TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN’S STUDENTS’ UNION (TCDSU)
International O cer
Zaid Albarghouthi has been elected Vice-President (VP) for Campaigns of the Union of Students’ in Ireland (USI) at the union’s Congress last week. Albarghouthi received 50.25% of delegates’ votes in the rst count in a four-way contested race.
Speaking to Trinity News a er his win, Albarghouthi said it was an “honour” to be elected to the role and thanked his campaign team and the students’ unions who supported him.
“I ran for this role because of a certain frustration I had with the contradiction between the potential this organisation has for performing on issues that matter to all students, and the status quo. I think next year will see the Coiste Gnó dealing with the challenge of regaining the faith of students in Campaigns run by USI, based o the frustrations shared by the lack of further action a er the USI walkout in October.”
He added: “ is is a role that will have to build campaigns and run them to achieve better results for the national student body, and I have been long waiting for the opportunity to do this full-time.”
Chris Cli ord, President of MTU Kerry Students’ Union, was elected USI President for 2023/24 on the second count, beating
opponents Sai Gujulla and Patrick Curtin.
Following his victory, Cli ord said that it felt “a bit surreal”, saying he hopes “to hit the ground running” and to deliver the change he has promised during his campaign.
“My top priority is to engage with the students’ unions around the country and to work on general student engagement – they go hand in hand really. I want to be radical about that,” Cli ord added.
A Health and Leisure graduate hailing from Tralee, Cli ord has served two terms as President of MTU Kerry Students’ Union, having previously served as Education O cer.
TCDSU delegates voted to re-open nominations (RON) in this race, following a ballot of its
members.
Dublin City University Students Union’s (DCUSU) Muhammad Mubashar Saeed was elected VP for Postgraduate A airs with 45.69% of rst preference votes, beating Trinity’s Je rey Sardina who won 34.01% of vote, and Muhammad Sayyam Afzal, also from DCUSU.
Bryan O’Mahony of SETU Waterford SU was elected VP for Academic A airs, while Colette Murphy from DCUSU was elected VP for Welfare.
James Curry of TUDSU will serve as Vice-President for Equality & Citizenship, with Kelda McManus of MTU Cork SU in the role of VP for the Southern Region and DCUSU’s Nathan Murphy as
FRONT GATE IS NOW CLOSED UNTIL APRIL 18, as construction begins on the stage for Trinity Ball, which takes place this Friday, April 14.
Front gate closed at midnight last ursday, April 6, “to allow for the erection and decanting of the stage safely”. Trinity students and sta still have access to houses on Front Square, but access to these buildings is only available through side entrances on campus.
Access for pedestrians will be through the new Printing House Square Gate beside Pearse Street Gate, Science Gallery Gate and the Nassau Street Gate at the Arts Building. Access for residents a er midnight will still be through Front Gate.
ere is a new layout for Trinity Ball this year, as there is one less stage for the event, due to
IRC and SFI announce merger
Problems prevail at USI Congress
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e BBC should aim to be impartial, not claim they are already
Dublin Airport’s drone dilemma
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VP for the Dublin Region. Although a single candidate had previously put themselves forward in both races, there were
no remaining candidates for the positions of VP for the Border, Midlands and Western Region and Leas-Uachtarán don Ghaeilge
(Vice President for the Irish Language). By-elections will be held for these positions at a later date.
the construction in New Square. As a consequence of the loss of a stage, capacity will be reduced from last year. Prices for tickets, sold through Ticketmaster, cost €91 plus fees, and tickets sold out in a record seven minutes.
e new layout for the event will take place in Parliament Square, Front Square, Library Square, Fellow Square and Botany Bay. e main stage is being constructed between Parliament
Square and Front Square, with a second stage being constructed in the Botany Bay courts and a marquee in Fellow Square.
Cars had to be removed from Botany Bay and New Square by 5pm last Wednesday, April 5, and cars from Pearse St and the Rugby Pitch Car Park must be removed by 5:30pm on the day of Trinity Ball, Friday April 14.
Trinity’s main campus will close at 5:30pm on Friday April
14 also, and will be required to be vacated as nal preparations for the ball begin. It will remain closed until normal operating hours the following day, April 15. is year’s Trinity Ball will be the last held on campus for at least ve years, as construction works associated with the Old Library Redevelopment Project is underway.
AUNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN’S STUDENTS’ UNION (UCDSU) referendum on whether to rejoin the Union of Students Ireland (USI) failed to meet a minimum turnout threshold, despite an overwhelming majority voting in favour.
e referendum results showed that whilst 77.7% of votes were cast in favour of the organisation rejoining the USI from a total valid poll of 1,792 votes, the required
e forum aims to discuss various issues surrounding the topic of con ict resolution
ATRINITY ALUMUNS AND ACADEMIC based in Matej Bel University in Slovakia has invited Trinity students to participate in a virtual panel discussion surrounding the topic of con ict resolution.
In an email sent by the School of Histories and Humanities, James Ó Conaill, an Irish-language lecturer, informed students of the International Student Forum which takes place on May 3.
Forum participants will have the opportunity to explore and discuss emerging challenges in the realm of global peace and security and suggest peacebuilding approaches to address these challenges.
e forum is described as a
threshold of 10% minimum voter turnout was not met and thus the referendum did not pass.
e UCDSU disa liated from the USI in 2013, when 64.5% voted in favour of leaving. According to the University Observer, membership costs and doubts about the organisation’s e ciency to defend the rights of students were among the main reasons for UCDSU’s disa liation from the national students’ union.
e vote on whether to rejoin the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) took place alongside the annual University College Dublin Students Union (UCDSU) Executive elections last week.
e total valid poll was 1792 with 1393 (77.7%) voting in favour and 399 (22.3%) against. e threshold of 10% of registered students was not met.
A UCDSU referendum in 2016 to rejoin the organisation was resoundingly rejected, with 76% of voters choosing to remain independent of the USI.
In an opinion piece for UCD’s College Tribune, Trinity College Dublin Student Union (TCDSU) President-elect László Molnár
recently described the USI as “a bureaucratic, toxic and weak organisation.”
Molnár attended the USI National Council in June 2022. He claimed he was “not
allowed to speak” and was called “disrespectful to the work of the executive” when he attempted to raise his concerns with the HEA Bill 2022, which the USI has collaborated with the government
on.
e USI currently represents over 374,000 students in third level education across over forty campuses in Ireland.
platform to “gather, network and discuss themes and current issues related to peace, con icts, and security, to partner with each other to work towards peace together”.
e theme of this year’s forum is “Youth for Peace: e Voice of Peace Has Power”, and plans to discuss a broad range of topics such as the role of youth as
peacemakers and the impact of the war in Ukraine on global peace and security.
While the International Student Forum aims to bring together participants from Slovak, Ukrainian and American universities, Ó Conaill, who received a B.A in Irish Studies from Trinity in 2017, notes that
the forum may be of particular interest to Irish students given the upcoming 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, adding that it would be “wonderful to have representation from Trinity at the forum”.
Irish students that participate in the forum will discuss issues surrounding con ict resolution
with students from Matej Bel University (MBU) in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia, Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University, Ukraine and Eastern Michigan University (EMICH), in the USA. Both speakers and attendees will receive a certi cation for participation in the International Student Forum.
77.7% of students who did vote supported rea liating with the national students’ union
Since 1801 Trinity College Library has been the only Irish library which has access to UK’s legal deposit allowing access to publications in both Ireland and the UK
ON THURSDAY, THE LIBRARY OF TRINITY COLLEGE
Dublin marked the 10th anniversary of the collection, preservation and digitization of legal deposit libraries.
ese six libraries include the Library of Trinity College Dublin, the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, the National Library of Wales, the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford and Cambridge University Library.
In 2013 the six legal deposit libraries across Ireland and the UK were given the right to access copies of electronic publications the same way as print or nonelectrical materials. In the decade since, more than 10 million journal articles and nearly 800,000 books have been collected.
ose seeking to gain access to the legal deposit now have the ability to obtain the materials via e-books, online journals and websites.
Access had also been given to the UK Web Archive which contains materials pertaining to online communication about health during the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit to name a few. It has been responsible for collecting books by women authors from the 19th century onwards in both Ireland and the UK and also facilitating the construction of the
USI is now mandated to support local BDS branches in thirdlevel institutions
THE UNION OF STUDENTS’ IN IRELAND (USI) Congress last week voted to adopt a pro-Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) policy for dealing with companies and institutions.
e policy, which required a 66%+1 majority to pass, mandates USI to support local BDS branches in third-level institutions and to establish a toolkit to aid in the establishment of local BDS branches, based on the toolkit of Trinity BDS.
e union is now required to boycott Israeli institutions, companies, corporations and products that the union currently uses or has relations with.
It further mandates USI Coiste Gnó, the union’s leadership,to call on the European Students Union (ESU) to re-consider Israel’s membership of the union, and to encourage Palestinian e orts to engage with the ESU. e motion text acknowledged that “the student movement has o en been at the forefront of important societal change, both locally, and internationally, including standing together against apartheid in South Africa, ghting for civil rights in the USA in the 1960’s and now organising collectively to tackle the growing climate crisis”.
Current International Student
O cer for Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union, (TCDSU), Chair of the TCD BDS branch and incoming USI Vice President for Campaigns Zaid Al-Barghouthi, expressed support for the motion alongside TCDSU Presidentelect and current secretary for
Easter Rising 1916 Web Archive. e Library of Trinity has also led the publication of a large number of Northern Irish materials ranging from books to pamphlets. is is of particular importance as the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement is also being celebrated this week.
Helen Shenton, Librarian & College Archivist, commented on the anniversary saying:
“Today, the Library of Trinity College Dublin together with our ve legal deposit libraries in the UK, celebrate 10-years of digital collecting, which has enabled the creation of a seventh, transnational digital library for the bene t of all.”
“It is also an opportunity to look back on the signi cant impact legal deposit has had over centuries, building an unparalleled record of our intellectual and cultural heritage.”
Legal deposit was established in Trinity in 1801 which facilitates access to legal deposit legislation from both Ireland and the UK. is has allowed the library to create a collection of ve million volumes thus creating records of
intellectual and cultural heritage which has assisted the research of both students and researchers.
e library has received international recognition for its
role in supporting and facilitating learning and reaching across a wide range of disciplines and garners many international users each year.
the Trinity BDS branch László
Molnár
Speaking in a tweet today, the Vice President for the Dublin Region of the USI, Sierra MüllerOwens, said that she was happy to have collaborated with the TCDSU to pass the motion, adding that “anti-apartheid policy was one of my goals coming into the year and
I’m so delighted to have it passed with my home union”. Müller-Owens collaborated with TCDSU President Gabi Fullam on the original motion.
In 2020, Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) voted to support the BDS movement with some 64.5 per cent voting in favour.
Last month the Trinity BDS group condemned the college’s invitation of former Israeli Defense Force service member, Evegeny A neevsky, to speak at an event. e BDS movement is a nonpro t organisation founded in 2005 that works to promote boycotts and economic sanctions against Israel.
AN EMERGENCY MOTION
DECLARING nocon dence in the current government was passed by the Union of Students Ireland (USI) Congress last week.
e motion was tabled by the Trinity College Dublin Students Union (TCDSU) President-elect, László Molnár , alongside Dublin City University Students Union
Professor Brian
(DCUSU) President omas
O’Dowd and Vice-President for Community and Citizenship Nathan Murphy.
Labelling the government as a representative of “big capital, vulture funds and corporations” who is not on the side of “the people, our communities and workers”, Molnár urged those in attendance of the council to “make history” by “[booting] them out of power, [removing] them from their positions”.
e motion began by stating that the Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and Green Party coalition government “has failed students, workers, pensioners, families, and the ordinary people of Ireland”.
It continued by highlighting what they view as failures of the government - focusing on housing, immigration policy, the climate crisis, the healthcare system, and transgender rights.
It noted that in their opinion, the current Dáil has “failed to deliver on housing”. ey said that the “homelessness crisis is tearing apart the social fabric of Irish society and [it is] leading to the scapegoating of refugees and International Protection applicants”.
e motion comes a er months of anti-immigrant protests nationwide, particularly in Dublin. In response to this, many “antifacist” marches have taken place to counteract this, supported by the TCDSU.
e motion also stated that there exists a “developer-led, market-based provision of housing” which has “inevitably deepened the housing crisis”. It claims that the government has “failed to halt the rise in housing insecurity”, particularly regarding the recent li ing of the evictions ban.
In Molnár ’s election his manifesto focused in part on housing. He promised “to make sure that students have as much access to housing as possible under the current exploitative system”. Congress acknowledged that on October 13, 2022 “thousands of students walked out of college […] to protest against the lack of a ordable accommodation”. ey also said that “20,000 people demonstrated […] at the Raise the Roof Rally for Housing”. Congress further noted that government has “failed to act on” both the climate crisis and the state of Irish healthcare. ey
particularly claimed that “Fine Gael [is] recently sporting antitrans rhetoric” a er Taoiseach
Leo Varadkar was accused of transphobia a er responding to a question regarding the status of transgender women in prison.
e motion ended with the
declaration that the USI “is a political body, but has so far not expressed a direct opinion on the government”. Moreover, it stated that the union “has not advised its members to vote against them (the current government) in the upcoming election”.
TRINITY PROFESSOR OF FINANCE Lucey has come under re for a tweet in which he stated that “postgraduate students aren’t employees” and warned against increasing stipends for PhD researchers.
Lucey said in the Tweet: “I worry about stipends that are overly generous because in my view a hungry hunter is the best hunter.”
e tweet was met with
signi cant backlash from hundreds of Twitter users, who countered that people “are more productive when they are well-fed, sheltered, and don’t have to worry about whether they will pay the bills”.
Others applied Lucey’s logic to his own position, saying that “the university should cut your pay
in half so that they can get more productivity out of you”.
People Before Pro t TD Paul Murphy quote tweeted Lucey, commenting“a hungry nance professor is the best nance professor”.
e Postgraduate Workers Organisation (PWO) also responded to the tweet.
Addressing College and the Provost, they said: “Is this the care from the university that would be lost by PGRs [postgraduates] being employees and the “special” supervisor-student relationship?
A PI [Principal Investigator] who mocks about the hungry hunter when going hungry is a risk PGRs face due to the cost of living?”
A Trinity PhD chemistry student also responded to the tweet, expressing concern to Provost Linda Doyle, likened Professor Lucey’s comments to the language of “18th century slave traders”.
“It is deeply concerning to me that a TCD Full Professor’s attitude to the treatment of PhD researchers is not dissimilar to the language employed by 18th century slave traders in the Caribbean. Is this acceptable for Full Professors at Trinity College Dublin?”
Lucey’s comments followed up a previous tweet in which he said that postgraduate students’ unions “really have not taught [sic] this through”, in response to revelations that PhD stipends should not technically be exempt from tax.
“ ey get so amazingly irritated when you point out of the [sic] complexities to them…It’s almost like the intersection of tax and employment is complicated,” he added.
Lucey declined to comment to Trinity News as he was out of o ce.
e motion, jointly proposed by the László Molnár , mandates USI to encourage its membership to vote against the governmentPHOTO VIA USI TWITTER
Lucey claimed in tweet that “a hungry hunter is the best hunter” in regard to PhD stipends
e Research and Innovation Bill will create a new agency to work with researchers in Ireland and abroad
The Irish Research Council (IRC) and Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) will merge to form a new research agency.
e Research and Innovation Bill, which was approved by government yesterday, will introduce a new Research and Innovation funding agency.
e agency, currently known as Research and Innovation Ireland, will aim to “drive world
College will award four honorary degrees at a Commencements
Ceremony in the Exam Hall on April 6
COLLEGE LAST WEEK AWARDED FOUR honorary degrees to individuals who contributed to the peace process in Northern Ireland through diplomacy or activism.
Martin Mansergh, Monica McWilliams, Jonathan Powell and Nancy Soderberg received honorary degrees at a commencements ceremony in the Exam Hall on ursday.
All recipients were advisors and activists in Northern Irish politics and the Good Friday Agreement, the 25th anniversary of which occurred yesterday.
Martin Mansergh is a former Fianna Fáil TD who served as
class research and innovation” by working with other research funders and enterprises both in Ireland and abroad.
Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris welcomed the introduction of the agency as a way to drive innovation in arts, humanities and STEM.
“ is is an exciting day for research and innovation in Ireland as we take another vital step towards achieving the overarching objective of Impact 2030,” Harris said. “[It will] ensure that Ireland’s collective research and innovation investments and activities make as big a di erence as possible to as many people as possible.”
e introduction of this agency is part of Impact 2030, Ireland’s current research and innovation strategy.
Harris said: “ is is essential in order to ensure that Ireland has a resilient and agile research base that can make a substantive impact on national challenges and opportunities.”
Director General of SFI
Professor Philip Nolan welcomed the merger with the IRC: “ e Government recognises that the global grand challenges that face us, from mitigating climate change to addressing poverty and inequality, require research, research expertise and talent across a very wide range of
academic disciplines.”
“We at SFI look forward to working with our colleagues in the IRC, and with our national and international research communities, to build on our strengths and achievements, and realise this opportunity.”
Director of the IRC Dr Louise
Cullen said the aims of Impact 2030 will “support fundamental as well as applied research across all disciplines and career stages strongly signals the intention to create an inclusive infrastructure of support so that all researchers can thrive”.
Minister for State from 2008 to 2011. He was a political advisor on Northern Ireland to Taoisigh Charles Haughey, Albert Reynolds, and Bertie Ahern. Mansergh is also the deputy chair of the Advisory Group on Centenary Commemorations.
According to Cox: “Mansergh’s role in the dra ing of the Belfast Agreement and in garnering support on all sides for what was contained therein was crucial.”
Monica McWilliams is a Northern Irish academic, peace activist and former politician. She served as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for
Belfast South from 1998 to 2003. In 1996, McWilliams co-founded the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition (NIWC) political party and was elected as a delegate at the Multi-Party Peace Negotiations, which led to the Good Friday Agreement.
“In the peace accord, she secured key outcomes such as restitution for victims, inclusion of reconciliation, integrated education, shared housing and a civic forum in addition to addressing other key issues for the peace agreement,” Cox said.
Jonathan Powell is a British diplomat. He served as Downing
Street Chief of Sta from 1997 to 2007, where he was the chief negotiator for the British government on issues in Northern Ireland. He was involved in dra ing the Good Friday Agreement and the subsequent 2006 St. Andrew’s Agreement.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair described Powell as an essential negotiator in Northern Ireland: “Even if they didn’t trust me, they trusted him. Sometimes [Gerry] Adams and [Martin] McGuinness would take things from him that they wouldn’t take from me.”
Nancy Soderberg is an
American foreign policy strategist who served as President Bill Clinton’s chief advisor on Northern Ireland. Soderberg advised Clinton to allow former Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams a visa into the US, which has been described as a crucial symbolic gesture that convinced “the Republican movement that a peaceful course of action was the correct one”.
Soderberg is currently a member of the Ad Hoc Committee to Protect the Good Friday Agreement, a committee of 40 people that continue to uphold and support the peace deal in Northern Ireland.
AS
THE UNION OD STUDENTS
IN IRELAND (USI) Congress has just come to a close, trust in the USI seems to be at a low point. At the four-day Congress in the Clayton Hotel, Sligo, there were multiple instances in which there were not enough delegates in attendance to reach quorum. is attracted some criticism on social media, with former USI Leas-Uachtarán don Ghaeilge Róisín Nic Lochlainn pointing out that Congress costs around €300 per delegate. Others criticised a perceived drinking culture, commenting that some of the attendees were hungover, which impeded their ability to do their jobs.
Chris Cli ord of Munster Technological University Students’ Union (MTUKSU) was elected USI President on a manifesto which included bringing back €13 Tesco vodka, fees varying in proportion to
people’s height “in solidarity with our short kings”, allowing students and lecturers having issues to be able to challenge one another to a boxing match, and raising the USI President wage to €69,696.69.
Cli ord later clari ed his campaign, and said: “I did run a bit of a snu campaign at the start, but that was to get students engaged. I thought it would be a way of engaging students that don’t usually get involved with student politics to look at my campaign.”
“But for Monday night, I put together a speech that I felt would let people know what change I want to see in USI and what I want to do as President. Obviously, that worked, and I intend to do what I said in that speech.”
“My top priority is to engage with the Students’ Unions around the country and to work on general student engagement – they go hand in hand really. I want to be radical about that.”
TCDSU international o cer and chair of Trinity Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (TCDBDS) was also elected USI Vice-President (VP) for
Campaigns with 50.25% of the delegates’ votes. No candidates were put forward for the positions of VicePresident for the Border, Midlands and Western Region and LeasUachtarán don Ghaeilge, and bielections will follow.
A University College Dublin Students’ Union (UCDSU) referendum to rejoin USI failed to meet a minimum turnout threshold of 10% of registered students was not met.
UCDSU has had a historically rocky relationship with USI, leaving and rejoining the national union several times.
ey previously le in 1997, and in 2013, 64.5% of UCD students voted to leave USI, and in 2016 76% of students voted to stay out of USI.
Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) president-elect László Molnár advocated for a no vote in the most recent referendum, saying that UCD students should not rejoin USI without “serious reform”, also describing USI as a “bureaucratic, toxic, and weak organisation”.
He claimed he was “not allowed to speak” during the USI National Council in June 2022, and was called “disrespectful to the work of the executive” when he raised concerns about the Higher Education Authority (HEA) Bill, which USI collaborated with the government on. Molnár also alleged that there was an intervention by a member of the executive espousing “xenophobic sentiments relating to Hungary”, his home country.
Echoing statements he made during his election campaign, he criticised the idea that USI should deliver change “for students in committees rather than with students on the streets”, which has “led to a model of engagement which does not seek the input of the ordinary student”.
At Congress, a motion supporting BDS was passed, mandating USI to support local BDS branches in third-level institutions and to establish a toolkit to aid in the establishment of local BDS branches, based on the toolkit of Trinity BDS. It is also required to boycott Israeli institutions, companies, corporations and products that the union currently uses or has relations with, and the Coiste Gnó, the union’s leadership e motion stated: “ e student movement has o en been at the forefront of important societal change, both locally, and
internationally, including standing together against apartheid in South Africa, ghting for civil rights in the USA in the 1960’s and now organising collectively to tackle the growing climate crisis”.
An emergency motion expressing no-con dence in the current government was also passed. Tabled by László Molnár and Dublin City University Students Union (DCUSU) President omas O’Dowd and Vice-President for Community and Citizenship Nathan Murphy, it urged Council to “make history” by “[booting] them out of power, [removing] them from their positions”.
USI must learn from the success of the National Walkout in October, which saw thousands of students up and down the country walk out of classrooms and lecture halls in protest of the cost of living and accommodation crises.
Student delegates being seen not attending an event for which they have been given free food and accommodation presents a serious optics problem for the union, which it cannot a ord to have. Similarly, UCDSU not being able to get 10% of the student population to vote in a referendum to rejoin USI, and two USI o cer races having no candidates represents a serious engagement problem. Should USI continue in this trajectory, it is possible that a “Trexit” is in store for the future.
Legislation which grants Trinity and NUI graduates exclusive constituencies in Seanad Éireann violates the seventh amendment, the court found
IRELAND’S SUPREME COURT HAS RULED that university electoral panels, under which Trinity graduates make up a speci c constituency in Seanad Éireann elections, are unconstitutional.
e Court found that the Oireachtas had failed to extend franchise for Seanad Éireann elections to graduates of
institutions other than Trinity and the National University of Ireland (NUI), despite a 1979 referendum providing for such changes to be made, under the seventh amendment to the constitution.
e Court ruled that further action on the decision be suspended until July 31, while it hears submissions on how the reconstitution of the Seanad electorate will proceed.
While the legal defence for the government argued that the amendment only allowed for, rather than mandated, the franchise to be extended, the Court ruled against their claims.
Justice Peter Charleton, an alumnus of Trinity, was the only judge to dissent from the majority ruling.
e case was brought by Tomás Heneghan, a journalism graduate of the University of Limerick (UL), who was denied the right to register to vote in Seanad elections, as UL is not a constituent institution of NUI.
Speaking a er today’s ruling, Heneghan thanked the Court “for their sincere consideration of the arguments put forward”, as well as his legal team for their support.
“I hope the Oireachtas now
acts speedily to ensure that the democratic right to vote in Seanad elections is extended to all, regardless of educational or socioeconomic background,” Heneghan added.
Eilis Barry, Chief Executive of the Free Legal Advice Centres
(FLAC) who aided Heneghan called the ruling a “landmark case for democracy, equality and the rule of law”.
FLAC Managing Solicitor
Sinéad Lucey said that “the signi cance of the case goes beyond the issue of votes in the Seanad as a profound re ection on a democratic nature of the State”.
Under present arrangements, graduates of Trinity and constituent universities of NUI have the exclusive right to elect three senators each, six in total. Graduates of other colleges or universities have no special representation in the Seanad.
NUI comprises University College Dublin (UCD), University College Cork (UCC), University of Galway and Maynooth University. While it represents over 77,500 students, its Seanad seats are equal to Trinity, which represents less than 20,000 students.
Current senators of the University of Dublin (Trinity) constituency are David Norris, who has served since 1987, former Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) President Lynn Ruane, and Tom Clonan, who was elected last year. All three are independents.
IN AN EMAIL ON MARCH 29 College announced a partnership with Curiosity Studio in reopening the Science Gallery.
Curiosity Studio was selected as the successful candidate to help design and implement a new operating model for the Science Gallery.
In November College announced a public tender seeking expressions of interest from cultural entities with experience in “delivering STEM-themed public engagement activities” to work in partnership with Trinity.”.
Curiosity Studio will partner
Henshaw is currently the paper’s deputy editor and will begin her tenure on May 1
KATE HENSHAW HAS BEEN ELECTED AS the next editor of Trinity News at the paper’s annual general meeting (AGM) last week..
Henshaw, who ran unopposed for the position, is the paper’s current Deputy Editor and a former News Editor and Assistant News Editor.
College previously announced a public tender seeking expressions of interest to work in partnership with Trinity to reopen the library in a “totally reimagined” formatPHOTO VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
with Trinity, and is currently working on renewing the Science Gallery Dublin concept, devising a programming and exhibition plan, and developing a “sustainable operating and nancial plan for the medium term”.
Curiosity Studio is a creative studio based in Dublin, providing “creative solutions to bring projects of all shapes and sizes to life”, from live events to lm and immersive design. It is well known for the Festival of Curiosity, which is an annual festival of science, arts, design and technology.
In October, it was announced that the Science Gallery was to reopen this summer in a “totally reimagined” format.
e gallery was forced to close in February of last year a er a decline in grants and philanthropic income since 2017, which caused nancial di culties.
In August, the Sunday Independent reported that the gallery had €1.65 million in debt in the four years before College decided to close it.
Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) protested the closure of the gallery, and called on College to “secure a sustainable funding model”.
en TCDSU president Leah Keogh said: “It’s a space where the College connects with the community, which it doesn’t o en do”.
e government will provide €300,000 in funding for the next three to four years.
Professor Jane Ohlmeyer received the European Research Council Advanced Grant, the most competitive of all award categories
2.5 MILLION OF RESEARCH FUNDING has been awarded to a project seeking to recover the lived experiences of women in early modern Ireland, including their roles in society, and experiences of trauma.
e Advanced Grant, described as the most competitive of all categories, was awarded by the European Research Council (ERC) to Trinity’s Professor Jane Ohlmeyer for a ve-year project.
Ohlmeyer’s project, titled VOICES: Life and Death, War and Peace, c.1550-c.1700: Voices of Women in Early Modern Ireland, aims to uncover the role women
played in a period of “signi cant cultural and political change”.
It will also investigate women’s experiences of social upheaval and extreme trauma, particularly sexual abuse, during this period.
e project will use innovative technologies to access previously inaccessible historical data, working with the Science Foundation Ireland’s (SFI) Research Centre for AI-Driven Digital Content Technology (ADAPT), which is based at Trinity.
Professor Ohlmeyer will recruit a research team to work on the project, which will commence in September 2023.
Ohlmeyer, who is Erasmus Smith’s Professor of Modern History, said that it was “an incredible honour” to receive the award.
“ is funding will help to recover the lived experiences of ordinary women from Early Modern Ireland and o er new narratives that have been hidden until now.”
She added that she was “particularly excited to unearth these untold stories and move away from a predominantly elitist perspective of history”.
“I am also energised by the opportunity to employ innovative technologies for historical analysis which will chart a new path for historical research using interdisciplinary methods,”
Ohlmeyer said. Provost Linda Dolye congratulated Professor Ohlmeyer noting how the grant acknowledges her “outstanding and innovative” approach to research.
“ e VOICES project typi es the cutting-edge work being led by Arts & Humanities researchers at Trinity. It seeks to interrogate a rich historical record held in Trinity’s Manuscripts & Archives collection through the creative use of technology shedding new light on an important, but until now, overlooked part of our history,”
the Provost added Trinity’s Dean of Research Sinead Ryan also congratulated Ohlmeyer saying: “VOICES is an innovative project that harnesses Jane’s skills as a historian together with new technologies to shed light on untold stories of family, memory, and trauma.”
“It is particularly signi cant that a project so strongly focussed on Irish history, speci cally the experiences of women in early modern Ireland, has been funded at an international level,” Ryan continued.
Ohlmeyer is the Erasmus Smith’s Professor of Modern History at Trinity and the Chair of the Irish Research Council. She was the founding Head of the School of Histories and Humanities, VicePresident for Global Relations (2011-14), and Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute (2015-20). Earlier this month she was awarded the 2023 Royal Irish Academy Gold Medal in humanities.
e ERC was established by the European Union in 2007. It aims to“encourage the highest quality research in Europe through competitive funding”. Applications for funding are open to any eld of research, however applicants are expected to be active researchers with a sustained history of “signi cant research achievements in the last 10 years”.
Henshaw will serve as editor for the 2023/24 academic year, the 70th volume of the newspaper.
e vote to elect the editor was conducted by online ballot of the paper’s editorial sta
Henshaw, who has also served as the alumni o cer of Trinity Publications, is a nal year sociology and social policy student. e new editor’s plans for the paper include increasing the publication’s social media presence and further promoting the paper’s tradition of integrity and inclusivity.
Henshaw’s tenure as editor will begin on May 1.
Henshaw’s manifesto focused on expanding the paper’s social media team, promoting integrity and inclusion and reviewing Trinity News’ Guidebook. She also plans to print a themed ‘Legacies’ issue to mark the paper’s 70th year including articles focused on alumni. Henshaw also hopes to establish a Layout Team for the paper’s production.
Following her election Henshaw said “I am so delighted to have been elected editor of Trinity News for 2023/24. TN has de ned my college experience and I truly believe I am the right person to lead TN into the next year. We in TN have always prioritised integrity and inclusion as fundamental to the papers success and this is something I will continue to do next year.”
“I am so excited to see what TN does next year and I hope to provide space for all students to write. Bring on 2023/24.”
Trinity News’ current editor Shannon Connolly congratulated Henshaw on her election stating:
“I am delighted to be handing over the paper to Kate’s very capable hands this May.”
“It’s been an absolute honour working alongside Kate this year, as well as working as Editor for the 69th issue of Trinity News. Congrats to Kate, and congrats to all our team who have done such a great job this year.”
FOURTH YEAR
BOTANY STUDENT
Heather McClean has urged the student body to ll out a public consultation form released by the government regarding hunting regulations in Ireland, in order to address the rapidly decreasing duck population in Ireland.
McClean said that the “‘legal to hunt” list in Ireland has not been changed since the Wildlife Act of 1976 – almost 50 years – despite Ireland’s biodiversity reducing drastically since then.”
“
ere are species on the list that are endangered now, and they need to be removed from the ‘kill list’,” she added, urging students to ll out the government survey and save the common pochard, the pintail, and the tu ed diving duck.
At present, a number of native Irish birds may legally be hunted at certain times of the year, according to the Open Seasons Order. e Irish duck shooting season is open from September 1 to January 31 for inland hunting, lasting until
February 20 for areas below the high-water mark. e ducks being hunted include species such as the common pochard which are critically endangered and feature on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List.
e Public Consultation, launched by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, aims to ensure that the hunting of bird species is being carried out on a sustainable footing. is Consultation has been launched in accordance with the EU Birds Directive 2009, which states that Ireland has an obligation to ensure that the hunting of bird species complies with “the principles of wise use” outlined in Annex II of the Directive.
Members of the public will be able to submit their suggestions for action to be taken to ensure the hunting of birds in Ireland is practised in a sustainable manner, via an online questionnaire. is questionnaire will remain open for public contribution until 5 pm on May 3.
“But this survey isn’t just about saving the pochards.”, McClean said. “63% of Irish bird species are in decline, and if we want to protect Irish biodiversity we must act now.”
McClean’s statistics on the decline of Irish bird species come from a recent biodiversity report by BirdLife International. While almost half of all bird species worldwide are in decline, according to the report, Ireland’s decline in 63% of native bird species places Ireland well above the global average in terms of this
decline.
Speci cally regarding Irish duck species, the report showed that there has been a consistent decline in the Irish population. Four species out of the ten total constitute the majority, accounting for over 92% of individual ducks that may be hunted. ree of these four species are in decline, with only the Teal species of duck estimated to have increased.
Species such as the Pochard, the Scaup, and the Goldeneye are estimated to have experienced acute population loss of 67-89%. e report also outlined possible ways to improve biodiversity in Ireland, which McClean discussed: “ e key to protecting biodiversity is by protecting our wetlands. Only 6% of the earth’s surface is wetlands, yet over 40% of all plant and animal species live or breed in wetlands. And one easy way to protect our wetlands is by protecting our waterfowl”.
“Ducks renew wetland habitats by eating seeds in one area and pooping them in other areas, providing constant rejuvenation of a critically important habitat.”
McClean, who has previously successfully lobbied for vegan milk alternatives to cost the same as regular milk on the Trinity College campus, started campaigning for the removal of these endangered species from the list of legal tohunt species approximately a year ago, a er learning of the situation while researching for her third year ecology project.
McClean said the public consultation form “is a huge opportunity to potentially save a species from local extinction, and x some very unfair and out of
date legislation”.
In a press release, Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan said: “While Government-led e orts and initiatives to protect birds have intensi ed and are signi cant, so too is the challenge of reversing declines in threatened bird species, and other habitats and species”.
He added that “despite more than 30 years of e ort to protect and conserve biodiversity under the EU Birds and Habitats Directives, the latest assessments under these Directives show declining trends in the conservation status of some of our most threatened species”.
“We must make every e ort to protect our birds and, in line with our EU counterparts, it is appropriate that we consider the role of hunting activities in this context.”
Concluding her statement encouraging students to ll in the consultation form, McClean called on students “to complete the survey and let your voice be heard”.
“We have the chance here to do so much more than simply save a few species from local extinction. Let’s stop hunting waterfowl for the time being and allow duck populations to recover.”
“We might end up saving a lot more than a few ducks.”
e questionnaire can be lled out online on the EUSurvey service and is titled “Review of birds on the Open Seasons Order (Ireland)”.
e debut novel from UCD Creative Writing graduate Lauren Mackenzie, ‘ e Couples’ has been optioned by publisher John Murray, whose publishing history includes works from Jane Austen, Arthur Conan Doyle, Lord Byron and Charles Darwin. Speaking on the announcement, Mackenzie explained, “it was a dream come true being acquired by John Murray.” Speaking on the substance of her novel, Mackenzie divulged that, “we don’t talk about marriage enough, even to the people we marry. We don’t talk about how marriage is not the end of a love story but only the beginning.”
A new report by researchers at Queen’s has revealed 69% of voters in Northern Ireland think that the proposed Windsor Framework could bring economic bene ts and prosperity to the region, an increase of around 7% said they saw potential economic gain when the previous poll was conducted in February. Speaking on the ndings, Principal Investigator Professor David Phinnemore noted that while these results reinforce the view that legislators in the North should vote in favour of its implementation, “opposition to the Protocol remains, particularly among ‘strong unionists’ where there are few indications the Windsor Framework has shi ed any opinions.”
“We have the chance here to do so much more than simply save a few species from local extinction.”PHOTO BY MAGDA EHLERS VIA PEXELS Additional reporting by Emily Sheehan.
LAST WEEK STUDENT ACTIVIST GROUP Students4Change (S4C) called on College to rename the Berkeley Library to omas Sankara Library.
omas Sankara was a politician, revolutionary, and military o cer from Burkina Faso. Commonly nicknamed “Africa’s Che Guevara”, he is o en viewed as a socialist, anti-imperialist icon. He served as Burkina Faso’s rst president, as well as the nation’s h Prime Minister – when it was under the name of Upper Volta.
Sankara is credited with majorly improving his country’s education and health systems, as well as leading the charge for the cultural decolonisation of West Africa. He was assassinated on October 15, 1987. A political rival of his, Blaise Compaoré, was last year found guilty of complicity in his murder.
Currently, Trinity’s law library is named in recognition of George Berkeley – a renowned philosopher and theologian who served as Church of Ireland Bishop of Cloyne. Berkeley attended Trinity, where he was elected scholar, earned both a BA and MA, as well as working as a tutor and lecturer. He specialised in theology, philosophy, and relativity.
Upon moving to America in 1728, he purchased both a plantation and several African people who had been enslaved. In 2001 an investigation by Yale University discovered that in 1730 Berkeley bought “a negro man named Phillip aged 14 or thereabouts”, the names of other enslaved people who were forced to work on the plantation included Edward, Anthony, and Agnes.
Sankara is credited with improving his country’s education
and health systems, as well as leading the charge for the cultural decolonisation of West Africa. He was assassinated on October 15, 1987. A political rival of his, Blaise Compaoré, was last year found guilty of complicity in his murder.
Described by S4C as “a Marxist-Leninist and Pan-African revolutionary”, they believe that his morals and ideals warrant a library in Trinity to be named in his honour. ese include climate action, gender equality, antiimperialism, and other “le -wing principles”.
Sankara has no links to Trinity, and never visited Ireland. He has been accused of operations “show trials” in the name of legal justice for politicians on trial for “corruption, tax evasion or counter-revolutionary activity”. He further limited freedom of the press and banned trade unions.
S4C’s statement follows years of controversy regarding the Berkeley Library’s name. Current Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) President, Gabi Fullam, campaigned on the promise of renaming the library. In all o cial TCDSU correspondence with the student body, they choose to refer
to the library as “the X Library”. is renewed e ort to rename the Berkeley Library comes a er many high pro le student-led protests and boycotts organised by S4C. Last ursday, S4C along with other groups, were removed by security from an address by Eamon Ryan.
College is not opposed to the
change of name for the library, however in a statement to Trinity News, they stated that “the Trinity Legacies Review Working Group […] is considering a proposal to dename the Berkeley Library, not to rename”. ey added that “a separate process will be needed to determine the new name, should a denaming occur”.
APROPOSED MERGER OF TRINITY Publications and the Central Societies Committee (CSC) will not proceed a er the Trinity Publications committee rejected a motion to create a “working group” to join the two capitated bodies.
e proposed merger, announced by the chairs of the CSC and Trinity Publications in a joint statement earlier this
month, planned to bring Trinity Publications and the CSC together to form a joint constitution under the new name Trinity College Dublin Societies and Publications (TSP).
Speaking to Trinity News, Chair of Trinity Publications Jack Smyth said that he fully supports the decision of his committee in rejecting the formation of a working group.
e proposal claimed the merger would be “mutually bene cial”, with one of the mentioned bene ts being a stipend for the Chair of Publications, who would become an “o cer of the TSP”, as well as the support of the CSC’s bookkeeping and nancial sta
While the announcement claimed that the “journalistic and media freedoms” of Publications would be retained, the proposal raised concerns about editorial and functional independence among editors, given present CSC arrangements which disallow societies from taking political stances or publishing references to drugs or alcohol.
Earlier this year, the CSC voted to provide a stipend of €200 a week
to its three o cer positions, chair, secretary, and treasurer.
e Trinity Publications committee is comprised of six o cer roles, as well as the editors of each of the seven a liate publications, Trinity News, TN2, Icarus, JoLT, Misc. Magazine,
Trinity Film Review, and the Piranha. ere was no discussion of the proposal at the CSC’s AGM yesterday evening, where a motion was passed to explore the possibility of making the CSC Chair a sabbatical role.
e Trinity Publications Committee is one of Trinity’s designated capitated bodies alongside Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU), the Central Societies Committee (CSC) and the Sports Union.
e activist group called on College to pay homage to “one of the greatest revolutionaries who ever lived”PHOTO VIA EVA O’BEIRNE FOR TRINITY NEWSi
A proposed merger between the two capitated bodies will not proceed following the Trinity Publications vote against it
Correspondence from the Revenue commission implies that current conditions do not technically exempt many PhD researchers from tax, given their role
LEAKED CORRESPONDENCE REGARDING THE Revenue Commission’s policy on tax exemptions for PhD researchers has highlighted the contradiction in postgraduates’ categorisation as students rather than workers.
Je rey Sardina, a member of the national committee of the Postgraduate Workers’
Organisation (PWO), was told that in order to be exempt from tax, PhD stipends, which are categorised as scholarships, “must be held by a person receiving fulltime instruction at a university, college, school or other educational establishment”.
Sardina highlighted that as a postgraduate researcher, “I do not receive any instruction at my university, adding that his research “is mostly self-guided”.
Revenue emphasised a condition of the tax exemption that “the object of the scholarship must be the promotion of the education of the holder rather than the promotion of research through the holder.”
Sardina said: “ e primary purpose of me as a PhD is to do research. I am evaluated and brought into the university entirely to produce my own research. I do not take classes or have routine formal instruction.”
“Since the output of a PhD is a thesis containing my research ndings, I would think that the output of this programme is explicitly for the promotion of my research,” he added.
In a press statement last week, Sardina said that he had been required to sign a Scholarship
Exemption Declaration Form, exempting him from paying taxes on his stipend of €18.5k, provided
the conditions of his role were “not at all” similar to those declared in the exemption form, and that it was given to him “under false pretences by Trinity College and by SFI”.
“As a result, Revenue has told me that this exemption does not apply to me, therefore mandating that I pay over 1k extra in taxes out of a budget that is already 22% below minimum wage because of the false pretences under which I was accepted into my PhD programme. is seeming deception is grossly unacceptable.”
Sardina added: “Revenue’s claim that I do not qualify as a student is in line with what I have believed for a long time – my primary function as a PhD [candidate] is to generate intellectual property for my college through research and to teach.”
“In fact, as a PhD [candidate], I do not take classes or receive fulltime instruction. And ultimately, if I am not a student, and I pay taxes, then legally I must be classi ed as a worker – with at least minimum wage, a legal contract, and full workers’ rights.”
being denied worker status.
As students, postgraduates are not entitled to minimum wage or employment bene ts for their work, with the highest PhD in Ireland stipend being around €19,000, around 20% below minimum wage.
e PWO have said that many would prefer to pay tax as it would entitle them to tax credits such as the rental assistance in last year’s budget, but that liveable pay must be guaranteed.
In his statement, Sardina said: “ is situation must change now –living 22% below minimum wage, plus taxes, for no workers’ rights is a gross violation of my rights. However, this is the established policy of Trinity, SFI, and the Irish government.”
“ is entire event is reminiscent of a system so fundamentally broken that I am required to pay for the “right” to work – with no workers’ rights.”
by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI).
Despite this, Sardina continued,
e discrepancy between the Revenue policy and the reality for PhD researchers further highlights the contradiction of postgraduates
Sardina is currently running for the position of Vice-President for Postgraduate A airs in the Union of Students in Ireland (USI). He is a co-founder and former president of the PhD’s Collective Action Union (PCAU) from which the PWO was formed following a merger.
e protesters highlighted the housing crisis and climate change among other issues
STUDENTS FROM SEVERAL GROUPS gathered in the Business School last week in protest against an event featuring Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe.
e protest was organised by Trinity People Before Pro t (TCD PBP), Students4Change (S4C), Extinction Rebellion TCD, time to act TCD, and Student Climate Coalition. e protestors highlighted their concerns with an array of issues including students rights, the housing crisis, climate change, the cost of living crisis and trans rights.
e protesters broke into a series of chants using a megaphone including “Paschal out” and
“When students rights are under attack stand up ght back”. One protester carried a sign with the slogan “Corporate greed drives in ation.”
During the protest, S4C Chair, and Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) President Elect, László Molnár accused the government of “committing social murder every day” and said that Government representatives “need to be held accountable at every level”.
e protesters criticised the event for pre-screening questions and for not allowing students to attend, calling it a “PR event” and “an absolute shambles”.
Speaking to Trinity News, Molnár said: “We’re here today to protest this government that has brought so much destruction to our communities. Students and sta are struggling to make ends meet, to pay for groceries. People are living in insecurity not knowing if they’ll have a roof over their heads, and this is a direct result of the government’s neoliberal capitalist policies.”
“ e purpose of this protest is to embarrass them, to make sure that the public sees who they truly are and what they’ve done. And at the next election we can boot them out,” he added.
TCDSU President Gabi Fullam also attended the protest. She told Trinity News that the Union “consistently protest the government on issues related to higher education”. She also criticised College for “blaming” issues on underfunding while being “ weak to criticise the government or to speak up on that underfunding”.
In an email yesterday to Provost Linda Doyle, Molnár criticised the “trend of inviting high-pro le public gures and only having pre- ltered and pre-submitted Q/A sessions”, calling it “very
concerning and is completely antithetical to the values our university claims to uphold”.
Today’s protests come just one week a er Minister Eamon Ryan was forced to leave through an emergency exit following multiple protests against his attendance on campus.
Ryan’s address last week was disrupted by student activists, including Mólnár , who told Ryan that “blood is on your hands and the Green Party’s hands due to your complicity in the neoliberal government that has just voted to end the eviction ban”.
“We believe there are certain o enses in the country where I think there’s such a level of societal revulsion that we need to actually change the laws to have harsher sentences”
TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN STUDENTS’
Union President-elect
László Molnár has accused College of being “opposed to open-ended discussion and debate” in an email to Provost Linda Doyle.
In an email seen by Trinity News, Molnár addressed the
“trend of inviting high-pro le public gures and only having preltered and pre-submitted Q/A sessions”, describing it as “very concerning and is completely antithetical to the values our university claims to uphold”.
Molnár said that the preltered submissions at Minister for Transport and the Environment Eamon Ryan’s address last ursday led to “so ball questions being asked of our public representative”.
Ryan’s address on March 23 was disrupted by student activists, including Mólnár , who told Ryan that “blood is on your hands and the Green Party’s hands due to your complicity in the neoliberal government that has just voted to end the eviction ban”.
Doyle made an unexpected appearance at the address a er protestors were removed, criticising the protest and calling for students to “cope with di erent views, di erent opinions, and listen to those respectfully”. Molnár criticised Doyle’s comments in his email.
Molnár also pointed out that
Minister for Public Expenditure
Paschal Donohoe’s panel with the Irish Universities Association (IUA) only allowed for presubmitted questions, according to the event sign-up form which asks for questions in advance.
“ is way of hosting events makes it so that marginalised and sidelined voices cannot make their issues known apart from protest,” Molnár argued, “and [it] furthermore cements our university’s role as a positive PR generator for the government and its ministers.”
“ e reason that these events have restricted academic debate and freedom of speech is because the purpose of the events is not to further the aims of our university and the values of academia, but to prop up our government, engage in networking and show our compliance, in the hopes of securing favours. Our College has sold out to the government, rather than standing up for its own values and autonomy.”
Molnár called for a policy that mandates “a truly openended Q/A session at the end” of
any event featuring a high-pro le public representative.
“ e voices of students, sta and attendees are being censored in order to so en and prop up the image of government politicians and this is unacceptable.”
Ryan was forced to use the escorted from the Synge Lecture theatre via an emergency exit to avoid a protest by the Postgraduate Workers’ Organisation (PWO) a er his talk.
Members of the PWO called on Ryan to “stop evictions”, following the Green Party’s support for an end to the eviction ban in the Dáil yesterday.
Speaking to Trinity News, at the time Conor Reddy of TCD PWO explained that “it’s important that he’s opposed and that he knows that he’s not welcome at this university”.
Trinity People Before Pro t have also criticised the trend of pre-submitted questions only at events, describing Donohoe’s “continual failures on housing policy” and encouraged students to protest the event.
“I’m delighted to have collaborated with artist Spicebag to make this happen in Dublin (homeowner gave permission for mural). More to come.”
“We rise together, we fall together, we are all one.”
“Fuck o and leave me alone.”
“Sex work happens whether you like it or not. e people who have sex to survive are telling us that the current legislation makes them more unsafe, they’re seeing a rise in violence and now a woman in is dead. Your moral view of sex work is not an excuse for making it more unsafe”
“My art is political satire. I’m entitled to my own opinions, its my own art.”
László Molnár expressed “shock and disappointment” at the restriction to pre-submitted questions only at political addressesPHOTO BY BEN KEARNS FOR TRINITY NEWS “Politics isn’t learned from textbooks, it’s learned from experience.”
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With special thanks to alum Randal Henly, who curated our crosswords this year
Experimentation is synonymous with college life, but awareness of the risks facilitates informed decisionmaking and safer environments
Consumption of and experimentation with illicit substances is o en synonymous with the typical college experience. While this kind of curiosity is natural, and almost a rite of passage for those who choose to experiment, being aware of some of the negative side e ects of using drugs can allow you to safeguard your body and mind for the future. Whether you dance the night away on cocaine and MDMA, chill out with a joint of cannabis, or use a bit of ketamine at an a ers to take the edge o — it is well worth knowing what exactly these drugs are leaving you susceptible to. Being informed on some of the possible side e ects of drug consumption and misuse can
help to establish safer and more controlled environments for those who choose to partake.
First up, the most commonly used drug in Ireland: cannabis. Asides from the well-known e ects of weed like laziness, lack of motivation, and being spaced out for a couple of hours a er smoking it, it can, unfortunately, trigger schizophrenia in so-called vulnerable people. Vulnerable refers to those that start smoking it at too young an age, too o en, and also those with a family history of the illness. A 2008 study found that people who had simply tried cannabis by age 18 were 2.4 times more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia and that the risk increased with usage. Another staggering study in 2011 found that those that had smoked cannabis 50 times were six times more likely to develop schizophrenia. ese are statistics that are worth keeping in mind, especially if you know the disorder runs in your family.
Next up, MDMA. MDMA has undisputed therapeutic bene ts, with Australia only recently legalising it as a treatment for stubborn, treatment-resistant depression (amongst other things). Taking MDMA can be euphoric when ingested in the right environment and with the right people. Unfortunately, taking too much increases your chances of developing Alzheimer’s as you grow older, as stated by a 2011 DRUGS.ie article. is is without even mentioning the common knowledge that MDMA should be
a seasonal drug — it should only be taken once every three months for the levels of serotonin in your brain to fully restore. Now, we will point our attention toward ketamine. Ketamine is a relatively new drug, and its popularity has exploded over the past ve to ten years. e problem
with this rapid expansion is that users aren’t as aware of the newly discovered side e ects of taking it, like the 2012 discovery that the scarring of bladder tissue which will, over time, gradually decrease the bladder’s capacity to hold urine even if only taken once a month. A fantastic documentary by VICE on this topic is available on Youtube, entitled Pissing Blood: e Ketamine Time Bomb. It is a sobering watch and one that is worth the time taken out of your day to consume it, especially if you are regularly consuming K.
Of course, this list wouldn’t be complete without cocaine. Cocaine is sometimes inaccessible to students due to the sheer cost, but it is a mainstay of the party, pub, and general pint-related scenes. While all illegal substances might be tra cked into their destination country with a certain amount of violence, intimidation, bribery, and bloodshed — cocaine is the number one substance associated with all of the aforementioned. Ireland is one of the largest consumers of cocaine in Europe and through this, we are directly contributing to the death and destruction of communities in South America, not to mention the community devastation it causes closer to home through misuse and addiction.
Cocaine is one of the most addictive substances known to man. ere is an adage associated with it which is “the only thing cocaine is good for is wanting more cocaine”. Obviously, this is a
massive oversimpli cation — but it holds some truth and sheds light on the main side e ect of cocaine: addiction. is leads nicely to what to do if your drug use is excessive and getting out of control.
ere is an addiction counselling group in College for any addictive behaviours which could be your port of call if things haven’t gotten too out of hand for you just yet. Alternatively, seeing your GP might also help. If it has all piled up on you and you need immediate relief from mental distress, your local psych unit could be the place to go for a week or two to get away from the drugs that are making your life worse. ere are also plenty of free services available to help you through a situation like this.
HSE addiction services, which operate locally around the country, are places where you can seek help for a range of addictive behaviours. More info can also be found on the Citizen’s Information website by searching: Citizens Information Addiction Treatment Services. However, what is the real solution to some of these problems? A medical based approach where drug misusers are treated as humans o ered help to cease use, and educated on the dangers of the drugs they are taking is the way forward. A criminal approach o en only further indentures people to their addictions, creates shame, and then also makes it harder for the addict to return to everyday life a er overcoming their addiction.
e complex and detailed pension system and why the French population have organised over 10 days of protests
In France, the pension is viewed as the cornerstone of the welfare system. Its importance in French society, and French identity, cannot be underestimated. Emmanuel Macron’s proposals not only reduce the pension as a worldleading social protection, but puts the strain of that reduction upon blue collar workers.
e French pension system is a complex and detailed system, with 42 di erent state-pension schemes. Pensions are paid to the retired by those working in France,
France’s life expectancy is rising, meaning there are more people in retirement receiving a pension. e ratio of retirees to workers is also falling. Having been 2.1 in 2000, it is now just 1.7. is increases the burden of the pension scheme on the current and future generation of workers. Macron claims that
largest union (C.G.T) simply believes that “64 isn’t possible” due to the working conditions that many of the union’s members face. Furthermore, Macron’s refusal to fund the pension through an increase in taxation of wealthy people and corporations has le people angry and feeling unfairly treated by the reforms. e government has su ered as a result of these policies. ey survived a no-con dence vote by just 9 votes. Macron also forced the bill through the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, without putting it to a vote. e use of executive action in this manner has caused serious backlash as many are saying that this is part of the erosion of French democracy. e announcement of the bill passing in this manner caused le wing politicians to sing ‘Le Marseilles’ so loud that Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne could not be heard and her speech had to be delayed. is has only exacerbated the ongoing strikes and protests, which have lasted for a number of weeks. e binmen of Paris have been on strike for 3 weeks, causing ten thousand tonnes of
and cutting power in the o ces of o cials supporting the pension reform. Re nery worker’s walkouts have caused a third of petrol stations to face shortages. An oil reserves compound was told to stay open at all costs to allow petrol stations to access supplies. e workers responded to this by striking outside the front gates.
Since the beginning of March, France’s rail workers union have called for rolling, open-ended strikes, causing disruption to the entire country’s rail network, particularly metros and tramways.
e air-tra c control strike has been intermittent but existing since the start of March, and has caused many cancellations and major delays across Europe. e strikes conducted by air tra c control workers have come under criticism from many leading European airlines, including Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary.
Protests have raged across the country, with the greatest display of unity between unions since 1968. Last ursday, the police estimated that 1.2 million people took to the streets, but protest leaders believe there were nearly three times as many out. e
can only heighten the pressure facing Macron. e protests have led to the cancellation of King Charles III royal visit to France, with concerns over both safety and the image of a royal dinner with a backdrop of riots. Many French people have mocked the prospect of a royal visit, with claims of Macron eroding democracy and mocking
Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne has recently invited the leaders of Unions to meet her in the coming week to try and bring the strikes to an end, although it seems unlikely for success on that front unless there are major concessions made in the pension reform, and possibly the bill being e chances of such a U-turn by the government seem slim, as Macron appears to have staked his legacy upon these reforms. It looks as though these strikes and protests will continue
It was poet and failed experimental scientist Percy Shelley who noted that, ‘history is a cyclical poem written by Time upon the memories of man.’
e nods to history repeating itself get old quickly if the failures of the past seem to occur on a weekly basis in real-time, but that doesn’t mean we can simply ignore these sentiments. As the nancial crises of our lifetime have shown, they always start small then explode outward with force, volatility and real consequences for everyone from the ordinary banker to the lowly budding student entrepreneur to the casual retail investor.
Silicon Valley Bank, otherwise known as SVB was, until Friday 10th March 2023, the 16th largest bank in the US. SVB was worth around $200bn before it collapsed in a sudden rush of deposit withdrawals over one weekend, panic over the economy’s rising rates consuming the minds of the Bank’s executives and its clientele jointly. is lead to the intervention of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the US agency responsible for acting as receiver in post-bank failure situations. e surprising immediacy of the bank’s failure not only sent ripples through the US banking and nancial sectors, but also forced regulators to close Signature Bank, which operated out of New York because of what is known as the ‘contagion e ect’.
As the name suggests, this is when the failures or disturbances of other nancial institutions ripple to a ect other entities operating in the same space or to the entire system as a whole.
SVB’s noteworthy status comes from its location and its borrowers.
As a regional bank, it focused its clientele largely on the Big Tech sector that has traditionally thrived in the Silicon Valley area of San Francisco. Despite the bank having in excess of hundreds of millions of dollars for tech clients,
most outside of California up until its collapse wouldn’t have heard of SVB, including myself. As most of us are accustomed to a relatively small banking sector, consisting of oligarchic control by the likes of AIB and Bank of Ireland, the very idea of regional banks let alone those dedicated to speci c sectors is a completely foreign notion. Its news-grabbing failures can provide us with lessons, but also unfortunate reminders of how fragile certain banking architectures really are.
In a basic sense, SVB took big risks, hedging millions on longterm US Government bonds (for those who don’t have the fortunate pleasure of learning about nance (or watching e Big Short), bonds are sums of money you lend to the government, who in turn agree to pay you back, plus interest).
ese longer-term bonds, some stretching ten years, were bought at a time when the Federal interest rate was at, yet the Federal Reserve, the US’s Central Bank, kept increasing rates all throughout 2022 to curb growing in ation, thus harming those older bonds whose price (and therefore value) is tied directly to this rate.
e spike in interest rate, combined with the panic of said rates rising, caused many of SVB’s clients to come knocking, demanding their money be withdrawn. Hedging all your eggs in one basket, in one sense or the other, is never a good idea in banking. e lack of nancial variety in its clientele meant depositors were pulling millions and even tens of millions from the bank’s sheets. In one day alone the bank su ered a $41bn bank run.
A death knell even for most major banks, and certainly for SVB.
A er the nancial crisis of 2008,
the Dodd-Frank reforms were enacted, bringing much needed preparation and risk-planning mandates to America’s biggest banks, those with more than $50bn in assets. Where were these regimes then in SVB’s case? Didn’t apply. Yes, this Act, despite the calamitous nature of the ‘08 crash, was watered down by legislators, giving in to medium-sized banks whines of harsh regulation. e day before its closure, SVB were panicking, trying to recapitalise. It shot itself in the foot, and the blame should not fall wholly on Congress. By locking away billions in long-term bonds, SVB doomed itself should any extremely volatile bank run come knocking. And it did. ese legislative changes have crippled an entire class of banks in America who, because of the pandemic, expanded their deposit base and brought in a plentiful horde of capital, yet didn’t follow the basics of fractional reserve banking. Always keep some for emergencies. is isn’t a story about risk, it’s a tale of incompetent handling of assets.
e potential knock-on e ects of SVB’s collapse have already started. e share price of banks similar in size to SVB, such as First Republic, another Bay Area-based bank, have continued to plunge, taking as much as an 80% nosedive. If trading sessions at the New York Stock Exchange have needed to be halted for 10 continuous days due to the volatility of your share price, then something is de nitely not right.
It is not a coincidence that this side of the Atlantic is feeling
the panic too. Following on from the chaos in North America, the spread of fear in the system led to many heavy-hitters in European banking to su er similar share price declines. Banking is at its core a system of trust and con dence, and with fraying trust comes the self-interest and selfpreservation of one’s own nances, more than anything else. Credit Suisse, the notable Swiss banking giant who at their core tailor to wealthy clientele in the realm of wealth management and provide secondary investment services su ered a slower, but more systematically impactful downfall. e ripple e ect was in full swing, and Credit Suisse saw the full force of the tidal wave. In an
extraordinary move, the Swiss bank’s collapse wiped out what are known as AT1 bonds, which act in nancial terms as shock absorbers, ready and waiting in the wings to reduce the blow to depositors, investors and the bank itself in the event of a crash. e wiping out of this particular kind of nancing deepened the hole that UBS, Credit Suisse’s main rival, had to dig its number one enemy out of. e banks literally operate across the road from one another in Zurich. If Costa on College Green were to suddenly collapse, it would be like Starbucks next door to get all of their unused co ee beans. e headline that is oating around is that in this one instance, history might not repeat itself, but it does rhyme quite poetically. e federal government in the US is assessing a bailout option of SVB which, as Ireland knows, never leads to content customers. e making of losses public while maintaining private pro ts would in essence cement the growing fear that not just some, like JP Morgan or Bank of America, but all banks in America are too big to fail. is reluctance to let the rich eat their own losses shows plain as day how dependent the US, and to that extent, most major developed nations, are on their private enterprise. If a bank so specialised in its services and its loans can trigger the collapse of the banking system, we are and have been, contrary to relative calm in recent years, treading on mighty thin ice. What’s worse is that we will continue to do so for quite some time.
From startup to shutdown , the events of SVB’s cataclysmic collapse might signal that history does indeed repeat itself.PHOTO VIA PEXELS
Who are the new post-Brexit generation of British people seeking Irish citizenship?
applying to be included in the register is even more di cult than trying to get one’s head around who is actually eligible. e directions provided by the Department of Foreign A airs on its website require the submission of no less than ten documents relating to the applicant or their relatives, many of which must be witnessed, certi ed or original copies. Yet the applications keep coming.
It was with a subtle yet unmistakable hint of triumph that Tánaiste Mícheál Martin announced in the Dáil in January that 2022 had been “an exceptionally busy year” for the passport o ce. e continued increase in passport application numbers, far from an aberration, is part of a wider trend which has been observed since 2016 and which can not be explained by a mere increase in the number of Irish people wishing to travel abroad. What is behind it then?
e reason most o en given is a familiar one: Brexit. e increase in Irish passport applications coincides neatly with the UK’s decision to leave the EU and there is plenty of evidence which suggests that this is as likely to be causation as it is correlation.
According to gures released by the Department of Foreign A airs in 2021 the number of Irish passports issued to British applicants rose from 16,900 in 2017 to 46,800 in 2020.
Before one can apply for an Irish passport however, one must rst be an Irish citizen, and gures relating to applications for this legal status have been, if anything, even more striking. Records from the Department of Justice show that the number of people from Britain granted Irish citizenship rose from 54 in 2015 to 1,191 in 2021.
Foreign births
is gure becomes even more striking when one takes into account that it does not include anyone born in the UK to a parent born in Ireland, as these individuals are citizens by default and need not go through the application process. is essentially means that applications for citizenship from the UK are now increasingly being made by young, third generation Irish immigrants coming of age in a post-Brexit world. In order for them to gain citizenship, it is necessary that they be included in the foreign births registry, either by virtue of the fact that they have Irish-born grandparents or that their parent was an Irish citizen at the time of their birth but was not born on the island of Ireland. Su ce to say that the process of
A new generation e reality is that these are young people entering third level education or the workforce in a very di erent world to that which they might have expected prior to the Brexit referendum and who appear, as a result, more willing to undertake the arduous process of applying for Irish citizenship through their grandparents.
Trinity News spoke to two students, living, studying and born in the UK who have completed the process of obtaining Irish citizenship.
Emma, born in England but a long time resident in Scotland applied for citizenship through her Irish grandparents and waited almost two years between 2016 and 2018 for her application to be processed.
Ellie, born in Oxford but with a grandmother from Limerick, had a substantially shorter wait between her application in February 2022 and her receiving citizenship in March 2023 but still felt the inconvenience of hunting down original copies of her grandmother’s birth certi cate, not to mention the €278 cost of completing the application process.
Neither, however, had any doubts about applying or regret in any way their decision to do so. Both had long known about the possibility of their becoming Irish citizens and had had a connection with the country from a young age. Ellie tells me that a large part of her family still lives in the Republic and that even without Brexit, she probably would have applied for citizenship “as a personal thing. It makes me feel closer to my grandmother”. Emma, whose mother still very much identi es as Irish, had been aware of her entitlement for as long as she can remember. Still, even for her “the pushing point was de nitely Brexit…Finally there was a reason to do the admin.” She’s not the only one either, and when I ask her whether she knows anyone else who is completing the application process, there’s no hesitation in her response “right o the top of my head I know 5 people,” she tells me.
A doorway into Europe
e practical motivations for their decisions however, have somewhat less to do with Ireland itself and somewhat more to do with the country’s membership of the European Union. Apart from the obvious advantage of skipping the queues at airports (“I only
travel with my Irish passport,” Emma tells) there are also many practical bene ts to Irish, and thus EU, citizenship which attract those attempting to further their education or career prospects. Both Emma and Ellie were among the rst cohort of British students excluded from the Erasmus exchange programme and instead studied in Europe through the UK’s new Turing scheme. However, this experience has only increased their desire to take advantage of the opportunities which Europe has to o er. Ellie expresses an interest in moving to France where she will be able to avail of a masters programme at the reduced fees o ered to EU students thanks to her Irish citizenship. International students, a grouping which now includes applicants from the UK, are o en required to pay much higher fees in European universities. Undergraduate fees too are lower across Europe for EU students and it seems inevitable that more and more students from the UK, where fees are on the rise, will be looking back into their family trees in an attempt to root out an opportunity to study cheaply in countries such as the Netherlands which o ers extensive English language tuition options. e ability to work and reside visa and work permit-free in Europe is another opportunity which will appeal to many British people with Irish citizenship. ese advantages, which are less relevant to Ireland as a country with many anterior agreements with the UK, nevertheless make Irish citizenship an extremely attractive door into a European community from which British youths have been locked out by Brexit.
Citizenship and Irishness
However, despite its broader implications in an increasingly interconnected Europe, citizenship is still a concept which weighs heavily on questions of identity. “ e fact that I’ve had to [apply for Irish citizenship] has made me think di erently about England”, Ellie tells me, noting that Brexit made her reconsider a lot of things about her British identity. While Emma doesn’t “reject” her Britishness, she says the process of obtaining citizenship has a rmed her Irish identity. “I feel more justi ed in my feeling Irish” she tells me, relieved, it seems, that a sentiment she has held since childhood now at last has some supporting documentation. Ellie concurs “When I get the passport” she says “I will feel like I’m from two places”. By means of the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU, Irish citizenship has, for many young British people, gone from a formality which they may complete to a necessity which they de nitely will. Ireland has become a means to the ends o ered by mainland Europe and will continue to act as such for a long time to come.
Following TCDSU’s announcement of a free period product scheme earlier this month, which itself followed the announcement from the government last year of a ‘pilot initiative which will see free, sustainable period products and dispensers for students’, period poverty seems to be slowly being recognised and addressed in Ireland.
Period poverty occurs when people who menstruate cannot access the products they need to manage their period. is can come from a variety of issues, nancial reasons being one of the rst things that comes to mind. Despite the fact that, unlike some of our European counterparts, Ireland has now made menstrual products taxable at the zero rate of VAT, menstrual pads, tampons and cups are nonetheless still not nancially accessible enough. With the cost of living crisis still making it di cult for people to make ends meet, period products fall down the list of priorities. As the founder of Positive Period Ireland reported to Dublin Live: “If you’re struggling with your weekly
shopping and need to prioritise other items, period products will always go to the bottom of the list and may even be cut o altogether. It is sadly period products that women and girls o en sacri ce.”
Charities such as Positive Period Ireland aim to provide donated period products for people in need. And they are among other charities also ghting period poverty in this way – Lidl Ireland’s Period Poverty Initiative makes menstrual products more accessible, and Freedom4Girls seeks to educate people about periods and provide ‘environmentally and nancially sustainable options’ of menstrual products. e Homeless Period Ireland is a volunteer-led charity which transports donated period products to centres that support people experiencing homelessness or those in Direct Provision for example. Particularly due to the housing crisis remaining a constant issue, especially in the bigger cities in Ireland, homelessness is a threat that pervades our social structure, with period poverty coming as just one of the challenging elements of this reality. And this issue is more complex than just a lack of freely available menstrual products: for example, Dublin’s noticeable lack of public toilets in comparison to many of the capital cities of our European neighbours is another way that period poverty is exacerbated in Ireland, as the absence of clean public toilets signi es a lack of safe and digni ed disposal of period products.
Period poverty can also be
caused by social and cultural expectations. e idea that periods are an unclean business that shouldn’t be spoken about in a certain way seems to be woven into the way we are taught about them by the media. Even the wording of the commonly used phrase ‘sanitary towels’, for example, seems to imply a prevention of the supposedly inherently unsanitary period. e education around periods o en does not teach menstruation to both people who menstruate and those who do not, and if it does, the stigma around periods is not necessarily properly or evenly analysed. From this to pads that are marketed as ‘discreet’, it is no wonder that the stigma surrounding menstruation lives on even in 2023. Despite being something that a ects half of the population, discussing periods in general, or even one’s own menstrual cycle and the e ects which are o en di cult to manage, is broadly considered inappropriate, or too much information.
e Irish Examiner reported a staggering 61% of Irish girls being embarrassed about their menstrual cycle; it is then no surprise that in terms of accessing menstrual products, some people are too afraid to ask for help in understanding how to manage their periods. is shame then goes hand in hand with other pillars of inequality; o en it can be humiliating to admit not being able to a ord menstrual products, so young people who menstruate,
already a marginalised group, might then turn to not attending school or work and su ering the consequences. is in turn worsens class, gender, and social inequalities.
And to say it feels as though the world is against people who menstruate appears unfortunately to ring true. e set-up of the world as we know it, in particular the setup of our working lives, does not lend itself well to menstruation cycles. Our working lives cater more to the health of those who don’t menstruate than those who do; if it were to cater more to
the latter, we would see monthly cycles in our work patterns that match the monthly bodily cycles that can o en leave us in a state of burnout or exhaustion that prevents us from performing well at work. e bodily upheaval of a period can make work life incredibly di cult, especially for those who su er from debilitating period pain or people living with endometriosis. All of these factors also highlight that despite the new freedoms a orded to people who menstruate in the last 100 years – allowing them to adapt to the workplace and claim their space in it – the workplace has been slow to adapt to them. at said, things do seem to be catching up – just painfully slowly. Spain’s new policy of giving paid menstrual leave to those who experience painful periods feels sympathetic to the impact of periods, and the Paris suburb of Saint-Ouen has recently followed suit. is is encouraging, and hopefully a good sign for how periods will be more factored into a modern lifestyle in the future. As we see society take small steps towards spreading more awareness of period poverty and seeking to nd a solution, it can be frustrating to nd how gradual the process has been and continues to be. But it is also encouraging. As the discourse on periods becomes more accessible and open, the stigma will inevitably decrease, and in turn we can hope to see more support for menstruating people in the future and it’s safe to say: it’s about bloody time.
How e ective are new national and collegelevel initatives in reducing period proverty for those who need it most?
A look into the reasoning and greater implications behind the recent bans on governmental devices
Amongst fears that the Chinese Communist Party has access to covert information, the UK government recently banned government employees from having TikTok. However, although data fears are valid, the ban may also set a dangerous precedent for completely overriding the opinions of a vast population: young people.
Notably, TikTok does have many unnecessary permissions granted by default. For example, according to the Guardian, TikTok can “collect user contact lists, access calendars, scan hard drives including external ones and geolocate devices on an hourly basis.”
Considering that these functions are entirely irrelevant to the app’s function, it would certainly appear that this information is solely for data harvesting.
It is also true that China has utilised the seemingly innocuous app to gather data about people of political interest. Despite TikTok’s vehement rebuttals of this point, e Chinese Communist Party necessitates the cooperation of
private companies according to the National Intelligence Law of 2017, and in one leaked recording of an internal meeting, a member of the company’s trust and safety department admitted that “everything is seen by China.” is statement, coupled with reports that employees at parent company ByteDance have planned to track American citizens using the app, renders spyware fears credible.
At the same time, META and other social networking sites also sell your data; it is the mechanism through which social media sites make pro t. In 2018, Facebook con rmed that it has a datasharing partnership with Chinese rms like Huawei, which US intelligence agencies have agged as a potential security threat. Other Chinese companies also pioneer products that allow access to the data of European and American consumers. e logic behind a TikTok ban is thus political scapegoating as the UK joins its EU neighbours and America in freezing out Chinese companies as the latest casualty in the new Cold War.
Certainly, the latest Congressional hearing with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew recalled earlier days of anti-Communist measures. Speaker Kevin McCarthy referred to China’s nefarious ‘technological tentacles’ and, in equating an app perhaps best known for pioneering the ‘TikTok dance’ to an eldritch update to Lovecra , impressively managed to hit similar notes as an earlier McCarthy.
However, Congress and proban government o cials are out of tune. Representatives, at times competing during the hearing to mention communism the maximum possible times in a sentence, voiced concern about ‘harms to children’ such as the promotion of harmful mental health content. On March 24, Governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, banned under 18s from social media without express parental consent.
Yet the ban should not operate under the guise of protecting young people when this population would be harmed the most. Along with content damaging young people’s self-esteem, TikTok can also recommend resources to help. It is also the primary source of income for many individuals and has helped small businesses and communities with pandemic recovery. On the political front, it has mobilised and invigorated young voters.
Within the US, the bipartisan RESTRICT (Restricting the Emergence of Security reats that Risk Information and Communications Technology) act sets a dangerous precedent
for eliminating free speech, allowing the Executive Branch to “authorise the Secretary of Commerce to review and prohibit certain transactions between persons in the United States and foreign adversaries, and for other purposes.” e act would empower a complete ban on all technologies deemed threats to national security, removing TikTok from the app store and rendering it nonfunctional on US phone plans.
To combat an authoritarian state notorious for restricting free speech, the US is moving to limit free speech because the content is objectionable - rather than for the actual political cause.
A more pragmatic solution than banning TikTok may be to introduce more regulations. Again, we can view Facebook’s history as an example of this
less extreme approach. In 2014, UK rm Cambridge Analytica acquired the data of millions of users from Russia in service of an unknown entity strongly suspected to be the Russian state itself. Facebook responded by banning Cambridge Analytica and by introducing more signi cant metrics to ensure privacy protection, in 2015 restricting apps from having access to all user data and in 2018 complying with the GDPR or General Data Protection Regulation, the European data protection law that regulates the way companies store data and requires them to disclose news of a data breach within 72 hours.
To many, reform is a compelling prospect, especially considering that TikTok has a plan to combat potential data the . To ensure greater data security, TikTok announced Project Texas in the US and Project Clover in Europe, which security experts say would largely eliminate the threat of unauthorised access by rerouting US and European tra c to data centres in Texas and Europe respectively (Project Clover will entail two data centres in Dublin) and allowing US and European security companies to have oversight.
Undoubtedly, TikTok needs to be in full compliance with the recent Digital Services Act (DSA) and the aforementioned GDPR. So how do these regulations encourage greater transparency?
e DSA requires social media platforms to quickly react and remove content in violation of EU practices. e GDPR shapes social media marketing in several key ways. Retargeting ads are a vital component of business promotion, and their function necessitates access to user data
about browsing patterns, purchase history and demographics. For social media platforms to comply with the regulatory standards of the GDPR, they must gain consent before running retargeting ads. In addition, EU consumers must accept cookies, which are pieces of data that help servers remember information and thus curate targeted ads, and privacy notices explaining how one’s data will be utilised.
Perhaps then US lawmakers would do well to refrain from burning TikTok at the stake - a complete ban - and instead work to establish similar regulations. As it is, data privacy is clearly not just a TikTok issue as under the GDPR, from 2018-2020 alone, 126 million euros in nes were issued to companies marketing to EU consumers. We should also remember that all social media platforms and many other apps have access to user data; China has been known to track users through apps for subjects as innocuous as the weather to gain access to geographic location, email addresses and IMEI personal device information numbers. So perhaps this ban should spark a greater conversation on data privacy at large. However, this outcome seems unlikely as TikTok has become a battleground for competing ideologies and fears about Chinese misinformation and spyware. US lawmakers can collaborate with Tiktok, establish protocol for data collection and at minimum provide additional information about the level of national security risk posed to the public. But will they? Not while the spectre of China, whose ‘technological tentacles’ chase running and screaming lawmakers across two continents, remains.
Since the foundation of the state, Ireland has subscribed to the practice of changing our clocks twice per year. is bi-annual changing of clocks leads to brighter mornings during the wintertime at the expense of light during the evenings. While one can easily appreciate brighter winter mornings, it is worth debating if the practice is really worth it. Do the positives outweigh the negatives? I don’t think they do. We should stop awkwardly playing with our clocks and stick to brighter evenings all year round.
One common argument in favour of the practice is the idea that it is bene cial to those who work in our country’s agricultural industry. While I have the utmost respect for these communities the reality is that they represent a minority of Irish society — less than 5%. Should we all be expected to adjust our clocks twice per year for such a small part of the community?
To me, the arguments in favour of abandoning the
practice of changing our clocks are obvious. For a start, dark winter nights are dreaded by huge amounts of people. We are all too familiar with the dread which kicks in around August time as the evenings begin to dull, we chat about the reality that things are going to get worse when the clocks go backwards. is dread is not merely the product of preference, instead the practice can, and o en does, have very real impacts on people’s mental health resulting in increased cases of conditions such as seasonal a ective disorder. Research has also found a link between the adjustment to our clocks and serious health issues such as heart attacks. By giving up the practice we would maintain regular sleep patterns, something which would bene t public health.
It also just seems more logical that we extend our exposure to light during the evening time instead of the morning time. Since the Pandemic more and more of us have been working from home. I understand that the idea of a bright commute is appealing but the reality is that less and less of us are travelling
to work and it appears as though this trend isn’t going to change.
By having an extra hour of light
during the evening time we would give ourselves more freedom. e freedom to go for a walk a er the day’s work or simply even have the light to enjoy during our limited free-time a er work or school. I know that I would far rather have an extra hour of light to pursue my personal interests instead of having to appreciate the morning’s extra light sitting on a crammed bus or in tra c. I am certainly not alone in my viewpoint with nearly 70% of respondents to e Journal’s poll on the issue in favour of abandoning the practice.
When having this debate with parents I regularly hear the line “think of the children!” For a start I do not have any children and thus I am not all that concerned for them, but on a more serious note I don’t think the argument holds up. Many children are engaged in extracurricular activities or a er school study and as a result have to commute home during the dark. For some reason, this reality seems to be accepted by most parents. Either way children are likely to have to commute in the dark and they are generally ne. If anything, we are all more likely to encounter dangerous individuals during the evening time and could bene t from the security provided by extra daylight.
e additional daylight that we would gain as a result of abandoning the practice would also improve safety for those commuting home. is security
o ered by the light could o er a greater level of safety to all, in particular women and minorities who face additional safety issues.
Economically the choice also seems obvious. By providing people with extra daylight, they automatically receive greater choice as to how they spend their time and money. With the cost of living crisis impacting many, we would bene t from the opportunity to spend more time outside of our homes instead of spending our money paying for electricity to use the likes of our televisions, heaters, and lights.
Overall, the practice of changing our clocks seems archaic. I believe we would all bene t from the additional evening light provided by bringing an end to the practice and I am not alone. Politically the movement also has the backing of the European Union with MEPs voting to end the practice in 2019. It seems like the logical and desired thing to do, so what’s stopping us?
Governments are slow to react and issues such as this are o en put on the back burner in order to prioritise issues which are deemed more important. ere is also the possibility that Northern Ireland does not scrap the practice of changing clocks. is would result in two di erent time zones on our small island, a reality which could be extremely problematic for border communities in particular. While these issues exist much greater problems have been overcome. If our communities and governments can work together in an e ort to get rid of this dated practice, I believe we would all bene t.
Being in the midst of college ball season, we are all painfully aware of the di erent e orts and preparation measures to be undertaken before each event. One of the key aspects of this prep being, of course, picking the out t. Unlike the Pav a er your Friday lectures, the vast majority of these balls require formal attire. As many of us have noticed over the years, suits and evening dresses are not cheap, especially for clothes we only wear once in a blue moon. Naturally, this pushes students to turn to cheaper out t options, the go-to for many of us being the fast fashion options that have lots of choice at low prices. However, with the amount of viable slow-fashion options available to us, I believe that this ball season we should all make an e ort to be environmentally conscious, and resist the temptations to buy more for less. is is not at all intended to shame students who cannot a ord high-end sustainable pieces. ere are very few of us who have the means to shop like this, and ball season especially is expensive outside of the cost of the clothes, with ticket prices, food and drink, and taxis to get home safely all stretching the budget. Even for those who can a ord an expensive, high-quality evening gown or suit that will wear well over time, for the amount of wear you will be getting out of that out t as a student may seem like less than value for money, especially with the pressure to not wear the same out t to di erent events every year. If buying a high-quality piece of clothing is something that you are eager to invest in, for the sake of value for your money, and in favour of making the sustainable choice, try to keep in mind whether or not you will wear it again, especially if it is a formal dress.
However, nancial pressure is the predominant driving force behind out t decisions and purchases for the majority of students, whether we are considering everyday casual wear or the rare formal appearance. Realistically, buying an expensive evening dress or tux is not a viable option for students, even if they
know they will wear it again in the future. Formal attire is typically especially expensive clothes shopping, and not something that the average student will have lying around in their wardrobe. Nonetheless, I think we owe it to ourselves, the environment, and our pockets to try some of the sustainable options that are viable. A ordable, sustainable clothing is not a myth, and does not take the amount of luck and expert thrishopping eye to nd.
ere are a lot of ways to do this. Renting dresses is an interesting option that has grown hugely in popularity recently. It's a great way to access designer dresses for a fraction of the price. is fraction can still be on the pricier side, however the idea is great! Even better yet, share and borrow dresses with your friends. Not only is this like shopping for free but sharing clothes with friends can be a staple for a night out anyway, and if you have already splashed out on dresses last year that you don’t want to wear again, one of your friends just might love it. e best part about this idea is that it’s not only convenient, fun, and sustainable,
but it’s completely free - unless your friends decide to charge!
Depop is another useful tool this season, and for two reasons. Not only does it give you the chance to shop sustainably and a ordably for formal out ts, but it also gives you the chance to sell or swap your old ones with others. If you wore a dress last year that you love, but are not going to wear again, why not list it on Depop for someone else to wear and love next? Not only is this a green way to go, but it is also potentially funding your next out t at the same time as you are successfully recycling your old one. One of the aspects of this season that we can and should be looking at is what we do a er the events are over, and we are le with clothes that we never wear taking up room in our wardrobe. If it’s not something you think you’ll use, de nitely do not throw it away, but potentially consider selling it second hand, or donating to a charity shop.
Another good way to go about this issue is to consider how you will style this out t you are considering purchasing more regularly. Try to pick something that ts in your wardrobe so that you could potentially style it again for college or for a night out. If you are buying accessories to go with your out t, take the opportunity to purchase a new staple piece for your jewellery, bag, or shoe collection that can make a reappearance more than once in its life. If you buy a dress that ts in with your wardrobe colour palette, you can wear it
again for college as a long skirt with a jumper over it. If you invest in a suit, consider comfortable suit pants which would t with your typical colour scheme, so that you could restyle again more casually for college or work. Upstyling is also a viable alternative to never wearing a piece again. If you never wear long dresses, see if you could shorten the length for more frequent use. If you have a light coloured item that would not usually be your everyday style, consider dying it a darker colour for it to match with more things.
e key thing to note is that there are a lot of ways to be less wasteful, and getting creative is not as di cult as you think! ere are a million ways to be more sustainable and less wasteful this ball season, and I think we should all keep this in mind as we shop and a er the events are over. By making smart choices, weighing up cost and quality, thinking in the long term, and not being afraid to rewear our old favourites and borrow and share with our friends, there is a real opportunity here to take responsibility for our environmental impact. We have a responsibility to be green within reason as students, where we realistically can and when we can a ord to. With many viable alternative options to consider, there is a great opportunity for students to make little steps and changes to make their fashion choices more green, and just as fabulous.
We are sinners beyond compare”, said Eamon Ryan during his ministerial speech to Trinity sta and students for Green Week 2023. He was referring to Ireland having the highest emission rates per capita in the European Union, but these pre-written words carried an unintended weight.
ey were uttered mere minutes a er a group of student activists were forcibly removed from the lecture hall for protesting his presence there. ese protestors came from several groups, namely Students4Change, but also Extinction Rebellion TCD, Time to Act TCD, Connolly Youth Movement and Trinity People
Before Pro t. TCDSU PresidentElect László Molnár and several other students directly addressed Minister Ryan, demanding answers not only on his party’s controversial support for ending the eviction ban but also on how his Green Party’s position in government has meant that they have abandoned the working class in Ireland.
ese protests came on the back of a bad few weeks (or, more accurately, a bad few years) for the Green Party’s PR. Social
media posts from Green Party TDs at a 2018 protest against the government’s housing policies have been unearthed in light of the eviction ban vote. Notably, promises made in their 2020 Election Manifesto have been abandoned, such as working “towards ending Direct Provision”. Considering there are still over
20,000 people in the Direct Provision system, a h of them children, it is safe to say that the Green Party has failed on this front. Since entering into a coalition government with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, it must seem to supporters of the Green Party that many of their core principles have been abandoned. Indeed, Eamon Ryan’s recent comments that free public transport would “increase the level of unnecessary trips” seem antithetical to their Green values.
Whilst some good has been done within the transport sector under Ryan’s watch, such as the public transport fare reductions and the introduction of the young adult leap card, the Green Party’s failures in government ring louder than their successes. Ryan’s latest remark about “unnecessary trips” generated much controversy in the media and online, and for a good reason. He did not specify where his research came from when he said that “active travel” would not increase due to free fees. His overarching argument seemed to be that by making public transport free, the increased usage of these services would not mean lower car usage, but merely an increase in the socalled “unnecessary trips” from people who would use public transport anyway. Alongside the cost of implementing such
measures, Ryan has clearly not deemed it feasible. is argument, however, holds little weight when we look at other countries. Luxembourg and Malta have free public transport, and other European countries, such as Estonia and Belgium, have zero fares in speci c cities. erefore, it is possible to implement these policies.
Even still, some people may argue Ireland has a far larger population than these countries and cities. is point is where the example of Germany comes in. In the summer of 2022, Germany implemented their 9-euro-ticket for all public transport (trains, buses, trams and underground systems). e ticket entitled the buyer to a month’s public transport anywhere in the country. is three-month project saw 52 million people avail of the cheap ticket, and according to the World Economic Forum, carbon dioxide emissions were cut by 1.8 million tonnes. In addition, air pollution fell by 7%, and public transport use increased by 10%. Surely this can only be lauded as a success? ere are increased demands from German lobby groups to re-implement this cheap fare ticket.
During Eamon Ryan’s visit to Trinity, a er his speech (interrupted by protests), and Q&A session (with pre-submitted questions) I got the opportunity to talk to him. I asked him whether Ireland was considering something akin to the German project, whether that be free fees or dramatically reduced fees. Ryan informed me that implementing free fees would cost “600 to 700 million euro” (he told the Dáil 540 million). He also said that although public transport use increased in Germany, tra c was only reduced by 3%, and footfall
and cycling levels decreased further. Minister Ryan seemed to think this ended the argument, but I disagreed. Unfortunately, he was soon shu ed out the back door of the JM Synge Lecture eatre to avoid the protestors outside (who were now joined by the Postgraduate Workers Organisation).
Since I could not respond to his claims there, I will do so here. Firstly, reducing tra c levels is an entirely separate issue to free public transport. Before taking cars o the road, public transport must be rendered accessible to those who rely on their cars. Particularly outside of Dublin, rural public transport simply does not have the infrastructure to replace the convenience of the car. Unprecedented and radical increases in funding for rural transport routes are needed if the Green Party intends to wean the Irish public o car dependency. Secondly, the decrease in footfall and cycling is irrelevant to the climate emergency. Germany’s 9-euro-ticket saw an astronomical reduction in emissions, and yet Minister Ryan seems to think that fewer people in cycle lanes is a valid reason not to at least try a low-fare or zero-fare scheme. And anyway, who cares if there is an increase in “unnecessary trips”? Why must every action we take be a small cog in a larger system motivated only by pro t? Why can’t we travel for travel’s sake more sustainably?
Unfortunately, it seems that the Green Party does not want this. Nor do they want to safeguard the eviction ban. Nor do they want to push to abolish Direct Provision. Is it any wonder that “Eamon Out” chants reverberated around Trinity when the Minister came to speak?
The BBC was rst set up in 1922 as a bastion to protect against in uential, one-sided broadcasting. It aimed to “create a single national conversation.” As it happens, this conversation has o en revolved around the BBC itself and its claim to impartiality. Recently, these furtive debates have been reignited by Gary Lineker. Posting on Twitter, the sports presenter deemed the UK Government’s Illegal Migration Bill “immeasurably cruel”, criticising Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s cry to “stop the boats” as being akin to rhetoric used in 1930s Germany.
e proposed law would prevent people who enter the UK illegally from claiming asylum, instead detaining and deporting them – not necessarily to the country they have travelled from. is includes victims of human tra cking or modern slavery.
ere has been mass concern that the bill is incompatible with human rights laws and Lineker’s comments were met with swathes of support. However, he also received widespread criticism – as well as a temporary suspension from his presenting positions –for voicing his personal views whilst also being an employee of the BBC, which entails adhering to regimented impartiality guidelines.
However, if the BBC sees Lineker as a stain on its foundation of neutrality, one doesn’t have to look hard to see that the broadcaster has a far from immaculate record on these matters – more like a toddler’s T-shirt a er eating spaghetti bolognese. ere has been heightened focus as of late on the in uence of the Conservative Party on the BBC, as leaked messages demonstrated that company executives acquiesced to pressure from Downing Street not to use the word “lockdown” in March 2020 as Britain went into a, well, lockdown. When the current Director General of the BBC, Tim Davie, was appointed in June 2020, he declared that “we urgently need to champion and recommit to impartiality.”
Davie was deputy chairman of the Hammersmith and Fulham Conservative Party in the 1990s.
Richard Sharp, the current chairman of the BBC, has donated £400,000 to the Conservatives and was reportedly o ered his current position soon a er he helped
Boris Johnson secure an £800,000 loan.
In spite of these links to rightwing politics and politicians, the BBC has a history of being publicly perceived as le -leaning, particularly by Tory voters. In 2013, the Guardian reported that 27% of people who felt the BBC had a political bias thought it skewed le , whilst only 14% thought this bias leant right. Of those who voted Conservative, nearly half thought the broadcaster showed le -wing leanings, whereas less than twenty percent of Labour voters thought it had a right-wing bias.
In attempts to maintain or improve its reputation of impartial reporting, the BBC contractually prevents its public-facing employees from commenting on their own political opinions and has a history of reprimanding them when they do. But even if those who work for – and manage – the BBC aren’t tweeting their personal takes, how can we trust
that their own biases don’t a ect their reporting? is question obviously concerns the journalism industry as a whole, not just the BBC. It is crucial that the public have reporters that they can depend on to separate their personal views from the events that they are covering. Impartiality in newsreporting is not merely laudable, but necessary – yet, it is not always the moral high-ground. Like being apolitical in any situation, neutrality is a political stance in and of itself. e BBC’s take on what impartiality means continues to evolve. Hugh Carleton Green, a previous Director General of the company, argued that the BBC should not be impartial when it comes to situations of prejudice or antidemocracy. Determining which stories are instances of these cases, however, can be a cause for disagreement.
Impartial reporting is obviously crucial to both political discourse
and a functioning society. Nonetheless, whilst the political leanings of certain newspapers are made clear, the BBC’s claim to apoliticality gives the bias that does seep through an insidious tinge. At school, I remember an English class where we were asked to identify the political stance of di erent newspapers: e Guardian, e Times, e Daily Mail. My teacher gestured to the BBC as a poster-child for the middle-ground. ough I had been instructed to read sources critically and carefully, the BBC was presented almost as an exception to the rule. Many who consume sources which claim to
be impartial will do so with less routine scrutiny than they might apply to other mediums, taking what they say as pure fact. is makes the potential – and the proof – of occasions when the BBC has had Downing Street whispering in its ear through WhatsApp all the more nefarious. Ultimately, whether or not the BBC is impartial does not seem as dangerous to me as the current state of limbo in which it nds itself. In our digital age, the dearth of reliable media outlets is a cause for great concern, but there are some who manage to have clear political leanings whilst remaining broadly trustworthy, such as e Guardian and e Times. e BBC, however, claims neutrality. Its impartiality needs to be repositioned as a standard it is aiming towards, not taken for granted as one it is meeting. ough the Corporation has taken surface steps to acknowledging this – such as its ten point impartiality plan, involving “impartiality training” and a “public register of paid-for engagements” – it is being shown to lack the bedrock of political diversity and honesty that true impartiality requires. Going forward, it needs to radically consider its bias, not pretend there isn’t any. We should all do the same.
No-one should ever die on the road. To many, that sounds like a utopian ideal. Most of us implicitly accept that there is risk inherent in travelling on the road. e idea that the bene ts of our transportation system outweigh the nancial, environmental, and human costs might seem cold, but to most it also seems reasonable. Yet deaths on the road are not an inevitability. Helsinki and Oslo both achieved zero road deaths in 2019, through implementing 30km/h speed limits, making roads narrower, placing high tolls on motorists entering the city, and improving alternatives to driving. ese measures all have one thing in common – they disincentivize car travel. Cars are the major threat to safety on our roads, both to drivers themselves and to vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists. Measures to shi people away from cars and onto active and public transport are therefore important for increasing safety. However, avoiding car trips is not possible in all cases – for instance, Ireland has a relatively high amount of one-o houses in rural areas which cannot be easily connected to urban areas via public transport. is makes it especially worrying that the trend in car design is towards vehicles which are heavier, bigger, and more distracting to drivers.
156 people died on Irish roads in 2022 an increase of 14% on 2021, to, while pedestrian deaths doubled in the same time period, rising to 44. Over the last four years there has been no clear pattern in road fatalities. is implies that our e orts to reach Vision Zero (no road deaths by 2050) as enshrined in the government’s Road Safety Strategy, are stagnating. Part of the reason might be that despite a renewed focus on RSA awareness campaigns and Gardaí enforcement, cars themselves are getting more dangerous. For example, consider car size. e average weight of new cars sold in Europe increased by 21% between 2001 and 2022, and bigger types of cars, such as SUVs have signi cantly increased in market share. is is a real problem for safety – heavier and bigger cars, especially SUVs – are both more likely to cause collisions and be involved in fatal collisions.
One reason for this is that visibility is poorer in larger cars. Although it may seem safer to
sit higher on the road, the larger front blind spot increases the risk of fatal front-over accidents, the higher ground clearance and larger door pillars obscure cyclists and pedestrians in tra c, and the higher centre of gravity increases the risk of roll-overs. SUV drivers are more likely to be drive dangerously too, as their false sense of safety leads them to take more risks compared to drivers of smaller cars. Bigger cars such as SUVs are more dangerous for everyone when involved in a road tra c incident too. e safety of a car design depends partly upon how it interacts with other car designs – this is known as crash compatibility. When there are large di erences in the weight and sti ness of cars on our roads, drivers of smaller cars are exposed to greater danger.
e higher ground clearance poses a problem for pedestrians too – when a pedestrian is struck by a normal car, they tend to go over the bonnet and the impact is focused on their lower half. When struck by an SUV, they are more likely to be knocked over onto the ground, be run over, and su er head trauma. US regulators have been collecting data on the category of vehicles involved in collisions since the 90s, and they have found one consistent and clear relationship: when an SUV is involved, the collision is more likely to be fatal for everyone. (Similar data is not available for Ireland or the EU.)
Of course, larger vehicles and high ground clearance are necessary for some people –particularly farmers who need to go o -road, and tradespeople who need more carrying capacity. However, other vehicles are o en a much more practical choice.
I’ve never seen someone drive a Nissan Qashqai across their farm, and almost all tradespeople use vans. Anyway, this wouldn’t explain the rapid ise in SUV market share across the past 20 years. Some argue that it doesn’t matter whether people need the extra features a orded by an SUV. ey claim this is an issue of liberty, and that people should have the freedom to choose any car which matches their preferences, even if these preferences are only based on aesthetics. However, this argument fails to acknowledge that SUVs do not only endanger their drivers – they endanger everyone else on the road, too. Aesthetic preferences should not trump road safety. To no real surprise, the most important factor behind the extraordinary growth in market share of SUVs comes down to pro t and clever
marketing. Due to tax and safety regulation exemptions, manufacturers of ‘light trucks’ in the US and EU could make greater pro ts by upselling consumers to larger, less e cient, and more dangerous vehicles. Our current regulatory framework needs to be updated to reverse this trend. In the EU, vehicles regulations and tests are set by the European Commission, and enforced by national standards bodies – in Ireland, the relevant body is the National Standards Authority. e process is essentially the same as for other consumer goods. Automakers know what the tests are, and if their vehicle passes, then they can begin mass production. ese tests are important for safety, and ensure that all cars meet a minimum standard. However, I believe we can learn from an industry which is even more heavily regulated: pharmaceutical drugs. Drugs are regulated by the European Medical Agency (EMA), who carry out multiple rigorous clinical trials to prove that new medicines are both safe to use and provide tangible bene ts. ere are no pre-determined tests; instead, the EMA simply trial the drug and evaluate the outcome. Pre-determined tests would make no sense as new designs present new safety concerns which cannot be quickly addressed through legislation. erefore, the EMA can reject any drug if it cannot prove that it is safe and bene cial. is process should be emulated for car design regulation. Instead of meeting pre-determined minimum standards, any and all alterations to a car’s design should be tested for their e ect on safety, and the regulatory body should have the power to reject car designs on these grounds. If it can be shown that new designs are at least as safe as previous safe designs for that category of car, then they can enter mass production. If not, manufacturers should go back to the drawing board. For instance, family cars which are larger, heavier, and higher than previous models with no demonstrable bene ts beyond aesthetics would not be approved under this system. Vehicles with o -road capabilities could still be developed, but only if they met similar weight and height criteria to older models which are deemed practical and safe. is body could also spearhead development in safety technologies. Rather than leaving this responsibility to manufacturers, a body with the capacity to develop new safety systems could propose and
enforce systems which are vital for safety but would be commercially unpopular. ese competencies could work together – heavier cars might be allowed where there is a clear practical need for such vehicles, but they might have to come tted with GPS-enabled speed limiters or tachographs (black boxes which collect safe driving data and submit it to insurance companies).
A re-de ned role for vehicle regulators would both encourage more active regulation of the sector and enable regulators to stop harmful new technologies and design trends from becoming accepted and expected by drivers.
ese bene ts can be illustrated through two important examples: digital infotainment systems and speed limiters. While digital systems have become widespread in cars, to the detriment of safety, something so simple and e ective as a speed limiter is ercely opposed by car manufactures and many motorists. An EMA-style regulator with funding to develop safety systems could alleviate both of these problems.
e rise of digital ‘infotainment’ systems in cars is a perfect example of how our current regulatory system is broken. As digital technology has become more advanced, it has been increasingly integrated into the driving experience –apparently with little regard to safety. ‘Hands-free’ systems for taking and receiving phone calls is the most egregious example of this trend. Research has shown that taking a phone call is just as distracting regardless of whether one uses hands-free technology or is hold the phone. In both cases, the conversation is the problem. (Talking to a passenger is less distracting because the intensity of the conversation will adjust based on the attention required on the road.) e RSA advises that a driver should never take a call while the vehicle is in motion, hands-free or not. Yet one would struggle to nd a car which doesn’t have a hands-free system, with buttons placed neatly beside the driving position on the steering wheel. How are designs like this allowed? If cars were regulated like pharmaceutical drugs, then regulators would have to prove that a hands-free system is not dangerous to use, a test which it would clearly fail. e large touchscreen display which is commonplace in new cars might also be threatened by such a regulator. ese displays can play videos, search the internet, operate as a sat-nav and even provide access to functions previously operated using dials, such as air conditioning and radio controls. e unfortunate reality is that now they are common, drivers nd them convenient. Anyone proposing regulation against such technology would be subject to erce lobbying from car manufacturers, and would nd
that their ideas are also politically unpopular. is is an obvious threat to road safety, and one which should never have been allowed onto the dashboard in the rst place.
Infotainment systems make cars and the road more dangerous. However, one technology which could make the road much safer overnight is the humble speed limiter. Speed is consistently noted as the most important determinant of risk in a collision, and signi cant resources are devoted to enforcing speed limits and encouraging slower driving. Yet for almost as long as we have had automobiles, we have had speed limiters. Indeed, Cincinnati came very close to mandating 15km/h speed limiters in the 1930s, but this e ort was thwarted by lobbying from car manufacturers and rich motorists. It took nearly a century, but the EU nally brought speed limiters back into the policy debate in 2022. Again, however, these e orts were attacked vociferously by motorists’ lobby groups and car manufacturers. What began as a proposal to mandate GPSintegrated speed limiters became a mandate for ‘Intelligent Speed Assistance’ (ISA), partly due to fears that active speed limiters were not safe yet. ISA refers to a range of di erent systems, but at its weakest would function like a seatbelt warning, which alerts the driver for a short time and then stops. Like other modern safety assists, manufacturers can also allow drivers to turn it o completely when they start their car. is might be e ective at stopping people from going slightly over the speed limit, but it would hardly deter those who are aware they are breaking the law and are willing to do so. A strong and well-funded regulator for vehicle standards could make the public case for actual speed limiters, and spend the necessary resources to develop versions which integrate with GPS data to regulate driver speed in a safe and reliable way. is could alleviate fears about the dangers of a system which regulates driver speed, while raising awareness of the massive bene ts of e ectively ending speeding on our roads. Yet our current regulatory framework leaves this responsibility up to manufacturers, who naturally are not jumping at the opportunity to develop safety systems when they might be unpopular.
ese two examples show how absurd the discourse around car technology has become –we dismiss speed limiters as intrusive and overbearing, while accepting hands-free technology and mini-television screens on our dashboards. Combined with the trend towards heavier and more dangerous cars, this proves that our current framework for regulating cars is no longer t for purpose and must be radically overhauled.
Last week, controversy erupted a er Sinn Féin TD Eoin Ó Broin reshared an image from the artist Spicebag, aka, Mála Spíosraí. e image depicted An Gardaí Síochana and evicting its inhabitants, based on a 19th century painting. e Gardaí were photoshopped into the image, but the images of the Gardaí did come directly from pictures taken during an eviction in 2018.
e image, which is poignant and sadly striking, was re-shared by the Sinn Féin minister, with the caption “No words needed”. Obviously, this image comes days following the li ing of the eviction ban by the coalition government of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party. It was a clear dig at the coalition’s decision, however, this is not how it was taken up. Ó Broin came under re, with many within the government saying the image depiction was “disrespectful” to the Gardaí . On Twitter, it was even hailed as “slander on our police” and it showed “why Sinn Féin should not be in government”.
Following this last week, Spicebag, alongside Fionnán Sheehan, editor of the Irish Independent, were on e Tonight Show on Virgin Media, to discuss the artwork. Sheehan
criticised Spicebag’s view on the Gardaí , and stated that he has “politically motivated pieces of art”. Spicebag responded that everyone on the panel “probably had something politically motivated” to say, as there were
two TDs also at the table, which is, fundamentally, correct. ere’s hardly a panel discussion on a talk show like the Tonight Show which is not politically motivated in some sense. On some basic level, it could be argued that anything public facing, whether that’s journalism, tv shows, music, art, even where you choose to do your grocery shopping, can be politically motivated. Sheehan’s statement was nonsensical; of course this artist had work that was “politically motivated”. Are all artists meant to only engage with live drawing and nature? is is not only unrealistic, it goes against the principle of what art is. Art is inherently political. e problem lies in that some seem to believe art has no place in being political - which is wrong. If art is not “politically motivated”, what, pray tell, should it be? Should we leave the politics to the politicians and journalists, because they’re doing such a good job already? is piece resurfaced alongside that of the decision to li the eviction ban - something which should be openly criticised. Ireland’s housing crisis has only gone from bad to worse; the decision to li a ban on evictions removes the only protection that renters currently have, it will make people homeless. ere will now be people with no security in their accommodation, and nowhere to go if their landlords decide to evict them, at the landlord’s complete discretion. ere is a
huge shortage in accommodation for those looking for it already, and with the possibility of newly evicted people looking for a place to live, the demand will already go up in an already overwhelmed system. at’s before we mention a ordable renting for people, as prices continue to rise alongside demand. is is not going to get better anytime soon; the government’s decision to li the eviction ban is only going to make it worse. e li ing of the eviction ban was politically motivated, and
elicited a “politically motivated piece of art” in its wake, because of course it did. It was an adequate response to a horrendous, politically motivated, decision. A political disaster deserves to be politically criticised, and many journalists or politicians don’t seem willing to do that. So artist did. All the proceeds from the sales of that image by Spicebag will go to a homeless charity, his website claims - which is arguably more than this government is doing for Ireland’s homeless population.
What is more ba ing is the view that this artwork was “disrespectful” to An Gardaí Síochana. Make no mistake; Garda do assist in evictions. ey do help to remove people from their accommodation, because by law, it is the landlords who have protection, not the renters. Ó Broin quickly retreated, tweeting that this was a criticism of the government’s decision, and not that of the Gardaí. But the point remains; if requested, Gardaí are present at an eviction. ey do facilitate it. e organisation does deserve to be criticised for that. Forcing anyone out of their only place to live is shameful, and should be treated as such. It is part of the legislation, and that is wrong. If Gardaí were as appalled at evictions as they should be, they would push back against government on this: but they don’t. e Guards are an extremely powerful lobbying body. eir unions are some of
the strongest in the country. ey have signi cant lobbying power. Whether it is an institutional problem or something else, that is not for us to say. It is government policy, though; and the Gardaí are an extension of government, as they enforce the government laws. So, they should be subject to criticism, just as ministers and other governmental bodies are. e whole asco seems to detract from the entire issue at hand. e issue is that the government has removed a signi cant protection for renters, during a housing crisis, that will inevitably make people homeless. No matter how that happens, whether the Gardaí assist or not, if there is a massive painting of it hung from the Spire or not, there are people who will be homeless due to the government’s decision. at is criminal. at is unacceptable. is government deserves to be turfed out of the Dail, for this decision, and many, many others. So what if the art is “politically motivated”? is paper would rather people aren’t homeless and for the discussion around government decisions to be more about the decisions themselves and less about who is o ended by them. Maybe if politicians cared more about its constituents, and less about vulture funds, we wouldn’t be in this situation. is piece may never have existed. But, it does, and the level of criticism levied at it is further distraction from the critical issues at hand.
How these unmanned devices have sent Ireland’s largest airspace into a tailspin
Dublin Airport, “the Crown Jewel of Irish airspace,” is the 15th busiest international air eld in Europe, and now, the most disrupted large airport due to drone activity on the continent. Last month saw operations on the tarmac grind to a screeching halt for an agonising thirty minutes following a drone sighting, causing a series of delays and the diversion of three ights. is marks the latest in a series of similar occurrences that have put the airport on pause on six separate occasions since the beginning of the year, including three consecutive days of disrupted activity in February. So, why is this continuing to happen and perhaps more importantly, as we approach the semester’s end and enter the busy summer season, what does it mean for those of us set to pass through Dublin Airport in the coming months?
First, it is important to clarify the nature of devices at the centre of this conundrum. A drone or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is a small ying device that can be controlled remotely or assigned to land at a given destination. e ying of such devices in close proximity to any aircra poses a considerable safety threat and as such, sightings of drones in the airspace have resulted in the temporary pauses at Dublin Airport. It is presently illegal to y a UAV within 5km of the airport, though evidently, this has failed to deter some “pilots” from irresponsible drone-use or, indeed, from targeting the airport directly.
Although Dublin Airport does have an anti-drone arsenal at its disposal to detect UAVs, it is currently lacking the ability to ground machines identi ed in the airspace. is has le it somewhat at the mercy of drone pilots, as highlighted by Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary - whose operations are among the most impacted by the disruptions
last month. Speaking on RTE’s Morning Ireland, O’Leary voiced frustration at the sluggish response to these drone sightings, calling it “unacceptable” that Dublin Airport lacks the anti-
drone technology seen in “most European airports.” Directing criticism towards Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan, he admonished the government for their failure to respond thus far, claiming that anti-drone technology is “not expensive” and relatively easy to implement.
ere is certainly existing technology available that could help prevent further drone interference to operations at Dublin Airport. Private companies like Aveillant and Heliguy o er technological means to detect and neutralise UAVs, which have already been implemented in major airports across Europe, including Heathrow and Gatwick. Depending on the technology employed, it is likely that no additional legislative powers will be required. At present, however, the grounding of these UAVs can lead to murky legal waters when it comes to personal property rights. Physically capturing drones could be an invitation for legal headaches over damage to property, though while this is certainly a sticking point, there are technologically feasible ways around it. More viable and legally attractive are commercially available technologies that o er “radio frequency jamming” functionality. ese devices will scramble radio frequencies to direct UAVs back towards the operator or a designated safe landing area, avoiding undue damage to drones.
In addition to discouraging dangerous drone use, the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) has called for more severe punishments for those found guilty of illegal UAV activity. Criminal prosecution of pilots using drones irresponsibly isn’t a new idea -
the rst prosecution in Ireland was seen in June 2022, when a videographer was convicted for ying a UAV dangerously above a crowded protest outside the Israeli Embassy without a permit. However, there is a considerable lack of precedent for prosecution in relation to ying drones into airspace. Two arrests have been made relating to incidents this year, though both parties have been released on bail to reappear in court following further evidence from the Director of Public Prospections. e DAA has called for a review of sentences for such convictions in anticipation of court rulings with the hope that it will discourage further recklessness in the airspace.
e good news is that the most recent attacks appeared to have galvanised greater government intervention. On March 7, the Cabinet approved a memo to pave the way for greater anti-drone
technology at Dublin Airport, under the supervision of the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA).
e bad news is that, according to the Minister for Transport, the process of implementing the technology itself will not be “instantaneous” and may take “a number of weeks.” Minister Ryan hit back at claims made by O’Leary that Dublin Airport’s drone problem had a “reasonably easy” x, claiming it is about nding the “right equipment” to serve the both needs of the airspace and residents in the surrounding area. is sentiment was echoed by DAA CEO Kenny Jacobs, who claimed in a statement to Simple Flying in March that, “exact timelines cannot be con rmed just yet given the requirement to identify and procure the most suitable technology.” In short, change is on its way - but don’t expect to see it just yet.
It is hoped that this technology will be set for deployment as the airport enters its busy summer season, though sources from within government and the DAA have been dubious regarding exact timelines. e most recent legislation from Cabinet o ers hope that there is renewed commitment to resolving this issue, and there is certainly no shortage of technologically feasible solutions out there that could prevent future occurrences. While these incidents are relatively infrequent, it is advisable for student travellers to keep an eye on the Dublin Airport social media accounts to keep up to date with any drone-related disruptions. A solution is on the horizon - but for now, best to keep one eye on the sky as we wait for new anti-drone technology to nally get o the ground.
Amongst
terrestrial ecosystem; even more than tropical rainforests. Forlornly, they remain amongst the most disparaged and misunderstood ecosystems.
Historical Context
Boglands are practically ubiquitous on the Island: they cover 21% of Ireland’s land-area. Scientists have categorised bogs into two di erent types: blanket and raised. Anthropogenic e ects have made it so that both types of boglands manifested themselves at di ering historical periods.
Neolithic ruins.
A comparative study of human attitudes vis-à-vis boglands e ectively depicts a telling story of the way by which humanity has visualised its interaction with its environment throughout the years: once seen as worthy of protection for symbolical (or otherwise religious) reasons, they with time became a major source of economic exploitation, and are now again slowly becoming subject to protection. It is to these intriguing developments that we now turn.
torically unprecedented scale. Without the waterlogged conditions, the organic material in peat starts to decompose. e drainage and removal of peat has been a huge source of carbon emissions in Ireland over the past century. Informatively, Dr. John Connolly and Dr. Louis Gilet explain that this is why ‘it is now more important than ever to rewet as much as possible degraded peatlands and to preserve the few remaining relatively intact ones’.
Rewetting: For Peat’s Sake
replace the empirically dysfunctional 2011 National Peatlands Strategy, recent news accounts have noted that hundreds of peatlands are nonetheless still being cut down - the 2022 count being of 330 plots.
As both co-authors were hiking the resplendent path of Wicklow’s Great Sugar Loaf, they stumbled upon a small bog. Hazel, being a Geography student, attempted to spark an interesting discussion as to their value and their utility. Sébastien, not knowing what to say, and in his wonted law-student-like manner - sought to nd fault with her arguments: how could anything as visually un-appealing and insigni cant as a mere bog be seen as of such importance to another? Deciding to pack away his prejudice for the sake of it however, he ultimately began to see value in what was being said: though seemingly joke-worthy, boglands contain one of the most intriguing stories science has to tell. Indeed, amongst the many wonders that the Emerald Isle harbours, its peatlands stand as one of the most intriguing, yet undiscussed. Fortunately for the reader, this article will seek to expound upon its biological virtues, and - summarily - why we think their nature warrants further attention.
We extend our gratitude to Dr. John Connolly and Dr. Louis Gilet for their kind and informative contributions to this article, which we hope will serve as a stepping-stone for pertinent discussion thereon.
Peatlands: But What Are ey?
Peatlands - or bogs - are a type of wetland ecosystem wherein organic material, mostly plants, slowly accumulate to form layers of ‘peat’. e wetness of bogs leads to an absence of oxygen, a vital ingredient in the process of plant decomposition. With lower rates of decomposition and higher rates of deposition of organic matter, peat begins to accumulate, trapping carbon dioxide from being released back into the atmosphere. Of the numerous ecosystem services that peatlands provide, one of the most critical to our current climate crisis is their role as carbon sinks. Globally, peatlands store a third of total soil organic carbon, despite covering only 3% of the land surface. Per metre, peatlands store more carbon than any other
Raised boglands formed naturally in post-glacial Ireland via the depositing of reeds, sphagnum moss, and other organic materials into lakes. By around 2500 Y.B.P., most hitherto partially-a ected lakes had in fact become over lled with peat, whereupon they became what is colloquially referred to as ‘raised bogs’. During the Roman Warm Period (ca. 250 B.C.400 A.D.), unusually dry weather allowed the boglands to dry-up, and farmers began to use them for grazing in the summer.
It is through a similar, though anachronistic, fashion that blanket bogs came into existence. In Neolithic times, early agrarians began to clear uphill land on which they would subsequently build their farms. Consequently, the treeless soil became particularly vulnerable to leaching, thus leading to those same leached materials coalescing at sub-surface levels. is impeded proper-drainage, which in conjunction with a very wet climate caused these areas to become waterlogged, inducing peat formation. E ectively, blanket bogs formed a veil over archaic farmland, hiding remains of
Exploitation and Drainage In Tandem: A Cautionary Tale e primary threat to peatlands are anthropogenicanthropogenic. In fact, the history of peat in Ireland is a deeply interwoven story about the interactions between humans and nature. As explained earlier, blanket bogs were actually formed inadvertently by anthropogenic actions - viz., Neolithic deforestation. By the seventeenth century, Irish bogs had begun to be drained for agricultural use. Between 1809 and 1814, the British government sent out Bog Commissioners to map out Irish bogs, in order to assess how these ‘unproductive wastelands’ may be drained and brought into economic use. However, it wasn’t until a er Irish Independence that a nationwide e ort to develop peatlands was undertaken by the Turf Development Board and later Bord na Móna. Rather than making bogs agriculturally viable, the aim was to extract turf - which had historically been harvested by hand - in a mechanised process to be used as an alternative energy source. us began the exploitation and degradation of Irish peatlands at a his-
Article 4(1) of the European Climate Law demands that net greenhouse gas emissions shall be reduced by at least 55% compared to 1990 levels by 2030. Such supranational objectives are customarily seen as inconsequential, non-obedience thereto being near-always tri ing. One may simply look at the Paris Accords for an illustrative example. However, recent domestic initiatives appear very promising.
To contextualise, Walther et al. (2021) have recently observed that boglands contain almost 65% of total soil organic carbon in Ireland. is e ectively means thatin furtherance of climate policies - the sequestration of carbon from peatlands can impede its rising to atmospheric levels, thus mitigating climate change. In furtherance of such, and as noted within section [11.2] of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications’ ‘Climate Action Plan, 2019’, the Government has (though non-bindingly) devoted itself to the ‘better management of grasslands, tillage land[,] and non-agricultural wetlands’. However, though the policy was due to
is must be seen, we further submit, in addition to E.U. regulations and directives legislated in furtherance of the European Green Deal. Notwithstanding the above-imparted vitriol, the recent recommendations put forth under the 2022 Nature Restoration Law encourage the restoration and rewetting of drained peatlands in order to mitigate both climate change and biodiversity loss. Of much pertinence, Dr. Connolly and Dr. Gilet opine:
‘[i]n an intact or wet state the remaining carbon will not be emitted and being wet encourages the conditions needed to support vegetation (e.g., Sphagnum moss) which sequesters CO2 and leads to storage of carbon’.
Such protective measures mustn’t be limited to governmental policy-making, however; the average Trinity student is apt to help. We can contribute to inform public debate on the matter, extending to the promotion of peatlands’ value as climate stabilisers, habitats, and areas of cultural and recreational importance. You can help by getting involved with local organisations and participating in restoration and rewetting projects. e Community wetland forum is important for such (www.communitywetlandsforum.ie).
We thus encourage you to put on your buataisí and save the boglands one at a time. Long live the peat!
the many wonders that the Emerald Isle harbours, its peatlands stand as one of the most intriguingPHOTO VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Cambridge win 6 in a row
Caoimhe Dempsey, a Trinity graduate (Psychology 2016) and DU Ladies Boat Club alumna, led Cambridge University Boat Club to a sixth consecutive win in the 77th instalment of the OxfordCambridge Women’s Boat Race. e Boat Race as an institution has existed along the Championship Course of the ames since 1829, however the race between the female rowers of each university only began in 1927. e men’s and women’s crews started racing the same distance along the same stretch of river in 2015, which has added signi cantly to the elevated pro le of the women’s competition in recent years.
Sitting in the stroke seat of the Cambridge ‘Blue Boat’, Dempsey led her crew through a commanding performance which culminated in a four-anda-half length margin of victory at the end of the almost sevenkilometre course. An experienced oarswoman, Caoimhe’s rowing career began in Trinity, under the guidance of DULBC’s novice programme. Moving rapidly through the ranks of the Club, she
became a stalwart member of the Senior VIII for all three years of her senior rowing career in College, helping DULBC to victories both nationally and internationally.
Post-Trinity, Caoimhe rowed for DULBC’s alumni club, Anna Li ey, and also gained experience with Otago Rowing Club in New Zealand. Her next port of call was Cambridge to commence her M.Sc in Developmental Psychology, upon the completion of which she began a Ph.D in the same topic. Dempsey has rowed for Cambridge for her entire postgraduate career, and has also made the Blue Boat each of those years - in the 2 seat in the cancelled 2020 Race, the 4 seat in 2021, the 6 seat in 2022 and nally stroke this year.
e 2023 Race unrolled in a similar fashion to 2022, with Cambridge asserting themselves early on in the race. Coxswain James Trotman made a slightly questionable call to cross into Oxford’s side of the river early on, however, contact was never made and the movement was permitted by umpire Matt Smith. In a favourable position early, Cambridge continued to stretch out their lead, and held a commanding position just a er halfway down the course.
Caoimhe’s progression through the Club for her four years is possibly unprecedented in Cambridge’s history, with her position this year exacerbated by also holding the o ce of Openweight Women’s President. Her presidency surely exacerbated her delight at Cambridge managing a ‘clean sweep’ of every
Boat Race competition - men’s, women’s, lightweights, reserves, veterans, spares, and reunion races - for the rst time since 2018, and which had only been achieved once before, in 1993. Cambridge’s dominance of the Women’s Race over the last couple of years in particular, however, is notable, and Caoimhe has played a signi cant role in that era.
In conversation with Caoimhe just over a week before the Race, we discussed her decision to run for the Presidency for the 2022/23 season, and how she’s found the experience this year - in a word, “rewarding”, despite the toll. “ e last few years, I’ve only thought about my sessions, my recovery, my own rowing…this year, I have to think about, well, how’s everyone else performing? People want to talk about their own ergs, their own injuries, and you’re the person they want to talk to about all of that. So you end up having to sacri ce some things, and it has felt di erent this year, but it’s been great.”
And the motivation to run for the position in the rst place?
“Last year was unbelievable for me, just in terms of the others in the boat, like your Graces and Imogens, and that was such a peak for me - how does my rowing experience get better than this? So a er last year’s Boat Race I was wondering, you know, how do I make next year as exciting - I want to keep rowing, but how can it go up from here? And I thought that this (the Presidency) would be a really nice way to do that, because it’d be great if I could try to
facilitate a similar experience for everyone else this year, basically share my experiences and lead the way for this year’s Squad. So it’s been really, really great, honestlyI’ve loved it”
Grace and Imogen mentioned above, are, of course, the inimitable Grace Prendergast (Tokyo Olympics gold and silver medallist in the 2- and 8+) and Imogen Grant (current World Champion in the Lightweight 2x and holder of the World’s Best Time in the Lightweight 1x). e phenomenal prestige of the 2022 Blue Boat meant that transitioning to the following season was always going to be a challenge, and that was heightened when Caoimhe was the only returning Blue to the 2023 setup. However, the new members have risen admirably to the challenge, and continuity in the coaching team of Paddy Ryan and Autumn Mantell has also helped.
“Keeping the two of them (Ryan and Mantell) has been really helpful, de nitely - you just have a lot of trust in a programme that’s been successful, and it’s hard to disagree with Paddy when, you know, he’s had winning crews for a decade at this stage! And that preexisting relationship helps, when you know how to communicate e ectively with one another and so on”.
e Boat Race is also unique among rowing spectacles for the fervour of support ex-competitors and wider Club alumni pour into it - “they’re very…invested”, Dempsey laughs. “ ere’s a very strong Club culture, and there’s
a real sense of being part of a history that’s bigger than yourself. It’s something you can draw on throughout the season because they provide a big network of support - we’ve had alumni come in and talk to us about their race experiences, what they learned, and so on.”
Back on the topic of boat lineup, I ask about her thoughts on her progression through the seats in the boat - from 2, to 4, to 6, and nally stroke. She laughs again.
“Stroking is interesting - I never really did it in Trinity, I was always 6 or thereabouts. It only started when I came to Cambridge and I was like, well, this is pretty new!... But honestly, I don’t think I could have done it for any other year - like, I always wanted to win it, but this year I really, really, really, want to win it, with the Presidency and everything. And not only my boat, I want Blondie to win and the spares and the lightweights and everyone… I think you have to be a bit of a bulldog to sit in that seat, and I wouldn’t have had that attitude any other year”.
And what about future plans? Realistically, life outside of rowing has been unknown to Dempsey for years, but does the sport factor into life post-Cambridge?
“Honestly, I’m not too sure”, she confesses. “ ere isn’t a fantastic club rowing scene (in Ireland) unless you’re in university, it’s not like England where you have these massive clubs leading the domestic scene, and I de nitely want to come home. So I feel like maybe this could be it, de nitely”.
Trinity News Sport explores one of the most intense rivalries in the history of combat sports
Some athletes are true geniuses in their disciplines, and Israel
Adesanya is one of the best kickboxers in history. Dominating, with a surprising style and a rare technique, the New Zealander has defeated most of the opponents he has faced in his career. Nevertheless, one man won each time against Adesanya. at man is Brazil’s Alex Pereira.
In May 2010, Israel Adesanya began his kickboxing adventure. Quickly, the “Last Stylebender”
Trinity Sport are now accepting applications for their prestigious scholarships
The application process for Trinity Sport Scholarships programme is now open. e Scholarships, available to both prospective and current undergraduates and prospective post-graduates, aims to support student athletes achieve both their academic and sporting goals. ere is no set value or bene ts assigned to the scholarship, instead each scholarship is assessed on an individual basis where important factors include the athlete’s achievements, potential and requirements.
e scholarships are available to those in the performance sports category which includes rugby,
as he’s popularly known, rose to the top of the discipline. Between 2014 and 2017, the New Zealander performed in the most prestigious kickboxing organisation in the world, the Singapore-based Glory. While he defeated the best boxers on the planet, Izzy faced, on 2 April 2016 a man who would chase him for all his career: Alex Pereira.
In their rst confrontation, Israel Adesanya dominated the ght. Nevertheless, the judges of the match decided to grant it to the Brazilian. A victory by decision for Alex Pereira that allowed him to claim the title of Glory. A year later, Alex Pereira was champion of the organisation and Israel Adesanya came to try to take the belt. While he dominated the match and came close to nishing Pereira, the New Zealander was surprised and was given the rst knockout of his career. A er this defeat, the Last Stylebender made the choice to make his transition to MMA.
In MMA, Israel Adesanya wasted no time before getting noticed. A er a few ghts in regional leagues, the Auckland prodigy signed with the UFC. Izzy quickly established himself as
one of the fan favourites and on 5 October 2019, the New Zealander was crowned world champion, defeating Robert Whittaker by KO. A er brilliantly defending his belt 5 times, Izzy tried on 12 November 2022 to defend it against a man he knows well — Alex Pereira.
In this rst MMA clash, Israel Adesanya dominated the proceedings. More technical, the New Zealander came within seconds of nishing his rival. Nevertheless, despite a perfect ght, Izzy is surprised and Alex Pereira won again — this time, by TKO in the h round.
Now a challenger, Israel Adesanya has asked for revenge against the man who is at all costs. us, in the main event of UFC 287, e Last Stylebender will try one last time to defeat his worst enemy. Chased all his career by Alex Pereira, this time, Israel Adesanya intends to show that he is the hunter. Determined to prove that he is the best middleweight on the planet, the New Zealander wants to impose himself with the manner. For his part, the Brazilian champion is con dent. e nal meeting between the two promises to be explosive.
Gaelic football, hurling, rowing, rugby, athletics, basketball, fencing and cricket. ose who receive a Scholarship will have access to a number of Sport related supports such as coaches, physio Sta , nutritionists,as well as receiving nancial support. Aifric Keogh, a Tokyo Olympics 2020 Bronze Medallist said that the facilities provided by Trinity College helped her to “succeed at the highest level” and achieve her “academic and sporting goals.”
e value of the scholarship varies depending on what category you apply through. ese categories include Podium (for potential olympic level athletes), Performance (athletes who have played at an international level),Club Academy (for athletes with emerging talent), Global Graduate (speci cally for nonEU students looking to complete a postgraduate course at trinity), Trevor West (for athletes who have made signi cant contributions to sport at Trinity) and the K.O. LEE Basketball scholarship (for students with the potential to have a signi cant impact on the Trinity Meteors Women’s Super league Team).
Trinity College lays claim to a long sporting history, with some of the oldest sports clubs in the world, including the oldest
football club in continuous existence in the form of Trinity Rugby . e University has also hosted a signi cant number of past olympians as well as world and national Champions. e sport
centre, along with the performance sta , have all regularly achieved the national gold standard, the White Flag Award, signifying that Trinity is committed to achieving the highest standards of quality in
the Leisure Industry.
Application forms and further information is available at https:// www.tcd.ie/Sport/scholarships/
Critiquing the food critic
e dangers of catching feelings
Impact series: Dr. Andrew Butter eld re ects on his society days in Trinity
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Obsession, violence, and sh & chips
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Iam currently on Erasmus in Paris, and I had expected to see baguettes, bikes and berets, yes; what I hadn’t anticipated was the number of Irish pubs in the city. It is fairly common knowledge that Irish pubs pop up all over the globe, but turning Parisian corners to see signage for Galway Irish Pub, McBride’s or ‘Little Temple Bar (to name only a few) happens far more o en than you might think. is led me to examine more closely the concept of the Irish pub abroad - and the impact these institutions have on Ireland today. Irish pub culture is something that attracts a global audience. What’s not to love about the classic Irish pub? Many associate the Irish pub with well-poured pints, the joy of live music, or even just an equalising and socially stimulating meeting place. e casual setting of a pub, chameleon-like in terms of its purpose - which can be to watch sport or live music, to dance, to drink or to eat among other things - makes it a welcoming setting, with something to appeal to most. Pubs within Ireland o en a rm these associations, at least in my experience; the dark wood and leather, and the collected ags and frames that decorate the walls and ceiling create a backdrop for this ambience. e use of the Irish pub as a commodity and tourist destination has been e ective in Ireland; you just have to take a walk down to e Temple Bar Pub to know that. Reams of tourists ock there to take a picture outside of the iconic pub, and buy a pricey souvenir pint inside. So it is easy to see why people seek to recreate the Irish pub culture abroad, whether they are customers or the entrepreneurs that welcome them.
While the existence of Irish pubs abroad is a result of their consistent commercial success, their presence is also a footprint of the Irish diaspora. From a historical perspective, these pubs represented a place for Irish communities that had emigrated to rea rm the cultural identity that they had been forced to leave behind, and to form a sense of community. New York City comes to mind as a place teeming with Irish pubs, for example; and this makes sense, given that ‘the Irish
[…] made up a quarter of the [New York] population in 1850’ according to the City University of New York. Amid discrimination and prejudice, Irish pubs abroad became more than just
meeting places, but also resolute reassertions of national identity. What many seek in an Irish pub is an authenticity that can be hard to pin down; the intangible sense of community that they historically provided is di cult to replicate from scratch. is is because attempting to construct the authenticity of an Irish pub abroad is a paradox. e very e ort made to make it seem ‘authentic’ is o en what makes the authenticity fail. Many of the newer Irish pubs abroad have this feeling of arti ciality. Perhaps it is to do with these institutions being established by those who, despite good business sense, do not necessarily possess enough of a cultural knowledge of the Irish pub, and therefore only try to replicate the visible elements of these establishments rather than the arguably more important invisible element of ambience. is mythologising of Irish culture and identity is no new thing, and with the mythologising of the Irish pub comes historical inaccuracy and stereotypes. Many Irish pubs are o en historically and geographically confused imitations of Irish culture,
mixed up with British culture. ese historical and cultural inaccuracies - such as the ying of Union Jacks, images of the British monarchy, or as reported by one student in an Irish pub in Galicia, Spain, the playing of ‘Flower of Scotland’ - can begin to feel doubly tiresome. ese mistakes betray a lack of recognition of the historical factors which led to emigration and the establishment of Irish pubs abroad, while simultaneously pro ting from this history. e intention does not seem to be this, of course; but through these mere mistakes, the original purpose of the Irish pub, which is to recreate a sense of authentic Irish community, disappears. With all that in mind, the Irish pub abroad o en also shows a deep appreciation of Irish culturedespite any historical inaccuracies, the fact that these institutions are known for friendliness, openness and ‘good craic’ is a really positive re ection of the global perception of Ireland. Put simply, people’s desire to access Irish pub culture, and their admiration for it, is attering.
e Irish pub abroad can also be helpful for Irish people su ering
from cognitive dissonance. Picture this: you have moved to a di erent country. Everything is unfamiliar, from the language to the availability of a spice bag. Perhaps your breakfast tea arrived with a slice of lemon in it, or maybe you wanted to try out your foreign language skills only to be replied to in complex sentences that you couldn’t even pretend to understand. Whatever way you have been humbled, being able to then go into an Irish pub in the knowledge that you are entering a small piece of home amidst the unfamiliar can make whatever your cultural blunder was a mere memory. Even the simulacrum of an actual Irish pub can be comforting in instances like this. In this sense, the Irish pub abroad comes with a bizarre, o en inaccurate view into how Ireland is seen by the global community - but it also shows an appreciation for Irish culture. And yes, you might be able to say you know the site of the simultaneously worst and most expensive pint of Guinness that has ever passed your lips, but this location being in Madrid? Or Rome? Or Sydney? Still not the worst place to be having a pint.
It’s okay if your serotonin is store-bought…. Or purchased on Eventbrite. Dublin City has numerous comedy clubs that will provide you with a quick x for your prevailing mental health issues. Because who wants to commit to therapy every week when you could pay for a show that is sure to leave you in stitches?
Dublin’s comedy scene is the perfect chill night out and early night in, or even a kick-start to a crazy night on the town. Ranging in start times from 7pm to 9pm and generally ending no later than 10.30pm, comedy clubs are a noncommittal, guaranteed good time.
Tucked away in Workman’s Vintage Room, Sin é downstairs area, or Whelan’s upstairs — Dublin’s comedy scene is at once unassuming and intimate. It is advisable to show up a little early to acquire a drink and some good seats. Doors open around thirty to forty- ve minutes before the show starts, and, especially if you have social anxiety, you want to be there with ample time so that you can avoid the front row. Each show generally consists of three to four acts with a host who will make appearances in the interim to knit the comedians together in seamless transitions and create a harmonious energy throughout the natural oscillations of the performance. ese breaks also allow for the audience to catch their breath and prepare for the next laugh. All acts, and especially the host, interact with the audience to create a warm and welcoming environment. Enter feeling the social pressure of an unknown crowd of people and leave feeling like you have made a whole new group of friends to who you have never said a word.
I le the Craic Den Comedy Club on Friday as part of a Scottish man’s stag party, although his wedding had taken place the year prior. e comedy scene creates
a humanising space where usual social barriers are lowered and people are more than willing to laugh at themselves. at being said, certain groups are easier to make fun of than others. If it’s your rst time in a Dublin comedy club, you may not want to show up as a large group of lads or with your British friends, unless you are more than happy to be taken the piss out of.
Calling the girls and the gays! Inclusive. Diverse. Very relatable. Hysteria Comedy Club performs downstairs at Sin é, on the Quays, three to ve nights a week. If you are queer and looking for good comedy or a woman searching for a safe environment to enjoy a good laugh, Hysteria Comedy Club is the place. eir shows include women and non-binary open mic stand-up nights, the wonderfully dorky Nerd Herd and Hysterical Women. Tickets are available on Eventbrite, and their Instagram (@ hysteriaireland) provides regular updates.
e so-called Home of Irish Comedy and the host of Dublin’s oldest comedy club, the International Bar on Wicklow Street has a comedy show on almost every night of the week. e Comedy Cellar (Instagram: @comedy_cellar) performs every Wednesday, e International Comedy Club provides entertainment every ursday, Friday and Saturday, Dublin Comedy Improv is every Sunday and Stitches Comedy Club (Instagram: @stitchesdublin) performs on Tuesdays. Tickets can be found on the International Bar’s website.
Some prominent and worthwhile comedy clubs to try near town include:
Ready for a guaranteed laugh? Want to listen to some hilarious stories that will y by in an hourand-a-half show? e Craic Den Comedy Club has shows four nights a week, podcasts, and its own YouTube channel. ursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays they perform in e Workman’s Club Vintage Room, featuring di erent lineups every week. All information and links are provided on their Instagram (@the_craic_ den) as well as posters with their weekly lineup so that if you enjoy any of the performances and feel like going back for more, you can nd the speci c comedians responsible.
FREE! at’s all. e Comedy Crunch Club performs every Sunday and Monday at e Stags Head o Dames Street. An Eventbrite ticket to the Comedy Crunch Club will get you free entry AND free ice cream! For more information, check out their Instagram (@dublincrunch).
Every Money night the Cherry Comedy Club (Instagram: @ cherrycomedy) performs upstairs at Whelans. Doors open at 8pm and the show starts at 9pm. Tickets are on their website. Be there or be square.
Dublin’s comedy scene provides opportunities to enjoy a laugh every night of the week. Tickets are usually about a tenner and most of them can be found on Eventbrite. A short relief from college stress or any commitments? Count me in.
explores the risks and rewards that come with putting your heart on the line
When I was four years old, I had two boyfriends, Jack and Mikey. At the same time. I was quite the player, I know. But as they say, what goes around comes around. My mum told me Mikey was moving away and so a er careful consideration, as you do when you’re four, Mikey and I came to the conclusion that we couldn’t do long distance. en there was Jack. We came to a swi end in nursery school one morning when he, with such smug pride, caught my attention and then proceeded to kiss a girl in our class, Katie, right in front of me. I’ll never actually forget that heart-dropping moment. at was the rst time I felt something like that, but it was far from my last.
I have caught what I consider to be many feelings in the 20 years that I have been in the world, as I’m sure my friends would agree. I think we have all caught feelings; it’s a rather universal experience. Many of us can relate to the longing pain of our rst proper unattainable crush. Let’s say for the sake of discussion that you’re 13. Waking up in the morning to go to school, you’re fueled with the hope that you might just be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of them on the bus or walking down the corridor between classes. And if you do, it is your highlight of the day. But a er a while, reality hits and you nally snap out of your delusion and realise that it isn’t going to move beyond these unreciprocated glances throughout the school day, and so you reluctantly move on from them. Now let’s say you’ve gotten a bit older and are about 15. You start to like someone else, and much to your astonishment, they seem to reciprocate the feelings. You’ve never experienced this before. You feel like you’re walking on air. You don’t quite know how to control it. All you know is that staying up to the small hours to talk to each other about anything and everything feels right and o en like the only thing in the world that matters (this is your cue to up and run!). Yet this romance too comes to an end before it could properly develop into what you hoped it might have become. It’s over.
And it hurts. Is this your rst heartbreak? Were those feelings you caught for them love? A er that mess and hurt, you promise yourself: you’re not going to catch anymore feelings. And for a while, you don’t. At seventeen, you have the odd short ing here and there. And this feels fun for a while. But then you maybe reach a point where you ask yourself, what is all of this for? None of it feels like it’s going anywhere and just feels a bit meh. And you also have noticed that the unattainable crush from years before seems to be in the perfect, sunshineand-rainbows relationship, and it strikes something inside you. Not because you still have any feelings for them; not at all. In fact, you now laugh and cringe a bit when you think about how you felt for them in previous years. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with them – but upon re ection they always did seem to have their school bag hoisted up to dizzying heights on their back (ick). Instead, it’s the fact that they seem to have something really special with their partner that has you troubled. So you ask yourself, am I missing out? Do I want what they have? en you remind yourself that surely feeling like this must be preferable to when you stayed up half the night talking to that person two years before, because at least now
you can choose to get a decent night’s sleep. Some of us may continue to have things and ings for a very long time. Many of us continue to keep our Ussher library crush safely at arm’s length - aka at least three Ussher-desk-space distances away. But there may come a point, when you least expect it, when you realise that a supposed ing is no longer just that. ey’re something much more, but di erent again to the middle-of-the-night-message person from when you were 15. ey express that they want something deeper with you (this is the point where you stop looking longingly at your younger crush’s relationship as something you might also now want – this is the point where you really need to run!).
Nah, I’m only joking. is will be a massive gamble, of course it will – I mean, we’re talking about your whole heart being on the line here.
And so if it gets broken, it will hurt. And the harsh reality is that it hurts a hell of a lot more than when Jack kissed Katie in front of you when you were four. Yet as much as the impending heartbreak might hurt, you can decide what to channel these feelings into. And in this, there can be – not to be too gushy – true beauty in the bittersweetness. I have channelled my experiences of these feelings over the last few months into many outlets; one of which being this article. I wouldn’t have been able to write this if I hadn’t gone through what I did.
So much of life (I would actually argue, most of life), we cannot control. Catching feelings for someone else is one of these uncontrollable things. It’s a bit like catching a cold (a bit of a grim analogy I know, but stick with me). We don’t choose to catch a cold. We cannot control if we catch a cold. Well, maybe if we never go outside
or see other people we won’t; but then we are not living. Catching feelings for others is living proof that we are living. However these feelings materialise, whether it leads to lifelong happiness, heartbreak, or something in between – they make us who we are today. And like I said, we can choose to channel these feelings into so many positive outlets; be it into improving other relationships in our lives, into creativity, or into a renewed feeling of freshness. Or even into stories, that we can carry with us our whole lives. Four-year-old me will always have feelings for Jack and Mikey. 13 year old me will always have feelings for the boy in school. 15 year old me will always have feelings for the midnight-messenger. And so on. ey’ve all made me who I am today. And as my darling mummy would say; everything happens for a reason, and nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Society o en conditions us to follow a set path. Normally, that path looks something like: secondary school, college, marriage, kids, retirement. However, the reality is that life is never this linear. Even if you are one of many who follow this route, you’ve no doubt had to take pauses, re-evaluate, and steer your plan in a di erent direction. But in some cases, certain nancial, personal, or familial challenges make getting to that second step at the ‘normal’ time an impossibility for those who want to pursue third-level education. us the dream of attending college o en fades away, or alternatively, becomes part of life later on. At Trinity, those individuals who align with the latter are known as “Mature Students” or individuals who are 23 years old or above when they start their degree. For any non-mature students, these older peers are o en associated with a level of seriousness and eagerness to answer questions and participate in lectures and tutorials that we may not see in peers our own age. As such, mature students o en nd themselves in a peculiar position in which they absolutely are university students from an academic perspective, but not so much in the social aspect of college; the early morning complaints over 9ams, the bonding over nights out at Workman’s, the collective struggle of creating a meal with less than ve euros in your account can sometimes be a more marginal part of college life for mature students. Furthermore, as we’re all trying to gure out who we are and what we want to pursue a er college, mature students have o en experienced this stage of their life by the time they start at Trinity. us the support system that the ‘ordinary’ student would get from their peers as a result of the shared experiences they endure, is simply not there.
But in 1982 this changed when the Trinity Mature Student Society was founded to create a community in which all students, regardless of their age when beginning college, could socialise and be provided with a space to feel supported.
Today, the society has 170 members. rough the Mature Student O ce—another body of representation for Mature students on campus—and its involvement with the Trinity Access Programme (TAP), an increasing number of Mature students from lowerincome backgrounds have been able to attend Trinity and join the Trinity Mature Student Society as well. When asked about what makes the society so special, OCM James Parrott said: “It’s di erent from a lot of other societies in that we don’t get together out of a shared interest but out of shared experience.”
ese shared experiences bring society members together every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning in Room 6 of the Atrium. Sitting around a table covered in sweet treats and co ee mugs, these co ee mornings have become somewhat of a lifeline for many society members, a chance to break away from the stress of academia and talk about kids, work, relationships, and so much more. “
e Mature Student Society was my saviour when I started College during Covid. I had no clue about the majority of things, even though I had read up on information and tried to inform myself, it still wasn’t easy to take it all in. With the Zoom co ee mornings, I started to get to know people more and it felt great, especially when we did eventually return to campus. I am now delighted to say
“Hi!” to people on campus as each day I now see a familiar face. It did not take too long to build up my network of mature students and then gradually younger students from within my degree,” Chair Ingrid Garacki said. If co ee isn’t your thing, the society runs monthly “ irsty ursdays” at local pubs around Dublin where members can grab a pint together. To wrap up this school year, the society will be holding a wine and cheese event on ursday, April 13 in the Elizabethan room and thanks to Mature Student o cer Clodagh Byrne at the Mature Students O ce, society members can enjoy a nal celebration with food and drink at the pav in May. But actually reaching the point of applying to Trinity and evidently getting involved in the Mature Student Society is a massive leap of faith for most mature students.
“When I graduated secondary school, I was in an abusive relationship and he wouldn’t let me pursue anything that would make me look smarter. I went to arts school for a few years but never nished it and when I got married and we had our rst child I wanted to stay at home and raise my children[...] I was a housewife and mom for 20 years so it’s a bit of a culture shock for my husband,” society member Adele Kenna said. Once mature students do decide to attend Trinity, however, a whole host of other challenges arise. “Being a mature student on
campus can be very isolating. You can be the only mature student in a lecture brimming with young, fearless, con dent young people. Our life experiences mean that mature students can feel imposter syndrome and second guess their abilities as well as their work. is increases the importance of the society as you get to meet and speak with other mature students who encounter the same challenges even if they are not in the same course,” Vice Chair Ailish Smith said.
Moreover, while balancing work and life is di cult for all college students, mature students o en have out-of-school obligations that most young adults don’t.
“Many mature students have families, work, and/or may have elderly parents to look a er, run a family home and do the daily life routines. is can be very exhausting especially when trying to complete a degree, I guess time management is something we are good at,” OCM Maria McDonnell said.
But despite these challenges and with the help of the Mature Student Society, mature students at Trinity manage to balance it all and can be an additive force within every lecture. “Many people may feel college and student life is only for young people, however, many of us are still young at heart and have a lot to o er throughout our degree. We have had life experiences which we can bring to the table.
Many of us did not take up the challenge when we were younger to further improve our educational paths, therefore, having the second chance in life now as a mature student helps us to appreciate our education journey even more the second time around,” McDonnell said.
Plus, the good that can come from cross-generational discourse is invaluable. “A common misconception is that [...] we have no time for younger students or that we have no interest in their issues but as a sociology student it is the opposite and I rely on the younger students to stay abreast of what is important to Generation Z [...] I have been impressed with engaging with many of the students who are far more aware of issues and responsible than I was at their age,” Parrott said. Despite the importance of learning and academia in university, friendship is arguably the most important part of the experience, and the Mature Student Society provides the opportunity to make friends for life. For anybody over the age of 23 who may be hesitant to take the leap and apply to university, this advice may be helpful: “Just go for it, don’t sit back and regret not at least trying it. You are well able to do this if you really want to and follow your dreams,” McDonnell said. Carey added: “and if you do make sure you join the mature society.”
Any complaints? reads the last part of the review. is is where it could all go wrong, where the critic could really tear into the food they’ve just eaten and possibly leave an indelible mark on the reputation of the restaurant. Perhaps, though rightfully so, they might target the taste, presentation, or timing of the food; they might talk about the friendliness of the servers or the atmosphere of the place.
Instead, a restaurant critic writing for All e Food found it appropriate to comment on the French accents of the servers in their review - accents that can’t exactly be altered within a few months (nor should they have to be). e idea that the lack of an Irish accent is acceptable to complain about is concerning. Perhaps this is why the complaint has since been edited to convey a less condescending tone than the original. Still, the sentiment remains, and so does the upset it caused the restaurant sta who call Ireland their home.
Occasionally, the remarks that food critics make decidedly cross the line. John Leathlean, a restaurant critic, made inappropriate, misogynistic remarks about how revealing the clothing of a female worker at the restaurant he reviewed was - and caused a public outcry. ese comments were clearly a product of his own prejudiced viewpoint rather than relevant, fair criticism. From insensitive remarks to outright sexism in reviews, the treatment of hospitality workers by food critics, whether in person or in writing, has ignited a debate over why we even listen to these critics in the rst place. A er all, it seems there are a myriad of reasons not to. Whether food is considered good or not can o en (literally) be up to an individual’s taste. While critics can arguably make nearobjective statements (primarily regarding the sourcing of products or how well everything has been cooked), even these comments are inevitably subject to existing biases these critics have – a conservative mindset that leads to a rejection of certain dishes and customs, eventually sti ing creative pursuits. is, in turn, aids the preservation of a certain status quo. Hosts of the Washington-based WAMU podcast point out that this is only exacerbated by the lack of diversity in the upper echelons of the food critic industry: majority white, male-dominated, and not at all representative of actual restaurantgoers.
Not only is the industry not diverse enough, it also actively
contributes to the gentri cation of neighbourhoods. Soleil Ho, an American food critic, has discussed how critics have caused restaurants in low-income areas to become inaccessible for residents. When a renowned critic lauds a restaurant, that establishment might quite quickly become too expensive to serve the customers it was originally created for. Outstanding reviews or even awards like Michelin stars draw customers from higher-income areas, which allows the restaurant to set exorbitant prices that are una ordable for residents of the area. So, if food critics and the industry as a whole have issues as far-reaching as these, why do we still care about what they have to say?
Perhaps the answer is simple. Before I go to a restaurant, I want to be sure that it’s worth my money, especially as a student. Having authority on a certain subject has long been a method of persuasion, so there’s no reason it shouldn’t apply to food as well. It’s useful when there’s a guide to help us discern which places are and are not good, and professional food critics are expected to adhere to certain rules to eliminate bias and erratic, short-sighted judgement. With the proliferation of more vegetarian and environmentally aware restaurants, reviews can also provide information on how varied the cuisine is and how ingredients are sourced. Essentially, when done well, criticism can enrich the food and drink scene by holding restaurants to a higher standard.
So, taking all of this into consideration: should we listen to food critics? Yes and no. Beyond its more obvious advantages for the industry, criticism can also be of use to women and minorities, for whom it might be important to know what the service is like and whether the restaurant and location are safe and comfortable.
For us to actually reap these bene ts, the industry would have to be much more diverse than it is now.
It’s also important to note that if a restaurant identi es a critic as such, the treatment they receive might not be the same as the average person, which eliminates some of the bene ts of criticism. I didn’t need to search for very long to nd an actual article on the Do’s and Don’ts that restaurants should follow if they spot a food critic. It’s full of advice on how to get a good review – but that’s not useful for anyone trying to gauge what the restaurant is really like, because that’s not how they would be treated if they walked in to dine. e industry has a lot of work to do, but ultimately it still serves a purpose. As an audience, we should be aware of the fact that (both professional and amateur) food critics do retain underlying prejudices, whether this be in favour or to the detriment of the place they’re reviewing. at said, we can still respect and acknowledge their experience and – when we need to – use these reviews to support our own choice of where to eat. It’s just important that we evaluate them critically, too; we can look to the experience of regular customers in conjunction, which in the age of social media, is much more easily accessible than before. Food critics aren’t a relic of the past, but we need to become aware of the problems within the industry and make changes that will allow food criticism to stay relevant.
sits down with Grace Benham to discuss her appointment to this years Youth Panel 2023 at the National Gallery of Ireland
Particularly in Dublin, it can be challenging to nd art-related programmes for young people. Separate from a paid job, there are few events that o er training to assist students looking to get into the artworld. Sitting down with Grace Benham, who studies Art History and Archaeology here in Trinity, she walked me through her position in the incredible new initiative by the National Gallery called the Youth Panel. While this position is unpaid, any student looking to gain insight into curation, collaboration, and National Gallery work should keep their eyes peeled for this competitive opportunity.
e rst cohort ever which started in October 2022 is concentrating on providing new ways for everybody to experience the country’s national collection. Regarding the application process, Benham stated that “it was a creative one in which we were invited to share about ourselves and our enthusiasm for art in any medium. I made a poster about myself with a video embedded, detailing my passion for art, speci cally my passion for the inclusion of all backgrounds and diverse communities within the arts sphere.” Notably, not every applicant needs an academic foundation for art history and Benham emphasised the personal impact of art in her own life, which no doubt encouraged her to apply in the rst place. She summarised that “growing up in the inner city, art, in varying forms, became a safe space for me. From being my safe space in my formative years, to now being an area in which I want to build a career in, art has had such a positive impact on my life.” With only 17 applicants being selected from ages 16-25, it is an essentially ambitious programme, but for any art lover living in Dublin, it o ers an exploration into art practice which is not experienced appropriately in many undergraduate degrees. Anybody can appreciate art yet all too o en, art galleries, museums, and institutions imply a level of
prestige which emanates to the public but we must not forget that public collections belong to everybody. Young people are also at the heart of innovation in Ireland and surely interactive programmes such as this Youth Panel will encourage younger generations’ intrigue into the artworld, which in many areas needs a lifeboat.
In our conversation, Benham discussed what the Youth Panel entails: “we meet on a fortnightly basis on ursday evenings. Our meetings are two hours long.
In the meetings, we discuss the events we want to curate for young people, meet with other members of the gallery sta and discuss how our passion for diversity and inclusion can be put into practice in the National Gallery, and partake in experimental programmes which focus on diversifying ways in which people can interact with art, for example, we partook in a workshop by the SPICE project which is experimenting with using sound as a means to interpret art.” She also delved into speci c details about this year’s focus, stating that “most recently, we held an event which focused on women artists. e event, which was completely free, was a collaborative learning session with the public. We chatted about artworks made by ve di erent women artists from the collection in response to International Women’s Day. To facilitate these conversations, participants were
invited to experiment with using the artists’ creative techniques as well as share their own styles with each other. We chose Sarah Purser, Mainie Jellet, Lavinia Fontana, Anne Yeats, and Sarah Cecilia Harrison as the ve women artists from the National Collection.”
Furthermore, Banham continued by highlighting the imperative nature of young people for this initiative, saying that “young people contribute original ideas and distinctive experiences to the
art world, so it is essential that the Youth Panel create programmes for them and encourage them to become involved in art. Many young people are deeply committed to addressing social issues and are using art to e ect change. Including young people in galleries can give these crucial discussions a stage and inspire them to investigate the role of art in social activism.” With art activism becoming more public and seen in higher-brow museums and galleries, underscoring its connection to social change and global issues in the art-world, this programme clearly encompasses a range of social discussion. Benham emphasised that “it is the youth of Ireland who experience this fast-paced society rst-hand, and bringing their experience of this into the gallery can help it to become a space that moves with the times; this can lead to greatly poignant changes like more diverse artists on display and more diverse communities and backgrounds being brought into the arts sphere.”
In addition, Benham also commented on her own involvement on the panel and her weekly activities, highlighting that “for instance, in planning our event for International Women’s Day, I was heavily involved in deciding the approach for the event, as I am extremely intrigued about nding di erent ways for the public to engage with art.
Coming to the sessions is not mandatory nor is getting involved
in event planning. So with the Youth Panel, the cliche of ‘what you put in is what you get out’ very much applies.” Showcasing female artists’ works has been at the forefront of the National Gallery in recent years, with major exhibitions like Lavinia Fontana, Women Artists and the RHA, and Sarah Purser all showing in 2023. Regarding the panel’s upcoming plans, Benham stated that “currently, we are in the process of organising an event inspired by our workshop with the SPICE Project. We want to curate an exhibition which uses music as an aid to interpret art. Keep an eye out on our Instagram and the NGI website for that!”
Evidently, the values behind this panel have embraced inclusion and diversity. Hearing about Grace Benham’s experience demonstrates the panel’s apparent aim for ful lling the gallery’s aspiration: allowing people to engage with the public collection in various ways. Benham stressed that “people can get involved through our events in which we encourage people to engage with art in di ering ways. We update our Instagram regularly with information regarding our upcoming events, so follow @ apolloprojectirl. e National Gallery’s website also posts about our upcoming events.” is year’s panel’s motto is “be sound”; in the context of decency, voicing the minds of young people across Ireland, and within this panel, it certainly applies.
So, how do you fail this exam season? If you’re the type to chug down a Monster Energy at 4am or to indulge in any other last minute attempts at not failing your assessment, this article is for you. Many of us tend to procrastinate assignments, some of us have perfect study plans that never seem to actually come to fruition and then there are the people who actually have their lives together. If you’re the type that doesn’t struggle with exam season, you can stop reading now.
If you want to fail, the absolute best thing you can do is procrastinate. Leaving everything to the last minute is a sure- re way to stress yourself out beyond belief and reduce the quality of the contents of your essay or exam down to the lowest level you’re capable of. As someone who has procrastinated all his life, and has paid the price for it, I urge you to start your assignments and study a few days in advance at the very least. Cramming in extended writing sessions the night before a deadline only works for a lucky few. However, this approach will deprive most people of the opportunity to achieve their full potential.
Another thing you can do to fail is have a poor routine. We are creatures of habit so the sooner you adapt the habit to start studying and working on essays in advance, the better o you will be. No matter what year of education you’re in, forming these healthy habits will stand you in good stead for years to come. What’s important to remember is that college is preparing you for the working world, hopefully in your preferred eld, and you will carry your way of doing things into your career. When you have a good routine you’re not only setting yourself up well for college, you’re setting yourself up well for life. A crucial part of this routine is the amount you exercise and the amount you sleep. Exercise and sleep come in tandem, you will soon nd out that one helps the other. If you struggle to sleep, try to exercise since especially vigorous exercise will improve your quality of sleep drastically. If you struggle to exercise, getting 8 to 10 hours of quality sleep a night will increase your motivation and energy levels. Nobody can run on an empty tank.
long, hard one worth 100%. Also, a tried and tested way of setting yourself up for failure is to skip lectures. When you go to study the material you’ve missed, you will nd it doubly di cult to understand. We all know that lectures don’t just consist of what is on the slides. O en, the slides are merely just pointers for the lecturer to expand on. You also deprive yourself of the opportunity to ask questions and listen to the answers of those asked by others. Going to lectures gives you a good base to spring from, skipping on them means you’re playing catch up from the get-go. However, if you did skip a number of lectures this
On a stormy Sunday evening in mid-March, I am hosting a dinner for two. e visitor sits mute atop the kitchen table. I discovered I was late to the party back in January when I rst heard of their reputation circling the college campus. From there, the stories began to spiral. ey were notorious in online exams, a rumoured accomplice in breakup text dra s, brilliant at coding projects, and could speak in every language about every topic under the sun. A friend disclosed to me that they were worried they were coming a er their job - their CV was stellar in comparison! I have been itching to get to know my dinner guest, and now here they sit in front of me, open and poised for a polite dinner table interrogation. I take a long sip of my water and realise they are waiting for me to start the conversation. I ask them to introduce themselves, and a er a few seconds of watching a
pulsating caret, they start to whirr. “Hello! My name is ChatGPT and I am an AI language model designed to assist and communicate with humans. I am here to help you learn how to cook dinner for us tonight, and I’m excited to see what delicious meal we’ll be making together!” ChatGPT was launched in November 2022 as an AI language model and chatbot. Its responses
However, having said all that procrastination is a part of life and sometimes life just gets in the way. If you nd yourself in the position of having no work done and assignments are due in just a few days time and you want to fail, whatever you do, don’t prioritise. Prioritisation of work that is due rst, since work which is worth the most marks will save you from the worst e ects of your procrastination. For example, if you want to fail, do that short, easy essay worth 40% instead of the
semester, you can try to get notes from one of your friends and make sure you go over them ahead of time for your assessment.
If you want to fail this exam season, above all else, don’t take care of your mental health. Don’t take your meds or seek out counselling and de nitely don’t be kind to yourself if you’re going through a hard time. Remember, extensions can be granted and exams can be deferred. ere are more important things in this life than college. Don’t ruin yourself for the sake of your inner expectations, those of your parents or because of what your friends will think.
As someone who ended up dropping out of UCD ve years ago because I somehow expected myself to do essays and exams whilst being depressed, doing drugs, never showing up to lectures, going to sleep at 6 or 7am most nights and seeking no professional help all the while, I can con rm that not taking care of your mental health is your most certain way to fail. Reach out to student counselling here in Trinity, your tutor or your GP. Nothing is worth adding extra stress onto an already troubled mind. If you are indeed struggling, a solution can be found to get you through it with extra time to write that essay or study for that exam.
Dear Trinity,
As daylight savings throws us all o , the evenings get longer, the sun gets a little brighter, and the deadlines loom a little closer. Suddenly, I feel so aware that this is all ending. Four years, four great years, are coming to a close. Soon I, and many more nal years, will be leaving this campus, and for the rst time, we don’t plan on coming back. We will depart with pride and con dence, grateful for the experiences Trinity has given us, but we will also be a bit scared: scared for what’s next, scared of life in the real world, scared to lose the comfort Trinity has brought us.
Trinity’s campus is small, which is one of the best and worst things about it. In the past four years, I don’t think I have ever managed to keep a secret in this place; at the end of the day, everybody knows everybody. But on the other hand, the tight-knit community of this campus gives us all a special sense of love, the feeling that ‘we’re all in this together’. Especially this time of the year, a brisk walk around campus will show you that Trinity is lled with love and companionship. e couples on the benches at the cricket pitch. e group of friends eating lunch on the dining hall steps. e smokers sharing lighters and dissertation stress outside of the Arts bloc. e endless co ee runs because it’s not really about the co ee; it’s about the company. e ones having a laugh and the ones holding hands, our sense of closeness is everywhere, and I will miss this community spirit come May when we leave campus. I’ll miss the comforts of the life I have established here, of knowing my place and knowing where all my love is generated. It comes from the nights we stayed up far too late, the nights when the drinks were nished but no one got up to leave, the nights we don’t remember, the laughs, the
outlines the key ingredients in a recipe for failure as the exam season looms over us
puts ChatGPTs culinary skills to the test shares her thoughts as she nears the end of her time at Trinity
are generated by a complex machine learning algorithm trained on a vast corpus of human language data. It has been trained with data OpenAI researchers have selected from humancreated content, past and present. Exponential advancements have been made in the eld of AI in the last month alone, and it has become increasingly clear that it has the power to transform the way we live and work. While obvious questions circle in my mind about the responsible use of this new tech, its goals and ethics, I begin to wonder: “should I have even invited this guest into my kitchen?”
ere’s a saying that an in nite number of monkeys on a typewriter will give you Shakespeare. eoretically, in nite monkeys caged in a laptop on my kitchen table could absolutely produce some form of a roast dinner, especially when fed recipes of worldly cuisine.
Gordon Ramsey, Nigella Lawson, and even Guy Fieri all exist within ChatGPT, so surely it could teach me how to cook a meal?
As I prompt it to respond to my requests, I realise the appeal of the chatbot to time-strapped, stressedout students. It can create meal plans tailored to your shopping list,
give meal-prepping tips, provide a recipe adjusted to the weight and ingredients in the fridge, any dietary requirements outlined and, most importantly, how much time you have. ChatGPT can take the weight of choice o when the pressure of exams pushes in. I slowly program our conversation to let it believe I am a beginner cook looking to make a hot meal in thirty minutes. Chef ChatGPT approaches the chopping board with the con dence and e ciency of a seasoned teacher. It immediately knows what to do with my bruised pepper and collection of spices to make a veggie, dairy-free curry. Yet despite the multiple bullet-pointed instructions, they lack the nuance and detailed descriptions I feel a novice must require. Because of this and also my dedication to the experiment, I begin to follow its instructions to the letter, feeling restricted by its authoritative tone. e bot is discerningly aware of its limitations at times and feebly defends itself in the middle of our conversation: “However, it’s important to note that while I do have access to a lot of information, I don’t have the same type of experience and creativity as a professional chef who has spent years honing their cra .” ChatGPT
can de nitely provide guidance and suggestions for cooking, but it cannot replicate the unique air and creativity of a home cook who brings their own personal style and experience to their cooking or the curiosity of a student developing their taste buds. As my atmates trickled in from their weekends at home, they o ered up how they would make their personal curry paste, whether my fondness for adding chutney to enhance the curried tang (mango chutney is a avour game changer) and the location of spices hidden in their cupboards I did not think we had. We also sat down together and planned a dinner rota for the week ahead.
Our conversations were a relief to the stilted responses to prompts I endured that evening. ey reminded me of the joy experimenting in the kitchen brings, and I was enticed to throw a tin of fruit cocktail into the pot, as my mam would do at home. Sometime between the rice being ready and the washing up, the laptop was closed.
Maybe as the bot improves, I will learn to integrate AI on my plate without feeling restricted or having a dystopian taste le in my mouth but for now, I’m content with not being a good host.
tears, and the “Oh my god, I have to tell you” somethings.
It has been a long four years, and we have grown and changed so much, from rst years bonding over questions like how much pasta is too much pasta to helping one another prep for job interviews. At some point, without realising it, strangers from our course became our closest friends, and we weren’t getting lost or confused trying to get around the campus or the city. At one point, Dublin became home, and we became ourselves. We went from Pav Fridays to Zoom calls and back to Pav Fridays. Silly little crushes from the rst year became real loves, and the people you never thought you’d be friends with are the closest of con dantes. A er four years, there are so many things to be thankful for. e friends we found on day one and have held on tight to ever since, the ones that came along a little later but who are still just as loved, the ones you wished you had met earlier because you will never have enough time with them. e friends in the group chat who have helped you through every assignment, the friends who have dri ed but are no less loved,
the friends you never thought you would be friends with, and the friends you’ve lost. We are made from our experiences, and Trinity has provided us with so many of them. To the readings we should have done but skipped for nights out, to the co ee shops that became our regular spots, to those we kissed, and to those we shouldn’t have. All of it comes together in this beautiful, messy college experience.
ey say the college days are the best in your lives, and whilst I have loved them, I don’t necessarily agree. It is wrong to think our best days are behind us. To my fellow nal years: we are so young, we are not doomed, and you are not behind. Starting fresh is scary, but we’ve done it before, and look how well that turned out. We are capable of anything, we can go forward, and we can secure any successes we set our minds to. We can take a break or change our minds and start again. We have survived the highs and lows of Trinity, and we’re still on this journey together. We are loved, and with or without Trinity, we will be okay.
See you soon Trinity, thanks for everything.
In an age where dating is done mostly online, casual- ings are revered, hook-up culture is glori ed, and STDs are rampant, nding love is a tricky feat. Love can be found somewhere amidst the chaos, but for many, love is a rare thing to come by in college. I wish I could call myself an expert on love, and maybe I can, because who’s checking credentials?
Having gotten into a relationship in my year of college and now being in my nal year, I like to think of myself as an unquali ed spokesperson for nding love in college. I spend a lot of my time analysing my closest friends’ relationships and interactions with love.
While my own experience with love in college has been (perhaps unusually) positive, I have experienced countless variations of love through the eyes of my friends. I’ve seen them be desperately in love, pining, in pain, heartbroken and even being the heartbreaker. I’ve been there when they fell in love and fell out of it and have then seen it happen all over again. A er every summer when we come back to college there’s a
new set of romantic goals. I want the best for my friends; it’s a great feeling to be loved and an even better one to love. From talking to some of my closest friends, I’ve gathered some words of wisdom about their romantic experiences from the past seven months and how their perspectives on love have changed. (All names shown below have been changed for the purpose of this article.)
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER
What was your outlook on love?
A: “I was and always have been quite cynical about romantic love, even though I was in love at this time. Sometimes I think it’s because I don’t believe I deserve it.”
B: “I wasn’t feeling great. I had
more and have more boundaries.”
D: “ at when you’re young, if you don’t feel that the love is real then there’s no point in pursuing it.”
Do you regret anything?
B: “How much value I placed on sex, I thought I couldn’t feel good unless someone was desiring me.”
C: “I regret making myself so available to di erent people.”
D: “At the time I regretted ending my relationship because it felt like a loss.”
NOVEMBER - DECEMBER
What was your outlook on love?
A: “I started realising I was falling out of love with my boyfriend. I felt like love was a complete lie. I couldn’t understand why my feelings were changing.”
During this period were you feeling positive about your outlook on love and why?
A: “I couldn’t understand how I had fallen out of love when I really didn’t want to, my self love uctuated but my friends made me feel so supported. I felt special to have a group of people who love me.”
B: “At long last, I deleted dating apps (for a while…). ey made me feel perceived beyond my control and I was valuing my self worth from matches and likes.”
C: “I went over to a guy’s house and didn’t want to have sex, he shamed me for that and it made me feel shit. I knew I only wanted people in my life who wanted me so I ended situationships.”
never fully existed.”
MARCH - NOW
How do you feel about your outlook on love now?
A: “I’m in a new phase of looking a er myself instead of drinking excessively to ll a hole of a relationship.”
B: “I learned nothing by being celibate for a few months and it’s okay to admit that we need sex to feel a bit more human. You’re not any less of a feminist for breaking your celibacy or wanting to have sex.”
C: “I have hard days when I wonder why I’m not good enough to be loved, but that reminds me that I’m not loving myself enough and to keep ourishing myself with kindness.”
D: “I’m aware of big changes coming up in my life and I’m happy that I only have to think of myself during these changes and not a romantic partner.”
What makes you feel the most loved now?
A: “My friends and my family.”
C: “When I’m surrounded by family and friends.”
D: “Doing small, simple, simple things with my friends and appreciating these moments.”
Do you have any regrets?
B: “No, I am convinced that all experiences – good or bad – are what life is all about.”
having sex with random people and I felt like I wasn’t getting anything from it.”
D: “I was freshly out of a breakup and felt aware of being single. I felt a lot of self pity and I tried to nd ways of lling the void. I drank and used drugs a lot which was an unhealthy coping mechanism.”
What did you learn about love?
A: “ e person you love shouldn’t make you feel anxious, stressed or like you’re not good enough. ings should be easy, you should want to see them and miss them.”
B: “I learned that I can overromanticise people to the point I get hurt and that the value of friendship will always trump romantic love.”
C: “I needed to love myself
A: “My boyfriend at the time always made me feel so loved.”
B: “I found love from my family, homemade dinners at Christmas, arguing over board games and seeing my pets every morning.”
C: “Buying myself nice things made me feel loved. I loved myself.”
What did you learn about love?
A: “People and relationships can change in a short space of time without any clear explanations.”
B: “Dating apps began to bring more feelings of emptiness than joy. I learned love can’t be forced and love can be found in abundance in other areas aside from romantic love.”
D: “I didn’t regret my breakup anymore, I learned alone time was what I needed.”
JANUARY - FEBRUARY
D: “I feel like I didn’t nd self love until very recently, I searched for validation from others because I wasn’t giving myself that. I think if I had more self love previously I would have made di erent decisions.”
If I have learned one thing from these conversations, it is that there is no linear map or trajectory for someone’s experience with love. Finding love can be romantic, platonic, the most wonderful feeling or a soul-crushing experience - or all of these at once. ere is no right or wrong way to do it. All of the friends I spoke to have one thing in common, and that is that the love that you receive from your meaningful friendships can provide as much happiness as the love of romantic relationships – if not more.
explores the love lives of four college students and uncovers how di erent each experience is
Throughout life we meet so many people, and all our actions and behaviours are marked permanently by those we interact with; we all mirror each other and are connected in a beautiful giant web of interdependence. My body carries traces of everyone who has touched me in some way. I have a lifelong love of disaster documentaries from when I was eight watching them with my dad. I still obsessively eat Boursin cheese on baguettes even though I don’t speak to the girl who introduced me to it now. To this day I still use the recipe I used to make butter chicken for my exboyfriend. ese little rituals in the present are telling that people never really leave us. My granny is in her jewellery I inherited; I smell my mam and my childhood in L’Oréal shampoo and Jean Paul Gaultier perfume.
Your family is probably the most formative group you will spend time around and for me, this is especially true. Especially as a child, you are going to pick up values and habits from those who raise you, even though these may change with time. Even since I moved out and into the world, I continue to learn from them. ey have demonstrated to me the importance of generosity and helping those around you when they have driven up to Dublin countless times to help me and my friends move in or drop me o food when I was alone with covid. Even though I’ve since developed
from what they taught me as a child and learned my own ways of doing things, it is important to acknowledge that I would not have been able to grow without a good base.
On my rst evening in Trinity Hall, I was sitting on my lumpy bed a er struggling with the covers for twenty minutes when all of a sudden there was a knock on my door and a colourful gure in a sweater vest burst into my life. From the day I met Katie, they have been a constant presence in my life, dispensing wisdom and advice whenever I need it, from agonising over my degree to holding me when I cried on the bus over a boy. ey have accepted my idiosyncrasies but will give me a reality check when I need it. Katie and I are comfortable sitting in silence with each other for hours feeling totally at ease; our relationship has always been a stable, easy thing to be in. Even though we have completely di erent tastes in almost everything (our joint Spotify mix is a mess) she and I complement each other perfectly, and she is the de nition of a platonic soulmate.
Katie has taught me so much, from peeling garlic (I fully believed that the skin was there to add crunch) to accepting my feelings and much more.
I have been blessed to meet so many fantastic people over the years, even if we haven’t always stayed in touch. I will forever think of my days sharing earphones with my rst-year best friends listening to really bad emo music or walking around Athlone trying to nd a skirt short enough for the disco that week. Although I can’t remember the faces or names, I have held onto the feeling of running around eating cake with my playschool friends on a balmy Friday a ernoon.
e people I have met in college have been some of the most important people I’ve ever met in my life. ey facilitated my blossoming into an adult, one smoke alarm at a time. From introducing me to new foods and ways of thinking, I have changed from being the awkward, nervous 19-year-old that I was before to an altogether more well-rounded and con dent woman. Clichéd as it sounds, nothing is as important for pushing you to grow socially, emotionally, and spiritually as college. I have learnt and come to love so many new things from
those I’ve met in the last three years: how to properly enjoy co ee with Lucy, the joy of yoga with Sarah, what a lovely thing it is to be in the Gaeltacht in summer, and most importantly, the power of a good laugh. And the great thing about this part of your life is that you are constantly meeting more and more people and continuing to grow. One of the best parts of Erasmus has been getting the opportunity to get to know those who I came over with better and to get to know others from around the world.
Even though people come and go, some things stick with you forever. Whether that be your primary school best friend’s wacky sense of humour, or the unhinged fart joke a total stranger told me in the Ussher li last spring, interactions with both those we will remain close to forever and those who will only know brie y are what make life so special and meaningful.
To my friends, family, teachers, taxi drivers, drunk girls in the bathroom, therapists, hairdressers, everyone I’ve ever kiss- thank you.
speaks to computer science lecturer Andrew Butter eld as he recalls his society days at Trinity
When it comes to understanding the Trinity student experience, School of Computer Science and Statistics Lecturer Andrew Butter eld has got you covered. While Butter eld currently boasts many research acclaims supported by the European Space Agency (ESA), just a few decades ago he was a bright-eyed young student like the rest of us. His current projects and so ware are used on an international scale, however he remains close to home by lecturing and coaching students at his alma mater of Trinity College.
Andrew Butter eld began his career at Trinity in 1979 as an engineering student with a passion for computers and, in his words, “regretfully”, model war games. While he had always found this an enjoyable creative outlet, upon walking into the Model War Game Society during his rst Fresher’s Week, he knew it was no longer for him: “It was the rst time I realised that you don’t keep all of those passions you had when you were younger”, something he notes to be one of the rst important lessons he learned outside of the classroom in Trinity.
While, in his words, Butter eld did the “very rst year thing of joining every society possible”, he eventually found his ground in the Maths society and in DU Orienteers. Later on, a er
achieving Schols and being granted a room on campus, Butter eld became greatly involved with the Hist: “I was always a Hist guy, never a Phil guy”, he admits. Still focusing on his undergraduate in Engineering, Butter eld found the Hist to be his eye-opener to di erent ways of thinking, di erent experiences and di erent interests that far surpassed his “engineering bubble”. He details having met friends from all disciplines at Hist events, some of whom have become lifelong friends: “we still meet up every once in a while in some Dublin pub to catch up”.
Something that Butter eld really nds of value about his time in the Hist is all of the conversations and interactions he had, which at the time they seemed trivial, but which he now looks back on fondly: “you know, you had your friend in economics, or your friend in law, talking about the beginning of theories and ideas that are being discussed today”. is also helped him out of his comfort zone, and consider new perspectives; this would later help him when tackling his current research on the application of maths proofs in so ware engineering.
While the Hist provided Butter eld with a wider humanities perspective, his involvement in Mathsoc sparked his academic and scienti c interests signi cantly.
When Butter eld was a student in Trinity, the Maths society was located next to the maths department, which at the time was the rst location in Ireland to house a Unix computer. is proved revolutionary for Butter eld, as lecturers allowed members of the Maths society to play around with the system; both to learn and develop a deeper passion for computers. Butter eld explains that these experiences provided him with a new manner of
thinking about computers, which now inspires his research for the European Space Agency (ESA); he uses a mathematical application to his engineering foundation to decrease errors in so ware used in space instruments, such as satellites.
While he nds it di cult to summarise his extensive time at Trinity, Butter eld notes that despite any impactful events or experiences, the most important thing he learned was to “talk to other people:get a new perspective, get new ideas” and to learn how to e ectively communicate with others. He believes that not only does this guarantee success in the future, but it can open you up to many opportunities and people you otherwise may not have encountered: “it makes you look at the same world with a di erent (point of) view”.
Butter eld carries this sort of mantra into his classrooms. Working with the ESA, he allows students to “play around” with and research so ware used by the ESA on their satellites. e lucky students who create working, vetted code actually have their work used on the satellite. Students praise him for his engaging and inspiring lectures, as well as his understanding nature; he strives to make students think outside the box and learn
in a hands-on manner. He also engages in community activities, having hosted and organised the Academics Symposium in Trinity for a range of years—an organisation that holds panels and speeches from forward-thinking academics of our time.
It is a comfort to know that among many of those teaching in lecture halls, there are some who have had the same experience of Freshers Week in Front Square, of walking through the Hamilton, or of nerding out over a computer (or, in this generation’s case, AI) with fellow society friends. It is especially a comfort when such a person understands the value of learning inside and outside the classroom, and promotes this with students to upli and support them.
evaluates her experience of living with her boyfriend during College, navigating cohabitating
Leo is my best friend. He makes the best cups of tea, has the com est hoodies and dances like an absolute lunatic. We were 19 when we moved in with each other — and we hadn’t even had dinner together before. I got a great job in Dublin but had nowhere to live and he needed someone to split rent with. It didn’t make sense at all and was probably a terrible idea. But here I am, a year later. We have painted our bedroom pink and white, bought a Christmas tree and taste tested every type of weird beer that our local o -licence has to o er. We are both ercely independent and deeply in love and these things do not contradict each other.
Although we live together and bicker like an old married couple, we still date each other. We go for spontaneous pints, just the two of us. We irt with each other at parties, and do ridiculous things to try and make the other laugh.
is is important, I think, when you’re in a long-term relationship when you’re so young. We try not to take it too seriously. We
have a standing co ee and donut hour on Mondays and I still try to match my underwear. When we’re cooking together, we light candles and have a glass of wine. And it’s the best thing in the whole world. Every single day feels like a mixture between a sleepover and a rst date.
When I did terribly in one of my Christmas exams (don’t do literary theory kids), I felt embarrassed to tell him what I’d got so instead we blared Ezra Furman in our sitting room at 11am and had a dance party, still in our pyjamas. Watching him — with slightly greasy hair, rocking his air guitar as the morning light streamed in and lit up our clothes that were drying and our books that sit side by side on our massive bookshelf — I realised that he is my best friend before he is anything else.
It’s easy for me to get stuck in my own head about our situation. It’s not ideal. We’re too young and we’re moving too fast. Being in a relationship demands that you give up a certain degree of independence, no matter how healthy it is. But we make space for each other to grow and change.
ere’s no expectation that we have to be the same people we were yesterday, or even that the dynamic of our relationship has to be the same every day. In fact, I’d nd that really boring! I have nights where I go out with my girlfriends and we check out cute guys and girls in the club, and I feel young and sexy and full of
possibility. ere are other nights where me and Leo slow dance to Leonard Cohen and I’m convinced that, if given the opportunity, I’d marry him tomorrow.
My friends who have been unlucky in love o en ask me how I manage to live with my boyfriend and make it work and honestly, there’s no real secret. What’s really important for us though is that we don’t ever, ever, do anything just because it’s what the world deems ‘normal’. We admit when we have little crushes on other people and laugh about it together – sometimes we even act as each other’s wingman! We’re both ridiculously irty and we both value freedom. He is who I want to build forts with on Sunday
a ernoons; he is the person I want to eat McDonald’s with on the last Luas home, slightly messy, slightly tipsy.
When he experienced the loss of a loved one a few weeks ago, seeing him sad felt like there was a massive pit in the bottom of my stomach – it was the worst feeling in the world. All of these things can still be true while I also acknowledge the fact that I love being alone. I don’t want to spend every second of every day with him and neither does he with me. I want to solo travel and meet new people on my own terms, not as part of a couple. I don’t want to share my life with him. It’s my life, and I don’t want to share it with anybody.
I love feeling mysterious and unknown. I love playing my music loud, writing my short stories, having a smoke, drinking a beer, all by myself. I love bitching about men over co ee with my girlfriends. I love planless Saturdays all to myself, where I can take myself wherever I feel like going. I love being a single person. And I love Leo. ese things have nothing to do with each other.
Love doesn’t mean sacri ce. When I decided to move in with my boyfriend, I wasn’t giving anything up; I was adding to what was already a messy, lthy and beautiful life.
With the way Dublin is right now, I know a lot of people have to consider moving in with their partner before a conventional
amount of time has passed. But living together doesn’t mean that you can’t still have exciting adventures. Leo and I have so much fun just going to the cinema or taking a DART to Bray. We go to Tiger and spend a tenner on some paint and a canvas and get our hands dirty. Every small moment becomes romantic, and when things become overwhelming, remind yourself that you can always buy a two euro beer in Lidl, smoke a cigarette, stand outside your front door and pretend you’re Carrie Bradshaw. If he makes you laugh, and you think he is kind, then why not give it a go? You get to control your own narrative; it’s never too early and it’s never too late.
Being ready to live together is a feeling, not a timeframe. If you’ve been with your boyfriend for years and you have no desire to move in with him, more power to you! ere’s no such thing as normal in a relationship. People assume that I have my life together because I’m in a serious, long-term relationship but the truth is, I have no idea what I’m doing. But there’s no one else I’d rather be confused with.
I know I must be doing something right because how many people can say that every morning begins with them laughing their ass o with their best friend? I am choosing to do what makes me happy, following the magic and the good feelings, and blocking out the white noise.
explores Ice Spice’s impact on Dublin’s underground hiphop scene
Brooklyn-based drill rapper Ice Spice (Isis Gaston) has taken the world by storm. In the age of an internetdominated music industry, with apps facilitating the rise of dozens of pop and hip-hop artists, Ice Spice’s internet relevancy is more poignant than ever. Her fame is largely thanks to TikTok. Ice Spice’s whispery, unconventional ow, unique sample choice, and arguably comical bars make her a prime player for internet fame. Songs like “Munch (Feelin’ U),” “In Ha Mood” and “Boys a Liar Pt. 2” (featuring pop sensation Pink Pantheress) are prime choices to play and have a laugh. Besides Ice Spice’s signature vocals and inspiringly blunt lyricism, her status as a New York drill rapper has greatly contributed to her rise to fame. Drill is a hugely in uential subgenre of hip-hop which is currently moving into the mainstream, and becoming one of the most innovative, ear-catching subgenres in hip-hop in the 2020s.
Drill music shares similar characteristics with trap music; its beats are characterised by ighty hi-hats and deep sliding bass lines. Mainstream drill artists include Chief Keef, Pop Smoke, Digga D and many more. Now an international movement, the genre started to gain traction in the early 2010s in Chicago, originating in the city’s O-block, a public housing project de ned by some of the most in uential drill rappers of all time such as Chief Keef and King Von. Hits from Chief Keef such as “Love Sosa,” “I Don’t Like,” “**” and “Hate Bein’ Sober” helped to facilitate the rise of the genre and it quickly spread globally. In 2012, the UK drill genre grew in Brixton, London, and borrowed heavily from Chicago drill’s drum patterns, sliding bass, and violent lyricism. It wasn’t until the 2020s that a unique drill scene emerged in New York.
e New York drill sound is de ned by classic drill drum patterns overlayed by looped sampling and is currently being pioneered by producers and artists such as EvilGiane, POLO PERKS and Riot. Now, drill lyrics have diversi ed to accommodate a mainstream audience, deviating from exclusively gang-related topics. is has allowed artists like Ice Spice to take the stage while still tting into the New York drill category. Her popularity has in ltrated pop culture everywhere, as it has Dublin.
Ice Spice’s popularity is obvious
in Dublin considering the city’s pre-existing appreciation for drill music. e hip-hop music scene in Dublin seems to take inspiration from both UK and American in uences — the amount of both UK and American drill that is played during hip-hop DJ sets in Dublin is a testament to that. Drill is so evidently an international movement that has little regard for national borders. Dublinbased rapper and designer TraviS, in collaboration with producer Elzzz, released a straight-shot UK drill album in January this year that blew the Irish iTunes charts up astronomically. e project is unapologetic in its UK drill status, yet dips its toes into experimental sampling and alternative rap trends. Drill in uence has also
reached Dublin producers. DJ and producer Rory Sweeney’s recent single boasts a lively feature from E the Artist. e song starts with a sample of the introduction to Chief Keef’s “Love Sosa”. Although “Love Sosa” has become very mainstream, the sample speaks for drill’s relevancy everywhere. However, it’s not just drill that has found a home in the Dublin hip-hop scene. Chamomile Club is a group of creatives aiming to cultivate community through music, fashion, digital arts and dancing. e recently-formed group holds night events at various spaces around Dublin, where hiphop dominates the aux. Although not all the members of Chamomile create hip-hop music, the genre is a staple of their events, featuring artists like Pop Smoke, Playboi Carti, Lil Uzi Vert and Pierre Bourne. Another group by the name of WLIN underground is a Dublin-based underground hip-hop collective who have hosted a handful of events at
e Workman’s Club this past academic year. While Chamomile o en plays mainstream hip-hop and trap, WLIN features rising sub-genres of hip-hop that haven’t made it to the mainstream, such as pluggnb, tread, surge and rage. To give a simple description of these genres, they harbour ethereal and spacey beats and o en emphasise experimental production. More mainstream artists who may be heard at a WLIN event include Yeat, Destroy Lonely, Summrs and Autumn!. e collective also features performances from Dublin-based rappers who are in uenced by these subgenres, such as Desires and phatphuq. ere are countless innovative creatives making waves in the underground hip-hop scene in Dublin. Both Chamomile Club and WLIN Underground are examples of this, as collectives that celebrate and upli hip-hop. ose who appreciate hip-hop and enjoy a creative scene should not miss these Dublin events.
chats with actor Lora Hartin and writer/director
Ultan Pringle about LemonSoap’s new production Piglet
Following It
Is Good We Are
Dreaming and Marmalade Row, LemonSoap productions will present Piglet on April 18th, which is described by its producers as being about obsession, violence, sh and chips, Jennifer Coolidge impressions, lost love, and what it is like to lose the life you’ve always dreamt of. I had the pleasure of seeing It Is Good We Are Dreaming last June and if Piglet is anything in comparison, it will be as thought-provoking as it will be entertaining. Written and directed by Ultan Pringle, and produced by Lisa McNally, LemonSoap productions have a knack, in my eyes, for humorous climactic performances.
Unsurprisingly, the mention of
Jennifer Coolidge was enough to intrigue me — I was also excited by the prospect of an all-female cast. I am sure said impressions will be poignantly ful lled. is production sees a woman called Mercy, performed by Lora Hartin, who returns home to O aly to work in a sh and chip shop a er having a breakdown in the middle of her gender studies class in Trinity. Chatting with Ultan Pringle and Lora Hartin, Pringle explains that we will get to see various perspectives on stage, all showcased through Mercy.
Pringle and Hartin also talk about the tenderness of creating a person’s breakdown on stage. Hartin emphasises that instead of showcasing stereotypical displays of a spiral, they are staying as true to Mercy as they possibly can, and are trying to display an authentic lived experience.
It Is Good We Are Dreaming encapsulated family relationships with an emphasis on relatability in conversation and communication. Piglet promises to do the same; highlighting the extraordinary in the mundane, a speciality of LemonSoap thwat will no doubt bring Irish-speci c experiences and motifs to the forefront of the performance. e explorations of Mercy’s unhealthy relationship with her ex-girlfriend, which translates to obsession, will be set
alongside dynamics in friendships, where her two best friends — who abandoned her at the time of her breakdown — appear two years later in the chip shop. We will see issues played out on stage that are as universal as they are topical. Another topic is the loss of the life you had envisioned for yourself and expected to have. is concept is extremely important for many people, in particular young people. At a time when social media plays
such an intrusive role in how many of us envision our future lives, I for one am looking forward to seeing Mercy’s other potential paths played out on stage. is will be most interesting, as various perspectives will be acted out. Pringle advertises that Piglet’s display of experiences is uniquely Irish, making the
intimacy of e New eatre a tting venue for its performance. e performance’s tense nature is encapsulated by this line from the play’s synopsis: “Clutching a piece of battered haddock tightly in one hand and a salt shaker in the other, Mercy Munroe vows there and then that the time is right to try and take her life back.” Performing alongside Hartin is fellow actor Sophie Lenglinger, with lighting design and photography by Owen Clarke, stage management by Jack Scott Shanley, composition and sound design by HK Ní Shioradái and costume design by Toni Bailey. All of the above will, without question, bring us an immersive and emotional performance.
Tickets can be purchased at e New eatre’s website (newtheatre. com). e production will run until 22 April 2023, with the matinee on the 22nd. Students can grab tickets at €16 and an incentive of €10 each for a booking with a group of 10 is also available. Piglet, from my chat with Hartin and Pringle, encapsulates the traumas that young people face in Ireland today. An authentic story about Mercy, revenge, and redemption, it is a production not to be missed.
