Trinity News, Vol. 67, Issue 1

The science behind Trinity’s Meet College’s wildflower newest deans meadows

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TRINITY NEWS

Ireland’s Oldest Student Newspaper

ESTABLISHED 1953

Vol. 67, Issue. 1

PHOTO BY SADHBH BRENNAN FOR TRINITY NEWS

International students faced loneliness, boredom and “vastly overpriced” meals during quarantine Audrey Brown

Deputy News Editor

A strange sight

In the absence of a traditional Freshers’ Fair to kick off the first week back to Trinity, Front Square lies quiet as the new academic year begins

Trinity reopens online with most unusual start to year in memory Finn Purdy Deputy Editor

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TUDENTS RETURNING TO CAMPUS FOR CLASSES THIS WEEK FOR THE FIRST TIME Since the closure of all schools and colleges in March have been instructed to “keep right and keep moving” in corridors and not spend casual time inside buildings.

Meanwhile, the majority of students are starting the new term with classes entirely or almost entirely online as Trinity reopens for the 2020/21 academic year.

Last minute adjustments

to timetables, caused by new Level 3 restrictions imposed in Dublin, saw many of an already limited number of face-to-face classes cancelled, with students in the faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) in particular seeing classes moved online.

Meanwhile, this year’s Orientation Week for Junior Fresh students is taking place alongside the start of classes for the rest of College. Orientation will happen without the usual Freshers’ Fair dominating Front Square.

Those students who make their way onto campus will find their movements tightly restricted. Only three of College’s entrances will be

opened, and students will have to present their ID cards before entering at either Nassau Street, the Science Gallery or Lincoln Place Gate.

Students and staff will be required to collect from the entrance a bottle of hand sanitizer which can be refilled at various points around the campus. Face coverings will also be mandatory inside all campus buildings.

Students are also asked to keep a contact log as well as a record of their seat number in each lecture which they attend.

Speaking last week at a welcome event for new postgraduate students, Provost Patrick Prendergast warned that

restrictions that have the potential to impact how Trinity operates this year “can change day-today”, noting that this situation is “extremely challenging”.

Prendergast stated that it was his “hope” that campus would remain open for some in-person teaching and the conducting of research.

College’s major emergency management team have further warned that an outbreak of the virus in Trinity, defined as two confirmed cases in the same area, is “very likely” and that College should “ plan for an increase in cases or an outbreak associated with our buildings”.

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NTERNATIONAL STUDENTS HAVE REPORTED FACING loneliness and boredom, as well as frustration at “vastly overpriced” meals provided by Trinity, after quarantining in student accommodation for two weeks before starting classes.

Students arriving to Dublin from countries not on Ireland’s Green List were asked by College to restrict their movements for fourteen days upon arrival to the country in an attempt to contain the risk of Covid-19 outbreaks.

While campus accommodation and Trinity Hall enforced these regulations by ensuring that students were provided with necessary amenities to remain completely isolated within their accommodation, other services such as Kavanagh Court allowed for more freedoms, including granting residents the ability to leave for essential shopping and exercise.

Trinity News spoke to two students living on campus and one residing in Kavanagh Court to understand the experiences of international students undertaking their periods of quarantine upon arrival to study in Trinity.

Trinity Hall and on-campus accommodation, after an initial Continued on page 2>>

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Tuesday 29 September | TRINITY NEWS

In this issue News

Modules cancelled with short notice create timetable havoc - page 6

Features

The disconnected cogs in Trinity’s system for handling racism - page 12

Comment

We owe it to ourselves to follow Covid-19 guidelines -page 18

SciTech

Selling hand sanitisers and face masks was like selling gold - page 22

Sport

How sports are responding to Black Lives Matter - page 27

TRINITY NEWS EDITORIAL STAFF Editor Deputy Editor Assistant Editor Online Editor Deputy Online Editor Life Editor Deputy Life Editor

Lauren Boland Finn Purdy Jack Kennedy Lisa Jean O’Reilly Saba Malik Maeve Harris Heather Bruon

News Editor News Analysis Editor News Analysis Editor Features Editor Comment Editor Gaeilge Editor Scitech Editor Scitech Editor Sport Editor

Shannon Connolly Patrick Coyle Kate Glen Olivia Flaherty-Lovy Dearbháil Kent Gráinne Caulfield Lucy Fitzsimmons Cian Lynch Shannon McGreevy

Photo Editor Video Editor Video Editor Art Editor Social Media Editor Head Copyeditor

Vicky Salganik Melanie O’Donnell Kallum Linnie Márta Menta Czinkóczky Brigit Hirsch Ciara Olden

Printed at Irish Times print facility, City West Business Campus, 4080 Kingswood Road, Dublin 24

International student boredom and “vastly during quarantine >>Continued from front page promise to provide laundry and meal services, later provided only a meal service, for which residents in accommodation completing their quarantine were charged €350.

Kavanagh Court and other college-affiliated accommodation providers, however, completely reversed primary plans to include a quarantine meal plan and laundry service, and residents sourced their own groceries and were allowed to utilise laundry facilities on the premises.

Students in both situations found positives in these arrangements.

Speaking to Trinity News, Aidan Desjardins, a second-year student from the United States, said that the Dining Hall meals provided to him in Botany Bay campus accommodation were “quite good” and made “reducing contact with [his] flatmates a much easier task to manage”.

Ursula Dale, a Senior Sophister English Studies student, arrived from the UK to sit out her quarantine, residing in Pearse Street Rooms, and although she laments that the essential items pack and meal items that awaited her upon her arrival were “vastly overpriced”, she agrees that the service was “handy”. However, for the first eleven days of her fourteen-day isolation period, Dale lived completely alone in her apartment, so she did not have to worry about crossing paths with flatmates in shared spaces such as the kitchen.

As Kavanagh Court did not provide meal services, Alanna Craige, a second-year European Studies student, had to source her own groceries for her own food preparation.

“We didn’t have the meals provided, but honestly, I’m happy for that because I’m a picky eater,” said Craige.

Additionally, she was used to shopping for herself while enforcing proper etiquette, as she did so while at home in the United States: “Just go in, get what you need, and leave as soon as you can...it’s straightforward enough,” she continued.

Currently residing in a flat with four other international students who arrived within a few days of one another, Craige also admits that “sometimes two of us have to cook at the same time, so sometimes you can’t help but overlap” in the shared kitchen.

However, she added that the five of them did their best to work around one another and spent much of the time in their separate rooms to complete their quarantine responsibly.

Craige has also made use of the launderette on Kavanagh’s premises, which residents are permitted to use with no restriction.

In general, Craige holds her accommodation’s handling of the situation in high regard: “Kavanagh has been very helpful. They’ve kept our parcels, the facilities like the laundry and the check-in have all been kept very nice, and you can rent out the vacuums. And they’re very friendly and on top of things, for the most part.”

On the other hand, Desjardins expressed resentment that residents of on-campus accommodation were told that they must compile laundry for two weeks before being allowed to wash it. He said that this attitude toward laundry was one of the few things that College was very clear about, which has been “annoying, but given the resources for laundry on campus, it made sense”.

However, in terms of other questions international students

who have been asked to quarantine may have, Desjardins believes that “information has been rather lacking at times”.

He watched videos provided by Trinity to familiarise himself with plans for quarantine, but besides that, he believes that “pertinent information is scattered” and hard to find on Trinity’s website.

Dale, in fact, allows that while she believes that her tutor and disability officer have “gone above and beyond” to help her personally settle in during isolation, she feels “far less like [her] needs as a student in isolation have even been considered, much less taken care of ” from the administration as a whole.

Immediately upon her arrival, Dale realised how little Trinity had notified her of what to prepare for, and she endured a difficult process trying to find her flat alongside other international students who had been dropped off by the bus service for international students from Dublin Airport.

She noted that not only did she feel unprepared and disoriented by the process to obtain keys for her accommodation, but “Trinity did little to actually ensure social distancing guidelines were met,

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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 29 September

nts faced loneliness, y overpriced” meals

despite asking that we restrict our movement”.

Craige, too, availed of the bus service from the airport upon arrival, which was in place for all international students to Ireland to ensure direct conveyance to their accommodation. Although she reports a generally positive experience with the service, she allows that she wishes the signage at the airport had been more clear, because she “was looking around and there was no one in a vest” until she finally decided to retrace her steps and request personal assistance.

However, Dale noticed that the point of providing a bus service was “uncertain as it seemed to make a potential spread of Covid far more likely”.

Upon arrival to Ireland, students coming from varying countries and headed toward universities across the country were all filtered onto the same buses, so in addition to expressing discontent that she had to wait an hour and a half for a bus ride upon arrival, Dale questioned the use of the communal transportation as opposed to a standard taxi ride.

When dealing with the experience of quarantine itself,

students may have vast range among their personal responses to isolation, both physically and emotionally.

Both Desjardins and Craige pointed out the benefit of having additional time to complete personal projects, with Craige deeming it time to “invent tasks for yourself to keep busy” such as stocking up on supplies and organising her living space.

Desjardins admits that “at times it has been rather boring, but that’s to be expected”.

Desjardins has had prior experience with isolation. As he stayed in Dublin late into the summer while residing in Trinity Hall, he made the decision to self-isolate after participating in the highly-attended Black Lives Matter protests in June, and he allows that “having that previous experience and knowledge of what the time would be like made the adjustment easier” for his current period of restricted movement.

Still, even as he appreciates the time that allows him to work on personal projects and prepare for the upcoming academic year, “there have been days that have taken a toll on [his] mental health”, as self-isolation, he said, can be “profoundly lonely”. Desjardins cited the support network from his family, friends, and partner as helping him endure isolation a great deal more easily.

Dale, too, mentioned her thankfulness for a “loving support system” composed of family and friends both at home and in Dublin that have helped her through isolation.

She noted that returning to living alone after nearly six months in her family home felt “like a return to [her] first night of first year in Halls”, after the time she spent at home allowed her to spend time with family and appreciate her familiarity with the town she comes from.

“Going from a house full of family members and living down the road from my friends, to a room on a floor with absolutely no one else” made her feel “completely deserted” compared to what she had grown used to.

Although she remains confident in her mental state and sure that her support system from afar will allow her to successfully emerge from quarantine, she allows that the sudden lack of freedom has caused her to grow increasingly frustrated “to the point where it has definitely impacted [her] mood, at least”.

Craige, on the other hand, grew so used to the prospect of only seeing friends and family by virtual means this summer that she felt entirely prepared for her period of quarantine. Indeed, she even believes that she felt more isolated while at home because “although I was with my family, I was away from all my friends”.

She added that being in the same time zone as all her friends from College again has been a significant mood booster. Of course, even while at home in Texas, most of her family members already live at least 2000 miles away from her, so she admits that she is “used to being away from family”. Therefore, the idea of being relatively close to friends again, “even if we can’t be together”, has pushed her through quarantine.

Regardless of individual emotional effects that isolation might have, international students arriving to live in shared spaces with other students who have also arrived from varying places will inevitably run the risk of contracting Covid-19, even as efforts to maintain restricted periods are meant to limit this risk.

Desjardins said that the fear of contracting the virus has “been at the back of [his] mind for a while”, especially given that both of his parents contracted it, and he expresses a specific wariness of asymptomatic carriers. However, he believes that “time has quelled those fears”.

He and his flatmates in Botany Bay hope to take part in Trinity’s pilot program to voluntarily and incrementally test and report residents of campus accommodation for Covid-19.

However, Craige admitted that although there is a risk, she will not let herself worry too much about contracting Covid-19. “When you live with people it is kind of inevitable” that if one person were to contract the virus, the rest in the shared living space are at risk themselves, but she trusts that for the most part, students will make the right choices and handle themselves in a way that they and their peers are safe from contracting Covid-19.

“All you can do is limit who you see, who you spend time with, the places you go. I feel that it’s very individualistic...all I can do is to focus on myself and do the right thing for myself and the people I live with.”

Freshers hold breath as semester begins under tight restrictions Lauren Boland Editor

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S FRESHERS’ WEEK BEGINS for new first years online, Junior Freshers are approaching the semester with equal parts anticipation and apprehension.

Campus activity for Freshers’ Week has shifted almost entirely online following the government’s decision to place Dublin under Level 3 of its Covid-19 restrictions framework, and the Irish Universities Association (IUA) request for colleges to apply enhanced protective measures against the spread of Covid-19.

New students starting out in Trinity have raised concerns about meeting people in their course and experiencing the traditional atmosphere of college life while engaging in orientation activities remotely.

Speaking to Trinity News, Junior Fresh student Ellen Aylmer said that a key concern as Freshers’ Week starts is that it will be more difficult to form connections and make friends compared to a typical on-campus Freshers’ Week.

Aylmer, who studies Middle Eastern Jewish and Islamic Civilisations with French, said that “when Dublin announced the Level 3 lockdowns, I got really worried, because I knew the few events on campus would be moved online”.

“I’m really shy on Zoom, so I’m just not going to be able to make friends as easy as I would in real life. Realistically, I may not meet my classmates until after Christmas, and it’s heartbreaking for me,” Aylmer said.

“Making friends and joining societies was one of the things I was most looking forward to about college. I know it’s necessary for things to be online, but I still feel cheated.”

Teaching for courses in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) faculty has moved online.

Some on-campus teaching has remained in place for Health Sciences, Engineering, Mathematics and Sciences courses where classes, such as laboratories, are required for professional accreditation.

For arts courses with a physical element, such as drama, new students are uncertain what their classes might look like. peaking to Trinity News, Junior Fresh Drama and Theatre Stud-

ies student Lucy Bruton said that she understood it was usually a “collaborative course”, so she was “worried as to how my classes will look with social distancing rules and masks”.

“I’m also very worried about meeting new people and how Trinity Hall is going to be,” Bruton said.

“After visiting my sister in Halls a few years ago, I have an image of the Halls experience that I think will be very different to my experience. Nonetheless, I’m very hopeful that the JCR will be able to organize ways to meet new people in line with government guidelines.”

Bruton, who sat the International Baccalaureate, had a long wait between receiving her results and the release of CAO offers, which was compounded by the delay of Leaving Certificate results.

“I took a huge risk waiting for the CAO offers, as had I not received an offer, I would have been late arriving to my backup university in the UK due to quarantine rules. So this actually made me uncertain about waiting, but I decided Trinity was worth the risk,” Bruton said.

Similarly, the wait for CAO offers to be released was an unusual time for Aylmer, who finished school in 2019.

“When it was that announced predicted grades wouldn’t be standardised, I began to panic - I’ve had this dream of going to Trinity for my whole life and all of a sudden inflated grades could see my 2019 points almost worthless,” Aylmer said.

Speaking to Trinity News, Junior Fresher James Mahon said that the Department of Education’s indecision on the Leaving Certificate had compounded a “sense of surrealism” to the end of school and approach of college.

“It was always my aim to attend Trinity irrespective of Covid-19,” Mahon said. “However, the four month wait between the calculated grades announcement and the results being issued felt like it would never come to a conclusion, especially considering the difficulty of getting any kind of summer job or employment.”

Mahon, who is beginning his History and Political Science course this week, said that he is “concerned about the impact Covid-19 will have on the university experience, especially for a fresher”.

Freshers’ Week runs alongside lectures for returning students until October 2, and first years are due to start lectures on October 5.

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Tuesday 29 September | TRINITY NEWS

Trinity opens free testing centre and pilot reporting programme Findings from the self-reported system may be published in scientific journals Audrey Brown

Deputy News Editor

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HE ON-CAMPUS COVID-19 TESTING CENTRE in Trinity, the only free university testing centre in Ireland, has commenced operation on September 28.

The service is being conducted alongside a pilot programme involving voluntary, periodical self-reporting of symptoms that is available for students and faculty living on campus or in Trinity Hall (Halls).

The campus Covid-19 testing centre will offer tests on a caseby-case basis through which a person reporting symptoms will be referred to receive a test. This is the same system used elsewhere in Ireland; if a general practitioner determines that a person needs a test because of symptoms in line with Covid-19, he or she will be eligible for a test to be administered on campus.

As a collaboration between Trinity and the Health Service Executive (HSE), the HSE will provide all testing kits and personal protective equipment and will process all lab work and contact tracing. Trinity will supply a testing room as well as two nurses and one administrative assistant.

After processing test results, the HSE will carry out necessary Contact Tracing for possible affected individuals.

Speaking to Trinity News, a College spokesperson stated: “This information will be critical in identifying potential local clusters and allow actions to be taken locally in response to new cases.”

Details on the pilot selfreporting programme are still under development, but once ethics approval has been granted for the proposal, College intends to begin the programme as soon as possible after September 28.

The pilot is not to be confused with a testing service for symptomatic people, and instead will be used in order to “understand the true level of infection among

the student population”.

Tests for the pilot screening programme are to be conducted once per week on a designated day.

After completing a consent form, participants are to self-collect a saliva sample to be delivered to one of several drop-off depots in the vicinity of College residences.

Then, these samples will be tested for traces of the SARSCOV-2 virus in an attempt to determine the patterns of transmission among university students.

Speaking to Trinity News, College stated that the tests will provide several useful points of information, including the ability to “make decisions about how to control the spread of the infection and how to make College a safer environment” and to “help us understand if other factors contribute to infection acquisition and help us understand why some students become infected while others do not”.

If a member of the pilot sample wishes to opt out after prior involvement, he or she need only not to complete a consent form or provide a sample. Members of the study would not be personally identified if the results were to be published.

Eventually, the overall results of the study may be publicized or published in a scientific journal.

Additionally, the results will be periodically shared with the College Health Service in order to help with making decisions about controlling the virus and maintaining a safe environment in College.

Regardless of potential test results, students who are participating in the programme and begin experiencing symptoms suggestive of Covid-19 are urged to contact the College Health Service or their own GP for an additional Covid-19 test.

Participants are reminded that the voluntary, non-invasive testing programme is not synonymous with a Covid-19 test administered by a health professional.

Furthermore, the test is not to be “taken as any replacement for responsible behaviour, social distancing, frequent handwashing, cough etiquette and face coverings”.

In addition to an email introducing these two projects which was received by students, College plans to unveil further information through social media posts and information leaflets as the programmes move into operation.

Explainer: What Tr plan to Covid-19 m Patrick Coyle

News Analysis Editor

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ith college returning this week, it is important to know as much as possible about the procedures being implemented in order to limit the spread of Covid-19 among staff and students. Trinity has repeatedly stressed the importance of cooperation on the part of students, saying that “there should be clear plans for communication and encouraging adherence if an outbreak occurs”.

If there is a suspected case of Covid-19 in Trinity, the student

must not attend college under Trinity’s response plans, and will be sent for testing. Trinity recently announced plans to open an on campus testing facility, where staff and students can be tested for free from Monday to Friday.

This facility is expected to open on the first day of term. Students are advised not to use public transport when travelling to and from the testing facility.

In the event of a positive result, students must notify their course director, who will then notify the head of their school. The head of the school will then contact the

College health service and the Estates & Facilities Duty team to ensure that a contact tracing form has been completed.

If the test result is negative, students must continue to self isolate for 48 hours.

Trinity has also outlined protocols for students living in College accommodation. If a student suspects that they have Covid-19, they should stay in their room, avoiding contact with their flat mates. They should then contact the accommodation office on (01) 8961177 and tell them they are self-isolating.

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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 29 September

Students to be required to isolate if a flatmate develops symptoms Students sharing the same flat are to be recognised as a household Shannon Connolly News Editor

S PHOTO BY ZAHRA LOCKETT FOR TRINITY NEWS

rinity’s response means for students Students that are self-isolating are not permitted to enter communal areas within their accommodation.

If a student living in College accommodation receives a positive test, they may stay in their accommodation if they are able to self-isolate “safely and independently”. Irish-domiciled students may return home if they can do so safely. Students who are unable to return home or self-isolate independently may be moved to an “isolation area”, an area of accommodation designated to students who are self-isolating. The College Accommodation Office will contact students with further details if they are to be moved.

Students who are self-isolating should phone their doctor immediately if their symptoms worsen.

If a student living in College accomodation discovers that they are a close contact of

someone who has received a positive test, they must call the Accommodation Office to notify them that they are restricting their movements. Students that are restricting their movements should only use communal facilities such as kitchens when there is no one else there, and they must wear a mask. Students should only travel to the shops when it is absolutely necessary, and can call the Accommodation Office to avail of a meal service for the period of their restricted movement, at a cost of €350.

Students who are close contacts of a confirmed case will be contacted by public health authorities and a test will be arranged. They will also be given an appointment for a second test 7 days later if the first test is negative. Even if both tests are negative, students who have been identified as close contacts will still have to restrict their movements for 10 days.

In their guidelines for students

living in college accommodation, Trinity stressed the importance of vigilance among students, and said that they should “encourage and support each other to self-isolate and seek medical advice if there is any question of infection”. The guidelines also assured students that they would be “fully resourced” with regards to academic extensions and support should they need to selfisolate. The guidelines describe any failure to disclose symptoms to the relevant bodies as a “breach of community trust”. Students were warned that “any breach of the self-isolation protocol will be investigated by the Junior Dean and may result in the revocation of a student’s license to reside in College”.

If a student is investigated by the Junior Dean for a breach of self-isolation protocol, it may result in their license to reside in College being revoked.

TUDENTS LIVING IN ACCOMODATION are to be required to self-isolate if one of their flatmates develops symptoms of Covid-19.

Although students have not been allocated shared bedrooms this year in College accommodation, students living together in an apartment are recognised as a household.

Speaking to Trinity News, a spokesperson for College said that students sharing an apartment are “considered one group”, meaning if one student has symptoms of Covid-19 and is awaiting a test, then all the students in that apartment will have to restrict their movements.

As no student will be sharing a bedroom in College accommodation this year, it is to be possible for students awaiting a test to isolate themselves in their room.

Explaining the process, College stated that if a student’s test comes back as positive, they “may continue to remain in their own accommodation if they can selfisolate safely and independently”.

“

They may continue to remain in their own room if they can self-isolate safely and independently

Any student who lives in Ireland outside of the academic year may also return home if they wish, “without using public transport”.

Students can only return home if they have previously visited their home within the last two weeks and if they do not pose a risk to any vulnerable individual in their home.

College explained: “If a student is unable to self-isolate independently in their own accommodation then they must move to a designated isolation area and will be directed in doing so by the Accommodation Office.”

All the students who were sharing the apartment with the student who has contracted Covid-19 will be considered close contacts, meaning they must be tested for Covid-19.

They will be contacted by the HSE who will organise the tests following a positive test in accommodation.

At the moment, close contacts are tested on two occasions, seven days apart, and only tested for a second time if the first test is negative.

College said that “it is possible to share accommodation with someone who has Covid-19”.

“This will require cooperation from all the students living in an apartment.”

According to the HSE, it is possible to live with others when you are self-isolating, but you must “keep away from other people in your home as much as you can” and “stay in a separate room with a window you can open”.

It is advised that if you are self-isolating and sharing accommodation, you should remain 2 meters away from roommates and do not share any items you’ve used with other people.

Speaking about how they will support students during this time, College said they are “supporting students by providing meals which the student will pay for” and “by providing accommodation for students who are unable to selfisolate in their own apartments”.

“All individuals can limit the spread of the virus by restricting the number of people they come into close contact with, by cleaning all shared surfaces before and after they use them which applies to kitchens and bathrooms, by washing their hands frequently and using hand sanitiser when it is not possible to wash their hands, by practicing good cough etiquette and by wearing face coverings in communal areas,” College said.

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Tuesday 29 September | TRINITY NEWS

Analysis: Communication issues have amplified student confusion over timetables

Patrick Coyle News Analysis Editor

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N THE RUN UP to the start of term, students have had to deal with a number of issues relating to the publication of timetables and sudden module cancellations. These issues have caused confusion among students already dealing with an entirely new method of online learning for the year. The problems faced by students seem to suggest disorganisation and poor communication from various schools within Trinity and, more importantly, a lack of resources given to schools to handle the return of students to college.

When timetables were announced on September 14, a number of students realised that they had been assigned consecutive online and faceto-face classes. This meant that they would have to remain on campus to complete their online classes, which some felt would defeat the purpose of online learning. Speaking to Trinity News at the time, Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) Education Officer Megan O’Connor referred to this as an “ongoing issue” and said that schools had been advised not to schedule consecutive online and face-to-face classes. O’Connor mentioned a number of other issues, including classes being scheduled as late as 9pm, and students being assigned multiple daily classes rather than blocks of face-to-face learning. O’Connor said that this meant students would have to travel to and from college multiple times a week, and that this was “needlessly endangering students”.

O’Connor suggested that these issues may be attributed to timetables being “prematurely circulated” and that a number of schools may not have been ready to publish their timetables.

Trinity’s plan to introduce blended learning was announced in early June, with a Resumption of Teaching Working Group formed to find the best method to deliver the hybrid model to students.

As well as issues with timetables, a number of students have faced problems relating to module selection. Students have been notified of modules being

cancelled close to the start of term, resulting in uncertainty with regard to timetables. A number of modules assigned to third year Economics students were cancelled, and students were told that they would have to select new modules, with selection forms due back on September 24, meaning many students have not received their full timetable for the semester.

Modules have also been unexpectedly discontinued for students in Sociology, Philosophy, and Political science. Sociology students enrolled in the module ‘Globalisation and Development 2’ were told that the module was no longer being provided due to teaching shortages. In April, it was revealed that Trinity would freeze recruitment of new staff to mitigate the financial consequences of the pandemic.

College had previously planned to recruit 263 new academic staff members in order to reduce its staff-student ratio.

Senior Fresh students also saw their online module enrollment delayed a number of times. Originally scheduled for September 21, the process was pushed back to September 23, and then again to September 25, when an online registration system would open on a first come, first served basis. Students were told that the system would open at 11:00am, but an error meant that it did not open until 11:30.

A College-wide move to blended learning is bound to be accompanied by teething problems, but disorganisation and lapses in communication between schools and their students have amplified students’ confusion and frustration at what is already a difficult time for many.

Trinity Tennis Club rush to find n after marquee erected at Botany B The Botany Bay marquee is one of several new socially distanced student spaces Jack Morgan Jones Contributing Writer

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RINITY TENNIS CLUB HAS needed to move its training sessions off-campus the erection of a marquee over the tennis courts in Botany Bay. The marquee, which was set up under plans to create “student breakout spaces” for students to use in between lectures to eat and rest while social distancing, is occupying the space in which the club would usually train.

The club is moving to new courts in Sportsco, Ringsend while the marquee remains in Botany Bay. Speaking to Trinity News, a spokesperson for the club said that “unfortunately the marquee over

Botany Bay means we can't train on campus this year as we would have liked”.

“We had a bit of a rush to find new courts in the past week or so,” they said.

The club intends to welcome new and returning student members on their new training premises from October, as sports clubs are adapting to Covid-19 and government restrictions.

The arrangement between Trinity Tennis club and Sportsco has been put in place until Christmas, although the arrangement depends on government-led College policy, and changes in the infection rate could see the arrangement extended into 2021.

As part of the Healthy Trinity Initiative, College has stated that “groups of up to 15 can exercise, train, and play recreational activities outdoors providing there is no contact”.

Trinity Meteors (Women’s Basketball 1st team), Men’s 1st Rugby team, Women’s 1st and Men’s 1st Hockey teams, and the Women’s 1st Volleyball team, have all been granted exemption from the Level 3 non-contact restriction.

During an online orientation presentation on September 24, the President of Trinity Col-

lege Dublin’s Graduate Students’ Union (TCDGSU) Gisèle Scanlon, suggested to postgraduates that non-contact sports such as cycling, badminton, and tennis, might be arranged between small groups on a more informal basis during the academic year.

“We are yet to confirm all our training times for this year but the update is coming shortly,” said the Tennis Club spokesman.

The Botany Bay marquee comes under eight spots around campus designated as student breakout spaces to spend casual time between lectures in a socially distanced setting.

Other new spaces under the plan include a marquee in New

Modules cancelled with short notice create timetable havoc Cancelled modules in business and social science courses meant students needed to change their choices at the last minute Audrey Brown

Deputy News Editor

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cross several courses, many students received notice that modules they had planned to take for the coming year had been postponed to another term or cancelled altogether within weeks before the start of the academic semester.

Philosophy students received an email from executive officer of the Department of Philosophy, Jessie Smith, on September 14,

referencing “quite a few changes” made to the teaching schedule.

Presented with an amended list featuring several cancelled and changed modules, students were told that there was “some urgency with the completion of this form”.

They were asked to email Smith

by Friday, September 18 with any newly selected modules in replacement of those that were cancelled.

If students returned their choices to Smith by September 18, or on an earlier date, which “would be even better”, they were told that modules visible on their timetables would be updated in time for the release of timetables that same day.

Students of Business, Economics and Social Studies (BESS) were told on September 11 that Martina Ní Chochláin, course administrator, had “been notified by the various departments of changes made to their teaching plans for the forthcoming academic year”.

For third-year students alone, two economics modules, one sociology module and two political science modules were re-labeled as “not now available” for teaching in

the 2020/21 academic year.

Like Philosophy students, BESS students were asked to reply to Ní Chochláin detailing the module or modules they had been “obliged to dispense with” and the module or modules they wished to “take in place of those that are not now available”.

Ní Chochláin said that work was still still ongoing on the timetable for students on September 11 but hoped to share an Excel version of the timetable featuring the revised module schedule by Monday, September 14.

However, as Anoushka Qazi, a third-year BESS student, reported, she emailed back within the time allotted, but “my modules weren’t even changed on my timetable when I got it on [September 14]”.

Of the modules changed, both her first and second semester plans had been impacted, so she had to email and change her schedule for both terms. But when she received her timetable, she “still had [her] old modules which just didn’t make sense in terms of corequisites”.

Students in Two-Subject Moderatorship (TSM) economics,

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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 29 September

new nets Bay Square and the old Bank of Ireland space in the Hamilton Building.

Elsewhere, Goldsmith Junior Common Room (JCR) area and lobby, the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI) student spaces, undergraduate and postgraduate spaces in the Old Stone Building by St James’ Hospital have been designated as breakout spaces.

The new and existing spaces are to be managed by student stewards and accessible through advance bookings.

The 1937 Reading Room will also be managed by postgraduate student stewards, but is to continue to operate as a library space.

PHOTO CREDIT: TRINITY TENNIS CLUB

who also share economics modules with BESS students were not notified of changes to their module list until two days after their timetables were released.

A third-year TSM economics student reports that although students in BESS and philosophy, political science, economics and sociology (PPES), whose economics modules overlap with core economics modules, received the initial email reporting cancellations several weeks ago, TSM economics students were not emailed until much later.

Economics students received an email from Niamh Kavanagh, Executive Officer at the Department of Economics at Trinity, on September 17, reporting that “changes have recently been made to some Economics modules”. Like other students who had received similar emails, economics students were told that revised module choice forms would be “circulated to [them] shortly”.

The updated module choice forms were released on Monday, September 18, the same day that original timetables were made public. Economics majors were instructed to send back their revised module choices by September 24, with classes due to start just four days later on September 28.

What Number of live animals they said purchased for research by Trinity falls dramatically

“So for me at this time, Government has to be driven by two things, fairness and common sense, and where I see an absence of those things, of course I have to call it out.”

Mary Lou McDonald, Sinn Féin President

Nearly 1,300 animals were purchased for research projects in 2019 Lauren Boland Editor

T

HE NUMBER OF live animals Trinity purchased for research projects in 2019 fell significantly compared to the previous year, continuing a downwards trend.

According to figures released to Trinity News under the Freedom of Information Act 2014, College purchased 1,292 live animals for research between October 2018 and September 2019.

In comparison, there were more than 17,000 live animals purchased for research from the autumns of 2016 to 2018.

College has said that the fall in purchases may be due to a decrease in the number of projects which use live animals as part of their research.

Between October 2016 and September 2017, College purchased 10,678 live animals for use in research projects.

The figure dropped by nearly 40% the following year to 6,360 in the same period in the 2017/2018 academic year.

The purchase of 1,292 live animals between October 2018 and September 2019 represents a decrease of nearly 80% compared to the previous year.

Speaking to Trinity News, a spokesperson for College said that

there “was a significant decrease in the numbers of animals purchased for use in experiments in that time period, which may have been due to fewer research projects using animals then”.

“Numbers typically fluctuate depending on the specific research projects taking place in any given time period,” the spokesperson said.

“Any and all studies using animals are conducted on the basis of well-defined scientific objectives, giving due consideration to the welfare of the animals, minimising the number of animals used and where possible using animal tissue or other replacements rather than live animals,” they said.

“Scientists in Trinity are required to demonstrate that there are no alternatives available before the ethical review process will permit the procedures.”

Several of Trinity’s research projects involving the use of animals relate to investigations into human diseases, particularly around genetic disorders and the immune system.

One project that involves the use of animals is investigating the cause of Alzheimer’s disease and age-related memory loss.

Others involve studies on the function of the immune system and autoimmune disorders such as arthritis and multiple sclerosis, and studies on genetics, diseases and gene therapies to prevent the progression of genetic diseases.

The figures on the purchase of live animals are collected on an annual basis between October and September, and collated in a record in the following months.

In a statement alongside the figures for 2019, Director of Comparative Medicine Dr Jose Sanchez-Morgado said that animals purchased are cared for under the supervision of a veterinary surgeon who is assisted by trained technical staff.

“Any research carried out on the animals requires the prior licensing of the person and the project by the Health Products Regulatory Authority,” he said.

“All licence applications are ethically reviewed by the Animal Research Committee of the College prior to being submitted to the Health Products Regulatory Authority.”

Between 2017 and 2018, Irish universities purchased over 46,000 live animals for research use, with Trinity and University College Cork (UCC) far surpassing the national average.

University College Cork (UCC) purchased 22,946 live animals in total in 2017 and 2018 for use in research.

The National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI Galway) purchased 5,101, while Dublin City University (DCU) and Maynooth University purchased 936 and 262 in the two-year period respectively.

University of Limerick (UL) did not purchase any live animals for use in research during the same time period.

University College Dublin (UCD) spent €107,000 on the purchase of live animals for research between October 2016 and October 2018.

“I actually thought she was Avril Lavigne at first because she had the skateboard and everything.”

Leo Varadkar, Tánaiste But even now, in the midst of a global health pandemic, the Trump Administration is asking the US Supreme Court to overturn the entire law, including its protections for people with pre-existing conditions.”

Joe Biden, Democratic Presidential candidate

“We have a week in this country, all of us, every single one of us to do everything we can humanly possibly can to reduce the spread of this virus.”

Simon Harris, Minister for Further and Higher Education, former Minister of Health

“All HEIs will now move to the enhanced public health protection measures applied in Dublin-based HEIs last week.”

Irish Universities Association

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Tuesday 29 September | TRINITY NEWS

Beyond Trinity

All Quiet by the Campanile Trinity’s Front Sqaure sits almost empty of people on a birght sunny day the week before term starts.

National University of Ireland Galway (NUI Galway) postgraduates have sent an open letter to the university president Donal Leech and Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris, responding to a notice stating they may have to perform unpaid teaching contributions. The Post-Graduate Workers’ Alliance (PGWA) at the university sent the letter to both the president and the minister, refusing to perform any unpaid labor for the college. The open letter was signed by over 100 postgraduates. The open letter follows a four month old petition that submitted 10 demands to the president of the college, including those for fair and standardised payments and recognising researchers as workers at the university.

PHOTO BY HEATHER BRUTON FOR TRINITY NEWS

TCDSU Council to run online this year Council is to be held through Zoom for members and streamed online for non-voting members, Chair of Council said Shannon Connolly News Editor

T

RINITY COLLEGE D U B L I N STUDENTS UNION (TCDSU) Council meetings are to be conducted entirely online this year due to restrictions on gathering in large groups.

Speaking to Trinity News, TCDSU Electoral Commission (EC) Chair Yannick Gloster explained that Council will be “run live on zoom” with only the voting members of council in the zoom call.

Non-voting members will be able to follow along live on Facebook or Youtube.

Gloster explained that as nonvoting members are allowed to

speak at Council, the members of the EC will be “monitoring those chats on those other platforms to give the opportunity to everyone to speak their opinions as they might normally at a normal Council”.

“I will be relying heavily on the members of the EC to moderate and give access to people who would like to speak,” he said.

Gloster confirmed that the dates for the Council are “still being finalized” between the union’s sabbatical officers, the Chair of Council, and the Secretary of Council. This is in adherence with the SU Constitution, which states that “ordinary meetings of Council shall take place as decided by the Sabbatical Officer Board in consultation with the Chair of Council and the Secretary to Council”.

Speaking about considerations made when adapting to the new online format, Gloster said that “the biggest thing that we (the SU Council) have to think about is engagement”.

“We hope to promote Council by email and through the different social media channels of the SU to make it clear that it is something that everyone can and should participate in. We think that we are prepared to have a successful and smooth online council.”

Library to introduce pre-booking system for students The Library plans to partially resume service by introducing a prebooked study space system Justine Nicholson Contributing Writer

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HE LIBRARY HAS announced that access to its buildings will require students to pre-book study spaces from the end of the month.

The Library has announced that a booking system is “currently under development and will be launched on Wednesday 30 September”.

Resumption of physical Library services are to be “phased and gradual,” with priority of the initial phases to be given to current staff and students. Alumni access is planned to be granted later in September.

The Library closed on March 12 following the closure of schools and universities around Ireland to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Its phased reopening began at the end of June with the opening

of 30 study spaces in Kinsella Hall on the first floor of the Ussher Library.

Ahead of the reopening of the Library’s buildings this summer, a spokesperson for the Library said that “once the limit in each building is reached (which can be determined from our RFID security panels), we would implement a one-in/one-out policy, very much as supermarkets are doing.”

The Library continues to keep safety as a priority for users and staff by requiring face coverings at all times. They have stated that “readers will not be granted access to the library” without a face covering.

For additional information on face covering requirements, The Library encourages readers to visit the citizens information website prior to their visit.

The Library has stated that updates on the pre-booking system and other measures related to Covid-19 restrictions will be posted on its website and social media in the coming weeks. They note that these processes may change in compliance with any new government or university regulations.

The Old Library, which houses the Book of Kells exhibition, has closed following the tightening of Covid-19 restrictions in Dublin.

Previously, the exhibition was open to limited numbers of visitors who were required to book a timeslot in advance.

Maynooth University has announced it is to hold all inperson language classes as they had originally planned, despite recent requests made by the Irish Universities’ Association (IUA) to move most lessons online. In an email sent to students, Maynooth said it intends to move “most” lectures online, and students are “invited on-campus for practical classes, tutorials and for teaching which requires a lot of interaction”.

In a statement distributed to students by the Maynooth’s German Studies department, students were told that unless there is “yet another directive from government to stop on-campus activities, the college will continue as planned”.

A cross-border campaign being run by the Union of Students’ in Ireland (USI) is calling for an immediate change to higher level funding, demanding the immediate reduction of the student contribution fee in the Republic and tuition fees in Northern Ireland. The campaign is being run by student unions on both sides of the border, which is known as the “Education for All” campaign, calling on TDs to sign a pledge committing to six actions to reform education funding. The campaign is asking for an end to the student contribution charge of €3000 and tuition fees in Northern Ireland, an end to the study now pay later and earn and learn policies, and for a move toward publicly funded education to be put at the heart of government policy.

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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 29 September

IUA introduce new measures and restrictions to HEIs Government has recommended that all third level education institutions move online for the next two weeks, except for laboratory classes and tutorials that cannot be done online Shannon Connolly News Editor

U

NIVERSITIES AROUND THE country are to limit the number of students on campuses in line with communication from the Irish Universities Association (IUA).

Following a government request, the Irish Universities Association (IUA) has mandated that all higher education institutions (HEIs) apply “enhanced public health protection measures” in a bid to prevent the further spread of Covid-19.

The measures were placed on Dublin-based colleges and universities two weeks ago as Dublin was moved to Level 3 of the government’s Covid-19 fivetier restriction framework.

In a statement, the IUA told universities to “introduce enhanced measures in response to increased Covid-19 incidence”.

“Due to rising Covid-19 numbers across the country, at the request of government, all HEIs will now move to the enhanced public health protection measures applied in Dublin-based HEIs last week,” the IUA said.

The statement continued: “While the safety of staff and students has always been a priority of the new academic year, the focus of the next 2-3 weeks is on limiting the cross country movement of students and avoiding congregation of large groups on campus.”

Following new government guidelines, IUA universities plan to make further health provisions in their institutions, such as using “discretion when deciding between onsite and remote for the scheduling of particular activities

and favour remote delivery if feasible during this period”.

Alongside this, on-campus classes “will be minimised with priority given to teaching and learning that can only take place on-site”.

Such teaching includes small group teaching and research in laboratories, practical tuition and workshops, according to IUA. In Trinity, heightened restrictions had already been put in place as Dublin entered Level 3 restrictions.

Most teaching has been moved online with the exception of classes that are necessary for professional accreditation in Health Sciences, Engineering, Mathematics and Science courses.

The new measures for colleges around the country also “include limited planned on-site attendance” for other priority student events. IUA stated that this “may include small tutorials and elements of first-year orientation or induction which cannot be undertaken online”, as long as they are provided on a “staggered” basis.

“University libraries will remain open with strict social distancing protocols and entry registration,” IUA stated.

All research activities on campus are to resume as normal, while social and club activities oncampus will be suspended until further notice.

IUA said universities were to “enhance” any protection measures such as more extensive wearing of face masks in certain settings.

“In addition, the universities will ensure that all necessary health protection measures are in place and that there will be clear communication to students and staff in this regard.”

“This is underpinned by national guidance for the further and higher education sectors and by more detailed implementation guidelines developed by public health experts,” the statement continued.

“Individual universities will communicate revised plans to students and staff. It is anticipated that these additional measures will be reviewed after an initial period in view of evolving public health advice.”

The IUA said it was collaborating with other “sectoral stakeholders” and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to finalise a Covid-19 response plan.

Analysis: Higher education not prioritised under new Covid-19 restrictions Kate Glen News Analysis Editor

O

n September 18, Dublin was raised to Level 3 restrictions in response to rising Covid-19 cases in the capital. The levelled guidance system was published by the government only three days previously.

Despite the guidelines indicating universities would remain open at Level 3 as long as they “escalate all appropriate protective measures / limit congregation”, the Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris asked higher education institutions to minimise in-person teaching, quoting the “unique circumstances” of rising case numbers in Dublin coinciding with the beginning of the academic term.

These “enhanced measures” essentially placed the same restrictions on universities as they would experience at Level 4. Level 4 guidelines state that further and higher education institutions should “move online [with] on-site attendance only when essential”. In response to the Minister, Provost Patrick Prendergast confirmed that “only teaching which cannot readily be delivered online should be delivered in person”.

Covid restrictions have been applied on a give-and-take basis in Ireland. The acceptable risks are distributed unevenly, with certain sectors being sacrificed so that others can succeed. For example, wet pubs remained closed so that students could attend primary and secondary schools. The restrictions placed on Dublin universities were not in line with the guidelines the government published only days before September 18. The decision on September 25 to move all universities in the nation online for three weeks only further suggests that another sector has been prioritised over higher education.

In June, the provost announced that College was “committed to continuing with face-to-face education as a core element of the experience of attending Trinity” and instructed all students

to return to Dublin except in cases where online learning was absolutely necessary. College has assured Trinity News that the statement on face-to-face teaching still stands even after the recent enhanced measures that accompanied Level 3 in Dublin.

One possible explanation for higher restrictions than originally outlined being placed on Dublin universities at Level 3 was the fear that an exodus of students would arrive from across the island to their accommodation in Dublin, bringing with them possible cases and new flatmates initially mixing multiple households.

These students would also risk exporting the virus around the nation should they choose to return home on weekends or to visit family.

However, multiple students have already signed accommodation contracts and put down deposits. International students arrived weeks ago to quarantine for the designated 14 days, in the expectation of inperson teaching. Some students have already cancelled their accommodation contracts, wary of returning to Dublin during the new restrictions and the possibility that - like in March these restrictions will continue beyond the initial three weeks.

Others however are moving into accommodation regardless of the lack of in-person teaching, either not wanting to waste money or eager for independence after months spent at home. The lack of in-person teaching thus will not necessarily stem the tide of students arriving in Dublin.

This raises the question of when Trinity will return to face-to-face teaching. Most Irish universities were set to conduct this year through a hybrid model of in-person and online teaching.

Trinity has relied on an emphasis on face-to-face teaching to attract international students, many of which have already arrived in Ireland and paid their fees. It is possible, with less financial incentive to implement face-to-face teaching, and with many students without accommodation in Dublin after

the confusion of the start of the academic year, that college could continue online until 2021.

While such a prospect might be a move welcomed by some students, it would be more challenging for others.

Freshers especially could struggle considering the difficulties of living away from home, socialising virtually and learning how to study a new academic field. Neither the government nor the College have clarified what “unique circumstances” the Minister believes merit extra restrictions for higher education, leaving students to speculate. These extra restrictions have only discouraged a small number from moving into their accommodation in the capital.

While the government implies irresponsible student socialisation could spread the virus, many students are already in Dublin.

With this in mind, it may be worth questioning the wisdom of Level 3 solely impacting face-toface teaching, potentially the only form of student socialisation that College could ensure adhered to social distancing and maskwearing guidelines.

While this is uncharted terrain for everybody involved it is important that College takes the welfare of its students seriously during this time. Restrictions on universities are set to lift after three weeks, but the unpredictable nature of the coronavirus makes it difficult to set an exact date for the reopening of college with many courses still uncertain about when or if they will conduct face-to-face teaching.

In an email circulated to students on September 18, the provost stated: “It is not what we would have wished, but these measures are mandated and are in the public interest.”

With growing fears over thirdlevel institutions contributing to the spread of coronavirus, students will have to wait to find out just how much the government and College really consider in-person teaching and student interaction “a core element of the experience of attending Trinity”.

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Tuesday 29 September | TRINITY NEWS

Senior Freshers disappointed by online enrollment mishaps After a week of see-sawing with module enrollment delays and mistakes, students spoke to Trinity News about their frustrations Shannon Connolly News Editor

A

FTER A WEEK of delays in Senior Fresh online module enrollment, many students expressed anger and frustration with the Academic Registry (AR) and their departments.

Initially, online module enrollment for Senior Fresh students was due to open on September 21 and run until October 4, with enrollment for Junior Fresh students to open from September 28 to October 4.

However, the opening of the system for Senior Fresh students was pushed back to September

23, and then pushed again to September 25.

The system opened half an hour late on Friday morning due to a miscommunication from College.

Speaking to Trinity News, Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) Education Officer Megan O’Connor said that College had communicated to students and to the union that the system would open at 11am, but it had actually been set to open at 11.30am.

“It was an issue of human error, which is understandable, but disappointing,” O’Connor said.

After the enrollment opened, some students still did not have a complete timetable days before the beginning of the semester.

One English and History student called the situation “a fucking joke” after the enrollment opened at 11:30 am as opposed to the 11am opening time that had been communicated to students and the union.

“It’s personally quite upsetting, it feels as if nothing’s been genuine in terms of communication,” the student said. “I understand the frustration from the transition into online learning, but no communication being made is incredibly stressful to the students.”

The student said they feel that

they “haven’t been kept in the loop at all”, and that AR and the department's communication with students has been “lacking”.

They added: “I experienced a case where I was bounced back and forth between different departments when I emailed a few weeks ago. The first come, first served nature of the selection didn’t affect me, but the fact it affected anyone when we are working remotely is laughable to me.”

“In my mind, they should be able to raise numbers for modules in the situation that we’re in,” the student stated. “Placing already stressed-out students in a pressure cooker type situation to select modules did not help the situation at all.”

A music student expressed similar frustration with their module selection, saying that the music department had not properly allocated the right number of credits to their compulsory modules.

Explaining the mishap, the student added that music students should have had “10 credits spare” to choose between two of three modules, while the system only allowed them to choose one.

“This means that although it says I have filled 60 credits, I am

actually not enrolled in one of my modules,” they explained.

While amending that it was likely an accident because the module is only for one term rather than two, the student stated that “this is a bit awkward” for music students.

“It's obviously frustrating that the enrollment doesn't work properly,” the student continued.

“The radio silence from both AR and the music department is what I'm angry about.”

Another Senior Fresh Irish and French student explained how frustrating the delays have been for students, starting with the postponement of module selection in February until June, then again until the beginning of September, then from September 21 to September 23, and from September 23 to September 25.

“There was a big build up,” the student explained. “Everyone was sitting at their desks on Wednesday for a couple of hours, and it wasn’t working.”

The student explained that the Irish department “hasn’t contacted them at all” about anything regarding modules, and there has been no reminders for module selection either.

The student stated that while the French department has been in touch with students, they have provided them with “breadcrumbs”.

“Today we just wanted to pick our modules and get it done; then we go into the portal and nothing’s there.”

The student explained that they

were “one of the lucky ones” as the portal started to work for them at 11:30, but many students have still not had the option to pick modules.

“Modules are first come, first served,” the student continued.

“This means some students are going to get the last batch of modules, which is awful.”

The lack of clarity when it comes to module selection has caused distress for Senior Fresh students over the last few weeks, but they are not the only students expressing their concern with a lack of appropriate timetables approaching the upcoming term.

One fourth-year English student spoke to Trinity News, saying that they have had “a lot of issues with timetabling” over recent weeks.

The student explained how they contacted AR over a week and a half ago about a double scheduling of two modules at the same time, and they have not yet received a reply.

“People already feel so hopeless and confused about what college is gonna be like and it looks like Trinity is in the same boat,” the fourth year student added.

They continued: “Instead of pushing back our start date to give administration time to iron out a lot of the issues they have, they are expecting students to be fully prepared without giving them the proper to start the academic year.”

“Maybe it’s just that in a time when students need to be able to rely on administration the most, they are being given the least guidance yet.”

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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 29 September

Reporting racism in Trinity Eliza Meller

Features

page 12

Planning for the unplannable year

The map to this year’s Freshers’ Week took an unusual route for Trinity’s orientation team Olivia Flaherty-Lovy Features Editor

T

he start of Michaelmas Term is historically marked by rows of stalls at the Freshers’ Fair, hundreds of students packed into lecture halls to listen to the Provost and Senior Tutor welcome them to campus, and the palpable excitement and chaos of meeting other students and trying to find the right classrooms. While the global Covid-19 pandemic has ensured that this academic year will look like no other, the practicalities of what the start of the year will bring for new students has been a process that has shifted and moulded as public health guidelines evolve.

Typically, the process of planning for undergraduate orientation begins in February and is led by Transition to Trinity Officer Eimear Rouine, who has been running orientations for undergraduate, postgraduate and visiting and Erasmus students since being appointed to the role in 2016. Speaking to Trinity News, Rouine said that planning for orientation starts with timetabling.

“I go through the timetables from the year before, making sure if there were any issues the previous year that we can fix them,” Rouine said.

The timetables are normally sent out to staff around the end of March so that they can be confirmed by the end of the academic year, and work on the Welcome Guide and orientation website can begin. “That’s a really big piece of it,” Rouine said. “For CAO students, we don’t have a way of contacting them directly until they’ve accepted their offer, so that’s really important.” College offers made through the CAO - the third level application process for students in Ireland - are usually issued in August, only a few weeks

“

As we got into April, it became clear that this wasn’t something that was going to be fixed by September. before the academic year begins.

This year, however, the plan for orientation is very different from those that were discussed this past spring, as the reopening of College comes with measures to enforce social distancing and prevent the spread of Covid-19.

“We’re probably on plan version 892 at this stage,” Rouine joked.

“Come March, when we were all sent home, I continued planning as normal because at that stage none of us knew how long this would be going on, but as we got into April it became clear that this wasn’t something that was going to be fixed by September.”

In response to changing government regulations and general uncertainty surrounding the reopening of College, Rouine and her team developed a series of plans for orientation, each differing based on whether teaching would be in person or online for the academic year. In the end, the plan that was settled on was for undergraduate orientation to mirror the hybrid style of teaching Trinity has adapted, with large group lectures being held online and smaller groups meeting in person where possible.

Both the Provost and the Senior Tutor are expected to welcome students to campus as normal, but their remarks will be delivered in video format to avoid the health risks that can come with a crowded lecture hall. Similarly, the Trinity in Twelve Weeks program, which covers topics ranging from how to access Blackboard, study skills and career advice to budgeting and tips for looking after your

physical health, will also be online.

Students can register for these sessions on the orientation website and are encouraged to submit questions for the speakers through the registration link.

Another critical component of orientation is run by Student to Student, or S2S, a student-led program designed to provide peer mentoring and support for incoming undergraduates.

Recognizable by the classic red hoodies, student mentors have an important role in Freshers’ Week by taking groups of students on tours of the campus and holding icebreaker and FAQ sessions in classrooms. Though social distancing guidelines have made it impossible for these groups to be able to meet in person this year, the staff at S2S is still providing new students an opportunity to ask questions of a peer mentor and meet others in their course before term starts. The S2S virtual meetings were held on September 25 before Freshers Week officially began. “We think it’s a good opportunity [for incoming students] to have asked a few of those questions, some of the worries and concerns, to have had a chance to meet some of their future classmates and to know who your mentor is,”Rouine said. “It should provide quite a good starting point for orientation to have started with their peer

Right: Eimear Rouine, Transition to Trinity Officer

Meet College’s newest deans Shannon Connolly and Lauren Boland

page 14 mentor.”

Freshers’ Week is typically preceded by an orientation week for incoming postgraduate students, which includes talks centered on international students, diversity and inclusion, and health and wellbeing, as well as advice on research skills.

For Rouine and her colleagues in Global Relations and Student Services, one of the added difficulties of planning an orientation this year was the move of Freshers’ Week to coincide with the first week of teaching for returning students.

Ordinarily, Freshers’ Week takes place before the first week of the semester, followed by the return of lectures for all students. This year was originally going to look similar, but in response to Leaving Certificate results and CAO offers being pushed back to September 7 and 11, respectively, Freshers’ Week was moved to September 28 alongside the start of lectures to returning students. New students will start lectures on October 5.

“Normally, this happens before teaching starts so we have free reign of classrooms and all of our student volunteers, student officers, my colleagues across the services, and our academic colleagues are available,” Rouine said. “That move into Teaching Week One has been difficult because I’m trying to schedule around teaching, so there’s a lot more layers in it this year.”

While some events are able to be converted into an online format relatively smoothly, the translation of social events from real life to the digital world is less straightforward. Rouine and her team are mindful of the importance of the social element of Freshers’ Week, and during planning, hoped to have course meetings in person, though this will be decided on a

course-by-course basis. “When I was going through the events we had the course meeting really stood out, so they can meet the academics and see the faces of the people they’re going to be in lectures online with,” Rouine said. “However, with government gathering guidelines, revised space capacity in classrooms on campus, and working around the teaching timetable, it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to have every course in person for their meetings, despite all of our best efforts.”

Still, Rouine stressed that her team was working hard to ensure that students would have some aspect of face-to-face contact during orientation. “I think it’s really important, particularly this year, to get our new students on campus for something,” she said.

“We’ll still be doing our best to make sure as many students as possible have the opportunity to come onto campus during Freshers’ Week.”

Since then, Dublin has been placed under Level 3 restrictions, with colleges asked to limit the number of students on campus - meaning that the approach to events during orientation and the first few weeks of the term have needed to adapt yet again.

Though the look of orientation this year will undoubtedly be much different from any other year, Rouine said that the advice she would give students remains the same: to “be brave.”

“It’s really great to be standing there seeing everybody so excited, running around, so I’m definitely going to miss that this year, but there’s still going to be plenty to do and to get involved in,” she said.

“There will be ways for them to meet other students, and making those social connections is really important, so throw yourself into it.”

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Tuesday 29 September | TRINITY NEWS

Features

The disconnected cogs in Trinity’s system for handling racism

ARTWORK BY ANDRÉS MURILLO FOR TRINITY NEWS

Analyzing Trinity’s system for processing reports of racism amid a global focus on race relations Eliza Meller Staff Photographer

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he murder of 46-yearold African-American George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis shook the world this summer. Hundreds of thousands of protesters across the globe showed their support for Floyd and joined the fight against systemic racism. From sharing online educational material on race, to pursuing a campaign for a Black Studies module and societies rewriting their constitutions to include anti-racism mandates, Trinity students have mobilized themselves against racism like never before.

College administration has been pushed to wake up. On June 5, Provost Patrick Prendergast and Vice Provost for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Clodagh Brook sent a college-wide email stating their intention “to bring about real structural change” with regards to racism in College. Since then, College has implemented concrete actions to address racism on campus, such as carrying out a data analysis of the representation of ethnic minorities in College positions and “decolonizing” Trinity’s curriculums.

Many students have praised these efforts, including the president of the Indian Society, Shantanu Gupta, who told Trinity News: “The steps taken by College are really positive and I’m happy about that.”

However, some past and present Trinity students from ethnic minorities and students’ union officers have raised concerns about the disjointed process of reporting racism in Trinity.

There are currently 14 different offices or support groups where students and staff can go to seek help if they have experienced racism. Many students are unaware of these resources, or confused about which ones to go to. Data on racism is not collated by these different offices, which means College authorities have no big picture and no way of monitoring racist incidents happening in

Trinity.

Confusion on where to go Unfortunately, not knowing where to report racism is a far too familiar experience for ethnic minority students. Trinity News spoke to eight ethnic minority students and graduates - six of whom said they “don’t know where to go” or have the impression that “there’s nowhere to report to”.

At the moment, the Equality Office website is the only place that publicly displays the 14 different resources students and staff can go to seek help, but there’s little mention of this information anywhere on campus.

Moreover, most students don’t even know about the existence of the Equality Office. As Gupta said, his society was “not really aware of the Equality Office” last year.

Similarly, the 2017 Trinity College Dublin Students' Union (TCDSU) ethnic minorities officer Aghogho Atiyota said that: “I didn’t hear about [College’s Equality Office] until I was in the students’ union”.

This is partly due to the fact that there hasn’t been an Equality Office building on campus until this year. And also because for 13 months, there has been no equality

“

The current confusion of who to report to and how quickly leads to a persisting narrative of ‘there’s no racism on campus’, when the reality for some students is otherwise.

officer running the office.

In January 2019, the previous Equality Officer, Aoife Crawford, left her job for a post in the Secretary’s Office. Not until February 2020 was Claire Marshall hired as the new Equality Officer.

“The current confusion of who to report to and how, quickly leads to a persisting narrative of ‘there's no racism on campus’, when the reality for some students is otherwise,” says David Ola, who graduated from Trinity in Human Genetics last year.

Indeed, the lack of communication between the 14 different resources, including the Equality Office, and students means that racist incidents often go unreported.

No centralised reporting and recording system “There are many ways in which hate crimes can be reported in the College,” the Junior Dean told Trinity News in an email.

Their reports “are taken very seriously, and there are established channels and disciplinary procedures for such incidents”.

But while some of these offices record the reports they receive, others don’t.

This is the case with the students’ union, for example. As the 2018 Ethnic Minorities Officer, Navika Mehta, said: “I didn’t know where to take all the reports I had received”.

Senior Tutor, Dr. Aidan Seery, and the Equality Officer, Claire Marshall, each keep records of reports of racism, but these are scarce compared to the number of unrecorded reports the TCDSU Ethnic Minorities Officer receives.

The Senior Tutor has “just had one [case] this year [2019/2020]” while the Equality Officer said she’s “received under 10 reports of racist incidents” since she took on her role in February this year.

In contrast, the number of unrecorded reports to last year’s TCDSU Ethnic Minorities Officer, Sé Ó hEidhin, was roughly “15 cases that were directly from people, and in terms of racist graffiti written around campus, that would be around 10 in the last year”.

The result, again: many reports of racism go unrecorded, and students’ union officers can’t give the proper support that ethnic minorities seek. “Even if they don’t want action to be taken then and there, they want someone to know

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Features that this has happened,” Mehta emphasized.

More crucially, most College offices don’t share the contents of their records with one another.

Because of the “sensitive nature” of the reports, the Equality Officer stated: “[my] records are not normally shared with other areas in college”, nor with members of the Equality Office. The Senior Tutor confirmed: “I alone would hold this [record]”.

“It’s always these different parts [of College] working on their own, which is never going to be as good,” remarked Atiyota.

The absence of centralised records of racist incidents in Trinity fails ethnic minority students because, as Ó hEidhin highlights, “it means we cannot tackle the root of the problem at all, it means we are only helping the people who have dealt with it”.

And it also fails the College administration. As a result of the disconnected data management of racism, College authorities get a distorted picture of the extent racism happens on campus, and the failure to quantify the total amount of racist incidents means that the evidence College has to try to tackle the problem is limited.

Over a Zoom call to Trinity News this summer, Dr Seery said: “I don't know to what extent we have a problem... I suspect that racist incidents are happening outside central college activity”.

Similarly, the director of

culture and diversity in the Equality Office, Tony McMahon, said he “ha[s]n’t heard of [racist] incidents on campus for quite some time”. Mr. McMahon offers trainings on culture and diversity to College staff and chairpersons of student societies.

“Reporting is the main thing,” repeated Mehta. Former TCDSU President Laura Beston, who served in 2019/2020, agreed. “Not being able to pass on information about incidents of racism - that’s a huge problem in and of itself,” Beston said. She would like to see a centralised reporting system. “If that could happen in the next year alone, I would be very happy.”

Reporting and accusing someone of racism is hard enough as it is. But to have to search at length where to go, not even in the absolute confidence that your case will be recorded, or acknowledged across the College, makes it that much harder.

Commenting on the Equality Office’s past handling of racism in Trinity, Vice-Provost for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Clodagh Brook, told Trinity News that it “wasn’t always right”. But, she said: “I think we’ve got everything we need now to go forward and make changes.”

“The world is committing to change but we'll see the organisations which truly have plans in the immediate future,” Ola stated. “I have hope for Trinity, if there is a clear reporting system in place.”

Asylum seekers: same college, different experience Students living in direct provision are forced to deal with very different circumstances than some of their peers Jack Ryan Deputy Features Editor

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hile Leaving Cert students this year faced a summer of uncertainty and angst as to whether they would be allocated their desired third-level place, students living in Direct Provision have faced a particularly difficult situation.

As of the start of the summer, college was a prospect that seemed out of reach for many.

Asylum seekers are not eligible for the free fees initiative, unless they are EU citizens, or SUSI support, and are effectively treated the same as international students.

One year of tuition for non-EU students in Trinity costs around €18,860, while a year in UCD can cost upwards of €23,800. These sums do not include the cost of living in Dublin.

The situation has led to instances like that of Anna Kern, who in 2015 secured 575 points in her Leaving Cert, having come to Limerick from Ukraine two years earlier, seeking asylum with her mother. After the case attracted significant media attention,

“

I felt those prospects that were once in front of me were slipping away, and I just couldn’t see how I could improve my future without education” ARTWORK BY JACK SMYTH FOR TRINITY NEWS

she was ultimately granted a scholarship by the Royal College of Surgeons to study her chosen course of physiotherapy.

In 2015, the Government responded to requests for reform to the system by introducing a program that provided third-level support to students who had been in the Irish education system for a minimum of five years. This precluded most asylum-seekers, and uptake of the program was minimal.

Four years later in 2019, the Government reduced the requirement to three years. It was found that only 6 asylum seekers had successfully been granted support in the previous three years of the program. This year, on August 10, Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris announced that it would no longer be necessary for asylum seekers to have completed the Leaving Cert or to have spent three years in an Irish school.

Harris said that “on paper we had a support scheme in place, but actually in truth very few people could access that scheme”.

This change in policy is intended to make entering college a less financially daunting prospect for asylum seekers.

Akmal Salameh, a student in University College Dublin (UCD), arrived in Ireland from Syria in 2016 when he was 21, and was excited to learn of the vibrant tech scene here. Speaking to Trinity News, Salameh said that he had previously trained to be a software engineer but had not finished his training.

When he initially realised that a further qualification would be required to gain employment as a software engineer in Dublin, he thought the dream he had worked towards for years had crumbled.

With little money, he could not afford the further study required.

Living in Direct Provision weighed on Salameh’s mental health, and he became isolated and severely depressed. Having come from a middle-class background in Damascus, he said that it was “always expected that I would go to university, my father was a doctor and education was extremely important to him”.

“I felt those prospects that were once in front of me were slipping away, and I just couldn’t see how I could improve my future without education”.

Salameh was in Dublin at a function for Syrian refugees when he overheard an offhand remark mentioning a scholarship for asylum seekers and refugees in UCD. Gripped by interest and excitement, he contacted UCD that evening, and ultimately was accepted into a Computer Science program.

Since he started in UCD,

“

It’s nice to be someone who isn’t necessarily pitied, I hated having that identity as a refugee. Now my life is more than that, I am a university student.”

Salameh said he has rediscovered a sense of excitement and ambition about his future that he thought he had lost forever. He now has a number of Irish friends, and has taken a newfound interest in the culture and history of his adoptive country.

Salameh said that UCD were helpful in helping him settle in, and that staff continued to check in on him personally throughout the year. “It’s nice to be someone who isn’t necessarily pitied, I hated having that identity as a refugee,” he said. “Now my life is more than that, I am a university student. I know my father would be proud of me for pursuing this path.”

While the numbers are still small, efforts which support asylum seekers and refugees, to attend third level, both in financial and non-financial terms, can be instrumental in helping these students to rebuild their lives, regain their self esteem, and re-imagine their futures with hope and optimism.

Most Irish universities are accredited as Universities of Sanctuary, an initiative to encourage and celebrate the good practice of universities, colleges and institutes in welcoming refugees and asylum seekers.

Trinity, which offers four scholarship places every year as part of its Asylum Seekers Access Program, is currently awaiting the verdict on its application to be recognised as a University of Sanctuary.

Name has been changed.

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Trinity’s newe

ARTWORK BY JACK SMYTH FOR TRINITY NEWS

Students show solidarity with LGBTQ+ community in protests against Polish president The opposition responds to the re-election of “bigoted” Duda Sean Gordon Dalton Deputy Features Editor

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he 2015 Marriage Equality referendum was significant in the push for greater LGBTQ+ rights in Ireland, partially driven by huge student involvement in campaigning for the Yes vote.

However, while Ireland has made steps towards equality in recent years, there are other countries which have taken steps backwards, once again drawing student attention.

In July, incumbent Polish President Andrzej Duda narrowly defeated his opponent Rafal Trzaskowski by little more than one percent. The controversial Duda’s frequent anti-semitic and homophobic attacks were backed by the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) and the state media.

Duda pointed to steady economic growth under PiS and the popular welfare policies credited with lifting many Poles out of poverty to support his re-election bid. While his moderate opponent had pledged to maintain these policies, the candidates differed strongly on most everything else. The pro-EU Trzaskowski won over young, urban, secular voters with his investments in public transport, free childcare and support for the LGBTQ+ community as Mayor of Warsaw.

Running a campaign characterised as “anti-LGBT”, the conservative nationalist president's win encouraged his government allies attempts to reform the judiciary in their own image and roll back legislation on abortion and gay rights. The

conservative-nationalist PiS won a second parliamentary majority in 2019 pledging to uphold Catholic values, including support for traditional families and opposition to gay marriage. Duda also signed a "Family Charter" of election proposals, including pledges to prevent gay couples from marrying or adopting children and to ban teaching about LGBTQ+ issues in schools.

According to ILGA-Europe, the European branch of the International LGBTI Association, Poland’s track record on LGBTQ+ rights is the worst in Europe.

It’s not just Duda's rhetoric that has inspired massive uproar and opposition - his margin of victory was the tightest since the fall of communism. Duda won 51.03% of the vote while Trzaskowski received 48.97% in a mid-July runoff. The main opposition party, Civic Platform, who backed Trzaskowski, brought the results before the Supreme Court, citing “irregularities”.

Thousands of opposition supporters, rights groups and Poles living abroad filed legal challenges demanding that the election be reassessed. Among irregularities cited during the campaign and election were the government's insistence on sending voters to the polls despite the coronavirus pandemic, and the role of the public media and government officials in the campaign. Thousands of challenges were filed by Poles living abroad, whose votes “disappeared”. However, Duda was declared to have won fairly, and with a high turnout of 68.2%, with a clear mandate.

This apparent endorsement of Duda’s bigoted messages and policies have lead to protests across Poland and abroad.

In 2018/2019, there were 28 international students from Poland studying in Trinity, which is one of the highest among eastern European countries in the EU, in addition to Polish students studying in Trinity who were

already living in Ireland.

Speaking to Trinity News, recent Trinity graduate Marysia Pachowicz said that protestors wanted to highlight human rights concerns in Poland. Pachowicz was an organiser of protests here in Ireland, which were cancelled due to Covid-19 regulations.

“We wanted, first of all, to raise awareness of the human rights abuses that have been taking place in Poland,” Pachowicz said.

“Second, to provide a space for Polish LGBTQ+ people to speak about their experiences and highlight what it feels like to be submerged in so much hatred and abuse from the place that we consider home.”

“Third, and perhaps most crucially, to get people outside of Poland to finally stop ignoring what is happening there, to get them to pay attention and act, rather than continue turning a blind eye to the oppression and abuse and destruction of human rights that is happening right in the centre of Europe,” she said.

Pachowicz said that the reason the Polish government “has continued to do what they’re doing and increasingly become more radical in their homo- and transphobia is because they feel completely immune to the consequences of their actions”.

“Beyond that, the EU has done little to nothing to intervene and help us, except for superficial, meaningless statements expressing their alleged condemnation of PiS’s actions but followed by no concrete action.

As such, PiS feels that they can get away with anything and will stop at nothing.”

As the previous protest was cancelled due to Covid-19, there are plans to try to stage it again once it is safe to do so. In the meantime, the protest organisers are working on online campaigns, encouraging the use of chalk to draw rainbows on footpaths outside of Polish embassies around the world, and launching hashtags to show solidarity with the Polish LGBTQ+ community.

“Trinity cares, Trinity wants you here and Trinity wants you to get through your course,” says new Dean of Students Catherine McCabe Shannon Connolly News Editor

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ith years of nursing, teaching and tutoring behind her, Professor Catherine McCabe is no stranger to college life.

Newly appointed as Trinity’s Dean of Students, McCabe has been studying and working in Trinity since 2002, when she came to complete her PhD as a nurse tutor. Prior to coming to Trinity, she worked as a general nurse in London, completing a tutors course in Nursing at University College Dublin (UCD) after returning to Ireland. She worked as a Nurse Tutor in Temple Street Hospital and St James’ Hospital before coming to Trinity for her PhD. McCabe is taking over from Professor Kevin O’Kelly, who served in the role for over six years. The role is one which involves interacting with students and students’ services, supporting and facilitating student development, and ensuring the integration of students into college life. The Dean of Students is responsible for planning, developing and implementing programmes and policies that encourage and support students to take an “active role” in the College community.

Speaking to Trinity News, McCabe’s passion for nursing and tutoring shone through as she discussed her two decades working and studying in Trinity. The new Dean of Students explained that she “preferred being a fully qualified nurse” to being a student, and that she has “really loved being a nurse” and tutoring students throughout the years.

Reflecting on her time as a student, McCabe spoke fondly, having completed her three-year certificate in Nursing in Galway.

Talking about her experience as a student, McCabe laughed and said that she “turned out really well”.

Speaking about her key plans in relation to the role, McCabe commended the previous work of O’Kelly, who served in the position for six and a half years. McCabe explained that from “discussions and observations” with her predecessor, she has identified the importance of the relationship

between college and students and wants to further that relationship.

She said that “we both genuinely have a concern for student experience in college” and the services that are available to students, including the environment students are in and how that makes for “a better student experience from their perspective”.

McCabe expressed that she is “very aware that sometimes when you’re not a student, you think you’re doing great things, but you don’t get the other perspective or advocate for [the student voice] enough”, while explaining that O’Kelly did a “great job” in that regard and she would like to continue to do that.

“My personal view and focus will be to have a positive relationship with student bodies and student services and act as a conjunct or bridge between them as I can and to help both from a student perspective and a college perspective, in a positive way,” McCabe said.

She’s hopeful that her experience as a nurse tutor will aid her in the role. “I’ve been a tutor for a long time, I think it’s about ten years,” McCabe explained. “Not just in nursing, I was certainly a tutor in nursing but also in another school, and I can see the issues that students have are similar.”

“I can see the kind of supports they need,” McCabe continued.

“Sometimes that’s all students need; they need somebody to talk to, somebody to give a bit of guidance. It’s not like students are problematic in any way, it’s merely having a conversation.”

“It was always good to see how students can be helped and that students should be,” McCabe explained. “I think Trinity is quite good at that.” McCabe explained how she always tells her students that “Trinity cares, Trinity wants you here and Trinity wants you to get through your course”, emphasising that College “wants you to

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est deans hit the ground running New Dean of Graduate Studies Martine Smith sets sights on tackling postgraduates’ challenges Lauren Boland Editor

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“

There are so many things that are difficult for students at the moment remember [it] fondly”.

McCabe has held various administrative positions during her time in Trinity, such as head of discipline, chair of the equality committee, and a member of College Board, as well as sitting on various other committees. McCabe explained that she continued teaching undergraduates throughout the various administrative positions, teaching in other disciplines as well as nursing. McCabe was also the Irish Universities Association (IUA) representative on the National Patient Improvement Programme, where her work largely focused on developing the new online programme of education, which is likely to help many in light of the new emphasis on remote learning.

Speaking about adapting to her new role as the Dean of Students under the strange circumstances of Covid-19, McCabe stated that it has been “quite good” so far. She explained that as a College officer, she has been able to access her office in House 5, although she only goes in once or twice a week.

“I find that a lot of people would prefer to meet on Zoom, which I can do from home,” McCabe explained.

McCabe explained that now is

about remaining focused on students’ issues, even amid the pandemic. “There are so many things that I think are difficult for students at the moment. College is really for students.”

McCabe explained that with the new academic year starting, some students “just have large scale lectures, they don’t have small tutorial groups” and these students may find that they don’t need to come to College physically any day. McCabe said that over the summer, College was considering all the ways that Covid-19 measures would impact students, such as whether some students would need full-time accommodation, or whether they may only need accommodation for one or two days a week. She said that there was a “frustration within College as it wants to make announcements, it wants to say ‘this is what’s going to happen’, but actually things are still too fluid to be able to do that”.

In her field, McCabe is particularly interested in acute care nursing, as general nursing (ED) is her foundation background. Her research has mainly focused on healthcare technology, while she currently has ongoing research in the area of pain management.

During her time at Trinity, McCabe has developed research programmes and published many publications relating to nursing.

When asked about how she plans to support students amid Covid-19 restrictions, McCabe explained that her desire is to “get first years into College”. She explained the importance of getting first years to meet one another, even if it is through their tutorial groups or societies and clubs.

What’s lost in the middle of all the restrictions and revisions, McCabe said, is the traditional college experience that students look forward to each year. “We’re very aware of that. It’s about trying to get that back, so the sooner that we get a vaccine, the better.”

hortly before Ireland went into lockdown, Professor Martine Smith - College’s newly appointed Dean of Graduate Studies - rescued a three-year-old lurcher named Toby.

As the new dean settled into her role, which she took up in July, Toby has been settling into his new home, bringing his share of mischief-making during Zoom calls along with him.

“If you go home and it’s been a particularly difficult day and he’s there, just so delighted to see you, it’s probably the cheapest form of therapy that anybody could have,” Smith laughed.

During her time in Trinity, Smith has been a lecturer, a head of discipline, head of school, and a director of undergraduate teaching and learning. “I feel I’ve seen many different sides of the university as an undergraduate student, as a postgraduate student, and as a staff member in varied roles,” she said.

Her background is clinical speech and language studies, in which she has done extensive research and teaching.

Notwithstanding her academic success, Smith’s favourite element of her role is when she’s working on the ground.“When I’m in a clinical setting, working with people with severe speech impairments - that’s my zen zone.”

Talking about her time as a student, Smith smiled and said that “most people would have said I was a goody-two-shoes” although ironically, the software I used to transcribe this interview mistakenly thought she said that most people would have said she was “at the detention”. Her timetable was 9 to 5, Monday to Friday. “Nobody had any option but to be studious and try to keep things moving.”

“That was in a time when the perception was unless you were being taught something directly, you couldn’t learn. So I think we have really changed that paradigm to focusing not just on the teaching, but on the learning.

All the teaching of the world is no good if we haven’t taught people to learn effectively.”

Smith said that her philosophy on learning - that it has to be embedded, it has to be

contextualised, and it has to be driven by the student - informs her approach to her role now as Dean of Graduate Studies. “It is beyond important to highlight that learning is at the heart of the student experience.”

Along with her new responsibility for postgraduate affairs in Trinity, Smith has needed to closely consider the obstacles facing postgraduate students this year, such as space on campus and finding accommodation. “I think Covid-19 highlights the challenges that postgraduate students were already facing,” Smith said.

“Postgraduate students have always argued, with justification, that there is not sufficient dedicated space for them within this university campus. And now we’re facing enormous restrictions on space for everybody.”

“Another existing problem for postgraduate taught students is the sense of really forming a unified class group. When people are physically on campus together, it’s much easier to do things that support cultural engagement, that build those connections, that support networks, that give them a real flavour of a Trinity experience.”

“Doing that by Zoom?” Smith let the question speak for itself.

“And for our postgraduate research students, it has always been an uncertain world for them.

They’ve always faced additional pressures in terms of funding.

There’s uncertainty inherent within it,” Smith said. “And you layer on top of that all the uncertainties that Covid-19 has brought into the picture and it’s further stretched.”

The question of funding for postgraduates came to the fore in College in a slightly different shape earlier this year when a pay cut was proposed for laboratory demonstrators and later dropped following protests from students.

On the proposed pay cuts, Smith said that “the former Dean of Graduate Studies [Neville Cox] was very supportive of the Graduate Students’ Union position that this was an unsustainable ask, and I would see myself thinking no differently. My philosophy would

“

Covid-19 highlights the challenges postgraduates were already facing

be very much the same.”

“Across the whole university sector, and not just in Ireland, we know it’s across the EU, it’s across the US, postgraduate research students who are undertaking additional work are in a particularly precarious position, and it needs a sector-wide agreement,” Smith said.

On a wider scale, funding for research and higher education has been given a potential new scope with the creation of a government department for higher education, science, innovation and research earlier this summer. For some, it represents a potential new lease of life for the higher education sector, but others have questioned whether the new department can achieve more than lip service.

Smith is taking a “cautiously optimistic” approach to the new department. “If nothing else, I think it has at least highlighted the higher education sector as having separate and different needs, unique needs and opportunities and challenges to primary and secondary education.”

“The two questions in the background are, first of all, the overall financial climate, given our current situation and whether it will be given the resources that are needed to enable it to fulfill its potential, and secondly, the stability of the current government, and whether were there to be an election, whether it is a department that would have a short history or not,” Smith said.

“I think the fact that it has been created makes it so much more difficult to uncreate it. Once you’ve let it come into being, people know that it was there.

“People got jobs and headed paper got printed and suddenly, there’s an entity there, that needs to be, if not retained, at least moved into something else. So, I will be optimistic from that point of view.”

Shortly after she started in the role as Dean of Graduate Studies, Smith had what she described as a “lovely encounter” with a friend.

Smith told her friend about her experience of adapting to the new role and the mistakes she was making along the way when her friend said something that resonated with her: “Never think of it as mistakes. It’s a series of successive approximations.”

“I thought, you know what, that’s exactly what we’re trying to support students to recognise when they’re working or learning,” Smith said. “Mistakes aren’t what it’s about - it’s about that series of successive approximations. You’ll get there.”

Perhaps we can also chalk up Tony the lurcher’s Zoom call interruptions not as mistakes, but as entries in a series of successive approximations - ones any dogloving postgraduates on Zoom calls with the new Dean of Graduate Studies will likely hope to see continue.

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Cocaine culture amid Covid-19 Like most other businesses, the cocaine scene in Dublin was altered and affected by the coronavirus Jack Ryan

Deputy Features Editor

“

It just gives you that little

ARTWORK BY ANDRÉS MURILLO FOR TRINITY NEWS

shot of energy in the arm, makes you less of a wallflower.”

“It makes jokes funnier, conversations more interesting.” ”It makes me feel anxious and highly strung, I don’t really do it.”

“When the beer makes you want to curl up and sleep, it rallies you back up.”

These are the accounts from a number of people of the effects of a drug which is an increasingly ubiquitous presence in Irish nightlife: powder cocaine; or patsy, charlie, coke, banger, packet or white; to name but a few of its endless, ephemeral monikers.

In the midst of the Covid-19 lockdown, one profession that was certain to feel the brunt of closed bars and nightclubs was that of the cocaine dealer. But are we doing more of the drug then in the past?

Who is taking it? And what exactly are the consequences of cocaine use, both for the user and for the pubs, clubs, and house parties it takes place in?

Gardaí have spoken about how the market for cocaine has evolved

and grown over time, to the point where the typical consumer is now “a nurse or a farmer” rather than the stereotypical image of a wealthy urbanite in a nightclub toilet cubicle. According to the Health Research Board, the number of cocaine users presenting for treatment increased from 297 in 2012 to 748 in 2017.

Rates of cocaine use are now higher than their Celtic Tiger peak according to addiction specialist Michael Guerin, who is based at Cuan Mhuire addiction treatment centre in Bruree, Co Limerick. “It’s everywhere, people are as likely to be a farmer in South Kerry or West Clare and be dependent on it as they are to be a university graduate or a self-employed person in city areas,” he told the Irish Sunday Mirror in 2019.

Users report using it to ease anxiety in social settings, to make them more comfortable and chatty.

Speaking to Trinity News, one female Trinity student described it as “a social lubricant, it just kind of brings you into the moment and out of your head… I feel like I’m more entertaining, more the life of the party when I’m on it, so I enjoy myself more,” she said.

“When I get together to drink with my friends from home, it’s usually only a matter of time until someone suggests getting a bag.”

The appeal of cocaine relative to other “party drugs” such as ketamine, ecstasy or 2-CB is that “you feel in control, it can leave you energised and raring to go, but you don’t lose your self-control,” according to a male Trinity student who uses the drug socially.

In his opinion, use of the drug is widespread in Trinity, as it is in the majority of colleges and walks of life. “It’s not hard to get at all.

You’d normally have a number of

someone you usually get it off, and if that number isn’t replying you’re usually in a social setting where you can ask someone else for one and get a bag down relatively quickly.”

Trinity News spoke to a young man from Dublin who sells cocaine, who said that he has two dozen regular customers who have his number, that he prefers keeping his operation small and does not answer texts from unknown numbers. Most of his customers would order an “8 ball”, or 3.5 grams, roughly every week, so this small scale operation is still extremely profitable for him.

“Some lads would head to the pub Friday after work, I’d drop off a bag, they’d go flat out on it, and then they’d be texting me for more on Sunday morning,” he said. The young man said he was a frequent user of cocaine in his youth, but

“

When I get together to drink with my friends from home, it’s usually only a matter of time until someone suggests getting a bag.”

doesn’t “take the piss” with it anymore, and he uses the money he makes to support his children and to pay for luxury holidays for himself and his girlfriend. “I never have problems selling stuff, it’s always in demand.”

He said that during the height of the lockdown in late March and April he did not deliver at all as he was nervous about the scale of the Gardaí presence and the possibility of his car being searched. He also said he was surprised by the amount of texts he was receiving for cocaine, given that house parties were banned and bars and clubs were closed.

Most of his customers are men in their twenties from his area, and it seems to him that all his friends are “flatout on it these days”.

There has been a “huge” reduction in the amount of cocaine being sold during Covid-19, particularly on-street sales, during the lockdown phase, according to Garda Mark Houlihan of the Drugs Divisional Unit, Dublin Metropolitan South Central Division, speaking to the Trinity News. He said: “The messaging apps have taken off hugely” as a medium to sell cocaine, and “would be the primary source for middle-class consumers who would buy powder cocaine for a night out on the weekends.”

Houlihan has noticed a trend among young people, many of whom are concerned with physical fitness and body image, of consuming cocaine on nights out rather than alcohol. He has particularly seen this with young men, especially “GAA players or football players”, who opt to use cocaine “so they don’t have to burn off the calories of the beers the next morning, and they’re not as hungover for training”.

Houlihan has seen the volume of cocaine being sold increase in the last three to five years, in line with recent economic growth.

Cocaine detection in Dublin has also increased, he said, likely in part due to the presence of rickshaws on Dublin streets, which can be used by revellers as transport during nights out, but some of which are “the main provider (of drugs) to people on the street”. According to Houlihan, this method of drug sales is “far easier to detect than a lad sorting his mates out in a crowded pub”.

The drug is produced from coca leaves which are generally grown in the Andean regions of Columbia, Peru, and Bolivia.

Production levels and quality have both surged in recent recent years, particularly since 2016, when a peace accord between the Columbian government and FARC paramilitaries led to a cessation of aerial pesticide spraying of coca fields, and a rapid increase in the amount of land under cultivation for the crop. Once the drug is produced, shipments are

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It makes jokes funnier, conversations more interesting.” imported into Ireland, usually Dublin, by sea and air. A small number of large gangs control the trade, and distribute it across the country, occasionally sending excess product to Australia and New Zealand via air, due to the high price cocaine fetches there, and the proliferation of Irish contacts in situ. The street price of a gram of cocaine in Ireland varies from about €60 to €100, with the potency and quality varying.

The health implications of cocaine use are myriad. In the short run, users can be more vulnerable to bouts of depression or paranoia, and their risk of a heart attack is increased. Incredibly, a quarter of non-fatal heart attacks for under 45s in the US were linked to cocaine usage, according to research published in the medical journal Heart.

The long term consequences of frequent cocaine use can be even more dramatic. Researchers in the Holy Cross Hospital in Chicago have shown that with “repeated exposure to cocaine, the brain starts to adapt so that the reward pathway becomes less sensitive to natural reinforcers”. In other words, long term frequent cocaine usage can lead to the dopamine or “pleasure” centers of your brain being numbed and worn down. This can spawn a feedback loop that keeps a person chasing cocaine to achieve a degree of equilibrium in their mental state.

This is one of the key reasons why cocaine addiction is so difficult to treat.

There is a consensus from most stakeholders that the use of cocaine has increased significantly in recent years, but it remains to be seen what the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic will be for the trade. Cocaine use fell sharply during the last economic recession, but the increasingly “uberised” nature of the market, thanks to messaging apps such as Whatsapp, and the appeal the drug has throughout nearly all sectors of Irish society, means there is no certainty that cocaine use will follow economic trends and diminish into the future.

“We don’t get to have a month of BLM and leave it there� page 2

The student musicians playing it by ear page 13

Breaking into a society: now and then page 15

LIFE

TRINITY NEWS

Inside: Student map of campus

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Tuesday 29 September | TRINITY NEWS

Table of contents Queer Hearts of Dublin

- page 6

Claire Stalhuth speaks to Activist Amanda Ade on unity and black Irish identity

The economic consequences of Covid-19

- page 4

Socially distant dates can be more than an awkward walk - page 7

Keeping the Dublin music scene alive

- page 13

The uncertainty of campus living during Covid

“We don’t get to have one Black Lives Matter and l

Elaine Feeney on gaining a generational perspective

- page 14

- page 15

Life staff Editor-in-Chief Life Editor Life Deputy Editor

Lauren Boland Maeve Harris Heather Bruton

Arts & Culture Editor Arts & Culture Deputies

Claire Stalhuth Elena McCrory Róisín Daly

Food & Drink Editor Food & Drink Deputy

Alfie Fletcher Seán McElroy

Sex & Relationships Editor Sex & Relationships Deputy

Kerry O’Sullivan

Societies Editor Societies Deputy

Ciara Cassidy Grace Fannon

Student Living Editor Student Living Deputy

Cian Dunne Isha Neurgaonkar

Eva O’Beirne

I

t’s been 126 days since the murder of George Floyd. There have been protests, uncomfortable conversations, re-evaluations of institutions. Companies and universities have put out press releases, promises have been made. And yet with the hope, progress, and pain this movement has brought about and revealed, it feels as if things are going back to normal. For some, this may be a comforting prospect. But we must question this normality, and if the status quo is something to be resurrected at all.

To help tackle this, the Arts and Culture section will be running a three-part series of anti-racist educational resources, featuring books, movies, podcasts, activist accounts, and more. While your feeds and dinner conversations may fade back to brunch photos and spur of the moment quarantine puppy adoptions, the real lived experience of people of color in Ireland and globally will not change unless there is mass, educated action.

However, education is not the be-all and end-all for racism.

We spoke to Black Irish activist Amanda Ade about taking steps towards anti-racism in Ireland.

She urges everyone to address the reality of racism in Ireland, amplifying and representing the Black Irish experience, and most importantly, talking about it.

Through this grassroots method, Ade has real hope for Ireland to set a precedent for future generations as the nation becomes ever more cosmopolitan and diverse.

Ade has long been a leading voice in the Irish Black Lives Matter Movement. Born in South Africa, she’s lived in Ireland since she was three, calling the country the only place she’s actually known as her home. Her Instagram video, Let’s Talk About the Elephant in the Room, posted three days after the violent murder of George Floyd, has amassed over 534,000 views. For Ade and many antiracist activists, the first step is addressing those who deny the existence of racism within Ireland, a state she calls “blissful ignorance”, which education and conversation must disrupt. Ireland’s colonial past, and historically racial homogeneity, offer what Ade calls a crutch, something “some people

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Ade stresses that racism is very much alive in contemporary Ireland tend to lean on and say because of everything that Irish people have been through historically that it’s impossible for them to now be on the side of the oppressor.” While acknowledging the colonial past of Ireland, Ade stresses that racism is very much alive in contemporary Ireland.

Within Irish culture, Ade sites banter and slagging people as a specific area where the line can be crossed and personal experience of racism denied. What may begin as simply a bit of craic, no harm intended, can enter into the territory of being offensive, even without the awareness of the speaker themselves, according to Ade. “And they don’t realize that they don’t have that knowledge yet, and that’s why I’m so proconversation on pro-educating each other about these things.

People genuinely don’t know... in their minds, it’s a big joke.”

Beyond frequent offensive jokes, a deep, harmful manifestation of racism in Ireland is a denial of Black Irish people’s own identity as Irish. In the workplace, in representation in media and positions of Irish society, and a constant stream of microaggressions and verbal abuse, Ade describes an alienated identity. “Even little things such as if your surname or skin color kind of looks out of place people will automatically have something to say about it and will consider you that little bit less Irish. Even though you may have even been born here.”

Education: Do Your Homework The first step towards dismantling the racism that lines much of Western society is education. While Trinity has supported the creation of a Black Studies Elective Module, 5 ECTs come Hilary Term, it is not sufficient in and of itself. It is imperative that students educate themselves independently, to question their own education, and, as activists call for, to decolonize our minds.

Growing up in the Irish education system, Ade noticed a problematic attitude regarding race. In reading books like To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men, she describes being the only Black person in the class. There

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e month of leave it there.” was no background discussion on racism itself in the context of the books, and so a deeply rooted derogatory slur became just another word: “everyone had the pass in English to say the N-word.” While Ade presses for standard education to be updated, in the meantime, she stresses the importance of unlearning problematic ideals.

Ade makes it clear that this is a personal responsibility for all to pursue. Anti-racist self-education can be university-level modules, books, movies, podcasts, or even simply listening. A large part of the global Black Lives Matter movement has been centered around telling personal stories of experiences of racism. Ade says it is important to learn from their stories, but allow them emotional breathing room. “Let people have their experience. People are angry, people are upset, people are hurt.

Let them be hurt, let them go through those emotions so that they can get to a place of healing and get to a place where they’re even open to having conversations like that.”

For Ade, the Black Lives Matter movement is a true progression towards unity. “There’s no pointing fingers and saying ‘okay well you did this, you did that’; that’s not what it’s about.” However, Ade makes it clear it’s not just the responsibility of Black people to bring about change or educate; everyone has to pull their weight.

And the work doesn’t stop at the educational resources we’re going to be printing.

Become comfortable with having uncomfortable conversations Ade’s linchpin of productive anti-racist activism, attacking the problem at its source, is having conversations — even if they’re uncomfortable. Ade urges people to jump into conversations with those in your own community and sphere of influence — a personal grassroots campaign at family

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Although a conversation has been started, it does not end there.

‘This is not a trend for me.

This is my life.’

dining tables, during pints with your friends. After educating yourself, calling out acts of racism from the ground level is the only way things are going to change, according to Ade. This was the impetus for Ade’s podcast Box’d Up. She was looking for self reflection and growth within her communities and was looking for change in the best way she knew how: by broadcasting important conversations and sharing people’s experiences.

“In normal life, [people] don’t have opportunities to speak to Black people, to white people, to whoever, people just don’t do that.

So, this is another way for people to listen in.”

What Now? Ade’s sentiments come after her empowering, passionate speech at the Dublin Black Lives Matter March back in June. She described it as a turning point: “Just seeing the range of people there... different ages, different walks of life, genders, ethnic backgrounds like it was such a great mix of people. It was so beautiful to see everyone marching together and singing together and kneeling together, it just kind of showed me a picture of what Ireland could be like.” Now, she hopes the momentum and commitment she saw doesn’t become just another trend. Ade states that while progress has been made, people are more aware and a conversation has been started, it does not end there. “This is not a trend for me.

This is my life. We don’t get to have one month of Black Lives Matter and leave it there. We don’t have that privilege.”

Her recent docuseries, Scéalta, explores the topic of racism in Ireland by delving into lived experience.

The interviews, available on her Instagram page (@ the_amanda_ade), are first-hand accounts of young Irish people’s day to day encounters with racism.

Her most recent work, Brown Baby, A Spoken Word Visual, is a proclamation on her identity as both Black and Irish. Interwoven with her spoken word poetry is music, moving portraiture of her fellow Black Irish subjects and experimental Avant-garde shots. Her reverberating first stanza concludes: “My existence is paralleled to the original sin, because my green, white and gold came draped in black skin.”

There is racism here in Ireland.

Through the global Black Lives Matter Movement, we have begun to recognize and face it. But Amanda Ade challenges us to unify and attempt to dismantle it. We must listen, we must start having uncomfortable conversations, and it must culminate in action.

Finding a home for consent in Trinity Eva O’Beirne interviews sexual consent intern Aoife Grimes, who is paving the way for College’s consent policy

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This article discusses topics of consent and sexual assault n March 2019, the Students’ Union (SU) voted to introduce an intern for sexual consent education and development to Trinity.

Speaking to Trinity News over Zoom, Aoife Grimes, the current sexual consent intern, reveals her plans for the upcoming academic year. “I think sex, sexual consent and how we interact with eachother is as important as ever.”

Aoife Grimes is no stranger to student welfare and well-being. In her second year of college, she was the Welfare Officer for the Junior Common Room (JCR), moving on to become the Gender Equality Officer for the SU. In her final year, Grimes was employed by Trinity to research a new Sexual Misconduct Policy and also to work on a Bystander Intervention program. Grimes explains the new push for change within Trinity: “There’s a change in perspective and ethos, the college is a lot more receptive to change.

We’re currently moving towards change.”

Grimes sums up not just Trinity’s problem, but all Irish third level institutions’ issue with consent: “It’s important to note that all colleges in Ireland and across the world have a problem with sexual violence and Trinity is no exception. It’s widely documented and acknowledged.

University campuses create a unique set of risks for not just women, but all people.” Grimes notes the need for all colleges to tackle this problem “head on”, citing research as the key to understanding how to help students. “We have to look at our student population. How many vulnerable students do we have?

We have a large international student population in Trinity and we need to acknowledge that not everyone has the same secondlevel sex education.” Grimes explains that there is a lack of full time employees within college institutions in Ireland that are tackling this issue, stating: “I’m the only full time employee in the college in this specific area.

We’re currently trying to secure more funding so that this role can continue.” Grimes goes on

to acknowledge the current issues within Trinity regarding the reporting of sexual assault, mainly the lack of reporting procedures. When one looks at the SU website, the following instructions are given: “To make an official report against another member of the TCD college community you will need to log it with the Junior Dean. If you need information or advice on this process you can contact your tutor, the SU Welfare Officer, or the GSU Vice President.”

However, Grimes does reference her work during her third year of college, describing the QR-code document she designed which was distributed on posters across campus detailing the structures available in Trinity to those who had suffered sexual misconduct and how to seek help. “Although the current procedures aren’t great, it’s important that students know them and know how they work,” she explains.

However, she has put much thought into how to alter this system to fit Trinity’s students.

Grimes mentions that there is currently no Sexual Misconduct Policy within Trinity, and that at present, it resides within the Dignity and Respect Procedures, “which isn’t appropriate, and the college recognises that”. Grimes then goes on to say that the policy will hopefully be passed within this academic year. “It will be research and trauma led. It will also be as topical as we can make it. Support towards survivors will be a priority.”

While discussing her goals for the coming academic year, Grimes mentions not only her work towards Trinity’s consent policy, but also the proposed Bystander Intervention module which will hopefully be run through Trinity Electives within the next two years. Visibility and the promotion of the Together Consent campaign, according to Grimes, is also a main goal. She states that her dream for next year is to have the Sexual Consent policy passed and signed off, underlining the importance of the Together Consent campaign.

“

There’s a change in perspective and ethos; the college is a lot more receptive to change

“It has the potential to solidify a place for consent in Trinity’s future.”

When the issue of female contraception is brought up, Grimes is ready to discuss the issues surrounding the general use of contraception amongst students in Ireland. “The Welfare Officer does distribute female sanitary products, but condom usage has actually decreased across campuses in Ireland and STIs are on the rise.” Grimes notes that Ireland received its highest recorded number of AIDs diagnoses last year, explaining that promoting the use of all barrier contraceptives is as important as it has ever been. She agrees that the SU could diversify what kinds of contraception they supply to students, explaining: “The SU should be supplying contraception that fits all forms of persons, but we also need more information on how to convert normal condoms into dental dams.”

Grimes acknowledges that these unprecedented times may affect how consent workshops are delivered to students in places like Halls: “I’ve been facilitating and taking part in running workshops since my second year. We’re currently aiming for a blended form of workshop, some online and some in person.” Grimes brings up the point that virtual workshops have been proven to be less effective and that inperson workshops will always be pushed for. “It allows students to engage more with the material.”

She also mentions that student counselling services are available over the phone and online as well as in person in order to adhere to Covid-19. When asked if Trinity is ready for a full week event on sexual health and consent similar to Women’s Week, Grimes highlights the current day-long events in place hosted by the SU and other societies. She notes that although it wasn’t in her jurisdiction, it would be a good idea in the future: “Once consent finds a home in Trinity, I feel like events such as that will become easier to conduct.”

Grimes ends on a hopeful note, discussing the new online system which will allow college students to anonymously report instances of sexual assault. Funded by the Department of Education, this system, which is expected to be up and running by the start of the next academic year, is undergoing development by Psychological Counsellors in Higher Education in Ireland, in conjunction with nine colleges. “As far as I am aware, it should be operating by September. Once this policy is put in place, I do believe that there will be a change with reporting procedures, there will be a change across campus.”

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Society spotlight

DU Photography Association Maeve Harris shines a light on the society that is worth a thousand words

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PHOTO BY KARL MAGEE FOR TRINITY NEWS,

ounded in 1948, Dublin University Photography Association (DUPA) is a society worth a thousand words. What began as “quite a niche society”, according to Vicky Salganik, DUPA Travel Officer, “with a predominantly male committee”, has transformed into one largely run by female officers. This year, DUPA boasts a majority-female committee, a far cry from the society’s initial makeup. As Salganik put it, it’s undergone “a bit of a rebrand”.

Regardless, it seems as though the association’s main goal has remained the same: “to make photography accessible to anyone regardless of what equipment or technical skill set they have!”

Though one might gravitate towards DUPA to further develop photography skills, Salganik claims that its “members are what makes DUPA the fun that it is.” While the calibre of talent may seem daunting, the only requirement for joining the team is a thirst for picture taking.

In fact, no experience with photography is required. “When I joined I didn’t even own a camera, all I had was a mere interest in photography,” Salganik reveals.

“Fast forward to today, being a photographer is honestly my only personality trait.”

While joining a new society can be unnerving for many, especially as a Fresher, DUPA prides itself on offering a deeper sense of belonging to its members.

“DUPA gives the opportunity to improve members’ photography skills in the traditional way through classes and workshops, but also in a more casual and social setting through photowalks across different spots in Dublin,” Salganik explains. She describes it as more of a community than

a cut-and-dry photography society: “I can vouch for DUPA in that it offers much more to members than simply teaching them about photography. It’s how I’ve made some of my best friends and finally came into my own after I struggled with settling in when I moved to Dublin.” For many, particularly international students, the society helps familiarise students with Dublin City on a geographical and cultural scale.

Throughout the year, members of DUPA are constantly planning the next event, eager to teach prospective photographers the ins and outs of picture taking.

“We hold a variety of different events,” Salganik explains. “Firstly we do DSLR, darkroom and editing classes. We also have a range of speakers who give talks and workshops.” Photowalks are also held on a biweekly basis, in addition to the seven exhibitions that take place throughout the academic year, during which DUPA offers collaborative events with different societies. In terms of events outside of campus, the society’s biggest event is the End of Year Exhibition. Last year, this came in the form of a two-daylong exhibit in the Copper House Gallery. Additionally, the society offers an annual trip abroad, with the society most recently heading to Berlin in September 2019. While the trip is one of the more coveted events DUPA holds, Salganik explains how the society must adapt to changing circumstances. “As Travel Officer, I think that this year will have to be different, perhaps opting for a day trip within Ireland instead”.

As Covid-19 rears its ugly head and looms over us all, DUPA is no exception to its wrath. Though a lot of the work the society does can be done on a sociallydistanced scale, events will take the biggest hit. “They are such an integral part of the society and there is no feeling quite like seeing your work in print. The buzz of walking around a packed space full of photography and free wine — it’s going to be hard to

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DUPA prides itself on offering a deeper sense of belonging to its members recreate.”

Be that as it may, Salganik explains how proposed ideas could save traditionally closequartered exhibits. “Elzbieta, this year’s chair, is hoping to try and make use of the outdoor spaces in Trinity like the Rose Garden. We’ve also just launched our first virtual exhibition titled Home. Niamh Barry, our exhibitions officer, put together a phenomenal digital gallery exhibiting members’ photos that reflect their meaning of ‘home’”.

Unsurprisingly, Zoom played a big part in facilitating the event.

‘Home’ will be on display for the next month and the link can be accessed by anyone on the DUPA Facebook page.

Salganik wants people to know that you don’t have to have all, or any, of the resources to produce your art. “We have lots of cameras, lenses and other accessories like lights and tripods that are available for our members to borrow for free, all that has to be put down is a deposit which is fully refundable once the equipment is returned.” With a society that provides the skillset and the resources for members to showcase their talents, there is no excuse not to take the plunge and join DUPA. Even Salganik, a veteran member, admits to feeling uneasy about joining the society with little previous experience. “I was so nervous joining DUPA at the Freshers’ Fair, I thought it would be embarrassing to join when I didn’t own a camera or ‘take photography seriously’, but it truly doesn’t matter, photography is meant to be fun.” Even if you are not keen on snapping your own photos, there is a place for you in DUPA. “Taking photos for memories, taking photos for a living, even just appreciating photos, they all come from a universal place of simply liking photography. I started from that place and now I shoot people’s graduations, events, and I’m photo editor for Trinity News.

Photography is like my second job now and I can only credit this to the encouragement and confidence that I gained from joining DUPA.”

Wisdom from alumn recession in the era o Cian Dunne and Isha Neurgaonkar interview Trinity alumni who graduated in 2008 for advice on the economic effects of the pandemic

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or the majority of young people studying in Ireland today, the financial crisis in 2008 and the subsequent recession led to them being affected in some way by the economic repercussions. Frankly, it’s difficult to find someone who wasn’t either directly or indirectly affected by the fallout. As a result, families lost incomes, friends and relatives emigrated in search of work, fewer holidays were taken abroad, and cuts in mental health services were made throughout the country.

For many, the past few years have been defined by slight gains in the economy, a belief that things were finally on the up, and a gradual return to some of the prosperity we were privileged enough to experience. The biggest uncertainty for students today is the impact this global pandemic will have on the job market and the career world. On this subject, we spoke to two of our alumni who graduated from Trinity during the Great Recession of 2008 to ask them how they managed to begin and further their careers during an economic crisis.

Charles Larkin graduated from Trinity with a PhD in Economics in 2008. He recalls that “Dublin of 2008 was a place that was obviously ailing but not shut down, not in the throes of an absolute crisis that it would be in December 2009”. He explains that the defining response of his peers to this lack of job opportunities in Ireland was to emigrate abroad in search of a fresh start. As he puts it: “if you wanted to rapidly advance your career in 2008 or 2013 the answer was to get on a plane and go somewhere”, whether that be to “a still relatively active Canadian or Australian economy” or certain European countries that were still functioning to “a given level of function relative to Ireland”.

He worries that the widespread shutdown of the world’s economies along with travel restrictions resulting from Covid-19 means that there will not be the same “emigration release valve.”

Denis McCarthy similarly graduated from Trinity with a PhD in Electrical and Electronics

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Make sure that you’re constantly learning in whatever role you take Engineering in 2007. He is hopeful that the fallout from Covid-19 will not be as severe as the one he experienced. He predicts that “from an economic perspective, the events of 2008 and the crises of the years that followed were far worse than we will see in the current crisis.” However, McCarthy expresses a much more pressing issue facing current graduates.

He takes notice of an increasing “generational dimension to economic inequality” in Ireland, with young people feeling that “the ladder is being pulled up ahead of them, with good cause, and that this feeling among young people will be one of the main forces shaping our politics and our culture in the coming years”.

Given the economic similarities of both the 2008 crash and the outbreak of Covid-19, we wondered whether the alumni saw the current generation of graduates as better or more poorly equipped to enter into the current job market than their peers. Larkin empathises with today’s graduates: “Though they’ve received a very good education, the world of work has changed quite rapidly underneath their feet.” He states that “the whole areas of employment have fundamentally changed.” Many changes that only six months ago “would have been utterly dismissed out of hand” have instead been introduced out of necessity. “The courts system” for instance, “has suddenly realised that it’s the 20th century, not the

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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 29 September

ni that survived the of Covid-19

18th,” with court hearings taking place through Zoom amongst other adaptations.

Larkin views many of these changes as enduring beyond their initial reactionary purpose: “The business methods and all those different things that have been adapted due to Covid, and will probably remain in place for quite a while as Covid is not going away anytime soon.” He worries about the impact of changing workplace environments on employee training and integration.

Established practices meant that “a large part of training new graduates was the fact that Seán and Mary were in the office, they hung around the older people and they learned stuff. It wasn’t necessarily structured, it was just sort of tacit knowledge that was passed on while being part of the company.” This natural process of learning the ropes on-the-job will be missed, with employees instead learning from a distance.

Speculating about what a postCovid-19 working environment might look like, Larkin remarks that there won’t be a need for as much office space, bar the occasional meeting room for clients. Early on in lockdown, Twitter communicated to its employees that they were welcome to work from home indefinitely

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That’s going to be a big growth industry, trying to deal with the fact that we cooked the planet

if it was more conducive to productivity. Larkin believes firms are likely to take a similar approach, realising that “they don’t necessarily need to perpetually be in the upstairs of a jumbo jet, travelling the globe, which is going to have a big knock-on effect for the aviation sector.” Going forward, he expects “an attempt to relieve some of the pressure on the central business district in Dublin.” Yet, within Ireland, he highlights the inadequacy of broadband services in many parts of the country as well as the more general problem of residences unsuitable to the demands of working from home for a considerable period. “Most of our houses are designed to be places we inhabit for at most twelve hours a day, or as a dormitory or for family purposes. You don’t have a house which is designed for people to actually do work in and have a working day as well as having their family around them,” Larkin says.

With Trinity adopting a hybrid learning model from September, we asked our alumni about the benefits and downsides to such an approach to education. Larkin points out that different courses have different requirements. In STEM subjects, it will be very difficult to replicate the correct standard of teaching in a virtual environment. However, in the arts and humanities, much can be “transferred to a remote environment, especially if it’s supplemented by the occasional socially-distanced small group encounter.” He draws attention to the outdated, “pretty lowend stock” technology which is currently used by most universities.

“I think what you’ll see is, people will realise two things. One, doing effective online teaching is more work and more money than what they assumed it to be. Second, there is an awful lot of stuff that is happening in the classroom, which we can’t necessarily replicate remotely.”

Larkin goes on to stress the importance of developing “a way

to keep yourself buoyant during this whole process,” and more specifically, acquiring “that first professional-style job to begin developing your career.” He also focuses on the importance of continual growth and upskilling: “It sometimes mightn’t be the most logical thing to do to go for the highest pay. It might make better sense to go for something which pays a little bit less but has a better title or gives you more opportunity for growth.” McCarthy also values the development of professional skills and choosing a job that will ideally allow for growth outside of one’s immediate responsibilities.

“Make sure that you’re constantly learning in whatever job or role you ultimately take. If you find yourself doing the same thing over and over again each day and if you’re not gaining experiences that you can put on your CV then it’s time to move on”.

Both alumni strongly encourage networking as much as possible, “especially when you’re fresh out.” Larkin encourages gaining of experience abroad, “especially for Irish students who have a footloose nature to them.” Once outside of Ireland, it’s crucial to “remain in the networks … It’s very important to get locked into those types of groups.” He warns against the dangers of isolating oneself and potentially missing out on further opportunities: “The idea that you go off, get your job in London, hide in your flat and just work away, that isn’t as effective as doing this networking.”

While Larkin condemned industries such as journalism and retail as being on a “trajectory of doom,” he reassured us that there were other avenues to explore over the coming years. He precicts lots of money being poured into the biomedical sciences to contend with Covid-19. He also referred to the European Green Deal and the need to prepare for the achieving of the 2030 and 2050 targets: “There’s going to be a lot of money floating around and that’s going to be a big growth industry, trying to deal with the fact that we cooked the planet. And it’s not just engineers that are needed for that, there are roles for social scientists and for people in humanities. It’s one of those problems that encompasses a lot of different aspects.”

Although there’s much to learn from history, it’s normal for students to feel anxious about graduating into a world defined by unexpected uncertainty. However, though much has changed over the past few months, McCarthy says that “the keys to success are much as they ever were; write a strong CV, do your interview prep, approach recruiters and fill in tons of applications.” Larkin expresses a similar sentiment, encouraging graduates to look beyond the limiting possibilities provided by their initial qualifications. “There shouldn’t be a concern on the part of students that they must be married to whatever their discipline was when they were in college. These lateral transfers are things that people shouldn’t be afraid of. I think that’s good advice.

Best takeaway in Dublin Maisie McGregor writes an ode to McGuinness’s

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cGuiness’s is my favourite place in Dublin. I don’t mean to say that it is my favourite vegan-accommodating takeaway place in Dublin, or even just my favourite food place. It really is my favourite place in the city.

I’ve not even been more than a handful of times, perhaps five since arriving in September. My first experience was a drunken load of curry-cheesy chips with a visiting friend as we walked back up Camden Street towards Trinity Halls. I awoke to see that my new Twitter cover photo was a highly blurred but undeniably delicious photo of said chips. Curry chips, especially cheesy curry chips, are my go-to takeaway order, so to stumble across such a convincing vegan version felt like something special. I ordered them again another night, still good, but still drunken. I needed to try more of their menu, and I needed to try it sober.

Next I went for the phillycheese steak sandwich and garlic-mayo chips, both amazing.

By this point, I was a loud and proud McGuinness obsessive.

Their menu, brilliantly extensive, is not solely vegan. In fact, it is not even primarily so. Whilst their self-professed “mission”: to be “the first chipper to cater to vegan customers”, has been overwhelmingly successful, with over 20 varied meat-free options, they also fulfill the traditional takeaway credentials. Burgers, pizzas, chips, kebabs, and fried chicken, they’ve got the lot.

Despite their status, voted in the top five of Dublin chippers

by Totally Dublin in 2018,

“

Their menu, brilliantly extensive, is not solely vegan

their prices remain startlingly reasonable. For just €9 you can pick up a twelve-inch pizza, a drink, and a dip. The “McGuiness combo”, a highly recommendable first order, provides onion rings, chicken nuggets, and a battered sausage (all vegan) for just €3.50.

I’d never used one of those food delivery apps, the UberEats and JustEat types, until I met McGuiness’s. Despite their €15 minimum requirement for delivery, perhaps just a Covid-19 measure, I found no difficulty convincing myself that it was worth it, and ordered myself the combo, the seitan cheese chips, and tofu chunks straight to my doorstep. I was right, of course; it was undeniably worth it.

I love McGuiness’s so much that for my birthday, all I asked for was to have it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That reminds me: their sole fault in my eyes is their 5pm opening time. Whilst they remain open late into the night, I wish that I could pop in for lunch, and if I ever felt so inclined, breakfast. I once sat with friends in Huck’s, a bar directly opposite, and found myself gazing lovingly into the McGuiness storefront, my mouth-watering and longing for 5pm to come. A family-run business of 18 years, the welcome is warm and the food swiftly produced. They don’t know me by name, as I said I haven’t even been that often, but I love them. I never thought I’d find myself writing an ode to a takeaway chipper, but here I am, and it feels so right. I want to scream it to the world, “I love you McGuinesses’s!”

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Tuesday 29 September | TRINITY NEWS

Queer Hearts of Dublin Ruth McGann speaks to Niamh Barry about her photography project that aims to showcase intersectionality and diversity in the Queer community

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uring August 2020, aspiring film photographer and videographer Niamh Barry posted a series of photographs to her Instagram account (@ narryphotographyvids), entitled Queer Hearts of Dublin. The project aims to reflect the vibrant queer community in Dublin in a diverse and inclusive manner.

Barry, aged 22, photographed 15 queer young people from an array of backgrounds, including a selfportrait as the final shot.

With a keen interest in videography from an early age, Barry admits she had always preferred the medium to photography: “I just didn’t connect with it as much as I did with video. I always kind of saw it as this really stringent thing.”

That was until a friend posted a photo from a disposable camera to their Instagram account just over a year ago and she thought “that’s really cool,I love film, I love the way it looks.” A trip to Canada shortly afterwards introduced her to a new style of photography. “I really got into street photography over there, that’s kind of mainly what I do.” Barry emphasised how joining the DU Photography Association (DUPA) boosted her confidence as a photographer.

“It was really nice to be around people who also took photos because [I] felt embarrassed about it.” Having built her confidence and found a style that works for her, she was ready to take on a new project.

Having been away from Dublin for seven months, Barry confessed she felt “out of touch with the queer community in

“

Things can overlap, people are oppressed in different ways.

Acknowledge your privilege

Dublin”. Having studied gender, sexuality and intersectionality on an exchange in Boston, Barry was eager to incorporate this into her next project. “In Dublin I feel like the staple queer image is the cis white male...it’s a hegemonic image that we need to reconstruct in our minds.” Hoping to tackle this lack of diverse media representation, Barry wanted to create an intersectional image which accurately reflects the queer community in Dublin. She hopes to offer “an opportunity for people to reconsider what they associate with queerness in Ireland”.

In order to make this vision a reality, certain logistics needed to be considered in accordance with Covid-19 regulations. Barry offers an optimistic insight into how creativity can still thrive, even during a global health crisis.

By ensuring that social distancing and face-covering guidelines were adhered to at all times, the shoot was a safe and successful one. “It was never an issue, everyone just completely understood.”

Along with shooting fellow members of the queer community, Barry made the decision to include a self-portrait. As a queer woman herself, listening to the perspectives of others in the community inspired her to include her own. “It made me realise my own privileges, and I don’t want anything to hold me back anymore.” Including herself in the project meant coming out to her family before it was posted online. “I knew they kind of knew, but I wanted to officially tell them.” She describes the concept of coming out as “an essentialistic way of looking at queerness.” She notes that in order to be openly queer “[one has] to do this thing that straight people don’t have to do”, while also recognising that coming out can be a safety net for some.

The finished project fulfils Barry’s initial vision for diversity and intersectionality.

With perspectives from queer people of different ethnicity and gender, among many other diverse perspectives, the vibrancy and expansiveness of Dublin’s queer community shines through. The experiences of Mimi, a queer woman of colour, resonated profoundly with Barry. “Mimi not only has to deal with coming out...she also has to deal with race issues that I don’t have to deal with.” She again stresses the importance of intersectionality, especially in the queer community. “Things can overlap, people are oppressed in different ways. Acknowledge your privilege.”

This intersectionality is essential in tackling the microand macro-aggressions the queer community in Ireland face on a daily basis. Barry notes that “the fetishization of queer women is so bad and I don’t think people

PHOTO BY NIAMH BARRY

A long-dista the time of C

Brigit Hirsch on how long distance doesn’t necessarily spell disaster for relationships

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are aware of it”. In the caption to her self-portrait, Barry discusses internalised homophobia, which she believes is still present in the community due to these micro-aggressions. “You might come from a really accepting background like me...you still hear those passive-aggressive things.”

Barry stresses the importance of diverse representation in tackling homophobia, at both the micro and macro level. Our current lack thereof is cause for concern. “I’ve never seen a queer person of colour in Irish media.”

She notes again that the image of queerness presented in Irish media is largely homogenous.

“It’s the male identity that’s consistently shown, if it’s shown.

We’re tired of it.” With the recent success of Irish shows like Normal People, Barry is hopeful that more funding will be given to artistic projects, creating new opportunities for diversity.

Barry describes art itself as “a huge tool” for creating acceptance and tackling prejudice in society.

“I think art makes people stop and think, and changes the way they might view something.”

She understands that art can be especially useful in tackling micro-aggressions as “there’s not going to be policies against microaggression, so art is what can change culture”.

The response to the project so far has been “extremely positive”.

Messages of support have been flooding into Barry’s Instagram page, with many thankful to see

“

She describes art itself as “a huge tool” in creating acceptance and tackling prejudice in society. their identity represented. “People were like ‘I’ve never seen this before in Irish culture, let alone queer culture’”. The project will be displayed in an exhibition this autumn at Hen’s Teeth, a gallerystore-diner on Merchant’s Quay.

The gallery told her that “it was such an honour to have it” and waved the space fee. To fund the printing of the photographs, Barry set up a Gofundme page, which reached its target in just a few hours. The surplus raised will go to MASI, a movement of asylum seekers in Ireland seeking to end Direct Provision.

Barry hopes Queer Hearts of Dublin can show people the power of vulnerability. “It’s almost like a gift that someone is being vulnerable with you and they don’t even know you.” She hopes this openness can provide a space for “realising your privileges and listening to the stories of other people”.

istance, long or short, is the defining characteristic of relationships this year. And it’s sort of the worst, even if it’s for our own good. Back in March, I had one week’s notice to clear out my room, get on a plane back to the United States, and leave behind a sloppily-packed storage situation, my Irish friends, and my significant other. No one knew if or when I would return. Five months later, I’m on my way back to Ireland with some thoughts on long-distance relationships. It’s sort of the worst, but it was for my own good.

I’ve lived through the blunt truth: when you’re 5,000 kilometres away from your significant other, a relationship boils down to whether a strong friendship is supporting everything else. Distance shuts down important aspects of dating, like physical attraction and casual quality time. It becomes crystal clear whether you actually enjoy spending time together as a couple, and whether or not you trust each other and want to support one another. At the same time, this becomes more difficult.

I don’t want to sound dramatic, but if the friendship dies, the long-distance relationship dies too. It was evident immediately that texting was not going to feed and water my relationship while I was away. My communication style went retro, and I cannot recommend that approach enough.

If you can channel Rachel and Phoebe-era audio-call vibes, it’s hard to have a bad conversation.

Nothing beats flopping on the couch to catch up on overseas gossip, free of the distraction of looking at your own face on a video call, something which we are all guilty of. I found it especially difficult to stop sending one-line updates to my better half throughout the day. I usually send my thoughts via text without thinking. However, when I was intentionally limiting my texting, the quality of my communication with my significant other improved. Our chats were anticipated, longer, and more meaningful.

I’m not going to pretend that dating from abroad is the same as staying in touch with a friend.

It’s hard to communicate affection in person; stir in a few thousand

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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 29 September

ance relationship in Covid-19

ARTWORK BY DIYA MECHERI FOR TRINITY NEWS

Socially distanced dates

Eva O’Beirne highlights sea swimming as one way to break free of virtual dating

miles and watch my ability to flirt burn. Spontaneous letters and deliberate date nights kept the spark alive, but it wasn’t effortless.

Long distance takes down every sitcom relationship for a reason.

There was a lot of trial and error; plenty of late letters and chocolate bars that melted in the mail which were, nonetheless, delicious. We chose inopportune times to call each other, because a five-hour time difference and irregular work schedules lead to chaos.

When one or both of us needed to cancel our virtual dates, it threw a wrench in our already hardto-schedule relationship, and it sometimes meant we couldn’t catch up properly for a week or two. Continuing the relationship had to be a constant, conscious choice.

Long-distance communication can be emotionally difficult. It’s easy enough to mistake sarcasm, irony, and humour in a text, so misunderstandings are frequent byproducts of chats which aren’t in-person. I often got stuck in my own head about entirely different insignificant details of our relationship simply because there was less of the relationship to think about. Loneliness and doubt crept in when busy weeks came and went without time for a date.

Can I take a minute to shower praise on WhatsApp? This truly is an age of technological miracles.

Free international video and audio calls have been the foundation of our dates for the past 150 days.

“

Long distance takes down every sitcom relationship for a reason

When date night worked out, it was fantastic. We ordered dinner for each other on delivery platforms, sometimes guessing what the other person liked and sometimes planning it ahead of time. Then we would chat, watch a movie on a video call, or go on a virtual tour of the Louvre via Zoom screen-sharing.

While the snatched moments of togetherness were great, these past five months have been defined by space in the relationship. It was desperately lonely at first. I made more time for chatting with friends, but that still left a lot of space for thought. Pent-up reflections on my relationship tumbled to the surface, and it took a few weeks to sort them out. In the meantime, I remembered that I’m an individual with interests and hobbies that admittedly take a backseat when I’m balancing work, study, a relationship, and friendships. Instagram captions always told me that a successful couple consists of two people with individuality and self-knowledge; it requires risking loneliness, even for a few hours a week, to reflect on the relationship and pursue individual goals. Otherwise — and I’ve lived this blunt truth, too — the couple closes in on itself and collapses under the weight of toxic dependence.

I’ve learned that it’s good to be lonely. I believe that is something which many longterm relationship couples forget, because it’s easier to have constant support from someone else. As I return to Dublin, my goal is to make more time for myself, my friends, and my interests. If the friendship that supports my relationship is strong, it will survive that time apart, just like it survived the last five months. So, don’t @ me, Ross; if you feel like you need to go on a break but don’t want to break up, consider adding a metre or two of distance to your relationship instead.

I

t’s been six months since Ireland went into lockdown, and for a lot of us, so did our love lives. The rules of dating became increasingly blurred as we spent more time apart from our crushes and partners. We got a glimpse of how old courtships used to blossom, but instead of sending love letters and poems, chatting on Facetime and sending funny TikToks became the norm. Once restrictions were lifted and the 5km radius extended, the question began to emerge: how are we supposed to date while staying two metres apart?

Accepting someone into your bubble, pod, or household is a major step. It’s scary. It’s a commitment to stay socially responsible not just for yourself, but for each other, in order to stay safe. But how are we supposed to get to that stage if we can’t even hold hands? Fortunately, I have some date ideas that I’ll be sharing over the next while, and you can submit your socially distant dating tales too!

The first date I had during lockdown was like no date I’ve ever been on before.

I’m glad to report that it wasn’t just a simple stroll around my local park.

Instead, I took the plunge, literally, into the Irish Sea. The Irish sea isn’t exactly tropical, but Dublin certainly has some truly beautiful swimming spots. Inspired by influencers like Roz Purcell and James Kavanagh, I had the brainwave to ask my date to go for a socially distant swim and cycle for our first outing post-lockdown.

The checklist is simple: pack a flask of

PHOTO BY LAUREN BOLAND FOR TRINITY NEWS

something hot, your mask, plenty of towels and warm clothes for afterwards, and don’t be afraid to jump in! However, make sure to check the tides and weather beforehand.

My beach of choice was Balscadden Bay in Howth; it’s fairly secluded and safe, and with plenty of cafes and restaurants doing takeaway in the village, you can truly make a day out of it. I’d also recommend bringing your bike or even renting a city bike, as there are some lovely cycling routes around the peninsula. You can make this date even more adventurous by choosing to go at dawn or dusk for some seriously Insta-worthy shots. Going at these times can also ensure less people if you’re worried about crowds.

The date itself felt natural, even though we couldn’t hold hands or kiss goodbye.

Having a unique experience as a first in-person encounter really helped to break the ice, and felt less stuffy than a traditional dinner date. It’s also an experience that never gets old; there’s so many beaches and swimming spots dotted along the East coast. The Vico Baths in Killiney, the Forty Foot in Dun Laoghaire, and Portmarnock Beach are just some of the places that spring to mind. You can impress your date even further by bringing homemade treats or even a full picnic.

Take inspiration from social media to up your picnic game and make a charcuterie or cheese board to share. Just make sure to pick up your litter afterwards!

I highly recommend a day of sociallydistant swimming, cycling and snacking as a first date during these unprecedented times. Although I know that this kind of date isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, it can be a nice palate cleanser. It’s a break from the standard dinner-and-a-movie format that we’re all used to. It’s a chance to show your adventurous side as well as a chance to explore what your local area has to offer.

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Tuesday 29 September | TRINITY NEWS

October horoscopes DU Astro Soc’s Buse Tobin looks at what the stars have in store

ARTWORK BY ZAHRA LOCKETT FOR TRINITY NEWS

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ctober begins with a bang with a full Moon in Aries on the 1st, and Venus enters Virgo on the 2nd. The Mars retrograde in Aries continues throughout the month, and Mercury decides to join Mars in a retrograde that begins on the 13th and ends the 28th. A new Moon in Libra offers a time for love and pleasure, this energy is mimicked when Venus enters Libra on the 27th. Finally, a full Moon in Taurus closes the month on the 31st, injecting the witchy air of Halloween with decadence and material enjoyment.

Aries This is a tough month for you Aries, as your home planet Mars journeys through its retrograde, leaving you tired and unmotivated. Now is not the time for impulsive behaviour, especially after the full moon in Aries passes on the second. Take the time to think things through, however unnatural it may seem to you! Focus on the internal self and establish a strong routine.

This will serve you through the Mercury retrograde from the 13th - sex and secrets will be explored in surprising ways and its a time to tread lightly!

Taurus Things begin well for you, Taurus, as the Sun moves through Libra. Venus sits in Virgo, fellow earth sign, and offers mutual understanding and steady relationships. The Mars retrograde still urges you to move with caution, but this shouldn’t affect your pace of life too much. Instead, your sex life may be tumultuous - try and find the source of your anger before reacting! It is a slow month, and a time to work carefully and methodically, but as the month ends in a full moon in Taurus on the 31st, languish in the feel of your sign!

Gemini A Mercury retrograde in Scorpio speeds through October, perhaps causing tension in your sex life, dear Gemini. Communication may not flow as easily as it usually does, but perhaps it is a time to think about money as Jupiter sits in Capricorn and Venus flows

through Virgo. Hard work will pay off ! You just have to focus long enough for it to take shape.

Cancer If you’re feeling creative, this is a month of beauty, Cancer. Take the time to explore your emotions, as your intuition may not be as strong as usual. Anger may be misplaced, sex may be clumsy, though the moon is settling in signs of love and pleasure on the 16th and the 31st. Allow yourself to move with the energies that be, good things will come!

Leo October brings focus to your work life, as the Sun moves through Virgo. Be aware of your competitive nature - now is not the time to vie for attention as it may go awry! Your love life may increase in intensity but passion may be thwarted in unexpected ways. Don’t be disheartened! The month ends in a full moon in Taurus - get ready for a night of lazy and abundant pleasure.

Virgo Venus settles in your sign, Virgo, allowing you to shine in your romantic and fiscal life. You will feel more attractive and comfortable in your own skin. Intimacy will take time and patience this month, as the Mars retrograde converges with Mercury retrograde, but patience comes easy to you, Virgo.

Creativity will flow beautifully in the latter half of the month, so trust yourself! Your hard work is paying off !

Libra Your season has come, Libra!

Move carefully this month, as balance is precarious.

Secrets are abundant and you may find yourself keeping more than usual. Intimacy may be interrupted or shrouded in secrecy this month, and you may find it harder to take charge.

The new moon in Libra blooms on the 16th, and may show you the true colours of someone in your life. Think carefully before you cast your judgement, things are not what they seem this month.

Scorpio It is an intriguing month for you, dear Scorpio, as Mars’ retrograde sits in Aries and the Sun enters Scorpio on the 22nd, before the retrograde ends

on the 28th. Your relationships need extra care this month, especially against the retrogrades.

Love hangs on a precarious balance, and you need only to grab it. Similarly, a good financial opportunity beckons - but you are the one who must go to it.

Sagittarius Work and family is your focus this month, as Capricorn sits in your home planet of Jupiter.

While you may feel the urge to expand, and feel the contrapments of a strong routine, if you push through you will see the fruits of your labour at the end of the month.

Communication may go awry, but you should be financially steady. If love is what you seek, then wait to the end of the month - Halloween brings a night of laid back revelry.

Capricorn Are you working hard, Capricorn? Your focus sits at work and home too, as Saturn, your home planet, circles Capricorn.

Work hard at the start of the month and then let the month unfurl from a strong foundation - you of course know how much that can help. A craving for romance intensifies after the 24th, and as Venus enters Libra on the 27th, romance is in the air. Try to think less with your head!

Aquarius While you may find this a difficult month in terms of philosophical pursuits, your day-today life will settle into a comfortable routine.

A new romance will similarly descend into a peaceful relationship, with passion building as the month continues.

Difficult secrets may come into light after the 22nd, and you may find financial matters unsteady.

Think about what you want very carefully from the beginning of October to avoid unexpected pitfalls.

Pisces You’ve had an interesting September, Pisces, and October offers a time for introspection. It may be the time to seek outside help for difficult emotional problems, as the Moon explodes in Aries on the first, showering big feelings around. It is also a good time to be creative, to express emotions on paper, especially as your home planet Neptune sits in your sign. Love will flourish after your period of internal work - and as the month closes you’ll be able to breathe a little easier.

ARTWORK BY MÁRTA MENTA CZINKÓCZKY

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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 29 September

What’s on(line) in Dublin Dublin Theatre Festival dublintheatrefestival.ie Until October 11 VHI Virtual Women’s Mini Marathon vhiwomensminimarathon.ie October 1 to October 10 Gaze Film Festival 2020 ifihome.ie September 30 to October 4 Imagining Ireland Online Concert Series nch.ie September 30 and October 3

What’s on(line) in Trinity

Tuesday Smartphone filmmaking workshop, 7pm DU Film Society

Wednesday Panel: Racism in Irish Education, 12pm DU Afro-Carribean Society and The Hist Ents Online Freshers’ Concert, 9pm Trinity Ents Thursday Bressie speaks to Law Soc, 4pm TCD Law Society

What we’re reading

As You Were Elaine Feeney

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Tuesday 29 September | TRINITY NEWS

Ag staidéar ón bhaile: Conas an Ag déanamh cairdis dea-obair a choinneáil foghlaim chumaisc i Comhairle agus leideanna chun tú féin a eagrú agus tú ag obair sa bhaile, ó Niamh Ní Dhubhaigh Tá an t-alt seo scríofa i gcanúint Uladh.

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e bliain acadúil úr ag teannadh linn, tá sé in am dúinn díriú isteach ar an aistriú ó lá oibre sa choláiste go lá ag foghlaim sa bhaile. Bhí an t-athrú go foghlaim ar líne deacair dúshlánach do roinnt daoine nuair a d’fhill muid abhaile i Mí Márta de bharr an choróinvíris.

Go minic, b’fhearr liom cúrsaí a ghlacadh go réidh agus an obair dheacair a sheachaint nuair atá mé sa bhaile. Seo roinnt comhairle a chabhraíonn liom féin mé féin a eagrú. Tá súil agam go cuideoidh sé leat lán do chumais a bhaint amach agus tú ag staidéar ón bhaile.

Ar an chéad dul síos, tá sé fíorthábhachtach go bhfuil gnáthamh laethúil i bhfeidhm agat. An deacaracht is coitianta a bhíonn ag scoláirí ná a n-aird a dhíriú ar a gcuid oibre agus iad ag staidéir sa bhaile. Socraigh gan a thuilleadh moille a dhéanamh agus fan faoi dhaoirse na gcorr.

Bódhrófar tú leis an chomhairle seo, ach samhlaigh gur lá oibre atá ann. Déan iarracht múscailt ag an am céanna gach maidin. Bíodh cith agat, agus faigh réidh don lá. Cur tús leis an obair ag an am céanna chomh maith, 9 r.n., mar shampla. Bíodh briseadh beag agat gach 45 nóiméad agus cupán caife ag a 11. Coinnigh ag obair leat agus déan cinnte go bhfuil lón breá blasta ullmhaithe agat chun tú féin a spreagadh.

Rachadh sé chun do thairbhe

liosta a chur le chéile leis na tascanna atá le déanamh agat, agus iad a bhriseadh síos. Cuir tic in aice leis an tasc nuair atá sé críochnaithe agat. Tabharfaidh seo spreagadh duit lán do chumais a bhaint amach, agus cuideoidh sé leat nuair atá na mílte dualgas agat. Éirigh as an obair ag a cúig a chlog, agus bíodh seans agat d’anáil a tharraingt arís. Ní dhéanfaidh sé aon mhaitheas duit an choinneal airneáin a chaitheamh agus a bheith ag obair ó dhubh go dubh.

Déan cinnte go bhfuil spás oibre oiriúnach agat nuair atá tú ag obair. Bí ag obair ag deasc nó ag tábla. Ná lig do do leaba tú a mhealladh, fiú má tá sé cluthar agus i bhfad níos compordaí ná do dheasc agus do chathaoir sclóine. Muna féidir leat staidéar i do sheomra leapa gan d’aird a choinneáil ar an obair, bog go dtí an chistin, nó spás eile sa teach.

Iarr ar do theaghlach gan a bheith ag cur isteach ort i rith d’uaireanta oibre. Anuas ar sin, smaoineamh maith atá ann a bheith cinnte go bhfuil gach rud atá de dhíth ort ar do dheasc ionas go mbeidh tú go hiomlán dírithe ar an obair.

Má tá rang agat ar Zoom, nós maith atá ann do cheamara a chur ar siúl. Tabharfaidh seo tuilleadh freagrachta duit d’aird a dhíriú ar an obair, gan a bheith ag brionglóideach nó ag falsóireacht ar d’fhón póca. B’fhéidir gur cheart duit d’fhón a chur ar mhód eitleáin, nó i seomra eile ionas nach n-imíonn do smaointe ar fán i rith na hoibre.

Faigh amach cén stíl foghlama atá oiriúnach duitse. Cé nach bhfuil foghlaim ar líne oiriúnach do chách, tá modhanna inar féidir linn dul i dtaithí leis. B’fhéidir gur chóir duit nótaí a ghlacadh ó lámh agus tú ag léamh, nó ag freastal ar rang ar Zoom. Is féidir leat físeáin a choiméad ar YouTube chun cuidiú leat an topaic a thuigmheáil.

Déan spléach-chártaí nó meabhairmhapaí chun an t-eolas a daingniú i d’intinn. Seol téacs chuig do chairde ar do chúrsa má

tá mearbhall ort, agus ná bíodh imní ort ríomhphost a sheoladh chuig do léachtóir. Tá muintir an Choláiste ann chun cuidiú leat, fiú muna bhfuil tú ag freastal air go laethúil. Ná bíodh aon leisce ort teagmháil a dhéanamh leo agus tú sa bhaile.

Caithfear a rá go mbíonn meas agam orm féin nuair a thuigtear dom go bhfuil obair mhaith curtha díom. Cé nach mbíonn an obair i gcónaí taitneamhach nó spreagúil, go háirithe agus muid ag foghlaim ón bhaile, is fíor an scéal é gur cuid den saol anois é leis an choróinvíreas inár measc. Tá súil agam go mbainfidh tú triail as cuid de na leideanna thuas. Is am crua é gan dabht ar bith. Coinnígí do mhisneach, déan do sheacht ndícheall, agus beidh tú i gceart.

Go n-éirí leat!

Gluais (Glossary) • Ag teannadh linn - Drawing closer • Aistriú - Transition • Lán do chumais a bhaint amach To reach your potential • Gnáthamh laethúil - Daily routine • Gan a thuilleadh moille a dhéanamh - Not to procrastinate any longer • Fan faoi dhaoirse na gcorr - Keep your nose to the grindstone • Bódhrófar tú - You will be deafened • Rachadh sé chun do thairbhe - It would be to your advantage • Nuair atá seacht gcúramaí an tsléibhe ort - When you’re up to your eyeballs • D’anáil a tharraingt arís - To catch your breath • An choinneal airneáin a chaitheamh - To burn the midnight oil • A mhealladh - to entice • Cluthar - Cosy • Ag falsóireacht - Dossing • Ar fán - astray • Spléach-chártaí - Flashcards • Meabhairmhapaí - Mindmaps • Daingnigh - Consolidate

Molann Yu Hua Chaomhánach conas cairdis nua a spreagadh nuair atá formhór na múinteoireachta á dhéanamh ar líne

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é hiad ár slánaitheoirí agus muid in am an ghátair, ag streachailt leis an mbrú nó ag mothú uaighnigh i lár na dianghlasála? Ó m’eispéireas féin, is iad ár gcairde atá ann, ag tabhairt tacaíochta síoraí dúinn.

Níl lá dá dtéann thart nach bhfuil mé i dteagmháil le mo chairde, ach go háirithe le linn na n-amanna gan fasach seo. Táimid ar fad faoi dhraíocht an choróinvíris agus chuaigh gach éinne i ngleic leis i mbealaí difriúla. Ach, go pearsanta, ní fhéadfainn mo shaol a shamhlú gan mo chairde taobh liom, nuair a bhíonn an crú ar an tairne, bíonn siad ann dom. É sin ráite, is iomaí mac léinn a bhíonn ag streachailt cairdis nua a spreagadh, ach go háirithe nuair nach bhfuiltear ag tabhairt faoi léachtanna aghaidh ar aghaidh.

Ní hámháin do mhic léinn céad bhliana, ach do mhic léinn atá ag teacht ar ais tar éis saoire ó léachtaí chomh maith. Moltar do dhaoine páirt a ghlacadh i ngach saghas cumainn, fiú agus iad ar súil ar líne trí Zoom agus araile, agus iarracht a dhéanamh bogadh as a gcriosanna compoird. Déanaigí iarracht freastal ar na hócáidí fíorúla a chuirtear ar siúl do Sheachtain na bhFreisear, amhlail is gur gnáth-bhliain a bhí ann. Tuigim nach bhfuil spéis ag gach duine sa dhíospóireacht ach cuireann an ‘Philosophical Society’ agus an ‘Historical Society’ comórtas díospóireachta ar súil gach bliain do mhic léinn céad bhliana dárbh ainm ‘Maidens.’ Is slí iontach í seo cairde a dhéanamh ar feadh an tsaoil. Ní bheidh taithí díospóireachta ag gach éinne sa chomórtas. Dar leis an ‘Hist’ is comórtas é “do dhíospóirí coláiste céaduaire” agus gur babhtaí díospóireachta “réchúiseach” atá i gceist, leis an mbéim “ar an gceird a fhoghlaim” in atmaisféar “compórdach” le “spraoi” a spreagadh. Mar sin, is bealach iontach é bualadh le daoine nua atá sa chor céanna leat féin agus rud éigin nua a eispéiriú le chéile.

Is tamaill fada í ceithre nó cúig bhliain nuair nach bhfuil aithne agat ar do phiaraí. Ná bíodh eagla ort grúpa Facebook nó Whatsapp

a chruthú don bhliain agus aithne a chur ar a chéile. Beidh an-fonn ar gach éinne cairde a dhéanamh agus luí isteach leis an mbliain.

Bheadh gach duine buíoch as agus bheadh sibh in ann cabhair a thabhairt dá chéile má thagann aon fhadhbanna chun cinn le linn na bliana. Mura bhfuil tú compórdach é sin a dhéanamh, déan teagmháil leis an ionadaí ranga agus d’fhéadfadh sé/sí cúpla gníomhaíocht a phleanáil daoibh.

Nuair a éiríonn tú compórdach le daoine sa bhliain is féidir bualadh leo do chaifé le hachar sóisialta

“

Beidh anfonn ar gach éinne cairde a dhéanamh agus luí isteach leis an mbliain

11

TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 29 September

Siamsaíocht oíche an mhac s nua nuair atá i mbun sa Choláiste léinn - Eachtraí trí Ghaeilge Luann Chloe Ní Ghríofa na háiteanna is fearr do Ghaeilge a cleachtadh mar mhac léinn timpeall na cathrach agus fíorúla freisin

B ARTWORK BY MARIA PANAGOS FOR TRINITY NEWS.

eataraibh. Anuas air sin, beidh ‘DU Food and Drink’ ag eagrú go leor gníomhaíochtaí trí Zoom le linn na bliana agus is deis iontach í seo idirghníomhaigh le daoine nach bhfuil sa chúrsa céanna leatsa agus taitneamh a bhaint as réimse leathan ócáidí.

Ceapaim go bhfuil sé tábhachtach glacadh leis go mbeidh ort aghaidh a thabhairt ar dhúshláin agus go mbeidh eagla ort uaireanta roimh chairde a dhéanamh. Is féidir dul i ngleic leis an imní trí do chuid ionchais a laghdú beagáinín. Ní gá a bheith cairde le gach uile duine, má éiríonn leat fiú cúpla cara a dhéanamh, is rath é sin. Beidh sé míchompordach ar dtús ach, de réir a chéile, éireoidh sé níos éasca. Nuair atá tú sa mheon go mbeidh sé dúshlánach anois is arís, beidh an lámh in uachtar agat roimh réidh.

Mar fhocal scoir, ba mhaith liom a rá go bhfuil sé tabhachtach a bheith foighneach. Ní bheidh cairde agat thar oíche. Ná cailligí dóchas mura n-éiríonn leat grúpa a aimsiú láithreach bonn. Tá gach duine sa suíomh céanna, ag iarraidh cairde nua a dhéanamh.

Lean oraibh ag déanamh iarrachta agus i gceann cúpla mí beidh dul chun cinn iontach déanta agaibh.

Gluais (Glossary) • In am an ghátair - in time of need • I lár na dianghlasála - in the middle of lockdown • Síoraí - eternal • Níl lá dá dtéann thart - not a day goes by • Le linn na n-amanna gan fasach seo - during these unprecedented times • Nuair a bhíonn an crú sa tairne when push comes to shove • Saoire ó léachtaí - off-books • Agus araile - et cetera • Criosanna compoird - comfort zones • Ócáidí fíorúil - virtual events • Seachtain na bhFreisear Fresher’s Week • An cheird a fhoghlaim - learn the ropes • Sa chor céanna - in the same boat • Piaraí - peers • Luí isteach le - fit in • Ionadaí ranga - Class representative • Achar sóisialta - social distance • Glacadh - accept • Dul i ngleic - tackle • Ionchais - expectation • Is rath é sin - that’s a success • An lámh in uachtar - the upperhand • Mar fhocal scoir - to conclude • Láithreach bonn - instantly

’fhéidir go bhfuil tú tar éis snas a chur ar do chuid scileanna gaeilge le linn an dianghlásala agus ba mhaith leat é a choimeád suas? Bhuel, tá tú san áit ceart.

Inniu, beimid ag plé na heachtraí trí ghaeilge atá ar fáil do mhic léinn agus conas is féidir leat teacht orthu.

Sa lá atá inniu ann, tá an chuid is mó de na bialainne agus na tí tabhairne is cáilúla trí mheáin an bhéarla, ach, tá roinnt áiteanna de réir caighdéan trí mheáin na gaeilge freisin. Is féidir leat oíche iontach, spraoiúil a chaitheamh le do chairde dílse agus le píosa chultúr caite isteach ann.

Tá bialainne agus tí tabharine le freastalaí ag obair iontu atá in ann píosa gaeilge a labhairt. Molaim daoibh triail a bhaint as do phionta a ordú trí ghaeilge sa, ‘Bar rua’ ar Sráid Clarendon, ‘The Gingerman’ ar Sráid Fenian, ‘The Duke’ ar Sráid an Diúic, ‘The Cobblestone’ ar Margadh na Feirme agus san ‘Amharchlann Halla na Saoirse’ ar Sráid na Mainistreach . Tá gaeilge ag cuid de lucht na hoibre sna háiteanna a luaigh mé thuas. Is sárfhaill é seo an teanga a bhreacadh i do ghnáthshaol gan dabht.

Ní gá dom a rá, is cinnte go mbeidh oíche den chéad scoth agat i ‘gClub Chonradh na Gaeilge’ ar Shráid Fhearcair. Is teach tabhairne é agus ní mór duit gaeilge amháin a labhairt ann. Is deis iontach é do chuid gaeilge labhartha a chleachtadh. Eagraíonn an Cumann Gaelach TCD imeachtaí ann i rith na bliana freisin agus is féidir leat bualadh le daoine eile atá suim acu sa ghaeilge.

Le sin ráite is smaoineamh maith é do shúile a choimead ar na mheáin soisialta atá ag na háiteanna seo maidir le srianta COVID-19.

Bíonn ‘Pop up Gaeltacht’ ar siúl freisin sna tí tabhairne timpeall na tíre agus is féidir leat an eolas ar fad a fháil amach ar an leathanach - ‘Pop up Gaeltacht’ ar Facebook, Twitter agus Instagram. Faraor, cuirtear stop leo faoi láthair na huaire go dtí gur féidir leo bualadh le chéile arís. Mar sin féin, is smaoineamh do-chreidte iad siúd mar tugann siad deis do dhaoine gaeilge a

chleachtadh agus cruthaíonn siad pobal daoine ina bhfuil leas coiteann acu freisin.

Bíodh gurb ea, tá seans nach mbraitheann tú compordach dul amach i sluaite faoi láthair agus mar sin, tá an-chuid roghanna fíorúla ann. Má dhéanann tú cuardach ar ‘Pop up Gaeltacht’ ar facebook tá rogha leathan imeachtaí le feiceáil. Ta leathanach ar Facebook dárbh ainm ‘Pop up Gaeltacht La Jolla agus contae San Diego’.

Tá Pop up Gaeltacht ar Zoom á reachtáil acu go rialta le linn an phaindéim. B’fhéidir go bhféadfá féin agus do chairde oíche a eagrú le bheith páirteach ó chompord do bhaile féin.

Ina theannta sin, b’fhéidir gur mhaith leat cóisir a bheith agat le do chairde agus gach duine a spreagadh chun an Ghaeilge a labhairt ann. Lig an duo ceoil

“

Lig an duo ceoil ‘KNEECAP’ a sheinm ar an ‘aux’ agus is cinnte go mbeidh oíche sár-mhaith agat

‘KNEECAP’ a sheinm ar an ‘aux’ agus is cinnte go mbeidh oíche sármhaith agat. Tá cúpla cluichí boird as gaeilge ar fáil sa ‘Siopa Leabhar’ cosúil le Monopoly agus Scrabble ina measc. Is bealach iontach é cluiche boird as gaeilge a imirt agus cúpla cannaí a bheith agat leis na leaids chun do chuid gaeilge a chleachtadh.

Sa deireadh thiar, is léir go bhfuil roinnt deiseanna ar fáil duit chun do chuid gaeilge labhartha a chleachtadh trí mheáin spraoiúila.

Más rud é go bhfuil tú tar éis an teanga a phiocadh suas le déanaí nó fiú, má tá tú líofa, tá siamsaíocht oíche ann a oireann do riachtanais.

Gluais (Glossary) • snas a chur ar - to polish up on something • dianghlásala - lockdown • sa lá atá inniu ann - presently / nowadays • trí mheáin na ghaeilge - through the medium of Irish • cairde dílse - best friends • lucht na hoibre - workers • sárfhaill - golden opportunity • a bhreacadh - to sprinkle • is deis iontach é - it is a great opportunity • gaeilge labhartha - spoken irish • le sin ráite - with that said • faraor - unfortunately • bíodh gurb ea - that being so • fíorúla - virtual • duine a spreagadh - to encourage/incentivise people • sa deireadh thiar - at last • líofa - fluent • A oireann do riachtanais - to suit your needs

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Tuesday 29 September | TRINITY NEWS

ARTWORK BY PATRICK BYRNE FOR TRINITY NEWS

The radical message behind community fridges Healthy food is not often treated as a human right, but it should be, writes Ella Walsh

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n early June, my lockdownenforced frustration lifted somewhat when my friend sent me an Instagram post

by A New World in Our Hearts (@iohnyc), the NYC-based anarchist collective. The picture was of a community fridge, one of what would become a 30+ strong network of fridges offering free food across the city. In the hopes of starting one in Washington Heights, my friend and I connected with around 15 other volunteers in the area through WhatsApp. We eventually secured a donated fridge and a host to lend us an outlet, Cafeteria Serie 57, a deli run by Tony Alvarez, and the Uptown Fridge (@ theuptownfridge) was born. Like its predecessors, the fridge had a dual mission: to reduce food waste by rescuing excess food and to help those dealing with food insecurity.

I spent a lot of time sitting at home in Washington Heights, in northern Manhattan, reading one grim news story after another. I learned that the experience of the pandemic differed largely based on race and class: while many middle and upper-income people were able to stay comfortable and safe at home, a predominantly non-white, low-income segment of the population risked infection at “essential” jobs or tried to survive on a paltry government stimulus check. These vastly different experiences also showed up in food. My social media feeds were flooded with images of attempted sourdough creations and elaborate dishes, but I also saw posts asking to donate to someone’s Venmo so they could buy groceries.

And so, our fridge had a radical vision. Unlike government-run or non-profit aid programs, it doesn’t demand anything from the people it serves. There is no form to fill out before you can access the food, no need for ID, or hairpulling government bureaucracy, or to prove that you’re “deserving” of aid. As one of the organizers, Aditi Varshneya, eloquently stated in an interview: “We don’t see people’s poverty as an individual problem; it’s a societal problem, because we live in a society… that benefits some at the expense of the many,” Although “mutual aid” can

sound like a fancy way to say “charity”, it’s actually rooted in radical organization theory.

The anarchist philosopher Peter Kropotkin popularized the term in his 1902 essay collection, Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution , which argues that cooperation, not competition, was the driving mechanism behind evolution.

During the pandemic, many turned to mutual aid, not businesses or government help, for survival. Grassroots initiatives popped up around the city with everything from delivering groceries to at-risk neighbors to performing wellness checks.

Mutual aid can draw skepticism because it doesn’t align

“

W e’re tempted to think: won’t people take advantage of free stuff somehow?

with what we’ve been taught.

We’re tempted to think: won’t people take advantage of free stuff somehow? After a video of the fridge was posted on Youtube, I read many comments along the lines of “it’s not long before the fridge gets stolen” or “just wait till someone pisses in it”.

It’s a uniquely capitalist mindset that teaches us this behavioural framework.

It’s been two and a half months since the fridge was set up, and it is still standing proud, free of piss. Organizers from across the city visit daily to drop off fresh produce that would otherwise have gone to waste. The organizers take pride in the work they do because they see the impact of it first-hand: people getting excited by the fresh produce. kids and mothers taking a gallon of milk that would’ve gone in the trash.

On the side of the Uptown Fridge it says, in Spanish, la comunidad se cuida y se ama – the community takes care of and loves itself. It’s a reminder of the fridge’s purpose, and to remember that food and community solidarity go hand in hand.

Life after sexual assault Relearning to love oneself after trauma is scary, but it doesn’t have to be done alone.

Anonymous

I

This article contains discussion of sexual assault. t was over a year after my assault that I finally had sex again. At first, it didn’t matter that I was in a loving relationship full of trust and goodness, both of which I had long denied myself. It didn’t matter that I finally felt safe in someone’s arms again — all that mattered was that someone was using my body, and in a matter of seconds I was transported back to a scene I kept reliving. I felt cold sweats, as if waking up from a nightmare: the low sinking of an anxious stomach on a night out, the fizz of fear I got if someone was genuinely interested in me.

After I had sex again, I just sat on a park bench staring into the cool, dark space around me and tried to make sense of how I was feeling.

Having sex showed me just how much trauma I still unwillingly harboured — something I will grapple with with varying degrees of success for the rest of my life. Someone will touch you in a particular way or in a particular place; you’ll hear a song or smell a familiar cologne.

The smallest trigger used to send me crumbling, and though it has gotten easier and easier with every full night of sleep I get without thinking of it, people don’t tell you that dealing with your trauma isn’t a linear process. Some days I can’t believe that it had prevented me from having sex with my boyfriend for the first four months

of our relationship. I’m standing at the finish line, having navigated my way through my trauma, scathing, scolding my sleepless nights. I know deep in my heart that I am safe and loved, so it is difficult to not feel ashamed of how long it took for me to trust him. Other days, the thought of holding his hand terrifies me and it’s like I’m trapped in a mindset where anyone who wants to touch me wants to hurt me.

Since my sexual assault, I had several sexual interactions with men, though never sexual intercourse, but the instances were always unimportant and trivial and not especially pleasurable.

I would drink copious amounts of alcohol and go on the hunt for self validation of my general okayness. I had been freefalling since it happened to me; my body was disposable. The sexual acts always served the men I was with, and I ignored my own sexual needs and desires. The idea of my body being pleasured and loved by my boyfriend made my stomach churn — that I deserved to have sex and actually enjoy myself was the hardest thing I’ve had to relearn. I felt guilty to my past self, like I was undermining the way I once felt by slowly but surely recovering. I didn’t even let myself masturbate for months afterwards. I didn’t think I deserved to feel satisfied or enjoy myself. Somebody used my body as a thing and I believed that that was all it was worth.

I’m ready to be appreciated and put back together, but so many fibres of my being were pushing me into isolation and fear at the thought of exposing that vulnerability. Though being in a relationship has been a scary challenge, there is no doubt that it has helped me massively. The main thing I’ve learned is that this is still an issue that I need to address even a year after the

fact. It’s taught me that this is something I need to acknowledge every time I take my clothes off, every time I get kissed by surprise, everytime there is a boundary that needs to be set because of a random discomfort that I can’t put into words. There is authentic love and care behind every moment of physical touch: something I had refused to let myself believe. I am allowed to be desirable and get enjoyment out of that, not fear. I deserve for someone to be gentle with my body — I deserve to have fun. I deserve to want to have sex, to give into my own needs without shame and an anxious knot in my stomach.

My experience has taught me that I can’t navigate my way through my personal trauma alone. Something as simple as an earnest conversation with your friend, or a good listener, or a partner that won’t judge you when you act all funny and then cry, is crucial. My emotional distress isn’t my fault, and the way I have suffered isn’t my fault, so why am I still punishing myself everytime I deny support? Yes, it’s my body and I am finally proud of that, but I didn’t have to spend a year coming to that realisation on my own.

The initial sex was one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever done — revisiting something traumatic I honestly never thought that I would have to experience again. It was exactly how you’d imagine sex after sexual assault to be: heartbreaking and terrifying. The body I had spent so long learning to love again was being used and enjoyed by someone that loved me. No one can prepare you for the feeling of your body not being your own, and the all-encompassing fear of potentially being hurt again.

But I’m so tired of being tired. I deserve to forgive.

13

TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 29 September

Playing it by ear Lucy Jamison talks to Trinity’s musicians about keeping the Dublin music scene alive in the midst of a global pandemic

T

here is nothing quite like a live music experience. Proving its potency time and time again across extraordinary epochs, music has behaved as a contrivance of peace, functioning as a binding force for communities divided by hardship and acting as a shared comfort for all those that have embraced it.

Yet never has it been faced with such a threat as now. Gone seem to be the days of darkened sweatfilled rooms, of teeming arenas or of swarmed fields thronged with eager fans all awaiting the intoxicating phantasmagoria that is a live music experience.

In the absence of live performance, the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated a trend that previously lay dormant amongst modern musicians.

Through necessity, artists have been driven to digital platforms in an attempt to plug the gaping hole left by the virus’s prevention of live performance.

In the throes of a late February storm, shielded in the warmth of drummer Michael Nagle’s sitting room in Connemara, Trinity’s own pioneering alt-rock fourpiece, Banríon, recorded their 11-minute debut EP. While the band themselves will concede that their release of Airport Dads in the midst of a global pandemic was indeed “weird timing”, there is an ironic poignance to be found in the parallels of the ethereal lethargy of Banríon’s candid lyricism and the inertia of a national lockdown that forced us all into what felt like an incessant

“

T he new year brought with it new momentum for Banríon, gaining traction beyond Trinity.

PHOTO BY CLARA TRACEY FOR TRINITY NEWS.

reverie.

For Róisín Ní Hacéid, Banríon’s stellar frontwoman, the conditions of their release “were good and bad because people had time to listen to it but also we didn’t get to do an EP launch or anything”.

The new year brought with it newfound momentum for Banríon, gaining traction beyond the music community within Trinity. Ní Hacéid discusses how the band’s premier EP “was supposed to be partly a stepping stone to getting more gigs.”

There seems to be very little despondency, however, as she goes on to recount the opportunities that arose for Banríon during the course of the pandemic. “It turned out to open things up for collaborations with other Dublin artists and boosted the old confidence in my songwriting.”

When asked how Banríon intends to forge ahead in the wake of government restrictions, Ní Hacéid unveiled the band’s blueprints for a pre-recorded gig that will be streamed as part of Dublin City Culture Night. “It was supposed to be a socially distanced gig but the organisers thought with the new restrictions that it would be safer online.”

Prompted by my further inquiry into her opinions on the viability of socially-distanced gigs, Ní Hacéid goes on to clarify that “outdoor gigs could be great — Dublin’s got loads of parks with bandstands that could be gorgeous spots for a little sociallydistanced gig.”

Singer-songwriter Ellie O’Neill bears a repertoire of intricatelycrafted tracks available to stream via Soundcloud that enchant, beguile and bewitch. For those who have been grappling for consolation over the past few months, O’Neill’s work might just offer you a portion of that much sought-after solace. While pondering the effects of the lockdown, O’Neill remarks: “Before, my life was so busy that I wasn’t actually able to see the separate parts of the work that I needed to do, so when everything

just stopped, I had to say ‘Okay, there’s elements of my music practice that I can do alone’. In a way, it’s a little bit of a clean slate, to build up the things that you want to do before the time comes that you can get back up on stage.”

Touching on social media as a satisfactory medium for artists attempting to compensate for the effects of the pandemic, O’Neill recounts how “during the height of the lockdown, a live stream was a big relief. To have 45 minutes where people were with you — but as soon as you log off, you’re back by yourself. There’s not that sense of community that you’d get after a live show, there’s no space for true interaction and spontaneity. In a time in which people are trying not to be online as well, you wouldn’t want to be spending all of your Saturday nights stuck to a screen”.

O’Neill goes on to contemplate the ambiguous future of live music as she guides me through her thoughtful musings on our current climate: “I don’t want to believe that we won’t get back to where we were because for a lot of people and definitely for me, live shows are the reason we play music. I really do think that that is the heart of music for me; being together in that moment is not something you can replicate online.”

Furthermore, Ronan Friel, a fourth-year Engineering with Management student, speaks on behalf of Blueberry Rogue. A breath of fresh air on the Trinity music scene, it is somewhat ironic that Blueberry Rogue have found their feet in the midst of great uncertainty. The newfangled three-piece, whose sound is unique in its merging of soul, funk, folk and jazz, offers a different perspective on the future of live music. After all, the new normal is all they’ve ever known. “Honestly we think there’s something really nice about it all.

From our experience of watching live streams in particular we find that there’s a really strong feeling of intimacy with the artist when

you’re tuning in. It’s a great chance to get up close without being jostled around in the front row.”

Friel goes on to acknowledge, however, that both live streams and socially-distanced gigs tend to “sacrifice a lot of the atmosphere of a performance by their nature, but sometimes that can work for them and let you connect with the music in a much more effective way”. He came to the conclusion that the efficacy of both mediums depends on what kind of performance it is that’s taking place. “I think the best way to approach each type of performance is to treat them as separate entities”, he stated. Friel notes that “From what we’ve seen so far it looks like sociallydistanced and outdoor shows are the best way to get a taste of that buzz, so if we’re playing a show I think that’s the way to go!”

Blueberry Rogue have wielded the effects of the pandemic to their advantage — quietly determining their innovative sound, they have worked diligently on an EP to be released this October.

Eloise Powell, a second-year English Studies student and resident DJ for the Midnight Disco, who is just as groovy as the event she spearheads, sheds light on the future of one of Dublin’s most adored nights out.

“Like many others, all plans of in-person events have been put on hold for us. We pride ourselves on running intimate parties, whatever the size of the space, and the current pandemic has made this virtually impossible.

We are using this time to educate ourselves and live in hope that when venues reopen their doors, we see interesting parties, with inclusive and diverse representation. We’re looking at outdoor events and for spaces large enough to enable social distancing. Right now, we’re dancing in our rooms but we’ll see you real soon.”

With student musicians working to carve their own way forward, Trinity’s conscious efforts to support its creatives are welcomed with open arms. With the announcement of Trinity Ents’s digital charity concert comes a relief that such supports are beginning to manifest. It seemed to me fitting that Friel ended our conversation with the assertion that “We have so many talented voices in Trinity, who absolutely deserve to be heard”.

Cooking for one on a budget Connie Roughan on eating well without breaking the bank

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ou’ve got no money, little time, and before you sits a big bowl of naked, overcooked pasta. Going away to college can be quite the shock to the system. It can get pretty tempting to just walk down to Apache Pizza and get the student deal three days a week and plug the gaps with bricks of instant noodles.

The biggest obstacle to eating well is, well, a lack of cash. Pints will always be the priority, and with Dublin’s prices, there isn’t money for much else. Although the cheapest way to eat is by cooking from scratch – using basic ingredients like rice, beans and minced meat – that takes a long time, and also is, quite frankly, tiring. But you can dedicate a couple afternoons a week to grocery shopping and bulk cooking, which will save you time later in the week by simply reheating.

Try Dad’s sausage and bean casserole. It takes about 25 minutes.

Ingredients • Sausages, vegetarian or meat • Onion, chopped • Tin of chopped tomatoes • Tin of baked beans • Tin of beans - butter beans are my favourite • Some chunky chopped veg • One or two handfuls of spinach, frozen or fresh • Cumin Method • If you’re using vegetarian sausages, put them in the oven to bake. If you’re using meat sausages, cut them into chunks and fry them for a couple of minutes.

• Add some chopped onion to the pan and wait until it browns.

• Then add the tomatoes, baked beans and the chunky veg and let simmer for 15 minutes.

• And then add the spinach and cumin, give it a couple more minutes and you’re done.

Find yourself a couple more staple recipes to have at your disposal and you're sorted! Remember to give yourself time to shop for groceries and cook, so you can get it over and done with all at once. Try not to get a nutrient deficiency too.

14

Tuesday 29 September | TRINITY NEWS

Elaine Feeney on gaining a generational perspective The As You Were author talks about her debut novel, Ireland’s beauty and its flaws, and labeling generations, writes Roisin Daly

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ust two days after her highly anticipated debut novel was released, I spoke to writer Elaine Feeney about As You Were, a moving story which tells of a woman dealing with a terminal illness within the confinement of her own mind and a hospital ward in Galway city. In between book signings and meetings, Feeney managed to make time for a chat with me. Her kind nature was clear from the get-go, as she regularly checked that the sound was alright and thanked me numerous times for interviewing her, even though it was me who was grateful. No unnecessary formality was required; Feeney is as genuine as her writing.

Feeney is a renowned poet, having published three collections of poetry: Where’s Katie?, The Radio was Gospel, and Rise, prior to the release of her novel.

She has also dabbled in playwriting and has written the drama piece Wrongheaded. Alongside her writing, she teaches creative writing at NUIG and English at St. Jarlath’s College. Hailing from Athenry in Co. Galway, Feeney’s experience growing up in the west of Ireland has heavily influenced her writing. The protagonist SinĂŠad, like Feeney, has an agricultural background and often recounts the time she spent on the farm as a child. Feeney informs me that she wanted to write about “the ruggednessâ€? and “the waywardnessâ€? of the west, and that Irish novelist Mike McCormack’s influence was a big part of this, outlining the “aesthetic landscapeâ€? as a powerful source of inspiration.

Setting the novel in Galway, though Feeney deems it “ambi-

tious� to build a full book around a city that small, contributed to the sense of authentic Irishness which can be traced throughout.

The references to pre-Christian Irish myths added to this. In the introductory chapter, which is titled Piseogs, the protagonist SinĂŠad informs us that the only living thing she’s spoken about her illness to is a magpie. Throughout the novel, SinĂŠad makes references to this magpie and the superstition surrounding magpies, emphasising how the solitary bird was emblematic of her pending sorrow. When speaking to Feeney about this trope’s involvement and the inclusion of this trope in the novel, she explains that she finds this set of ancient Irish beliefs “colourfulâ€? and “consoling...

SinĂŠad’s back is to the wall,â€? she says, and “wherever she can get solaceâ€? she should take it, and if that means saluting a magpie, let it be so. Feeney was adamant on conveying Piseogs as a “positive cultural thingâ€? and underlining the beauty in how many people in Ireland, especially in rural areas like the west, “don’t let goâ€? of the past. She discusses how it’s almost a characteristic tendency of Irish people as a group to “hold on to thingsâ€?. “We respect so much of pagan Ireland,â€? she remarks. “Even when Christianity came into Ireland, [pagan beliefs] never crept away.â€?

Feeney was very close to her grandmothers growing up, and this played a role in her decision to integrate Irish folklore and the character Margaret Rose, one of the two women SinĂŠad becomes close

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with in the hospital ward, into the story. “Margaret Rose was influenced by my urban granny,� she says, while speaking about both her “urban� and “rural� grandmothers’ influence. She describes her “urban granny� as a matriarch who would have “planned the moon landing,� and Margaret Rose, who manages to run her household from a hospital bed on a gold Nokia phone, also fits this description.

While writing the novel, Feeney was determined to portray Irish mothers as the strong compassionate women they are. “We’re feminists until it comes to our own mothers,â€? she states. “We put them on pedestals they can’t live up to.â€? Feeney also felt it was important that the three main female characters represented different generations. The hospital space is a place where SinĂŠad can “meet women she wouldn’t normally meetâ€?. Feeney affirms that we should never be dismissive of the generations that have come before or after us: “The old can guide the young, the young can guide the old.â€? At a time when generations are divided into categories, it can be easy to fall into the trap of distancing ourselves from other generations. Feeney discusses how generations are “reduced to labels’’ in the media, which she feels is a “reductiveâ€? and “horrendous thingâ€? that “doesn’t do any generations any favoursâ€?.

Another reason why we may feel far away from

previous generations in Ireland specifically is because of the rapid pace Ireland has evolved at in recent years. “My generation has moved furthest from my mother’sâ€?, Feeney notes, musing how less than 60 years ago, Ireland was a “whole other realmâ€? in comparison to the Ireland we live in today, a place where contraception wasn’t legalised, where education wasn’t very accessible, and where it was unusual for women to go to college. The elderly character Jane, who suffers from dementia, “grew up in a time when Ireland was still conservative.â€? During the novel, Jane tells SinĂŠad and Margaret Rose a story about her friend, Anne, who went to a convent to “serve out her time for the sin of sexâ€?, as an infuriated SinĂŠad puts it. Jane also confesses that she was in love with Anne, and of course same-sex relations were also not tolerated by society back then. It’s chilling to see how the Catholic Church’s mindset was so deeply rooted into the behaviour of people of Ireland at the time, and how so much hardship festered from this toxic conditioning.

Feeney proposes that the shame that was forced upon earlier generations still haunts us today. She speaks about how there’s a sense of “shame on a national level and on an individual levelâ€? in Ireland, and that Irish people are inclined to keep things to themselves. “There’s a discomfort around expressing vulnerability in Ireland,â€? she says. “People are not giving themselves permission to be free.â€? The stigma attached to speaking out about one’s issues is perhaps what prompts SinĂŠad to keep her illness a secret from her husband, as, to her, it seemed like a “dreadfully selfish thing to do to a personâ€?. Sinead’s father definitely reinforced this way of thinking.

Throughout the novel, we hear the voice of SinĂŠad’s father in her thoughts, reminding her that she’s useless and weak. SinĂŠad’s father serves as the archetypical Irish father figure, always telling his children that they’re too soft. “Humans never escape the voices of childhood,â€? Feeney remarks.

The impact that SinÊad’s father has had on her sense of self-worth proves that the things we are told growing up follow us into our adult lives.

However, Feeney doesn’t see SinĂŠad’s decision to keep her secret to herself as an entirely negative thing. “It’s a choice she’s made,â€? she states. While this clandestinity is bound to take its toll on her mental health, SinĂŠad manifests the autonomy to maintain ownership over her secret.

Feeney observes that she’s different to SinÊad in that she’s much

more open, yet she’s fascinated by a person’s ability to be self-contained. “She’s very secretive,� she says. “I’m interested in people who can internalise their pain.�

Feeney’s also intrigued by the concept of individualism. Speaking about life, she says, “you enter it on your own and leave it on your own, and that’s okay.� Feeney goes on to explain how we’ve “woken up in� a meritocratic society, in which ideas surrounding independence and personal strength have become somewhat trendy.

While Feeney believes that this is a positive philosophy, people still need each other at the end of the day. “You can’t live your best life from a hospital bed,� she remarks.

Her individualistic views on life were, in some ways, influenced by modernist writer Virginia Woolf. At the beginning of the book, there’s a quote from Woolf ’s essay, On Being Ill, in which she concludes that “human beings do not go hand in hand through lifeâ€? and “like it better so.â€? Feeney demonstrates this idea through the protagonist SinĂŠad, who comfortably governs her own life.

The Irish author employs features of modernism in her writing. In the novel, she adopts the stream of consciousness technique to convey SinĂŠad’s inner state. “The frantic nature of the languageâ€? reflects SinĂŠad’s troubled mind and the devastation she has found herself in. The novel also encompasses a number of lists, including lists of SinĂŠad’s Google searches. Feeney states that she wanted the Google searches to be “as odd as what SinĂŠad googlesâ€? and to “reflect the contemporary worldâ€? in which we “spend hours scrolling through lifeâ€?. Feeney also discusses how she decided to include time shifts in the novel as opposed to writing in a chronological order as she personally feels quite “anti-chronologyâ€?. “Humans don’t live in that way,â€? she remarks. The use of an unconventional form and the shift in focus from society as a whole to the individual allows us to observe a modernist approach transpire within the sphere of contemporary Ireland.

Feeney and I discuss how it’s a great time to be a female writer in Ireland as contemporary Irish female writers, such as Sally Rooney and Naoise Dolan, have “generated an interest in Irish women’s writing� and put “Irish women on the map�. While Ireland is certainly not entirely free of sexism, the Ireland we live in today is not the place it was 60 years ago.

Feeney feels that “it’s about time we started to have open conversations� about the issues women are faced with, and she exhibits this desire to do so in As You Were. “It’s a time when Irish women are starting to speak out,� Feeney remarks. It’s fair to say that what it means to be a woman in Ireland has changed, and today, Irish women’s voices are more powerful than ever.

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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 29 September

The uncertainty of campus living Caoimhe Sweeney asks: Is Trinity’s on -campus accomodation worth it this year?

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ack to school season is well and truly with us.

School uniforms have been dug out of wardrobes, and lunch boxes and school bags are full to the brim. Third-level students will be heading back to college at the end of September, and some students will be moving into on-campus accommodation. New restrictions have been introduced to curb the spread of Covid-19, which include no overnight guests, no parties and more hygiene inspections of the common areas. I caught up with Aoibhín Powell, a fourthyear Human Health and Disease student, and Marie Bäumer, a final year in European Studies.

Both prospective Goldsmith Hall residents, they discussed their expectations of the coming year in the on-campus accommodation.

Powell says she was “over the moon� when she got the offer. The previous week, she had been at a flat viewing with over 70 people in attendance, including families and

working professionals. Bäumer was rejected in the first round of offers. She wasn’t expecting much from the second round, but was pleasantly relieved when she was offered a room a few weeks later.

When asked why they applied to rooms, both Bäumer and Powell mention the advantageous location and the practicality of not having to use public transport when it is currently recommended by the government to avoid it.

Bäumer was on Erasmus last year, so she didn’t have plans regarding accommodation other than applying for rooms. She adds that as an international student, finding accommodation from abroad is a greater challenge.

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While talking about the new regulations that have been introduced, in light of the current circumstances, Bäumer says she “wasn’t surprisedâ€? by the new rules. “You can’t be ambivalent at the moment [...], you can’t have a wait-and-see attitudeâ€?. Strict rules were set in place by the Accommodation Office when the rooms were offered. Powell is also considerate when asked about the new rules, though perhaps more critical, saying that it would be nice to have small gatherings with friends. “It hasn’t been made clear if we can have a small number of people over.â€? The current restrictions allow gatherings of up to six people from three households.

Although Powell is not entirely happy with the new restrictions, she understands the need for rules during this time.

Covid-19 has changed student life and will continue to do so for the time being. Bäumer realises that she is coming back to a “completely changedâ€? college. Although it’s hard for her to imagine a version of life in Trinity that includes social distancing, she says that as we’ve lived with Covid-19 for six months, we’ve become used to restrictions and rules. Powell expects to find herself in the library more often, as her social life is bound to be dampened down by the rules. However, when asked

about potential fears in regards to expanding their bubbles, the girls didn’t seem too worried.

Powell is unfazed and says it was inevitable that she would have to return to Dublin to complete her fourth year. Bäumer seems more uncertain. “As of yet, we don’t know who we are sharing our flat with. You don’t know what their attitude towards the restrictions will be.â€?

Despite various challenges this year, Powell and Bäumer are cautiously optimistic about the year ahead. Powell says she’s “excited to see how the year plays out... hoping and praying nothing goes wrong.â€? Bäumer is worried that there could be a repeat of the previous academic year, in which students will be forced to move

Breaking into a society: now and then Ciara Cassidy discusses the new challenges of joining a society during Covid-19

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agree: overcoming the difficulty of integration means actively participating in the array of events that societies provide us with. O’Riordan says that “it’s a nice feeling when you begin to recognise the same people attending the events and begin to catch up with them on a regular basis. You start to feel like you are a part of something and that others enjoy your company as much as you enjoy theirs!�

It’s the resilience to continue attending social events that leads to the best experiences, such as those enjoyed by Martin Emsens, who spoke about his experience joining the Global Development Society as the Events Officer. “Integrating a team which I didn’t know very well was surprisingly smooth, being together in a committee that carries a project really breaks the barriers. I’m very glad I got to know all these people who I probably wouldn’t have met otherwise.�

However, the challenges brought about by the pandemic have created new obstacles for prospective society members.

For instance, the University Philosophical Society (The Phil) plans to have more intimate, daytime and non-alcoholic events, which has the potential to create a more intimidating environment

for newcomers. Additionally, many societies, such as the College Historical Society (The Hist), plan to move to a hybrid online/ offline platform for many of their meetings, which might not compare to a large social gathering.

In spite of these doubts, current Trinity students encourage freshers not to lose faith. Emsens remains optimistic about the coming year: “I think this pandemic is a great moment to join a society as social events will be rarer, a society is a perfect way to interact with people!� Equally, O’Riordan highlights that the importance of joining a society has not lessened in the face of Covid-19. “In these strange times it is more important than ever to be connected to others, albeit in a virtual or in a socially distanced way, [...] it will undoubtedly be more challenging to socialise and network with the Covid-19 restrictions in place – therefore joining a society is the best place to start to meet new people in a safe environment and perhaps even make friends for life.�

In any case, all of the interviewees advise incoming students to keep attending society events, whether or not they appear to be less inspiring than those held in previous years. By not attending society events, we are not only preventing societies from

fulfilling their purpose of creating friendships and social networks, but also we are wasting the efforts of those who have done so much to keep them alive during the pandemic.

So it appears that joining a new society will always seem hard, whether the problem is a personal fear or the new shared challenge of a pandemic. Fears of not being included, and the difficulties therein, more often than not come from the individual. For instance, de Bellefroid’s worries about language were quickly absolved in the social setting, where her fears proved to be no real barrier in the face of a shared love of water sports. Likewise, non-drinkers will be excited by the prospect of having non-alcoholic social events, where before an admittance of sobriety may have seemed an obstacle to overcome.

Whatever fears you may have of joining a society, you will find the answer lies in throwing yourself in head first - if only to find the problem, be that a problem of integration or the problem of Covid-19, is not a problem at all.

Acknowledge the shared difficulty of socialising during a pandemic, and what will always shine through is the benefit of meeting those who share your passion. One thing that will not change is the strength of a relationship forged out of this shared passion, even with limited face-to-face contact.

ARTWORK BY JACK SMYTH FOR TRINITY NEWS

longside all the other perks of joining a society, one of the most compelling reasons to join is to meet like-minded people and make friends. Speaking to Trinity News, Trinity students from second year and above have shared their experiences of how they got involved in a society, the difficulties they faced with inclusion, and how they overcame this. By reflecting upon their experiences, incoming students who want to get involved in a society during these difficult times can perhaps stand on the shoulders of current society members’ advice, and get as close as possible under the circumstances to the ordinary university experience the rest of us have enjoyed so far.

Generally, the biggest challenge that students face when they first join a society is overcoming the anxiety of introducing themselves

and making a good impression to a group of strangers. When interviewed about her experiences with the French Society, Sophie O’Riordan, confirms that “it is definitely quite daunting and intimidating attending a society event for the first time, especially when you don’t know anyone.

It feels like the very first day of school all over again.� Despite the initial unease, O’Riordan clearly found her place within the society, assuming the position of Language Officer in her second year, and is now the Chair for this coming year.

She stresses that “it’s important to remember that you are not the only one that feels this fear – lots of others are also new, or from a different country and are also facing these initial challenges!�

Indeed, current Kite Officer of the Wind and Wake society, Josephine de Bellefroid, echoes O’Riordan when she thinks back to joining the society in first year.

De Bellefroid agrees that “it is always more challenging when you don’t know anyone especially for me, not being 100% fluent in English.�

Naturally, societies would not be as successful as we know them to be if this nervousness was not shared by most new members within all their respective clubs.

Students from various groups all

out of campus accommodation without adequate notice. However, she also notes that College was criticised heavily for that.

She’s hoping that they have a more detailed plan if cases emerge within accommodation. Bäumer sympathises with those who didn’t get accommodation and are now facing the tough choice of whether to move to Dublin at all. “Coming from another place must be so hard, even without the added worry of accommodation.â€?

Students will have to learn to live with Covid-19 and face changes in their social and academic lives.

They must take precautions and measures while finding new ways to enjoy college life.

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ARTWORK BY SARAH MOREL FOR TRINITY NEWS.

Puzzle page

Tuesday 29 September | TRINITY NEWS

Across

5. “Jack be _____” (6) 7. Short-sighted (6) 8. Extreme greed (for wealth) (7) 10. Home to the Buendia clan (7) 13. Quixote’s first opponent (8) 15. 7840 sq. yards (4) 16. Handle (4) 17. Deliberate; Unprovoked (6)

Down

CROSSWORD BY DARRAGH CREAN FOR TRINITY NEWS

1. Brockhampton’s Belfast Boy (8) 2. Universal solution or remedy (7) 3. US Witch Town (5) 4. Disease caused by ticks (4) 6. Ancient Athenian festival (8) 9. Lebanon’s Roman ruins (7) 11. Drop, Trickle (7) 12. Zero, nada (5) 14. Muslim sect (4)

WORDSEARCH BY JULES O’TOOLE FOR TRINITY NEWS

Adapting Airborne Catastrophic Consequences Contact Creativity Hygiene Marzipan Normal Peculiar Productivity Stagnation Transmission

Trinity shouts and murmurs There’s definitely Trinity students writing every single moment of their university experience so they can turn it into a novel in years to come - @liahbraed at what level of restrictions are we allowed to do karaoke@melandaughter

Just want one of my lecturers to upload literally anything on Blackboard so I can feel something again - @MackenShane How do historians not cry when someone mentions them in their book and disagrees with them - @r_murphy99 ARTWORK BY MÁRTA MENTA CZINKÓCZKY FOR TRINITY NEWS

PHOTO BY ZAHRA LOCKETT FOR TRINITY NEWS

Living in new square in trinity and literally every morning there has been construction which starts at 7-8am. For someone who needs all the sleep she can get because of anxiety and migraines, the radio blasting right outside my window rn is.... making me question a lot- @narry__photos

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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 29 September

We owe it to ourselves to follow Covid-19 guidelines Gabriela Grzywacz

Comment

page 18

Jack Kennedy Assistant Editor

We need the SU to be visible now more than ever

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ollege’s handling of the pandemic has been bad. From the rejection of a No Detriment policy for summer exams to the charging of full fees for a mostly-online semester, the needs of students have been marginalised again and again.

They’ve continuously failed to keep us informed about provisions for the new year, let alone tried to include us in the making of those decisions – despite students being by far the largest stakeholder.

What’s perhaps more concerning is that there has been very little visible pushback from the students’ union on any of this.

The open letter sent to College by Communications and Marketing Officer Philly Holmes in August is one exception. The criticism it contained was fair and necessary, not to mention effective. Trinity immediately committed to better update students on the developing situation on-campus.

But that was notable because it was novel. Scrolling through TCDSU’s official social media channels, the union’s public engagement on Covid-19 since the new team took office in June has been mostly limited to disseminating information whether retweeting official Trinity announcements about mask wearing or reminding students to make module choices. There’s been some instances of questioning how College has handled affairs, but it hasn’t gone far enough.

To be fair, President Eoin Hand did say he was “very disappointed” that college laundrettes were closed for two weeks, and some other concerns were raised on social media around the publication of timetables. But as for Hand’s tweet, apart from tagging some official College accounts, he didn’t give public indication of any actual action on the issue.

All this at a time when the majority of students have felt completely abandoned and left in the dark about the next year of their lives, not to mention deep

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Student needs should be a central factor in absolutely every decision

by Trinity resentment at tourist access to campus taking precedence over students’. Trinity students are trying to conduct their studies during a once-in-a-century pandemic and the worst economic crisis since 1929, and their representatives aren’t representing them in a way that students can see and understand.

Ultimately, while it is important to keep people informed and to do casework with individuals, the union’s core purpose is much bigger than that, and it’s being ignored. It’s meant to be the collective voice of the student body, able to advocate to, and negotiate with, College in a way we can’t as individuals. And when College is neglecting students to this extent, the union acting merely as a deferential public announcement service isn’t enough. It needs to defend our interests.

Students should not only be kept in the loop as College draws a roadmap for the year, we should have a seat at the table. If nothing else, the decisions that College is making are fundamentally about our health; if there’s an outbreak in Trinity, it’ll primarily be

students who get sick. But it’s also important because the way Trinity manages this year will have seismic effects on the lives of students more generally. Our financial wellbeing, whether we’ll need to pay rent in Dublin, whether we’ll be able to fit part-time jobs around our timetables, all of these things depend on decisions being made

by Trinity. We have a right to be consulted about those decisions, and we haven’t been to the extent that we need to be.

And if College won’t confer with students of its own accord, we need to make them. And we should be able to do that through the Students’ Union. TCDSU needs to turn to its members, find out what their collective vision for a safe and manageable return to classes looks like, and then fight tirelessly for College to adopt that vision. Student concerns, needs and interests should be a central factor in absolutely every decision

by Trinity.

That engagement by the union would have value in and of itself.

If students are being ignored by Trinity, then it’s important that they

Covid-19 has shown that systems can change - and they must Editorial

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feel like someone cares about their needs. Being listened to during a time of crisis and uncertainty can make a huge difference to people. And the discursive work towards a collective, studentled understanding of college reopening would be invaluable. A plan for what a student-centred college reopening might look like would be the first of its kind. We would set an example for other campuses around Ireland and beyond.

But the union can go further, and actually turn the students’ vision into a reality. It will, however, take more than tagging some Twitter accounts. Dialogue is the first step. TCDSU should make a direct, public and specific demand to College that students be consulted on every future decision related to the pandemic.

Additionally, Trinity should be asked to sit down with student leaders to conduct a review of the decisions that have been made to

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Sit-ins, withholding fees, public pickets nothing should be off the table

date, and whether student welfare was adequately considered in them.

The union should clearly lay out the case for why College has a moral imperative to consult students, as I have begun to do here. Trinity, though it has been grossly negligent thus far, is run by rational people and there’s every chance they will hear the reason behind this appeal and act on it.

But giving this rationale is also important, as College is sensitive to its public image and won’t want to be seen to reject a very reasonable list of demands, even if privately it would rather do so.

If that fails though, escalation cannot be ruled out. With the exception of Take Back Trinity, student politics in Ireland no longer has the radicalism and experience with direct action that it used to. But if now isn’t the time, when students face onein-a-generation hurdles, when is? College needs to be reminded that students, united, hold vastly more power than the Provost or the University Council. Sit-ins that shut down tourist areas on campus, withholding fees, public pickets – nothing should be off the table. It worked two years ago over repeat exam fees and it’ll work this time, because College is dependent on us and our goodwill. An escalation of this kind isn’t desirable, but we need to have it in our back pocket.

If we back down and let Trinity throw students under the bus this time, they’ll never take us or our needs seriously again. We deserve to be heard.

Ultimately, if TCDSU isn’t visibly fighting for our interests, it’s failing us just as much as Trinity is.

I believe it is capable of more. Joe Hill famously wrote over a century ago that “there is power in a union”.

Let us use our power.

PHOTO BY JOE MCCALLION FOR TRINITY NEWS

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Tuesday 29 September | TRINITY NEWS

Comment

Laura Galvin

Deputy Comment Editor

The climate crisis must not be forgotten amid the pandemic

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he notion that “nature is healing” was inescapable during the peak of lockdown, providing many with a sense of hope that despite its rattling disturbance to the lives of all, perhaps there would be a positive side. Images of clear water flowing in Venice, mentions of the ability to hear birds singing and a noticeable improvement in air quality in usually bustling cities were rife on social media feeds, with thanks to the lack of cars on the road and a standstill in manufacturing and daily life.

The optimistic “maybe humans are the virus and Covid is the vaccine”

may have been a nice idea to cling on to, in search of some sort of purpose to attach to a pandemic that has claimed the lives and livelihoods of many. Though these improvements were nothing to sneer at, with a 17% decrease in the mean carbon emissions from April 2020 to the mean in 2019, it appears that these aren’t likely to last.

China, among the first countries to lock down when the virus hit, in its return to business as usual, saw a spike above pre-Covid-19 levels of emissions, with an eventual stabilisation to normal. This has provided us with a glimpse into what our future could be like

without the necessitation of a green recovery, urging us to take the opportunity to challenge the power structures in place that are preventing a greener society.

The large economic disturbance of the pandemic has opened the door for potential change, with the urge for a Green New Deal and a sustainable and fair recovery for the environment and the people within it being warranted like never before.

In recent years, a cult-like obsession with superficial sustainability has taken root, seeing the growth of an industry of green consumerism in the form of KeepCups, metal straws, and

Gabriela Grzywacz Contributing Writer

We owe it to ourselves to follow Covid-19 guidelines

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t has been nearly 200 days since I was physically in college for my studies. At first it was a nice change from travelling every day for three hours on a germ infested bus just to get to my lectures and get home. Now I have started to miss the early mornings and the awful weather. Most of all I miss college.

I have been desperately counting down the days until I get to walk through the dark and dreary Arts Building that I have learned to love and miss throughout these couple of months. However, there’s an uncertainty with the recently rising cases of Covid if we will be able to return to college on a daily basis again. This is why it is vital for all of us to abide by the rules that the college and the government have set in place to not only protect others but also not to rob ourselves of the college

experience.

I was relieved when face coverings were made compulsory on campus. It has given me hope that we can finally have a new normal. Yes, face coverings are sometimes annoying especially when you wear glasses and they start to fog up and suddenly you are walking blindly through the streets. If you wear makeup, all of it rubs off on the inside of your face covering and you wonder why you even decided to put lipstick on in the first place. We all need to forget about the slight discomfort of masks and realise that they will protect everyone in the college community. But that’s not the only reason why you should wear a mask.

First of all, a large number of college students pay over €3000 for college each year. This amount varies whether you’re

an international student or your fee is subsidised by the Irish Government. Nevertheless, you are still paying for an education. I think we have all discovered that online learning is suboptimal. It is full of awkward zoom lectures and assignments that are not beneficial. Tutorials and seminars vanish as the whole point of them is to interact and bounce off each other’s ideas. In person lectures, tutorials and seminars are vital to get the most out of our courses. If we don’t comply with strict social distancing and face covering regulations, these learning and growing opportunities will be taken away from us again.

Yes, your social life will suffer.

It won’t be like last year when everyone sat outside and chatted while watching the weird roomba cutting grass very efficiently.

Considering that our social lives

wooden toothbrushes. This reliance on a different type of consumerism is the epitome of middle-class ecoconsciousness cleansing without having any suppressive effect on overproduction and exploitation that is wreaking havoc on the planet. The support of the Green Party is yet another example of the cognitive dissonance that the affluent but eco-conscious may seek, with a disappointing previous track record within government and little regard for social justice, whilst regaling platitudinous promises of sustainability goals and infrastructural fixes.

The Green Party’s history

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A cult-like obsession with superficial sustainability has taken root have been minimal since March, and you were responsible enough to not attend any house parties, our social lives cannot get much worse than not being able to leave our houses to meet friends. We know now that the college decided that there will be no socialising within college but there are plenty of places to socialise safely outside of campus. There are parks around college such as St. Stephen’s Green or Merrion Square where you can sit two metres apart and drink your take away coffee while catching up with friends. If we don’t abide by this rule set by the college and there’s an outbreak on campus this could ultimately endanger all students. It would not only endanger their health but also everybody’s college experience.

When it comes to social distancing, it is much harder to be constantly vigilant. College will look very different in September as buildings on campus are preparing to accommodate the social distancing rules. There will no longer be a swarm of students coming in and out of lecture theatres which will make it much easier to social distance. However, among classmates this might be more difficult. There’s nothing I want to do more than to hug all of my friends that I haven’t seen for months. It will be difficult but an elbow bump will have to do for now. We need to be vigilant when it comes to social distancing as it has been proven to work for over a century. During the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak, which killed millions of people, social distancing proved to be vital in curbing the virus. If

within the government, along with the decision to form a coalition with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, has made recent waves as it has driven a wedge between the older guard holding seats in previous cabinets, and the younger wing that acknowledges the need for social equality and political reform goes hand in hand with climate justice.

The recent exodus of key young Green Party members has shown a surge in disapproval of party leader Eamon Ryan, with Saoirse McHugh, who left in July, tweeting that the coalition government “will do massive damage to environmentalism by linking it with socially regressive policies”.

In the face of the pandemic with a recession looming, the timing for the young members to call out the Green Party for their refusal to hold large corporations and complacent centre-right parties accountable for the climate crisis couldn’t be more apt.

In contrast with this, the recently established Just Transition Greens, a left-green organisation splintered from the Green Party, aims to campaign for workers rights, tenants’ rights and better healthcare, with an aim to be zerocarbon by 2050. This organisation has the potential to appeal to and take on the younger generations and students, who understand climate change as a broader

people in the early 20th century could social distance then so can we.

Now that we have established why we must abide by social distancing and mask wearing, the hard part begins.

We need to convince people who don’t follow these rules to change.

Hopefully, there will be few and far between of these cases but they are inevitable. I wouldn’t suggest that you come up to any random student who is not abiding by the rules and tell them to cop on. I think it will be much more beneficial for classmates and friends to watch out for each other.

If you explain to them reasons why they should wear a mask or keep their distance, they are much more likely to change their behaviour. It is also important to note that there will be some people on campus who cannot wear a mask and coming up to them and stating that they need to wear a mask might upset them.

We will all miss the large lectures and hanging out on the cricket pitch this year. We will miss the crowded Arts Building where you can’t find a seat to eat your sandwich and finally decide to sit on the floor. We will miss chatting on the benches outside the perch and watching that weird roomba thing aimlessly drive in circles.

We will miss meeting in tiny society rooms where the energy is palpable. We will miss all these aspects of college life but we have a new mission on our hands now.

We need to unite to protect each other and as much of our college experience that is possible.

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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 29 September

Comment political issue.

The path to a green recovery from Covid-19 is a long and winding one, especially with the battle against the virus taking priority. However, it is necessary for the Covid-19 fiscal stimulus to be invested into green industries, with a view that the younger generation affected financially by the crisis will not have to pay back the overwhelming financial debt incurred by the virus, as well as having to deal with the fallout of the climate crisis. There is now an urgent need for a green new deal in Ireland, one that can ensure our future.

A green new deal could include positive allocation of resources to preserve biodiversity and lower emissions, as well as structural reform to help reverse societal inequalities.

Consolidating workers rights instead of employing austerity measures that target the working class, like water charges under the guise of environmental necessity, will allow for a just transition. A green new deal may be ambitious, but in light of the pandemic, as it appears the youth of the Green Party know, it may be the perfect time to start prioritising the economic inequality in society that goes hand in hand with climate change, and begin to enact the reforms that Covid-19 has opened the door for.

Dearbháil Kent Comment Editor

The dismissal of women’s health cannot continue

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t has been over two months since the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland (ASAI) received 150 complaints about the Tampax ad demonstrating how to insert a tampon, with 83% of complaints surprisingly coming from women. The complaints in one form or another illustrate the national shame Irish women have about periods. Understandably, the crimson wave is a private subject for some women who might not openly talk about it with their friends or family, but suppressing conversations about something that is often regular

ARTWORK BY ZAHRA TORABPOURAN FOR TRINITY NEWS

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Healthcare systems have been fashioned with cisgender men in mind and normal for many women creates shame, embarrassment and misunderstandings about the inner workings of their own bodies.

Some complainants argued that male issues concerning private areas would not be handled in the same way, but there simply isn’t a comparable issue for cisgender men. They will never experience the bittersweet monthly arrival of their aunt Flo. The ASAI only upheld complaints of general offence, but it is important to recognise that the angry and quick dismissal of women’s routine reproductive pain is also a dismissal of women’s reproductive health in general. Discussion about periods amongst women is extremely important, as it allows each woman to distinguish the normal from the abnormal and encourages women to seek help from a GP if there is a problem.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and endometriosis are very common; 1 in 10 women in the UK are thought to suffer with these conditions. That’s just as common as the amount of women who suffer from diabetes.

The lack of definitive testing for PCOS and endometriosis can make diagnosis very difficult, with the causes of both remaining unknown, and symptoms varying widely from irregular and missed periods to excruciating pain and difficulty losing weight. It is estimated that it can take up to seven years to get a conclusive diagnosis of endometriosis. There is no representation of either condition in the media, we are not educated about them in school,

and there is not a huge amount of reliable information about these conditions or how one can potentially cure or manage them.

This disregard for women’s health has been perpetuated by medical bias in favour of cisgender men in clinical trials.

This is especially prevalent for exploration and testing of research into women’s health. Aristotle characterised the female as a mutilated male, and if you take a glance at medical research within the last 70 years, you’ll notice that this idea is commonly perpetuated.

Healthcare systems and relevant research have been carried out by men, and often fashioned with only cisgender men in mind. In fact, it was not until the early 90s that women were included in early stage drug trials by the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health. Before then, all women were excluded from trials and it was considered that testing on women posed a danger to their ability to conceive and carry children because women are born with a finite amount of eggs. This is compared to men who normally produce millions of sperm within a lifetime. Not only did this consideration reduce women to vessels and baby making machines, but it also completely undermined any concern for how the drugs being tested would affect women’s health. Female rodents have also been excluded from trials as the hormones produced throughout their menstrual cycle throw too many variables into research studies, potentially corrupting the outcomes. The stark reality is that women are unquestionably

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Trinity must step up on reproductive research and women’s health

excluded in all consideration of clinical and drug trials.

You might think that the mandate to include women in clinical trials is a positive step towards protecting and promoting women’s health, but in reality it’s just a meaningless one, as researchers don’t necessarily analyse the results of their studies by sex or gender. Either that or researchers tend to remain focused on male cells and animals in preclinical trials. It really is quite disturbing just how much women have been overlooked in the realm of medical research. The lack of research surrounding this means that conditions often present themselves differently in women leading to them being overlooked or misdiagnosed, under researched and misunderstood.

This is significant; there is five times more research into male erectile dysfunction which affects 19% of men than women’s reproductive health which affects 90% of women. Less than 2.5% of publicly funded research is focused on reproductive health, despite the fact that one in three women will encounter a gynaecological problem once in their lifetime.

It’s because of this that women are too often misdiagnosed with alternative conditions other than endometriosis and PCOS. It is these misdiagnoses that too often result in women being treated as reproductive vessels with hysterical tendencies and mental health conditions when in fact they have a reproductive condition that’s not fully understood and has yet to be thoroughly investigated and researched.

Trinity pride themselves in having pioneered research for so many diseases. Now it’s time to step up for reproductive research and women’s health. The success of research funding is often based upon the competitive nature of the area of research someone is looking to advance in. It’s unsurprising that women’s reproductive health is not one of these competitive areas, but if anything, it should only motivate researchers to push for more for funding for studies.

If it’s not a feasible role for Trinity to play in pioneering research for women’s reproductive health, the College Health Service and GP should at least be committed to raising awareness about premenstrual conditions that affect 90% of women. Considering that PCOS and endometriosis only show up years after initial symptoms show up, they should also be committed to raising awareness about the indicators of both of these conditions so women are able to identify and track them in the future. Failing this, Trinity should at least draw attention to the fact that there is no existing charity or grant-giving bodies, such as Wellbeing Women in the UK, that raise awareness of collective reproductive issues for women in Ireland. But no more can women’s health be overlooked, underrepresented and understudied. This is not a conversation that can be suppressed any longer.

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Tuesday 29 September | TRINITY NEWS

Comment

Loosened grant rules for asylum seekers don’t go far enough to fix the issue Grace Gageby Deputy Comment Editor

ARTWORK BY PATRICK BYRNE FOR TRINITY NEWS

Jason Ó Leanacháin

Scríbhneoir

Na deacrachtaí a bhaineann le foghlaim na Gaeilge sa Choláiste

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s teanga í an Ghaeilge a bhfuil neart deachrachtaí ag sroicheadh léi. Ach gach seans go raibh sé sin ar eolas agat cheana féin. Nó muna raibh, seans gur ar theanga eile a bhí tú ag smaoineamh. Is cuma má tá teangeolaí díograiseach nó foghlaimeoir drogallach i gceist, bíonn constaicí áirithe le sárú i gcónaí ag gach duine maidir leis an nGaeilge. Ar deireadh thiar thall, is teanga iltaobhach í an Ghaeilge agus ciallaíonn na taobhanna seo go gcasfar roinnt fadhbanna ort agus tú i mbun na teanga. Cibé ar bith, den chuid is mó againn, ní raibh an dara suí sa bhuaile ann agus muid óg ar bunscoil. Ach dá mba shuim leat tabhairt faoi as an nua sa Choláiste? Go toilteanach agus go coinsiasach an babhta seo! Mar aon leis an dochar a bhaineann le próiseas foghlama na Gaeilge don Ardteist a chur ina cheart? Tig leat tosú sa choláiste in ainneoin na ndeachrachtaí uilig.

Nuair a bhímid ag plé le teanga ársa ar nós Gaeilge, caithfear an comhthéacs cultúrtha a chur san áireamh. I mo thuairim, seo gné a dhéanann foghlaim na Gaeilge níos casta ná teangacha eile. Toisc gur teanga mhionlaigh í, tá i bhfad níos mó ag baint leis ná an teangeolaíocht amháin. Ta nós ann a thugann le tuiscint go bhfuil todhchaí na teanga go hiomlán ag brath ar na foghlaimeoirí. Is fíorscéal é go deimhin go mbíonn freagracht éigin orainn an teanga a chur chun cinn, ach téitear ar fóir leis an teachtaireacht seo in áiteanna i mo thuairim. Scanraíonn sé daoine atá ag iarraidh tabhairt faoin teanga den chéad uair. Ina theannta sin, cuirtear an-chuid brú ar dhaoine cúlra agus stair na teanga a fhiosrú sula bhfoghlaimíonn siad an teanga, go háirithe i dtimpeallacht

scoile nó acadúil. Dar liomsa, is féidir leis an mbrú seo drogall nó eagla a chur ar dhuine atá ag iarraidh an Ghaeilge a fhoghlaim. Ní i gcónaí a bhíonn cúis na teanga mar spreagadh chun foghlama.

Ar scor ar bith, is léir go mbíonn sé deacair amanna teacht ar chúis sách maith le Gaeilge a thosú. Cén mhaith an Ghaeilge a úsáid sa Choláiste an cheist a thagann suas go minic. Tá dua á chaitheamh ag an Coláiste chuige seo. Tá níos mó fógraí trí Ghaeilge le feiceáil thart agus tá an deis ann riarachán a dhéanamh trí Ghaeilge chomh maith. Ach, ar an taobh eile, deir cuid mhaith daoine go bhfuil sé deacair casadh ar dhaoine a labhraíonn an teanga sa Choláiste.

Ba chóir machnamh a dhéanamh ar conas is féidir an teanga a chur in oiriúnt do gach saghas cainteora Gaeilge sa Choláiste. Ceard faoin ngnáthdhuine mar shampla a bhfuil suim aige sa teanga ach gan a chroí a bheith istigh ann?

Ní dóigh liom go ndéantar freastal ar an ngrúpa seo ar bhealach cuimisitheach go fóill. Ní hamháin gur teanga dheacair í i gcomhthéacs cultúrtha, tá an Ghaeilge breac le deacrachtaí ó thaobh na gramadaí de. Cothaíonn gramadach na Gaeilge a cuid fadhbanna don fhoghlaimeoir. Ó am go chéile cheapfá go bhfuil focail sa Ghaeilge níos giorra ná i dteangacha eile ach tá rialacha casta fós le foghlaim. Táthar ann a mhaíonn nach bhfuil na rialacha bunaithe ar aon bhunús loighiciúil. Cuireann an t-urú le deacracht na teanga freisin. Ní coincheap é a thagann go nádúrtha ar chor ar bith. Uaireanta bíonn ceangal doiléir idir an litriú agus an fuaimniú. Gan trácht ar na hathruithe móra a thagann ar an bhfuaminiú mar gheall ar athrú beag sa litriú- doras, dorais -cuirim

i gcás. Dar le mo chara Síneach, ba mhó an difríocht idir an litriú agus aibítir sa Sínis agus sa Bhéarla ná an difríocht idir Béarla agus Gaeilge. Ní féidir linn dearmad a dhéanamh ar an Tuiseal Ginideach ach oiread. Teastaíonn tuiscint ar leith ón gcainteoir Gaeilge ar fheidhm na bhfocal in aon abairt amháin. Ba chóir go mbeadh sé ar chumas an ghaeilgeora na leaganacha difriúla d’aon fhocal amháin a úsáid sa chomhthéacs ceart. Níl rud éasca i gceist ansin ar chor ar bith.

Fiú má bhaintear ardchaighdeán amach sa Ghaeilge, ní thagann stop leis na deacrachtaí sa choláiste. Níl teacht go héasca ar ábhar liteartha, scannánaíochta agus a leithéid. Ní hionann na hachmainní atá ann don Fhraincis is atá don Ghaeilge. Agus ar ndóigh má chuirtear na seirbhísí cuí ar fáil is go drogallach a dhéantar é. Mura dtugtar tús áite don Ghaeilge sa tsochaí féin conas is féidir é sin a dhéanamh i do shaol pearsanta? Caithfear an dearcadh seo a athrú mar níl éinne chun an Ghaeilge a fhoghlaim má cheapann siad go mbeidh orthu na rudaí is bunúsaí a éileamh an t-am ar fad. Mar gheall ar an nganntanas ábhair seo, d’fhéadfaí a rá nach bhfuil go leor foinsí éagsúla le Gaeilge a fhoghlaim. Thiocfadh leis an easnamh seo bac a chur ar thiomantas pearsanta na mac léinn le foghlaim.

Tríd is tríd, is fúinne atá sé ár ndushlán a thabhairt ar an teanga spleodrach dhúshlánach seo.

Braitheann chuile rud ar dhearcadh agus ar spriocanna an fhoghlaimeora. Pé scéal é, cuireann iarrachtaí pearsanta na bhfoghlaimeoirí ar mo shúile dom go bhfuil fonn agus suim ann i leith na Gaeilge. Agus ní beag sin.

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n August, the Government announced that asylum seekers no longer have to spend three years in the Irish school system in order to qualify for educational support at third level. While this is a step in the right direction, the fact that asylum seekers are still expected to pay international college fees reduces this measure to a mere dent in the barriers to accessing third level education.

The latest revision to the Student Support Scheme means asylum seekers will no longer need to have completed the Leaving Certificate, or have spent three years in an Irish school to be eligible. Applicants will still need to have been resident in Ireland for a combined period of three years in order to apply for the support, and must also have already been accepted on to an approved post-Leaving Certificate course or undergraduate degree. Students who have applied for refugee status, subsidiary protection or leave to remain, and have been in the system for at least three years, can also apply for this support.

When this scheme began in 2015, it was only available to students who have studied in an Irish school for five years. In June of last year, the mandatory time was reduced to three years. At the time, just six of the 59 students who applied during the three previous years had been granted support, according to the Irish Refugee Council. Asylum seekers are not entitled to free third-level education in Ireland, and are instead treated as international students who are asked to pay infamously high tuition fees. This inevitably means that third-level education is financially inaccessible to most in the asylum system.

Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris admitted in August that registration fees for students are “too high”. Harris’ comment on the expense of third-level education seems somewhat lacklustre, particularly considering that post-Brexit, Ireland will have the highest college fees in Europe.

While college fees are exorbitant for the average Irish student, life in Direct Provision makes studying all the more difficult for students due to the aforementioned financial restraints and long commutes.

When the Programme for Government was released earlier this year, Movement of Asylum

Seekers Ireland (MASI) issued a statement, highlighting that the findings of the Expert Group on Direct Provision did not adequately address the root cause of educational inequality for asylum seekers. “The interim recommendations which are also cited in the programme for government do not adequately address the core issues in Direct Provision such as the poverty asylum-seeking children are forced to endure.”

The statement continues, saying that “this state-sponsored poverty was highlighted throughout the Covid-19 pandemic when parents could not afford learning resources required for homeschooling and had to rely on handouts.”

Although the loosening of third-level grant requirements for asylum seekers is a step in the right direction, the fact remains that without the right to live independently in the community, asylum seekers do not have the same opportunities academically as an Irish student. The requirement for asylum seekers to pay international fees is of course not the only barrier to them accessing education. Parents of school-aged children in Direct Provision may have the right to work as of 2018, but still face enormous barriers to entering the labour market, and receive a paltry €38.80 a week. This means the likelihood of having their needs covered by the Back to School Allowance is extremely small.

While these systemic inequalities are built into the very DNA of the Direct Provision system, asylum seekers continue to be forced into the margins of society socially, financially, and within the broader scope of the community. While this grant is welcome news, as long as asylum seekers are required to pay non-EU fees, students who are excluded from the scheme will continue to be excluded from higher education and all the opportunities it brings.

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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 29 September

Comment

Editorial: The pandemic has highlighted that our

systems can change - and we must change them

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t’s easy to feel like the pandemic is the only thing that matters right now and that all other issues must take a backseat. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

We find ourselves in a situation where long-overdue progress on issues of social justice is both more achievable than ever, but also growing more urgent by the day. As the crisis has shaken the foundations of our social order, it has both weakened resistance to change but also caused devastation in the lives of already marginalised people.

In many cases, measures taken by institutions and governments to adapt to the virus are things that they used to say were impossible or unthinkable.

Students with disabilities have long asked for lectures to be recorded or online/flexible learning to be offered to make college more accessible for everyone. Reluctant to allocate the necessary effort or money, college administrations maintained for years that these measures were logistically or legally unfeasible.

Now every third level institution

in the country has introduced them for their entire student populations.

Similarly, the government has dragged its heels for years now on the issue of funding for higher education, despite colleges warning of impending disaster and many people citing money as a huge barrier to entering college. But in late July, Minister Simon Harris managed suddenly to announce that a staggering €168 million in emergency funding for the sector had been procured. As recently as February, both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil were maintaining that even a temporary national rent freeze was unconstitutional and therefore impossible. Less than two months later one was in place, lasting well into the summer.

It’s clear that those in various positions of power have been holding back on badly needed policy changes not because they weren’t possible, but because they weren’t convenient. All the pandemic did was change their motivation.

But Covid-19 has also intensified many of the

inequalities and injustices in our society. Even as the United States struggles with its deep and continuing legacy of racism, Black people and other people of colour have been dying from the coronavirus at staggeringly disproportionate rates there.

Here in Ireland, the system of Direct Provision has always been inhumane and unconscionable, but it took on a new horrifying dimension as many centres were the sites of devastating outbreaks.

Class inequalities too have been intensified, both by the pandemic and its associated economic devastation. People working lower-paid service jobs – unable to work from home – have been more exposed to deadly infection in the workplace and more often the victims of business’ cutbacks and layoffs. As the meat-packing scandal reminded us, many workers in the most precarious jobs have very few rights or protections at the best of times.

Those already most vulnerable in our society have borne the brunt of the virus’ effects. We owe these people our solidarity, and we simply cannot continue to uphold

unjust and violent institutions.

We need to press forward on multiple fronts, to demand that unjust systems be reformed or replaced, and to begin building a truly fair society. The necessary changes range from the small to the massive, and from the legislative to the cultural. For a start, Trinity desperately needs to fix its system for reporting racism and other discrimination on campus. We should put huge pressure on College immediately and accept absolutely no excuses or delays. But more than that, the wider Trinity community needs to have a cultural reckoning on racial discrimination. Ireland is consistently ranked among the worst countries in Europe for racism. Better ability to report it, while badly needed, won’t fix the problem. There are deeprooted prejudices to be erased.

People need to have difficult conversations with their friends, families, classmates and selves about the subtly discriminatory things they do and say. And outright discrimination of any kind needs to become anathema on campus. We all have a part to

play in that.

The government also needs to be forced to take the issues of equality of access and funding in higher education seriously.

An increase in public funding is urgently needed in the sector, both at an institutional and a student level. We have the highest fees in the EU by far, fees people are still paying when most or all of their classes have moved online.

Our system is not normal and a better one is possible.

Perhaps most urgently, Direct Provision needs to end. This was promised in the Programme for Government, but under no circumstances can the Coalition be allowed to drag its heel, let alone forget its commitment entirely. Nor can we allow the creation of a replacement system which is similarly inhumane.

The list goes on. There is work to be done almost everywhere.

But as we’re seeing all around the world, the systems we live with are not set in stone. Change has never before been so possible and so urgently necessary. Now is the time.

Op-ed: We need partnership and communication to help us navigate the year ahead Rose Conway-Walsh TD

Sinn Féin Spokesperson for Higher Education

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y appointment as Sinn Féin Spokesperson for the new department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science this summer coincided with my eldest son Anthony completing second level and now starting at Trinity this week.

So, it’s not surprising that I have been fully immersed in Leaving Cert points, CAO places, student finance, accommodation and the safe return of third level.

Today, it was filing the crates with kitchen equipment, raiding the laundry cupboard and I was most impressed when he purchased his first ever bottle of washing up liquid!

At the same time, I am following the Covid-19 outbreaks in Scottish and English Universities. 500 students in isolation in Dundee Halls as well as eighty students and seven staff at Liverpool University. How are we going to minimise the risks on and off campuses here as 174,000

third level students crisscross the country each week? How are we going to ensure that the educational experience is a happy one and the quality of learning is preserved?

I believe this must be done in partnership with students, staff, unions and Government.

At least 11 Universities in Britain and Scotland as well as Queen’s University Belfast have organised their own testing, tracing and tracking system. I believe this is a positive move. I learned from Trinity Associate Professor of Biochemistry Tomás Ryan at the Covid-19 Committee this week that Trinity is piloting “blanket testing” to combat Covid-19. I welcome this initiative and urge Government to provide all the necessary resources to ensure this happens in all our third level institutions.

We must be realistic about how campus life can be managed with Covid-19 and that needs to be clearly communicated to and understood by all students.

The safe return of the student to third level needs to always be the utmost priority. At the same time, student fees need to reflect the impact public health measures will have on college education.

Students know there is a high

degree of uncertainty inherent in the situation and that any plans or guidelines are liable to change as we grapple with the pandemic.

Blended learning should have been accompanied by at least a modest reduction in fees (the highest in the EU) to show a recognition that the service they would receive would not be the same.

The real issue students and educators have is that this means lectures will be broadcast in one direction without student interaction. I am concerned about the impact of this disengagement and the possibility of higher failure rates. Online learning has been well researched even before the coronavirus, with most recognising substantial drawbacks and that’s even before we mention the Broadband word.

The Open University in Britain, which offers remote learning, only has a graduation rate of 13% far lower than conventional universities. The alternative to this learning style is online teaching in groups of 15 to 25. But this is far more expensive than providing a lecture to 300 students at a time.

The economic and social cost of an increased dropout rate is far harder to measure – but likely to be severe.

Universities and colleges are in no position to deal with this alone. Successive governments have underfunded universities for over a decade. Third-level institutions are given 50% less funding per student than in 2008 – 72% less if we count for inflation.

They have been starved of public funding leading them to take on unsustainable amounts of debt, prioritise commercial activities and push the financial burden onto students.

Colleges do not have the financial resources to reduce fees without government intervention.

Over a decade of underfunding means forced to find alternative sources of income from the private sector. Those sources of income have vanished overnight with the outbreak of Covid-19.

Universities are looking at a €348 million loss of income, with International fees alone are estimated to go down by €181 million.

Students too have been hard hit by the coronavirus. A survey conducted in August by Sinn Féin that heard from over 1,000 students found that 70% of students said that their personal employment opportunities or income has been impacted by the

pandemic and 56% of students said their household income had reduced. Students and their families deserve a break.

Thousands of students have been asked for deposits for accommodation before they had even received their timetables.

Many students had already lost money when they were unable to get accommodation refunds at the start of the pandemic. Nowhere else would people be asked to pay for something they were instructed by Government not to use.

We have seen how fast things can change in a couple of days.

The government would win a lot of goodwill from students and their families if fees were reduced and steps taken to ensure all deposits and rent for unused accommodation was returned. It hasn’t always felt like we are all in this together and that needs to change.

So, there are many challenges and opportunities ahead for students, families and University staff. Let’s all work together to make it a safe and successful year.

Hopefully the love of learning will prevail, and joy will be found in the friendships made even in these strange times. Best of luck everyone.

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Tuesday 29 September | TRINITY NEWS

Scitech

Scitech

The Conscious Cup Campaign Lucy Fitzsimmons page 24

The science behind the new College Green wildflower meadow Nina Chen 25

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The spectrum of alternate ways of coping, and expressing stress is so much broader than I’d have ever thought.

Selling hand sanitisers and face masks was like selling gold dust Selling hand sanitisers and face masks was like selling gold dust Niamh Tiernan SciTech Deputy Editor

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regular Saturday morning in January, I clock in and greet my manager, and my attention is immediately drawn to a poster sellotaped to the counter. After a read my initial thought is “this is going to cause a lot of messy customer questions today”. I’d heard there was a disease outbreak in China, but wasn’t familiar with the name, or why we were informing customers about it.

“This virus in China?”, my manager rolls her eyes. I’m certain she’s thinking the same - surely this isn’t necessary.

Ironically, it is her who becomes our first member to contract the virus, some weeks later.

The following week a man approaches the till arms laden, with every bottle of hand sanitizer

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This virus in China?’ my manager rolls her eyes. I’m certain she’s thinking the same - surely this isn’t necessary.

Ironically, it is her who becomes our first member to contract the virus, some weeks later.”

on our shelves, big and small. He grins and I can tell he has a story he wants to share, so I say in passing “stocking up?”, and oh boy, was I sorry I asked. 10 minutes later he has filled me with what I regarded as ‘just conspiracy theories’. He says the virus will be in Ireland in a matter of months. I retell the story to the pharmacist on duty and we laugh. In hindsight, yes, we were very closed minded to the idea, but at this time we merely knew there was an outbreak of some virus somewhere in China, and that was all. Looking back, there were most definitely chunks of method in what I then perceived as just complete madness.

The following weeks brought questions and curiosity, and many in store rows over facemasks and sanitisers. One lady buys the last six masks we have, to send to her son over in Beijing, and another lady waiting to be served becomes very agitated when she realises this. “Excuse me, but my son is going to Taiwan next week, did you say those are the last face masks, you can’t buy them all”.

After some heated back and forth, they agree to share. This was the turning point of everything for me. In years to come when I’m retelling my Covid experience, this is the start, the start of the panic and anxiety, the start of it all.

In the weeks after, it is customers with family in Asia who initially start the ball rolling on buying our face masks, alcohol wipes and sanitiser supplies. Many share stories of their families and friends in China who have had first hand experiences with the virus, and we begin to realise that this is a swelling problem, but it is by no means a problem to cause immediate concern to us yet, as Europe still hasn’t had its first case.

It’s now March. A yellow HSE COVID poster, that we are all now very familiar with, alienates our front door. Social distancing marks and a plastic shield inside create an immediate sense of sterility that is foreign and feels very out of place in our normally quite welcoming pharmacy, filled with the radio and chitter chatter between customers and staff.

The rush to stock up and buy on impulse. Hand sanitisers, face masks, thermometers, and alcohol wipes essentially become

gold dust. One lady asks if she could pour straight vodka on her hands as an alternative to sanitiser.

Scientists suggest taking probiotics and Vitamin D to boost immunity, and they fly off the shelves. Trump alludes to using bleach as a method of preventing contracting the virus - with every sale of Dettol we now must advise customers to not consume it. Trump mentions taking hydroxychloroquine, the malaria drug with potentially severe side effects to protect himself, and this leads to a rush of customers wondering if they should be taking it. Quinine, found in soda water, is then suggested to help prevent contracting the virus, which leads to customers’ desperation to get their hands on some Quinine supplements. And then last but not least, the hunt for hair dyes and beard trimmers

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I think for the millennials we call it the side hustle! I obviously want to progress in both and this is enabling me to do that

PHOTOS BY NIAMH TIERNAN FOR TRINITY NEWS

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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 29 September

SciTech as hairdressers and barbers aren’t opening any time soon.

Empathy. Empathy for the nurse that stops in for her meds on the way to a shift on the Covid ward. Empathy for the old man who should be cocooning but doesn’t have family to take the trip for him. Empathy for the person who confines their worry in you.

The spectrum of alternate ways of coping, and expressing stress is so much broader than I’d have ever thought. One kind lady drops in hot scones every Saturday with lovely thank you notes. Another comes in frantic that her diabetic husband’s temperature has risen and she is hysteric with worry.

Shortly after, a woman stops by coughing and telling everyone to stay away from her “in case she has it”. Adapting to a pretty constant atmosphere of panic and unease took time, and learning to comfort continuously was also challenging.

Taking a lunch break usually means sitting in the reception lobby next door, but the Covid talk from the tv is too much. Taking a walk seems like an alternative until everyone you pass is mid virus chitter chatter. Complete immersion. But knowing that I’m contributing in some small way to the trickle of normal activities left in our country, as the majority are at a standstill, is something I’m grateful for, to not feel completely useless in all of this.

The quiet customer who momentarily ignores all that is happening around us, and talks about normal things like the weather is a breath of fresh air and a break in the day. Curious customers are fine too, we talk about the schools closing and the status of the virus in other countries. Customers sharing their new lock down pastimes are also very refreshing. Then there’s the one that will push the line with outlandish statements, surely only said to initiate a response.

“But when do you think it will ACTUALLY end?” That one has to be rhetorical, clearly you don’t want me to respond to that? But the customer asks again “Like when is it meant to end?”. There’s only so much comfort and reassurance you can give in an 8 hour shift, and right now my tank is empty.

Worry can very easily be falsely radiated as ignorance.

“Do you think it’s actually as bad as they’re making it out to be?” I become so used to responding to these types of questions with facts or brushing over them and attempting to comfort , but this one I couldn’t help but retaliate to. How insensitive and just plain ignorant. After successive shifts sprinkled with questions like this, I learn that this can only be explained as another form of response. Trying to play situations down is definitely a form of coping. There’s no way someone could actually be this ignorant, as we are now in full lockdown mode, with new daily cases in the thousands, and intensive care units around the country at the fullest they will be during the pandemic.

Fast forward a few months to August. The panic and anxiety shifts to agitation and lack of

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Whether it be the student nurse working on a Covid ward, or someone who is learning to deal with the loss of a loved one, we’re all going to look back on 2020 uniquely and through different frames.

patience.

Lockdown revisits Kildare, and cabin fever sets in.

What were “thank yous”, morph into eyerolls when an item is not in stock, or the waiting time is a little longer than usual.

However, the constant unease has definitely lifted from the air. The general chatter has shifted to the wearing of face masks, and the preparation for children returning to school, everyone hoping the cases will lessen soon and Kildare lockdown will be lifted. W Obviously each person is going to take from the past few months their own experience and learning.

Whether it be the student nurse working on a Covid ward, who has been put under the most pressure they may be put under during their nursing career, or someone who is learning to deal with the loss of a loved one, we’re all going to look back on 2020 uniquely and through different frames. I’ve learned how human responses to difficult scenarios are so immensely diverse and unique.

That when a random man comes in and fills you with outlandish ideas as he buys all of your hand sanitiser, to stop, and at least consider the possibility of what he is saying as something that may actually become somewhat a reality, to be more open minded.

Study shows links between Dublin winter pollution levels and stroke hospitalisation The research was co-authored by Trinity professor, Brian Broderick Dearbhla Treacy Contributing Writer

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ncreased air pollution during winter months is linked to a rise in strokerelated Dublin hospital admissions, a new study has shown. The paper, published in the Cerebrovascular Diseases journal, by scientists from Trinity, the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland, and the HSE, has highlighted the public health implications of air pollution in cities around the world.

Professor Brian Broderick from Trinity’s Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering department was a co-author of the paper.

From 2013 to 2017, the team monitored the levels of certain air pollutants and number of daily hospitalisations due to all strokes and ischaemic strokes in Ireland’s two largest metropolitan areas, Dublin and Cork. Both cities also have a large number of air pollution monitoring sites, which were used for the research. The pollutants included in the study were fine and coarse particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide. These chemicals, upon inhalation, can affect blood pressure and heart rhythm, ultimately leading to blood clot formation and stroke, should the clot interfere with the brain. These potentially harmful substances enter the air via domestic fuel burning (peat, coal and wood) as well as through

road traffic emissions, particularly from diesel engines.

The authors do note, however, that sulphur dioxide levels have significantly reduced since the introduction of a smoky coal ban in Dublin and Cork cities. In July, the Green Party’s Eamon Ryan announced that this ban would be extended in September to include all towns with a population greater than 10,000, in the hope of further decreasing air pollution in Ireland.

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Because Ireland has relatively low air pollution globally, this highlights the need to introduce additional policy changes to reduce air pollution in all countries

Having incorporated variables like temperature, relative humidity, day of the week, and public holidays into their modelling, the team of researchers, led by Dr. Colm Byrne, found that there was a statistically significant increase in hospital admissions related to stroke in Dublin for up to two days after a rise in air pollution.

Over the five years of the study, there were a total of 15,086 stroke cases, of which 10,830 were ischaemic strokes. In Dublin, increased amounts of nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide in the air was associated with a 3.5% higher risk of suffering a stroke.

Increased levels of coarse particles led to a 3.2% higher risk and an elevation in levels of fine particles in the air led to a 2.4% higher risk of suffering a stroke. In the less densely populated city of Cork, however, the team did not identify any significant association between hospital admissions for strokes and any individual air pollutant.

As this piece of research is the first to examine the relationship between individual air pollutants and strokes in Ireland, its findings have emphasised the urgency for policy measures to be implemented which aid in improving air quality during winter months in the capital.

“Because Ireland has relatively low air pollution when compared internationally, this highlights the need to introduce additional policy changes to reduce air pollution in all countries,” says Prof David Williams of RCSI. The paper’s authors conclude with a call for both the ban of solid fuel combustion and for reductions in traffic on city roads.

This, the study suggests, would help in lowering the occurrence of stroke in the population alongside much-needed positive environmental impacts.

PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER CASH FOR TRINITY NEWS

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Ill fitting PPE puts The Conscious Cup Campaign: Reducing disposables while women at risk Equipment often isn’t designed with women in mind Lauren Vrbanic Contributing Writer

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oes PPE work to protect all frontline workers and allow them to safely do their job? The unfortunate reality is that women working on the frontlines of the Covid-19 pandemic are disproportionately affected by ill-fitting PPE. Personal Protective Equipment, or PPE, was originally a term commonly used by people working in the trades or medical professions. Covid-19, however, has brought the term to the forefront of everyone’s vocabulary.

On the frontlines, PPE includes not only gloves and surgical or N95 masks, but also surgical gowns, head and shoe covers, face shields, and goggles, which are all designed to minimize wearers’ exposure to the virus while treating patients with Covid-19.

Overall, PPE has been designed with one type of person in mind: the standard male. This design flaw impacts most women and results in goggles, face masks, and gloves that are far too large and surgical gowns that are too long, since most women are typically physically smaller than men.

Not only are there physical hazards, such as tripping on the gowns, but ill-fitting PPE also hinders a woman’s ability to do her job. In the UK, 57% of women claimed that ill-fitted PPE hampered their work. For example, gloves that are too large reduce dexterity and grip, both vital skills in the medical field.

Furthermore, ill-fitting PPE leaves women at an increased risk of contracting Covid-19, as masks that are too big are unable to form an airtight seal around their nose and mouth. If this isn’t enough of a hassle, uncomfortable and painful skin injuries, such as contact dermatitis are caused by the improper fit of PPE as well as by increased sweating from wearing PPE for long periods of time.

So what have women done about it? They’ve been forced to create their own modifications such as using special tape to seal masks to their face, rolling up sleeves, pinning up the hem of surgical gowns, and pulling masks so tight to their face that it impedes their vision. Women have also had to rely on themselves to purchase limited smaller sizes of PPE online, instead of being provided with it on the job. In some cases, women have had to choose

between putting themselves at risk for infection with ill-fitting PPE or going home; neither of which are ideal situations.

This problem affects women globally in the healthcare sector, however few steps are actually being taken to address it. This is shocking, considering that 70% of the global health workforce is female.

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, women working in the healthcare sector have been raising their concerns about ill-fitting PPE in the workplace. Recently, an Intensive Care Unit nurse working on the frontlines in the UK spoke out about the issues she’s seen while her unit has been put through the mandatory “fit test”.

This is a rigorous process in which healthcare workers are fitted for their FFP3 respirator masks prior to their shift. The mask must be the proper size for the individual, as well form an airtight seal around the nose and mouth. The nurse reported that half of the women in her unit had failed this test.

A very small percentage of men in this unit also failed the fit test due to being much smaller in size than the average male or due to the presence of facial hair, which impairs the seal of the mask. This appalling evidence along with the fact that the HSE’s official video demonstrating how to conduct the fit test and wear a respirator mask is shown on a standard male model, speaks volumes to the women who are disproportionately affected by ill-fitting PPE. A recent study conducted this month by researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine quantitatively came to the same conclusion that PPE is not made to fit women. Out of 305 fit tests that were conducted, men had a 2.72% failure rate whereas women had a 6.67% failure rate.

For men, 91% failed the fit test due to the presence of facial hair.

However for women, 85% failed the fit test due to facial asymmetry and being small boned. Shaving facial hair is a quick fix that could potentially save a man’s life, however if you’re a woman there is simply no quick fix for that.

Improperly fitting clothing won’t kill you, but ill-fitting PPE can. Moving forward, PPE manufacturers must conduct research and collect physical measurements of all types of women and design PPE that is made specifically for their bodies. This conversation is not just between women and PPE manufacturers, but also the health organizations they work for. These large entities need to be open to listening to women’s concerns, as well as acting to purchase PPE in all sizes to provide a safe and inclusive work environment for everyone.

staying Covid-safe The provost’s sustainability advisor explains how we can make sustainable changes on campus Lucy Fitzsimmons SciTech Editor

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ince te outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have seen an unfortunate return in the popularity of disposables: coffee cups, food containers, and masks to name a few. As the world began to slow to its pre-lockdown halt it was common to see signs popping up in restaurants and cafés declaring that they would no longer be accepting reusable containers, in order to protect customers and staff. Many months on, consumers and scientists alike are urging the general public to make the change back to more sustainable choices.

Michelle Hallahan, the provost’s sustainability advisor, wants to encourage Trinity students to continue efforts from recent years to use reusable and sustainable alternatives on campus. As the sustainability advisor, Hallahan is the chair of the Green Campus Committee and writes and implements sustainable policies that are put

into place in Trinity. She did her master’s degree in Environmental Science at Trinity, in 1992.

“There wasn’t even a department for environmental science at the time!” She has worked at Greenpeace International and in ecological restoration and environmental consulting. Her role also involves engaging the student population in decision making about environmental efforts in Trinity, like the vote on the wildflower garden on College Green.

Hallahan believes that to see sustainable changes on campus, students and staff must work together: “It’s built into our DNA as humans that we work best not in an interdependent fashion but in a collaborative fashion. We’re not meant to work isolated from each other. We’re not meant to try and fix things on our own. We’re designed to collaborate and to change things as a group of the community. It’s very important that we engage the community in some of that decision making.”

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22,000 coffee cups are thrown out in Ireland each hour

One of the campus-wide efforts Hallahan firmly supports is the use of reusable coffee cups by the Trinity community. In particular, she wants to shed light on the Conscious Cup Campaign’s Contactless Coffee movement. The Conscious Cup Campaign was founded in 2016 with the aim of incentivising consumers to opt for reusables when dining on the go and to cut down on unnecessary waste. They encouraged cafes and restaurants to introduce discounts and loyalty schemes for customers who brought along their own cup.

In the last few months, the Conscious Cup Campaign has shifted its focus to helping consumers place their trust in reusables again during the Covid-19 pandemic. They want to stop fear-mongering, and to remind the public that with the right precautions, cafes and restaurants can prepare their coffee in a reusable cup just as safely as a disposable one. And so, their Contactless Coffee idea was born.

Contactless Coffee is a method of coffee preparation where baristas prepare your beverage without themselves or their utensils touching your cup. This prevents any possible cross-contamination of the virus from one person’s reusable cup to another. This can be carried out by simply marking a spot on the counter for the customer to place their cup down, or the use of movable trays, depending on the layout of the café. They have also compiled a list of cafés implementing the Contactless Coffee method, and a helpful how-to video, on their website.

The campaign has been backed by the Department of Communication, Climate Action and the Environment and Prof Luke O’Neill, of the School of Biochemistry and Immunology at Trinity. This comes after over 125 global health experts, including O’Neill, signed a statement in June arguing that reusable packaging and cups are no more dangerous than disposable if treated correctly.

Will the Contactless Coffee method be implemented on the Trinity campus? Not at the moment, although reusables can certainly be safely used. The buttery is still honouring reusable cups and containers, and the discount for using them still applies. According to Hallahan, staff are wearing gloves and masks while preparing food so students and staff can be assured that their cup is in safe hands. Students interested in a contactless coffee can find one just outside campus walls at Cloud Picker on Pearse Street.

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SciTech When using reusable cups at the moment, Hallahan believes care for other people should drive us to good hygiene standards to keep baristas and other consumers safe. “If you’re going to live with concern for other human beings then you make sure that your hygiene is of the best order.

And also talk to other people. One of the best things you can do in all of this is to educate other people, have conversations with people about why we need to re-examine how we live on the planet.”

In terms of current disposable cups used on campus, Hallahan emphasises that biodegradable or compostable cups are not a sustainable alternative to students bringing their own keep cup, and only marginally better than typical plastic-based packaging.

“We need to be moving towards reusable. There are a number of problems with compostable cups.

Great, they’re not made from plastic but that’s one tiny little detail! They’re still made from paper, so we’re cutting down forests for something that lasts 20 minutes, in a time when we should be reforesting and not decimating.”

“Not only are we cutting down forests, but by doing that we are destroying ecosystems, for the sake of one of the most stupidly designed products that have ever been put on the market. No thought went into the long term effect of these coffee cups,” says Hallahan. “22,000 coffee cups are thrown out in Ireland each hour; that’s just an estimate and I would wager that’s an underestimate.”

Another issue that Hallahan notes with compostable cups is the lack of understanding in the general public about the difference between compostable items and recyclable items. “I stood beside someone when they threw their supposedly compostable coffee cup into the recycling bin, thereby contaminating everything else in the bin. I said: ‘What the hell are you doing?’ And he said: ‘But it’s recyclable!’ He pulled it back out and he pointed to the word ‘compostable’ and he said: ‘See?’” Without the proper knowledge, compostable cups can wreak havoc by contaminating recycling and creating even more waste than they are designed to prevent.

As well as this, Hallahan cites the emissions associated with manufacture and transport as a deterrent for using disposables.

“You have to have the carbon footprint of manufacturing these cups and transporting them halfway across the world. They’re coming from China, the States; they’re coming from Italy and Germany. That’s a huge amount of fossil fuels to transport something that is not a necessity. They’re a disrespectful convenience for humans for the sake of 20 minutes. We destroy the planet for the sake of that convenience and that is unacceptable. And there are many other products aside from the coffee cup you could say the same about. When you start looking into anything to do sustainability, you realise how

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The individual can do so much, but we are just the thin end of the wedge PHOTO BY ZAHRA LOCKETT FOR TRINITY NEWS

insane our world is and how badly we’ve designed it. By rights, we should be designing everything on the laws of nature. We’re the only species on the planet that creates pollution. We’re the only planet that pays rent.”

“A coffee cup is a grain of sand on the beach of sustainability.

There are so many other things that we need to be thinking about.

Fast fashion is another aspect of that and this idea that there is an endless supply of everything and we can keep gorging ourselves on nature’s resources. And we can’t, and it has been coming to bite us for the last 20 years at least.

Climate change is not going away and it’s going to get significantly worse.”

“The individual can do so much, but we are just the thin end of the wedge. Policymakers have to bring in policy; governments have to bring in policy. And the thing is, they’re afraid to do so because they’re all afraid that the big corporate guys will walk away and leave their country. Everyone’s focus is on only the economy and that has led us down this path, or cul-de-sac, that we are on at the moment. They need to know that they have the support from the public.”

Hallahan urges those who have an interest in making Trinity a greener campus to join the Green Campus Committee. “We’re actively recruiting people to sit on nine different subcommittees.

Each one has a different topic, one will be on water, one on biodiversity, one on energy conservation, one on waste management, etc. For example, plastic solutions are going to join the waste management group.”

“The purpose of the committees is to provide a platform for students and staff to come together and drive programmes. If somebody’s passionate about minimising plastic waste or eliminating plastic from campus, then the waste committee will be the one to join. If somebody’s keen on biodiversity and rewilding, they can join a group for that.”

The science behind the new College Green wildflower meadow The Trinity Campus Pollinator Plan is committed to helping bees Nina Chen SciTech DeputyEditor

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rinity has shown its commitment to the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan (AIPP) by creating the Trinity Campus Pollinator Plan. Its aims include replacing lawns on campus with wildflower gardens, reducing the use of pesticides, and creating spaces for pollinators. These actions will be taken in the hopes of reversing the considerable pollinator decline in Ireland.

According to the National Biodiversity Data Centre, Ireland is currently going through a biodiversity crisis.

A report published by the Intergovernmental SciencePolicy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) shows how nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history. Rates of species extinctions are accelerating, and the health of ecosystems that humans and other species depend on is deteriorating rapidly.

The conservation status of a group of organisms indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Factors such as overall changes in the population over time, breeding success rates, and known threats are all taken into account when assessing the conservation status.

Of the 31,000 species occurring in Ireland, only 10% of these

species have had a conservation status assessed. Of the species that have been assessed, 1 in 5 species has been threatened with extinction, including 30% of bee species. Additionally, there has been a huge reduction in the biomass of insect life (the quantity of insects in a given area). An overview of Ireland’s species shows that pollinators such as dragonflies, butterflies, and bees are all facing threats of extinction.

Habitat loss is a major culprit for the decline of insect populations worldwide. The drastically-reduced amount of flowers and nesting sites in our landscapes is a critical factor as to why bee species are threatened with extinction. Semi-natural farms are being replaced with huge fields for more intensive agriculture, and these fields are unable to sustain diverse species.

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Traditional manicured lawns are devoid of the biodiversity needed to protect insects

Additionally, the increased use of fertilisers and pesticides on grazing lands destroy wildflowers that pollinators are dependent on.

Similarly, traditional manicured lawns are devoid of the biodiversity needed to protect insects. Professor Jane Stout, from Trinity’s Department of Botany and the Deputy Chair of AIPP, states that “most neatly manicured lawns contain a single species of grass, cut short to prevent it flowering. Other flowering plants are exterminated and removed. So they provide little or no resources for pollinators, like bees and other insects, who need plants in flower to collect nectar and pollen from, and bare earth patches to make their nests in.”

“If lawns are heavily managed (treated with chemicals for example), this can have adverse effects on any insects living in the soil,” Stout continues. By replacing the lawns on College Green with wildflower meadows, Trinity is helping replenish food sources and habitats for pollinators.

Wildflower meadows enhance landscape heterogeneity by introducing a multitude of diverse flowers. This helps provide a sanctuary for pollinators, allowing for them to take in nectar without the risk of predators or pesticides.

Many flowers planted are of Irish origin, and certain flowers such as Oxeye daisy, cowslip, and wild carrot will come up at different times, allowing for a sequence of flowering that will provide pollinating insects with nectar throughout the seasons.

These wildflower meadows will be left untouched over the winter months, and bloom freely from spring through to autumn.

Trinity’s plan is not limited to just growing wildflowers; in addition to this, the Trinity Action Plan includes creating nesting spaces for bees, allowing them to thrive in safe habitats.

Areas of long grass will not be mowed in hopes of providing sites where bumblebees can nest, and a bare earth bank will be placed on Nassau St edge, which provides a habitat for nesting bees. These areas will be kept bare to encourage future nesting.

Trinity will also be eliminating the use of insecticide, and only be using herbicide to maintain sports pitches.

“We can already see a difference on campus - several areas of lawn have been converted to “wildflower” areas, with reduced mowing, and lots of different plant species flowering through the season,” says Stout.

“This provides a much better variety of resources for pollinators and other invertebrates; many of whom, like us, need diversity in their diets and saves energy and money on regular mowing.

And the living wall on the new Business School contains flowering plant species that bees like.”

The Trinity Campus Pollinator Plan is a small, though necessary part in ensuring that the biodiversity in Ireland can be increased.

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Careers in Science: Ireland’s most cited scientist ever, Professor Desmond Higgins Trinity alum Higgins explains how his passion for science motivated him to use bioinformatics to help decipher the genetic code of life Clara O’Carroll Contributing writer

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won’t be the first one to admit that studying Science is tough. It is passion for the field that motivates and, as you progress through your degree, you inevitably start to ask yourself, - what next? You would think that studying science means learning primarily how to think critically and analyse data, but there is so much more to it than that. Today, studying science involves learning how to communicate - when working in teams, and through speaking to the public, how to learn independently, and how to be creative. These skills are invaluable in the job market, with Trinity’s science graduates going on to lead diverse roles in organisations around the globe.

For some, the dream is to stay at university for as long as possible.

Enter the PhD. Enter the goal of

being a professional researcher at a university. Enter the problem; too many research scientists and not enough tenure-track jobs. A career in academia is deemed risky and almost impossible to achieve success in one's pursuit. Although academia is a tough sector; many people starting out in science still strive to become a college professor or researcher.

On the topic of career opportunities in science, who better to turn to about their journey, than one of the top 10 most cited scientists of all time. I spoke with Professor Desmond Higgins, who has had an impressive career in academia, starting with an undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences and then a PhD investigating the genetics of spiders, both here in Trinity. Des Higgins is currently working as a Professor of Bioinformatics at the UCD Conway Institute, and also as a principal investigator at Systems Biology Ireland, developing new bioinformatics and statistical tools for evolutionary biologists.

Higgins provides insight into how the dream of never leaving the university scene could be a reality.

Higgins studied botany as his undergraduate degree, then moved to zoology for his PhD. He was interested in using computers and there was a lecturer called Robert Blackith, who specialised in mathematical biology, and he loved his undergrad lectures.

All along, he was interested in science as “it just suited the way I was wired”. Higgin’s PhD was on methods for classifying insects based on numerical analysis of morphological features: “It

required using computers and I loved insects so it sounded like a good combination but I had no inkling where it would lead”. In the beginning, Higgins was just interested in applying numerical methods and running computer programs.

One of the major challenges in science over the past century has been deciphering the intricate and perplexing genetic code of life. Scientists have struggled to determine the entire genetic material (DNA) of many thousands of organisms.

It comes out as sequences of letters, millions of letters long. The heap of information contained in this universal code requires tools and technology to sieve through the data to help it make sense. The onset of developments in the computer science field permitted the development of these tools to mine this data and a new field of bioinformatics was born.

Higgins is among the pioneers of this new era of bioinformatics. What started out as an early fascination in the 1980s developed into his career as a bioinformatician. Higgins was nearing the end of his PhD when a postdoctorate position came up in Genetics in TCD in 1985 for a bioinformatician: “I was desperate to get it and assumed I had no chance but I was the only qualified applicant.” Higgins then worked at the Genetics department up until 1990 where he admits that you really do need luck sometimes to get a job. Again, he had absolutely no idea where it might lead: “It just sounded very cool and I would get to do even more computing and learn about molecular genetics. It really was an accident that I got into it (bioinformatics)”.

It was from that first postdoctorate position that Higgins began writing computer programs to compare DNA sequences to look for patterns.

This helps to tell what some of the sequences do and helps us to compare how different organisms are related and how they work.

Higgins is well-known for developing a series of computer programs called CLUSTAL, which perform multiple sequence alignment by taking segments of DNA or protein and attempting to align them to what they have in common or how they differ.

He wrote the first version of CLUSTAL on a computer with very little memory, making a tool with an outstanding impact on the life science field. The algorithm was created so that it could be used on personal computers, leading to the use of CLUSTAL becoming standard in laboratories around the world.

The 1994 research paper, coauthored by Higgins for a set of computer programs called

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Really successful scientists work 6-7 days a week. I don’t but if I was starting off now, I am not sure I would survive. It is difficult.

CLUSTAL for comparing a set of DNA or protein sequences, is his most well-renowned research.

When he wrote his first version in 1988, there were no programs available for personal computers to do this and the internet had barely started.

The computer programs “allowed bench molecular geneticists to compare sequences in their offices or labs and I had to distribute the first versions by post, with envelopes, floppy disks, stamps, and handwritten addresses”. It would be a long while before they could be distributed easily.

Higgins’ paper set an international standard for DNA sequence analysis. A turning point, where Higgins realised he had made an important finding, was one day when he was working in Heidelberg, in the library of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), he “saw a paper in Science (one of the world's top academic journals), that cited my software and used it to figure out something very clever about mutations in the Cystic Fibrosis disease gene”. Gradually, more citations appeared, he would get maybe 1 a day. By 1997, he was getting about 10 a day and that peaked around 2010, when he was getting 20 a day. The total to date is around 150,000 citations, putting him on the list of the most highly cited scientists in the world - an amazing achievement.

It is Higgin’s paper describing CLUSTAL which, according to Nature (another leading scientific journal) is in the top ten most highly cited scientific papers of all time. Higgins is also well known for developing T-Coffee, which is

a more recent algorithm for fast and effective multiple sequence alignment.

Apart from using computers to compare molecular genetic sequences (DNA or proteins), and working on the CLUSTAL and T-Coffee programs, research in the Higgins Group focuses on developing bioinformatics and statistical tools for evolutionary biologists, including addressing molecular evolutionary questions.

Higgins’ findings are important for everyday people as “we live in the genome era”. His lab uses “DNA sequences from many organisms and regularly sequences DNA from disease tissue such as from tumours”. Higgins’ software “helps make sense of the sequences; it helps us to find what is wrong or to find out what some sequences do”. What Professor Des Higgins does is technical; “I make tools for others to use (software).

Higgins has had a star-studded career, from being named as one of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds in 2014 by Thomson Reuters, to being elected a Fellow of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) in 2016, and then winning the Benjamin Franklin Award for open access in the life sciences, presented by Bioinformatics. org to an individual who has promoted open and free access to materials and methods used in the life sciences, amongst other achievements. However, what Higgins personally finds exciting about life as a scientist is that “it is a passport to travel and work with and collaborate with people from all over the planet. I have written papers with people from all over the world including Ireland, the UK, France, Norway, Germany, Spain, China, and Australia”.

With many amazing moments in Higgins’ journey as a scientist, from being awarded a PhD for his research on numerical taxonomy of Pterygota insects, to receiving the Benjamin Franklin award for open access in life sciences, his words of wisdom for someone starting out in their scientific career is to: “1) be lucky; I was lucky to get that job in Genetics in 1985; 2) do what is interesting rather than what you think is going to be lucrative; 3) be curious”.

Professor Higgins admits that it “actually is hard” balancing life as a scientist as “science, these days, is very consuming of time and energy”. Higgins went on to explain that the “really successful scientists literally work 6-7 days a week. I don’t but if I was starting off now, I am not sure I would survive. It is difficult”.

The extraordinary impact of Des Higgins is not just seen in his achievements and highly cited research, but in his passion for the work that he does every single day.

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A look at the life of an athlete in quarantine Conor Doyle

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DUFC is prepared for the strangest of seasons Cameron Hill

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Substantive change, or all for show?

Jonathon Boylan Staff Writer

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ollowing the death of George Floyd, the Black Lives Matter Movement erupted, not only in terms of its relevance, but in its exposure. The globe united in protest against not just the horrific murder of Floyd, but against systematic racism as a whole.

Enough was apparently enough.

During the most unprecedented of times, politicians, corporations, regular citizens, and sportspeople alike banded together to try and ensure that the stain of racism and discrimination could be eviscerated once and for all. There were promises that new behaviours would be learned, that equality would prevail, and that oppressors would become students. The world of sport was no different.

Footballers, as well as basketball and American football players, proudly adorned BLM badges on their jerseys, and powerfully took a knee with the eyes of the world watching.

However, the partnership between the movement and sporting bodies has served not to eliminate racism, but to expose its prominence at sport’s very core. In the months following the height of public interest in BLM, racist incidents, particularly in sport, have continued to come to the forefront. For example, following his appointment to Sky’s famous Premier League Show, “Soccer Saturday,” former Manchester City defender Micah Richards, as well as former professional footballer Alex Scott, have had to endure torrents of racially-charged abuse on Twitter. All the while, users around the world receive a notification from their Sky Sports app that the broadcasting company is working hard to develop a new “BLM slogan”. At the time of writing, there has been no statement from Sky on the abuse Richards and Scott have endured, nor has

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ARTWORK BY DIYA MECHERI FOR TRINITY NEWS

The sporting world has been forced to look in the mirror, but has the reflection truly changed?

Twenty years on, Richards is facing exactly the same abuse, just on a different forum there been any kind of substantive action taken against the so-called trolls harassing them. Upon his appointment, Richards spoke with incredible depth and grace about the abuse he faced as a child, from “monkey noises,” to being dismissed as a “typical black man” when he was angry. Twenty years on, Richards is facing exactly the same abuse, just on a different forum. Despite his employer’s alignment with BLM, they have failed to take the necessary substantive action capable of protecting him.

A similar contradiction has come to the fore in the world of Formula One. Despite the umbrella organisation announcing its support for BLM, and by extension, one would imagine, its support for the message of the movement, the reaction of drivers and fans alike has been substantially different. In July, a time when the proliferation of BLM was at its greatest in sport, Renault Driver Daniel Riccairdo noted that seven drivers refused to take a knee in recognition of the movement due to their nationality. Riccairdo would have been correct to lambast or call these drivers to account, but instead claimed that he “understood” their reasons. These reasons are supposedly linked to the driver’s nationality, but in reality, this refusal to take a knee would indicate the drivers are just unsympathetic to the movement’s calls for racial justice and equality.

Similarly, in the opening weeks of Formula One’s Association with BLM, organisers failed to allocate time in the drivers’ itineraries to take part in “taking a knee”. As is the case with the Premier League, incidents like this seem to demonstrate that sporting bodies’ affiliation with BLM is nothing more

than aesthetic, an attitude which manifests itself in the form of ignorance among athletes who also claim to support the movement.

Perhaps the most worrying of these incidents is the stance of the sportspeople themselves.

While Riccairdo’s reluctance to call his fellow drivers to account is undoubtedly shameful, Richards too has faced a conspicuous lack of support from his fellow professionals against the abuse he has endured. What is particularly damning when assessing the actual impact of BLM in sport is that when Lewis Hamilton, one of the finest F1 drivers of all time, spoke out against the organisation’s insubstantial support of BLM, he was accused by motorsport legend Mario Andretti of being “militant” and “pretentious”. This is the type of reaction black athletes who seek substantive rather than performative change are facing from officials within organisations who, clearly synthetically, claim to support BLM. From a bird’s eye view at least, it seems that sporting bodies’ partnership with BLM has served not to support black athletes, but to leave them more isolated than ever.

This phenomenon is something that should not be surprising to sports fans, particularly those in America. Colin Kaepernick, a

former American football player and current free agent, was one of the first athletes worldwide to take a knee. His actions were dismissed as “shameful” by President Donald Trump. He did not experience wide support or solidarity, instead he was lambasted for protesting during the sacred American national anthem. To this day, despite an undoubtedly positive

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People like Colin Kaepernick deserve to be celebrated, and most importantly, employed

partnership with Nike, Kaepernick is without a job, as NFL clubs refuse to hire him. This point was raised at George Floyd’s funeral by renowned civil rights activist Al Sharpton: “Do not come with an apology. We do not want an apology. We want him repaired. Give Colin Kaepernick a job.”

The point Sharpton touched upon so eloquently is universally valid. While sporting bodies affiliating themselves with BLM through slogans and badges is a step in the right direction, more substantive action is necessary to defeat racism. People of colour need authentic, not performative justice. People like Colin Kaepernick deserve to be celebrated, and most importantly, employed. Organisations such as the English Football League need to address the fact that there is currently only six non-white managers across all of its divisions, before they claim to support BLM. Formula One needs to support its champion drivers, before they claim to be taking part in the fight against racism.

Indeed, while affiliation with BLM has effectively cast a mirror on the world of sport, what it reflects is yet to meaningfully change.

For that to happen, sporting bodies need to focus less on slogans, and more on protecting their athletes with actions, not words.

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Playing through a pandemic A look at the life of an athlete in quarantine Conor Doyle Staff Writer

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ince the outbreak of Covid-19, many people have been longing for the return of sport. As much fun as it is to watch highlights of glory days or to become obsessed with Formula 1 having watched F1: Drive to Survive, there is nothing quite like watching the thrills and spills of live sport. While fans were eagerly anticipating the return of big competitions such as the Premier League, Champions League, and Guinness Pro14, athletes around the world have been dying for the chance to get back out there. None more so than Trinity students whose seasons were cut short back in March and did not get the luxury of completing them over the summer. Ahead of the new academic year, Frannie Smith, captain of Trinity Women’s Soccer, talked us through her experience of training throughout the pandemic.

“I think everyone who is used to playing sports through the spring and during the summer, especially collegiate athletes, have definitely felt the impact from Covid-19,” explained Smith, “Personally, it completely changed my sense of normalcy, in that I wasn’t training with the team or going to a gym regularly.” While those participating in solo sports, such as athletics or golf, could work on technique during the various levels of lockdown, it is certainly much more difficult to train for a team sport as individuals.

While each member can maintain their own fitness and skills, that sense of team cohesion and bonding is likely to suffer. But for the Women’s Soccer team, constant communication from their coaches has helped to bolster morale and keep everybody on the same page. “Our coaches have been really great over the course of the pandemic, especially with a lot of the team in different parts of the world.” praises Smith, lauding the impressive job done by coaches Dan Hobbs and Adam Rochford.

“Adam is really great about giving us fitness plans to stick to which have been so great and give us all a good structure to go off of. I’ve also been doing a lot of training myself, mainly trying to keep it outdoors to remind myself what fresh air is like!”

While the team was disappointed not to finish their season, especially given their excellent form, all thoughts have turned to next year as they attempt to navigate the ever-changing restrictions. At the time we spoke, the current advice from the Government is that outdoor groups should not exceed 15 people, a drastic reduction that has already seen clubs around the country divide squads into smaller groups to adhere to the policy. The restrictions have become more severe now as Dublin has moved back into Level 3, meaning no indoor gatherings can take place and no longer will sport clubs be able to train or compete. However, Smith is optimistic that they will be able to adapt to the new guidelines. “We think it will be doable as we are an outdoor sport so we have more space to work with which is handy. We also have always booked slots for two hour training sessions, which will definitely work in our favor if we need to split the team up over the two hours.”

While this situation would cer-

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It is certainly much more difficult to train for a team sport as individuals tainly suit the Government’s new regulations, it is yet to be seen how the College will regulate training sessions both on the pitch or in the gym. The most recent correspondence from Trinity Sport says that students can book one hour slots in the Sports Centre once per day, and that there will be no changing room facilities. It is currently unclear how this will impact team training sessions, not just for Women’s Soccer but for all of Trinity’s other sports teams.

This lack of communication is not limited to training facilities, as there had been no confirmation from the College of any details for the upcoming 2020/21 season at the time we spoke. “[It] does make me a bit nervous,” admits Smith, “but it’s completely understandable as the Covid-19 situation changes daily.” Despite these worries, Smith cannot wait to get back on the pitch, in any capacity.

“I can’t even begin to express how excited I am to get back to regularly scheduled practices and see the team again,” she exclaimed. “I think it’s really giving everyone a silver lining to look to right now, and I know I’ve been looking forward to it since we ended last season.”

Regular exerci Building a habit of staying active daily is especially important for students during these exceptional times Abby Mooney Contributing Writer

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ovid-19 has taken over our lives. Being confined to our homes is the new normal and it is now a special occasion to even walk out the door.

With college starting again, the reality of this new world is starting to set in and we must create a new daily routine. The first thing to include on your to-do list should be exercise. In this climate, nothing is more important than maintaining your mental and physical health and one of the best ways to improve both is with exercise.

Many students will be losing a large source of their passive exercise with online learning as the commute to college and walking in town could have previously been all they needed to stay active. Others who utilized the gym or any fitness classes may have lost their access to equipment or trainers, or are wary to visit gyms that have reopened. It has never been more important to carve out a half hour for daily exercise.

The World Health Organization recommends that all adults of age 18 to 64 should participate in 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise at least five times a week.

That is only 150 minutes a week, a touch over two hours. Scientists have provided evidence that those 30 minutes a day of exercising can help to improve your overall health. Exercise has been shown to improve mental health, immune function, and overall physical health. As little as 30 minutes a day for five days a week can greatly improve quality of life.

If quarantine has got you feeling down, one way to counter that may

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It has actually never been easier to keep fit from home

be through physical activity. As with your physical health, mental health can easily suffer while staying indoors and helping to prevent the spread of Covid-19. 150 minutes of walking a week has been found to be a significant preventive measure against depression.

The correlation between increased physical activity and decreased rates of depression has been observed time and time again. As learned in many introductory statistics classes, correlation is not equal to causation. However, there is an inversely proportional relationship between physical activity and depression. While restrictions continue until a vaccine exists, going on a short walk could help prevent adverse effects on mental health.

Getting sick may appear to be a purely biological process, but research has shown that stress brought on by life events can hamper the immune system, making it harder for the body to fight off antigens. When someone experiences a major stressor, like a global pandemic, their body initiates a stress response and if the stressor continues, so does the stress response. The body goes into a less extreme form of the fight or flight response, as we have evolved to be stressed by physical threats and not the kind of continual stress

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ise is crucial now more than ever

that comes with modern life.

Parts of the brain that are meant to regulate the body and keep the immune system in check are now working overtime and cannot regulate some of our white blood cells which would usually protect against disease. Luckily enough,

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While restrictions continue until a vaccine exists, going on a short walk could help prevent adverse effects on mental health

physical activity has also been linked to lower amounts of stress, specifically in college students. A study that looked at over 14,000 students across the United States found that students who had participated in vigorous physical activity for only 20 minutes three times a week also reported better mental health and lower stress levels than students who had not met that exercise threshold. While moderate exercise is something akin to a walk, vigorous exercise raises your heart rate and results in heavy breathing and substantial sweating. Going for a run can benefit the body’s defence system against minor illnesses. This is particularly important in times like these when health is threatened around the world.

If you currently do not exercise at all and are intimidated by the WHO recommendation, that is not a problem. New evidence has shown that there is no threshold of physical activity to be met before overarching health benefits are achieved. Moving from a sedentary lifestyle to any amount of physical activity greatly decreases risks for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, breast cancer, and colon cancer. The WHO recommended 150 minutes a week is a good guideline to meet, but even if it is not met, any extra physical

activity will still improve overall health. There are no drawbacks to an extra ten minutes of exercise a day.

Now there is the motivation to get out and move, but the obstacle is how to get started. With the risk of going to a gym right now, it may seem like there is no way to start your fitness journey. It has actually never been easier to keep fit from home. Think to yourself of whatever sort of exercise seems most appealing to you, whether it is running, yoga, weight lifting, or anything else, there are a million search results that can help to learn more about that form of exercise. Be sure to find something you will actually enjoy so you can look forward to exercising. There will always be other people online who can help start a journey to consistent exercise. Whether it is following an expert’s routine or learning alongside a novice, any form of movement will be beneficial. If you are nostalgic about dancing on a night out, there are aerobic dance routines to your favourite style of music readily available on YouTube. If you want to stay in your room and not disturb your roommates, try yoga. If you want to spend more time outdoors, but are not looking to try anything too intense, just go for a nice long walk. If you do not mind spending a little money on equipment, then give weightlifting a shot. If exercising in general seems boring to you, you could listen to a curated playlist of your favourite songs or a podcast to keep your mind occu-

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Physical activity has been linked to lower amounts of stress, specifically in students pied. There are so many resources available for people at any fitness level to get started that it is easier than it may seem to get into the habit of daily exercise.

If you have wanted to better yourself at all over the course of quarantine, now is the time to actually enact change. You can start your new life with just getting outside and moving around for a few extra minutes a day. No goals are too small. A five minute workout will leave you feeling better than if you have not worked out at all.

Physical activity is what you need to start a new chapter of your life and kick the quarantine blues to the side. Work towards the WHO recommended 150 minutes of exercise per week and you will be thanking yourself.

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The challenge of protecting players in professional sport Leagues across the world are handling the current global pandemic in creative ways Shannon McGreevy Sport Editor

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t is no surprise that coronavirus has rocked sports leagues all over the world. With sport initially being put on hold and many seasons cancelled, organisations have had to adapt to the evolving situation. With no precedent to turn to, leagues are having to adhere to government guidelines regarding social distancing in many different ways. Some are getting particularly creative, like the National Basketball Association (NBA) ‘bubble’ in Orlando, Florida, while others, like the Premier League, are limiting fans’ access to stadiums. Many sports fans are just happy that some sort of season is resuming, however strange it may be.

The NBA ‘bubble’ is an isolated campus for coaches, players and their families at the Walt Disney World Resort. It has reported five consecutive rounds of negative tests as of August 19. It appears that the bubble tactic is working for the NBA, but there remains uncertainty ahead. Much of the success can be attributed to preparation that took place before the bubble was set up.

Teams and athletes complained

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The league is demanding a lot from all isolating in the campus, including daily Covid-19 testing.

privately about socially-distanced individual workouts, but NBA officials felt the measures taken were necessary in order to create the safest environment possible.

The league is demanding a lot from all those isolating on the campus, including daily Covid-19 testing. Text message alerts have been implemented in order to ensure testing is being done as scheduled. Everyone is also asked to wear a mask, sanitise their hands frequently and follow socialdistancing guidelines. Daily testing has proven one of the best ways to ensure the safety of everyone inside the bubble, as cases can be caught immediately. Security has also been tight, making sure no one enters or leaves the campus so as to decrease any possibility of contamination. But there have been some slip ups, especially early on. Sacramento Kings centre Richaun Holmes and Houston Rockets small forward Bruno Cabocol crossed the campus line and left the hotel room during the initial quarantine period, thus having to re-enter quarantine from the beginning. However, there is a belief among league officials that those who were not willing to follow the steps necessary to keep everyone safe and healthy would have opted to not enter the bubble in the first place. It is safe to say that this experimental approach

to keeping the season going is working so far.

As restrictions in the UK began to lessen, the Premier League began pre-season training in midAugust. Upon players returning to their respective clubs, a total of 14 coronavirus cases at just 12 clubs were reported among both staff and players. Compared to a mere 30 positive cases out of the 35,000 tests conducted during the league’s Project Restart in June, the increase is notable. The League is still planning to start on September 12 despite these cases, and will be testing players just once a week rather than their previous twice a week during the last campaign.

All people testing positive will be required to self-isolate for seven days. It is concerning that cases seem to have spiked in the League, particularly since players were released from the club to enjoy their off-season.

The Premier League is not the only sports league that has been experiencing a spike in cases; Major League Baseball (MLB) in America had much worse waves of outbreaks. In the wake of these, the MLB implemented stricter requirements for players and staff in order to prevent the spread. The league requires players to wear masks in more places, further restricted places they can visit outside the ballpark, and said that

players who do not abide by the rules will be disciplined. As of early August, players must wear masks covering their mouth and nose at all times in the stadium, except when on the field. Additionally, when traveling on planes and buses, surgical masks or N95/ KN95 respirators must be worn.

Teams must also provide at least

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Baseball resumed quickly after being shut down due to the pandemic, and clearly is struggling to finish the season.

four buses when travelling so that no one need sit next to each other.

While these restrictions may appear a bit extreme, officials want to complete the already cutshort season with the fewest cases possible. Holding conversations while masks are removed to eat or drink is prohibited as well.

When players are at hotels they must be granted permission to leave, and they are advised to avoid crowded public spaces like bars, lounges, and malls when at home. The league has also hired security officers in order to police adherence to stricter guidelines.

Baseball resumed quickly after being shut down due to the pandemic, and clearly is struggling to finish the season. Many games have been postponed for teams who have experienced outbreaks, but the league maintains that the health and safety of staff and players remains paramount.

The GAA has been very receptive to changing government guidelines. The GAA’s Covid advisory group met August 10 in order to consider implications for clubs in Kildare, Laois, and Offaly that went on lockdown due to a localised increase in coronavirus cases. The number of cases among GAA clubs in these respective counties were not noticeably different than those nationwide, however, in order to adhere to

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Sport government regulations, action was taken. Further restrictions were placed on these counties including no games permitted until the lockdown was lifted by the government. Training was able to continue, but in groups of 15 or fewer, and travel restrictions remain in place.

In addition, the completion of health questionnaires before training sessions should be further encouraged and only indoor gatherings of no more than six people can take place.

The Association says these new restrictions are due to “circumstances beyond the control of the three Gaelic Games Associations in Laois, Offaly and Kildare”. It is reassuring that the GAA is responding quickly and efficiently to changes in these unprecedented times in order to protect players and families.

Clearly many different approaches to continuing seasons have been taken across different sports and have produced varying results. However, all leagues maintain that the health and safety of all is the most important factor and sympathise with those affected

by Covid-19. Although the NBA’s approach is unconventional and has never been done before, it seems to be the most effective in preventing the spread of coronavirus and protecting players and their families. The way that the NBA is proactive in doing daily testing and having strict rules is allowing training to take place and games to be played without interruption. Similarly, the GAA reacting quickly and efficiently to changes across the counties is also proving beneficial in protecting the safety of players. Conversely, the MLB initially having particularly lax requirements when it resumed

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It is reassuring that the GAA is responding quickly and efficiently to changes in these unprecedented times in order to protect players and families. has proven to be worrisome as alarming spikes have taken place among multiple teams. Hopefully the season will be able to finish and the further restrictions will reduce the spread.

While avid sports fans are excited to see their favorite teams playing again on the television, the health and safety of everyone involved needs to be the utmost priority.

Out of left field: DU Equestrian Club The club’s presidents and captain discuss their pitches to incoming freshers and their love of the sport Shannon McGreevy Sport Editor

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here aren’t many kids who’ve grown up with access to horses and the ability to ride, especially if you’re from the city. But that doesn’t have to mean the opportunity to try something new isn’t out there. The DU Equestrian Club aims to be a place for students to make new friends and push themselves out of their comfort zone, or continue to compete in events if they’re already experienced. New Presidents Zoe Coakley and Robbie Kearns for the 2020/21 year are excited to bring their love and passion for the sport to Trinity students. It is clear that while this may not be the most mainstream club, it is an accomplished one with an impressive history.

One of the selling points of DUEC is that you do not have to be experienced in riding in any way. Kearns advocates for the “inclusivity” of the club, stating: “All students are welcome to join and take part in many activities, even if they have never seen a horse before.” While it may seem intimidating at first, joining with

no background or knowledge of this world, the club offers riding lessons for first-timers. Captain Ciara Gilroy explains: “Following on from previous years, we will hold Give-It-A-Go Lessons to allow potential and new students to try out our lessons.” More experienced riders have the opportunity to represent Trinity at competitions. Kearns further debunks the belief that members need to have ridden before by saying himself and fellow President Coakley are “really trying to push the fact that this is not the case.” So, if learning to ride a horse and eventually compete sounds interesting at all, then this is the club to join!

DUEC isn’t purely about riding horses, but also offers lessons and competition in polocrosse. Polocrosse is a mix of polo and lacrosse. Gilroy speaks from her own experience: “Polocrosse is something that I tried for the first time in first year and it’s something that I really recommend to anyone that has ridden before and wants to try something new.” It seems like polocrosse is worth giving a shot.

Coakley has a familiar background with DUEC, as her older sister and brother were members and she was able to see “firsthand the fun they got out of the club”. She decided to “throw herself into it from the beginning of college” and does not regret it at all! Growing up riding horses and ponies, this was a passion she was able to continue through college. She says that DUEC is a place where “like-minded people’’ can join together and improve themselves, as well as give members an opportunity to ride even if they have had to leave their own horse at home. Kearns

also has been riding since his childhood, specifically since he was about three years old. He was a part of the Limerick Pony Club until the age of 15 and then began three-day eventing. He is pursuing eventing professionally, so he is quite an accomplished president to have heading the club. Even though Kearns had a background as an equestrian, he said he was “dragged by a friend to the DUEC freshers night.” He emphasizes the importance that immersing himself in the club in college had for him, remarking that it was the “real highlight of my time in college and I made so many lifelong friends.”

This is a club that is not only accessible, but also has a history to be proud of.

In November of 2019, the DU Equestrian Club was nominated for Sports Club of the Year by Trinity Sport. The club had a fantastic year, hosting and winning at Intervarsities.

They are looking forward to continuing their impressive performance in coming years.

“Covid depending, we compete in 3 main competitions throughout the year, which also gives out more experienced riders a chance to ride in a competitive zone, plus they include a fun weekend away,” notes Gilroy. Other than performing well in events and competitions, the club hosts a variety of events throughout the year for members to attend and be involved in, including an annual ball.

For any avid horse lover or just any student looking to get more involved in college sport, the DU Equestrian Club is perfect to give a shot and meet some amazing fellow Trinity students in the process.

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Sport

Playing through a pandemic Conor Doyle

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Out of left field: DU Equestrian Club Shannon McGreevy

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Cameron Hill Columnist

DUFC are prepared to face the strangest of seasons

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t was all lining up quite nicely. With four games to go, Dublin University Football Club (DUFC) were lying in 9th in the All-Ireland League (AIL) Division 1A and the team was bracing themselves for a relegation dogfight. It looked set to be a thrilling end to the season, kicking off with a visit

by Lansdowne to College Park on Friday 13 March. Then, the world changed. The pandemic put a halt to the league as fixtures were postponed until the situation could be fully assessed.

On March 19, the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) announced the conclusion of the leagues for the 2019/20 season, assuring clubs that due to the unforeseen circumstances, no teams would face relegation this year. Despite the obvious relief that their 1A status was confirmed for another season, there remained a sense of unfinished business within the DUFC team. As head coach Tony Smeeth reveals, the Trinity players were more than prepared to get a result against their crosstown rivals and fight to the last: “Anxiety of relegation is always good to be avoided, but we were raring to go for that game; [Lansdowne] were weaker coming into it.”

More curious still is Smeeth’s evaluation of his team’s performance this year. The previous season, DUFC enjoyed unprecedented success, finishing 4th and making it to the league playoffs before losing 23-3 to the eventual champions Cork Constitution. And yet, Smeeth believes that his side played more cohesive rugby this year, despite the regular absence of key players such as Ryan Baird and Rowan Osborne due to Leinster commitments. As Smeeth recalls: “[This season], we remained competitive in games all year long, whereas last year, teams were putting 50-60 points on us.”

“Up until the last game [last season], we had the best attack in the league and our defence was good, but we were shocking at making bad reads, making crucial errors. We were stickier this year; even when we were playing badly, we were getting stuck in. This year, the team balance was slightly wrong. Between Leinster and the [Ireland] under-20s, we simply had too many guys involved elsewhere, and we had too many injuries.”

It is one of the caveats of having real talent in your club squad – they will more than likely be unavailable to play with Leinster and possibly international duty.

PHOTO BY DONYA BAGHAIE FOR TRINITY NEWS

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One of the caveats of having real talent in your club squad – they will have Leinster and possibly international duty Baird started Leinster’s first game since lockdown against Munster and appears to be an integral part of Andy Farrell’s Ireland plans.

Smeeth admits that, while having that calibre of player in your squad can be hugely beneficial, there is no guarantee that they will be regularly available for selection: “I thought Rowan [Osborne] would be available most of the year, but next year, with Jamison GibsonPark qualifying for Ireland, Rowan will probably be with Leinster more often than not. If good players are there and willing to play for you, you can’t ignore them. But we have to plan without Ryan [Baird] and Thomas Clarkson. Those lads will win you games, but not the league.”

This season, the AIL has been severely curtailed, and has been pushed back to January. Instead of the usual home and away fixtures, each team will only play each other once, culminating in semifinals and a final to determine the champion. Crucially, there will be no promotion or relegation. Before that, the IRFU have devised the

Energia Community Series, a oneoff competition dividing the AIL clubs into conferences based on their respective provinces, running from September to December.

Trinity have been drawn in Leinster Conference 1 with teams such as Lansdowne, UCD and Old Wesley. The top-placed team will take on their counterpart in Ulster Conference 1 in the semi-finals of the Bateman Cup, facing either a Connacht or Munster club in the final. The second-placed team in each conference will follow a similar route, with the Bateman Plate going to the eventual victors.

In some ways, the exceptional nature of this season may play into Smeeth’s hands. With the team out of action since March, the extended resting period will have allowed most injuries to heal, providing the coach with an almost fullstrength squad. Moreover, with the threat of relegation vanquished for this year at least, perhaps the team will return to the exciting, attackminded style of two years ago.

However, the uncertainty surrounding the Leaving Cert and Freshers’ Week this year has not helped. With new restrictions placing Dublin back on Level 3 restrictions, DUFC will have to continue to adapt and be creative with their tactics. The club would usually have spent the last few weeks preparing to welcome new players, with Smeeth finishing the recruitment process - complete with his famous “fishing letters” –

by Easter. Instead, the picture is a lot less clear: “We’ve had more guys getting in touch with us stating their intent to come to Trinity next year. They’re in a good position, but while before, you might’ve had the [CAO] points in the bag, no one knows whether they’ll go up or down this time around. Ireland is not like the US - you need the points and you can be desperately unlucky sometimes. You always hear one story of a guy who just missed out.”

While Freshers’ Week may not be as crucial in terms of bolstering the 1st XV, it is a vital opportunity to attract newcomers to rugby.

“Freshers’ is key for our Ladies Club, because we have to teach girls how to play first and foremost, and a lot of those girls are playing fullon by the end of October. That’s how it is right now, in a few years that will have changed.”

Meanwhile, the Senior squad

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With the threat of relegation vanquished for this year at least, perhaps the team will return to the exciting, attack-minded style of two years ago. have been back training since August 10, finally getting in the essential type of practice and conditioning work that simply wasn’t possible during lockdown.

While each player was provided with their own personalised training programme over the first few months of isolation, Smeeth confesses that even they had their limitations. “Weights were the hardest thing to come by during lockdown - there’s a reason 1A is semi-professional. We train 3 times a week, twice a day; that’s the same as Leinster. It’s why our guys like Niyi [Adeolokun] and Rowan can transition to the professional game almost seamlessly.”

Despite all the setbacks and the ambiguity surrounding the return to play, there is a definite optimism about Smeeth. He concedes that it will be strange initially: “It will definitely be different. Like every game, the players go around shaking each other’s hands in the locker room, sometimes even hugging each other. Now they’re going to have to touch elbows or something.” Yet every word and anecdote is delivered by Smeeth with a subtle yet palpable excitement, and a firm belief that with the return of rugby, normality – whatever that may be – cannot be far behind.