TRINITY NEWS
In photos: graduation season on campus Page 6 Inequality in schools
15 Dublin Marathon 2024
30
US students hold out for Harris despite reservations over Gaza
► Students mail ballots ahead of highly anticipated election day
► Reproductive rights a crucial issue among student voters
Conor Healy News Analysis Co-Editor
Millions of Americans will take to the polls tomorrow to cast their ballots in a historic US presidential contest. As Vice President Kamala Harris faces off against former President Donald Trump in one of the most turbulent campaign cycles to date, Trinity students from the US have weighed up their options ahead of election day.
Trinity News spoke to several American students studying at Trinity about their hopes, fears and opinions coming into the last stretch of the race.
For these students voting from abroad, the process looks a little different than how it would be for the traditional voter.
“I’d say it’s not difficult, but it’s not as easy as walking in to fill out a ballot,” said Teagan Marty, Junior Sophister PPES student from Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Annika Ramani, president of the University Philosophical Society (the Phil) from Pennsylvania said “it does take a bit more resilience to be able to be able to vote when you’re an American student abroad”.
“The first time I could vote was for the midterms, and my ballot got lost in the mail, and so I didn’t end up voting”, Ramani said.
All students Trinity News spoke to said they had cast their ballot for Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. Law and political science student Molly Haslam quoted Oprah in explaining her preference for Harris: “Its common sense over nonsense”.
“Obviously no political candidate is perfect, but the Democratic Party is trying to help all American people, and you know, the wider scope of the world, rather than Trump, who’s just not doing that”, Haslam said.
Laura Brady, a recent Trinity engineering and management graduate, now pursuing a master’s at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana also shared her reasoning behind being “Kamala all the way”.
“I think she aligns with my views”, Brady said. “And also, I just don’t see how Trump is a viable candidate for president, like he lies, and he doesn’t even really keep track of his lies well enough to keep up with them himself.”
Other students expressed more reluctance in casting their ballot for the vice president.
“I think I really see how maybe while she doesn’t represent all my ideals, I think she’s definitely a much better
candidate to kind of continue a lot of the work that’s been doing over the past four years,” said Matthew Terrell, a junior fresh student from Boston.
The idea that Harris was not reflective of all of their views was a common theme across the students interviewed. Several were quick to say that they disagreed with some of her policies, especially in relation to Gaza.
“I think, like everyone, that
“
Like in her work, Boland has moved women from muse to maker
Cat Grogan Deputy Life Editor
“If a female had once passed the gate it would be practically impossible to watch what buildings or chambers she had entered.” Such were the words of the Board of Trinity College in 1895. Less than a decade later, in 1904, the first women – three in total –entered Trinity as students. 120 years on and a building on campus has, for the first time, been named after a woman. A name might not seem like much, but the homage we pay daily in speaking that name matters. And so, like Boland’s work, this renaming is meaningful without being ostentatious, a respectful acknowledgement that will be repeated daily.
Boland, through her poetry, moved women from the position of muse to maker. As historian Catriona Crowe notes, Boland’s “great achievement was to move women from the object (muse, dream, symbol) of poetry to the subject who was writing the poem.” There has been a long tradition of the woman’s role in art being that of the artist’s muse. In Greek mythology, the muses were the nine goddesses of artistic inspiration. (It is Comment page 23
DJ Provaí and Móglaí Bap from Kneecap presented with Praeses Elit award by LawSoc News page 2
US students hold out for Harris despite reservations over Gaza
Continued from front page
I disagree with her on a lot of things,” Ramani said, going on to voice her disappointment over Harris’ failure to deliver a ceasefire in Gaza. However Ramani went on to say that “We just can’t be single issue voters. In this election, there’s so much more at stake”.
Marty also accepted a certain distance between her own views and those of Harris:
“While her policies are not all what I would choose, she understands that she needs to be moderate and she can’t be as liberal with things as I wish she would be”.
Gale acknowledged her difficulties regarding Harris’ stance on the situation in Gaza, referring to it as an issue “that
has been kind of on the fence, that I often find myself debating with friends”.
“Kamala Harris is the only presidential candidate that has called for a ceasefire, which is obviously, you know, it’s the bare minimum, considering that the US is basically funding the entire genocide, but it is a step in the right direction in terms of other candidates.”
Despite reservations about Harris’ stance on Gaza, most students interviewed named abortion and women’s reproductive rights as the issue that mattered to them most in this election, something which they felt Harris would be better able to deliver on than Trump.
“Definitely abortion rights and reproductive care”, Gale said on the question of the most pressing issue in this election.
TRINITY NEWS EDITORIAL STAFF
Editor-in-Chief
Deputy Editor
Assistant Editor
Life Editor
Deputy Life Editors
Layout and Design Manager
Deputy Layout and Design Manager
Social Media Manager
Online Editor
Deputy Online Editor
Business Manager
College News Editor
Deputy College News
Editor
Investigations Editor
News Analysis Co-Editors
Features Editor
Comment Editor
SciTech Editor
Sport Editor
Head Photographer
Illustrations Editor
Head Videographer
David Wolfe
Stephen Conneely
Alan Nolan Wilson
Kate Byrne
Ciara Chan
Cat Grogan
Kay Williams
Maddy Pitman
Aoibhínn Clancy
Eve Conway
Akshita Hunka
Jake Smartt
Charlotte Kent
Annabelle Wadeson
Faye Madden
Conor Healy
Emily Sheehan
Rose Slocock
Aidan Cusack
Alice Gogarty
Matthew Keeley
Jimena Alvarez
Jessie Huang
Neasa Nic Cocráin
Get in touch at editor@trinitynews.ie
“That is definitely a big issue. Luckily I live in a state where abortion rights and reproductive healthcare haven’t been haven’t been taken away, but that’s obviously not the case for so many women.”
“It’s very easy for me to access this kind of healthcare, and it definitely should be for other people.”
All feared the prospects of a second Trump term in office, though for a number of different reasons. For Ramani and Marty, Trump’s supposed affiliation with “Project 2025” was a serious concern.
“Everybody’s talked about Project 2025, which Trump has denounced that he’s not a part of., Marty said, But a few people that are aligned to be in his cabinet or have worked with him are a part of that”.
“ Luckily I live in a state where abortion rights haven’t been taken away, but that’s obviously not the case for so many women
Similarly, Ramani said that a Trump presidency would be “deeply concerning, to put it lightly”, and discussed how Trump’s presidency could have an impact on the judicial branch of government.
“My family is mixed race,” Ramani said, “so when the Supreme Court talks about overturning the [Loving v Virginia] case that allows for mixed race marriage, that is something that is very realistically going to happen. Same with [Obergefell v Hodges], which legalized same sex marriage.”
“Realistically, there is another Supreme Court Justice that will die in this next President’s tenure”, Ramani said.
“That’s something I had to think about when I voted”.
College female choir featured in Small Things Like These
The
Boydell’s former secretary spoke to Trinity News about the choir’s experience in the film
Luna Michelis Staff Writer
One of College’s all-female choirs, the Boydell has been featured in the film adaptation of Claire Keegan’s Orwell Prizewinning book Small Things Like These starring Cillian Murphy and Eileen Walsh.
Speaking to Trinity News, former Boydell secretary Shona Edge said: “Being involved in this film was one of the most enriching experiences of our time at Trinity, and it has been incredible to see the film.”
Recounting how the choir got involved in the film, Edge noted that the choir’s conductor Lara Brady “was an integral part of [their] musical journey throughout this film”.
The choir got involved with the film when a casting agency contacted the choir in 2023 asking them to send videos singing Hark the Harold Angels Sing and Silent Night.
“Our conductor, Lara Brady, and our librarian, Issy Brady decided to send a video of us
singing Silent Night as Gaelige, as we felt it would add to the authentic Irishness of the film,” Edge told Trinity News.
Silent Night, Oíche Chiúin in Irish, was later sung in the film by the choir.
“It was really amazing to have our ideas then translated into the film,” she said, adding that the experience was an “amazing bonding experience” for the group.
Edge also highlighted the importance of the film, which centres around the silence that shrouded the abuse that women experienced in Magdalene Laundries and the impact they had on their communities.
“The movie itself is so powerful and it’s so emotional and I don’t want that aspect to be forgotten,” she said.
“It is important for all aspects of our past to be remembered, light and dark, and this movie does this idea justice.”
“This film shines a light on women who are often forgotten by history,” she added.
Edge was recently able to watch the film which, for her, underscored the fact that “it was just so different to be involved in something like this, something you wouldn’t expect, it just has such a powerful impact on you”.
In her experience filming Edge found that she “could feel the atmosphere that this story was one that needs to be heard”.
Small Things Like These was released in Ireland on November 1st and the Boydell choir is credited as featured extras.
‘Ireland is unwelcoming towards immigrants’ motion passes marginally at Phil debate
The debaters’ arguments centred on last year’s Dublin riots, and Ireland’s history of emigration
Stephen Conneely Deputy Editor
The University Philosophical Society (the Phil) held their weekly chamber debate last Thursday under the motion “this house believes Ireland is unwelcoming towards immigrants”. The debate, hosted in collaboration with Trinity Politics Society, saw the motion pass by a small margin.
The Registrar of the Phil, Killian Brennan Roche, began the night’s proceedings by announcing that last week’s chamber debate, “This house would ban TikTok”, boasted the highest attendance ever of a Phil debate in the society’s 341 year history.
He joked that this fact shows that Trinity students care more about TikTok than they do
immigrants, and continued his speech with a chamber-wide rendition of the Irish traditional folk song ‘The Rattlin’ Bog’.
The debate was initiated by the first proposition speaker, Anthony Adewuyl, who lamented the normalisation of non-black people openly saying the n-word, saying that this facet of Irish society proves widespread racial ignorance.
He spoke of last year’s riots in Dublin, after which he said there was a period of 36 hours during which the city centre was a no-go area for people of colour. He further coupled this point with personal experiences of his own, and those of his father and younger brother.
Olivia Headon, who also spoke for the proposition, recounted her many years of experience working for charities and NGOs concerned with migrant welfare and the reception of asylum seekers.
“Government is a representation of its people”, she stated, and thus connected Irish society more broadly to what she called the Government’s shameful use of Direct Provision centres and their indifference to asylum seekers being made homeless upon arrival in the State.
“Homeless asylum seekers have been left without sanitation facilities, access to healthcare, and obviously accommodation”, she said.
Gráinne Ní Aillín concluded the proposition’s winning arguments by urging the audience to not “engage in a familiar national tendency” in believing in Irish exceptionalism in relation to anti-racism, anti-colonial solidarity. She noted Ireland’s relative ease in accepting Polish migrants, but contrasted this with what she described as Ireland’s poor reception to asylum seekers typically from the Middle East and Sub-Saharan African, stating that “Ireland has struggled to accept” non-EU migrants into society. She then highlighted anti-migrant protests across the island, namely in Roscrea and Newtownmountkennedy, Oisín Ward acted as first
opposition speaker, and began his speech by taking off his jumper, revealing a proPalestine T-shirt underneath, to which he admitted to “virtue signalling”, before continuing by saying: “I fear I’m going to be called a racist for being on this side”.
He stressed that he “cannot and will not condone the behaviour that Anthony [Adewuyl] talked about”, and called Direct Provision “nothing short of appalling”.
He took issue with what he saw as an “inherent” feature of the motion, saying that “there are plenty of examples, not in the media” due to them not being “click bait or sensationalism”, of Ireland being welcoming towards immigrants.
He concluded by blaming economic injustice in innercity communities and rural towns on the recent rise in farright popularity., emphasising this over the issue of inherent racial ignorance or racism.
The debate was concluded by Wilbur Xuan, a student from Beijing who has lived in Ireland since he was a teenager. Primarily a comedic speech, he focused on his own personal experience as an immigrant, saying that practically every immigrant he knows in Ireland has a positive view of the country.
The Phil hosts debates on various political, social, and philosophical questions every Thursday in the Graduates Memorial Building, alongside other events.
“God I hope no one thinks of me as a role model:” Buainn Kneecap an duais Allii Proelio ó LawSoc
Buann Kneecap an duais Allii
Proelio ó LawSoc
Tara Ní Bhroin
Eagarthóir Gaeilge
Os cómhair slua ollmhór sa GMB, bhronnaigh LawSoc an duais Allii Proelio ar an mbanna ceoil Kneecap ar Déardaoin 31ú de Dheireadh Fómhair. B’iad an chéad buaiteoir don dhuais i mbliana.
Tá an duais Allii Proelio i gcómhair daoine a “leathnaíonn radharcanna an phobal” agus is cinnte go bhfuil an duais tuillte ag an mbanna.
Ag labhairt le Móglaí Bap
agus DJ Próvaí, d’inis siad dúinn conas gur bhuail siad lena chéile mar gheall ar phobal na nGaeilgeoirí i mBéal Feirste agus iad ag fás aníos. Tháinig an inspioráid chun ceol hiphop a chruthú trí Ghaeilge nuair a bhfaca siad easpa ceol nua-aimseartha in Éirinn nach raibh trí Bhéarla. Ansin thug siad achoimre tapaidh dúinn den thuras a bhí acu ónar thosaigh siad go dtí inniu. Faoi láthair, tá Kneecap go mór i mbéal an phobail mar gheall ar a scannán nua a tháinig amach i mbliana, agus bua a gceol agus ceolchoirm.
Cuireadh neart ceisteanna deacra orthu ar ábhair ó pholaitíocht go teanga dhúcasach, ó drúgaí agus a bhfreagracht mar rólchuspaí. D’fhreagair siad go hoscailte agus díreach. Is grúpa anghuthach iad faoi fadhbanna polaitíochta agus sóisialta -
rudaí a chanann siad faoi ina n-amhráin - agus bhí an iompar céana uathu sa GMB. Labhair siad faoi stair na Gaeilge agus an troid agus an streachailt a bhí aici mar teanga. Lean siad ar aghaidh chuig ábhar an immircigh agus na riots a bhí i mBéal Feirste agus Baile Átha Cliath le déanaí. Chuir siad béim ar an dtábhacht chun guth a thabhairt dóibh féin nach mbeadh guth acu sa phobal ach ag an am céana d’adhmhaigh siad go grúpa ceoil iad: “We’re not here to change the world.” Agus siad ag plé ábhair troma, ní raibh atmaisféar trom ann. Bhí siad an-mhaith ag úsáid an ghrinn chun na ceisteanna a fhreagairt. Nuair a cuireadh ceist orthu faoin a bhfreagracht mar rólchuspa agus iad ag canadh faoin drugaí, d’fhreagair Móglaí Bap go simplí ag gáire: “God I hope no one thinks of me as a role
model.”
Tá neart fhoirm ealaíne déanta acu - ceol, scannánaíocht, amharclannaíócht- agus nuair a ceistíodh é faoi phleananna sa thodhchaí, dúirt Móglaí Bap go bhfuil teilifís á iarraidh aige- go háirithe cláir do dhaoine óga trí
mheán na Gaeilge. Mhínigh sé nach raibh aon teilifís ar fáil dó agus é ag fás aníos seachas TG4 agus ba bhreá leis é sin a athrú. Is léir go bhfuil mórán déanta acu chun radharcanna an phobal a leathnú agus is go bhfuil an duais Allii Proelio tuillte dóibh.
Photo: the Phil
Photo: Jimena Alvarez for Trinity
Witnesses and experts take the stand in first weeks of law professor’s muder trial
Diarmuid Phelan has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder for an incident in 2022
Stephen Conneely Deputy Editor
The murder trial of Trinity law professor and former Board member Diarmuid Phelan will enter its fourth week of hearings today at the Central Criminal Court.
Several experts and eyewitnesses have taken the stand since the trial began on October 16, in which Phelan stands accused of one count of murder.
He stands accused of the murder of Keith Conlon at Hazelgrove Farm in Tallaght, Dublin 24, land which Phelan owns, on February 22, 2022. Conlon was pronounced dead in Tallaght Hospital two days after the incident took place.
Phelan has pleaded not guilty to the charge, standing in front of a jury of nine men and three women.
The trial, which has been pushed back several times over the past two years, was further delayed by a day for reasons of jury selection. Members of this jury cannot know the peo-
ple involved in the incident, have interacted or seen posts about it on social media, or be from the general Tallaght area. Barrister Roisín Lacey SC initiated the State’s opening remarks on the case by recounting what the prosecution understood to have happened on the day of the shooting.
“ Members of this jury cannot know the people involved in the incident, have interacted with or seen posts about it online, or be from the general Tallaght area
The court was told that a heated argument broke out between Phelan and three men trespassing on his land
to fox hunt after Phelan shot the pet dog of one the men, Kallum Coleman, who was tied to a tree but was approaching a herd of sheep.
The jury heard days later that a Garda photographer, Detective Maireád Coleman, took photos from the day that showed evidence of digging, as well as two shovels, a pickaxe and a wire cutter, amongst other apparatus.
The verbal altercation lasted some minutes, and ended in Phelan shooting three bullets from his rifle, two in the air and one which struck Conlon in the back of the head, as he was turning away from Phelan after approaching him.
Immediately after this, a farmhand called Gardaí and emergency ambulance services, who arrived at the scene shortly after. “Mr Conlon was alive at this point, although in a critical condition” Lacey told the court.
The murder trial has since focused on eyewitness testimony from the farmhands and emergency responders present on the day, as well as expert opinion from Gardaí and detectives.
There was a controversy surrounding the poor translation of one farmhand’s testimony in French. Appearing in court via video link from Brussels, Pierre Godreau described Phelan as “énervé” after shooting the dog.
This was translated to the jury as “really pissed off”, despite Godreau not using the french word for “really” or a similar word, and “énervé” translating to a less harsh word ranging “from edgy to annoyed”,
and not being a slang term.
Judge Siobhán Lankford, who is presiding over the case, told the jury to ignore the “somewhat vulgar” initial translation.
Godreau testified that the fellow farmhands “were all shocked and didn’t move” after Conlon was shot, and that the incident “really darkened” his experience in Ireland.
Other farmhands spoke to their point of view of the incident. Alexandra Fernandez, also a French national, said she was afraid the men were going to do something “to avenge” the recently-shot dog. She further stated that the men didn’t interact with anyone besides Phelan.
Julian Roudaut attempted to give an account of the moments before the shooting, however he said “it is very confusing, I don’t have a lot of memory for the direction of the shots”, and tried to clarify that the “shooting [was] towards the man but in the air”.
The jury heard a series of 999 phone calls from minutes before and after the shooting. Upon hearing Conlon speaking in one of them, members of his family who were present in court that day left in tears.
In a call before the shooting, Phelan told Gardaí “we have a violent situation here, we need assistance”. Moments after the shooting, Hannah Felgner, a farmhand from Germany, rang emergency services for immediate medical assistance.
Robert Duggan, who was one of the three men trespassing that day, was the last to make a 999 phone call. “A farmer is
after shooting me [sic] friend”, he said “he’s after shooting my friend, point blank range”. Gardaí arrived at the scene eight minutes after Felgner’s call. Video recording from Conlon’s phone were shown in court, in which the jury heard him, Coleman, and Duggan say “this is not the end of it mate, you shot the fucking dog for nothing”, “you’re fucked, watch, this is not the end of it, I’m telling you”.
Phelan said in Gardaí interviews days after the shooting that he was “terrified” and “scared shitless” during the confrontation, adding that “travellers [were] coming towards us […] coming to fulfil the threats they made”.
Roisín Lacey SC confirmed to the court that none of the men on the farm were members of the Travelling community. This was something Phelan had asked a Garda when he was being brought to Tallaght Garda Station after the shooting. It was revealed that Conlon had previously been convicted of assaulting a Garda and for burglary of a property in Sandyford, Dublin 18, in 2010. These charges were from the same incident, after Conlon attempted to escape from a police car.
Sargent Simon Whelan also testified that while working in Tallaght Garda Station for over a decade, he knew Conlon “on and off” throughout this time.
The trial is currently running ahead of schedule, and with an expected six-week run time, a verdict may be delivered as soon as late November.
Artwork: Mike O’Donnell
Class representative elections see highest voter turnout in over five years
Polling was postponed for a day after a record number of nominations led to logistical difficulties
Annabelle Wadeson
DeputyCollege News Editor
Class representative elections took place from October 2 to 5, seeing a turnout of over 2,750 votes across the multiple polling stations operated by Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU).
This marks a 65% increase from voting in last year’s elections, in which 1667 votes were collected. Chair of the Electoral Commission Daniel Walsh told Trinity News that “it can be safely assumed that this year’s Class Representative Elections saw the highest level of turnout since at least 2019”.
In the first five hours over 800 votes were collected, an over 100% increase from the first day of recorded votes last year.
Offering incentives for voting in class representative elections is a reason cited for the high turnout this year. By voting in this year’s elections students were made eligible to win a reserved Trinity Ball ticket, with ten winners being selected.
When asked about the high turnout this year, TCDSU Engagement Officer James Carey said: “Informal information sessions held in the
first two weeks of the semester, strong online publicity, and a particular focus on the elections at the Freshers’ Fair stand were all factors contributing to the success of this year’s elections.”
Voting was initially scheduled to begin on Wednesday, but was postponed to Thursday. In an Instagram post TCDSU explained that: “with such high engagement the labour and facilities required to facilitate these elections were pushed to their limits”. In response to this issue online voting was kept open from Thursday morning to Saturday evening.
In the same post TCDSU stated that a report and investigation about “how this occurred, as well as how it may be avoided in future elections” is being conducted by the Chair of the Electoral Commission.
Carey stated that “in light of the circumstances, allowing for the additional day of online
voting was an important option for the union to provide.” He continued that he believes the high level of student engagement “would always have been reflected in a third day of voting, regardless of whether it took place online or in-person”.
This year, class representative training was moved back to an off-campus location “
Polling stations were open in
the Arts Block, the Hamilton, Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, D’Olier Street, and St. James’ and Tallaght Hospitals. The Arts Block hosted the highest number of votes,1104 votes, followed by the Hamilton with 837 votes. 612 votes were cast online.
This year, class representative training weekend was moved back to an off-campus location, Mount Wolseley in County Carlow, as opposed to last year’s training which was held on campus.
TCDSU president Jenny Maguire told Trinity News: “Off-campus training, when used correctly, is invaluable. Last year, the decision was made on a practical level to hold the training on campus as a money saving mechanism, and unfortunately, we saw a disappointing turn out as a result. It was thus recommended we return to offcampus training”.
Large crowds gather on O’Connell street for hoax Halloween night parade
Gardaí later asked people to “disperse safely” from the nonexistent event
Annabelle Wadeson
Deputy News Editor
At least hundreds of people lined O’Connell street on Halloween night evening in anticipation of a Halloween parade that did not exist.
The fake parade was advertised by the site myspirithalloween.com. The site compiles Halloween events occurring all over the world and provides information on them.
The website states to be based in Illinois in the US, but the Facebook page in connection with the website states that the administrators are based in Pakistan.
Nazir Ali, who identified himself as the owner of the business and website, told the Irish Times that it was human error that caused this mistake, and
not an intentional misleading.
He said that the team believed there would be a Halloween parade based on reports of previous events in Dublin. Using this information on previous parades, they advertised for this parade believing one would be held.
Ali has apologised for the mistake and highlighted how “highly embarrassed and highly depressed” himself and his team are.
“ People were packed five to 10 deep, lined up all the way down around the corner as far as the Spire. Thousands were there
- Bertie Brosnan
The parade was set to start at 7pm, but an hour later Gardaí announced on social media that no event was scheduled to take place and asked the people who gathered to “disperse safely”. It is unclear the exact number of people who were on O’Connell street for the hoax parade, with reports varying from the hundreds to the thousands. .
Irish filmmaker Bertie Brosnan, who was in attendance, said that “people were packed five to 10 deep, lined up all the way down around the corner as far as the spire. Thousands were there.” There were no official communications about the event, event security, barricades or planned Gardaí presence. The parade was meant
to start at Parnell Square and travel along O’Connell Street to end in Temple Bar.
The hoax parade caused delays to Luas operations along O’Connell street. There were disruptions for around half an hour on both the red and green lines, between Smithfield and The Point and St Stephen’s Green and Dominick Street..
Photo: Sam Boal for Collins Photos
Commencements kick off for the class of 2024
Scenes of celebration and exuberance were on full display on Front Square in recent weeks, with many cohorts of recently-departed Trinity students graduating and receiving their well-earned degrees.
Traditional yet dynamic graduation ceremonies took place in the historic Exam Hall, after which graduates paraded across the square to the steps of the Dining Hall for a class photo, and to joyfully throw their graduation caps in the air.
College organises elaborate, if intimate, wine and hors
d’œuvres receptions in the Dining Hall for graduates, friends and family to enjoy, before most follow on to lunch or dinner gatherings in Dublin’s many restaurants.
It is unfortunate that the Campanile remains under restorative and protective measures through to the end of the year, however a tarp with the Campanile’s likeness on it hangs on the scaffolding around the structure in an attempt to ease the sight.
Graduates of Bachelor’s degrees began their studies at the peak of the COVID-19
pandemic, which saw their studies relegated to online lectures and nightlife subjected to curfews. This, however, has not dampened their graduation celebrations.
Eóin Walsh, who recently graduated from Economics and History, shared that he had “such a lovely day”, and that “it was a fitting end to such a great four years.”
“You can say what you want about Trinity and the student experience, but they make your graduation feel really special. If you’re in a smaller course, it can be bittersweet not being in the
“ It was a fitting end to such a great four years
same ceremony as friends, but it is one of the best nights out you’ll ever have afterwards.”
Photos: Jimena Alvarez for Trinity News
Looking at the costumes of
Halloween at Trinity
Student science groups plead for greater support from College, citing fund and resource challenges
The associations are “forced to restrict their activities” due to a lack of funding, members claim
László Molnárfi Investigative Reporter
Students involved in various science associations based in the Hamilton at Trinity College Dublin have pleaded for more institutional support, citing continuous issues with a lack of funding and resources.
These associations, which include Theoretical Physics Student Association (TPSA) and Formula Trinity, were first founded in 2019, are not currently affiliated with either the Central Societies Committee (CSC), the students’ union or College.
Despite the recent formation of these groups, Trinity has seen a rapid growth of these science-based associations, starting with the TPSA in 2019 and its spin-off “The Problem Solving Association”, Formula Trinity, Eirspace as well as the Trinity Floating Wind Team.
Speaking to Trinity News, Casey Farren-Colloty, twotime former auditor and current committee member of TPSA, says that these groups are “passionate communities driven by ambition and dedication to science”, but collectively, they are receiving “very little material support.”
Despite the notable popularity of these organisations, with the TSPA alone having over 200 members and well-attended regular seminars, they currently do not have institutional recognition.
Due to associations like TSPA not being formally recognised by the CSC, FarrenColloty says that the groups “can avail of benefits that CSC societies would have”
“For instance, ease of access to booking spaces as well as funding opportunities, and the possibility of having permanent space. Especially when we were starting off, not being able not being able to get the same level of advertising, from social media and not being able to participate in Freshers Fair, it all really posed a challenge for us”.
As a result of the lack of institutional funding, Farren-
Colloty states that the TPSA, despite running a myriad of events, workshops and talks, finds itself having to restrict its activities. They struggle to finance guest speakers, are unable to fund teams to go to physics competitions and can’t afford the occasional donut and pizza at events – a staple of Trinity society life.
“I think the level of support that we’ve gotten from Trinity as an institution is indicative of the level of support that we as a nation are giving these communities. The percentage of GDP spent on education in Ireland is 2.9% whereas the EU average is 4.4%.
It’s horrible. It’s actually a miracle we’re doing so well as a research community, given our circumstances,” he further adds.
The former TSPA auditor praised the support of the School of Mathematics, School of Physics and Institute of Physics for TPSA, but noted its ad-hoc nature, and the limitations therein.
Lorcan Geraghty, Founder and Director of Eirspace, a cross-university group of 62 students who are passionate about the aerospace industry, reported experiences similar to Farren-Colloty.
Eirspace, owing to its unique cross-institution structure, did not opt to be recognized by the CSC, whose rules would leave the group restricted. Instead, they work with Dogpatch Labs, a startup hub outside of the university, for access to resources.
“It would also be greatly beneficial if we had access to machinery in the Parsons, but
due to external factors outside the College, the cost to facilitate us and other teams would be too much for the School of Engineering to keep up with on top of the enormous amount of research being conducted,” Geraghty says.
Despite having no official affiliation with any university, Geraghty says Eirspace receive a small bit of help from professors, who “help create connections”.
The Eirspace director goes on to highlight the importance of these groups and the prospective opportunities they offer to the students involved
“I’m being introduced to very influential people, just straight out of the blue. I’m
“ It’s our own ambition and almost forceful nature of collaboration that has kept it going
creating these huge networks, these huge connections. And then when I write up my CV as well, a lot of people in these groups, they write it down as work experience because essentially it is. In groups like in ourselves, we’re teaching other students how to work together, how to collaborate,”
Echoing a similar point, Farren-Colloty said: “If there is one thing I would tell the College and the government, is that there is so much potential in these groups. For now, it is our own ambition and almost forceful nature of collaboration and making ourselves known to people that has kept it going. Imagine what we could do if we had more resources”.
A cursory look at similar groups in other universities reveals a drastic difference in resourcing. DanSTAR, the Danish Student Association of Rocketry, founded by students in the Technical University of Denmark in 2016, is supported by its partnership with the university and other independent companies. With this financial backing, the association has its own permanent workshop and has participated in the European Rocketry Challenge competition.
It seems that the resource issues that these associations are reporting will only continue as long as their organisations remain unrecognised by the Central Societies Committee (CSC). However the associations often conduct activities outside of the “normal” society framework, and thus are left in an organisational limbo.
Speaking to Trinity News, the CSC stated that “in order to support any student-led organisation, we have to do so through our pre-existing framework.”
“Any such group has to reach out to us for formal provisional recognition, which is a process culminating in a presentation to the CSC Executive Committee in order to be put to a vote. Unfortunately, only one of the [science association groups] has formally approached us to try to gain provisional recognition this year, meaning they’re the only group we’re currently working with to try and support them in working through the process outlined above.”
Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU), speaking on this matter in a written statement to Trinity News, cited a wider issue of “College’s continued effort to quash the student experience for us all.”
“TCDSU sees and strongly regrets a huge gap in supports for STEM students, as well as for HS students. Student spaces must actively be defended, this extends to STEM through a complete shortage of lockers and storage space for those in labs, forcing students to dump their stuff outside of labs without any security for their belongings. Studentran services currently stand as a light in an increasingly corporate and soulless third level sector, however, we would encourage all capitated bodies to reassess the means for which it supports STEM and HS students - as often we are the only ones that do.”
Photo: Courtesy of Formula Trinity
Essential research equipment close to end of life
Several STEM faculties particularly affected by faltering research equipment
Emily Sheehan News Analysis Co-Editor
centrifuges, down from nine,” College said, “The 3 units are over 20 years old and at end of life.”
“Parts, products and services are no longer available. This infrastructure is critical infrastructure in the disciplines and is used widely by faculty, researchers, PhD and MSc students and by UG students in capstone projects.”
of STEM modules in areas like microbiology or immunology.
Another area pointed out by the College where research equipment is outdated was in the Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN).
College have warned that essential research equipment is “close to end of life”, highlighting several schools facing particular challenges due to a lack of funding.
Speaking to Trinity News, a College spokesperson highlighted the school of biochemistry as a key area of concern.
“The School of Biochemistry & Immunology currently has three usable (floor standing)
Centrifuges are pieces of equipment whereby centrifugal force is used to separate and purify mixtures of biological particles in a liquid medium. With regards to their daily use in Trinity, they are core components of laboratory based classes engaged in by STEM students across a range of disciplines. The use of centrifuges have become relied upon in the STEM department, with one student saying “we use them for every experiment. Sometimes 6 or 7 times throughout”. Naturally, this leads to concerns that a lack of functioning centrifuges in the College would not only affect broader research projects, but also the day-to-day operation
“The Hall effect measurement system in CRANN is past end-of-life”, the College said. “The equipment is no longer compatible with software updates, and many of its components are no longer manufactured or supported.”
“The equipment has led to many publications and research funding as well as materials discovery.” College added.
This is a nod to the idea that College claims CRANN to be the most advanced research facility for nanoscience in the country, and thus, any compromise of the equipment available at the institute not only affects the students and researchers who rely on the equipment, but the legacy of the college on a broader level as well.
Furthermore, College pointed to the issue with the School of Chemistry’s CD
Women in STEM award joy for Trinity researchers
The awards were given for outstanding contributions by those promoting the position of women in STEM
Emily Sheehan News Analysis Co-Editor
Two Trinity researchers, Brooke Tornifoglio and Brendan Tangney, have won Women in STEM Awards. Three other Trinity professors were shortlisted for awards. The Women in STEM Awards “celebrate and recognise the incredible achievements and innovations of women in STEM in Ireland.” They also shine a light on diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces, The awards ceremony took place in The Round Room at Mansion House, Dublin on 24 October 2024.
Brooke Tornifoglio, Assistant Professor in Trinity’s School of Engineering, won the Female STEM Graduate of the Year Award. The Professor was recognised for her impactful research in biomedical engineering. Tornifoglio is an expert in magnetic resonance imaging and carries out pioneering work in applications such as carotid artery disease diagnosis and vascular tissue engineering.
Brendan Tangney, Professor in Trinity’s School of Computer Science & Statistics is the Principal Investigator
“ CodePlus was launched in 2015 and has since expanded nationally
spectrometer being over 23 years old.
“It is not supported”, College said, “out of date and frequently broken.”
“It is a multi-purpose machine used across disciplines and indeed schools but it is not reliable and therefore research planning as well as delivery is negatively impacted.”
On Friday, September 13, Provost Linda Doyle sent out an email to the entire student body with the subject line “October’s budget – call to action”.
The email, a rare direct plea
to students the likes of which haven’t been seen since the Provost’s notorious email at the end of last semester, urged students to contact their local representatives and push them for increased allocation of funds for the higher education sector before Budget 2025 was announced.
According to the Provost’s email, such underfunding will compromise College’s ability to “provide a world-class education and perform the world-class research for which we are renowned”.
of CodePlus, which won the Diversity & Inclusion Initiative of the Year Award along with Lero.
Tornifoglio was recognised for her impactful research in biomedical engineering. She is an expert in magnetic resonance imaging and is doing pioneering work in applications like carotid artery disease diagnosis and vascular tissue engineering.
CodePlus is a computer science engagement initiative for girls. It aims to empower more women to work in the field by helping female students to make informed decisions on their educational and career choices.
The initiative was launched in 2015 and has since expanded nationally, engaging over 2,700 female students in hands-on computer science activities. Professor Tangney was also shortlisted in the Male Champion of Change category for his work with CodePlus Professor Anne-Marie Healy, Professor Valeria Nicolosi, and Professor Elizabeth Sainsbury were shortlisted for the STEM Mentor of the Year Award, the Women in STEM AWARDScience, and the Female STEM Graduate of the Year Award, respectively.
Image: Trinity College Dublin
Assistant Professor Brooke Tornifoglio. Image via Brooke Tornifoglio on X
College doubles funding to tackle period poverty across campus
Following a successful campaign by TCDSU, College has committed a total of €44,000 for free period
Aoibhínn Clancy Social Media Manager
Last week, Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) took to Instagram to announce they had successfully lobbied College to double institutional funding allocated for period products.
In 2024 the Higher Education Authority (HEA) allocated €22,000 to College in order to tackle the issue of period poverty.
Prior to this, College had refused to provide further funding which TCDSU said “led to a decline in period product trials previously done by TCDSU”.
Speaking to Trinity News TCDSU President Jenny Maguire said: “This win reflects the collective efforts of previous SU Officers, multiple other groups, and any person who believes people who get a period shouldn’t be stranded without basic necessities.”
Maguire stated that in her first meeting with Provost Linda Doyle this year she made “the simple demand that college must match the 22,000 provided by Government for period products”. She went on to say “now, we have achieved it”.
“College’s initial proposal of having seven locations meant that college would facilitate a service that did less than a previous TCDSU trial run –
and we simply could not accept that”.
“The very existence of period poverty speaks to the disproportionate effects of poverty on women and marginalised people”, she said.
Maguire outlined that “the agreement by the provost will see an expansion to ten locations, a doubling in funding and an immediate launch of the products across campus” noting that “more work is needed to make sure this initiative can benefit those no matter what bathroom they are in, but I am so glad to see this up off the ground”.
She concluded by thanking the Provost for making this executive decision calling it “a welcome step in making the college work for us all”.
In a statement to Trinity News, Welfare and Equality Officer Hamza Bana said “It’s been a long time coming for Trinity to fund this initiative”.
“From dealing with stagnant players, to constantly repeating ourselves like a broken record, to going back and forth with different people, the long fight for free period products has finally borne the fruits of our labour”.
When asked about the project, a spokesperson for College said: “This project is a collaboration between Healthy Trinity, TCDSU, and Estates and Facilities and comes as a result of lobbying by TCDSU and Healthy Trinity for free period products.
“Government funding is covering €22,000 of the cost, with Trinity matching this funding”.
The free period product scheme was originally launched by TCDSU in March of 2023. It saw free period products made available in 10 bathrooms across campus and off-campus College locations.
The products were supplied by Irish brand We Are Riley, whose period products contain no harmful chemicals such as bleach or pesticides while also being biodegradable.
Period poverty speaks to the disproportionate effects of poverty on women and marginalised people “
College in “direct breach” of Irish language law, union says
TCDSU have demanded that College triple funding for the Irish Language Office in order to meet obligations
László Molnárfi Investigative Reporter
Headline: Trinity in “direct breach” of Irish language legislation, union claims
Sub: TCDSU have demanded that College triple funding for the Irish language office in order to meet legal obligations
Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) has accused College of being in “direct breach” of Irish language legislation, demanding increased funding of the Irish Language Office as a remedy.
In a statement released on Friday, the union claimed that since July alone, “students have received responses in English to emails sent in Irish from at
least six College departments”, a violation of the Official Languages Act 2003.
As a public body, College is obliged to answer “all electronic correspondence received in Irish” in Irish, including emails and social media messages.
On Friday, union sabbatical officers stuck a banner onto scaffolding surrounding the campanile reading “Cá bhfuil an Ghaeilge?” (“Where is the Irish?”) to highlight College’s failure to meet provisions of the Official Languages Act.
Additionally, College has been required since 2013 to ensure that all signage on campus be in Irish, all stationary include the version of College’s logo where the two languages are equal, and that all recorded oral announcements be in Irish, points on which TCDSU says College has failed.
According to a statement, TCDSU has asked College on a multitude of occasions to provide more funding to the Irish Language Office in order to fulfil the growing list of legal Irish language obligations.
“The equivalent office in UCD is a full office with four full time employees to ensure the fulfilment of the legislation while providing a platform for the language to grow within the university”.
Currently, Trinity’s Irish Language Office has just one
full time employee.
The union have demanded that funding for the Irish language office be tripled, and a full time translation officer and academic language planning officer be hired “in order to properly” meet legal obligations.
“We demand an Irish language action plan from College [including explicit] mention of the expansion of the aforementioned office in Trinity’s upcoming Strategic Plan 2025-2029,” the union said.
“As today’s action has shown, we are determined on this issue and will not stop advocating until solutions are reached.”
In a statement to Trinity News, a spokesperson for College “[thanked] and [commended] the students’ union for its advocacy for the Irish language”.
“This is already the subject of ongoing engagement” they added. They did not directly address claims made in TCDSU’s statement.
In February, Trinity students voted overwhelmingly in favour of the creation of a full-time Irish language officer within the students’ union. Pádraig Mac Brádaigh, who served part-time in the role last year, was elected unopposed to the new role in March.
Photo: Quintin Lawlor for Trinity News
Boland to replace Berkeley in historic renaming
One of Ireland’s most celebrated literary figures, Eavan Boland died in 2020
David Wolfe, Stephen Conneely
Editor-in-Chief, Deputy Editor
The former Berkeley library will henceforth be known as the Boland library, in honour of Irish writer and Trinity alumna Eavan Boland, College announced earlier this month.
A years-long process to select a new name for the library concluded on October 9 as Board voted to approve the proposal of the Legacies Review Working Group (LRWG) chaired by Senior Dean Professor Eoin O’Sullivan.
It will become the first building on campus to be named in honour of a woman.
In an email to staff and students today, O’Sullivan
said: “We have arrived at this point because of the hard work and conviction of many people in Trinity’s community, not least the students who not only called for a change in the Library’s name, but who worked with us to achieve that change.”
The announcement follows the “denaming” of the library in April 2023, which removed the name of 18th-century philosopher George Berkeley from the building due to his slave ownership and written defences of slavery.
Members of the College community were invited to suggest names to be considered by the working group. Trinity Ógra Sinn Féin notably campaigned for Theobald Wolfe Tone, revolutionary leader of the 1798 Rebellion.
During the Gaza solidarity encampment in May, protestors used chalk to rename the library in honour of Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza in December 2023.
Boland, who died in 2020, was one of the most celebrated Irish poets of the 20th century.
Upon her death in 2020, President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins described Boland as “one of the most insightful inner
sources of Irish life”, adding that “the revealing of a hidden Ireland, in terms of what was suffered, neglected, evaded, given insufficient credit, is part of her achievement”.
A literary Irish life
Born to an affluent family in Dublin in 1944, Boland lived briefly in London while her father served as the first Irish Ambassador to the United Kingdom. This experience led her to pen the poem An Irish Childhood in England: 1951, in which she boldly stated that “England to an Irish child is nothing more than what you lost”.
Boland’s mother was prominent painter Frances Kelly, whose work appeared in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics’ art competition, and was a leading figure in Irish modernism throughout the early 20th century.
After attending Holy Child Killiney, she went on to study English language and literature in Trinity, graduating with a first class honours degree in 1966. Her first poetry collection, simply entitled 23 Poems, was published when she was a Junior Fresh student. Throughout her lifetime, she published over ten collections of poetry,
Her most prominent works include In a Time of Violence, a 1994 collection which documents her frustrations with the relegation of women’s voices to the sidelines of the Irish literary canon. She further wrote about motherhood, social marginalisation, and the intimacies of everyday life, amongst other themes.
Apart from publishing her writings, she was a highly successful academic, having held teaching positions in
Trinity and University College Dublin (UCD), as well as being a tenured professor in Stanford University.
She also served as writer in residence in both Trinity and the National Maternity Hospital, and was a staple on the Leaving Certificate English curriculum.
She died suddenly in April 2020 from a stroke, at her family home in Dundrum, Co. Dublin after returning home to Ireland to work remotely, lecturing at Stanford University.
Explainer: Trinity’s Colonial Legacies project
College has made efforts to recognise its past but is not strictly bound to expert recommendations
Alan Nolan Wilson Assistant Editor
Over the course of its 432 year history, College has proven to be a place where history is not only taught. Instead, the institution is a place with its own rich history. This past, while consequential, has often proven dark and even shameful.
This explainer will provide a brief explanation of College’s current efforts to address this history and will reflect on the purposes of such an initiative.
The Trinity Colonial Legacies project was established in 2021 as a two year research project on College’s links to empire, slavery, land
confiscation, and a variety of other imperial efforts.
The project was jointly led by Dr Patrick Walsh and Dr Ciaran O’Neill of College’s School of History. Both men are proven experts on Ireland in the 18th and 19th centuries respectively, and were assisted by a wider team of researchers.
The project was established following increased interest in College’s and its alumni’s links to colonialism. This interest was fueled by Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU), particularly former TCDSU President Gabi Fulham.
The project, from its inception, paid particular attention to the life of George Barkeley. The world-famous philosopher, academic, and clergyman was also a slave owner. In researching the life of the alumnus, a light was shone on College’s links to the man’s Bermuda Project which advocated for the religious education of indigenous North Americans. Berkeley’s writings describe his willingness to go so far as to take children from their parents as so to convert and educate them in this college.
The Trinity Colonial
Legacies project can be seen as a component of College’s broader Trinity Legacies Review Working Group (TLRWG). This group reports directly to the provost on matters relating to the institution’s past with Provost Linda Doyle saying: “The goal [of the group] is to shed light, not heat, on these complex legacy issues.”
The group contains a variety of stakeholders including the senior dean, three individuals appointed by TCDSU’s president, an additional three appointed by the Provost, and a variety of other senior College officials.
According to College, TLRWG’s purpose is “to document the historical
evidence on specific legacy issues, to seek evidence based submissions from the College and wider community on each identified issue, and, based on the evidence collated, provide options for consideration to the relevant decision-making authority”.
As stated above, College is not bound to accept the findings or recommendations of the group. Instead all recommendations must be agreed upon by College’s board. This leaves questions surrounding College higherups’ intentions.
In creating a group to investigate these matters, College displays an awareness of its past and presents a desire to act on recommendations. Simultaneously the group’s inability to implement its recommendations allows College to pick and choose what it responds to and how.
This gives the institution the ability to maintain control over the narrative surrounding its history while appearing proactive. Such a system also allows College to consider issues as dealt with while only doing as much as the board deems necessary.
Eavan Boland. Image: Linda A. Cicero/Stanford News Service
George Berkeley. Line engraving by W. Holl. Wellcome Collection.
The Trinity PhD student setting sights on Seanad
Luke
Gibbons hopes to bring a focus on sustainability to politics
Claire Craig Freelance Journalist
A new Trinity voice may be poised to enter Irish politics. Luke Gibbons, a trailblazing PhD candidate from Trinity, and the recently named All Ireland Young Sustainability Changemaker of the Year, has reportedly set his sights on a Seanad seat in the wake of the upcoming general election.
Known for both his academic excellence and climate advocacy, Gibbons has quickly gained a reputation as one of Ireland’s most promising young leaders, with many seeing him as a formidable contender for a role in shaping national policy.
Recently crowned Mayo Young Person of the Year, Gibbons is well-regarded in his community for both his academic achievements and his work advocating for Mayo and sustainability. His influence has expanded through his support of local general election candidates, notably Martina Jennings, whose campaign he endorsed during her recent launch event last Monday.
At the event, Gibbons highlighted urgent issues affecting young people in Mayo, such as housing, public services, and transport links, showcasing his commitment to local concerns. These are poised to be central to his Seanad run.
On the night, Gibbons’ passion for policy, stage presence and articulate manner impressed and caused many to believe a Seanad seat was possible for the Mayo native.
At just 28, Gibbons has built an impressive CV, establishing himself as an innovative researcher, a climate advocate, and a policy advisor.
Growing up in Claremorris, Co. Mayo, he is a testament to the transformative power of education and ambition.
Notably, Gibbons has attended both the University of Oxford as an Honoré Scholar and Harvard Law School as a Fulbright Scholar. Now as an Irish Research Council Awardee, Gibbons’ PhD research breaks new ground by exploring corporate directors’ duties to address climate risks in multiple jurisdictions.
Gibbons has spent ten years in third level education studying law making him an ideal candidate for the Cultural and Educational Panel in the Seanad. He noted: “From my time in education in Ireland, the USA and the UK I have seen what works and what does not. On the back of this lived experience, I am eager to influence policy to enhance both the quality and accessibility of Ireland’s third level education”.
Speaking on the prospects of a potential run Gibbons noted, “I have had no official discussions yet, but it is something I am seriously considering. I believe youth representation in the Seanad is key particularly as a part of the Cultural and Education Panel.
We need people who have recently experienced Ireland’s education system who have first-hand knowledge of the student centric issues that must be addressed.”
As to his own run, Gibbons
said: “I’m keeping my options open and evaluating how a run may look, either for a panel or representing [Trinity].”
“My focus will depend on how the general election plays out. I am strongly of the belief that Mayo and the west of Ireland needs a strong youth voice who can influence policy on the national stage to make the West an attractive place for young people.”
Internationally, Gibbons has developed a network of
“ I am strongly of the belief that Mayo and the west of Ireland needs a strong youth voice who can influence policy
influential allies, from his time as a Legislative Fellow for Congressman Matt Cartwright in Washington, DC, where he assisted with bipartisan environmental policy, to his ongoing collaboration with global climate leaders such as Al Gore and Mary Robinson.
A core component of Gibbons’ potential Seanad platform is expected to be his vision for Ireland’s renewable energy potential and the just transition to a low-carbon economy. He has been a consistent voice on the need for sustainable energy policies and a balanced approach to climate adaptation.
In appearances on radio and national publications, Gibbons has been critical of current environmental policies which target farmers rather than addressing the main causes of climate change, those being the fossil fuel industry. He emphasised: “We must protect our farming community and target fossil fuel companies to ensure a sustainable future for all.”
Gibbons’ achievements go beyond academic research and policy initiatives. His work with the Ireland America Young Professionals Network (IAYPN), which he founded to connect young Irish professionals in the United States with career resources and a supportive community, earned him a spot in the Top
40 Under 40 Irish in America in 2024, winning the People’s Choice Award with over 21,000 votes. This achievement, alongside his upcoming role representing Ireland at the Global Peace Summit in New York, signal Gibbons’ capacity to build meaningful coalitions and amplify Ireland’s voice in critical discussions on climate change and sustainability.
While he hasn’t yet made any official announcements, Gibbons’ Seanad ambitions have reportedly been quietly encouraged by his network, which includes highprofile political figures and sustainability leaders. Gibbons is likely to garner endorsements from key figures across political lines as he has demonstrated that he’s as comfortable working with conservative leaders as he is with progressives, a quality that could be crucial in today’s divided political landscape.
Gibbons’ ascent from Claremorris to the corridors of power both at home and abroad makes him one of the most exciting young prospects in Irish public life. As he continues to build his network and refine his message, many in Irish political life are watching closely, anticipating a potentially transformative addition to the Seanad—one with the knowledge, experience, and tenacity to push Ireland toward a sustainable future.
Photo: Sarah Meehan for Trinity News
Photo: courtesy of Luke Gibbons
OPW reiterates warnings that Stephen’s Green Metro stop would have “profound negative impacts”
The scheme was first introduced in September 2022 and expanded to include 26-yearolds in January 2023
OPW supports the objective of modern metro infrastructure for Dublin and the State, the OPW is also of the view that delivery of such infrastructure cannot be at the expense of Ireland’s national heritage”.
Proposals by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) “would not seem sufficiently sympathetic to the history and environment of the spaces within and around the Green”, according to OPW.
of St Stephen’s Green. The OPW said construction would necessitate the removal of historic monuments, paving, and sculptures. 64 trees would be cut down permanently.
St Stephen’s Green is a national monument that has been protected under law since 1877. The OPW has a statutory obligation to preserve this public amenity. Works that defy this objective are defined as demolition under the law.
Government task force report recommends “big
moves”
to revitalise city centre
The Office of Public Works (OPW) has doubled down on its opposition to a stop for the planned Metrolink at St Stephen’s Green.
The state agency has argued a new stop for the underground would cause a “direct, severe, negative, profound and permanent impact on the heritage value of the green”, according to new planning documents.
The OPW’s submission to An Bord Pleanála earlier this month said that “while the
The €9.5 billion metro line would run from Swords to Charlemont and would comprise 16 stops including Dublin Airport and the city centre. It would have the capacity to carry up to 20,000 passengers per hour in each direction, and up to 53 million passengers annually.
Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) submitted the planning application to An Bord Pleanála in September 2022, expecting the planning process to take 12-18 months.
Despite the planning hearings that ran from February 19 to March 28 this year, OPW said the use of the park was still “unagreed”. During the course of the hearings, OPW characterised the plan as a “demolition or destruction”
Declan McGrath, barrister for TII, stated during a hearing that “TII does not consider the proposal for Stephen’s Green in any way a demolition of Stephen’s Green”.
Dr Ronan Hallissey, a TII representative, said earlier this year that TII has tried to “avoid the green where possible”, but that “reluctantly” construction would “impact on 5 percent of the area of the park”.
The proposed stop at St Stephen’s Green East is a key part of the MetroLink plan. It would allow for connection with the Luas Green Line and with surrounding bus routes. The station would service the Government Departments, schools and office buildings in the area, as well as Grafton Quarter.
College has made efforts to recognise its past but is not strictly bound to expert recommendations
Lorna McGregor-Smith Contributing Writer
Last week the Irish government launched the report of the Dublin City Taskforce, aimed at revitalising the City Centre.
The report, presented in September, outlines a series of recommendations designed to make Dublin a more attractive, safe, and vibrant space for residents, businesses, and tourists.
Appointed in May 2024, the task force was independently led by David McRedmond, CEO of An Post. After months of consultations and assessments, he presented the task force’s findings to the Taoiseach at the GPO on O’Connell Street It recommends ten actions, “Big Moves,” which focus on renewing public spaces, enhancing safety, and creating a more welcoming environment in the city centre.
Key points of the report emphasise the need to reinvigorate spaces like O’Connell Street and make full use of the GPO as a cultural and community hub. Highlighting the importance of public safety, Minister for Justice Helen
McEntee reaffirmed that Garda numbers are being increased, with 64% of recent recruits assigned to Dublin. Bodyworn cameras and new policing technologies, including facial recognition, are also being introduced to enhance safety measures.
“Today marks the beginning of a new chapter for our capital,” Taoiseach Simon Harris stated. “Dublin deserves a brighter future, one that draws in residents, businesses, and tourists alike. These recommendations present a vision that reclaims the city’s potential.”
Support for the report’s recommendations was voiced by several high-ranking officials. Tánaiste Micheál Martin noted the government’s commitment to “breathing new life into our capital city,” while Roderic O’Gorman, Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, praised the focus on making Dublin’s city centre not just a business district but a thriving residential area.
The Department of the Taoiseach is set to convene an Interdepartmental Group, which will assess these recommendations and prepare a report by mid-December.
This initiative aims to build upon existing efforts in partnership with the Dublin City Council, An Garda Síochána, and other government bodies to bring Dublin closer to its full potential as a world-class city.
Chair of the task force, David McRedmond expressed optimism for the city’s future, stating, “These ‘big moves’ are about getting Dublin back to its best, allowing locals and visitors alike to enjoy all that our wonderful city has to offer.”
Today marks the beginning of a new chapter for our capital
- Taoiseach Simon Harris speaking on the launch of the Dublin City Taskforce
Mia Craven Contributing Writer
St. Stephen’s Green. Image via Wikimedia Commons
Contemporary attitudes to reading
Libby Marchant
Page 18
Juggling parenthood and education
Swantje Mohrbeck
Page 19
Divided education: how do publically educated students fit in?
The
experiences
and struggles of publically educated students in Trinity
Lucia Orsi Contributing Writer
In 2019, The Irish Times reported that only 5% of TCD students came from DEIS schools (public schools that receive extra-funding due to a large number of underprivileged pupils in attendance) whilst privately educated students comprised 30% of new undergraduates. With fee-paying CAO students three times as likely to attend Ireland’s top universities, the social and economic disparities associated with public and private education continue to permeate the college classroom. How do these opposing educational backgrounds affect students’ university experience? And do these differences persevere beyond the bounds of secondary school?
Speaking with Trinity students from state-funded schools, students repeatedly reported that they lacked confidence in comparison to their privately educated counterparts. Many admitted that they felt self-doubt in the college classroom, whether this was in their academic abilities, communication skills, or their right to attend Trinity. Fourthyear student Erin Keenan said, “I can remember plenty of times when I’ve felt inferior to my peers. I was always very aware that they could articulate themselves in ways I just couldn’t... It often made me feel like a bit of an outsider.” In particular, public speaking seemed to be a common source of insecurity for students from public schools, stating that they felt unprepared for the seminarstyle teaching that comprises many of their courses. Their experience starkly contrasted with that of privately educated students. Stephen Conneely, who attended a fee-paying school, highlighted this disparity;
“some of my [secondaryschool] classes really mimicked the college environment; for example, in English and history, it was very discussionbased, instead of just taking down notes.” He further noted that he has recognised that “a lot of private school students in university have more of a confidence about them. I don’t think many private schoolers feel like an outsider in Trinity.”
The confidence gap between college students is a by-product of the clear differences in secondary school environments. The tangible reality of this perceived imbalance can be traced to fundamental economic disparities. Limited funding is supplied to public schools in Ireland, which in turn often results in larger classes, a larger student-to-teacher ratio and a weaker support system available to students. This can mean that “soft skills”, such as debating and leadership experiences, are not endorsed to the same extent as in private schools. “I never felt like my voice mattered or that my teachers particularly cared to hear it,” Alison Cummins, a Joint Honours student noted.
“Coming to university I feel this has manifested as a sort of insecurity or fearfulness, which was compounded by the sheer amount of wealth I encountered when I came to Trinity. But I am unlearning the fear, slowly.”
Beyond the classroom, community plays a significant role in students’ college experience; socialising is foundational to university life. Even in this aspect, privately educated students can be at an advantage, particularly those from Dublin. Many arrive at Trinity alongside a large number of classmates or friends from wider social circles, giving them a network of people already established which mitigates the shift from secondary-level to third-level education. Conneely affirmed this, stating, “I think I adapted fairly quickly to Trinity… I noticed that I knew a lot more people on campus than perhaps my publicly educated peers did, simply because almost 30% to 40% of my year went to Trinity.” This is not the case for the majority of students from state-funded schools in Ireland, many of whom were one of a handful of students to be accepted
Trinity
The extent to which this affects a student’s community in college can vary. Still, it speaks to a wider issue of inequality between students of different classes and backgrounds. This inequality is only further frustrated when students’ social circles are limited compared to their private school counterparts.
Engagement in
Engaging in extracurricular activities is perhaps where the divide between public and private is at its most palpable “
extracurricular activities is
perhaps where the divide between public and private is at its most palpable. Private school culture encourages student pursuits beyond the curriculum, which only continues once these students enter university - whether that be through sports, debating, or music. Dublin-based private schools have their rugby, while England’s Eton has its traditional ‘Wall Game’. As one privately educated student said “I think private schools offer more extracurriculars. We had student publications, scholastic competitions with other schools, at least one sports fixture a week, cadet force, the Duke of Edinburgh Award and so on.” Students from these backgrounds could be more disposed to joining college societies, clubs, and publications, as well as taking on leadership roles within these organisations.
Whilst some public schools do encourage their students to take part in extracurricular activities, their limited financial resources restrict the number of non-academic pursuits that they can fund and manage. In general, state schools prioritise education before extracurriculars. As explained by Julia Dunne, who attended public school in Dublin; “my school placed a lot of emphasis on academic success and celebrated the number of high-point courses
that graduates of the school were able to enter... It was still, however, a public school, with limited resources and a narrow range of subjects available.” With such an emphasis on academics ingrained into state school students’ mindset, there is a sense of hesitation when faced with the societies that college has to offer. “In school, we didn’t have a school newspaper and I didn’t have a portfolio of articles, which I know a good portion of private school students did,” remarked one publicly educated student. “I didn’t realise that society involvement was a real option and something which could be cool and fun.”
As indicated by those interviewed, for Trinity students from state schools, disparity continues to shape their college experience. To assume that these differences are rendered irrelevant in university dismisses the struggles of a large portion of Trinity’s student body. To some extent then, on both personal and social levels, privately educated students are at a clear advantage. This produces an inequitable academic playing field. The wider social, psychological and economic effects of a divided secondary education system must be addressed to ensure that third-level education is not demarcated by class and privilege.
Arina
Provatora for Trinity News
into
from their year.
Can we make a city feminist?
Trinity News meets with women using their art to change Dublin’s political landscape
Hazel Mulkeen
Deputy Features Editor
When we think of ways to right historic wrongs, or overcome prejudices, art might not be the first solution we turn to. Ireland’s legacy of misogyny - a few examples being the decades-long fight to repeal the 8th and the omnipresence of the Catholic Church in our culture and institutionsseems so embedded into our environment and infrastructure that only deep structural change can resolve it. But planning takes time. While policymakers and activists take more straightforward channels to change, a dedicated core of artists have been working to highlight women’s struggles through the medium they know best.
For The Performing Activism Collective, art will always be part of the solution. The Dublin-based Collective’s ongoing research project, Abortion in the Spotlight, asks anyone who has had an experience accessing abortion services in Ireland to share their story with them in the form of a letter. Then they turn the letter into an experimental art piece based on the images and feelings that story evokes, to share on social media.
“
In terms of performance art, lookpeople at you and immediately put themselves in your shoes
Lauren Kelly, who founded the Collective alongside Saibh Aris, Leah Whelan and Jennifer Philips, describes performance art as her passion; she told Trinity News that as an active performance artist of 7 years, “even just to make one person feel more heard, that’s a huge success to me.”
“We can talk about politics all day,” she said, “and we can talk about what we can and can’t do, but when it comes to actually making people feel something, art is the tool for this. Words can keep going in circles… in terms of performance art, people look at you and immediately put themselves in your shoes.”
Abortion in the Spotlight in its current form is, essentially, a research project into the failings of the Irish sexual healthcare system - but an atypical one. “There has been research done before, but it’s all statistics,” Kelly said. “We want to heal through telling stories.”
“No one’s story gets left behind.”
The stories being told aren’t the Collective’s own, although Aris pointed to her own experience accessing abortion services in Ireland as part of her motivation for getting involved in the project. Because of the intimate nature of the letters that Abortion in the Spotlight receive, sharing them is a huge act of trust. “We’ve been telling people (who participate in the project), if you want to stay in touch, let us know,” Kelly said. “More people are interested in staying in touch than not. It’s really emotional.”
Part of their goal is to find voices “that maybe didn’t get much attention first time round,” Aris explained, “and finding out what’s an issue for them… Accessing abortion care should be about nurture and care, and it’s not really there.” While we shouldn’t expect artists to fill the gaps in healthcare infrastructure, the Collective say they’re still doing their best to promote healing and build a community.
“It’s their healing that needs to be focused on,” Aris said.
“When we read the letters (from participants)… most times you end up crying. You realise how strong people can be, and they’re not feeling supported. What’s driving us is that people don’t have those feelings anymore.”
While building a supportive community is certainly a positive side effect of the project, the Collective always had the original goal of bringing about political change through their art. Kelly cited Marina Abramović, the storied Serbian performance artist behind Rhythm 0 and The Artist is Present, as well as Suzanne
Lacey, an American social practice artist, as influences. Aris and Kelly, though they knew each other in school, became collaborators through ROSA, an international socialist feminist organisation. “I’ve been going to protests for years,” Aris said, “and I eventually became immune to seeing the placards, (and) the posters, I just didn’t see them anymore. I understood their value but for me they didn’t have an impact.”
Meanwhile, Aris said the performance art that she saw being done by artists like Kelly was able to move her in ways that conventional protest didn’t: “I remembered why I was there,” she said, “what the cause was for. Whatever it is you’re fighting for, that’s what people will remember.”
Art can distil a politicalcomplex message into a image,single and the power that has can be tremendous
Unlike other mediums then, art can distil a complex political message into a single image, and the power that has can be tremendous. But what happens when you’re fighting against an image - one of the most iconic images of Dublin? Musician Tilly Cripwell found herself performing next to the Molly Malone statue often, as busking was her main source of income.
“I just saw hundreds of people going up to grope the statue any time they’re there,” she said. “I got more frustrated and annoyed by this happening, and so one day I went home to my housemates and was like - ‘I’ve had enough, I’m going to do something about it”.
She made an Instagram post with a hashtag: #LeavemollymAlone. “The campaign kind of did its own press,” she said. “I had publications getting involved, radio and news channels, and that pushed it further.”
The public response online was hugely empowering: “it validated the cause,” she said.
“Clearly people felt that there was controversy around it.”
“In 2014, the statue was moved because of the Luas line,” she told Trinity News, “and in that process, they revarnished everything except for her boobs, because they wanted to keep that discoloration there, and keep the ‘tradition’ alive.” The image is clear; the message potentially hostile.
Statues are a part of the cityscape that can be easy to overlook, but as Tilly Cripwell learned, their distribution reflects a sexist past that we shouldn’t ignore. “There are a handful, at best, of female statues in the city… there aren’t any people actually being commemorated,” she explained. “On O’Connell street there’s a male statue every 50 metres or so.” The positioning of the statues themselves, Cripwell thought, contributed to the dramatic difference in messaging. “All the female statues except Eirinn are at street level. In a symbolic and physical way, (it) really undermines the statues and devalues them.”
“A lot of people will say it’s just a statue, but then, culture is being perpetuated and communicated through statues which immortalise people and the things they’ve done.”
Tilly knows more work needs to be done; though the hashtag and its media response has been ongoing since the
start of the year she told Trinity News that the council’s response to the campaign has been lacking. She hopes that her new project - a re-recording of the Molly Malone song, now out on her SoundCloud, with two additional verses that highlight the respect we owe her memory - will help the campaign regain momentum in the public eye.
Meanwhile, the Performance Arts Collective want to continue their project: according to Aris, the long term goal is to “change the narrative around abortion care in Ireland, (and) hopefully remove the weight of stigma.”
“We know there will have to be a point where we have to say ok, no more stories, but for now we’re just seeing where it goes,” Kelly added. “Women are still told, ‘don’t be talking about that, or you’ll scare men’. When women are embracing their boldness and radicalness and using it as a tool to make art, it’s one of the most beautiful things.”
With projects like thisoperating outside of traditional politics - it’s hard to know if the powers that be will eventually hear your voice. Artists like Tilly or the Collective can only rely on their outpouring of public support as proof that something is shifting.
“We don’t exactly know what the end goal is,” Kelly shared with Trinity News, “but it feels like we’re pushing in the right way”.
Photo: The Performing Activism Collective
How to budget as a student Page 4
Cuisine Spotlight: Nepal
Page 7
Love in the age of screens
Page 13
In conversation with curator Beulah
Photo: Serhii Shapoval
Ezeugo
Hungover? Not a problem page 6
The unexpected thrill of solo travelling
In conversation with Paul Duane page 8
Demystifying Icarus page 10
Let’s talk porn page 12
Hidden grudges page 15
Puzzles page 16
Editor-in-Chief
Life Editor
Life Deputy Editor
Arts & Culture Editor
Deputy Editors
Sex & Relationships
Editors
Student Living
Editors
Food & Drink
Editors
David Wolfe
Kate Byrne
Ciara Chan
Cat Grogan
Emma Lueders
Maisie Greener
Sajal Singh
Nina Crofts
Alice Matty
Layla Banjaree
Zaynab Zaher
Gregory Cusworth
Libby Marchant
Emma Coyle describes the experience of travelling solo, along with the sentiments and lessons that accompany it
Before I came to college, I was the type of person who was constantly aware of everyone around me and their possible perceptions of me. Even doing something as normal as grabbing a coffee or going for a walk by myself evoked the anxiety levels of someone being hunted for sport -
When I moved to Dublin, I knew no one. Coming from the top corner of the country, very few people from my secondary school ended up in Dublin, and I felt alone. It was a terrifying concept at the time. I had to find my bearings alone, wandering aimlessly through unfamiliar streets, trying to navigate the public transport system and locate the obscure off-campus lecture halls. I was stuck in the limbo of wanting to see everything and try everything, but not knowing anyone well enough to ask if they wanted to join. Doing them alone seemed like the most embarrassing thing in the world to me.
Gradually, I came to the startling realisation that no one is looking at you, and no one cares, and you’re really only the centre of your own universe. We tend to overestimate the extent to which others observe and judge us. The humbling fact is; no one is thinking anything significant about you for any significant amount of
Learning to be comfortable in your own presence is one of the most rewarding things “
time. So, although it might feel like there’s a huge spotlight pointed at you, everyone is way too busy thinking about their own lives to think incessantly about yours.
Learning to be comfortable in your own presence is one of the most rewarding things in the world. Having a group of friends you can travel with, go out with, and share everything with is, of course, amazing; but sometimes it’s equally as fun to stroll around an art gallery alone, or go to that film you’ve been wanting to see by yourself. Last summer, I went to a concert by myself for the first time. I had two tickets, but no one was free to go, so I sold one and went anyway. Realising that you don’t have to wait around for people to be free opens up a new world - you can have equally as much fun by yourself, if you stop caring about others’ judgement. .
Over Reading Week, I went solo-travelling for the first time. For years, I have always wanted to visit Florence. As someone obsessed with Renaissance art, it was high on my bucket list: Michelangelo’s David, Botticelli’s Primavera, Gentileschi’s Judith Beheading Holofernes. I also knew that the inhuman level of ‘nerd’ I was to embrace probably didn’t require an audience. The only souvenir I bought was a copy of Dante’s Inferno, in the original Italian, a language I don’t speak. I also knew I would need the freedom to stare at paintings long enough that the staff would get concerned. I had some money saved from my summer job, and I thought why not? I have the time and the funds. Next thing I knew, I was boarding a flight to Pisa.
This was definitely a step up from going to concerts by myself. I was in a foreign city,
Emma Coyle for Trinity
with a language I didn’t speak, and a public transport system I didn’t understand. It was truly me and Google Maps against the world. Although nerve wracking at points, there was something empowering about building a trip entirely around my own interests. Travelling with a group can feel like a balancing act—navigating everyone’s preferences, energy levels, and schedules. No two people go on a trip with the same motives, and while that’s entirely okay, solo travelling offers a refreshing alternative: the freedom to do what you want when you want without compromising or feeling guilty..
I sat outside cafés across from the most beautiful cathedrals, drinking espresso and reading for hours. I saw every artwork on my bucket list and ate really good food. I strolled down narrow streets lined with bookshops, vintage shops, and an insane amount of leather. I made friends with the girl in my hostel room that chain-smoked out the window at all hours. I was able to get up as early or as late as I wanted, and go to bed early without feeling lame. Don’t get me wrong, I love a night out - I’m normally the first to lace up my docs and squeeze into my little black dress - but it felt nice to be cosy in bed, editing my Instagram photo dump, after doing a hefty 30,000 steps around the city.
It honestly didn’t bother me that I was alone. I’m trying to steer clear of the cliche of ‘finding yourself’ that people use to a nauseating extent when talking about travelling solo, but you really do learn a lot about yourself. It’s an act of self-care to give yourself time to reflect and not have to be constantly present for other people. The beauty of travelling alone is in discovering that you’re good company. At the end of the day, if you wait around too long for other people, your bucket list will start to collect dust. No one else is going to experience things for you, sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and just do it. There’s a quiet freedom in knowing you’re not waiting on others to live your life. Looking back on myself as a teenager, I hope that she would think I’m super cool, being able to travel to a foreign country by myself and have genuine fun. A far cry from the girl who couldn’t even walk into a room without her friend next to her. Honestly, it’s more likely that she would think I’m a loser. And it’s weirdly comforting not to care what fourteen-year-old me thinks.
Diwali in Dublin
Laila Banerjee explains the importance of Diwali in reminding her of her identity as an Indian student in
Dublin
As a child, I always knew Diwali was approaching when the annual Cadbury commercials made their way onto our television with the slogan: “Kuch accha ho jaaye, kuch meetha ho jaaye” (“Lets celebrate good things with something sweet”). I remember those ads so fondly because they encapsulated the spirit of Diwali so well- tradition, joy, and a sense of community.
It is important to understand the history of Diwali in order to understand why Indians celebrate it with such fervour. Diwali, or Deepavali, the festival of lights, symbolises the triumph of “good over evil” and dates back to more than 2000 years. In North India, it commemorates the return of Lord Rama with his wife, Sita. According to the mythology Ramayana, Lord Rama saved Sita from the demon king, Ravan. The People of Ayodhya (a town in India) illuminated their city with lights, representing hope and welcoming the victors back home. In South India, it celebrates Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu, who rescued women from an evil king. There are many variations to the mythology, but the purpose of celebrating this occasion remains the same. It celebrates bravery, acceptance, positivity, and change. Additionally, Diwali marks the Hindu New Year, during which homes are adorned with lights and doors are left open to invite Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity. The legend suggests that she represents luck and brings positivity into households.
It is truly beautiful to see the enthusiasm with which Indians celebrate Diwali. I remember boxes of “mithai (sweets)” lying around the house. My entire family and I would visit all our relatives to gift them those Mithais. Little me would always be so tempted to open them, but was never allowed to! Now that I am in Dublin, I miss doing such things. There is one Diwali tradition, however, that
has crept its way to Dublin. It’s a game of cards! Indian families usually sit in a circle and play cards, share jokes, and catch up. So if you ever get invited to a Diwali Party, do not miss the opportunity to eat some great food and see some Indians get super aggressive over a game of cards! I must warn you that we take these card games very seriously. In fact, it’s these tiny gestures and traditions that have made me appreciate Diwali even more.
As an international student, I do not have the luxury to travel home for Diwali, but I try to make it as homely as possible here. In my first year, I attended the Diwali party hosted by the Trinity Indian Society. I was pleasantly surprised to see so many people from different ethnicities imbibing the tradition of Diwali with their Indian friends. I have grown to appreciate the enthusiasm with which Trinity students embrace different festivals at college. From different cultural societies to events at the Global Room, Trinity is always buzzing with some form of festivity.
Diwali in Dublin definitely feels different but still reminds me of home, my culture, and my identity. Yes, this festival plays quite an important role in shaping who I am and the person I am becoming. My family is Bengali, hailing from Eastern India, where Goddess Kali is revered. Maa Kali is considered a fierce, strong, confident, and intelligent goddess who depicts the destructive yet benevolent aspect of nature. She is known to destroy evil while protecting her loved ones. My perspective of Maa Kali
has evolved over time; from seeking her protection from “ghosts” as a child to wanting to be more like her as an adult.
As I grew older, I realised that she also represented the concept of “brown beauty.”
She is often depicted as having a “soothing dark complexion”, long luscious hair, and beautiful eyes. In a world where western standards of beauty felt like the only acceptable norm, she was a stunning and powerful reminder of beauty that felt familiar to me: this is essential given that we live in an era where social media consumes us and aids comparison in being the thief of joy. We attempt to reassure ourselves and others that we are fine just the way we are, yet we still find ourselves searching online for “exercises to enhance [our] jawline.” We hide authenticity behind the veil of “aesthetic” and catch ourselves thinking multiple times a day: “I could never pull off what they’re wearing.”
It wasn’t till I came to Dublin that I began to develop insecurities and compared myself to others. I was conscious of my features, my body, and even my accent. Being abroad is extremely exciting yet peculiar. There are times when it all feels too intimidating, isolating and frustrating, especially for a 19 year old. College is when one likes to stand out and be different. Ironically enough, the urge to conform, especially when the place and people are unfamiliar, always overthrows the urge to be distinctive. Diwali, for me, is just a friendly reminder of who I am and where I come from. It reaffirms the significance of embracing
This festival is a reminder that everything gets easier with time “
my cultural identity while also valuing the world around me. As cliché as it may seem, every year, Diwali and Kali remind me to reflect, grow, and appreciate what I have.
As a brown girl, this festival has given me so much more than just a tradition to hold onto or a community to fall back on. It has instilled in me a sense of identity that has shaped who I am and helped me maintain that identity, even when it felt easier to conform to the norm. It allowed me to express my Indian roots while also adapting to college life in a whole new country that was so culturally different from mine. This time also gets particularly difficult, managing assignments, extracurricular activities and the social aspects of college simultaneously. This festival is a reminder that everything gets easier with time. Diwali represents light at the end of the tunnel. I realise how funny life really is as I write this article. 10 year old me could never have imagined how Diwali could influence and represent so much of who I truly am today.
How to budget as a college student
Kate Byrne chats to the founder of the Budget Mindset Club about how
students can manage their finances
Santis O’Garro is a handson money mentor who specialises in helping people manage and budget their finances. She also likes to call herself a “light worker” - someone who has learnt something important in their life, and shares what they learnt with other people who may need help. Growing up in an era in which credit unions readily gave out loans for holidays and credit cards were the solution to an impulse buy, she developed poor money habits which resulted in a huge amount of debt. She calls this time in her life the “breaking point” - a time when she wasn’t making enough money to pay off her debt. Now, financially free, and also an author, podcaster and the founder of the Budget Mindset Club, Santis wants to help build strategies into peoples’ daily lives so that they can prevent the same thing from happening to them.
Money is an uncomfortable thing to talk about, especially in a college like Trinity. While there are students from all walks of life here, it’s no secret that many come from affluent backgrounds. Some students’ eyes water at the price of a cup of coffee in the Perch, while others are putting hundreds of euros down on DU Snowsports’ annual ski trip. Whatever way you may identify financially, learning how to budget and manage your finances while in college is incredibly important, and Santis is here to help.
Budgeting should be “priority based,” Santis tells me. “You’re going into real life now. Once you start doing this where you are right now, you can adapt this method to anywhere”. She says to begin with your basic needs. “If you have any money coming in, you need to have your rent covered, your food covered, your basic needs, your bus pass”. She says she has seen too often students “going on sessions all day every day but their budget isn’t balanced, and then they can’t eat for the rest of the month”. When we lose control of our spending, Santis notes that we
“ You’re going into real life now. Once you start doing this where you are right now, you can adapt this method to anywhwere
can “develop a lack mindset”, struggling to get out of the cycle of overspending.
Of course, as students, we’re going to want to go out with friends and treat ourselves every once in a while. Santis recommends allocating no more than 30% of your weekly budget – but no less than that, either – for fun things. She says that even if you have made mistakes with overspending on fun things in the past, “it’s all about forgiving your old self and your old patterns, and going forward. But the first thing you do is prioritise your needs”.
She adds that budgeting should be done no matter what your income. “If I told you I’ll give you 20 euro right now, you do a budget for that. You don’t just say ‘Oh I have 20 euro’, what could that 20 euro be used for? All those 20 euros add up.” She says that if your first thought is that 20 euro could go on a “casual coffee”, then you’re not considering your future spending enough.
The fast-paced nature of student life makes it easy to want to live in the moment, but Santis advises students to think about the long term when budgeting. She gives the example of your mother’s birthday. If you know her birthday is in 10 weeks, put 20 euro of your income away every week. She calls this a “saving file”. “This is a great habit to do for everything, whether it be Christmas, birthdays, holidays, it means that you are suiting your lifestyle”.
Another way students can plan for the future is by having an “emergency fund”. Santis tells me that “last week my red engine light came on. Because I had money saved up, I was able to not go into the garage with that panic mindset, and they actually gave me a discount, just because I was the nicest person dealing with him”. She adds that “what you have, you attract. That’s a bit of the law of attraction going in there, but it does work”.
When it comes to actually sitting down and considering how to fill out a budget, it’s very simple, according to Santis. “Pen and paper. Simple, old school”. Santis also offers a planner through the Budget Mindset Club, which includes budget templates, goal setting and daily affirmations. She also notes that “a lot of banks will help you with tracking now because they understand the importance of financial literacy”.
If Santis could tell her 22 year old self anything, it would be to start putting money into her pension. “It was almost underheard of when I was 22. I wish someone told me about that”. She also would ask herself what she wanted to do in the next five years, regardless of what others are doing or what others think is the best path for her to pursue. Her advice to Trinity students is to “always look inwards, don’t look outwards. You can do everything according to plan, you get the house, you get the marriage, but then you have people age 40 that are
“ You have people age 40 that are waking up to a life they never subscribed to because they’re following the plan they thought was laid out for them
waking up to a life they never subscribed to because they’re just following the plan they thought was laid out for them’”. When budgeting, you have to consider if you’re budgeting for the life that you actually want.
Santis recognises that “going to a college like Trinity, it’s almost harder”. She is aware of the pressure on many to keep up with the lifestyle that is often associated with the stereotypical Trinity student. “No offence, you went to Trinity, well done, you did great and that’s a beautiful thing, but that does not have to be the making of you. There’s a lot of other lessons in life you will learn. Definitely do not keep up with the Jones. Be your own Jones”. She says that students need to “live within their means”, because “once you start keeping up, you have to stay keeping up, and that’s a miserable life”.
According to Santis, financial comparison really is the thief of joy. “Wealth comes in many shapes and sizes, not just financially. Assuming that everybody is perfect based on
the wealth they have means that you are lowering your self worth”. She advises students to not let “where you come from, who your parents are, the money you have define you, and also don’t put anyone on a pedestal because of that”. When setting financial goals, they have to be based on your own unique path, not the path of others.
Budgeting is about much more than allocating portions of your paycheck to rent, food and bills. It’s about considering if the life you’re currently living is genuinely serving your best interests, and if your spending habits align with the future that you want. Budgeting can be a journey; financially, emotionally and spiritually. If you haven’t tried budgeting before, why not pick up a pen and paper today and try your hand at it. You might learn more about yourself than you think. You can find out more about Santis’ approach to budgeting at @thebudgetmindsetclub on Instagram, or pick up her book The Money Mentor in all bookstores.
Photo courtesy of Santis O’Garro
Gluten is not my friend
Sara Lynch delves into what it is like to live with the curse of coeliac disease
There’s nothing like the smell of freshly baked bread taken straight from the mouth of a hot oven. Or the taste of a filthygood, icing-covered cinnamon bun, paired with a creamy, oat milk latte. Unfortunately, these two sentences do not resonate with me. Why, you may ask? Is she insane? Truthfully, I think I’d rather be insane than live with this horrific disease. Yes, disease. A disease not only of the body, but of the mind too. You guessed it - or probably didn’t - I’ve been cursed with the treacherous coeliac disease. For those of you unaware of coeliac disease and its troubles - I envy you. But let me offer you a quick crash course. By definition, coeliac disease is an autoimmune disease, which is a fancy way of saying the body reacts to gluten in a similar way it would to foreign pathogens like COVID, for example. But in a coeliac’s case, the body mistakenly attacks the small intestine, damaging the gut, which can take ages to heal (not very mindful, is it?) So no, it’s not the same as the upset stomach you get while hungover on a Sunday eating a leftover spice-bag. It is also not comparable to the trendy diet choices your favourite influencers make. Of course, some people do have intolerances or sensitives whereby they can’t eat gluten, but being coeliac means strictly avoiding gluten like your life depends on it (because technically it does). And gluten is in everything - not just bread. Think pasta, cereal, cookies, or soy sauce, sausages and beer. Even oats are off limits. In summary, anything that has wheat, barley or rye in it (so, pretty much everything tasty), is poisonous to coeliacs. It doesn’t end there - there’s also this sneaky thing called cross-contamination; when a coeliac eats something that has even slightly touched a food or utensil which has been in contact with gluten, there is still a high risk of triggering an autoimmune response. And before you ask - no, it is not an allergy, and no, there is no cure. A coeliac disease diagnosis is a lifelong sentence. It truly is a curse.
I was fourteen when I was hexed, meaning that up
until then, my life was free from the shackles which I am forevermore constrained by. I truly believe it was worse than being diagnosed as a young infant; how can I ever move on knowing how delectable a deepfried donut is? Knowing that I will never experience anything even remotely similar to it again? Bad karma - it’s the only valid conclusion I can come to. I must’ve done Gluten horribly wrong in a past life. Although admittedly, I did feel much better when I finally ended my toxic relationship with gluten and said, ‘I told you so!’ to my granny, who had always insisted my stomach pains were simply caused by nerves. And after years of googling, ‘how to be gluten-free’, and a ridiculous stack of hefty medical bills later, I can confidently say that at this stage, I know more about my gut than I do about my psychology degree. Alas, learning how to maintain good health with my mega-damaged, immunity-responsible intestines hasn’t been easy.
Living gluten-free requires a level of emotional, and financial, stability. Feeling safe around food? Rare. Overwhelmed by food anxiety? Always. Experiencing happiness in this lifetime? Questionable. My brain works overtime assessing every single item I might choose to digest, and my pockets scream when those choices are made. Don’t even get me started on gluten-free bread –how I love paying six euro for that nasty taste of nothing, or ‘cardboard’, as non-coeliacs have helpfully described it (cheers guys). And my patience is thin when it comes to other people’s opinions on my dire situation. ‘No, it’s not a health choice, Susanne, it’s an autoimmune disease - i.e., my body is literally attacking itself and I may well never fully recover.’ Or, ‘Yes, I know it’s not as urgent or deadly as a peanut allergy, Brian, but there are only so many more particles of gluten my body can take before I become malnourished, or even develop osteoporosis.’ Gluten may be your friend, but it is certainly not mine.
There are also some things in a gluten-less life that never get old: the sheer embarrassment of telling your date that you are severely ‘allergic’ to the pizza they serve at his favourite eatery; and the look of disappointment on his face when he realises it wasn’t just a bad joke. Not to mention the imminent danger of eating out – who knew restaurants could be such a scary place? A rodent infestation would be safer than an order mix-up. Oh, and the pure terror of someone thoughtfully baking gluten-
free brownies as a surprise (but what if they’ve used a glutentouched spoon?) There’s also the impending doom when you actually, accidentally I hope, ingest a teeny, tiny, smaller than crumb, crumb of gluten. And, of course, the lengthy trip to the bathroom that follows (need I say more). I suppose you might conclude that us coeliacs are just inherently incapable of having nice things.
Okay, maybe a coeliac life isn’t all full of evil. We do sometimes experience brief moments of joy where we almost – emphasis on almost - forget how lonely a glutencentred world can be. That is until someone says, ‘at least you can still eat the salad though!’ (Yeah…thank God for that).
But we do get blessed by the rare culinary heroes who have dedicated their lives to catering us lost souls with non-gluten containing masterpieces. And
nothing can beat the pure sense of euphoria when the mildlyattractive café manager tells you that they will change their gloves before preparing your meal (weird way to ask me out, but okay I guess?) One thing us coeliacs can be really grateful for is our mutual understanding: the special connection - or trauma-bond - that brings us all together. Once we hear, ‘I can’t eat gluten’, our default response is to foster a warm, welcoming, wheat-free environment, where all worries about being a ‘picky eater’ can be discarded.
Now, I’ll leave you with some food for thought: maybe next time you grab your morning pastry or freshly baked bread, you could be grateful that the simple things you get to enjoy in life aren’t trying to poison you. Or maybe my fellow coeliacs can feel somewhat validated – we don’t get much representation,
“ One thing us coeliacs can be really grateful for is our mutual understanding
do we? I do hope that you readers have learned something valuable today, but if you do not hear from me again, you should suspect a case of flour play (it sounded better in my head) –death by gluten, perhaps.
Photo: Pexels
Hungover? Not a problem
Ciara Chan lists some remedies and recommendations to making it to the library post night out
Hangovers, much like a good exam season mental breakdown or a particularly fun PMS week, are not one size fits all. Some people end up extremely hungry after a night on Drury Street, and others lose their appetite completely. I have one friend that swears by a simple bowl of cereal after a night out and another cannot go home before a chicken roll from Gay Spar. Me personally, I like a Dunnes scone and a debrief: simple carbohydrates and the assurance that I am still a human being capable of proper, coherent, social interaction (at least somewhat).
Some people don’t get much of a hangover, but whether you have one beer or 10, most of us have felt at least some of the after effects of drinking. There are, however, some remedies and recommendations that can help curb your hangover’s temper.
Many of us are well acquainted with college drinking culture and as such, most of these hangover solutions may sound like common knowledge. If they are not, I’ve done my job. If they are, at least it’s good to know the science behind them so you can sound even more pretentious talking down to those UCD students the next time you’re out on the town. And if any Medicine students read this article and find any of it factually incorrect, the author’s name is a typo.
In order to cure a hangover, one must understand the physiological responses that take place in the body, and cause so much misery, after drinking copious amounts of alcohol. As the body metabolises alcohol, the liver does most of the heavy lifting by converting the alcohol into acetaldehyde, a toxic compound which induces nausea, sweating and (hang) anxiety. This toxic compound is then further broken down into acetate, a less harmful chemical. Additionally, alcohol is a diuretic which means that the body loses a lot of fluids while drinking. This explains the headaches, fatigue and dry mouth that plague poor, unfortunate hungover souls. It also explains why the line to
the girls’ bathroom in a club or bar is always astronomically long (it does not, however, resolve the mystery of the lines in the arts block). Other bodily responses to alcohol include fluctuating blood sugar levels, which can lead to shakiness and irritability, and inflammation, which won’t help any injuries you sustained while trying to crowd surf. So how do you combat these unpleasant symptoms? Avoiding alcohol certainly isn’t the answer.
Sports Drinks
Hydrate or (die)drate! After losing so many fluids to alcohol’s diuretic effects (plus sweating on the dance floor), everyone gets at least a little bit dehydrated the day after a night out. Electrolytes are essential for rehydration because they help the body retain the fluid it ingests. It’s all well and good to drink water, but your body needs to be able to keep it and utilise it. Sports drinks, like Lucozade, which contain these minerals are a great way to ensure you rehydrate your body.
Chicken broth
Chicken broth is another great way to hydrate the body
and restore lost salts, while not being too heavy on the stomach. Salt is actually an important ingredient in rehydration as it helps cells hold onto water.
Eggs
Eggs are actually great for a hangover as they contain cysteine which helps the liver break down the toxic compound acetaldehyde. The faster the conversion of acetaldehyde into acetate, the quicker alcohol is cleared from your system
Fructose
Similar to eggs, fructose stimulates the liver to convert acetaldehyde into acetate more efficiently. Honey and fruit contain natural sources of fructose, as do a lot of highly processed foods, and let’s be honest they’re way more fun to eat when hungover.
Simple carbohydrates
This is where Dunnes scones shine. As previously mentioned, alcohol causes fluctuations in blood sugar levels which can lead to shakiness, irritability and fatigue. Simple carbohydrates like toast or digestive biscuits are great ways to raise your blood sugar
without irritating a stomach already feeling the aftermath of too much drink.
Blueberries
High in antioxidants, blueberries are a great anti-inflammatory food to tackle alcohol’s inflammatory effects. Other helpful anti-inflammatory foods include fatty fish and green tea.
Carbonated drinks
Carbonated drinks are great to reduce any nausea caused by alcohol.
AVOID
To be honest though, depending on your appetite the next day, a lot of these suggestions may be of no use if you don’t feel like eating. A lot of people pop a couple of painkillers and call it a day. The important thing to remember is that the type of painkiller is important. Tylenol is not recommended after heavy drinking as it is hard on your liver. Your poor liver. Do your liver a favour. Give it a break. Go get some ibuprofen.
This next recommendation is hard for me to admit and probably just as pointless to suggest considering, even
“ It’s important to know that when you well laid plans fall through, there are remedies
knowing the facts, most people will ignore the science. That being said, coffee may not be the move after a night out. Another diuretic on top of post night out dehydration won’t do that headache any favours. Some people, when they want to be productive, do the smart thing and stay in, spend time studying at the library and avoid excessive drinking. A lot of the time, however, agreeing to one chill drink at the Pav turns into Hogans at 2:30am. It’s important to know that when your well laid plans fall through, there are remedies to help mitigate the remnants of last night’s fun that turn sour in the Ussher’s hallowed halls.
Cuisine spotlight: Nepal
Gregory Cusworth delves into Nepalese dishes and cuisine from his time in Nepal
Nepal, a country most famous for the winding red brick alleyways and shrines of Kathmandu, the breathtaking vistas and treks of the Himalayas, the stupas and prayer flags of Tibetan Buddhism that so permeate through the country, Lumbini, the birthplace of the historical Buddha, and its incredibly rare one horned rhino that lives only in the lowlands of the country.
One thing Nepal is not famous for, however, is its food. Sandwiched in between two super giants of cuisine, India and China, Nepalese food gets lost amongst the masalas and the chow meins that so saturate the food market. Indeed, Nepal, being historically a trading country between the Mongolian’s coming down from the Himalayas and Indians coming north to trade, is one of the most equally split countries in the world regarding diversity and culture. Hinduism and Buddhism exist in harmony in the streets of Kathmandu and Pokhara and the temples and shrines of both beautiful and colourful religions are peppered throughout the country. Nepal’s cuisine undoubtedly echoes this cultural diversity, with Chinese and Indian food being sold across the country. However, there are three dishes that Nepal does better than anywhere else in the world, the quintessential food of Nepal and its national dish, the delicious dal bhat, the mouthwatering momo. Although these dishes may have their origins in the Tibetan culture of the Himalayas (momos), or their roots in Indian thali sets (dal bhat), Nepal has taken them and made them its own. Combining the herbs and spices of the rich and fiery cuisine of India with the hearty and warming mountainous meals of the Himalayas, these three dishes exemplify the beauty and exciting results of cultural fusion and how this influences cuisine.
Having spent a month and a half living in Nepal this last Summer, I’ve had more dal bhats than I can possibly count, its always on every menu, and often the only thing, particularly when out of the cities. They are one of
the more curious dishes I have eaten in my life, predominantly because every component of the meal is delivered separately on the large metal plates they are served on. They generally consist of a mound of rice, positioned in the middle of the plate and sometimes with a thin popadom on top, then always diced potato and a green vegetable (often green beans) stewed in a yellow, garam masala esc sauce, a pile of stir fried, curried spinach, known as saag, then, the dal.
A lentil broth served in a small chalice type bowl on the plate consisting of lentils, chickpeas, and beans, with countless herbs and spices entwined within; a warm, liquid consistency with the lentils and chickpeas sunk to the bottom, dal soup is one of the most warming and filling soups, arguably, in the world. They are always a different colour and cooked for hours in a huge wok over an open flame with every care taken to assure that each spice, each flavour, each bean or lentil combine perfectly to create such a hearty fuel. In the Himalayas the common phrase is often heard ‘dal bhat power, twenty-four hour’, or it is plastered over novelty t-shirts in the towns of the foothills. This phrase could not surmise the feeling of a warm bowl of dal any better.
After one or two bowls of this bolstering broth you’re so full on its richness and so energised by the homely hearth that it
sets to smouldering in your stomach you feel as though you can carry on forever, boosted by the warmth gently radiating from within you. The final components of a dal bhat vary from place to place, however, there is often a chilli sauce doled out in small portions to add a biting kick to the dish, or a raw chilli if you are brave enough, but this cold and refreshing type of spice adds exponentially to the warm stew, almost acting as a palette cleanser than finishes off the mouthful with a clean, cold, heat. Finally, there are the deeply pickled vegetables, personally, I am not a vinegar fan and so the powerful sour and malt flavours of these veggies were not my favourite aspect of the meal, especially as they are meant to be eaten last and would leave your mouth with the tang of vinegar, however I do understand that to the pickle people of this world, they would be absolute heaven. Overall though, the dal bhat is a fascinating combination of flavours, every component is cooked separately to bring a different taste to the metal dish, and they can be eaten separately with the rice in the middle, or combined together to create an amalgamation of sensations that can only be described as curious, as one feels the flavours are so rich and strong individually that they shouldn’t work together, but utterly, utterly, delightful and the perfect, homely, warming
meal for a cold Himalayan day of trekking.
Now onto the momo, the
dumpling jewels of Nepali cuisine. Momos are spicy, and delicious! As I have learnt every momo is different in each place, every momo sauce too, for each are a personal, family recipe. So, spicy and delicious are the only two words that can truly describe every momo. They are steamed (or fried) soft sided dumplings, handmade, so all different shapes and sizes, and filled with blended vegetables or meat that bring an explosion of heat and the most delicate, yet powerful flavours of the large array of herbs and spices used. Much like a takeaway coffee cup they retain heat like a piece of coal and so your first momo of the meal is bound to leave your mouth burning and you panting like a dog in desperate effort to cool it down when it is already in your mouth. Each momo sauce that coats the plate is tailored perfectly to compliment the momo it accompanies; if the momo is very spicy the sauce is less so and acts as a coolant, and vice versa. Either way they always leave your mouth full of flavour and tingling and sizzling in the most delightful way. A plate of momos is a perfectly filling snack and feels like a true luxury in the smoky eating rooms of Kathmandu as they set you sweating and red in the face, every – single – time.
Photos: Luke Pätzold
In conversation with Paul Duane
Hazel Mulkeen sits down with the director of All You Need Is Death to discuss horror’s evolution as a genre
In recent years, a movement towards more thoughtful horror has begun - turning away from traditional elements of the genre in favour of explorations of identity, using horror as the medium. All You Need Is Death, Duane’s folk-horror film and first fulllength feature horror film, shines as an example of a film that transcends tropes. “I think risk is starting to pay off,” he said. “With the horror genre, if you’re not risking something, I don’t think you’re doing it right.”
“The horror genre is the opposite of limiting at the moment,” he explained. The upsurge of interest in diverse and atypical horror has given the genre comparatively more clout than other genres. Leaning on the horror label can even improve your chances of success as a filmmaker, Paul remarks: “I Saw The TV Glow is an absolutely stunning film, but it’s not a horror film - A24 successfully marketed it as a horror film, and that’s helped it to find an audience.”
When Duane started out as a student filmmaker, the film world was very different. In fact, it barely existed. “If I’d done what I really wanted to do, I would have become a
If you make a work of art, it’s a vote of confidence in the future. In a difficult time, the best thing you can do is be an artist “
comics writer and artist. It was the way of getting your ideas out there, because there was no such thing as low budget film at (today’s) scale,” he said.
Alan Moore, creator of V for Vendetta, whose comics Duane grew up reading, was “a huge inspiration to me”, he said “in terms of the way he looks at the world.”
His first year at art school lined up with the first year of a new film course in what would become IADT; he transferred and didn’t look back. That doesn’t mean his time studying visual art wasn’t valuable, though. “One of the things I really took from painting is the concept of negative space. Negative space is the area of the painting that isn’t the subject, and it can be as important as the subject. For me, in a film, negative space - I’m very interested in the idea that in a film there are things you don’t tell the audience, things you take out of the script.”
“All You Need Is Death was originally set in the 1970s - I took out all references to the 70s, but there’s still people smoking in doctor’s waiting rooms. That’s the negative space. Particularly in horror, if you have a little mystery that people can’t figure out, it keeps them off balance - in a good way.”
His student film, “Inks”, that he made for his graduation in 1988, was the first student film RTE ever bought for distribution. Since then, of course, the film world in Ireland has blossomed into something very different. “I see a lot of people now having nostalgia for the kind of stories that were being told in the 80s and 70s,” he said, “because they feel we’re not getting them now… It’s so much easier now to make a film, there are so many films being made, that a lot of the really good stuff gets lost.”
“When I graduated, you could tour for two years off one short film. .. You’d go round, travel with it and get awards. Even making a feature (film) now, it’s kind of, so what? Because there’s so much out there. We’re in a very competitive atmosphere now.”
Competition’s not always a bad thing - especially as a film fan. “The films I’m seeing in 2024 are so good, and so exciting.” Duane said, pointing to Dermot Malone’s ‘King Frankie’ as a recent high point. “It made me very excited about Irish cinema.”
Duane’s best advice for film students? “If you make a work of art, it’s a vote of confidence in the future. In a difficult time, the best thing you can do is be an artist.”
“I always tell people that are
Anywhere with a subsidised film industry has got the same problem, which are risk aversion and antipathy to originality “
writing their first feature script, the most important thing is to finish it, because if you finish it, even if it’s bad, you can show it to people, you can rewrite it, you can make it better. Finish the damn thing and then you can improve it.”
But learning how to navigate the film industry itself can be challenging for a newcomer. “Connections are everything,” Duane acknowledged, “which is why you see so many nepo babies around.” Filmmaking, because of the larger sums of money and long timeframes involved in finishing a project compared to other art forms, has less of a capacity to be off the cuff, he explained. “It’s hard to get people to put faith in you.” This problem, it seems, is global. “I talked to film makers from Australia, Canada - anywhere with a subsidised film industry has got the same problems, which are risk aversion and antipathy to originality.” If you want to take creative risks, you can protect yourself with a big name attached to the project, but that’s hard when you’re starting out. One benefit of being a filmmaker in Ireland is the proximity to national talent. “Ireland’s a very small country, we have a lot of really fantastic acting, musical talent of various kinds. You’re usually about one phone call away,” he said. “Everybody has got more connections than they think they have.”
All You Need is Death got made because of one of those phone calls; Duane happened to know the brother of the man who would become his main collaborator on the film’s music, Ian Lynch - of the Dublin band Lankum. The music in Death is the throughline of the entire film: a young couple go about
secretly recording and selling off folk songs that the older generations share with them, until one song - never destined for the ears of men - unleashes an ancient curse.
It’s hard not to imagine this premise as responding to tense intergenerational relationships that have come to define Ireland in recent years; Duane grew up seeing the horror genre as “an inherently political form”. “There’s an awful lot of twenty-first century life that’s about reworking materials from the 20th century. There’s a line in the film - where a character says “the future has been picked clean”... the characters in the film pay for the commodification of something that’s … a little bit sacred, a little bit secret.”
It was music that inspired much of Death. “A lot of Irish folk songs and ballads are inherently a bit spooky,” he said, adding, “I don’t think we have the greatest visual culture for the weird. I took a lot of visual iconography from Japanese cinema. I’ve seen too
many Irish films that have the cliché, shot over the barren landscape of Connemara, with the Uillean pipes playing, and I don’t want to go that way.”
For All You Need Is Death, Duane created his own folklore - the idea of a cursed song isn’t actually from any one folk tale. “For a long time, Irish people have been going, ‘we should make a horror film about the banshee, or queen Maeve’. I feel a bit cringey when people start pulling out these things… A lot of the Irish spooky stories have been done to death, and are a bit Americanised. It feels good to me to come up with an idea nobody’s used before, rather than lean on tropes you’re taking from mythology, and folk tales. But that’s just me. I’ll be proved wrong by somebody making an amazing Banshee movie next year.”
All You Need Is Death is streaming on Shudder; you can support Duane as an independent filmmaker at https://www.patreon.com/c/ weirdandconfusing.
Photo courtesy of Paul Duane
In conversation with curator Beulah Ezeugo
Maisie Greener sits down with Beulah Ezeugo to discuss her latest exhibition ‘A TOTAL TRANSFORMATION IS NEEDED’
‘ATOTAL TRANSFORMATION IS NEEDED’ illuminates Ireland’s topographical significance within the Black Atlantic by framing the country as a place of creative convergence between America and Europe. Through her exhibition of these transnational cultural offshoots, curator Beulah Ezeugo interrogates our conceptualisation of borders and explores how these ideations have shaped our individual and collective identities. On first impression, Ireland may not appear as overtly enmeshed in the Black Atlantic as the United States or Great Britain, however, a conversation with Ezeugo revealed otherwise.
Working as both an artist and curator, Ezeugo’s creative practice is coloured by an uncompromising engagement with postcolonial geographies and memory studies. Her latest project, ‘A TOTAL TRANS-
FORMATION IS NEEDED’, is no exception.
Born from general meditations on the status of contemporary Irish art, ‘A TOTAL TRANSFORMATION IS NEEDED’ visualises Ezeugo’s curiosity about Black artists working in an Irish context. “I spoke with Black artists from the US who had recently moved to Europe”, she explains, “and they observed that while racism is just as potent here, it manifests differently and has a different effect”.
This reminded Ezeugo of the “‘diaspora wars’ that took place online a few years ago, where Twitter users from the global African diaspora argued about their core differences”. She notices how in-person conversations are more similarity-oriented. Ezeugo endeavoured to facilitate such open exchange in ‘A TOTAL TRANSFORMATION IS NEEDED’. She elaborates that she’s “intrigued by the sounds that emerge from a public space, like a marketplace or a website like Twitter, where various discourses happen simultaneously - people talking over each other, often arriving at similar conclusions, but from different starting points and in different languages”. Certainly under Ezeugo’s curatorial direction, MART Gallery transformed into such a space.
It’s Dublin’s dynamic population and cultural identity, Ezeugo says, that renders the city a fitting stage for this conversation about transformation. She names Ireland’s paradoxical relationship with immigration and globalisation as adding an interesting dimension to the exhibition. Although Irish people “have rarely remained within their geographic boundaries and possess considerable global influence because of this”, a complicated relationship with its immigrant population has strained the nation’s reputation for openness and tolerance.
The featured artists - Jordan/Martin Hell, Isaac Harris and Clodagh Assata Boyce - work independently in their own narrative space, but are unified by their prizing of language and oration. Ezeugo notes that “Jordan was editing his poetry book to accompany his sound piece; Isaac had just finished editing their novel and was experimenting with adapting parts of it into a play; Clodagh had been inviting friends into their home to conduct oral histories”. Despite these projects developing in different locations - Ohio, Dublin and Virginia respectively - Ezeugo realised Dublin’s potential to act as a “central node” from which “connections between their diverse perspectives” could be found, all while upholding the artists’ individual subjectivities.
This structural reconfiguration aligns with Ezeugo’s vision of the curator as a force of transformation. “The ideal outcome [of curation] is that others are transformed in some way by what you’ve presented”, she distils. “Caretaker” and “mediator” are other roles that spring to Ezeugo’s mind. On a pragmatic, less romantic level, however, she notes how curation “involves spending a lot of time and energy designing a container for your own
interests” and that sometimes this proclamation of personal interest can feel embarrassing and exposing.
Keeping with this notion of transformation, Ezeugo was asked to expand on the show’s thematic exploration of transcendence. “It reflects a shared acknowledgement of the challenges of being ‘here’ and the desire to exist ‘elsewhere’ or to live otherwise,” she begins, before citing government inaction over “the extinction of entire populations and ecosystems” as prompting global conversation “about not just change, but complete overhaul”. The exhibition’s frequent reference to “transformation” and “boundaries” is emblematic of this societal gravitation towards radical, revolutionary alternatives. “In a sense, it’s about identifying the tools needed to move beyond the present moment into something better for all of us”. The exhibition title is a referential nod to Lola Olufemi’s Experiments in Imagining Otherwise in which “she offers a provocation to invent the future now”. This intertextuality designates ‘A TOTAL TRANSFORMATION IS NEEDED’ as an agent of both artistic and ideological change.
As a creative working against the “rapid tightening and regularisation of borders”, Ezeugo’s curation is shaped by the proliferating xenophobia that has gripped the country in recent times. She recounts how at the show’s opening, she “had a conversation with a guest who, in reference to a provocation about race within one of the artworks ,said something like ‘You could say these things openly a few years ago, but now you have to be careful’”. Regrettably, she recognises that exhibiting artwork pertaining to race and immigration runs the risk of aggravating an already hateful and combative demographic.
This was unfortunately the case in 2019 when a group of angry white Irish men tried to hijack an arts-based workshop hosted by Ezeuga and a migrant activist group. She worries that “as the government and Gardaí cede more ground to these groups, this strategy of intimidation becomes increasingly effective. It affects what discussions occupy space in the public discourse, and shifts the boundaries of what can be expressed”.
Beyond the regulation of a physical geographical area, Ezeugo’s curation addresses how the concept of the border conditions our everyday lives. ‘A TOTAL TRANSFORMATION IS NEEDED’ itself was affected by the red tape that so often accompanies borders. Owing to “the bureaucracy, personal toll, and costs” that borders entail, artist Jordan was unable to attend the show’s installation and launch. Ezeugo also finds Irish borders culpable in the brutalisation and destruction of the Palestinian people, observing how “Shannon Airport is currently being used to transport weapons of war between Israel and the United States” without the consent of the Irish people. In this way Ezeugo challenges the prevailing narrative that borders are instruments of protection and democracy, instead asking her audiences to consider the ways in which borders are violently and forcefully enacted upon ourselves and others.
Although ‘A TOTAL TRANSFORMATION IS NEEDED’ has since ended, its ruminations on identity and borders are enduring. Through her curation of Black artists who write, Ezeugo encouraged viewers to consider language and art’s constructive and deconstructive potential. More information on Beulah Ezeugo’s work can be found at https://bio.site/beulahezeugo.
Photos: Serhii Shapoval
Demystifying Icarus
Maisie Greener sits down with the editors of Icarus’ 75th volume, Cat Grogan and Louise Norris, to discuss their vision for the arts journal
Icarus imprints itself onto the mind of many aspiring writers at Trinity College and current editors, Cat Grogan and Louise Norris, were no exception. With Ireland’s oldest arts journal entering its 75th year of publication, it felt apt to reflect on Icarus’ past whilst looking forward to its future.
Grogan reflects on her “pretty lofty” first impression of the publication which contributed to the “crippling imposter syndrome” that is generally part and parcel of applying for such a coveted position. Ultimately though, both Grogan and Norris shelved their doubts and applied for editorship. Pragmatically, Louise reasoned that “applying and interviewing for things is always good practice,” and she saw no harm in throwing her hat in the ring.
The pair’s editorial philosophy is characterised by collaboration. “We’ve been reading all the submitted poems out loud and talking about themwhat we think works and what
doesn’t,” Norris explains. For Grogan, who is a veteran of Trinity publications, Icarus’s iconic two-man structure is one of the publication’s charming idiosyncrasies. “It feels like more of our project,” she says, contrasting it with her time at The Penn Review during International Exchange/ Study Abroad, whose editorial process resembled something more democratic and polyphonic. Although neither knew each other before Icarus, their partnership has been a serendipitous one, grounded in a mutual care for the publication.
Both editors are aware of the importance of balancing Icarus’ dense, decorated legacy with reinvention. Norris observed how the publication lends itself to change “because each time it has a different team with different ideas and they bring new things to the table.” Referring specifically to their predecessors, Eloise Rodgers and Charlotte Moore, Grogan said she’s intent on maintaining the whimsy they imbued the publication with. It seems that all 21st century poetry, by virtue of being written in the age of social media, must first beat allegations of superficiality, insipidity and resist wrongful dismissal as “instapoetry,” before being taken seriously. Grogan, however, insists on the poetic integrity of subjects like sexuality and mental health. Their modernity should not be conflated with inherent inferiority.
All too often prestige entails an intellectualism and grandiosity that escalates into inaccessibility. Reflecting on this, Norris understands that Icarus inevitably appears inaccessible
It’s a juggling act between curating a high calibre of work and appreciating that Icarus is a student publication “
because it is just so competitive. “There isn’t that much we can accept,” she admits. On this point of grandiosity, Grogan has realised how hollow religious imagery is often deployed to affect importance. In contrast she has a preference: “poetry that speaks to specificities and the mundane”.Ultimately , though, it’s a juggling act between curating a high calibre of work and appreciating that Icarus is fundamentally a student publication.
On what criteria they look for in a successful submission, both agree that “it’s more of a feeling” they’re after. “The ones we accept feel clean and new, and there will be a bit of a punch.” Conversely, often submissions are unsuccessful when a great idea hasn’t been captured in an equivalently great way yet. Grogan and Norris can tell when the poet is “still processing this thing they’re writing about. We can see from these five lines that
they’re going to produce a masterful poem, but they haven’t got there yet”.
For those who are unsuccessful, the pair have conciliatory words. “The selection process is very arbitrary,” Grogan says, “By this I mean, it’s two people’s opinions.” Norris shares this candidness when she says, “even between us, we have different tastes. It just depends on who you’re submitting to.” They also relate to rejection and encourage writers to build something productive from these disappointments.. Norris compiles her writing on a Google Doc and keeps a Notes App page of phrases she likes, that she may come back to later . Likewise Grogan realises that often “there will be outstanding lines that get lost in the wider, longer piece that may be directionless.” She urges writers to hold onto them.
Elaborating on the arbitrariness that’s inseparable from the print process, neither editor believes publishing is a prerequisite to becoming a poet. Although she concedes that getting your work published is validating, as it “signals you that you’re going in the right direction,” Norris cautions against writing something dishonest and inauthentic. “On the flip side, I don’t know if those poems getting accepted into big journals makes you a poet.” Grogan also recognises how the publishing industry is at the whim of market trends that aren’t indicative of poetic merit.
On a more theoretical level, our Icarus editors were asked to comment on notions like “the death of the author” and how far, if at all, they consid-
er the author’s intent when reading work. Norris does acknowledge that “sometimes poetry can feel meandering and aimless and that, sometimes, trying to figure out what is grounding a poem, be it a specific situation or memory, is actually helpful when considering the quality of what we’re reading.” Ultimately, though, they realise that poetry’s brilliance lies in this interpretative space between poet and reader. “It’s great that someone can write a poem and I can read it and it’ll still resonate with me because of whatever I have or haven’t experienced recently,” Grogan thinks.
Reiterating an age-old dilemma, and one that was also posed to last years’ editors, Grogan and Norris were asked whether they consider poetry to have a social or political responsibility. If yes, then do they, as editors, have a responsibility to show or not show certain works. This feels a particularly pertinent issue for Trinity, given the recent renaming of one of the libraries to celebrate poet Eavan Boland. Grogan surmises,“I think art is political, I also think art is personal. But I think that the personal is political.” Regarding the ongoing genocide in Palestine, Norris clarifies that the way she’d want to be intentionally political would be by encouraging Palestinian poets to submit their work. Indeed, one of the featured writers for the upcoming issue is Palestinian poet, Ahmad Almallah. Although both understand that Icarus should not, and will not, heed to their personal political leanings, they embrace poetry’s political potential.
Photo: Henry James
Léirmheas ar Hamilton
D’fhreastail Sarah
Ní Dhubhghaill ar an gceoldráma
cáiliúla Hamilton
atá ar siúl san Amharclann
Bhord Gáis faoi láthair agus
labhraíon sí faoi a taithí
Tá an ceoldráma mórráchairte Hamilton le Lin-Manuel Miranda ar siúl san Amharclann Bhord Gáis den chéad uair ón 17ú Meán Fómhair go dtí an 16ú Samhain. Tá an scéal bunaithe ar dhuine de bhunaitheoirí na Stáit Aontaithe, Alexander Hamilton (Shaq Taylor), agus insítear an scéal tríd an gceol agus damhsa i stíl uathúil a mheascann hip-hop, R&B agus ceol clasaiceach. Ní haon ionadh é go bhfuil na ticéid ar fad don cheoldráma díolta, agus bhí an t-ádh orm teacht ar thicéad athdhíola tar éis an méid ama a chaith mé ag éisteacht leis an bhfuaimrian. Bhí mé ar bís chun an sárshaothar a fheiceáil agus is léir go raibh an mothú sin ag gach duine sa slua. Bhí atmaisféar draíochtúil san amharclann. Bhí idir óg agus aosta i láthair agus bhí an slua uilig ag tnúth go mór leis an léiriú. Tosnaíonn an seó leis an amhrán Alexander Hamilton, agus tugtar léargas dúinn ar na dúshláin a bhí aige nuair a bhí sé ag fás aníos agus ar a thuras go Nua-Eabhrac. Leantar a shaol trí cheol. Feicimid a chaidreamh lena bhean chéile, Eliza Schuyler, agus a ghairm bheatha ag forbairt. Buailimid le daoine cáiliúla eile, mar shampla an chéad uachtarán na Stáit Aontaithe, George Washington, Rí George III, agus a chéile comhraic, Aaron Burr. Tá mórimeachtaí polaitiúla á léiriú, mar shampla Cath Yorktown, toghchán sa bhliain 1800 agus an choimhlint idir Hamilton agus Burr. Bhí mé tar éis féachaint ar an gcéad taifead de Hamilton agus d’éist mé leis an bhfuaimrian arís agus arís eile, mar sin ag tús an tseó, bhraith mé go raibh sé aisteach na guthanna a chloisteáil ó aisteoirí difriúla. Bhí mé chomh cleachta leis na guthanna ón mbunleagan. Ach de réir mar a lean an seó ar aghaidh, níor
thug mé faoi deara an difríocht ar chor ar bith ann. Tharraing an fuinneamh a bhí ag na haisteoirí nua isteach sa scéal mé, cosúil leis an mbunleagan. An méid sin ráite, bhí foireann na n-aisteoirí dochreidte ar fad. Bhí amhránaithe den scoth ann agus bhí gach duine lán le fuinneamh. Chomh maith leis sin, bhí siad in ann a bheith ag canadh agus damhsa casta a dhéanamh ag an am céanna. Tar éis dom an dhá cheann a fheiceáil, bhí an damhsa ar an stáitse níos éifeachtaí ná mar a bhí sé sa taifeadadh. Bhí mé ag faire ar na damhsaí i bhfad níos mó ag an seó beo ná nuair a bhí mé ag féachaint ar an seó ar mo ríomhaire glúine. Cheap mé gur sheas duine amháin amach ach go háirithe. B’é Thomas Jefferson (Billy Nerves) an carachtar ab fhearr liom sa cheoldráma mar bhí teacht i láthair aige ar an stáitse. Gach uair a tháinig sé amach, bhí sé lán le fuinneamh agus féinmhuinín agus bhí sé thar a bheith mealltach mar seo. Bhí sé ábalta an lucht féachana a tharraingt isteach lena láthair ar an stáitse agus rinne sé idirghníomhaíochtaí greannmhara leis an slua, go háirithe nuair a thainig sé abhaile ón bhFrainc agus é ag canadh What Did I Miss. Ní hamháin gur ceoldráma mór-ráchairte é, ach is bealach iontach é freisin le stair a fhoghlaim tríd an gceol agus an damhsa. Mar dhuine a bhfuil an-suim sa stair agam, is breá liom an cur chuige seo mar go ndéanann sé cúrsaí staire níos intuigthe agus siamsúla do ghach aoisghrúpa. D’fhoghlaim mé go leor rudaí nach raibh a fhios agam riamh nuair a chonaic mé an ceoldráma don chéad uair. An fhíric is fearr liom ná gur oscail Eliza Schuyler dílleachtlann i gcuimhne Hamilton tar éis a bháis. Dar liomsa go bhfanann an t-eolais leat níos faide nuair atá an stair curtha i dtreo siamsúil. Mar a dúirt mé roimhe, tá sé díolta amach ach mholfainn d’éinne ticéad a fhail más féidir. D’éinne a bhfuil ticéad acu cheana féin, bain sult as an seó uathúil draíochtach!
Small Things Like These: Pictiúr d’Éire i rith thréimhse na Neachtlanna Mhaigdiléana
D’fhreastail
Sarah
Ní Dhubhghaill ar an gceoldráma
cáiliúla Hamilton
atá ar siúl san
Amharclann
Má tá tú ag lorg rud éigin éadrom nó “easy-watch” – ní hé Small Things Like These an scannán duitse. Is scannán mothúchánach, dian agus cumhachtach é a léiríonn an fhírinne de thréimhse dhorcha, náireach de stair Gaelach.
Feictear Cillian Murphy ar an scáileán mór mar Bill, fear atá ag streachailt le liostacht a shaoil laethúil agus na drochrudaí a fheiceann sé ag tarlú ina cheantar in Éirinn sa bhliain 1985. Is ceannaí guail é Bill atá ina chónaí leis a bhean chéile agus a gcúig iníon i mbaile beag ciúin; ach tá rud éigin mailíseach ag tarlú sa neachtlann atá ag na mná rialta, rud a bhfuil na daoine eile sa bhaile ag tabhairt neamhaird ar. Aimsíonn Bill é féin ag streachailt le heolas na n-imeachtaí a tharlaíonn sa neachtlann, agus troideann sé cath morálta leis féin maidir leis an rogha atá roimhe. Tá sé céasta ag cuimhní a óige agus
tugann sé aghaidh ar a stair, ag an am céanna aghaidh á thabhairt ar an am i láthair. Tá an scannán bunaithe ar an leabhar den ainm céanna le Claire Keegan, agus tar éis an leabhar á léamh, is féidir liom a rá go leanann an scannán an scéal go gruinn, agus ní raibh ach cúpla difríocht beag ann a thug mé faoi deara. É sin ráite, bhí léargas Cillian i bhfad níos cumhachtaí ná cad a bhí mé ag súil le. Léiríonn sé go sóiléir an choimhlint a bhí ar siúl i gcloigeann Bill; ar chóir dó cabhrú leis na gcailíní atá ag fulaingt faoi lámh an Eaglaise, nó ar chór dó neamhaird a thabhairt ar, mar a dhéanann na daoine eile sa cheantar? Léiríonn sé an trua, an mearbhall agus an gá chun cabhrú a mhothaíonn Bill. Cuireann a léargas le déine agus brón an scannáin, go háirithe mar gheall ar fhírinne na n-imeachtaí a tharla sa scannán a bhí ag tarlú in Éirinn ar feadh blianta. Is léiriú é seo ar na finnéithe a bhí ann; na ghnáthdaoine nach raibh an chumhacht nó an misneach acu athrú a dhéanamh.
Tá an t-atmaisféar dian ar feadh an scannáin ar fad; na roghanna a rinneadh maidir leis an cheol agus an soilsiú cruthaíonn mothú imní agus níl aon páirt amháin sa scannán atá éadrom nó áthasach. Nuair a chríochnaigh an scannán, chuala mé cúpla duine ag rá go raibh sé leadránach, ach dearfainn nach raibh ábhar
an scannáin ar eolas acu sula ndeachaigh siad. Caithfidh mé a rá go raibh sé mall ag amanna, ach ceapaim gur chuir sin leis an scéal agus an t-atmaisféar, agus dá ngluaisadh sé ar aghaidh go tapa, ní léiróidh sé eisint an scéil go héifeachtach. Is léir gur ról lárnach ag na Neachtlanna Mhaigdiléana sa scannán; ach ní fhaighimid ach spléachadh beag ar na rudaí a tharla taobh istigh de na neachtlanna a bhí oscailte go dtí 1966. Cuirtear níos mó béime ar an bhealach inar cheadaigh na rudaí seo a tharla arís is arís, an bealach inar chuireadh ciúnas ar na daoine. Is é 10,000 an uimhir oifigiúil mná agus cailíní a choinníodh faoi ghlas sna neachtlanna ó 1922 go 1996, áfach ceaptear go bhfuil an uimhir ceart i bhfad níos airde ná sin. Le sin ráite, is deacair gan a bheith ag smaoineadh “cén fáth ní dhearna duine ar bith rud éigin ina haghaidh?” Ach feictear sa scannán nach raibh sé chomh éasca rud éigin a dhéanamh faoi, agus faoin deireadh an scannáin, fágtar thú ag smaoineamh faoin rogha a bhí ag na daoine ag an am, chun a dteaghlaigh a chosaint nó cabhrú leis na cailíní bochta. Is í an rogha seo atá i gcroí an scannáin, agus spreagann sé an cheist; dá mbeafeá i mbróga Bill, cad a dhéanfeá?
Tá Small Things Like These le feiceáil i bpictiúrlanna uile na hÉireann anois.
Photo via Enda Bowe
Let’s talk porn
Tommie McHale discusses the implications of todays’ easy-toaccess porn for younger generations
When I was ten years old, I was playing soccer with friends after school. We’d message each other on Facebook and meet in a park alongside the river that connected our housing estates together. One of the boys got a Nokia Lumia for Christmas and was, as children do, showing it off with a series of now-anachronistic remarks such as “it can do way more than a Blackberry” and “it’s basically an iPod touch but you can call and text on it as well.”
After playing around with a few of the base apps, he opened a video he had downloaded featuring two women and a man having intense and aggressive penetrative sex. He saved it to his library from RedTube, a pornography site. Showing this was, at least in the case of my friend, a typical pre-adolescent boy’s attempt at accruing laughter via shock value. Gathering from the eruptions it ensued, it worked. But I also remember my stomach curdling, going “what the hell is this?” I had never seen sex before aside from movies which are scant on details due to motion picture guidelines. But porn was unfamiliar territory. It wasn’t until the age of twelve that I had even had my first romantic interaction. But still, two years prior, thanks to friends and technology, porn had found me. I soon came to realise this was a common case for most of my peers; most of us had been exposed to porn long before adolescence, and prior to when we began to explore our own sexualities. I now wonder as an adult if this is symptomatic of a larger problem.
The research is out, although it was already intuitive to many. Porn, and the tech we use to watch it, is harmful. By unnaturally hijacking the reward centre in our brains, it makes fostering real intimacy seem less interesting in comparison. This problem escalates with increased consumption. As overexposure to intense stimuli shows diminished returns over time, the neuroplastic brain adjusts to a new baseline of wants and pleasures that
were not there prior. It is the same feedback loop that explains why movies, or art of the past, are slow-moving and boring to us now. Our baseline has adjusted for more intense and instant gratification, and now our expectations need to be surpassed. In the case of porn, this bleeds into other areas of life. The National Institute of Health has associated porn with an increase in compulsive behaviours such as gambling and substance use.
It has always been the case
“ The National Institute of Health has associated porn with an increase in compulsive behaviours
that young boys will seek out sex, but unfettered access to pornography has changed the course of this. Before the age of fetish content at the click of the button, there were dial ups on adult television, or playboy magazines. Porn was alive and well for decades, except viewing it necessitated a valid ID at a sex shop and showing your face at the counter. Access was physically and imaginatively limited. If tweens or teens wanted to peer into the explicitly unknown, it meant they had to be cunning enough to catch a glimpse of it– maybe knowing a friend who owned a magazine, or changing the channel on
the remote when parents were coming down the stairs.
These obstacles are an example of what would be considered by the current self-help zeitgeist as ‘delayed gratification,’ and it likely has something to do with the fact that boomers and Gen X were having more sex in their heyday than the young men of today. They were also having less performance issues in bed, as opposed to nearly half of thirty-something year old men today in some Western regions, according to a 2018 study of 2000 British men. If restricted access to sexual media in the past meant that young men had little options but to connect romantically with others in the real world, could it be argued that the convenience of porn inhibits this, and is therefore partially responsible for mens ‘failure to launch’ today?
Porn is a gendered problem, with consequences on both ends. A study published by the Economic and Social Research institute showed that almost two thirds of twenty-year-old men in Ireland regularly view it as opposed to 13% of women. As much as 91.5% of men in some studies have consumed some form of porn in the previous month. This disparity not only proves that consumption is particularly a male epidemic, but it also proves that the pornification of our culture is engineered to satisfy men’s desires for profit. Take the depiction of women; swollen breasts and a lack of pubic hair is the norm in the world of porn. For female adult actresses, not only is there pressure to remain as aesthetically desirable as possible, it also means performing the kind of sex that satisfies the fantasies of those audiences.
And what are the outcomes of this? An analysis published
on fightthenewdrug.org, a non-profit organisation founded to raise awareness on porns pervasive impact on society, found that 88.2% of among the highest viewed porn videos featured physical violence and aggression, and 48.7% contained verbal aggression. How are young women expected to co-exist interpersonally with a male population who are regularly interacting with this content?
The ethical question regarding porn does not just concern the effect it has on its (primarily male) consumers, it concerns its performers too. Mia Khalifa was twenty-one when she starred in a string of adult film videos over the course of three months after being ‘scouted’ by an alleged ‘modelling’ agency. She was compensated twelve thousand dollars for content that went on to generate millions. Although her career was a three month stint, she subsequently became the subject of online abuse from ISIS sympathisers and online trolls for years and now regrets her decision to enter the industry. Adult film actress Riley Reid shared that her career made her a recluse and ruined her relationship with friends and family, who cut her off after the revelation of her line of work. She would also no longer consider having children for fear of the harassment her children would receive.
The supply chain of porn will always leave a destructive trail behind itself. But who is to blame for this? Is it big tech, careless parents, or is it both? We know that tech companies extract data from the attention consumers give to their products – this data is collected to make these products more efficient, easier to use, and more addictive. If Silicon Valley has
Photo: Pexels
“
If Silicon Valley has catalysed an addiction-prone generation, are these companies also responsible for the porn epidemic?
catalysed an addiction-prone generation in general, are these companies also responsible for the porn epidemic? In the case of parents, many find convenience in the endless stream of occupancy tech offers their children. Is it easier to ‘keep an eye’ on a child when they’re in the physical safety of their bedroom as opposed to wandering in the outdoors, even if that means the illicit viewing of porn? If most parents would not allow their children to walk alone in an adult shop, why are children granted access to devices that permits them to virtually do the same, but essentially worse thing? Is it even possible to regulate a problem that has tacitly entrenched itself so deep within our social ecosystem?
I believe on some level we have a societal obligation to confront pornography when its unrestricted freedom has, in this case, with empirical evidence, caused a great deal of damage. On a grassroots and legislative level, we owe it to ourselves.
Love in the age of screens: blessing or curse?
Sadhbh Long dives into the online discourse of what we owe one another
Growing up, movies became my first guide to relationships. Like many, I looked to 90’s romance films for hints of what love could, or should, look like. When I think back about the films that I watched and rewatched, those which formed my earliest ideas about love, they are primarily Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.
Watching 90s romantic comedies shaped my impression of relationships, but they also presented an idealised view that reality rarely matched. In Notting Hill, for example, we watch the story of a famous actress and a regular bookstore owner fall in love. Yet, despite its charm, the relationship portrayed is far from grounded. The characters barely know each other, yet they’re willing to forgive and overlook enormous red flags. The actress repeatedly dismisses and hurts the main character, who inexplicably forgives her each time. There’s a continuous cycle of longing and misunderstandings, yet the movie ends with a “happily ever after.” Looking back, it’s hard not to question if this is a healthy portrayal—especially when trust seems to be missing from their relationship. Yet, for many, including myself, this pattern became symbolic of what romance might entail.
Four Weddings and a Funeral provides another example of these larger-thanlife expectations of love. In this story, two characters meet sporadically at, as the title suggests, four weddings and a funeral. After a few brief encounters, they decide they’re in love, a sentiment largely expressed through grand gestures and confessions. While passionate, it also creates a skewed expectation that love must be dramatic, or filled with bold proclamations, to be real. Such portrayals suggest that deep love is proven by monumental gestures—when, in reality, consistent care and understanding are far more sustainable foundations for relationships.
Perhaps the most playful of the lot, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days stands out for its satirical take on relationship
problematic and should not be tolerated in real relationships. In its own way, the film hints at the importance of healthy boundaries, even if it’s wrapped up in a whirlwind of humour and absurdity.
It’s hard not to question if this is a healthy portrayal... for many, including myself, this pattern became symbolic of what romance might entail “ “
dynamics. Though exaggerated and comical, it does offer a hint of reality by showcasing the quirks and frustrations that can arise in relationships. The storyline is far-fetched—a couple brought together by a bet and antics—but there’s an acknowledgment that much of the behaviour depicted is wildly
In recent years, movies have begun to shift away from the “love conquers all” trope to portray more realistic and nuanced relationships. La La Land stands out as a striking example of this shift. The film tells the story of two people deeply in love, but torn between their relationship and their individual dreams. It paints a vivid picture of the sacrifices and tensions that come with balancing personal ambition and love—a choice that many young people face as they navigate their careers. Watching La La Land from the perspective of being in a relationship added a bittersweet layer to the experience. The movie resonates because it doesn’t romanticise a perfect solution; it simply presents a story in which love is powerful, but so are dreams. The ending is neither fully happy nor tragic, but rather captures the lingering “what ifs” that come with life’s pivotal choices.
Another recent example that resonates for its raw honesty is Normal People, based on Sally Rooney’s novel. The
story follows two young people through the highs and lows of love, portraying an intensely realistic, if at times heavy, relationship. What sets Normal People apart is its emphasis on the often-unseen complexities of relationships—the awkward conversations, the insecurities, the conflicts that arise from personal insecurities and past trauma. It also portrays the struggles of having a meaningful relationship at a young age, when both people are still figuring out who they are independently. This realism is refreshing compared to the “soulmate” trope of earlier romcoms, and it resonates because it’s deeply relatable. For many, Normal People shed a light on the fact that relationships aren’t always about grand gestures; often, they’re about being there for your partner, working through challenges, and growing together.
Reflecting on these films, it’s clear that the media has played a dual role in shaping our ideas about love. The rom-coms of the past presented love as grand and all-encompassing, but they also set us up for disappointment, giving us unrealistic expectations. More recent portrayals like La La Land and Normal People offer a healthier, albeit sometimes painful, perspective. They
Appreciate these stories for what they are: reflections on love’s many forms
remind us that love is multifaceted and often filled with compromise and heartbreak.
The media can be both a blessing and a curse when it comes to understanding love. Though it offers glimpses of happy ever after, it’s essential to approach these portrayals critically. Relationships are rarely as cinematic as movies make them seem, and recognizing this can free us from the pressures of matching on-screen ideals. Instead, perhaps the best takeaway is to appreciate these stories for what they are: reflections on love’s many forms, each carrying a lesson about the beauty and messiness of being human.
Age gaps and relationships, social rules and Sally Rooney
Cat Grogan considers the interplay between age and power in the relationships of Intermezzo and what it is in relationships that really matters
Relationships are political. Although defined by love, relationships are, like politics, characterised by power plays and power struggles. As someone who is now very much on the older side of campus, I have been thinking a lot about the power and responsibility that age grants you in social relations. This is something that Sally Rooney, throughout her writing, has explored and exposed with both discerning insight and poetic craft. In her latest release, Intermezzo, she does it again, shining a light on the power that is dictated within a relationship by one’s age
gap and gender, and the interplay between them.
I think, historically, there are numerous factors, all stemming from the patriarchy, that have led to the construction of the social rule that it is acceptable for men to date younger women, but not the other way around. The paternalistic male provider would formerly have needed time to accrue wealth to support his wife who would make home, with the contribution she would bring to the union only being aided by her youth; enhanced child bearing ability and the fetishised purity of virginity and innocence that has been historically valued in women. There is also the biological argument that boys mature at a later age than girls. But maturity runs according to the individual, and at a certain point these social constructions no longer serve us. The man’s role in a relationship is no longer that of bread winner and the woman’s is no longer that of baby maker. Might we all not better be served if the power implications of individual relationships were considered more important than archaic social rules about who gets to date whom?
Rooney exposes clearly in
Intermezzo that it is not the gender of the older or younger party that determines the perverted or genuine nature of the relationship but rather the intricacies of the relationship therein, the intentions and feelings of those involved. The protagonists of Intermezzo, Peter and Ivan, are brothers set apart in age by ten years. Both are involved in relationships with a sizable age gap, with 32 year old Peter seeing the 22 year old final year college student Naomi, whilst Ivan dates Margaret, a 36 year old recently separated from her husband.
Despite the comparable age gaps between the partners in each couple, the lens through which each relationship is viewed is laden with double standards. Peter, in a moment absolutely devoid of self-awareness, asks Ivan what it is that must be wrong with Margaret for her to be dating a man so much younger than herself. Margaret, meanwhile, is all too aware of the social judgement that she will be met with should her relationship with Ivan become public knowledge, “To know herself the object of disgust and vilification, not only imagined but real.” It is only at the novel’s end that Peter realises the genuine and unselfish nature of Margaret’s affection for his brother and “the inexpressible depth of his misunderstanding” of their relationship and, by extension, of “life itself.”
No matter what age you are, you always think you are fully grown, able to take care of
yourself and maintain control. This was certainly the case for me when I was starting off in college and involved, however fleetingly, with boys on the older side of campus. I think, however, that the older party in a relationship almost always has a certain degree of power that both parties might not be aware of. Peter considers the younger Naomi as “his little plaything,” with the power dynamics of their relationship being further skewed by the financial support and accommodation that he provides her with. Yet Peter is completely spared any social vilification for their relationship, with his fear of social sanctioning only emerging when he endeavours to enter into a non conventional relationship that would break with society’s monogamous standards by allowing him to be not only with Naomi but also with Sylvia, Peter’s former girlfriend, current best friend and long term life partner, “the social death that awaits him now. What will he tell people.”
But there is more to relationships than power, and the most profound relationships can undermine the social forces that seek to curtail their existence. These are relationships that make sense in spite of the societal policing that would rather they didn’t. As Amia Srinivasan highlights in her book The Right to Sex, using a public and political lens to try and understand private realms of life does not always work, for the nuances of personal lives cannot always be comprehend-
ed through political thinking. There are times in life when a union cannot be understood through description and can only make sense if lived. I say this as someone who was raised in a non-nuclear family built upon unconventional unions. If you were to consider the relational agreement formed between Peter, Sylvia and Naomi by the novel’s end purely through a public lens, you might come to the conclusion that something is amiss. But when you consider that their union is formed between people who love one another and want to continue loving one another in the manner that they do, the need to critique it politically is removed. And so, whilst relationships are often influenced by power dynamics and politics, they cannot be reduced to these interplays.
In succumbing to her feelings for Ivan rather than policing her actions so as to satisfy society, Margaret blows open the possibilities for her life, “in ten years’ time, against all odds, they might look back and laugh together.” It is, I think, in the most profound of relationships that these societal considerations become less relevant; for what worth does social policing hold in the face of love? It might just be these very unions, which are formed in spite of fear of judgement, in which the parties involved persist despite the risk of social persecution, that the relationships in question are strongest, most meaningful, most characterised by love itself.
Ruby Jones for Trinity News
Photo: Goodreads
A grudge will tear us apart again
Mia Craven unpacks the quiet destruction of relationships by hidden grudges and how to manage it
There is a spectre that often haunts relationships. It lurks beneath the surface of the one you love, like a parasite hijacking their brain. It rewires their thoughts and redirects their affections and eventually turns on you. The scariest part is that the process is near undetectable. After all, you trust this person. You believe them when they forgive you. You trust them when they say they’re okay. And you don’t realise it was all a lie until it’s too late.
We all harbour resentment, and I don’t fault anyone for doing so. When we feel hard done by, especially by someone we care about, the resulting resentment can be a hard thing to shake. We hold grudges because our feelings of genuine hurt have not been adequately addressed. But what about the injury that hiding these grievances may cause? What about when this perpetuates a perennial cycle of emotional harm?
In keeping our bitterness to ourselves, we place an unrelenting strain on our relationships. Imagine a nightmarish scenario. You are in the arms of the one you love or hate (you can’t quite decide), you feel ill at ease as you recall all the disrespect they’ve displayed towards you, questioning why you’re even with someone who hurt you
“ Surely we owe our partners an insight into the indignation that brews, rather than simply leaving them clueless as to why we act so coldly
so badly and hasn’t even asked for your forgiveness. But how does your oblivious counterpart feel as you tense in response to their touch, as you recoil when they’re just trying to reach out?
Surely we owe our partners an insight into the indignation that brews, rather than simply leaving them clueless as to why we act so coldly.
Or, you could consider the damage done when the secret is revealed, but far too late in the game. Put yourself in the initial offender’s shoes this time.
You think you are completely in the green with this person, after all, they haven’t told you otherwise. But take one wrong step and they launch a polemic against you, attacking your innumerable flaws and detailing all the terrible things you’ve been doing since day one. The immediate response is, “Why am I only learning about this now?”, quickly succeeded by “What else are you hiding from me? Just how much of me do you despise?”
You can only keep your shock, and displeasure, a secret for
so long. Once the cat is out of the bag, distrust is sowed and the relationship becomes even more impervious to repair.
This is not to say everything can be solved by merely talking about what’s bothering us. I recall a conversation I had with my first boyfriend, during which I told him I was finding it hard to let go of the pain he had caused me in the past. He told me, essentially, that he had explained his behaviour and said sorry. It was up to me now whether I wanted to forget about it, or allow our relationship to deteriorate because I couldn’t let go. He had a point, but I think he was lacking insight into a crucial aspect of forgiveness. When we open up about our hurt feelings, we hope for a heartfelt response. We are not looking for an unenthusiastic apology, or a play-by-play explanation of why this person did the harmful thing. We are looking to be listened to and understood. We want the offender to realise the hurt they have caused, and to feel
“ If we want to give our relationships the best shot, we ought to confide our sorrows and aim to realease our feelings of resentment no matter how scary that seems
remorse accordingly. Most of all, we want a response that creates space for forgiveness.
Opening up about your grudges means you want to move on from them. You are giving this person the chance to repent because you want the relationship to proliferate. If you want to maintain a relationship with someone in the long term, you have to address your hurt head on, no matter how uncomfortable you worry it might be.
If we want to give our relationships the best shot, we ought to confide our sorrows and aim to release our feelings of resentment, no matter how scary that may seem. Opening up is daunting. There is always the fear of coming across as antagonistic and as such destroying the very relationship we seek to save. But I have found that most people are open to working with their partners, and eager to grow and change alongside them. We can’t expect people to read our minds, to know precisely what we want, or what exactly irks us. But if we open up about our emotions, we can expect the people we trust to listen.
Of course, we sometimes hold onto grudges for good reason. The offence may be too great, or maybe they hurt you one too many times, or maybe a larger incompatibility has been revealed within your relationship. Whatever the reason, if you cannot resolve your dissatisfaction then it is a sign to move on from this person.
“ We can’t expect people to read our minds, to know precisely what we want or what exactly irks us
Grudges are an unavoidable part of life, whether we find ourselves being the subject or object of one. They teach us things about ourselves and each other, and what we value in a relationship.. The best thing we can do in response to a grudge is embrace it. Hear what it has to say. But don’t just accept its words - be critical about it. You get to decide who wins, the grudge or the relationship. It’s up to you.
Anna Sofia Scheele for Trinity News
A TRINITY CROSSWORD 13
Clues Across
1. The street unto which Goldsmith’s Hall opens (8,3)
8. Essential constituent of concrete (6)
10. Handwriting and the text of a play (6)
11. The East (6)
12. A shortened large country of North America (3)
13. Adam and Eve’s garden (4)
15. Preposition expressing relationship (2)
16. An eight prefix (4)
17. A Shannon lough (3)
18. An Irish university city (4)
19. They are often accompanied with downs (3)
20. Proofreaders’ sign for transpose in a theatre (2)
21. Archimedes’ famous shout (6)
22. Fox ...... English pioneer of photography; alternatively a city-centre street (6)
23. Letters seen on a car from Buncrana (2)
24. The main artery in the body (6)
25. The open area facing Houses 33 to 37 (3,6)
28. A dean of Denmark (4)
30. The language in which the grace before Commons is said (5)
31. Dismiss a large bag (4)
32. Dublin suburb where Trinity Hall is located (6)
33. Fur-trimmed garment worn over the shoulders to indicate the wearer’s degree (4)
34. A pair of performers, particularly in music (3)
36. A ceremony or rite from Tulari! (6)
Clues Down
1,2. One of the four thoroughfares that converge at the southern end of the 5 down bridge (12,6)
3. Another of those thoroughfares (5,4)
4. The third of those thoroughfares (1’5,6)
5. Irish patriot, hailed as The Liberator, and after whom a Dublin street and bridge are named (1’7)
6. Plural pronoun (2)
7. Sir Francis, the Irish hydrographer, who created the scale of wind speeds, that bears his name (8)
9. Capable of being located, from T. B. A. Clarke (9)
Medium Puzzle #1
14. The thoroughfare that runs west from the front of College (4.6)
15. A 1983 James Bond/Roger Moore movie, or a restaurant in Howth (9)
23. The Count that was created by Irish author Bram Stoker (7)
26. Device that detects and/or measures a physical property (6)
27. This institute houses the map library in College (5)
29. Dear Me! (4)
33. A short exclamation of surprise in a phone
34. 501 in dining! (2)
Solution to last issue’s crossword
Crossword courtesy of Randal Henly
Documenting the dangers in women’s healthcare
The dangers of lack of research, deadly metals in tampons, and carcinogenic birth control are pervasive
Kasia Holowka
Contributing Writer
Not so long ago, the discovery of metals in period products broke the news and became a viral sensation across social media platforms.
A US study examining 14 different brands of tampons found that they all contained measurable concentrations of lead and other metals. The study was founded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and it highlighted the lack of research on the long-term safety of feminine hygiene products, specifically regarding the absorption of chemicals into the body.
Many women were outraged that they had been unknowingly exposing themselves to lead, cadmium, and arsenic. With women’s health already historically underresearched, until recently, period products were tested with saline solution instead of blood. Covid vaccines were designed primarily for men, similar to many other treatments, and even car safety features. On top of this, news came out that birth control was potentially carcinogenic - a finding that has necessitated calls for greater understanding of the dangers facing women’s health.
The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) published an article in March this year explaining why we know so little about women’s health. They explored the historical and ongoing underrepresentation of women in medical research and clinical trials. For decades, women were often excluded from studies as their bodies were viewed as atypical, while men’s bodies were deemed as the ‘norm’. Unsurprisingly, this has led to a gap in knowledge about how medications and medical
devices affect females. Biological sex can contribute to physiological, metabolic, hormonal, and even cellular differences, which in turn can influence how diseases present themselves.
Since then, there have been several crucial policy changes.
This includes in 1993, when the FDA reversed its 1977 guidance to exclude women of reproductive potential from participating in early phase clinical research, officially mandating the inclusion of women in research unless there is a justification for exclusion (for example, if the health issue in question only affects men). Similarly, in 2001, The Institute of Medicine released a report that demonstrated how sex difference influences biology and should be studied as a variable in clinical research. However, despite these policy changes, a Harvard Medical School study in 2022 found that women, as of 2019, were still substantially underrepresented in clini-
“Women [are] still substantially underrepresented in clinical trials for diseasesleading
cal trials for leading diseases.
The AAMC has also highlighted that despite progress, women, particularly women of colour, are still underrepresented in trials.
Greater gaps were outlined in a report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine: “Women’s health has been underresearched throughout its history,” said Christopher Zahn, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. “Not including women in research on topics such as cardiovascular disease (CVD), HIV medications, and COVID-19 vaccination has led to harm.”
Recounting the deeply unethical research conducted on Black individuals throughout history, Angela Doyinsola Aina, from Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA),
emphasised the disproportionate impact of the maternal health crisis on Black moth-
“
ers and birthing people in the U.S.Evidently, there is still a lot of room for improvement regarding women’s health, and iIt is not only medical research that lacks depth. Everyday period products and contraceptives making news for their potential negative health risks has left many questioning whether they are safe at all.
yet know if these metals can come out of the tampons or be absorbed by the body, and so we don't know if they could have any impact on health.”
“ Everyday period products and contraceptives making news for their potential negative health risks have left many questioning
One fourth-year Medicine student, Olga, told Trinity News that the safety of period products is often overlooked: “any new drug has to go through several clinical stages of research before it is approved for commercial use. However, the same cannot be said for everyday products such as pads or tampons.” However, she stated that she does not know the details regarding the process of putting these products on the market.
Further investigation is also needed to determine if these metals can cross the vaginal tissue into systemic circulation and be absorbed by the body.
“We found 12 of the 16 metals we tested for, including some toxic metals like lead, present in 100% of the tampons we tested,” Jenni Shearston, a postdoctoral scholar in the Environmental Science, Policy, & Management department at the University of California, Berkeley, explained on NIEHS News. “However, we want to urge people not to panic because we don’t
Two of the main metals found in period products, lead and arsenic, did incite widespread panic online. Popular news channels like CNN, Mdecialnewstoday, and Sky news published articles on the topic. Many women also shared their opinions on TikTok, Instagram, Threads, and X (formerly Twitter) making the topic go viral.
Lead is a metal found throughout the earth and is used in a variety of products: gasoline, paint, batteries, and even cosmetics. It remains a significant public health concern because of persistent lead hazards in the environment. Lead can cause long-term harm in adults and children. It mainly increases the risk of high blood pressure, cardiovascular problems and kidney damage.
Arsenic is also a naturally occurring, semi-metallic element widely distributed in the Earth’s crust. It is found in water, air, and soil. Many scientists, paediatricians, and public health professionals are concerned about the health effects of low-level exposure to arsenic. “I have already for years tried to stray away from one-use-only products, mostly for ecological reasons,” Olga comments. “In the light of the newest findings, I’m really glad I did.”
Period products are not the only female health products that have made the news recently. The possible risk of cancer linked to hormonal birth control has also prompted people to question the safe-
The possible risk of cancer linked to hormonal birth control leads one to thequestion safety of women’s healthcare
ty aspects of women’s health.
The National Cancer Institute has explored the relationship between the contraceptive pill and the prospect of cancer, providing statistics on the risks associated with their use. According to their findings, the contraceptive pill slightly increases the risk of breast cancer (7% increase for women who have ever taken the contraceptives and 24% for those currently taking them) and cervical cancer (risk increase varies from 10% to 60%). The risk increase, however, is temporary and can diminish ten years after stopping the pill. Meanwhile, it lowers the risk of ovarian (30% to 50% lower) and endometrial cancer (reduced by at least 30%).
“When it comes to the carcinogenic effects of hormonal birth control, we usually refer to the increased risk of developing e.g. breast cancer. At the same time, however, they decrease the risk of ovarian cancer, which is much more malignant. Therefore we could argue, without taking into account other side effects of hormonal birth control, that it may do more good than bad.” Olga added. “It is also crucial to mention that there is no perfect drug. Even such popular drugs, such as some targeting diabetes may increase the risk of certain tumours, which doesn’t meanwe should stop administering them, as they may save some people’s lives here and now.” Although health organisations are making progress with including women in their studies,women’s health is still widely underresearched, especially when it comes to women of different gender, race, or of older age.
“Honestly, I’m not sure how much of an impact systemic sexism could have had on research when it comes to other aspects to [consider], pad-like products have been used for centuries. I suppose, when humanity finally gained access to such materials like plastic, they just went all for it.” Olga asserted. Throughout the last decade, there has been a push to conduct research in a more inclusive way, although as said previously, many women are still underrepresented. There are ways to support the change through NIHR, the Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR), or the Women’s Health Research Institute (WHRA), with such support crucial for eliminating the dangerous gender disparity in the medical sphere.
“We’re not in trouble”: contemporary attitudes towards reading
Trinity News speaks to students and staff about current students’ ability to read
Libby Marchant Food and Drink Co-Editor
At the start of this month, The Atlantic published an article titled “The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books”. The writer interviewed various English Literature professors at Columbia University about a new trend among students; they can’t read long books. The main takeaway from the article was not only that students are unable to read long books but that even when they are reading, they are unable to grapple with complex ideas and often give up when they don’t understand something.
Trinity News asked students and staff whether they think reading is becoming more and more difficult; the answer was a resounding no. Both lecturers and students agree that rather than reading multiple books or academic articles per week, it’s better to instead focus on one text at a time and take longer to fully understand it.
All of the students that Trinity News interviewed had finished a book, cover to cover, within the last three weeks. Tara Dempsey, a fourth year Sociology student, said “I’m sure a lot of people are talking about the bad effects of social media and TikTok on our attention spans and our ability to read. I also think it is interesting to note the effects of online communities, things like Goodreads, like ‘booktok’, … I think those groups that are created on these platforms and fostered by these platforms do have an effect on people and their willingness to read… [making them] feel more connected, because reading is a pretty solitary hobby. Having those communities online can really help make that hobby more social”.
Marnie Clarke, a fourth year English Literature student, agreed, saying “Booktok, love it or hate it, has done wonders
for reading. I have family members that would never read, but now they love Colleen Hoover or Emily Henry. I think that reading is widespread to those that it’s accessible to.”
As well as regularly finishing books cover to cover, all of the students interviewed also said they read widely. From the contemporary Frankenstein and Cleopatra to The Iliad, students enjoy and regularly read ‘difficult’ books for pleasure, such as Wuthering Heights and Middlemarch.
These Trinity students therefore concluded that reading remains extremely popular. As Clarke said, “I think reading is as essential as TV, where it’s entertainment. That’s what it has always been - it’s entertainment. It’s important to not always be so stuck in work and college. It’s important to have that escape. And then at its most serious form, it’s educational, and also helps empathy. It is a very useful tool to have in your life. Whether it’s essential to your job or it’s just essential to your sanity, coming home and reading a chapter of like, Girl, Woman, Other might be essential. I do think people are at least buying books. People are reading some of them.”
Problems arise, as Julie Stroemple, a fourth year Sociology and Politics student told Trinity News, when lecturers assign too much reading for their modules. She said, “If there was one reading that I could actually focus on that would be way better than having three readings and not knowing which one is going
to be the most beneficial for me. Especially in Sociology, I know that if everyone’s read a different article, It can be hard to facilitate a discussion.”
She estimated that if she was to read every single reading assigned for all of her classes properly, it would take her seventy five hours. She wishes lecturers would do the “math in their head when they’re publishing the reading list of readings of actually how much this is.” Dr.Roderick Condon, a teaching fellow in Trinity’s Sociology department, told Trinity News that he wasn’t aware of how many other modules his students took and could not estimate the amount of hours his students spent reading.
He spoke to Trinity News about this, saying “I’m less inclined to assign abstract or harder readings. My sense is that as soon as the difficulty is encountered, the competition for attention comes into bear, and then my fear would be that students would give up”.
Codon emphasised this issue of students’ short attention spans, especially when it comes to challenging texts. He asserted that “rather than students not doing the reading, they [will] look at the reading, but they want to short circuit through it. And so they’ll be looking for ‘how do you do it quickly?’ And that might involve maybe just glancing at the abstract or just glossing over it”. He understood the importance of reading academic books cover to cover but also admitted that it would be unrealistic to expect students
to read a full length book for his classes. When asked if she re-read articles that contained difficult to understand topics, Stroemple told Trinity News “I typically don’t have time [...] to read it multiple times, to understand it. I just kind of do my best to get through it and hope I take something from it”. The solution to this problem might be to assign less reading but to expect more analysis from students. Dr. Margaret Robson, a lecturer in Trinity’s English department, teaches a class which focuses on just one text, the eleven hundred page Underworld by Don DeLillo. She believes that there is little difference between the current generation of students and past generations, saying, “some students read everything, some don’t. Some students read what they need to read. It’s always
Some students read everything, some don’t. Some students read what they need to read. It’s beenalways the same “
been the same”.
She is not worried about her students’ abilities to grapple with complex ideas. As she told Trinity News; “I am really proud of the way the students deal with such a long and complex text. They’re making connections between one section and another, which is not easy. It’s not a sequential narrative. It’s not simple, but they’re reading back, they read something in the first chapter and then subsequently said, ‘Hang on a minute. That connects with that.’ That’s attentive reading. I’m very impressed.”
Perhaps in the past, students would have been expected to read more than they do today, but this does not mean that students’ aren’t engaging with complex ideas. The students interviewed spoke about reading with passion and emphasised its continued importance in the world for professional, as well as personal reasons. As Dempsey said “I think that any kind of reading, whether it’s shorter articles, or big, long novels and series of books, is going to be useful to you in your professional life, in your future career. Reading books since a very, very young age has made me much more competent in my academic work and in any professional work that I’ve done. It’s my literacy skills that have helped me: having that command of the English language, even in writing emails or applying for jobs, being able to use English in a way that is understood by people very well… it’s really important”.
The perils of juggling parenthood with education
A look inside the life of Trinity’s student parents
Swantje Mohrbeck Contributing Writer
In response to the challenges faced by student parents, Trinity College Dublin Students' Union (TCDSU) Council has committed €20,000 over five years to a new fund,designed to alleviate the financial burdens that arise during school holidays. This initiative highlights the complex balancing act that many student parents at Trinity navigate daily; managing the demands of academia alongside the responsibilities of raising children. But what does life truly look like for a student with children?
Asling Deegan, a first-year clinical speech and language studies student, shared that her day usually begins at seven o’clock. “I have to get up, usually around seven, get ready very fast, and get my son ready very fast,” she explained. After dropping off her four-year-old son at the morning club, she races to campus, often just in time for her nine o’clock class.
First-year psychology student Debora’s days follow a similar rhythm. With her 12-year-old daughter in primary school, her days start early as she navigates getting her child ready before attending lectures. “Most of my lectures end at four or six. So I finish and go pick her up at school, and then I go home to do the chores, the food, the cleaning [...] it is a bit stressful,” she admitted.
Olena Romanova, a psychology student from Ukraine raising a nine-year-old son with autism, echoed the same sentiment. She described her struggles, saying: “The most difficult days are when something goes wrong... I need to organise babysitting or change my plans.”
“ The most difficult days are when something goes wrong...
For many student parents, this weight of responsibility can feel isolating, particularly when their peers are engaged in social activities that seem out of reach. “You know, because so many of the other students are so young, and they are always talking about parties. I don't have anything to say about parties; I don't go,” Debora said.“That's the only thing I would love. Going out with my colleagues. They are always on our WhatsApp group planning to go somewhere, I wish I could go just for one day,”she added.
Despite these hurdles, the motivation driving students-parents is profound. For many, the desire to create a better future for their families fuels their commitment to education. Deegan reflected on her choice to return to college after having her son, stating, “I just want to be a good example for him.”
Debora echoed this sentiment, noting that her education serves as an important lesson
“ I just want to be a good example for [my child]
for her daughter. “What motivates me is the future [...] I want to show my daughter that education is important,” she shared.
For Romanova, pursuing her studies isn’t just a path to financial stability; it is also a way to find personal fulfilment. “Picking up to go and study again and get a degree in psychology, it was not only for money but for my self-esteem. For my child as well, it's really important to know that you shouldn’t sacrifice your dreams just to navigate this life and survive.”
Such resilience, as Romanova continued, is a lesson one can pass on: "Don't show your children that you are struggling just because you have obligations to pay bills and all this stuff, you have to fulfil yourself as well. Always ask yourself: What do I want to do in this life?”
In recognition of Recognising the challenges student parents and others face, Trinity offers various financial aids to alleviate the burdens. Deegan expressed her gratitude for these provisions: “There are so many different financial funds that I can get. I applied for the student assistant fund and for the 1960 bursary, and if I get that, then I really won't have to worry about anything.”
However, not all of these aids
are accessible for all students. As Romanova shared, “In my case, it's a bit difficult, because there are support services in Ireland, for Mature Students and parents [for EU citizens]. But I'm not an EU citizen and under temporary protection, so sometimes they don’t work for me.”
On the pastoral side, the TCDSU has also formed a support network specifically for student parents, hoping to address their unique challenges. Katelyn Mullan Galvin, the Student Carer Officer, emphasised the importance of these groups, stating, “It's crucial for student parents to have a voice on campus. We aim to create spaces where they can share their experiences and find solidarity.”
Many student parents find comfort in connecting with peers who understand their struggles. Debora highlighted the importance of these interactions:“I have two friends in my class who are moms,” she said, “and we often talk about our challenges.”
The TCDSU support network also organises events that allow student parents to include their children in the academic environment. Activities like family-friendly gatherings create opportunities for bonding and interaction for both parents and children, allowing student parents to navigate college life without leaving their children behind. . Deegan ex-
“A lot of the lecturers, won’t say anything to me, but they’ll maybe make a comment, or they’ll give me a look, that makes it very clear that they’re not very happy that I have my son with me
pressed her excitement about these initiatives, noting, “It's nice that my son will be able to be involved in college. He's always so curious as to what I'm doing here, and he loves it when I bring him around.”
While the College has made
strides in supporting student parents, significant gaps remain. For example, current childcare facilities at Trinity only accommodate children up to four and a half years, leaving student parents with older children without sufficient care options. Mullan Galvin pointed out, “Quite a lot of student parents have children who are in primary school, and they need care for their children when the primary school day is over.” This forces parents to choose between their education and their responsibilities at home.
Deegan, who sometimes has to bring her son to her mandatory afternoon lectures due to a lack of adequate childcare past 5pm, shared that “a lot of the lecturers, won't say anything to me, but they'll maybe make a comment, or they'll give me a look, that makes it very clear that they're not very happy that I have my son with me.
But I would rather have that than repeat a module in the summer because I couldn't get childcare sorted for that day.”
Moreover, while certain College policies exist to address specific issues that arise from being a student parent, as Mullan Galvin noted, consistent enforcement is a critical issue. For instance, the College commits itself to “prioritise family-friendly timetables” where feasible, but as Deegan's story shows, sometimes these commitments aren’t met. Despite the challenges these students face, progress is being made. As Mullan Galvin n, put it: ”the student body has fundamentally changed. There are students who work, there are students who look after loved ones, who are parents, and we need a level playing field”, for all of these people to be able to succeed academically.”
Photo: Flicker, Adely Haywood
An fíor Dracula: An Éireannach é?!
Hannah Joung Page 20
From muse to maker
Continued from front page
from here that the etymology of the word museum stems, with the museum originally being the place that the muses were worshipped.) Originally, these goddesses were in control of their own destiny, but somewhere along the way in the annals of history the term got distorted such that the muse became only a source of inspiration for the male creator, with the muse herself being shut out of the act of creation.
The artist-muse relationship is traditionally romanticised and there is, admittedly, a certain allure to this ethereal role. There is a seeming grandiosity granted to the woman from which the artist is said to draw his inspiration, without whom the art would be directionless and lost. In the evocative words of Germaine Greer, “in a reversal of gender roles, she penetrates or inspires him and he gestates and brings forth, from the womb of the mind.” And yet the muse is anonymous and underestimated rather than a person in her own right, the object being acted upon rather than the acting subject. As Zadie Smith writes in A Sentimental Education, from the perspective of a young woman speaking of men: “Don’t talk about them like they’re objects, they don’t like it. They want to be the subject in all situations. Don’t you try and be the subject.”
The muse was often an artist and creator in her own right whose role would be overshadowed by the man whom she served, with her own career becoming progressively sidelined as the male artists’ career grew. There was a time when this position as muse might
Cat Grogan Deputy Life Editor
have been the only avenue through which aspiring female artists could gain access to the male world of art to which they were barred entry, posing as models, for example, in schools in which they were not themselves permitted to enrol. Just as in the wider patriarchy, the woman in the artist-muse relationship plays a quiet but integral supplementary role for which the forward facing man is credited. This is blatant with the amount of women artists who are referred to only in relation to the male artists to which they were muse (just last term, a classmate of mine referred to the work of Yoko Ono as that of “John Lennon’s wife”).
This is not to say that there is no beauty in a working artistic relationship in which there is interplay and collaboration between the subjects, an
exchange of power rather than a hoarding of it. This, however, is not the artist-muse relationship as we know it, in which the female muse is depicted only through the eyes of the male artist, denying the woman self-determining agency. Moving away from this pattern of creation is not only a feminist endeavour but also one which serves art itself, with the best art emerging from neither navel gazing nor detachment but rather a simultaneous examination of both one’s inner and outer world. As Frieda Kahlo, who is most famous for her self-portraits, declared: “I am my own muse. I am the subject I know best.” There is a lot to be said for this drawing of inspiration from the self rather than from the aesthetic beauty of the subject before you.
In Boland’s, own words: “I began to write in an Ireland
“ Moving away from this pattern of creation is not only as feminist endeavour but also one which serves the art
where the word ‘woman’ and the word ‘poet’ seemed to be in some sort of magnetic opposition to each other.” Boland was acutely aware of the marginalised position held by women in Irish society and history, and much of her life’s work was a quietly persistent resistance to
this assigned place. Through her poetry she honoured with honesty the extraordinary daily life of women, “I wanted to put the life I lived into the poem I wrote. And the life I lived was a woman’s life. And I couldn’t accept the possibility that the life of the woman would not, or could not, be named in the poetry of my own nation.”
Boland’s life was, relative to standard conceptions of artistic fame, conspicuously ordinary. The work that she did, however, was not. For in carving out a space for women in Ireland to be both creators in their art and in their life, she moved women from the position of object to subject, muse to maker. It is an act of poetic justice that Trinity’s library, home to writing and learning, quiet study and humble thinking, should be honoured with her name.
Giulia Vettore for Trinity News
The student movement must develop a liberatory political programme
This year proves that united as students, we can pressure the authorities and win on important issues. We stopped fee increases, rent hikes, discriminatory canteen policies and secured divestment from war-crimes. We mobilized in large numbers, earning the ire of university managers and government ministers alike. Hundreds joined various campaign groups, showing that our erstwhile apathy has been replaced by faith in collective action. This upsurge in organizing, and the energy within, must be shifted from reactive to proactive campaigning. At the same time as pushing for reforms on bread-and-butter issues, we must develop a political programme of liberation, and articulate our vision for a new society. If this year shows anything, it is that what exists must not necessarily exist. With grassroots involvement in the student union, we transformed it from a moderate organisation to a radical campaigns group. These grassroots structures pushed the student union to its limits, as they inverted traditional top-down leadership structures, and showed a glimpse of what student power unconstrained by bureaucracy can achieve. We mobilised around targeted, collective and winnable demands. Facing the worst excesses of the neoliberal university, we won reforms. In this Goliath versus David fight, the power of the grassroots came out on top. Students will benefit from a fee and rent freeze next year, can now eat their homemade foods in the Buttery and will study in a university that is one step closer to being apartheidfree. By carefully choosing our tactics and strategy, we used direct action, or the threat thereof, to secure these wins. The basis of our analysis was solidly grounded in critical
László Molnárfi
Investigative Reporter
theory. Using it, we understood our position with regards to the university as a power struggle. The university, like the rest of society, has become marketized, and pursues profit over valuing people. In order for the university to listen to us, we must show that we are a threat to their reputation and finances, and force senior management to the negotiating table. If our analysis, however, is grounded in this, then we must also acknowledge the limitations of our successes. The power of the university is forever held up by the state, whereas our power is based on fluctuations in political consciousness, interest and leadership amongst students, and the historical context, such as the explosion of the worldwide pro-Palestine movement. To counteract our fragility, we institutionalise student power. This is based in groups such as Students4Change, Trinity BDS, the TCDSU Campaigns Group and the TCD Renters’ Solidarity Network. Yet, the university, and the state, will always hold the advantage of being powerful, perpetual and continuous. Therefore, it is necessary for us to engage in constant battles with the authorities over recurring proposals. We have
been fighting fee increases and rent hikes forever. It is possible for students to win, but it is also possible for students to lose, and for our situation to worsen.
Social justice movements have ebbed and flowed, but global society has grown ever-more right-wing, economically and socially, since the 2010s.
“ It is possible for students to win, but it also possible for students to lose and for our situation to worsen
The student movement thus cannot remain reactive. By building institutional student power to fight proposals as they come before us, we are also building the capacity to project
a political vision, so as to transform society. The creation of a new world, in which the issues we face are permanently put to an end, must be based on a principled program, developed in tandem with people outside of our universities. There is no separation between local issues faced by students on campus and wider societal issues. In the university, structures have been established that concentrate bureaucratic power in the hands of the few, and then prioritise profit over people, which is a mirror image of parliamentary democracy under capitalism. The move from reform to revolution is thus a necessary one, and must be aimed at the destruction of anti-democratic structures altogether, whether they be in the university or the state.
“
The resources that we use to reproduce societal existence, and the means of production that we use to provide us with food, water and shelter, must be taken out of the hands of the few and into the hands of humanity
The institutions that rule us must be radically democratised. Everything must be run by grassroots assemblies, from the universities to workplaces and communities. The resources that we use to reproduce societal existence, and the means of production that we use to provide us with food, water and shelter, must be taken out of the hands of the few and into the hands of humanity. From the factories, farms, and houses, to the rivers, forests and beaches, we must stand against the capitalist present, and for a socialist future.
Matthew Terrell for Trinity News
An fíor Dracula: An Éireannach
Ag druidim i dtreo na Samhna, níl éinne níos iomchuí ná ceann de na haithreacha na litríochta Gotaí, Bram Stoker. Bíonn clú agus cáil air de bharr an leabhar is clúití dá cuid Dracula (1897). Is úrscéal eipistileach é a leanann Count Dracula ó Transylvania go dtí an Bhreatain Mhór, áit ina gciapann sé muintir Whitby. Faraor, baineadh cáil amach dó féin ní ba dhéanaí. Dá bhrí seo, bíonn mistéir ann agus ní fios cén bunús atá leis an scéal. Áfach, a bhuí le bailiúchán dréachtnotaí agus taighde, bíonn roinnt tuairimí ann i measc acadóirí agus reitrice poiblí. Rugadh Bram Stoker i gCluain Tarbh ar an 8ú lá de mhí Dheireadh Fomhair, 1847. Le linn a óige, ba pháiste míshláintiúla é agus ní raibh sé in ann éirí as a leaba. Cé gur rédorcha é dó, ba am d’inspioráid freisin. Mar siamsaíocht, d’inis a mháthair bealóideas Éireannach dó le téamaí osnádurtha agus uafáis. D’éirigh cúrsaí níos fearr nuair a chláraigh sé i gColáiste na Tríonóide. D’imigh an míshláinteas mar a bheadh draíocht ann agus lean sé ar aghaidh a bheith mar fhear rathúil. Is é an creideamh coitianta atá ann ná go bunaíodh carachtar an teidil ar Vlad Tepes, nó Vlad an Spíce mar atáthar aithne níos fearr air. Ba phrionsa agus taoiseach cogaidh é ó Wallachia (an Rómáin inniu). Glaotar Draculea ar freisin toisc go raibh Vlad Dracula an t-ainm a bhí ar a athair. Bhreac Stoker síos sna dréachnotaí: “Dracula in the Wallachian language means Devil. The Wallachians at that time … used to give this as a surname to any person who rendered himself conspicuous either by courage, cruel actions, or cunning.” Áfach, ba chomhtharlú atá ann de réir an acadóra Elizabeth Miller. Níor thug Stoker riamh cuairt ar Transylvania ach is léir go fuarthas inspioráid d’ainm
Hannah Joung
Contributing Writer
an príomhcharactair ó Vlad. D'ainneoin a gceaptar go coitianta, fuair Stoker ionspráid gar don chnámh. Mar a luadh thuas, bhí a óige lán le scéalta osnádurtha buíochas lena mháthair. Agus is é an scéal a chuaigh i bhfeidhm go mór air ná scéal na n-Abhartach. An cuntas scríofa is luaithe ar fáil don Abhartach ná leabhar darbh ainm The Origin and History of Irish Names and Places le staraí Patrick Weston Joyce. Chuir seisean an coinceap de vaimpír i láthair don chéad uair ós comhair an tsaoil. Tosnaíonn an scéal: “There is a place in the parish of Errigal in Derry, called Slaghtaverty, but it ought to have been called Laghtaverty, the laugh or sepulchral monument of the abhartach or dwarf”.
Bhí draíocht na healaíne duibhe le féith na cruálachta ag an Abhartach agus chuir sé eagla ar mhuintir na háite. Rinne an Taoiseach iarracht fáil réidh leis. Áfach, gach uair, tháinig sé ar ais. Dá bhrí seo, lorg sé comhairle ar an draoi áitiúil. B’é an t-aon bhealach é a mharú go deo ná é a adhlacadh bunoscionn, agus d’oibrigh sé.
De réir an chuntas chomhaimseartha (atá níos cosúla leis an tróp vaimpíre atá ann inniu) nuair a d’éalaigh an abhartach bhí fonn ar fuil a óladh. Chomh maith, thóg an Taoiseach comhairle ó naomh Críostaí agus an chomhairle a thug sé dó ná claíomh ó chrann iúir a chur tríd chroí an abhartaigh. Feictear an tionchar ón scéal faoin Abhartach i níos mó ná Dracula amháin, cosúil le Boys from County Hell (2020) bunaithe ar an mbéaloideas seo.
Ina theannta sin, deirtear freisin go bhfuair sé spreagadh ó Reilig an Bhaile Bhoicht (nó an plota féinmharfach) freisin. Rinneadh daoine a chuir lámh ina bhás féin a adhlacadh bunoscionn agus cuaille trína gcroí. Ar an lámh eile, bíonn argóintí ann go raibh an leabhar mar chomhthéacs tráchtaireachta ar chúrsaí polaitíochta agus soisialta in Éirinn ag an am. Bhí an gluaiseacht Rialtas Dúchais faoi lán seol le dearcadh frith-choilíneach timpeall na tíre. Ach, b’fhéidir gur áibhéil a mhaíomh go raibh sé seo aidhm Stoker. Tá an scéal áit éigin idir stair agus miotas- níl a fhios go
beacht cé acu stair nó miotas atá sa scéal. Ach ag deireadh an lae, ba thionchar ollmhór é Dracula
i gcultúr an phobail. Má tá tú ag gleasadh suas mar Dracula an Oíche Shamhna seo, is
féidir leat do chairde a mharú le leadrán leis an bhfíric fhána seo. Oíche Shamhna sona daoibh!
Dearbhla Gillespie
If corporations who are in part responsible for perpetuating the climate crisis can be part of the solution, let’s allow them to be
The recent appointment of Professor Karen Wiltshire to the CRH funded position of Trinity's chair of climate science has sparked controversy for its alleged blatant conflict of interest, with attempts to greenwash the country's third largest carbon emitter, Irish Cement, a subsidiary of CRH.
Since its announcement in August of this year, Trinity and CRH have come under scrutiny, from students and the media alike, for what has been characterised as yet another example of the private sector shamelessly attempting to hide behind large donations to public sector and educational entities to fund climate research.
Taking the situation at face value, Trinity appears to be guilty of facilitating bad-faith acting by yet another polluting corporation, with little support from key stakeholders to back their decision. But a healthy dose of pragmatism highlights the benefits to this partnership, and why we need to regain some faith in the notion that, when done right, public and private sectors can cooperate to solve problems together.
Professor Karen Wiltshire, who is set to hold the funded position of chair of climate science for the next decade, is the perfect candidate for the role, holding a master’s in environmental science, a PhD in hybridology and over two decades of practical experience in the field. Wiltshire is without a doubt one of the most qualified individuals to lead research into sustainability with Trinity’s world-class facilities and staff
Joseph Heston Contributing Writer
at her disposal. Furthermore, Trinity has confirmed that CRH will have no input in the research that Professor Wiltshire conducts during her time in the role.
While people can somewhat justifiably roll their eyes at Trinity cosying up to yet another polluting corporation, it helps to take a look at college’s previous involvement with just one such corporation: Ryanair.
The outcry regarding college’s partnership with Ryanair was not dissimilar to what is currently being seen with CRH, when the launch of the sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) center was announced in 2021. However, three years later, and additional funding to support the partnership, totaling €4 million, what can be said about its efficacy?
The partnership has been a notable case study of how arrangements such as these can be successful. Provost Linda
Doyle expressed her support at the most recent injection of funds into the project, calling it “good news for the researchers in the centre and for the students who will benefit from the teaching arising from the research.” The benefit to students is an often neglected fact by those who wish to criticise partnerships such as these, citing the malicious corporate donor as the only party benefiting from the arrangement.
Charges of greenwashing are often leveled against large, carbon-emitting corporations, as if insinuating that the entire public perception of their operations will shift based on their donation to climate-based causes, and their sins of climate and ecological destruction will be wiped from the collective consciousness – but who is actually being fooled by this rhetoric? Even the average lay-person is conscious of the world’s largest polluting com-
panies and their bad practices. That perception is not going away anytime soon, and neither are the problems they created, not without research and targeted solutions. Who is to say that they cannot, or should not, participate in righting their wrongs?
The climate crisis is an immediate issue that needs solving. Cast aside questions of guilt, blame and shame for a moment – now is a time for action and innovation. If corporations who are in part responsible for perpetuating the climate crisis can be part of the solution, let’s allow them to be. It is no secret that research funding for universities from the government is limited, particularly in the area of climate research. Not to mention that, Trinity, by its nature, is a semi-corporate entity. College has the existing framework available to work with the private sector on a variety of issues. When the
private sector comes knocking and presents an opportunity to fund something as pertinent as climate research in our own university, are we really in a position to turn them away?
Some might love a perfectly functioning, state-funded, efficient research model that excludes the dodgier elements of the private sector, however, that is not the world we live in. Until big polluting corporations are sufficiently taxed and regulated by those who have the power to do so, and research budgets are increased by the government, we must ensure as much funding as possible is secured for this crucial societal issue, paired with appropriate oversight to maintain research independence and integrity. How morally righteous are we to throw our hands up in the air and proclaim that funding for climate action research can be discriminated against based on its source?
The chemistry of Autumn Carmen Garcia Barajas page 25
Learn to learn: the science behind study
A look into how the brain stores information
David Naughton Contributing Writer
With reading week upon us, mid-terms and assignments mounting, and exams fast approaching, we could all do with a refresher on the most efficient ways to study and maybe even try out a new approach to avoid those dreaded December cramming sessions. Tried and tested techniques are relied on to get us through exams, but knowing the science behind why such methods work can allow students to better take advantage of them to make studying easier and more efficient.
When we study, we rely on a mechanism called synaptic plasticity. This is your brain’s ability to learn and adapt to new information by creating neural pathways, which can be thought of as trails through your memory connecting pieces of information you have previously learned. It is these neural pathways that allow us to be constantly able to learn new things. However, pathways are not permanent and are gradually lost if they are
not being used, making way for newer and more frequently used information. This is especially true when trying to study for multiple exams in different subjects at once. Thankfully, the pathway connections can be strengthened through repeated use.
The gradual loss of memory due to disuse was first categorised by Hermann Ebbinghaus in 1885 and has been continually studied to find the most efficient methods of combatting it. One of these methods is spaced repetition. Spaced repetition involves revising information you have learned at increasing time intervals. For example, if you had an exam in a week, you would learn the information on Monday, revise it on Tuesday and Wednesday, revise it again on Friday and then a final time on Sunday. This is called the 2, 3, 5, 7 method and can be very useful to learn things on short notice very efficiently. When using this method, you must focus each time you revise on the parts you didn’t remember or understand. This method can be extended over days, weeks or even months across multiple topics to improve information retention.
While spaced repetition can be useful for planning when and what to study, it doesn’t provide much insight into how you should study. One of the most effective study methods is active recall.
Active recall can be used
to great effect when trying to revise and retain information. It involves testing yourself rather than simple passive learning methods like re-reading notes or highlighting. By testing yourself, you force your brain to retrieve information rather than trying to relearn things you may already know. This method not only highlights what you do know but, more importantly, can help identify what you don’t know. This method was found in a 2021 educational review by Pooja Agarwal and team to have a medium or large impact on 57% of students who tried it.
Another helpful technique for students knuckling down on coursework is the interleaved practice method. This involves breaking up long studying sessions into alternating sequences of different topics: for example, studying two topics on the same day rather than doing one each day. Doing this with related subjects can also align with another technique called
“Active recall can be used to great effect when trying to revise and retain information. It involves testing yourself rather than simple passive learning methods like re-reading notes
elaborative interrogation, which encourages learners to ask why something is true or how it was discovered to deepen understanding and draw links between different topics, both of which help with memory.
There is, however, one ever-present debate when it comes to learning: is it better to handwrite or type when studying? While both have their merits, it appears that handwriting engages more cognitive processes than typing out notes does, and many other techniques such as mind maps and brain dumps can be easier to do with good old-fashioned pen and paper. Although there is the potential to use many digital learning aids to help with study, such as the addition of pictures and graphs to notes, it is the fact that typed notes are less time-consuming that often makes them more preferred to hand written notes. Overall, the most important factor in determining how successful your study sessions are is you. Health, both
physical and mental, is vital for concentration and memory. It is important to get regular exercise and have a healthy diet to help manage stress and improve energy and focus. Sleep has recently emerged as possibly the most crucial factor in memory, so it’s best to avoid late-night studying and stimulants like caffeine late in the day to make sure you’re getting a full 8 hours of quality sleep. The techniques discussed in this article can help you study more effectively, but it is important to remember that everyone is different, and trying things out to see what works for you is the best practice. If you want more information or need some personal advice, Trinity’s Student Learning Development service is open to all students and regularly runs workshops on everything from time management to essay writing. Lastly, exam season can be a stressful time for everyone, so if you are struggling or feeling overwhelmed the student counselling services are always there to help.
Exometeorology and the search for life beyond our solar system
Emily Haughton sits down with leading planetary scientist and recent ERC grant recipient Dr. Johanna Vos
Emily Haughton Contributing Writer
Dr Johanna Vos of the School of Physics has been awarded the prestigious Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) for her research in “Exometeorology: Probing Extrasolar Atmospheres” (Exo-PEA). The grant draws funding from the EU’s Horizon Europe programme which enables exceptional new scientists to pursue research in their most promising projects. The funding will go towards the costs of the research for a period of five years up to an amount of €1.5M. Trinity News was lucky to be able to chat with Dr.Vos about the details of her research, what this grant means to her, and how College’s astrophysics research is evolving today.
Vos entered Trinity in 2010, on the undergraduate general science programme, as it was then. Her sights had originally been set on chemistry, however, upon beginning the degree she found herself gravitating instead towards physics. Her passion for research in that area was cemented after a stint of hands-on observation work as part of her capstone project in astrophysics. She then followed
the path of astronomical research, completing her PhD in Edinburgh. Vos even went on to hold a postdoctoral fellowship in astrophysics research at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City; her self-proclaimed “dream job” she tells us with a laugh. It was through this position that Vos began her career in observational astronomy, investigating exoplanets and other exotic celestial objects beyond our solar system. Despite her stellar career in New York City, Vos tells us that she always “had [her] sights set on coming home” adding: “the prospect of getting a job here [at Trinity] was pretty amazing”. Returning to the University just last year, Vos has now focused her attention on creating her very own research team, right here at home. The Exo-PEA research team at Trinity investigates “the study of worlds beyond our solar system” Vos tells TN. This research resides in an area of astronomy known as exometeorology, the study of weather systems on far away exoplanets. The term ‘exoplanet’ refers to any form of planet that orbits a star outside of our solar system; most exoplanets that we have discovered so far exist in a small but distant region of the Milky Way galaxy. Vos’s team studies data obtained from directly imaging these objects using some of the world’s most powerful telescopes. Direct imaging in this way allows scientists to gather powerful information using photons from the atmospheres of these celestial objects, a relatively new technique. For exoplanets within a solar system of their own, it can be difficult for scientists to gather data from their atmospheres due to the overpowering light from their host star obscuring any direct images. However, there is
a way around this problem: brown dwarfs. These are larger celestial objects that are of intermediate classification between a gas-rich planet and a star. Brown dwarfs are the main focus of Vos’s team because they have very similar atmospheric dynamics to exoplanets but are much more easily observed due to the fact that they do not usually orbit a star. Studying these systems in such a way allows researchers like Vos to obtain detailed information about the climate on these far-away worlds, observing winds, hotspots, and even aurora.
When asked about the overarching goal of this research, Vos explains the widespread search for life in our universe: “anyone working in the field of exoplanets is working towards the goal of finding signs of life beyond the solar system”, though she does add: “we are not nearly there yet.” Exoplanets are crucial to the search for extraterrestrial life. We can use their climate information to assess whether or not they are habitable. Planets which are likely to host such life-sustaining climates, as well as surface water or even living organisms exist in a habitable zone surrounding their star usually referred to as ‘the goldilocks zone’. Imaging planets of this type can be exceptionally difficult for a number of reasons, including their smaller size. This is where the ingenuity of research like that of Dr.Vos comes in. Development of climate models for these distant objects allow scientists to better assess the potential for exoplanets of this type to sustain life.
The value of the ERC grant for Vos and her research team is that it will allow them to develop new projects in conjunction with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which was launched in 2021. New, more refined telescopes such
as the space-based JWST give scientists like Vos the most accurate data available on these directly imaged exoplanets. She can then use this to “sharpen [her] tools” for the search for more concrete signs of life such as biosignatures or molecules within these alien atmospheres. Vos believes that her research will be able to achieve this “once the technology gets us there.” With observational methods evolving at such a rapid pace, Vos and her team are constantly advocating for more efficient technological tools to carry out their work.
The ERC grant also allows Vos to build her research team and expand the work in exoplanet observation, broadening opportunities for new PhD and postdoctoral researchers at Trinity. Of course it is not only Vos’s team on this upward trajectory, there are many budding avenues of astrophysics being given the lifeforce to grow and thrive within the College. Dr. Vos is the newest among a handful of recipients of the starting grant in
the department of astrophysics, with fellow Trinity professors Kate Maguire and Luca Matra winning the grant in 2023 for their research in supernovae and exocomets, respectively. These awards highlight the recent burst of success within the astrophysics department, with all three awardees having begun their work at Trinity within the last five years. Vos talks of an “exceptional environment for postdocs and postgrads to experience all these different strands of astrophysics that we are leading in.” With passionate researchers at the forefront of planetary and space science, Trinity is creating a new atmosphere of academic excellence within the school of physics that is vibrant and exciting, with Vos remarking that it “feels like you’re part of something bigger.”
The Exo-PEA research team at Trinity investigates the study of worlds beyond our solar system
Talking to Dr.Vos while looking around at the various motivating “women in stem” posters that sit on the shelves of her office alongside her degrees and accolades, one gets an overwhelming feeling of hope for the future of physics at Trinity. But we are not alone in our pursuit of a new, excellent, and inclusive physics community. Ireland is home to a rich network of exoplanet research groups with a broad range of connections to research centres across the globe. Some notable groups include the Astrophysics Research Center in Queen’s University Belfast and the Star and Planet Formation Group at Maynooth University who use similar observational techniques to the Exo-PEA group at Trinity with the shared goal of finding signs of life on distant worlds. Groups like these pave the way for talented new researchers to change the way shape physics in our society while also putting Irish planetary researchers at the forefront of the global search for life within our universe.
Photo: NASA
Photo via Connor Baker
Geneticists decipher ancient DNA of extinct cattle
The study identified four previously unknown distinct ancestries of aurochs, an ancient bovine species
Faye Madden Investigations Editor
Geneticists from College, in collaboration with an international team of researchers, have deciphered the prehistory of aurochs through extensive DNA analysis.
Aurochs, a long-extinct species of bovine, feature heavily in early human art and roamed across Europe, Asia and Africa for hundreds of thousands of years.
The species was domesticated during the Neolithic period and its cattle provided humans during this period with a source of meat and milk. Today, the descendants of aurochs make up a third of the world’s mammalian biomass.
During the study, researchers analysed 38 genomes harvested from bones dating across 50 millennia and stretching from Siberia to Britain
Trinity geneticist and first author of the article recently published in the international journal Nature, Dr Conor Rossi, spoke about the team’s research
“The aurochs went extinct approximately 400 years ago, which left much of their evolutionary history a mystery. However, through the
sequencing of ancient DNA, we have gained detailed insight into the diversity that once thrived in the wild as well as enhanced our understanding of domestic cattle.”
The study found new information regarding the genetic diversity of the auroch species, particularly amongst European aurochs
Dr Mikkel Sinding, coauthor and postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Biology at the University of Copenhagen, said: “We normally think of the European aurochs as one common form or type, but our analyses suggest there were three distinct aurochs populations alone in Europe – a Western European, an Italian, and a Balkan. There was thus a greater diversity in the wild forms than we had ever imagined.”
Researchers also discovered that climate change had a notable impact on the auroch genomes.
Download SafeZone for extra peace of mind
Have you heard of SafeZone? No?
Read on.
SafeZone is a free app available to all students and staff to keep you safe and sound during your time at Trinity. It’s completely optional and free to use (and you may never need it!) but isn’t it good to have a safety net?
I have found the SafeZone app to be an extra bit of safety when moving around our campus. No matter who or what you are, it’s better to have it downloaded just in case you or those around you ever need it!
With SafeZone, you can:
Contact Trinity Security directly 24/7
Ask Security to accompany you through campus at night
Request someone to check in on you if you’re working alone
Access wellbeing supports
Be the first to know about important updates like campus closures or incidents Get reliable accessibility updates Report graffiti, harassment or any other issues you see on campus
‘The SafeZone app provides something very much in
The study found that European and north Asian genomes separated and diverged at the beginning of the last ice age, around 100,000 years ago, and did not seem to mix until the world warmed up again at its end. They also learned that genome-estimated population sizes dropped in the glacial period, with a notably hard time endured by European herds, who lost diversity as they retreated to southern parts of the continent.
The most pronounced drop in genetic diversity occurred between the period when the aurochs of southwest Asia were domesticated in the north of the Fertile Crescent, just over 10,000 years ago, to give the first cattle.
The research team found that only a handful of maternal lineages (as seen via mitochondrial DNA which is handed down via mothers to their offspring) come through this process into the cattle gene pool.
“Although Caesar exaggerated when he said it was like an elephant, the wild ox must have been a highly dangerous beast and this hints that its first capture and taming must have happened with only a very few animals,” said Dan Bradley, Professor in Trinity’s School of Genetics and Microbiology, who led the study.
“However, the narrow genetic base of the first cattle was augmented as they first travelled with their herders west, east and south. It is clear that there was early and pervasive mating with wild aurochs bulls, leaving a legacy of the four separate preglacial aurochs ancestries that persists among the domestic cattle of today.”
The study was funded by a European Research Council Advanced Grant “AncestralWeave” awarded to Professor Dan Bradley.
short supply: reassurance, said Jenny Maguire, AMLCT/TCDSU President. ‘With instances of hate crimes and violence against women on the rise, I have found the SafeZone app to be an extra bit of safety when moving around our campus. No matter who or what you are, it’s better to have it downloaded just in case you or those around you ever need it!’
Download SafeZone today.
The chemistry of Autumn colours
The science behind College’s autumnal colour palette
Carmen Garcia Barajas Contributing Writer
Walking around campus these days, we can admire a beautiful autumnal landscape. As we walk through the main gate and into the Parliament Square, we find two Erman’s birch (Betula ermanii), with light yellow hues. Moving towards the front of the Graduates Memorial Building, we find one of the university’s iconic trees, the oriental plane (Platanus orientalis). With a height of 20 metres, its leaves are red, amber and yellow at this time of the year. Walking along the college
green we can then find a wide range of colours, highlighting the red tones of the Norway maple (Acer platanoides).
Our trees don’t show the bright green colours of summer anymore and have changed to warmer tones of oranges, yellows and browns. How does this change occur? These beautiful colour replacements are due to complex chemical changes in their leaves as a result of the temperature and weather conditions of the autumn season. The trees that show these stunning changes in their leaves are known as deciduous trees. These groups of trees are known for losing their leaves for part of the year in order to save energy and nutrients in the cold seasons.
There are four types of pigment found to be involved in the colouring of leaves: chlorophylls, carotenoids, anthocyanins and tannins. During spring and summer, chlorophyll gives a bright green colour to the leaves. Chlorophyll is a molecule essential to the
process of photosynthesis for its role in trapping the light energy required to create glucose. Other pigments are also present in the leaves, but can only be seen when chlorophyll levels are low. As temperatures drop, sunlight availability diminishes and the days become shorter, nutrient transport to the leaves is blocked. Therefore, the supply and production of chlorophyll slows down to an eventual stop. This gradual disappearance allows the colours of autumn to be revealed to us.
Carotenoids are the yellow and orange group of pigments. They serve as accessory pigments in photosynthesis by passing solar energy to chlorophyll, and function as a photo protector for plants by preventing damage from sunlight. As well as chlorophyll, carotenoids production also slows down during autumn, but at a slower rate, allowing us to see their shades before the leaves fall off. The two types of carotenoids responsible
for the different hues are Xanthophylls,responsible for the yellow, and Beta carotenes for the orange. These shades can be seen in practically all trees around campus, such as the wych elm (Ulmus glabra) in college park or the Mongolian lime (Tilia mongolica) in front of house 22.
The third pigment responsible for autumn colours are the anthocyanins. These pigments are responsible for the red and purple tones. Anthocyanins are not present in all trees, as specific conditions are required for their synthesis. As nutrient transport slows down, a high concentration of sugar is trapped in the leaf, leading to anthocyanin production. These tones are more difficult to see, but we can appreciate them in red oaks and some maples around college park.
Before finally falling off the tree, leaves show a brown colour. Tannins are the pigments in charge of this tone and are a waste product
of tree metabolism. They are always present, but are only visible after chlorophyll and carotenoids have disappeared and the leaf is about to die.
The order of appearance of these pigments is not always the same, and it is determined by the weather. For example, freezing temperatures can induce the mechanism to produce anthocyanins and can cause the death of the leaf even before chlorophyll and carotenoids are gone. Strong winds can cause leaves to fall off earlier and the lack of sunny autumn days can lead to less intense colouring.
Thanks to these chemical processes, our campus is annually hued with all these special colours and we can enjoy the incredible autumn view that melts onto it. So next time you walk by the trees, you know exactly what’s happening up there and how something as complex as chemistry can give us something as beautiful as the colour palette of an autumn landscape.
Trinity Sailing marks a decade for alumni races
Matthew Keeley Page 31
Dublin Marathon 2024: a day to celebrate for Trinity students
Thousands Run Through Dublin’s Streets to Complete
Impressive Feat
Matthew Keeley Sports Editor
On Sunday, October 27th, over 18,000 people lined up along Leeson Street Lower to take part in the Dublin Marathon. Amongst them were several Trinity College students gearing up to tackle the 42.2 kilometres that lay ahead of them. Irish actor Colin Farrell also competed in the race, raising €774,000 for charity in the process.
Thousands more gathered round the streets of Dublin city centre to cheer on friends, family and loved ones throughout the race. Global Business student Lisa O’Brien was one of those cheering in the crowd at last year’s marathon, an experience that inspired her to take part in
the 2024 race. “I decided to do the marathon after watching my sister complete it last year. After watching her cross the line, I was so incredibly proud of her it was quite an emotional experience”.
For others, the motivation
“ It can be especially challenging as a full-time university student
came from a desire to complete such a challenging feat. “A few years ago I thought I’d never be able to run a full marathon so I wanted to prove to myself that I could”. Those were the words of Clinical Speech and Language Therapy student Alison O’Connor, who raised over €1,500 for the Irish Cancer Society through her participation in the marathon.
However, wanting to run a
marathon and actually doing it are two very different things. Any runner knows how physically and mentally taxing the long hours of training and preparation can be, just to reach the finish line. It can be especially challenging as a full-time university student, trying to balance extensive and exhausting training sessions with lectures and course work. PPES student Ava Urquidez explained her determination to overcome such difficulties. “Most people can run, it is not a complicated sport, but the mental toughness one needs to wake early daily and run for hours requires the understanding of prioritising discipline over motivation”
This strict mental discipline can be especially challenging for those in their early twenties, surrounded by the social pressures of drinking and nights out.
For some, the sacrifice of cutting back is a step too far. Others, nonetheless, focus on their goal of making it to the finish line. “The hardest bit was trying to say no to nights out and take it handy on the pints in the run up” says Ian Jackson, a Biomedical Science student who also completed the race.
The reward for all that hard work, however, makes it worthwhile, as shown
by the remarkable support at the Dublin Marathon. “I couldn’t believe the number of people cheering along the course,” Alison shared. “The crowd’s energy made such a big difference; it was really uplifting. All the runners were so encouraging and friendly—I was literally smiling the entire time.”
Ava had a similar experience running through Dublin’s streets. “I was running at an enjoyable pace with people cheering the whole way, and I couldn’t stop smiling. It was definitely a runner’s high.”
Crossing that finish line is the moment each runner dreams of throughout their marathon preparation, a moment experienced by 17,719 official finishers that Sunday, just shy of the event record. Scenes of joy, pride, and relief filled the air at the finish line near Merrion Square. When asked to sum up what finishing meant, Trinity students expressed profound emotions.
“Crossing the line, when I came up to the 600 metre mark I got quite emotional for a number of reasons.”
Lisa admitted, “Mainly being grateful for such an amazing bunch of people coming out to support me and in slight disbelief that I was able to complete a marathon in 3 hours 30 minutes”.
Ian was also immensely proud of his achievement, saying “Afterwards I had a real sense of accomplishment. I finished it in a time I’m happy with and will definitely do more of them”. Alison shared the same enthusiasm for future races, saying, “I felt so proud to cross the finish line and relieved
that I had survived the race in one piece. I definitely want to do another marathon, it was one of the best experiences of my life.”
While marathon running may seem daunting or difficult to outsiders, the profoundly rewarding experiences of those
So many smiles, encouragement, and mutual congratulations “
who participate draw more people to the sport every year. It’s heartening to see so many smiles, encouragement, and mutual congratulations for such a fantastic achievement. I would be remiss not to extend my own congratulations to my former running coach, Hiko Tonosa, who broke the Irish national record for the Dublin Marathon this year. An incredible athlete and an even better person, no one is more deserving of acclaim and recognition than Hiko.
Overall, the 2024 Dublin Marathon was a wonderful celebration of the tremendous accomplishments of so many runners, made even better by the support of thousands of friends, family members, and loved ones who made the event truly unforgettable.
Matthew Terrell for Trinity News
Quintin Lawlor for Trinity News
Trinity Sailing marks a Decade of Alumni Races
Celebrating 10 years of commuinity, competition, and camraderie on the water
Matthew Keeley Sports Editor
Trinity Sailing Club celebrated a significant milestone by hosting its 10th Anniversary Alumni event on Saturday, November 2nd. An early 9 o’clock saw sailing club members both past and present embark upon the Royal St. George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire to rig the boats and prepare for the day ahead. With 18 teams and over 100 participants, the event saw record numbers of participation.
This reporter had the privilege of experiencing some of the action firsthand, with club secretary Adam Leddy bringing me out on the water to witness some of the 45 races that took place throughout the day.
Despite my limited knowledge of sailing, Adam provided a crash course on the rules, explaining the intricacies of team races, which involve six boats, three per team, navigating a course filled with twists, turns, and expertly executed manoeuvres. Many of the sailors were keen to test out the new sails, funded by support from the club’s alumni trust.
“
The relationship between alumni and current members is as close as it is competitive
Indeed, the relationship between alumni and current members is as close as it is competitive. Some former members volunteered as marshals and umpires, enduring the cold Dun Laoghaire harbour for hours to ensure the event ran smoothly. “We’re actually ahead of schedule,” noted club captain Finn Walker upon my arrival. “This doesn’t normally happen.”
The battles between past and present members were fiercely contested, often drawing family rivalries into the fray. Older readers might recall former Entertainment Officer Greg Arrowsmith, who claimed victory in the bronze final against a boat crewed by his brother and sister. The silver final saw old club captains from ‘97, ‘98, and ‘99 competing, with one edging out his daughter to claim the win. “That’ll be more donations for us,” quipped one current member, hoping that the alumni’s victories might boost raffle ticket sales at the dinner later that evening.
That would be far from the last humorous remark I heard from a quick-witted sailor that day. When I asked one boat of alumni members about their race, their reply was “DFL,” which they clarified stands for Dead Fucking Last. “Please don’t print that in Trinity News,” one of them joked. Sorry lads.
From an outside perspective, the close-knit community within the sailing club becomes quickly apparent “
Equally entertaining was learning the various niche terms for different aspects of sailing. Terms like “tacking” (changing direction by turning the bow through wind), “tillers” (steering levers controlling a sailboat’s rudder angle), and “baling” (frantically and
furiously shovelling water from the boat) became more familiar as the races progressed.
From an outside perspective, the close-knit community within the sailing club becomes quickly apparent. Many of the sailors have grown up competing against and alongside each other in junior competitions, with some beginning their sailing journey at the Royal St. George as children. Family connections also played a significant role, with captain Finn joined at the event by his younger brother Kei and their father, who officiated the races from the committee boat.
Nonetheless, both past and present members were eager to highlight the variety of backgrounds within the sailing
club, noting that Trinity Sailing Club is “far less South Dublincentric” than other clubs.
It was clear that each sailor was thrilled to be out on the water and racing with favourable winds “
What was also evident was the passion each club member has for Trinity Sailing. Hosting an annual sailing event for ten years requires considerable logistics and coordination, especially given Ireland’s notoriously unpredictable weather. It was clear that each sailor was thrilled to be out on the water and racing with favourable winds. Although the wind died down toward the end of the event, members eagerly sailed back to the boat club to prepare for the evening’s big dinner.
With smiling faces and good spirits in the air, Trinity Sailing Club had every reason to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the alumni race, a well-run club centred on community, competition, and camaraderie.
Matthew Keeley for Trinity News
Men’s Footballers Fall Short in Competitive League Opener
Trinity men’s senior footballers show great resilience in a tough match against DKIT
Cian Goulding Contributing Writer
Trinity men’s senior footballers opened their league campaign at the wet Iveagh Grounds with a battling loss to Dundalk Institute of Technology (DKIT). There was a prevailing mood of positivity among the team before the game, confident of a win in a fixture that Dundalk had gotten the better of in recent years. A combative, end-to-end contest ensued which saw Trinity pipped at the line despite a valiant second-half comeback.
While the rain cleared up before throw-in, both sides struggled with a slippy pitch in the early stages. Dundalk had the better of the early chances but converted just one point among a flurry of wides. Trinity responded emphatically, however, with a well-worked goal. A long ball was won fantastically by Adam Treanor, who offloaded to start a move ended by Jack O’Connell’s thumping finish, giving Trinity an early two-point lead.
Trinity struggled to retain their kickout early in the game “
Trinity struggled to retain their kickout early in the game, an intense press from Dundalk allowing them to rattle off the next five points. Nonetheless, Trinity improved their passing game after early handling errors and answered with points from
Trinity College DKIT 2-12 2-16
last ten minutes.
“
Conditions provided an early blow for Trinity
The conditions provided an early blow for Trinity, with Treanor forced off through injury after a slip. Dundalk continued their dominance on kickouts and converted two further points, but Trinity responded with a flourish before half-time with points from McSweeney and Micheal McGrath. This left it all square, 1-5 to 8 points at the break.
Trinity picked up where they left off, midfielder Conor Leonard opening the half with a beautiful long-range score followed by a point from Con Smith. Dundalk eased their press, which allowed Trinity to finally convert their first short kickout of the game in the 36th minute. Despite an encouraging opening to the half from Trinity, a period of control followed for Dundalk with their full-forward line particularly influential. They notched a goal and seven points in fifteen minutes, broken up by just one Trinity point from Rory McElren.
The tide would turn on the 50th minute, as Dundalk’s number 7 received a black card for a cynical foul. Trinity took full advantage of the extra man and immediately responded with a point from Captain Lee Pearson and two frees from Smith. Pearson continued to push the team forward and was rewarded with a penalty after his fine run led to McElren being tripped during a goal chance. Oisin Kirwan sent the keeper the wrong way, putting Trinity firmly in the mix for the
The imperious Leonard caught the resulting kickout, feeding McGrath who converted to leave just one point in it. It was a courageous response by Trinity and their intensity and pressure could not be matched for a considerable period. There would be late heartbreak, however, when a long ball allowed Dundalk’s 14 to convert a goal chance with
just four minutes remaining and leave the game just out of reach.
While the men fell just short in a highly competitive game, their mentality and effort could not be criticised “
While the men fell just short in a highly competitive game, their mentality and effort could not be criticised. The team rallied after a tough start to the second half, with several players observing that they may not have shown that resilience in years gone by. It was an encouraging start for a team with its sights on Trench Cup success later in the year, and they will hope to bounce back away to SETU Waterford on October 30th.
Trinity: Sean Mullane, Seán Brazil, Tom Hughes, Mícheál McGrath (0-2), Jack O’Connell (1-1), Lee Pearson (0-1), Ruairí McSweeney (0-2), Tom McMorrow, Conor Leonard (0-1), Aidan Coleman, Rory McElren (0-1), Cillian French, Adam Treanor (0-1), Con Smith (0-3), Conall Ruddy
O’Connell, Treanor and Ruairi McSweeney.
Matthew Keeley for Trinity News