “irresponsible”, while those who fight against savage cuts are branded “hard left.”

This recovery is a myth. Almost 140,000 people languish on the housing list while the major parties refuse to act on homelessness or tame renthiking landlords. According to CSO reports, 37.3% of children experience deprivation.

There are no solutions to be found in business-as-usual politics. Sadistic policies that privilege wealth and punish poverty are calculated decisions. The rise of the radical left across Europe led by students and low wage, precarious workers is a vital aspect of the challenge to neoliberal hegemony.

It’s not enough just to vote left. A society built on principles of social justice can only be achieved through struggle. Join a union, march on the streets. You’re a student, for God’s sake.

EOPLE HAVE A tendency to either idolise or despise Irish (this is largely thanks to our uninspiring Irish curriculum in school) and more often than not it is not seen as a practical language. It’s almost expected of me to be fervent nationalist because of my all-Irish education.

People expect me to say that Irish is the single greatest gift we have on earth and we must speak it ad infinitum.

But my sanity has not been completely destroyed, and I can see just as clearly as anyone else that Irish is not revered by masses and that something needs to seriously change in our collective perception of Irish as our native language.

This is not of those articles on “tábhacht na Gaeilge” that we were collectively forced to read and memorise for our Leaving Cert. This is not an article urging you to forgo English, find the closest Gaeltacht and hole up with the ghosts of “Bean an Tís” past. I regretfully inform you that I, too, have been scarred by those stock phrases Leaving Cert students had to spew out in their essays in June – does “tír gan anam, tír gan teanga” ring any bells? The thought of reading another grim article on the future of Irish makes my stomach do a series of painful acrobatics.

The problem with this undeniably important question is that it is always phrased incorrectly; it is always put to you in an accusatory and tedious tone that almost shames you into a feeble reply or else instils pessimism in you toward our native tongue. People rarely sit down happily to discuss the “future of Irish” – it is always done with a degree of severity and guilt that has been detrimental to our view of the language.

But imagine if we stopped discussing the ‘future’ of Irish and started simply accepting it for what it is today.

Love of Irish

Irish is important to me.

But I’ve been incredibly lucky. I’ve had the chance to really live and breathe the language. Irish was my primary mode of communication for the past fourteen years, and a love like that can’t simply disappear.

The transition from fourteen years of all-Irish education to Trinity was never going to be straightforward one.

When you’ve become accustomed to always expressing yourself in Irish, the newfound ability to speak freely in English is . . . bizarre.

In Trinity, quite unlike in my all-Irish secondary school, there is no daily sermon on the importance of our native language, there is no encouragement to perfect the “aideacht sealabhach” and there are no awards for the classmate who most actively promotes Irish. It was a bittersweet moment when I finally stopped asking questions in my tutorials as Gaeilge (God knows I baffled my French TA enough with my hybrid English-Irish vocabulary) and when I stopped mumbling “brón orm’”as I pushed past people under Front Arch.

It has always been natural for me to speak in a self-created hybrid of Irish and English, even outside of school.

We express our-

selves differently in different languages, and Irish has always been my academic language, my fail-safe.

I never viewed it as me making an active point of speaking Irish. Thinking in two languages was simply the way my brain thought.

Some words would come to me in Irish before English and, more frequently than I’d like to admit, there are some words I simply don’t know in English.

Even now, when I go to the Cumann Gaelach or sometimes when I see my friends from school, I feel as though I’m making an active point of speaking Irish. I miss the unconscious ease of self-expression when I used both languages in tandem.

Settling in

After a few weeks of settling in to Trinity, I found myself actively searching out Irish. I’d look for posters or signs in Irish and read them to myself a few times to assure myself that I could still understand written Irish. I listened in on conversations.

Every now and again I would hear people speaking in Irish, my ears would prick up like a comical image of a rabbit, and I would gravitate towards the language.

The funny thing about Irish is that people who are fluent in it have a tendency to think that no-one else can understand them when they speak. Just last week, I was sitting in the library and I overheard a conversation where one person was actually saying (in Irish of course) how great it was that no one could understand their conversation because she was speaking in Irish.

Another bad habit that fluent Irish speakers can sometimes have is talking about other people in public in Irish, because once again, you assume that no one else understands you. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve turned to my friends to say something only to promptly stop when I realise that nearly everyone sat the exact same exam for the Leaving Cert.

The most hilarious question you will be asked at some point is (if you’ve been to and all-Irish primary or secondary school) is, “Wait, you do everything in Irish? Even maths?”.

It is a bit unorthodox (some would argue unnecessary) to know differentiation complete through Irish and scarcely be able to explain the concept in English, but I honestly wouldn’t change it for anything.

Cultural marks

I think we all bear the marks of an Irish education; they just manifest themselves differently in different people. For me it’s a constant oscillation of language, for some it’s a love for the atmosphere that Irish can create (the Gaeltacht), and for others it’s being able to translate your surname to Irish.

These are all different ways of engaging with Irish. None of them are better or worse than the other – they simply are.

The transition from Irish to English has been slightly jarring, but it has led me to appreciate Irish all the more. Now I relish the fact that I don’t know any science through English – I’m the equivalent to a 4th class student by English standards when it comes to science.

Since my coming to Trinity, the question of Irish, or rather the abolition of the tabooed “future of Irish”, has played out increasingly on my mind, and I think I’ve finally reached an answer.

If we ever want to truly answer the question of the “future of Irish”, then we have to stop looking for one solution that will fix everything.

The reality of the situation is that we will all have different levels of Irish and the point is not converting Ireland into an exclusively Irish speakingcountry once more.

It’s to celebrate and encourage the smaller victories.

It’s to understand that Irish can still have a very bright future, in tandem with English.

Trinity News | Tuesday 16 February

Comment

18

A modest proposal to reform the SU

Naoise Dolan Comment editor

H

I, I’M NAOISE. I’m a final year English student from Dublin, and I’ve been lucky enough to experience lots of what Trinity has to offer. Now the time has come to give back. Like many of you, I haven’t always had a breezy time of it at College. I want to ensure that the Students’ Union is there as a bulwark and/ or bedrock when the hard times come rolling.

With this in mind, I have a simple suggestion: rather than electing sabbats, we should pick them at random.

There are a few ways we could do it. The simplest is probably to ask the academic registry to pick a random student number from the entire senior sophister pool, ring that person up and ask them if they want a job. If they say no, ring another person until someone accepts it. Keep going until all the sabbatical roles have been filled.

But I’d rather leave the practicalities until you’ve given me your mandate to bring this policy about. The principle of what I’m standing for is what matters. This February, join me in abolishing the

“Leadership Race” – a phrase I can report first seeing on a crumpled mind-map in the SU kitchen a few years ago, among crossed-out suggestions such as “Management Mambo”, “Governance Gambit”, and “(This isn’t my first) Representational Rodeo”, the last of which was annotated with “not peppy enough :(”.

There are many benefits to adopting my policy. For max digestibility, I’ve summed them up under three alliterative headings: equal access, engagement and empowerment. To be honest, you can probably skip the text underneath the point titles. I think I just had my campaign manager stick a load of lorem ipsum there anyway. Vote Dolan!

Equal access

I stand for fairness, equality of opportunity and inclusiveness. We need to open up the Students’ Union so that everyone can participate.

What better way to achieve this than if everyone literally has a statistically identical chance of taking up leadership’s noble mantle?

Adopt my policy tomorrow and gender disparities vanish. We don’t need to bother with any of the tediousness of convincing women to run – sixty per cent of our pool is automatically female. This is great because it means we never have to address whatever it is about the SU’s culture that means any year we fail to do extensive outreach and workshops, largely male candidacy is pretty much guaranteed. (If women disproportionately turn the jobs down, we can shrug and say that it must be that they just didn’t feel like leading, racing, or whatever else the combination of those two words implies; there’s good form for this in all stretches of Irish politics.)

Most importantly, though,

my proposal will do more to help fourth years find employment than any previous SU policy has managed.

Austerity Ireland has a huge surplus of graduates and not a lot of places to put us. Mull all you want over font choice (Hoefler Text is my fave), you can’t résumé your way into a job opening that doesn’t exist.

SU candidates’ promises of career mentorships and CVpolishing classes are powerless to fix this, as is the provost’s drive for business classes (he takes the interesting – if economically dubious – position that every single Trinity student can be “an entrepreneur”).

These measures don’t magic more jobs into existence.

They just lull us into thinking there’ll be a comfy place for all of us in the bounteous capitalist system if we only work hard enough to obtain it.

My solution to graduate unemployment is more effective, more concrete, and certainly more honest: I can tangibly claim that six graduate jobs will immediately become available if my policy is adopted, and the best bit is that you have as good a chance of getting one as the next person.

The rest of you can emigrate. Soz.

Engagement

I, for one, think we’ve had enough of students feeling like the Students’ Union doesn’t care about the concerns of ordinary Trinity students. That’s why it’s so important that this proposal brings loads of adjectives, verbs and nouns to the entire student body.

Here’s a fun “Did you know?”: the word “engage” takes the singular simple present form “engages”, present participle “engaging”, and the simple past and past participle “engaged”. Derived terms include “engagement”,

“disengage” and “disengagement.”

I promise that the person we randomly select will have the capacity to use these words in various SU communications throughout the year ahead. If they have trouble remembering all the words, we can put a list of them up in a Google Doc for them to copy and paste from at leisure. Going on precedent, these are the only steps an effective sabbat needs to take to engage people who don’t give their permanent residential address as “House 6.”

Also, maybe the person randomly selected will abolish Ents. After a good few years of hearing from candidates about the “pillars of Ents”, I am none the wiser as to why Ents is a thing. The prospect of holding on to the few quid I currently donate against my will to a loss-making office that holds no interest for me, that has never enticed me to attend any of its buzzwordy box socials, and that has me utterly confused as to why my union are running club nights when they could be campaigning? Count me engaged, baby.

Empowerment

Given that all six sabbats last year were mandated to support Students Against Fees and only one (Lynn Ruane) had a good showing on that front, I submit that we should adopt an extreme poststructuralist position regarding the ability of our Students’ Union to match mandate with outcome.

What can be more empowering than believing that everything in the world is contained in language? Just say the words

I have a simple suggestion: rather than electing sabbats, we should pick them at random “strong grassroots protest”, and you have semantically erected a dynamic students’ movement all on your lonesome.

Or if that seems too much of a stretch because you don’t believe your own speech-acts can carry that sort of clout, then just ask your all-powerful randomly chosen sabbats to say similar things over and over. This shouldn’t be a problem for them – whatever layperson we draft in will find making promises as easy as did the people who were previously voted in to perform this delicate task.

Why march against the abolition of student fees when you can discursively construct the abolition of student fees? The best thing is that even if the person selected by our random lottery doesn’t abide by our linguistic principles, we can also just discursively construct them as doing so.

The power of critical theory will fully match the efficacy of last year’s anti-fees campaigning, and may well exceed it.

Most empowering of all, though: pass this policy and the election period is gone.

No more messages asking you to be on so-and-so’s “team”, no more invitations to like pages, no more pushing past primary-coloured human shields to get to class every morning in the Arts Block, no more huge psychological toll on candidates, and all the money saved in campaign funding could be donated to something actually important, or, failing that, to something that at least doesn’t make m o s t p e o p l e ’s week

ported, if it was of public concern? It seems likely that many people wouldn’t.

For example, in a recent UT article titled “Mandatory Consent Workshops to be Introduced for Trinity Hall Residents From Next Year”, the writer claims that “noone spoke against” the sexual consent workshop when it was brought forward at council. But this is incorrect, as Dan O’Brien claimed at council that it would the consent workshops would not be effective unless they were implemented by College administration rather than the SU. His point wasn’t popular and the mandate passed with an almost entirely one-sided vote.

From reading University Times’ piece however you would know none of this.

While all the other main speakers are mentioned, O’Brien’s name is missing.

Aside from the fact that he is a close friend of many in University Times and is campaigning to become student union president, it’s hard think of any other reason for ignoring one of the key speakers in a debate.

The overlap between union positions and positions within the UT will also likely make it harder for outsider candidates during campaign season, especially if running against someone established within the union. Even if it is not intentional, people are likely to write nicer things about their friends than strangers.

The UT received substantial criticism in regards to its student elections coverage.

In one piece, put up after a sparsely attended dining hall hustings on the first morning of the election campaign, the headline declared “Dining Hall Hustings Sets Up President to be Two-Man Race.”

The article claimed the presidential candidate Stephen

Carty “lacked the same zeal” as the UT-associated candidates O’Brien and McNulty “something which could indicate that he has a lot to do if he wants to compete in what is now looking like a two-man race.” The article received a large amount of online criticism for its portrayal of several of the other races too.

When an audience member at the TN / QSoc hustings accused the UT of bias in their coverage they received a loud ovation. Indeed, the notion that a candidate could discredit themselves in a ninety second speech on the first morning of the campaign seems improbable, and it’s unlikely that any SU candidate’s speech is worthy of such overblown reportage.

actively more annoying and/or difficult to get through.

Let’s be real. These changes will make a more material difference to students’ lives than any minor fluctuations in the constitutionally hidebound policymaking of the SU.

Full communism

Surprise! I sneaked in this policy unannounced so as not to scare you antsy BESS students, but just so you know, adopting my reform strategy will bring about a violent socialisation of the means of production (subject to negotiation with the provost). Sceptical of whether this can be achieved in one year?

Don’t be: I can guarantee you that it’s at least as likely to come to fruition as a n y o n e ’s manifesto promises.

News for students or unions’s views?

Is UT too entangled with the students’ union for it to indubitably claim a status as a “fierce” truth seeker?

Conall Monaghan Deputy news editor

A

T THE RECENT Trinity News and Qsoc hustings, the soon-to-be editor of the University Times, Sinead Baker, was asked about the newspaper’s independent status. Her response was to refer to article 10.1 of the student union constitution - which claims that “the University Times shall be guaranteed editorial independence from the union” - as proof that the paper is in fact a watchdog over college authorities.

While I don’t argue that the editors and staff of the UT are sincere in their intentions, I have serious concerns about structural and institutional factors which could prevent them from properly fulfilling their role. These factors are not being highlight to cause aggravation between the two papers, but in hope that awareness can lead to change, which will help maintain the high quality of student journalism within Trinity College.

As a writer for Trinity News, I see the existence of the University Times and any rivalry between us as positive. The knowledge that another newspaper might get to a story before me has definitely made me work harder, as well as helping simulate what I imagine the working environment is like for professional journalist.

However, like most organisations, the University Times is not perfect. In the spirit of independent journalism, it is important to highlight these issues, which I hope the University Times staff will understand.

Financial dependence

The student’s union spent 33,000 euro on publications last year according to their own figures. Since the only other publication the SU prints is a freshers’ guide, it seems safe to assume that the vast majority of this money goes to the University Times.

It pays for their printing, their advertisements on facebook, their take aways during print week, as well as much more. Without this funding the paper would not exist.

On top of this, the University Times editor receives a salary from the SU and free accommodation for the period of their term as editor.

So while it is true that the UT is legally editorially independent from the SU, it is also entirely financially dependent on it. And so there is some reason to believe that as a result, its editorial independence is more limited in reality than it is on paper.

In fact, there is no constitutional stipulation that guarantees the UT’s level of funding from one year to the next.

According to the SU constitution the editor must “present a detailed & fully costed budget to the Union Forum at its first meeting at the first meeting of the academic year”. The union can reject or accept the budget, but not alter it. However, again, its de facto powers are greater.

Presumably the editor will engage in some sort of informal consultation and scouting process (which might also involve some lobbying) with the SU before submitting the budget to get an idea of how high they can set it. And the power to reject a budget entails that, de facto, the SU has control over its size. Furthermore, the union’s administrative officer has to approve any capital purchases made during the year.

The most powerful minister in any cabinet is the minister for finance, because they essentially hold a veto over other department’s policies. If they don’t like them, they can threaten not to fund them. The SU’s financial control of the UT potentially gives it a great deal of power over the paper. We should be cautious about making any claims about how this operates in reality. The most extreme scenario would be that senior members of the SU could threaten to cut the paper’s funding or not approve capital purchases. There is no evidence that such a thing has happened or is likely to happen.

However, it is likely that in more informal, implicit, and perhaps unconscious ways that the UT’s financial dependence on the SU does affect its coverage and analysis.

There is a natural instinct not to bite the hand that feeds you. If someone was giving you that much money a year, wouldn’t that make a positive change in how you perceive them? Editors might worry that if they are too stringent in their criticism of the union then future funding increases might be put in jeopardy, or that if the SU were forced to make cuts then the UT might be less protected than other

items. From the point of view of the union, their funding of the University Times can be seen as an investment. And if they don’t feel that they are being positive represented then they will feel little motivation to look with financial favour upon their paper.

Power does not have to be exercised in order to exert an effect. The mere possibility of its use is enough to exert an effect. And it can, in subtler ways, affect the agenda or the bounds of what’s considered journalistically possible or relevant.

Questions concerning such power relations have been raised by certain pieces published in the recent past. To give one example, in a recent article “Horse Meat Disco to Bring the Joy of Disco to Trinity’s Campus,” the ents officer Katie Cogan wrote about the upcoming Trinity Ball. The piece essentially exists as an advertisement for ents disguised an opinion piece. Of course the person helping to organise Trinity Ball is going to describe the bands playing as the “cream of disco who have made it their life’s work getting people dancing.” It’s hardly impartial and fair.

Informal Pressure

The SU doesn’t just fund the University Times. It also forms the formal and informal milieu in which the UT places itself. A large proportion of the staff are involved with, work alongside, or are friendly with SU class reps, convenors, officers, and other functionaries. This is particularly the case with the editor. Heaphy appears in the weekly SU email in a picture with all the sabbatical officers with the caption “We Work for You”. Like his predecessors who occupied the communications officer role, Heaphy lives with a sabbatical officer. This will also likely be the case with the incom-

ing editor, Baker. The editor is elected to their position as part of the SU elections, and does canvassing and hustings alongside candidates for the sabbatical positions. The editor will have similar working and living conditions to their sabbatical colleagues.

Heaphy has not spurned any appearance of close association with the SU. He elected to give a voluntary report to the union’s council last term to trumpet the achievements of his paper.

The paper is associated with the union in more contingent ways as well. Sinead Baker is a former arts and humanities faculty convenor.

Two of the three people currently running for president of the students’ union have sat on their editorial board, Dan O’Brien, who is also assistant editor, and Kieran McNulty who chaired the board, although Kieran he quit earlier in the academic year. The other two members of the editorial board at the beginning of the year were Baker and Heaphy.

If the UT and the SU operate and socialise in the same circles, would that not make it more difficult to perform its watchdog function? The strong formal and informal bonds between the union and its paper are likely to exert the same type of de facto effect upon the UT as its financial dependence does.

Hunter S. Thompson once wrote that “the most consistent and ultimately damaging failure of political journalism in America has its roots in the clubby/cocktail personal relationships that inevitably develop between politicians and journalists.” While the stakes are obviously a lot smaller in regards to Trinity, the point still has relevance. Would you be able to expose information about your friends, colleagues, and roommates which they didn’t want re-

Quid Pro Quo

Two of the most frequent sources for College news are easy to access only by maintaining a good relationship with the student’s union. The firstsource is news created by the student’s union itself. For example, one of University Times’ biggest stories this year was a report on Lynn Ruane’s Seanad bid. This piece would never have been written if Lynn hadn’t given them the exclusive. Another example is the political party leaders’ debate at the beginning of the year, where the SU simply granted the right to livestream it to the UT without allowing any other publication to compete for it.

The other source for news is the various college-boards.

The boards are sources for info regarding new plans involving Trinity, such as building projects. Both the president and the education officer sit on some of these boards, the relationship between them and the editor and staff of the UT allows the paper easy access to this news stream as well.

The UT has generated

many of its front page stories from its closeness to the SU. It is not hard to see that there must be an element of quid pro quo in this relationship.

If the UT is too critical of the SU, it might find its sources reluctant to provide privileged information. Again, it is unlikely that such an issue would explicitly arise. But it would not be surprising if, at least implicitly or at an unconscious level, that an informal relationship of quid pro quo might arise.

Truly Independent?

The reason unions are important is that they act as a collective political force for its members. For a union to be able to perform this function it needs to be heavily scrutinised, as a means to making sure that its officers are doing what it is democratically expected from them by those who elected them. While the University Times may claim to be independent, their current predicament makes this position unattainable.

In a recent UT article, Heaphy describes how he has been “given a fierce mandate” by students who’ve elected him to hold the powers that be to account. But there is a good reason to believe that there are significant institutional and structural factors which would impinge upon this mandate. It is questionable that the University Times can really represent the ordinary student in this regard.

The University Times is far too entangled with the students’ union for it to indubitably claim independence or status as a “fierce” truth seeker. On the basis of all that has been discussed above, one might wonder if the UT merely represents the students’ union rather than the student body, and that when it appears otherwise then it’s solely due to an overlap between the two groups.

Trinity News | Tuesday 16 February

Op-ed

19

Listen up, Leo! Caoimhe Brennan Staff writer

“S

uicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.” When I first heard Donal Walsh say this, the sixteen year old boy from Kerry, who sadly died of cancer in 2013, I cried. He was battling cancer and I was battling depression. It was not the sort of depression you can talk about in Ireland, it was the sort of depression where I couldn’t get out of bed most days for three years. Where I cried every morning because I was still alive.

My body felt like it had died. I didn’t think I would be alive for my 18th birthday, or 19th, when that came. I cried because I felt nobody understood. I cried because I pretended to have glandular fever when I missed the start of fifth year due to my depression, even though somebody who I had thought of as a friend had spread the truth around the school.

I completely shut down.

I would spend hours crying in the shower. I couldn’t go to school. I stopped doing everything I loved. The only thing I really had energy for was watching rubbish TV, and even then, I couldn’t concentrate. I stopped eating and lost weight. The only clothes I could bear to wear was pyjamas.

Nobody really understood how bad it was except my family. I went almost much every service available and it wasn’t helping. I was engaging in very dangerous coping mechanisms. I ended up in hospital twice. The only joy I

found in most days was lying in bed pretending I was dead.

If I had died, nobody would have seen that I was suffering from an illness, except perhaps my mother. I would have died because of my depression, but it would have been viewed as a personal flaw, that I was not strong enough. I lived in hell for five years and barely survived it. But it was not my fault. It would have been no more my fault than if I had had cancer.

Except maybe if I had cancer I could be open about how I was suffering with more people. I would have had support. I could have gone to A&E when I was feeling unwell, and I would have seen a doctor who actually helped, instead of being told to “promise” a social worker 100% that I would not try to kill myself again and being left to sit on a curb for an hour before I could tell my parents where I was. Alone.

Realities of treatment

The waiting list for the therapy in my town is two years. That is two years during which you are left to deteriorate and suffer, mostly alone, until you can even begin to see someone. Two years. I know of people who have been discharged from the acute ward and given an appointment for six months, not for therapy, just to reissue medication.

I have had doctors tell me, to my face, that I need to grow up. That there is nothing wrong with me. I have friends who have been told that their illness are attention seeking, that there are people with actual problems. I have had a nurse clean out cuts on my wrist sideways, because she thought “I would like the pain”. I have been in youth

Caoimhe Brennan sheds valuable light on the harsh reality of dealing with mental illness, and the HSE’s inability to provide adequate treatment

groups where the co ordinator refuses to use the correct pronouns for people who are transgender. Refuse to call them by their real name.

Its ok to suffer from mental illness if its neat, compact and finished, like Bressie. The rest of us are left to carry around our shame that we know we shouldn’t feel but do, because we don’t think we are sick anyway, we constantly feel that we are exaggerating and have that continually validated by the society we live it. Its the #littlethings after all.

But how can your friends help you though a psychotic episode, or mania, or deal with serious self harm? They aren’t professionals, but they probably will have to muddle through when the real professionals send you home from A&E, when you beg them for help because you suffer from schizophrenia and tell you “it will be better in the morning.” A friend told me how he left flowers on the grave of his best friend because that had happened one too many times. It’s a true story.

Not all doctors in Ireland are like this. I have met some incredible people who, despite am inadequate system, do a brilliant job. Who really and truly care and understand. But this is not enough.

Nobody should have to wait two years

to begin therapy. Nobody should reach out for help and run the risk of being turned away.

One in four people suffer from mental illness, and when you are unwell it is not something that can be solved by talking to a friend. It helps, but it won’t cure you, just like it won’t cure cancer.

The open letter to Leo Varadkar posted under the pseudonym Emma sums up what it is like to be mentally unwell in Ireland. There are hundreds of young people, and middle aged people, and elderly people, and children like Emma, desperately hoping for help. Proper help.

Just so you know Leo, I don’t think anyone ever recovered seeing a psychiatrist once a month for fifteen minutes. It probably would be difficult to get over any serious illness with that sort of medical attention.

If you’re lucky, and your parents have private health insurance, private psychiatrists, psychologists and therapy programs will be covered. If you don’t, you are left to fend for yourself in an overcrowded system which instead recommends that you talk to your friends instead because they probably will be of more use than trained professionals.

Mental illness is the same as physical illness. It’s time we started to treat it as such.

Until then, people will continue to die from it. I know far too many people who suffer alone and in silence. Not because their friends don’t realise they need someone to listen to them, but because no matter how loudly they are screaming, the healthcare system has its ears shut.

“

It’s ok to suffer from mental illness if its neat, compact and finished, like with Bressie. The rest of us are le to carry around our shame ... we constantly feel that we are exaggerating and have that continually validated by the society we live in. Its the #littlethings a er all.

SU sabbatical officers let down real action When sabbatical officers fail to support a student organised march, we must ask ourselves what purpose do they serve?

T

HE CURRENT SABBATICAL elections come at a pivotal time for the Irish student movement. The Cassells Report on funding Irish higher education is, according to all reports, set to recommend a student loans system accompanied by an increase in fees. There is a strong chance that the General Election will produce a government intent on the implementation of these measures. Fine Gael plan for a loans system as a funding measure to plug the hole in the finances of the Irish higher education system. This will mean a dramatic increase in third-level fees from the current registration charge of ¤3000.

The Students Against Fees campaign has collected and published the personal testimonies of students from working class communities and low-income households.

The facts are simple: student loans will push people out of higher education and close the door on working class students.

It is as fundamental a duty as one could imagine for the Students’ Union to fight any attempts to introduce a loans system. We should vote accordingly in the upcoming sabbatical elections to ensure we have an SU leadership committed to protecting students’ interests.

Fighting back

We don’t yet know the full extent of the government’s plans, but they are counting on student resistance being weak. They are not without justification in their belief that students are an easy target – since the beginning of the economic crisis, we have been. Public funding for education has been cut, fees have been raised despite the theatrical pledges of the Labour Party to stand up for students and not increase the student contribution. The fightback has been shaky, with numbers on the annual USI march dwindling year on year.

Ireland has, so far, shown little of the militancy displayed by other student movements across the world, such as in Quebec and Chile.

If we do not show more fight, then student loans will come in as easily as every other anti-student measure since 2008.

The campaign has been served well by the presence of a committed anti-fees SU president this year. Students Against Fees had to fight within the SU to win it to our position. The first motion proposing to mandate the SU to oppose loans was defeated, prompting the formation of our independent campaign.

After weeks of hard work and putting the anti-loans argument to students, a second, more complete motion that mandates the SU to oppose any increase in fees was passed nearly unanimously.

This does not yet mean, however, that the full energies of the SU are at the disposal of the anti-fees campaign.

Grassroots action

We in Students Against Fees are proud to be described as a “grassroots organisation” – that is how we want it to stay. We consider ourselves to be in the tradition of the NCAD Student Action group that successfully won the resignation of their college’s Director last summer. This was an organic,

The news that TCDSU has decided to bring in mandatory (although participants can leave as soon as it starts) workshops on sexual consent has reached official Ireland.

Fionola Meredith in the Irish Times is one of the worst culprits of this twisting of facts. “Should young men have compulsory lessons on how not to be a rapist?” she opens her piece, leaving out the fact that the workshops are for all students regardless of gender and that the lessons doesn’t deal with just rape but the issue of consent in itself.

Consent is also in important topic for queer women. Rather she is the one “implicitly diminishing and patronising men, treating them all as potential sex offenders” by placing them as the supposed only target of the consent workshops.

Men can be assaulted by women. Men can be assaulted by gay men.

Straight men on the other-hand, might feel like these consent workshops only target them and their sexuality because of how obsessed our media is with masculinity. Men are made to feel that they have to always be in control and have an attractive woman by their side. They’re told that they always have to be successful.

It’s one of the reasons why young men have such poor mental health, because what they are taught does not always bear out their experience in life.

All articles like Meredith’s do is perpetuate the myth that these lessons are only for those men. This in turn fuels ignorance over the damage and pain people of all sexual orientations and genders can inflict on others when consent isn’t there.

Pieces like Meredith’s tell straight men that they should never consider that possibility for themselves and that these initiatives only exist to demonise them.

It is puzzling to see that while Meredith is happy to classify students as politically correct trigger-warning obsessives, she can’t get her mind around the proposition that this might mean we don’t treat men like potential rapists.

Since we are so PC, we would never dream of “diminishing [a woman’s] status as morally autonomous agents of their own destiny, and recasting them as quivering victims” as she puts it. But this is what we are blindly accused of doing.

In that case, Halls might as well not have a fire safety talk, or ask students to be respectful of the apartment they have been given.

After all if they haven’t learnt by age 18 – when it’s the first time that they’re living on their own with unsupervised access to alcohol and drugs – then it’s really to late to try and impose any new life lessons, isn’t it?

Or it might actually be a good idea to have a demonstration in front of the large group of students and maybe open their eyes to some things they wouldn’t have known before, because they were too busy studying for the leaving cert to go out on the pull every night.

It might be worth telling them little things that might help them enjoy themselves. It might help to tell that if someone says they don’t want you to buy them a drink, don’t get hung up on it, don’t take it as a slight against you and just accept it.

Lukewarm climate

This year’s SU sabbatical team has come under criticism for their lack of visible support of the anti-fees campaign. This is with the honourable exception of President Lynn Ruane, who has been instrumental in supporting the campaign since its inception.

Our march in solidarity with the Teachers’ Union of Ireland strike in early February was publicised with the assistance of SU resources.

Yet other elected officers have been criticised during the current sabbatical election campaign for not attending the march.

The reply so far has been that the SU President has chief responsibility for campaigns and that different sabbatical officers work with different campaigns. Formally, this is true. But this line of defence gives a worrying impression weeks before the general election.

Fighting student loans is of paramount importance for the student movement. If they’re introduced, students will be saddled with a mountain of debt upon graduation. Opportunities for lowincome students to attend university will shrink even further.

The SU is mandated to oppose loans. The issue deserves the full support of our elected sabbatical officers.

This affects every student in the most fundamental way. It is not good enough that there was no visible support from the SU leadership at the first major action organised by the anti-fees and loans campaign.

If we are to succeed in defeating loans, the student movement will need a great deal more commitment than has been shown so far. The Students’ Union is the representative body for the entire student community. It has to send a message to all political parties currently canvassing for our votes that student loans is a red-line issue, and we are ready to fight on it.

TCDSU’s consent project is not a diatribe against men

Nowhere in the piece does it mention that these lessons are not coming from College authorities, but in actuality from the students’ union. It leaves out the information that they were a measure voted on at council, which students are invited to attend and where their elected representatives vote on issues.

Rory O’Neill Staff writer

NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR 2015

Editorial Staff

entirely student-driven campaign that highlighted the corrosive effects of austerity and neoliberal policies on our education system.

We do not want to leave all campaigning and organisational responsibility on the doorstep of the SU. Rather, we want to continue organising a campaign from below that will have the unequivocal support of our elected sabbatical officers, who are mandated to oppose fees.

We want as many students as possible to play a leading role in this campaign. The SU should help to facilitate that and demonstrate their determination to stop the introduction of loans. So far this has not been forthcoming.

Trinity is currently in the midst of our annual Sabbatical elections for the SU. If you care about loans, if you care about fees, then make this an election issue. Those asking to lead our SU need to be fully committed opponents of a loans system. If our sabbatical officers are not themselves committed, then they will not be able to provide the leadership and energy to build a campaign – as they are mandated to do. This doesn’t just apply to the position of president – we need a united team of sabbatical officers who will utilise the full power of the SU to campaign as vigorously as possible to stand up for students against the government.

The criticisms raised dur-

ing the sabbatical election campaign so far highlight some deeper problems in our SU. The Students’ Union is a behemoth of bureaucracy, officialdom and careerist hack culture.

If this is a clichéd line of criticism, then it is only because it points to problems so deep-set and fundamental in student politics, not just in Trinity or even Ireland, but in general. Irish Students’ Unions, however, are so bureaucratic and officer-driven that many students feel very little genuine relation to it as a democratic and collective assembly of the student body.

Who can honestly say that the SU effectively expresses and implements the will of students?

The problems in our SU are beyond the scope of one meagre opinion piece, but here it should suffice to say this: we need more of the radical student militancy displayed by NCAD Student Action, which we are trying to recreate in Students Against Fees. This is the perfect antidote to the equilibrium of everyday SU culture.

Real student resistance has to be built at the grassroots level. When our movement wins, it is because of strong organisation, principled commitment to our cause and the mass mobilisation of students themselves. We should not look to the machinations of SU bureaucrats meeting with politicians in Leinster House.

We need a democratic campaign of students that will hold our SU to account and refuse to accept the direction in which our education system is travelling.

We can look to an international tradition of student fightback. Students in the University of Amsterdam last year occupied their college in protest against cuts. They established a campaign called the New University calling for the democratisation and decentralisation of education.

Their occupation highlighted the aggressive corporatisation of education in the age of neoliberalism. Months later, the baton was picked up by NCAD students. We can also look at the renowned mass student movements in Quebec and Chile that brought hundreds of thousands out on to the streets.

It’s time for us to take our place in the international student movement against austerity and the corporatisation of our universities. With loans on the horizon, Ireland needs a student movement willing to fight. It isn’t going to be handed down to us by the Students’ Union or USI. It needs to be built from the ground up. It will be our responsibility to keep our elected leaders in check and pressure them to carry out their mandate.

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Trinity News | Tuesday 16 February

SciTech

Science in Brief Katarzyna Siewierska SciTech Editor

New era in astronomy

Illustration by Sarah Larragy

Gay penguins and bisexual bonobos: sexual diversity in the animal kingdom

ON THE 11 February 2016, at 3:30pm (GMT) the Laser Interferometer Gravitationalwave Observatory (LIGO) announced that for the very first time scientists directly detected gravitational waves.

These gravitational waves have been hypothesized by Einstein 100 years ago in his theory of general relativity.

The detection occurred on 14 September 2015, at 9:51am (UTC) and the waves were generated by a collision of two black holes a billion light years away from us (a light year, the distance light travels in one year, is 9,460,528,400,000 kilometers i.e. unimaginably far away). In the last issue of Trinity News, there was an article describing what gravitational waves are and what they can be used for.

One of the key applications is in astronomy, because just like we use light to study the universe, we can now use gravitational waves to gain information about celestial objects such as black holes and neutron stars. The new

technique has a great potential to discover new physics that we had no access to. This discovery is not just the work of the scientists and engineers at LIGO. It is an effort of many scientists and engineers from the last 100 years, whose work led to technological developments and knowledge that made this discovery possible.

Although some may ask ‘Why did we spend so much of taxpayer’s money just to discover something that has no real world applications and will not pay for itself?’. Well, money invested into projects like this is never wasted. The technology, data analysis techniques and knowledge acquired as by-products of this enormous 100 year long project have many real world applications in industry, finance, analytics, etc. History has shown that research should be curiosity driven and often what is discovered is a solution looking for a problem.

We are well aware about the sexual diversity in human beings, but what about animals? Carol O’Brien discusses how homosexuality fits in the theory of evolution and observed sexually diverse relationships between some animal species.

Carol O’Brien Bruce Bagemihl, a former animals. encounters, but still keep sheep, rams, do appear to be Staff writer

F

OR A LONG time same-sex relationships were thought not to exist in nature outside of humans. This is a powerful thought that still exists in the minds of many recent referendum ‘no voters’, but one that is in fact, not true. If we look to the animal world, it is filled with examples of colourful and diverse expressions of both gender identity and non-heterosexual relationships. It only takes a little exploration to see that human homosexuality is neither an aberration nor unnatural, as some would have us believe.

In light of Darwin’s theory of evolution, it can become difficult to explain homosexuality. In a Darwinian context, homosexual relations are considered maladaptive, because they do not result in reproduction, and natural selection favours those who can pass their genes to the next generation. Examples of homosexual interactions in animals have certainly not disappeared however, and much research now focuses on whether this behaviour in animals has other advantages.

Such advantages can vary greatly across different species according to particular social and mating systems. For animals, non-reproductive sexual activity can play important roles in forming social bonds and influencing survival, and the importance of these aspects should not be overlooked.

researcher at the University of British Columbia is a noted expert on the subject.

His 1999 book, Biological Exuberance, has emerged as something of a landmark celebration of sexual diversity among animals. In it, he claims that over 1,500 species have exhibited homosexual or transgender behavior, and details almost 200 of them.

He draws extensively on zoological research to give a comprehensive account of non-reproductive sexual behavior in animals, to show that we live in, as he eloquently put it, “a polysexual, polygendered world”.

Indiscriminate mating

Homosexual behaviour exhibited in the animal kingdom is diverse, ranging from short mating rituals and casual sex to to lifelong partnerships. Then there are many animals that seem happy to mate with members of both sexes, in a kind of happy-go-lucky, ‘try-enoughholes-and-I’ll-get-someonepregnant’ approach. Fruit flies, flatworms, and deep-sea squid all engage in this type of indiscriminate mating.

It’s important to bear in mind that when we observe a same-sex animal couple, it’s problematic to assume they will remain exclusively homosexual for life. We simply do not know if they will avoid all heterosexual encounters in the future. In this sense, we can talk of homosexual behaviour, but in most cases cannot really generalise this to talk of ‘gay’ or ‘straight’

Bonobos are one of our closest relatives in the primate world, and they are well known for their closeknit societies and frequent sexual exploits. Frans de Waal of Emory University, a primatologist and expert on bonobos has described how the vast majority of bonobos seem to be bisexual and enjoy frequent gay sex. In their matriarchal society, female bonobos assemble into groups of unrelated individuals. A newly arrived female with a low social status will often engage in genital rubbing, apparently until orgasm, with other females in an attempt to integrate into the group and move up the social order.

The females frequent sexual behaviour may help to cement formation of an alliance.

For male bonobos, so-called ‘penis-fencing’ after a fight is a way to diffuse tension.

What observations of bonobos shows us is that they engage in sex for reasons not just associated with reproduction.

In fact, bonobos seem to be a promiscuous and peaceful species, having sex for any reason at all.

Bottlenose dolphins are another species with a high rate of homosexual behaviour.

Adolescent and young males usually live in all male groups.

They form male-male pairings which they then keep for life.

The two companions not only keep watch over each other and defend each other from attacks, but they also engage in sexual activity. Later at around 20 years old, they will engage in heterosexual

their male partner close by.

Female dolphins also engage in homosexual behaviour, again thought to strengthen social bonds.

One of the most famous gay animal couples was undoubtedly Roy and Silo, a pair of male chinstrap penguins at New York City’s Central Park Zoo. Together they raised a chick called Tango, and inspired a best selling children’s book. They have however, since split up, after being driven out of their nest by two more aggressive penguins. Silo then found love with a new female, while their daughter Tango also went on to pair up with a female.

Clearly, there are many incidences of homosexual and bisexual behaviour in animals, yet much rarer is lifelong monogamous bonding between two animals of the same-sex.

Partners for life

Laysan albatross are known for their lifelong coupling, and two parent cooperation to raise their chicks. A 2008 study in Biology Letters on female laysan albatross on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, showed that 31% of pairings were actually female-female. The authors do suggest however, that this may have occurred due to a shortage of males on the island, as a female pairing with another female to raise offspring is better than going it alone as a single mother.

Also quite rare, are animals that are exclusively homosexual for life. However, about 8% of domestic male

just that. They show a sexual preference for males even when females are present.

Additionally, some seem to be bisexual and others asexual.

A group of researchers in Oregon led by Charles Roselli, are particularly interested in this field, and their research has focused on exploring hormonal and brain structure differences between gay and straight rams. They were able to identify a region in the sheep’s brains, a part of the hypothalamus, which was smaller in rams with a sexual preference for males than rams with a preference for females, which interestingly mimicked a 1991 study in humans. In 2007 their research hit the news, spawning excellent headlines such as “Brokeback Mutton” and “He’s just not that into ewe”.

Naturally, all animal behaviour we observe is filtered through our own anthropomorphic lens, and interpreted in light of our own social constructs and biases.

Although we might draw inspiration from the love story of two penguins in captivity, it is not a particularly wise way of trying to understand the science of human sexuality.

Nevertheless, it is clear now that animal same-sex sexual behaviour not only exists in both wild and captive animals, it is likely to have a biological basis, and can be important for non-reproductive means such as conflict resolution, social integration and advancement, expression of social dominance and even just plain and simple pleasure.

Illustration by Rachel Flanagan

Nuclear crisis in Belgium IN the last two years, a number of Belgian nuclear reactors were shut down, due to their absolutely appalling conditions that led to many incidents. Half of electrical energy comes from nuclear reactors and Belgium is now working on moving towards other sources of renewable energy, but this is not expected until 2025. This path has also been taken by Germany and the Netherlands which have turned anti-nuclear in recent years. However, on the other side of the spectrum there is France and Great Britain which shows how nuclear agendas drastically differ between neighbouring countries in Europe.

Several weeks ago, reports about serious incidents occurring at Doel and Tihange. In particular, the Tihange nuclear plant, located right on the BelgianGerman border, consists of two nuclear reactors, Tihange 1 and 2. Tihange 2 had cracks in its concrete blocks and was shut down in March 2014 and reactivated a year later, but without carrying out the necessary repairs. The plant is only 71 kilometers away from Aachen in Germany. Another

reactor called Doel 3 with similar damages as Tihange 2 was also shut down in 2014 and then reactivated in 2015 in a nuclear power plant in Doel near Antwerp. Experts consider these unsafe, but the Belgian nuclear authority considered them safe after their assessment. The city authorities in Aachen got seriously concerned about the possible risks in keeping the damaged nuclear reactor in Tihange running and they announced to launch a lawsuit against the nuclear plant.

Other organisations have also launched lawsuits against the powerplants in Tihange and Doel. Many people all around the Europe eagerly signed an online petition to shut down the power plants.

The incidents at Chernobyl and Fukushima show the scale of destruction from serious nuclear incidents. A minor damage may very quickly develop into critical damage that may lead to an enormous disaster. The lawsuits kicked off at the start of February and now lawyers are working towards stopping the dangerous machines before it’s too late.

Valentine’s day animal style: strangest mating behaviours in nature In the spirit of Valentine’s day, Katarzyna Siewierska describes some bizarre mating rituals and unexpected physical characteristics.

Katarzyna Siewierska

SciTech editor

T

HE MATING RITUAL in bees is so bizarre you won’t want to believe it, but it is true. It all starts with a queen bee being bred in a special cell in the beehive. She is fed jelly by the bee workers to become sexually mature.

The queen bee that survives to maturity without being murdered by her rival bees, then mates with several male drones chosen out of tens of thousands of candidates.

You may think those drones would feel pretty special to be chosen to mate with the queen, but not necessarily.

This is because during coitus the drone’s genitals explode and snap off inside the queen bee and the snapped off penis acts as a plug to prevent other drones from fertilising the queen! After the genitals explode, the drone dies. If

Beyonce is really the queen bee, I feel very sorry for Jay Z. Female hyenas and their… testicles? Yes, female hyenas have testicles and are bigger, stronger and more aggressive than their male counterparts.

But this is only the beginning of this story. Female hyenas have an particularly enlarged clitoris, which can be thought of as a pseudopenis, that they can erect. The male has a penis as well so you may think how do they do it? Well, to mate the male inserts his penis into the female’s pseudopenis and after the baby hyena has developed inside the female, the female gives birth through the pseudopenis.

Porcupines - haystack of needles

Porcupines are almost completely covered with needles, so how do they reproduce? Well, let me begin with the fact that female porcupines are interested

in copulation for about 8 to 12 hours a year! The reproduction ritual begins with the male getting up on his hind legs and showering the female with his urine. If the female is not happy, she shakes off the urine. If she is in the mood, she allows the male to get into position to mate. Once mating begins, the female will force the male to mate until he is completely exhausted. If this happens too soon, the female abandons the male and waits for another candidate.

Clown fish are a the gender bender - remember Finding Nemo? The story told in the movie does not correspond to scientific facts so listen up.

A clownfish group consists of a breeding couple, male and female, and a few nonbreeding males. The female in the largest fish in the group, the male is the second largest and the other fish are the nonbreeding males. Now, if the female dies, the breeding male

will change into a female and the next largest non-breeding male will be promoted to a breeding male. Turns out Marlin was actually Marlina!

Can we save the giant panda with panda pornography? For quite some time, zookeepers were concerned by the fact that giant pandas raised in captivity had no interest in mating. This is not great news because pandas are such adorable animals. However, then someone at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding and Research Base in Sichuan Province, China had a pretty crazy idea. The idea was to get the pandas to watch some quality panda adult movies and see if it has any effect. Long story short, the screenings of videos of copulating pandas to captive pandas is now a part of their initiation rites.

Banana slugs miscalculation before copulation

Banana slugs are slugs that

look very much like ripe, yellow bananas. A typical slug would be from 6 to 8 inches long.

They are hermaphrodites, so two slugs will try to mate.

The latin name for a banana slug is dolichyphallus, which means “giant penis”. Indeed, their penis can be between 6 to 8 inches long, i.e. they are nearly all penis. These slugs have to be careful with choosing their mating partner.

They must make sure their chosen one is approximately the same size. Failure to do so may result in the penis getting stuck during coitus and the other slug will chew off the stuck penis! Scientists call this “apophallation”.

The world’s longest sperm award goes to the fruit fly: everyone has seen a fruit fly they are tiny. However inside a male fruit fly is a coiled sperm that is about 2 inches long, i.e. it is over 1000 times longer than a human sperm. Also, the testicles of a fruit fly make up 11 percent of the mass of

a typical male. Now you may think, why would such a tiny organism have such a long sperm? The answer is that the female fruit fly reproductive tract is also very long and is like a obstacle course at a military training camp to keep weak sperms out.

We talked about the bees, let’s talk birds

I wonder if any of you know what the Argentine Lake Duck is famous for. Is it the color of their feathers? No. Perhaps the characteristic blue beak?

Nope! Oh, is it because it is the holder of the Guinness World Record of the longest penis of all vertebrates in relation to its body length?

Bingo! To explain this, we must understand that these ducks are highly promiscuous birds. Their penis is coiled up inside them and when erect can be as long as the duck itself. The penis is shaped like a corkscrew and the females have a long corkscrew vagina

that spirals in the opposite direction. The penis has a bristled tips acts like a brush to remove sperm deposited by the previous male partner as a way of dealing with competition. Sometimes the males use their penis as a lasso on reluctant females that try to escape it.

I remember my trip to the Dublin Zoo where I saw a gorilla up close. They are truly majestic creatures and the largest of all living primates.

Mature male gorillas are absolutely huge and each one lives with between five and 30 females. They can easily protect all of their ladies as they are scary and strong and they mate with all the females all year long. You might think, wow up to 30 females and just one guy? It sounds like being a gorilla is nice, but there is a catch. The average penis size of a silverback gorilla is … 4 cm! And when you’re a giant gorilla 4 cm is really not much.

But sure, size isn’t everything.

Trinity News | Tuesday 16 February

SciTech

21

FameLab comes to Trinity Conor O’Mara describes the fantastic science communications competition FameLab. This years finals will be held in Science Gallery in Trinity.

Conor O’Mara Deputy scitech editor On the 9 April 2016, the FameLab Ireland final is coming to the Science gallery in Trinity College Dublin. An event which hosts the most enthusiastic and riveting three minute speeches in science.

FameLab is one of the biggest science communication competitions in the world. It is an initiative run by the The Times Cheltenham Science Festival in the UK. Famelab Ireland is organised by the British Council in Ireland.

FameLab is also run in 25 other countries where the winners of each competition battle it out at their grand final in the Cheltenham Science Festival. The equivalent in the USA is run by NASA.

Engaging science

Do you consider yourself a wicked storyteller? Pride yourself on the clarity of your delivery and the accuracy of

your descriptions? Or have found out about a topic that’s so interesting that the public just has to know about it? Well go ahead and enter!

PhD students realise that their research is important, after all they did get funding for it, and this inner belief drives them on to send in an application.

Partaking in FameLab will offer the opportunity to engage with people outside the scientific community and to enthuse people about your field of science. Not only do you get to introduce to the beauties of the topic you have devoted yourself to, but also can justify the importance of it. For example, Niamh Kavanagh a PhD student in UCC, entered the competition in 2013. Researching in the field of optics, her goal is to “increase fibre usage at home” which is hugely relevant in the technologically advanced society we live in today.

While devoted to her PhD she makes sure not to overlook the subject of science communication, saying “it is equally important to ensure that research is communicated to a wider audience and that people understand the work of scientists”. As well, many

Storytelling and success

There certainly is an art to science communication, its popularity on YouTube is in the tens of millions for the most popular channels.

MinutePhysics, ViHart, Vsauce, Veritasium (And no, your channel doesn’t need to start with a V to be popular in the science section of youtube). Infact what your channel needs in order to make a successful video is to accompany some descriptive explanations with some good visuals. MinutePhysics and ViHart consistently doodle while they speak, making little cartoons to illustrate their points, while Vsauce and Veritasium like to speak to the camera, there would definitely be more colour and animation in these videos than would be on an equivalent television science documentary.

A similar technique is often

explored by many FameLab speakers who are often armed with props as a storytelling device.

Speaking at the event offers you the chance to improve your confidence and public speaking skills. All the FameLab Ireland finalists who make it through the regional heat get to attend a “communication masterclass’.

Run by some of the best science communicators in the world, at it the finalists learn why public engagement is important, develop invaluable media and presentation skills, and get the opportunity to network with scientists from many different scientific fields.

By getting involved with FameLab Ireland you will also become part of an increasingly exciting network of scientists and engineers able to clearly and imaginatively explain their science to the general public.

While scientific language can be high-tech and jargon-filled, FameLab

stresses the value in trying to break down the main message of your talk into simpler language so the a general audience can understand.

As Albert Einstein says “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough”, a message I’ve painfully learnt whenever my dad asks me “What’s group theory about?”

Exceptional impact

Irish scientist Padraic Flood won both FameLab Ireland and the International FameLab final at the Cheltenham Science festival in 2014.

Padraic’s talk first took the audience into the leaf and told them about the mechanics of photosynthesis, then moving onto global population growth and the challenge this poses for agriculture, proposing a way we can combat this by improving photosynthesis.

He was praised by judge Professor Alice Roberts who said “Padraic was successful because he offered incredibly elegant explanations of his science. We also thought he

described the impact that scientific research can have on our lives exceptionally well.”

The Irish art of storytelling was again prevalent one year previous in 2013 when Fergus McAuliffe from University College Cork also won both events. He spoke about the North American wood frog who “blurs the line between life and death” by making its own antifreeze to protect its cells come winter. In fact this was not his own field of study, he actually researches about the use willow trees in wastewater treatment. From first hearing about the frog through a nature documentary, he “decided to use it in the final as [he] reasoned that it was a powerful but simple talk, and that it would be easy to remember afterwards.”

Teaching & communicaton

When thinking about our best teachers, it is often the best communicators that we rate most highly. Many TCD professors are making big strides in this area of

education. Prof Shane Bergin and Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin were instrumental in the “Dart of Physics”, a programme run before Christmas which planted science themed guerilla pop up art around the city as a way to kickstart a conversation about physics in daily life. Prof Shane O’Mara of the Institute of Neuroscience is one of the curators of the science gallery’s current exhibition Trauma and has also just released a book called “Why Torture Doesn’t Work: The Neuroscience of Interrogation”. Also Prof Aoife McLysaght of the Department of Genetics in TCD has made talks TEDx talks, written for New Scientist as well as The Irish Times and spoken about Science at Electric Picnic. The FameLab Ireland final 2016 will be held in the Science Gallery in Trinity College on the 9 April 2016. Videos of the FameLab Ireland final can be found its website.

HFEA granted permission to genetically modify human embryos in the UK The decision of the HFEA is a triumph of common sense based on balance between research benefits and ethics. Turlough Heffernan discusses the possible research outcomes carried out by the pioneering developmental biologist Dr. Kathy Niakan.

Turlough Heffernan Contributing writer

L

AST WEEK, SCIENTISTS at the Francis Crick Institute in London received the go-ahead to edit the genomes of human embryos from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). It didn’t take long for other scientists to begin issuing statements about the danger of moving too quickly.

Craig Venter, one of the driving figures behind the sequencing of the human genome, wrote an op-ed for Time magazine calling for extreme caution.

Similarly, the International Summit on Genome Editing has concluded that it would be “irresponsible to proceed with any clinical use of germline editing” at this time where germline editing refers to changes to a parent’s genes that their children would inherit.

However, don’t start planning for a dystopian nightmare or utopian paradise just yet (choose according to your own beliefs). While the London experiment

could begin within months, it still requires approval from another ethics board.

The scientists, led by developmental biologist Kathy Niakan, hope to discover the causes of miscarriages and infertility by studying how humane m b r y o s develop during the first week of fertilisation. They will obtain the embryos from IVF patients who have a surplus, with the patients’ consent of course. The embryos used will be destroyed within seven days and won’t be implanted into a mother.

Huge genetic discovery

The technology that Niakan and her team intend to use to edit the embryos is known as CRISPR-Cas9. This relatively new technique has been hailed as “the biggest biotech discovery of the century” by the MIT Technology Review while the biochemists who worked on it are widely tipped to win a Nobel Prize in the future. CRISPR has taken the biomedical world by storm on account of it being simpler, cheaper and more precise than previouslyexisting technologies. Some scientists wish to use it to stop mosquitoes from spreading malaria, to make pig organs

suitable for implantation in humans and even to resurrect the woolly mammoth.

If you think that sounds too good to be true, well you’re right. The same factors that make CRISPR so attractive are also raising ethical concerns.

Regulatory authorities worry that the field is progressing so rapidly that safety standards are falling by the wayside.

Until now, scientists have focused only on changing the genes of somatic cells which are all the cells of the body except for eggs and sperm.

There is no danger of these changes being passed on to the next generation. CRISPR is different in that would allow us to easily make alterations that would be inherited by the patient’s children.

Ethical concerns

The ethical concerns about what these germ-line modifications could mean for the future of humanity has led researchers to voluntarily impose a moratorium on themselves. While Niakan’s experiment would not breach the terms of this moratorium, that has not stopped critics from suggesting that we are approaching a slippery slope towards genetically enhanced humans and designer babies.

Some scientists wish use genetics to stop mosquitoes from spreading malaria, to make pig organs suitable for implantation in humans and even to resurrect the woolly mammoth.

Concerns have been raised that this genetic engineering technology would only be available to the wealthiest people and that they would use it to enhance themselves in such a way as to increase the division between themselves and the rest of society. History tells us that this is a valid concern. While a trickle-down effect has been observed with other technologies, genetic enhancement has the potential to be such a disruptive technology that it is unclear if the poorest people would ever be able to catch up. Some people argue that the only way to avoid this discrimination and to prevent the establishment of genetic castes is to ban the technology outright.

Potential abuses

However, while scientists working in the area are obviously concerned about the potential abuse of this technology, almost all of them believe that its use is inevitable.

Instead of calling for a ban, they plead for patience: better to wait a few more years to ensure that we can utilise the technology safely rather than immediately jumping in at the deep end and doing something we might regret.

Proponents claim that

the answer is to legalise and regulate the technology. A ban won’t prevent the wealthy from accessing it anyway as they can afford to just travel to some other more permissive jurisdiction in the same way that they evade their taxes now. Instead, the ban may just condemn people who can’t afford to travel to choosing between no modifications for their children or going to see some black market biologist.

Eradication of disease

Even if the technology was legalised tomorrow, there would be no need to worry about this leading immediately to the creation of genetically engineered super humans. Complex traits like intelligence and personality depend on countless interactions between as yet unknown numbers of genes.

Even if we did know all of the genes involved, the chances of being able to safely edit them all with our current technology are so miniscule as to be non-existent.

Of course not everything is so complex. There are many conditions such as Huntington’s disease, Cystic Fibrosis and early-onset Alzheimer’s disease that depend on just a single gene.

Indeed, CRISPR has already

been used to cure mice of Huntington’s disease (a neurodegenerative disorder) and Duchenne Muscular dystrophy (a muscle-wasting disease). Some proponents claim that we have a moral imperative to legalise gene editing in order to eradicate these diseases.

More to learn

The strongest rebuttal to this is that there are very few cases where other more proven techniques wouldn’t do just as well. For instance, if parents are worried about passing on a genetic disorder to their children, we can already use screening to select a healthy embryo and that embryo can then be implanted in the mother. This technique is only impossible when both parents carry the faulty gene but that is a very rare situation.

At the moment, it seems likely that the only thing that the approval of Niakan’s experiment will lead to is more applications from other scientists seeking to conduct similar research. This seems more than ethically justified as it is only by carrying out experiments like this that we will be able to understand just how much we still have to learn.

Trinity News | Tuesday 16 February

Sport

Debut Trinity athletes shine at 2016 IUAA Indoor Track & Field championships

Clare McCarthy Sport editor

F

RIDAY 12 FEBRUARY heralded the arrival of the IUAA Indoor Track & Field Championships.

Trinity’s athletes rose at an ungodly hour to catch the bus from Trinity to Athlone IT. Trinity had an impressive turnout of 25 athletes competing, not to mention their numerous supporters who turned out for one of the biggest days on the university athletics calendar.

The championships were held in the AIT International Arena for the fourth year running since it opened in 2013. The state of the art facility, worth ¤10 million, boasts an assortment of impressive amenities centred round an indoor 200m track, with a 60m straight cutting through the infield.

The championships were sponsored by Dunnes Stores, Gourmet Fuel and Fyffes yet there no free bananas to be seen.

Tension was palpable among the colleges competing around the track. From Dublin, the opposing blue from DCU, the maroon of Trinity and yellow of the UCD Bears were dotted around the arena. While track athletes thundered around the outside lanes, on the infield

shot-putters putted, polevaulters vaulted and highjumpers roused the crowd by encouraging them to metronomically clap in time to their attempts to clear the bar. Bravado rang through the arena and with every clap from the crowd, the atmosphere mounted as the high-jumpers either cleared the bar with grace or came crashing down in shame.

With over 400 athletes competing in what was the 25th anniversary of the IUAA Indoor T&F Championships, 2016 was set to be a record breaking year. 7 IUAA records were broken throughout the day with stellar performances from DCU, UL and IT Carlow.

Rio hopeful, Marcus Lawlor – running for IT Carlow, set the standard high with a new IUAA indoor record in the 200m in a time of 21.03. DCU dominated the medals table as usual, their elite repertoire of scholarship athletes never failing to perform.

Trinity athletes did not fail to impress either, the women’s team finished in 3rd place overall while the men’s team came in 12th place. Jemil Saidi, Trinity’s Men’s Track Captain, said he was “thrilled and happy with the team’s performance”.

First time on the field Several of Trinity’s first years made their debut for the club, asserting their places on the team. TCD had two first year pole vaulters; Megan O’Connor and Conor Bermingham.

O’Connor finished in a spectacular 2nd place in the women’s pole vault with a height of 2.45m and Bermingham, secured crucial points for the men’s team with a 5th place finish in a height of 4.0m.

Trinity’s debut athletes produced many great performances on both track and field, Ashleigh Heneghan finished in 4th place in the 1500m Walk in a time of

7:27:20s, Colin Comey - who has only been training for two weeks, finished 4th in the 200m heat in a time of 25.19s, Niamh Reynolds ran the second leg of the 4x200m relay and Kate Doherty, 1st year Engineering, had an incredible TCD debut finishing in 4th place in the 60mh with a pb of 9.14 and later on running the opening leg of the 4x200m relay in a time of 25.58s.

“As the day progressed the DUHAC girls continued to show their class with Sarah Fitzpatrick, a sports scholarship athlete and 2nd year Pharmacy student, taking 3rd for the TCD girls in the 3000m. Laura Frey made her 49th appearance for the club (which currently ranks her at no. 7 for ‘most appearances for Trinity College’) going on to win a silver medal in the Combined Events with a total of 2824 points and in the process setting a new TCD women’s record in the 8kg Weight for Distance,” said Saidi.

“The men’s team struggled to keep up with the women but still managed to pull off some impressive performances. Among these were Dean Power, 2nd year Science student, who broke the trinity 200m record with a time of 22.69s. Eoin Murphy ran a new pb of 1:59:70s in the men’s 800m semi-finals which helped him to secure a place in the final where he finished 5th overall. Conal Campion, one of Trinity’s oldest competitors with a total of 35 appearances, came 4th in the 35Ib weight for distance and Mael Lambert took first place in the 3000m semi-final in a time of 9:01:00.”

Star TCD athlete of the day, no doubt, was Phd student, Laura Frey. She placed 2nd overall in the Combined Events and was a key component of the 4x200m relay – moving the team from 4th to 3rd position.

The women’s 4x200m

relay was Trinity’s highlight performance of the championships bringing an uplifting close to an eventful days competing. The relay team was made up of Kate Doherty, who ran a blistering first leg, Niamh Reynolds running a fantastic second leg, Catriona Twomey keeping the girls in contention with a brilliant 3rd leg and Laura Frey, who having just won the women’s 800m pentathlon, blazed down the back straight to bring the girl’s into 3rd place holding onto the medal position as she crossed the finishing line.

“The men’s relay team encountered some problem with injures, thus we’re on able to perform as well as we should have but all in all we gave it our best,” said Saidi.

The team was made up of Kevin Migge, Colin Comey, Mael Lambert and Jemil Saidi, with Dean Power and Patrick O’Connor suffering injuries during the day.

Live coverage and commentary of all the day’s events was aptly provided by TCD alumnus Garret Dunne, and streamed live on Youtube to those who could not attend.

Another Trinity graduate, Claire McGlynn, was on hand at ground level with live commentary to the arena.

The next event in the Intervarsity Track & Field calendar is the IUAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships which will take place on the 14th and 15th of April this year in the Santry Mortom stadium, Dublin. Athletes will have already begun preparation for the much anticipated event of the year which features the best of Irish University Athletics.

Trinity News | Tuesday 16 February

Sport

23

DU Trampoline heads to Glasgow for SSTO, returning with some fantastic results, medals, memories and much more. Roisin Greening, current DU Trampoline Captain, reflects on a successful weekend of competing Roisin Greening Contributing writer N THURSDAY 4 February DU Trampoline Club embarked on their annual international adventure to take part in the Scottish Student Trampoline Open, or SSTO as it is affectionately referred to by those who attend. SSTO is the largest student competition in Scotland and one of the most competitive in the trampoline season.

Universities from all over England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales made the trek up to rainy Glasgow to see who could bounce, twist and somersault their way to victory in the 4 categories: Individual Trampoline, Synchronised Trampoline, DMT (Double Mini Trampoline). Du Trampoline managed to win a medal in every discipline they competed in, raking in an impressive medal haul to bring home.

O

Where’s

Wally

tour

of

Glasgow Some members of the club went over on Thursday night hoping that ‘a good night’s sleep’ could give them an edge in the individual competition on Friday afternoon, or at least that’s what they told us!

The rest of the club travelling over on Friday morning got a quick glimpse of the antics Glasgow held in store with the pictures sent back, which definitely made the 4am trip to the airport more entertaining.

Although, for future reference it seems that a Where’s Wally tour of Glasgow by night is in fact the best competition prep, as David Noone, our Competitions Officer, took silver in the Novice Men’s category with two excellent routines on Friday afternoon.

All of the novice and intermediate men competed on Friday afternoon, with some of our members officiating the judging panels. On Friday we had some free time to explore Glasgow and find our feet in the area. We arrived at our hostel to discover that to our delight we had been given a suite taking up an entire floor to ourselves featuring our own bathrooms, showers, a private TV/ lounge area, and

the classiest hostel bedroom any of us had ever seen. And to make things even better, a hot buffet breakfast was included for free. First impressions of Glasgow: Incredible.

The only downside being that we couldn’t stay longer.

DU Trampoline Club pride ourselves on being one of the most fun and sociable sports clubs in Trinity and so, of course the socials over the weekend were a big highlight for us. The first night was a ceili hosted by the Students Union of Glasgow University.

Apart from all the people in “black tie” or kilts it almost felt like being 15 in the Gaeltacht again.

Getting down to business Early on Saturday morning at 9am the rest of the individual competition started. The individual competition is split into different levels depending on what skills you can do.

An average intermediate routine would have 1 or 2 somersaults out of 10 skills, while an advanced routine would usually have around 5 or 6 somersaults out of 10 skills. During the competition you compete two routines of 10 skills which are marked on form (how cor-

rectly the skill is done) and tariff (how difficult the skill is to do) the marks from both routines are counted. The best and worst part about competing in trampoline are actually the same thing: the competition is unpredictable until the very end. The top contender could be knocked completely out of the race if they make a single mistake in the second round. Medals have been won and lost on the head of landing on one foot, completing 19 rather than 20 skills, or, sometimes in the case of elites, missing the trampoline completely and finishing on the floor.

All of the ladies’ categories: Novice, Intermediate, Intervanced, Advanced and Elite took place on Saturday along with Intervanced up in the male categories. These categories cater to all ability levels so over the course of the day we saw everything from shaky 180 degree twists to double back somersaults.

Trinity performed exceptionally well in all the categories despite stiff competition.

We had several elite competitors in both mens’ and ladies which is always a credit to the club as to achieve this

level requires huge commitment from the athletes and our coaches that train them too. Iain Meeke, one of our elite gymnasts in 4th year performed the most difficult routine from our club with a tariff of 6.6. Tariff is how we measure difficulty in trampolining, with each skill given a specific value. To put it in perspective one single somersault, front or back, is worth 0.5, so out of Iain’s 10 skills several were double somersaults and had twists as well. After the medal ceremony we headed back to our palatial hostel to get ready for the main social of the weekend.

A Disney Night’s Dream Every trampoline competition has a theme and SSTO this year was Disney themed. So, for Saturday night only, we got to live the dream of being Disney characters and see what magic we could stumble upon.

Trinity’s cohort featured a very convincing Captain Jack Sparrow frolicking with a jedi, Artistocats and Cheshire cats all causing confusion for poor Alice in Wonderland and some Toy Story aliens that even Minnie Mouse couldn’t keep out of trouble. The “Tramps”

as we call ourselves were easy to spot with all the Dalmatians scattered around the club. It seemed like there were about 101 of them to keep us all together.

Counting the Silverware On Sunday we unfortunately had to check out of our lovely “Suite MOI” in Eurohostel and head to the sports centre for the last day of the competition, which turned to be our most successful in terms of medals. The DMT, Synchronised trampoline and TwoTrick all took place on Sunday.

Synchro is one of Trinity’s specialities and having taken bronze last year we returned, determined to retain our place on the podium. DU Trampoline captain Roisin Greening, and Club Rep Aideen Mallon blew the judges away scoring 9.3 out of 10 for Desynch which proved enough to claim the silver medals and only marginally missing gold, making it a 2 year streak for Roisin and gaining Aideen her first international medal.

Post-Grad Lauren Gage and one of our fresher’s Cliodhna Whittle also did incredibly well but narrowly missed out on placing. In Two-Trick our

Captain Roisin got through to the final with the highest qualifying score and went on to win gold for the 2nd year.

Unfortunately we did not have any competitors in DMT as we do not have the equipment to train for it yet but we have big hopes for competing next year. Having won medals in every category we competed in this year, our sights are set on filling the gap next year.

This year SSTO was particularly magical thanks partly to the Disney theme, but mostly to all the hard work that everyone put in. The SSTO committee from Scottish Student Sport are possibly the most organised students I have ever met and always go out of their way to help in any way they can. Competitions Officer David and myself (Captain) did huge amounts of work before the trip even started to make sure everyone enjoyed themselves, and the whole committee helped keep everything on track while we were there.

Most of all though, it was the wonderful people in our club that made SSTO so memorable. Come and visit us if you haven’t already, because anyone can be a ‘tramp’!

Sonia O’Sullivan’s place in Irish sport following doping scandal revelations Blaithin Sheil Online comment editor Nobody remembers the guy who came second. That’s what Donald Trump tweeted in the past and it has come back to haunt him in relation to the USA presidential race.

Who wants to come second, when you know you deserve first? Well, imagine you came second at the Olympic Games, or at the World Championships. That is still some achievement. You could definitely add that to your CV, beside your 3rd place finish in a swimming race when you were 10, with only 3 other competitors.

But silver is not the same as gold, and 4th place is not the same as a bronze medal. Now imagine if, 20 years later you are retrospectively awarded that career defining medal that would have been instrumental had it been awarded at the time. Twenty years later you are finally given recognition as the best of the best.

I would imagine that any athlete would be bitter at this twenty year wait, as it in fact, brings confirmation of what they knew all along – they deserved it! An athlete eats, sleeps, and breathes for the moment of glory, the immediate aftermath of success. Medals are hung on the wall, singlets are framed but you cannot hang up a feeling on the wall, or frame the emotional experience of winning an international medal. You cannot bottle the knowledge that you are the best.

For Sonia O’Sullivan and Rob Heffernan, this moment

has finally come. In the wake of serious doping scandals, it is expected that a number of Olympic and championship medals will be re-homed, and passed onto their rightful owners. Two of the nation’s favorites, Sonia O’Sullivan and Rob Heffernan, are affected, sparking mixed reactions but i n t e r e s t i n g l yenough, no bitterness on their behalf.

Cheated, not cheating

Sonia O’Sullivan may be in line for some severely belated World Championship gold medals, having come second to Chinese athletes in the 3,000m and 1,500m at the 1993 World Athletics Championships in Stuttgart.

According to Chinese reports, a huge cohort of female athletes all training under Ma Junren took large doses of banned illegal drugs during their careers.

The IAAF are in the process of verifying the allegation, which is more than likely true judging by the source (a letter from one of the athletes in question detailing the regime).

The IAAF competition rule 263.3 states that if an athlete makes an admission of guilt then the Association can “take action.” This may perhaps pave the way for O’Sullivan to be retrospectively awarded two more World Championship gold medals, in addition to the 5,000m gold she won in 1995, two years after the events tainted by alleged doping.

The same situation has already occurred to seasoned Irish race walker, Rob Heffernan from Co Cork who placed in 4th position over a 50km race at the 2010 European Championships.

When Russia’s Stanislav Emelyanov was excluded with a drugs ban, Heffernan

was awarded with the bronze medal he had earned, albeit slightly late. Incidentally, this medal was awarded in December 2014 by Sonia O’Sullivan. Now it is her turn to be on the receiving end of a retrospective medal.

Heffernan was obviously delighted, saying that, “It justifies my whole career.”

Some justification, to get the recognition so late. Although as the saying goes, better late than never.

More recently, following the suspension of three Russian Olympic race walkers, Heffernan may be adding yet another medal, this time an Olympic bronze medal to his collection. Heffernan is a more distinguished athlete than could ever have been known.

What could have been

If O’Sullivan is subsequently awarded these medals, will they hold the same meaning that they would have held in 1993, had she been awarded them on the actual day of success? Drug abuse in athletics is almost old news at this stage, case after case of dopers have come to light in the last year. We are skeptical of everyone and anyone who succeeds, and maybe with good reason. It is almost expected that top athletes, crushing insane world records, would have had some medical assistance. This in itself is heartbreaking. But what is even more heartbreaking, is missing your moment of glory, which for one runner could have been the highlight of their career, due to another athletes dishonesty.

What could have been, had they won those medals on the day - would their outlook and mentality have changed? If

they had won those medals at the time, would they have been more motivated, would they have been mentally stronger?

Or did the 4th place finishes serve to mentally fortify O’Sullivan, thus preparing her to clean up internationally in 1994, to win gold in the 1995 World Championships over 5,000m, and silver in the Sydney Olympics in 2000?

Speaking to the Irish Times, she said that all she wanted to do was to figure out how to compete with this group of Chinese athletes that appeared out of nowhere. She upped her training, driven by the knowledge of her competition, “Maybe if the Chinese didn’t run those times in 1993, weren’t driving me like that, I wouldn’t have come out and run as fast as I did in 1994.”

The saying goes that you learn more from your failures than from your successes, and it seems that the dominance of the Chinese on the track only drove Sonia to train even harder. While other athletes were tapering and preparing for the biggest race of the season, the Chinese were banging out 400s on the track the day before. It was incomprehensible, how they managed this high level of intensity, which drove Sonia to prove that she was talent not to be underestimated.

For Sonia, the reward, over 20 years later, is not the receipt of the medals, but in having her suspicions confirmed, and knowing that she gave herself 100% in pursuit of being the best. Speaking to RTÉ Radio 1’s News At One, she said, “If the truth comes out, the difference to me would be just knowing that what you thought was unbelievable and not possible, that you

were right in thinking that.

You weren’t just thinking that because they were much better.” It was always known that Sonia was a one-of-akind athlete, now she has the recognition to back that up.

A different perspective

Had Sonia won these medals on the actual day, her career could have turned out very differently. She may have received more sponsorship, gotten better support systems, better physical therapy care, and more. But O’Sullivan proved by her dominance in the nineties that such things are only small factors in the making of an athlete. She did it without bigger sponsorship deals. She did it as the underdog to these Chinese runners.

She came back with a vengeance, with a renewed mental force that cannot be achieved by popping pills. That type of mental strength has to come from within, and it is in the most difficult moments and after disappointing results that the hunger grows. Perhaps then, although doping is never ever to be lauded, in this case it could have provided the stimulation needed to turn an excellent athlete into a Class A athlete. You know you want more, and that you deserve more - what efforts will it take to prove this?

To wipe the record books clean?

The question remains: is it worthwhile re-awarding the medals, so many years later, and if so, can we be sure that the recipients are not guilty of the same offences? It has been suggested that the IAAF should wipe the world record books clean and start from

scratch. Each time an athlete is banned there are complicated consequences for the record books. Any records the athlete set during the time for which they are retrospectively banned need to be removed, and thus begins the task of tracing back through every single meet from the date of suspension to present, to re-write the chain of world records set and broken.

This is an extremely onerous and messy task. For example: X sets a record in 1996, which is broken by B in 1997. B is later banned and their record is wiped. The record set by X is reinstated. Then the logs must be surveyed to find when X’s record was later broken, if it was broken at all.

If it turns out that in 2000, X’s record was broken by Y, then Y should be given the title of world record holder and their name written in the books.

Y is retrospectively awarded a world record title in the same way that Heffernan was retrospectively awarded Championship medals.

And similarly, athlete Y was cheated of their moment of glory, their lap of victory around the stadium. Where does the process of re-writing history stop? In one sense it is owed to every clean athlete out there to re write the books, to all who missed out on recognition of their athletic ability. It would be cruel, unfair and disrespectful not to embark on the process of re-awarding medals and records.

On the other hand, it is suggested by some that the records should be cleaned and started anew. Perhaps “BC and AC, ‘Before Coe’ and ‘After Coe’, something like that,” as suggested by O’Sullivan. But to wipe the slab clean and start

again would be a dishonour to all athletes who achieved their records by honest means, and would throw them into the same stereotype of “not to be trusted athlete” that the dopers are currently in.

One thing is for certain, the recognition that the rightful winners receive is of utmost importance to the athletes on a personal level, and thankfully is also considered as such by Athletics Ireland.

Roisín McGettigan came 4th in the1500m during the 2009 European Indoors Championships. When the winner was subsequently banned, Roisín received the bronze medal. Being brought home, I suspect, was less about receiving the medal personally, and more about receiving due recognition for her achievement and finally having a moment of glory.

Just last year a statue of O’Sullivan was unveiled in her native Cóbh, Co. Cork as a testament to her achievements.

Moreover, the likes of Sonia O’Sullivan, Catherina McKiernan, Derval O’Rourke and Frank Greally are regular features at Athletics Events in Ireland today and we are keen to recognise their successes and acknowledge their presence at any event as an organiser, participant or supporter.

Similarly, Maeve Kyle and Mary Peters are keen athletic event attendee’s in Northern Ireland. The question remains as to what is to be done if or when, Sonia O’Sullivan officially receives her rightful medals. Let’s hope the nation comes together in a standing ovation for our brightest athletics star and commends her, her dues.

Trinity News | Tuesday 16 February

Sport

24 DU trampolinists are up in the air at the Glasgow SSTO p.23

Cunning running as Campus Sprint series visits Trinity The Sprint the Irish Campus Series returned to Trinity at the weekend with 107 orienteers coming from all parts of the country to compete Aaron Matheson Reen

Staff writer

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E A D L I N E C O N S C I O U S STUDENTS and weather-hardened tourists typically populate Trinity on February weekends.

Last Saturday, however, this regular group was joined by 107 orienteers. Orienteering, for those of you unfamiliar with it, is a sport which involves point-to-point navigation.

Athletes hit a buzzer to begin a race and then seek out electronic markers (referred to as ‘controls’). Orienteers use a SportIdent Tag, which is attached to the finger, to confirm that they have visited the controls. Once all the controls have been located in the right order, the athlete finishes the race by hitting the starting buzzer again.

Jana Cox, Captain of Dublin University Orienteers (DUO), uses the appealing soundbite of “cunning running” to describe the sport. In this regard, those who excel at orienteering combine strong running with an ability to make split second decisions.

For example, athletes will have to decide, with little time available, whether to run left or right around a building in order to reach their next control.

Based on that decision, they could shave crucial seconds off their race time. Cox also maintains the sport is great for developing a person’s map reading skills. She cites the fact that in a recent competition in Edinburgh, DUO members were able to navigate their way around the Scottish capital without difficulty. This is all the more impressive given that many of Trinity’s athletes were unacquainted with Edinburgh’s cityscape prior to the event.

First outing

The first outing in the Irish Colleges Campus Sprint Series was what attracted so many orienteers to the college last weekend. The other venues in the series will be the

University of Limerick, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick and University College Dublin with a less formal relay event hosted by University College Cork. Individual athletes are ranked based on their two best performances in the series.

The idea behind the Campus Sprint Series comes from a similar competition held a number of years ago. Having ‘rested’ the courses used at that time, it was decided to resurrect this popular competition. DUO organised the event in conjunction with college authorities, the Dublin University Central Athletics Committee and the Irish Orienteering Association (IOA). Cox points out that a lot of emphasis was placed on publicising the series via social media.

To this end, participating colleges collaborated with the IOA’s Public Relations Officer, Finn van Gelderen, to create a promotional video for thecompetition. Interestingly, the soundtrack for this video

The appealing soundbite of “cunning running” describes the sport. In this regard, those who excel at orienteering combine strong running with an ability to make split second decisions

was produced by former Trinity student, Conor Shortt.

Attendance on Saturday testified to the success of this publicising drive. The 107 orienteers competing came from as far afield as Fermanagh, Waterford and Cork. In addition, the race attracted a number of world championship-standard athletes including Colm Hill.

It was a ‘sprint’ event which, in orienteering terms, means short courses with high numbers of controls. Thus, dotting Trinity’s 1.3, 2.3 and 3.3 km courses were 30 controls.

The maze of buildings and laneways on campus meant these races suited those who are competent navigators. Daniel Kelly and Laura Maldonaldo claimed top honours in the short 14 controls.

Sprint results

Tivon Tyner was best junior in the same race. In the medium 20 controls, Donal Wickham and Lucie Stefkova placed first with Cliodhna Donaghy top amongst those under 18. Josh O’SullivanHourihan was a comfortable winner of the long 24 controls.

Alison Campbell finished highest amongst the female competitors in the same race.

Zac O’Sullivan Hourihan won the corresponding junior race.

There were also prizes for the fastest ‘sprint legs’. A ‘sprint leg’ is a section of the course in which the time it takes an athlete to get from one control to another is recorded. The Campus Sprint Series was breaking new ground here as this was the first instance in which ‘sprint legs’ featured in an Irish competition.

Following the prize giving, a table quiz was hosted in the Pav. The profits made from this event, along with entry fees from the day, will be donated to the Irish junior orienteering squad who are under the tutelage of Mike Long. Everyone who contributed to last weekend’s success was, in this sense, investing in the future of the sport in this country.

Ireland’s defeat to a more powerful French team rules out any grand-slam hopes Despite leading for most of the game, Ireland’s inability to convert territory into points and a host of injuries allowed France to edge past them with a much improved second half performance.

Kenneth Donnelly Online sport editor

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N ENERGETIC FRANCE outfit outmuscled the Irish 10-9 at the Stade de France on Saturday afternoon in soggy conditions. The pregame hype suggested that it would be a close fought and physical encounter between the two sides, and this proved to be the case. The game was dominated by errors from both teams and in the end the result came down to solidity in the set piece, ball retention and attrition as Ireland saw the back of four injured players by the end of the game.

Ireland were dominant in the first half and had a 3-9 lead at the break, before French captain Guilhem Guirado led his team to a strong revival.

The men in green started off looking assured in defence against a high tempo French attack, and seemed to be strong in the set piece. They created a number of try scoring opportunities which they unfortunately failed to convert into points. Yet again, the Irish were unable to use this early dominance to close out the game, failing to score a single point in the second half.

Strong Start Ireland, like last week against Wales, were the strongest in the opening quarter, despite losing possession in the French half on a number of occasions. A needless late hit from Yoann Maestri on Jonny Sexton gave him his first penaltyopportunity, which he converted to make it 0-3 to the visitors.

A strong breakdown effort from the French continued to thwart the Irish attack before Sean O’Brien limped off on the twentieth minute with a serious looking injury, to be replaced by the capable Tommy O’Donnell. Ireland lost Dave Kearney seven minutes later to a suspected broken arm, as his team began to slow down a notch.

Ireland got back on track on 28 minutes with another penalty from Sexton to make it 6-0, only to concede a kickable penalty from the kick-off, which French outhalf Jules Plisson nailed to bring the score to 6-3. Ireland scored their final points of the game on the 37th minute following a powerful scrum deep in French territory. A final missed kick from Plisson brought the curtain down on a dreary first half.

The second half proved no better in terms of quality, as Ireland’s error count remained far too high in scoring

positions. A wonderful inside break from Rob Kearney on fifty minutes was immediately turned into a French counter attack through an interception, and from there France’s ability to hold on to the ball proved to be stronger than Ireland’s abilities at the breakdown.

Dominant French play After Mike McCarthy was stretchered off with a neck injury, Ireland managed to hold off wave after wave of French attackers during a strong period from Les Bleus, with Damien Chouly coming close following some great phase play from France.

His held up try attempt saw Ireland concede multiple scrum penalties to a reinforced French front row.

This platform provided Maxime Medard an opportunity to dance past Robbie Henshaw and Tommy O’Donnell on the seventieth minute, to score under the posts. Plisson converted again to bring the score to 10-9.

An injury to Jonny Sexton in the build-up meant that it was going to be difficult for Ireland to come back in the last ten minutes, as the Leinster playmaker was replaced by Ian Madigan.

This proved to be true as the French continued to dominate territory and possession, as

had been the case throughout the second half, while Ireland continued to struggle to hold on to the ball, finishing the game with a disappointing turnover.

The result means that France now have two wins from their first two matches, and have uncovered some serious talent in their revamped squad, with the likes of Virimi Vakatawa and Wenceslas Lauret, as well as captain Guirado, putting in fine performances. Ireland, however, are left to count the cost of their errors. They now have played two matches in this year’s Championship, winning neither. On top of this, they must now deal with four very serious looking injuries, one of which is Jonny Sexton’s second in one week.

Overall, French coach Guy Novés will be delighted to have toppled the defending champions in anticipation of their trip to Wales at the end of the month.