Trinity News Vol. 63, Issue 2

TRINITY NEWS

Trinity News | Tuesday 18th October

Volume 63, Issue 2

trinitynews.ie

EST. 1953

Features p.7

Dublin Bus Driver, Colm Meaghar, talks to Sam Cox about daily road.

Trinity Life p.11 Deirbhile Brennan gives an insight into Fourth Week

David O’Sullivan, Ambassador of the European Union to the United States, addresses the Hist

Scam jobs advertised on Careers Advisory Service A Trinity News investigation has uncovered that students applied for ‘fake’ jobs Rohan Swamy Staff Writer

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WO VACANCIES LISTED ON the Careers Advisory Service (CAS) website have been found to be fraudulent phishing scams, Trinity News has learned.

Mr. N. Sameer, whose name has been changed on request, answered two job advertisements claiming to be with the Azamara Club Cruise Line and the V-Ships Cruise Liner. Sameer received job offers via email from both companies. These emails also contained copies of the relevant job contracts, which asked for personal information including his passport number. A subsequent email appearing to be from the Australian Immigration Office contained a visa form to be filled out by Sameer.

Upon further investigation, both the email addresses

that had contacted him were found to be fake and were listed on both scam watchdog websites and on the real websites of both companies as a warning to others. Both websites also specified that the companies in question recruited potential staff through their own recruiting agencies based out of various port cities worldwide. The email from the Australian Immigration Office, and the documentation attached to the email, were also discovered to be forgeries.

Speaking about his discovery of the scam, Mr. Sameer said: “I was obviously happy to have landed two of these jobs. The first was for the position of a retail salesperson and the second, a mechanical engineering technician. I sent the email out to a friend who pointed out that the email addresses sounded fishy. There were grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and even a mistaken nationality which was printed on the contract. Furthermore, there were no interviews

done. They directly sent the contract, which after the initial euphoria had died down, I found very strange.”

Speaking to Trinity News, Director of the CAS, Seán O’Gionnáin said: “There are a series of checks that are conducted before a vacancy goes live. The vacancies are usually sent directly to the CAS and are posted by our staff. Prospective employers can post it themselves too.” Among the checks mentioned by O’Gionnáin were checks on the website of the relevant organisation, and scam notifications issued by professional organisations to which the CAS belongs. He confirmed that these checks had been carried out in the case of the advertisements.

In the event of such a scam being reported, according to O’Gionnáin, the issue is thoroughly investigated and the advertisements are taken down. No further advertisements from that organisation are approved following the appearance of a scam job listing.

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Both the email addresses were found to be fake and were listed on scam watchdog websites

Speaking about previous such occurrences, O’Gionnáin said: “Scams are quite rare and I can only think of one example previously where we posted a vacancy and shortly afterwards received a notification via AGCAS, a UK careers service, that there was an active scam involved.

We took down the vacancy and notified students via Facebook and Twitter but no one from Trinity had applied to this organization.”

O’Gionnáin emphasised the need for vigilance among students when applying to jobs: “It is important that the students also confirm the jobs for their own security.

No matter how thoroughly we check there will be the very occasional example of a fraudulent advertisement appearing.”

The CAS website currently lists job vacancies from approximately 450 employers. Official data provided by the CAS claims it lists close to 3,000 vacancies every year.

Member clubs of DUCAC involved in electoral collusion at annual AGM

Comment p.17 Call for freedom of speech from the experiences of a prolife student InDepth p.19 American presidential election special: Who will be the next president?

SciTech p.21 Nessa Fitzgerald updates us on the first human head transplant

Sport p. 23 Clare McCarthy, sits down with Trinity Hurlers; Leon Breen,

Fionn O’Riain

DUBC and DULBC pressure their novice teams to attend the DUCAC AGM and vote with ‘vested interest’ Daire O’Driscoll Deputy Sports Editor

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ultiple member clubs of the Dublin University Central Athletic Club (DUCAC) have been implicated in an electoral conspiracy at their annual general meeting (AGM) on October 13, Trinity News has learned. Freshman club members were allegedly pressured into attending the meeting in the hopes of electing candidates favoured by DU Boat Club (DUBC), DU Ladies’ Boat Club (DULBC), DU Ladies’ Hockey Club (DULHC) and DU Ladies’ Rugby Football Club (DULFC). The AGM saw the appointment of a new Chair and Vice-Chair, the former being vacated for the first time since 2009 following the end of Professor Cyril Smyth’s final term. The election for the position of chair was won by former circuit court judge and DUBC member Donagh McDonagh, defeating Dublin University GAA member PJ McGrane who was hoping to become the first student elected as chair of DUCAC - and DU Football Club (DUFC) member Gerry Kelly. The position of Vice Chair went to Senior Freshman History student Monty Badger.

Badger won election by just twenty votes against former

ladies harriers captain of DU Harriers and Athletics Club (DUHAC), Laura Brennan.

“Compulsory” attendance

Prior to the AGM, a post on the DUBC Facebook page encouraged members to attend the AGM to “vote for all things boat.” Trinity News also discovered an email sent by DULBC Captain Megan Jungmann to DULBC members concerning the meeting. It stated: “as a focus sport, we need to ensure our input and as a club we want to contribute to development and improvement of sport in Trinity as a whole. Election is done by a vote so this is why we need to show strength in numbers.” Attendance at the AGM was described as “compulsory,” written in capital letters, bold font and underlined to emphasise the sentiment. The reason for compulsory attendance was explained as a means to ensure the election of those who were “prepared to give up their free time for the development of the club.”

In the email, Jungmann went on to list the DUBC and DULBC members who were running for positions on the DUCAC executive. Among the names quoted were that of DULBC members Laura Walsh who was running for Honorary Vice Treasurer and Caoimhe Dempsey, running for a position as a club representative. Both

positions were uncontested.

Recently elected DUCAC vice chair Monty Badger was also mentioned by Jungmann as a candidate that ladies boat club members were expected to support.

The email concluded by informing the recipients that “attendance will be noted” and excuses were expected “on a postcard.” The former of these statements was described by one source within the DULBC as a tactic “to scare the novices into going to the AGM[sic].”

The sender of the email, Captain Megan Jungmann, stressed that they would never threaten novices to attend the AGM. Jungmann said that compulsory attendance was a tactic used by all clubs to ensure a high turnout of their members.

The phrase “excuses on on a postcard” was explained

by Jungmann as a joking phrase used by coaches during training sessions, meaning that being out of the country was the only excuse for missing a training session. She later clarified that this phrase had only been included on the email sent out to senior members of the ladies boat club and not to novices. She was also keen to stress that she understood how her language may have been misconstrued but that “at the end of the day, you are trying to get people on [the committee] from your club.”

Speaking to Trinity News, when asked whether he felt that both DUBC and DULBC exerted undue influence on the DUCAC committee, Vice Chair-elect Monty Badger explained: “I don’t think so. Naturally bigger clubs will have a bigger representation.” Currently, over one third of the DUCAC committee is comprised of DUBC members. Badger expressed concern over funding cuts to DUCAC, noting that the previous year had seen the DUBC budget cut. Badger continued to say he feared that if “established” clubs were seeing a reduction in the money available that the effects would be worse for “small and developing clubs.” Consulting the notes he had prepared prior to this interview, Badger listed the “smaller” clubs that had representation such as DU Squash Rackets Club and DU Wind and Wake. Badger continued: “I feel when one comes to Trinity you must get involved in sport…[it] should be affordable and accessible to all.” He also stated that he sees his role as DUCAC vice chair as “vice to the chair of DUCAC”. The new chair of DUCAC, Donagh McDonagh, was not mentioned in the email sent out to DULBC members.

When presented with the quotes from the DULBC, Badger said he could not comment on the internal policies of a different club.

However, he went on to say that the threats of noting attendance “sounds horrific” and that the tactics were tantamount to “blackmail”.

Badger was keen to point out that such a strategy could be counterproductive as it was already difficult to “keep novices training.”

The move by bigger clubs such as DULBC, DUBC, DULHC and DULFC to form alliances to wield greater influence on the committee has been characterised by sources as a “cartel of interest.” This characterisation led Badger to question the motives of smaller clubs, saying that there was a possibility that these allegations may have been stemming from “jealousy” and described the idea of “established clubs forming a monopoly” as “nonsense”.

One possible reason provided to Trinity News for such collusion among larger clubs was that some clubs were more “capital intensive” than others. He went on to say that one of his first acts as Vice Chair would be to ease the wounds and settle “the bad blood” that seemed to have festered within the organisation.

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OCTOBER 2016

ART/FASHION/FILM/FOOD/GAMES/LIT/MUSIC/THEATRE/TV

Tn2: this issue, featuring interviews with Rusangano Family, Samuel Laurence Cunnane, Fantastic Films and Dan Hegarty

Trinity News | Tuesday 18th October

News

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What They Said

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You can agree with the concept of the #citizensassembly while also believing it’s a delaying tactic

News in brief

TCDSU President Kieran McNulty via Twitter on October 15th

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Not only did the government decide not to undo the discrimination against young unemployed people, but it decided to double down on it by making the gap with other payments even greater.

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Ask yourself: despite all the defects and disappointments of this exercise - do you really, truly, definitely, want Britian to pull out of the EU?

Paul Murphy TD on changes to the Jobseekers allowance

Boris Johnson, from his previously unpublished anti-Brexit article from the Sunday Times

Member clubs of University of Limerick denies allegations of DUCAC involved in misconduct Education Authority wants to hold independent inquiry into electoral collusion at Higher financial irregularities at UL annual AGM Sinéad Harrington

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Cartel of interest

The allegations of a “cartel of interest” for more established clubs in Trinity was dismissed by Jungmann.

During interview, she revealed that members of other clubs in DUCAC had begun to campaign under the motto “anyone but boat,” referring to the men’s club.

The phrase was described as “completely unacceptable.”

On the issue of established clubs aligning in order to ensure that they were viewed favourably in terms of funding, Jungmann explained that the ladies boat club budget had been cut significantly this year and that, unlike other clubs, they received little in the way of funding from alumni.

She added that their alumni committee had only been established three weeks ago.

Jungmann described rowing as “an expensive sport” and the funding of rowing was not a sign of the boat clubs being favoured but rather as a reality of the sport.

When asked about the allegations, DU Ladies Hockey Captain Alex Owens stated: “The boat club asked for our support so we give it.

We’ve done so in the past.”

Owens went on to say that the ladies hockey club attend in such large numbers for “representation reasons” and “because it looks good for the club.”

The outcry from some smaller clubs within DUCAC at the lack of representation has called into question election methods in the capitated body.

Other capitated bodies, such as the Graduate Students’ Union (GSU), have made changes to their electoral methods. In the case of the GSU, members recently voted on an amendment to their constitution to move to interviewed positions

for strategic operations.

Commenting on the decision, GSU President Shane Collins said: “We sought feedback from our union members as to what type of union they wanted and with the interviewed positions we have, the feedback was that these areas were best served by having people with particular skills related to the role. So whilst systematic decisions are taken, this was done democratically and voted on, and indeed passed at our AGM.” When asked about this approach, Badger said that such a method would “depend on the interview panel” and that there was potential that it could lead to a situation where the committee was “less representative.” The large numbers of boat club members who attended the AGM as delegates was seen by Badger as a sign of their “commitment.”

Unlike Badger, Jungmann was entirely in favour of an interview based election process, stating that the way positions were decided needed reform. Jungmann said that she believed one reason why the boat club was heavily represented on the committee was explained by the fact that “we (DULBC) always put people forward because we think it’s important to have our say on it...a lot of us play other sports as well.” She also went on to point out that the two positions taken by her colleagues from the ladies boat club were uncontested.

This, she believes, could be down to smaller clubs being discouraged to run due to the current methods of election.

DUCAC administrator Aidan Kavanagh, who was present at the AGM, was unavailable for comment.

Representatives from the DU Ladies’ Rugby Club were also unavailable for comment.

Government introduces €4 million grant scheme for lowincome postgraduate students

Sinéad Harrington Assistant News Editor

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HE GOVERNMENT HAS ANNOUNCED the introduction of a full maintenance grant for 1,100 postgraduate students as part of Budget 2017. The grant, worth almost €6,000, will be made available to students in the lowest income category.

The scheme is part of an €8.5 million package to support disadvantaged students, including lone parents and Travellers, in accessing higher education.

The €4 million maintenance grant scheme will come into effect from September 2017.

In their pre-budget submission, USI called on the government to reinstate the postgraduate maintenance grant scheme, abolished in 2012 and which costs €53 million. In 2012, the maintenance grant was replaced by a postgraduate fee contribution ranging from €2,000 to €6,270 depending on income.

Last month a Postgraduate Representatives forum made up of postgraduate

officers and representatives from a number of Irish universities submitted a report to the Department of Education and Skills. The report noted that the years following the abolition of the grants saw a decline in the level of postgraduate enrollment. In this report, the forum recommended the reintroduction of the grant scheme as it was prior to abolition.

Speaking to Trinity News, GSU President Shane Collins said the entire system is “not funded the way it needs to be.” He acknowledged that the introduction of the grant scheme introduced today is a “building block” on the way to full restoration of the previous grant system that existed prior to 2012.

Addressing the problems facing postgraduate students, he noted that often they can afford the tuition fees themselves however it is extra expenses such as accommodation, medical bills and sometimes childcare that can “push them over the edge.”

Additional reporting by Seán Ó Deoráin.

Assistant News Editor

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HE UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK (UL) has rejected calls by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) to launch an independent inquiry into allegations of misconduct at the university.

The allegations concern the treatment of staff members and former employees who drew attention to alleged financial irregularities of human resource management in September 2015. A number of whistleblowers from UL’s finance department have since been suspended from their posts in the university.

Earlier this month, a spokesperson for UL said that there were two claims before the Workplace Relations Commission in relation to employees that had been suspended following their allegations of misconduct.

According to the Irish Times, Chancellor of UL, Mr. Justice John Murray saw

the calls for an independent inquiry as evidence of the HEA bowing to political pressure. Moreover, he said that the handling of such matters was an issue for the executive of the university, and that the HEA should respect the autonomy of individual institutions. Mr. Justice Murray called on the HEA to engage further with the university to resolve the situation, as long as this is desirable and falls within the remit of the HEA’s authority.

Previous efforts by the HEA to resolve the ongoing situation were also rejected, notably the Mazars Report published in February of this year. The report set out recommendations for UL to improve their finance and human resources practices.

Following the publication of the Mazars Report, a facilitator was brought into UL by the HEA to attempt to find grounds for the

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Previous efforts by the HEA to resolve the ongoing situation were also rejected

resolution of the dispute.

Earlier this month, the Limerick Leader reported that the facilitator had concluded her report, which established that resolution of the situation through normal channels was unlikely to succeed.

The attempts to resolve the dispute in UL are reported to have cost the HEA approximately €80,000, with the Mazars report totalling €69,000 and the subsequent report by the facilitator costing €9,610.

The HEA does not have the statutory power to conduct an inquiry into the alleged misconducts. It is, however, reported to have asked the Department of Education and Skills to consider awarding the Authority new powers to deal with universities who are unwilling to resolve such disputes.

Emmet highlights JCR President has yet to appoint Environment Officer A mandate was passed on this at a JCR Open Forum last term Robyn Page-Cowman

Deputy News Editor

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TRINITY NEWS LIFE interview with Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) Environment Officer Thomas Emmet has highlighted that the Junior Common Room (JCR) Committee is missing an elected environmental representative.

JCR President Sara Loughlin has told Trinity News that other moves are being made in the meantime to support the environment but that an officer won’t be elected until next March.

The issue of a JCR Environment Officer was raised at an open forum event at the end of Hilary term 2016, where one Trinity Hall resident raised that such a position should be appointed. This was voted on and passed with a majority to be included in the JCR constitution; however this year’s committee has not set up elections. Instead, they have chosen a member of their Welfare Committee to

cover environmental issues.

This committee is neither elected or linked to the JCR committee.

In the interview, Emmet raised the issue because “the Graduate Students’ Union (GSU) are introducing an environmental officer position very soon, which is great to hear, and I think it’s important that a similar position be created at Trinity Hall. They make a large contribution to College’s overall waste and that’s something I feel strongly about tackling. Because it’s most people’s first experience living away from home, it’s the ideal opportunity to build healthy habits...I’m looking to [bring this] to the JCR’s attention.”

This week, the GSU is holding interviews to elect a GSU Environmental Officer.

Speaking to Trinity News, GSU President Shane Collins said this was arranged after an open consultation found postgraduate students

wanted an environment representative which would be equivalent to Emmet’s SU position. GSU President Collins has said “It’s a new position, we only passed the introduction of an environmental officer at our AGM this year and I’m delighted we will have someone championing in this area by the end of the business day on Tuesday.”

JCR President Loughlin argued that the current committee couldn’t follow this GSU precedence because the forum in which the Environmental Officer was mandated “took place last year, so it was up to last year’s committee to implement this and unfortunately this did not happen. It is up to us and our committee to elect this year’s Environmental Officer, which we will be doing in March as there is only one election period a year and this must be elected democratically.”

Loughlin also outlined that

her committee is enforcing many environmental initiatives and reports that the Halls community has demonstrated a strong interest in environmental issues. “In our short time serving as the JCR we helped in an environmental clean up of Temple Road with some of our Halls residents. Our priority at present is ensuring that our new residents settle in well to Halls life, and we have decided to elect an environmental team as a step forward in encouraging residents to actively participate in taking care of the environment within Halls and then, in the forthcoming months, to encourage them to run for the position of Environmental Officer during the election period in March.” Loughlin also vouched her strong support for all environmental initiatives and policies in college and intends to “include the environment in our aims given the unfortunate lack of an environmental officer this year.”

Government announces €36.5m increase in third level funding

No increase in student contribution fees Sinéad Harrington Assistant News Editor The government has announced a €36.5 million increase for third level education funding. The increase was announced

by Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe, during his budget speech last week.

He called the increase the “first significant investment” in third-level education since the economic collapse.

There was no indication of immediate plans to introduce a change in fees.

Donohoe referenced the Cassells Report and the need for an “intensified focus on a sustainable long-term model.” He continued to say that the government plans to initiate a consultation process to explore the funding options presented in the report, which includes

an Employer-Exchequer Investment mechanism.

Following this process, the issue of third-level funding will be brought before the Dáil by the middle of next year.

Speaking to Trinity News, USI President Annie Hoey said: “We welcome the investment of €36.5 million into higher education. I am cautiously optimistic that this signals a commitment from this government to further look at investing in higher education, be that through the negotiations of how higher education itself is funded in the coming months and what we really mean about the future of the higher education sector.”

The government also announced plans for an additional package of €8.5 million to support disadvantaged students,

including lone parents and Travellers, pursuing higher education. This includes the introduction, from September 2017, of a full maintenance grant worth €6000 for 1,100 students in the lowest income category.

The 2017 budget also includes a €2,000 increase in the cap on the Rent a Room scheme, which allows a tax exemption on rental income to homeowners renting rooms to students. This measure, increasing the cap from €12,000 to €14,000, aims to encourage homeowners to rent more rooms to students, in response to the lack of affordable accommodation for third-level students.

Addressing the changes in the scheme, Hoey continued: “There’s the argument that the €2,000 increase will attract more people to participate in it. The increase […] is not going

to increase supply I don’t think. Ultimately, the only way we’re going to tackle the student housing crisis is to get beds built.”

Last month USI submitted their annual budget proposal.

In this, they proposed a €500 minimum reduction in fees; a €140 million investment in higher education; a reinstatement of postgraduate grants; and a €5 million investment in third-level mental health services. Hoey said of this proposal: “We have made a commitment internally that this pre-budget submission is not just for this budget, that pre-budget submission is what we want to see over the lifetime of this government so we’ll continue lobbying on this until Budget 2018, Budget 2019.”

Additional reporting Eamonn Sweeney.

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Trinity News | Tuesday 18th October

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Introducing the TCDSU Lobby Group A detailed description of the new TCDSU lobby group, from it’s members.

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N LINE WITH HIS MANIFESTO for election, Trinity College Dublin Student Union (TCDSU) President Kieran McNulty has organised a Lobby Group which will act as the SU’s ‘political wing’,aiming to give students a voice in national political discourse. The group will focus on eight issues: Higher Education Funding, Repeal the 8th, Mental Health, Accommodation, Drugs and Alcohol Policy, Environment, Brexit and Refugee and Direct Provision.

In a Trinity News exclusive, McNulty and his panel give an overview of the Lobby Group, followed by summaries from each campaign’s Chair on their initial research and work this year.

political system, through which the cries for change in areas affecting third level students and the Irish population generally, can finally be recognised. The group is working on eight specific campaigns, namely: higher education funding; accommodation; mental health; drugs and alcohol policy; Brexit; Repeal the 8th; environment; and refugee education and direct provision. From continuing to emphasise the need for improved higher education funding to vindicating the rights of marginalised asylum seekers, we are looking forward to a politically charged and successful year representing the students of Trinity and the voices of students nationwide.

The Lobby Group – Kieran McNulty (Chair), Kevin Keane (Deputy Chair), Sinead Davies (Secretary)

Higher Education Funding Chair – Elisabeth O’Higgins

The TCDSU Lobby Group is a new and exciting collaboration of Trinity students working together, under the Chairmanship of the SU President, to ensure that the Irish government hears the student voice, and hears it loud. The aim of the group is to engage with Ireland’s political leaders to encourage a collegiate interaction between the student body and the

The Higher Education Lobby Group has three main objectives. Firstly, we want to ensure that all students have a voice in the ongoing debate on the funding of third level institutions.

Secondly, the group aims to review all relevant legislation to establish a clear mandate on the ways we want to see higher education funded – we are currently conducting an in-depth review and analysis of the Cassells report as this

is one of the key documents that will be influencing legislation over the next few years. Finally, the group will be presenting its findings in front of the Oireachtas Committee for Education and Skills to ensure that all students will have access to affordable higher education without the burden of student loans.

Repeal the 8th Chair – Sorcha Siochru The Repeal the 8th lobby group is working closely with the TCDSU Repeal the 8th committee to represent students on the issue of the eighth amendment of the Constitution and abortion law in Ireland.

Specifically, the Repeal the 8th lobby group is currently preparing a document setting out the SU’s position in favour of repealing the 8th amendment, as well as what we feel should come after its repeal. We will use this document to lobby relevant politicians and stakeholders on behalf of students.

Mental Health Chair – Seán Duffy Mental health is an area of pressing concern for students.

As a country, our mental health services have a long way yet to go. The mental health lobby group will seek

to improve mental health services, both in colleges and across the country. We will be working in conjunction with various mental health NGOs, such as ‘Mental Health Reform Ireland’.

Our aim is to mount pressure on politicians and lawmakers to bring the issue of mental health to the foreground of the political agenda. We hope to place a particular emphasis on mental health awareness and the transition to primary care services.

Accommodation Chair – Alec Bickerstaff The Housing Crisis is one of the biggest barriers to educational success for students at Trinity. More than a month into term and some students are yet to find affordable accommodation.

Government has been caught flat-footed since the beginning of the crisis and have been trying to catch up ever since. That being said, progress has been made and we are proud to endorse TD Simon Coveney’s ‘Rebuilding Ireland’ proposals.

In addition to supporting his plans at the national level, we are working with our partners in the Dublin City Council to spur private sector growth through strategic rezoning and updating Dublin’s urban development plan.

Drugs and Alcohol Policy Chair – Robert Keogh As the lobbying group responsible for drug policy, we will be advocating progressive legislation and evidence-informed change, that recognises the shortfalls of the current approach to the issue. There is an ongoing shift in the approach to drug policy in Ireland towards a public health model focused on harm reduction. We will be lobbying for further harm reduction measures, and a reformation of how we educate society about drug consumption, which includes alcohol. To complement this lobbying, we also hope to commit our resources towards various welfare and awareness initiatives, at the heart of which will be the concept of harm reduction.

Environment Chair Robyn Page-Cowman

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The Environment group is working closely with college societies to select which student campaigns we advocate nationally.

Researching these has been frustrated by the closure of the Department of Environment by the current coalition; however our roundtable discussion we held in third week between societies and individuals interested in

the environment was very productive. Since this, we have contacted several NGOs to arrange meetings to discuss cooperating with them and how we can continue national conversations on the environment. We have also started outlining our lobby group document proposing to nationalise the SU Fossil Free campaign, push for a microbeads ban and on waste reduction pledges. We will be launching this at a second roundtable in Green Week, where we also hope to launch a campus-campaign against coffee cup waste.

Brexit Chair – Ailbhe Brioscu This group, made up of students from the North and South of Ireland, was set up to deal specifically with Brexit and its impacts. Since our launch, we have been working on understanding the effect Brexit will have on students in Ireland, particularly those coming from the UK or Northern Ireland, and the effects on the third level education sector itself. Mobility within Ireland’s education system is something that is of the utmost importance for students and the economy; after all Trinity has always set out to be an “all-island university”. We hope to communicate this message

to all relevant Oireachtas members and make sure student voices are heard in the “All-Island Civic Dialogue on Brexit.”

Refugee & Direct Provision Chair – Carolanna Foley The Refugee Education and Direct Provision lobby group aims to improve the reception system and access to education for refugees in Ireland. With the crisis unfolding on the continent, refugee rights must be recognised as human rights. Though the Irish government must be more proactive in dealing with the ongoing crisis, we believe they also have to vastly improve the situation for refugees already living here.

We will lobby especially on issues affecting young people, such as access to education and the location of Direct Provision centres relative to the nearest schools, and the lack of funding available for refugees to attain third level education. Outside of these goals, the improvement and standardisation of Direct Provision centres and the treatment of vulnerable persons when they arrive in Ireland are also focus issues for the group.

Global Brain Health Institute begins its pioneering research at Trinity College The multidisciplinary and international team of researchers hope to combat the issues associated with an ageing population and its implication on health policy and patient care.

Niamh Moriarty

Online Editor

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HIS YEAR, THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH Sciences welcomes the first four Atlantic Fellows from the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) who represent “the first of an international network of ‘change agents’ in the global fight against dementia.”

GBHI is a partnership programme between Trinity College and the University of California San Francisco, which aims to foster pioneering research in a diverse range of disciplines to combat the worldwide problem of our ageing population and its biggest health implication, cognitive impairment.

The programme’s funding represents the largest philanthropic donation in the history of the Irish state at €138.4 million, given by Atlantic Philanthropies last November.

The four trainees from Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands are representative of the programme’s focus on a multidisciplinary approach and their respective work focuses on brain health and age-related health treatments that cover all stages of treatment: the prevention, diagnosis, assessment and management of age-related health issues.

These trainees or ‘Atlantic Fellows’ will receive training in communications, health economics, brain protection, dementia prevention, and public policy as well as

working to further their particular area of interest.

Dominic Campbell is the co-founder of Creative Ageing International (CAI), which is an Irish company working with artists and scientists to help encourage creativity as an element of care for ageing populations. Their focus is on incorporating the roles of art and science in reducing the stigma attached to ageing, the fear of ageing itself and the worry surrounding its related illnesses. CAI achieves this by developing projects that help build positive and engaging methods of adapting to the ageing process, encouraging people to “fall in love with their older selves”.

Cognitive neurologist Mircea Balasa’s work deals with the delays in diagnosis of dementia that continue to persist despite available

Design and Violence Exhibition at TCD’s Science Gallery

TCD Science Gallery has co-produced the exhibition with New York’s MOMA

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RINITY’S SCIENCE GALLERY HAVE launched a new exhibition, Design and Violence, which explores the way both elements intersect with our lives. A co-production by the New York Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) and the Science Gallery, the exhibition defines violence as “both deliberate harm caused to a person or thing, and as a byproduct or unintended consequence.

Violence may occur in spectacular outbursts in other places, in explosions and civil unrest — but as this exhibition shows, it underpins the normal order of things in the places we live, too. The products we buy and the systems in which we participate may cause harm elsewhere and out of sight.”

The art shown intends to bring the viewer through a journey of discovery as we realise just how great the impact that violence has on design. We live in a world where violence plays an increasing role - on TV, in the news, in the books we read.

Now, faster than ever before, we can witness violence as it takes place. With the everincreasing place of violence in our lives, we continue to be exposed to it, whether or not we want to be. Design and Violence seeks to “draw connections between places near and far, between our everyday actions and their causes and consequences,

Mobility issues and the risks associated with falling are “a highly prevalent problem” for the elderly.

The prevention of these risks is what Geeske Peeters of Monash University, Australia, centres her work around.

By reducing these risk factors, Peeters believes the benefits can be widespread: from maintaining cognitive function, allowing older patients more independence and fostering the wellbeing in older adults. This will be achieved by creating an

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GBHI will be located in the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience

interdisciplinary network that will provide expertise in the areas of public health campaigning, health behaviour, communications, policy making, and industry.

The outcome of their work hopes to provide preventative strategies that have proven to be effective across all of these disciplines.

Adrià Rofes, is a Spanish cognitive neuroscientist praised for his creativity and research successes.

Having studied and trained in more than five countries, Rofes hopes to develop international collaborations to combat the problem of dementia and other age-related cognitive health issues.

Rofes states that “through understanding brainbehaviour relations, we can improve clinical assessment and outcome protocols for

brain conditions.” He aims to utilise this improved understanding and research to influence better health and government policies.

GBHI will be located in the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and led by Professor of Psychology, Ian Robertson, and Connolly Norman Professor of Old Age Psychiatry, Brian Lawlor. Following these initial four Altantic Fellows, the programme hopes to expand its scope by selecting eight more Fellows each year. Those selected will be working in a broad range of fields, including medicine and public policy, social science, journalism, law, business and the arts. These will be divided between Trinity and the University of California.

Students Against Fees holds its first public meeting of the academic year Anti-fees group prepares to spread its message throughout the student body Conn de Barra

Caoimhe Brennan

Business manager

resources. Having worked at the Alzheimer’s Unit at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Balasa will continue to build on his research in order to develop better approaches to achieve earlier detection of the disease and provide more precise diagnoses to those living with cognitive impairment.

Deputy investigations editor

and to show how violence and design can act both for and against power and the realisation of social change.”

Curators Lynn Scarff, Ralph Borland, Ian Brunswick, Paola Antonelli and Jamer Hunt have brought together a series of powerful pieces.

Among these is an AK-47, the most manufactured gun in the world and a symbol of the Soviet army, colonial resistances and organised crime around the world.

Also on display are ziptie handcuffs, deployed by police often without the care needed to ensure they do not harm those placed under arrest. Widely used during the Occupy movement to subdue citizens who had never before been arrested, they serve as a reminder that violence, whether just or unjust, often breaks out when social change is occurring.

These are just two examples from the exhibition that demonstrate the success of the human race in creating ways to kill, monitor and subdue our fellow beings. It is an art that has flourished with the advance of technology.

Despite this, social change continues to occur. One hundred years since the rising, Design and Violence reminds us that while the techniques used to monitor and pacify us advance, we refuse to let objects control our collective decision. The exhibition will run in the Science Gallery until 22nd January 2017.

S

“

The art shown intends to bring the viewer through a journey of discovery

TUDENTS AGAINST FEES (SAF), a group founded to oppose student loans and fee increases, held its first public meeting of the academic year last night. Members discussed issues such as mobilising the student body and preparing for the planned march by the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) on October 19. The meeting was opened by Sean Egan, a second-year Sociology and Social Policy student, who said SAF’s objectives should be to provide an “assessment of where the student struggle is at the moment,” to branch out to other universities, and to “give the Provost a big migraine.”

Egan said that one of the group’s biggest challenges was “a very de-radicalised, de-mobilised student body.”

He also said the problem of fees is exacerbated by “outrageous rents” and “cowboy landlords” adding more financial burdens on students and making Trinity an increasingly unviable option for study. Egan summarised SAF’s current campaign as “a fight for accessibility,” arguing Trinity is still seen as an institution reserved for the wealthy and elite.

One of the main topics of the meeting was promoting SAF’s message. Egan suggested a banner drop, similar to the group’s unfurling of the Plough and the Stars flag of

the Irish Citizen Army during Easter Week of this year.

Jessie Dolliver, a secondyear science student, called for greater online presence particularly on social media.

The holding of regular meetings was also discussed, so that students would have more access to the group and gain a better understanding of its objectives.

The drafting of a collaborative group manifesto was also raised. Speaking to Trinity News, Egan described this as “getting a number of interested Students Against Fees activists to map out the major struggles that students face at the moment.” Egan stressed that a collaborative approach was vital, as fee increases and loans would affect individual students in different ways.

Diarmuid Ó Seanacháin Dálaigh, a second-year Ancient Medieval History and Culture student, said that student detachment was one of the group’s largest obstacles, claiming this was a result of the state of politics in Ireland: “we’re content with – essentially – a twoparty system between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and don’t really care which way politics goes because we feel it goes nowhere. That carries on into our student politics where students don’t feel they have a voice that matters. People from my course . . . believe we shouldn’t have to pay fees, they just don’t think

mobilising against it achieves anything.”

Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) President Kieran McNulty attended the meeting and spoke of the SU’s plans for the upcoming Union of Students in Ireland (USI) Rally for Education. This annual demonstration seeks, as laid down in this August’s meeting of the USI National Council, to display mass support for publicly-funded higher education, and to gain support from a wider social base than students alone. President McNulty spoke of the SU’s efforts to encourage students to attend, such as providing food for demonstrators, and collaborating with Players and the Afro-Caribbean Society to raise awareness of the march.

Egan praised the SU’s efforts, but stressed that while SAF would work in tandem with the Union, the group must maintain its own independence.

Students Against Fees was established in November 2015, when the SU Council rejected a motion by former TCDSU President Lynn Ruane that opposed the imposition of student loans and fee increases. SAF argued this action did not represent student opinion, as it did not take fee hikes into consideration. On 15 December, SAF presented a

motion before the Council opposing loans and fee hikes, which was passed. On 3 February this year, SAF marched in solidarity with TUI (Teachers’ Union of Ireland), protesting cuts to second-level institutions, regarding teachers’ pay and student counselling.

On the 11th July the Cassells Report, prepared over two years by the Expert Group on Future Funding for Higher Education, was published. The aim of the report was to find a solution for the funding crisis to thirdlevel institutions. The report proposed three solutions: raise State funding of all third-level institutions from 64% to roughly 80%, while abolishing student fees entirely; retain the current €3,000 fee with a lesser rise in State contribution (64% to 72%); impose an incomecontingent loan scheme while reducing the State’s overall contribution to between 55% and 60%.

Trinity News | Tuesday 18th October

News

4

Trinity Department of Psychiatry investigates ketamine as a potential treatment for depression

Sexual consent workshops to be rolled out for all students following initial success

Anaesthetic ketamine now being considered as a treatment for preventing depressive relapses

The workshops are organised by Trinity College Dublin, Trinity College Students' Union and Trinity Hall JCR

Conn de Barra

Niamh Lynch

Deputy Investigations

News Editor

T

R I N I T Y COLLEGE'S DEPARTMENT OF Psychiatry is leading a series of trials investigating the effectiveness of ketamine in treating depression.

The trials will be overseen by Professor Declan McLoughlin, a research professor of psychiatry, along with his team at St Patrick's Mental Health Services.

Professor McLoughlin has said that the antidepressant qualities of the anaesthetic ketamine were discovered 15 years ago. However, while ketamine may alleviate depression instantly and temporarily, these trials will investigate whether the substance can also prevent relapses of serious depression. The research team have said that roughly 60% of Irish people treated for depression suffer relapses within six months and sufferers will have on average five to nine depressive episodes in their lifetime.

Professor McLoughlin said: "In our studies, we aim to see whether it's possible to harness that powerful antidepressant action of ketamine to prevent future depressive episodes in people

who have recently recovered from depression. This has never been done before."

The research will be divided into two trials, both funded by the Health Research Board and the Medical Research Charities Group. The KEEPWELL Trial will focus on people who have responded to Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) as a treatment for depression. Approximately 70% of people treated this way respond to the process.

Professor McLoughlin explained that this group would be administered ketamine or a placebo once a week for four weeks. The second trial, the KINDRED Trial, will focus on people who have been hospitalised with serious depression and treated with standard methods. The research team has said these people will be administered ketamine as soon as they have recovered from their depression as a result of the standard treatment methods.

Professor McLoughlin explained that while ketamine may be a quick solution for depressive episodes, its dissociative effects may encourage substance abuse.

"Ketamine is routinely used as an anaesthetic drug. Because

it can have some dissociative effects or make you feel like you are disassociating from reality, that's why people take it as a recreational drug. The problem is they take it in much higher doses."

Professor McLoughlin explained that these trials would be conducted safely, as the doses would be subanaesthetic and too small to encourage addiction.

However, he added that roughly 15% of participants in the trials may experience mild dissociative effects for approximately half an hour.

it is believed to change the pathways of dysfunctional brainways, in a process known as "neuroplasticity". The research team are looking for healthy volunteers to take part in mood and memory assessments. The team will also take blood samples to analyse ketamine's effect on the bloodstream.

The volunteers will not receive any treatments or medications. Those wishing to participate may contact thekeepwellstudy@gmail. com.

On average, 200,000 people in Ireland experience depression each year.

Roughly 6,000 of those people are hospitalised.

Professor McLoughlin said that depression was the main cause of long-term sick-leave in the EU. According to the World Health Organisation, depression is the most common form of disability worldwide. "It is therefore a public health priority to not only recognize and treat depression but also to keep people well afterwards," Professor McLoughlin said.

O

VER 400 FIRST YEAR students took part in Trinity College Dublin's first workshops on sexual consent during Freshers’ Week. The workshops were available for first year students moving into Trinity Hall residences.

McNulty.

The current TCDSU Welfare Officer, Aoibhinn Loughlin, worked on the project along with Padraig MacNeela, creator of SMARTconsent; Trinity Student Counselling Service, Aidan Seery, TCD Senior Tutor; and the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre.

Due to the success of these consent workshops in Halls, TCDSU has announced these workshops will now be provided for all TCD students next year. These collegewide classes will be first held during Body and Soul week, which commences on November 21st. The decision was inspired by the positive reaction from students outside first-year after media coverage on the Halls workshops.

Loughlin said of the workshops: “I am delighted that these workshops received such positive feedback from first year students in Trinity Hall. I have good faith that these students will, in future, feel more confident in asking for and giving both verbal and nonverbal consent, which will in turn hopefully decrease the incidences of sexual assault throughout their lives. The demand for workshops has since been very high, with students outside of first year asking for consent workshops to be available to all students in college.”

The workshops were introduced following a mandate by the Trinity College Dublin Students' Union (TCDSU) in the last academic year, where the Union's class representatives voted in favour of introducing the workshops for incoming Halls residents.

The exact manner in which ketamine operates on the body is unknown, though

“

Due to the success of these consent workshops in Halls, TCDSU has announced these workshops will now be provided for all TCD students next year.

The mandate was proposed by the Students' Union's current president, Kieran

Looking forward to Wednesday’s #EducationIs March

Student loan firm enters Irish market

Robyn Page-Cowman

Future Finance enters market as report proposed student loans to cover college fees

10,000 have signed an online petition but USI and TCDSU Presidents want more to attend Wednesday’s march Deputy News Editor

T

HIS WEEK T R I N I T Y C O L L E G E Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU), the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) and other Irish university groups are marching for increased higher education funding and student rights. Several events are being held in the lead up to the “#EducationIs Taking to the Streets March” on Wednesday October 19 at 1pm, which the USI hopes will make a final, collective student stance against the government’s insufficient funding and support for higher education. They are also promoting this week’s events on social media with the hashtag #EducationIs. An online USI petition received 10,000 signatures last week supporting their stance against the Cassells Report and its recommendation for an Irish student loan system.

However, the USI wants more students to attend the march in order to make a physical ‘stand’ against the introduction of student loans.

The Cassells Report, led

by Peter Cassells, was commissioned by the previous government coalition to review higher education funding in Ireland.

It was released in July and

concluded that the current system is “simply not fit for purpose” and thus advised three alternative funding options. One is for a statefunded system, the second is increased state-funding with continuing student fees and third is for decreased state-funding with deferred payment of fees through income-contingent loans.

The USI, students’ unions around Ireland and some political parties have rejected the student loan scheme.

because these “small steps in the Budget are in the right direction, but are hugely insufficient in the long-term.

The government’s failing to prioritise adequate funding for third-level education is the government putting barriers to the futures and potential of thousands of students. There are some positives in the budget but the funding is still inadequate and won’t solve the rotating problems currently in thirdlevel education.”

Last week’s Budget didn’t advocate a loan system but there is no guarantee that the government won’t revoke this position in the future, especially if students don’t make a stand now, according to the organisers of the march. The Budget did promise positive changes to higher education, including a €36.5m investment and a further three-year funding package worth around €160m supporting skills, apprenticeships, and access programmes. This aims to support the 3,000 students from lower-income or disadvantaged backgrounds in higher education, ensuring their access to education is protected.

TCDSU President Kieran McNulty is hosting two events in Trinity to gain momentum for the march and USI’s #EducationIs movement. This will kick off with Monday’s PlacardMaking Workshop in the SU Kitchen at 6pm, and the week will close with a free live concert co-hosted by Metropolis and Elderbrook in Trinity College Chapel from 6pm to 9pm. Trinity Ents are hosting the event and there is a separate free drinks reception with a DUDJ set in The Atrium, which will run until 10pm. Though still a free event, the Metropolis Concert is now a ticketed event due to demand.

Reflecting on the Budget and the upcoming march USI President Annie Hoey told Trinity News she “welcomes” the investment in education

McNulty reacted positively to the Budget’s €36.5m investment but echoed President Hoey’s sentiments: “It is not nearly enough to keep the higher education sector

“

An online USI petition received 10,000 signatures last week supporting their stance against the Cassells report and its recommendation for an Irish student loan system. going. The Government may speak reams about open consultation on the future of higher education funding and making a long-term strategy, but it is very unclear what this decision will be. It is on us to prove to the government that education needs prioritising and supporting – for the students who suffer the most and may suffer more under the new proposals given by

Cassells. Wednesday's march is a chance to make it crystal clear to Minister Bruton that this issue isn't going away.”

The #EducationIs March will commence gather from 1pm at the Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square and will continue down O’Connell Street, Pearse Street, and around Merrion Square to the Daíl on Kildare Street, where several event organisers will be speaking on #EducationIs. Those speaking include Trinity student Carly Bailey, Irish Second-Level Student’s Union President Jane Hayes, President Hoey, and Blindboy Boatclub from the Rubberbandits.

Attendance is projected to reach 5,000 students from colleges across Ireland and Northern Ireland, which University College Dublin, Dublin Institute of Technology, Queen’s University Belfast, St Mary’s University College Belfast as well as students from the National Union of Students Scotland. Other supporters of the campaign who will be joining the march include Equate, Irish Rugby Union Players' Association, See Change, SpunOut, National Parents' Council and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions Youth.

Dublin City Council’s plans for pedestrianised plaza at College Green to go before An Bord Pleanála Due to the scale of the project, a report has deemed it necessary that it undergo an Environmental Impact Assessment Niamh Moriarty

by March 2017.

Online Editor

The plans, which were unveiled earlier this year, outline a redesign of College Green as a pedestrianised plaza, covering the 3500m area from the front of Trinity College down towards Church Lane. The existing bus traffic will be rerouted to coincide with the new Luas line on Lower Grafton Street, meaning east-west traffic will be restricted to cyclists and pedestrians only.

A segregated two-way cycle track will be put in place near the Bank of Ireland building to accommodate this.

D

UBLIN CITY C O U N C I L’ S (DCC) plans for the pedestrianisation of College Green are to go before An Bord Pleanála with a decision date expected for August 2017. The development is to cost in the region of €6 million.

Due to the scale of the project an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is required before the development can go ahead, according to a consultant’s report commissioned by the council. Moreover, an RTÉ report by the head of Technical Services within the city council Brendan O’Brien claims that the EIA should be lodged with An Bord Pleanála

The plans were put forward for public consultation between April 11 and May 24, and were met with opposition by some business-owners in the area. However, a spokesperson from the DCC has stated the majority of submissions were in relation

to the rerouting of traffic and not the plaza itself.

The proposal to move the remaining bus routes, including Georges Street and Patrick Street routes, onto Parliament Street has been met with discontent by former Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey. Dempsey currently serves as chair of the Temple Bar Company, a group representing the business owners, traders and artists working in Temple Bar. According to the Irish Times, Dempsey’s submission raised concerns surrounding the proposed two-way busonly redesign of Parliament Street, which would result in a ban on cars and an increase of bus routes on the street from 3 to 20. Speaking to the Irish Times, Independent counsellor Mannix Flynn stated: “It’s outrageous for Dublin City Council to

talk about bettering the environment in College Green when they will be sending 1,500 buses down Parliament Street, destroying the business and residential community there.”

The submission also noted that the design team was not required to have experience in relation to the plan’s environmental impact or handling of EIA’s. Following the announcement by the council to go before An Bord Pleanála, it is still unclear to what extent their assessment will influence to overall design of the plaza, though DCC noted that the design aspect of the project was still in its “first phase” in June.

DCC issued an international tender to search for an architectural design team for plaza, just six days after public consultation closed – a fact of which Dempsey was also critical: “Can we take it that

the submissions will form no part of the consideration for this project?”.

In response, a spokesperson had stated the prompt issuing of the tender was as a result of time constraints stemming from the coinciding Luas development and should be regarded as “efficient good practise.” The council received almost 2000 submissions during public consultation.

Caoimhe Brennan Business manager

A

S T U D E N T LOAN FIRM, Future Finance, is set to enter the Irish market following the publication of a government report that proposes students secure loans to cover the cost of third level fees. The company hopes to have clearance by the Central Bank to begin offering the loans by 2017.

Future Finance CEO Brian Norton said on the company’s decision to enter the Irish market “The cost of higher education in Ireland is rising.

Getting an MBA could cost north of €20,000. And while undergraduate education here is still technically free, there are a whole raft of fees that are associated with that. There is a big chunk of the population in Europe - including Ireland - where you’ve got deserving students who are offered good spots at great universities, but are unable to take advantage because of the cost.”

“We have a lot of room to grow. We’ve had great success with what we’ve been doing.

Raising money is almost the

easy part. The work for us is making sure we’re extending the right sort of help to the right sort of people.”

Future Finance, which has loaned about £50 million to UK students over the past couple of years, has a number of high profile backers. In two main funding rounds, the company secured €47m in equity and it has the financial facilities to bankroll lending totalling over €11 million. Half of this sum is provided by investment bank, Goldman Sachs.

Mark Stevens, a US venture capital heavyweight, also has a stake in the company.

Stevens was a partner in the venture capital firm Sequoia Capital when it invested in companies including Google, Paypal, Youtube and Linkedin. Sequoia’s original investment in Google of $12.5m gave it a stake that was later worth billions.

Trinity News | Tuesday 18th October

Trinity News | Tuesday 18th October

Features

Luke O’Reilly speaks to Palestinian campaigner for non-violent resistance Iyad Burnat page 8

A revival of student activism Stacey Wrenn discusses the revival of student activism Stacey Wrenn Staff writer

O

N THE 3 NOVEMBER 2010, almost 40,000 students marched from Parnell Square to the Government Buildings on Merrion Street in what The Irish Times described as “the largest student protest for a generation”. It was organised by the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) in reaction to a proposed increase in student contribution levies and the growing number of graduate emigrating further afield for opportunities unavailable to them at home.

Students Against Fees

Students Against Fees (SAF) is a student-led group established in November 2015 after a motion to oppose student loans was defeated in the TCDSU Council. In December, the group brought their motion opposing loans and an increase in fees before the SU Council, and have been emphasising the need for onthe-ground action ever since.

Shall be Free” with a starry plough hanging at its side, echoing the sentiments of the organisers of the Rising whose voices SAF members felt were ignored during the commemorations. The group stated in an announcement

McNulty is expected to follow suit, being an active member of the group himself. The movement has one with a steering committee but largely a ‘one person, one vote’ attitude. It was agreed last year that while they would support any actions carried out by the SU in accordance with their aims, they would remain an independent body.

What began as a peaceful protest ended in violence; students were kicked and trampled by Gardaí on horseback, who were called in following the occupation of the Department of Finance by a number of students which culminated in a sitdown protest. The president of the USI at the time, Gary Redmond, blamed the protest’s escalation on “leftwing groups”, were found by some to be divisive and therefore deleterious to the movement.

Cassells report

With the release of the Cassells Report in July, the government has indicated the various options it is considering to tackle the issue of third-level funding, including: cutting the funding of the Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) grant; an increase in student contribution; the introduction of a “loan” system making third-level education free at point of entry to be paid back when the student is working.

The report fails to inspire hope in those who depend on the SUSI grant, or those whose families may earn more than the income threshold but who are struggling to cover the cost of education.

This, along with a rocky election and post-election period, has created the perfect environment for the revival of grassroots, student activism.

They supported the Teacher’s Union of Ireland strike last February by marching en masse to the various DIT locations before finally returning to Front Square.

Proving that there are other forms of protest than just marching in the street, the group carried out a banner drop from House 6 facing College Green as the official commemorations of the 1916 Rising and RTÉ cameramen passed by. The banner declared ”Education

Failing System

posted on Facebook “The real spirit of 1916 lies with those committed to transforming society for the better,” further making their case for a need for stronger student activism on campus.

The group was aided last year by the support of the SU president, Lynn Ruane.

Current president Kieran

Assuming that a student has qualified for the full SUSI grant this year, their student contribution is entirely covered and they receive €336.11 each month as a maintenance grant. A survey of available accommodation posted won the TCDSU Accommodation Support Facebook page this summer, however, reveals the average cost of an advertised room to

be around €500.

The maintenance amount has not increased to match the rise in rents since the recession and so has become as outdated as the SUSI website. In a university with the country’s lowest percentage of new applicants on grants - 24% in 2015 in comparison to the national average of 34% - it is important that all students regardless of economic standing are aware of the hardships that an increase in fees would cause for their classmates. The government is considering proposals to raise student contribution to between €4000 and €5000, which would leave students with a debt of €20,000 plus interest upon their graduation.

There is no guarantee that the SUSI grant would cover this increase, nor is there a guarantee of a fixed interest rate for the proposed loan system.

It was announced in the 2017 Budget that there would be an investment of €36.5m in third-level education, less than a third of what the USI proposed as a minimum amount in their pre-budget statement in September. Third level education is already underfunded; this is evident when one compares the rankings of Irish universities with those of other European countries. A boost in funding may improve Ireland’s standing in these universal rankings, but students should not be the ones who pay for this. They are not the ones responsible for the decline in standards. They are the victims of austerity measures implemented by the Fine Gael-Labour coalition, and a call must be made for these measures to be completely revoked.

Going Forward

The USI has organised another national demonstration on October 19, calling for further investment from the state in third level

education and for a decision to be finally made on the Cassells Report. The SU appears to have become more organised than in previous years; materials are being provided for placards in the SU Kitchen the Monday prior to the demonstration and an impressive level of communication with college management has been made on the issue.

The struggle continues

“

What began as a peaceful protest ended in violence; students were kicked and trampled by Gardaí on horseback.

In an email sent out to all students last week, McNulty told students that the Board of Trinity College have given permission for students to attend the rally. Further, the Board “will ask lecturers to reschedule” lectures taking place on the day of the demonstration, with McNulty later confirming that notes will be provided. Students from across the country will be represented on the day, with free buses running for those who are not based in Dublin, such as one arranged

by Limerick School of Art & Design.

Some might argue that the general tone of student activism may have changed in recent years, for better or for worse, from fighting riot police to fighting expulsion, but it still remains a crucial experience which determines our future level of political engagement. Students who witness obvious mistreatment but no critical opposition may fulfil the stereotype of the disenchanted youth and abstain from taking such action themselves, thus allowing the cruel cycle to continue.

The lesson to be learned from the 2010 protest is that the fight doesn’t end when the rally concludes and the Trinity Ents after-party begins, but rather that the struggle for an end to wealth discrimination is ongoing, and each student will have to raise their voice in order to be heard.

Trinity News | Tuesday 18th October

Features

7

Life in the bus lane Dublin Bus Driver, Colm Meaghar, talks to Sam Cox about daily life on the road.

Sam Cox Staff writer

T

HE MECHANICAL SNAP-SHUT of the door, followed by a loud banging on the glass as a soaked passenger begs to be let in.

The impassive bus driver sits in his impenetrable Plexiglas cab and journeys on. One or two onlookers take to their smartphones to let the world know of the gross injustice that has just taken place.

They are glad knowing that they have helped to make tomorrow a fairer day.

Not quite so.

Trawling the Twitter feed, you begin to get the impression that the Dublin Bus fleet is run by bitter vultures, and that events like the one above are everyday occurrences. Drivers leaving passengers in the rain, shouting at confused tourists and reprimanding “awkward” customers. All of these, and more, seem to happen far too often, especially when compared to the stream of positivity that surrounds private bus companies. So why isn't something being done, or are there other factors at play?

Colm Meaghar, 48, walks and talks like everybody’s friend.

Chuckling with the barista over the good fortune of the Dublin Bus lottery winners, he takes his coffee and joins me with a solid handshake and broad smile. Having worked with the company for 21 years, and doubling as a Union representative for National Bus and Rail Union, he is eager to explain the apparent rudeness of the crew of Dublin Bus’ 968 vehicles.

Meaghar explains the conflict: “We have two masters. One is the rules of the road, the law of the land.

Two is the company policy; how you should, and shouldn’t behave.” He emphasises that

Dublin Bus run “a timetabled, scheduled service with traffic and conditions”. This, he states, leads to a high-stress, multi-dimensional job that many passengers can’t see from their seats. With the ease of posting criticism on Twitter, Facebook or making a simple phone call, drivers are increasingly having their performance critiqued publicly.

The difficulties

“There’s generally a reason behind every complaint,” says Meaghar. “Now, I’m not saying no complaint is justified, a lot of them are, but it doesn’t just come down to rudeness.” Obstructed bus stops, heavy traffic, passenger management and route diversions are just a few of the difficulties of managing the road while driving his bus.

These add layers of stress of driving to keep passengers, and other road users safe.

“If you consider the amount of time out on the road for a driver, for however many years, having a clean driving record is really impressive.”

That’s just the driving.

“A lot of things a passenger would like you to do for them are in breach of a rule.”

Carrying passengers safely is his first priority, but shades of grey often come into the job.

Tendering fare while driving, staying on schedule and letting passengers off before their stop are just some difficulties.

“If you open the door, and a motorcyclist or a bike comes along, and he falls, there are consequences. If he gets hurt, not only is there a sense of guilt, but you’ll be disciplined for it. You’re responsible for what seemed a simple, little good deed.”

The complaints

If you delve into the Twitter feed on any given day, you soon get a sense of what people like and dislike about the service.

Of the 87 tweets on July 5 (compared to the 5 tweets of

private coach service Swords Express), the vast majority of complaints are concerning late buses, particularly aimed at the Real Time app. With over 500,000 downloads and an average 3.9 rating, on the surface it appears to be a massive success.

“It’s so much better than anything we’ve had before, but the success of it relies on Central Control.” When a bus breaks down, or doesn’t leave its terminus, it will still appear on the real time app “counting down, 5,4,3,2,1,due… and then [there’s] no bus”.

Unless Central Control manually updates the system, passengers are left looking at their phone, expecting the bus to come. While some are updated, according to Meaghar others are bound to slip through.

This leads to - often justified - frustration which is in turn directed at the next driver on the route. Explaining the problem was caused by a broken engine doesn’t seem to help much either: “You’re nearly as well telling them, ‘Listen, the bus that was supposed to come, there was a bomb scare.’ And they’ll quicker accept that, because at least it’s a bit of gossip.

They don’t want to hear it’s a mechanical failure.”

Another repeat offense is bus drivers leaving passengers at the bus stop. To Meaghar, this is one of the biggest difficulties. “You get familiar with these people. You want to carry them.” Depending on the model, a Dublin Bus can carry around 90 passengers.

Allowing more onto a full bus would overload it, and present safety issues, placing the

burden of personal judgement on the driver.

“Sometimes you say, ‘Squeeze on in there, we’ll get you to where you’re going.’ To some passengers, they’re appreciative of that; to others, you’ve created a safety hazard.”

The Consequences

So what effect do our complaints have? When a legitimate complaint is made, what is done to fix the issue?

“Every single complaint has to be addressed.” Whether through social media, a written complaint or a phone call, every complaint concerning a driver must be addressed.

“If a complaint is generated, you’re given a copy of it and have to go to a meeting with your manager (generally on a Thursday). You’re entitled

to bring a union rep, and you’ll go in and sit down and have a discussion. Get your side of the story, generate a verdict, and figure out whether to take disciplinary action.” These actions include warnings, suspensions, being sent for “corrective training”, customer care focus courses and ultimately, dismissal. Even if a complaint is dismissed and no discipline is taken, it doesn’t end there.

“All complaints go on the record. And they do keep a tally, a score-sheet, which we see as unfair, because depending on the routes you work, you’re more liable to complaints.” When looking to progress within the company, this can negatively affect a driver’s opportunity for promotion.

Meaghar, “anti-social” routes often have a much lower complaint rate than those of more socio-economically developed areas, and so are better for seeking advancement within the company: “They call you a bollocks, and that’s enough for them.”

Ultimately, Meaghar would like people to see it from both sides. “It’s a tough job. We’re first out in the morning, and last home in the evening. We bring you to work, and home from your pint. Before you go on twitter and add to that, just think about what he’s going through at the moment, and what are you putting to his stress. If it were you in your job, would you be happy to take that abuse when you’re doing your best?”

Interestingly, according to

Imma let you Finnish

As Stephen Frain embarks upon his year abroad, his initial impressions in Finland have lived up to the Nordic ideal Stephen Frain Contributing writer

I

T IS INDEED A UNIQUE and wonderful experience for this year’s Freshers to walk through Front Arch and begin their college years.

Starting your university life is a wonderful and special feeling that you will never experience again - or at least, that was I thought up until now. Just over three weeks into my Erasmus experience and I feel my university life has been reborn. On a whim 9 months ago, I applied to study at the University of Helsinki in Finland and I think it has been the best decision of my life.

Life in Helsinki

I arrived here in Helsinki at the end of August. I nervously boarded a flight from Dublin Airport full of misconceptions about Helsinki and the enigma that is the Finnish way of life.

People told me that Helsinki is a cold, dark and depressing

city, far north and divorced civilisation; this could not be further from the truth.

The Finns are currently enjoying their longest summer in recent history.

Each morning since I have arrived, I see the sun glisten over the Baltic and locals abandoning their typical Scandinavian overcoat in favour of attire you’d expect to see in a Mediterranean summer resort. Granted when winter inevitably does come, it will the “cold and dark” place about which I was warned (sunset at 3pm in December I’m told). This will not be an easy adjustment, but it is one I look forward to it nonetheless. There is no other Erasmus destination where you can witness the wonders of Scandinavian snow, see the phenomenon that is the northern lights, and try reindeer meals almost every day.

I chose the University of Helsinki because of its wide variety of modules on offer.

I study Law and Political Science, and if you are any way

interested in international law, EU law or foreign policy, Helsinki is the place to go.

Their courses are niche yet in depth, and the university has excellent lecturers who have already earned my admiration.

While I didn’t know that much about the culture or the people prior to my arrival, I have quickly grown to love them. The Finns are a quiet people who certainly aren’t afraid of their own company, but once you get to know them, you will find yourself with a firm friend for life.

Finnish society in general places a large degree of its social capital in its sense of trustworthiness. There are very few other places in the world where you can walk down an empty street in the middle of the night and feel safe or drop your wallet in a shopping centre without fear of it being stolen.

Nordic and Irish societies. I certainly realised them when I got here, and my bank account noticed them even more.

Everyone tells you Helsinki is expensive, and by and large, they are not lying. The cost of living is pretty high, and the tax levels are well above Irish standards.

What Helsinki has opened my eyes to the most though is how well the Nordic welfare model works. Whilst Irish people would bemoan a hike in taxes in the budget, here it is considered a norm and for the common good. Their public services, thanks to immense government investment, are the best in the world - this is why it is said that Finnish education system is the best.

Additionally, their transport system is efficient and reliable on a scale that Dublin cannot imagine or even dream to rival.

The Nordic way

The quality of the public transport has led to decreased traffic. Despite more people living and commuting to Helsinki and its suburbs than

To my shame when I moved here, I did not give a great deal of consideration to the stark differences between the

Dublin, there are fewer cars here, which bodes well for the environment and the city’s carbon footprint. It was certainly something I didn’t expect, and my Erasmus and exposure to the Nordic welfare state has most definitely opened my eyes to a new way of living.

Capitalising on Erasmus experience

the

Finnish history has an interesting story to tell; Helsinki has previously hosted the Swedish and Russian Empires, eventually gaining its independence in 1917.

Telling a Finn you are Irish is a good start to a conversation; there is a bond of nationalism, for Finland is in the midst of preparing for their own centenary celebrations next year.

There is no better a place to witness Finnish-Irish relations play out than Molly Malone’s Irish Pub. Being right across the road from the university, it has already becoming the regular haunt for myself and the other new Irish residents

in the city.

The Finnish Irish Society here in Helsinki is larger and livelier than ever, so I am told. They are planning their own Irish culture festival next month. For one week only, Helsinki’s Senate Square will be swelling with the music of Riverdance and the Auld Triangle. Most Trinity students I know said they fear Erasmus because of homesickness or cultureshock. Maybe it has yet still to hit me, but right now I am having the time of my life while feeling a constant connection to home.

It would seem a waste for an Erasmus student not to traverse the country in which they are installed. As a harbour city on the Baltic, Helsinki is the perfect place to do this. Though Ireland already enjoys the benefits of its close proximity to the content, from Finland it is possible to leap between countries as quickly as one may bus from town to town at home. Just last week, for example, my friends and

I took a ferry to Tallinn in Estonia (a regular stomping ground for most Helsinki residents) and from there a bus to Riga in Latvia.

The high cost of living in a Nordic city like Helsinki is somewhat offset by more economical prices in Estonia and Latvia. Including travel, shopping and the cost of sightseeing and other touristy excursions, the whole cost of our weekend holiday was under €100. To visit Lapland and St. Petersburg feels like a necessity, and a short ferry ride west to Stockholm is next on our list. It’s certainly not as affordable, but will be beautiful to experience.

Without a shadow of a doubt, my Erasmus is off to a far better start than I could have possibly anticipated. As I write this article, I prepare for my first full day of classes, and thus commencement of my Erasmus learning in earnest.

The last three weeks have been a rollercoaster ride to say the least - here’s hoping the rest will be just as enjoyable.

Trinity News | Tuesday 18th October

Features

8

Too many broken cameras Luke O’Reilly speaks to Palestinian campaigner for non-violent resistance Iyad Burnat Luke O'Reilly

you were 17 years old, can you describe what happened?

Social Media Editor

It was in the first intifada.

I was in school and joined the demonstrations, all of the people in Palestine joined the intifada. I was arrested for two years because of this.

I

YAD BURNAT IS A PALESTINIAN campaigner for nonviolent resistance against the occupation of the Palestinian territories by the Israeli Defence Forces and the settlement and annexation of the territories’ lands by Israel. In 2012, his brother Emad Burnat made the documentary ‘5 Broken Cameras’ in collaboration with Israeli filmmaker Guy Davidi.

The documentary follows the non-violent resistance in their hometown of Bil’in against the building of the Israeli West Bank barrier there by the Israeli government. Spanning five years, the documentary gets its title from Emad Burnat’s five cameras which are destroyed by the Israeli Defense Forces over the course of its filming.

‘5 Broken Cameras’ was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary.

Iyad Burnat features in the film as one of the leaders of the non-violent resistance in Bil’in. Burnat led a weekly protest against the building of the barrier until it was eventually destroyed and moved back 500 metres after a 2007 ruling against the wall’s location by the Israeli courts was carried out in 2011. This returned 30% of the villages land and was considered a major victory by the people of Bili’in.

Burnat continues to lead the people of Bil’in in weekly protest against the wall and the occupation. He is the head of the ‘Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall’, and of ‘Friends of Freedom and Justice in Bil’in’, a group which is working on building international support for the struggle in Bil’in. In 2015, Burnat was awarded the James Lawson award for achievement in the practice of Nonviolent Conflict.

Trinity News met Burnat on a wet October morning in Front Square, an hour before he was due to give a talk to the Global Development Society on non violent resistance. He was short, of slight build, and had the quiet, authoritative confidence of a man accustomed to being able to hold people’s attention without having to raise his voice.

You were first arrested when

no success, he has lost feeling and movement in his foot as the bullet damaged the main nerve in his leg.

Was your son in school at the time?

He was. He’s clever, he gets excellent marks. After being injured he has become less motivated, he didn’t go to school some days due to the injury and it affected him.

But he succeeded this year, he got good marks and is in university now. He’s studying computer science, and we hope that he will continue his life like everybody else. He’s going to university on the other side of Ramallah.

It was in the middle of the night when they arrested me, the IDF came and told my father that they wanted to talk to me for 5 minutes. They took me to the jeeps and put me under the jeep and treated me very badly.

When they took me the first day, it was like the hardest day of my life. It was very cold in Palestine at that time, it was snowing. The soldiers put me on the floor of the jeep and put their boots on my body.

They took me to the jail in Hebron. One of them was a very big soldier, I don’t know if he was very big or if I was just very small, but he shouted at me to take my clothes off.

He then beat me and told me to stand in a open area that was very cold. I was taken to a small room, half metre by half metre. In wintertime, they paint it white to make it cold, in summer time they paint it black to make it hot.

I spent the day in this room, then at night they took me to a bigger room, which was one and a half metre by one and a half metre, to sleep.

In the day they would take me to the interrogation, where they would beat me and shout at me to sign the paper, which was written in Hebrew. After 21 days I signed it. The court that I was tried by is a military court different to the one Israeli citizens would be tried under. The judge gave me 36 months - 24 months in jail and 12 months under home arrest after.

What was your experience of Naqab prison?

After I was tried, I found myself in Naqab prison with 20,000 people in it. Most of them were children. During the first intifada they arrested everyone from the houses from the street at nighttime they did not care. The life was very bad, the food was very bad. We lived in tents. In wintertime the water and cold would come to you, in summer time it was very hot.

In the jail you have to find friends, as there is no visiting from your family. The first

You’ve written a book ‘Bil’in and the non violent resistance’. What inspired you to resist non-violently?

Non-violent resistance is in the history of Palestinian resistance. If we go back to 1936, there was an Intifada against the British occupation of Palestine that was nonviolent, hunger strike, boycotting, all these things.

The first intifada in 1987 was popular and also non violent.

I believe in a non-violent way because it’s effective, and it has power.

“

After I was tried, I found myself in Naqab prison with 20,000 people in it. Most of them were children.

time my family visited me was after 6 months. My mother travelled 2 days to visit me in Naqab jail, it’s very hard to go at night time, sometimes walking and taking the bus. The political prisoners become friends with each other very quickly. There can be 30-40 people to a tent, so you become like brothers.

On the subject of family, your son was shot at a protest in 2014…

It was the 31st July in 2014 at the time of the massacre in Gaza where they killed 2500 Palestinians in 2 months.

Bil’in was part of this refusing of the massacre. We then went to the demonstration and then back to the village after.

A group of soldiers followed us, the commander came out from the jeep about 30 metres from us and took out a gun and shot my son directly in the leg. I felt that it’s a message from the soldiers because my son was with me.

They told his brother that after two weeks they would shoot him like his brother. My son is 18 now, he was 16 then.

After two years there has been

“

The people of Palestine must represent themselves.

We don’t need a government under the occupation.

Because in my way I believe that love has more power than hate. This is about violence and nonviolence. The violence comes from the occupation we have to fight this violence with nonviolence. And you will win, if you smile in the face of a soldier who has come to shoot you, he will be angry… and you will win.

So this is our line, we believe that with nonviolence everyone can join.

You can show the media the face of non-violence, and we have plenty of examples of it throughout human history, Martin Luther King jr. Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, all of these kinds of resistance. In Bil’in we have had a lot of successes with our non-violent way, small successes, but big victories for a small village. Like when we moved the wall back 500 metres, forced them to destroy it and move it back, that’s a big victory.

What is the best way for someone to show your cause support?

If we want to talk about support we can take South Africa as an example, the success in South Africa against apartheid came from

the outside, it was a resistance inside yes, but also the apartheid regime was at that time supported by Europe and America. People started to boycott in those countries, it started small in cities but then it succeeded.

We have a lot of people now boycotting the Israeli apartheid. Derry City recently took the decision on their council to boycott the Israeli government. It gives us hope everywhere that it is a solution to boycott the government.

You’ve written critically before of the Palestinian Authority, who do you think should represent the Palestinian people?

I believe that Government under the occupation doesn’t work. The people of Palestine must represent themselves.

We don’t need a government under the occupation. So we have people who are fighting, if you want to support you have to support the Palestinian people and the Palestinian case. If you look at the Oslo agreement, in the beginning in 1993, it gave the Palestinian people hope. However, after everything that has happened since with the occupation, if you ask any Palestinian now on the street they would tell you that they do not believe in the negotiations or the authority or the parties.

What then is the solution to the conflict?

I believe that the solution is to put pressure to end the occupation from outside Palestine and from inside Palestine. This is the only solution because the Israeli government does not want one state or two states. For the Palestinian the only solution is the one state solution. If you look at the map the Israeli government really killed the two state solution since the Oslo negotiations. They were talking about the 1967 border, now only 12% of Palestine’s historic land is left for the Palestinians. In this 12% we also have 250 settlements, about 600,000 settlers. So where is the Palestinian state? I think there is no way to talk about the two states now as there is no Palestinian state. The only way is to have everybody in the one democratic state with the right to return for Palestinian refugees, one vote per person and justice, peace and equality for everybody.

Trinity News | Tuesday 18th October

Features

9

Braving busking in the city centre

Hannah O’Brien-Møller speaks to Dublin musicians about their feelings towards new busking laws.

Hannah O’BrienMøller Deputy features editor

T

hough they may be divisive figures, buskers are and always have been a vital presence on the streets of Dublin. From the old man who looks like a fisherman playing the violin to the guy with the weirdly soft voice who only seems to sing Passenger’s “Let Her Go”, they all blend into the background of this bustling cityscape. I think Irish people sometimes forget how unique Dublin is as a city with multiple buskers on every street, at any time of day. When I went busking in a town in Denmark people would ask me what I was doing, and some jokingly called it “begging”, since they don’t have a word for it in Danish. The live music scene in Ireland was a big reason why I moved here. I still get a kick out of walking into college and getting four or five free concerts as I stroll down Grafton Street.

But then, of course, there are the Friday afternoons when I’m late for class and the last thing I need is to battle my way through the huge crowd formed around a street performer on a ridiculously tall unicycle. People stare at him transfixed and I wonder why, since I’ve seen the same guy do the same trick three times that week. The performers of Dublin have become familiar to me; I can’t imagine not seeing them around the city centre, or not having my walk into Trinity accompanied by the familiar melody of a Spanish guitar. However, for the last two years, Dublin City Council has been attempting to implement regulations on street performance in the city. This has resulted in a decrease in the amount of buskers, particularly acoustic musicians, in the city centre.

The laws

The first form of regulation introduced for street performers in Dublin was the “Voluntary Street Performers

Code”, introduced in 2012.

This outlined for the first time matters such as the distance between two acts, designated “amp-free” zones, a one-hour time limit and the requirement to have a large repertoire (to avoid repetition of the same song). However, this was deemed unsuccessful

by Dublin City Council, due to “poor uptake” and proper legislation was drawn up. In 2015, the first set of bylaws described the need for a street performer to pay €30 per year for a licence, and twice that if they’re using an amp. Then in August 2016 these laws were updated and yet more restrictions were put in place. Several zones in the city centre have been named “prohibited places” for buskers, such as Temple Bar which now exclusively allows acoustic buskers. Finally, the use of backing tracks is not permitted under any circumstances.

Fionn, a busker who plays the uilleann pipes, all but stopped busking after the bylaws of 2015 were enforced, and says he isn’t the only one, putting this down to the cost of a licence favouring professional buskers: “If you’re acoustic you’re probably making less money. You’re not going out as much, you’re not professional. I used to have my friends come over to Dublin for a day or two, we’d just go busking for the craic.

They’d make all their bus money back, and we’d be able to go out that night. It’s just ridiculous that you need to pay €30 for a yearly licence”.

Fionn also finds the time limit of one hour absurd: “You’d be lucky to make 15 quid in an hour”. Although it depends when you’re playing: “Sunday mornings are the best, people are taking their time strolling around, and are more aware of their surroundings. It’s quieter too, there’s no noise battle. But Tuesdays and Wednesdays are rubbish.”

Fionn is, however, a little

conflicted when it comes to the backing track ban: “I’m not particularly impressed with backing tracks, unless if it’s a solo singer. Musicians were just using them to attract attention to themselves, which they shouldn’t need to do anyway. On the other hand, I’ve heard some people do incredibly artistic things with them.” The issue with amps is a harder one to solve because, as Fionn says: “some instruments just need them.”

But if somebody has an amp licence, they can legally be drowning out an acoustic busker 50 metres away. It’s all very well having an 80 decibel limit but according to Fionn it’s “impossible to regulate. If they’re told to turn it down, they’ll wait and then just turn it up again.”

The impact of regulation on art

Fionn has also noticed a decrease in traditional Irish music being played on the street. When I asked him how tourists react to his music, he told me there’s no end to the requests: “The amount of Germans asking for Danny Boy, and Americans requesting The Wild Rover…”.

His favourite anecdote from his busking days is also an insight into the universal appeal of trad music: “I was out busking with my friend who’s a bodhrán player, it was just uilleann pipes and bodhrán. We see two metal heads with soles higher than their actual boots and crazy mohawks listening to us. They came up to us said they’d really enjoyed it and would look up trad when they got home!”

I talked to an electric guitar player who often busks on Grafton Street. He told me he can no longer play in Temple Bar since the new bylaws, which give him the impression that “they’re against art and free will. It’s like they’re trying to end busking”. If busking is your only income, it’s a tough job. I asked him what the hardest thing about

Illustration by Fionn Mc Gowan

busking was and he said: “The weather. Today I was waiting at home for it to stop raining so I could go out and busk.

We’re in Ireland and it’s nearly winter so it’s only going to get worse. Then there are junkies as well who will go by and try to steal your money”. On top of fending off the rain and the thieves, the busker has even stranger things to deal with: “One funny story was when I was playing in Temple Bar and a couple stood next to me

and started to take off their underwear. They swapped underwear next to me. I was really trying to concentrate on my playing but kept messing up.”

Fionn it all comes down to one essential edict, the “universal law of don’t be a prick. The laws are unnecessary and poorly thought through, a lot of the issues are being viewed as black and white. Blasting amps

– that’s covered by a noise pollution law, and anti-social behaviour is also covered by law already. Genuinely I found that before the laws everyone was a lot friendlier than afterwards. It used to be a personal thing, not ‘I’ve got the law on my side so you have to move’”.

We can’t let busking atrophy and die, for it is what makes this city of ours so unique.

Buskers have so many stories

from standing on the sides of the street, watching the world go by and giving us the gift of their art. Their trade is one that depends solely on their talent and the kindness of strangers.

Many great musicians started out as buskers, so the next time you’re walking past one, or battling your way through a crowd, think that they might be the next Tracy Chapman or Damien Rice. Dublin wouldn’t be the same without them.

Radio Heads: The story of Trinity FM "We like to party, and sometimes we party with mics in front of us.” James McGovern climbs to the top of House 6 to discover more about Trinity’s favourite student-run radio station James McGovern Staff writer

S

QUEEZED INTO A NORTH-FACING room at the top of House 6 is the vibrant organisation that is Trinity FM (TFM).

Apart from the microphones and sound panel in the centre of the room, there is little equipment in the TFM studio.

In a closet you’ll find the mixer system that streams TFM over the internet 45 hours a week from 3pm to midnight five days a week. Beside it is the transmitter that broadcasts the station on 97.3 FM one week per month. Decorating the closet is graffiti written

by TFM committees of times past, and the mics from the wall are hung under the watchful gaze of the station’s two knitted mascots, TF Emily and Theo FM. Members of TFM bubble over with enthusiasm when discussing their little community. When asked to describe how strong TFM’s bond is, chairperson Clare Martin simply said: “we were considering getting tattoos”.

The crew, I am told, previously organised a wedding for their mascots. Though Martin has seen the personnel and their composition change over the years (she began as culture editor in first year and was treasurer for second and third), the feeling that the place is more “a shared gaff” than a studio has remained.

The life and soul of TFM

In Martin’s second year, only four of the 15 crew members were female; wo years later that number has doubled to eight female crew members, evening out the gender ratio.

This was no accident; Martin praises the work of former secretary Amy McGrath in particular. She and others turned International Women’s Week into one of the station’s

biggest successes of the year; an extra 20 hours of content were added, DUGES did a special, and a number of female TXFM presenters made appearances. Despite the many changes that have come to pass Martin maintains that “the spirit of TFM had always been good”.

This spirit is what makes former TFM presenter and recent Trinity graduate, Louie Carroll, fondly reflect on his time with TFM; he says, ‘‘without sounding too dramatic, TFM was my college experience.” Carroll co-presented “Film Buffs” for three years and believes most of his college memories are tied to the station. Many others at TFM feel the same.

Carroll feels his “life in college revolved around the top floors of House 6.”

The presenters themselves are “very different people”, according to Martin. The result is a tapestry of shows that are “weird but wonderful”, creating the “sort of environment where you can experiment”. During one hour you may hear discussion of the 18th-century French monarchy accompanied by classical pieces on “The Yearly Show” before hearing drunken tales on “Reckless Thought”.

The Programmes

Nick Johnson’s “Plastic Soul” music programme is the station’s longest-running and can be heard from 10pm to midnight on a Thursday.

It has been around long before the lifetime of the current committee and will undoubtedly outlive it.

Carroll’s “Film Buffs” was done in line with the style of the BBC’s Kermode and Mayo or the successful “Filmspotting” podcast.

Carroll also

“sporadically” presented “The Rocky Show” in his years at TFM, a show which (as the title might suggest) largely consisted of discussions about Rocky movies; “We ran out of talking points with that after about the tenth show I’d say”.

Yet such is the freedom afforded to the station and, more times than not, this freedom is the perfect breeding ground for new and original ideas. Martin is excited about the new program “Around the Globe”, a comedic current affairs show presented by first years Celine and Jessica. One of TFM’s most adventurous-sounding shows of last year’s catalogue was “Bathtime with Hugh and Nick”, a show presented from the point of view of being in a bathtub.

The TFM website actively encourages listener interaction;. there, you can see how many others are listening at any given time, and even gives one the option of chatting to the presenters by clicking the heart icon and signing in. Martin guesses the average show will have around eight listeners but when the line-up for Trinity Ball was announced last year thousands were listening.

While the low listenership lends itself to the more unorthodox concepts already mentioned, Carroll thinks “regardless of listenership, sitting in front of the mic makes you talk different and you naturally start to ‘present’.”

Both he and Martin would be enthusiastic about working in radio in future and credit their TFM experiences as helpful in that regard. They testify to the skills they have picked up at the station, including the ability to improvise when

“

TFM is, with the exception broadcast weeks, wholly self-regulated.

material runs thin and a knack for public speaking.

Being a native of Seattle, Martin was pleasantly surprised to find out how easy it was to get a show on TFM. In the U.S., she notes, the demand for radio slots is so high that there is serious competition for places. In Trinity, however, the station picks shows on a first come, first served basis. Students pitch their show name and idea to the committee during Freshers’ week, or other points throughout the year, and the committee lets them know if they have attained a slot. This gives Trinity students “a lot of freedom” in terms of what kind of shows

they want to run. Of course there is also a member of committee always on hand in the studio to provide help and oversight.

TFM is, with the exception broadcast weeks, wholly self-regulated. For Martin, this is part of “the beauty of it”, the very fact that it is so “unprofessional”, in all the positive senses of the word. When asked to express his feelings toward TFM, station manager Brian Carty commented “We like to party, and sometimes we party with mics on in front of us.” Or as Carroll puts it “It’s college radio, it’s there so you can discover new things and mess around.” That does not mean

the TFM crew are not fully committed to their task, but it does mean that making their way to House 6 after a lecture “doesn’t feel like an obligation”, according to Martin.

Despite there being a powerful bond between those already at TFM, there is always a welcome for new presenters.

Carroll comments “so many new people that pass through the door to present shows end up becoming good friends.”

As a final piece of advice he suggests “hang around in the green room after your show for a bit, you might end up meeting some of your best friends there.”

Trinity News | Tuesday 18th October

Features

10

Another Brick in the Wall In conversation with the Irish Refugee Council, Kelly McGlynn looks at how access to education for those in Direct Provision has improved since the publication of the McMahon report in 2015.

Kelly McGlynn Features editor

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HE MCMAHON REPORT OF 2015, commissioned by the last government, made several recommendations for improvements that could be made to the protection process and the system of Direct Provision. While the core issue for the working group was the length of time applicants spent in the protection process, access to education was an issue that featured strongly in the consultation process between the residents and the working group. The working group noted during the consultation process that many were frustrated that school-going residents couldn’t proceed onto third level education because they were unable to fund international fees. In a system where each adult receives a personal weekly allowance of €19.10, this is not difficult to believe.

you consider that those people that apply normally for Irish residency (not through the asylum process), must have lived in Ireland, or another EEA member state, for at least three years before being eligible for ‘‘free fees’’.

The Irish Refugee Council has submitted parliamentary questions to the minister asking for this time period to be reduced, to no avail.

Reid makes it clear that students shouldn’t have to work for five years to meet this requirement, and that it is in fact indicative that the process shouldn’t even have to take that long. Last year, 39 students applied to the Student Support Pilot. Only 2 of those applications were successful.

Students who do avail of the Student Support Pilot face other difficulties in pursuing third level or post-Leaving Certificate Education.

Working group

The working group thus recommended that access to education be improved, and that student supports be extended to those students in the Direct Provision system who had been in the Irish education system for five years or more.

T r i n i t y News spoke to Caroline Reid of the Irish Refugee C o u n c i l about how the recommendations of the report have been implemented since its publication.

Access to Education

Reid explains that the extension of student supports to those in Direct Provision, as recommended by the report, came in the form of a “Student Support Pilot”.

This pilot provides fees and maintenance to those who are successful in their application.

To be eligible, a student must not only have met the academic requirements for their chosen studies and been accepted onto a course, but must also have spent at least five years in the Irish education system and in the protection process. This criterion thus excludes those students who entered the Irish education system aged fifteen, for example. This is especially contentious, she adds, when

Students can have trouble transferring to another Direct Provision centre once they’ve accepted their place at an educational institution that might be in another county, and they have the added pressure of trying to ensure their family can move with them. Travel costs add yet another weight to the financial burden of further education.

Unlike many students who work part-time during the college year, students in the protection process don’t have the right to work, and so must solely rely on the funds provided by the pilot.

The prospects are narrower still for those who cannot

avail of the Student Support Pilot. Residents only have access to a limited number of FETAC courses. The level of the FETAC course itself is also restricted to lower levels such as FETAC Level 4/5. The Irish Refugee Council are grateful that they often receive grants from community groups to fund access to education projects, and they received a grant last year from The Community Foundation of Ireland for this purpose.

Those education funds were used to pay for resident transport, for class materials, and for FETAC level courses.

The fact remains, there still aren’t enough opportunities for training and upskilling for one to occupy oneself for five years spent in the protection process, as Reid remarks.

School life itself, prior to encountering these problems at school-leaving age, is an isolating experience that disenfranchises many young people in the system. Students living in Direct Provision cannot simply go over to their friend’s house after school, hang around town in the evening, or go to the cinema.

They envy their peers who have passports, who can sit down with their family at the dinner table to eat, and not at a table in a cramped and noisy cafeteria.

Many of the residents live in isolated rural areas with poor transport links. Reid recalls the remarks of one student who, along with other young residents of a Direct Provision centre, was treated to Supermac’s one Friday night by a local Foróige club. He told his youth leaders that that was the first occasion on which he had spent a Friday evening in town with his friends.

The Irish Context

Reid explains that asylum applicants in the Irish protection process come from various countries both north and south of the equator, and this by no means only includes those escaping war in the Middle East. Refugees, she says, are not only born of war, and their reasons for leaving a country are not always clear cut. There are people applying for asylum on grounds of gender, and many

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This criterion thus excludes those students who entered the Irish education system aged fifteen.

from South America who are at risk of persecution because of trade union membership.

Another example of those applying for asylum are those who come to Ireland on student visas, and a change of circumstance in their home country means that they would fear persecution if they were to return.

Many refugees arriving in Ireland in recent years have come through a process of resettlement or relocation.

Under the resettlement programme, refugees are transferred here from UNHCR camps. Others are being relocated from refugee camps in Greece and Italy. This is a slow process, with Ireland only welcoming 40-60 refugees every month. Reid compares Ireland’s commitment to accept 4,000 refugees with the case of Lebanon, a country with a similar population, that has hosted over one million refugees. Granted, its proximity to the conflict does explain the sum of those seeking refuge there, but it remains clear that Ireland has the resources and the space to accept far more than they do.

In fact, Ireland has developed a new system in the wake of the increased pressure on our asylum system. New Emergency Reception and Orientation Centres (EROC) have been established, where applications for asylum have been fast-tracked. These centres, according to Reid, are Direct Provision centres in everything but name.

This has developed a twotier system in the protection

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No one becomes less human when they cross the Irish sea, and they are not in any way less deserving of their human rights than we are.

process, where some nationalities are considered more deserving of asylum than other nationalities, and their applications are quickly processed. This is grossly unfair, Reid contends, on those who have already spent years in the asylum process.

Reid maintains that the current crisis in Europe was not created by the refugees.

The real crisis, she says, is Europe’s response. In the history of movement and mass displacement, the numbers seeking refuge in Europe is manageable. It is worth considering the number of people that are born in Europe each year (5.23 million babies were born in Europe in 2012) with the number of refugees arriving on our shores (one million refugees in 2015).

Similarly, the ‘’crisis’’ in the Irish asylum process was not created by those who chose to seek refuge here, rather by Ireland’s management of the system.

There are currently approximately 4,284 people currently living in Ireland’s Direct Provision system. On average, people spend three to four years waiting for a final decision on their case. Ireland has a shared responsibility along with other EU member states to offer refuge to those fleeing persecution. However, it also has the responsibility to provide a more efficient and dignified protection process.

No one becomes less human when they cross the Irish sea, and they are not in any way less deserving of their human rights than we are.

Illustration by Caroline McKeon

Are you interested in journalism? Would you like to see your writing on these pages?

Trinity News is running a competition specifically for new writers, alongside a series of workshops over the year in writing, photography, design and more. The best three articles will go into one of our print edition and the winner will also recieve a prize.

Email competition@trinitynews.ie for more information.

Trinity News | Tuesday 18th October

Trinity Life

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Photo by Dermot O'Riordan

Magnified Societies Q Soc

Fashion Soc

Rory Codd

Aoife McColgan

Contributing writer

Contributing writer

Could you introduce yourself and outline your role in Q Soc? “I’m Kyle and I’m the Inclusion Officer. Basically that means I’m in charge of making sure that everyone in the society is comfortable and happy to be in the room.

So if they just want to meet up during the coffee hours to make friends or to go out to some event with people once in awhile, I can facilitate that.

I make sure that the Q Soc people have fun.”

For those who may not know much about it, could you sum up Q Soc in a couple of sentences?

“We’re the LGBT+ society on campus, so everything that’s considered ‘queer’ we try to include and encompass.

We’re also the most active society on campus, as we have coffee hours every day and we arrange three events every week.”

Q Soc have had an array of events since the start of the year, many of which were during Freshers’ Week. What for you was the highlight of those events, and why?

“I’d say it was Club Philth. It was such a big event, it was great getting to work with other societies, and it was nice to have an event that was queer-friendly, because that’s not always the case. It was definitely my favourite event, but I also enjoyed all the other events during Freshers’ Week.”

Does Q Soc have anything planned for Halloween this year?

“We do! It’s a big secret, but it’s going to be a lot of fun and we’re still working on it.”

What would you say is the biggest event in the Q Soc calendar?

“I think it’s changed over the

last couple of years, but I’d say right now that it’s definitely Queer Prom. It’s an initiative that we started last year. We host it in the dining hall and invite loads of other colleges.

We’ve been able to get other colleges on board, so now it’s going to be an intervarsity event.”

All the societies in Trinity have at least one major event during the year. What is it about Queer Prom that makes it a must-go for students?

“It sold out first and it’s one of the few events that is an Irish event, not just a Trinity event.

As well as that, it’s not just people you know, that you see day-in-day-out, it’s strangers and new friends.”

Pride is always a massive event in Dublin, especially among students. Does Q Soc get involved?

“Yes, we have our own contingent in Pride, so we march and all members of the society are welcome to join that. What we usually do is we meet up in the Q Soc room in House 6 in the morning and we have face-painting, music, tea and coffee and lots of nice treats. Then we all march together, and it’s a really nice day for everyone.”

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll have heard of the most stylish, sophisticated society on campus - the Trinity Fashion Society. Describing themselves as an “exciting and active society at the heart of Trinity life”, this is a society that seeks to meet the needs of even the most demanding fashion diva, with their events throughout the year ranging from styling and photoshoots, to the greatly anticipated London Fashion Week trip.

As well as providing a “creative outlet for every fashion-inclined student in Trinity College”, Fashion Soc aim to get their members exclusive invites to events which have previously included the Launch Party at Benefit on Fleet Street.

With massive discounts and free champagne, what more could you ask for? Their Facebook and blog posts keep us in the know vis á vis Gucci’s new collection, Yves Saint Laurent’s latest models and the most recent fashion faux pas at LFW. If you have yet to get involved with the society but this sounds right up your street, then listen up for the details on Fashion show, arguably one of the staple events in the college calendar.

By now, the society are experts at putting together a pristine and polished show, and every year the show has grown in scale and status.

Each year the Fashion Society holds this memorable event in support of their chosen charity; last year, this was MSF Ireland. A theme is chosen, which is kept topsecret until last minute, and fitting pieces are chosen from not only esteemed designers, but also more affordable highstreet stores like Topman and French Connection. These are

then effortlessly put together by the enthusiastic stylists and worn by the gorgeous models who storm the catwalk. With a drinks reception to start and an after-party to finish, it would be foolish to miss this incredible event. It’s also likely that you bump into a few local celebrities, with names such as Irish designer Lorna Burton and the cast of Fade Street having attended past events. Although the location and date are yet to be disclosed, society insiders recommended we keep the end of November free..

Carla King-Molina, the President of the Fashion Society, expressed her excitement for this year’s show, saying “This is the third time I’ve been involved with the fashion show. Not only is it an incredible night, but it supports a charity our whole committee feels so strongly about. It is wonderful to see how many friendships form after people volunteer to run the show and the creativity and savvy everyone displays is truly inspiring!”

If you’re looking to show off your top-notch styling abilities, your artistic production skills or even your runway strut á la Naomi Campbell, be sure to pop along to the show’s first team meetings on the week of October 17th to become a part of what is sure to be one of the most chic nights of the year.

Alternatively, if you’d rather sip champagne, eat canapés and watch the awe-inspiring collection put together by your fellow students then this is also perfect for you!

Fresh to the Cobblestones: DU Sci Soc explore what interests them.

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It’s also likely that you Megan Thompson bump into a few Deputy Trinity Life editor local celebrities, year has seen the with names such This introduction of many new one of those being as Irish designer societies, the DU General Science Society. Speaking about their Lorna Burton formation, Public Relations Officer Conor Rossi explained and the cast “Most courses have their own society: English has LitSoc of Fade Street [Literary Society] and BESS DUBES, and while there having attended have are societies dedicated to different branches of Science past events. there was no society for General Science.” On creating the DU General Science Society, Rossi expressed his gratitude to to the Central Societies Committee for their help in its foundation. The CSC requirements mean that each society must have their own niche unique to those of any other existing society.

Discussing the society’s debut during Freshers’ Week, Rossi was thrilled with the positive response toward the society from first years all the way up to Senior Sophisters: “It was a busy week as we were learning the ropes but we had an incredible response and it was amazing to see so many people interested.” Speaking about the goals of the society, Rossi expressed that they wish to promote science throughout the college and to give those with any level of experience in science, advanced or none at all, the opportunity to dive in and

DU SciSoc hopes to encourage anyone with an interest and to try to quash the concept of science being intimidating and something only a select few can understand and enjoy.

Already seeing a positive response, Rossi reflected happily on their most recent event “An Emerging Cosmic Perspective” with Kevin Nolan of the Planetary Society.

Rossi spoke about how one of the most enthusiastic people in attendance was a politics student. The society is not stopping there as Rossi shared his excitement for their upcoming event: “We are planning on inviting a speaker in to discuss some of the science behind cancer for Cancer Week and hopefully the Cancer Society will get behind us for that one. We are also planning an event called Famelab which will invite young scientists to come in and communicate an idea in a palatable and exciting way.

We also have a number of social events planned for the year such as a Science Ball.”

Whether it be an academic event or a social event the DU SciSoc is the society to join if you have any curiosity about science. If you are interested in the vastness of space or are curious about the workings of genetics, DU SciSoc is the place to explore science and foster your interest.

Trinity News | Tuesday 18th October

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Trinity/Identity: Sexuality fresh platform, much different from any they’d previously experienced. They were able to discover who they really were, and were openly grateful for that. They found themselves in social circles which provided them with a safe space that is typically required in taking that first step when wading through the queer water.

Úna Harty Trinity Life editor Sexuality is possibly one of the most complex aspects of the human race. It underpins a large part of how we interact with our peers and can significantly contribute to a person’s well-being; from personality traits to lifestyle choices. At third level education, our individual awareness of sexuality is heightened as we reach adulthood and are left, once and for all, to fend for ourselves. Studies prove that the average human thinks about sexuality and all that it encompasses just as often as we think about food. That considered, why are we often reserved when it comes to opening up about it? I sat down with several Trinity students over the course of a week to hear their views on sexuality and its place within the college community.

Experimentation Experimentation with sexuality is a side dish served to many at some point in their college life. Arguably a product of pop culture, the combination of living away from home, the company of people our own age, and indeed alcohol, is a trail that often leads to experimentation. In addition, heightened hormones are certainly a contributing factor when it comes to curiosity. Is there a pressure then to experiment with one’s sexuality whilst attending a third level institution? Would someone be deemed ‘boring’ if experimentation is bypassed? Some believe Trinity provides that necessary safe and comfortable space to explore one’s sexuality. However, others disagreed after drawing on their own personal experiences.

One student in particular spoke to me about how she had never once felt like she had that pressure placed upon her, and felt wholly confident in her sexuality from a young age. She furthered this by stating that in identifying as heterosexual, this likely contributed to such confidence and comfort regarding her sexual identity.

Meanwhile those interviewed who identify on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum expressed that college provides them with a

We must ask ourselves if Trinity students, however indirectly, associate heterosexuality with conservatism? If so, could this damage our students’ views of hetersexuality? We are indeed privileged to attend a college within which there is an indispensable opportunity to express our sexuality with pride and confidence, and yet oftentimes we find ourselves putting those who identify as heterosexual down for their sexual preference. If there exists an association of liberal politics with being cool and conservatism with being the opposite, is heterosexuality therefore considered uncool by default?

There also is the danger of eroticising experimentation.

Those who actively engage in experimentation with their sexuality, be it by having a threesome or becoming intimate with someone of the same sex, are frequently subjected eroticism by others.

This is particularly common for female couples, who are rarely surprised find themselves being approached by men asking if they can “join in”. This can evoke an air of both caution and hesitancy for queer couples, with the repression of public displays of affection on their part resulting.

Labels Debate surrounding the use of labels for sexual preferences is especially prevalent in Trinity. Recently, the adoption of umbrella terms such as ‘queer’ and ‘fluid’ has been embraced by many. The interviewees agreed that labels can allow people to organise their feelings and inclinations towards their sexuality for their own comfort but also in a way that society recognises.

However, those I spoke with also expressed an uncertainty towards those who actively label other people against their will. This prompts questions such as: what happens when someone who identifies as bisexual finds themselves in a relationship with a person of the opposite sex? There is a distinct danger that the validity of the person’s sexuality will be put into question, with their attraction to the same sex suddenly deemed null and void due to the existence of their heterosexual relationship. This brings us onto the topic of bi-erasure, one of the

biggest problems facing the bi* community at present. In addition to this, bi people may be labelled as gay or lesbian should the erasure work in the opposite way to the situation previously mentioned, and this could discourage prospective partners from seeking to engage with them on a sexual level. It can be difficult for those who gather under the bi* umbrella to escape the imposition of such stereotyping if they happened to be previously involved with someone for a considerable period of time.

One of the interviewees expressed how she finds it difficult to break away from the heteronormativity attached to being married to a man, despite the fact that she identifies as bisexual. She told me that she also feels increasingly subject to stereotyping with age as the presumption that older people are more conservative is constantly being assumed of her.

We also touched on the reclamation of the word ‘queer’ and its increased usage in everyday vernacular. The general consensus among those I interviewed was that they were wholeheartedly in favour of this term and it’s return to use as a positive and definitive word. Some felt that it provides an open and yet relatively concrete bracket to identify within for those still unsure of and perhaps still seeking to determine their sexuality.

Furthermore, there are those who have embraced ‘queer’ as an adequate and appropriate term through which they define their identity. This is equally valid. Certainly, there remains an air of mystery surrounding the term for a significant portion of the general population remain unfamiliar with the term and its departure from the original pejorative meaning. Personally, when I first came to college I did not realise that to be queer was a positive declaration to make and not, in fact, that schoolyard insult thrown around as often as the sliotar.

It was merely through my interest in the subject that I discovered it was a distinction one could be empowered by.

Moreover, there is a strong, proud culture of expression, especially when it comes to political views in Trinity. We wear Repeal jumpers, we decorate our coats with badges flaunting the political messages we stand by, we start the discussions that others seek to avoid. Does this culture extend to our sexuality? If so, is the effect necessarily a positive one? Our debating societies are some of the largest societies on campus and it’s possible this sparks an inclination

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Moreover, do traits contribute to sexuality or indeed hobbies and interests? Is it not suspicious that a large portion of the queer community love a good game of Pokémon Go?

Illustration by Sarah Larragy

In this series, Trinity Life Editor Úna Harty attempts to bridge the gap between Trinity students and their relationship with different aspects of their lives. This issue; sexuality.

the to reveal our views on everything but the kitchen sink, even sexuality? Many of the weekly debates openly discuss sexuality in a formal setting.

Is sexuality and its modern implications, thus, embedded in our Trinity culture?

Dublin - Ireland’s Epicentre of Liberal Culture Trinity students, for the most part, believe they are lucky to attend such a forwardthinking university when it comes to queer rights. One of the interviewees contrasted the capital city to their previous hometowns in America and Canada. They moved to Dublin when the Yes Equality campaign for 2015’s marriage referendum was in full swing.

Interestingly, they didn’t feel completely and wholeheartedly welcome in Dublin upon their arrival. This person identifies as a bisexual. They shared with me that their partner, who identifies as trans*, found it a challenge to adjust to life in Dublin. Q Soc was notably welcoming towards them and they voiced their appreciation for the society and its existence. Q Soc was the very first LGBTQIA+ thirdlevel organisation formed in Ireland and was co-founded

by Senator David Norris when he was an English lecturer at Trinity in the 1970s. There is a history lingering in this institution propelling us to lead the vanguard when it comes to sexuality, and I for one appeal that we continue to do so.

Stereotypes None of the interviewees believed that Trinity in particular imposes a pressure upon its students to conform to the stereotypes surrounding each sexuality. The same cannot be said for society as a whole, but are there stereotypes pertained to Trinity exclusively which the interviewees failed to identify? Or, in keeping with Trinity’s ability to make people feel at ease, do they simply feel comfortable enough walking under Front Arch to adopt the form of their true selves, perhaps for the first time in their lives? Keeping this in mind, think now of the unspoken dress-code of festivals, where attendees are almost expected to drown themselves in glitter and carry bum bags around everywhere they go despite the fact that in reality, no-one wears a drug rug on their average Tuesday.

If someone manages to pluck up the courage to come out to their peers, why should they feel obliged to shave their head if they’re a lesbian or pierce their nose if they’re a gay man? Associating “looks” with certain preference terms seems like it would have a destructive impact on those labels in questions though there’s something to be said

for the comfort that can be gained from the uniformity which often results. Still, this in turn begs the question: how should a bisexual dress? What about a pansexual?

Awakening I asked some of those I spoke to when the began to become conscious of their sexuality.

Joe revealed that he first realised he was attracted to men exclusively around the age of 11. He went to Irish college between fifth and sixth year in primary school with the intention to come out as gay to those he encountered whilst away. “It was an experiment. If people didn’t accept me there then I decided that I wouldn’t come out at home.” Happily for Joe, he was more than accepted at the Gaeltacht. He told me of how surprised he felt at this, considering the vast majority of his peers were pre-teen and considerably removed from existence of the LGBTQIA+ community. I asked if he felt like there was necessity to be overly confident in his sexuality in order for it to be welcomed at such a young age; he openly disagreed. The gay best friend cliché, or what’s known today as the “token gay”, is harmful to young queer men when they are coming out in that men feel like if they’re not camp enough then this has the potential to undermine the validity of their orientation. Incidentally, other interviewees reported awakenings around the age of thirteen and fourteen.

Mind space How often does one think about sexuality? For the most part, those I spoke to told me they didn’t feel like they thought about it very often.

Society assumes that if we’re thinking about sexuality then we must be thinking about the act of sex. What about asexuals, demisexuals and graysexuals? Too often, the conversations around sexuality in college are dominated by inquisitions into how many people you’ve slept with as opposed to the reasons why you did so. We have a tendency to broach the dreaded question, “so how’s your love life?” at every opportunity. Sexuality is rooted far deeper than jumping in bed with another human; it consumes us, including our personality traits at times.

Personality I asked if any interviewees believed sexuality was an integral part of their personality. Many agreed sexuality did contribute to their individual traits but certainly did not dictate them. They felt that the environment in Trinity can pressurise them to allow their sexuality to become a

Photo: March for Choice

large aspect of their image.

In contrast, our heterosexual interviewee said they didn’t feel their sexuality dominated their personality in any way.

Those on the queer spectrum, however, believed they had to allow their sexuality to dominate, at times, in order to stand out from the rest. This seemed to be a common theme among gay men and the pressure to appear camp which is prevalent in the early days of coming out. Moreover, do traits contribute to sexuality or indeed hobbies and interests? Is it not suspicious that a large portion of the queer community love a good game of Pokémon Go? Dating apps Grindr is an institution in the male gay community. The sometimes animalistic dating app received mixed comments from our interviewees.

They believed it to be mostly for those “who know what they want”. “It’s like going in with a shopping list” which is blatantly shallow and fuelled by looks. These aren’t safe spaces for those who fall under the asexual or aromantic umbrella. However, they permeate our college culture insofar that those who use Tinder, Grindr, Her or others oftentimes find they are sieving through their mates on their latest swiping spree.

The interviewees expressed a positive view towards dating apps though. For those who identify as lesbian or gay, they agreed that it was one of the few spaces they could approach in search of a potential partner without feeling they were “one of the few gays” in the club or bar.

There is no doubting that a significant portion of our mental health and wellbeing, as well as our development as a person, stems from our relationship with our sexuality. We should take the unique opportunity given to us as students in Trinity to establish a healthy rapport with it. It is important to educate ourselves on what it is to discover our sexuality without the attached pressure to physically experiment with it. There’s a lot to be said for philosophising it and simply discussing it with our college peers. The open discussion must continue. If we really do think about it as often as we think about eating then we can only hope that our appetite does not dwindle any time soon.

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What is Fourth Week?

Deirbhile Brennan gives an insight into Fourth Week and recommendations of what free events to check out.

Deirbhile Brennan Contributing writer Fourth Week is a week in Michaelmas Term, running from October 17-21, that serves as Trinity’s dedicated societies week in the year.

With 120 societies currently active in Trinity and at least two more proposed societies in the works, each of these societies is centred around a different issue, organisation, group or interest, catering for the diverse social, active, creative and supportive needs of students. This creates a rich group of societies overall, each of which, in the words of Patrick O’Boyle, Central Societies Committee (CSC) Secretary, are “constantly awarded for their excellence, both nationally and internationally”.

The society contribution to student life in Trinity is one of the highest in the country, with many students unable to imagine their college expe-

rience being quite the same without them.

This week grants unique opportunities to both societies and individual students. To societies, for instance, this is yet another valuable chance to promote themselves, what it is they do and what their aims and values are, though in a much less frenzied atmosphere than that of Freshers’ Week. All events taking place throughout the week must be free of charge and open to all students of the college regardless of whether they hold membership. For freshers and society veterans alike it is an opportunity to start the ball rolling with unfamiliar societies, allowing students to see what is on offer before making the decision to join that particular society. For those who think societies just aren’t

for them, it can be looked at as another way to hone in on a specific interest and even make a friend or two along the way.

Since it was launched in 2009, Fourth Week has established itself as a popular date in the college calendar. It marks the middle ground between Freshers’ Week and Reading Week, and events have grown increasingly inventive and adventurous throughout the years. For instance, Trinity Arts Festival’s (TAF) collaborative takeover of the GMB is often a highlight. Last year, in conjunction with Dublin University Photography Association, the Literary Society, DU Dance and sixteen other arts-based societies, attendees were brought to ‘The Dark Side of the Rainbow’ in an immersive and intense visit to an

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This week grants unique opportunities to both societies and individual students.

imaginative realm where Oz is surrounded by Pink Floyd music. This year’s TAF event is called ‘What Lies in the Woods’, inspired by Grimm’s fairytales, and will no doubt be another night to remember.

ences and technologies. This year there will undoubtedly be many contenders for this award. This also presents the all-important question: what exactly is in store for this year’s Fourth Week?

Every year, the CSC presents awards to societies whom they feel have excelled in a particular area, with categories such as Best Overall Event, Best Freshers’ Event and Best Multi-Day Event. Last year, the category for Best Fourth Week Event was introduced. The award, which was announced at the CSC’s Annual Awards Ball, went to DU Photography Association’s event, a light painting workshop. This popular event introduced members to various light-painting techniques, making use of both traditional and next generation experi-

As usual, societies will provide events as varied as they are numerous. The Literary Society will be holding a book-bombing event involving a book-making workshop, the products of which will be spread around campus for a potential reader to come across. The Knitting Society will be continuing their highly popular ‘Let’s Make a Blanket’ for a third year in a row in an attempt to create a den for the Hamilton, which is “far too draughty” in its current state.

Should the stress of choosing which events to attend become too much, Yoga Soc will

Views from House 6

Porridge Party

Deputy Trinity Life Editor Emma McCarthy sits down with current Environmental Officer Thomas Emmet to discuss his role, the responsibilities involved, and the distinctly green plans set to appear on students’ horizons this year.

It will include a representative from Enviro-soc, Fossil Free TCD, someone from the environmental lobby group.

I chair it, and the Citizenship officer (Damien McClean) is the secretary.There are so many great things going on, environmentally, across campus, and it’s nice to bring them together into one strand. I mostly feel like a liaison - holding everyone’s hands!

Emma McCarthy Deputy Trinity Life edtor

Environmental Officer Thomas Emmet SS History

The majority of students are familiar with the Students’ Union’s sabbatical officers, but can the same be said of the SU’s part-time officers?

Who are these faces from House 6, and just how do they work to contribute to student life in Trinity?

What drew you to the role of Environmental Officer? Did you have much experience in the area prior to now?

Last year I ran for Environmental Officer and I didn’t get it. It was still a relatively new role then. Regarding my background, I grew up on an organic farm - we actually just planted two forests. I feel it’s something that’s been ingrained in me. I ran because I wanted to expand the role, make it more important within the Students’ Union because it’s certainly the time [for that].

What does the position of Environmental Officer entail?

It had been very ill-defined. I see it as a way to bring together all of the environmental strands in college. One of the things I ran on was the idea to create a sub-committee. It’s being formed at the moment.

What are your plans for the year ahead? Are there any grand ideas in store for students?

So what Kierán (SU President) has asked us to do is to come up with three big things we’re going to do, though we can do small things as well.

One of those three is the SubCommittee, and the second is based upon expanding Green Week. It’s been moved, it previously took place along with sabbatical elections which, to me, was a really stupid time to have it. [The week] tended to fly under the radar unless you were working on a campaign team and then you’re like “candidate, go go go to this event, it’’s gonna make you look really good!” and that’s not really what we want.

We want people to go of their own will. I want to expand Green Week to all societies.

It’s looking really promising.

We have four night events already planned, which hasn’t happened in previous years.

There’ll be a lot of day events, some stuff hasn’t been confirmed yet but it’s looking good.

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It’s not the sexiest of campaigns.

Progress is seen in small detail.

My other big plan, which is for the second semester, is getting rid of plastic bottles on campus, because there are so many bottles of water bought and then not recycled on campus. I’m guilty of it too! I couldn’t get that done by the end of the year obviously, but I look to put it into motion so that the next environmental officer and the one after that will continue to move towards it. There are various initiatives I’m looking into but at the moment [they are] not my focus. I’m looking to get Green Week out of the way first, which is the 14th18th November.. It’s gonna be good! Though it’s far closer than I think it is..

Fossil Free TCD is an environmental campaign that attracted a lot of attention last year and remains to be very topical campaign at the moment. What is your involvement with this movement, if any?

I went to their first meeting actually. It was the first kind of open meeting that they had, there were six of us there.

I drifted away from it because I got involved in rather a lot last year. I always kept an eye on it, I was still in the group and stuff. It’s a magnificent movement, I mean the fact that divestment wasn’t even a term that you would have heard at the start of last year and now it’s everywhere, and they’ve really good plans going forward as well. There’s so much more that they can do with it if they can keep the momentum up. I recall someone saying that they’ve done more than any PTO has, separate to the Students’ Union. They’re their own force, which is wonderful.

With the campaign hub launch having taken place recently and students given the opportunity to sign up to various campaigns, do you think students are as inclined to get involved with the environment as they might be with other issues?

I think they should! But, it’s not the sexiest of campaigns, I mean the environment is so so important, but selling it to the average person isn’t the easiest. Fighting homelessness, for example, is something where you see active progress physically happening. With the environment and such, all these [progressions] are in the small details. If we lower the planet’s temperature by half a degree we’ve saved it, but if it goes up by two degrees we’re all screwed. It’s so minimal and yet it has such vast effects on everything.. I understand why people are initially hesitant to go down the environmental line because there are no campaigns where you see further progress, but I’d like to change that. I’d like to continue expanding the visibility of the environmental campaigns.

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One of my big plans is getting rid of plastic bottles on campus. There are so many bottles of water bought and then not recycled on campus. I’m guilty of it too!

Deputy Comment editor, Bláithín Sheil reviews Dublin’s answer to hipster gruel all within a short distance of Trinity’s walls.

Bláithín Sheil Do you think there is a big enough emphasis on the importance of the environment throughout the various aspects of college?

Actually I’ll be doing a review of college facilities very shortly. The GSU are introducing an environmental officer position very soon, which is great to hear, and I think it’s important that a similar position be created at Trinity Hall. They make a large contribution to College’s overall waste and that’s something I feel strongly about tackling.

Because it’s most people’s first experience living away from home, it’s the ideal opportunity to build healthy habits that they will bring forward with them to their future households, simple habits such as knowing what to recycle. It’s a really crucial time to impress upon people the importance of these little things that can make such a difference and so that’s something I’m looking to draw to the JCR’s attention and hopefully make a move on soon.

If you have any queries for Thomas regarding the college campus and environmental

be holding a free beginner’s class with a healthy breakfast buffet to follow. The Science Fiction Society are holding both a Mario Kart tournament and a cartoons and animation quiz. The French society are holding a debate, DU Gender Equality are holding a cuddle party, and the Architectural Society are planning a street art tour of Dublin. As Fourth Week coincides with Maths Week, Trinity Maths Society have a full week of activity planned, with highlights including Tuesday’s maths and poker night. Q Soc’s cabaretthemed week will also be a full one, with a pub crawl and a drag-themed makeup workshop to name but a few of their many events.

Deputy Comment editor Are you a dedicated athlete training before dawn breaks, a commuter relying on an early bus, or just a good old Catholic who eats porridge rather than cornflakes (see the Irish Times, “Protestants? They wore underpants, had proper toilet paper and ate cornflakes not porridge”, Kevin Tiernan, Thursday 6th October 2016)?

The College Green area offers a wealth of wonderful porridge experiences. Here are my sub-five euro assessments.

The Buttery A solid and reliable source of food, the Buttery provides this healthy breakfast alongside its traditional Irish Breakfast options. 1.40 will scoop you precisely one large or two small ladles of the good stuff.

The bowls are the same ones used for the lunchtime soup: sufficient, not generous, but at that price, one cannot complain. Topping options are honey, brown or white sugar, raisins and almonds. Again, they sufficed but were not delectable. Taste was ok. It definitely tasted like porridge, but a bit too much towards the watery side. A spoon of cream wouldn’t have gone amiss. I was satisfied and almost full, but I certainly needed to have a yoghurt and kiwi afterwards to rid the last of my hunger pangs.

KC Peaches This cafe is so ‘Trinity’ that I avoid it like the plague. But at 8.30am on a Friday, it provides just the right atmosphere, comfy secret couches (upstairs) and noise level to sit and enjoy a creamy, steamy, voluptuous and satisfying bowl of porridge. Paying twice the

amount as the Buttery, 2.80 (after the student discount), gets you twice the amount of porridge, meaning that the Buttery and KC Peaches charge the same unit price, the latter providing a better product. Topping choices were honey, agave syrup for the ‘health conscious’, mixed granola, and a dried toasted nut mix. Opting for the nut mix, they added an interesting crunch to a bowl of delicious and flavoursome goodness.

I left in a great mood. I actually could not finish this bowl, but that might be down to the bowl of shreddies I had before my swim. Who knows?

Sprout Simply daylight robbery. It was expensive, a pigeon’s portion, cold, and finally, but most importantly, it was not porridge. Advertised as Chia Seed Porridge, I expected to find actual porridge oats in my serving. Instead, it was a little petri dish of yoghurt with chia seeds. Where are the carbs? Coming with delicious granola, nuts and fresh fruit, I’ll give it kudos for flavour, a lovely product. But six large spoons and I was peering into the dish looking for the rest.

Having paid 3.95, I expected a significantly larger portion.

It was a nice dish, but it’s advertised incorrectly, resulting in an unplanned loud declaration of “is this actually porridge?” in the middle of the shop. Everyone stared at my horror. I was still absolutely starving afterwards; like I said, no carbs. I had to dip into my supply of snacks for the day to satisfy the morning rumble.

Considered Café, Drury Street I walked in, slightly hungover and sleep deprived, looking for my fix. Before I even made it to the counter, I was happy with my choice of cafe.

At a mere 2.75, you can get an enormous bowl, cooked specially for you according to your preference of milk or water. The topping choice was very varied: cranberries, raisins, honey, sugar, pumpkin seeds and more, and the woman at the counter served me with a smile. Even I struggled to finish the bowl. I also got a wave from the chef in the kitchen!

On top of the value for money, there is also a 5 euro por-

ridge and coffee deal, which I availed of. Now I am no coffee snob - I am not picky, caffeine is caffeine, but this cafe latte was hands down the most beautiful creamy creation I have ever experienced.

The decor of the cafe made me want to stay all day - I was tempted to skip my 10am class. I was even able to access the Wi-Fi of Dunnes Stores, which must have been close in the vicinity. I will definitely be back. I think I will make myself a regular.

Insomnia At 1.50 for a nice medium sized bowl, not much can be faulted.

The porridge was made fresh, albeit in a microwave rather than a pot. It would have been enough for a normal person, the portion being bigger than that of the Buttery, but being me, I had to supplement it with a banana and crackers in order to feel satisfied. Once stirred, it had a nice consistency, signifying that it was not blasted with heat in the microwave, but rather was slowly cooked. There were no topping options but at 1.50 that would have been unreasonable to expect. I used the cinnamon put out for coffee and it was delicious. The upside of the very low price meant that I had enough money left over from my 50 euro note to buy a coffee. And there is no greater joy than having an extra few quid to treat yourself to a latte at 8am.

This review has been dominated by my need for large portion sizes. I think that for the general reader all of the above cafes will be satisfying, but if you are an athlete fresh off a morning session, I strongly advise you to either order double servings if you have the money, and if not, bring snacks. I have also learned that I am an absolute porridge snob which is ironic given that it is a peasant’s food.

I have very high standards and particular ways in which I like to consume my favourite meal of the day.

Trinity News | Tuesday 18th October

Trinity Life

14

Letters to Home: Leu ven, Belgium This issue we are given an insight into life as a student in Belgium from Cormac Begley, a third year Psychology undergraduate.

Cormac Begley Contributing writer “Hi, what’s your name?

Where are you from? What do you study? Do you know…”

Taking the plunge and venturing off on Erasmus for the year is a lot like being a Fresher again, except you’re in a foreign country and it’s a lot more difficult to go home on the weekends. That being said, I’ve been living in Leuven, Belgium for a month now and I haven’t felt any desire to return home just yet. I’ve found that Belgium isn’t drastically different from Ireland culturally speaking. The currency is the same, most people speak English, and it rains a lot.

It’s actually raining right now. Having said that, for all of their meteorological similarities, there are a lot of differences between Ireland and Belgium too. A whole new world has been revealed to me from afloat the EUfunded magic carpet that is Erasmus.

“

Firstly, people go out far later here. I’m talking about midnight or so.

Sure, that’s a lot of pre-drinking, but it also means that people stay out much later as well, often not heading home until close to sunrise.

There are a lot of small differences that don’t amount to much by themselves, but are much more daunting when put together. Speak Dutch, not French. Shops are closed on Sundays. Motorists almost always stop to let you cross the road. You better make sure to separate your plastics from your papers from your non-recyclables, or you’ll be fined. And remember what day to take each out on! You get the idea.

One of the more significant differences from Ireland that I’ve encountered is the nightlife. Firstly, people go out far later here. I’m talking about midnight or so. Sure, that’s a lot of pre-drinking, but it also means that people stay out much later as well, often not heading home until close to sunrise. Secondly, get used to beer. Belgians love their beer. There’s a bar in Brussels that holds the Guinness World Record for selling the largest variety of beer (nearly 3000 and counting), and in Leuven you can take a tour of the Stella Artois brewery. If, like me, you’re not a big fan of beer then you can always get the sweeter fruit beers.

Kriek (cherry) beer is a personal favourite. Thirdly, the drinking culture here is a lot more reserved than in Ireland, students being the exception. Most people prefer a glass of wine with dinner rather than an entire bottle at pre-drinks, and in my experience you’re more likely to find yourself in a bar than a club. This might be because Leuven is a relatively small town so in the spirit of scientific inquiry I’ll be spending the coming weekend in Brussels, testing whether this is, in fact, a generalisable observation.

For science.

Then there’s the cantus.

Cantuses (canti?) are a Belgian tradition. They could be described as an elaborate drinking gaming involving lots of singing and a lot of

thankfully, all of my classes fall within a

rules.

Break a rule and you shall be punished, eg drink your beer from your friend’s shoe. I haven’t had the pleasure of attending one yet but the psychologische kring (KU Leuven’s version of PsychSoc) is hosting a pyjama cantus next week.

When in Rome…

While the vie nocturne is somewhat exotic, university life is a bit different too.

As a psychology student I’m used to attending all of my lectures within the

confines of Trinity’s Arts Block, never having to travel too far for my next class. Here in Leuven, classes are scattered across the town. This isn’t so bad since Leuven isn’t very big and is certainly prettier than the Arts Block. In addition, classes tend to start earlier and end later. While,

mobility). In my time here, I’ve already been to Brussels and Antwerp, with Bruges next on the agenda. In time I hope to venture further afield into France or Germany. Living so close to the de facto capital of Europe makes it a lot easier to get around the continent. It’s not cheap but the Erasmus grant helps ease the burden.

Complementary to travelling is meeting people from other walks of life. When I first began studying in Trinity, Dublin seemed so cosmopolitan to me. Living in Belgium has given me a real taste of just how interconnected the world is.

I’ve made great friends from all across Europe and I know I’m going to miss them when I return home for my final year in

Trinity.

9am to 6pm bracket, some of my friends haven’t been so lucky. Statistics at 8am? I’ll pass.

Of course there’s more to Erasmus than just parties and classes. I think that travel is fundamental (after all the ‘M’ stands for

When I took a tour during orientation week I was told that the town wouldn’t be on the map if it wasn’t for the university, KU Leuven. Given the small size of Leuven and the international reputation of its university, around two-thirds of the population is made up of students (or so I’m told). As you can probably imagine, this is

reflected in the local culture.

Oude Markt, a square within stumbling distance of my apartment, has around forty different bars and cafés.

In addition, it’s common for native Belgian students to return home for the weekend, resulting in a weekly exodus of wheelie bags. This means that it’s relatively quiet during the weekend, especially on Sunday when stores and businesses are closed (which can be nice at times, but beyond frustrating if you happen to have run out of milk).

Leuven, like Dublin, also has a lot of old buildings - the university was established in 1425. The architecture of the town truly is something to behold and words cannot describe the feeling of strolling down one of Leuven’s cobbled streets whilst listening to a chorus of church bells ring out the hour. Despite its size and picturesque beauty, you can also find graffiti in Leuven.

It has a distinctly political flavour with a lot of anarchist and anti-fascist slogans.

I’ve been told that Belgium has an underground antiestablishment culture.

Radical.

One written piece just doesn’t do justice to the Erasmus experience. It has to be lived. I would strongly recommend anyone starting out in college to give it consideration. Living abroad

“

They could be described as an elaborate drinking gaming involving lots of singing and a lot of rules. Break a rule and you shall be punished, eg drink your beer from your friend’s shoe.

has certainly pushed me out of my comfort zone but I’m all the better for it. It’s a great opportunity to learn another language, experience another culture and meet people from around the world. Although I’ll only be in Belgium for a year, I’m confident it’s one I won’t ever forget.

While I’ve certainly enjoyed exploring what Belgium has to offer, you can’t beat the comforts of home. On Standonckstraat you’ll find Stapletons, Leuven’s only Irish pub.

They serve all the traditional Irish drinks of course and, at the risk of sounding like an advertisement, they have a proper Sunday lunch to boot. They even showed the All-Ireland Championship re-match, traumatic as it was.

It’s a good spot to grab a pint and meet the Irish diaspora.

At any rate, it’s cheaper than Temple Bar.

Why societies are worth your while Fourth Week provides you once again with the ideal opportunity to dabble in that society that’s peaked your interest from day one. It doesn’t matter which you choose to get involved with, it matters only that you do.

Shubhangi Karmakar Contributing Writer This is not a sales pitch. Or perhaps, in fact, it is, though for which society in particular I haven’t quite decided.

As a fifty-hour-a-week medic, you wouldn't find me still in university, let alone getting firsts, had I not become an active part of college societies from the very day I set foot in Front Square.

From the small (Cancer Soc) to the huge (The Hist), to the niche (Association of Medical Students Ireland) to the universal (French Soc), the passionate (SU Lobby Group) to the carefree (Q Soc), there will be a plethora of societies vying for your participation throughout Trinity.

Talking points Particularly relevant if you're not from Dublin, Ireland, or even Europe, societies are a great excuse to get stuck into the capital’s culture and make the amazing mates that you'd never imagined you’d be so lucky to have. Some of my most important friendships were formed over several measures of Jameson’s after my seven minute veneration of capitalism at The Hist’s Derby of Rhetoric. This

debating society also takes you all over the country, the UK, and around the world, but there are scores of other societies with so much to offer if public speaking is not for you.

Mission (I'm)possible Join a society to do something really crazy, something you won't quite believe you're doing in the moment and will seem like a fever dream afterwards. Last year I found myself starkers underneath the ominous Campanile at 9pm for Cancer Soc’s Naked Calendar, along with members of nine other societies and the lads from the rugby team, with all proceeds going to the Irish Cancer Society. This year's main event has been turned up a notch and if you happen to find yourself filled with the desire to freefall in a skydive all for the sake of charity with your new companions, then Cancer Soc can make it happen.

If the prospect of extreme sports seems just a little too extreme to you then don’t worry, there are still undeniably unique society experiences waiting for you

this year. From the opening of the new on-campus rifle range, to Marching for Education with the SU, attending London Fashion Week with Fashion Soc, meeting Kesha at The Phil, and rubbing shoulders with international diplomats at Sofia’s Ambassadors’ Ball, the possibilities are endless. Trinity really does have it all if you look hard enough. I urge you to go out and make your own adventures happen, because you won't find them in the aseptic walls of the TBSI, or the concrete egg-cartonlike building that is the Arts Block. If you do want to make long-lasting friends, have the chance to influence others, explore new places, and have slightly off-the-wall stories your grandkids won’t want to believe, societies are the place for you!

A Home Away from Home Getting involved with a diverse range of societies allows you to make friends who will be there for you, whether you share the same lectures or not. It can be restrictive to only have friends within your course, especially if your course is that extra bit work-intensive.

“

Join a society to do something really crazy, something you won't quite believe you're doing in the moment and will seem like a fever dream afterwards.

While you personally might up for a three day bender after smashing your exams, I guarantee some people will still be up to their necks in textbooks in the 24-hour library. There are innumerable mental health benefits to having a ‘wine and whine’ with your friends on the other end of campus as an alternative, and sometimes this a much better investment of your time. Finding a healthy balance between work and the sesh in your time at Trinity is key, so don't allow yourself to get overly bogged down by group chats rife with discussion over Michaelmas past papers in only October. Instead, go out with Q Soc and have a great time worrying about “yer one” you shifted on Tuesday at Prhomo whose call you missed. The weekends are for textbooks - and in this case, hangovers.

A diverse circle of friends prompts you to think about the world from varying perspectives rather than just that of your degree or career, and encourages you to look for opportunities outside of your nine-to-five lectures.

Even within your subjects,

matching depth with breadth of knowledge may cause you stand out to examiners and also allows you to hone in on skills in your area of interest before others have made that leap. That is an invaluable asset in terms of future employment when you’ll no longer be hanging out with the same people from the same modules anymore. More importantly, there’s an invaluable lesson to be learned on when to keep your mouth shut and ears open for professional opportunities that you never may have expected to swing your way.

The Hard Sell My parting words are on learning how to manage your time as opposed to hoarding it. Don't let your lecturers, course, or classmates dictate how much or little you interact with college life. Wanting firsts, even in the most pressurising of courses, is no excuse for isolating yourself and potentially missing out on networking, personal development, and simply having fun with societies.

Make the most of your time in Trinity and invest your time into learning about

other cultures and sociopolitical progress, playing a new sport, or merely indulging in New Orleans Jazz over some wine and cheese as a breather from what will otherwise consume every other coherent moment of your life. Yes, your time at Trinity is going to include those long hard nights of work for that all-important piece of paper at the end of your few years. But if your society leads to long hard nights at the Czech Inn and the phone number of that “absolute ride” you'd been eyeing up for a while, that's valuable life experience too. It'll give you something to daydream about come exam season, if nothing else.

Trinity News | Tuesday 18th October

15

Comment

Is Trinity hostile to Pro-Life students - so much so they have to remain silent? page .17

A lack of imagination Orlaith Darling rails against the prevailing “cool”aesthetic in Trinity Orlaith Darling Assistant Comment Editor

W

E ALL HAVE THAT FRIEND who spent a summer abroad on a noble volunteer programme, where half the money raised was used to fund flights and excursions, and who came back having found themselves and a whole new wardrobe made of dreamcatchers. We all have the friend who, though perpetually broke and unemployed, manages to find the money to spend on gin and tonics and macaroons instead of the cheapest lager going.

We see these people swanning around the arts block in assorted knitwear and fishnets, desperately hoping that onlookers will believe that their granny knit the jumper that they in fact paid a slightly ludicrous amount for in Folkster, or that the rips in their tights are from that epic night in The Workman’s Club , not from the Urban Outfitters catalogue. For those of us raised by an Irish mammy, the word that comes to mind is “notions.”

I am a chronic poser

You may ask if I am writing this piece as a credit to myself. Am I saying that I have escaped the plague?

You are right to question, as I am beginning to sound self-righteous. The answer is “no” (although I did buy my moon-speckled Doc Martens when I was twelve, before some hipster proclaimed

them cool). Mea culpa — I am guilty.

I often listen to music that is, in fact, woeful, trying to find a redeeming feature simply because I know that it’s cool. I also commit the cardinal sin of pretending to know who the hell Pink Fishes are, saying that “I love their first album”, only to be informed that they are not, in fact, a “they” at all, but a oneman synth band. Did I take a ludicrous number of photos in the Nomadic Gardens in Shoreditch when I was in London, gleefully littering the internet with evidence of me being cool (and did I take a strange sort of pleasure from being able to reiterate it just there)? Yes. So there, I am a chronic poser. However in a world where the Glam Squad, innumerable beautifying filters, and a socially acceptable form of the erstwhile ridiculed “duck face” exist, I think I’m safe from being too much of a complete prat. Cue the Phil and their glitter adorned faces and ever-present Kodak cameras. Is it only me who thinks it’s a bit odd to take a polaroid photo, then take another photo of the photo with an actual camera in order to get a new photo? #getphilthy.

“The Pandora-bracelettoting brigade”

In fact, a classically stereotypical breeding ground for notions are all girls’ schools, where Roxy school bags and Gucci watches are substituted for the fact that we have a

bottle green uniform.

When I get to college, I naively dreamed, I will be free from notions once and for all. Surely, my youthful innocence bid me yearn, people in college will have better things to do than pose.

My erstwhile experience of the Pandora-bracelet toting brigade was merely supplanted by the painfully self-conscious and self-proclaimed “free spirit’’ wafting around the campus, asking her friends to take “candid” photos in which her hands just happen to be hovering in the air à la Kate Bush. The Facebook posts glorifying their reckless abandon in leaving essays until the night before, knowing that anyone who reads of their spontaneity will instantly wish, “Why am I not that cool?”

I truly believe that I would be an exponentially cooler person if I had delusions of grandeur large enough to barge dramatically (because cool people never enter a room at a reasonable volume) into lectures twenty minutes late carrying a coffee cup from some café with organic beans, outrageous prices, and an industrial-chic interior.

Dammit, why did I set my alarm this morning? Now no one will regard me with a hushed reverence as I’m too

“

The point is, to incoming First Years, please have some imagination.

bloody normal (note to self: bin the A4 pad and somehow procure a quill and leatherbound notebook in order to fulfill the “starving student scribbling in a garret” image).

Trying too hard to be different

We all want to be different.

It’s such a human impulse to send out vibes of desperate distinction. And yet, we all feel a need to be accepted.

However it’s a sad day when the only way of exception, and the preferred way of making

an impact, is to assimilate to everyone you see around you.

My favourite part of a new friend request on Facebook is to look at their profile pictures. They generally form a spectrum, with images becoming more artsy, more glittery, and more distressed-denim-jacket-clad as they go on. You can almost immediately pick out the moment the person entered Trinity, as there is a jump from a happy Debs Dress shot to a “candid” shot with a selfconscious caption ~written

like this~ |or this|.

The point is, to incoming First Years, please have some imagination. Trinity is supposedly an institution of great thinkers and independent minds, but sadly we need you to make sure that it doesn’t morph into a Grimes music video. Think of it this way: if normal is the dreaded anathema avoided by every arts student ever, then being extraordinary now requires a surgical excision of “cool”.

SU Lobby Group’s accommodation plan is an attack on students Matthew Collins argues that the Students’ Union’s accommodation lobby group is taking a harmful approach to the accommodation crisis in Dublin.

Matthew Collins Staff writer

T

HE POLICY POSITIONS OF TCDSU Lobby Group have been revealed, two months after the group was formed.

Although the declared strategies of most of the departments represent clear attempts to improve students’ lives, the position adopted by the Accommodation section will work against the interests of students struggling to find housing amidst Dublin’s accommodation crisis.

The accommodation lobby group, lead by Alex Bickerstaff, has endorsed Simon Coveney’s Rebuilding Ireland plan is working with Dublin City Council to “spur private sector growth through strategic re-zoning and updating Dublin’s urban development plan.”

Firstly, students should be immediately sceptical of a process whereby the Students’ Union’s political arm reveals its positions on critical issues for students, with little explanation of how those positions were reached.

Candidates in the 2016 SU election did not expend much time delineating their positions on issues such as the housing crisis. It would seem obvious that the SU cannot legitimately lobby the government using College funds, when it has not consulted students as to how they believe the government should deal with these issues.

Referenda need to be held to establish the positions advocated for by the SU. Without these, the policies advocated for simply reflect the opinions of a small sect of College: SU sabbatical officers, part-time officers, and those free to attend SU meetings.

The danger of such an approach to the SU Lobby

Group is exemplified by the position adopted by the group in relation to housing, which could not be more detached from the everyday reality of students. Alec Bickerstaff, the Accomodation Chair for the lobby group, has hailed private sector growth as the solution to the accommodation crisis and endorsed Simon Coveney’s market oriented ‘Rebuilding Ireland’ housing plan.

This position completely ignores that for-profit developers have no interest in building student housing.

The sites on which they might build student housing are infinitely more profitable as office space or luxury apartment complexes. The current crisis is a result of the functioning, as opposed to the failure of the market.

Building student housing is not a profit maximising venture. This reality is the cause of the current accommodation crisis. As such, a policy which relies on private businesses to provide student housing is indistinct from a policy advocating we do nothing at all.

Assuming some mythic incentive for developers to build student housing, privately owned accommodation will be inaccessible for economically disadvantaged students, because the interests of business owners is profit maximisation, not ensuring that education is affordable for all students in the country.

Even if, by some miracle, rents in these hypothetical privately provided student housing solutions are affordable at the beginning, they will continue to rise.

The market will have few suppliers and barriers to entry, allowing developers relative freedom to set prices,

instead of accepting market rates. Moreover, because the only alternative for students will be the private rental sector, where rents rise rapidly due to a paucity of rent controls, owners of private student housing will be able to increase the rates they charge as the private rental market rates continue to balloon.

For most students, this will mean increasing amounts of family income are spent on accommodation, or that students themselves will be burdened with debt from student loan schemes. For many, it will mean that attending university will remain an impossibility.

Ireland’s recent economic history reads like a perfectly crafted fable, in which the lesson learned is that markets cannot be trusted with control over the invaluable human right to housing. In ignoring that history, the SU only reinforces the exclusivity of education at Trinity.

The SU Lobby Group’s position has ramifications which extend beyond College walls, however. In endorsing the ‘Rebuilding Ireland’ plan, the SU adds legitimacy to a strategy intent on strengthening the neoliberal political project of Fine Gael. The Rebuilding Ireland plan, like the SU’s approach, favours private developers.

A sizeable portion of the government’s proposed social housing will be provided by private developers, subjecting people in need of social housing to exorbitant rents, or in the worst cases, homelessness.

Furthermore, the plan hopes to increase housing supply in general, and rental supply in particular through increased reliance on the private sector. The hope of adding 25, 000 new homes

“

This position completely ignores that forprofit developers have no interest in building student housing.

every year will be insufficient to keep up with Ireland’s rapid population growth of 6.4%. It also relies on deregulation of planning regulations, which will inevitably lead to lower quality housing, while removing the already limited power of local councils to place developments under democratic oversight. It is a plan doomed for failure, as pointed out on innumerable occasions by figures on the Irish Left.

The solutions to the national housing crisis and the student accommodation crisis are the same: massive investment in social housing for students and lowincome families, and the implementation of stringent rent controls in the private market. Housing policy which revolves around publicly owned housing is the

“

In endorsing the ‘Rebuilding Ireland’ plan, the SU adds legitimacy to a strategy intent on strengthening the neoliberal political project of Fine Gael.

sole practical way of ensuring affordable housing for all, regardless of class or wealth.

That such a policy should be advocated by the Students’ Union seems obvious, and yet the opposite will be lobbied for by the Students’ Union.

SU President Kieran McNulty pledged to work towards alleviating the accommodation crisis and to ‘Unlock the SU’ in his manifesto. In establishing the unaccountable, opaque body that is the SU Lobby Group, he has undermined both of these goals. Recognising that the SU should engage in increased political activism was a step forward. It would be a shame to see the SU dragged backwards by a regressive approach to the current crisis.

Trinity News | Tuesday 18th October

Comment

16

Lack of party politics on campus is all too evident Despite current student activism evidenced in numerous campaigns, Aidan Carolan finds that party politics are all but dead on campus Aidan Carolan Staff Writer

M

AYBE IT WAS FATE that on Monday of Freshers’ Week, when I was at my most wideeyed and fresh-faced, I met someone who would bring me crashing back down to reality.

I had somehow managed to empty my unsuspecting wallet after just ten minutes and five societies so I wandered over to the ATM nestled in beside the Buttery.

The queue was incredibly long but I wasn’t worried.

I, in all my naivety, saw it as a chance to get to know new people. And so, with that in mind, I struck up a conversation with the girl in front of me.

We chatted for a minute or two about the pros and cons of queues, how we felt about cobblestones, and whether or not six was too steep a fee for the Phil. Then, I noticed that she was wearing a society t-shirt, but because of the way she was standing I couldn’t make out the name emblazoned across it. With my mind already racing with the thoughts of all the free stuff she’d have access to, I politely asked my new friend which society she was from.

I can’t be sure if it was before or after she replied but suddenly, the September sun clouded over and I felt a chill pass through my body, maybe even through the whole campus. I never actually

investigated it but I am 48% sure I faintly heard someone scream at the exact moment after I asked but before I heard the answer.

“Fianna Fáil”, she said, her voice already braced for the reaction to come.

“Oh”, I replied. It was the best I could do. The conversation collapsed.

I opened and closed my mouth a couple of times but I couldn’t think of anything to say. After about a minute (or twenty) of silence, I turned away to pretend to urgently text someone. “Yeah”, the Fianna Fáiler said, more to herself than me. “We get a lot of that around here.”

Looking back on the experience, I feel bad for the girl, stuck between a conversational rock and a political hard place. I’m sure she got a few sign-ups over the week but I can’t be completely certain. I only know a handful of people who joined political parties during Freshers’ Week and most of them seem to have joined on the same impulse that drove people to Korean Soc and the American Football Club.

Strange young politics

Young people and politics have a strange relationship.

On one hand, hundreds of thousands of us come out to campaign on major social issues we see as affecting either us or groups with whom we sympathise — abortion and same-sex marriage being prime examples. As a demographic, we seem to have a much greater interest in social issues than other, older groups who would align to political parties more closely than we do.

Why is it that we will march in our thousands for repealing the Eighth Amendment but we are reluctant to accept mainstream political systems and join parties? Some groups like Young Fine Gael don’t seem to do too badly on campus at the moment, but even their members don’t go through the party to campaign anymore. Instead, they turn to the Students’ Union.

Most, if not all, student political action now comes from our Students’ Union, as evidenced in the Rally for Education being facilitated

by TCDSU next week in conjunction with the national campaign. There is no hint of party politics in this campaign, or in any other similar campaigns run by the SU. The dialogue on campus, rather than being centred around which party you align yourself to, is centred around which side of each debate you align yourself to.

In my own circle of friends, for example, no one talks about political parties, but everyone talks about social issues. Does this mean that party politics is dying? Is it becoming less apparent which party is which, and which, if any, of the party options is doing a good job?

And, most importantly, does any of this matter to students anymore?

There are a couple of theories floating around about what has pushed party politics to death’s door. The first that comes to mind is that seemingly ancient stereotype of the far left student that worships Marx and denounces “the establishment” for

whatever reason seems most appropriate at that time.

I’ve only been in college a wet week but I have already found myself discussing socialist theories, and I have a list of communist literature that I “have to” read. But the only socialist party on campus is the Socialist Workers Student Society, which is quite small. Could young people be too individualistic to rigidly adhere to a set of policies put forward by a political party?

Similarities with religion

Our relationship with politics is similar to our relationship with religion in this way. While a lot of young

people may have their own set of beliefs, they may not align themselves with one particular church in the way that older generations do. But then, a lot of people in Ireland, including young people, have become disillusioned with the Catholic church in recent years after decades of scandals and stories of sexual abuse.

Although the scandals may not be quite so common or quite so repugnant in the world of politics, disillusionment still abounds.

The political system in Ireland has developed into a kind of one-sided war, with Fianna Fáil on one side and Fine Gael on the same side,

for when we get sick of Fianna Fáil. No matter which side of the coin the electorate votes for, the government is made up of conservative, centreright politicians whose methods have been tried and tested in hundreds of other governments, thousands of times over. It’s clear that there will be no significant progress until the day comes when new ideas, not just new suits, are voted in.

Maybe that is where our problem as young people lies: we campaign for change as loudly and as often as possible, and we have and discuss our own political beliefs, but we don’t venture into the dark wood that is

party politics. To us, party politics means trying to elicit change within a world that has defied structural change virtually since its inception.

We take political discourse in our stride but political parties elude us. When we gain more life experience we might trade in our exuberant idealism for resigned cynicism and join a party.

That is, however, if we can ever find a party that suits our particular set of views.

But until then, we’ll keep marching for choice, we’ll keep extolling Marx, and we’ll keep our heads down when someone by the ATM asks if we’d like to join Micheál Martin’s Soldiers of Destiny.

It has happened before, but there is nothing to compare it now Trinity, Ireland and Europe’s response to the greatest human rights disaster since WWII Kevin Keane Contributor

E

UROPE IS FACING ITS worst humanitarian crisis since World War II; the refugee crisis is worsening, claiming more lives and ruining more families, every single day.

And what have we done about it? As a society, extremely little. We have stood back and watched as one of the greatest human tragedies in history has played out across our sister nations in Europe, and barely raised a finger. We have watched babies drown, families torn asunder, men and women cast from their homes and their lives by forces outside their control.

We have watched children fleeing to Europe via the Mediterranean, having lost their families to a bomb, a bullet or a boat, hoping for a blanket to be spread across their shoulders and to be taken in. What have they received from Ireland?

Nothing. We have housed just one unaccompanied minor refugee in the last year.. There are 1,022 children without a family in Calais refugee camp, with thousands more in camps from Greece to Dunkirk. This is our national shame.

Some sections of Irish society claim that we have simply don’t have the resources to help. We have a homelessness crisis, disgraceful hospital waiting lists, schools are filling up too fast. How can we possibly afford to add thousands more people, in need of acute care and support, on top of that?

Comparison of national and international issues

I would never argue that the issues Irish people face every day are not valid or important. Hospital waiting lists cost lives. Homelessness is unacceptable.

These issues pale in comparison, though, to the ordeals endured by Syrian refugees.

These people have fled from bombs, travelled overseas in boats not fit for back garden fishing, been beaten, rejected and cast out by European society upon arrival. These people deserve all the help we can give.

Furthermore, this is not a question of budget - we will not be taking from the HSE to give to refugees.

It is simply a question of examining our attitudes. In the short term, a refugee crisis response could cost us money, but in Germany the intake of refugees has been proven to have bolstered the economy. Syrian refugees are not merely hungry mouths looking for food. Before bombs began to fall, Syria was a country of bankers, builders and business people. It will take time, but these people want to work, to contribute and become self supporting.

Is it even problem?

Europe’s

There is a growing refrain that this isn’t Europe’s problem at all; or at least, that it shouldn’t be. “Why doesn’t Saudi Arabia or her neighbours take in refugees?” is being asked more frequently. People point to the vast resources in Saudi Arabia and ask, why don’t we expect a neighbouring country of Syria to do more?

Since the end of the Second World War, the European Project has stood as a paragon of inclusivity, welcoming and fairness across the world.

Europe has stood for open borders, for free exchange of ideas, cultures and languages.

The same cannot be said of Saudi Arabia. In the last week, the UN has condemned Saudi Arabian human rights abuses, including the continued practice of stoning and the institutionalised subjugation of women and girls. This is not a country by which Europe should measure its efforts.

Suspension rights

of

human

Europe should be leading the way, showing the world what it is to be welcoming and humane in the face of terror. This has simply not been the case. Until recently, some EU member states had been seen to be generous and welcoming.

In 2015, Germany accepted and resettled over one million refugees. However, on March 18 of this year, the EU ensured that history would not look kndly on its response to the crisis. On that day, the 28 EU heads of State, including Enda Kenny, signed the EU-Turkey deal. At its core, the agreement aims to address the overwhelming flow of smuggled migrants and asylum seekers traveling across the Aegean Sea from Turkey to the Greek islands

by allowing Greece to return to Turkey “all new irregular migrants” arriving after March 20. In exchange, EU Member States will increase resettlement of Syrian refugees residing in Turkey, accelerate visa liberalisation for Turkish nationals, and boost existing financial support for Turkey’s refugee population.

The deal, in my opinion, is not only illegal but also a shockingly dangerous precedent to set. The EU has been proud to stand over its Human Rights record for the past 40 years; it has been a world leader in protecting and regulating human rights.

This deal jeopardises all of that progress.

No democracy has ever been made safer or more secure when Human Rights are “suspended” in response to a pressing crisis. It is universally the first step of a dictatorship, to undermine and ultimately do away with the fundamental human rights we all enjoy. That process begins with the suspension of one right in response to an emergency and in this case that emergency is the refugee crisis. A lack of respect for human rights is an extremely slippery slope. Without a supreme respect for human rights, such as that of the refugees to safe harbour and an appeal against forced expulsion, our justice system crumbles and decays.

Lack of empathy

Although there is no doubt that we are all worried, our collective attention span has become shockingly short. Never has that been clearer than in our response to this crisis. We see heartwrenching images of children and adults, covered in the dust and the destruction of a war they have nothing to do with, splashed across our Facebook timelines and our newspapers. We see these images, and read the stories of children like Aylan Kurdi, and are outraged. We share the posts, we like the photos, some of us even take to the comments section to fight against the xenophobia and racism that so often can be found there.

Yet after a couple of days, the photos slip down the timeline, the news cycle

“

We have watched children fleeing to Europe via the Mediterranean, having lost their families to a bomb, a bullet or a boat, hoping for a blanket to be spread across their shoulders and to be taken in.

What have they received from Ireland? Nothing.

moves on and we forget. This episodic outrage is what we need to combat. It cannot be enough that our sympathies are played on for a couple of days at a time, to be forgotten shortly thereafter.

Real change happens when we do not simply communicate our disgust and dismay at this crisis via our like and share buttons. It happens when we go to events, when we educate ourselves and those around us, and when we loudly demand change from our representatives.

Shift in priorities

For change to happen, the EU needs a shift in priorities.

National governments, including our own, need to be consistently lobbied and pressured to step back from retrogressive and inhumane deals such as the deal with Turkey. In order for that to happen, Trinity needs to become a national hub of education and activism, and needs to spread the message campus and nationwide.

Trinity has a proud tradition of social justice activism; it is time to tap into that activist spirit once more. Individuals, societies and the SU are doing their bit, but unfortunately their efforts too often fly under the radar.

Next week, the 8x8 film festival will arrive at Trinity.

8x8 is a week of activism

“ Although there is no doubt that we are all worried, our collective attention span has become shockingly short.

Never has that been clearer than in our response to this crisis.

awareness, overseen by Suas Trinity, and focuses on a different issue of global importance each year. The festival’s focus this year is on the refugee crisis, and the reality that no two stories are the same. No one in the world can say they have the same set of conditions and circumstances as the person standing next to them - a reality easily lost in the madness of this crisis.

What will you do?

There is no more time to waste. For the past four years, people have been dying on the shores of Europe in vast numbers, and that tragedy has not abated. Every day that we remain inactive, every day that we choose to stay silent, rather than add our voice to calls for change, is a day that thousands are at risk. We need your help. You do not need to be an expert, or have any of the answers. All you need is compassion and interest. If you do nothing else this year, I am begging each and every one of you to lend a hand. Get involved with Suas, or any of the other groups on campus that are working to combat the crisis. In 40 years, your children will ask what you did to help the Syrian refugees.

Help make change happen, and be on the right side of history.

Trinity News | Tuesday 18th October

Comment

17

What I'm really thinking:

Be wary of a culture where only one voice is heard Anonymous Contributor

I

AM A WOMAN. I am feminist. I am pro-life.

To many my identities are contradictory but I have come to hold my pro-life views following much careful contemplation.

I have looked to both sides of the debate, and this is my view from where I stand.

I sit in the midst of black REPEAL jumpers and listen quietly to my friends’ prochoice views. I say nothing not because I am ill-informed on the issue but because of the intolerance my friends express in front of me, damning all those with a pro-life stance. This is not a diatribe against the opposing side, but simply a call for a more open discourse. I want to talk. I feel like my silence is both too much, and not enough. I feel that I cannot speak my opinion, and I am ashamed of my silence on an issue that is so important.

My college friends don’t know that I am pro-life and impose pro-choice views upon me that I do not hold and have never expressed.

They assume I must agree with the popular consensus because I am a student and a feminist but fail to realise that it is possible to identify as both feminist and prolife. I am not insensitive or ignorant when it comes to the issue of abortion. I know this is not a black and white issue.

I know that there is a whole spectrum of grey. I have met people who lean towards being pro-life to an extent, but in being exposed to wider discourse still find the grey areas hard to fully align with what they think. I want this wider discourse to be more readily available on campus.

There was a Trinity News article recently about some students seeking to resign from Trinity’s Students Union as the SU’s pro-choice mandate does not represent their views. The reaction I heard on campus in the aftermath towards these student’s engagement of their right to free speech was not the liberalism that such liberals here claim to profess.

By my understanding, liberalism is an openness to different ways of thinking.

I feel that here, it is some of the same liberals who are the least tolerant of taking into consideration an opposing

Calling for freedom of speech through the eyes and experiences of a pro-life student in Trinity viewpoint. I do not want to impose my stance upon others, but I would simply like to express it in an environment where I feel that I will not be ostracised for holding such a view.

We live in a culture today whereby there is much talk of safe spaces, but where is my safe space? I believe I should be afforded the respect to air my views in an intellectual capacity but Trinity is not a safe space for a pro-life student.

A campus of Thought Police Intellectual curiosity and debate about current and sensitive issues such as abortion should be allowed and respected, but in reality, a fair debate does not exist because a fair debate is not allowed to exist. It has become a monologue censored by prochoice activists. Dare you let on that you have a different opinion than the person in the REPEAL jumper?

I believe in a world where people can fundamentally disagree on a matter and yet still be civil to one another.

My pro-choice friends are strongly voiced, and I celebrate their freedom of speech and their right to express their views, but my voice is not afforded the same respect to disagree with theirs. Opinion is not infallible.

I recognise that the REPEAL campaign in Trinity comes from a heart of compassion yet at the same time, it represses all those who disagree. I am as compassionate as those in the REPEAL jumpers, but I come from the other side.

I understand that no one believes themselves to be unreasonable or irrational, but when two such differing sides come into contact, it is herein that lies the fear that what may begin as discussion amongst equals will descend into argument that builds more barriers than tries to work through them.

The disdain that I witness from my pro-choice friends in their talk of people like me is quite alienating. I can’t understand the inability to enter into a fair, balanced, objective discourse with me.

I have heard people tell me what I am, that as a pro-life student I want control over

their wombs. I have heard my friends make character assassinations of those vocally pro-life students on campus telling me that they are old-fashioned, anti-

“

They assume I must agree with the popular consensus because I am a student and a feminist but fail to realise that it is possible to identify as both feminist and prolife. feminist and misogynists. I am a student who is pro-life.

I am not old fashioned. I am not anti-feminist, and I am not a misogynist

SU mandate has limited free speech

Good debate should unsettle you. It should seek to challenge your beliefs in search of a truth. A debate on such a complex issue as this should be a fair, equal debate but I have yet to hear it debated openly and equally on campus. I have not heard it in the GMB or on the benches of the arts block, or the steps of the Pav, or outside the Berkeley library because Trinity College is not a place where healthy argument and free speech is possible if you are a pro-life student.

Some pro-choice students police the rhetoric around the abortion debate on campus, backed by the SU’s mandate, limiting real and informative discourse.

TCD Students Union are actively campaigning for a “full repeal” of the 8th amendment based on a vote by students. The vote was held in February 2014, and the SU report that “a large

majority [73%] voted in favour for it”. In actuality, what happened was that only 24% of Trinity students voted at all, approximately 18% in favour and 6% against the pro-choice mandate. Apart from the 18% who voted in favour, TCDSU are actively campaigning on behalf of 76% of the student body who did not vote on the issue.

TCDSU’s stance is simply helping to promote this onesided debate, making college a hostile environment for me, a pro-life student.

Hiding in plain sight

I am not alone in hiding my views. It has been a slow means of trying to gauge the opinion of others so as to figure out if we are on the same boat, simply to have someone with whom I can safely discuss how I feel on this very controversial issue without feeling that I have to shut myself down. I know that some friends of mine will not accept me if I tell them who I am and what I believe.

I feel I have to come out in a way. That scares me.

I would like not to care so much of what others may think of me and my thoughts, but I know that in this environment, my views would be greeted with unmanageable hostility. I am not strong enough to withstand this hostility and coldness that would inevitably follow and so for the sake of a peaceful existence in college, I remain undercover.

Although I am undercover, I have a small network of other pro-life students on campus, with whom I can discuss this issue. Others are firmly on the fence, able to relate to both sides of the argument, unable to make a decision.

Some who have spoken out on their pro-life stance feel haunted by the after-effects.

The way they were treated for expressing their view was deeply unsettling. Online trollers, rather than engaging in the debate, shut them down at the outset and when brought up in conversation, these students were dismissed as having an invalid view.

The condemnation they endured in expressing their views left some feeling that they were not respected as young, liberal, feminist students. It resulted in some students losing friends, and in other cases has led to these

students retreating from the debate, choosing not to admit to their stance in public anymore. The fear of losing their credibility and respect as a young professional was all too real.

I would like to point out that students holding those views are not aliens, and although we are a minority, there are enough of us to confirm that we are not unreasonable in holding this view. The prolife camp is real, it exists, we have numbers, and we have valid arguments to make.

If you do not agree with it, that is fine, we can agree to differ. People differ in their opinions everyday, that is the nature of a democratic and liberal society. But we must be allowed to make our points without fear of being ostracised.

Where is the University platform?

Universities should never have the answer, they should simply provide the platform for intellectual debate. If you are a pro-choice student in Trinity College who has not been challenged on your views by another student, you really should question the bubble you are in. Similarly, how are my views as a pro-life student to be challenged if there is not a forum wherein I feel I can discuss them?

There are more like me. I am not an I. I am a We. We are not what you expect, we are involved in many aspects of college life and hear the one sided abortion monologue on a daily basis. We are sitting in class next to you. Even now, in writing this, we feel we have to be discreet. We have moved away from our peers to go behind closed doors, somewhere where we will not be overheard as we feel that the way things are now, those who overhear us will not be accepting. We have spent a long time piecing these words together, moderating ourselves, not wanting to seem unreasonable. We still choose to publish this anonymously.

We do not want to force our beliefs on anyone, but to engage in a more open, positive, and holistic debate.

We feel we cannot participate in the monologue heard on campus at the moment. We are wary of a culture where only one voice is heard.

We need an open dialogue on drugs Hester Malin Staff Writer

I

’M JUST GOING TO say it: I have taken drugs.

Be it the odd glass of cheap wine at fresher’s week, the dab of some nonspecific white powder on that fated A-Level results night, or sitting on a mattress shooting up somewhere deep in the boroughs of Dublin, you just don’t know. To you, this might seem like a huge spectrum of drug-taking. But according to the 2011 report on the Irish population’s use of illegal drugs, it’s all the same. Over 27% reported to have taken illegal drugs in their lifetime. Pop your head into District 8 next Saturday and let me know if you think that statistic is legitimate.

Can we trust the statistics?

Official government figures and reports are notoriously weak for gauging the level of illicit drug taking in a country, let alone in universities, so we can throw them out the window. The drug business is very much an “off the books” enterprise. It relies on deals ranging from the huge drug gangs operating in the heart of Mexico City, to your mate standing around awkwardly in Temple Bar looking for the dealer. I highly doubt either would have asked for a receipt.

So, we can’t truly figure out the definitive statistics for current illegal drug-taking trends. Does this really matter though? Well, it does if you are working for the government, who are trying to pick up the sword of The War on Drugs and fight the good fight.

But let’s be realistic for a second. People will not admit to taking drugs, nor will people stop taking them.

That’s the big issue here. The

To properly educate students, a proper dialogue on recreational drugs is needed fact that we as a nation are taking more illicit substances than ever before is not changing. The first step we need to take is to talk. Without being honest about drugs, people are unable to give real advice or to educate, as they cannot admit to drugs’ inescapable appeal. The government aren’t able to give guidance without first acknowledging the fact that people drop for obvious reasons.

A different approach We need to reexamine the reality of drug-use and see what needs to be changed.

For over a century, global and national governments have been deliberating on what to do about the drug epidemic.

Unfortunately, in terms of lowering drug-related deaths and maladies, no one has been successful.

The collateral damage of the drug industry is what our parents and teachers know to be the culture of drugs: teenage deaths, trafficking, gang warfare and addiction.

But drug users know it to be something entirely different.

Taking a dab of ecstasy in a club on your friend’s birthday is not the same as tapping your arm for veins. Like the abortion debate, it’s time we talk about it.

We are animals of a base nature, looking for our next fix of dopamine. It may well be that sweet release of handing in your paper on time, or somewhere in between your second and third pill, but we essentially do what we want in order to have a good time.

And with this slow realisation, the paradigm of

prohibition’s reign is ending: we’ve

seen the legalisation of cannabis in certain states of the United States, the increasing evidence of ecstasy helping depression and anxiety disorders, and medicinal cannabis being used effectively to treat the side-effects of chemotherapy.

But this is a tight-rope to walk. Increasing societal acceptance of drugs needs to be paralleled with control.

In The University of Manchester, 85% of students said they have tried illegal drugs. That’s three times the rate for 16-26 year olds in the population of the UK as a whole. A friend of mine at that university told me that three Freshers had died from drug overdoses within the first three weeks of college. This statistic comes from a culture of youthful, furtive liberalism fighting against the retrogressive, unwavering arm of the law.

Neither one is right, but the mixture lead to three unnecessary deaths.

Possible outcomes

Let’s think about the possible outcomes of two drug scenarios. On a small, local level, we see your average Joe Yoke-lover. He’s at a good college, getting solid grades and is relatively happy with life. On one fated night in April, he pops two pills imprinted with Louis Vuitton logos and has a grand old time. Now, he may wake up the next day feeling empty and lost - the recipe for a phenomenal come down. Or he may just not wake up, having accidentally overdosed on the pills he took as they were cut badly with an adulterant called Para-Methoxyamphetamine, or PMA. If there was a more

open discussion in society, or even some form of education at schools, this needless fatality could have been avoided.

Tough life

On a larger level, let’s go a step above: a coke dealer. He has had a relatively tough life, with familial connections to criminal activity. He turns to dealing as a lifestyle choice, dropping out of school as early as 16. One night, he gets arrested for supply of a class A substance and gets sentenced to three years.

If the government had encouraged a more open discussion about drugs, the notion of decriminalisation could have prevented this man from losing his freedom, helped to rehabilitate him, and equipped him to find another source of income.

Now, all this is not to say that dealers should be allowed to roam at large whilst young children frolic through streets powdered with cocaine. Ireland is a long way off from your fifth year teacher telling you to test your yokes when you go out, so we might as well put the facts and our opinions out there and urge people to start talking.

So although ‘don’t do drugs, kids’ has a certain ring to it, the phrase should be modified to ‘let’s talk with an open dialogue about closely controlled manufacturing techniques of purified substances’. But that doesn’t quite roll off the tongue. We might not change things for a good few decades, but hey, let’s just talk about it.

Éire Amach?

An investigation into growing Euroscepticism, countered by the continual pro-EU stance that the majority hold Shauna Dillane Staff Writer

E

UROSCEPTICISM - A CRITICISM OR strong opposition towards the European Union - continues to rise throughout Europe according to the latest Pew Research Center statistics.

The result of the British referendum in favour of leaving the EU has raised many questions concerning the future of the European Union, and has triggered fears of a resultant domino effect of other EU member states wishing to leave the European Union. It is well known that Euroscepticism is not solely confined to Britain; latest polls have shown that an overwhelming 61 per cent of the French population are Eurosceptic, followed closely by Spain, Germany and the Netherlands. How does Ireland rank among the 28 EU Member States? Is an Irexit in our future?

Despite the emergence of minor Eurosceptic trends in Ireland in recent decades, Eurostat research points to Irish satisfaction with the European Union.

Euroscepticism in Europe In 2004, 69% of French voters and 58% of German voters backed the EU while not a single country reported a negative rating according to Pew Research Center findings. However, it appears that the opposite is now true.

Since the 1990s, when the EU began integrating political as well as economic issues into its agenda, several doubts have emerged regarding the legitimacy of EU actions. With more ambitious EU action, European citizens have grown more alarmed and suspicious of the European project.

For instance, only 26% of French and Italians believe that there are more advantages than drawbacks when it comes to their membership in the European Union. In the case of France, recent terror attacks have provoked claims that the European Union is incapable of providing security within its territory and of controlling its external borders. Similarly, almost half the electorate in Germany, Spain and the Netherlands have also become Eurosceptic.

The emergence of rightwing anti-EU parties in recent years and their surprising success in the European Parliament Elections in 2014 points to the disillusionment of citizens with the EU. As a consequence of the Brexit vote, many of these parties are now advocating a similar referendum in their respective countries including Marine Le Pen, the leader of the Front National in France and Geert Wilder of the Freedom Party in the Netherlands.

Ireland is predominantly favourable of the EU according to 2016 Eurobarometer findings whereby 58 per cent of respondents in Ireland have a positive image of the EU. Nonetheless, ambivalence towards European integration has taken shape in various forms in recent years.

Nice and Lisbon Ireland’s relationship with the bureaucracy in Brussels has rarely been smooth. The initial negative results of the referendum for both the Nice (2001) and the Lisbon (2008) treaties portray Irish reluctance towards further integration and fears of its consequences. With regard to Lisbon, concern was raised primarily due to the proposed reduction of the size of the Commission and the integration of foreign affairs and security policy into the treaties. Nevertheless, it was still clear that Ireland wished to remain within the European Union. The Union pressured a decision to force second referendums, to solve what became known as the “Irish problem”, faced stark criticism among the Irish population, dubbed by many as undemocratic.

EU Commission’s Apple Ruling More recently, some of Ireland’s Eurosceptics have used the European Commission’s contentious ruling on Apple’s tax arrangements here as a means of promoting the

idea of “Irexit”. Stating that a “sweetheart tax deal” between Apple and the Irish state represents illegal state aid, the EU Commission have ruled that Apple owes Ireland €13 billion in unpaid taxes, sparking Irish objections to EU interference in taxation and policy making at a domestic level.

The Irish Government has pledged to appeal the Commission’s decision and it also affirmed its commitment to the 12.5 per cent corporation tax rate.

They referenced EU treaties in stating that taxation remains a matter of national competence of EU member states. Concurrently Brian Hayes, a member of the European Parliament for the Fine Gael, voiced his concerns, explaining that EU efforts to dilute the country’s generous corporation tax regime could see the Republic following the UK. The government’s determination to appeal the Commission’s ruling is therefore a clear reflection of Eurosceptic feeling in Ireland towards the implications of integration on domestic taxation.

Economic and Social Transformations Despite these indications of Euroscepticism, Ireland has always had one of the highest levels of public support for the EU among member states. Since its accession into the EU in 1973, Ireland’s membership has facilitated its transformation from an antiquated, agricultural economy into a highly developed modern economy driven by hi-tech industry and global exports.

Nevertheless, Ireland was drastically hit by the 2008 financial crisis and certain eurosceptics claimed that the EU was partly to blame for the financial crisis. However, it must be noted that Irish recovery from the crisis was primarily aided by the EU/ IMF financial assistance programme.

Furthermore, 80% of respondents to the Eurobarometer 2016 poll remain in favour of the “European economic and monetary union with one single currency”.

Ireland is no longer a one horse town as such, but a thriving social and economic centre of excellence. Ireland’s membership in the EU has brought modernity and improved living standards to our small island. From an agricultural point of view, farmers benefit from direct payments amounting to €1.2 billion each year under the Common Agricultural Policy.

Similarly, public transport, infrastructure projects and the Irish tourist industry have also benefitted tremendously from EU financial support.

In this way, it is hard to imagine from where Irish Euroscepticism could emerge given the complete social and economic transformations that have resulted from our membership in the European Union.

Eurosceptic Political Parties?

The absence of major antiEU political parties in Ireland mirroring UKIP or the French “Front National” further portrays the positive Irish outlook towards European integration. Sinn Féin has often expressed its criticism of the EU particularly in relation depletion of Irish sovereignty, however it remains considerably proEurope in comparison to Eurosceptic parties in other countries. While political parties in Ireland have often questioned the implication of European policies on domestic affairs, not one party would openly advocated Irexit.

Is Irexit possible? Could Irish Eurosceptics that are hesitant to transfer national competencies to the European Union mount a campaign for an Irish exit from the EU? It is of course possible that objections towards the Commission’s Apple ruling may stir more outspoken opposition towards the EU, and could potentially lead to a more active movement of Euroscepticism in the future. However, it is unlikely that Irish pro-EU sentiment would take such a drastic hit that Ireland would be in favour leaving the European Union. The benefits have been outlined and are clearly stronger than any argument put forward in Ireland so far.

Op-ed Chronicling the 8th: The interaction between the 8th amendment and European Law Prof. Gerard Whyte A brief view into the initial conflict between the eighth amendment, Contributor

T

HE EIGHTH AMENDMENT OF the Constitution, to Article 40.3.3º, has an interesting history.

Enacted in 1983, the catalyst was arguably the Supreme Court decision in the McGee case declaring that a married couple enjoy a constitutional right to privacy, encompassing the right to obtain contraceptives. The key to the link between McGee and the debate on abortion lies in the experience of the US Supreme Court which had used the concept of privacy, identified in the context of the use of contraception to legalise abortion in certain circumstances in Roe v Wade.

Some Irish commentators argued that McGee had similar potential and that a constitutional amendment was necessary in order to prevent an undemocratic usurpation by a future generation of Irish judges of the right of the electorate to determine abortion policy.

Apparently persuaded by such arguments, a majority of the electorate voting on the day gave its approval to the eighth amendment, on 7 September 1983.

The supporters of the eighth amendment then turned to the courts in a series of cases designed to prevent the operation of abortion referral services.

Initially the anti-abortion campaigners had reason to be satisfied with this litigation strategy. In 1988, the Supreme Court granted an injunction restraining two counselling agencies, from assisting pregnant women “to travel abroad to

and rights under the Maastricht Treaty, and the subsequent Solemn Declaration.

obtain abortions by referral to a clinic, by the making of their travel arrangements or by informing them of the identity and location and method of communication with a specified clinic or clinics”.

European Opposition: Protocol No 17 to the Maastricht Treaty

However, the successes obtained by the anti-abortion lobby in Ireland were in large part reversed in Europe. The European Commission on Human Rights decided that the freedom of expression guaranteed by the ECHR was violated by an injunction preventing the provision of information about abortion services, which was granted in the Open Door case.

The Government was persuaded to lobby its European partners for the adoption of what eventually became Protocol No 17 to the Treaty on European Union, signed at Maastricht on 7 February 1992. This states: ‘Nothing in the Treaty on the European Union or in the Treaties establishing the European Communities or in the Treaties or Acts modifying or supplementing those Treaties shall affect the application in Ireland of Article 40.3.3º of the Constitution of Ireland.’

One can only deduce that this Protocol was designed to preserve intact the existing prohibition on abortion and on the dissemination of information on abortion services available abroad.

However before very long, it became clear, in a most remarkable way, that Protocol No 17 had implications which

had never been foreseen by the Government.

The X case

Ten days after the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, in the X Case, what must surely qualify as the most controversial case ever to come before an Irish court, Mr. Justice Costello granted an injunction which had the effect of preventing a 14 year old girl, pregnant as a result of rape, from travelling to the UK to procure an abortion. The subsequent unprecedented public reaction, both domestic and international, was in the main hostile and the case brought the abortion question firmly back onto the Irish agenda.

Complications

To begin with, it quickly became apparent that this decision not only raised important issues in relation to constitutional policy on abortion, it also had implications for the ratification of the Treaty on European Union because of the existence of Protocol No 17. A right to travel to obtain services, grounded on EC law, was seen as a possible counterbalance to the requirements of the eighth amendment as interpreted

by Mr. Justice Costello. The Protocol, however, purported to take EC and EU law out of the equation and thus ratification of the Treaty on European Union by the Irish electorate became embroiled in what was always going to be a controversial debate on abortion policy.

The case was appealed to the Supreme Court which was thus presented with the

profound dilemma of trying to reconcile, in the absence of any legislative guidance, the constitutional right to life of the mother with that of the unborn, a dilemma which was greatly exacerbated by the possible implications of its decision for the ratification of the Treaty on European Union. Moreover the pressing nature of the case effectively precluded the Court from seeking the advice of the Court of Justice as to the proper interpretation of those principles, a process which would have delayed final resolution of the issues by as much as eighteen months.

The Supreme Court eventually ruled, by a majority, that Article 40.3.3º permitted abortion where there was a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother, which included a risk of suicide. Three members of the Court also took the view, however, that a woman’s right to travel had to be read subject to the right to life of the unborn.

The majority ruling in X eased the dreadful predicament in which the young girl found herself and stemmed the tide of international criticism of Irish abortion law but otherwise appears to have pleased no one. Those who had campaigned for the introduction of Article 40.3.3º in 1983 were dismayed that a mother’s threat of suicide could qualify the right to life of the unborn.

Their opponents, meanwhile, were concerned about the possibility that, if Protocol No 17 was ratified, pregnant women seeking abortions

abroad, whose lives were not endangered by the pregnancy, could be prevented from travelling by the State, given that three members of the Court envisaged that the constitutional right to travel could be restrained in order to protect the right to life of the unborn. The decision in X also had implications for the existing constitutional ban on the dissemination of information about abortion services abroad, as it followed from the Supreme Court ruling that women whose lives were at risk could not lawfully be denied such information.

The Solemn Declaration

In the aftermath of the X case, the Government decided to seek an amendment to Protocol No.17 which would ensure that EC law rights to travel and information would continue to be available to Irish citizens after ratification of the Treaty on European Union. The other Member States refused to reopen debate on the Protocol for fear that this might set a precedent for the renegotiation of other aspects of the Treaty. Consequently, the Government had to settle for a Solemn Declaration of the intentions of the High Contracting Parties on the matter of the Protocol. This stated that the parties did not intend that the Protocol would limit freedom of travel between member states or freedom to disseminate in Ireland information relating to services lawfully available in other member states.This concludes the developments of the eighth amendment in relation to European Law.

Brexit casts shadow over Irish progress “The decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union poses what is undoubtedly the biggest foreign policy challenge [to] Ireland.. " Prof. Gerard Whyte Contributor

U

NTIL THE SEISMIC EVENTS of last June, AngloIrish relations were arguably better than they have ever been since independence. It is now just over 100 days since the Brexit referendum, a referendum on Ireland's future in which Ireland did not vote. The decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union poses what is undoubtedly the biggest foreign policy challenge Ireland's diplomats have faced in a generation, and puts the peace both nations toiled so hard for at stake.

A Blossoming relationship

Britain's political rapport with Ireland has improved immensely in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Recent events, such as the Queen's state visit to Ireland in 2011, have been extremely successful in bringing both nations together in the process of reconciliation. This was the first visit of a British head of state to our shores since independence, and was a sign of a growing bond between the two countries - and of the fact that both the Irish and British alike were willing to put their sordid past behind them.

President Michael D. Higgins was received with rousing reception in the British House of Commons three years later in what was the first ever state visit of an Irish President to the United Kingdom. Higgins described the event as emblematic of a "closeness and warmth that once seemed unachievable".

Division was once the order of the hour, yet one series of events in such as short space of time, made it seem possible that peace and reconciliation between what were once two deeply divided states, could become a hallmark of our generation.

But despite all the years of effort to reconcile differences in a post-Troubles landscape, the casting of a ballot on one fateful day in June has put it all at risk. The impact of Brexit in Northern Ireland will be just as profound if not even more so than any other part of the UK. There can be no doubt whatsoever that the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union has not only underscored the lasting tensions between the two communities in the North.

But more worryingly, it has created the potential to recreate a divide which those involved in the peace process fought so hard to eliminate.

The flagbearers of the Brexit campaign called for Britain to "take back control" of their borders. What thought was

CARTOON

given to the Irish border may never be known, but the consequences are important.

Problems with Borders

Both Ireland and Great Britain have a Common Travel Area agreement, which as it stands, allows for custom free travel from the Republic to the North. The preservation of control-free borders in Northern Ireland was an instrumental factor in ensuring the peace process prevailed in the 1990s as it guaranteed a connection between nationalist communities on both sides of the border and helped erode the sense of division.

The Common Travel Area however was originally drafted in 1923, long before the implementation of European Union law. Now, the small country roads from Ballyshannon to Belleck, from Drumshambo to Drumcoo, and Newbliss to Newtownbutler will become the border of Europe. The problem with this is that in the aftermath of Brexit, whatever agreement was provided for between Ireland and Britain in the Common Travel Area agreement, cannot be decided upon between Ireland and Britain alone, any deal struck on the fate of an Irish border will be done in Brussels, many, many miles away from the people who it affects most.

A estimated total of 30,000

people cross the Northern Ireland border everyday for both work and study.

Before peace, the military checkpoints were a sign of deep divisions between communities on both sides of the border. The return of such a border strikes right at the heart of the future of peace, jobs, and the livelihoods of so many who live in the surrounding areas.

And political relations are not the only thing that is at stake here.

The economic prosperity of both nations relies heavily on free movement between the two nations. Not only that, the possibility of tariffed trade between Ireland and the UK, risks the future of countless small and large businesses in both countries.

Ireland's biggest trading partner has always been its closest neighbor, Britain. To place tariffs on imports and exports which have benefited from the EU's free movement of goods for well over twenty years threatens to destroy an integral part of our two countries' economies.

The question on everyone's lips is what can be done about this. In charting the course ahead, both the Irish and British foreign affairs experts have emphasised the prioritisation of the North in negotiations going forward.

Indeed the European Commission's representative on Brexit Michel Barnier just

recently visited Dublin to discuss Brexit implications with Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

The future of Anglo-Irish relations no doubt hinges upon the deal struck in the corridors of power in Europe.

It cannot be denied that negotiating a special status on Ireland's border, its trade with Britain and now even fair treatment of Irish workers in the UK in the wake of Prime Minister Theresa May's recent comments on foreign workers' rights, will be a tall order.

On top of all that, all sides must play their part in ensuring smooth running of proceedings in Stormont. The power-sharing arrangement in the North was already on tenterhooks prior to the Brexit vote. A rift in coalition between the DUP, the only other party along with UKIP who fully campaigned for a Brexit, and Sinn Fein, who see the vote as a path towards reunification, is not out of the questions. Patience will be needed. Foresight will be necessary. And nothing short of skillful diplomacy will be required for the architects of the Brexit deal if we are to maintain what President Higgins's has hailed as our "warm, deep and enduring Irish-British friendship". We have always known the road to peace would be long, for now, we must hold our breath for just a while longer.

Trinity News | Tuesday 18th October

Editorial Our Indian summer has finally passed, giving way to the leaden skies which are more typical of Irish autumns. Just as this dampens our streets, it dampens the spirit too - any time spent outside is spent unwillingly, squinting against the icy breeze and curling into the warm comforts of hats and thick coats. People walk more quickly when the weather is cold, darting from the threshold of the door they’re leaving to the threshold of the door in which they intend to enter while spending as little time stewing in Ireland’s not terrible but noticeably uncomfortable conditions. Surely, one thinks, this is the only way to cope with something so all-encompassing and inescapable as the elements.

This paints a bleak portrait. It certainly does not characterise the best, or even a good, time to take to the streets and march down Dublin’s streets. This does not bode well for the projected turnout of the #EducationIs March due to the place on 19 October; a bad forecast can spell disaster for those trying to rally the troops, such as could be observed at the last Education March, not for lack of trying on the part of our Student’s Union.

Of course unless it is literal acid rain falling from the sky, there’s no real reason that weather should make such a difference. Perhaps it is not that the weather holds such sway over would-be protesters, but that it may provide the small nudge that those already ambivalent or not especially motivated to attend need to abandon their plans entirely.

Which begs the question; why is it that students don’t seem to be as energised by a political decision that directly affects them and their peers?

Those reading this probably don’t need to be told that things in Ireland aren’t great for the student-age population; to list the factors such as unemployment, drastically high rents, and mental health funding cuts would only serve to be a depressing reminder of the sordid building blocks of our flawed, recession-crushed world. One wonders though whether, despite these stark realities, millennials have become so inured to their oppression that we begin to view conditions that any other generation would have deemed utterly unacceptable as merely not terrible, but noticeably uncomfortable. Due to austerity being all most of us have ever known as young adults, these conditions and the potential for further deterioration appear as allencompassing and inevitable as getting wet on a rainy day.

Attempting to change our circumstance, in turn, may seem as fruitless and ridiculous as attempting to stop the clouds from darkening.

Taking to the streets to stop education cuts may strike some as just as pointless as opening an umbrella during a hurricane, but it is exactly that kind of defeatist outlook that those causing our oppression would like to foster. Despite how it may seem, or how those in power may want to make you believe, fee increases and funding cuts year on year need not be our reality. We are the first generation that has to live with the burden of knowledge that we won’t enjoy the same standard of living as our parents, and we can either let that realisation crush us under its weight or electrify us with righteous anger. It is with that that we implore those reading to please, if possible, attend the march this week (and, if needed, bring a coat.)

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Trinity News | Tuesday 18th October

American Presidential Election Special

InDepth Who will be the next American president?

InDepth Editor Peter O’Donovan examines polling data in the lead up to the US presidential election to analyse which candidate is most likely to win the seat in the Oval Office

Peter O'Donovan InDepth Editor

A

FTER A YEAR OF BRUISING primary contests and dramatic revelations about the candidates running for office, the final stage of the American presidential election is drawing near with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump as the two candidates representing the main political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, respectively.

The election itself is scheduled for 8 November 2016.

The American presidency has been held by either a Democrat or a Republican since 1854, and based on polling figures it is highly likely that Trump and Clinton will be the only real contenders for winning the presidency.

Alternative parties

However, this electoral cycle has seen an increase in support for the alternative parties (the main beneficiaries being the Green Party headed by Jill Stein and the Libertarian party headed

by Gary Johnston). This is mostly a result of Trump’s campaign having alienated many traditional Republican voters, who have mostly gone to the Libertarian party, as well as Bernie Sanders’ primary run for Democratic candidate, which played a role in energizing youth engagement in politics, some of which is now being directed into third parties.

These parties may play a spoiler role in the contest between Trump and Clinton, as the American presidential voting system lacks the transferable vote feature of, for example, the Irish general election system. Under a transferable voting system, on each count the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated and their votes are redistributed according to the preferences that a voter indicates below their first choice vote. In the single winner plurality system used in the US, each voter simply gets a first preference and the candidate with the most first preferences on the first count wins. Since votes for third parties cannot be redistributed under this system, each vote for a third party is a vote potentially taken away from one of the main two candidates.

Two party system

presidential election, the overall share of the votes won by each candidate across the nation as a whole are less important than the way in which the voting breaks down by state. The final result of the presidential election is determined by the electoral college – this is the system by which each state has a number of votes in the final election, roughly proportional to the population of the state. Most states give all of their votes to the candidate who gains a majority of the popular vote in the election in that state.

The graph details how the candidates have polled nationwide in various polls conducted over the past month. As predicted, Trump and Clinton are consistently far ahead of their challengers, leaving it near certain that the two party system that currently prevails in the US will remain without serious challenge.

Between Trump and Clinton, Clinton has consistently held a narrow lead, although in the most recent polls it has widened to an 11 point lead on average. This is likely the result of the release of tapes from 2005 in which Trump made degrading comments about women and bragged about groping women to Billy Bush, of Access Hollywood fame. This makes it unlikely that Trump will claw back enough support to win the presidency by the time that voting actually opens. Note that the trend lines for the third party candidates are disjointed because some polls only asked voters about which of the two main party candidates they preferred.

The race is over

Bradley effect

Trump has claimed, in response to his poor polling figures, that he will get better results on the day of the election than his polling figures currently indicate.

This argument references what is known in American politics as the Bradley effect, named after former Los Angeles mayor Thomas Bradley. Bradley, an African American, ran for governor of California in 1982 and was ahead in the polls before the election but lost to his white opponent, George Deukmejian, when the votes were actually cast. Similar results have been seen in various other American elections in which a black candidate ran against a white candidate, and political analysts have theorised that voters may have claimed they were going to vote for the black candidate on the basis of it being seen as socially desirable to do so, but then cast their ballot for the white candidate. Trump is effectively arguing that some of his supporters pretend not to support him in polls to avoid stigma potentially associated with being a

Trump supporter.

Trump stumped

The results from the primaries do not bode well for Trump’s chances of pulling off a Deukmejian-style reversal

on the day of the election.

While Trump did outperform his polling numbers by an average of 2.4% on the day of the primaries, it is important to remember that these polls include voters who are

First you get the money Is Trump really the savvy businessman he claims he is?

Ronan Mac Giolla Rua InDepth Editor The 2012 Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, was a co-founder of Bain Capital, a spin off investment fund from consultancy giant Bain & Company. Throughout the 2012 presidential race he repeatedly and extensively referred to his ability to manage and run a business, and presented himself as an American success story. This flagging of business success is perhaps one of the only two commonalities between the 2012 and 2016 Republican nominees. Donald Trump, the 2016 Republican nominee, has also ventured down this path, constantly emphasizing how he turned a small investment from his father into the vast amounts of wealth he holds today.

However, he is yet to display this to us in his tax returns.

The usual metric for assessing the success of an investor is to compare them to the returns of either the market or low risk bond yields. Essentially, this gives you a comparative of how much money they would have made if they had left their money in an incredibly safe investment, such as a US Government Bond or the S&P 500 (this is a collection of 500 firms representing the US stock market). We use

percentage returns in order to make a fair comparison, so that firms and people with different starting amounts can be compared fairly.

There are currently two estimates of Trump’s present wealth. One of these is $10bn, as stated in a press release he issued in July 2015, and the other is an estimate of $4bn from the Associated Press.

Both of these numbers stem from an initial investment of around $500mn, as claimed

by Trump himself in 1982.

The purpose of this article is to compare the performance of the S&P 500 versus both of the estimates we have for his current wealth, assuming he lived off dividends and his salary as CEO of his own company.

Succesful business

Assuming no reinvestment of dividends, the S&P 500 has increased on average by 8.84% each year from 1982 to 2014. This means that if Donald Trump had invested his $500mn in the S&P 500 in 1982, he would have been worth €7.5bn, about threequarter of what he claims he is worth. Leaving his money sitting in an index fund would have increased it by 1700%, as opposed to the 1900% he claims to have gained over those 30 years. However this assumes that you take Trump at his best. With the Associated Press estimates of $4bn as his present worth,

the success of Trump looks quite meek. A return of 700% pales in comparison to that generated by the S&P 500.

Successful business people are considered successful because they managed to beat the market. They were able to invest their money wisely, rather than letting it sit in a safe mutual fund earning an almost guaranteed return. Over a similar period, billionaire and founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, grew his fortune from $1bn to $80bn, achieving a growth rate of 7173%. Similarly well-known business people, such as Michael Bloomberg or Warren Buffet, all well outperformed the market over their careers.

The finer details

If you actually look into Trump’s business career, you start to see why this is the case. His career is a long list of lost contracts, bankruptcies, defaults, deceptions and indifference to investors (whether that’s his failed casinos in the 90s that allowed him to write off $1bn and subsequently go 20 years without paying taxes, or flops such as Trump Steaks, Trump University, Trump Magazine, or Trump Airlines). In fact, the main reason he has managed to get away with so many failures is due to his father’s deep purse strings. As well as helping with initial investment, Fred

Trump was able to provide collateral against loans and set his son up in his already well established real estate empire. Hardly the features of a self-made man.

In fact, the one place where he does seem to have been successful is real estate.

His Trump Organisation owns a portfolio of valuable properties all over the world, notably including Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, and Mar-a-Lago, a private club in Palm Beach, Florida. Yet despite these investments, and an image as a top real estate mogul, Trump hasn’t made it onto any top 10 lists of New York’s real estate power players. The Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, has talked about Trump’s lack of influence in the real estate market, saying in the New York Times: “At this point I don’t see a lot of influence from Trump in New York City. You see his name on buildings, but you don’t see him.”

There are obviously many more factors to consider.

However, on the face of it, Donald Trump generated significantly less wealth than he could have. If he had retired 30 years ago and invested his fortune in an index fund, one which is more than likely part of your parent’s pension fund, then he would be billions of dollars richer.

undecided on the day of the poll who do end up deciding to vote for someone, leading to most candidates doing better in elections than in polls. For comparison, Ted Cruz got an average of 2.5%

more of the vote in the primaries than polling figures had previously indicated he would. Furthermore, Trump’s theory that people who will eventually vote for him are claiming they won’t on the basis of social acceptability are in contradiction with the results obtained by different styles of polling. If this were the case, one would expect Trump to do better in anonymous online polls as opposed to phone interviews where there is another person directly listening to the voter’s responses and possibly making judgments on them.

However, polls actually show the opposite result - Trump has actually done better (average 40.1% support) in polls over the telephone than he has in anonymous online polls (average 39.2% support).

Based on these results, it seems unlikely that a “shy Trump voter” effect will be seen on the day of the actual election.

Swing states

It should also be borne in mind when comparing Clinton and Trump’s polling figures that due to the structure of the American

Hence, it is much more important to win states than to win an overall majority of votes. This is also why socalled swing states, which don’t consistently vote for Democrats or Republicans, are so important. In the last three US presidential elections, the ultimate result was determined by the results in Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio. In recent polls, both Florida and Pennsylvania are favouring Hillary over Trump (by three points and eight points respectively), while Ohio has been swinging back and forth, although the most recent poll (on October 9) showed a four point lead for Clinton. The less influential but still important swing states of North Carolina, Virginia, and Nevada have also shifted back and forth as the election cycle has continued, but recent polls suggest that Clinton is slowly consolidating a narrow lead in each. The other more minor swing state, Colorado, is showing a 12 point lead for Clinton.

In conclusion, it looks likely that Hillary Clinton will not face a very strong contest from Donald Trump on the day the votes are cast. Concerns over Clinton’s health after she “fell ill and may have fainted” during a 9/11 memorial service have been overshadowed by Trump’s insulting comments about sexual groping in the recently released tapes.

While anything could happen between now and polling day, barring a major upset, Hillary Clinton’s path to being the first female president of the United States of America now seems clear.

Trinity News |Tuesday 18th October

InDepth

How to fix the American presidential debates Contributing writer Andrew Blennerhassett looks at the problems with current US presidential debates and explores ways the format might be changed to overcome these issues Andrew Blennerhassett Contributor

T

HE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES ARE failing to inspire or inform, resulting in dropping viewership and a disengaged electorate. The question is, how do we fix that? Anyone who tuned into the second presidential debate would be hard-pressed to refer to it as a debate in anything but name.

Viewership of the debates has waned since the first debates were televised in the 1960s. Even when we allow for the increase in viewing choice today compared to 50 years ago, a steady trend of increasing public apathy is clear.

The Clinton-Trump debates have been an outlier in this trend, but in general this election cycle as a whole can be considered a blip. Why has the electorate lost interest?

Where are the debates failing the US electorate, and how could they be improved? I want to look at some solutions put forward by the Annenberg Public Policy Centre who recently released a report with recommendations for reform of the debates.

As it stands, the format of the debates is one of the key issues, as seen in the most recent debate. We see candidates sniping, using one liners (“trumped-up trickledown economics”, anyone?) and Blue Peter style “here’s one I made earlier” mini-speeches.

The older debates saw more time given for answers, whereas today’s strictly moderated debates produce

shorter answers that reward rhetoric rather than well explained policy statements.

The previous model saw about two and a half minutes for opening statements, but today candidates are given only two minutes. Rebuttal was optional then, compared to the five minutes of open discussion now. To finish each topic, three minutes were given to closing remarks which is no longer the case. Long statements mean candidates appear to waffle while short quips give the impression of a lack of knowledge.

One clever solution is to create a chess-clock model.

In this model each candidate is given an allotted time of 45 minutes for the debate and, anytime the candidate begins speaking, their time starts counting down. When their opponent wants to contribute they can hit the chess clock and begin speaking. No answer or rebuttal should exceed three minutes and if they run out of time that’s the end for their debate. Any additional time at the end of the debate can be used for a closing statement. This allows candidates to focus on what they want to talk about and incentivises clear and concise answers and rebuttal rather than throwaway jabs.

The inclusion of the audience is also a significant problem with debates. Think about the canned laughter tracks present in sitcoms; they cue the watching audience at home to laugh. It’s easier to

make someone laugh when other people are laughing already because humans are rather susceptible to herd mentality. In 1984 Ronald Reagan famously took advantage of his opponent’s remarks about his age, with the audience’s reaction including prolonged laughter and applause to Reagan’s witty response.

The graph on the bottom right shows public reaction to a debate when an audience is present. Here we see a marked difference when we remove the audience’s reaction from the clip. Moderators have struggled to keep audiences quiet in the past and it is inequitable to have audiences influencing perceptions of candidates. The Republican primaries make Trump look more ridiculous than usual when there isn’t an audience reacting to his remarks about tiny hands. By removing the audience, voters are allowed to better make up their minds on the debate, the candidates, and their policies.

Finally, let us consider the moderators. The biggest criticisms of them are that they lose control of the debate (33% of voting groups think so), play favourites (41%), pose the wrong questions (29%), and inject themselves into the debate process (30%). Further to this, in recent years the moderator has been a journalist who, questionably, acts as both reporter and moderator, thus having an incentive

to generate headlines, not just good debates. Creating a wider pool from which to draw questions for the candidates would be a good start. The town-hall format, though chaotic, generally draws more attention than the static, fixed positions we see when one moderator is asking all the questions. By allowing more questions from the audience, we allow for a wider level of meaningful audience participation, as opposed to heckling or laughing in the background.

Furthermore, journalists tend to ask questions that assume a high degree of knowledge of current affairs.

A move away from journalist moderators is also recommended by the Annenberg Public Policy Report. They suggest that a list should be drawn up from “persons of stature”, such as retired judges, historians, university presidents and others with demonstrable credibility. They would be more likely to ask questions and guide candidates to answer them in a way that the average viewer would gain more from. Currently the system lacks transparency in the selection process, and reform here would probably reduce a lot of the criticisms we see today, particularly with regard to bias.

Looking at the data, we see a need for reform of the system.

The report I have referred to gives clear solutions, is bipartisan, and could really

change the way debates play out. As it stands, the electorate isn’t getting what it needs out of the debates.

The entertainment value may be high but the actual information we garner from them is quite low. Neither debate this year has really

had an impact or taught us anything we didn’t already know about the candidates.

Clinton remains the cold and calculating politician we expect, and Trump is the misogynistic, hot-headed bully that we have seen for the past year. Bar a catastrophic

implosion, debates rarely make a difference. Hopefully with reform we can see an increase in viewership, and with that, an increase in the impact that these debates have.

Politics and the art of lying Taking a look at just how much deception Clinton and Trump have gotten away with this election cycle Ronan Mac Giolla Rua InDepth Editor

M

OST OF US TELL lies everyday: saying you’ve left the house when you’re still getting ready, telling yourself you’ll never drink again after a particularly wild night out, or even just saying you’ve read and agree to the terms and conditions.

Sometimes we might tell some slightly bigger ones, such as calling in sick for work when you’re really just hungover, or pretending not to know about that broken flower pot in the backyard. Most of us probably wouldn’t go much bigger than that though, especially if it was to our boss and our job was on the line.

This doesn’t seem to apply to politicians, however. In perhaps one of the greatest feats of irony, what should be an open and honest profession (since everyone theoretically knows what you’re doing) is frequently riddled with lies and deceit. Many of us have come to accept this as a regular feature of politics, especially around election season, and this year seems to be no different.

Trump has helped to shape the narrative that Clinton is just another lying, conniving member of the elite, while in fact he himself would put Pinocchio to shame.

In order to keep track of all the porkers that have been thrown around, factchecking website, Politifact, which won a Pulitzer Prize for its reporting on the 2008 election, has been keeping a close on eye on what has been said so far this election season. They look at various statements of fact by each candidate, and then assign each of those a true or false rating. As not all claims are created equal, their scale goes: True, Mostly True, Half True, Mostly False, False, and Pants on Fire.

So just how much can we trust Trump and Clinton?

Well, of the 291 of Trump’s statements that Politifact has rated, just 12 (4%) were deemed to be True, meaning “the statement is accurate and nothing significant is missing.” He doesn’t have many more Mostly True or Half True statements either, with just 33 (11%) of the former, and 40 (14%) of the latter. Respectively, these terms mean that such statements are “accurate but need clarification” and “partially accurate but leave out important details”.

You would think that one of the final two candidates for perhaps t h e

most important job in the world would be telling the truth more than 29% of the time, but it gets worse the more you go on. While 54 (19%) of his statements are Mostly False, that is they contain “an element of truth but leave out critical facts that would give a different impression”, a whopping 102 (35%) are False. That means one in every three statements he makes is completely inaccurate. On top of this, 50 (17%) of these statements were rated Pants on Fire, meaning that the claim is ridiculous as well as being inaccurate.

Clinton on the other hand, for all the lambasting she has received, performs much better. Politifact have so far rated 270 of her statements, with 65 (24%) of them coming in as True.

Another 73 (27%) were rated Mostly True, and 58 (21%) were judged to be Half True. This means that Clinton tells the truth, or

something close to it, 72% of the time. While this may seem high, especially in comparison to Trump, it’s worth noting that this still means one in four of her claims are more untrue than not. The exact breakdown is that 40 (15%) of these statements a r e Mostly False, and 2 8

(10%) are completely False.

Of the 270 statements, just 6 were so inaccurate that they were deemed Pants on Fire, a much smaller number than that of Trump.

While this obviously teaches us that we should always double check what we’re being told, the sad reality is that many people hear lies like these and never realise the truth. Most of us don’t have the time to fact check every statement ourselves, and we rely on journalists, debate moderators and the candidates themselves to paint a clear picture of the truth. Unfortunately, there has been much controversy this election cycle over whose role it is to keep the candidates in check.

Whose responsibility is factchecking?

While debate moderators are increasingly pressured to act as fact checkers during debates, many believe that it should be left up to the

candidates themselves.

Given Trump’s lies about not supporting the Iraq war, and that America is one of the most highly taxed nations in the world, it seems reasonable that the best method would be to have these claims struck down as false by the moderators. Yet, journalists such as Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, host of the third debate, claim that it is the duty of the candidates, the ones actually participating in the debate, to call out lies and inaccuracie The problem is that this often leads to a “he said, she said” narrative, with many reporting on the candidates’ responses to each other’s claims, rather than directly dismissing claims as false, which helps to foster the idea that neither candidate is right. This helps to fuel Trump’s claims that Clinton is a pathological liar, and that he is the one exposing the deceit of the elite, yet in reality he is the one whose pants are on fire.

While many media outlets have started to do regular fact checks on the debates, these articles simply don’t reach many people. The debates themselves are the best way to reach the largest audience and allow people the opportunity to hold politicians to account publicly for the things they’ve said.

Newspaper articles published after the fact just don’t have the same reach.

With a growing distrust of experts, and the rise of Trump despite his outrageous lies, it’s imperative that we find a way to restore some truth to politics.

Trinity News | Tuesday 18th October

SciTech

21

Mysteries of physics vacuum zero-point energy

Science: In Brief

A brief overview of who was awarded the Nobel Prizes and what they received them for

Katarzyna Siewierska Katarzyna Siewierska describes the energy contained by the vacuum in the universe, how it could be related to dark energy and what this energy has to do with the recent discovery of magnetism from empty space by Trinity physicists. SciTech Editor Katarzyna Siewierska SciTech Editor Physics of an Empty Box Imagine we took a box, removed all matter from it, cooled it to the lowest temperature possible to remove all heat and sealed it perfectly. It appears that we imagined a boring empty box with absolutely nothing in it, but this is not true. Quantum mechanics predicts that in the known universe there is no such thing as an absolutely empty space with zero energy.

Inside our box, virtual particle pairs are created for a very short time and disappear when the two collide. Virtual particles arise because the zero-point energy of vacuum, which is the lowest possible energy of empty space, is not zero. To understand why, we need to familiarise ourselves with the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and the quantum theory of fields.

Heisenberg’s Uncertainty and Quantum Fields The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle states that the more accurately one measures the position of a particle, the less accurately we can measure its velocity.

The same relationship exists for energy and time.

The minimum uncertainty, constrained by a special quantity called the Planck constant, is a manifestation of the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics which comes from the wave-like behaviour of quantum fields.

It does not relate the actual ability of the instruments used to measure the quantities in question.

Let us construct a model of a quantum field in our minds.

Take an infinite grid and in the middle of each square attach a spring oriented vertically. At the top of each spring attach a ball, which models particles associated with the quantum field. The balls can oscillate up and down, but they cannot interact with each other.

This is the simplest quantum field one can make. To make things a bit more interesting, connect all springs to each other with rubber bands. Now the oscillation of one ball can cause the others to oscillate.

According to quantum mechanics and the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, these springs can never stop oscillating, i.e. minimum energy is not zero, and the amplitude of their oscillation can only take certain values.

The size of the spring is also constrained by what is known as the Planck length which in turn constrains the maximum frequency of oscillation called the Planck frequency.

Given all of this, the calculation of the theoretical value of the energy density of vacuum is enormous. The experimental value of the energy density of vacuum is found to be 113 orders of magnitude less of what the theory predicts. That is, the value predicted by the theory is the experimental value multiplied by 10 to the power of 113 (1 followed by 113 zeros).

This discrepancy, known as the vacuum catastrophe, is one of the most intriguing unsolved problems in physics.

This problem will be discussed more later in the section on the cosmological constant and dark energy.

Casimir Effect The effect of the quantum vacuum fluctuations, which are the appearing and disappearing virtual particles, can be measured in a laboratory. The experiment requires two uncharged metal plates parallel to each other, separated by a tiny distance in a vacuum. In such a setup there should be no force between the plates and they should remain perfectly still.

However, in 1948 Hendrik Casimir predicted that quantum fluctuations should cause a net attractive (or in some cases repulsive) force between the plates. This is called the Casimir effect and can be explained using our spring model of quantum fields.

Imagine the balls bouncing between the two plates, as if the two plates were playing tennis with them.

By decreasing the distance between the plates, we restrict the possible wavelengths of the oscillations. The balls inside the gap between the plates cannot oscillate with a wavelength that is higher or equal to the size of the gap. Outside the plates, there are no such restrictions. The virtual particles collide with the walls of the plates inside and the outside the gap, but those on the outside exert a higher pressure. This causes the two plates to be pushed together, i.e. there is a net attractive force between the plates. This net force increases as the distance between the plates decreases.

The first attempt to verify Casimir’s prediction was performed in 1958 in Eindhoven in the Netherlands

by M. Sparnaay, but the results came with large experimental errors. In 2001, a group at the University of Padua in Italy successfully measured the Casimir effect using microresonators with 15% precision, which gives an unambiguous confirmation of the existence of quantum fluctuations.

Cosmological Constant and Dark Energy One of the most important discoveries in astrophysics was that the expansion of the universe is accelerating.

To explain this, Einstein’s cosmological constant was put back into the field equations of the general theory of relativity. The effect of the cosmological constant is to counteract the attractive force of gravity. Physically, it is the value of energy density of vacuum. This mysterious energy was called dark energy and it is estimated to make up 70% of the universe.

The vacuum zero-point energy has some very strange properties. Firstly, the density of vacuum zero-point energy is constant, which means that as the universe expands, more energy is simply created out of nothing. Secondly, the quantum vacuum has negative pressure. According to Einstein, energy and mass are equivalent as sources of gravity, hence an energy density in space will exert a gravitational force. Since the zero-point energy density is not zero, the negative pressure of the vacuum implies that it will exert a repulsive gravitational force. These properties make the vacuum zero-point energy identical to dark energy. However, there is a large discrepancy in their energy densities.

Astrophysicists can estimate the value of the dark energy density from the acceleration of the expansion of the universe. However, as mentioned before, the dark energy density value from experiment is very small compared to the theoretically predicted value of the vacuum zero-point energy density.

One proposed solution to this problem is that above a certain frequency, the quantum fluctuations, i.e. virtual particles, are not gravitationally active and hence do not contribute to the acceleration of the expansion of the universe. There should soon be a possibility for an experimental verification of this hypothesis. If it is true, the mystery of the origin of the dark energy would be solved.

Discovery in Trinity College Dublin Earlier this year a group of Trinity scientists in the School of Physics, J.M.D. Coey, K. Ackland and M. Venkatesan, and the School of Mathematics, S. Sen, made a groundbreaking discovery which appeared on the front cover of the prestigious scientific journal Nature Physics. The group studied the magnetism of very tiny particles of cerium oxide (CeO2) with lanthanum (La)

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HE BEGINNING OF OCTOBER is a very exciting time for all scientists because it is the time of the awarding of the Nobel Prizes, the most prestigious award a scientist can get in their discipline.

Here is a brief overview of who was awarded the Nobel Prizes and what they received them for.

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Imagine the balls bouncing between the two plates, as if the two plates were playing tennis with them.

impurities. The physicists found that the La impurities in the CeO2 nanoparticles were responsible for the magnetic moment and the magnetisation was temperature-independent.

The nanoparticles were subsequently diluted with non-magnetic powders.

After the dilution, the magnetisation of the sample decreased dramatically. It is proposed that the magnetism is associated with mesoscale clumps (of approximately 0.1 micron size) of CeO2 nanoparticles. Upon dilution of CeO2 with non-magnetic powders, the ‘magnetic’ clumps are broken up and the magnetism is dramatically reduced. Furthermore, in their paper, the presence of magnetism in the nanoparticles is proposed to be due to orbital electrons associated with these mesoscale clumps interacting with the zero-point quantum fluctuations of the vacuum.

The model accounts for the magnetisation remaining constant for changing temperatures and also explains why it decreases as the nanoparticles are diluted with a powder. This discovery opens experimental possibilities in probing this new observable consequence of the quantum vacuum fluctuations.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “the design and synthesis of molecular machines”.

The prize was shared by Jean-Pierre Sauvage from University of Strasbourg, France, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart from Northwestern University, USA, and Bernard L. Feringa from University of Groningen, the Netherlands. The three winners are pioneers who opened a new industry based on molecular machines. In 1983, Sauvage made the first molecular machine. He linked two ring-shaped molecules by a mechanical bond, which allowed for the two rings to move relative to each other.

This structure was called a catenane. In 1991, Fraser Stoddart created a structure called the rotaxane. Together with his team, they threaded a molecular ring onto a thin molecular axle and showed that the ring could move along the axle. This lead to the making of the first molecular lift, molecular muscle and a molecule-based computer chip. In 1999, Feringa developed the first molecular motor. This was a molecular rotor blade that could rotate in the same direction. He also designed the first nano car by linking several motors and axles. All of this inspiring work will definitely revolutionise the world we live in. The Nobel Prize will attract more people to work in this area and create more fascinating nanomachines.

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the winner’s “discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy”. The full prize was awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan. The work of Ohsumi led to the understanding of the autophagy, that is the breaking down and recycling of cell components, in yeast and later in humans.

In this process, the cell components are enclosed in a double membraned balloon called an autophagosome.

This autophagosome later merges with a cell organelle

called the lysosome, which contains enzymes that break down the cell components.

Ohsumi identified the genes in yeast which are related to autophagy which allowed him to understand the mechanism behind it. Mutations in autophagic genes can cause diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease and type 2 diabetes.

Nobel Prize in Physics The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for “theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter”. One half of the prize was awarded to David J. Thouless from University of Washington, USA, and the other half was shared between F. Duncan M. Haldane from Princeton University, USA, and J. Michael Kosterlitz from Brown University, USA. The work of this year’s Nobel Laureates gives scientists a mathematical framework to understand the origins of exotic states of matter in thin layers of materials. For example, water can exist in three phases or states: solid, liquid and gas which correspond to ice, liquid water and water vapour.

These are three fundamental states of matter that we are all familiar with, however, there are other more exotic states. One such state is called superconductivity, which occurs in some metals, such as mercury. When mercury or other superconducting material is cooled to extremely low temperatures it changes state from a normal conducting state to a superconducting state. A superconductor can conduct electricity with no resistance, that is with no energy losses, and can levitate on top of magnets, because of their ability to repel magnetic fields. Superconductivity in thin layers was thought to not be possible. However, in 1970 Thouless and Kosterlitz demonstrated that it is possible and explained the mechanism.

Their explanation used topological concepts. Topology is a branch of mathematics that can be used to describe the properties that change in steps, which was how the conductance varied in the thin layers. At around the same time, Haldane discovered how topological concepts can be used to explain the behaviour of chains of small magnets in some materials. These discoveries are very important as the topological materials studied by the winners could be used in the new generation of electronics.

Surgical pioneer set for the first human head transplant Nessa Fitzgerald Contributor

Nessa Fitzgerald gives an update on the plans to perform the very controversial first ever human head transplant, the surgeon who proposed it and the head donor who is willing to take the risk for a chance of a better life and the advancement of medical science

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HREE YEARS AGO, ITALIAN neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero announced that he could perform a human head transplant in a two-part procedure called HEAVEN (head anastomosis venture) and Gemini (the fusion of the spinal cord). Many have dismissed Canavero’s plans, with one bioethicist going so far as to label him a “Looney Tune,” but there are still a few who have hope about his plans, not least of all his first volunteer.

The idea of a head transplant is not new. Organ transplants have been carried out for years, the first successful transplant being that of a kidney in 1954, and since then many other organs and tissues have successfully been transplanted. The head and brain, however, remain untransplantable. That is not, however, to say that pioneers in the field have not tried. In the 1950s, a pioneer in the field of organ transplantation who had revolutionised heart

Illustration by Maha Sultan

surgery, Vladimir Demikhov, attempted to carry out head transplants in dogs, leading to two-headed creatures, none of whom lived for more than a month. His work went on to inspire American neurosurgeon Robert J. White to attempt a head transplant in a rhesus monkey. The monkey remained alive for a few days after the surgery, but because White was unable to fuse the

two spinal cords, the monkey was completely paralysed from the neck down, and colleagues would later describe the experiment as barbaric.

More recently, experiments have been carried out which appear to show advances in spinal cord reconstruction, which could potentially lead to the ability to fuse two different spinal cords. Canavero’s experiments appear to

show mice moving their limbs after attempts at repairing their severed spinal cords. A dog who had its spinal cord almost completely severed was shown to move just four weeks after attempts at repairing the damage. The researchers claim that their success lies in a chemical called polyethylene glycol, or PEG, which was injected into the gap where the spinal cord was severed. The study involving mice was, however, very small, with a total of sixteen mice, half of which were part of a control group in which only saline was injected. Of the eight mice treated with PEG, five regained some ability to move, while the other three died, as did all of the mice in the control group. The experiment with the dog did not involve any other individuals, and had no control. There has also been an attempt at a transplant in a monkey, and although the animal survived for around 20 hours after the surgery before being euthan-

ised, no attempt was made at fusing the two spinal cords.

Canavero plans to carry out the surgery by first cooling the patient’s head to -15○C. Both heads are then almost completely severed, leaving the spinal cord intact, and blood vessels are connected by tubes.

The spinal cords are then cut using an incredibly sharp, incredibly thin diamond blade, and the process of fusing the two spinal cords begins. The hope is that injecting PEG into the space between the two spinal cords will allow them to join together, letting the patient move the donor’s body. The patient would then be kept in a coma for around a month to allow healing to take place.

It’s difficult to see why anyone would want to subject themselves to such a procedure, on the back of such a small amount of evidence, and yet Canavero has a volunteer. Enter Russian computer scientist, Valery Spiridonov, who suffers from a rare

muscle-wasting disease called Werdnig-Hoffmann disease.

Spiridonov has been left paralysed and wheelchair bound by this illness. He suffers from extreme spinal curvature. His health is extremely poor, and in rapid decline. He remains optimistic though. In an interview, he said that he doesn’t view his role as that of a patient. Yes, he has a serious illness that could kill him, but first and foremost, Spiridonov views himself as a scientist, and while he is not “rushing to go under the surgeon’s knife,” he is keen to persuade people that such a surgery is not only possible but necessary, and volunteering himself is probably the only viable way of persuading anyone.

The ethics of this surgery are questionable at best. There hasn’t been a huge amount of research, and the experiments that have taken place have all either been condemned as unethical and barbaric, or their veracity has been called into question. The overwhelming

majority of scientists and doctors are in agreement that a head transplant will not work.

One surgeon even said that Spiridonov was likely to suffer a fate worse than death. With the surgery scheduled to take place in only a little over a year, it almost seems impossible that it will even take place.

Indeed, even with Spiridonov’s full consent, it seems immoral to go ahead until more research and experimentation takes place.

Canavero has made huge leaps in his field. He introduced a pioneering surgical treatment for Parkinson’s disease, stroke recovery, and patients in a vegetative state.

He has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers, and several books. There is no doubt that he is an extremely accomplished scientist and doctor, but a head transplant seems like a step too far, and certainly does not appear possible with modern technology and techniques.

Trinity News |Tuesday 18th October

SciTech

Farmers, wildlife, freak-outs and facts Georgia O’Sullivan examines the most common complaints from farmers about Ireland’s endangered wildlife, the damage these complaints do to conservation efforts, and the hard evidence from published studies about the impact Georgia O’Sullivan Contributor

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I L D L I F E CONSERVATION IN IRELAND has had a number of success stories to celebrate in recent years. Birds of prey such as the white-tailed sea eagle are breeding down in Killarney National Park after being reintroduced. This past week it was reported that another reintroduced bird of prey, the red kite, has successfully bred in Fingal for the first time in over 100 years.

The pine marten, Ireland’s rarest native mammal, has been pulled back from the brink of extinction and its small population is growing.

However, these success stories are tainted by both media sensationalism and demonisation of wildlife, as well as continuous reports of wildlife crimes that never seem to be prosecuted.

Misinformation, hysteria and disregard for empirical

evidence hamper the best efforts of conservation scientists, and, without fail, every slow-news summer produces an upsurge in polarised reporting on both wildlife and farmers.

Regional and national newspapers alike run stories of out-of-control seagulls and pine martens killing sheep, and birds of prey making off with game pheasants and lambs. Elected politicians spout off with total disregard for the value of native species and hard facts, calling for widespread culling of protected animals.

The problem with this demonisation is not that wildlife are given a bad image; it’s that animals are poisoned and shot as a result. Over the August Bank Holiday weekend alone, three buzzards – a protected bird of prey – were poisoned with an illegal

insecticide. Between 2007 and 2011, 100 white-tailed sea eagles were reintroduced to Ireland from Norway, and when the birds arrived at Kerry airport they were greeted with 100 protesting sheep farmers. Since then, 14 of these eagles have been confirmed poisoned to death, two shot, and a further 7-8 dead from suspected poisoning.

Prosecuting wildlife crimes is difficult and people get away with illegally killing protected species all the time, but this April three members of a Waterford pigeon racing club were convicted of illegally hunting birds of prey. They had tied up live pigeons, smeared them with poison and were using them as bait to kill four peregrine falcons and two sparrowhawks. The men were fined.

Ireland has a relatively small collection of native animals

thanks to geological history.

Rising sea levels at the end of the last ice age 10,000 years ago isolated Ireland before many species could disperse northwards, following the retreating glaciers. Many more native species, such as the Irish wolf, the golden eagle and the red kite, were hunted to extinction.

Protecting threatened species and reintroducing extinct ones is more than simply a way to preserve the collection of animals on display in our landscape. Different species feed, forage and interact at different levels in an ecological food web, and disruptions such as the removal of a species can lead to a population explosion in other species. When apex predators such as large carnivores or birds of prey are removed, medium-sized predators and herbivores can grow in numbers and threaten the populations of their own

prey species as a consequence.

The knock-on effects that follow can even affect whole river systems and landscapes due to vegetation changes, which can of course affect farming practices and human settlements.

Conservation science is a multifaceted discipline where effective communication and dissemination of results and conclusions is quite literally a matter of life and death.

Successful conservation hinges on cooperation from the general public, and ideally farmers and wildlife researchers would be allies. Instead they are at loggerheads, and earlier this year the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) launched a poster campaign demanding that the National Parks and Wildlife Service and Bird Watch Ireland stay off farming land. This was in response

to land use designations implemented in recent years setting aside areas for species protection. The IFA claims that farmers have not been properly compensated for the loss of this land, despite agreements.

Cooperation between these two crucial groups is missing because legislation and policy are not effective enough in both protecting rural development and farming as a livelihood as well as prosecuting serious wildlife crimes such as poisoning and illegal culling.

Everything becomes a scapegoat when a lamb dies.

Birds of prey are vilified, despite the gaping lack of evidence to suggest they harm livestock. Anecdotal stories of buzzards, eagles, falcons and even seagulls carrying off lambs gain traction in the news, putting these animals at risk. In August, Longford

Fine Gael Councillor Padraig Brady blamed pine martens for the death of two of his lambs, warning that soon pine martens will be attacking babies in cots. He then called for a cull of the small mammal, whose nationwide population is under 3,000 individuals.

Wider ecological benefits have already been seen since efforts began to conserve the pine marten. It preys on the invasive and aggressive North American grey squirrel, which outcompetes the native red squirrel. As pine marten numbers have recovered, so too have native reds. As long as our elected officials and national press continue to deal in fear and scaremongering, these success stories and their accompanying benefits may be short-lived. Time, energy, money and an animal’s life go to waste when someone decides to poison or shoot a protected species.

Citizen science In the past, scientific research was pursued by the world’s trained scientists, with only a few exceptions. Jack Schofield discusses how nowadays all enthusiastic citizens can contribute to the frontiers of scientific research Jack Schofield Contributor

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OST OF US ARE INTRODUCED to science at school as a rigid set of principles, equations and facts - laws that describe the world. Most of us don’t experience the process by which we construct these laws when studying science.

As the astronomer Carl Sagan said, “Science is more than a body of knowledge.

It is a way of thinking.”

The scientific process of hypothesising, asking and answering questions through experimentation, is as important as the facts themselves. This is how we can contribute to the body of knowledge, rather than regurgitate it. Science is a creative endeavour, not just robotic repetition.

Testing our ideas with experiment is what science is all about. Modern science education gives us prescribed practical classes, where we perform experiments that are laid out for us, generating results that surprise no one.

Such classes do not come close to replicating real science, where we explore ideas and ask questions that excite us, without knowing where exactly the answers will lead us. Science, however, is not confined to classrooms or academia anymore. With citizen science, research done by enthusiastic amateurs, we can all get involved in science, regardless of our backgrounds.

A pioneer in modern citizen science was the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), a project scanning the skies for radio signals from potential alien civilisations with huge telescopes. SETI hopes to find signs that we are not alone as intelligent life in the universe. Sifting through the mountains of data generated in this search required huge, power-hungry supercomputers.

SETI@ home, launched in 1999, replaced these expensive behemoths with a ‘virtual supercomputer’ by sharing SETI data with a network of thousands of citizen computers around the world.

This allowed for faster and more comprehensive analysis of possible alien signals.

Ordinary citizen scientists involved in SETI@home could one day help us to listen in on some alien radio communication by plugging their computers into SETI@ home.

SETI@home is fairly basic citizen science, using people’s computers, not their brains. Now, however, SETI is examining stars which have been put on the map by eagleeyed citizen scientists. Planet Hunters is a citizen science group focused on exoplanet research. Participants sift through the mountains of data generated with NASA’s Kepler telescope, looking for signs of exoplanets (light

from stars outside of the solar system being dimmed during planetary orbits). In their study of the extrasolar star, KIC 8462852, or Tabby’s Star, the planet hunters noticed a strange signal. In May 2009, the light from the star was blocked by a huge, asymmetric structure. It seemed too large to have been a planet and passed in front of the star for far longer than a planet should.

In 2011, the light from the star dropped by 15% and then in 2013, 20% of the light was blocked.The object blocking the light may be up to 1000 times the size of Earth and its transit is not characteristic of a planet. The most exciting possibility put forward is that the light is being dimmed by ‘alien megastructures’.

The size of the object or objects and the irregularity of their transit across the star have led some to suggest that it is a Dyson Sphere, a tremendous sphere of solar panels gathering energy from the star. SETI turned its Alien Telescope Array on the planet in 2016, searching for narrow and broad band transmissions from aliens. They have found no evidence yet of radio chatter, so it may not be aliens.

Whatever turns out to be orbiting Tabby’s Star, it’s sure to be interesting and we have the Planet Hunters to thank for pointing it out.

Now CERN, the organisation that discovered the Higgs boson, an essential particle in the Standard Model of physics, has got involved with citizen science. CERN has helped to start a sister-project to Planet Hunters with ‘Higgs Hunters’, where citizen scientists analyse data from CERN’s ATLAS detector. CERN is hoping these citizens can help them to find particles related to the Higgs boson. The Planet and Higgs Hunter projects come from Zooniverse, an online platform for citizen scientists to find projects, start their own and discuss their work. There are plenty of other science projects to get involved in at their website.

In biology, we study molecules so complex that that even computers whose job it is to analyse them have difficulties. The molecular machinery of our cells is composed primarily of proteins. The way that proteins work is dependent on the three-dimensional shapes into which they are folded. Analysis of protein function in cells relies upon an understanding of these structures. While it is difficult for computers to decipher protein shapes, humans have superb spatial reasoning.

This ability was tapped into with Foldit, an online game where players compete to arrange proteins into stable configurations. Mason-Pfizer monkey virus retroviral protease, a protein from a simian (monkey) virus which causes AIDs, had evaded

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Citizen science like this, scanning alien signals or folding proteins, although important, is really just ordinary people wading through huge datasets full structural analysis for a decade. Foldit players, in a challenge event, given just three weeks, were able to solve the structure for the first time.

They had done better than the structural biochemists and computer programmes before them. Their work moved beyond online leaderboards, with individual players being rewarded with credit in a Nature paper describing the work. The structures that Foldit players worked out may help in drug development, assisting to disable the protein involved in AIDs. The success of Foldit has led to citizen science being applied to other

biological problems. Studying the complexity of the human brain involves mapping the billions of connections between neurons, which together, make up the human ‘connectome’. This massive task is being tackled by Eyewire players. Eyewire is a game created by Sebastian Seung at MIT, where human players’ spatial reasoning and pattern recognition are used to map connections in human retinal neurons, which will help us understand the connectome.

This ‘gamification’ of scientific problems is also being used to work out other complex biological structures such as RNA with ‘EteRNA’ or even catalogue evolutionary relations in ‘Phylo’. We can then, without much training in science or access to sophisticated academic labs, make contributions to science by playing with the data.

Citizen science like this, scanning alien signals or folding proteins, although important, is really just ordinary people wading through huge datasets, tackling the work that professionals can’t get through.

More personal, inventive science is being done in the Hacker or Maker movements.

Events built around these movements have sprung up here in Ireland, where people from many backgrounds have engaged with science.

Dublin hosts, for example, the international 48-hour Science Hack Day events. This annual hackathon has engineers, artists and computer scientists come together to see what problems they can solve or contraptions they can build in 48 hours. This convergence of skill sets has produced drumsolo pants, tweeting toasters

TCD iGEM 2016 (http://www.dublinmaker.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/ireland.jpg) and electronic Irish dancing E. coli bacteria expressing shoes at the Dublin events. fluorescent proteins were Those of us that don’t study This kind of citizen science used to ‘paint’ everything the arts or languages at college also goes on show during the from Van Gogh’s Chair to don’t think that these areas summer at Dublin Maker maps of Ireland. are closed to us forever more. events. Like Science Hack People get involved at any Days, teams or individuals This kind of DIY biology age, regardless of background. come together to show off has exploded in popularity We should have the same their technical ingenuity. recently, with community enthusiasm when doing At this summer’s Maker, biohackerspaces inviting science. What these citizen cardboard virtual reality people with no formal training scientists show, whether they headsets, beautiful wooden in biology to come together to be hunting down planets kits explaining basic maths tinker with cells and genes. or particles, mapping the and physics to kids, and giant One of the first of these spaces human brain or painting with circuit boards were on show. was BioCurious in Silicon proteins, is that science is This author was part of a team Valley, who have worked on open to us all. Science is just of Trinity undergraduates everything from open source the way that we ask how the at Maker, with TCD iGEM’s bioprinters to vegan cheese. natural world works. Citizen Synthetic Biology project. Since then, biohackerspaces science is an open invitation We were exhibiting glowing have opened up around the for us to ask more questions.

‘BioArt’ pictures by team world, including Ireland with member Bronwyn Berkeley. ‘FormaLabs’ in Cork.

SETI Alien Telescope Array (http://www.space.com/12600-seti-alien-search-jodie-foster-allen-telescope-revival.html)

Trinity News | Tuesday 18th October

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Sport Reclaiming the land: growing a culture of GAA in Trinity

Clare McCarthy, Sport Editor, sits down with the Trinity Hurlers; Leon Breen, Fionn O’Riain Broin and team captain Darragh O’Donoghue following their promotion to the Fitzgibbon Cup and to find out what really happened on ‘Inside Trinity’.

Clare McCarthy Sport Editor

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T’S A TUESDAY MORNING AND three hurlers are having a puckabout on the edge of the cricket pitch in the glare of the autumn sun. Two Swedish tourists stop and take pictures.

“What is this sport?” one asks me. “Hurling,” I reply. “I have never seen this sport!” she tells me, in awe.

The awe in the Swedish woman’s voice came as no surprise to me. It seems that tourists may appreciate our national game more than we do. Fionn Ó Riain Broin, Dublin U21 and senior hurler, tells me that when they were filming the RTÉ documentary ‘Inside Trinity’ there were hundreds of tourists watching them play on front square.

Rugby, ultimate frisbee, cricket and even croquet are often seen in action on campus but hurling, one of Ireland’s national games, is a rare sight. Maybe Trinity should consider setting up a hurling exhibition on the lawn - from the sound of things it could give the Book of Kells a run for its money.

Inside ‘Inside Trinity’ Following on from their role on ‘lnside Trinity’, reluctant celebrities O Riain Broin and the others all agree on one thing: it was great exposure for Trinity Hurling. “Even people who might not be too involved in college might have watched a bit of it and seen us and thought ‘Jeez, there’s a hurling team here’ so it’s great exposure for us,” O’Riain Broin.

Inside Trinity followed Fionn, his brother Cian and the Trinity hurlers as they geared up for the final of the division two championships, the Ryan Cup. Having previously won the Ryan Cup, the pressure was on to reclaim the title. This was coupled with the added pressure of RTÉ’s cameras capturing their

most intimate moments pre and post-match.

“There were parts of it that I just knew were coming up,” says Leon Breen. “There was one fellow, and he gave a speech in the dressing room.

He’s vocal enough but-” “I’ve never seen him make a speech like that before!” adds O’Riain Brion.

“The stage is set, the camera is out and he gets up and he gives this absolute belter of a speech.”

It wasn’t just egos that were flexing either. “The amount of tensing in the dressing room before the game,” admits O’Riain Broin. “We were in the dressing room before the Ryan cup final and all the lads were there, tensing, tops off.”

“Donnacha Butler, takes any chance he can get to tense, he’s some boy for it. And you can put that in the article, he’ll only be chuffed,” says Breen.

Defending champions of the Ryan Cup, their title was on the line but their street cred was also under the scrutiny of the Irish public, something they were all too aware of.

“The manager brought a speaker into the dressing room and he’s mad about all this motivational talk and he started blaring - What was that song?” asks Breen “Jason Derulo!” laughs O’Riain Broin.

“Jason Derulo blaring to get us hyped up!”

“And we were all like, ‘Turn that off now, it’s gonna be on the programme!’”

With the suspense built and RTÉ’s cameras rolling, the months of hard work paid off in a muddy field in March. In victory, cameras were forgotten and the authenticity of the moment poured from the hurlers onto our TV screens. “I thought they captured that very well actually. It was the best

footage of the whole thing,” says O’Riain Broin.

Transition to the Fitzgibbon Cup Promotion from the second to the first division of the championship is a big step up.

The hurlers will be facing stiff competition this year from hurling strongholds such as UCD, UL and Mary I. Each of these colleges would have 20 senior county hurlers on their teams compared to the two senior county hurlers in Trinity.

“Fitzgibbon is the top. It’s proper, intercounty standard nearly so chances of us winning it this year aren’t exactly huge. We’re not expecting that,” says Breen.

For Darragh O’Donoghue, the team captain, the focus is on what is achievable. “There are teams that are beatable and it would be massive for us if we could get a win.”

“There’s a very, very high standard,” says O’Riain Broin.

“We have myself and Darragh, with experience. That’s it. For now we’re trying to compete.

Do our best and see where we go.”

And they believe it will pay off in the long run. For aspiring hurlers, being afforded the opportunity to play in the top division is a real incentive to come to Trinity. “When there’s people seeing that you’re playing Fitzgibbon, they’ll be coming to Trinity to play in the Fitzgibbon. There’s lads who wouldn’t have played hurling with the college, they’re in their second and third year and they’re signing up this year. They see that we’re in the first division and want to play. They wouldn’t have bothered with the Ryan Cup,” says Breen.

“The bigger the club grows, the more people from outside the college will think ‘I’m not going to go to UCD just to play hurling. I can also play hurling

at the same standard as I would in UCD. I’ll probably even have a better chance of playing time with Trinity hurlers’,” says O’Riain Broin.

“I was talking to a lad who plays for the Dublin minors,” says Breen. “He gets a scholarship for going to UCD. He’s unreal like and he wouldn’t even definitely be guaranteed a place on the team.”

The underdogs With Trinity hurling still on the rise, and no guaranteed scholarships allocated to the hurlers, they can at least guarantee playing time fo incoming hurlers as they need the numbers to compete.

“We’ll be one of the only teams in the Fitzgibbon who have a special dispensation so we can play our Freshers in the Fitzgibbon matches which is unheard of. If you go to DIT, UCD or DCU, your Freshers aren’t actually allowed to even train with the rest of the hurlers,” explains Breen.

It’s unusual to pit players who are 17 or 18 years old and just out of school against players who have been playing Senior County hurling for 3 or 4 years. “With the playing population we have here, we really do need the Fresher to have a proper team,” says O’Donoghue.

And what separates Trinity hurling from the other colleges in the Fitzgibbon Cup? “Resources,” says O’Donoghue. “Trinity gave out two [hurling scholarships] last year. I have friends who’d be getting scholarships elsewhere. What we’re getting is nothing really compared to that.”

“There’s a bit of monetary help then there’s physio stuff they say, but you never really hear. Then there’s workshops about nutrition but if you’re involved in county, you’ll have heard it all before. And

there’s a bit of strength and conditioning but there’s no tailored programme. We’ve no special gym. There’s a special gym down in UL for all the sports scholars and this sort of thing.”

“Sure it’s fuck all money anyway,” says O’Riain Broin.

“In first year, I was in DIT for 6 weeks and I was on €2000 there. Here, it’s not half that.

And that was for a Fresher, I couldn’t even play senior!”

For now it will be the draw of playing in the Fitzgibbon Cup, not scholarships, that attracts hurlers to Trinity. “It’s not a two grand scholarship incentive but that’s what we’re building towards,” says Breen.

“To get to that stage we’ll have to be playing Fitzgibbon for a couple of seasons,” explains O’Riain Broin. “And then we can go to DUCAC and say ‘Look, to develop more we really need those three scholarships a year to entice people [to] play.’ You do need them. All the other colleges have them.”

Increasing visibility “Hurling is on its way up,” insists Breen. “We got more sign-ups this year than any other year.” Many hurlers find college hurling and the social aspect surrounding the GAA a breath of fresh air after years of club hurling.

“I was ready to quit hurling last year,” says Breen.

“Genuinely, with my club hurling, I was just sick of it and then I came in [to Trinity] and it made me like it again. Just having mates and remembering what it’s really about. It’s such a tight knit group of mates. Literally, lads that I didn’t even know last year are my best mates this year. I never expected it could happen.”

Exposure and success is the key to the growth of the GAA the hurlers tell me. The people who go to their matches and fundraising events, like the

county colours night, are people already involved with the GAA putting their own money back into the club. So with exposure as a priority for the hurlers, they have some big ideas to grow the culture of hurling in Trinity.

“This year coming into Fitzgibbon, there’s a big push to try and promote the GAA,” says Breen, PRO of the hurling team. “The likes of the rugby, the boat club, etc. they get huge turnouts to matches.

Even at their training there’d be more people watching them throw the ball around than at our matches.”

“The Phil would join up with Players and do these big nights so we were thinking, ‘Why can’t we do the same?’

We’re in preliminary talks with Rugby at the moment.

They get so many people at their things so we’re in talks to organise a big fundraising event with them at the Pav. We were thinking of doing a GAA vs Rugby thing and put a spin on it as ‘a lost tradition’ that was banned by the college.”

“Keep an eye out for that one, that’s a big one,” says Breen.

This is our turf As the campus groundsmen’s intolerance for hurling persists, the hurlers have no land available to them for a puck-around on campus. What they are doing this morning a harmless puck-around on the edge of the cricket pitch is bending, if not breaking, the rules.

Trinity campus’ attitude to hurling is a world away from O’Riain Broin’s schooldays in Colaiste Éoin and the change of environment cost him a sticky run-in with campus authorities last year.

In Colaiste Éoin, “literally every single day you’d go to school, you’d have a hurl.

Every day. If you play hurling and didn’t have a hurl at lunchtime, like what were you

doing?”

“I was stupid now, last year I was a Fresher and me and my brother Cian went down to the rugby pitch, just on the side, off the actual pitch between the sidelines and the fence. We were pucking and we were told to go off and we were like ‘grand’ so we went over to the shadow of the library, over beside the trees and were pucking there and some fellow comes out.

He got thick, I got thick and I got pulled in front of the Junior Dean. Nothing came of it now but I was literally like ‘We’re not on the pitch, we’re not making any mess, we’re not taking the grass up and we’re literally just pucking around here. No one’s around and we’re not going to hurt anybody so what’s the problem?”

“I’m not sure if it’s an actual ban or even just the groundspeople being ‘picky’,” says Breen.

“Oh Jesus, don’t go saying that now,” says O’Donoghue.

“We’ll have all the groundspeople against us.”

The team are working hard at further increasing campuswide awareness of Trinity’s hurling team. “We’ve just started bringing in the hurl every day so people see you walking around with the hurl.

And when lads are free, we just write in WhatsApp ‘anyone around for a puck?’ and we’d go out for 10 or 20mins.”

“And the amount of people who watch, especially with the tourists, there’s an interest there, do you know what I mean?”

I do. This is an Irish university. How can we see an Irish game proudly played on campus when there’s a ban on it?

“Sure, this is it,” says O’Donoghue. This is it, indeed.

Fight Like a Girl - Charity Boxing Fundraiser Joel Coussins Online Sport Editor

O

VER THE COURSE OF our interview the most striking thing about Sean and Paddy Headon is their seemingly boundless ambition. “There was another company with similar idea, and we performed at one of their nights,” Sean tells me, “I just thought, ‘we could do this more professionally’. Also, we weren’t happy with what they were raising - we thought they should be raising twice as much.” Thus, Headon Boxing was born.

Headon Boxing, established by the eponymous brothers, is a charity boxing company with

Joel Coussins, Online Sport Editor, talks to Sean and Paddy Headon, final year BESS students, about their hugely successful charity boxing events. the aim of raising awareness of certain issues via the medium of competitive boxing.

Working with institutions such as Deloitte and UCD, Sean and Paddy have spent the past 12 months striving to popularise their alternative idea of a charity fundraiser.

It is therefore unsurprising to discover that the boys are very hands-on in the way they run their events; a typical event sees them take between 24 and 32 participants and train them for 6 and 8 weeks, before finally putting them in the ring in a glamorous city centre location. Not content to simply manage the sporting aspect of an event, they also

take control of the publicity surrounding the affair - using the training time to cultivate a social media presence.

Although the idea was not their own, it has undoubtedly become associated with the brothers over the last 12 months. They have run an incredible 10 events in that timeframe, including their enormously successful night in association with SUAS during last year’s RAG week, an event which attracted over 400 spectators, raising almost €8000. The event saw participants from over 20 college societies, including both the Phil and the Hist and is due to be followed up

by an event after Christmas.

It is their upcoming event, however, that might be their most worthwhile yet - this month the pair are hosting ‘Fight Like a Girl’, taking place on October 18. The night is sure to be a blockbuster event, with 28 individuals set to step into the ring for the first time; however, the night will be tinged with sadness, as it will be held in honour of Órla Quill and Ana Hick, two teenage students who tragically passed away last year. Considering this, it is not a surprise to learn that the fundraising target set for the event is €10,000, a jump up from the average of €8,000

they usually raise per event, and the most any individual event would have raised. All funds raised from the night will go directly to the Mater Hospital’s intensive care unit, the unit which cared for both of these young women.

Whilst the charitable aspect might be considered freshfaced, Sean and Paddy have been boxing themselves since they were in Transition Year, a move they confess was unusual given the lack of previous interest in the sport in the family; however, they quickly developed their skill and went on to claim Irish titles. From there, the

transition into coaching seemed natural. When the pair arrived at college, they were already well-primed to found Headon Boxing; all that was needed was the final push – the aforementioned charity fight night, run by a different company, which opened their eyes to the charitable nature of Irish students.

The charity aspect might have been what inspired the brothers to found the company, but it is by no means the only dimension to Headon Boxing. The company offers personal training sessions, working with professional sportspeople

and businessmen alike; 60 minute, high-intensity fitness classes, designed to burn calories alongside teaching boxing technique. They juggle this with the demands of their final year of Business, Economics and Social Studies.

This is an impressive feat, and marks them out clearly as amongst Trinity College’s most outstanding students.

Fight like a girl takes place on Tuesday 18th October, for more information or to donate please contact Sean or Paddy Headon on headonboxing@ gmail.com. To get involved in the upcoming SUAS Fight Night event, contact SUAS at SUAS@csc.tcd.ie or on the SUAS facebook page.

Interested in hosting your own charity fight night?

Find out how at http://www. headonboxing.ie/charityfight-night-dublin Or scan the QR code below:

Trinity News |Tuesday 18th October

Sport

24

Joel Coussins investigates upon charity boxing page .23

Former judge and current DUBC president Donagh McDonagh named DUCAC chairperson Daire O’Driscoll Deputy Sport Editor

T

he Dublin University Central Athletic Club (DUCAC) held its annual general meeting on Thursday October 13, in keeping with the tradition of holding the AGM on the third Thursday of Michaelmas Term. As has also been tradition over recent years, the AGM came at a time of discord within DUCAC and the Department of Sport, with the latter coming in for sharp criticism from a number of clubs within the University.

Problems with pitches The source of this ire is the recent resignation of Dublin University Association Football Club’s (DUAFC) manager and captain. DUAFC claim that the Department of Sport reneged on an agreement to allow the club use the new redeveloped pitch at the Sportsground in Santry.

The club have claimed that Department of Sport ensured them, prior to redevelopment of the playing surfaces, that they would be permitted to train on the new surface.

However, shortly after completion the Department of Sport communicated to DUAFC that the pitch would be designated to be used

by Dublin University GAA. This announcement came

The position of chair was contested between three candidates; Donagh McDonagh of DUBC, Gerry Kelly of DUFC and student PJ McGrane of DUGAA. despite DUAFC forfeiting their playing surfaces a year previously in order for them to be redeveloped. During her speech, Michelle Tanner from the Department of Sport made mention of the playing surface, describing it as “a sand based GAA pitch”.

She went on to declare that DUGAA were playing on the pitch that night.

It was to be the final AGM at the top table for outgoing Chairman Cyril Smyth. Smyth has held the position since 2009 and completed the final year of his three year term.

As delegates filtered into the Edmund Burke theatre and asked to present a valid student ID (one would-be delegate could not cooperate and was asked to leave), Smyth stood poised at the podium.

His first act was to announce that the meeting was exclusively for members of DUCAC clubs and those who did not fit that description were asked to leave. There was a degree of speculation that the strict entry requirements, noted to be increased from the previous year, were due to the candidacy of student PJ McGrane from DUGAA. McGrane was bidding to be the first student elected to the position of chairman.

Elections The election of officers took place at the end proceedings.

Whereas the atmosphere prior to this had been warm but not particularly engaged, there was now a notable shift. The election of club representatives was a straightforward affair. There were just eight nominees for the eight positions so all candidates were elected unopposed without a ballot.

This brought proceedings onto the election of just the sixth ever chairman of DUCAC. Cyril Smyth, outgoing chair, was keen to note that his four predecessors had passed on and expressed concern that the position of DUCAC Chair was a “death sentence”.

There were three candidates for the position. PJ McGrane of Dublin University GAA (DUGAA), Donagh McDonagh, President of Dublin University Boat Club (DUBC) and Gerry Kelly of Dublin University Football Club (DUFC). Each candidate was afforded three minutes to state their manifesto and convince the close to capacity theatre. PJ McGrane, who was bidding to be the first student elected to the roll spoke first. In his speech McGrane stressed a desire to “address the issues facing DUCAC”

and to “re-energise” the organisation. McGrane’s pitch was that of a “student-focused” organisation that would address what he described as “disconnect” between DUCAC and the forty eight sports clubs in Trinity.

The delegation, particularly those seated in the back of the theatre, who were mostly DUGAA delegates, received McGrane’s speech with enthusiasm.

Experience and daunting tasks The next candidate to take to the rostrum, Donagh McDonagh, spoke of the “daunting” task of addressing such a large crowd of people.

His speech began with a reference to ‘Just A Minute’, a panel radio programme which began in 1967 and is hosted by Nicholas Parsons.

McDonagh is a former Trinity student who went on to work as a barrister, senior counsel and circuit court judge. McDonagh outlined his history with DUCAC and pledged to devote “some time” to the organisation. Among his credentials, McDonagh cited his participation in the planning and building of the new demolished Luce Hall and the Sports Centre.

McDonagh made it known

that of the entire ninetyseven year history of DUCAC he had been involved for over one third of it. After being prompted by Smyth to conclude his remarks, McDonagh referred to Ronald Reagan: “I will not make an age issue of this campaign. I’m not going to exploit for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”

The revival of Trinity Barbell By next semester, Trinity Barbell should have all of the necessary attributes to become a very successful weightlifting club Darragh Higgins Assistant Sport Editor

T

RINITY BARBELL’S FIRST EVENT of the year took place in Raw Gym in Sandyford last Sunday. A mixture of experienced gym heads, committee members and new lifters showed up to take advantage of the type of basic professional training that is necessary for safety in weightlifting and useful to practice at all levels of experience. Following a successful mixer at the Pav the week before, the club were hoping to get more experience working as a group by practicing some of the foundations for strong lifting technique.

Raw is like the stereotypical gym that we all imagine from movies about MMA fighters chasing their elusive dreams: a giant warehouse of machines, bumper plates and shiny barbells. The enormous building seemed fit to cater for upwards of 50 or 60 weightlifters at once, and was equipped with every category of resistance training equipment, for any body part that one could wish to train. The aptitude and professionalism of the environment was immediately apparent. Trinity Barbell can be commended for gaining access to an excellent venue, specifically for practicing basic functional movement, as high quality gyms such as Raw are stocked with top class basics coaches, in this event personified by Raw coach Troy McPartling, a personal contact of Trinity Barbell secretary Hugh Quane.

Trinity Barbell are in the process of becoming one of the newest clubs to be part of DUCAC, currently holding provisional club status with the association, and hoping to attain full membership later this year. As of yet, the club are unable to host events based in the local Trinity gym. This is due in part to its relatively small size compared

The closing remark drew an audible exclamation from the delegates.

The final candidate Gerry Kelly was not present at the meeting but a member of DUFC spoke on his behalf.

His absence was due to other business obligations. Among the pledges made by Kelly was one to work “for students” and

that he had “early intentions” to run for this office.

The election of vicechairperson saw Laura Brennan of Dublin University Harriers Athletic Club face Monty Badger, Honorary Secretary of DUBC, with the latter contestant winning the position.

Sports Round-Up October 2016 Waterpolo - Mens National League Division 3 - National Aquatic Centre 02/10/16 Trinity 9 - 4 St. Vincent’s Tennis - Mens 08/10/16 - 09/10/16 European Invitational Championships Monte Carlo Country Club

to gyms like Raw, as well as unavailability of equipment and the administrative problems involved with their provisional membership.

However, with the opening of the High Performance Gym in Trinity’s Sports Centre, club captain Isabel Brown is hopeful that they could be in action in college shortly after the beginning of the second semester. Time in the High Performance Gym will be organised by Trinity’s Sports Centre into a range of time slots and these slots will be organised and assigned to clubs that apply. With luck, Trinity Barbell could be given a decent number of convenient time slots over the course of a week to utilize all of the new high quality equipment and the extra space that will be available.

Last Sunday’s taster session coaching was provided by McPartling and involved the basics of functional movement, specifically in relation to squat form. The athletes in attendance performed lightly weighted, slow exercises, beginning with the basics of the overhead squat. This movement is commonly regarded as the indicator of functional flexibility, as the quality of your overhead squat reveals the parts of your body and form that are not sufficiently flexible or tight enough to correctly perform the weighted back squat. Following this, the group began working slowly onwards towards the actual squat movement, moving through a variety of slow exercises, with the focus lying on each athlete’s squat form.

Each exercise emphasised a different part of the squat movement, after which the group were well equipped to handle the full movement safely.

Trinity Barbell practice both of the two major lifting disciplines: powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting.

Powerlifting encompasses the basic heavy duty lifts, involving the deadlift, squat and bench press. These movements are generally easier to perform in terms of range of motion, but the weight shifted is extremely high at the competition level. Olympic weightlifting is the kind we’ve all seen on television, with weight based competitions in the ‘snatch’ and ‘clean and jerk’, which are more technical kinds of lifts, with emphasis more on speed and technique than pure strength, and as a result the weights lifted are far lower.

The club are hoping to be able to produce competitive teams for both traditions and hold events involving every form of lift. The main carrot at the moment is the Intervarsity Competition, due to be held in the spring of next year.

While there is certain to be an Olympic weightlifting edition, the possibility of powerlifting intervarsities taking place is currently under threat, due to some organisational issues with the Irish Drug Free Powerlifting Association (IDFPA). Unfortunately the competition will not be held without the sanctioning of the IDFPA. Regardless, Trinity Barbell hopes to establish competitive teams for both Olympic and powerlifting meets. Team training is taking off in the next couple of weeks and, having already produced one national standard athlete, the club are looking to challenge for competition titles by the end of the year. By next semester, Trinity Barbell should have all of the necessary attributes to become a very successful weightlifting club.

Trinity Barbell’s group training starts in the next couple of weeks, with all levels of experience welcome.

Anyone interested can contact the club at duweightlifting@ gmail.com, or by messaging their Facebook page.

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