Trinity News Vol. 63, Issue 1 by Trinity News

TRINITY NEWS

Trinity News | Tuesday 20th September

Volume 63, Issue 1

trinitynews.ie

EST. 1953

Stacey Wrenn vists a Direct Provision Centre and describes the conditions

Features p.9

Read our Freshers’ week supplement for all your info on food, night out and more!

Trinity Life p.11

Michael Foley discusses the growing commercialisation of universities

Comment p.15

Students considering legal action over SU pro-choice mandate Niamh Lynch Cathal Kavanagh

group of Trinity students have consulted with solicitors about taking legal action against the pro-choice mandate of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU). Speaking to Trinity News, Gavin Rothwell, one of the students concerned, said: “A number of students are currently exploring our legal options regarding how the Students’ Union operates (regarding) the automatic membership of every college student of the SU, and how there seems

to be an obligation to pay a levy of 8 annually. This raises genuine legal and constitutional issues of all students’ right to freedom of expression, association (and) disassociation, freedom of conscience and property rights”. Represented by Cormac O’Ceallaigh & Co. solicitors, the group has not commenced legal proceedings but “have begun to engage with relevant parties to receive clarification on the issues”. The move follows threats from other students to leave the SU last year. In emails seen by Trinity News, junior sophister Classics student Will Dillon requested in January that then SU President Lynn Ruane allow him resign from the SU, of which all students are compulsory members. In the correspondence with Ruane,

CSC introduces later start time for Freshers’ Week Societies will not be permitted to set up their stands before 10am from Tuesday onwards Sinéad Harrington Assistant News Editor

reshers’ Week will be marked by a later start time this year than in previous years, in line with new regulations introduced by the Central Societies Committee (CSC). From Tuesday onwards, the start time for Freshers’ Week will be 10am, with no society permitted to set up their stand before then. However, on Monday the start time will remain at 8am with stand set-ups commencing from 8.30am onwards. As in previous years, each society is permitted to borrow one table and two chairs from College for use at Freshers’ Week stands. However, as per the new regulations, no queuing will be allowed before 8am at any point during the week. Freshers’ Week has previously seen societies queuing from as early as 6am in an effort to procure the most prominent spots in Front Square, primarily those nearest to Front Gate. CSC continues to enforce the rule that there are to be no stands, obstructions or promotions under Front Arch, or on the central path to Front Arch. The change is being welcomed by society chairs who feel that the later start time will take unnecessary

pressure off societies to be in college hours before other students arrive. Speaking to Trinity News, Law Soc Auditor Hilary Hogan expressed her support for the changes, saying she was “very relieved that the Law Soc committee can have some rest which will help them to enjoy their week more, and do a better job with all the events we’re running”. These sentiments were echoed by Hist Auditor Ronan Mac Giolla Rua, who said the changes were “certainly a step toward alleviating the pressure on society committee members”. He did express some reservations, however, saying: “I am slightly concerned as to how this will play out, as in the absence of allocated stands. It is unclear whether now people will simply queue outside Front Arch or somewhere similar, in the hopes of dashing in to claim the best spots at 8am. We’ll have to wait and see how that goes I guess”. Notwithstanding the change in start time, the regulations remain largely unchanged from previous years. These include a blanket ban on amplification systems, a 4ft limit on the maximum width of gazebos, and a ban on the preparation and distribution of any food that does not come from an approved provider.

Dillon attributed his request to “the lack of effectiveness from part of the Union in representing all views, including mine, on campus”. At the time, Ruane said that she was not in a position to remove Dillon from the SU. Remarking on this matter, current SU President Kieran McNulty said: “No students have expressed their dissatisfaction to me”. In February 2014, 73% of Trinity students voted in favour of the SU’s proposal to adopt a pro-choice mandate on the issue of abortion. This resulted in the SU calling for a “full repeal” of the Eighth Amendment, which equates the life of the mother to that of the unborn child. The SU campaigned to Repeal the Eighth Amendment during Ruane’s

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This raises geniune legal and constitutional issues of all students’ right to freedom of expression

presidency, while McNulty confirmed that supporting the Repeal campaign will be a priority during his presidency. During Freshers’ Week, the SU are organising a ‘Rallying Call for Repeal’ on the Dining Hall steps. McNulty commented on the situation: “I’m always happy to talk to students with other views or who are unsure of their stance. I realise not all students are in favour but we have to take action on the mandate, which passed profoundly. We are creating conversation on something that there is going to be a convention on and eventually a referendum on”.

Trinity among most efficient Irish colleges, finds new study of Irish third level education

What is the real cost of the Olympics?

InDepth p.20

Panda’s are removed from the endangered species list

SciTech p.21

Trinity News guide to all the sports clubs in college

Sport p. 23

Related findings include benefits of gender diversity and short-term effects of funding cuts Cathal Kavanagh Investigations A new report into the efficiency of Irish universities and Institutes of Technology has shown Trinity to be “at or near the frontier in all areas”, according to an academic involved in the study. Professor Brian Lucey said that Trinity is “pretty much a class leader” in an Irish context, on the back of the study which shows it ahead of the national average when it comes to efficiency in teaching, research, and knowledge transfer activities like patenting and commercialisation. The report, carried out by three academics from the Trinity Business School, analysed the efficiency of Irish Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) relative to one another with regard to the three areas of activity. Professor Lucey, who authored the study with Dr Charles Larkin and Dr Qiantao Zhang, said that the research was important as it “provides a look into the three domains that universities are dealing with nowadays”. The work was carried out as part of the ongoing TIONCHAR project, which looks at the economic impact of Irish education more broadly. The report also found that an institution having a higher share of female academic staff was beneficial to efficiency. A demonstrable hit to efficiency in 2010-11 is evident

from the report as funding cuts took hold - though the year was an exception in the context of an ongoing trend of increasing efficiency. Professor Lucey said that similar research has been carried out on institutions elsewhere, but that no international comparisons could correctly be drawn from this study, which only looked at Irish institutions to assess who was “best in their own field”. “We can’t say anything from this study” about the comparative efficiency of Irish as opposed to UK, US or European institutions, although similar research has indeed been carried out elsewhere. He added that on the metrics that are comparable with the UK, “we come out pretty well”. The report also looks at the correlation between the different efficiency estimates. One of the main conclusions being drawn from the research is that it is extremely hard for an institution to improve its efficiency in all three domains, with two being the best that can be hoped for. “Put differently, an institution cannot improve its efficiency in research or knowledge transfer by improving its efficiency in teaching, as teaching seems to be irrelevant to the other two types of activities”, the report states. Professor Lucey said that though the efficiency scores are “to some extent independent of the funding

issue”, there are lessons to be inferred for education policy more generally. Research suggests that “trying to push institutions to be best in class at all aspects of the mission will be difficult, that you might actually be better off allowing for specialisation”. The study used a number of inputs and outputs to assess the overall efficiency of the country’s universities and ITs between the 200910 and 2013-14 academic years. The results sets published accounted for both ‘unadjusted’ and ‘quality-adjusted’ inputs and outputs respectively. “In particular, the qualityadjusted measures take into account the reliance of an institution on state funding and the strength of research capacity”, which may impact on the efficiency score. For example, when looking at the field of teaching, inputs included the institution’s total income, academic and non-academic staff and fixed assets, while outputs in the different activity areas included the numbers of different types of graduates, the income derived from research and the number of patents and spin-out firms generated. In both the ‘unadjusted’ and ‘quality-adjusted’ models, Trinity scored above the national average on all counts. CONTINUED INSIDE

Tn2 visits the Dublin Fashion Festival, gets portraits painted by a robot named Paul, talks to composer Jane Deasy about her Fringe show, Kaperlak

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Trinity News | Tuesday 20th September

News

What They Said

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Tomorrow a seventeen year old kid will be dragged in front of a court to answer false imprisonement charges for a sitdown protest.

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Enda on #AppleTax corporations come here because of the quality of our education system. I expect 2 see a cash injection to reflect this so

News in brief

Ronan Burtenshaw, former Trinity News editor on Jobstown protestor trials

Trinity Senator Lynn Ruane comments on Apple tax controversy via Twitter

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I’ve reflected on this during the summer, and as they say, I’ve got my mojo back

Enda Kenny

Trinity among most New plan for higher education funding will efficient Irish colleges, be implemented by end of 2017 finds new study of Irish TCDSU President set up lobby group to create further opposition to Cassells Report and student loan third level education recommendations CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE Its scores for teaching, for example, were 0.95 and 0.97 out of a potential 1.00 respectively, compared with national averages of 0.88 and 0.93. In relation to research, Trinity had scores of 0.75 and 0.86 in the two models compared to averages of 0.74 and 0.86 nationwide, while knowledge transfer showed Trinity with scores of 0.83 and 0.95, as opposed to national scores of 0.72 and 0.80. Professor Lucey stressed that there was little hope of fully understanding the process that went into arriving at these numbers “unless you were familiar with regression analysis” used in the study, but stated that in plain terms, what is being looked at is “how you transform inputs into outputs”. One of the more startling takeaways from the study is the large hit in efficiency seen in the 2010-11 academic year,

Robyn Page-Cowman ‘Investing

as the first rounds of funding cuts following on from the financial crisis took hold. In the study’s ‘unadjusted’ model, the efficiency of teaching fell nationwide from 0.90 to 0.81, research fell from 0.72 to 0.54, and knowledge transfer from 0.76

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to 0.49, although the qualityadjusted’ model showed less steep losses. Interestingly, the years following this showed a recovery on all efficiency estimates, though Professor Lucey cautioned against seeing this as evidence that cuts are not having an impact. “This is all relative”, he said, adding that if all institutions “fall into a hole”, the question becomes “who’s on top of the hole”. Since then, he said, people have been “working their way out of the hole… The system is still very stressed, it’s just that within that, the degree of relative efficiency” appears to have improved.

Irish-American relations in focus at symposium in Trinity Presidents of Boston College and Georgia Institute of Technology were in attendance Sinéad Harrington Assistant News Editor

inister for Education and Skills R i c h a r d Bruton launched an IrishAmerican symposium on collaborations in education, research and innovation last Thursday in Trinity. The event’s discussions involved Minister Bruton, Provost Dr. Patrick Prendergast and the Presidents of Boston College and Georgia Institute of Technology, Father William P. Leahy and Dr. G. P. ‘Bud’ Peterson. A number of academics, business leaders and students from both countries were also in attendance. The aim of the symposium was to foster further development of the strong links that already exist between Irish and American universities. The Provost, addressing the symposium, said: “Today is about strengthening our US-Irish relations and developing more meaningful partnerships for the future.”

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The symposium was part of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic

There was an emphasis on the opportunities afforded by these relations, notably study abroad programmes and research collaboration. Approximately 4,000 American students a year participate in Junior Study Abroad Programmes in Ireland, with another 1,000 studying here full time. Ireland is the seventh most popular destination to study for American study abroad students. Father William P. Leahy, President of Boston College, saw in the symposium an opportunity for the three colleges to “explore ways to enhance our global outreach and to showcase the contributions our universities make in enhancing the human condition.” Another key focus of the symposium was the economic aspect of the relations between the two countries. Dr. G.P. ‘Bud’ Peterson expressed Georgia Tech’s hopes for the event, stating that the university was looking forward to discussing “ways that businesses, industries, and governments can, and do, benefit from working with universities.” Minister Bruton also emphasised the importance of the economic bridge between the two countries that “supports tens of thousands of jobs on both sides of the Atlantic.” The symposium was one of a number of events that took place as part of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic programme. According to the Boston College website, the Football Classic was an opportunity for the college, which was set up to provide a Jesuit education to Irish immigrants, to “affirm its Irish roots, explore opportunities for new partnerships and initiatives, and examine economic, social, educational and other matters of shared interest.”

Deputy News Editor

ccording to the government’s ‘Action Plan for Education’, higher education funding will be decided upon and implemented by late 2017. There are plans to replace the SUSI grant system and create a new financial ‘structure’ for primary, secondary and third-level education in Ireland. Taoiseach Enda Kenny, along with Minister for Education and Skills Richard Bruton, made the announcement last week despite intense criticism from opposition parties and Irish universities. Peter Cassells was commissioned in March 2016 to create a government initiative on higher education funding. The report produced by Cassells’ working group,

the National Ambition: A Strategy for Funding Higher Education’, is currently being reviewed by the Oireachtas Education and Skills Committee. This committee will decide upon the new funding model for third level education in Ireland. The Cassells Report concluded that the current funding system is “simply not fit for purpose” because it “fails to recognise the current pressures facing higher education institutions or the scale of the coming demographic changes”. It recommended three options: core funding, which would mean an additional 600m by 2021 and 1bn by 2030; capital funding, which would involve raising 5.5bn in capital investment to support ncreased student numbers, health and safety requirements and equipment upgrades; and student support, which would require an additional 100m in funding to deliver a more effective

system of student financial aid (a student loan system). Critics have argued that the third option would negatively affect many students. However, at the launch Enda Kenny called this option “not just a plan, but a plan to be implemented” and stated that the government has endorsed the student support or loan system. Speaking to Trinity News about this option, President of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) Kieran McNulty said that the SU is “obviously against fee increases or increases to the ‘student contribution’. We’re engaging heavily with USI (Union of Students in Ireland) on their march on October 19th (in opposition to a student loan system) and I’ve met with several public representatives on the issue”. USI has lobbied the government to review any implementation of student

loans. USI President Annie Hoey has called for a 500 immediate reduction in student contribution fees ad a 140m investment in higher education because the government needs to “match talk of economic recovery with financial investment in third-level education”. This year McNulty has launched an SU lobby group which will work with TDs, Senators and other groups to research and review policies in the interests of students. He agreed with Hoey that: “Students have been disproportionately hit since 2008 and we deserve a better quality education. Loans are, for me personally, a slippery slope, and the Cassells Option 3 suggests loans of at least 4,000 per year, an automatic increase, which we would oppose. We need students to stand up against this, and the SU needs students to rise up and show how much we depend on an affordable system”.

Colleges across Ireland add up to €1000 onto rents Leading property investors warn rental rates are at the “limits of sustainability” in Ireland compared

to 5863.34 in ‘Standard rated rooms’ or Rubrics has risen by 3.8% to 940.25 compared to 4757.03 in 2015/16. Other room options to increase include Pearse Street by 5.2% to 5480.42, and Goldsmith Hall by 2.7% to 6019.95. Newcomers to Trinity arriving in Cunningham House, part of Trinity Hall, will pay 3.4% extra and the apartment blocks have also risen by 3% for a single room and 3.2% added onto twin bedrooms.

Campus has justified theses rate increases to subsidise their new lease of the Binary Hub. This is a student residence located in the Liberties run by a UK based private accommodation service, The Student Housing Group. All rooms in the Binary Hub for the next lease period are already sold out and The Student Housing Group is also constructing a second student accommodation site off Dorset Street with a planned 447 rooms.

O n - c a m p u s accommodation offers for the 480 places available were also delayed by just over a month, causing further disruption to students who then had to look for alternative rentals from June onwards. Moreover the campus lease ends during the final exam period finishing on 13th May 2017 when exams officially end on the 27th. Students needing to stay on will have to apply for ‘extra stay’ and pay additional costs of 25 per night.

Other Dublin colleges are increasing their rents to students. DCU’s accommodation has jumped up by 401-496 in 2016/17. Residents in UCD’s Ashfield complex will pay 7708 for their nine-month lease, not including utilities. UCD’s most expensive room rate stands at 10,480 also not including utilities. Outside of Dublin there have been similar changes. Galway has raised annual accommodation fees by 90120 depending on room

Robyn Page-Cowman 2015/16.

Deputy News Editor

ents for student residences across Ireland have increased by 1,000 on average this year. Trinity Student Union’s Accommodation Services are under increased pressure from students who have been unable to find accommodation as a result of the increased rental costs. They have calculated that the demand for the service has risen by 50% in 2016. This, along with shortages in housing, have caused city centre rent rates to rise by more than 15% this year. Rooms in Front Square, Botany Bay and New Square are experiencing the biggest hikes with a 12.4% increase. These are rated the highestquality rooms in Trinity and students will pay a top rate of 6588.22 this year,

options, but NUI Maynooth is raising its fees by 760 to its top rooms. First years, postgraduate or international students securing places in Trinity Hall were announced late last month. Unsuccessful applicants were left with few accommodation options three weeks before the start of term. The government’s recent rejection of Trinity’s Oísin House has also added to the increasing pressure on the rental market. Oísin House was set to contain 278 beds for students on Pearse Street with College planning to invest 36m for the demolition and redevelopment of this complex. However, Dublin City Council rejected Trinity’s application because the Council raised concerns for the architectural conservation in the area surrounding Oísin House.

Trinity falls to 98th place in QS World University Rankings

This marks the largest year-on-year fall since 2005 Sinéad Harrington Assistant News Editor Trinity has dropped 20 places, from 78th to 98th, in the QS World University Rankings, released earlier this month. While it remains Ireland’s highest-ranked university, the 2016/17 rankings mark the third year in a row that Trinity has dropped, from 61st place in 2013, to 71st in 2014 and 78th in 2015. This represents the largest year-on-year fall for Trinity since 2005, when it fell to its lowest position of 111th in the second year that the rankings were published. This downward trend is echoed throughout the country, with all but one of Ireland’s eight universities falling in ranking. The

National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) has this year broken into the top 250, climbing from 271st to 249th place. Meanwhile, the University of Limerick has fallen out of the top 500, falling from 471st place in the 2015/16 rankings. Irish universities are this year struggling in a number of key metrics used to compile the rankings, with the majority falling in the areas of faculty to student ratio, graduate employability, the international faculty ratio and number of citations per faculty. Head of Research at the QS Intelligence Unit Ben Sowter has attributed Irish performance in this year’s

rankings to long-standing issues with the higher education system in the country, notably a decrease in the number of Irish academics and successive years of cuts to higher education. “This year’s rankings imply that levels of investment are determining who progresses and who regresses. Institutions in countries that provide high levels of targeted funding, whether from endowments or from the public purse, are rising”, Sowter said, identifying a global trend illustrated by the QS Rankings. “While recognising Ireland’s difficulties in recovering from the economic shocks

of the previous decade, the effect of seven years of higher education cuts are laid bare by this year’s rankings”. Third level education in Ireland has seen significant cuts since the beginning of the economic crisis, with state funding for universities being halved in that time. Seven successive years of financial cuts along with a rising student population have led to significant pressure on the sector, with some calling for the introduction of tuition fees to help alleviate the crisis.comprehension.

Trinity News | Tuesday 20th September

News

Trinity at heart of Dublin’s Culture Night Trinity welcomed worldwide organisations including UNICEF to work with college societies to put on a show

rinity was at the heart of Dublin’s Culture Night programme last Friday, with a busy schedule of events across four locations on campus. The Long Room Hub showcased research from linguistics researchers based in Ireland and abroad, including that of Audrey Coussy, a lecturer in Aix-en-Provence. Having received her doctorate in the translation of children’s literature, Coussy sought to “make an old activity look more modern” by staging workshops which allowed participants, particularly families, to identity the numerous translations of Charles Perrault’s fairy tales by their book cover. The floor above Coussy’s project gave space to a more structured series of talks as part of Dublin’s Language Garden, starting with Trinity’s own Dr Jeffrey Kallen, who discussed the idea of the “linguistic landscape”

created in renowned works. This included James Joyce’s Ulysses, whereby the author set out to “give a picture of Dublin so complete that if the city one day suddenly disappeared from the earth it could be reconstructed out of my book”. Trinity’s Society For International Affairs (SoFIA) collaborated with UNICEF to produce an event where visitors learned about ‘Education in Disaster Situations’, with a particular focus on the earthquake in Nepal in 2015. Speaking to Trinity News, SoFIA’s chair Grace Conway said that UNICEF had approached the Society about the project in early July. Conway explained that UNICEF intervenes at a critical stage in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster, directing its resources towards helping locals affected by the incident to build temporary schools. The evening’s special guest was Ferdia Walsh-Peelo,

star of this year’s box office hit Sing Street. He narrated a short film recorded by UNICEF following his visit to a handful of villages in some of the worst-affected regions of Nepal. Visitors to the event were encouraged by UNICEF to send a postcard to Gelu, a town flattened by the disaster, which Walsh-Peelo had seen on his trip. Commenting on his visit after the screening of the short film, Walsh-Peelo pointed out that UNICEF asked him to come on a tour of the country based on publicity work he had already done with another organisation, Love Our Lungs. He said he hoped to continue his involvement with UNICEF in the future, but stressed that its temporary measures in Nepal would be in vain unless international funding could secure permanent school buildings and the replacement of damaged infrastructure. The Science Gallery’s public exhibition, ‘Seeing: What Are You Looking At?’,

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an event for both young and old

featured as an event for both young and old, with plenty of facilitators on hand to help visitors digest and understand the varied puzzles and games on offer. One mediator described the exhibition as an experiment with “perception, as opposed to just physical sight”. Science enthusiasts could learn about the manta shrimp, whose eyes contain 128 times the

number of colour receptors as a human’s, meaning that the range of shades and colours detected by such an animal far outweigh human comprehension. The Douglas Hyde Gallery hosted the ‘Hypnagogia’ exhibition, which featured pieces from Eoin McHugh (an Irish photographer based in Dublin) and American

New gender-neutral bathrooms available in Arts Building

Trinity and RCSI develop new bone scanning technique

The move follows lobbying of College authorities by TCDSU

Seán Clerkin

Trinity Life Editor

Speaking to Trinity News, SU Welfare Officer Aoibhinn Loughlin explained: “We didn’t change the physical toilets. We changed the signage and that’s what took so long because it had to be approved and the signs had to be ordered”. Plans for the bathrooms were originally presented by former SU Welfare Officer

Nanoagents allow for high resolution images of bones without using x-rays Staff Writer

Una Harty

ew genderneutral bathrooms, located in the Arts Building, are now available to students. The development comes as the result of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) lobbying College authorities for additional restroom facilities to be made available.

photographer Alec Soth. The theme of their displayed works was ‘The Nature Of Dreams’, with McHugh in particular concentrating on the kind of imagery humans experience in the unconscious state before sleep takes over.

Conor Clancy to the Trinity Equality Committee in 2015. The issue surrounding the lack of gender-neutral bathrooms on campus has been a cause of contention in recent times. It has been one of the most popular topics at hustings amongst candidates for the Welfare Office in the annual SU Leadership Race. Loughlin told Trinity News that she would like to expand upon the number of gender-neutral bathrooms in the college at present: “It is something that I would like to do certainly, but at this point I don’t think that it would happen because many of the toilets have already been made into communal spaces.

I don’t think College would be for making all toilets genderneutral at this stage”. She did note that the SU are currently trying to expand the number of gender-neutral bathrooms to locations outside the Arts Building. The new gender-neutral bathrooms can be found beside the following rooms in the Arts Building: Room 3042, Room 4032 and Room 5021, on the third, fourth and fifth floors respectively.

cientists from Trinity College Dublin and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) have created a new scanning technique that produces high resolution 3D images of bones without exposing the patient to x-ray radiation. Led by Thorri Gunnlaugsson, a professor in Trinity’s school of chemistry, and Dr Esther Surender, a postdoctoral researcher, the research will have significant consequences for the health sector. Possible uses include diagnosis of bone strength and providing additional information on the extent and location of damage to bones. With this additional information the need for

bone implants could be avoided in many cases. The technique may also act as an early warning system for degenerative diseases such as osteoporosis. The technique, published in the leading journal Chem, works by attaching luminescent compounds to tiny gold structures. These form biologically safe nanoagents that stick to calcium-rich surfaces, which appear when bones crack. These nanoagents target and highlight the cracks formed in bones, from which researchers can create a 3D image of the damaged area. Another major step forward lies in the technique’s nonreliance on x-rays, which have been associated with an increased risk of cancer.

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Possible uses include diagnosis of bone strength

Professor Gunnlaugsson said: “The nanoagent we have developed allows us to visualise the nature and the extent of the damage in a manner that wasn’t previously possible”. Referring to the nanoagent’s potential clinical applications, Dr Surender said: “Firstly, by using gold nanoparticles, we were able to lower the overall concentration of the agent that would have to be administered within the body, which is ideal from a clinical perspective. Secondly, by using what is called ‘two-photon excitation’ we were able to image bone structure using long wavelength excitation, which is not harmful or damaging to biological tissues”.

Trinity News | Tuesday 20th September

News

The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) celebrates ten years of research

Societies announce guest speakers for upcoming year Patti Smith, Glen Hansard, and Jeremy Paxman among confirmed guests

The study explores the economic and social well-being of the older generation Niamh Lynch

News Editor

HE IRISH LONGITUDINAL STUDY on Ageing (TILDA) celebrated ten years of research in Trinity College Dublin earlier this month. TILDA’s research focuses on understanding and improving ageing in Ireland. Established in 2006, TILDA was created to provide an evidence base for understanding ageing. Before this, there was minimal information available in Ireland on the prevalence and incidence of disease, and the economic and social wellbeing of the older population. Led by Professor of Medical Gerontology at Trinity, Rose Anne Kenny, key impacts of TILDA’s ten years of research include its influence on a wide range of government decisions which affect older adults, healthcare practice in Irish hospitals and GP surgeries, public awareness health and safety campaigns to its contribution to long

range planning for services and economic policy. The 8500 participants involved are interviewed at home every two years and take part in an indepth health assessment every four years. TILDA currently has 34 staff, who have written 108 papers in peer reviewed publications. TILDA is also part of more than 45 national research collaborations and 25 international collaborations, as well as being engaged in 13 other international longitudinal studies on ageing, which allows cross country comparisons of key indicators such as health, wealth and happiness. TILDA’s research have been utilised by policy makers, NGOs and others as the evidence base for 52 policy and strategy documents covering areas as diverse as transport, health, jobs, pensions, carers , residential and home care, health and road safety public awareness campaigns, capacity planning for services, medical care and practice, IT, health insurance, dementia prevention, volunteering, taxation and the economy. There are many examples

of TILDA’s work significant improving living conditions and healthcare of the elderly in Ireland. Following TILDA’s revelation that two thirds of older people have high blood pressure, which can often go undiagnosed, TILDA, with funding from the HRB, rolled out a nationwide programme to community health nurses to encourage more frequent blood pressure monitoring, with help from the Health Research Board. TILDA’s research on walking speeds revealed that one in three older adults cannot cross the street in the time allotted at signalised crossings. TILDA researchers are now working with local authorities to assess signal timing settings and are providing evidence for public safety campaigns with the Road Safety Authority. In addition, TILDA found that Atrial fibrillation (Afib), a common cause of stroke, heart failure and dementia, was 2.3% in the population, eventually rising to 20% in men over 80 years old. Of those with an arrhythmia, one third were unaware of the arrhythmia and one third were incorrectly treated. The Irish Heart Foundation translated these

Megan Thompson findings into a national awareness campaign and now, the National Screening Programme Guidelines use this TILDA data. Professor Kenny said: “One of the greatest demographic and social transformations facing Ireland is the ageing of its population, increased life expectancy and a reduction in fertility rates. Globally this will see proportions of people 60 and over increase from 11.7% today up 21% by 2050 equating to 2 billion people worldwide. Whereas global ageing carries many challenges, it also presents opportunities. By providing high quality data, we can drive informed decision making at all levels and propel ageing research in Ireland into a position of global leadership.” The study was initially funded by a philanthropic gift from Irish Life and from Atlantic Philanthropies in addition to funding from the Department of Health.

Deputy Trinity Life Editor

ORMER ASTRONAUT BUZZ ALDRIN and singer-songwriter Kesha are among the guests due to visit some of Trinity’s biggest societies this year. Dates have been confirmed for some of the guests, with others still to be confirmed. Among Trinity College Law Society’s (Law Soc) confirmed guests are Dean Strang, the defence attorney for Steven Avery whose trial was the focus of the Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer, due to speak on September 21; American attorney and academic Anita Hill, who will speak on March 7; Beverley McLachlin, the first female Chief Justice of Canada, who will visit on March 8; former South African President F.W. de Klerk, who will speak on January 18; and English journalist Jeremy Paxman, who visits on November 4. Speaking about Law Soc’s line up this year, Law Soc Secretary Tom Cantillon

Trinity News

said: “I’m really happy with how the speaker series has matured over the last few years, especially considering the society only started the speaker series a couple of years ago. Over the last few years we’ve had people like Fatou Bensouda, Chris Hadfield, Alastair Campbell and Sarah Rafferty. Here’s hoping over the next few years the series will continue to grow and develop”. The University Philosophical Society (the Phil) and the College Historical Society (the Hist) have also confirmed dates for a number of speakers. Guests announced by the Phil include Marjane Satrapi, the graphic novelist known for her work Persepoli, who is to speak on September 27; David Yates, known for having directed a number of the Harry Potter films, who will speak on 11 October; and Irish singer Glen Hansard, visiting on November 4. The Hist have confirmed EU Ambassador to America David O’Sullivan for October 10 and singer Patti Smith for

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November 4. Other guests due to visit societies this year include singer Ellie Goulding; Great British Bake Off judge and cookbook writer Mary Berry; singer and philanthropist Bob Geldof; comedians the Rubberbandits; and singer Imelda May.

Trinity News | Tuesday 20th September

Features

Our next great shame? Stacey Wrenn travels to a Direct Provision centre

page 11

Working on the Fringe Martin O’Donnell sits down with Oisín McKenna and Colm Summers to discuss their upcoming show Gays Against the Free State, the challenges of bringing a show to Fringe and the difficulties of students and graduates who pursue careers in the theatre. Martin O'Donnell Features editor

hroughout history, people have worked consistently to effect political and social changes in societies throughout the world. The means of effecting these changes can widely differ from place to place, but essentially fall into to two broad categories: reform argues for changing and making better what is already there, while revolution calls for dramatic fundamental changes in society in a relatively short space of time. These concepts are explored and the tension between them in Oisín McKenna’s sophomore offering Gays Against the Free State.

Reformation v.s revolution They show is set in a TV studio designed to be an homage to various current affair debate shows on Irish television, hosted by a drag queen version of Miriam O’Callaghan. Two activists sit on stage, a reformist and a revolutionary, debating the merits and pitfalls of reform and revolution in order to achieve social change. Interspersed with this are allusions to other television tropes such as The Dating Game’s classic bachelorbehind-a-curtain format. The show’s director Colm Summers explains “The shows form is really eclectic – elements of farce, traditional satirical, political theatre – but also has a central narrative in a Kitsch style.” The show mixes spoken word, with music and live art for a truly immersive experience. These varied approaches are all unified in their exploration of its central theme - reform versus revolution, in terms of the benefits from either approach and what is more equitable. This theme is explored using specific examples - queer activism today and Irish republican activism in the past. In writing the show,

McKenna wanted to explore how the different methods, different results and “the ways that they include people and not include people.” In the context of 1916, the reform/revolution binary is represented by the reforming Home Rule advocates versus the small minority of revolutionaries who instigated the 1916 Easter Rising. While their rebellion had elements of right-wing Catholicism, they were by-and-large very progressive, feminist and socialist even by today’s standards. The Proclamation was a hugely aspirational document which envisioned an equal and fair Ireland; “The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities of all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien government, which have divided a minority in the past.” As McKenna points out, however, these ideals did not come to be: “The product of that revolution, the Free State was incredibly conservative and oppressive and that happens in a lot of movements starting from a more radical standpoint and gradually forming themselves into something more centrist and oppressive”. In order to become accepted, the revolutionaries had to compromise and become acceptable to an Irish conservative Catholic society of the time. Queer activism, in McKenna’s opinion, has also encountered obstacles in its campaign for social change. In the context of the Marriage Equality referendum, Yes Equality were ultimately successful, but McKenna feels as though in wanting to appeal to ‘middle Ireland’, exclusion did result: “There was only talk about very specific kinds of LGBT rights and

the heteronormative image of what that could be. Maybe that was more effective [in the Marriage Referendum], as evidenced by the fact the vote came through and that benefits a lot of people but also at the expense of representing other LGBT viewpoints.” In drawing comparisons between the 1916 revolutionaries and queer activism, he gives audiences unfamiliar with the idea of queer activism a frame of reference, making the show accessible without diluting its core principles. McKenna continues to offer me examples in which reformation versus revolution play out before our eyes. Right2Water is a prime example in his opinion – a group who have given up on reformation and now fight their struggle through protest hoping for revolution. The Jobstown protest, in particular, captured his imagination: “[What happened in Jobstown] was very legitimate method of protest, blocking a politician’s car or blocking Gardaí. Lots of movements have done that type of stuff in the past, and in the annals of history are now really well respected, but at the time people complained about it too.” He notes the campaign to repeal the 8th Amendment is attempting reforming tactics in the same manner as the Yes Equality movement “The lessons people have learned from Yes Equality are thought of as Gospel now in terms of how to approach a social change campaign, but they are being applied to the pro-choice campaign in a negative censoring kind of way that I don’t really like.” Revolution and reformation are, as McKenna makes clear, complementing means to a desired end: “It’s important that people employ these different methods and I think in fact the tension between those methods is what brings about change.” Coming to Fringe The show runs as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival, which has been running in Dublin since 1995 and this year

runs for sixteen days during September. The experimental and radical shows Fringe host clearly benefit from the exposure, structure and support gained from the organisation. “[There is a] really great team working behind [Dublin Fringe Festival] .... and they have been very supportive of me this year in particular” McKenna explains. “By doing a show as part of the festival and not as an independent production, you are automatically getting access to avenues otherwise not available otherwise”. In spite of this unique and useful platform offered by Fringe, funding is still an issue and putting a show together can be a difficult task. McKenna laments a dearth of funding avenues available to performers: “It’s pretty limited – the main public funding available in Dublin would be from the Arts Council or Dublin City Council. It’s very difficult for new companies to professionalise and these companies often have to work unfunded for a very long period of time, if that’s possible – which is rarely the case unless the members have other sources of income or are independently wealthy.” Invariably, the only option available to performers is to work jobs during the day in unrelated fields, which can impinge on their ability to develop their art due to time limitations. “You are talking about a company doing four hours of rehearsals a day as opposed to nine,” Summers explains with regard to this issue, “It has to make a difference.” In the absence of State or corporate sponsorship, this show was financed primarily through crowdfunding – the only option really open to the show. The crowdfunding campaign offered a mix of rewards to entice funders from a mention in the show programme to a private spoken word gig from McKenna, but ultimately, Summers credits McKenna’s reputation and hard work as being the key in securing funding: “It would be wrong to

assume that it was luck – it has to do with his previous work – Oisín has established himself as a hustler with a work ethic and that support is there for him as a result.”

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“It’s important that people employ both revolution and reform and I think, in fact, the tension between those methods is what brings about change.”

Student experience This is not McKenna’s first work as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival. McKenna’s previous work Grindr / A Love Story was a much smaller show as part of the 2013 festival, with two actors on stage. The show dealt with the unrequited love and the need for social interaction in our technological age. It was a much more personal project for McKenna: “I don’t think I realised it at the time while doing it how emotionally difficult it was. In [Grindr], I just slagged myself off about really embarrassing aspects of myself for an hour on

stage… I was quite vulnerable.” He encountered different challenges in writing Gays Against the Free State: “[It was] more challenging to write from a technical and intellectual perspective and it took a lot longer and required a lot more research. In terms of the kind of writing, it was really out of my comfort zone but generally emotionally less draining.” Gays Against the Free State in comparison to Grindr is a much larger production, with a cast of five. The move up from a small cast of two to a larger cast of five and bigger supporting team has been a positive experience: “Having more people in the room is very nice just from a social perspective. There are so many really great ideas and voices in the room.” Summers, a graduate of the Theatre Studies programme in Trinity, tells me that with the exception of two members of the cast and crew, all are Trinity graduates or students. He offers high praise for the drama programmes offered in Trinity: “The programme really afforded me the opportunity to explore the different parts of theatre – directing, acting and producing. Without the freedom and support of the programme I doubt I would have been able to get as much exposure as I have got.” The Arts Going Forward We end our conversation by discussing why theatre pieces such as this are so difficult to fund, stage and get exposure for. Summers believes that a lot of the problems with arts begins with our first experiences of theatre: “People grow up with an idea of accessible theatre – if panto is your first experience of theatre, that is how you are always going to view it.” McKenna concurs: “I don’t know what the solution to the problem is. It feels like increasing arts funding is a band aid rather than a solution – there are massive structural problems in the access to arts in Ireland. This starts with the education system and

access to the arts.” Access to the arts in Ireland is clearly lamentable – primary and secondary schools across the country have little opportunity to stage shows other than Christmas shows and even fewer get the opportunity to see or participate in anything other than two-act easily accessible theatre. Those that do get the kind of exposure required must have means and this excludes large swathes of the population. This problem is not likely to be solved any time soon - it will require time, money and political will - something the current government does not seem keen on, as evidenced by their near demotion of the arts as a government ministry. The show is a sure to be a prime example of how experimental theatre can challenge and enlighten us and should be encouraged going forward. The show’s central struggle, while explored through the prism of queer activism and Republican activism, clearly has widespread implications for other areas of life, not merely publicly contentious ones such as the 8th Amendment or water charges. McKenna has clearly touched on a fundamental question in the show - about how best one goes about changing the course of history - and one thinks that his show could have the potential to elicit a seismic response. Gays Against the Free State, written by Oisin McKenna and directed by Colm Summers, runs from the 21st-24th September as part of the Tiger Dublin Fringe Festival, with the preview taking place on the 20th September. Tickets are available online.

Trinity News | Tuesday 20th September

Features

Coping with culture Hannah O’Brien-Møller explores the phenomenon of culture shock as experienced by herself and others on moving to Dublin. Hannan O'Brien-Møller Deputy Features-editor

tepping off the plane from Brussels with an anxious mother in tow, I thought I was totally prepared for life in Ireland. I am, after all, half Irish. I have many Irish relatives and I'd visited Dublin countless times before moving here, albeit never for longer than a weekend. I was wrong though - it quickly became apparent that Dublin was very different to Brussels, and short trips could never prepare me for full-time student life in Dublin. Culture shock quickly set in; amid all my excitement at living alone, it would pop up uninvited, unsettling me and making me long for home. An inescapable phenomenon for new arrivals, it can leave people feeling cripplingly homesick and others just bemused and intrigued by their new surroundings. Student experiences I spent the daylight hours of Freshers Week running around the city centre, getting acquainted with Dublin and its labyrinthine streets. When it was time to figure out public transport I was brought back to the first time I took the Dart two years previously. I spent twenty minutes on the platform, watching the arrival time flicker between twominutes, ten minutes and forty minutes. After half an hour, a train arrived - a vintage steam train. Instead of throwing their heads back in exasperation as I expected, all the other people on the platform started clapping and cheering. I felt a long way away from the Brussels metro which runs like clockwork,

connects an entire city, and always provides relatively modern vehicles. Culture shock can mean funny moments like my Dart experience or the classic confusion over the word “craic”, but can also mean a deeper confusion over different perspectives and lifestyles. Many of those moving to Ireland from continental Europe are already familiar with Irish drinking culture due to the stereotypes. Belgium has its own drinking culture, of course, but it is far removed from what I experienced here - I was quite shocked, for example, when I was asked for ID when buying alcohol. Back home, children had been brought up tasting the wine their parents were drinking at dinner time. We are legally allowed to buy beer and wine at sixteen, and I’d spent a lot of my teen years sampling hundreds of different Belgian beers to find my favourite. So when I was confronted with the vodka-orange juice mix for the first time, I was horrorstruck. “Does that not just taste of orange juice?” I asked. “Not if you put as much vodka in as I do”. I am sure I came across as a total snob when I insisted on buying a six pack of Carlsberg to have in reserve for pre-drinks. It only took a few months for assimilation and the realities of a student budget to lead me towards the dependable but purely functional Tesco Lager - never vodka-orange though. Similar to my own experiences, half-Irish Nicole,

who grew up in Spain, quickly became acquainted with many colloquialisms after living with her Irish flatmate. She still found herself making mistakes, however; she was half way through the year before she realised that “to meet someone” wasn’t as innocent an expression as she thought. This explained the resulting awkwardness when a friend would tell her “I met soand-so last night” and Nicole would enthusiastically reply “Oh, so did I!”. This happened so often that she is now wondering if people know her as the overly friendly foreigner. When you’re new to a foreign country it is impossible to avoid blunders like these, but Nicole says it’s important to avoid obsession over embarrassment - “You can’t get really worried that you’re going to mess up. These things happen and they’re honestly not that big a deal.” She certainly got some good stories out of them, describing the first time she met her flatmate and being unsure of how to greet her - “I automatically walked over to kiss her, like we do in Spain, I got really close to her before realising she wasn’t leaning in and I kind of had to back away awkwardly. I ended up just kind of waving at her from a distance. I don’t think she even remembers, to be honest.” Culture shock does not only affect people who move countries, but can also affect people who have moved across the country. Life in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere is very different to life in the “big shmoke”. As

Geena from Kerry pointed out to me, even the air is different in Dublin - “Something so fundamental as the oxygen you breathe can feel strange when it's not the air you get at home. You're breathing in a different air, you're living at a different altitude, your support network of your immediate family is gone - of course there are going to be repercussions”. Homesickness Moving away from home, to another country, all by yourself is no mean feat. The most difficult thing for the people I’ve spoken to is the physical distance from their family and friends at home. If you’re already feeling a little isolated and overwhelmed by these new people, the combination of culture shock and homesickness can be hard to deal with. For Nicole, the hardest times were the holidays - “Everyone else in the flat would go home and, because flights back to Alicante were too expensive, I was stuck alone in the flat. I missed my friends and family, all the fiestas they were going to, and I was constantly shivering. I was so used to the heat back home. I remember walking into Lidl one day and getting excited because I saw there was a deal on Spanish food, but then just getting angry because it wasn’t even proper Spanish food,” I experienced the same frustration with the poor quality of the croissants in Dublin. I think part of me began to idealise Brussels from afar, and going back to

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Life in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere is very different to life in the “big shmoke”

the catcalling Belgian men and smelly streets was a rude awakening. Overcoming the initial shock Whether you’re moving cross-country or crosscontinent, visiting home is one of the best things you can do. I was happy to find that I could slot back into Brussels life. Seeing my friends, speaking other languages and revelling in my own culture came easily to me. Yet in spite of myself, I found I began to miss Dublin after a few days. The initial enthusiasm of being back in my childhood home and having my favourite Belgian food cooked for me waned quickly. I realised that the fact that I was living independently in Dublin meant nothing at home, where I was still my parents’ child. I longed for my newfound freedom, and I just wanted to be able to have

a night out in Dublin without having to think about texting my mother. However the second I got back to Dublin I started missing Brussels, but bringing pieces of it with me made the transition easier. It was a wonder I was never questioned at the airport for smuggling tonnes of Belgian chocolate back to Dublin. Finding a balance between two lives and two cultures can be difficult but once they’ve achieved this, new arrivals can find they are no longer combatting culture shock. In my own experience, coming back to Brussels and having my friends comment on how my accent sounded more Irish was when I realised I had finally aclimatised. I had managed to absorb Dublin, it had found its way into my very being, and I could now call it home.

Computer says yes? Eva O’Brien speaks to the team in IT services in Trinity to explore the changing needs of users and the evolving challenges they face in running one of the largest college networks in the country. Eva O'Brien Senior Staff Writer

t is difficult for most of us now to imagine a time before Trinity had access to the Internet. And yet just 16 years ago, Trinity’s staff and students were highly suspicious of the new phenomenon. “We first introduced Wi-Fi in 2002 in college,” says Brian O’Hora, who is the project manager of a recently completed full overhaul and expansion of Trinity’s Wi-Fi network. “It was a totally different thing then and it wasn’t trusted – we had to plead with people to ‘please use it, please use it!’” At the time, the network was used primarily by staff, rather than students as John Murphy, Director of Information Technology (IT) Services, explains: “students didn’t have any devices.” Upgrading the Network Such dinosaur days might be hard to fathom for those of us who can barely remember a time when we did not have constant access to Google at the tips of our fingertips. For IT services, the past 16 years has seen their remit grow from running a set of desktop computers in various locations across the campus to managing the security and traffic of a constantly expanding network whose challenges only increase year on year. In 2004, there were 200 users of the wireless network in Trinity, including both staff and students. They were amply served at the time by the 145 access points that were then in place across the campus. (An “access point” is the same modem you plug in at home, explains O’Hora: “There, you simply plug in a few wires and generally speaking you hope to get coverage throughout the house. A university is a

slightly different matter.”) By 2016, the network must now be able to accommodate up to 25,000 users; with the bulk of these being students – moreover, as Murphy explains, most students now want to connect a multitude of devices to the network, increasing the overall traffic even further. “Typically now we’re seeing that students, people in rooms at least, will have between two and four devices. They’ll have a laptop, they’ll have a smartphone, and typically now we’re also seeing people using the network for gaming.” Naturally, all this requires something more than 145 modems. There has been a year-on year expansion of the number of access points, and in addition there has been a total overhaul and expansion of the network since 2013. At the completion of the recent upgrade, there are 1960 access points across 23 separate sites; covering 300,000 square metres of floor space in 7500 rooms. There are surely large towns in Ireland with less connection. As part of this project, Dartry Halls of Residence became completely covered by WiFi for the first time, and this led to, in O’Hora’s words, “an exceptional, 100% growth in traffic there.” He expects it to grow further in the coming year. “We’ve had to update the links between here and Dartry to accommodate for people having 3 and 4 devices all in the one space,” Murphy adds. Challenges in Running the Network On top of infrastructure requirements for the network, the complexities of running the service sound immense. Being in the centre of the city poses plenty of problems. “If a bus drives past with Wi-

Fi on board, that interferes – one of the networks could stop talking because you can’t have two networks talking on the same channel. At the moment, on the 2.4 range you can see...” – O’Hora displays a real-time information app on his phone to demonstrate this information. “2959 interferers – now that’s a lot, you won’t find that on any other network, with the exception perhaps of the likes of Eircom.” Interferers are the great collection of shops, banks, restaurants, buses and other lesser-spotted creatures that compete for what Murphy terms “our air-space” and IT services are constantly working to ensure adequate and consistent access. Build a Wi-Fi network and don’t expect to simply leave it there to exist and be used. It then has to be monitored and carefully maintained to keep it secure. Sara McAneney is the head of IT Security, and she explains some of the procedures that have to be gone through in order to keep the network and the sensitive data that is stored on it secure. “We have segmented networks, so that obviously the network that you as a student are on is not the same network where the most sensitive data would be held.” Other tools include encryption, “Defence in Depth,” whereby each layer of the network is secured individually, and making sure that all software is correctly configured. “Most software breaches would be due to basic things like incorrect configuration,” McAneney claims. Like any system that is exposed to the Internet, she says, the Trinity system is constantly under potential threat. “We’d be aware of constant attempts to probe systems.”

McInaeney adds that the type of security threats have changed as radically as the system itself over the years it has been in operation. “In the old days the typical threats would have been computer science students trying to hack us from the inside. Most of our threats wouldn’t have come from the outside, because not many people outside actually had access to the Internet. 20 years ago, people learning computer science would have been trying their luck – we’d catch them but they’d be giving it a go.” Outside security threats now present the greater challenge for IT Services, and a more sinister challenge at that. These threats tend to manifest themselves as fairly predictable attempts to gain access to users’ email accounts, according to McAneney. “There’s a huge industry in spam and phishing, so people would try to capture ‘good’

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Outside security threats now present the greater challenge for IT Services

email accounts, you know, email accounts belonging to staff and students, because we have a trusted email domain. If you can get a trusted email account you’ll be able to send out a lot of spam and it will get through.” Her biggest tip for students is almost ridiculously obvious: “Don’t give away your username and password. Your username and password are your credentials; they’re your key, it’s not a good idea to give them away.” Achievements to Date Murphy is rather proud of the success of the project to update the college network in recent years. “It’s the fastest network in the country. It’s the most high-density network in Ireland and the UK in any university, and also the quickest in the country, since this project has just been completed.” He refuses to give a figure for the overall cost of the project after completion, “I want to tell the provost

first, I want him to be the first to hear that it came in on time and under budget – give me my one day of glory!” Secure approval and funding for this project was difficult itself, since, as O’Hora notes, “It’s seen as a very student-centric service” IT services are constantly monitoring use of their various services, and Murphy notes that not everyone, even today, makes the best use of the latest technologies. “There are some lecturers, we know, who don’t carry mobile phones at all. In the Maths department it’s still pretty much chalkand-talk - they’re not using the latest technologies. You always know them, because they walk around covered in white dust.” Nonetheless, it is clear that IT services in Trinity are ever eager to ensure access to their services whenever it will be required of them.

Trinity News | Tuesday 20th September

Features

Home and away Mia Colleran, a Trinity Erasmus student in Nice, reflects on the differences she has observed between the Irish and French ways of life. Mia Colleran Deputy Features-editor

arrived in Nice with a suitcase five kilograms overweight, a love of croissants ready to be nurtured and brimming with enthusiasm for my year in France. However France was not what I expected it to be - my new university was baffling, the weather was better than I imagined and the French were ruder than I expected. Third-level education in France Sophia Antipolis (the partner University for my Erasmus in English literature and French) is a public university in Nice much like Trinity is in Dublin. However I’ve already noticed many differences between French and Irish higher level education. For starters, the student tuition fees differ vastly between the two colleges. French students pay €220 a year, which pales in comparison to the near €3,000 that students pay in Trinity. Due to these low fees, the mentality of many French students regarding education is quite different from students at home. The French equivalent of the Leaving Certificate is called the Baccalauréat, where students either fail or pass (ie. achieve 10/20 or above). What’s more, the marking system for the Baccalauréate hasn’t changed since its creation in the year 1830. Any student who has passed the Baccalauréat can go into third-level education in France. Because of this, many third-level French institutions are heavily oversubscribed and the fail (and dropout) rate is extremely high in first year in university in France. There is, however, another tier of education in France that goes by the name of ‘grand école’ (private universities) and this is where the French leaders of tomorrow attend. Entry into

a ‘grand école’ is notoriously difficult and requires an additional two years of study following the Bacculearéat. University in Nice feels an awful lot more like secondary school did at home – tutorials are held in classrooms where the students face the ‘teacher’ and a sizeable portion of class time is spent ensuring that the students stay quiet and attentive. Class sizes run on the larger size, with anywhere between 14 to 25 people in a class. This means that student contribution, although encouraged, is often impossible. Tutorials in France are normally two hours long (during which you may not get any break), which was quite mentally draining at the beginning. I’ve adapted to the longer format but I still prefer the 50 minutes we have for English and French tutorials in Trinity; brain power tends to ebb away come the 90 minute mark. Negotiating life in France Many students are apathetic regarding college and treat it as they would secondary school – a perfunctory habit, not necessarily somewhere they relish attending. This is amplified by the lack of societies and general campus life in France. Most students live at home throughout college in France, and they

thwarted because the bank has either been closed or too busy. On one occasion, they just decided to stop seeing people forty five minutes before their lunch break.

tend to pick the college closest to them which means that university in France is purely functional in the sense that students attend classes and lectures and the return home. Libraries close at 7pm and by 7.30pm you won’t see a soul on campus. A word of warning to any students who are going on Erasmus to France: be prepared for horrendous

bureaucracy. Many people warned me about this before I left Dublin but I took no notice of their warnings, thinking that they were only being hypercritical. It’s been two weeks since the beginning of college and there are still queues of 30 or 40 students waiting to get their student cards at reception. The International Office takes a lunch break (a custom that was truly bizarre coming from Ireland), every

day from midday until 2pm and they frequently stop seeing students from half past eleven onwards, taking what I have named ‘a pre-lunch break’. In my experience, the majority of Francophones working in administration in Sophia Antipolis are unapologetically unhelpful when it comes to opening and closing hours. I’ve tried four times to open a bank account and every time I’ve been

The French student body Think of every stereotype about French people – they smoke a lot, they’re very well dressed and they’re very opinionated and not shy about voicing said opinions. So far, they have all proved true. It baffles me how they smoke so much in France; smoking outside the Arts Block is nothing compared to smoking in the courtyard at college. The French group together, either smoking, rolling cigarettes or looking for a lighter and they chat rapidly in a French slang called ‘verlan’ which translates as ‘backwards’. To speak in this mind boggling slang you have to reverse the second and first syllables of a word (la femme would become la meuf for example), which is a challenge in itself. Difficult as it may be to converse with my peers in French, going out with them can be a lot more enjoyable than home. The French like house parties which they call ‘soirées’, where they bring wine over to someone’s house and all sit and chat. Drinking wine on the beach at night is also a long-standing tradition in Nice. Considering you

can buy a bottle of wine for two euro and sixty five cent, getting drunk is an affordable pastime in France. The French are more relaxed in general about going out at night and they like to take their time no matter what they do. It can be pretty daunting talking to French students – they’re all well-dressed and masters of the blank stare. However, if Erasmus has taught me anything, it’s to talk to everyone and anyone and not to hold back. Although it’s certainly difficult when French is neither your first nor second language, as with any language, you just have to plough on through conversations. Often this means using lots of vague hand gestures that can look like interpretive dance and nodding vigorously when you don’t actually have a clue what’s happening because you’re too exhausted to make yourself understood. In spite of the differences and difficulties I’ve encountered, my time in France has been enjoyable and always character building. Although things are very different here, I wouldn’t change anything because it’s allowed me to reflect on and appreciate Ireland more and more whilst always maintaining my love of the French language. Erasmus can seem daunting at first , but I would encourage everyone to apply if they can because you’ll learn more things than you can imagine living outside of Ireland.

The Irish: Masters of Linguistic Politenession The language of politeness is part of our everyday lives, but as Helen McMahon explains, in Ireland we have a particular mastery of social discourse. Helen McMahon Staff Writer

reland regularly trumps all other nations in lists published regarding ‘friendly’ or ‘welcoming’ countries. We are known as the ‘Land of a Thousand Welcomes’, ‘Céad Míle Fáilte’. We have built a booming tourist industry around this fact. One explanation for why we may come across as superbly friendly may lie in the how we speak and in particular with how Irish natives deal with social situations. Linguistic politeness in a nutshell Linguistic politeness concerns the social interactive skills that we use in order to ensure that all participants of a conversation feel affirmed. How is this related to Ireland’s reputation? Well, in relation to the Irish-English dialect, negative politeness is particularly prevalent. This is politeness which intends to lessen the burden on the listener and is carried out in many forms including rewording requests to minimise the burden and using indirect speech. A corpus is an accumulation of conversations used to gain information on the speaking habits of the country’s speakers. The Irish corpus, in relation to IrishEnglish, shows that the use of statements with the intent of minimising the imposition are very common in the conversations which were compiled.

For instance, in the Irish hospital setting, negative politeness is an everyday occurrence: “Now, if you could just ‘pop’ up here”, “Now, if you could just ‘slip’ this on”. Instead of directly giving the patient orders, the health care worker is minimising the request. Responses such as ‘no bother’ or ‘it’s grand’ also

lessen the guilt or burden on the speaker who is requesting the action. These examples as well as other minimising phrases such as ‘it’s only a bit wet’ and ‘not too expensive’ are so common, that they don’t qualify as a personal way of speaking, because Irish-English speakers have communally grown an affinity to these catchphrases. But what is the reasoning behind this usage? A display of empathy or a form of manipulation? A reason which is most widely recognised is that we are simply a friendly and empathetic nation. It is used to make the recipient ‘feel better’ about themself. The use of negative politeness can be seen as an attempt to engage with a fellow human being and comes from a place of kindness. In essence the language use and common phrases of the country have adapted to the culture and characteristics of its inhabitants. Although this may be a conscious or unconscious decision, the effects remain the same: all participants of the conversation are left feeling better about the imposition that just happened. This is a more positive spin on the findings, but an alternative reason may be that negative politeness is used as a form of manipulation. Undoubtedly, when we minimise the imposition on the listener this in turn may work in our favour. For instance, if the speaker were to simply demand that someone ‘get my weekly groceries in the shop’ - as opposed to politely asking ‘would you mind, if you’re ok with it, popping into the shop for me for a few things?

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Although this may be a conscious or unconscious decision, the effects remain the same: all participants of the conversation are left feeling better about the imposition that just happened.

Now don’t put yourself out, and it’s no bother if you can’t’ - the receiver will come away with different feelings. It is apparent that the second request is one that the recipient is more likely to comply with. The use of negative politeness has made the request seem more empathetic towards the listener and at the same time seems to lessens the burden. There is no doubt that the person requesting the groceries has done so in order to get what they want. This shows the power that word choice has on the recipient, as well as the action which takes

place afterwards. Are these methods of speaking, which are embedded into the Irish-English dialect, a means of ‘getting by’ without us even realising? Not only does it serve as a tool for manipulation, but it also presents the speaker as a nicer person, which perhaps will work in their favour in the future. This tactic may be used in any given circumstance, from idle chitchat to a more pivotal social interaction such as a business deal or a political negotiation. It may be argued that this is the reason that negative politeness is particularly prevalent among

the Irish- English dialect.

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it serves as a tool for manipulation

Perhaps it comes from a biased perspective, but I do think that there is a receptive and friendly nature to the Irish-English dialect which shows a willingness to engage with each other. And the negative politeness comes from a compassionate place, while at the same time a sprinkling of manipulation seeps through now and then just to make life a bit easier!

Trinity News | Tuesday 20th September

Features

Our next great shame?

Following a recent visit to the Direct Provision centre in Mosney, Stacey Wrenn provides us with an insight into the difficult existence of those in the asylum system. Stacey Wrenn Staff Writer

ver 3,000 students will walk through Front Square during Fresher’s Week and feel the mix of excitement and anxiety that college life brings for the first time. Friends will be made and library fines will add up, but there is one girl who should be getting ready for third year that the state has forgotten. The woman's name has been changed for her protection, and she will heretofore be referred to as ‘Naomi’ - she is 20 and has been in the DP system in Ireland for five years now. Trinity News recently reported that the Department of Education and Skills have decided to allow asylum seekers access to third level grants, but this token measure only extends to those who have had their applications accepted. For Naomi and countless other young people in DP, their application feels as if it will be forever ‘pending’. The complexity and duration of this process is but one of many problems persons in the DP system in this country encounter on a day-to-day basis, as I learned on my recent trip to Mosney. Entering Mosney My journey to the DP centre began with being dropped at the side of a regional road in heavy rain. I rang Naomi’s mother and she told me I would have to walk down this road for about 20 minutes before I reached the entrance to the centre. The rain persisted as I walked past mansion after mansion. When I arrived at the entrance the sense of isolation only worsened. At the end of the long, winding driveway lay a field of caravans meticulously lined up. They were caged in by a high metal fence with a security desk checking everyone who came and went. When I signed in, I wasn’t asked who I was visiting, I was told instead to give the apartment number which consisted of just a few numbers and letters, not their name as I had expected. After the manager took

Naomi’s mother to the side to announce the staff would meet with the residents in half an hour’s time, I told her that I was beginning to feel uncomfortable - like I was being watched. In a grave tone she turned to me and whispered, “You are.” In various locations in the centre they have murals painted in bright, pop colours, surrounded by large areas of freshly cut grass. The blocks are given syrupy sweet names like ‘SeaView’, evoking the Butlins’ legacy - Butlins used to run a holiday camp from the same site. The purpose of the site has totally changed since these days, as is clear from the wire-fencing and dilapidated buildings. The Mosney site is no longer owned by the company Butlins - it belongs to businessman Phelim McCluskey, who has a private contract with the government to provide asylum accommodation. Life in Direct Provision Naomi was waiting for us in the sitting room, which consisted of a square foot for walking space, a couch, and an armchair. When I first saw her I assumed she was younger than I with her small frame, but the system appears to keep one young by restricting the nutrition in one’s diet. They insist that I have a cup of tea with them, that it’s “the Irish way”. The water is boiled in a secondhand pot on a hob, the kettle her mother saved for and bought in Argos having broken a week before. Naomi sat her Leaving Certificate at an all girls school in Killarney two years ago, the third and favourite of the four DP centres she has been to since arriving in Ireland from South Africa with her mother five years ago. For these two years she has been continuously accepted into courses ranging from Process and Chemical Engineering in UCC to most recently Computer Applications in DCU. However, with her application still pending she cannot access third level education without paying Non-EU fees, an infeasible option for someone fleeing for their lives. She stressed

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The purpose of the site has totally changed since these days, as is clear from the wirefencing and dilapidated buildings.

that she does not want the college to cover the fees for her, but to at least reduce it to EU level so that she has some chance of crowdfunding the money herself. Her modesty and resigned attitude to this mistreatment reminded me of something an angry resident had said to me while I was walking around with Naomi’s mother — “These children, they know nothing but here. They have no motivation to go out and do something because they are forced and trained by the system to suffer in silence”. The resignation with her educational predicament however subsided once we got on to the topic of Mosney itself. When Naomi and her mother arrived in Mosney two years ago it was considered the best centre in Ireland, but the residents’ committee believes otherwise. The centre has recently taken on new management in McClusky’s children, neither of whom have any prior training in management. The son and daughter drive around the lot all day, entering people’s accommodation without consent and displaying threatening behaviour with phrases such as: “No one is the boss of me” frequently rolling off the tongue of the daughter. The unease and distrust in the room at the mention of her name is palpable. Naomi’s mother turns to me with an exasperated sigh and asks “What do we do now?”, before leaving to attend the aforementioned meeting between residents and staff. One of Naomi’s main ways to pass the time is to go to the library in Drogheda, but the last bus is back for 4.30pm, and it only leaves three times a day. With it being one of the most populated of the centres in Ireland, having just the one 55 seater bus means that there is no choice but to spend most of one’s time wandering aimlessly around the lot. Due to these restrictive conditions most of the residents make only one trip per week, and this is to go to the Post Office in Drogheda to collect their weekly allowance of €19.10. The bus service changes direction to Dublin once a

Photos by Stacey Wrenn

month, but if the residents wish to travel on a different date they must pay €15 for a return fare from Matthews Coach, leaving them with €4.10 to save for the future.

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A woman in a blue apron, mid thirties, crept up behind us as I discreetly took some photos — all forms of media are prohibited on the premises.

Our presence alone proved to be enough to frustrate the staff, as I noticed when I went with Naomi to the laundrette as she passed her time. Giving it such a title feels like an overstatement - it is merely an abandoned warehouse with washing machines and dryers stacked on top of each other, as a radio attempts to contrast the surroundings by blasting jarringly upbeat pop music. She led me to the back, past happy toddlers wrestling on the carpet and laughing, to a washing machine with a bright blue post-it note on it. The apartment number was scrawled on designating it as theirs, along with her allotted times of usage, 9.30am and 12.30pm. Due to there being over 600 people and only 40 washing machines, the centre has to rather regimental in its approach. She spoke in low tones as she poured the plastic cup of Lidl brand powdered detergent into the machine. Fabric softener isn’t provided; It’s common for young children in DP to develop rashes and eczema as a result, unless residents can buy it themselves. Treatment in Mosney A woman in a blue apron, mid thirties, crept up behind us as I discreetly took some photos — all forms of media are prohibited on the premises — and proceeded to didactically instruct Naomi on how to use a washing machine she has been using for years. We left the laundrette with a mixture of humiliation and frustration. Her mother joined us in the apartment an hour later, having returned from witnessing management refuse entry to three visitors who also happened to be known anti-racism activists. McClusky was there, a fact that she herself could not believe, and he was shaken. As an attempt to appeal to his business-oriented mentality, she approached him and said “We are your customers, and you are treating us badly”. The lack of irony or metaphor

in his response was chilling: “I know, and I don’t want to lose this business”. I was constantly reminded by residents passing by to record everything, to tell everyone what it was really like to live a day in their shoes, to prove that they are just normal people. I could say that all Naomi wants is to live a normal life, to do what we are allowed to do indiscriminately, but it is clear to me that she deserved much more than that. She is an intelligent young woman who should have the world at her fingertips, and yet it seems to mean that we treat her like a criminal for being born in the wrong country. In a time where there are more people displaced across the world than after World War II, Ireland has set itself with a meagre target of 4,000. The government claims their hands are tied when it comes to water charges by the European Union, yet it’s worth noting that when the UN Human Rights Committee criticise our disastrous human rights record (based on restrictive policies on reproductive rights and discriminatory practices in legislation including policies concerning refugees) it does not seem to hold as much leverage with the criticism falling on deaf ears. The morning after my visit I found out that a friend and activist in MASI (Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland) Lucky Khambule, also from South Africa, was given his official status and full residency in Ireland. Countless others, however, are not so fortunate. The situation in Mosney is not unique within the DP system in Ireland, it is but one example of the deprived, isolated existence put upon refugees in this country. Naomi has received her welcome pack from DCU, but her dreams of walking through those front doors during Fresher’s Week still seem impossible to become a reality with the current situation.

Trinity News | Tuesday 20th September

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Trinity News | Tuesday 20th September

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Freshers Week 2016 Supplement

Trinity Life How to eat your way through Freshers' Week for free Emma McCarthy

Deputy Trinity Life editor

Deputy Trinity Life Editor, Emma McCarthy, has compiled a timetable of all the free food over the next week so you don't have to.

Times

9 10 10:30 11 12 12:30 1 2

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Breakfast / The Phil / Phil Conversation Room, GMB Breakfast / The Hist / Hist Conversation Room, GMB

Breakfast / The Phil / Phil Conversation Room, GMB Coffee & donuts / VisArts / top floor, House 6

Breakfast / The Phil / Phil Conversation Room, GMB Lemon pancakes / An Cumann Gaelach / their stand

Breakfast / DU Gender Equality / The Attic, top floor, House 6 Petit dejeuner / French Froyo Breakfast / Fashion Continental breakfast / Eu- Hangover breakfast / QSoc Soc /Global Room Soc / Eliz rooms, House 6 ropa / Eliz Rooms, House 6 / Eliz rooms, House 6 Tea, coffee, treats / AmnesSubway / DUBES / their Brunch / LawSoc / The Chopped Lunch / DUBES / ty / top floor, House 6 Atrium their stand stand Candyfloss / SUAS / their stand Cupcakes / Hist, Food & Donuts / SUAS / The Pav Drink / Hist Conversation Room, GMB Camile Thai lunch / DU Tea, coffee & treats / DU Soup & bread / An Pizza / Snowsports / their Tea, coffee, biscuits / Trinity FM / their studio, top Snowsports / their stand Music / their room, second Cumann Gaelach / Seom- stand floor, House 6 ra na Gaeilge, Botany Bay floor. House 6 Baked goods / DU GerPicnic / Global Developmanic Soc / KC Peaches ment & Fossil Free / The Rose Garden

3 4 5

Pizza / MathSoc / Fitzgerald library Pimms & other drinks / Food & Drink / Cricket Pitch Pre-debate dinner / The Hist / GMB

Camile Thai & wine / DUPA / The Atrium

6 6:30

International food / Global Village / Global Room

Wine & cheese / French Soc / Arts Block

Note: the Students' Union stand has pizza on the hour every hour too!

Five essential tips if you’re coming to Trinity by yourself Alice Whelan Deputy Trinity Life editor

Go to society Freshers’ Take a trip away with events and nights out a society

Above all, enjoy your first year in university

There is a society in Trinity to suit everyone. Whether it's sport, debating or juggling that gets you going, you will find like-minded individuals at society events. Don’t be afraid to attend them alone - I did, and you won’t be the only one. Some societies such as the Hist or Cumann Gaelach organise pub crawls and nights out during Freshers’ Week which are ideal ways to meet people to go out with. There is also an event on in the Tivoli Theatre on Monday 19th at 6pm for students new to Trinity and living in houses, digs or apartments, as well as a group on Facebook specifically for students in this position called ‘Trinity Freshers: Houses, Digs & Apartments’, which is run by the SU.

Societies such as LawSoc, VisArts, DU Snowsports or Cumann Gaelach organise trips abroad and in Ireland too. These trips can be great ways of getting to know new people who are not in your course, and provide the perfect conditions for bonding with people you already know. If you are excited to travel more during your time in university, trips away are opportunities to do so on a budget. Be sure to keep an eye out on their Facebook pages as tickets tend to sell out super fast for these trips.

It doesn’t need to be as academically focused as your later years and therefore there is more time to spend on other activities. It is rare to hear anyone saying they regret not going to the library or staying in more in first year. Most advice from older students tends to be go out, have fun and push yourself to try new things.

Attend your course meetup/organise a course night out

Be yourself

If your course doesn’t already have a Facebook group or group chat take the initiative to make one, and use it to meet people from your course. Meetups might be organised by your S2S mentors but you can also organise them yourselves. You will be with people from your course for four years so it’s a good idea to get acquainted. Alternatively, jump on thr back of a pre-organised society event and gather your class together. Popular options are class dinners in restaurants such as Captain America's or Wagamama. If you present the Trinity Ents card you can avail of their 2-for-1 deal on main course Monday through to Friday.

College is the ideal time to explore your personality and try new things. You are likely to meet a wide variety of people in university who are not afraid to express themselves. Embrace the opportunity to change up your style. Doing this will mean you will be far more likely to meet individuals on the same page and who will be great friends to you!

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Deputy Trinity Life Editor, Alice Whelan gives advice on how those coming to Trinity alone can make the most of their time here. Didn’t get halls? No one from your school coming to Trinity? New to Dublin and need pals? First things first, do not worry. Plenty of people are in the same boat as you. Trinity is an amazing university to study at, and it can be daunting (or very exciting) to start off with a completely blank slate. Here are some tips for going it alone in Freshers’!

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I did it, and you can too.

Trinity News | Tuesday 20th September

Trinity Life

A spicy review

Mungo Harris takes us on a quest through some of the most student-friendly burrito establishments in Dublin, rating them on his "spice-o-meter". This is the spicest article you'll read, period.

Mungo Harris Contributing writer

Mexican rice, pinto beans, chicken, plenty of sour cream, cheese - the staple of my student diet. Burrito bars have taken Dublin by storm and have established themselves as a cornerstone of student food and socializing. To say that I like burritos would be to say that Cristiano Ronaldo likes the odd look in the mirror. And what I have learned from my obsession is that burritos have five important factors: choice of filling, salsas, aesthetics, atmosphere and, most importantly for you, value. I’ve embarked on a journey across Dublin’s burrito bars to individually assess them for you and rate them on a spicy spice-o-meter. Whether you’re a seasoned burrito veteran or a meek fresher who has never before dipped a toe into Mexico’s finest export since tortilla chips, this article is for you. My first port of call was one close to home - Tolteca on Suffolk Street. Tolteca was the first place I tasted the creamy mixture of bean, sour cream and cheese, and so it holds a special place in my heart. Only a brief walk from Trinity’s Nassau Street entrance, Tolteca’s waiting line was about five minutes long, which was the shortest of any bar with a queue that I visited. They hosted a wide range of chicken, pork, steak, barbacoa beef, vegetarian and even vegan options to choose from. I chose chicken with white rice, pinto beans, sour cream, cheese, spicy salsa and nachos crunched up inside. For anyone who hasn’t tried it, ‘crunch’ inside a burrito is like putting chocolate sauce on ice cream - basically, making a great thing even greater. The total came to 6.95 using the student deal which includes a drink (refillable on the sly) and a loyalty system which gifts a free burrito after eight orders. The salsa was spicy and flavourful but, although the busy atmosphere was enjoyable, the chairs were hard, the

burrito was small and the staff were rather rude. I’ll leave them with three out of five chillies on the spice-o-meter. Keeping close to home, Dawson Street’s Little Ass Burrito Bar was next - a tiny shop with a burrito rich in flavour. Abandoning the usual Subway-like ordering style, Little Ass keeps a set menu with added extras. The queue was non-existent and I ordered myself a Cinco de Fryo with crunch a chicken burrito with sweet potato and a mango salsa. The mango salsa’s sweetness contrasted beautifully with the sweet potatoes’ savoury flavour, leaving me with what can only be described as an orgasmic taste. Little Ass has little or no seating inside and out but Britney’s classic Hit Me Baby One More Time was playing which is enough to sum up the atmosphere. The student deal for 6 gives them four chillies on our spice-o-meter, which has been brought down only by their lack of seating. Mama’s Revenge at the end of Nassau Street (for all of you Hamilton science geeks) was next. A 10 minute queue was worth the wait for the nicest vegetarian burrito I have ever tasted. Decorated like a secluded local bar in Mexico, it gave a homely vibe and the amiable attitude of the staff was a lovely addition. The student deal came to 5 with spicy salsa, and pop hits from Brown Eyed Girl to David Guetta’s Sexy Chick provided an upbeat atmosphere and leaves many Trinity students’ favourite burrito bar with four and a half chillies on the spice-o-meter. Every 10th burrito free on their loyalty card was the icing on the cake. If you’ve been enjoying some afternoon 2 pints up in Dicey’s on Harcourt Street then a trip to Burritos and Blues on Camden Street nearby may be worth your while. While their 6 student burrito with a drink is great value for money and classy jazz music created a jovial atmosphere, the salsa

was bland, the seats were plastic and hard, and the options were limited. Although my steak burrito was creamy and soft, the burrito wasn’t mixed enough which led to one side being entirely rice and the other side entirely steak. A lack of crunch and a loyalty system leaves them with just two chillies out of five. Moving to the northside, Boojum on Millenium Quay is not to be messed with. A wait of nearly 15 minutes around dinner time started me off on a bad note but the large choice of chicken, pork, barbacoa beef, chorizo, chilli con carne and vegetarian options, followed by a sizeable burrito, quickly turned my mood around. I paid 7.25 for my student burrito and a drink with a loyalty stamp. If you collect 10 stamps then you can avail of a free burrito, while 40 stamps gets you a Boojum addict t-shirt. The high bar stools, loud rock music and the artwork painted on the restaurant walls creates the cool hipster but not too hipster atmosphere that Trinity students love. They even stock Arizona Iced Tea for those of you feeling A E S T H E T I C. Despite having no outside seating, the waiting time, lack of crunch and distance from college, I’m awarding this fine eatery with four chillies, although on any other day I may have given it five - my burrito was that good . My concluding burrito bar was Saburritos which earned a whopping 0 chillies - 9.50 for my burrito and drink and a sick feeling afterwards. I would avoid this place at all costs and stick to the nicer ( let’s face it) Southside burrito bars. The closer to college the better.

Everything you need to know if you’re an incoming international student Aine Tucker draws from her own personal experiences as an international student in Trinity, teaching us a thing or two about Aine Tucker

the quirks of the Irish culture.

Contributing writer

s an international student, the prospect of moving to a new city, country, or even continent can be daunting for even the most courageous student. A plethora of questions flow through your mind before you step foot on Irish soil. What are the people like? What should you wear to class? Are there any other international students? To answer some of these questions and ease some of those nerves, here is a list of the top things you should know when attending Trinity College Dublin - from one international student to another.

1. Irish ‘Craic’ isn’t a d rug English is the language predominantly spoken in Ireland. Having said that, Irish slang could be classed as a different language all to itself. Should you find yourself utterly dazed by terms such as ‘craic’, ‘gas’, ‘naggin’ and ‘shift’, don’t suffer in silence. Kindly ask the fastpaced speaker to explain what they mean. Soon enough you’ll find yourself learning and using these terms as if you were a local. Also, the Irish have notorious potty mouths and use “feckin’ shite talk” for an added theatrical effect and to embellish their stories. They are not trying to offend you.

2. The Leaving Cert (AKA The Spawn of Satan) The British have the A-Levels, the Americans have the SAT, the French have the Baccalauréat, but nothing quite compares to the Leaving Cert… or so it seems to the Irish. Before embarking on their first year of college, your Irish peers spent their final year of school studying for the Leaving Cert; those dreaded examinations in June that determine what they can study in university. If you get through a week in your first year without hearing about ‘the good ole LC’ from an Irish student, consider yourself lucky. These exams are just about the most scarring experience of their lives, apparently, and they will talk about their exam essay on Shakespeare’s King Lear until their dying day. Regarding the points system, just know that 625 points is impressive, and most people in Trinity got a lot of points.

on time, though there may be an occasion when your bus home mysteriously never shows up. The Dublin Bus app is the best way to find information on routes, stops and times, and it’s worth noting that buses do not accept euro notes. Following that is the tram called the Luas (pronounced ‘loo-iss’), which has two lines, the Red Line serving the north and west of the city, and the Green Line covering the south. There is currently construction underway to connect these two lines, and a Cross City Luas service is expected by 2017. Finally, the DART is a train running in the city and along the coastline, and is easily accessed by students via Pearse or Connolly station. Each of these modes of transport can be paid for using a Student Leap Card that you can purchase in the Students’ Union shop in House 6.

show news and shows from around the world. If you ever feel like you need help and support as an international student, the Global Room is definitely worth visiting.

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One of the greatest things to come out of a friendship with an Irish student is the perk of receiving an invite to their homestead where you will be greeted 5. Trinity Global with love and Room an over-sized A major asset to the community of interna- Sunday dinner tional students in Trinity is the Global Room. from an Irish Located in the Hamilton Building, this is run by mammy; the student ambassadors and 3. Public staff who provide assis- perfect cure for to international stuTransportation tance dents with issues ranging even the worst Dublin City has three from Garda clearance and modes of public trans- visas, to helping students homesickness. port to offer; bus, tram, and train. The bus service, Dublin Bus, covers the majority of places you may need to go in the city and generally runs

become more comfortable in their new home. The facility includes a hangout space that regularly holds meetups and cultural events, and is equipped with TVs that

6. The Irish Drinking Stereotype The Irish may deny that the drinking stereotype imposed on them is a myth fuelled over the years by the media, but this is a myth with some truth to it. Irish peo ple are indeed fond of their alcohol. More often than not, socializing involves sharing a pint with friends, and living in the pub and club-filled city of Dublin allows for this hobby to be maintained rather easily. By no means are the Irish boring without alcohol in their systems, but they do love to have a good time and a few cans can certainly lead to a great story in the morning.

7. Irish Weather Rain.

8. Getting a Home -Cooked Meal on the Weekends Homesickness in an inevitability for international students, and knowing that many Irish students go home for

the weekends while you can’t, often makes it worse. Those lucky, malnourished and worn-out students toddle home to a warm bed and a homecooked meal whilst you’re left eating a pot of noodles on the pile of laundry in the corner of your room. One of the greatest things to come out of a friendship with an Irish student is the perk of receiving an invite to their homestead where you will be greeted with love and an over-sized Sunday dinner from an Irish mammy; the perfect cure for even the worst homesickness.

Trinity News | Tuesday 20th September

Trinity Life

The myths and magic of Trinity

I'm a fresher, get me out of Dublin!

Siobhan O' Leary Ashford

If you've ever found yourself curious about the origins of the odd tales you hear between the four walls of Trinity, Orlaith Darling is about to explain all. Orlaith Darling Staff writer I don’t know if this is the case for all freshers, but at the beginning of my first year my dear father could not get enough of assuming an exaggerated plummy British accent, and cooing, “Ooh, Trinners for Winners”, as he collapsed into a fit of guffaws. I highly suspect that this is only the case for northside students, whose fathers have an enormous chip on their shoulder about the Elizabethan college, but nonetheless it does seem that Trinity is quite an institution. He wouldn’t, for instance, have said, “Ooh, UCD for Winners”, despite the fact that UCD is far more stereotypically Ross O’Carroll-Kelly. Maybe it’s the age of the college, maybe it’s the Hogwarts-esque buildings, but Trinity certainly carries a lot of myths with it. I’m not saying there isn’t ample reason to think of Trinity as the snobbiest institution in the country. One need only observe Front Square on Trinity Monday. We can forgive the Fellows for parading around in their crimson capes, as they are important. Fellow students are another matter. The names of the scholars are announced from the steps of the Dining Hall (this year it was raining). If you are fortunate enough to be embraced by the college and made a scholar, the first thing you have to do is rent robes. Yes, you dish out 40 sweet euros for the privilege of carrying a sodden lump of black cloth around all day. So, if you see a particularly smug looking student traipsing around in a cloak this Trinity Monday, you can rest assured that they have been swindled. Some people relish the chance to wear the robe. Indeed, the Phil Conversation Room was abuzz that day with cloaked students draped over the Phil’s abnormally large chairs, posing with the random sword they have, and ‘slaying ’. The cape tradition doesn’t end with Trinity Monday. Should you join Chapel Choir, as I did in

my first year, you will be afforded the opportunity to bedeck yourself in yet more robes! Every Thursday for the Chapel Service, I would rush from a lecture to the Chapel, don white under-robes and a black over-robe and sing my little heart out. Coincidentally, I had another lecture immediately after the service and had to peg it across to the Arts Blocks, sometimes having forgotten to take off said robes. Fear not if you spy what looks like a zebra-spectre fleeing across Front Square. It is just another person keeping up Trinity’s revered robe-tradition. Speaking of Front Square, we must spare a thought for the Campanile. There are many myths regarding this bell tower, chief among them that, dare you walk beneath it, you will fail your exams. I snorted when I heard this. That is, until I went on a date and we agreed to meet at the Campanile ( because starting your date at a massive, phallic structure is inherently romantic). As he approached, I attempted to break the ice by making some lame joke about how I was careful not to stand under it in case I failed my exams. He, however, regarded me with a completely straight face and said, “Yeah, that’s what happened to me”. So, first-years, be warned – do NOT stand under the Campanile. In addition, if the bell rings while you’re under it, you will die a virgin, which is a whole other can of worms. Thankfully we have a whole raft of activities in college whose sole purpose is to ensure that no one leaves a virgin. No doubt, Phil-heads and their glitter patrol will be eager to tell you about the outbreak of scabies in the Hist, their main rival. The Phil likes to engage in some Freshers’ Week speed- dating. Sounds innocuous enough, but this college tradition must have been one of the most humiliating experiences of my life. Picture this: a room full of innocent freshers, all sitting

in rows of chairs facing each other. A person in a maroon hoodie atop a platform with a mic who then proceeds to ask for volunteers. Volunteer they said, be grand they said. An unsuspecting five people are assembled on a platform, and informed that they are to have an ‘orgasm competition’, or pair up and make the most outlandish sex position they can think of, or compose a sexual resumé. After an hour of being subjected to that, I firmly believe that this is one Trinity tradition that needs to be done away with.

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An unsuspecting five people are assembled on a platform, and informed that they are to have an ‘orgasm competition’, or pair up and make the most outlandish sex position they can think of, or compose a sexual resumé.

Contributing writer Fresher’s Week has ended. The madness has relatively ceased and you begin to fall into a routine. The weeks are full of events, coffee dates, and essay deadlines but the weekends stretch into vast unfillable chasms of boredom. This is due to the mass student exodus home to find clean sheets and cooked dinners. For international students or freshers who must remain in Dublin weekends can be awaited with a certain sense of doom. You are left alone to entertain yourself in an unfamiliar, overwhelming capital city, with very little funds to do so. However, help is at hand. Voilà, a list of cheap, cheerful and suitably alternative activities for you to fill your weekend with!

Morning Gruel at Greystones No, this is not a suggestion to check into an orphanage on Friday night, however much you may feel abandoned by your family and friends. Greystones is a beautiful seaside town on the Southbound Dart Line, which leaves from Pearse Station directly across from the sport’s centre at Trinity. You can simply pop on the dart early, arrive in Bray, do a darling little two hour cliff walk to Greystones and then get

Weekends' sorted for the next year with Siobhan O' Leary Ashford.

a completely FREE bowl of porridge at the famous Happy Pear café. All you need to pay for is a return dart to Greystones. And yes, the porridge really is free. I don’t know why either.

ing up against a man in drag wailing to Blondie’s Call Me, but that’s better than sitting at home in Halls being a drag wailing to your mother about her infrequent calls to you.

Have the Last Laugh

Belfie Time So Dublin city has a facility aptly named dublinbikes. Your first 30 mins using a dublinbike is completely free when you take a bike from one of 40 stations around the city. You can do this as many times as you like, so as long as you drop each bike off at a station within 30 mins you can cycle all day. Cycling about the city and taking a cheeky artsy selfie at all the graffiti hotspots in Dublin should fill up an afternoon (and your Instagram feed). Some suggestions would be: Windmill Lane, Temple Bar, The Bernard Shaw on Camden Street, and Francis Street.

Sing for your shots

Well, your friends may be at home being pampered by Mam but will they ever see an up and coming comedian for FREE on a Sunday night at the Stag ’s Head at 8.30pm? Give the free comedy nights in Dublin a go, seriously. The audience is full of boozy, good looking tourists and some of the comedians actually become or even are big names. Anseo’s free comedy night on a Wednesday is particularly wonderful as it is very easy to hide from the comedians in the darkness and the special guests are usually quite famous (or certainly infamous).

COF-FREE!

Bop into the George Nightclub on George’s Street before 10pm on a Saturday and free entry is guaranteed, saving you a whole tenner. This is Dublin’s most famous gay bar and it is always bustling. Saturday night is karaoke night so you may find yourself grind-

Coffee Angel on Nassau Street, right outside one of the entrances to Trinity gives you a free cup of coffee if you merely sign into their Wi-Fi service. The only drawback is that it takes 30 mins for the coupon to reach your email inbox. But never fear – on Sundays at 3pm free

art lectures take place at the National Gallery just around the corner. The theme for October is Creating Histories of Ireland in Art which is destined to be a bore. However, it may be amusing to count the infinite number of times the lecturer says the word ‘nationalism’. If you bring a friend you could even play bingo using the words ‘uprising ’ and ‘nationalism’. The first person to tally their word ten times and shout bingo has to buy the other a drink. Of course, there is a vast array of museums, galleries and parks to wander your way around and you simply must avail of TCD students’ free entry to the Book of Kells located in Trinity’s Old Library. However, during your time here consider the whole city to be your campus. Let all your experiences educate you, not just those offered at the college. Keep your finger on the pulse by visiting www.dublinfreeeventguide.com and checking out the free cultural magazines scattered about this campus and the city. So go find a free gig, pretend that an alcoholic beverage is screaming ‘drink me’ and freefall down the rabbit hole into your new world, Dublinland.

Five eats for a fiver Mary Hartnett Contributing writer

Finding something to eat between lectures that won’t break the bank and is also close to college is a struggle for many freshers. In the middle of Dublin City Centre, grabbing a cheap yet decent lunch can prove a challenge. However, seasoned second years like myself have done the dirty work and researched the restaurants. Here are five eats for a fiver:

Mary Hartnett sums up the five best lunch deals available within a 500m radius of the college.

Dicey’s

What to get: Call in between 12pm and 4.30pm to avail of their lunch special and grab a bowl. The choice of what to get is up to you, just don’t forget to present your student card when you’re paying!

Cornucopia This wholefood, vegetarian restaurant is situated on Wicklow Street, just a five minute walk from Trinity. This casual dining restaurant is well known not only for its fresh and healthy lunch and dinner options but also for its award-winning cookbook, Cornucopia at Home. Their soups, salads and breads are prepared fresh in-house every day. What to get: A small mixed salad plate costs 5.50 and, as Cornucopia offer a 10% student discount on all dishes apart from their daily specials, this healthy lunch comes in at just under a fiver. Their salad selection includes ‘garlic potatoes with roast hazelnuts in vegan mayonnaise’, ‘bulgur, fennel, chard and cherry vine in green chilli vinaigrette’ as well as ‘beetroot, pear and rocket with crème fraiche and herbs’. They also serve excellent homemade soups which come with freshly baked bread.

2 5 1 4 3

KC Peaches

If you’re new to Dublin, these cafes dotted around the city centre are likely to be your new favourite spot. They offer a range of delicious and healthy salads, hot dishes and sandwiches as well as a vast array of sweet treats and great coffees. Combine their fresh and affordable food with the fact that they offer a student discount and have a location directly opposite Trinity’s Nassau Street entrance, and you’ve found yourself a firm favourite of many Trinity students. There’s also usually plenty of seating, with three levels in the Nassau Street cafe.

What to get: Pick up one of the small salad boxes and fill it up with as many types of salad as you like. You can also choose to fill your box with a selection of hot dishes such as pies, curries, stir-fries, vegetables, rice dishes, pastas and potatoes. This will be guaranteed to keep you full for your afternoon lectures and will come in at under 5 with a student card.

What will probably become one of your most frequented nightclubs during first year, Dicey’s also doubles up as a restaurant and beer garden during the day, serving 2 euro pints and 5 euro carvery lunches. The location on Harcourt Street is a bit further from college than other spots but it’s definitely worth it if you’re looking for a big feed. There is usually a choice of three or four different options for the carvery lunch, as well as a bar menu throughout the day. What to get: Bring your student card with you, arrive between 12pm and 2.30pm and queue up for the carvery lunch. For a fiver you’ll get as much food as you could eat and you’ll be full for the day, with your lunch doubling up as a cheap daytime dinner. The food may not be fancy but it’s fresh, tasty and excellent value.

Mongolian BBQ

This restaurant set in the heart of Temple Bar is just a five minute walk from campus. The idea here is pretty simple: grab a bowl, fill it with your choice of raw meats and fresh veg, throw in some herbs and spices, and top off your creation with the specially selected sauces. Then just hand your bowl to one of the grillers and they will stir-fry it to perfection right in front of your eyes. Fresh food, fast.

The Buttery

This is the handiest place to grab lunch as it’s Trinity’s oncampus student cafe. The food is fast, good quality and filling. There are always plenty of seats, even during peak times, and for the best spot head into the ‘cave’ which is to the left as you walk in. As Trinity’s main restaurant, students flock here during lunchtime and you’ll more than likely see a familiar face.

What to get: If you’re looking for a big feed, go for one of the daily specials. Dishes include Thai chicken curry and spaghetti bolognaise, among others. These will cost you a fiver and will keep you fed for the day. For a lighter option, the soup is always good and comes with your choice of bread.

Trinity News | Tuesday 20th September

Trinity Life

Top Society Picks Luke O' Reilly Social Media Manager

Ferdy Emmet Contributing writer

The Phil The Phil is the oldest student society in the world which goes from strength to strength every year. Popular among freshers, the Phil considers its members to all be part of one big Phamily (Lord!). A tight nit group, they can be spotted across college in their maroon t-shirts making many students wonder if it’s a cult. With debates every Thursday, paper readings, and numerous parties throughout the year, there’s definitely something to pique your interest. From discussions on Terrorism to Beyoncé, with post debate wine receptions, your Thursday nights will never be the same. Pretentiousness - 10 Fun - 9 Intellectuality - 8 How necessary to join 100%

The Hist As the heart of college debating, the Hist is a must for any fresher. With its membership lasting all four years, you’ll find that four years still isn’t enough time to impeach all of your friends while shouting about smashing capitalism as you sit on an actual throne. Hist debates happen every Wednesday night and the society holds esteemed alumni such as Wolfe Tone and Robert Emmet. Highlights of the upcoming year include a debate of sci-fi motions, a visit from deputy UK PM Nick Clegg and a puppy room this Thursday! Need we say more? Pretentiousness - 8 Fun - 9 Intellectuality - 10 How necessary to join 100%

Players What reason could you have for not joining Players? As the most active college society and drama society in the country, Players put on two

student shows every week and events every Wednesday, and host numerous workshops and guests throughout the year. They have auditions all Freshers’ Week, but also courses where you can learn any aspect of theatre, from lighting to publicity. Come see the glitter fly with them at Freshers’ Ball, and get a real taste of your arts degree. Pretentiousness - 7 Fun - 10 Intellectuality - 6 How necessary to join 95%

Law Soc A key part of student life, Law Soc is an essential society to join. Not only do they hold highly esteemed speakers and mock trials, the society’s Law Ball is the biggest and best society event every year. This year will see Labour Leader (at time of publication) Jeremy Corbyn and former astronaut Buzz Aldrin speak to the society. Law Soc will also be cohosting Carnivlaw in Opium Rooms on Tuesday. Test the sesh and see if they’re the society for you. Pretentiousness - 9 Fun - 9 Intellectuality - 9 How necessary to join 90%

VDP The Society of St Vincent De Paul aims to improve lives across Ireland. The Trinity branch of this society comes with the fun of all the above societies, but also the knowledge that you’re helping others. Each year the society holds a pantomime (this year a wonderful adaption of Harry Potter) with disadvantaged schools across the city, as well as the annual Camino trip (part pilgrimage, part paracetamol-fueled wine binge) to raise funds for VDP Zambia, and countless other activities every week. If you like Disney cosplay and shifting all of your friends, this is the society for you. As well as that, it’s free to join, so why not? Pretentiousness - 0 Fun - 10 Intellectuality - N/A How necessary to join 100%

Luke O' Reilly and Ferdy Emmet sum up the top societies that Trinity has to offer. Politics Society The heart of any political discussion on campus, Politics Society is a must in this year of the US election, and with an abortion referendum looking more and more likely, what reason could you have to say no? This year’s planned guests include Michael Martin and Stephen Donnelly, as well as numerous analysts, journalists and satirists. With their infamous weekly caffeinated conversations and pub crawls, they’re one society to watch. Pretentiousness - 7 Fun - 8 Intellectuality - 9 How necessary to join - 75%

and be in with all the hot goss before anyone else. Pretentiousness - 10 Fun - 8 Intellectuality - 7 How necessary to join - 75%

Trinity Musical Theatre Society Musical theatre has a long tradition in Trinity, with the VDP running their annual panto, and Players putting on one or two small ones over the years. However, new to the Trinity society scene, the Musical Theatre Society aims to put on major productions with a full cast. Pretentiousness - 3 Fun - 10 Intellectuality - 2 How necessary to join 80%

Cumann Gaelach The Cumann are an absolute essential society for those who favour simple craic and free lunch every Wednesday at 1pm. To add to this, you’ll be constantly supplied with tea, coffee and cúpla brioscaí in their hangout spot, Seomra na Gaeilge. They also run a week-long Irish culture festival called Éigse during February as well trips to the notorious Oireachtas and further afield too. Pretentiousness - 5 Fun - 10 Intellectuality - 8 How necessary to join 100%

DU History “History? Ugh that was so last year”. Well, not anymore thanks to one of Trinity’s most vibrant societies. From themed club nights to trips across Europe, this society is basically the college version of Horrible Histories: fun, honest and makes you come away feeling that bit more intelligent. Pretentiousness - 5 Fun - 7.5 Intellectuality - 9 How necessary to join - 75%

Trinity Orchestra With a strong ensemble, Trinity Orchestra’s talent and banter make them the perfect society for anyone with a love of music. Even if you don’t play an instrument, members can avail of discounted tickets

tickets for, if you do manage to get one you’ll be in for a night to remember.

“

It is likely that upon entering Front Square you will have already noticed the Snowsports society. They’re the ones blaring Mr. Brightside by the Killers out of obnoxiously loud speakers and looking like the rollover of an Abercrombie & Fitch launch afterparty.

Pretentiousness - 6 Fun -10 Intellectuality - 4 How necessary to join 80%

Metafizz Society Possibly Trinity’s most active small-medium sized society, the Metafizz organises weekly talks by philosophers and other thinkers of note that are swiftly followed by a night of animated conversation in the Gingerman pub. Previous guests include the philosopher A.C. Grayling and Daily Mail columnist Peter Hitchens (brother of Christopher). This year’s committee are widening the scope of guests and events to include academics such as the left-wing ideologue Terry Eagleton, and a panel on Psychoanalysis in the first term alone. Pretentiousness - 5 Fun - 8 Intellectuality - 9 How necessary to join 90%

Jewish Society Not just for Jewish people. Trinity’s Jewish Society is a cultural society that runs a weekly Shabbat celebration every Friday in the chapel that effectively involves gorging yourself on delicious free Jewish food in a friendly environment. They run film screenings and falafel dinners on a monthly basis, and this year they’ll be taking a (heavily subsidised) trip to Morocco. Pretentiousness - 0 Fun - 9 Intellectuality - 7 How necessary to join 60%

DU Food and Drink If you don’t like food or drink then you’re probably dead. If you do like food and drink then join this society for discounts for all of Dublin’s best restaurants, cheesemongers and off licenses. Food and Drink society really are one of the gems of Trinity and, although their events (such as wine tastings and four course black-tie dinners) are notoriously difficult to get

DU Snowsports It is likely that upon entering Front Square you will have already noticed the Snowsports society. They’re the ones blaring Mr. Brightside by the Killers out of obnoxiously loud speakers and looking like the rollover of an Abercrombie & Fitch launch afterparty. Well known proprietors of the notorious annual ski trip (google it regarding scandals to see further), the Snowsports society also run a number of nights out throughout the year, but they basically exist to promote the ski trip in order to get free tickets to it from the external company that actually organises the whole thing. Pretentiousness - 7 Fun - 8 Intellectuality - 0 How necessary to join 50%

Environmental Society Much like climate change, this society has been getting hotter and hotter every year. Last year they helped to successfully organise a fossil fuel divestment campaign and run a bunch of talks and film screenings. They’re the kind of people who give you a delicious apple as a present and then tell you they picked it out of a bin after you’ve started eating it. Join it to prove to your friends that you’re not a dirty global warming denier who still laughs at reruns of Two and a Half Men on E4. Pretentiousness - 4 Fun - 9 Intellectuality - 7 How necessary to join 95%

the top of House 6. More geared towards people who prefer Tumblr to Tolstoy, if you like spoken word poetry and dressing up as your favourite literary character while getting sotted on gin, then you’ll fit right in. Pretentiousness - 10 Fun - 6 Intellectuality - 2 How necessary to join 60%

Afro-Caribbean Society See the group of people jamming away on drums in the middle of Front Square? That’s Trinity’s AfroCaribbean society. They run a weekly drums practice as well as delicious food nights and film screenings. Well worth their 2 euro sign up fee for the good vibes they bring to Freshers’ Week alone. Pretentiousness - N/A Fun - 10 Intellectuality - 4 How necessary to join 100%

DUPA DUPA is a small society that has been moving from strength to strength over the last few years. The Dublin University Photography Association run a weekly photographic tour of the city centre as well as classes oriented towards teaching you new skills and trips away to beautiful European cities. If you want to take the kind of photos that your kids can find stuffed into a box and that will cause them to wonder at how cool you used to be before you sold out to a Big Four company and plateaued at middle management, then DUPA will cater to all of your future selves’ nostalgic needs. Pretentiousness - 7 Fun - 8 Intellectuality - 6 How necessary to join 85%

Literary Society The Literary Society are a society that almost everyone tries once, and if it’s for you you’ll have a great time. A friendly bunch, they’ll happily talk to anyone who visits them in their room at

A List of Very Trinity Things Laura Grant saves us from having to ask those embarrassing questions two weeks into your time in Trinity. Laura Grant Contributing Writer

The Campanile This may be more easily identified as the large pointy monument in Front Square. All you need to know is that when the bell tolls, do not walk underneath it. Just don’t. Unless perhaps you feel as though exams are already a lost cause, and you were going to fail them anyway, bad luck or not.

The Hamilton If you’re in a science-related degree, welcome to your new home. The Hamilton can be found as you walk past the Pav, towards Pearse Station and the Sports Centre. Survival tips from a science student include “don’t dress like an Arts student to avoid public humiliation” and “if you’re a girl, the odds are good but the goods are odd”. On a more practical note, the library is quiet and so an ideal place for a hardcore study session after a day spent in labs.

The Arts Block Also known as the “Orts” Block, this slightly out of place building is to the right of Front Square, tucked behind the Old Library. Prepare yourself for a battle through the crowds of American tourists wearing bucket hats, queuing up to see the Book of Kells, as your race your way to lectures. With the smell of organic matcha lattés and vegan salads wafting through the air, don’t be surprised if you see students wandering around in silk pyjama bottoms paired with an oversized fur coat and a pair of vintage Reeboks. Arts Block style takes hipster to an entirely new level, and is best left unquestioned.

The Buttery Midway through the first term, when you begin to realise that spending half of your budget on overpriced paninis and coffee from Starbucks is unsustainable, the Buttery will be your savior. Hiding in Front Square, this on-campus cafe offers cheap and cheerful food that you can grab in between lectures. It may not be mammy’s home cooked food, but deals such as a sandwich and chips for 6 euro can warm the heart in a different way.

The Lecky, Berkeley and Ussher Libraries (BLU) These three libraries may be described as follows: the Lecky is entered via the Arts Block, and allows you to stare longingly out the window at the pigeons, but also the people in Fellow’s Square having a wonderful time because they are not sitting at a green table, convincing themselves that they’re “getting so much done” just like you are. If you’re looking for a more serious atmosphere, head to the Berkeley. Here you will find an abundance of Law students sitting in stony silence, trying in vain to make sense of their coursework. Make a sound in here and you’ll be met with glares that will scare you back down the stairs that you came from. For many, the jewel in the library crown is the Ussher, with large windows and, of course, a lift so that you can reach the 5th floor in one piece. Come exam time, getting a seat in here is a greater challenge than securing a Trinity Ball ticket last minute. Beware of those who leave their things on a desk for about six hours – everyone does it, but they’ll still complain when it prevents them from procuring a seat themselves. Library tension is a real thing. Stay safe kids.

Trinity Ball The hype for Trinity’s most anticipated event will begin months before the April in which it takes place, with whispers of who might be performing flying around campus right until the big reveal by the Ents Officer. Should you be wondering what to expect, imagine campus transformed into a mini festival whilst thousands of students forget about their studies for the night and let loose. The title ‘ball’ is used loosely – yes, male attendees don suits for the occasion, but a large coat will be your most important fashion item, particularly when the clock strikes 5am, the final act has finished up, and the pilgrimage to McDonald's begins. For many, this is the best night on the college calendar, ruined only for those who end up in the medical tent instead, or perhaps never managed to nab a ticket in the first place.

TCDSU Elections There comes a time of year when you’ll develop a particular aversion for those wearing brightly coloured t-shirts, seemingly out to prevent you from getting to a tutorial on time and perhaps telling you about a Students’ Union election candidate in the process. You may even find yourself campaigning for someone who a few weeks beforehand you had never even heard of but are now convinced that their destiny lies in House 6. You will become increasingly familiar with the term ‘hack’, election scandal will be the talk around campus, and your Facebook page will be brimming with campaign plugs and inspiring videos. Try not to lose your head amidst all of this madness, and remember that it only lasts for about a month.

Trinity News | Tuesday 20th September

Comment

Taking a byte out of Apple should we claim the tax? page .16

A university is not a factory Michael Foley discusses the growing commercialisation of universities Michael Foley Comment editor

HERE HAS BEEN A GREAT deal of debate over the future of Irish universities over the past few weeks. The publication of the Cassels report, along with the plummeting of almost all Irish universities down the QS rankings, has pushed the issue of third education in Ireland into the limelight. In this time of panic, there is one thing we definitely must not do. We must not, under any circumstance, insist that universities contribute to the “real needs” of society. Yes, I understand that this sounds bizarre, but if we push for universities to become utilitarian institutions, offering “realworld” solutions to society, what we’ll really be doing is surrendering them to the clutches of big business and the government. And then, in the words of the philosopher Slavoj Zizek, they will become ”regressive factories” churning out skilled experts. To contribute ideas to society, universities should be removed from the “real needs” of the government. With separation comes perspective. And elevating universities to a level above that of a factory ensures they have a critical, comprehensive outlook to innovate and create - instead of simply drilling skills into students.

Utilitarian influence

Stewart Lee, the comedian, says that the seeds of this “factory” view of education were sewn in the mid eighties. He highlights a news report where the former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, paid a visit to Cambridge

and chatted with a passing student. Upon learning that she was studying for a degree in Ancient Norse literature, Thatcher snapped back “what a luxury”. According to Lee, Thatcher’s response was very telling for what was to happen to universities in years to come. But why is this happening? I think it’s useful to have a look at the Marxist theory of the base and superstructure of society. The base is composed of the economic relations (how business owners relate to their employees), economic mode of production and property system used; it informs the superstructure. The superstructure is comprised of the institutions of society (including universities), social norms, legal system and dominant culture; it also reinforces the base. We can argue that the base, which in modern times is dominated by large corporations (like Facebook and Apple), influences the institutions - like universities - where people learn skills required by the corporations. So a harmful ideology is created which reinforces this relationship, and supports Thatcher’s anti-intellectual rhetoric. The party line for this argument is if you’re not studying a particular course to get a job, what are you getting instead? But really the question we should be asking is would we be happy to see philosophy or history of art or theology banished to the fringes? If the next generation buy into this too much, they will laugh at any course that doesn’t help you get a job at KPMG. You’d have to literally hate human civilisation to be in favour of this kind of society, but by by sneering at humanities

courses we are contributing to this outlook, this ideology.

Damaging our education system

And the influence of this ideology is plainly prevalent in society. Universities are affected by the value, we, as students, attach to various academic disciplines. And, as we can see in the CAO choices of prospective college students, there is a creeping snobbery developing towards arts courses because of this “real-world” rhetoric. This year, the points for arts in UCD hit a new low, while the points for STEM courses climbed even higher. In other words, 18 year olds across the country are basing their choice of course off a cynical, shallow idea that certain subjects are more valuable than others. This cynicism has affected all levels of education. A glaring example is the introduction of the 25 bonus points for students who sit the higher level Maths exam in their Leaving cert. Everybody is aware of how unfair it is to grant students with a talent for maths an advantage over other students, particularly when these students are competing for places in courses where calculators will never be seen. It also adds to this view that STEM and business courses are a mature, sensible choice for students, with a lucrative career advertised as the most compelling feature. So students who would otherwise have no interest in these fields, or students who have a greater aptitude for arts subjects are choosing courses not suited for them because of the rhetoric spun in the media. That is not to say that STEM students aren’t passionate about their subjects or that you can’t be

Staff Writer

R G U A B L Y THE BIGGEST PROBLEM that women face in terms of political representation is that women don’t support women. I understand that as women, we have a tendency to deny this emphatically. But given that women still aren’t adequately represented at any level of government, I think it is only fair that we question if it just maybe is a possible reason for Hillary Clinton’s falling likeability. By no means am I implying that we should always support women just because they are women, or because the alternative is neither man nor woman, but some mythical Satanic creation. For example, the comparison between Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin is impossible for the media to avoid. But Democrats didn’t like Palin because she was racist, pro war, and not qualified - not because they ‘just don’t like her’. If the rhetoric against Hillary Clinton were prefaced with even the slightest acknowledgment of pros, the smear campaign could be slightly more justifiable. But it almost never is. Clinton’s popularity among voters does seemingly increase with every one of Trump’s catastrophic missteps. But given her troubled health recently, the media firestorm surrounding Clinton’s likelihood of becoming the next POTUS has been reignited. Surprisingly, Democrats are some of her biggest critics. Below are the top four reasons that Democrats would not support Clinton according to a Gallup poll assessing that pros and cons of a possible Clinton presidency, with analysis as to why these reasons are perhaps not as solid as they seem.

Bill Clinton would be back in the White House

The first thing taught in Feminism 101 is not to let a man ever define a woman. So for anyone who even remotely cares about women’s rights to even suggest that her husband has anything to do with her ability to be President is at best disappointing, and at worst preposterously hypocritical.

Not qualified, would not succeed

Hillary Clinton graduated from Yale Law School and spent the formative years of her professional career serving on various Senate and Presidential Committees. As Faculty at the University of Arkansas Law School, she continued to expand her academic and legal careers. She was twice named one the top 100 most powerful lawyers in America. In her capacity as First Lady, she focused on the advancement of children and women’s rights, as well as health care reform. She has served as Senator in her own right, and even served as President Obama’s Secretary of State for 5 years, becoming fourth in line in succession of his presidency before even entering the race. President Obama and Former President Bush both graduated from Harvard. President Obama had one of the most impressive political records of any presidential candidate, and he still falls short of matching Clinton’s. President Bush, on the other hand, served (debatably) with the Texas Air National Guard, forfeited his struggling oil company, and owned a below average baseball team. It is jarringly obvious that this argument is completely unfounded. On a side note, why was Bush ever President? In the spirit of honesty, impartiality and fairness, lengthy research was done on the subject only to find that his biggest accomplishment in life was owning an awful

But the prominent tech companies who inhabit the towering glass structures in the docklands need more graduates who are fluent in mathematics. And the government who are at the beck and call of these companies - as we have seen with the recent Apple controversy - when deciding how to fund education will prioritise the needs of the firms who are employing Irish citizens. This is a perfect example of this base informing the superstructure that the “real needs” of society are more important.

How this Trinity

affecting

We don’t have to look far to see evidence of this rhetoric. Why did Trinity decide to convert the hamilton restaurant into an “innovation and entrepreneurship hub” and stick a blackstone entrepreneurship launchpad in the Berkeley library? While the idea of college launching initiatives to help students become entrepreneurs isn’t itself something we should

be wary of, the context of the situation is damning. For example, Trinity is currently in the process of building a large, landmark business school, while, as a TA revealed to Trinity News in January, the number PHD students is declining because the faculty of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities are running out of funding. Many TAs have part time jobs and some can only spend 10 to 15 minutes per essay or script because of the worsening conditions. This discrepancy is notable and begs the question, are Irish universities beginning to view arts courses as a bit of a luxury, like Baroness Thatcher did in the 80s? Is the ideology produced by the base infrastructure of society finally seeping in?

Knowledge is an end in itself

Of course, third level institutions produce much valuable knowledge and research that is used in the “real world”. Advances in economics, science, medicine and psychology to name but a few, which come from these institutions should be celebrated. But we must not make the mistake to assume that an efficient university is one which exists to serve the market, designed so we can placate a bunch of philistinic business leaders.

Leave Hillary alone

Women must fight sexist double standards in discussions around Hillary Clinton Ellen McClure

creative or innovative within those subjects, And neither should we elevate humanities courses over others either. In an ideal world, with ideal universities, an elitist ranking of subjects would be laughed at as arbitrary and smallminded.

baseball team? I tried, I really tried.

Just don’t like her

This is most likely related to her “Scandals and Baggage” as outlined below, which is understandable. But if we say we ‘just don’t like’ Clinton, we must acknowledge how immature reasoning this is. Many past presidents have done far worse things for America, but when Democrats are asked why they d i d n ’ t support George W. Bush for example, they would probably cite some actual issues or the fact that he can’t count past 5. Just Youtube “Farewell to Great Moments in Presidential Speeches" if you don’t believe me. In fact, this phrase has never professionally been used to explain a lack of support for a president. Why? Because they have all been men. It would be unconscionable to judge a male presidential candidate based on his qualifications and political stances, however it is apparently fair to judge a women on any mythical aura one seems to feel through their television. One of the prominent campaigns against Clinton asks “Which Hillary?” we are to believe – the one who fostered so much problematic legislation in the 90s, or the one that is preaching justice and equality for all today. Clinton has in response asked us to “Hold [her] accountable”, and rightly so. But this should be for her

“

decisions, Like all not her personality. humans,(yes Scandals and baggage politicians are Like all humans,(yes also human), politicians are also human), has made some Clinton has made Clinton ‘mistakes’ as she herself characterise them. some ‘mistakes’ as would Her ongoing email scandal from a non-issue to she herself would varies a complete game changer characterise them. depending on the voter you ask. Notably, while serving as Senator, Clinton notoriously

And we can’t allow the needs of these companies to limit our pursuit of knowledge because knowledge is important, inherently. A lot of this issue really boils down to where you stand, or maybe more importantly, where Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook, stand on the question of “Education for Education's sake”. Well, for what it’s worth, Aristotle claimed that acquiring and consequently contemplating knowledge was the highest form of human activity. Enriching our society and culture with a wide spectrum of knowledge promotes a more diverse, and frankly more interesting society. Subjects which encourage personal interaction, reflection and critical thinking are deeply valuable. They reveal aspects of our humanity; their value can’t really be quantified in financial terms. Instead of promoting courses based off their perceived employability, we should be reinforcing the idea that your time in university is a formative and liberating experience. Work is assigned to aid learning and encourage discovery, not to improve the profit margin of some fortune 500 company. It is a place where the acquisition of knowledge is an end in itself.

voted for the war in Iraq. This was the most catastrophic foreign policy decision of our era, possibly ever. But it’s important to remember that this was not solely Clinton’s decision. According to a Gallup poll in 2003, 82% of Americans supported the war at that time. So to hold Clinton’s emotional, fear fueled mistake following one of the deadliest attacks on American soil against her would be to hold it against the vast majority of Americans. Whether or not it should be, is a separate subject, but factually it isn’t held against the vast majority of Americans with the same harshness. As we live in relative comfort compared to those in Iraq, it is very easy for Americans to say that the war in Iraq was a mistake. But it is an even bigger mistake to refuse to acknowledge that the outcome of not going to war with Iraq will never actually be known. Clinton has also been painfully behind on many social issues. She opposed same-sex marriage until 2013 and has a history of supporting legislation that has further contributed to the hardships of African Americans in the USA. As First Lady in the 90s, Clinton aggressively supported “tough on crime” legislation that essentially punished those born into systematic racism and poverty by implementing three strike laws, reducing the budget for rehabilitative programs, and expanding the death penalty (which Clinton still supports

If we continue to tread away from this path we will come to regret what will happen to our universities. So what model of university should we have? Zizek lambasts those who criticise universities as isolated, insular ivory towers, willfully burying their head in the sand, ignoring the realities of the “real world”. He suggests that this is exactly how they should be. They shouldn’t sway in the wind, following whatever trend the jobs market points them towards. They should be well funded, given greater autonomy and allowed to really prioritise the celebration and the proliferation of knowledge, unfettered by the pragmatic ideology informed by the base infrastructure. We must allow students to pursue their interests and not demean the value of arts and humanity degrees by pandering to the needs of corporations. The government should resist the short term gratification of appeasing big business or we run the risk of our universities devolving into the factories Zizek spoke of.

to an extent). Clinton has since apologised, not only saying the laws she enforced decades ago were not only mistakes, but “terrible mistakes”. I realise this is convenient for me to say this as a white, upper middle class, educated person, but while it is certainly just to criticise Clinton for her past decisions, it doesn’t make sense to give them more weight than her current sermon. I deliberately refuse to mention Clinton’s opponent, and encourage mainstream media to do the same where possible. Even though not ideal, Clinton must become the next POTUS. Despite the many positive aspects of Clinton’s campaign that we must acknowledge regardless of our personal opinions, I still believe, like many Democrats, that Bernie Sanders was the stronger candidate. But he isn’t a candidate anymore, and everyone still “Feeling the Bern” needs to get a firm grip on reality, and possibly some allergy medication. At this time, I think it is fair, and even prudent, to suggest that a change in our approach to her candidacy is warranted. Regardless of the issues she doesn’t represent well, the issues that Clinton does represent, such as feminism, education, experience and social infrastructure and more, are already hard enough sells as it is in a country full of citizens who still insist the Confederates won the Civil War. The last thing these issues need is to have the already very limited population that supports them turn away from them in outrage for any reason, let alone because they ‘just don’t like’ the only woman who is in a position to potentially advocate for them as President. While we so often accuse politicians of not practicing what they preach, perhaps it is time to consider accusing ourselves of just that very same mistake.

Trinity News | Tuesday 20th September

Comment

Head to Head

Taking a byte out of Apple: Should Ireland claim the 13 billion tax? Yes

Olly Donnelly Contributor

he European C o mmi s s i o n ’ s decision to make the Irish government claim the tax that we, as Irish taxpayers, are owed by Apple is a positive step towards reclaiming control of our economy, and towards making corporations work for us rather than themselves. Allowing any company, not especially Apple, the opportunity to benefit from a “Sweetheart Deal” providing an effective tax rate below 1%, rather than the EU’s legal minimum of 12.5%, is wrong. Source of revenue Practically, it denies a huge amount of tax revenue to Irish people that could be efficiently spent in many parts of our economy, especially in times of austerity. Principally, it is not helpful or desirable for the Irish economy to be based around pandering to the

Orlaith Darling Staff Writer

o those people who are using the Apple issue to call for a “fairer and more equitable” hike in Irish corporation tax, I implore you to please open even the most basic of economics books. The Apple controversy arises over the fact that Apple, completely legally, has been rerouting their profits in European stores through their headquarters in Ireland in order to pay as little tax as possible. However, in the 2014 Budget, the Dáil announced its intention to close the loopholes that enabled firms such as Apple to operate in Ireland on a paper basis, thus avoiding taxes. Firms that were already availing of such loopholes were, however, allowed time to restructure their processes, and this is why Apple has not yet stopped. However, the call to increase Irish corporation tax heralds much wider and

desires of large corporations. Despite the fear-mongering, Apple won’t leave because we take the cash we’re owed, so this is just money for nothing. Apple owe a little more than 2800 euro in tax to every person in the Republic of Ireland; roughly equivalent to an Apple Watch, an iPhone 7, a MacBook Pro, an iPad and some headphones for everyone in the country, with cash left over at the end. Put another way, that’s roughly enough to double state spending on healthcare, pay 10% of Irish citizens the average salary outright, or enough to erect a 280 Tonne statue of Tim Cook at the top of O’Connell Street, made from pure gold. While it is true that apple provide significant benefits to Irish people just by being in Ireland - frequently expressed in the form of 5500 jobs - defenders of the company both ignore the massive quantifiable difference the tax owed by Apple would make, and also fail to give a concrete expression of the scale of the benefits provided to Ireland by the company’s presence

here. Does the the net gain of apple being here - essentially tax-free - outweigh the huge benefits provided by the owed taxes?

more daunting implications for the future.

be jeopardised. We will be left to contend with the disadvantage of being a small, open economy on the outskirts of the EU, who has just been left in the lurch by their biggest trading partner.

The interests of the EU

Many people cannot understand the Irish government’s reticence to recoup 13 billion worth of tax from the Apple headquarters in Ireland, as ordered by the EU. In the Irish Times, Fintan O’Toole argues that low corporation tax is a thing of the past anyway, and that Ireland must step in line with EU standards. But the fact that Irish corporation tax tradition may be a “thing of the past” is precisely because of constant EU pressure to strip Ireland of one of its most important economic decisions. During the height of the recession, the EU, Germany and France in particular, endeavoured to bully the Dáil into increasing Irish corporation tax to their levels of almost 30%. Such an attempt, when Ireland was in the midst of austerity and economic stagnation primarily due to German banks, is evidence that, on this issue, the EU does not have Irish interests at heart. Rather, if Ireland raise their tax levels, we will no longer be distinguishable from Germany as a place of business, and our sole economic advantage will

How important is the current rate of corporation tax?

It’s understandable that the Irish Government would want to preserve an environment that would make us an attractive outpost for the world’s biggest companies, but to do this at the expense of claiming the most important dividends of these corporations seems like an idea borrowed from a free market ideology rather than a balanced look at the actual costs and benefits. It’s true that extremely low rates of tax have been a factor in creating a tech and finance orientated economy centred in Dublin, but they haven’t been the only factor; we’ve invested in education and local Irish start-ups, and we’ve been incredibly lucky to be the focus of things like the Web Summit and Moneyconf. We have built complex tech infrastructure in our colleges and invested

The moral question

Though Apple’s deal may be legal, many feel that large firms should be forced to pay more tax on a moral principle. This may well be the case in an ideal world. Sole traders who pay huge amounts of tax may well be incensed. Firstly, we must remember that the figures circulating about how little tax Apple are paying in Ireland are based on the denominator of their worldwide sales, not just their Irish ones, or even their European figures. In terms of worldwide sales, Apple pay a significant amount of tax here. Secondly, if Apple were to go, there would be no Apple tax paid to Ireland whatsoever, a loss which would be recouped by the government in taxing other earners in the country even more. Thirdly, as previously mentioned, the sweetheart deal with Apple lapsed in 2014, and so they will slowly begin to pay more tax, a trust-process which would be destroyed by claiming 13

in the people that work in the sector. Companies like Apple, Google, and Dropbox rely on the skills that we can uniquely offer by virtue of having thrown ourselves in this direction as a national economy, and to claim otherwise and not take what we are owed for this, would be selling ourselves short. Moreover, as Ireland will inevitably continue to charge companies the bare minimum of corporation tax within European Law, it seems unlikely that Apple, who will require a European base, will see it fit to move from a European country that fought for their right to evade tax to another that didn’t, and this is particularly unimaginable given all of our existing infrastructure. Perhaps you’re reading this and thinking about Britain as an option, post Brexit. It’s feasible that companies like Apple could up-shop and move to somewhere like Britain in the long run, but this seems unlikely when Britain has a much higher corporate tax rate than Ireland, and an uncertain

economic future, especially as to whether it can function as a base in Europe for global companies. If the European Commission want to stop Ireland from defying them, it seems ludicrous to think that they will offer Brexit terms to Britain that will be conducive to them stealing the European tech economy.

billion. The EU’s argument for recouping 13 billion in Ireland is that the government were offering unfair state aid to Apple above its competitors. This rule was introduced at an EU level to prevent monopoly. On this, Moore McDowell, Professor of Economics in UCD, begged the question, “So which other firm, which other competitor of Apple, is being harmed? Because there isn’t one.” He goes on to argue that, if it was the morally correct thing to do, and we took the 13 billion, where would we be in ten years, when another boost was needed? The moral question that is truly at the centre of this debate is that the EU wishes to bring Ireland into line on this issue, then slowly raise our 12.5%, no matter what the consequences for our long term economic health.

showed that about four-fifths of all corporate taxes for the same year were paid by nonIrish businesses.

“The death warrant of Irish industry”

The idea of increasing our corporation tax from 12.5% would be the death warrant of Irish industry. Firstly, it is not as though all multinational corporations do not pay corporation tax. The Revenue analysis of last year’s corporation tax

The moral issue

Let’s completely ignore the practicalities and likelihoods of Apple’s tax evasion for a moment though. It is wrong in principle to let a particular company evade tax for the sake of the people in a country who themselves pay tax. 58% of the respondents to a poll on thejournal.ie have said we should take the money. Public opinion seems to dictate that we should honour the EU’s decision, but our elected government have appealed in spite of this, pandering to the interest of a large foreign company rather than the people who elected them. And pandering to companies like Apple is a profoundly undemocratic step; it says that our

Ireland relies on multinational industry. According to Enterprise Ireland, The World Bank’s ‘Doing Business’ report rates Ireland as the easiest EU location to start a business. Moreover, Ireland was rated the best place in Europe to do business by Forbes magazine’s 2011 “Best countries for business” report. Ireland is attractive to large multinational corporations and they are a necessary pillar of our small economy. We must remember that the government’s fiscal policy has serious limitations. Fintan O’Toole notes that the 13 billion could be spent on a three year waiver of USC, a topic of debate in the current government. This suggestion illustrates the short-term effects of taking the money, and changing our corporate tax system. That is to say that any measures taken with the Apple lump-sum would have to, in the future, be backed up by the tax-payer’s money. USC, or a similar tax, will have to eventually

government is willing to take a back seat in the running of our country and economy, and allow our economy to descend into an uncertain corporate free-for-all, based on the idea that more money we don’t control is better than a little less money that we do. I’ve already touched on the services that we could offer if we take this money, but imagine all of the services we won’t be able to offer in the future if we don’t. It is also immoral to demand that we should take money from the income of our citizens to fund a tech infrastructure that will be used and abused by large companies, from whom we will demand nothing in return. Finally, it would be politically disastrous for Ireland to defy the European Commission on this ruling. As a small country and economy, we are reliant upon our position in the European Union and our ability to play nicely with other countries. Laws and rulings like the one we’re in defiance of are designed to stop countries in Europe from outcompeting each other in a race to the

bottom that benefits nobody, and repeatedly defying these laws and rulings can lead to sanctions and ostracisation from the group. In the case of Britain, repeatedly asserting they could ‘go-it-alone’ and maintaining a defiant exceptionalism provided few benefits, and let to many of the political factors that made the British people vote for Brexit: If British people felt that everyone was ganging up against them in Brussels, that was mainly because they refused to play the game by the rules that everyone else wanted to play by. If Ireland do the same thing, we may not like how the EU, as a body, chooses to respond. We are owed money that could be spent well in making the lives of Irish people better. We are losing political control to an angry EU and a cartel of self-interested Multinationals. We are better than the bargain bin economy our government want to sell us as. We have to take a bite out of Apple.

be reintroduced, council housing that could be built with 13 billion will have to maintained by the taxpayer, and so on.

corporations. This increased income of the country leads to more consumer demand, which is met by more supply, and an increased GDP.

If the Dáil accepts 13 billion, it is setting a precedent of fiscal policy. That is to say, our monetary policy, bolstered by investment from firms like Apple, is pushed onto rocky ground. The EU will be allowed to dictate both our fiscal policy, in forcing us to claim tax, and our monetary one, in stripping us of our attractiveness to foreign investment.

As such, if a message is sent to Apple, and other firms like it, such as Google, Yahoo, Intel, Amazon, Dell, Ebay, Facebook, and countless others, that Ireland is no longer an ally of business, our national income will fall. This will be felt on an individual level in households all over the country, not just restricted to the innumerable employees of such firms. The implications of this for the future are alarming. Our presently burgeoning IT sector will stagnate. Educated graduates and entrepreneurs will leave the country. The infrastructure that has been necessitated by multinational corporations locating in Ireland will develop no more. Therefore, petitions, such as Uplift.ie, urging Michael Noonan, “As the Minister for Finance you have a duty to protect and safeguard the interests of every man, woman and child in Ireland” are failing to recognise that by protecting our corporation tax, he is doing just that.

Apple itself, while in Ireland, must consume Irish goods and services of all descriptions, and its employing of Irish people endows them with spending power. Both result in a multiplier effect on the economy. Investment (Foreign Direct Investment or FDI) in Ireland by foreign corporations is exponentially magnified in Irish economic growth, and it is vital that we continue to encourage such investment. Countless other jobs are supported by more Irish people being empowered to spend by employers such as Apple, and other multinational

Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam? Feidhlim Mac Róibin argues that the bitter attitude towards Irish Language is rooted in deep national self-doubt Feidhlim Mac Róibín Contributor

dentity politics are universally fraught. Ireland is not alone in having bitter disagreements in relation to language policy; however, it is unusual that the disagreements do not form along the lines of two cultural traditions, but that rather the intensity of the debate represents a highly internalised and conflicted notion of nation, tradition and identity.

Contentious Debate

Recently, a student from the Gaeltacht was forced out of his job in a bar in Cork because the owner prohibited him from speaking Irish with other Irish speakers on the staff and with customers who wished to speak Irish. The manager claimed to have received complaints about Irish being spoken in the bar, and the barman refused to accept the condition that he only speak English, and was subsequently fired. For such a small story, the coverage and level of commentary on social media was immense. This has become predictable where the Irish language is concerned; similar levels of controversy have arisen when Irish speakers seek access to public services in the first official language of our state, or when the Government used Google Translate on the website of the 1916 Celebrations, or when the suggestion is made that Irish be removed from the compulsory Leaving Cert.

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The quest to assert a distinctive way of life for the Irish nation, which would no longer seek to ape Englishness to achieve respectability, gave birth to a political revolution.

The barman in Cork was instantly labelled a troublemaker; people claimed that the pub was “not the place” for Irish to be spoken, and Irish speakers were accused of trying to impose an identity on the “rest of us.”

The Status of the Irish Language

The Irish language has had an ever-changing – though consistently powerful – image in Irish politics since before the Famine. Until the late 19th Century, Irish was a symbol of destitution in Ireland, with parents and teachers going to brutal lengths to see that children abandoned the use of Irish and used English, so that they would fare better by emigrating to England or America. From the 1890s onwards however, the efforts of an eclectic group of academics and enthusiasts mushroomed into a national movement to preserve Ireland’s identity in terms of language, music, sport and literature. The quest to assert a distinctive way of life for the Irish nation, which would no longer seek to ape Englishness to achieve respectability, gave birth to a political revolution. For many at the time of the Irish Revolution, Irish represented, as Yeats put it: a tradition of life that existed before commercialism, and the vulgarity founded upon it; and we who would keep the Gaelic tongue and the Gaelic memories and the Gaelic habits of mind would keep them … that would spread a tradition of life that makes neither great wealth nor great poverty [and] that makes the arts a natural

expression of life… As Ireland in the 1950s became economically stagnant and plagued by emigration, Irish was again seen as an obstacle to modernity and a relic of a naïvely romantic vision of independence. With the emergence of the Language Freedom Movement, hostility towards the official promotion of Irish became a prominent and extremely divisive theme in politics. In addition, as violence in the north intensified, an interest in the Irish language was quickly stereotyped as inferred support for Provisional IRA republicanism.

Interest in Irish reaches new levels

However, Ireland became more secure about its nationhood as it has became more prosperous; economic strategy was no longer tied to the UK, the Peace Process began to deliver stability and Ireland discovered it had more to offer the world than a constant stream of young emigrants. On foot of renewed national selfconfidence, Irish regained an image as a positive and fundamental element of our living national culture. Demand for Irishmedium education soared; an Irish language TV station exceeded everyone’s expectations - people set up sports clubs, music societies, community radio stations and social groups, all with the key difference that they were conducted through Irish - the movement became one of youth, energy and creativity as Cumainn Gaelacha on university campuses thrived; and the number of people

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We must question whether formal independence was worth the terrible price that so many paid if it is not lived by the people through an independent and living culture.

who speak Irish increased in every new census.

The importance of identity

Yet there is still the residual and unwavering bitterness towards the language on the part of some. People insistently use terms like “dead language” and “on life-support” when all the indicators show the opposite. People who are twenty years too young to have experienced corporal punishment refer to Irish being “beat into me as a child.” People report that Irish has been of no use to them after it was “forced down their throat” at school—a charge that is never made against any other Leaving Cert subject, few of which are of direct practical benefit. The divisions surrounding the Irish language are not solely a matter of language, but the frontiers of a conflict over Irish identity as a whole. There has always existed in Ireland a notable sense of disavowal of Irish nationality, accompanied by a hesitance towards the political concept of Irish independence. Daniel O’Connell – himself a native Irish speaker – implored “respectable Roman Catholics” to become “West Britons” in order to attain the clout and prestige associated with the British Empire. Uncomfortable as it may be to acknowledge amid the prideful celebrations of the 1916 Rising, participants of the Rising were mocked and jeered by many of their compatriots. The notion that Irishmen and Irishwomen could unilaterally declare the sovereignty and independence of their country was, their detractors

thought, neurotic and absurd (a view advanced by former Taoiseach Richard Bruton today). The existence of a trend of self-doubt and pessimism is not be surprising in the Irish experience. Ireland was successfully colonised for centuries by cultivating the idea that nationhood had nothing to offer people, and the sooner it was shed, the sooner the lots of the people would improve. This mantra has been used by the most prominent colonial powers, leading to similar internal conflicts of nationhood. In his poetry, PH Pearse wondered “what if the dream come true? and if millions unborn shall dwell / In the house that I shaped in my heart.” While modern Ireland today is far from Pearse’s dream come true, it is a house that we would not have without the actions and sacrifice of Pearse and his contemporaries. We must question whether formal independence was worth the terrible price that so many paid if it is not lived by the people through an independent and living culture. We cannot claim that Ireland should be independent if Ireland is not a nation, and the single most powerful statement of Irish nationhood is the Irish language and the traditions associated with it. If Irish people in 2016 define aspects of life which are “not the place” for Irish to be heard, and where the national language is reduced to being a hobby of a few enthusiasts with time on their hands, Ireland’s independence is hollow; a tragically incomplete dream of dead patriots.

Trinity News | Tuesday 20th September

Comment

In Review

The key turned on our uncertainty

What Refugees? I Don’t See Any

A Newry native reflects on what it was to be European

Shauna Dillane, takes a critical look at Ireland’s response to the refugee crisis Shauna Dillane Contributor

reland to date has only managed to meet 7.8% of its promised refugee resettlement quota. The Irish Refugee Protection Programmes (IRPP) was established in September 2015 in response to the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe. The Department of Justice and Equality has described the IRPP as a multifaceted approach towards the international protection of refugees and has laid out the measures to be taken under this programme including the protection of up to 4,000 persons, the creation of a new Taskforce to deal with the logistical aspects of the support programme and the establishment of a network of Emergency Reception and Orientation Centres. However, a year on, the sluggish pace with which the IRPP have been working has ensured that few of the 4,000 have been welcomed on Irish shores. Due to the absence of a harmonised European approach towards migration policy, each country maintains the right to develop an individual migration strategy that must meet their European and international humanitarian obligations. As a result, the efficacy of many European migration strategies in the face of the worsening refugee crisis has faced constant criticism, and has been questioned by both international and Irish media. Conversely, very little emphasis has been placed on the lacklustre response of the Irish Government towards the refugee crisis and also on the operational success of the IRPP. Has the Irish Refugee Protection Programme produced tangible results in terms of ensuring that Ireland meet its humanitarian obligations towards

international refugees? Furthermore, is Ireland, as a nation that has faced mass migration throughout the centuries, ignoring its moral duties towards those seeking international protection? IRPP targets not being met As mentioned, in September 2015, the Government pledged to welcome up to 4,000 refugees through the Irish Refugee Protection Programme as part of the European response to the crisis. While this figure appears underwhelming it was a considerable increase from the 600 people that Ireland had previously agreed to. The figure of 4,000 includes approximately 2,600 persons to be taken in from migration hotspots in Italy and Greece and some 520 from Lebanon and Jordan. However, since the creation of the IRPP only 311 refugees have arrived in Ireland. In the year since the young Alan Kurdi’s death made global headlines, only one unaccompanied child has been welcomed into Ireland. Similarly, the Irish Refugee Council have requested that the government honour its commitment with regards to the relocation of asylum seekers from Greece and Italy, as not one person has been relocated from Italy and only 38 from Greece. Consequently, groups of NGOs have implored that the Government speed up the relocation process as the current pace is failing to meet Irish humanitarian obligations.

Ireland’s insufficient response

Concurrently, the uninspired response of the Irish government towards the refugee crisis deserves mentioning. President Michael D. Higgins stated that European countries failing to respond to their humanitarian obligations in the face of the current refugee crisis, should draw from the experience of the Irish during the Great Famine, in a speech at the unveiling

of the Glasnevin Famine Memorial this September. President Higgins referred to the marginalisation faced by Irish citizens who reached foreign shores during the mid-19th century and, as such, drew parallels with the negative public opinion towards refugees that has arisen throughout Europe as of late. In this way, the Irish reaction to the refugee crisis, having welcomed very few of the millions that have fled to Europe, appears to lack a certain recognition of our ancestors who were refugees in situations not dissimilar to those of current refugees. Furthermore, Ireland as a nation has experienced mass migration for centuries due to the consequences of poverty and cyclical depression. Many Irish families have a long history of emigration and in fact some estimates put the Irish diaspora – those claiming Irish ancestry - at over 70 million. Consequently, should the Irish government not find further means of increasing the operational efficiency of the IRPP in order to speed up the process by which refugees are welcomed into Ireland?

Integration Programme

The Irish integration strategy proves proficient as it is based on an intercultural approach with rights and responsibilities for both the receiving society and migrants. A cross-departmental IRPP Taskforce is led by the Department of Justice. The Taskforce organises emergency accommodation and orientation services in the first instance, and facilitates the longer term integration need of those arriving in Ireland. Following the arrival of refugees in Ireland they are placed under the Irish refugee resettlement programme that has been in operation since 2000. This comprehensive programme is chaired by the Office for

the Promotion of Migrant Integration (OPMI). The OPMI also coordinate the selection and the preparation of receiving communities throughout Ireland. An 8-10 week language training and orientation programme is provided by the Education and Training Board in cooperation with OPMI as a fundamental element of the integration process. Furthermore, crèche facilities are provided for adults attending the programme and education provisions are made for children. Nonetheless, the difficulties faced by refugees during the integration process in Ireland have been highlighted on a number of occasions by members of the Dáil. Deputies have repeatedly underlined the need for further support mechanisms for those transitioning from direct provision in emergency accommodation to life in the Irish community. Moreover, the Irish Refugee Council argued that more needs to be done to ensure that those offered a home in Ireland are given to opportunity to fully integrate into their allocated communities. As Minister for Justice and Equality Frances Fitzgerald stated, “these refugees are human beings, not simply numbers”. Reaching the target set by the Irish Refugee Protection Programme of welcoming 4,000 refugees to Irish shores by 2017 remains a remote possibility due to the languid pace with which refugees are being processed and welcomed into Ireland. How will future generations perceive the relative passivity of the Irish towards the refugee crisis? More importantly, will those 4,000 refugees that reach Ireland be able to integrate wholly and become Irish citizens or will they face social isolation? It is, after all, a ‘crisis’ that requires speedy and effective solutions to provide fundamental humanitarian aid and protection.

What is left after Stephen Donnelly? On foot of recent events, it is not unthinkable to question the survival of the Social Democrats as a viable political entity in the Dáil Stephen Frain Contributor

t’s hard to believe it is just over 6 months ago that Stephen Donnelly was hoisted to roaring electoral success on foot of 14,348 first preference votes in his home constituency of Wicklow. He was, until last week, one of the three joint members of the emerging force in Ireland, the Social Democrats. In the new environment that is the so-called “New Politics”, many predicted a rapid rise to success for the burgeoning left wing party. However on foot of recent events, it is not unthinkable to question the survival of the Social Democrats as a viable political entity in the Dáil. Stephen Donnelly’s resignation has hit at the core of the party’s establishment and has dealt a firm blow to left wing politics as a whole in the country. “It is a fact that some partnerships, in every walk of life, simply don’t work no matter how hard all of the parties to that partnership try to make it succeed”, Donnelly said in his resignation statement. But that said, much has left to be answered as to why such a situation arose that one of the joint leaders would cut all ties with the party he helped establish. Tension, sources within the party say, have been growing since the aftermath of the election.

Source of tension

The Social Democrats had not made their pre-election targets but nonetheless they returned their three sitting TDs. Comparatively speaking, when the Social Democrats results are weighed up against other left wing parties such as Sinn Féin, who failed to capitalise

on predicted gains, and Labour who faced almost utter annihilation, the party all in all didn’t have too bad of a showing. Indeed, Fine Gael’s government formation presented a perfect opportunity for the Social Democrat’s to come into the fore, and even potentially sneak a few ministerial roles and a role in government. This is exactly what Donnelly himself was saying. The problem arose when fellow leaders, Catherine Murphy and Roisin Shorthall were not singing off the same hymn-sheet. Tensions in the party have been growing ever since, with the final straw coming over a disagreement on the Social Democrats stance on the Apple controversy. But the biggest question of all is not in fact why the split and snap resignation occurred, but rather the impact it will have on future of liberal and leftist politics in the country in years to come. The Labour Party, Ireland’s oldest political party, were decimated in the last election and have been left fighting for their lives. Many tipped this to be the opportunity for the Social Democrats to flourish and potentially upstage Labour as the dominant force for left-wing Ireland where so many others before them had failed. The loss of key player such as Stephen Donnelly puts this firmly out of reach in the near future, if not indeed outside of the realms of plausibility for electoral generations to come.

Political compromise

That said, Donnelly’s resignation underscores

a recurring dichotomy in Irish politics. Both on the left and on the right, politics of late has been caught in a grappling struggle between idealism and pragmatism. Irish Labour who until 2011 at least, were the standardbearer for working-class voters in the country. The decision to go into coalition with Fine Gael 5 years ago, was an attempt to bring their ideals to the table, but alas coalition is never that easy. Governance, most certainly in proportional representation systems such as Ireland, requires compromise and collaboration, which ultimately requires a bit of pragmatism. But this comes at a steep price. Just as Irish Labour learned this year, and the Liberal Democrats in the UK realised in 2015, and the Irish Greens before them in 2011, the electorate is rarely sympathetic to parties who compromise on their ideals to play a role in government. Stephen Donnelly’s desire to open negotiations with Fine Gael for a coalition was a perfect example of political pragmatism. Shorthall and Murphy’s desire to stay on the backbenches and develop themselves as a voice of opposition is a case in hand example of idealism. However idealism does not necessarily get you influence in politics, and being an idealistic opposition politician, does not make for a very commendable career resume. The decision between “sticking to your guns” or “having a shot” at leadership is not an easy one.

Rise of the Independents

That being said, the fact that Donnelly has now splintered the one party that

many people thought had the best shot at bringing the ideals of social democracy to the table in Ireland does not bode easily. Donnelly has in effect set a ticking time bomb on the self-implosion of the party he helped create. One could dismiss this as a case of bitter infighting and one politician cutting off his nose to spite his face. But that may well not be the case at all. In the current political environment, there is no better time to be an independent politician. One only has to cast their mind back five years ago to when the once prominent Fine Gael TD Denis Naughton cut ties with his party over a disagreement on Roscommon Hospital. For his penance he did spend 5 years on the sidelines, but now he is one of the celebrated independent ministers in Dáil ÉIreann. One would certainly not be remiss for questioning whether Donnelly has similar motivations. Indeed, the rumoured resignation of John Halligan from the cabinet makes such a theory almost too convenient. This may well not be the case, only time will tell whether history will cast Stephen Donnelly as a pragmatist and true governor destined for power, or a politician who imploded his own party and their vision for Ireland in pursuit of a hopeless cause. In the world of so-called new politics, the ultimate playing field of negotiation and political parlance, our guess is as good as anyone else’s.

Brónach Rafferty Contributor

úr Cinn Trá; the yew tree at the head of the strand. If my town, Newry, is the head, then the EU was the neck and backbone that gave it support in harder times. The head of the strand, the frontier, the edge. It seems that that is where my town now finds itself, on the edge. This post-Brexit situation is a strange, precarious position in which to be. It is unsteady and unpredictable, a series of known unknowns. Brexit has come to pass, and yet it hasn’t. It is a phantom reality. I think of Europe, and I think of what it is to be European. Truth be told, I have never really considered myself European. To me, a European was someone who lived on the continent, who drank small, strong shots of espresso and who smoked long, thin cigarettes. I have always felt that I simply lived on an island of an island, existing on the edge of something bigger. And that is in many what I feel Europe represents, the other. Europe means an openness, a greater diversity, and an accessibility to different ways of thinking. So in having chosen to leave Europe, is it this too that we have chosen to leave behind? I think of my town, of Newry, of the little edge of the world from where I come.

My town that straddles the border and is neither fully Northern nor fully Southern. What does Brexit mean for her? The morning of the referendum result I genuinely believed that we would all wake up and laugh at how we almost tried to leave the EU. I left my town and came down on the bus to Dublin, because “we” did try to leave the EU, and “we” succeeded in such trying. And those who voted to leave were not irrational in their voting. These were people who felt that they were not being heard, people who were fed up with the way things were. This was them voting and making themselves heard. And now we are in the aftermath, and it is unchartered territory and I don’t really know what to think. Like new parents, it seems that no one in government is quite sure as to what they should be doing. And I must admit that it doesn’t feel as though a whole lot has changed, but there is now a heaviness that didn’t previously exist. Home is still home, but people are concerned about what happens next. It’s not the apocalypse people feared, but nor is it anything to hold up as an example of anti-EU propaganda. My town voted to stay, and is being forced

against her will to pack her bags and leave. Theresa May herself despite being proRemain, understands that once you choose to leave, you cannot half leave. You leave, you go, you be gone. My town’s name in Irish could be translated as meaning the yew tree at the head of the strand. And perhaps the head is now a hinterland. My town has always felt small, but now it feels smaller. The EU opened doors, and opened borders. My town had her fair share of Troubles, and the European Union helped to soothe those too. Things were better in the good old days, when we part of the European Union, perhaps we’ll say. Or perhaps we won’t. It remains to be seen. I read recently part of six of Yeats’ “Meditations in Time of Civil War: The Stare’s Nest by My Window”, and in the wake of Brexit, I have somehow strangled its interpretation and reappropriated its meaning as it suits me best now. “We are closed in,” writes Yeats, “and the key is turned on our uncertainty.” What Brexit promised is not what Brexit will be able to provide, and it is here that Yeats’ lines seem most astute, “We had fed the heart on fantasies, The heart’s grown brutal from the fare.”

Perspective of a Fresher: will I like what I see?

A junior freshman realises that he knows nothing about his chosen course, but it still curious about college life

Aidan Carolan Contributor

fter years of build-up, the time has finally come to start college. And I'm not sure how I feel. I mean, on one hand, I spent most of last year dreaming of this moment. The thought of starting college once the Leaving Cert passed into distant memory offered considerable solace during some of sixth year's darkest times, like when I found myself in two separate libraries in the same day (doing the same stupid physics question). All that pressure, all those hours spent pouring over Emily Dickinson and those thoroughly riveting calculus questions, and it's all led to this - a new school, a new course, a whole new life (as well as a puppy room, if the legends really are true). So shouldn't I feel more excited? This is the first time that I'll have the chance to actually choose what I study. Gone are the worries of passing higher maths to

grab an extra 25 points; for the next four years all I'll be working on will be the course that I chose. The only way that could possibly go wrong would be if, say, I'd gone for a course like law. Now, this is a subject with which, aside from the first few seasons of Suits (I gave up once it got boring), and that guy I know who told me about that guy he knows who interned as a solicitor and hated every second of it, I have absolutely no experience. Imagine choosing to study something until 2020 that you've never even heard mentioned in school. If you can imagine that, you probably don't need to imagine why I might be a smidge apprehensive about starting college. But college obviously isn't all about learning and, just because the jury's still out when it comes to the course ( jury, law, I know, why should I be worried at all, right?), that doesn't mean I won't enjoy myself at college. I can't wait for Freshers' Week, it'll be amazing to meet all those new

people and dive into societies catering for every taste from traditional music (apparently still a thing, who knew) and botany to hiking and jazz. If I'm honest with myself, that's the stuff I'm most excited about when I think about starting college. It's not just a follow up to school or a nice little springboard to a job, it's a fresh start. It's the best opportunity I'll ever get to forge my own identity, on my own terms. All the change might be overwhelming at first but, with a bit of time, I'd say I'll settle right into the different routine, the different environment, and the different me. Who's to say whether I'll like the course or not. That's something that either will happen or won’t, all I can really hope for from college is that I'll get to explore new ways of seeing my world and myself. All I can really hope is that I like what I see.

Trinity News | Tuesday 20th September

Op-ed The rise of the new racism Old racism was based on blood and biology. New racism is based on culture and religion Bláithín Sheil Deputy Comment Editor Gone are the days of segregation and fascism, when your life chances depended on the colour of your skin or eyes. Now your job prospects depend on how qualified you are, rather than where you came from. Equal opportunity is the mantra, we all begin at the same start line, the winner being he who works hardest. We are all equal. Except that this is not how it works. We find crafty excuses that mask the truth. We are meant to have equal opportunity, but some of us are born into it, while others don’t even know where to look, because nobody cares to tell them. New racism is not embodied by segregation and blatant discrimination, but rather by persistent and systematic inequality, racial differentiation, and social stigma. Old racism was based on blood and biology. New racism is based on culture and religion. 21st century Europe is a paradox, in theory we celebrate diversity, we laud that the world is more connected today than ever before. But, when it comes to religion and culture, your label is still as important as your skin colour once was. We are all guilty of this.

Europe: a place to call our own

Europe was founded on the ideal of a community that could peacefully exist, tolerance of one another being one of the aims, along with economic cooperation and prosperity. It started out so well, but Europe has evolved from a community that rejects division, to quite a divided union. On one hand, we like to get along with each other, Europe sees itself as a self contained paradise, all of our beautiful freedoms to be enjoyed by the Europeans. But bring outsiders into the mix, and we suddenly get protective of what we have. France and Britain are the

most obvious examples to discuss at this time, but we in Ireland are also culpable.

France: from unité to division

France’s historical struggle against the Catholic Church is characterised by their secular state. No religion is to be favoured. In the 1800s, laicité, secularism, was one of France’s strengths, setting them out as a modern society, accepting of all religions, favouring none. This should have meant that they didn’t get involved at all. How inconsistent though, they banned the Burkini, for goodness sake. That’s not disinvolvement, that’s control. They had also banned the hijab for a while, luckily that did not last long either. The secular policy was meant to unite the French people by something other than religion; their French nationality. Religion was to become part of the private sphere. But this secular policy has swung so far in the wrong direction that your religion is as defining as your skin colour used to be in America. Rather than not getting involved in religious affairs, the state has taken an interventionist role in ensuring that no religion has any advantage, resulting in public hostility to minority religions. But the Catholic church is already at an advantage. By the time France became secular, the magnificent churches were already built, the communities already established, the power and wealth already in the hands of the bourgeoisie. When the Muslims want to build a new mosque they are refused state funds, as that would be favouring Islam over another religion. The injustice lies in the fact that the Catholics don't need to ask for state assistance. Firstly because they already have a church on every street corner, and secondly, because they have money. It’s old money, money that comes from wealthy benefactors. The wealthiest French people are very likely

Catholic. Take Versailles, one of the wealthiest regions in Paris. It has a very strong Catholic presence. Secularism in a French context, in some situations, is a guise for racism. The old-French don't like the new face of their country, that is to say, the immigrants. But the French Muslims are no less French than the Catholics. The reality is that the French are no longer all white and blonde. I know an athlete who has competed for France, he is Muslim, but he had as much right as his team mates to wear the French singlet. In an everyday setting where I knew him, he was French born and bred, and very proud to be, but the colour of his skin and his private religious views are still enough to matter. The rise of Le Front National, the extreme rightwing and racist political party led by Le Pen is a testament to the growing unrest at the multicultural face of France. It doesn’t make sense, we thought such ridiculous discrimination was over - World War II taught us enough. Yet there they are, being outright racist to their own countrymen.

The United Kingdom

Brexit. Anyone trying to deny that race and immigration played a part in this decision is in denial. It was scare tactics at its finest, only comparable to Trump’s baffling popularity. Incomprehensible. In response to the migrant crisis, Britain decided it wanted to take control of its borders once again, lest the foreigners come and infiltrate the homeland.The unstated, but obvious aim of the Leave campaign was to reclaim British whiteness. The working class were told that they were suffering economically because of the mass immigration, burdening public services and filling up their jobs. The wealthy are just as guilty, they were also persuaded that immigration

was going to make them poorer. But the people arguing that economic issues arise due to immigration do not identify as racist, rather they see it as a logical explanation; Britain can only let in so many people. It’s hypocritical, because according to the 2011 census, of the 63 million inhabitants, 87% were white, meaning that 13% of the population are not. 13% may seem small, but it still amounts to about 8 million people. These 8 million did not just arrive on the doorstep in 2016, they are first, second, third generation immigrants, as British as the next chap. It’s hypocritical, because while the UK was a willing member of the EU, its students were sent abroad on erasmus programmes, its graduates had their choice of country in which to work, and its families roamed freely on holidays. At the same time, they didn’t want migrants. They wanted to have their cake and eat it. But now, it’s pretty clear that once your cake is eaten, well, it’s gone. It is worth noting that the UK’s most decorated distance runner, Mo Farah, is an immigrant from Somalia. He arrived when he was eight. But when celebrating his success his race does not come into question. Does one have to be an Olympian and record holder in order to prove their Britishness? He says that although he is African born, when he runs, he runs only for the United Kingdom. He is as British as the next person, just listen to him speak.

Ireland

The Irish do not seem to be as outwardly racist as the others. We don’t hear of hate crimes, or race-themed attacks too often. But what does not sit right is our silent inactivity on the European migration crisis. Ireland has a shocking amount of diaspora, an estimated 50 to 80 million people around the world have Irish roots. In our desperate hour the world allowed us to move. We migrated due to

famine, conflict and economic issues. Sound familiar? These happen to be the same reasons people migrate today. When the going got tough, we left in search of better. On the famine ships, the biggest fear was a shipwreck due to treacherous waters, not due to corrupt people sending unequipped little lifeboats out into the ocean. On the other side, we were allowed work. We were not sent to Direct Provision centres, not fit for living, but within which migrants are trapped. This is not to deny that the Irish abroad encountered some racism themselves as immigrants, but at least they were allowed into the country, and were allowed the opportunity to work. Our immigrants are denied this chance. In the Celtic Tiger years we welcomed the influx of Eastern Europeans because it suited us. They minded our babies, cleaned our houses, made our sandwiches. They were glad to have jobs and we were glad to have them filled. New migrants are no different to those that came in 2007, they just want a peaceful life where they can earn an honest living in safety. Why the hostility? What is our problem with migrants, and why won’t we let them in? When it does not suit us, we change the rules. So yes, we, as Europeans, are still racist. Though not explicit in the way things used to be, it seems that we have become craftier at harbouring our racist views. Culture and religion are now as defining as skin colour used to be (and still is), as we move towards a world of new racism. While once we were poor and needed to move abroad, we saw no problem in migration. While once we had a job market that needed filling, we had no problem with foreign people filling those positions. But once we gather a bit of wealth, we mount our high horses, and look down at those below us.

College is real, gut-wrenching, terrifying freedom What we spend time on becomes part of who we are, and so deciding how to spend your time is also about deciding who you want to be Rory O'Sullivan

Deputy Comment Editor

AST WEEK A FRIEND of mine, an incoming fresher in Law and Politics, messaged me: “My timetable is awfully sparse”, he said. He was referring to the 15 contact hours a week - a good number, in my estimation. “Welcome to college”, I said. If your degree ever brings you near the Arts Block, your timetable is going to look similarly “sparse”. In secondary school, hours are around 9-4 every day – 35 contact hours – together with homework and study that mean that academics take up the vast majority of anyone’s time. The workload in college is far lower, and the hours far more irregular. You could be in at 9AM one day, 1PM the next. In a whole year at Trinity last year I never felt like I really developed a routine; every day was, at least in its rhythm, awfully different.

Your time is yours

This shouldn’t worry you: this is, in its way, a lot of what college is about. In secondary education, your time regimented. Other people decide what you do

between when you wake up and when you go to sleep – when you work, when you take breaks, when you have your piano lesson. In college, for the first time in your life, your time is yours; you learn whatever and however you want. You don’t even have to do those 15 hours of contact if you don’t want to. In fact, you don’t really have to do anything as long as you pass your exams. Your experience at Trinity is whatever you choose to spend time on. It is defined by the friends, lectures, and societies that you choose. It will also be defined by the ones that you don’t choose - you will have to choose not to do some things, because 8 things will be going on at once and you can’t do them all. Learning in college works very differently: it isn’t a teacher tracking your progress and guiding you through everything; instead, you are given information in a lecture, which you discuss or build on in a tutorial, and are then expected to make sense of – and add to – by yourself at home or in the library. It’s your job to do the actual learning. This opens up new opportunities: most assessments in college have a lot of choice in them, to give you space to read out in whichever direction you prefer, and most modules will not give you anything

CARTOON

resembling homework, so that you get to choose what you spend your time on. There might 15 contact hours, but how many hours you spend on your course is your decision. And often you will skip lectures to do other things, and that’s okay. Societies can be the most important and rewarding experiences – and even the beginning of a career – for an awful lot of people. It might be that on a given day you get more out of doing a debate than going to a Sociology tutorial. You might have wanted to keep up the language you did at Leaving Cert, but the FrenchSoc meet on the same night as VTP. Maybe you’ll decide to go and see a guest speaker in the evening, but find that by 6 you’re tired and hungry and just want to go home. Most of all, what college offers you is access: it offers you the chance to construct your dayto-day experience. There is no great authority overseeing the choices you make about what to do and where to go and not go.

Responsibility

Everyone in Trinity has a story like mine: I came into college from Cork, not really knowing anybody, not knowing what to expect, and coming into a course that I had switched to at the last

minute in June. My first few months were a panic; I went to very few of my lectures, talked to almost no one, and shut myself up in Halls for stretches without cooking for myself or eating properly. Gradually, I pulled it together – I realised that I loved my course, got involved with some societies and made friends. One thing I had taken for granted in school was that I didn’t need to make any effort to see my friends, for they would always be there during and between classes. In college, you often won’t see people unless you arrange to see them, especially if you’ve only just met them since coming to college. Those lessons will take time to learn, and the adjustment from school is hard to make. Ultimately, if you get used to your new time and space and start to use it well, you’ll come to really love what you’re doing. The new responsibility is scary. It’s scary to wake up at 11 and feel like you’re not doing it properly. It’s even scary to click ‘going’ on Facebook events and then not go to them, making you feel like you’re letting opportunities slip by. No one is any good at using their time well, especially at the beginning, simply no one has any experience in doing it before. It’s like throwing shallow swimmers into the

deep end for the first time. It also forces you to ask some difficult questions, because what we spend time on becomes a large part of who we are, and so deciding how to spend your time is also about deciding who you want to be. It can be much easier some days to avoid those questions altogether and sleep in, only to regret it, and get in at lunchtime. Or you can spend the day at the Pav and reject everything that college throws at you. You usually won’t feel on top of things. Part of me wishes that here I could write some pieces of advice – some kind of guide for burning through the difficult bits – but that’s the point: there isn’t one. College is freedom - real, gut-wrenching, terrifying freedom. It’s only by embracing it by taking it as it comes, and sometimes by trying new things, that you’ll come to rise to it. You’ll come to learn things about yourself that you didn’t know, and do things you didn’t think you were capable of doing. If college is a place where people discover themselves, then that, more than anything else, is how they do.

Editorial

Membership of the student union

The question of a legal challenge to automatic student union membership by a number of pro-life students raises important issues about both the purpose of the union, and to what extent it should take a stance on political issues. It is the opinion of this paper that a student union, like all unions, is a fundamentally political body. Student Unions arose in the 1960's and 1970's out of a recognition of students as a group within society with a need to for a voice. Inevitably student unions like TCDSU began to campaign on those issues that students cared about, taking stances in the last few decades on everything from the cold war and capitalism, to LGBTQ rights and - since the 1980's - abortion in Ireland. Students have been at the forefront of fighting to repeal the 8th amendment since that time. It is very understandable that people would not wish to be part of an organisation that campaigns for something they regard as against their own deeply held personal beliefs. However, the broader issues is not one of abortion, but rather the very existence of TCDSU as a 'union'. Like trade unions, student unions take a leading role in lobbying, campaigning and 'taking a seat at the table' for their members. Their power comes from those same members - how many they have, namely. For decades a defining feature of trade unions has been de facto mandatory membership. Although voluntary association as a principle is important, so is collective bargaining - the ability unions have to bargain on behalf of all those who they represent. Unions are a seperate category to other organisations as the argeements they negotiate apply universally (at least they should) - if a bus union wins a better contract, that applies to all bus workers, not just those who are in the union. As such, to avoid freeriders benefiting from agreements and services provided universally by unions membership must be essentially mandatory, or at least, not a simple 'opt out' process. Consider TCDSU, which provides everything from accomodation advice, to welfare services, to shops and political campaigns. Most if not all Trinity students will interact will TCDSU at some point, often regularly. 'Opting out' of all those services would be close to impossible to practically do. Moreover, if USI and TCDSU are successful in fighting for greater third level funding or reduced student fees, that would affect those who 'opted out' as well - even though they would not have contributed their union dues unlike almost all other students. Students Unions are, and have been for some time, very flawed organisations. Often deeply bureaucratic and apolitical, there is much that needs reform. However, they remain the foremost vehicle for students to have their voices heard, and as such remain important and valuable institutions. Those who now take legal advice should consider an infinitely better alternative; to use the same route that those who campaigned for the SU to take a pro-choice position did. The SU remains democratic; those who disagree with it's positions can push for referendums and motions and, if they are convincing enough, change those positions. If they fail, well, such is the nature of democracy.

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Trinity News | Tuesday 20th September

InDepth

Ireland’s student accommodation Peter O'Donovan InDepth Editor

he enormous increase in the number of students in third level education over the past several decades and the rapid population growth in Irish cities have created a situation where there is fierce competition for space to live in Dublin and in other cities that host third level educational institutions throughout the country. The Higher Education Authority (HEA) has estimated that 25,000 new beds for students are needed nation wide and the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) has stated that the current lack of accommodation has forced some students to drop out of college and has led to a host of negative situations among students who do manage to stay in college. These include taking on unaffordable leases, sleeping on friend’s couches or in poor quality accommodation and commuting from other counties to study in Dublin. Here, Trinity News InDpeth looks at the changes in Irish demographics and third level attendance that have created this crisis, and some of the suggested solutions, with a focus on the crisis in Dublin and in Trinity. The total overall number of students attending third level educational institutions in Ireland has consistently risen every single year since at least 1965 and in 2014 there were roughly 217,520 students studying in third level institutions throughout the country, once Universities (postgraduate and undergraduate degrees), institutes of technology and teacher training courses are all taken into account. While accurate numbers for 2016 are not available, given the rising number of CAO and other applications to Irish college it is likely that the present number of students is even higher. There are currently over 80,000 full time students in Dublin alone. Each year, the number of students looking for a space to live increases as the number of new applications to study in Irish colleges increases. A record 76.000 applications were made to Irish college courses via the CAO in 2016 when applications to level 6, 7 and 8 courses are all considered. Of these, 18,469 applications were made to study in Trinity. Of course, not all CAO applications are successful, and foreign students apply to Irish colleges through means other than the CAO, so these figures give only an estimate of how much the student cohort has increased this year. However, they do give a strong sense of the massive increase in demand for places

in 3rd level education that has occurred in the recent past and that is driving the shortage of living space for incoming and current 3rd level students. The graph below shows the rise in the number of students attending third level over the past fifty years, especially the dramatic spike in the last ten years. At the same time as the rise in the number of students attending third level education, Ireland’s population has grown. Based on Eurostat figures from a 2014 survey, the republic of Ireland has the fastest population growth in EU, with the highest birth rate and second lowest death rate. The graph below shows how Ireland’s population has grown over the past 50 years. At the same time as overall population growth, internal migration has occurred. For the most part people have moved from rural areas to cities, often cities that host third level institutions. Thus we have a larger population that is more concentrated in cities than it was before. Even before the issue of student accommodation is taken into account, Ireland’s cities have failed to respond adequately to the housing needs created by this population increase. There are currently 730 families in emergency accommodation throughout Ireland and an estimated 5,100 homeless according to the Peter McVerry Trust. The need to host students who want to live close to their chosen college creates

an even greater difficulty for college cities. Comparing the two graphs above, it is clear that student numbers have risen at a higher rate than the population has grown: not only are there more people, but a much higher percentage of them are attending college. In 1965 roughly 0.63% of the population was enrolled full time in a third level institute, while in 2014 that proportion had climbed to roughly 4.73%. This is a positive trend in terms of access to third level education, but it also means that the infrastructure around Irish universities and colleges was not originally designed to cater to as many people as it is now expected to. The accommodation crisis highlights this issue, as neither the buildings belonging to the colleges themselves nor the buildings in the surrounding cities have sufficient space for all the students from outside the city who want an education. Trinity College offers just over 1000 student living spaces in Halls, in addition to over 600 bedrooms in campus accommodation. Trinity has an overall student population of roughly 17,000 students. While many students continue living at home during college, many others wish to move out, so the accommodation offered by Trinity itself is not nearly enough to cater for all of its students. The overall amount of housing suitable for student living in Dublin

Total full time enrolment in third level instituions in the Republic of Ireland, 1965-2014

H.E.A Institutions (excludes RCSI)

Full Time Enrollement

Institutes of Technology / Killybegs / H.T.C / Tipperary Institute Total Third Level

is difficult to estimate, as the city has very little purpose built student accommodation outside of college campuses. Most apartments rented by students were not built specifically to house college students, so college students are competing with working adults and families for places to rent. Many landlords prefer not to rent to students, seeing adult tenants and families as more in need of the accommodation and possibly more in need of the space. Students are therefore at a disadvantage when trying to secure some of the limited accommodation that does exist. Naturally, given market laws of supply and demand, the shortage of accommodation in conjunction with the spike in demand has led to a rise in prices. A recent report from property website Daft. ie showed that the cost of renting in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Waterford rose by between 8 and 10% over the past year depending on the city and the average rent price nationally has risen by 30% since 2012. Based on the DIT student cost of living guide produced for Daft.ie, the national mean average rent paid per month by students is 325, while the mean for Dublin specifically is higher at 418 per month, although Dublin prices are wildly different in different parts of the county. In some cases these prices have forced students from other counties to commute daily

to their Dublin colleges, as they simply cannot afford to pay the rent on top of other student living expenses. “Digs” are currently being touted as a possible solution to the squeeze on living space around colleges. “Digs” refers to a situation where a student lives in the spare room of a family living near their college of choice for five or seven days a week in exchange for paying rent. This allows students and local residents to live in the same building and so hopefully allows more people’s accommodation needs to be satisfied using a smaller number of buildings and less land. The number of students currently living in Digs is unknown, and it is very difficult to estimate how many families in Dublin or other university cities could feasibly rent out a room, so how much of the crisis can be solved by students availing of Digs remains unclear. Other possible solutions to the crisis were suggested in a report on Irish student accommodation issues that was written by the HEA in 2015. An edited version of the report was eventually published and is available on the HEA website. The main suggestion of the published version is the creation of an interdepartmental steering group to examine the reasons for the accommodation crisis and try to incentivize the creation of new student housing. The published version left out several

suggestions from the original report (which was disclosed to the Irish Times due to a Freedom of information request). These included implementing a 0 VAT rate on student accommodation and making on-campus bed spaces exempt from Local Property Tax (LPT). The second suggestion was dropped partly due to the Department of Finance saying that exemptions to LPT currently applied only to charitable organizations and should not be expanded to 3rd level educational institutions. The Department of Finance also claimed that reducing VAT on student accommodation to 0 percent would not be allowed under Article 110 of the EU VAT directive, which prevents EU member states from introducing new exemptions on VAT outside of specific circumstances laid out in the rest of the directive. The Department of Finance seemed similarly unimpressed by the HEA’s suggestion to incentivize the creation of new student accommodation via a special tax credit system, saying that “It is difficult to analyze the document properly and provide detailed observations on such scant material” and that the idea showed “a fundamental lack of understanding of the tax system”. The current accommodation crisis presents a massive challenge to 3rd level institutions

as they attempt to widen their reach and take in ever increasing number of students in an equitable manner that is accessible to students from both urban and rural backgrounds. As there is no sign that current trends in Irish population growth and increase in number of students attending 3rd level education are likely to change, creative solutions to finding more space for students will need to be sought. It is necessary that other parts the Irish government work closely with bodies like the HEA and the USI to come up long term solutions to ensure that the crisis dies down as well as short term solutions to give the current crop of third level students a place to live while they study. The dismissal of the HEA’s suggestions out of hand by the Department of Finance shows the wrong attitude to the crisis. Alternative avenues to procuring further accommodation need to be explored and oddball suggestions like the ones in the original HEA report need to be thoroughly analyzed (though possibly reworked) to ensure that viable solutions to lessen the crisis are actually used. The recent refusal by an Bord Pleanála to grant planning permission for the development of student accommodation via redevelopment of Oisín House on Pearse Street further indicates the government does not appreciate the urgency of the current student accommodation crisis. Plans to build a 500 bed student apartment at the former Industrial Development Agency site on Gardiner street, to be finished by 2017, are a more positive development. With the current accommodation crisis unlikely to abate any time soon, a number of resources have been created to give students a better chance of finding a place to live while they study. Daft.ie will be the first port of call for many students looking to rent, and in addition findahome. ie, myhome.ie, rent.ie and ie.easyroommate.com all offer services that should reduce the difficulty of finding somewhere to live. Those looking for digs can check out getdigs.ie and homes.usi.ie. In addition to these websites, the Student union in Trinity run an Accommodation advisory service which offers a drop in service in August, September and January in addition to general advice throughout the year. Student unions in other colleges run similar services. The noticeboard emails you will receive on your tcd email account often list places to rent. Lastly be sure to contact anyone you know who lives in the city you want to live in in case they can give you any leads.

Trinity News | Tuesday 20th September

In depth

The Real Cost of Hosting The Olympics InDepth editor Ronan Mac Giolla Rua takes a look into just how much it costs to host the Olympic Games, and why countries so often underestimate this. Ronan Mac Giolla Rua InDepth Editor

he Olympics is one of the largest events in the world, and with the most recent games in Rio having 308 events in 28 sports and over 11,000 competitors, hosting it is sure to be quite expensive. However, a new study, led by Bent Flyvbjerg of the University of Oxford’s SAID Business School, suggests that it’s not just that the Olympics itself is expensive, but that bidding countries always underestimate the final cost of the event. They looked at data relating to the direct sports- related costs for both Summer and Winter Olympics since 1960, and found that the average cost overrun, that is, how much more the event ended up costing than was originally budgeted, is 156%. The importance of accounting for this cost overrun cannot be overstated, as once host cities are decided upon, they are then locked into an agreement that they will pay for any extra expenditure that they have to incur. This has led to countries raking up huge amounts of unexpected

debt, which can often have severe consequences on the country’s economy. For example, the debt associated with the 2004 Olympics in Athens contributed to Greece’s economic crisis, and just earlier this summer, Rio de Janeiro’s governor was forced to declare a state of emergency to secure additional funding for the games. Comparison to other megaprojects While cost overrun is natural, especially when it comes to megaprojects such as roads, bridges, railways, and dams, the Olympics is almost unique in that it is the only such megaproject to always run over budget. Other megaprojects all also require a huge amount of capital investment, but while cost overrun is likely with these projects, it is by no means a certainty. Flyvbjerg’s study found that typically 1020% of other megaprojects come in at or below their original forecast.Not so with the Olympics however, as for the past 60 years every single Olympics has cost more than originally planned. The scale of the overrun is also much greater with the Olympics. The average cost overrun for the Olympics is

156%, which is much higher than the average overrun of 20% for roads, 34% for bridges and tunnels, 36% for energy projects, 45% for rail, 90% for dams, and 107% for major IT projects. Flyvbjerg’s team suggest that the reason for this is most likely down to the Olympics having a fixed deadline, so unlike with other major projects, there can be no trade-off between schedule and cost. Combined with the fact that host countries are legally bound to pay for all cost overruns, Flyvberg and his colleagues equate hosting the Olympics to writing a blank cheque for the event, as the only way to solve any problems that arise is to throw money at them in order to fix them on time. A possible conclusion to be drawn from this is that Rio may have been better off foregoing the Olympics, and putting the money towards these kinds of infrastructural projects instead. It is likely both that the projects themselves could have been targeted better, through not having to focus on the Olympics when upgrading them, and that the associated cost overrun would have been much less, meaning they would have had a more

accurate budget for the costs involved. Comparison to previous games With the total sports related costs for the games coming in at $4.6 billion, the Rio Olympics is roughly 50% over the budget they had drawn up when they bid to the host the games in 2009. However, this pales in comparison to the 289% cost overrun at the most recent Winter Olympics in Sochi, and the 789% overspend at the Montreal Games in 1976. While outliers like these do exist, the median cost overrun for the Olympics is 90%, which puts the Rio Olympics in a better position compared to the historical data. Solving the problem One of the main causes of this overrun, is that because

the Olympics is held in a different city each year, there is an “eternal beginner” curse. This means that because the people running the project have never done anything of this scale before, and because the project is in a completely new location, any lessons learned from previous years have been forgotten. Combined with the fact that countries want to seem to have the best budget possible in the bidding process, this has led to significant underestimations of the costs associated with the problems, so decision makers and the public don’t fully know the ramifications of hosting the games. In an effort to rectify this issue, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) established the Olympic Games Knowledge Management Program in

1999. The main aim of this program was to pass on information from previous Olympic committees, so that issues such as cost overrun wouldn’t continue to happen in the future. While this certainly hasn’t solved the issue completely, it has certainly gone some way towards fixing it. The average cost overrun before 1999 was 166 percent, and since 1999 it has been 51 percent, a fairly big improvement. In this case then, Rio is coming in at about the average since then. The fact remains however, that when deciding to host something as large as the Olympic games, each party should be aware of what they’re getting into, so extra costs, especially ones in the region of a few billion dollars, shouldn’t really be on the cards. There is also a big emphasis

Examining Trinity’s fall in the QS World Rankings Taking a closer look at why Trinity continues to fall in the QS World Rankings to identify the universities

in 2014 and 2015 (81.1 and 82.5

of the overall ranking respectively. The employer reputation also awards higher marks to universities that receive votes from employers in other countries.

Startlingly though, Trinity experienced a big drop in both this year, with scores of 68.2 in academic reputation and 57.8 in employer reputation, representing a 17% and 22% decrease from last year respectively.

Ronan Mac Giolla Rua they perceive to be producing respectively), it saw a drop in the best graduates. These its employer reputation score account for 40% and 10% with 70.1 and 73.5 respectively. InDepth Editor

or the past three years, Trinity has been on the decline, at least according to the QS World University Rankings, in which Trinity has fallen from 78th to 98th place this year. In the THE World University Rankings, Trinity is in an even worse position, coming in at 160th last year. These slumps have prompted numerous commentators to point to the lack of funding that colleges in Ireland receive, but how are these rankings actually drawn up, and just how much of this could be attributed to funding issues? In 2004, Times Higher Education (THE) partnered up with Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) to set up an annual ranking of the world’s universities. This partnership continued until 2009, as THE wanted to alter the methodology used, while QS wished to continue with what was already in use. Since then both organisations have been publishing their rankings every year, with the QS rankings released in August, and the THE rankings soon to be announced at the end of September. Methodology The QS World Rankings are based on six factors: academic reputation, employer reputation, student-to-faculty ratio, citations per faculty, international faculty ratio, and international student ratio. Academic and Employer reputation are both based on global surveys sent out to academics, who are asked to identify the institutions where they believe the best work is currently taking place within their own field of expertise, and employers, who are asked

Student-to faculty ratio makes up 20% of the overall ranking, and is a simple measure of the number of academic staff relative to the number of students. Citations per faculty similarly accounts for 20% of the final score, and measures the number of times research papers published by that university have been cited in other papers. Finally, international faculty ratio and international student ratio both account for 5% of the ranking, and measure the proportion of academic staff and students who come from other countries. All of these factors are marked out of 100, as is the final score. What this breakdown means then, is that half of an institution’s final score is based on subjective factors, ie what other people think of the university, which has led a number of people to criticize the rankings. The reality is though that academic and teaching quality are quite difficult to measure, and relying solely on more objective factors such as number of citations and student-staff ratios doesn’t reflect them accurately. Where has Trinity fallen? So where does Trinity come into all of this? At its highest ranking, 61st, in 2013, Trinity had an academic reputation score of 81.8, and an employer reputation score of 82.6, both of which are considerably high. However, while Trinity was able to maintain a consistently high academic reputation ranking

Given the subjective nature of these two categories, it’s quite difficult to tell what the root cause of the decrease is. We can probably infer from this that the blame probably doesn’t rest on public funding alone, both because budget cuts have been happening for a number of years now yet the reputation scores have only suddenly fallen in the past year, and because other universities which have also seen budget cuts, such as NUIG, have still moved up the rankings. It could well be though that we are just now seeing the manifestation of years of lack of funding to universities. Trinity also didn’t fair well this year with its faculty-tostudent ratio, with a score of 39.6. This is down from 59.8 in 2013, 61.8 in 2014, and 60.7 in 2015. This is the area where funding is most relevant, given that decreases in funding immediately affect the ability of the college to have high faculty-student ratios. However it still only makes up for 20% of the overall ranking, so doesn’t fully account for Trinity’s drop. In the other three categories, Trinity has remained largely unchanged. Citations per faculty is down to 62.4, from 63 in 2015, 72.4 in 2014, and 65.4 in 2013. The 2014 score seems like more of a slight outlier here, as opposed to a particularly meaningful change. Trinity’s best results are in the two “international”

categories, with a score of 98 in international faculty and 85.9 in international students. Given Trinity’s emphasis on attracting international students, and the fact that one role of these rankings is to assist students in choosing universities, this result is a very good achievement. Although, Trinity is helped somewhat by the fact that Ireland is a small, well-developed nation, so is much more likely to have a higher ratio of international students than larger countries. Other factors It’s important to note that there are other factors which also influence Trinity’s position in the rankings, with two in particular standing out. The first is the major bias towards English speaking countries in the rankings, which places 9 British universities in the top 50, but much fewer from similarly developed, but none English speaking countries such as Germany and France. The second is the fact that scores tend to be grouped relatively tightly together, especially the lower you go down the rankings. The University of Barcelona has a score just 10 points lower than Trinity’s, but sits in 160th place in the rankings, while on the other end, the University of Munich is ranked in 60th position with a score 10 points higher than Trinity’s. Given how subjective these rankings are, small fluctuations can lead to big drops in points. Ultimately, given these rankings have such a subjective nature, it is very hard to infer any real conclusion about the root causes behind Trinity’s recent fall. While it’s probably fair to say that funding does play a role in this, asking academics and employers their perception of the college makes it very difficult to way up just how important it is.

on countries to cover up these extra costs, such as what happened with London 2012. Two years after they secured the bid in 2005, the organisers realised their cost estimates were completely inadequate. So they drew up a new budget which had a 100% increase in costs, and when the cost of the games came in slightly under what this new budget said, the organisers proclaimed the games as having come in under budget. All of this, combined with the fact that countries must bid to host the Olympics 7 years beforehand, means that hosts are often completely unprepared for funding the games when the time comes.

Trinity News | Tuesday 20th September

SciTech

Laughter in the Lab: the indisputable importance of humour in scientific discourse Kevin discusses the vital role that Humor plays in scientific research and explains the predominant lack of humor in peer-reviewed scientific publications. Kevin Lyons Contributor

cience is a serious business. It requires serious people to write serious grant applications, to convince serious funding agencies to support serious research projects. Furthermore, the results of these projects are published in serious peerreviewed journals, which are read by other serious people, who plan and conduct further serious research projects – and so the investigative cycle continues. This inherent seriousness is perhaps one of the reasons why the revelations of scientific research and their associated implications are relatively well-respected by the general public. However, this rigid image of the scientific process also serves as fuel to the public perception of the scientist as a solemn humourless recluse, despite the fact that virtually every popular science communicator – Neil deGrasse Tyson, Matt Ridley and Steven Pinker included – proves this to be wrong in every possible way. No doubt there are some schmucks that fit the stereotype, but the fact is most scientists – like the Germans – haben einen Sinn für Humor. Anyone looking for an entertaining and informative account of the history of scientific humour could do worse than to read a series of four articles published in the biochemistry journal Trends in Biochemical Sciences between 1995 to 2001, written by Dr. Jan A. Witkowski – current Editor-in-Chief of the journal, and Executive Director of the Banbury Center at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Over the course of these articles, Dr. Witkowski comes to the conclusion that although virtually all scientists have a sense of humour, they may feel as though they lack the appropriate platforms from which to publicly express the fact, due to the stodgy and conservative nature of formal scientific discourse. In support of this claim, and to give his findings “a veneer of scientific respectability”, he conducts a rather tonguein-cheek survey of humour in biochemistry research articles, concluding that the percentage of humorous and witty articles in the surveyed journals “was not statistically different from zero”. One possible explanation for this tendency to eschew humour in scientific writing, is that the

editors of these journals, and others, are perhaps worried that readers may confuse real science and parody, or that any linguistic idiosyncrasies or other shenanigans may serve to diminish a journal’s integrity. Given the necessary competitiveness among peer-reviewed scientific publications – and the desire of every journal to publish articles which will boost their reputation, their socalled ‘impact factor’, and perhaps their advertising revenue – these concerns are not entirely unreasonable. Of course, this is not to say that the fortifications of formality remain forever unbreached. For example, in 1978, the Journal of Experimental Medicine accepted and published a paper written by the renowned immunologist Polly Matzinger. The paper’s suspiciously Tolkienesque coauthor, Galadriel Mirkwood, was later revealed to be Dr. Matzinger’s beloved Afghan Hound – much to the annoyance of the journal’s editor. Fortunately – for scientists and non-scientists alike – formal scientific journals are not the only outlets for scientific humour and creativity. Spoof journals such as The Journal of Irreproducible Results and the Annals of Improbable Research are the inevitable response to this scientific solemnity – producing articles, written by scientists, which mimic the style of conventional journals, but which have titles such as The Effects of Peanut Butter on the Rotation of the Earth, Infectious Diseases In Bricks, Acoustic Oscillations in Jell-O: With and Without Fruit, The Taxonomy of Barney (the friendly, purple and green, anthropomorphic dinosaur) and Apples and Oranges: A comparison. In keeping with the format of many actual research reports, these amusing articles are often replete with unhelpful diagrams, incomprehensible charts and meaningless tables. And it gets better. Every autumn, at Harvard University, the creators of the Annals of Improbable Research host the First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony – a deliberately-misnamed event, which celebrates ridiculous and ignoble research projects “that first make people laugh, and then make them think”. Since 1991, 10 Ig Nobel Prizes have been awarded annually to scientists from across the globe in recognition of bizarre feats, such as “measuring the relative pain people suffer while looking at an ugly painting, rather than a pretty

painting, while being shot [in the hand] by a powerful laser beam”, “testing the biological principle that nearly all mammals empty their bladders in about 21 seconds (plus or minus 13 seconds)”, and for mathematically proving “first, that the longer a cow has been lying down, the more likely that cow will soon stand up; and second, that once a cow stands up, you cannot easily predict how soon that cow will lie down again”. Seriously, who funds this stuff? How many scientists does it take to change a lightbulb? In 1991, the English actor, comedian and writer John Cleese – of Monty Python and Fawlty Towers fame – gave an impressively well-researched lecture in Grosvenor House Hotel in London on the subject of creativity. This lecture was recorded by the video production company Video Arts (which Cleese co-founded in 1972), as part of a series of training videos to be sold to businesses – presumably to encourage employees to “raise the bar”, “bring their ‘A’ game”, “give 110%”, “synergize”, “think outside the box”, “maximize overall core competency”, and generally improve their ability to “do good business going forward”. Whatever the reasons for Cleese’s lecture – the video of which is widely available online – it constitutes a truly first-rate example of effective and meaningful communication between a speaker and his audience, delivered with that characteristically Cleesian blend of empirical wisdom and unexpected humour. Anyone who has ever attended a talk or lecture of any kind will know of the challenges posed to the notoriously short human attention span by such an event. When these challenges are multiplied by back-to-back presentations at a scientific research symposium, an academic convention, or a seminar series, it seems safe to say that virtually every audience member will suffer a lapse in focus at some point, regardless of how interesting the material might be. Some scientists make a deliberate effort to inject moments of humour into their academic presentations to prevent their audiences from drifting – often by including a relevant New Yorker cartoon, or a few philosophical panels from well-known comic strips like The Far Side, Doonesbury and Calvin and Hobbes – but this practice is perhaps not as widespread as it ought to be. Cleese’s

“

How many scientists does it take to change a lightbulb?

lecture is a perfect example of this ‘humour injection’ technique, interspersed as it is with attention-grabbing sprinklings of banter and buffoonery – specifically, lightbulb jokes and the blowing of a perfectly-timed raspberry. Most, if not all, of Cleese’s gags are not in any way directly relevant to the subject of his lecture, and yet they act as perfect wake-up calls that draw our focus back to the words of the speaker in a very powerful way. Cleese argues that humour whisks us from the rigid and restricted ‘closed mode’ of thinking, to the ‘open mode’ – where we are more relaxed, more receptive and more creative – faster than anything else. The fact that even the most irrelevant jokes can have this effect, suggests that the effect is not dependent on subject matter. That being said, if the use of subject-orientated humour is deemed more acceptable in a professional or academic scenario – where other forms of humour may be considered deviant – then perhaps scientific humour

is the form of humour scientists should value most. Another reason to favour this approach, is that the setting of a formal scientific presentation often imposes certain implicit behavioural limitations on the speaker with regard to lightbulbs and raspberries. However, bearing in mind that – as Cleese puts it – “people learn nothing when they’re asleep and very little when they’re bored”, shouldn’t scientists make a conscious effort to prioritize effective communication over solemnity? Also, what better way to encourage non-scientists, reluctant undergraduates and young children to take an interest in the natural world than by enlightening them, for example, as to the wonders of herring communication – a process which requires a fish to gulp in air, store it in its swim bladder, and expel it later through a posterior duct with a sound resembling highpitched flatulence (Ig Nobel Prize in Biology, 2004). The ability of humour to stave off boredom and arouse

curiosity is probably reason enough to value it in the context of scientific discourse. However, perhaps the most important aspect of humour, in terms of its usefulness in a research setting, is that it promotes creativity. A study carried out in 1995 by Vaughan Goddard at the University of Surrey, found that subjects who had watched a stand-up comedy video before taking a creativity test scored higher than a similar group of people who had watched a serious documentary film. This insight, and others, should arguably be incorporated more fully into scientific education, communication and research. If humour promotes creativity, then complete humour deprivation in science – either in the form of an intentionallyimposed prohibition, or when unintentionally introduced as a by-product of seriousness, stress and unease – surely has an unhealthy effect on scientific innovation, which we would do well to resolve.

Pandas removed from the endangered species list Nessa describes the success behind the struggle to prevent the extinction of the Giant Panda. Nessa Fitzgerald Contributor

he giant panda has become something of a success story after the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) downgraded its threat level from ‘Endangered’ to ‘Vulnerable’. This is largely due to the monumental efforts made by the Chinese government to preserve this icon of Chinese wildlife. Intensive captive breeding programmes and efforts to protect pandas in the wild have resulted in a 17% increase in the panda population. While this is fantastic news, and offers hope for other endangered species, pandas are by no means out of the woods, and it is important that conservation measures continue. Threats to pandas such as poaching appear to be decreasing, however threats from activities such as mining, hydro-power and tourism are on the rise, and threaten the current trend of an increasing population. Panda populations are quite fragmented, and some populations existing in somewhat degraded habitats are in decline, and are possibly in danger of local extinction. A whopping 99% of the panda’s diet consists of

bamboo leaves, stems and shoots, with the other 1% being made up of other plants, and meat from birds, small rodents and carrion. Despite a largely herbivorous diet, pandas still have the same gut as other bears, designed for an omnivorous or carnivorous diet. Most herbivores have a digestive system specially designed for extracting as many nutrients as possible from their food, which is usually much longer than that of a carnivore, allowing them to get more energy from less food, and spend less time eating. Carnivores, by contrast, have a much shorter gut, as it is easier to extract nutrients from meat than from plants, and they do not need this long, slow method of digestion. As a panda’s digestive system is better equipped to deal with a meat-based diet, they have to eat a lot of bamboo to make up for the nutrients lost through their lack of ability to digest them efficiently. Pandas have to eat between twelve and thirty-eight kilos of bamboo in a single day, and is very much reliant on it as a food source, but a polar bear, who is a carnivore, can provide for more than a week’s worth of its energy needs with a single adult seal, and can scavenge other food sources if it needs to. Reliance on bamboo for food also means that pandas can be left with very little to eat at times. Bamboo plants go

through mass flowering and dying-off events, occurring at intervals of fifteen and one hundred years, depending on the variety. In the past, pandas were not restricted to mountainous regions, and had access to species of bamboo found at different elevations,

so when one species died off, pandas could travel to higher or lower elevations in order to access food. This pattern has led to panda population decline after die-off events due to starvation. Panda populations are also quite fragmented thanks to their restriction to

higher elevations, meaning individuals don’t meet very often. Females are also only able to mate for between two days and a week in a whole year. Pandas are being conserved in the wild by means of protection, and a captive breeding and reintroduction

programme. Attempts at breeding in captivity began in 1955, but were unsuccessful until the birth of Ming Ming, the first giant panda to be born in captivity, on the 9th of September, 1963 in the Beijing Zoo. Since then, a number of captive breeding facilities have been established, with astounding success. The Chengdu, Wolong, and Bifengxia Panda Centres have been breeding pandas for about twenty years, while also carrying out research. Rather than introducing males and females, which has had quite limited success, most panda pups in these centres are produced through artificial insemination. When possible, pups are left to be raised by their mothers, but keepers step in if there are any signs of trouble. In the case of twins, keepers alternate which pup is with the mother, and which pup is in an incubator. In the wild, in the event of twins, one pup would be raised by the mother, and the other would simply not survive. Funding for these centres comes from the Chinese government, the World-Wildlife Fund, and the tourism they generate. Tourists come from far and wide to see these beautiful bears, and in doing so, generate quite a lot of funding for the centres. In the Chengdu centre, visitors can pay to work as a volunteer for a day. These centres lease pairs of pandas to foreign zoos

in exchange for funding in order to further conservation efforts. This use of pandas as gifts, known as Panda Diplomacy, dates back to the Tang Dynasty, when Empress Wu Zetian (625 – 705 AD) sent a pair of pandas to a Japanese Emperor as a gift. The news that the giant panda is no longer endangered came in the same week that the Eastern gorilla is now critically endangered, meaning that four out of six great ape species are critically endangered. Genetically isolated grey whales in the Russian far east remain critically endangered, and are at risk from industrial expansion in the area, but the population experienced an increase from just 115 individuals to 174 in the past year. In this same week, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) reopened a thirty-day public comment period on whether or not the grizzly bear, a subspecies of brown bear, should remain a protected species in Yellowstone National Park. A decision is expected on this contentious issue early next year.

Trinity News | Tuesday 20th September

SciTech

Saving Our Biosphere - Why We Need Conservation Cian highlights the importance and benefits of conservation and the horrifying consequences of human activity which may lead to the extinction of animal and plant species. Cian White Contributor

he Giant Panda was removed from the IUCN’s endangered list at the beginning of this month and is now listed as vulnerable. But what’s the point? Does it matter if the Giant Panda goes extinct? Or the Siberian Tiger or the Eastern Gorilla (now critically endangered) or the Polar Bear or any other species which conservation organisations invest all their efforts trying to protect? Surely, it’s better to direct funds towards something like starving children or homelessness or more hospital beds? And anyway, species go extinct all the time, why should we bother trying to halt a natural process? We won the dice of chance and are now kings of the world. Why bother with conserving the lesser species? That’s evolution right? Survival of the fittest. First of all, I don’t think you’ll find a conservation scientist who does not agree that the homelessness and hunger are important issues and need to be addressed. This article is to convince you of the rest, that even though humans are amazing, we are also reliant and part of the biosphere, not something set apart from it and not something we can recklessly destroy. The simple fact is that conservation happens. Some people want to conserve the other species that share this planet, they have some kind of appreciation for nature, they think animals are cute, awesome or fascinating. Who doesn’t like a cute tiger cub? And so some of these people have set up conservation organisations to protect these animals. However, then you risk just saving the lions, and bears and things that are cool, majestic or beautiful. There are a lot of species that aren’t so majestic. Take the snails for example. Not majestic. And besides they eat your lettuce! What use are they? None, right? So they can jolly well jog on down the road to extinction. How about tigers? It’s very well for someone with money

from its ecosystem. Killing off one species or other might not make a difference or it could lead to a cascading effect that brings down the whole ecosystem. This is where some people balk. They don’t care about the insects or worms or mosses, and sure as hell won’t pay for them.

and safety to want to preserve tiger cubs, but cubs grow into adults. What about the Indian farmer faced with protecting his family and livelihood? A reason that many people would have heard for protecting rainforests is ‘What if a plant that could cure cancer goes extinct?’ Bioprospecting, or the search for commercially useful products, does sometimes lead to new discoveries. However, there are easier ways of making new drugs that don’t involve trekking through a rain forest and there isn’t the question of who controls the knowledge. Many local people know the medicinal uses of plants and object to outsiders stealing them. By this line of thinking, only medicinally useful species would be conserved until they are tested, useful chemical extracted and then fossilised. The panda is unlikely to have the cure for Alzheimer’s in its little finger. However in the 1990’s ecologists made the big step. They began outlining the benefits that species provided just be being alive. To understand these benefits, or ecosystem services as they are called, imagine life on Mars. What structures must be constructed to replace the ecosystems that don’t exist? For a start, we need oxygen to breathe and all our oxygen comes from photosynthesis. With no plants we would have to manufacture our own oxygen. This can be done by a process called electrolysis, whereby electricity is run through water. However, electrolysis plants on the scale that we would need them would cost an extraordinary amount of money so why not let the plants take care of it. Then, we need food and with no other living organisms you would have to manufacture that artificially. While it’s true that we can artificially make sugars and fats, making them appetising would be extremely difficult. So just let the plants and animals do it for us. This is also where pollination comes in and why there has been such concern over pollinator

But this is where the ecosystem services come into play. A bamboo forest on a hill is useful. And so are all the species in it that keep it a bamboo forest. Here’s one example why: Sometimes it rains a lot and floods occur, other times it rains very little and a drought occurs. Forests, like bogs, help to smooth this out. They release water at a reliable rate preventing flooding downstream and providing water when it’s needed most. For this though, the forest has to be there, not just some of the time but all the time. It needs to be resilient. Over the last decade ecologists have amassed a large body of evidence which tells us that the more bio diverse an ecosystem is, the more resilient it is. This has astonishing impacts! Now some obscure snail in that bamboo forest, or a bog in the midlands, is contributing to the resilience of the whole ecosystem.

population declines. Without pollinators, many crops would be economically unviable to produce for anyone other than the super wealthy. Just ask the Chinese farmer who now has to pay workers to pollinate his apple trees because the bees have gone. In the late 1990’s China realised that the wholesale destruction of its forests were causing flash floods on the Yangtze. 4000 people died and damages were estimated at $30 billion. Logging was banned immediately. If only the Irish

government could recognise the importance of bogs and how their drainage is a cause for the nearly annual floods on the Shannon (the other cause being climate change)! All these services, when accounted for, turn out to extraordinarily large. Robert Constanza, an economical ecologist, found that, in 1997, the biosphere provided services valued at around $33 trillion that year. In comparison the global economy in the same year

produced $18 trillion. Now this talk of economics and figures might seem a bit cold to you. How do you put a value on nature? It’s like how do you objectively measure beauty? You can’t, yet it’s done every day with music, paintings and other art forms. If we value something and will pay for it, then it has value. Right now nature is priceless. It has no value. A simple way of putting value on nature involves people paying to see a wild

animal: eco tourism. People will pay to see a wild Panda. So what does that leave us with? Conserve, the panda. And maybe the bees because apples are nice and sure throw in species that provide some kind of service like flood mitigation but the others can walk the plank. Yet if you want to conserve the panda, you need bamboo. And if you want bamboo you need other grazers to keep down other plants that would compete with the bamboo stands. So you can’t extricate the panda

Therefore, to protect ecosystem services, the amazing animals like the panda, the pollinators, we must protect the ecosystem itself. The panda is merely the ambassador, the flag waver, the umbrella species that advocates for the conservation of its ecosystem. Since it’s cute and cuddly, savvy conservation organisations use it to raise money to protect its ecosystem which, in turn, benefits the local people, in terms of ecosystem services and benefits everyone else because we get to go ‘aww look at the cuddly panda cubs!’. For the good of our species, both in terms of the practical stuff like oxygen and water but also the immeasurable stuff like beauty and wonder, ecosystems should be conserved. Long live the panda and long live the humans alongside it.

The Great Auk: from Extinct to Extant?

Andrew Mooney describes the groundbreaking genetics research that may lead to the return of the extinct and longforgotten bird species, the Great Auk, displayed at the Trinity Zoological Museum.

Cian White Contributor

abinet 20 in the Trinity College Zoological Museum is not crammed with specimens, instead it contains only one, the Great Auk. This specimen, collected off Waterford in 1834, represents the last recorded sighting of this species in Ireland. It wasn’t long after this that the species became extinct when the last known individuals were killed on a small island off Iceland in 1844. The specimen in Cabinet 20 is one of the very few Great Auks remaining in any museum today and is the only one to be seen in Ireland. What does the future hold for this long-forgotten bird? The Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis) was a mediumsized, flightless bird, numbering in the millions, which once roamed the coastal waters of the North Atlantic. Superficially it may resemble a penguin, but the Great Auk was not closely related to penguins. The closest living relative of the Great Auk is the Razorbill (Alca torda). Both look similar, occupy the same trans-Atlantic range and share similar feeding habits, however the Razorbill is considerably smaller and is capable of flight. Although an agile diver and expert predator, the Great Auk was clumsy on land and only ever came ashore to rocky islands in order to breed. Flightlessness made it vulnerable to human exploitation and this occurred on a significant scale from the 8th century onwards. Its ease of capture and large numbers made it a convenient source of food for early explorers crossing the North Atlantic. This was exacerbated by further exploitation for their down, which was used to make pillows. By the mid-16th century nearly all nesting

colonies on the European side of the Atlantic had been wiped out by humans. Noticing that the Great Auk population was declining drastically, Victorian enthusiasts and museums all sought to obtain a specimen for their collections. This was the final nail in the coffin of the Great Auk and on the 3rd July 1844 the last known pair were killed on the island of Eldey off the coast of Iceland, ending the Great Auk’s existence on earth. This may seem like the end of the Great Auk’s story and for nearly 200 years it was, but it may not be after all. Last year an international team of scientists met to discuss the possibility of bringing the Great Auk back to life using contemporary breakthroughs in genetic technology. Although gone, traces of the Great Auk remain, namely: 71 skins, 75 eggs, 24 skeletons, and even some preserved internal organs. At this meeting Professor Tom Gilbert from the University of Copenhagen reported on his preliminary work investigating the genomes of both the Great Auk and the Razorbill. Professor Gilbert’s early work has shown that both birds are indeed genetically closely related. Once their genomes are fully sequenced, scientists hope to edit the genes which are characteristic of the Great Auk into the cells of the Razorbill, its closest living relative. Fertilised embryos would then be implanted into a host bird large enough to carry a Great Auk egg, such as a goose. A considerable captive breeding population would then be developed and eventually animals would be released back into the North Atlantic. While still in its infancy, the meeting concluded that the Great Auk project can and should be pursued.

De-Extinction and genetic manipulation may seem like something straight out of Jurassic World, but it’s already happening. The Pyrenean Ibex (Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica) became extinct in 2000, however on the 30th July 2003 a cloned female was born to a domestic goat. Although it lived only a matter of minutes, this marked the first time in history that a once extinct species was brought back to life. Considerable work is also being done to sequence the genomes of the extinct Tasmanian Wolf, Passenger Pigeon, Gastric-Brooding Frog and Woolly Mammoth,

in the hope of resurrecting these long-lost species too. The Great Auk is a unique example and it may be a good candidate for de-extinction as the original cause of its extinction is no longer present. People no longer harvest wild seabirds in the North Atlantic for meat or other products on a commercial scale, so the Great Auk would be under considerably less pressure than when it last roamed the North Atlantic nearly 200 years ago. In addition suitable habitat still exists for the Great Auk and the Farne Islands off the North-East coast of England have been suggested

as a likely reintroduction site by the team of scientists. Obviously the return of the Great Auk is not going to happen overnight, but the possibility of its return raises many questions and concerns. If the Great Auk does return to North Atlantic coastal waters it will still have to navigate a human-dominated world. Climate change, rising sea levels and overfishing are but a few of the issues that the Great Auk would encounter were it reintroduced. This is mirrored for every extinct species and we have to ask ourselves if we will be able to sufficiently protect any resurrected

species and prevent them becoming extinct again. This is particularly poignant when we consider that we are currently unable to protect species which are still alive, let alone a species which has been brought back to life. This story should end with a cautionary note. Although de-extinction may provide one method of saving extinct species, it comes at a significant economic cost and with numerous ecological unknowns. Our priority should still be to prevent the extinction of other species in the first place. De-Extinction cannot be used as an excuse

to allow the extinction of a species to occur in the hope that one day we can bring it back. When the last Great Auks were killed in 1844 we lost a unique species and part of the North Atlantic ecosystem. Whether or not the Great Auk will be returned to Ireland’s coasts one day remains uncertain. However the Great Auk in cabinet 20 of the Trinity College Zoological Museum acts as a reminder of this once abundant species and the devastation humans have inflicted on the natural world.

Trinity News | Tuesday 20th September

Sport Health and Wellbeing

The world is your gym Bláithín Sheil Deputy Comment Editor

o you NEED to go to the gym this year? Is this the year you are finally going to start that barre class, and stick at it? Is this the year that fitness is not going to know what hit it, because YOU, yes you, are going to tackle it like a football in an All-Ireland final? Read on, fellow fit-busters. Below is your definitive guide of how to make the world your gym! 1) Rule number one Make it social. If it is not a chore, you are more likely to do it. Tie your exercise in with social events. 2) Rule number two Write down your goals, and stick them on your wall. Right in front of where you study. This is a tried and tested method.

3) Weekend Hiking Turn Sunday brunch club into Sunday hike and brunch. If you’re meeting your friends or family for a lazy Sunday brunch, add a bit of scenery and fresh air and do a walk! It doesn’t have to be strenuous, a walk along Dollymount Beach, the Phoenix Park, Sandymount Beach, Marlay Park, Howth Head, Portmarnock Beach, the Dublin Mountains, Ticknock, or Glendalough if you want to venture further, are nice additions to your morning out. And you will definitely have earned your food by the time the walk or hike is over.

4) Cycle As I describe it, “I trundle into college, so as not to sweat too much”. I have been preaching the benefits of cycling since time began, and what with the current bus strikes, I’m glad to have an independent form of transport. It’s a guaranteed minimum 20 minutes of exercise per day if you live close, a nice hour if you’re further out. That’s your daily dose without even having to put on gym gear. Not to mention the euros saved from overpriced public transport, your reduced carbon footprint, and the fact that you are not held ransom to rush hour delays. You leave on time, you arrive on time, every time. Get a bike on donedeal for a bargain, or support Rothar, a shop that sells second hand bikes that are refurbished by people who need a second chance in life. As you can tell, I think cycling is great. 5) Gym buddies Find a friend, hold each other accountable. Maybe a friend you don’t see often, this can be your way to see each other weekly. Make it social. 6) Play time If you have cousins or siblings, play with them. Horse rides up and down the garden, sports day by turning their scooters into hurdles, race to the goal posts. Make your daytime babysitting job more interesting, for you and for them. Trust me, the time will pass quicker, time flies when you are having fun!

7) Get a pet It would be animal cruelty not to walk it. A big dog will also pull you along when you are tired, like your mom used to do. 8) Parkrun The world’s largest and freest fitness club. Yes, FREE! Timed weekly 5k runs in your local park, all around the country, suitable for all levels. You’ve got the studs who zip around in 15 minutes and you’ve got people going from run-walk-run programmes. It’s a family event, everyone is welcome, and it’s very social. The park runners at my local park are like a cult, they take over the café afterwards, having a well-deserved breakfast and chat. Sometimes they stay for hours. 9) Lunchtime runs Run outside between lectures, you may be too tired or busy socialising in the evening, but if your timetable is not a 9-5 job, you will likely have some free hours in the day. Daytime exercise is a lot easier than night-time exercise. 10) Walk Hop off the bus a stop or two early to get 20 minutes of fresh air before college, and likewise on the way home. That’s 40 minutes a day, done and dusted. Alternatively, walk around town on your lunch break, a lap of St Stephen’s Green starting and ending at the Arts Block is a good 1.6km walk, add in a few laps of the park while you’re there and you can easily knock out 5km during the midday sun.

Football and the Death of Passion Dylan O'Sullivan deconstructs the nature of sport as a surrogate battleground in the modern age. Dylan O'Sullivan Staff Writer

s the human race has evolved over the centuries, our appetite for battle has come under increasing attack. The aggression and tribalism that led our species out of the food-chain has been deemed primitive and something we should leave behind. Democratic and liberal ideals are the new established guardians of the human race. The stature of war in society has crumbled. The art of combat, no longer the cornerstone of civilisation, has faded into the books of history and the archetypal warrior has become obsolete. To a great extent this has been one of our greatest achievements. We live in an era of unprecedented safety and comfort; wanting for little, and needing even less. Yet a sense of detachment never leaves us and we find ourselves missing something. The spirit of the warrior The spirit of the warrior has never left our stories or our screens. Clashes of human fortitude and faculty continue to intoxicate us. No matter how earnestly we deny our penchant for aggression, primitive impulses lie at the core of our being. We are animals after all. Modern civilised society, although preferable, is unnatural to us. True ecstasy and exhilaration reside in the realms of risk and danger. Yes we are comfortable but were we ever meant to be comfortable? In fact, it is when we are at our most uncomfortable, at the limits of human grit and endurance, that greatness is achieved. Our need for true competition, for passion, for battle, has never left us. We can feel it, bubbling under the surface. In the environment of suppressed tribal impulses, a cultural colossus was born to fill the void.

In the latter half of the 20th century, a time of unprecedented peace, sport became an outlet for primal passions, nowhere is this more visible than with football. The societal profits that were once contributed by war— patriotism, passion, pride— had found a new home. The tamed animal within us had found a space to run wild once more. The pitch had become the battleground, the players its soldiers. Forget Alexander the Great, forget Julius Caesar; Johan Cruyff and Brian Clough were the heroes of a new era—cultural icons whose names that rang through city streets and schoolyards alike. The great battles of the world were being fought in places far away from the trenches of Maginot, or the snows of the Eastern Front. Now, generals led their legions into the fortress of the San Siro, the beating heart of Milan; onto the grounds of the Camp Nou, throne of Catalonia. These became the places where history was made; where heroes were born and villains came of age. The atmosphere was palpable as players put their bodies, their reputations, everything, on the line. Icy nights and days of wind and rain - none of it mattered. True passion was on display. Players collapsed, desolate and in tears, as ambitions died; or ran screaming, shirtless into the crowds when childhood fantasies were realised. Football meant something. It was more than a game; it was battle. The fall of the modern warrior As the sun rose over the 21st century, football began to lose something: the studs of Eric Cantona flying through Selhurst Park, into the bewildered crowd, the hurling of a pig’s head onto the field (following Luis Figo’s

move from Barcelona to their arch rivals, Los Blancos) and Roy Keane, restrained by the referee, shouting threats to Patrick Vieira in the tunnel before kick-off. Somewhere along the line, these moments, though admittedly chaotic, were dubbed as “the dark side of football.” But in a game of passion, these moments of rage and emotion are inevitable. The sight of players, managers and supporters losing control and overcome with emotion, is cathartic. When our footballing heroes walk off the field in tears, we cry with them. When they care as much as we do, football becomes a shared experience; allowing us a chance to relive the camaraderie, glory and passion of battle—if only for 90 minutes. It is in these moments of charged emotion that we catch a glimpse of the animal spirit within us. These heart-stopping moments of sporting passion have been driven from the game. To contemporary generations of spectators, they are merely part of football’s mythical past. So, how have the footballing authorities tempered the emotional aspects of the game without diluting the passion on display? In short they have not. The last decade has witnessed the final drips of passion drain the game. Players have become mercenaries, flitting from army to army, and holding allegiance none. Managers are tossed from club to club, rival to rival, often being the last to hear about the shredding of their most recent contract. And while the influx of money has surely contributed to this decay of the beautiful game, there is a more sinister culprit; one that has been hinted at thus far. The physicality and aggression, this dark side of football, that made football

“

The grit, the risk, the fire; everything that made football special is gone.

what it was, gave it its edge, have been purged from the game. Society’s war against its tribal roots has finally crossed over the touchline. That acre and a half of grassy turf, the last sanctuary for our basic instincts, has been cordoned off. Players celebrating too fervently has become a bookable offence. The crunching tackle, the fair shoulder; both are now deemed dangerous play. Even players arguing with one another on the field, conflict in its most innocuous form, has somehow become taboo. Far from being war, today, football is barely a contactsport. The grit, the risk, the fire; everything that made football special is gone. And in this environment, where passion is proscribed, can you blame the players for caring less? If players are prevented from giving one hundred

“

In this environment, where passion is proscribed, can you blame the players for caring less?

percent, how can they possibly care one hundred percent? And, if the players care less, how can the fans be expected to support them with all their hearts? Our fear of our inner beast, our disdain for our true primal selves, has taken another victim. Once again, something is missing. Once again, a vague sense of detachment follows us. Civilised society has gone too far. A glorious release valve for our tribalistic impulses has been filled with the cement of bureaucracy. And when our basic impulses are totally suppressed, one cannot help but predict eruptions down the line. The spirit of the warrior has nowhere left to turn, and will likely fade into the history books as nothing but a thing of myth. Football, once a sanctuary of freedom in a shackled society, is no longer.

Trinity News | Tuesday 20th September

Sport

24 Dylan O’Sullivan asks what is football without passion? page .23

Trinity Guide to Sports Clubs

rinity News offers you a comprehensive guide to all the sports clubs that TCD has to offer. College is the perfect place to start a new sport or to continue on with the sport you have done through school. With over 50 sports clubs to choose from, there’s something for everyone from elites to firsttimers. Whichever you choose though, be sure to drop by the stall during fresher’s week to sign up! Officially recognised in October 2015, DU Archery is Trinity’s brand new Archery Club for old hands and beginners alike to shoot and socialise. Training venue: Greenside House, Cuffe Street w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / trinityarchery Founded in 1883, DUAFC is now playing three teams in the Leinster Senior League with the 1st’s playing Sunday Senior 1B, intermediate football. Training Venues: College Park, Sports Centre - Main Hall B and Santry Facebook: Dublin University AFC As an inclusive society, DULAFC is open to all students of Trinity to join and participate in, no matter their level of play. Training Venue: College Park and Futsal Court, Botany Bay - from 13th October w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / TrinityLadiesSoccer

The DU Aikido Club offers classes that can benefit your health, defence and selfdevelopment. Aikido is a Japanese martial art focusing not on punching or kicking opponents, but rather on using their own energy to gain control of them or to throw them away from you. It places great emphasis on motion and the dynamics of movement. Training Venue: Sports Centre - Ancillary Hall A / B http://tcdaikido.weebly. com/ TCD’s American Football team, are recruiting for season 2016/17 and are constantly looking for players of all experience willing to learn the game, or help out with running the club behind the scenes. Training Venues: Sports Centre, Main Hall B and Santry w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / TCDAmericanFootball Social badminton is open to all levels and takes place in the sports centre, all rackets and shuttles are provided, you only need to bring yourself! Training Venue: Sports Centre - Main Hall A / B w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / trinitybadminton Trinity Basketball play in the Men’s and Women’s College Leagues, and also send teams to the annual Fresher’s Tournament and Varsities as well as international college tournaments. Training Venue: Sports Centre - Main Hall B / A www.facebook.com/tcd. basketball Trinity Barbell is the revived Weightlifting and Powerlifting club. Whether you want to compete with either of their teams or just clean up your squat or snatch they can help! w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / TrinityBarbell Rowing for Dublin University Boat Club (DUBC) offers the opportunity for intensive sculling training in the club’s sizeable fleet of small boats as well as the sweep rowing typical of University clubs. Catering for student rowers at Trinity College Dublin of all levels from complete novices to aspiring international athletes. Training Venues: Sports Centre and Islandbridge Boat House w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / duboatclub Training Venue: Sports Centre www.facebook.com/DULBC The boxing club at Trinity competes annually in the Irish University Senior and Junior Championships as well as the Colours fixture against UCD. Training: Boxing Gym,

Trinity Technology & Enterprise Campus - Unit 11 w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / trinityboxers Trinity G.A.A. has five clubs: Hurling, Gaelic Football, Handball, Ladies Gaelic Football & Camogie and over 400 members. Gaelic Football (Men’s) Training venue: Santry October to February Gaelic Football (Women’s) Training venue: Santry October to February Camogie Training venue: Santry October to February Hurling Training venue: Santry October to February Handball Training venue: Sports Centre - Main Hall A Facebook: Trinity College Dublin G.A.A. Free sessions for all members of DUCC take place at the trinity climbing wall every Tuesday and Thursday evening 7-10. All equipment and lessons provided. Training Venue: Sports Centre - Climbing Wall w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / duclimbing The club has 3 men’s, a ladies and taverners’ teams and are always looking to gain new members! Training: Sports Centre Ancillary Hall w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / trinitycricket You are sure to see the croquet club in action on Trinity campus throughout the year, especially as the weather gets warmer. Sign up at the Croquet Club’s stall on Freshers week or visit their facebook page. Training Venue: New Square w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / DUCroquetClub Trinity Cycling Club (DUCC) is one of Ireland’s top third level cycling clubs with a membership of over 100 riders. They have a strong presence in the road race and leisure, mountain and track scene across Ireland. Training Venue: Meet at the entrance to the Sports Centre w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / tcdcycling Trinity College Dublin’s Equestrian club covers the majority of equestrian disciplines and cater for all levels from total beginners to international competitors. Owning your own horse is not necessary! Training: For more information visit the stall at fresher’s week or visit their Facebook page. w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / DuEquestrianClub Dublin University Fencing Club is the oldest and most successful fencing club in Ireland, with fencing being promoted in the college from its founding. The club caters for all levels, from beginners to international. Training Venue: Ancillary Hall, Sports Centre w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / DUFencing As the oldest rugby club in continuous existence in the world, Trinity Rugby are focused on challenging for honours at the highest national levels. The newlypromoted 1st XV were a dominant force in 2015/16 and are now playing in the All Ireland League Division 1A. Training Venue: College Park www.facebook.com/trinity. collegerugby Established in 1996, Trinity Ladies Rugby compete in the SSI league. Ladies of all experience and levels are welcome! Training Venue: College Park w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / trinityladiesrugby DU Harriers & Athletics is the athletics club of Trinity College Dublin and welcomes athletes of all abilities, from joggers to competitive athletes. DUHAC competes in Intervarsity Athletic events across Ireland such as Road Relays, Cross Country and Track & Field. They also hold core and circuit classes that are free for their members! Training: For more info on training times and classes go to the fresher’ week stall or visit the FB page. w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / duhacofficial

Dublin University Hockey Club (DUHC) has a proud history as Ireland’s oldest hockey club and consists of four league teams and an under 21 side. They cater for all skill levels, and also host an active social scene running numerous events each term. Training Venue: Santry www.facebook.com/ DublinUniversityHockeyClub Dublin University Ladies Hockey Club (DULHC), otherwise known as Trinity Ladies Hockey Club, has five teams that compete in Leinster divisions 1-14 and also in a number of Leinster divisional and national cups. Training Venue: Santry w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / trinityladieshockeyclub

Head down to their stall on fresher’s week for more information. w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / DUSnowSports

DU Judo is affiliated to the International Judo Federation and they compete on a national level. Some people take part in judo because they want to compete, others are more interested in selfdefence and with DU Judo all levels including complete beginners are catered for. Training Venue: Ancillary Hall, Sports Centre Facebook: Dublin University Judo Club (group)

Winners of the Trinity College Sports Club of the year 2015/16, DU Sub Aqua Club is one of the biggest, longest established and most active scuba diving clubs in Ireland. DUSAC can give you all the skills you need for scuba diving, and qualifications that are recognised worldwide. Training Venue: Swimming Pool w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / Dublinuniversitysubaquaclub

Trinity Karate Club trains in the Ancillary Hall in the Sports centre and welcomes everyone; beginners, advanced, students, Erasmus and post grads. They are looking forward to seeing everybody back for another great year of karate. Training Venue: Ancillary Hall, Sports Centre www.facebook.com/trinity. karate

Trinity Surf Club is one of Trinity’s largest clubs and has been running surf trips to the west for over 10 years. From complete beginners to seasoned pros, all are welcome! w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / Trinitysurfclub

Trinity’s Kayak club are a very active club with pool sessions twice a week, river trips most weekends and several weekends away throughout the year. Training venue: Sports Centre - Swimming Pool w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / dukayakclub Trinity’s Tennis Club caters for players of all standards, offering free weekly coaching throughout the year for all levels. For those playing competitively, the membership fee covers all entry fees to external team tournaments and internal individual competitions. Training Venue: Tennis Courts, Botany Bay w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / TrinityCollegeTennis Trinity Netball Club are the league and university club for netball at Trinity College. They have a mixture of netball training, fitness training and social events throughout the year and play competitively every week. Training Venue: Sports Centre – Main Hall B http://tcdnetball.weebly. com/ DU Orienteering (DUO) is open to any student with an interest in orienteering, offering a mixture of orienteering events and social activities. If you want to learn how to orienteer and explore Ireland’s gorgeous nature in a novel way DUO is what you’re looking for. Training Venue and Outings: See club noticeboard w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / duotrinity DU Rifle Club (DURC) is a fully equipped target shooting club with a range located on campus. DURC have all the equipment you need to get started in target shooting and offer a fantastic opportunity to try out a new sport during your time here in college. Training Venue: Rifle Range w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / durifleclub Dublin University Sailing Club, is the largest student sailing club in Ireland with over 200 active members and organises sailing for students of all abilities. Trinity Sailing compete regularly in IUSA events around the country and count 16 Irish Olympians amongst its alumni. Training Venue: Royal St George Club, Dun Laoghaire w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / TrinitySailing DU Snowsports is Trinity’s ski and snowboard club running the highly anticipated, annual Trinity Ski Trip. This year they will be heading off to Val Thorens, located in the French Alps.

Dublin University Squash Rackets Club (DUSRC) is the league and university squash club for Trinity. DUSRC take part in an annual international squash tour, Colours tournament, intervarsity’s, beginner’s tournaments and Trinity Cup. They will hold an introduction to squash for freshers and beginners next week, 20th and 22nd September. Training Location: Trinity Halls, Dartry w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / TrinitySquashDusrc

Founded in 1897, Dublin University Swimming Club is one of Trinity’s oldest and largest sporting clubs. Come on down to the pool for a friendly atmosphere, a great sports team and a lot of fun! w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / duswimmingclub D.U. Taekwondo is a Martial Arts club that caters to anyone interested in learning and practicing Taekwondo. Classes are offered both to beginners and those with previous Martial Arts experience. Training Venue: Ancillary Hall, Sports Centre w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / DUTaekwondoClub Trinity Trampoline Club welcomes all, the elite gymnast and the completely inexperienced with fun and bouncing guaranteed. Trampoline is a fun, social form of exercise. After the initial cost of joining the club, trainings are free which means you can bounce on big trampolines all year long! Training Venue: Sports Centre Main Hall, 3rd Floor w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / dutrampoline Dublin University Ultimate Frisbee Club (DUUFC) is Ireland’s oldest and top performing college Ultimate teams. Trinity Ultimate is open to any Trinity Students, whether you’ve played before, are an absolute beginner, or even if you’re only here for one semester. www.facebook.com/duufc Trinity’s Triathlon club, is not just a club for elite athletes but for people who want to improve their fitness or take on a new challenge. The Triathlon Club links up with DU Cycling Club and DU Harriers and Athletic Club for full training benefits. Facebook: Trinity College Triathlon Club (group) Trinity Volleyball Club currently has one women’s league team playing in the Irish Premier league and one men’s team in the Irish Division One league. Trinity Volleyball host skill sessions which cater for all levels of volleyball, including beginners! Training Venue: Sports Centre w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / tcdvolleyball Trinity Wind and Wake are primarily a Wake-boarding, Windsurfing and Kite-surfing Club and are one of Trinity’s newest and youngest clubs! In their first year competing, they finished third place overall in Celtwake 2016. Training Venue: Wakedock, Grand Canal Dock. w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / DUWKS