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TRINITY NEWS
Ireland’s Oldest Student Newspaper
ESTABLISHED 1953
Trinity records 40% rise in plagiarism Finn Purdy Deputy Editor
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RINITY RECORDED A RISE IN THE NUMBER of cases of plagiarism last year, during a semester which saw almost all Hilary Term assessments move online due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In the 2019/20 academic year, there were 65 instances of plagiarism recorded in Trinity, compared to 47 in the previous year - an increase of 38.3% - and 42 in 2017/18, records released to Trinity News under the Freedom
of Information Act 2014 show. Sanctions which may be imposed upon a student who has engaged in academic cheating are at the discretion of the Junior Dea, and in the most serious cases can include expulsion from College. While the number of instances of plagiarism did increase last year, the overall number of cases of academic cheating fell. Infractions which relate to in person exams, many of which did not go ahead during the second semester of last year, saw a particular drop. 55 instances of examination infringement were recorded in the 2018/19 academic year, while only 18 were recorded last year.
2018/19 also saw once instance of a student being caught engaging in “contract cheating”, whereby the student pays a professional service provider to write an essay for them. No instances of this form of cheating were recorded last year. In total last year saw the Junior Dean’s office deal with 89 cases of academic cheating, compared to 104 in 2018/19 and 83 in 2017/18. In June, Trinity News reported that a memo advising staff on standards for plagiarism in open-book examinations, when compared to traditional live examinations, was circulated to academic staff only after the end of the assessment period.
Vol. 67, Issue. 8
The memo, which offered guidelines on marking exams that took place remotely due to College’s closure amid the Covid-19 pandemic, was not circulated to students. “The procedures and penalties in place for dealing with plagiarism are best aligned to assignments submitted during the year and require some adaptation for assignments submitted during a final exam period and for online exams,” the memo, seen by Trinity News, outlined. The memo advised staff marking take-home exams, or real-time online exams that were not proctored, to “look for students to demonstrate a conceptual understanding and not just reproduce material as they might under live examination conditions”. “If an answer does not demonstrate conceptual understanding on the part of the student (for any reason, including a lack of originality or
Inside: Special edition climate supplement
Continued on page 2>>
PHOTO BY HEATHER BRUTON FOR TRINITY NEWS
Demand on student counselling services continues to be “very high” Bonnie Gill
College correspondent
A One year on
S STUDENTS APPROACH THE END OF a second semester of online learning and Level 5 lockdown restrictions, many are availing of the Student Counselling Services. Last October, the Student Counselling Service saw a large rise in enquiries, with over 600 emails in three weeks as reported by Trinity News. Speaking to Trinity News this week, Acting Director of Student Counselling at Trinity, Trish Murphy, stated that the demand for Student Counselling
New murals line Pearse Street on the walls of Trinity’s Science Gallery to mark a year since the pandemic first struck Ireland
Continued on page 2>>
Tuesday 30 March | TRINITY NEWS
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News >> Continued from front page
In this issue News
Minister expects students will be back on campus in September - page 4
Features
Modernising elections and opening up politics - page 12
Trinity records plagiarism rise lack of evidence of real intellectual engagement of the student with it) then low marks should be awarded,” the memo detailed. One engineering student who had been notified of a plagiarism
case against them following an exam was sent the memo after the plagiarism case had been opened. Speaking to Trinity News, the student said: “I wished that the guidelines in the memo would have been sent to us before the
examinations.” “Sending it now is equivalent to giving a dead man some medicine for his ailment due to which he died,” the student expressed.
>> Continued from front page
Comment
Serious Zoom anxiety is hurting students’ ability to learn -page 19
SciTech
Trinity geneticist shares the ins and outs of PhD life online - page 23
Sport
Sports scholar John Tanguay’s journey to training for Tokyo - page 25
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Counselling demand continues to be high “continues to be very high”. In August of 2020, the government announced that €5 Million in additional funding would go towards student mental health and well-being. These funds were to be individually allocated to higher education institutions across the country to support student services. Murphy stated that this funding has been used to provide College with extra student counsellors, and that these posts are now up and running. She explained that this year, the intensity of the presenting issues have increased and that students availing of the services “require
more support than previously”. Murphy continued that this is “definitely Covid related” and that “isolation and loneliness has exacerbated issues for many people”. The National Student WellBeing and Suicide Prevention Framework was launched by Minister Simon Harris in October 2020 to recognise the struggles many students face in regards to their mental health. The framework, alongside the €5 million in funding, set out to “proactively to maximise mental health and wellbeing”. Harris, in launching the framework, expressed that issues
surrounding young people’s mental health have been “compounded by the isolation and uncertainty brought forward by the Covid-19 pandemic”. Speaking on the kinds of services available to students under Level 5 restrictions, Murphy stated that the college offers “online and group supports” and that they encourage students to use these while they are waiting for “ongoing” counselling sessions. In addition to this, she also noted that “emergency or crisis sessions are available every day for those that need it” and that students can avail of academic support through Student Learning Development workshops which are conducted one to one. As well as this, Student2Student (S2S) drop in and mentor services are also available.
Trinity Library waives over half of fines during pandemic The library waived nearly €13 thousand worth of fines in twelve months since March 2020 Finn Purdy Deputy Editor
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HE LIBRARY OF TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN (the Library) has waived over half of fines during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, choosing to forgive €12,804 over a twelve month period from March of 2020 to March of 2021. Records released to Trinity News records released under the Freedom of Information Act 2014 reveal that in the same period, the Library collected €12,729 in fines, a relatively low figure when compared to the amount collected by the library over previous twelve month periods. The Library received €57,071 in fines during the 2018/2019 academic year, which was itself a reduction from previous years due to the introduction of a new borrowing system designed to
encourage the return of items in high-demand among readers. €84,584 was paid in fines to the Library in 2017/2018, with €87,187.15 paid in 2016/2017. At the onset of the pandemic in Ireland and the closure of all schools and colleges, the Library announced a number of measures to reflect the increased difficulty for students to return books to campus. This included the extension of all due dates for the return of books and a commitment that no fines will be accrued during the period when the library was closed. Loans were extended so they would not fall overdue during lockdown and subsequent level 5 restrictions and fines for these items, apart from overdue recalls were discontinued. Any new loans borrowed since March 12 of last year have no fines attached, except in circumstances where the book has been recalled by another student. While recalls can be placed, at the moment recalls do not currently shorten due dates. Loans already overdue on the March 12 of last remained overdue and accrued fines as per the loan rule and any fines already accrued prior to that date also remained in place. Trinity’s Berkeley and Leckey currently remain open, with
reduced opening hours, while the Hamilton library, Ussher Library, John Stearne Medical Library, and Research Collections Reading Room have all been temporarily closed. In February a new system was brought in for booking study spaces in the library with an aim to reduce the spread of Covid-19. Students are currently given 1 hour and 45 minutes at a “specific work-station”, they are then asked to take a 15-minute break outside before moving to their “next booking” which will be a separate station, elsewhere in the Library. Students are being asked to ensure that they only book seats they intend to use, and they are being asked to cancel any bookings they will not manage to be present for. An email sent to all students from John Coman, Secretary to the College and Dr David McGrath, Director of the College Health Service explaining the new booking system stated that “if an individual were to develop Covid-19, any person who has spent a cumulative period of more than two hours during a 24-hour period in an enclosed space with that person would be considered a close contact and would be required to self-isolate for 14 days”.
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 30 March
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Government votes down motion to scrap third level fees All opposition TDs bar eight independents voted in favour of the motion Kate Henshaw
Assistant News Editor
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HE GOVERNMENT HAS VOTED DOWN A MOTION IN THE DÁIL on that proposed radical measures on expanding access to further and higher education. Government TDs voted against the People Before Profit (PBP) Young People and Access to Further and Higher Education motion in the Dáil last week. All opposition TDs bar eight members of the Regional Group of Independents voted in favour of the bill. PBP have said they are “extremely disappointed” that the bill has failed to pass. On social media, the party saidthat they “want to #abolishfees and reform the system, so that everyone has the same chance” and “the [government] showed us how little they really care. #EducationForAll”. The proposed motion sought to scrap all fees for further and higher education with the aim of increasing accessibility. The motion was proposed by PBP’s Richard Boyd Barrett. During the debate, Boyd Barrett said that “access to the highest levels of education should be a right for all and that access to third-level should be seen in the same way as access to second-
level was in the late 1960s, when second-level was expanded for all”. During the debate, Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris said that he does “share the ambition in terms of removing barriers to access to further and higher education”, despite his and his party’s opposition to the motion. “Deputy Boyd Barrett said he wants to see a radical overhaul in this area; so do I. I genuinely want to see a radical overhaul of how people get from second level to third level” he said. Harris also said the “concept that access to at least an undergraduate education would be free as part of a natural extension of the education system” has “serious merit”. He highlighted reforms that he hopes to implement through the Department of Higher Education saying “we should be ambitious and we should use this new Department to drive an ambitious programme of reform” and that these reforms would include “reforming the CAO, creating an integrated tertiary education system, overhauling the SUSI grant system, making big and brave decisions on a sustainable funding model and bringing forward new governance legislation, an adult literacy, numeracy and digital skills plan, and a new national access plan”. Harris voted against the motion but noted that “the debate today, importantly, puts a focus on a number of those important issues [He] looks forward to continuing to work with colleagues on them”. TDs were voting on an amended version of this bill, with the debate having taken place on March 11.
Trinity proposes legislation to exclude itself from dramatic government autonomy and accountability reforms The proposed reforms have been denounced by members of the college body Jamie Cox
Higher Education correspondent
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RINITY HAS P R O P O S E D LEGISLATION aimed at excluding itself from government reforms that aim to reduce College autonomy and increase College accountability, the Irish Times has reported. The legislation proposed by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Innovation and Research, Simon Harris, last November is suggesting that governing bodies within Irish universities should be slimmed down and that external government appointees will become a part of college administration. Harris has said that current legislation is “not fit for purpose and does not reflect the world in which we live”. Harris also stated that he intends to make sure that College’s “institutional autonomy” is not lost and to ensure that all academic liberties are maintained. However, he stated that colleges must be made more accountable to the state, as well as to learners. It is his belief that “robust” and refreshed legislation must be brought in.
These suggested reforms have been denounced by members of the College body, including 59 of Trinity’s Fellows, Non-Fellow academic students and staff, as well as all three candidates currently contesting the Provostial race. Speaking to Trinity News, the Department of Further and Higher Education stated: “The Minister will bring proposals to government next month to provide a modernised framework for the achievement of a high quality, student focused higher education system in autonomous HEIs with appropriate oversight and accountability to underpin public confidence of stakeholders, students and the public.” The department identified that “the current legislation does not reflect the changed landscape of higher education”. The department continued to say that the aim of the reforms is the “provision of a high quality education which is innovative and adaptive to the needs of the learner”. They also stated that the reforms aim to maximise “the contribution of higher education to social, economic and cultural development.” They believe the proposed legislation will “strengthen the institutional governance of HEIs and will reflect good governance practice”. In its unpublished submission to government, seen by the Irish Times, Trinity has described the planned reforms as threatening to “undermine its autonomy” and has sought legislation that would exclude it from key features of the reforms. Trinity has described certain
Head of Facilities and Services receives suspended sentence for sexual assault Head of Facilities and Services at Trinity has avoided prison after receiving a suspended sentence for sexually assaulting his AirBnB guest Shannon Connolly News Editor
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RENDAN LEAHY, TRINITY’S HEAD OF FACILITIES AND SERVICES, has received a suspended sentence in court today for sexually assaulting an AirBnB guest nearly three years ago. The assault occurred after Leahy brought the guest and her fiance on a historic pub tour of Dublin. Leahy appeared in front of a judge at Dublin District Court last
week after having pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the woman in the summer of 2018, the Irish Independent has reported. The assault occurred at Kehoe’s Pub on South Anne Street and involved Leahy repeatedly pushing the front of his body against the woman from behind. A garda told Judge John Hughes that the victim had been staying in Leahy’s spare bedroom, which was in use as an Airbnb. CCTV footage of the assault that lasted six and a half seconds was shown in court. The judge imposed a three-
month sentence but suspended it on the condition that Leahy does not reoffend in the next year; completes a sex offenders education course; pays a €1,000 fine; and gives another €1,000 in compensation to the woman. The judge ordered Leahy to no longer provide Airbnb services. Following the assault in the summer of 2018, the woman and her fiance went to Pearse Street garda station and reported the incident. The court was told that the sexual assault had a “profound effect” on the woman.
The woman provided a victim impact statement that was read out in court today which detailed that she was left in shock, suffered flashbacks and panic attacks, and has been taking anti-anxiety medication. Leahy had no previous criminal convictions and co-operated with the investigation, the court was told. Following the assault, after two months, he went to Pearse Street garda station and said he didn’t recall the incident because he was too drunk. Leahy identified himself in the CCTV footage from the night in the pub.
features of the plan as presenting “fundamental difficulties”. One of the key concerns as presented by College, is the reduction of the College Board from 72 members to 12 members. The majority of the board would then be made up of external government appointees as chosen by the minister. According to Trinity, College Board is currently made up of its own staff, students and elected fellows and to change that would lead to a “knowledge deficit and a representation and morale deficit”. Trinity has highlighted recent progress with its own internal reforms. College wishes to advance these reforms further but the required space to do so would need to be granted by government. The desire to continue the tradition of “collegiate governance” is something that Trinity says has served the College well for 400 years. One senior source who was present at the board meeting last Wednesday, according to the Irish Times, allegedly announced that these new reforms could mean “the end of Trinity as we know it”. Trinity has expressed a desire to preserve the “unique character” of the College in its submitted legislation to government. This would allow College to be excluded from aspects of the plan. College has highlighted that in 1997, Trinity was excluded from similar reform legislation and was instead allowed to install its own reforms. College stated that they “believe that reforms could be introduced which respect the government’s wishes while also preserving many of the best aspects of Trinity’s model”. He could have faced a 12-month prison term and a €5,000 fine in the district court, but in a mitigation plea, defence solicitor Ruth Walsh said that Leahy was remorseful and “absolutely devastated”. Leahy is the Head of Facilities and Services within Estates and Facilities, a role which he has held since January 2015. Trinity sets out a definition of sexual harassment in its Dignity and Respect Policy, but not of sexual assault. The policy states that “assault, including sexual assault, is not within the University’s disciplinary jurisdiction and, as a matter of criminal law, should be referred to An Garda Siochana,” the policy states”. A list of examples of academic staff misconduct governed by College’s statues includes sexual harassment on College premises or in the course of employment, but does not make reference to instances of sexual harassment offcampus.
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Tuesday 30 March | TRINITY NEWS
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Analysis: Student gatherings could possibly reduce the likelihood of a return to college campuses
Jamie Cox
Higher education correspondent
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n the last four to five weeks, there have 377 recorded cases of Covid-19 among students in Ireland. Of those recorded, there are currently 326 active cases of Covid-19, largely associated with close contact within households, in offcampus accommodation. 51 cases have been linked to off-campus accommodation of the Limerick city area. The recent outbreak, linked with the student parties that took place around the University of Limerick (UL), drew widespread criticism from the Department of Higher Education, the Irish Universities Association (IUA) and the Union of Students in Ireland (USI). Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris described the conduct of these students as “a slap in the face” to those who are making sacrifices by following government restrictions. The criticism of outbreaks such as those in UL after public parties has generated a negative public perception of students’ ability to limit themselves and abide by existing restrictions while on campus in general. According to Harris, this negative perception of students jeopardises the ability to generate support at the governmental levels to reopen colleges for students come September. Minister Harris has likewise spoken of this as a crucial period where he will have talks to see how and if students can return to campus safely. Facing into this period, student behaviour will be closely monitored. It could be that, despite the majority of students abiding by Public Health guidelines, should further outbreaks that are directly linked to on- or off-campus activity occur, public and governmental perception of student behaviour will make it difficult for universities to return to in-person teaching in September. Students have been identified to carry a unique risk profile, a spokesperson for the Mary Immaculate College (MIC) medical centre has said students “tend to have a wider social network; they may have a part-time job; they often travel between households for third level and family, and they are generally more active.” This is further compounded by the fact that students are “also more likely to carry Covid-19 without
TCDSU’s March4Masi ca to be extended into Apri
The fundraiser has received over €3,700 in donations Shannon Connolly News Editor
T any symptoms”. This profiling of students as being a unique risk-factor, accompanied with the reckless behaviour as can be seen in the outbreaks in Limerick and Galway, is something that may dissuade the public or government in supporting a return to campus for students. However, wide praise has been given to students who “stay with the programme”, as put by Director General of the IUA Jim Miley. Miley has said he shares the ambition of the Minister to see all students returned to campus. Talking of student effort Miley described how “the overwhelming majority of students are playing by the rules and they are keeping themselves, their friends and their families safe but unfortunately there is a very small minority who have behaved recklessly.” As we face into the second quarter of the year, Ireland’s vaccination programme is set to ramp up alongside the potential easing of Covid-19 restrictions. However, students’ may need to sway the public perception of student capabilities in maintaining public health guidelines. Events such as the outbreaks in Limerick generate a distinct lack of public trust in the safety of reopening campuses. Currently perception of student behaviour is split between the blame for the breaches in restrictions committed by certain students and the appreciation felt for the vast majority who have abided by restrictions. As case numbers plateau and potentially rise in the coming weeks, student behaviour may influence the position of government in regards to reopening campus in the next academic year. If students can avoid such public breaches of restrictions during this period then more could be done to see a return to onsite activity, come September.
RINITY COLLEGE D U B L I N ’ S STUDENTS UNION (TCDSU) is to extend their March4Masi campaign into April, in a bid to reach their target of €10,000. Speaking to Trinity News, TCDSU President Eoin Hand said that the fundraiser has “gone really well”, with “over 100 people donating so far, raising over €3,700”. The Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (MASI) is an Irish advocacy group for those seeking international protection in the Republic of Ireland, with the goals of ending direct provision and deportation. “We’re nearly at the €4,000 mark, and we’ve had some great support from Trinity VDP, from FLAC, from LawSoc and just generally from the public. We’ve had fantastic engagement from people like Richie Hogan, and the provost candidates partaking, so it’s a really good buzz and really fantastic to see.” So far in the campaign, all three provost candidates, Professor
Jane Ohlymeyer, Professor Linda Hogan and Professor Linda Doyle have participated in the fundraising event. Hand explained that “in terms of our target, we’re still aiming to raise €10,000”. “We’re not quite there yet, but we’re on a very positive track at the moment and we’re happy to continue into April until we reach our goal,” Hand concluded. “At the end of the day, the main thing that we want to do is raise awareness around Direct Provision.” “It is to focus students’ minds on how they can get involved, and
raise much needed funds for MASI and Bridge the Gap.” He added: “There’s no pressure on a timeline, we just want to make sure that we raise enough funds to be able to support two fantastic charities.” Hand continued by explaining different events that have been held within the campaign over the last month, including the Direct Provision in Focus, which was a collaboration between TCDSU and the JCR. “The JCR has agreed to match funds with 50c for every individual who viewed the event itself. The
Minister expects students will be back on campuses in September Simon Harris has said he anticipates “a lot more on site activity in the new college year” Kate Kenshaw
Assistant News Editor
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INISTER FOR F U R T H E R AND HIGHER E D U C AT I O N , I N N O VAT I O N AND RESEARCH SIMON HARRIS has said he expects students will be back on college campuses by September. In an interview with Shane Coleman on Newstalk Breakfast,
the Minister stated that “while [he] can’t be overly prescriptive now, what [he] can say is [he] expects a lot more on site activity in the new college year”. “To be fair to students and to be fair to staff I provide a more substantive update than a couple of words and I want to do that at the start of the summer,” he continued. Harris stated that though he is “concerned” about the current Covid-19 case numbers, he believes based on “the vaccine bonus and where we’re likely to be with vaccinations through the summer months and into the autumn, [he] thinks we’ll be in a very very different place” come September. Harris also spoke about potential easing of Covid-19 restrictions saying although there is “a lot of doom and gloom out there at the moment” he “genuinely believes that we are heading into a
summer where we can see hope and where we can see reopening”. “The government are going to have to talk to people about what the way out of this looks like.” Harris highlighted that he plans to offer a further “more substantive” update on the resumptions of on campus activities in the summer saying “we will spell out what we believe that looks like in the early summer”. At the end of February, a Trinity spokesperson told Trinity News: “We are hopeful, based on this information, that College can resume more face to face teaching in September.” “However, it will of course depend on the progress of the pandemic and on public health advice,” they added. In a survey conducted by College while they were making second semester teaching plans last December, 79% of students
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 30 March
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ampaign First live debate of provost campaign sees candidates pushed il JCR has also challenged us to match their donation, so there will be a nice donation coming from the JCR joined with the SU.” Hand also went on: “Alex Connolly is walking 500 km, and he is going to donate half of what he earns to March4Masi, and the other half of what he earns will go to Pieta House.” “I’m still running 50 km throughout the month just to keep a bit of good buzz going on social media,” Hand explained. Hand concluded by stating the objective of the campaign is to “Walk or Run 5km, Tag 5 friends, and donate whatever you can”. In August of last year, MASI published documents showing Department of Justice reports monitoring media coverage and social media activity related to Direct Provision which record the amount of traction that posts attracted on social media platforms. Among the report’s excerpts is a statement from USI calling for vacant student accommodation to be used to support vulnerable students in Direct Provision. The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) have continuously been campaigning against Direct Provision, calling for its abolishment. In a White Paper published last month, government announced that it plans to replace Direct Provision with an international protection system in the next four years. voted in favour of more inperson teaching under Level 3 while adhering to public health guidelines, with 64% in favour of more in-person teaching under Level 5. Also in this survey, which was filled out by over 6000 Trinity students, 78% of respondents had no particular concern about semester 2 or returning to campus. 43% of respondents highlighted that they were feeling “a little stressed or worried,” with 20% saying they felt “very stressed/ worried” while studying online. In January, College highlighted the deteriorating public health conditions amid the rising Covid 19 cases as the main reason for their decision to keep the majority of teaching online this term. In an email on January 29 Senior Lecturer Kevin Mitchell said that College had “hoped this new semester might see a return to more in-person teaching, but the deterioration in conditions means we will have to rely even more heavily on online teaching and learning for the coming months”.
to distinguish themselves Journalist Sharon Ní Bheoláin quizzed the candidates on the finer details of their plans
Lauren Boland and Finn Purdy
Editor and Deputy Editor
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HE CANDIDATES RUNNING TO BE TRINITY’S NEXT PROVOST had their first opportunity to engage in a live, in-person debate last week during a discussion that spanned higher education funding, rankings, student services and the future of Trinity’s governance. Professors Linda Doyle, Linda Hogan and Jane Ohlmeyer were pushed by journalist Sharon Ní Bheoláin to give concrete plans to back up their ambitions and distinguish themselves from their fellow candidates. The discussion was held in the Public Theatre in the Exam Hall in a move away from the use of Zoom in previous debates and forums. The candidates were quizzed on their plans for funding Trinity in the wake of the pandemic and the specific sources they would seek to generate income from. All three candidates stressed that they would be making a case to the government for a substantial increase in core funding, however while Professors Doyle and Ohymeyer focused on philanthropy as a main focus for an alternative revenue stream, Professor Hogan emphasised partnerships with business and peer universities. She stated that through these partnerships Trinity could “grow our additional income by 20%”. Ohlmeyer challenged this narrative, stating that “the last decade was the decade of commercialisation and internationalisation”, whereas “the next decade is about philanthropy”. Ohlmeyer said that for every €1, the College currency invests in philanthropy, it sees a €17 return, adding that Trinity has “a fabulous story to tell”. Doyle argued that an increase in government funding at the time of financial crisis is realistic because “it is so important for this country” to come out of the pandemic in a strong way and that the university had proved its worth during the pandemic, citing
examples of donating equipment and facilities. Hogan argued that it was important that Trinity put a “specific ask” to the government in terms of funding. Doyle also ruled out increasing fees, saying that “widening” access to education would be a priority for her. On a topic that had not yet been addressed to this extent during the campaign period, the candidates were pushed on their plans for the land Trinity holds at the grand canal docks which has been earmarked for a technology campus dubbed Trinity East. Doyle said that Trinity East should be developed as a “fully thriving second city centre campus location”, with a focus on sustainable architecture. “There’s an enormous opportunity for us to do things in an absolutely different way down there, to catch climate and biodiversity by the neck,” she said. Taking a different perspective, Ohlmeyer said that “what we are doing is risking bankrupting the mothership” and that Trinity East risks taking money that should be put towards promotions, new hires, and the student experience. “There’s an opportunity to do something utterly transformational there and I think we should take our time and get it right.” Hogan said that a key purpose of the campus would be providing quality spaces for researchers that are not currently available in Trinity. “I understand that the Board yesterday approved an ask to government of €100 million,” Hogan said. “If that ask is a yes, then this would be a major, transformative investment in the area of sustainability.” Addressing the issue of Trinity’s place in the global university rankings, Hogan and Ohlmeyer were in harmony on stressing the importance of rankings, with Hogan offering the most ambitious and most concrete target of getting Trinity back into the top 50 ranked universities in the world. She said that she would do this by tackling “our problems with systems, with bureaucracy that are really impeding people’s ability to do research”. Hogan said that this was an issue where many academics had told her they were dissatisfied with the status and she committed to “focused, below the radar, detailed work” to reduce the administrative burden. Doyle noted that she has “a very different view about the rankings”, from the other candidates. She stated that she would contest the usefulness of a number of the metrics used to calculate rankings
and accused the current impact rankings of “greenwashing” on the issue of the environment. She said she would not be led by rankings in deciding what the best action to take for the College was, and also argued that where Trinity was currently falling down was out of the control of the provost and in the hands of the government. Ohlymeyer once again took on the most combative approach during this section of the debate, directly challenging Doyle by stating “the rankings do matter and anybody who says they don’t I simply disagree with”. She argued that “they’re a reflection of something, a reflection of how much we care about doing excellent research and the quality of the student experience”. Ohlmeyer said that her main strategy for increasing Trinity’s ranking would be reducing the staff to student ratio. On student numbers, the three candidates agreed that they wouldn’t seek to grow them beyond 21,500, a benchmark that plans are already in place to work towards. Ohlmeyer added that College “should be really careful about whether we want [to meet that number]”. The area where the candidates were in the firmest agreement was the need to safeguard Trinity’s governance structure from government plans to enact change. Plans are currently underway at a government level that would significantly change how Ireland’s higher education institutions are governed, which for Trinity could mean the reduction of the number of Board members from 27 to 12 and an increase in external members. All three candidates were in harmony that the move would be detrimental to Trinity and that they would petition the government for an exemption. Doyle said that the government’s proposal was put forward in a way that presented there being “only one way to look good” and that she wanted to see what the evidence is for their strategy’s effectiveness. She said that a core ethos in Trinity is one of democracy and collegiality and that those need to be protected and developed further. “Trinity’s collegiate governance has been the engine of its excellence,” Hogan said. She agreed that Board may need some restructuring, such as by reducing the number of members from 27 to 23 and separating the role of chairing the Board from the provost’s remit, but not in the way put forward by the government
Similarly, Ohlmeyer said that “we have our collegiate governance that has served us well. Anything that destroys that would not make any sense and I think the government recognise that”. She also wants to separate the roles of provost and chair to remove a “fundamental conflict of interest” and allow Board to hold the provost to account. When asked how they would better provide supports for students, all candidates praised the current systems in place, particularly the counselling service, and said that the solution was to better resource these services. Doyle stated that Trinity’s counselling services are “hugely renowned” but they are completely overburdened, and that Covid-19 had exacerbated this. Doyle said she would increase investment in student services and facilities, such as the 1937 Reading Room, give better supports to capitation bodies, and put a focus on disabilities and a wider investment in the Trinity Access Project. Hogan also emphasised the importance of the provost in providing “clarity” to students and said that much of the anxiety experienced by students this year was due to uncertainty about whether in person classes would be taking place and whether they should move into student accommodation. She also said that the provost must “lead a discussion about what we do to build resilience”, stating that there was a danger of allowing “this narrative to be about crisis rather than building resilience”. She said that Trinity needs “much more diversity in our university, but it is also about enabling our students to come in early through community engagement”. Ohlmeyer said that when she was vice president for global relations, there was an “undertaking” that a proportion of income generated from internationalisation would flow directly to support services. She said that she had recently been “very distressed to hear that that never happened”, and promised to implement this. On diversity and equality, she said that Trinity needs to do a “huge amount to reach out beyond the walls” and pull disparate programmes together for a cohesive approach. This week, the candidates are being quizzed by students for the first time in hustings led by Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) and the Graduate Students’ Union (GSU).
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Tuesday 30 March | TRINITY NEWS
News
Free period products Analysis: An overview of the USI to be provided in Halls President and Vice-President candidates The new initiative is being led by the JCR Welfare Officer Kate Henshaw
Assistant News Editor
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HE TRINITY Hall (Halls) Junior Common Room (JCR) have committed to providing free period products to “every house of Trinity Hall, and in communal bathrooms” in an effort to combat period poverty. In a statement to Trinity News, the JCR said they are “committed to doing all [they] can to alleviate period poverty in Trinity Hall” and they have “decided to section off a portion of [their] annual JCR Budget for the provision of sanitary products for any student in Halls”. “No Trinity student should ever feel that they cannot access provisions they need, for either mental or physical wellbeing; through the introduction of this scheme we hope we are playing a small part in providing the services students need,” the statement continued. JCR Welfare Officer Emma
Gallagher is leading the new initiative. She hopes that “this scheme can have a positive impact for the residents of Trinity Hall” and said she is “excited to see this continue with future JCR committees as a fundamental duty”. She highlighted that “the purpose of the JCR and Welfare Team will always be look after the wellbeing of all Trinity Hall residents, and work to the best of [their] abilities to alleviate hardships such as this”. However, the JCR also stated that they “recognise that this is only an interim measure, and that much more needs to be done to combat period poverty in schools, colleges and across the nation”. The move by JCR was prompted after free period products were introduced in communal areas on College campus by Trinity College Dublin’s Student Union (TCDSU) current Welfare and Equality Officer, and President-elect, Leah Keogh. Keogh shared the details of her supplier with the JCR. Gallagher used these details to purchase the sanitary products which she says can now be found in the baskets outside of Welfare Team member flats and in both bathrooms of the canteen and study space.
Connie Roughan Unions correspondent
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delegation from TCDSU will vote in line with the preference of Trinity students as expressed in the poll at for the next executive of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) at the USI Congress on April 7. TCDSU Education officer Megan O’Connor along with last year’s TCDSU Oifigeach na Gaeilge Muireann Nic Corcráin run in contested elections for the positions of Vice President for Academic Affairs and LeasUachtarán don Ghaeilge (Vice President for the Irish Language) respectively. Austick’s campaign for President is based on improving the quality of higher education by lobbying for funding and post-pandemic support for
students’ wellbeing. In terms of political campaigns, she wants to lead the union in lobbying for the immediate improvement of the living conditions of those in Direct Provision and ultimately to end Direct Provision. O’Connor reports in her manifesto that she would ensure an “accessible and inclusive approach for all” as Vice President for Academic Affairs, with specific policies to allow students with physical disabilities to go on Erasmus or onto post-graduate education. She plans to push for wider access to student finance in the SUSI reforms. Eimear Curtin, the Education Officer and Deputy President of UCC’s union, is the only other candidate for Vice President for Academic Affairs. She pledges to be representative, to “bring
[students’] voices into the rooms that matter”. Somhairle Brennan, the current IADTSU President, is running as the sole candidate for Vice President for Welfare. He brings especial attention to drug harm reduction and online safe sexual practices in his campaign, pledging to work with End Image Based Sexual Assault Ireland and Ceartas during his term. Beth O’Reilly, Commercial and Fundraising Officer of UCC Students’ Union, also runs uncontested in the race for Vice President for Campaigns. She plans a transformative term in which she would overhaul the USI website and social media accounts to facilitate online campaigns. Bukky Adebowale, VicePresident Student Life at Maynooth Students’ Union, and
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 30 March
News Luke Daly, Deputy President at TU Dublin Students’ Union, are both running for Vice-President for Equality & Citizenship. Adebowale’s campaign places emphasis on liberation rather than simply representing underrepresented groups, calling for “direct action” to support ethnic minorities. Recognising the broad remit of her role if elected, she plans to audit the needs of students to guide her work. Daly has experience in advocating for LGBTQI+ issues, co-founding the This Is Me Trans Healthcare Campaign. He references intersectionality in his manifesto which includes a vast number of issues from citizenship rights to climate strikes, and calls for officers to take strong radical action. TCDSU’s former Oifigeach na Gaeilge Muireann Nic Corcráin is running for Leas-Uachtarán don Ghaeilge alongside Grian Ní Dhaimhin, the President of Queen’s University Belfast’s Students Union. Nic Corcráin focuses her campaign on improving access to Irish across the island and cultivating a network of Irish language activists. She plans to lobby for more opportunities to use Irish in third level institutions and for language rights to be recognised within institutions in the North. Ní Dhaimhin plans to promote usage of Irish and to support the Gaeltacht through Covid-19 and funding cuts. Further to this, she wants a take “rooted and radical” approach to Irish language. The race for Vice President for Postgraduate Affairs has one contender, Jenna Barry, a research postgraduate in Information Technology at Limerick IT. She studies virtual communities of practice (online groups centered around an activity), and plans to create a virtual community for postgraduates and to offer training for postgraduates on how to create their own platforms. Caelainn Kerrigan, NCAD Students’ Union President, and Caoimhe O’Carroll, a former Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty Representative at DCU, are running for Vice-President for the Dublin Region. TCDSU’s Ents Officer, Hugh McInerney was also in the race but withdrew his campaign on Friday. Kerrigan promises to be a support for officers where “no problem is too big or too small,” planning to introduce monthly debriefing sessions for officers. Her campaign also covers accommodation and transportation issues, planning to lobby for free transport for students. O’Carroll is campaigning on a platform of post-pandemic revitalisation of the student experience and mobilisation of student voices, writing in her manifesto that she aims to “recruit future leaders”. One such policy for the post-pandemic revival is the standardisation of amenities such as microwaves on college campuses across Dublin.
USI candidates campaign for Trinity students’ votes at digital hustings Connie Roughan, Kate Henshaw, Shannon Connolly, Lauren Boland
Unions correspondent, Assistant News Editor, News Editor, Editor
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RINITY’S MEGAN O’CONNOR AND MUIREANN Nic Corcráin were among candidates running in the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) elections who faced questions on Friday from students at a hustings hosted by Trinity College Dublin’s Students Union (TCDSU). In each race, candidates were given time to outline their main manifesto points and respond to questions from Trinity students that pushed them on their stances and places. A third Trinity representative, TCDSU Ents Officer Hugh McInerney, had originally entered the elections in the race for Vice President for the Dublin region. However, McInerney did not appear at the hustings and has confirmed that he has dropped out of the race. President Clare Austick, USI’s current Vice President for Welfare, is uncontested in the race for the union’s presidency. In her speech, Austick expressed a desire for the USI to recalibrate itself, saying that the “the challenges that students faced a decade ago are still the challenges students are bringing to us now” and that she would like to lead the student movement in “spearheading social, cultural and societal change”. Looking at the future, the former president of National University of Ireland, Galway Students’ Union (NUIGSU) said that the “continuous marketisation” of higher education and “potential funding cuts” challenge the USI’s mission to improve access to third level. She assured students that she would lobby for pay for student frontline workers and improved student grants. Vice President for Academic Affairs Two candidates are contesting the role of Vice President for Academic Affairs; Eimear Curtin and Megan O’Connor. Eimear Curtin, the Education Officer of University College Cork Students’ Union (UCCSU), pledged to bring students voices into “the issues that matter”. Curtin wants to “reach out to parttime officers and also to class reps on issues specific to their students” and engage with students are on placement as part of efforts to engage with a wide range of students. TCDSU Education Officer
Megan O’Connor said that the pandemic has “highlighted inequalities’’ among the students and that “we need to make up for lost time”. She said that the physical return of students to campus needs to happen in the “most progressive way possible”. Vice President for Campaigns Sole candidate Beth O’Reilly spoke at Hustings this evening, identifying that while “campaigning has changed”, the“response to these campaigns have been subpar”. O’Reilly, who hails from University College Cork (UCC), spoke about her plan to “revamp” USI communications, starting with overhauling the website so that it is an “one stop shop on what the USI is doing and why”. She added that the union need to be on “every platform student’s use”, including apps like TikTok, stating that this will lead to a rise in student engagement. O’Reilly also spoke about introducing an “activist training weekend” for students who want to get involved with activism. Vice President for Equality and Citizenship In the Vice President for Equality and Citizenship race, Bukky Adebowale of Maynooth Students’ Union (MSU) emphasised the need to be “unapologetic” in pursuing diversity and equality. Addressing campaigns in Trinity, she said that “the standard of what you’ve done needs to be taken to a level that everyone on this island experiences”. Fellow candidate Luke Daly said he was “no stranger” to students’ movements, drawing on his experience in multiple roles within the students’ union at Technological University Dublin’s Blanchardstown campus. “We must ask to what extent Covid-19 has impacted you and your experience,” Daly said. “We need to heal and my experience in welfare will focus on how we best look at that.” Vice President for Welfare The sole candidate for Vice President for Welfare, Somhairle Brennan, gave a rapid-fire speech where he pledged to put his weight behind many issues from supporting union officers with additional training to pledging to lobby for student interests in renting and in SUSI grant reform. The current Students’ Union President in the Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art and Design Technology (IADT) indicated that providing information aimed at drug harm reduction was one of his “primary goals,” and further to this, that he would provide addiction supports for all students whether they are experiencing drug-related addictions or those such as gambling. Vice President for Dublin There are two candidates running in the race for Vice
President for the Dublin Region; Caelainn Kerrigan and Caoimhe O’Carroll. Current TCDSU Ents Officer Hugh McInerney had also put himself forward for the position, but has now withdrawn from the race. Speaking to Trinity News, McInereny explained his decision saying “I am withdrawing my name for the USI election for Vice President for Dublin as I have received an offer for my dream masters in the Netherlands”. Speaking at the hustings, current National College of Art and Design Students’ Union (NCADSU) President Caelainn Kerrigan said that she believes her “years of experience” make her “the perfect candidate for VP for Dublin”. She hopes to “host a monthly debriefing session for SU officers” and “regain that sense of community” in USI postCovid-19. Fellow candidate and former Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty Representative in Dublin City University Students’ Union (DCUSU) Caoimhe O’Carroll wants to “revive student life in Dublin” and lobby for the “continuation of lecture capture” in all Dublin universities. Vice President for Postgraduate Affairs Sole candidate for Vice President for Postgraduate Affairs Jenna Barry did not appear live at the hustings, but a short video was played in which Barry set out her manifesto promises. She said her vision for the role would be to “create connection, communication, collaboration and change”. Barry, a research postgraduate student in the Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT), identified her priorities as creating virtual communities for postgraduates, increasing engagement, and collaborating with partner organisations. She drew on the words of US Vice President Kamala Harris to say that unity and diversity are strengths. Leas Uachtarán don Ghaeilge Two candidates are vying for the position of Leas Uachtarán don Ghaeilge, with both Muireann Nic Corcráin and Grian Ní Dhaimhín putting themselves forward. Nic Corcráin told students that “because of you, I’ve found my voice”, but that “there are still many barriers in place” when trying to live through Gaeilge. Nic Corcráin is a Trinity student, and has previously served as the Oifigeach Gaelige in TCDSU. Speaking next at the hustings, Grian Ní Dhaimhín said that growing up in Northern Ireland meant that she “had to struggle day in and day out” to get her name pronounced. Ní Dhaimhín is from Tyrone and is the SU President at Queen’s University Belfast.
What they said “We need to begin preparation now for constitutional change.” Mary Lou McDonald, Leader of Sinn Féin “It’s really disheartening to see government parties vote against the People Before Profit motion to make third level education more accessible. There has been a lot of talk of removing the barriers facing students but the time for talk has passed.” Lorna Fitzpatrick, USI President “I’ve finally taken the plunge and decided to join TikTok. Not sure I quite know what I’ve let myself in for yet, but looking forward to learning how to use this, and use this as another tool to keep in touch with you and keep you up to date.” Simon Harris, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Innovation, Research and Science “When my great grandfather got on a coffin ship in the Irish sea, the expectation was he was going to live long enough to get to the United States of America. They left because of what the Brits had been doing; they were in real, real trouble.” Joe Biden, President of the United States “Intel has made a major contribution to Ireland since 1989 and these high-tech roles will play an important role as we build the green and digital economy of the future.” Micheál Martin, Taoiseach
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Tuesday 30 March | TRINITY NEWS
News
Beyond Trinity
Provost debate Professors Linda Doyle, Linda Hogan and Jane Ohlmeyer are questioned by journalist Sharon Ní Bheoláin during the first in-person debate of the provst campaign
University College Dublin (UCD) has agreed to offer courses to regulatory officials in African and South American countries where Tullow Oil operates, as part of a previous €2 million agreement with the company. The agreement, which was seen and reported on by the Irish Times, promises “short courses” to officials working in regulatory bodies in countries where Tullow Oil drills. The courses looked at “professional development of academics or technical professionals employed by the state, state-related entities, or regulatory bodies in the oil and gas industry”, and take place in countries such as Ethiopia and Kenya.
Society calls for increased accessibility to Seomra na Gaeilge for disabled students Audrey Brown
Deputy News Editor
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N CUMANN GAELACH HAS LAUNCHED a petition requesting College Estates and Facilities introduce a lift into Seomra na Gaeilge to increase the accessibility of the space on campus. As laid out in the petition’s introduction, the Seomra na Gaeilge is “the only identified space for the Irish language community in Trinity College”, and is typically accessed on a daily basis by over 550 members “to learn and to practice the language”. In 2017, An Cumann Gaelach filed a complaint to the College Disability Inquiry Officer stating
that the room was not accessible for people with mobility needs. The 2017 report by the Disability Inquiry Office acknowledged that “the procedure of accessing the room was not suitable or accessible”. The petition, addressed to the college Head of Estates and Facilities Office and Bursar, asks for College “to take action for the sake of equality and rights”. “College services are not a privilege, but a right, for every student equally”. Trinity graduate Ross Coleman and former member of Cumann Gaelach, issued a statement yesterday stating that he was the person who made the initial complaint about the inaccessibility. “Before I came to College, I was so excited to come to the fabled ‘Seomra na Gaeilge.’...Much to my
College opens competition to name new Innovation Hub Sarah Emerson Staff Writer
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OLLEGE HAS announced that students and staff are eligible to enter a competition with a prize of €150 by suggesting a name for the new innovation hub at Trinity East. In an email to students, Provost Patrick Prendergast confirmed that College had recently received planning permission to build a
5,500 square metre innovation hub at Trinity East, the first development of both the Dublin Innovation District and the new campus. The site is intended to expand College’s activities in education and research, and initiate the development of the Grand Canal Innovation District, which was formally endorsed by government in 2020. According to former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, the Innovation District is part of a plan “to make Ireland the tech capital of Europe”.
horror, I was told that the Irish room was inaccessible. It felt like a punch in the gut, and I felt my dreams of being surrounded by Irish speakers evaporating before my eyes”. He outlines that though accommodations were made for his accessing the room, he felt that he was “being imposing” and did not wish to “tread on anyone’s toes”. The inaccessibility of events held in the Senior Common Room or by the Provost meant that Coleman began to stop attending events on a regular basis. “I felt left out and cut off from a vibrant community and a collection of individuals who I could call family,” he said. Coleman reiterated that “access to a student space should not be a privilege--it should be a right”. “Disabled students should have the right to come and go into any space as they please just as their non-disabled peers and should not have to rely on the goodwill of other people,” said Coleman. Speaking to Trinity News, An Cumann Gaelach auditor Ciara
Ní Mhurchú described the process of accessing the Irish Language room: students in wheelchairs, for example, must access the room through a lift and then pass through the Senior Common Room (SCR), which undergraduates are not typically allowed to enter without advance permission. “This long and complicated process simply isn’t good enough,” said Ní Mhurchú. Trinity’s Irish Language Officer Áine Ní Shúilleabháin has worked with Estates and Facilities to discuss the possibility of a new room, but “there is not another room that is of the same standard and also accessible available on campus”. Therefore, Ní Mhurchú stated that “it is important now to highlight the student voice in this matter”. “Our aim with the petition is to show that there are many students behind this campaign and I hope that this campaign will speed up the process and that the college authorities will resolve the issue”, she concluded.
Trinity East, which will be at the centre of the Innovation District, is said to represent College’s “exceptional level” of partnership with industry. Additionally, the new campus will house the E3 Research Institute, part of Trinity’s E3 project. The “Engineering, Environment and Emerging Technologies” project integrates research and education from across the Schools of Engineering, Natural Sciences and Computer Sciences. The E3 Research Institute will focus on the impact of technological innovation on the natural world, aiming to find solutions for a sustainable future which also support economic and societal development.
The Innovation Hub will be used by entrepreneurs, start-ups and larger corporates’ innovation teams. Regular events will be held for academics, local enterprisers and the community. Provost Prendergast claimed that Trinity is a “high global performer in innovation because of the excellence of the research performed here, and by the entrepreneurial ambitions of staff, students and alumni”. “In the past we have not had sufficient dedicated space to house our spin-in or spin-out companies”, the provost continued, adding that the Innovation Hub changes this. The new site will set out to enable the Trinity community to benefit from entrepreneurial activities.
The Supreme Court has ordered a rehearing of a case involving University College Cork (UCC) and Electricity Supply Board (ESB) over a flooding in Cork in 2009. A four/one majority Supreme Court had ruled in July 2019 the ESB was guilty of negligence concerning the flooding. It remitted matters for further consideration by the High Court in light of that finding. It later heard a cross-appeal by ESB concerning whether UCC also has a liability. The Chief Justice was “not persuaded” that the ESB could rely on section 35.1 of the Civil Liability Act 1961 as a means of seeking to fix UCC with liability in contributory negligence for the actions of UCC’s professional advisers. Some 400 other cases against the ESB over the flooding remain on hold pending the rehearing, a date for which will be fixed later. The High Court had measured UCC’s liability at 40 per cent but, in the Supreme Court, the ESB argued that liability could be higher. On Thursday, the Supreme Court directed that various issues affecting liability, and possibly, but not necessarily, causation, should be reheard by the High Court. Maynooth has announced that Professor Eeva Leinonen is to be appointed as the university’s next president. Leinonen will formally take up the position on 1 October 2021, and replaces Professor Philip Nolan who has held the position for the last ten years. Leinonen is originally from Finland, and was most recently vice chancellor of Murdoch University in Perth and previously deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales. Prior to moving to Australia in 2012, she was vice-principal at King’s College London. Leinonen’s background is in psychology and linguistics. Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris TD has welcomed the appointment as a “milstone” for gener eqaulity.
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 30 March
News
Analysis: A controversial year for Schols Bella Salerno Contributing Writer
Calls for Government action as students gather at virtual “Education for All” protest Following a protest hosted by USI last Wednesday, students took to Twitter to call for government support in reducing student fees and making higher education more accessible Audrey Brown
Deputy News Editor
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VER 200 students across Ireland joined a virtual protest last Wednesday hosted by the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) via Zoom to protest student fees. Conducted entirely virtually, students participating in the protest were asked to Tweet their local TDs and use the hashtag #EducationForAll calling for representatives to support the campaign launched by USI. The protest was organised in order to call for an end to the €3,000 Student Contribution Charge, which USI deems “the highest fee for an undergraduate degree in the EU”, as well as to campaign for “urgent action on student accommodation issues” and “other areas blocking access to higher education in Ireland”.
Prior to the protest, Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) President Eoin Hand stated that the event was “a statement from all students in Ireland, that we are sick of paying the highest fees in Europe, that we are sick of thin and weak renters rights, and we are sick of being forgotten”. “The pandemic has exacerbated financial inequalities, have left students behind in the government’s view, and have left thousands of students paying for accommodation that could not be used and a bedroom education,” he continued. As speakers throughout the protest emphasised, students in higher education in Ireland currently pay the highest fees for education in Europe. Ellen Fearon, President of National Union of Students-Union of Students in Ireland (NUS USI), stated that in universities in Northern Ireland particularly, fees for English and Welsh students are capped at £9250--the highest in Europe for “domestic students”, and Northern Irish students pay £4,395 per year. Fees for international students in Ireland are even higher, and several speakers at the event stated that international students are treated as “cash cows” by institutions. USI President Lorna Fitzpatrick said also that higher education is “critically underfunded”, claiming that even prior to the pandemic, higher education should have been afforded €500 million per year to keep the system afloat. In the current circumstances, which Fitzpatrick notes the impending possibility of an economic recession, she urged
that students suffering from unemployment and unnecessary rent fees due to the pandemic should receive even more government support. During the virtual protest, #EducationForAll trended number 1 on Twitter, with many students voicing their support for the campaign. One student tweeted at the Minister for Higher Education, Innovation and Research Simon Harris, saying: “@SimonharrisTD Students can’t afford to pay 3000 euro per year & many rely on the assistance of their family, and many work full time to support themselves & their education. Higher Education NEEDS to be prioritised. The Government needs to provide #EducationForAll”. Other students joined the discussion appealing to TDs, with one student saying: “do politicians actually realise that ; STUDENTS ARE NOT AFFLUENT GROUPS. We will absolutely cost you your seat if you choose to ignore us. #EducationForAll”. Also using the hashtag #EducationForAll, students highlighted the difficulties they face in funding their day to day lives. One student stated: “life as a student in this country is HELL. We have no government level support, DESPITE having a dedicated minister for higher education. We are left to tread water and be milked for all the money we have, only to get nothing in return #EducationForAll #OideachasDoChách”. Students were urged to continue tweeting throughout the evening to garner support for the protest. Additional reporting by Connie Roughan.
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rinity’s Scholarship (Schols) awards students with free frees, boarding and meals for the duration of five school years if they achieve high marks in an extra set of voluntary examinations. Since 2014, its form of assessment has been constantly reviewed and altered. This year is no different, with much controversy surrounding the changes made in regards to assessment and allocation of the 2020/2021 Scholars, but tensions have been exacerbated by the conditions of the pandemic. In June, Scholars received an email from the Junior Dean and Registrar of Chambers Philip Coleman, Warden of Trinity Hall Roja Fazaeli and Head of Accommodation Neal Murphy, which stated they have “taken the decision (in consultation with the Provost and the Secretary of Scholars), not to allocate rooms to students whose home address is in County Dublin in the first round of the year”. Scholars were given the option to “receive payment in lieu of (their) college room” or could “contact the Accommodation Office to discuss the possibility of deferring (their) residency to a later date”. While a proposition welcomed by some, many Scholars considered the move an attempt by Trinity to increase income from students willing to pay for accomodation. After opposition from Scholars, Provost Patrick Prendergast later clarified that accommodation would “not be denied to any Scholar”, but “in the interest of the overall community” it would be advisable not to take it. By late October, the worsening pandemic and strengthening of Covid-19 restrictions forced all examinations for the 2020/21 Scholarship online. Several representatives of College voiced their concerns over the possibility of students cheating on the exams since testing would be remote with inadequate monitoring and an accessibility to notes either online or in book form. Following this, Kevin Mitchell and Associate Dean of Common Architecture Graeme Murdock, came before the College Board and University Council with a memorandum suggesting the introduction of a quota-based system for Schols exams. The proposal recommended that each faculty’s
set quota would be determined by the average number of Schols awarded in previous years. Last November, College Board decided to implement Mitchell and Murdock’s proposal and introduced the quota system on the number of Scholars elected for the 2021 academic year. The decision was attributed to attempts at preventing students from cheating and minimising any potential grade inflation that would turn Schols into a “financial burden” for College. Therefore, the maximum number of scholarships allowed to be awarded was set at 70, which is distributed among the different faculties. In response to the new system, Scholars as well as students and staff have questioned whether College Board has the authority to make such changes. Associate Law Professor Eoin O’Dell wrote, “On the question of whether Board can impose quotas, there is no express statutory prohibition on them, but there is no express power relating to them either”. Senior Fresh Law students Ronan Murphy and Ryan O’Reilly have challnged the quota, stating that “there exists no provision…which stipulates that quotas can, or should, be applied [in College Statues or College Calendar] other than the maximum allowance of seventy Foundation Scholars”. Schols is a generous scholarship. However, the pandemic has thrown into stark relief Trinity’s financial situation, with Schols apparently deemed either a dispensable financial burden. The question remains whether or not College has the authority to make the changes to Schols that they wish, and what damage their apparent willingness to make these changes has caused to the relationship between Scholars and College.
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Tuesday 30 March | TRINITY NEWS
Features Éifeacht na paindéime ar sheandaoine Hazel Ní Bhróin
Features
page 12
The rise of Instagram activism Jack Ryan
page 14
The future of Poolbeg: Are the odds stacked in its favour?
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Reflecting on the history and looking to the future of the Poolbeg towers
Retaining Dublin’s sense of identity should be top of the agenda. As a capital city, we lack a host of landmarks”
Anna Sheehan Staff Writer
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his year, on the fiftieth anniversary of the first tower, the Poolbeg stacks apprehensively await the ruling of their fate. Visible from many of the city’s quarters, the twin red and white chimneys are catalysing much debate at present following a jarring announcement from Dublin City Council earlier this month. The Council cautioned that the stacks may need to be encased in fibreglass or concrete to ensure their long-term stability; a manoeuvre that would both “alter the appearance and integrity” of the structures, and cost the state several million. Soaring more than 200 metres above the Irish Sea, the Poolbeg towers have been lauded for symbolising Dublin City, yet few can offer any real or substantial explanation for this claim. Albeit allegedly unwelcome to begin with, the towers now command a sort of je ne sais quoi, beguiling more and more Dubliners with their spell each year. And staying on the French theme, the story of Poolbeg can, in fact, be likened to that of the Eiffel Tower, which initially attracted grave hostility, before winning over the hearts of Parisians and French alike. Donal Fallon, a local historian and podcast-producer, related the allure of the chimneys to the Mona Lisa. “You spot them in the most surprising places,” he said. “They seem to follow you everywhere you go, looking at you all the time as you as you go across Dublin.” The chimneys were constructed in 1971 and 1978 respectively, coinciding with a burgeoning demand for electricity, in what was a time of epochal advance for the city. Fallon noted in his podcast that the antagonistic attitudes towards the towers back then were in fact grounded
in fear of pollution rather than appearance: “The Evening Herald reported in 1972 that housewives of Sandymount area got wash day blues on the double when smut and black lines ruined the Monday wash.” By the 1980s, Poolbeg assimilated itself into Ireland’s rock and roll scene, popping up in music videos like U2’s Pride (In the Name of Love) and Phil Lynott’s Old Town, as well as in a particularly legendary press shot of Elvis Costello. On a more ominous note, however, the towers also began to embody a generation of mass emigration in the eighties. For many they were the last glimpse of home as they set sail for England in search of work and a livelihood. Following on into the 1990s the Poolbeg stacks began to infiltrate the arts and culture arena and continue to do so up to the present day. The connected power plants halted production approximately a decade ago and the chimneys were decommissioned in 2006 and 2010. 2014 saw the proposals of some unparalleled restoration ideas, like Michael O’ Mara’s solution which conjoined the towers with a sky bridge, or Patrick O’Reilly’s bid to illuminate them. While neither
such endeavours materialised, the structures still stand today and are ubiquitous in Dublin craft, painting, store logos, and street art. Given their now defunct nature, the dispute around the towers’ “symbol” status remains contested, yet the question of their future is dichotomous: let live or let die? 26-year-old Conor Duffy grew up in Sandymount, the perfect vantage point from which to admire Poolbeg. Having relocated from his home of Dublin to London over a year ago, Conor
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I attach a huge amount of personal pride to these towers”
now finds himself yearning for his former daily vista. Like many Dubliners, Conor is adamant that the chimneys ought to stay in place. “I attach a huge amount of personal pride to these towers,” he explained. “Friends of mine have them inked on their bodies; when I moved abroad my mother packed me a print of them to remind me of home; I have them as my phone screensaver. They offer comfort to those away from home.” Like many, Conor sees few other Dublin landmarks being as emotionally resonant as the Poolbeg chimneys. “Lansdowne Road is now a personality-lacking glass bowl named after an insurance company,” he began. “The Spire is universally regarded as borderline embarrassing. All modifications to existing landmarks, or efforts to generate new ones, have been a huge disaster and the public generally ends up being the loser.” “Retaining Dublin’s sense of identity should be top of the agenda. As a capital city, we lack a host of landmarks; we cannot afford to lose one of our most beloved and iconic ones,” he continued. “The Poolbeg Towers hold a huge emotional attachment for many in Dublin City. You can see them from the Northside, the
Southside; they are the first thing you identify as you approach Dublin via plane or ferry. They symbolise ‘Ah, we are home’.” Conor is insistent that the Poolbeg stacks represent a hugely untapped opportunity from a tourism standpoint. “There are hordes of people who travel from
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Features all over Dublin to walk along the strand to see and savour the towers,” he urged. “They are recognised nationally. In normal times Dublin is a top destination for weekend trips. I believe Poolbeg could be leveraged to draw some of the tourist euros away from Temple Bar and reroute them in the Ringsend direction.” He admitted however that “this would require investment and imagination from our locally elected representatives, as well as support from the public at large outside of the Dublin 4 bubble, all of which could be difficult”. On the contrary, there are those who render the chimneys a complete and utter eyesore, holding Dublin’s natural wonders such as Dublin Bay along with Bray and Howth Heads, in much higher esteem. Jane Keenan was born and bred in Terenure, a proud Dubliner, but unlike Conor, is a strong opponent of Poolbeg’s restoration. “To be honest, I find it quite bizarre to think that people consider them iconic”, she began. “I guess if you lived in Sandymount all your life, then maybe such a claim is justifiable. But I feel there are a lot of people who just adopt this belief because they see the towers all the time, yet they wouldn’t actually be able to tell you anything about their history.” Regarding the towers being an emblem of the city, Jane couldn’t agree less. “I actually never would’ve even considered them a symbol of Dublin until this decision about their future came to light recently,” she said. “They’re not old enough to represent a significant era in Dublin’s history. To declare that the city’s culture and heritage are rooted in these marmite monstrosities is outlandish in my eyes. I actually prefer the Spire.” “It’s going to cost a fortune to maintain them, too,” Jane went on. “They are dysfunctional and an expense to the ESB as it is; having them accumulate a further few million in restoration costs is completely unnecessary. We are living in a pandemic after all,
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To declare that the city’s culture and heritage are rooted in these marmite monstrosities is outlandish in my eyes” with millions of people waiting to be vaccinated, and thousands more unable to access routine healthcare. I can certainly see better uses for state money.” As is the case with numerous Irish landmarks, opinions around the Poolbeg towers are polarising. While some see them as beautiful, allegorical monuments, to others they are merely unpleasant blots on the landscape, signifying nothing. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, after all. But whether they are beautiful or not, the towers cannot be maintained without gargantuan preservation efforts.To that effect, perhaps the cost of demolition would be weighed up against that of maintenance. Alas this debate encapsulates so much more than money matters. It is rooted in the towers’ affiliated symbolism, sense of identity and heritage; or lack thereof. And as the ESB continues to work closely with Dublin City Council on the fate of the chimneys, it must be decided: are the Poolbeg stacks a pivotal part of the capital’s skyline, or is it simply the dearth of an actual skyline that makes so many Dubliners believe so?
The steps to overcoming the steps of House 6 Students’ inability to access where changes are made proves the need for reform Olivia Flaherty-Lovy Features Editor
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et in the corner of Front Square, nestled beside the Main Arch, the walk across the cobblestones to House 6 is often thought of as a cornerstone of the Trinity student experience. Home to not only the students’ union but to societies’ and publications’ offices, much of the most prevalent and relevant work regarding students occurs within the walls of this building. However, the very structure of House 6 itself has been identified as inaccessible, largely due to its lack of a lift. For a building
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I felt like I wasn’t wanted in House 6, which is itself the heart of the student body” PHOTOS BY NATHAN O’BYRNE FOR TRINITY NEWS
that focuses so much on student engagement and inclusion, the fact remains that the current structure of House 6 excludes many of the people they serve. For fourth year student Niamh Herbert, who has Friedreicht’s ataxia and uses a wheelchair, the inaccessibility of House 6 seemed like “a sign that said: stay out, we don’t want you here.” Herbert, who serves as the union’s current Officer for Students with Disabilities, described the frustration and difficulties she experienced as a result of the absence of a lift in the building. “I felt like I wasn’t wanted in House 6, which is itself the heart of the student body,” she said. “A lot of people are very uneducated about disability issues and it can be so disheartening sometimes to see that.” Indeed, one of the most striking injustices is the fact that as the student organisations in House 6 are partially funded by the yearly student contribution charge, many students with physical disabilities find themselves paying for services housed in a building they cannot access. “Wheelchair users or those with mobility aids require an elevator to access these offices, and there is no elevator in the building,” explained Courtney McGrath, former Officer for Students with Disabilities and co-founder of the Trinity Ability Co-op. “If students with disabilities cannot access this building, what are they paying for?” Herbert and McGrath brought up the issue of the inaccessibility of House 6 in Equality Hustings during the SU elections, to which President-elect Leah Keogh said that the current state of the building is an “embarrassment” to Trinity. Speaking to Trinity News, she expanded on how the inaccessibility of House 6 reflects on both the SU and Trinity overall. “I think it’s a product of that revolving door of sabbatical officers. These are long term projects, and they do fall through
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God knows how long House 6 has been around. It’s 2021 - it’s time for it to become accessible” the cracks every year,” she said. “I don’t think it’s up for question that wherever students’ union offices are, they need to be accessible.” In addition to House 6, a number of historical and significant buildings in Trinity have also been identified as inaccessible, including the Provost’s house, the Graduates Memorial Building (GMB), and the Samuel Beckett Theatre. As part of an attempt to remedy these issues, however, the Disability Service was recently given permission by the Capital Resource Group to embark on a universal access project, where over €2 million have been identified to ensure that these projects are carried out in the near future. “The college is responsible to ensure that students with disabilities have the best possible experiences, and that includes everything from social right through to academic experiences,” said Declan Treanor, Director of the Disability Service. “I know House 6 means a lot to those bodies [such as the SU and the CSC] but they need to work now to be inclusive.”
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Features
Éifeacht na paindéime ar sheandaoine Faigheann Hazel Ní Bhroin léargas pearsanta agus acadúil ar thioncar Covid-19 ar sheandaoine Hazel Ní Bhroin Leas Eagarthóir Gaeilge
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loistear comhráite éagsúla faoi éifeacht Covid-19 ar dhaoine óga, ar mheabharshláinte daoine agus ar streachailt airgeadais maidir le níos lú postanna sa tír. Ach, dar liomsa, níl dóthain ráite faoi sheandaoine agus an tionchar ollmhór atá ag an bpaindéim orthu. Mar sin, shocraigh mé chun ceisteanna a chur ar mo mhamó agus mo dhaideo faoina dtaithí agus iad faoi dhianghlasáil.
Tá deacrachtaí againn ar fad mar gheall ar Covid-19, ach nuair a tugadh treoir do sheandaoine chun clútharthú, bhí mé croíbhriste dóibh. Is deacair é a shamhlú nach raibh cead acu dul níos faide ná an doras tosaigh. Deir mo mhamó, “Baineadh siar asam nuair a d’fhógair siad nach raibh cead againn fiú dul ar siúlóid.” Leanann mo dhaideó ar aghaidh: “Bhí sé deacair go leor nuair a dúradh linn nár chóir dúinn ár ngaolta a fheiceáil, ach ní raibh mé ag súil le nach mbeidh cead agam dul taobh amuigh ar chor ar bith.” Sa tuairisc a rinne TILDA faoi thioncar na paindéime ar shaol seandaoine in Éirinn, fuair siad gur tháinig méadú ar uaigneas agus aonrú sósialta mar gheall ar na srianta. Ní dóigh liom gur féidir linn fiú samhlú ar cé chomh uafásach is atá sé nuair a deirtear leat nach bhfuil cead agat do theaghlach a fheiceáil nó fiú do theach féin a fhágáil. Aontaíonn mo sheantuistí go mór leis seo: “Táimid chomh buíoch go bhfuilimid inár gcónaí le chéile, bhí sé deacair gan a bheith uaigneach leis na srianta ach
ARTWORK BY GRAINNE QUIGLEY FOR TRINITY NEWS
bheadh sé níos deacra fiú agus tú i do chónaí ar d’aonar.” Feicimid ón dtuairisc go soláthraíonn 29% de na daoine os cionn 70 mbliana d’aois cúram leanaí dá gcuid garpháistí. Is figiúr ard é seo, rud a chiallíonn go raibh go leor páistí fágtha gan aon aire agus go leor seantuistí fágtha gan aon struchtúr agus sonas mar gheall ar na srianta. Roimh an gcoróinvíreas, thug mo sheantuistí aire do mo chol ceathrar fad is bhí m’aintín ag obair. Faraor, ní raibh cead acu garpháiste ar bith a fheiceáil ar feadh tamaill fhada, agus deir siad gur mhothaigh siad caillte: “Ní raibh a fhios againn cad ba chór dúinn a dhéanamh chun an lá a líonadh — bhí ár gnáthamh go hiomlán scriosta,” a deir mo dhaideó. De réir TILDA, bhí iarmhairtí diúltacha le feiceáil maidir le sláinte choirp agus meabharshláinte na seandaoine sa tír mar gheall ar na srianta. Ní raibh argóint ar bith ag mo sheantuistí in aghaidh an ráitis sin. Deir mo mhamó: “Táimid an-dlúth le chéile mar theaghlach agus mar sin, ba streachailt é gach lá nuair nach raibh cead
againn iad a fheiceáil.” Sa tuairisc deirtear gur fuair an líne tacaíochta náisiúnta ALONE 26 174 glaoch suas go 5 Iúil agus tháinig 55% de na glaonna sin ó dhaoine os cionn 70 bliana d’aois. Is staitistic imníoch é seo agus b’fhéidir go léiríonn sé nach bhfuil dóthain cabhrach agus tacaíochta ar fáil do sheandaoine le linn na n-amanna gan fasach seo. De réir TILDA, ba chóir go mbeidh straitéisí curtha chun cinn mar ábhar práinne, chun dul i ngleic leis an leibhéal ard drochshláinte mheabhrach i measc seandaoine in Éirinn i rith na paindéime. Tar éis mo léamh den tuairisc a rinne TILDA agus ceisteanna a chur ar mo sheantuistí, is léir go raibh agus go bhfuil tionchar fós ollmhór ag an bpaindéim seo ar sheandaoine in Éirinn. Cinnte, tá tionchar ag an gcoróinvíreas orainn ar fad ach caithfimid tús áite a thabhairt do na seandaoine leochaileacha inár measc. Buíochas le Dia, tá vaicsíní ar fáil anois agus caithfimid dóchas a choinneáil faoin todhchaí. É sin ráite, tá go leor seandaoine fós ag streachailt leis na srianta reatha. Chun cabhrú leo go fíorúil, ná déan dearmad teagmháil a choinneáil leo: “Thóg sé mo chroí nuair a bhíomar ag caint leis na garpháistí ar an bhfón,” a deir mo mhamó. Aontaíonn mo dhaideo léi: “Chabhraigh sé go mór linn sibh a chloisteáil nuair nach raibh cead againn sibh a fheiceáil.” Ní thógann sé ach cúig nóiméad chun glaoch a chur orthu, agus laghdaíonn sé drochthionchar na pandéime orthu go mór. Gluais (Glossary) • Meabharshláinte - mental health • Streachailt airgeadais financial struggles • Clúthárthú - cocoon • Doras tosaigh - front door • Baineadh siar asam - I was shocked • D’fhógair - announced • Gaolta - relatives • Aonrú sóisialta - social isolation • Srianta - restrictions • Soláthair - to provide • Cúram leanaí - childcare • Garpháistí - grandchildren • Caillte - lost • Gnáthamh - routine • Iarmhairtí diúltacha negative effects • An-dlúth - very close • Streachailt - struggle • Imníoch - worrying • Tacaíocht - support • Na n-amann gan fasach unprecedented times • Straitéisí - strategies • Ábhar práinne - matter of urgency • Tús áite - priority • Go fíorúil - virtually
Mode openi Trinity News speaks to Minister Malcolm Noon on the electoral reform bill Sean Gordon Dalton Deputy Features Editor
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aving recently finished a students’ union election season unlike any other, Trinity students have been listening to conversations and asking questions about how to encourage turnout in elections and engagement among voters. Historically, turnout is usually quite low in Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) elections, often coming in somewhere between 10 and 20%, and the same is true for national elections. While turnout was high among young people in the 2019 European and Local elections, it went down again in the general election of 2020. Although the share of support plummeted for the two powerhouses of Irish politics - Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil - this was largely due to voters between 35 and 65. There are those out there attempting to buck the trends. Several Trinity students ran in the 2020 general election. Green party candidate Tate Donnelly, who ran in the Cavan-Monaghan
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Features
ernising elections and ing up politics
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The youth vote has always had the potential to be a powerful force in Irish elections constituency was the youngest candidate in the country at 21, while Fianna Fáil Councillor James O’Connor won a seat in Cork East, making him the youngest TD elected at age 22. The resulting coalition government committed to introducing electoral reform, a key priority of the Green party. On January 8, Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien and Minister of State for Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan published the General Scheme of the electoral reform bill. The bill, which is currently going through prelegislative scrutiny, has four main elements; the establishment of a statutory independent electoral commission, the modernisation of our electoral registration process, the regulation of online political advertising around electoral
events and introducing measures which would assist the holding of an electoral event safely should Covid-19 restrictions be in place. Speaking to Trinity News, Minister Noonan said the electoral commission is a long held ambition of successive governments and would have a broad function in terms of oversight of all electoral events and referenda. “We also anticipate that it will perform an advocacy, research and voter awareness function that would encourage more people to become more active in politics, in voting and in advocating for change”, he said. This aspect of making the electoral process more accessible is seen as key to increasing turnout and participation among historically marginalized groups. “It should have a role in targeting hard to reach groups, minorities, Travellers and in increasing the participation of women in politics”, said Noonan. “The submission to the bill by the National Women’s Council for instance advocates for gender quotas to be introduced for the 2024 local elections; a good idea in my view as only 24% of candidates elected in 2019 were women.” With almost 700,000 people aged 18 to 29, the youth vote has always had the potential to be a powerful force in Irish elections, and the minister hopes the bill will also open up more avenues for young people to engage in politics, noting that he would also like to see the commission examine the possibility of reducing the voting age in local elections to 16 for the
upcoming 2024 elections. “I think it would have a transformative effect on not only the age profile of candidates running, but on the policies they espouse during the campaign.” The bill’s provisions for modernising the electoral register would lead to the creation of an active rolling register, using PPSNs, as well as pre-registering 16 and 17 year olds and notifying them when they turn 18 of their right to vote in upcoming electoral events. The newly established independent electoral commission would oversee the regulation of online political advertising, and will place a legal requirement on those taking ads on online platforms to register their names, name of organisation and address to inform voters as to who is paying for an ad. Online platforms must appoint a responsible person to manage the registration process and information must be displayed clearly and conspicuously on online ads. It is hoped that these new regulations for online political advertising will assist efforts to prevent the spread of misinformation from impacting elections in Ireland. However, it does not intend to deal with disinformation specifically within ad content, as that matter is being legislated for at an EU level. “In its advocacy role, the commission could work outside of electoral events to ensure that there are good public awareness campaigns on voting, on the right to vote and in researching barriers to
participation in politics”, according to Noonan. Having run successful, posterfree campaigns in the 2020 General Election and in previous local elections, he notes that the commission could make recommendations on restricting election posters or eliminating them altogether. There are also new provisions in the bill to ensure that Covid-19 safety guidelines are accommodated in the event of a by-election, or another electoral process, though the Minister is not expecting a general election
Right: Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan
to be called during the pandemic. Measures in the bill include allowing for polling over more than one day to assist with social distancing and the provision of postal vote to those on the special voters list such as nursing homes and hospitals. As of now, only military personnel and island residents off the coasts of Galway, Mayo and Donegal can vote by postal ballot. “All in all, it’s a really progressive piece of legislation, which has been warmly welcomed by civil society organisations as well as across the political divide,” says Noonan.
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Features
The rise of Instagram activism Why the infographics you see on your friend’s stories look the way they do Jack Ryan
Deputy Features Editor
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ur lives have been quiet recently, but Instagram has not. Your friends might have few pictures to share from their humdrum existences, and so the type of content you’ll see on the app has changed dramatically. Gone is the Instagram of the beach selfie, the inspirational quote, the gym mirror pic. Well not gone, but there is a new side to Instagram in the 2020s. 2020 saw a surge of political activity and information on the photo-sharing platform. In June, tens of millions of Instagram users posted a black square for #BlackOutTuesday in solidarity with the BlackLivesMatter movement in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. Meanwhile, on our own shores, the leaking of hundreds of explicit images of young Irish women on a discord led to a wave of Instagram posts calling for an end to imagebased sexual abuse. And then, only in recent weeks, the killing of Sarah Everett in London led to an outpouring on the app as women shared their experiences of sexual harassment and their fears of walking alone at night. If you’re on Instagram, you’ve very likely seen
a lot of this content over the last year. But Instagram doesn’t want this attention. Already, media experts are beginning to speak about the “Facebookification” of Instagram. Facebook, who own Instagram, have already drawn the ire of lawmakers and the public for the mass of misinformation and inappropriate data collection that characterised the 2016 US election cycle. For Instagram, pictures of yoga routines and granola are far easier and safer territory to tread than Covid-19 fact-sheets or pictures of Uyghur re-education camps Speaking to Vox.com, New York based graphic designer and activist Eric Hu said that Instagram “actively fights against political content”. He said it does this by “privileging certain content, like attractive people, vacation photos or graphics with inspirational messages”. Hu explained that a lot of the current political content on Instagram “Trojan horses” the Instagram algorithm by incorporating elements that will stop the app from identifying it as political and pushing it further down your feed. These “Trojan horse” tactics can be seen in the idiosyncratic style that infographics come in. Information about racial profiling is accompanied with pastel blues and pink flowers. Statistics from Saudi bombing campaigns in Yemen are juxtaposed with an aesthetically-pleasing beige background, written in a light corsiva font. These stylistic choices fool Instagram as to what the true content of the post is, and thus there’s a higher chance it’ll be the first post your followers see when they go onto Instagram. The typical Instagram post
ARTWORK BY ZAHRA TORBPOURAN FOR TRINITY NEWS
containing information about activism or social justice will be four or five slides long, and will often contain cartoon images or diagrams. Each slide might contain two to three condensed pieces of information. These posts owe their viral potential and power to the fact that they are easily shared on Instagram Stories, disseminating at an exponential pace. The post is generally approachable, easily understood and fast to take in. You may click on to Instagram and quickly find that a dozen of your friends have all shared the same slide; “things you should know about antisemitism” or “five signs of toxic masculinity”. There is undoubtedly more to these stylistic trends than Instagram analytics. Compared to its decidedly ugly twin Facebook, Instagram is a carefully curated affair. You can’t simply dump a photo album without thinking twice, ten slides is the maximum per post and poor quality content doesn’t really fly. Users who wish
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Information about racial profiling is accompanied with pastel blues and pink flowers
to share social commentary or information might be slow to sully their profile with an ugly bullet board of information. Instead the content being shared often complements the aesthetic users have running through the reel of photos in their profile. The phenomenon has been positive in many respects. In contrast to Twitter, Instagram was always a place where people who had checked out of the political discourse could scroll without engaging with content that related to social justice issues. When the social justice slideshows entered our Stories, they presented information to an audience that activists had never reached before. People could quickly get to grips with climate change stats or incarceration rates, information they might never have sought out in the first place. Movements like Extinction Rebellion and Black Lives Matter quickly took note, and began to produce content that was easily shareable and that fitted with Instagram’s unique style of activism. Where this new method of sharing social commentary and political information falls down is in its lack of nuance. In order to communicate a potentially complicated idea in bite-sized chunks, context and essential details may fall by the wayside. Can the entire background of the Yemeni civil war be communicated in five infographics? Lily O’Farrell, who runs the popular @ vulgadrawings page on Instagram, agrees that this is a pitfall for this method of sharing information. O’Farrell’s posts consist of her own drawings, which provide cutting social commentary to her 200 thousand followers in “bright colours and pink backgrounds”, though she doesn’t consider herself an “activist”. Speaking to Trinity News, O’Farrell says the trouble with condensed information “is the lack of nuance, which creates an us-versus-them mentality, one that I’m always trying to escape from”. O’Farrell is frequently subjected to abuse from young men in her Instagram DMs. A recent viral post of hers, “Not All Men”, was quickly taken down by Instagram after it received a flood of complaints from her male detractors. She explains that sometimes these are “planned attacks”. “I follow a lot of incel and men’s right subreddits, and I’ve witnessed them planning a date and time to try and take down popular feminist accounts” she says. O’Farrell’s “Not All Men” post was reposted in solidarity by numerous other Instagram pages with large followings, and was eventually unremoved by Instagram. There is no transparency about how Instagram decides which posts are beyond the pale. She says there’s “an obvious
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Compared to its decidedly ugly twin Facebook, Instagram is a carefully curated affair
cut throat, heavy handed approach given to women who talk about sexism, and in particular when they feel a man has been sexist towards them”. She adds: “I get a lot of hate in my DM’s from men, and the occasional threat. Some of them have not held back on the physical pain they’d like me to endure despite my reporting them, and there’s a reason they’re allowed to continue sending messages like that - their use of language, unlike mine, is not being censored.” O’Farrell is particularly interested in the interaction between the “girlboss” aesthetic and Instagram activism. She says that “in the offline world feminism has been and politics have been hijacked by slogans and glitter, and plastered over notebooks in Paperchase, and in the online world the same has happened”. O’Farrell feels this brand of feminism can be exclusionary; that it “adds to the idea that feminism is for white cis women only”, and cites one example of two influencers who “promoted singlehood into a kind of self-help brand masking as feminism.” Whether the phenomenon of photo threads sharing political content is a passing trend, or a sign of Gen Z’s colonisation of millenial Instagram is unclear. Despite the potential drawbacks that Instagram’s new role in the social and political discourse brings, Lily sees it as a positive phenomenon on the whole. “I struggle with this ‘Instagram versus university degree’ argument because there’s a huge amount of snobbery in it.” She adds that: “’feminist academia’ is what you access through a university, and yeah you might find that in a book too but lots of people, including myself, find academic texts like those really intimidating and boring. So if you’re getting people engaged in a complex topic with visual aids and an approachable, non-pretentious attitude, then that’s great, so keep doing it.”
Teangacha agus an chian-fhoghlaim page 5
Creating a #MeToo movement in the LGBTQ+ community page 6
Beating boredom with board games page 11
LIFE
TRINITY NEWS
Pullout section
Inside: Emma Cahill’s spooky jewellery for spooky babes
ARTWORK BY THENA JAMES FOR TRINITY NEWS
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Table of contents A #MeToo movement in the LGBTQ+ community
- page 6
From lecture halls to Zoom calls - page 4 Trinity’s confession pages - page 7
Making: Pomegranate sorbet - page 8
Beating boredom with board games - page 11
Life staff Editor-in-Chief Life Editor Life Deputy Editor
Lauren Boland Maeve Harris Heather Bruton
Arts & Culture Editor Arts & Culture Deputy
Elena McCrory Róisín Daly
Food & Drink Editor Food & Drink Deputy
Alfie Fletcher Seán McElroy
Sex & Relationships Co-Editor Sex & Relationships Co-Editor
Kerry O’Sullivan
Societies Editor Societies Deputy
Ciara Cassidy Grace Fannon
Student Living Editor Student Living Deputy
Cian Dunne Isha Neurgaonkar
Eva O’Beirne
Careers in the Arts
Emma Cahill’s spooky jewellery for spooky ba
Elena Mc Crory interviews Emma Cahill about her jewellery brand and taking the leap to becoming a small business owner
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ounder and owner of Emma Cahill Jewellery, Emma Cahill, describes her designs as “spooky jewellery for spooky babes”. The modernism and innovativeness of her processes stands out; the spiders and skulls, her 3D modelling software, and her hallmarking generated from Dublin castle. Her Instagram page is littered with webs, wings and the colour black - it is art of the grunge aesthetic.
Cahill studied in Colaiste Dhulaigh, where she prepared her design portfolio, and later went to the National College of Art and Design to study metalwork and history of art. “I grew up in Dublin. I’ve always had an interest in being creative and learning new skills, when I was younger I always entered the Art and Hobby shop art competitions.” Her creativity stemmed from a young age: “I used to go to beaded jewellery classes so the interest in jewellery was always there, I think it was something that came from my parents being so encouraging and bringing me to museums also.” After NCAD, Cahill moved to London to do a master’s degree in Design from Central Saint Martins, and jewellery was the route she intended to follow. “I just fell in love with the materiality, jewellery can last a lifetime and I love the sentimentality it holds”. When in London, Cahill worked for a
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Starting the business is something I’ve always wanted to do. I just never had the time or confidence to get started
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y abes major online retail company and spoke fondly of the work. She developed her design skills, but envisioned her own collection. “When Covid hit, I was lucky enough to still be working, but had a lot more time on my hands, so I decided to focus on making a small collection of pieces”. Anyone who works with their hands understands the calling to craft and Cahill uses its physicality to harvest tranquillity. “Whenever I felt anxious or my brain was going a million miles a minute, I always tried to shift my focus to my jewellery designs.” Cahill left her job in the UK and returned home to Dublin with her fiancé in November 2020. “We missed our friends and family so with everything going on with the pandemic, we thought it was a good time to move. I decided it was the right time for me to start my small business.” She spoke about her family’s encouragement: “starting the business is something I’ve always wanted to do. I just never had the time or confidence to get started. Once I made my collection during lockdown, I thought: right, if I do not do it now, I will never do it. I think being in lockdown gave me the kick in the ass I needed to just try it. My family are so supportive and have always encouraged me.” Establishing a brand online is challenging in this decade, especially with multiple businesses competing on the same social platforms, like Instagram and TikTok, but Cahill explained the support she received. “The Design and Crafts Council of Ireland have great free webinars covering a wide range of topics, I’ve found them very helpful, and you get to know different Irish Designers. I also did the Start Your Own Business course with Enterprise Ireland, which was virtual and so helpful, it covered everything you need to know to get started, and I met other business owners! It was great to have that support.” Cahill uses Etsy to sell her rings, necklaces, and earrings, and with 60.27 million buyers as of 2020 on the platform, it’s not a bad place to start. “They make it so easy for you to get your shop set up. The customer sees your work when they actively look for products. There are some fees, but very small, I would recommend it to anyone with handmade products.” I asked about the designs specifically, authentically sketched by Cahill. “I’m drawn to a darker, more spooky aesthetic and a lot of people I follow on Instagram have that same interest,” she said.
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Know your customer. It’s so important to know who you are designing for, what they like, what brands they buy, and what’s important to them “It’s a niche market filled with some amazing creatives and I think it’s really important to know your customer when designing a collection.” Cahill also mentioned the fascinating process she uses to model pieces. “I design all my pieces myself, I then model them using a digital 3D software and send them off to my supplier in The Netherlands to be 3D printed in wax, cast in silver and finished.” Her silver comes from the 3D printing suppliers, and she supplies chains from a jewellery wholesaler. “I get my jewellery hallmarked in Dublin Castle’s Assay Office, it’s a quality guarantee that all my pieces are 100% sterling silver.” Cahill offered some advice to students, looking to lay foundations for their own small businesses. “Know your customer! It is so important to know who you are designing for, what they like, what other brands they buy, what is important to them, and so on”. She suggested making a mood-board, gathering statistics if you can and getting to know the market. “Identify where the gaps in your knowledge are; what you need to know to make your business work. I knew I needed to learn the practical, business side of things so I did the Enterprise Start Your Own Business course.” She reflected on what makes small businesses so special: “When I see how much a customer loves a piece of jewellery I’ve made for them, it makes me so happy that I can create something they love, especially if it’s a gift. Jewellery can last forever, and it holds so much sentiment. It’s so rewarding to be a part of that.” Often social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, perpetuate cliché images, songs, beats, dances, trends. So it is beyond refreshing to listen to the authenticity of Cahill’s inspirations and grunge aesthetic designs, however spooky they may be.
Breaking the silence Ruth McGann discusses the Abbey Theatre’s performance Home, which is a direct response to the Mother and Baby Home report
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n the night of our second St. Patrick’s Day in lockdown, the Abbey Theatre aired part one of a series entitled “Home”, a direct response to the report on the Mother and Baby Homes in aid of Barnardos Post Adoption Service. Testimonies from women and their children who experienced first-hand horrors of these institutions, were read aloud by both actors and survivors, in a haunting performance. Their stories reveal a “culture of silence” in our society that still protects those responsible today. Extracts were read by women of different ages and backgrounds, with beautiful performances by beloved Irish singer Mary Coughlan. Some other famous faces included Brenda Fricker, Ruth McCabe and Cathy Belton. Taken directly from the evidence of the report on the homes, the mothers described being “incarcerated” when they became pregnant outside of marriage. They suffered “psychological abuse” and were forced to do manual labour in the homes throughout their pregnancies. One woman even recounts going into labour while scrubbing floors. The shame these women were made to feel was palpable in each heartbreaking testimony. The nuns called it the “big mortal sin,” not only having had sex
outside marriage, but becoming pregnant. When the time came for the baby to be delivered, women were offered no pain relief because, as one woman explained, “she had to pay for her sins”. With the youngest mothers just thirteen years old, they suffered unimaginable trauma. The accounts of neglect suffered by the children in the homes were the most harrowing. One mother described her baby as having suffered “starvation, or even criminal neglect”. Babies suffering from treatable illnesses were not given medical attention until it was too late. Buried in unmarked graves, their identity remains hidden from the world even now. One man, still searching for the remains of his sister, is “waiting three years for our government to exhume the remains in Tuam and find out if she is there.” The children who survived were adopted at home in Ireland, or in the United States. Adoption was a common practice in the US, but it required copious formalities through the official system. In Ireland, “an orphan (could) be got...for the asking”. The homes were run for economic gain, with children essentially sold without the consent of their biological parents. One father said his child was “adopted without (his) consent and for no justifiable reason”. One survivor described it as “the widespread trafficking of babies by these nuns”. Those adopted recounted its impact on their sense of identity and their ongoing search for answers. For some, their birth had never even been registered. For one adoptee, it was as if she were “dead and reading (her) life story”. Survivors, and adoptees alike, have struggled to get information from the HSE and Túsla, with one woman told it would take eight years to uncover any information. She believes that “they hope you will just give up and go away”. Adoptees revealed their arduous search for information
and the silence they were met with, and still are today. One remarks, “my identity is a state secret”. Many feel their “identity and self worth has been continually and systematically undermined” by the institutions that have failed them since birth. Many feel their fundamental civic and human rights have been denied in an “attempt to silence the vulnerable”. Those affected demand answers and justice for the trauma they have experienced and for those who did not survive. For one survivor, her life was “completely and utterly devastated” by her experience in Bessborough, County Cork. The resistance that survivors are met with is described as the “continuation of power dynamics”, that created this abusive system and the protection of those responsible. It is seen as a “criminal empire still protected in Ireland in 2021”. One woman asks, “Who is afraid of the written word? Who is afraid of the truth in black and white?” This fear of truth manifests itself in our cultural silence, our refusal to acknowledge the dark reality of our country’s all too recent history. Our silence, the inaccessibility of truth, perpetuates their trauma and prolongs their grief. The performance, currently available to watch on the Abbey Theatre’s YouTube channel, closes with a list of children who died in Tuam and Bessborough from 1920-1960. The effects of this abuse of power have been catastrophic and will continue to shape the lives of thousands going forward. The survivors are calling for an end to the silence and shame surrounding their experiences, and justice for the crimes committed by the state, and the Catholic Church. The Abbey’s compelling performance gives these written testimonies a voice, breaking the silence.
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Tuesday 30 March | TRINITY NEWS
From lecture hal
Society spotlight
Trinity TV
Like students, staff have needed to adapt to the difficulties of online teaching, writes Ella Sloane
Ciara Cassidy explores how Trinity TV still manages to create gripping content
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ovid-19 has certainly restricted the number of activities students can do in their spare time. In fact, the whole of Ireland seems to be limited to either going for long walks, undertaking new arts and craft skills, baking, or, of course, binge watching TV. But, I wonder, how many Trinity students passed the long hours of lockdown tuning in to Trinity TV (TTV)? Given that various degrees of distancing measures are likely to linger in our society for the next few years, our predictions are that TTV will go from strength to strength by connecting students from all over the world to their campus. Founded in only 2009, TTV is certainly one of the newest societies around. Since 2011, the society has created video content, posting frequently on their Facebook and Youtube channel. According to Finn Jaksland, TTV Chair: “TTV is Trinity’s own student-run video making society; we help students make their videos and also upload video content on social media. We host camera and editing workshops, guest speakers, social events, filming sessions and weekly discussions.” Scrolling through their channel, it seems that TTV covers a variety of topics in their videos, ranging in genres from satirical to serious interviews and screening society events, though generally they stay more on the satirical side. Videos with the most views are a tour of House Six, a video testing the flammability of cocktails such as a white russian, the documentation of Body and Soul week and Bess Ball 2016, and clips of interviews with students around the campus asking the very important question: “Which country is your least favourite?” Though membership is small, averaging around 70 students this year, most of the members are very active. Jaksland highlights how TTV resembles a large, diverse family, one that loves working together and celebrating each student’s unique skills. “We have students in our society ranging from editors, actors, musicians, filmers and just general tv show enthusiasts. There’s a healthy mix between hobbyists and people looking to pursue a career,” he admits. Now a third
A year Computer Science student, Jaksland recounts why he joined TTV in the first place: “I showed up for a Freshers week Simpsons screening and really enjoyed the atmosphere the society had[...] I did a little bit of editing in my free time before so it seemed like a great opportunity to get more practice doing that. It’s been a blast taking part over the past three years.” Prior to becoming chair, Jaksland began as an ordinary committee member in his first year and then moved up to the society’s public relations officer as a Senior Fresher. During a typical year, TTV tends to focus their activities around video creation. Each week they would take their equipment outside and allow their members to simply indulge in the joys of filming the historic campus. Jaksland states that a huge perk of this society is that they lend out their filming equipment to their members and other societies for free. Students don’t have to be semi-pro camera-people with all the professional expensive equipment to join this society; anyone can qualify as a member. Moreover, TTV does not set strict boundaries on what students can make videos about: “we give a lot of agency to our members in what they can create.” A noteworthy event hosted by TTV earlier this year was the Phebruary Phone Philm Phestival, an event in which the society sets a challenge for students to create a video only using their phones. This was an event modeled for the students, created so that everyone could participate in film-making on an
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We give a lot of agency to our members in what they can create
equal platform. TTV’s latest event was a virtual interview with Irish actor Colm Meaney. Many smaller societies have struggled this year as a result of the pandemic. TTV aimed to fight against the challenges Covid-19 posed by debuting the Campanile Crossover Quiz. This was a large and ambitious event where TTV collaborated with 40 societies over two days. Jaksland explains that “essentially it was an online pub quiz held over Zoom where each society wrote their own questions about their field of interest. Each round had a fun themed name that paired up two societies. Over 60 different people were involved in the creation of the quiz, over 400 questions were written by societies and the overall event had about 60 teams taking part with 200 participants.” Despite the difficulties that come with any Zoom event, Jaksland says that the Campanile Crossover Quiz was a success. “I’ve had the opportunity to interact with a lot of other societies I would have never would have considered talking to. Shoutout to the very lovely individuals in the Jewish Society and the Knitting Society in particular.” TTV wishes to emphasise that they are always open to new members. Jaksland states that there is “absolutely no experience required in order to be able to take part and our members are all wonderfully welcoming to new people. It’s a small cosy society with a low-stress atmosphere which is something everyone can benefit from these days.” This pandemic has tested the limits of many small societies. However, TTV demonstrates that collaboration, rather than competition, is a way in which all societies can help each other during the pandemic. Furthermore, with their YouTube channel already gaining hundreds of views, combined with the technological knowledge and equipment many of their members acquire throughout their time at university, it is safe to say that TTV will come back stronger after this year.
s students, we can all agree that the past year has been extremely challenging. These mental and physical challenges have undoubtedly made things difficult for the student, but how have staff coped with the drastic switch to entirely online teaching? I spoke to one of my lecturers, Dr Jacqueline Hayden from the Department of Political Science, to gain insights into the experiences of the College’s teaching staff throughout the pandemic. In many ways, the student and teaching experiences appear to have been strikingly similar, from the emotional impacts to balancing the new merging of our work and home environments. Dr Hayden reflects on the initial chaos that ensued just over a year ago when colleges across the country, including Trinity, shut down for the first time and staff were suddenly faced with the daunting prospect of online teaching. “When it happened, it was almost a panic. It was all unreal because [the Phased
Resumption of Activities Group] were working towards something where the goalposts were changing constantly.” She explains that there was a lot of outside pressure to attempt to deliver some classes in person, but this was unfortunately not a feasible option. A number of obstacles, such as a lack of appropriate ventilation in indoor settings on campus and the fact that, as Dr Hayden points out, “an awful lot of the academic population are in a cohort that are very vulnerable to Covid”, stood in the way of the continuation of in-person teaching, prompting the inevitable transition to online teaching. When asked what tech supports were provided to staff to help them cope with this transition, Dr Hayden commends the I.T. staff, stating that they “really responded” to the situation and the “sheer volume” of workshops available for staff to help familiarise themselves with new online platforms and teaching methods were helpful. She adds enthusiastically that “academic and administration staff have worked very hard to deliver and to keep the show on the road, and largely speaking the show has remained on the road”. Expressing her empathy for the entire student population, and in particular first years who are missing out on the rewarding social and developmental aspects of starting college, Dr Hayden acknowledges that “the social side for students is vital, and as important as anything else they do”. Regarding online platforms
ARTWORK BY ELLA SLOANE FOR TRINITY NEWS
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lls to Zoom calls Teangacha agus an chian-fhoghlaim such as Zoom or Blackboard, Dr Hayden admits that she found it “extremely difficult when starting with a group that you have never met before”. She describes the difference in the connection she felt with new classes compared to groups that she had taught in person and works with this year, saying that “they knew I was a human being, I wasn’t alien to them”. Evidently, the feeling of distance between the student population and teaching staff is mutual. “I absolutely miss face to face engagement with students. For me, it has almost sucked the joy out of the thing I love most. If you are passionate about education and learning you want to see people enjoying that experience and it is very difficult to do so in an online learning environment.” Her key takeaway from the online teaching experience is that lectures need to be as engaging as possible to avoid students being left passive. Having experimented with online seminars, Dr Hayden is surprised at how effective they are and saw the benefits reaped by students from engaging with “peer to peer learning”, an element of college that is crucial and yet has become largely absent. Balancing the merging of our home and work environments into one and the same has been a universally challenging experience. Dr Hayden explains uses an upstairs sitting-room turned study for college work, from emails and lectures to lengthy seminars and an abundance of meetings. She describes the conflict that arises
from “trying to separate the fact that this is somewhere that I might occasionally sit and look at television, but also the place that I work”. She also emphasises the importance of “trying to keep rituals that make you feel as if you do have a work and a private space”, in an effort to maintain a sense of normality in our lives. When asked about the biggest challenges she has faced thus far, Dr Hayden delves into the combination of personal and professional hurdles that the pandemic has created. The resounding message was that the emotional impact has posed a major challenge and overall, the experience has been extremely draining for teaching staff. Dr Hayden confesses that “it was the challenge of every day putting on a face, being happy, going in, doing the job, being enthusiastic even if I was feeling a little bit down myself ” that she struggles with the most. She proposes that the shared challenge for humanity in general has been to keep on going despite the difficult circumstances. We both agree on the disjoint in communication that results from this now somewhat familiar learning environment, with Dr Hayden weighing in on how easily messages get lost in translation in the online abyss, without the aid of body language to register a lack in understanding. “You are struggling to engage and to get the feedback that, in a normal context, triggers you to explain something better.” Dr Hayden touches on the major professional challenge of embarking on new roles within College during the pandemic, saying that “taking over that role [as Director of European Studies] and not being able to learn the ropes from people face to face” was incredibly difficult. When asked whether there have been any perks accompanying the transition to online teaching, Dr Hayden acknowledges that “you have to stand back and assess the parts that are good and the parts that are bad.” As the Social Science coordinator for the Trinity Access Programme (TAP), she is excitd by the doors online teaching has opened for some people. “Creating a much more diverse, open, and accessible education for all” is something that Dr Hayden values enormously. She adds, “It is an enormously liberating thing for people who perhaps can’t go to college. There are an awful lot of categories of people, including those who are childminding or looking after ill people, that this has opened up learning to in a way that mightn’t have been otherwise possible.” To conclude our interview, I ask what message she would like to give to students. Her answer is simple yet touching: “Be yourselves, mind yourselves and look out for each other.”
Labhraíonn Gráinne Nic Cathmhaoil le mic léinn a dhéanann a staidéar ar theangacha, chun fiosrú amach tionchar na paindéime ar fhoghlaim na dteangacha
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bpobal foghlaim na dteangacha, níl aon rud cosúil le bheith báite sa sprioctheanga agus sa chultúr. Tá a fhios ag gach duine a chuaigh go dtí an Ghaeltacht fiú ar feadh tamaillín, nó a rinne Erasmus nó tamall thar lear in áit éigin a labhraíonn teanga diomaite dá dteanga féin, go bhfaigheann tú tuiscint ar an teanga nach raibh indéanta roimh an mbá sin. Tá coláiste in ainm a bheith macasamhail mar sin i gcomhair foghlaimeoirí na dteangacha, mar foghlaimíonn tú faoi thír, faoi chultúr agus faoi stair na teanga chomh maith, i dteannta leis an teanga féin. Labhair mé le mic léinn na dteangacha ar conas a chuir an phaindéim isteach ar a bhfhoghlaim agus iad ag foghlaim teangacha ar líne, agus ar conas atá siad ag dul i dtaithí leis na hathruithe ar fad. Ó mo thaithí ag labhairt le mic léinn faoi chian-fhoghlaim, tá meascán de mhothúcháin ann faoi: “Tá deacrachtaí agam leis mar ní féidir leat an teanga a labhairt chomh minic agus ba mhaith leat,” a deireann Ailis, mac léinn sa dara bliain, a dhéanann staidéar ar an Rúisis agus ar an bhFraincis. Leanann Ailis ar aghaidh: “caithfidh an múinteoir atmaisféar an rang teagaisc a athchruthú chomh maith - ar bhealach ar bith eile, mothaíonn sé mar phodchraoladh.” Tarraingíonn Ailis pointe spéisiúil anuas anseo faoi fhoghlaim sa bhaile. Tá sé éasca logáil isteach sa rang, agus do mhicreafón agus do cheamara a fhágáil múchta. Ach, mar a deireann Ailis: “tá ortsa an iarracht a dhéanamh chun foghlaim go gníomhach”. Mar gheall ar an bhfadhb seo, molann Ailis gur cheart go mbeadh grád níos airde ar fáil i gcomhair rannpháirtíochta sa rang: “Má tá an grád maith indéanta gan fhreastal ar na ranganna,
laghdaíonn sé sin luach an ranga”. Deireann Andrea, mac léinn a dhéanann staidéar ar an Iodáilis, ar an bhFraincis agus ar an Spáinnis nach bhfuil “a lán plé idir na mic léinn”, rud a chuireann leis an mothú sin go bhfuil tú ag éisteacht le podchraoladh. Ar an taobh eile, tá rudaí le tógáil agus le foghlaim ón am seo. Deireann Andrea gur chuir sí snas ar a cuid scileanna breactha nótaí de bharr na foghlama ar líne: “Bíonn an cathú i gcónaí ann chun féachaint ar ais ar an léacht níos deanaí, ach déanaim iarracht nótaí a dhéanamh i rith na léachta ag an am - bíonn seans níos mó ann go mbeidh ceisteanna agam ansin”. Sampla anseo den fhoghlaim ghníomhach, ag cur na hiarrachta sa bhreis sin isteach le foghlaim ar líne. Tá an chuma ar an scéal chomh maith go bhfuil mic léinn ag féachaint go seachtrach ó choláiste i gcomhair cabhrach le teangacha. Labhair mé le hAilbhe chomh maith, mac léinn a dhéanann staidéar ar an nGaeilge agus ar an bhFraincis. Thosaigh sí ag úsáid ha haipe Anki i gcomhair cúrsaí foclóra: “Roimh gach rud, ní úsáidfinn mo ríomhaire glúine [i gcomhair staidéir], ach anois, mar nach raibh aon rogha agam, tháinig mé ar an aip seo”. Anuas air sin, thosaigh Ailbhe ag úsáid na haipe Preply i gcomhair cleachtaidh do chúrsaí labhartha. Cuireann sé seo le rud éigin a dúirt Ailis liom: “Le cian-fhoghlaim, tá ort do thionscnaíocht féin a thógáil mar tá d’fhoghlaim i bhfad níos teoranta”. Tá mic léinn ag dul i dtaithí leis an mbealach seo den fhoghlaim, ag lorg cabhrach agus ag iarraidh a bheith ag feabhsú. D’inis Niamh dom, mac léinn atá mar chuid den Scéim Chónaithe sa choláiste an bhliain seo, faoina taithí ag labhairt Gaeilge go laethúil ach ag foghlaim Fraincise ó chian: “Bainim i bhfad níos mó taitnimh as an gcúrsa agus mé ag labhairt na teanga le mo chairde”, a deireann Niamh, agus “a mhalairt atá fíor domsa don Fhraincís”. Aontaíonn Chloe léi, mac léinn a dhéanann staidéar ar an nGaeilge agus ar an bhFraincis chomh maith: “I gcomhair teanga iasachta, ceapaim go bhfuil sé i bhfad níos deacra gan dabht agus braitheann sé go hiomlán ar do roinn teanga”. Deireann Chloe go bhfuil sé “deacair a bheith báite san Fhraincis,” agus caithidh mé a rá go n-aontaím leis an mbeirt acu. Téann sé siar chuig an méid bhí á rá ag Andrea, nach bhfuil “a lán plé idir na mic léinn”, agus cad a bhí á rá ag Ailis, go bhfuil ár bhfoghlaim “i bhfad níos teoranta” an bhliain seo. Tá sé
deacair a bheith báite in aon rud faoi láthair seachas coraintín, gan smaoineamh ar theanga iasachta. Rud a eascraíonn ó mo chomhráite leis na mic léinn seo ná go bhfuil béas le foghlaim ar líne. Deireann Ailis go bhfuil “an bhealach a shuíonn daoine ansin gan a gceamaraí ar siúl chomh drochbhéasach agus ní dhéanfá i ngnáthshaol é”. Leanann sí ar aghaidh: “tá an fhreagracht ar an mbeirt acu - an leachtóir agus an mac léinn- ach tá ar léachtóirí agus ar na cúntóirí teagasca na bacainní a bhriseadh, seachas iad ag fágáil na mac léinn ina dtost agus ansin ní thuigeann siad an easpa rannpháirtíochta sa rang.” Cuireadh go leor dúshlán roimh fhoghlaim na dteangacha an bhliain seo, cosúil le neart rudaí. Is féidir leis na ranganna a bheith ar líne, ach tá sé soiléir nach nach bhfaigheann tú an teagmháil chéanna leis an teanga a fhaigheann tú le léachtaí ar champas. Leis sin, tá buntáistí agus míbhuntáistí ag baint le foghlaim sa bhaile, agus ceapaim go bhfuil roinnt mic léinn faoi bhláth le foghlaim sa bhaile, agus go bhfuil roinnt mic léinn díreach ag iarraidh pas a fháil. Ach an t-aon rud atá soiléir ná go bhfuil oiriúnú de dhíth ó gach aon duine, rud atá taispeánta san alt seo agus na mic léinn ag déanamh iarrachta a mbá féin a chruthú díobh féin. Gluais (Glossary) Báite - Immersed Sprioctheanga - Target language Diomaite de - Other than Indéanta - Possible Bá - Immersion In ainm a bheith - Supposed to be Macasamhail - Replica I dteannta le X - Along with/As well as Cian-fhoghlaim - Remote learning Ar bhealach ar bith eile Otherwise Rannpháirtíocht - Participation Scileanna breactha nótaí Note-taking skills Cathú - Temptation Foghlaim ghníomhach - Active learning Go seachtrach - Externally Tionscnaíocht - Initiative Teoranta - Limited Teanga iasachta - Foreign language Béas - Etiquette Ag rá tuillidh - Expanding/ Elaborating Cúntóirí teagasca - Teaching assistants Bacainní - Barriers Teagmháil - Exposure/Contact Faoi bhláth - Thrive/Flourish Oiriúnú - Adaption
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Tuesday 30 March | TRINITY NEWS
Creating a #MeToo movement Trinity’s bi in the LGBTQ+ community are import Eva O’Beirne interviews activist group Queers Against Sexual Assault Ireland (QUASA) This article mentions sexual assault and image-based sexual absuse
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n the 8th of February 2021, one of the founding members of Queers Against Sexual Assault (QUASA), Oscar, tweeted a thread describing the need for a “me too movement” within the LGBTQ+ community in Ireland. One day later, with the help of co-founder Dan, QUASA was launched. Speaking to Trinity News over Zoom, the pair outline their current plans for the organisation: “QUASA is for anyone who wants to end the toxic culture of assault that exists in our society, in clubs, in places where we should feel safe. It’s an organisation that seeks to protect everyone, not just members of the LGBTQ+ community.” Dan and Oscar are certainly no strangers to social justice activism. Oscar points to his Leaving Cert action project for Politics and Society as his first major step
into campaigning - he organised a blood drive in his school after realising gay men cannot donate blood in Ireland. Dan on the other hand has been involved in social justice campaigns since the Marriage Equality Referendum in 2015. Oscar refers to his Twitter thread on queer sexual assault as the starting point for QUASA as an organisiation. “You can always call out to the void and point out that things are bad, but this whole project… it’s about putting your money where your mouth is and causing change to happen.” Dan agrees, noting, “I had reposted it on my story and then left it for a couple of hours, but I couldn’t get it out of my head. It was so profound and true and I couldn’t not do anything about it”. They go on to talk about how often, the LGBTQ+ community is hesitant to show it’s flaws and weaknesses: “with QUASA, we’re trying to get the message out that being vulnerable is okay. It ties into patriarchal norms and showing weakness is interpreted to be bad. With queer people, there’s a desire to be strong because we go through so much trauma.” The relationship between the queer community and the Gardaí has historically been one of opposition. Many LGBTQ+ activists consider the death of Declan Flynn in 1982 and the suspended sentences of his murderers to be one of the catalysts for the modern day gay-rights movement in
ARTWORK BY SARAH MURNANE FOR TRINITY NEWS
Ireland. One of QUASA’s manifesto points deals with hate crimes directly, calling for an increase in Garda resources. When asked what QUASA’s relationship with the Gardaí would be like, Dan pointed to the need for reform in the system as a whole, elebroating that the Gardaí at present are not suited to dealing with sensitive cases like sexual assault and image based sexual abuse (IBSA). Dan outlines the areas where QUASA hopes to educate both members of the LGBTQ+ community and those outside of it. “There’s a huge issue with IBSA in the community. There’s apps like Grindr where safety isn’t a priority.” Oscar points to the need for better consent education for all in Ireland, calling it a “major issue” in Irish society as a whole. Oscar, who is studying education, describes his ideal curriculum as having “consent education beginning in primary school, referring to personal space”. Oscar also mentions the need for LGBTQ+ representation in primary education in a non-sexual context and an all-inclusive RSE curriculum for secondary school students. In regards to safety in clubs and bars, QUASA hopes to implement a safety-scheme across gay clubs and bars in Ireland similar to the “Ask for Ani” scheme for domestic abuse victims in pharmacies in the UK. The scheme will involve having bar and hospitality staff knowing a code word which
customers can use to go to a safe space, away from danger. Dan mentions QUASA’s determination to end discrimination to minorities within queer spaces and the desire to create spaces that are “totally against any form of oppression”. According to Dan and Oscar, QUASA will not only be a support service for those who have been sexually assaulted, but will also support and raise awareness for other health issues affecting the queer community such as STDs, HIV testing and mental health. Dan outlines that QUASA will hopefully become “a pool of information and resources for people to not only use but also will share around. We want to be as accessible as possible in case someone is looking for how to access HIV treatments like PrEP and PEP. It will be an immediate resource that unfortunately doesn’t exist at the moment”. Dan then points out that the HSE often provides confusing advice and information in regards to queer issues and alludes that QUASA will help resolve this. “We want people to come across any issue and to be able to say, ‘oh there’s a QUASA post for that’”. QUASA also aims to increase awareness around queer mental health with the eventual goal of setting up a support service or helpine for victims of sexual assault. For the moment, on an organisational level, QUASA will implement crisis and compassionate grounds training for its members. When asked about transgender issues in Ireland, Dan remarks that the trans-healthcare system in Ireland is “nearly non-existent” and that the healthcare that is offered to trans people is “underfunded, undersupported and unprotected”. Dan then goes on to describe how the healthcare system in Ireland as a whole is based on “governmental greed” that fundamentally fails all Irish citizens and that QUASA will “do it’s best” to campaign for adequate funding and support for the transgender community. To end the interview, both Oscar and Dan outlined their goals for the next year, with Oscar detailing how he wants there to be a culture of “knowing what to do in a crisis” with a more sympathetic approach to those suffering with the trauma of sexual assault. Dan mentions their hope that clubs will become “a place where we don’t have to worry about what might happen”. Both agree that making people aware of their surroundings and being “an ally for everyone” is the very least QUASA can do before clubs open again in Ireland.
Atticus Medd explains how bilingual societies provide a platform to unify
O
ne of the first things that you notice about Trinity is its range of languages. This range can be daunting and is something of an embarrassment for me, given I studied French for over ten years and can barely order a coffee or pain au chocolat. Yet, the ability of many students to fluently switch in between many different languages is reflected in the number of societies which not only celebrate the culture of languages, but also operate with bilingual nature to keep it accessible for all. Trinity has over seven language societies. An Cumann Gaelach, is one of the largest societies in Trinity. In response to the ongoing anglicisation of Irish culture, its outreach to students is extremely important. It runs bilingual events in collaboration with other societies that may not be proficient in the language. Most of their events are conducted in Irish, and they use a bit of English to help people who may only have cúpla focal (a few words). For them, inclusivity and accessibility are the foundations of new membership. The Irish language community on campus is very strong, and always expanding. An Cumann Gaelach plays a large role in preserving Irish language and culture by encouraging all people who have an
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TRINITY NEWS
Climate
Green movements must join fight against racism page 3
Room for improvement in Trinity’s sport strategy page 4
How to have a sustainable period page 6
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TRINITY NEWS
Climate supplement
Trinity researchers examine effect of meatballs on climate change
The study looks at the relative effects on the climate of meatballs against their plantbased alternatives, Lucy Fitzsimmons explains
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Staff
Lauren Boland
Editor-in-chief
Lucy Fitzsimmons Shannon McGreevy Hazel Ní Bhroin Eva O’Beirne Márta Menta Czinkóczky
SciTech Editor Sport Editor Leas Eagarthóir Gaeilge Sex & Relationships Editor Art Editor
Olivia Bayne Joanna Harnett Thena James Aoife Kiernan Diya Mecheri Ella Sloane
Staff writer Contributing writer Contributing artist Contributing writer Contributing artist Contributing writer and artist
MEATBALLS ARE AN ESSENTIAL AND beloved part of many traditional cuisines, from the Italian type served with spaghetti, to the Scandinavian sort popularised by IKEA. In 2015, IKEA sold on average 2.9 million meatballs a day worldwide. This globally popular food staple, and its environmental impact, was the focus of a recent study by Trinity researchers from the School of Natural Sciences. The research, a joint effort between Trinity and the University of Limerick, examined the environmental impact of meatballs made of Brazilian beef, Irish beef, and a pea protein, plant-based alternative from Germany. The work is part of a wider European study, aiming to promote sustainable choices for food products. The environmental impacts of the three meatball varieties were compared across 16 categories including land use, water scarcity, ozone depletion and human health impacts. The lead author of the study is Sophie Saget, a Trinity PhD candidate whose research involves studying the environmental impacts of legume-based foods. Saget tested the assumption that Irish beef has a lower climate footprint than its Brazilian alternative, which turned out to be false in 14 of the 16 categories. The most significant difference between the two was in nitrogen pollution, for which the Irish meatballs far outweighed the Brazilian. The pea-protein alternative had the lowest impact of the three in all 16 categories of the study. The plant-based alternative performed the best overall, with global warming,
acidification, and land use burdens at least 80% smaller than those associated with the beef meatballs. The impact on global warming was 85% less, acidification was 81% less, and land use was 89% less than the traditional beef meatballs. In fact, the plant-based meatballs had a significantly higher nutritional density index, meaning less was needed to be eaten to achieve the same nutritional impact of the beef variety. As such weight comparisons of the environmental impacts don’t show the full story, and when the study corrected for this, these percentage improvements increased to 89%, 87% and 93% respectively. To study highlights the impact of consumers making plant-based swaps for even some of their meat intake. The researchers calculated that if just 5% of German beef consumption was replaced with pea protein consumption, i.e. each person consumed one plant-based alternative for every 19 beef products they ate, then 8 million tonnes of CO2 could be saved annually. This is 1% of Germany’s total greenhouse gas emissions, a significant amount for a relatively small swap. The lead scientist of the study, Professor Mike Williams said that “in terms of improving nutrition and the environmental sustainability of our diets, increasing the consumption of plant-protein alternatives to red meat represents a win-win scenario”. “Plant protein-based foods provide more fibre and a higher nutritional density, and – through virtue of their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen from the atmosphere – impart a significantly lower environmental impact than animal protein products,” Professor Williams said. The study solidifies the important impact of even small dietary changes on the planet. As a society, it may be difficult to cut down our beef consumption radically, particularly as here in Ireland beef farming is the source of many livelihoods, and meat is one of our largest exports. But for those who are not prepared to make a significant change, even small ones to begin like a meatless-Monday or trying out a new plant-based product could have considerable environmental benefits.
PHOTO BY VICTORIA SALGANIK FOR TRINITY NEWS
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Green movements must join the fight against environmental racism With racial minorities disproportionately affected by the climate crisis, Ella Sloane says climate justice must be linked with the fight for racial justice
CLIMATE CHANGE AND RACIAL INEQUALITY HAVE both garnered mass critical attention in recent decades. Following the death of George Floyd in 2020, the US saw a resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement. The impact of Covid-19 on racial minorities globally has further highlighted racial injustice that persists in contemporary society; the U.S. saw a disproportionate amount of deaths during the pandemic amongst Black and Indigenous communities, and although the vaccine rollout has just begun, there is already striking evidence of the racial and ethnic disparities in vaccine allocation. Environmental and climate discourse has taken a backseat amidst the pandemic, despite it remaining an issue of growing concern, with reportedly a mere nine years left to prevent irreparable damage caused by climate change. Climate justice frames climate change as a political issue, not only a purely physical one, in order to safeguard underprivileged cohorts who are most vulnerable to the adverse socio-economic impacts arising from it. This environmental
movement strives to fight for racial minorities who feel the greatest impact of climate change. However, the rise of other insidious movements such as eco-fascism instead attempts to shift the blame onto marginalised groups. So-called eco-fascists blame environmental demise on issues such as immigration and overpopulation. However, it is clear that racial and climate justice are intrinsically linked. In times of crisis, the poorest margin of the population consistently endures the most suffering and hardship. As seen with the Covid-19 pandemic, racial minorities once again bear the brunt of crisis-induced consequences due to systemic racism that continues to enforce barriers to education, thus stunting intergenerational economic progression. Similarly, the climate crisis has left many on the fringes of society with no choice but to migrate because of the unpredictable climate which can no longer support their subsistence farming practices. Poorer Black communities are disproportionately vulnerable to devastation caused by climate hazards including flooding and natural disasters such as hurricanes due to their geographical l o c a t i o n s . Communities of colour are more likely to be located near toxic facilities. For instance, Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley” is home to predominantly people of colour, and the abundance of petro-chemical plants in the area have proven to dramatically shorten the lifespan and reduce quality of life for those who live there. Environmental racism is a double-edged sword; not only are
poor Black communities disadvantaged by their location, but the majority of them also do not have access to the necessary medical care. Evidence of racial disparities in disaster recovery aid prioritisation further sheds a light on the inequalities that make Black Americans more susceptible to the threats posed by environmental disaster. In recent years, Europe has seen a large number of climate refugees, the number of which will only continue to increase. Research has shown that climate change significantly contributes to political instability and conflict, creating a major push factor for climate refugees. Higher temperatures and extreme weather conditions such as droughts and flooding dramatically worsen economic outcomes within a country and exacerbate social unrest, which can incite an increase in violence. For instance, flooding can cause the spread of deadly waterborne diseases, thus putting enormous pressure on already weak healthcare systems. Countries nearest to the equator feel the greatest effects of global warming, making them increasingly susceptible to the negative economic impacts resulting from unpredictable weather conditions. A 2013 research paper, “Quantifying the Influence of Climate on Human Conflict” found that changes in temperature of one standard deviation correlated with a 4% increase in interpersonal conflict rates, and a 14% increase in the rate of intergroup conflict. Evidently, climate change and political conflict are connected, and as climate change continues to accelerate, large
Climate change and political conflict are connected
numbers of climate refugees will be left with no choice but to flee their home countries. This is an inevitable situation that Ireland urgently needs to prepare for. The country’s current system of institutionalised living for asylum seekers, Direct Provision, is fatally flawed. Direct Provision was introduced in 2000 to temporarily provide incoming asylum seekers with hostel-like accommodation for a period of up to six months, after which they would transition to independent living. According to Doras, the average time spent living in Direct Provision is, in fact, two years, with many stuck in DP for far longer. The standard of living in these centres has been described as inhumane; overcrowding, lack of privacy, and nutritionally inadequate meals are among some of the problems faced by those who live there. Today, there are over 7000 people living in Direct Provision. The current system of institutionalised living in Ireland is not a sustainable solution and it is crucial that there are suitable supports in place for asylum seekers in years to come. Long-awaited State plans to reform the system have emerged recently in the form of a White Paper on ending Direct Provision published by the Department of Children and Equality, which proposes a two-stage “blended” accommodation system. The Department aims to have this up and running by the end of 2024, but only time will tell if these plans will materialise by then, and if the new system will prove to be an effective alternative. More than ever, it is vital that the current system is completely and radically overhauled at an accelerated pace. The prioritisation of creating a better refuge system in Ireland is absolutely imperative.
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Room for sustainable improvement in the sport industry Trinity could learn from examples of prioritising environmental consciousness in sports facilities, Shannon McGreevy IN THE WAKE OF TRINITY’S green initiatives and its dedication to being more environmentally conscious, it is time to turn the conversation of sustainability to the sport industry. Decreasing carbon footprints and taking measures to care for the planet is absolutely necessary in order to limit climate change and its impacts. These efforts do not exclude the sports industry, nor any industry for that matter. While progress is slowly being made on this front, there is still a long way to go. The Irish Sport Industry Awards, managed and delivered by the Federation of Irish Sport, serves to recognise organisations commitment to innovation and excellence. While the 2020 awards were postponed to 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, an important new category was created last year: Best Sustainability Initiative. As the Irish Sport Industry Awards website itself states: “This award serves to recognise a brand or organisation that has recognised the importance of environmental sustainability in the work that they do. Whether through a specific program/initiative or the organisation itself this award will highlight activities that support the importance of environment sustainability in the sporting sector.” This new award is a great step towards having a national level award for sustainability initiatives in sport and encouraging organisations to develop programmes and avenues to be more environmentally sound, yet, as there has not been a winner as of yet, this highlights that it is still only an arising issue. Recently, the women in sport 20x20 program was introduced and has influenced sport at all levels to be more inclusive of women and encourage female participation in sport. Hopefully the same emphasis will be placed on sustainability as there is much improvement needed in this area as well. In some ways it might be said that they go hand in hand. In the Government of Ireland’s National Sport Policy of 2018-2027, there is some talk
about the importance of protecting the environment yet, this is not enough and it seems to be mentioned only in conjunction with other topics. For example, one of the actions is to increase support and encourage people to participate in outdoor activities like running, swimming, and cycling although, the only time sustainability is addressed is with regards to cycling being “an environmentally friendly mode of transport”. I would argue that sustainable facilities and funding for such facilities should have been another one of the 57 action plans outlined in the policy. The fact that it is only mentioned sparingly goes to show that it is not at the forefront of sport initiative on the government level. When people think of sport they don’t tend to think of how the industry can be more environmentally conscious, but rather of big events with lots of food, drink and memorabilia. This does not mean that the tendency to think this way should change. Instead, rather than focusing on these big blowout events and competitions, questions should be orientated towards how are teams’ training facilities supporting the movement to being more sustainable? How is water usage being reduced at sporting events nationally? Are the way jerseys manufactured adhering to environmental policies and reducing waste as much as possible? The questions are endless and are worth talking about helping to bring attention to these issues. If an entire industry is not prioritising sustainability, how is real change going to be enacted? A good example of how facilities can adapt to being more green is Croke Park. With both a sustainability policy and environmental policy, Croke Park has made it a priority to be a model for other parks in not only Ireland, but around the world. Impressively, since 2014, Croke Park has maintained 0% of generated waste at the stadium going to a landfill–a major sustainability milestone. As such an important part of Irish history and culture, having a proud symbol of the GAA dedicating time and effort to the environmental movement is important to say the least. Setting such an excellent precedent should encourage other stadiums and facilities to be involved and implement similar initiatives and programmes. Some of the notable awards that Croke Park has received are the Excellence in
Waste Management Award. This is only one example of the Park’s history of excellence in this area. Perhaps more importantly though, is the engagement with the community about awareness on being more environmentally friendly, similar to an education initiative that is happening in Trinity. With Bio Diversity and Primary School Eco Projects within the stadium, there is a chance for involvement with those in the community to learn more about how to become better stewards of the environment. Undoubtedly there is a degree of dedication and commitment it takes to making a facility and community more environmentally conscious, but it is an effort that is pertinent. It could even be argued that it is more important that most other initiatives, considering if immediate action is not taken on a global level to reduce human impact there will be severe consequences. Following the outlines set out by the Provost to make Trinity a greener campus, the sporting facilities should be included in these initiatives. If there is room for improvement in Trinity Sport Centre and its other grounds to be more sustainable, then actions must be taken in order to make those improvements. With the provost election underway, there is a lot of discussion within the university community about furthering environmental plans. It really is such an important topic and Trinity has been a strong advocate for reducing the effects of climate change and being as environmentally friendly as possible, so these goals and discussions should also be applied to the sporting arena in college. If an entire subset of facilities and groups of students and staff are not actively involved in making Trinity greener, then the lofty goals cannot be achieved. Everyone needs to be active and take a closer look at the impacts we have on the environment that surrounds us. Croke Park has a comprehensive policy for their green objectives, of which I believe Trinity Sport should adopt in a similar fashion. Broadly speaking, energy management and utilisation, water usage, managing waste, pollution prevention, and community engagement should be investigated and held to a higher standard. With more emphasis on these, and even a possible role created within Trinity Sport to head an environmentally focused programme, a shift in the right direction could happen.
Sport facilities should be included in initiatives to make Trinity greener
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Data centres and the environmental impact of our online world Though online communication and data storage is better than paper alternatives, Aoife Kiernan outlines that data centres and internet use still take up a huge amount of resources
ARTWORK BY THENA JAMES FOR TRINITY NEWS
AS WE MOVE TO AN increasingly online life, the environmental impact of increased internet usage often goes unnoticed. We use our laptops and phones, connected wirelessly to the internet with such ease, often not realising the large amount of infrastructure needed to keep us connected. In total, the internet uses around 2% of the world’s energy supply. If it were a country, it would rank amongst the top 5 highest electricity consumers. Organisations and individuals have moved away from storing data on-site in personal hard drives and instead opt to send it to the cloud. The abstract term “the cloud” originates in cloud symbols which were used in conceptual diagrams in the 1960s when explaining how the internet works. This data is actually held in hard drives in data centres, which can be as large as 30,000 square meters. These data centres have a major impact on our environment due to the large amount of energy needed to run them and to cool them down. Data centres serve as the connection centres for the internet, containing servers and network infrastructure which are connected to computers all over the globe. They contain computing resources, running applications and housing the processing software for their applications. They store huge amounts of data, often including several backups. We all interact with these centres, from sending emails to streaming lectures and tv shows, to online shopping. Blackboard, Trinity’s virtual learning environment uses more than 30 data centres around the world. Ireland is establishing itself as the data capital of Europe. We are home to 54 data centres, mostly near Dublin. Additionally, there are 10 currently under construction, and planning permission granted for another 31. In the next few years, Ireland will have nearly 100 data centres in total. Data centres are estimated to use 27% of the total electricity supply in Ireland by 2028. An individual centre uses the same amount of electricity as a small town. By 2030 Ireland aims to source at least 70% of power from renewable sources. At the same time €9 billion will need to be invested in
new energy infrastructure to support the data centre expansion. Meanwhile, they will add at least 1.5 million tonnes to Ireland’s carbon emissions. Around 40% of the power used is for cooling the equipment down. This is done using a variety of tactics, including using raised floors, computer room air conditioning and liquid cooling. Cooling can use large amounts of water and harmful chemicals. Apple abandoned plans to build a centre in Athenry, Co. Galway in 2018 after repeated delays in the planning process. These delays were caused by an appeal due to environmental concerns which was eventually won in the Supreme court. New technologies such as using artificial intelligence in cooling technologies can reduce the electricity consumption of the centres. A cooling system controlled by artificial intelligence can use sensors to determine where energy would be best spent to cool the system efficiently. Some companies have promised centres powered 100% by renewable energy. Ireland’s first completely privately funded wind farm has been constructed by Amazon in Elk Co. Cork. They have plans to build two further wind farms in Ireland, one in co. Galway and another in Donegal. Irish company Echelon Data centres intend to construct an offshore wind farm to power a new data centre in Arklow, Co. Wicklow. These wind farms feed into Ireland’s national electricity grid and are intended to offset carbon emissions from electricity used by the data centres owned by these companies. Tallaght District Heating Network will use excess heat from an Amazon data centre to heat buildings in the area. This will be provided for free, resulting in a low-cost low carbon method of heating. The heat will be provided to heat TUD’s Tallaght campus. Trinity’s IT services operate one of the most efficient data centres in the world. The Green Data Center in Áras an Phiarsaigh was presented with a National Tech Excellence Award in 2014. Several Trinity researchers are involved in a Science Foundation Ireland Project, Energy Systems Integration Partnership Programme (ESIPP). They are investigating a range of measures that could be used to decarbonise the energy system in Ireland. With data centres being classed as essential infrastructure, Ireland must invest in the electricity grid to increase supply adequately and power the additional centres that are planned. Any unprecedented increase in energy demand will make carbon emission reduction targets more difficult to reach. With every additional data centre, the likelihood of reaching 70% renewable energy by 2030 decreases.
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How to have The show mu a sustainable period Joanna Harnett looks at the future of Fashion month, enhanced diversity, sustainability, and its virtual adaptation
Eva O’Beirne shares advice on finding environmentally-friendly menstrual products
ACCORDING TO A REPORT FROM the EU in 2018, menstrual products are the fifth most common item to be found washed up on beaches. Main-stream brands of tampons and pads can consist of up to 90% plastic, with each packet of sanitary products being the equivalent of using 4 plastic bags. These pads and tampons are destined for landfill or to be flushed (incorrectly) down the toilet. In Ireland, approximately 260 million single use period products are used every year - this equates to over 700,000 period products per day. But what steps can we take to achieve a sustainable period? What products are out there? Can an environmentally friendly menstrual cycle be affordable? Let’s find out. Menstrual cups Menstrual cups are certainly the “itgirl” of contemporary period products. They’re having a moment, but they still appear super elusive and mysterious. How do you use one? Is it safe? How many do I need? Menstrual cup awareness, I believe, is key to tackling both period poverty and the environmental effects caused by singleuse plastic products. Data from the Marine Conservation Society indicates that on average, 4.8 pieces of plastic are found per 100 metres of beach cleaned. We are seeing the physical effect of single-use plastic as well as the monetary impact it has on everyday people - with menstrual cups there is no need to constantly buy new ones every month. Menstrual cups can be used for up to 10 years with the most student-friendly brands costing around €20 which works out at around 20 cent per menstrual cycle. You can purchase menstrual cups from Irish websites such as LittleGreenShop.ie , GreenOutlook.ie, TheHopsack.ie and EarthMother.ie
proof swimwear, all in multiple styles to fit everyones’ preferences. With an average of 5 stars across the majority of their products online, Modi Bodi is certainly my top recommendation to those looking to start having a sustainable period. You can check out Modi Bodi products at ModiBodi.com. Best Website: Rael Rael works out as the most eco-friendly brand with the combined benefit of a relatively low-cost. Each pair is $20 (€17) and absorbs up to 3 tampons worth of blood. With plenty of discounts and period-care sets (containing eco-friendly wipes, pads and tampons) for every situation, I definitely recommend Rael for those looking to be more environmentally conscious but not sure if period-proof underwear is the way to go. You can find Rael products on GetRael. com. Best Style: Femtis Femtis is Germany’s first periodunderwear brand, with bio-cide free and vegan products. I have to admit, I was amazed by the amount of styles and colour available from the site. There’s a common trend amongst period proof underwear in the sense that most brands only have a large brief in black, grey or nude. Instead, Femtis offers numerous styles and varying colours which allows for more expression as well as the feeling of luxury. If you’re looking to be sustainable in style, check out Femtis.de.
Organic menstrual products If you’re hesitant to move away from tampons and to try new products, you can switch to something more familiar biodegradable and chemical free tampons. The issue with most tampons is that they are either flushed (please don’t do this) or end up in landfill. NatraCare and Ilo are both well known brands that are stocked in most eco-friendly stores. If you’re looking for organic pads however, NatraCare and another brand, &Sisters, supply cottonbased sanitary pads. The only issue with organic products is that they tend to be more expensive than standard plastic period products, so organic brands may not be suited to the student budget.
Menstrual cups can be used for up to 10 years, starting around €20
Period-proof underwear and swimwear Period-proof underwear sounds too good to be true. Period-proof swimwear even more so. The worry among environmentalists is the possible plastic content in each pair. After some research, I’ve found some brands that are environmentalist approved and suitable for a student budget. Best overall: Modi Bodi Modi Bodi appears to have the full package: the majority of their products are under €35, they have a vegan range of underwear available as well as period-
Reusable menstrual products Reusable menstrual products are unfortunately a bit more inaccessible than most sustainable period products, with most packs of three averaging at a cost of €18. Reusable pads are certainly an investment and will pay off in the long run but it is important to research which brands will suit your needs. If you want to support small Irish businesses, you can buy reusable cotton pads from Handmade by Kata, Other Mother Creations and at Pads. ie.
WE ARE ALL FAMILIAR WITH the impeccable style witnessed during fashion week. From live catwalks, to YouTube, Instagram and Tiktok, shows are now spread across every platform in the world. But we do not realise how significant the industry is for various cultures globally. The fashion industry is the third largest in Italy, according to Claudio Mrenzi, President of Sistema Moda Italia. Twice a year, brands debut their Spring and Autumn Ready-to-Wear collections, in October and February respectively. Fashion month of the ‘Big Four’, starts with a week in New York, followed by London, Milan and Paris. It serves as an opportunity for designers and brands to debut their creations for upcoming seasons to buyers, collectors, critics, the media, and celebrities. This year has been like no other, but the show must go on, and fashion weeks throughout the year will host a mixture of physical and virtual events. Not only is this a business opportunity for brand advertisement, but an important time for tourist and hospitality industries within the host cities. According to the French government’s official website, fashion week in Paris generates a revenue of around €1.2 billion. In 2019, Milan Fashion Week yielded a turnover of €36 million for the tourism industry and €160 million for the Italian hospitality sector. Evidently, the opulence and elitist nature of the shows, feeds capitalism and mass consumption of goods. The exclusivity factor is a huge part of its success. People attend by invite only, unless you are lucky enough to be staff, yet simply being there is not enough. Unlike the cinema, the front row of a fashion show is the most sought after. It is a privilege only afforded to the most valued guests, like Anna Wintour and Kate Moss, something that normal people will only dream of. However, this year because of Covid-19 restrictions, the Autumn/ Winter 2021 runway shows turned virtual and were more accessible than ever. The shows still prevailed behind closed doors or on empty streets with only essential staff for a live audience. For Milan Fashion Week, Italy’s National Chamber of Fashion, created an online hub to showcase the dozens of catwalk shows and collections in one place. Brands like Missoni decided to create a 3-minute-long short film of their
new line. Prada live streamed their catwalk show from their YouTube channel, where it amassed over 3.5 million views. For Paris Fashion Week, Dior’s Autumn/Winter21 show took place in the Hall of Mirrors at the Chateau de Versailles and was posted as a 10-minute-long video to their YouTube channel. Despite the success, economic profits, and promotion of these performances, the industry is not without some serious issues. Consumers are becoming more cautious when shopping, and looking at the effects on the planet thanks to organisations such as Greenpeace, Eco Age, and Extinction Rebellion. People are learning to shop second-hand, buying vintage or supporting online sellers from Depop. The change in consumer habits has put pressure on the fashion industry to reconsider many of its deeply embedded practices. In 2019, more than 50 brands like Burberry, Gucci, and Prada,
committed to reducing emissions by 30% before 2030, and to reach net-zero emissions 2050, participating in Fashion Charter for climate
by the UN’s action. But has fashion week become more environmentally friendly? According to a report by Ordre, fashion buyers and designers alone contribute 241,000 tons of CO2 emissions a year, by attending events in New York, London, Paris, and Milan. With the travel factor being eliminated, surely virtual shows would be more sustainable? Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. According to an article by Vogue UK, published in July 2020, “the
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 30 March
ust go on preparations are much heavier in carbon footprint during the digital event than the physical events”. On the other hand, when the travel factor is taken into account, the carbon footprint of a digital fashion week is “substantially lower” than an in person fashion week as a whole. The only major fashion brand at Paris Fashion Week being applauded for its efforts in sustainability this year, was Chloé. Led by creative director Gabriela Hearst, its latest collection was four times more sustainable than its last, with models walking the runway holding second hand bags reworked from leftover material from their design studio. The brand has also stopped using
Chanel show, 108 years after it’s foundation. Even with this, Black representation is still lacking among the executives and designers leading these brands. Gladly, some small progress is being made; to open Milan Fashion Week Fall/ Winter 20/21 show, Black Lives Matter and African born ‘fab five’ designers collaborated with the National Chamber of Italian Fashion, to create their digital show, We Are Made in Italy. It showcased designs of African heritage, and included Nigerian Joy Meribe, Fabiola Manirakiza from Burundi, Morocco-born Karim Daoudi, Cameroonian Gisele Ntsama and Pape Macodou from Senegal. Seeing the fashion industry adapt to the Covid-19 restrictions and how considerations are evolving to reduce shows’ impacts on the planet, begs the question: what will the long-term impact of Covid-19 be for fashion weeks in the future? Designers and fashion houses are eager to get back to creating collections for a physical audience. Countries would gladly welcome the boost in tourism to support the economy and the attendees want to see them return as well. Most people wish to reclaim some form of normality, and that is something we can all relate to, even if our version of normal does not include attending fashion week. While sustainable fashion is on the rise and environmental awareness is almost mainstream, there is a sense that these issues might fly out the window if we are given the chance to resume our old habits. These bi-annual shows need to re-evaluate the idea of what normal means, for the sake of the planet, and the future of the industry. While virtual fashion shows are unlikely to become permanent, there is no doubt that brands will continue to use digital platforms to reach a wider audience. At the very least they have learned to adapt when needed, without an in-person audience, whilst proceeding to put on a good show.
What will the long-term impact of Covid-19 be on fashion weeks in the future?
artificial cellulose fibre in its garments and now uses 80% recycled cashmere in knitwear. Sustainability was not the only aspect anticipated this year. In the wake of the horrific public incidents of powlice brutality last year, and the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement, brands have pledged to do more to make their companies diverse and inclusive. Model diversity has improved with most brands now featuring a percentage of people of colour in their runway shows, but some still have a long way to go. Only recently, as of 2018, Alton Mason became the first Black male model to walk in a
ARTWORK BY DIYA MECHERI FOR TRINITY NEWS
An comhshaol i mbaol an bháis
Labhraíonn Hazel Ní Bhroin faoi na bealaí éagsúla gur féidir linn an t-imshaol a shabháil agus muid faoi dhianglasáil
NÍL DABHT AR BITH ANN go raibh an géarchéim aeráide caite as ár n-intinn againn píosa le linn na paindéime seo. Cad chuige nach mbeadh? Táimid faoi dhianglasáil eile, tá daoine ag éirí tinn gach aon lá, agus tá gach rud go hiomlán difriúl ón ngnáthshaol a bhí againn beagnach bliain ó shin. É sin ráite, ní féidir an ghéarchéim aeráide a sheachaint. Níl aon réiteach simplí ar an bhfadhb seo, ach cinnte, beidh comhoibriú timpeall an domhain ag teastáil. Go minic, ní bhraithim go bhfuil aon neart agam ar chúrsaí timpeallachta. Ar ndóigh, tar éis níos mó taighde a dhéanamh, tuigim nach bhfuil sé sin fíor in aon chor. Seo cúpla bealaí éagsúla inar féidir linn cabhrú leis an gcomhshaol agus muid sáinnithe sa bhaile. Tá sé am rud éigin a dhéanamh anois chun an comhshaol a shábháil. Más féidir linn rud dearfach amháin a bhaint den choróinvíreas, is féidir linn a bheith buíoch as an laghdú ar an méid daoine atá ag úsáid caranna agus eitleáin timpeall an domhain. Cuireann cúrsaí taistil agus breoslaí iontaise go mór leis na gáis a chuireann le hiarmhairt cheaptha teasa, an gáis atá freagrach as an athrú aeráide. Tá i bhfad níos mó daoine ag obair ón mbaile faoi láthair, rud a chabhraíonn leis an bhfadhb seo, ach, cad a tharlaíonn nuair a théimid go léir ar ais ag obair tar éis na paindéime? Beidh an dul chun cinn déanta againn i rith na paindéime ar fad scriosta arís. Mar mhic léinn, ba chóir dúinn an iompar poiblí atá curtha ar fáil dúinn a úsáid, nó fiú a bheith ag rothaíocht nó ag siúl go dtí an choláiste, más féidir in aon chor é, chun na breoisle iontaise seo a laghdú. Faraor tá an domhan i mbaol an bháis. Cloiseann muid uilig faoi na hoighearshruthanna ag leá sa Mhol Thuaidh, an béar bán beagnach imithe agus aibhneacha ar leith ag sceitheadh thar bhruach. Chun na rudaí seo a sheachaint, ba cheart dúinn go léir na boscaí brúscair atá againn sa bhaile a sheiceáil. Ba chóir go mbeidh athchúrsáil agus athúsáid ceart á dhéanamh agat sa bhaile — is féidir tuilleadh eolais a fháil ar dhiúscairt dramhaíola ar an suíomh ‘MyWaste’. Is rud beag é do dhramhaíl a bheith eagraithe agat ach bíonn éifeacht mhór aige ar an gcomhshaol. In Éirinn, mar shampla, táirgtear breis is dhá mhilliún tonna bruscair in aghaidh na bliana. Má dhéantar athchúrsáil agus athúsáid i níos mó tithe timpeall na tíre, beidh i bhfad níos lú brúscair ag dul isteach sna hionaid dumpála. Is é dé-ocsaid charbóin an phríomhgháis ceaptha teasa a scaoiltear mar gheall ar ghníomhaíochtaí an duine. Nuair a théann se isteach san atmaisféar, nuair a dhóitear an gás sin, leánn an chiseal ózóin. Mar gheall air seo, nuair a bhíomar faoi dhianglasáil den chéad uair, bheartaigh mé aiste bia veigeánach a leanúint. Fuair taighdeoirí amach in ollscoil Oxford gur féidir an lorg
carbóin atá agat ó bhia a laghdú suas go 73% muna itheann tú feoil nó táirgí déiríochta. Bhí suim agam triail a bhaint as ar feadh tamaill ach bhí leithscéalta ar leith agam i gcónaí. Cheap mé nach raibh éifeacht ollmhór ag an mbia a itheann muid ar ár dtimpeallacht. Ach, is fíric cruthaithe é gur féidir le haiste bia veigeánach ídiú fuinnimh a laghdú agus uisce a chaomhnú. Cheap mé go mbeadh sé costasach agus go raibh mé ró-ghnóthach chun béilí casta a ullmhú dom féin. Ach is cosúil nach bhfuil sé ródheacair ar chor ar bith, go háirithe nuair atá a fhios agat go mbaineann an timpeallacht an-tairbhe as. Molaim triail a bhaint as oideas veigeánach ó Rozanna Purcell nó The Happy Pear. Ach, ná bain an chiall chontráilte as seo — nílim ag rá nár chóir go mbeidh éinne ag ithe feoil nó táirgí déiríochta. Nílim ach ag iarraidh an éifeacht ollmhór atá againn ar an gcomhshaol a thaispeáint daoibh, agus an tionchar atá ag athruithe beaga ar an dtimpeallacht. Mar shampla, is féidir astaíochtaí gás ceaptha teasa a laghdú muna itheann tú feoil i gcomhair lá amháin in aghaidh na seachtaine. Tuigim go bhfuilimid go léir céasta le himní le linn na paindéime ach caithfimid a bheith ar an airdeall faoin gcomhshaol agus an damáiste atá déanta againn agus atá fós á dheanamh againn faoi láthair. Fad is atá muid sa bhaile, ba chóir dúinn stop a chur leis na drochnósanna atá againn. Is féidir dul ag siúl nó ag rothaíocht, is féidir a beith ar an eolas faoin diúscairt dramhaíola agus b’fhéidir gur féidir leat triail a bhaint as béile amháin a ithe in aghaidh na seachtaine gan feoil. Is féidir linn go léir ár gcuid iompar a athrú chun gach rud a fheabhsú ach, tá comhoibriú ag teastáil. Is iomaí fadhb atá ann faoi láthair, ach, creidim go bhfuilimid in ann rudaí beaga a dhéanaimid ó lá go lá a athrú chun difríocht ollmhór a dhéanamh i gcás Athrú Aeráide.
Gluais (Glossary) • Géarchéim aeráide - climate emergency • Réiteach simplí - easy fix • Comhoibriú - teamwork/cooperation • Níl aon neart agam ar - it’s outside of my control • An t-imshaoil - the environment • Breoslaí iontaise - fossil fuels • Más féidir in aon chor é - if at all possible • I mbaoil an bháis - in danger of dying • Oighearshruthanna - glaciers • Sceitheadh thar bhruach overflowing • Diúscairt dramhaíola - waste disposal • Príomhgháisceaptha teasa - main greenhouse gas • Leánn - melts • Ciseal ózóin - ozone layer • Lorg carbóin - carbon footprint • Fíric cruthaithe - proven fact • Ídiú fuinnimh - energy consumption • A chaomhnú - to conserve • Ná bain an chiall chontráilte as seo don’t get the wrong idea • Astaíochtaí gás ceaptha teasa greenhouse gas emissions • Céasta le himní - frantic with worry • Ar an airdeall - aware of • Is iomaí fadhb - many problems
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Tuesday 30 March | TRINITY NEWS
Turning economic tides with sustainable soaps Olivia Bayne interviews Robyn Brady on her small business from expenses and ingredients, to shopping locally ENDOCRINE DISRUPTION, RAINFOREST DEPLETION, AND confounding greenwashing are some of the hurdles we face today as conscious consumers. There often seems little that we as individuals can actually do to choose wisely, take control of our own destinies, and protect the health of ourselves and of our planet. These tasks are especially difficult while trying to protect our own wallets - money being another frequently extorted resource. Society has become increasingly aware of the effects of anthropogenic devastation. Through media and politics we are constantly reminded of the unconscionable scale of environmental destruction, and are thus compelled to act and contribute to the solution. But it is no secret that sustainable lifestyles are more accessible to those who can afford them (slow fashion, organic vegetables, and those fun little glass jars to store grains in the kitchen). Many corporations charge significantly lower prices for their conveniently accessible, industrially produced goods which draw in the eye featuring neon coloured sale labels. But less obvious to our immediate discernment are the alternative payments factored into that low price; not only the inevitable expense of product quality, but also the less apparent externalized costs, such as unethical treatment of employees, ill-health of consumers, and increased environmental waste. The relatively high price of consciously
sourced products undoubtedly alienates the consumer, but this disparity is the result of the ostracisation of smaller local businesses, who are forced to compete with the impossibly low prices of international corporations, which serve a larger patronage. It is difficult to attract the consumer to the pricier, albeit healthier, option when it may not be economically feasible. This problem became glaringly apparent to Robyn Brady, a Waterford based entrepreneur as she began her eco-blog last year. “If I want to be ethical it’s expensive. That’s not right. Being ethical becomes elitist when it should be a possibility for everyone”, she stated. As well as being focused on the morality and economy of shopping sustainably, Brady’s interest is also in our physical well-being. Struck by recent literature regarding the ill-health effects of unsafe chemicals found in plastic food containers and polyester clothing, Brady became conscious of the synthetic, toxic materials found in the very things we use to keep ourselves healthy: cleaning products. Taking matters into her own hands, Brady’s online shop and blog, Not a Trashy Gal, makes healthy and sustainable options accessible to all shoppers, through her modestly priced and ethically sourced handmade soaps and cosmetics (with more products on the way!). Brady’s shop, named both for its proper social etiquette and its zero-waste ethos was originally based on Etsy, but the listing fees, earning percentages, and shipping costs, grew too significantly to support the shop’s size, with Etsy deducting over 100 euro at the peak of Christmas shopping last November. “I tried a couple of different hosting platforms afterwards, but I wanted to have space for my blog and room for an interactive forum in which customers could ask questions or get advice”. While the benefit of selling on an established
platform means reaching a wider consumer base, online markets can at times resemble a “pyramid scheme” in that a large percentage of all retailer profits go straight to the web-based company itself. This is a disappointing realisation with which any of us who sell on Depop will be familiar. “Amazon can be a great search engine tool though. You can look for individual shops and then go on to purchase from vendors’ own websites instead, where you know your money is going straight to the producer.” Brady’s new website [notatrashygal.com] has been ultimately successful without the help of larger online retailers, thanks to the closely knit community of female entrepreneurs in Waterford, who continuously support one another’s businesses via social media and giveaways. Such online promotion tools have become essential during Covid-19 restrictions because products can no longer be advertised and sold at large in-person markets. Community endorsement systems like these are an essential aspect of sustainability, and throughout the interview Robyn continuously stressed the importance of shopping locally to support small businesses. “You know [the product] is coming from just down the road. You know the people who make it and that they’re not underpaid and overworked.” There is a certain level of trust involved in buying from a personal vendor, as well as a guaranteed reduced carbon footprint, and far less room for production morality illusionism. The strength of local identity shines through in Brady’s products themselves. All of her core fragrances are inspired by, and find their namesakes in, the lure of powerful Celtic gods and goddesses. “I am Irish, and I identify as a proud Irish person. I wanted there to be something innately Irish about my product; not some trendy L.A. eco buzz, but something that
felt like it belonged here”. When asked how she designed her fragrances Brady replied, laughing: “I picked my favourite characters and I thought, ‘what would this person smell like?’ and took some inspiration from that. But really, I am also very interested in aromatherapy, what fragrances do emotionally, which links back to Druid herbal medicines, back to our eco roots, how things were and how they could hopefully be again.” Brady’s favourite scent from her collection is ‘Lugh’, inspired by the Celtic god of truth, smelling of sandalwood, orange, and ylang-ylang. Brady also recommended ‘Dadga’, a tea tree and lavender microbial soap bar. “I keep this one in the kitchen because it’s antibacterial. It’s also perfect for hand washing in Covid times!” Brady is incredibly scrupulous in her selection of ingredients. “I am very concerned about the ethics of where things come from. I try to be organic as much as possible, as well as vegan, but some of my lip balms are based on ethically sourced beeswax. All my ingredients are naturally occurring, the perfumes are from pure, distilled essential oils. No chemicals and no palm oil!” (A huge relief to myself who spent the previous evening sweating over phthalate research papers). As well as recyclable packing and shipping, Brady also offers 100% recyclable gift wrapping, complete with sisal twine and acid free tissue paper. In practicing conscious consumerism, it is essential to shop at small businesses, not only for increased reliability in ethically and ecologically sound production habits, but also for the economic sustainability of supporting local communities. Brady’s business is based in Waterford (though she ships throughout Ireland), but she was keen to provide me with additional locations for sustainable shopping closer to those of us in Dublin, including The Refill Mill, Minimal Waste Grocery, AnniePooh, and in Mullingar, Reuzi. Establishing sustainable consumer habits is not only an ethical or environmental battle, but an economical one. It is a struggle which can be eased by supporting local businesses and shifting favour away from the overly appealing corporate empires, who currently control the rules of pricing and ingredient games. If the consumer has the money, they have the power to enact change.
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 30 March
ilingual societies tant for all students
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interest to come together and celebrate Irish nationality. Despite the difficulties for all societies as a result of Covid-19, An Cumann Gaelach’s annual festival, Éigse na Tríonóide, still took place, which began on March 1st and continued throughout the week. The society ran a range of different events and welcomed new faces and people of any language level. This is just one example of the accessibility that An Cumann Gaelach offers. TCD French Society celebrates Francophone culture through a range of events that are open to all. Pre-pandemic, non French speakers could get a taste of the French life through the society’s wine and cheese nights – which seems to me no better way to break the ice! For those of a calmer disposition, the society’s Coffee and Croissants every Wednesday are a great opportunity to practice the language with other French enthusiasts, in a relaxed environment. Like with An Cumann Gaelach, speakers of all levels are welcome to join in. The society holds events with keynote speakers, the most recent one being an event hosted by the French Ambassador to Ireland, Vincent Guérend. This event explored the best ways to maintain links with French culture during the pandemic, which seems more important now than ever, given the strains that social distancing has placed on students with cultural ties across the globe. Joining bilingual societies across campus seems to be a great comfort for
students who are craving the familiarity of their multilingual and multicultural connections. For Pierce O Meara, Chairperson of the Germanic Society, language is a “foundational bedrock of culture”, and as such promoting the German language is an important part of the society’s aim. Understanding a foreign language opens the doors into culture, and, as O Meara asserts, “enables you to explore a world of fascinating literature, art, and film of both historical and contemporary significance.” He cites the works of Goethe, Schiller, Kafka and Marx as examples. The Germanic society hosts different events in both German and English, to cater to speakers and non-speakers, including quizzes and game nights, along with regular “Stammtisch” and “Kaffee und Klatz” group events. This year, the society was able to hold a keynote speaker event with the German Ambassador to Ireland, H.E. Deike Potzel. Most of us can relate in some shape or form to the anxiety of being called on to speak in a foreign language, and this anxiety can only be heightened in the detached format of Zoom. O’Meara addresses this: “We’re all familiar with the awkward silence following a lecturer’s question on Zoom or over Blackboard, and that is exactly the kind of situation we try to avoid. We don’t want to put anyone on the spot so we aim to keep things as friendly and informal as possible.” Rest assured, you won’t be spluttering half remembered German sentence order to a screen full of blank faces. In any case, O Meara says that when it comes to bilingual events, “It’s not about being 100% grammatically accurate or having the broadest of vocabularies, more so about engaging and having an enjoyable conversation.” All three, along with Trinity’s other langugae societies, are doing amazing work at promoting bilingual events that emphasise their respective cultures, whilst being open to people of all backgrounds who want to try something new. The most attractive feature of Trinity, especially for a foreign student, is definitely the societies. The range of bilingual societies on campus proves that you can find a society for anything. It is vital that we try and maintain our ties with the campus during this extremely challenging time. If you need a new hobby to keep you going, there is no better place to start than through bilingual society events.
Socially distanced dating
Trinity’s confession pages Eva O’Beirne breaks down which of the anonymous accounts are worth following
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sudden romance frenzy has gripped the student body while in lockdown. We are almost spoiled for choice when it comes to romance confession pages in Trinity, but with more options, it can be hard to know which one is worth your time. How long do you have to wait for your declaration of love to be posted? How can you guarantee that your crush will spot your post? Simply, what page is best? I’ve conducted some research and managed to grab admins of these accounts for exclusive interviews and so, here’s your comprehensive guide to Trinity’s anonymous romantic confession pages. The old reliable: Trinder Admit it, you were a bit shocked when Trinder popped up on your Instagram feed. It’s like seeing an engineer in the Berkeley. Most students assumed that Trinder had called it a day last June, and in a way, it did. The admin behind the new Instagram Trinder has no affiliation with the previous Facebook page, but hopes to promote the same message. When asked what was the reason for the page being set up, the admin smiled and said: “To make people’s lockdown a bit easier”. With such a large following and high engagement rates, if you shoot your shot here, it’s very likely that special someone will see it. However, the admin of Trinder promises that adjustments will be made to its automated system, allowing for more love, more posts and less of a backlog. Trinder hopes to become a safer platform for all, with set guidelines and rules for confessions to prevent harassment. They’re also hoping to expand their reach further, noting how they’ve already collaborated with DU LawSoc for a Valentine’s Day event. With such positivity behind the page, it’s no surprise that Trinder is the solid favourite for Trinity students. If you want to make someone’s day, send in a Trinder and wait for it to be (eventually) released. The admin however does outline that if it’s a special occasion or extremely important, your Trinder can be moved up the queue. So what are you waiting for? Check out @trindertcd on Instagram now. The more specific Trinder: Halls Trinder You can pretty much fill in the blanks as to who this page is for, but I’m going to explain it anyway. The Halls Trinder account caters to those isolated in Dartry and hoping to find “romance, flings or
even friendship”, according to its admins. The account was created in response to the (infamous) Halls Confessions page which has come under fire in recent weeks. The admins of this Halls service however want to create a better atmosphere where “students still have a voice but cannot explicitly bully other people”. When asked why Halls needed its own Trinder, one of the admins put it plainly: “Trinity is full of romantics. This page, it’s a place for us to feel more excited about our day to day lives.” Certainly, if you’re a first year looking to catch another first year’s eye, bop over to @Halls_Trinder to confess your feelings. The one that doesn’t do what it says on the tin - Tringle Tringle features in this dating guide, but it certainly doesn’t consider itself to be a romance-oriented confessions page. When asked why it posts Trinder-style declarations of love, the admin alludes that this is only the starting point for Tringle. Instead of a rival to Trinder, it aims to be an “entertainment page for all students”. The admin behind it is seeking to create a new interactive platform for students to engage with, mentioning possible future content like “games, polls and quizzes”. It’s an interesting project, one to certainly keep an eye on but it doesn’t guarantee romantic success. If you’re looking for a laugh or two, or some fresh and engaging questionnaires or polls, check out @tcdtringles on Instagram. The “Trinners for Winners” account DU Dates The Instagram bio of this account reads “Fancy a Trinity student? TCD’s first matchmaking platform, real dates from the most elite pool of students in Ireland”. There’s a phrase that is causing concern amongst some students - no it’s not the fancying a Trinity student part, despite what other colleges are saying on Twitter - the use of “elite” seems out of place. The defensiveness of the account around this word is also causing alarm with the account claiming that some students need to “understand sarcasm” and that the page as a whole is “a pisstake” and “satirical”. The sense that Trinity students are “elite” leads me to ask several questions: why are they elite? Is this a reference to specific students who come from certain backgrounds? Is this taken into consideration when matching students to potential partners? Classism is a problem within Trinity that is too often swept under the rug. Seeing the use of “elite” so casually is reminiscent of the all too sickening phrase “Trinners for Winners”, something I wish had died out years ago. To quote a reaction to the account: “You can tell this will end in tears”.
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Tuesday 30 March | TRINITY NEWS
Eatyard: The best place to eat in Dublin now Bob McLarnon and Alfie Fletcher look at big treats in small shipping containers
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rossguns bridge, a sort of confluence between Phibsborough, Drumcondra and Glasnevin, has become quite an impressive food corner. Within a two minute walk, you can get quality souvlaki, pizza, bao buns, quesadillas, and most notably, the most punchy vegan food you’re likely to come across. If your Instagram algorithm is in any way food inclined, chances are you’ve already stumbled across The Saucy Cow’s profile. Every post is vibrant and mouthwatering, showcasing their finest burgers, loaded waffle fries or whatever they’re getting creative with at the time. The bright blue shipping crate of the burger joint has just as much attitude in person. Ordinarily, Eatyard would be bustling with hipsters with drinks in hand, vibing to the upbeat, romantic music blasting overhead. The music is still here, and while the yard isn’t full of attendees, it still is an impressive mosaic of graffiti and colour that manages
to produce a coherent loud mood — like those club bathrooms made up to look graffitied, but in a manner just organised enough to be considered stylistic. The tone is somehow saved by a queue of beanied clientele gossipping in a line, excited for the food, and perhaps for the chance of real socialisation. “The Big WAP” was recommended to me by the very friendly people behind the counter, so who was I to refuse? Crispy double Beyond burgers are their well established meaty beef burger alternatives consisting of tart pickles and two halves of a soft fulfilling bun make for a great mouthful. The “cheese” here takes the form of a sauce, working harmoniously to unite each flavour. Onions, lettuce and pickles take the edge off and each provide a satisfying texture as you crunch through. Taking inspiration from the Big Mac pays off, and unlike other vegan alternatives, it’s familiar in its calories and has that rustic appeal that would never be conflated with the vegan-forhealth style of cuisine. Go for the waffle fries, which are sculpted to maximise the crispness of potato. It’s all about the surface area—intense crunch, minimal fluff. Dusted with paprika, it’s a great twist on the well known. They are more substantial
and irresistibly addictive than traditional chips. A great chaser to a wonderful burger, they make a complete satisfying meal for even the fussiest of carnivores. Out of the seven or so items on the menu at any one time, they offer a couple “chicken” burgers with their soy substitute, Chick. Their spicy edition, The Hot Papi, is special. Built around the soy patty’s sublime crunchy coating, the sweet sting of buffalo sauce and creamy ranch packs in the flavour between their great bread. It mightn’t fool anyone into thinking it’s real chicken, but each bite of crunchy, creamy, heat sends you right back for another. Don’t expect to look like a cool Phibsborough hipster while eating it, it’s getting all over you no matter what. Around the corner from Eatyard, there is a brightly coloured trailer parked on Phibsborough road. Village Pizza Dublin’s fire winks at passers-by, enticing them with its smoky and sweet aroma of top quality pizza. The queue sometimes stretches, but the joy of eating one of Dublin’s best pizzas on the grassy banks of the canal is irresistible. Despite the small space, Village Pizza Dublin has a lot to offer. Their two charming chefs, Neil and Allegra (my housemate) dance around a wood fired oven
Vanessa Nunan shares her recipe
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henever I told people I was making pomegranate sorbet, it always garnered the same response: a mixture of admiration and curiosity. Incidentally, this is the kind of reaction I seek in every interaction I have with others. But in this case, the reaction is rather undeserved since sorbet of any kind is so easy to make. Maybe it’s the long word-French word combination of this recipe that seems to make it so aweinspiring. Quite simply, sorbet is just a frozen mixture of fruit juice and sugar syrup. Any juiceable fruit can be sorbet-ed using the methods given here, only with minor volume tweaks. It will differ based on the sugar content of the fruit juice, since it is the amount of sugar that determines how the mixture freezes. Too much sugar and it will never freeze, too little and it will be properly icy. I’m not sure about the science behind this, but I reckon it has something to do with at least one of the
following words: Osmosis, crystal structure, water, solid, liquid, gas. Who cares? All you really need to know is that if something goes horribly wrong with your delicious frozen dessert, the problem probably lies in the sugar syrup-to-fruit ratio. In this instance, I used pomegranates because I think they are an impeccable fruit—one of the greats. And, fortunately, they were in season at the time of testing the recipe. Much to my surprise, pomegranate season runs between September to November, and, if you’re lucky, sometimes the season is a bit longer. I’m sure if you march your little self down to Fallon and Byrne whenever you are reading this, you will be able to pick up two nice bright red specimens, but, when in season, you can get fabulous pomegranates in practically any supermarket. I juiced my pomegranates first, since it is the most laborious of the tasks. I deseeded and juice my seeds through a sieve to a sweet wavey soundtrack. The repetitive movements and tactile nature of the process induced a real zen. I would recommend you also indulge in a really yippie meditation at this point in the recipe—you deserve it. I juiced two pomegranates both times I
made this recipe, and for each it ended up producing around 320ml or so. I added a few of the pulpy bits and seeds to up the volume to about 340ml and to add some body to the sorbet. Putting the fruit juice aside I made the sugar syrup. This is done by adding the sugar and water to a pot, then bringing it to a simmer and leaving it to reduce. The final consistency will be far from a classically syrupy look, like the kind you see honey having in yoghurt ads. It will instead be quite liquidy but thick enough to coat the back of a spoon after dipping into the mixture. This should be allowed to cool for as long as you’re bothered to wait, but doesn’t have to be all the way down to room temperature. Then you add the fruit juice, as well as the juice of half a lemon and mix. The lemon won’t impart its own flavour, but it serves to enhance the pomegranate flavour. This final part is responsible for what transforms your mixture into smooth and lucious sorbet. There are a few ways to do this, but the outcome is mostly the same. They are basically just methods of interrupting the freezing process to stop your sorbet from becoming a hunk of ice. The first method is the best for student kitchens, and works
a treat, but is the most tedious. For this, you place your mixture in a container and place it in the freezer. Leave it for about an hour this first time, depending on your freezer’s strength. When you take it out, there should be ice crystals forming around the edges. Use a fork to give it a good stir and to break up any bits. Place it back in the fridge for another 40 mins or so. Take it out and do it again—it will be mostly frozen at this stage. Then repeat this every 30 mins for about 2 hours. By the end, you should have a nice smooth mixture ready to be scooped and enjoyed. If that all sounds like too much for you, don’t worry. If you just leave the mixture to freeze solid overnight, you can just chuck it in a blender/ food processor, slightly broken up if possible, and blend into a snow-like mixture. This will be more reminiscent of a slushie, but still bangs. Or, if you have an ice cream machine there with you at home, which I fear is the case for an embarrassingly high number of you Trinity News Food and Drink readers, this is absolutely the way to go. It is most likely to bring you to a smooth success since it does the job for you. The measurements I used are as follows: 350 ml of Pomegranate juice (about 2 pomegranates) 50 g sugar 90 ml water
distinguishable taste of its own, and a lightness that won’t leave you feeling bloated. Their oven always has a roaring flame, and this high temperature creates beautifully charred micro-blisters (aka leopard spots) which crackle and burst with flavour. The toppings don’t disappoint either. As much as possible they use local ingredients (Irish tomatoes aren’t up to much…): Toonsbridge mozzarella from Cork; charcuterie from The Wooded Pig in Meath; Lilliput Stores olives and olive oil; and even home-grown kale. They’re treated intelligently too: the aubergines are roasted directly in the woodfired oven, lending a juiciness and smokiness which cannot be achieved in a conventional oven. This pizzeria is brilliant because it is not totally Neapolitan, and neither do I think it is trying to be. Take the Funghi Bianca, their best pizza; it holds seven types of wild Irish mushrooms, pre-roasted in the fiery heat of the oven (to similar effect as the aubergines), with the Toonsbridge mozzarella, and is dressed with cherry tomatoes, rocket and parmesan. Their pizzas are not pale imitations of those in Naples (which is all that many of Dublin’s pizzerias can claim); it’s distinctly Irish, and it’s all the better for it. PHOTO BY VANESSA NUNAN FOR TRINITY NEWS
Making: Pomegranate sorbet
to the beat of their ever funky playlist. The small space might be a blessing in disguise: the order may take a little longer, but this means that they can ensure that it is made to perfection. There is pride in every pizza, and it feels like an honour that each one is personally cooked. And with warming lights and hot plates, your pizza stays piping hot while the order is completed. This personal touch is reflected in their delivery service. I often find pizza delivery to be disappointing: too often cold, and looking slightly dishevelled. Village Pizza Dublin didn’t even bother with the exasperating service of Deliveroo, knowing that their product was too precious and delicate to wait around for their drivers to (maybe) turn up. Instead, they employ their own drivers, who have a meticulous attention to detail: they have been instructed to cycle sitting upright to keep the goods level. They also slip hot plates into the bag, so the pizzas stay hot. You can book through their dedicated website, or through the phone. But what makes their pizzas so good? The dough follows Neapolitan principles, but is different to the pizzerias in town. It has a perfume and digestibility which suggests the use of a preferment – this makes the dough have a
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 30 March
Do it yourself: Restaurant at home Joseph Tolan tests out Boojum’s student-friendly meal kit
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f we were told this time last year that restaurants would still be closed a year on, no one would have believed it. We all miss being able to go out to eat, but lockdown after lockdown has been particularly difficult for restaurant owners. Having spent most of the last year closed with little respite, many are fighting for survival. Restaurant owners are having to diversify to keep afloat and many are putting together ingredient kits to recreate the restaurant experience at home The premise is simple: packaged up pre-prepared ingredients with instructions on how to complete the meal. Some simply require you to warm the ingredients, others require more cooking and preparation. There are some obvious advantages to these compared to a take-away. he food is fresher and hotter and can be less expensive. The range of restaurants selling these
packages is huge, going from high-end restaurants to more casual, less expensive options. I decided to test out a kit from the popular Mexican chain Boojum and compare it to a similar meal made with supermarket ingredients. I am obsessed with Boojum. Before lockdown, I used to eat it far too often. I even have one of the t-shirts you get when you fill up a loyalty card. It made complete sense to try out one of their kits because, while I’m lucky enough to be able to get it delivered to my house, the food often has a long way to travel. I can’t think of anything more disappointing than waiting an hour for a cold, stodgy burrito. Unfortunately, that is the case with many restaurants offering take-away at the moment. Unless you live relatively close to the restaurant, the meal usually doesn’t compare to what you would eat in the restaurant. The DIY kits circumnavigate this. You can pick them up from one of the locations or you can elect a day that suits you for courier delivery for €4.50. The box arrives with fresh, whole vegetables and vacuum-packed, pre-prepared ingredients. All
temperature sensitive ingredients are packed in an insulated pack with ice. All of the packets were well sealed except for one in my case. The sour cream must have burst in transit, spilling over the other packets in the cold pack and threatening my boojum dreams. These things happen though, and because of the wellsealed packaging, the spill didn’t contaminate any of the other ingredients or leak in the box. Luckily, I had sour cream at home and all I had to do was wipe down the other packets - meltdown avoided. Having applied for several jobs in Boojum in the past and never getting past the interview, I felt like I finally got to try my hand at being a Boojum cook. With that said, most of the work was already done for me. All I had to do was cook the chicken and the vegetable mix as well as warm the rice. A detailed instruction manual came in the box which made it very easy. All that was left was to get the toppings ready for serving. It only took about 20 mins in total from prep to plate. It was seriously delicious. It had the same authentic Boojum flavour and there was enough food to feed four greedy people with leftovers.
I tried to recreate a similar fajita meal with supermarket ingredients with hopes to have the same enjoyment for less. Needless to say it did not compare to the at home kit from Boojum. Not only do you end up spending the same amount of money, if not more, on ingredients from the supermarket, but it is also difficult to find some of the ingredients that you need for decent Mexican food and they can often be quite expensive. You could certainly opt for those lacklustre fajita kits you find in the supermarkets to save yourself a few euro. Beware that you will be sorely disappointed if you expect a restaurant style meal from a mass produced kit that relies on lifeless spice mixes. If you want the whole shebang, you should definitely go for the Boojum kit. It is certainly preferable to working yourself into a frenzy of chopping for fifteen straight minutes and wasting time googling recipes only to be let down by a meal that doesn’t compare to what you get from the kit. What’s more, even if I could perfectly replicate the meal, why would I want to? The whole point of paying for the kit is to enjoy not having to cook something completely from scratch for once.
The only draw-back would be the lingering feeling that ingredient kits aren’t the best for the environment. All the single use plastic is bound to spark at least a little eco-guilt. To be fair to Boojum, they do their best to ensure the recyclability of their packaging, especially with the insulating packaging, made of wool and completely biodegradable, compared to the environmentally atrocious heavy duty plastic usually used for this type of packaging. The kits are also a nice way to bring something new into the monotonous, novelty-starved existence we are all experiencing at the moment. In addition to Boojum, there are plenty of restaurants offering reasonably priced kits. The well-known Italian restaurant Dunne & Crescenzi have their Bella Ciao meal, which is ideal for a date night and BuJo Burgers offer many different burger kits including vegetarian and vegan options, to name a few. We will be able to dine out once again but until then, why not dive into one of these kits to spice up your lockdown life?
Switching off the screens
It’s increasingly important to switch off the screens completely and allow our minds to rest Lara Monahan
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s a Fresher with good intentions, determined to make a fresh start in Hilary Term, I decided a few weeks ago that I would attend more virtual social events on top of remote learning. Already, it is safe to say I am just as behind on this ambition as I am on my reading, and it has led me to realise, like so many other students, how much I am struggling with the inability to switch off from college. Doing college remotely certainly has its advantages—we can watch pre-recorded material around our own schedule, we can attend our next tutorial just minutes after finishing the last, and those of us living away from family can go home should we need to and continue with our
college work from there. However, attending college online has quickly lost its novelty in the same way that baking bread and doing yoga did in the first lockdown. We are left with the feeling of never having a substantial break from work. The apparent schedule that online learning works around is, firstly, fairly nonexistent at the moment, with real, untaxing moments of relaxation occurring only rarely. Whereas, in ordinary times, we might reach for the TV remote for some time to switch off, this can sometimes feel like an extension of the work day. Even scrolling through TikTok has started feeling a little too similar to scrolling through Blackboard. It seems as though all screens remind us of our impending workload. This is complicated by the fact that everyone is working at different times of the day. As a result of this, it becomes hard to find a moment in which we are not working. With emails coming in left right and centre, and students discussing lecture points in group chats, we allow ourselves less and less time to fully relax. There is a pressure, both externally and internally, to overwork yourself and be available at all hours of the day. In any other circumstance, we might find it easier to sacrifice work for
mental health, but when it seems to be our only connection to college, we seem to be doing the opposite. Craving this connection, some have turned to Zoom socials to give themselves somewhat of a holistic college experience and to make the workload feel at more of a balance with collegerelated leisure. It is lovely to speak to peers outside of the virtual lecture theatre, and the conversation, more often than not, flows easily. After all, we have become pros at Zoom by now. Yet, this once again presents us with the challenge of never being able to fully separate our work and leisure environments. Sleeping less than a metre from my desk, where my entire college experience has taken place, has been a challenge. As presented by the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard, “keeping computers, TVs, and work materials out of the room will strengthen the mental association between your bedroom and sleep.” But worse still, trying to socialise at your desk and move from work to leisure mode means we are not only unable to switch off to go to sleep, but also unable to switch off and socialise with our peers. None of this is to say that Zoom events aren’t of enormous value. I am grateful for the
accessibility of online learning. Thankfully, shifting nearly all of our commitments online has been an option. However, enjoying someone’s presence and even companionable silence from a box with your name in the corner isn’t quite the same as socializing used to be. The lonely sigh and slackening smile after you’ve clicked “leave” on your Zoom social is evidence that, because screens have become so much a part of our work routine, chatting with friends online no longer feels like a substantial break. In fact, it often feels performative—a token to offer parents when they call asking after your college social life. Methods of switching off that used to work, such as going for a walk, now seem to carry the ghastly monotony of a year of living with Covid-19. Although the ability to exercise with someone outside of one’s household is something we definitely cling to, it seems to be the only way to relax properly, as we move outside of what feels like the four walls of our existence, and have the opportunity to see people face-to-face. It is relief from the objectively untrue, but still invasive, thought that the relationships we have forged this year are unauthentic in some way. And while many students have
become so fatigued by this kind of socialising that they have retreated entirely into socialising with the people they already know and live with, we can only hope that, as the weather brightens up, we can take advantage of this freedom and finally meet that person who we’ve only seen from on the screen. Whether you live at home and have been known to put your headphones in and feign listening to a lecture just to avoid the attention of parents, or you live in student accommodation as reflected by the stability of your internet connection, powering down has never been so important. It is so difficult to switch off when our lives seem to exist only when our screens are switched on. With that said, let us prioritise giving ourselves as much downtime as possible and in whatever form – be it Zoom socials, a mindfulness colouring book, or just a good nap. Just as our laptops need an occasional shutdown, we too need time off. Don’t just put yourself in sleep mode, shut down your work brain completely. And if this means telling your friend who won’t stop mentioning to you that Shakespeare wrote King Lear during the plague that you are struggling even to sleep the night through, then so be it.
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Tuesday 30 March | TRINITY NEWS
Can friends with benefits ever work? Kerry O’Sullivan asks where the line is between platonic and romantic
T ARTWORK BY EVE SMITH FOR TRINITY NEWS
he title of that Oscarworthy Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis crossover, Friends With Benefits, has morphed to encompass a phrase much more culturally relevant than the plot of an early 2000s rom-com. More and more, we find ourselves in a cesspit of relationships with loosening definitions and labels, situationships, and flirtationships that serve to confuse more than comfort as we all grapple with what it means to be dating in the 21st century. And from these increasingly convoluted relationship prefixes those iconic three words were born: Friends with Benefits. Can it ever really work? Where is the line between friendship and a relationship? How and why do they end? It would be apt to begin by defining those three unholy words, if only the issue of definition is what seems to make this particular variety of relationship so doomed to fail. My understanding would be someone that you get along with platonically and aren’t physically unattracted to, whom you trust enough to engage in casual sex with, without fear of
hurting one anothers’ feelings or catching the dreaded “feels”. The key here is vulnerability and trust; maybe you trust this person enough to engage in physical intimacy, but what differentiates it from a relationship is the emotional intimacy that comes with being committed to just one physical partner. It means a text here and there, maybe you can rely on them on a night out - but there is no commitment and you can both see other people which is an ideal scenario for someone tired of casual hookup culture (especially in the current public health situation). It has to be a straightforward deal: you are friends who have sex. But is it that simple to define? On paper it should be a simple combination of friendship and sex. In practice, and from personal experience, it’s easy for both parties to claim that they don’t have feelings for one another until one falls in love and gets their heart broken, whilst the other still doesn’t want a relationship and (technically) has done nothing wrong. The aforementioned straightforward deal doesn’t account for the unpredictability of human experience and the nuances of relationships that are constantly shifting and altering day in and day out. The vaguely successful endeavours I’ve heard of are few and far between. All have defined boundaries. Do you go on dates? Is grabbing
a coffee with them a date or just two friends hanging out? And how do you know when to tap out to avoid hurting yourself or someone else? Regardless, if this person is your friend you will care for them and God knows the line between platonic friends and romantic prospects can get blurred at the best of times, never mind when you involve physical intimacy. I think that the pressure of boundary setting and “feels” monitoring takes away from the entire point of this relationship - an easy hookup with someone whose company you also happen to enjoy. It can easily cross the bridge into the territory of feigned coolness and Instagram stalking and almost inevitable heartbreak. I continued my research for this article (aside from somehow ending up in my fair share of situationships) on the (ever scientifically sound) Instagram poll, where I asked the people an age-old question: Can friends with benefits ever really work? The results were no surprise, with an overwhelming majority voting for a hard no. One doesn’t need to be too taxed to think of at least one friend who wound up on your couch chugging a bottle of wine and lamenting something they swore was going to work: “It’s just sex, I swear!” The gender divide in the results was stark. The majority of hopeful yes voters were men. Is that because men are less susceptible to
catching feels, or just less reluctant to admit it? Perhaps they think they have gotten away unscathed from this cultural phenomenon because they want to believe that they have. I’ve asked a couple of my male friends and what I can gauge is that men seem to sometimes prefer friends with benefits because it attempts to cut out the emotional side of relationships that patriarchal constraints on male displays of vulnerability can often make more difficult. I know that it can’t all be bad and there are some success stories out there, but it seems to me that friends with benefits creates more issues than it solves. At the very least, you’ll probably lose whatever friend you have embarked with on this quest and at the very most you will be in a relationship without the label. I think it is problematic that it’s as though you are using this person as a buffer, whilst you hold out hope for someone better. Although this is a consensual and symbiotic agreement, the use of someone you care about, albeit platonically, doesn’t sit right with me. Having said that, every relationship is different and belongs to the people involved in it. If you have managed to make friends with benefits work for you, more power to you. I, however, remain firmly of the belief that we should stop calling it friends with benefits and switch to something a little more realistic - friends with detriments, perhaps?
Rewriting the rules of victimhood
Healing from assault is rarely simple, writes Sophie Furlong Tighe
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ictims of sexual assault occupy a very specific place in the public consciousness. That place is one of expectation and – in some cases – entitlement. Certain reactions or ways of healing are expected from victims by the people around them. We expect a shaking victim, a panicked victim, a sex-averse victim. Fundamentally, society looks for an easy victim, someone they can point to and understand. But real life is rarely so simple. Recovery can look like it does in films. But it can also look intensely odd from an outsider’s perspective. I can’t speak for other victims, but some of the things I did in the six months after I was raped were: writing what happened in intense detail over and over again; taking pictures of my bruises and printing them out; refusing to block the man who
raped me on social media (despite the panic attacks his presence gave me) because I didn’t want him to think I wasn’t “chill”; reading other people’s detailed accounts of being assaulted; most damning of all, consensually kissing that man six months after he assaulted me. The list could and will go on, but the important thing is that very little of this is explainable, and none of it looks like recovering from assault does on television. The expectation on victims to lie down and cry about it for months, then never have sex again is unrealistic and damaging. I don’t know how many times I thought about these responses in the context of what I had seen on TV or read in books and used them as yet another reason to convince myself I was overreacting. Even if these expectations were accurate and benign, their existence suggests people have a certain level of entitlement to our healing. Other victims of crime are not quizzed on their own reactions, people don’t wonder if they are making it up because they don’t look sad enough about their car being stolen. Most upsettingly, this problem comes
from both sides of the political spectrum. Those who tend not to believe allegations of abuse will use any strange behavior to discredit a victim, and those who do, are interested in a politicallycorrect story of assault which can convince the public that rape is wrong. This is rooted in where sexual violence sits in our political consciousness. As a crime that is often gendered, and so rarely taken seriously, it makes sense that we have built political movements and policy proposals around it. However, victims of sexual violence can feel that the way they recover is damaging to these political movements. I spent a lot of time thinking that telling people that I kissed the man who raped me somehow damaged the perception of sexual assault, that becoming obsessed with what happened made me a bad victim. Trauma is unpleasant enough without the addition of prescriptions about how it should operate. This entitlement occurs in structural contexts as well. In our legal system, rape is not a crime against the victim, it is a crime against the state — the perpetrator
must be punished because they have upset the social fabric of society by breaking the rules. In material terms, this translates to retributive consequences as opposed to restorative ones. Many victims would like to see those who hurt them put in prison. I happen to not be one of those victims, but what I share with almost every person who has experienced sexual violence is that I have been fundementally failed by the state. Not because they failed to lock up my abuser, but because they offered no path to restoration. The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre’s counselling service has a one year waiting list, and state mental health services in Ireland are famously strained. When I told my doctor what happened to me, I wasn’t asked “how can I help” but “why didn’t you report?” The pressure to be the perfect victim is not only personally upsetting, but materially affects the supports which are offered to victims. The worst version of these “rules” of victimhood is the prevailing belief that rape ruins a life forever. When reading the novel Asking for It shortly after I was assaulted, the portrait of
the rape victim I was given was someone who was doomed to suffer forever. This is a politically useful tool as well: sexual violence ruins lives, so we should punish it more aggressively. There is nothing more demoralising than seeing ostensibly progressive, feminist media, which champions fictional victims who do not exist outside of the context of their own assault. What I can say now (and what I hope will reach someone who can’t) is that sexual violence does not ruin your life forever, really. It makes a lot of things more difficult. But there are ways of healing and there are ways that the other people in your life can help you heal. There are some days where I feel like little more than what happened to me, but there are other days when I know I am more than the sum of the bad things that have happened to me. I like pour-over coffee and professional cycling and modern art and none of that has anything to do with the fact that I’ve been raped. We can – and we will – heal in spite of the expectations people put on healing, but life would be so much easier without those expectations.
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 30 March
Beating boredom with board games Forget Netflix or Playstation– the solution to your lockdown boredom can be found in a return to the humble board game, says Lara Monahan
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s we pass the anniversary of the first coronavirus lockdown in Ireland, the novelty of staying at home has surely worn off for most of us. The things we used to use to relax, like keeping up with our favourite Netflix show or chatting to friends on social media, have now become tainted with monotony as they become indicative of forcing ourselves to have a break from screen time with more screen time. These activities have become as much a part of keeping ourselves healthy as wearing a mask, and as everything feels so drawn into what I have come to call the corona-vortex, an unlikely hero has emerged: the humble board game. Regression to a more comfortable time has become the tendency du jour. Apparently I’m not the only one who impulse-bought roller-skates, as iNews reports “a pandemic boom” in “life on wheels”. I’m also certainly not the only one to have dug out their 2007 Nintendo DS when faced with pandemic-prompted existential dread. But as we usher in yet another era of life in lockdown after what seemed like the longest year in history, the new throwback entertainment parvenu could be as close as a Smyths Toys order away. Role-playing games, abbreviated to RPG games in the board game community, such as Cluedo and Dungeons & Dragons, are particularly popular. The allure of adopting alternative personas with whoever you are living with is irresistible, especially after the intensity of months confined with these same people. Perhaps the best solution to working out your lockdown-inflated angst over which flatmate is meant to be taking out the bins is best released fictionally, as Professor Plum with a lead pipe in the billiard room.
Dungeons & Dragons takes this a step further, acting as the perfect form of escapism. During a time when our lives and the world around us feel out of our control, the ability not only to take on a character but also to create one from scratch offers a sense of autonomy that appears to be lacking. The imaginative and creative quality of the game also opens up this feeling of possibility. If a newfound TikTok addiction has reduced your attention span, you could also opt for classic games that don’t last as long and feel a little more active, like Uno or Bop It. These games offer a chance to raise your heart rate outside of your weekly—sometimes monthly—YouTube HIIT workout, and become incredibly competitive as cards are slammed down and you respond a little too enthusiastically to the robotic command to “pull it!” Although Twister can end up lasting a little longer, it is another fun way to get physical while playing games with your flatmates or family. The general consensus may be that getting even closer to the people you’re living with is not preferential for everyone. But Twister could be a nice way to have some tactile comfort outside of the now-routine tearful hug post-Covid announcement, even if it is just from reaching over someone to “right hand, yellow”. These games are great, especially as a fun way to kick off Friday night drinks in the kitchen. These games can even be adapted to involve drinking directly too, with the winner giving out a sip, for example. But if you’re looking for a change of pace, as even a kitchen disco now has an element of the qua-routine, why not make the board game the event of the evening with something like The Game of Life or Monopoly? These board games that have a little more longevity give a sense of escapism that feels less transitory than a quick card game. As one first year student mused, “games that last longer are better [in lockdown]. There’s more time having fun with your friends.” While part of the appeal of playing board games at the moment is that they feel like one of the few things left untouched by the Covid restrictions, this isn’t true for everyone. Those living alone or away from their most enthusiastic board game-inclined friends and family may not be able to play as usual,
but people have already come up with solutions for this. Already well-established online editions of the aforementioned Uno and online recreations of Dungeons & Dragons have at least partially reproduced the board game experience for people from different households, and have been invaluable as a resource for those organising activities for online college socials. Craig Maguire, the JF class representative for English Studies, organised several successful socials where the students in the course could get to know each other. One medium for this was through an online take on Pictionary: Drawasaurus. This was a low pressure, fun way to interact with classmates, and certainly goes in the handbook for good Zoom activities. It isn’t the same, though – playing online games can feel like yet another aspect of life existing through a computer, and can lack the focus of in-person gameplay. However, calling the other players on Zoom and Discord can effectively banish this feeling, and denotes the jovial chat of the in between moments that we are somewhat lacking since pre-March 2020. Other online games, like the calming Stardew Valley that comfortingly recalls aspects of Animal Crossing, hark back to a time that, in hindsight, might feel simpler, and demonstrate the desire for escape that was evident in lockdown culture in the form of so-called “cottage-core” emergence. As reported by Anita Rao Kashi, BBC News, this aesthetic “in 2020...soared [in] popularity...the hashtag #cottagecore saw a 153% jump in use while the number of likes for cottagecore
“
While board games and their online alternatives often aren’t too expensive, there are cheaper and even free options for setting your competetive streak loose
posts rose by a staggering 500%”. Stardew Valley thus serves not only the lockdown desire for escape in another, albeit virtual, world, but also serves the trends that have drawn so many of us in as we continue to collectively fantasise about a carefree and romantic escape to the countryside While these games, both board games and their online alternatives, often aren’t too expensive, there are cheaper and even free options for setting your competetive streak loose. Homemade Never Have I Ever is always fairly successful, but why not tailor a classic board game, like Snakes and Ladders, to the people you want to play with? This combines the popular TikTok trend of hosting a PowerPoint Night where each attendee presents on a topic, usually relating to the others in attendance, and familiar board games. It’s perfect for reminiscing with old friends or getting to know new ones. With this provision for both the classic board game, online versions of it, and the option of games born online, it seems that playing these games can comfortably fit around regulations and provide an escape from bleak realities as we slowly stagger out of the pandemic. Board games are a way to relax that feels sociable and untainted by lockdown tedium like some other pastimes that have faded into monotony. Perhaps they even act as a symbol of hope as we slowly see the light at the end of the tunnel—a time when we will be able to show off a proficiency in the games once social mixing rules are relaxed. So as I Scrabble for opportunities to socialise and escape from the often overwhelming current situation, I encourage you to do so too. Who knows? You might love it.
ARTWORK BY SARAH MURNANE FOR TRINITY NEWS
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Tuesday 30 March | TRINITY NEWS
Crossword solution, March 9 Across 4. Contour 6. Don Juan 7. Pommy 9. To the moon 11. Lupin 12. COVAX 14. Yuan
Down 1. Eros 2. Molasses 3. Arid 5. Chasm 8. Oblivion 9. Tigray 10. Nuncio 13. Faff
4. Citrus preserve (9) 9. Champagne’s Spanish Cousin (4)
Down 2. Meringue made with boiling hot sugar syrup (7) 3. Large Dutch city (5) 5. Famous dam (5)
10. Pasta shape meaning ‘Butterflies’ (10)
6. Decorative designs using needlework (10)
12. Paper folding art (7)
7. Clown Opera (9)
13. Patron Saint of cooks (8)
8. Cork’s stout (7)
14. Luxury London department store (7) 15. Incredibly tired (9)
CROSSWORD BY JULES O’TOOLE FOR TRINITY NEWS
11. Doc Brown’s time traveling vehicle (8) 13. Queen’s County (5)
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Trinity shouts and murmurs i am really Happy with my experiEnce in trinity college dubLin! it is a very suPortive and eMpowEring institution :-) -@Snev_ things I have done today: wrote a poem about sleep paralysis, G*rdon r*msay and porridge then I saw a baby magpie(p cool) on my walk, sent one(ONE) email and then I read about whales things I have NOT done today: my Fucking ess*y holy shit omg why do I do this to myself @ministerforbees if bears weren’t meant to be hugged they wouldn’t have such soft-looking fur and those silly little ears that make them look like the most approachable and adorable and friendly creatures in existence. if i ever see a bear in the wild i Will hug them and if i die then so be it -@stairgay2heaven I don’t know how people can be told to present a 5-7 minute presentation and then give a half hour of class to themselves?? second hand embarassment for their poor time management -@oatsandmoran
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Across 1. November 23rd- December 21st (11)
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 30 March
Irish political parties have a problem with accountability Ellen Kenny
Comment
page 16
Grace Gageby
Deputy Comment Editor
Repeal was not the end of the campaign for reproductive rights
A
t the beginning of March, Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly informed the Cabinet that a review of Ireland’s abortion legislation had begun. During the 2018 referendum to repeal the eighth amendment, political parties’ respective stances on abortion were under sharp scrutiny from Yes and No campaigners alike. While every politician left of centre stated (and in some cases, overstated) their role in repeal during the last election, with a review now underway, it becomes all the more clear that parties’ views on reproductive rights shouldn’t be ignored by virtue of the successful Yes vote. This in particular applies to Sinn Féin and the Green Party. The Greens, although currently the most progressive force in government have
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While safe access zone legislation was promised by Simon Harris in 2019, it has failed to materialise
taken a consistenly cautious approach to reproductive health, supporting abortion only in cases of rape, incest and fatal foetal abnormality in their 2016 manifesto, and harbouring anti-choice public reps such as David Healy. This calls into question whether they are committed to retaining the right to choose, or whether their position is merely populism. Although comprising the largest opposition party, Sinn Féin have repeatedly and disappointingly flip-flopped on the issue of abortion. While they supported repeal, the party boasted vocally anti-choice public reps such as Peadar Tobin, who has since left to found Aontú. Sinn Féin continue to try to balance appealing to their older, more traditional base, while retaining the vote of younger people who view the party as Ireland’s chance for a left government. Sinn Féin were recently criticised for hypocrisy following their abstention on a vote on a DUP bill that sought to outlaw abortion in cases on non-fatal foetal abmormality; this is a testament to how ideologically fluid they are beyond support for Irish unity, with their political malleability unfortunately extending to their attitude towards abortion. While this position is disappointing from an organisation that presents itself as the party of change, it is Fianna Fáil’s attitude to abortion rights that is perhaps most concerning, given their position in government. Fianna Fáil boasted a large number of TDs who not only opposed repeal, but voted against holding a referendum in the first place. Fine Gael broadly speaking took a pragmatic approach during the referendum, only coming on board with repeal when it was clearer which direction public opinion was swinging
in. While Fine Gael has, in recent years, rebranded their neoliberal economics with social liberalism, Fianna Fáil continues to appeal to their traditional voter base, largely by retaining their favour for social conservatism, although Micheál Martin grudgingly supported repeal. However, the dichotomy of reconciling social liberalism with economic conservatism becomes clear when one examines Fine Gael’s support for repeal against the backdrop of their commitment to reforming rather than ending Direct Provision. While on paper abortion is legal in Ireland, the current legislation falls short for those in institutionalised living; the weekly allowance for those in DP, combined with the rural location of many centres means that access to abortion clinics is severely hampered. The two civil war parties’ support for reproductive rights
Serious Zoom anxiety is hurting students’ ability to learn Sophie Furlong Tighe
page 19
is confined not only to when it is popular, but for whom is deemed deserving of abortion care- ie Irish citizens. There was nothing in Fianna Fáil’s 2020 manifesto about abortion or even contraception, while Fine Gael committed to safe access zones, something they had already promised. Abortion Rights Campaign (ARC) has outlined several means in which current legislation could improve for those experiencing a crisis pregnancy. This includes a repeal of the mandatory three day waiting period, and an end to bogus "crisis pregnancy" centres which attempt to scaremonger women with false information. Of course, while any major changes to Ireland’s abortion laws (which currently allow terminations up to twelve weeks for any reason, and up to 24 weeks where the life of the mother is at risk) may be unlikely upon review, it is worth noting that repeal was by no means the end of the struggle for reproductive justice. The introduction of safe access zones is among the ways that Ireland’s abortion laws have room for improvement. While safe access zone legislation was promised by Simon Harris in 2018, it has failed to materialise. Although public order laws are in place, these are not always enough to deter protestors. Following the decriminalisation of abortion in 2019, many Irish abortion providers saw protests outside clinics; post-pandemic these are likely to ramp up again. While anti-choice parties such as Aontú may have little support in the voting booth, the material impact protesting at abortion clinics can have on those trying to access basic healthcare should not be deemed permissable. While who is in government for this review is of course important,
the repeal referendum was also revealing about the impact political pressure can have on TDs. While some politicians such as Mattie McGrath or Ronan Mullen may be genuinely committed to preventing women from accessing abortion, many politicians are more concerned with saving their own political skins than sticking to their guns. Both Simon Harris and Leo Varadkar in earlier stages of their career described themselves as pro-life; while it is positive that people’s views evolve when presented with new information, it is difficult not to view this as a tactical decision rather than an ideological principle. The stances of parties are important but not the be all and end all - repeal was steered by grassroots activists, and highlighted that many politicians are flexible when they feel their popularity may be on the line. The review of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act offers an opportunity to further support those experiencing crisis pregnancy by providing safe access zones, a repeal of the three day waiting period, and improved abortion access in rural areas. It is also noteworthy that people are still forced to travel abroad for abortions due to the distinction between fatal and severe foetal abnormalities in Irish law, which requires that the death of the baby would occur within 28 days of birth for abortion to be permitted, even though this is impossible to anticipate. This review will see anti-choice activists rear their heads once again - the newly formed Oireachtas Life and Dignity Group will undoubtedly seek to amend the legislation come the summer. However, the review also offers a vital opportunity to expand and solidify support and care for those experiencing crisis pregnancy.
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Tuesday 30 March | TRINITY NEWS
Comment
Ellen Kenny
Contributing Writer
Irish political parties have a serious problem with accountability
I
f the last general election signified anything, it was that the political landscape of Ireland is in a huge state of flux. Sinn Féin, the Green Party and the Social Democrats enjoyed new-found success, while Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil found their position as the dominant parties to be increasingly unstable. With these parties gaining increased prominence, political parties must be conscious of the environment they foster if they want to garner support in the future. Unfortunately, there is a persistent culture of bullying within many political parties, which is an issue spanning from big names in the Oireachtas to local youth wings. In 2019, a helpline was installed to allow staff within the Oireachtas to report instances of bullying and harassment. In 2020, ten calls were made, describing verbal abuse and intimidation from TDs and Senators, which most likely grossly underrepresents the true extent of bullying within the Oireachtas. One survey found that one in sev-
en Leinster House staff have experienced workplace bullying from TDs. All of these instances come from the Oireachtas alone, who have implemented a so-called “Dignity and Respect” initiative to protect staff and politicians from harassment. Each political party or independent politician within the legislature is required to have a Complaint Recipient, approved to deal with such conflicts. One would expect such programmes to create a cooperative, open environment where anyone feels safe to speak up against unjust behaviour. The previously mentioned reports show the opposite is the case. When it comes to tackling workplace bullying, the Oireachtas should lead by example, yet the current policy is merely words on paper that rarely translate into action. Grievances and misconduct within parties should be dealt with by external, objective bodies. The Dignity and Respect policy might install Complaint Recip-
ients for parties and politicians, but it still allows a large amount of complaints to be handled on an internal, informal level. This means the statistics we see on harassment within political parties is in no way exhaustive or accurate. It means parties have undue power to decide on how to deal with these complaints, if they deal with them at all. If it is in their interest to ignore and quash complaints and accusations, there is no one stopping political parties from failing to address complaints altogether. Nowhere is the gross lack of accountability seen more strongly than in the youth wings of political parties. Niko Kawonczyk witnessed this negligence first-hand last year from Ógra Fianna Fáil, when he discovered several members had taken to ranking female politicians based on physical appearance over Zoom. According to the former secretary of Ógra Fianna Fáil in Monaghan, offensive misconduct like this dominates political youth wings online. Despite his repeated
attempts, he said the allegations weren’t dealt with, delaying any investigation to the point where Kawonczyk felt he had no choice but to resign. When sexist bullies win against those pursuing accountability, political parties cannot be said to be functioning properly. This problem is not confined to Fianna Fáil; your economic ideology and political preferences will not protect you from harassment. Such was the case for Christine O’Mahony, former chairperson of UCD’s branch of Ógra Shinn Féin. After deigning to criticise a fellow party member on Twitter for a homophobic comment, O’Mahony received an onslaught of hate from her fellow “comrades”, as she described, with one senior member
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One survey found that one in seven Leinster House staff have experienced workplace bullying from TDs
even going so far as to arrive at her doorstep and tell her to delete her tweets. After leaving Sinn Féin, the spate of online abuse continued; O’Mahony was branded an “attention-seeker” for daring to stick with her principles. When O’Mahoney criticised Sinn Féin online, she allegedly received messages from other party members stating that party matters should be kept “internal” due to adherence to “democratic centralism”. This can be described as a principle which wishes to present the organisation as a single, politically-stable entity. However, this kind of policy is completely antithetical to free discussion, collaboration and accountability. Furthermore, parties who use the rhetoric of equality and justice to promote their organisation should practice what they preach, rather than dismiss the suffering of its own members. Hostility is not a hospitable environment for any bright minds interested in policy and discussion. Rather, it dissuades people from contributing to political discourse and activism. A culture of intimidation and coverup does nothing to accommodate progress in an ever-changing Ireland; will young women aspiring towards a career in politics feel welcome in an atmosphere that does not protect them, but rather ridicules and silences them? The current “Dignity and Respect” policy fails to uphold its principles and prevent bullying within political parties, and even if it was adequate, it is merely a process within the Oireachtas. There must be tighter regulations and cohesive policies, an independent body that can inspect the behaviour of party members at local and national levels. Unfortunately, substantial policies and organisations like this do not exist outside Ireland, as most countries deal with the same workplace bullying within government as Ireland does. This means Ireland would not have a framework to base its own policy on, but it also means we have the potential to pave the way and pioneer a honorable, trustworthy culture within government. Specific policies such as a thorough vetting of Oireachtas members and watchdog organisations that can regularly review the behaviour of political parties can make a huge difference for those who feel silenced. Politicians must ensure that members and staff are not being marginalised or disrespected. Political parties are supposed to facilitate shared ideas, common goals and discussion, not entertain hostility and cover ups. Of course, such policy and such a body could only be developed and approved at the behest of parties and leaders that would prefer to keep their repressive cards close to their chest. However, leaders of political parties should keep in mind that such a policy would not just be for the sake of those who need bolstering after bullying; it is also in their own interest to make a clear show of supporting transparency if they want to be a party that people want to join and vote for in the future, or a party no one wants to be invited to.
17
TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 30 March
Comment
Caitlin B. Anderson Contributing Writer
The white paper on Direct Provision is a step forward, but not far enough
T
he much-awaited White Paper on Ending Direct Provision by Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Roderic O’Gorman was published publicly at the end of last month. The government has committed to developing the much-touted new and improved international protection accommodation system. The government intends to replace the current Direct Provision system for asylum seekers coming to Ireland. The new system, which is set to be phased in over the next four years and fully implemented by December 2024, is considered by the government to be the new paragon for “integration and inclusion” here in Ireland. At a news conference, Minister
O’Gorman said of the White Paper: “We are not looking to reform the system; we are looking to end it and bring about a new model of accommodation.” However, broad concerns over the timeline of implementing this new system remain in play due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Many citizens and observers of Irish policy in the EU and abroad wonder aloud if the new system will take longer to implement than initially projected and planned in this document. When asked about concerns over the current timeframe of implementation, Minister O’Gorman replied: “I have always tried to be as honest as possible that a change of this magnitude cannot be delivered in an incredibly tight timeframe, but I believe the timeframe we have set out is ambitious.”
PHOTO BY AISLING GRACE FOR TRINITY NEWS.
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Much work is still needed to ensure this new system adequately cares for asylum seekers
One of the most important aspects to come out of the publishing of the White Paper, especially for students in the Direct Provision program that are looking to study or are currently studying at third level, is that these students who are part of the Direct Provision program will no longer have to pay (the much more expensive) international college fees. The new system will also change how accommodation and support will be offered to people applying for International Protection. From the beginning of their arrival here in Ireland, asylum seekers applying for International Protection will be able to access support across health, housing, education, language and employment, and will be offered accommodation for up to four months in one of the many new Reception and Integration Centres that the government intends to build. After four months, those still under Protection claims will be granted accommodation access across the greater Irish community, with their own-door or own-room accommodation. This represents a stark departure from the current housing in place under Direct Provision, which mainly includes shared dormitory-style rooms. International Protection applicants will subsequently be able to work and earn a wage after being here in Ireland for six months. There is no doubt that the publishing of the White Paper indicates that the Irish government is moving in the right direction. Change was required. However, much work is still needed to ensure this new system adequately cares for and provides for asylum seekers in the Republic. The current direct provision accommodations have been described by the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (MASI) as poor, overcrowded, and with rooms crammed to the brim in order to maximise profit for those providing a roof over Ireland’s most vulnerable heads. The United Nations has also called on Ireland to end Direct Provision. The current system has allowed Irish statehired private contractors to earn over €1bn in profit since Direct Provision began. The payoff is often made by cramming several people into single rooms; a scene which harkens back to the periods of urban poverty during industrialisation in the last century; a scene which Dickens himself would recognise. While the abject horrors of the current system, which the Irish Supreme court even call “unconstitutional,” will be coming to a necessary end, the proposed system does not allow asylum seekers to live independently without state supervision. Even under this ‘revised’ new system, asylum seekers will not be offered government support for their first four months here in Ireland should they choose not to live in a Reception and
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Many citizens and observers of Irish policy in the EU and abroad wonder aloud if the new system will take longer to implement than initially projected and planned in this document
Integration Centre. These new arrivals will continue to have no say in what destination their community accommodation will be, being denied the language, religious and community support that many depend upon as they begin a life in a new land. One of the more well-known examples of the importance such community infrastructure can play in determining the success of new arrivals is that of the Irish — just ask anybody in early-20th century Boston or New York. While asylum seekers will no longer be housed in isolated detention centres, they will still have no autonomy over where they and their families will end up, and will have little say in how they start their lives off here in Ireland. Most importantly, the changes proposed in the White Paper will not be on a statutory footing, making it incredibly difficult to hold the government accountable and leaving these asylum seekers with little to no legal protection. While the new proposed system makes long-overdue changes, it still fails to allow asylum seekers to make their own autonomous decisions, especially with regards to housing free from increased state supervision. Minister O’Gorman has a unique opportunity to improve an improved-upon, yet still flawed, policy to the benefit of Ireland’s newest arrivals and her citizens that already call this island home.
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Tuesday 30 March | TRINITY NEWS
PHOTO BY INFOMATIQUE/FLICKR. LICENSED UNDER CREATIVE COMMONS
Comment
RTÉ is going to push away Ireland’s young talent without urgent reform Laura Galvin
Deputy Comment Editor
I
reland teems with creative life and has become a hub for the television and film industry in recent years, thanks to not only the hefty tax incentive to film here under Section 481, but the beautiful filming locations the country has to offer. On top of this, we have a number of highly rated vocational courses in film and television production with very clear cut career pathways in such a competitive field. In Dublin alone, the Institute of Art and Design Technology (IADT) and Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) offer courses in media, broadcasting, and communications, with many others to be found in other reaches of the country. Trinity’s own Film Studies course also promises its students a handson approach to many aspects of production, with many students going on to build careers in the industry. In the wake of recent social movements such as Marriage Equality, Irish young people have been empowered by affecting real change, and are increasingly aware of societal
injustices. This leads us to our very own public broadcasting institution – Raidio Teilifís Éireann. RTÉ is at the forefront of Ireland’s broadcasting institutions, picking up 42 of the top 50 most watched television shows in Ireland in 2019. Its programming succeeds at being homogenised and near-palatable (to some) for the most part, but that’s about as far as it goes. Following Ireland’s long history of censorship and parochial attitudes (take the banning of Monty Python’s Life of Brian in the eighties), RTÉ remains archaic and represents a large portion of the ageing population in terms of outlook and approaches. There have been plenty of instances during which RTÉ has been met with controversy for narrow mindedness and at times bizarrely tone deaf behaviour; on a more serious note we can look at how poorly the Repeal campaign was represented on Claire Byrne Live in 2018, but even recently RTÉ cut loose on a countdown program for New Year’s Eve. The sketch in question featured news anchor
Aengus Mac Grionna in a fake Waterford Whispers news sketch about the immaculate conception, which suggested it was a rape, and called God a rapist. Naturally, public outrage ensued forcing RTÉ to apologise publicly for the offensive nature of the sketch – primarily because of backlash relating to the blasphemy incurred on the program. This highlighted RTÉ’s lack of cultural awareness for two reasons. Not only was the joke embarrassingly unfunny boomer humour, with the apology proving a meekness towards the Catholic church; it also glossed over the unpleasant nature of a rape joke on a public network. For a nation of waning religious faith among the younger population, RTÉ illustrated just how out of touch the network truly is with youth culture today. It’s quite clear that RTÉ’s staff are stuck in the last century – a brief skim on Glassdoor employee reviews confirms that outdated work culture and an uncreative environment is a common complaint among staff. Furthermore, RTÉ continually
struggles to catch up with the technological shift to digital media, with the RTÉ Player having a deeply upsetting interface to the instant gratification generation. Their attempts to rebrand haven’t succeeded in crafting a basic video player that would have simpler programming than the YouTube video player in 2008. Regardless of this, the most viewed show on the player has a tends to be Fair City, which suggests that Gen Z aren’t the ones tuning in and are instead looking to streaming services that promise something better than Ireland’s Fittest Family. No worries though, as the new universal broadcasting charge promises to fund RTÉ even if no one left in Ireland has a television. This isn’t to say RTÉ should be producing incredible high budget series, or would be capable of doing so. But the attempt to engage with youth culture falls very flat when watching Vogue Williams finding out about polygamy for the first time when Louis Theroux did it better at least 20 years ago. Not to mention Vogue Williams has been an RTÉ star since her stint on Fade Street, RTÉ’s heinous 2010 answer to The Hills, one of many exhibits of RTÉ’s tiring habit of recycling ageing TV stars. I’m not asking for much, but any evidence that RTÉ producers have a desire to engage young people in the national conversation that a public broadcaster should offer to its audience would be nice. A disconnect from youth culture is not something that has necessarily always plagued RTÉ. Mark Cagney, an ex-2FM and Ireland AM presenter who
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For a country that is so culturally rich, and with such a prominent generational gap, it seems about time that the voice of younger people is represented in our own public media
made his beginnings on pirate radio recently discussed his RTÉ radio show in conversation with Brendan O’Connor (ironically, on RTÉ). He highlighted the early days of having access to a huge library of music unlike anything before, something that only RTÉ could provide. In tandem with Gerry Ryan, they altered the scenery of Irish radio, giving voices to the younger people and showing awareness of what young people expect to experience. The migration of presenters like Mark Cagney, Dave Fanning and Ian Dempsey, from underground pirate radio to our national broadcaster shows a huge cultural shift of giving a platform to presenters that would have been previously less universally accessible. It would be wrong to suggest that RTÉ should become a vanguard of political reform or promote a bias towards certain ideologies, but cultural awareness is one of the most important things we should promote. Even on Irish radio, seven out of 10 of the mandated Irish musicians are men. The promotion of greater diversity would be an incredible thing for our national media. We live in a society where we constantly consume media, but not all of it is not necessarily verifiable. In the words of Mícheál Martin, “modern media is under threat from a whole range of forces, and I think the greater independence we can create around journalism and the media, the better”. Why is this not extending to the importance of our culture and representation within it? Why is RTÉ failing to modernise and retain a dialogue with young people? Young people deserve just as much of a say in what we broadcast, and they deserve the same attention given to children and older age brackets. This should be prioritised to extend throughout RTÉ’s broad range of media. The facilities and funding are there to even create a media hub for young people that promises independence and public funding. Without due reform of this, I find it difficult to imagine a future where the brightest young creatives in our country would want to go into the public broadcasting industry. Ireland exports so much acting and production talent, and it’s obvious that our stories are important to the wider world - Normal People took the world by storm, Conversations with Friends has been snapped up, as has Naoise Dolan’s Exciting Times. Ireland’s animation industry has also seen huge success. These stories have proven a relevance of Irish youth globally, perhaps sadly even more so than nationally. For a country that is so culturally rich, and with such a prominent generational gap, it seems about time that the voice of younger people is represented in our own public media - or failing that, just not insulted.
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 30 March
Comment
Sophie Furlong Tighe Staff Writer
Serious Zoom anxiety is hurting students’ ability to learn
W
hile anxiety has been a problem affecting students forever, it has only been exacerbated by the trials of Zoom learning. There is a whole host of people who are experiencing social anxiety for the first time in lectures, seminars, and events. Online learning doesn’t appear to be going away particularly soon, so it is important to treat this like a long-term problem deserving of a solution from College. While it is difficult for lecturers to account for each individual student (and nor should it be something we should ask of them) there are measures which can be put in place to ease these anxieties. Learning online (particularly in the participation-heavy seminar space) presents a completely new set of social rules and problems for students. It is more difficult to engage with seminar leaders and other students, and speaking itself becomes something less intuitive and more considered with the necessary raise-hand settings. There is a clinical element to Zoom which prohibits genuine discussion from being had. While this is an unavoidable consequence of a socially distant life, it is fertile ground for new anxieties— from the peculiar feeling of being watched to the fear that you have said something stupid (the ability to offer affirmation to those who are speaking in academic settings is perhaps one of the saddest losses to online learning.) Even small things, like being unable to go for coffee or have a chat with someone who you may have disagreed with after class can increase anxiety over academic interactions. All of this is, of course, brought to the forefront by the physical circumstances we are all in right now. There have been fundamental shocks to our family situations, our financial situations, our health situations. How can students not be expected to bring these problems with them to class, especially when class now happens in the same setting as all of those issues? There are many ways to ease this for students at a structur-
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Camera-on policies are rooted in the bad-faith beliefs that it is impossible to engage without contributing verbally
al level: increased access to free student counselling, school-wide policies which relax attendance/ late-submission penalties. However, some simple changes to how we view seminar learning can significantly relieve pressure on these structures. The first thing we must reconsider as an academic community is how we view class participation. Camera-on policies are rooted in the bad-faith beliefs that it is impossible to engage with a seminar without contributing verbally, and that unless monitored, students won't pay attention to classes. The idea that the only way to assess engagement in a course is via verbal contributions is just incorrect. While it makes sense in a live setting to mark students on their verbal contributions, this doesn’t have to be the only way. The chat functions on Zoom and Black-
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It’s important to remember that despite the persistence of the pandemic, these circumstances remain difficult for even the least anxious people
board Collaborate Ultra present an opportunity for students to engage with the topic of a seminar in a less anxiety-inducing way. Both taking this into consideration when assessing participation and making an effort (from students and lecturers) to actively engage with contributions from the chat makes the seminar environment far more comfortable for those who find themselves struggling to speak. As well as this, students can engage in-between classes using services such as the discussion forum on Blackboard, or a class board on Padlet. The idea that a camera-on rule ensures that students are engaged is also very flawed. It is both pos-
sible to engage in a class without being visible, and to be completely disengaged with your camera on. It only serves to promote student anxiety where unnecessary, and may even encourage some students not to show up at all. If the priority is student engagement, policies like these are completely unproductive. More generally, both students and staff should be far more lenient with one another. Although it has been a year since we began online learning, it’s important to remember that despite the persistence of the pandemic, these circumstances remain incredibly difficult for even the least anxious people. If a student has their camera off in class, the assumption should not be that they’re lazy or disengaged for the sake of it, but that they may need some additional support. It is always impossible to know exactly what someone else is going through, but particularly in times like these, negative assumptions will only disengage people who may have far more on their plate than we realise. As digital learning appears to be with us for a little while more, it’s important to recognise the fundamental shift it has brought to many students' mental health. While Zoom may be impossible to escape, it is possible for students’ anxieties to be significantly eased by those who lead seminars and tutorials. This can only be done through a reevaluation of how we see class participation, and a generous attitude to student behavior in general. While online learning may feel normal by now to some, it remains distressing for many. The addition of pressures like camera-on policies and penalties for a lack of verbal-contribution only serve to further alienate students from learning.
ARTWORK BY MARTA MENTA CZINKOCZKY FOR TRINITY NEWS
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Tuesday 30 March | TRINITY NEWS
Comment
Not all men are predators, but all women are afraid
Speaking to other women, it is never “if ” you have been harassed, but when? Where? Nina Chen
Deputy SciTech Editor
W
hen I was 16, I went to my friend’s house to get ready for our pre-Debs. As I was sitting on her couch, making small talk with her younger brother, my friend’s father came in and asked me if I had a boyfriend. When I said no, he laughed and said, “Well, I’m sure the battery industry thanks you for your business”. This was not the only thing he said to me that night, but it was definitely the worst. With each comment about how “he had a friend who could take me to Debs”, and how “I was so mature for my age”, I felt myself shrink, unable to enjoy the night that was just for me and my friends. Every woman I know has a
story similar to mine, or worse. We tell stories about being harassed by customers at work, getting catcalled on the street, when we go out with our friends. We trade tips on how to avoid rape. Keep your head low, carry your keys between your hands. Walk under CCTV cameras, wear bright clothing at night, make sure your location is always on in your phone. And yet, there are still so many cases of missing women. And yet, every woman I know has experienced harassment or violence. I will not say that I think all men are the problem. When #NotAllMen was trending on Twitter, it was a clear indication that enough men think the most important thing they can contribute to the conversation is that they are not all rapists. This is an obvious sentiment; not every man who has ever existed is a rapist. But not being a rapist is the bare minimum. I am tired of rewarding men for the bare minimum. Isn’t there more? The phrase “not all men” has been around for over a decade now, and is a common rebuttal used in conversations about gender inequality. The phrase, whilst seemingly harmless, is often used to derail productive conversations about sexual assault. By interrupting a discussion on
sexual assault to remind everyone that “not all men are rapists!”, we focus on individual exceptions to the situation, turning away from the fact that most of the perpetrators of sexual assault are men. The 2018 rape trial in Belfast was, for many, an awakening to how women are treated in Ireland, both by society and by the courts - a 19-year old woman’s underwear being paraded around the courtroom was startling. I stood with my friends holding up signs that said “I believe her”. At the march, survivors of sexual assault stood on podiums and talked about the worst moments of their lives. That evening, I went online and saw thousands of people, mostly men, writing that the survivor was a “slut” and “likely enjoyed it”. The same men who would tweet #NotAllMen in response to activists or feminists telling their story were the same ones gleefully cheering an alleged rapist. A recent survey by the UN Women UK found that 97% of women had been sexually harassed. When the survey results were posted onto Instagram, many men felt the need to comment, “we should aim for 100%” and “bet most of them were lying”. But a few comments were skeptical of the
study, saying things like, “that’s a little high, isn’t it?” And “But if this statistic was true, wouldn’t all men be predators?” Isn’t that strange? No man seems to know a man who is a predator, but every woman has been made to feel like prey. When I speak to other women about our experiences, it is never “if ” you had been harassed, but when? Where? Every few months, another headline comes out about a young woman who was raped or murdered on her way home. Even when she carries her keys between her fingers, walks under CCTV lights, has her location on, she is still killed or grievously harmed. So who’s fault is this? If you are the type of man who makes jokes about violence against
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We have been on alert since we were 16
women, you are the problem. If you are the type of man who doesn’t speak up when someone you know says something harmful, you are the problem. I am tired of starting all of my statements with a foreword about how “not all men harass women”. You are not “part” of the problem, you are the problem. The men in my life who don’t harass women don’t need me to give them credit for the bare minimum. We have been on alert since we were 16. We will have to be on alert for the rest of our lives. Every month, women are brave enough to come forward with their stories, present their trauma to men, and beg for them not to hurt us. And still, they do. Still, a police officer, a friend, a boyfriend will still be violent against the women they are meant to protect. And yet, I am still expected to waste my energy and my time responding to those who cry “not all men!” Aren’t you tired? I certainly am. In the months after my preDebs, I had wished that my friend, or her boyfriend, or anyone had said something. I was angry at myself for not speaking up. But in the years since - having been catcalled on the street, harassed at my place of work, followed on my way home -all I can feel is tired, and sorry, for my 16-year-old self.
Editorial: The government voting down a motion on free fees is as disappointing as it is unsurprising
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he government has voted down a motion in the Dáil that would have drastically improved students’ quality of life. Students are no strangers to watching the government take stances against their needs, but this nonetheless represents blatant disinterest from the government in even considering immediate, tangible changes in students’ experience and wellbeing. It is made no less of a colossal disappointment by being entirely unsurprising. The measures that were proposed in the motion, which was put forward by People Before Profit, would have radically changed the landscape of higher education in Ireland. It called on the government to “provide open access for all to higher education courses of their choice, without fees or barriers”. This included establishing an additional 25,000 higher education and apprenticeship places, providing free access for students and apprentices to counselling and personal education services, and enshrining proper pay for students who work on placements as part of their courses, such as nursing, midwifery, and social care. Crucially, it sought to
“abolish all registration fees and tuition fees for all apprenticeships, undergraduate and postgraduate courses, and increase grants and supports to cover the real cost of education” and “return fees paid by students for the academic years affected by Covid-19”. Beyond higher education, the motion also called on the government to abolish the Leaving Certificate, describing it as an “unnecessary stress on young people, a distorter of the education system and a barrier to accessing higher education and the life opportunities that flow from it”. This was a misstep on People Before Profit’s part. With the Leaving Cert as cemented as it is into the Irish psyche, any divergence from it will inevitably come as part of a long and slow conversation filled with reports and committees. That is not to say that the government dragging its feet on change is something to be accepted – far from it – but to acknowledge the reality that a proposal to scrap the mammoth that is the Leaving Cert was never going to be let pass on an unextraordinary Thursday, evening without much preamble. Bundling the Leaving Certificate into a wider motion on expanding access to higher education did its
broader aims a disservice. Both the radical nature of the proposed changes and the anachronistic inclusion of the Leaving Cert meant the outcome of the debate was unremarkable. The government put forward an amendment to the motion, which itself felt farcical; the amendment removed all of the original motion beyond its first three words (“that Dáil Éireann:”). Under the amendment, People Before Profit’s motion was effectively deleted. In its place was an exercise in lip service. The amended motion listed projects underway in the Department of Higher Education - some of which predate the current government - in the realm of further and higher education. In a typical self-congratulatory fashion, it concluded that this “comprehensive programme of reforms clearly demonstrates the Government’s ambition for a high-quality tertiary education system which supports everyone to achieve their full potential”. The amended motion passed easily. 86 TDs voted in its favour Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, the Green Party, and the eight Independent TDs in the Regional Group. The rest of the Dáil - 56 members voted against. The Green Party
in particular should be ashamed of itself. Although its policies on access to higher education are fairly weak – making halfcommitments to “reviewing” soand-so – it is not a stretch of the imagination that its supporters would have expected more, and have been let down in a pattern has come to characterise the party’s time in government. The predictability of the outcome makes it no less disappointing. This government and its predecessors have shown a persistent lack of intent to engage with students’ financial struggles. Year after year, grassroots campaigns, students’ unions, and the Union of Students’ in Ireland (USI) call on the government to reduce or abolish the student contribution charge. The USI in recent years has focused on asking for a reduction of €500, which would bring the charge down from €3,000 to €2,500 - still a significant sum for a student to face. Last Wednesday, USI led a virtual protest calling for an end to the charge, as well as “urgent action on student accommodation issues” and “other areas blocking access to higher education in Ireland”. Ahead of the protest, TCDSU President Eoin Hand told Trinity News that students are
“sick of paying the highest fees in Europe, that we are sick of thin and weak renters rights, and we are sick of being forgotten”. 200 students from around the country joined the #Education4All protest on Zoom, which saw representatives make impassioned speeches about the burden faced by students, particularly in the context of the pandemic and a potential, looming recession. That only a day later the government voted down a motion on expanding access to higher education speaks volumes as to its interests. “Unfortunately, the Government has proposed a cynical amendment. It has a habit of doing so in respect of proposals it knows are the right things to do but that do not fit with its conservative, right-wing agenda,” said Sinn Féin’s Patricia Ryan during the Dáil debate. It is demoralising to watch the government push student welfare aside again and again and to see the rest of the Dáil let it slide past without putting up the loud and persistent opposition these issues deserve. The opposition needs to wisen up and sharpen its teeth, and the government needs – to put it plainly – to cop itself on.
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 30 March
Dear Demystifying Medicine Advice columnist page 22
Trinity geneticist shares details of PhD life online Lucy Fitzsimmons page 23
Scitech The coffee conundrum Extensive research shows that caffeine is detrimental on marine life Sophie Maguire Contributing Writer
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nless you’ve been living under a rock, you are likely mindful of the effects of single-use plastics on our oceans, bringing us to the age of KeepCups, metal straws, and funky Chilly flasks. However, it seems that the disposable cup is not the only part of your coffee habit that’s harming marine life. Due to rising global consumption, caffeine has become an indicator of human pollution. It is considered one of the most dominant pharmaceutically active pollutants in the environment and extensive research is showing its detrimental effects on marine life. For once “big pharma” and oil corporations are not to blame. The presence of caffeine in environmental waters is generally attributed to discharges of domestic wastewater; specifically sewage, as we excrete up to 10% of the caffeine we consume. Whilst levels of consumption vary globally, the predominant source
is coffee. In Europe (the world’s greatest caffeine consumers per capita), only 8% of consumption comes from energy drinks, leaving the blame to fall on coffee drinkers. However, some good news is that most caffeine pollution is likely to come from the unnecessary disposal of unconsumed caffeine, like pouring that cold cup of coffee
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The removal of plastics from our oceans involves two mammoth tasks: replacing it, and finding alternatives for plastic items
down the sink. So, what kind of effect does this caffeine have on marine life? Multiple studies have been conducted on bivalves (a family which includes clams and mussels) and have shown that caffeine causes them great stress. One study with Mediterranean Mussels found that caffeine concentrations of only 0.00005mg/L lead to changes in their immune function and oxidative stress. Oxidative stress occurs when there is an imbalance of good antioxidants and damaging free radicals, leading to cell and tissue damage. These effects lead to significant health problems, which increased in severity with increasing caffeine concentrations. Many experts have flagged concerns and called for more extensive research. Whilst one may argue that this problem is no different to that caused by single use plastic, that is not the case. The removal of plastics from our oceans involves two mammoth tasks: removing it, and finding alternatives for all the plastic items we’ve become dependent on. However, the good news is that caffeine has a half-life of between 100-240 days under different environmental conditions, meaning the issue can be resolved by correctly treating our wastewater, which would also bring countless other benefits from decreased nutrient and
bacterial levels. Caffeine has a good removal efficiency of up to 99.5% during secondary wastewater treatment, which brings us to ask: why is it ending up in the ocean around the world? To put it simply: the main cause is poor wastewater treatment. For example, caffeine levels in the rivers of the Leopoldina Basin, Brazil were found to be 1.60-3.57mg/L, in an area occupied by over 1 million people, where a large portion of untreated domestic waste is discharged into waterways. This amount of caffeine is massively over the amount which is found to have detrimental effects in mussels. The same study emphasised that simple sand filtration and chlorination does not remove compounds like caffeine, so secondary biological treatment is essential. There is minimal data available regarding caffeine concentrations in Irish waterways, highlighting the need for increased surveillance. However, a study conducted by Francis J. Roden (M.Sc) at Dublin City University (DCU) in 2007 found that caffeine concentrations varied from as low as 30.5ng/L to as high as 428.2 ng/L in seawater at 15 different locations along Dublin Bay. The high sample concentrations reported were attributed to their proximity to the Ringsend Wastewater
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As students, we can listen to the science and begin with not pouring our coffee down the sink
Treatment plant. The EPA reports that as of November 2020, only 44% of waste from Ireland’s large urban areas were treated at plants which complied with EU standards. Whilst the microorganisms involved in untreated sewage lead to a whole host of other issues, there is also no barrier to protect our marine life from the rise of coffee culture in Ireland. Ireland has been facing EU action since 2017, showing it has clearly not provided a strong enough incentive to improve the failing infrastructure. There are no international caffeine level standards to date, with no reference levels in terms of what’s safe for marine life. Even the effect of caffeine in drinking water is relatively unknown. Nevertheless, this can be changed through the implementation of an ecopharmacovigilance program. These kinds of programs would monitor caffeine levels in the environment and take steps to minimise its environmental load. Recent developments have led to a selection of promising technologies which increase efficacy in the removal of pharmaceutically active compounds like caffeine from our wastewater. Upgrades of wastewater treatment plants along with these improved technologies are seriously needed both around the globe and in Ireland. The current pandemic has side-lined many discoveries at a time when we cannot afford to ignore them. So as students, we can listen to the science, make sure it’s heard, and begin with not pouring our coffee down the sink.
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Tuesday 30 March | TRINITY NEWS
Scitech
Dear Demystifying Medicine Every issue, Trinity News’ SciTech section bringing you this Dear Demystifying Medicine column, where students can ask questions that spark their curiosity about health, fitness, or human biology. I want to start running but I’m worried about how it could affect my knees. Is there any way to protect them or not injure them? First off, I want to say I think it’s amazing that you’re starting to run, especially during a pandemic. That’s really admirable and inspirational. Running is a great form of cardiovascular exercise. There can be emphasis on improving explosive strength with sprinting or endurance through long distance running. Overall, it’s an excellent way to stay active. There are real injury concerns for runners in general, but especially for beginners. First off, it’s important to protect your body. Start by looking into finding a good pair of running shoes that will provide you with ample support. Everyone has different shapes and arches on their feet, which makes finding a good pair of running shoes a very personal process. Typically, specific running stores have knowledgable staff in this department to help with finding a proper shoe. Protecting your knees is definitely a valid concern. Running on grass rather than concrete is one way to decrease the stress on your joints. This is because the grass acts as a shock absorber and the softer surface cushions your weight better than concrete. Another critical way to protect yourself from running injuries in general is to ensure you start slow with your training. Don’t go out there and try to run an excessive amount every day of the week if you’re starting out. This increases the amount of stress on your body and could cause injury due to fatigue. Doing exercises to help strengthen your hips, lower body, and core are the main ways to protect your knees while running. Take some time to research different exercises for these areas of your body and find a routine that’s right for you. Some exercises include monster walks, lateral band walks, single leg squats using a chair, planks, glute bridges, clamshells, and side leg lifts. It’s also important to stretch, especially after a run. This can help prevent muscle tightness and soreness that can lead to injury. Overall, the best ways to protect your knees is to maintain strength and stability in your lower body through exercises. Happy running! What’s the best way to get a tan without damaging my skin? A tan may be nice to look at, but in reality it’s damaging to the
skin. This is because UV rays from the sun or tanning bed actually cause the skin to produce more melanin. Melanin is a protective molecule and causes the skin to look darker and more tanned. However, tanning is actually a sign of skin damage and is associated with increased rates of skin cancer while additionally causing premature skin aging. Finding alternatives to traditional tanning methods is definitely a smart idea. There are many self-tanning products on the market. These can range from mousses to lotions. All self-tanning products contain a colour additive called DHA, which is usually found from plant sources. DHA binds to the top layer of the skin to stain it. This causes the skin to look more tanned. It is important to exfoliate areas of the body which have increased amounts of protein prior to applying the tan in order to have a more even distribution of the product. These areas include the knees, elbows, and ankles. Self tanners are generally considered safer alternatives to traditional tanning methods. However, one study showed potential damaging effects of DHA, but much more research is required to provide conclusive evidence of this claim, as well as studies of the long term effects of DHA use. Some tanning products also have chemicals in their ingredient list that can affect hormone balance in the body. Therefore, it’s important to choose a product that has natural and organic ingredients. Overall, your best bet to avoid damaging your skin while still getting that natural tanned look is through self-tanning products. Don’t forget to still apply sunscreen on top of the product if you do go outside to protect your skin! Is there a way to prevent getting headaches when I’m stressed? It is very common for people to get headaches under stressful conditions. These headaches are typically called tension headaches. The full physiological mechanisms underlying tension headaches are still currently unknown. However, some research suggests that stress can increase pain processing and pain sensitivity in the brain and spinal cord. It has been shown that there is also an increase in myofascial tenderness in the shoulders, neck, and head areas of those suffering from tension type headaches. Myofascial tenderness can be described as irritation or inflammation of a muscle or the thin layer surrounding the muscle called the myofascia. There is still a lot more research to be done in the area of tension headaches, however it seems that multiple factors play a role in pain processing, which is a key component of stress or tension
headaches. The main suggestions for preventing stress headaches include self-care and lifestyle factors. This is because these strategies work to decrease the trigger for the headaches, which is stress. Some relaxing self-care techniques that have been mentioned include deep breathing, meditation, and yoga. In terms of lifestyle interventions, maintaining a healthy diet, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, and limiting processed foods, sugars, alcohol, and caffeine have also been suggested. It is also important to note that headaches can commonly be caused by dehydration. This is because the brain isn’t getting enough fluid and tends to shrink. This physically pulls the brain away from the skull and causes headaches. Therefore, ensuring adequate hydration during stressful conditions can also help. Overall, there is still a lot of research that needs to be done to fully understand headaches, but the most you can do in terms of prevention is to maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle to decrease your stress. Dear Demystifying Medicine says: As a medicine student, I get asked a lot of questions about body functions, overall health, and fitness. Most of the questions I get from people who are in a nonbiology/medical field are based on their own personal curiosity or from reading articles on the internet, where it can be difficult to distinguish fact from fiction. We’re putting together this column to give students a space to ask basic medical, health, and fitness questions. As a Bachelor of Science graduate, a medicine student, and a member of a professional fitness organisation, I’ll be looking into the most recent and high-quality research to help answer your questions in a way that everyone can understand with the support of a team of peers in science and medicine. I will not be providing medical advice or diagnoses, so please don’t write in and ask for a cure or a diagnosis. The information that is presented is for educational use only and should not be a substitute for professional medical advice. Consult with your doctor or qualified health professional for any advice.
CONNECT to design musical gyroscope for primary school students The centre was one of five recipients of funding from SFI and the Arts Council for a project at the intersection of science and art Lucy Fitzsimmons SciTech Editor
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ONNECT, the SFI Research Centre for Future Networks & Communications at Trinity College, was recently announced as one of five recipients of funding for the STEAM Art Collaboration project by Science Foundation Ireland and the Arts Council. The project pairs an artist with an Irish research centre to capture through art an important scientific concept and aims to engage primary school children and the wider public with these research centres through the intersection of art and science. Ed Devane, Donegal based sound artist and instrument designer, will design a musical gyroscope entitled Rotation relay to represent the scientific concepts behind work at CONNECT. Research at the centre focuses on telecommunications, and specifically, this project symbolises work in the field of “quantum communications via space”. The artwork will highlight three key principles in quantum communications: superposition, entanglement and teleportation.
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The information, held in sound or music, is transmitted as an encoded audio signal
Gyroscopes, like the one being created for the project, can rotate in all three coordinate axes. The speeds of rotation in each of these axes will be controlled by an interface. The axes of the gyroscope will interact with LED light and magnetic sensors, which will trigger tones in a sequence. The information, held in sound or music, is then transmitted as an encoded audio signal and received at a different location. In the SFI research centre statement by Jerry Horgan and Dr Deirdre Kilbane, the centre explained how this gyroscope encapsulates the principles of superposition, entanglement and teleportation: “Our research is on ‘Quantum Communications via Space’. We are looking to use quantum properties to secure and enhance the next generation of communications (data transfer) networks, which will include nano-satellites, or cubesats. “These cubesats can be about the size of a pringles tube and will be in a low-earth-orbit, or about 35 times closer than the satellites traditionally used. As they are so close, they are also incredibly fast, and are actually faster than fibre optic over long distances, say between countries,” Horgan and Kilbane said. “Security is based on two specific quantum properties, entanglement and teleportation. This is where two photons (little beams of light) are linked to each other no matter how far apart they might be and that information (data) can be sent across that distance by physically interacting with just one of them,” they said. “Communications networks currently use bits (usually ones and zeroes or up versus down) to represent data, with superposition the data can be in more than one position (think of a coin spinning on its side, you see both heads and tails at the same time) which can be used to represent more data at a time. This is shown in the artwork, where the light represents the photon, which can be up or down, and left or right.” Virtual exhibitions of the five pieces of artwork in the different centres will take place in May. The final works of art will be showcased virtually to primary schools nationwide in interactive exhibitions on Wednesday 12th May and Thursday 13th May 2021, alongside educational resources for the students to further explore the topics from the exhibition and to create their own STEAM artwork. A virtual exhibition open to the general public will then run from Thursday, May 20.
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 30 March
SciTech
PhD with Laura: Trinity geneticist shares the ins and outs of PhD life online Laura Whelan runs a successful Instagram account where she discusses her work and advice Lucy Fitzsimmons SciTech Editor
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ecent years have seen a surge in the use of social media as a platform for academics, for students, and for everyone in between, to discuss and discover all things learning. We’ve seen the growth of studytube and studygram as motivational tools and platforms for students to help one another. In addition to this, we’ve seen students further along in their academic journeys take to the internet to share their wisdom and to learn from others at a similar level. The #phdlife has nearly one million posts on Instagram, showing that this subset of university communities, which is so often forgotten in the public eye, is really starting to use its voice. One such PhD student here at Trinity is Laura Whelan. Whelan is in the third year of her PhD in ocular genomics, in Professor Gwenyth Farrar’s lab. Her research area is the genetic causes of blindness and, more specifically, inherited retinal diseases. The work determines genetic diagnoses via the use of various types of DNA sequencing. But aside from timeconsuming research work, Whelan
also runs a successful Instagram account where she discusses her work and gives her advice and experience she has gained so far: PhD with Laura. Whelan started the account as recently as December last year but has quickly amassed an engaged community of followers. Her account is rapidly growing, with currently almost 8000 followers, alongside a smaller following on Twitter and TikTok. Whelan says there were several reasons she decided to take the plunge last year and start her PhD with Laura account: “One was that doing a PhD during the pandemic can be very isolating. I had seen other academic accounts on Instagram and it seemed like a nice community that I wanted to get involved in. I also have a keen interest in science communication and I wanted to do it in a way that was as open and accessible as possible. Often the research we do is publicly funded, so the public should have access to that research without scientific jargon or barriers. Again, given the current situation, I felt like there was never going to be a better time to start talking about science and doing a PhD online.” Now, just a little over three months since its inception, Whelan’s project seems to be more successful and rapidly growing than she could have anticipated. She remarks that the response to the account is incredibly positive: “I’ve had so many nice messages from other PhD students, and undergrads. Lots of questions about my day to day lab life. It’s been a little overwhelming - I didn’t really expect it to gain the following that it has!” The success of Whelan’s account could be chalked up to many factors.
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For a long time, what she would do after her undergraduate degree seemed uncertain Her content is very engaging, and she skillfully uses tools such as humorous and informative reels, story polls, and day-in-the-life type videos to keep her audience interacting with the account. But aside from this, Whelan lets her personality shine through in the account, candidly talking about feelings imposter syndrome, the difficulties of work-life balance in academia, and the small daily struggles she faces in her work, like an experiment failing. The tone of the account is open and honest, and Whelan addresses topics that are sometimes taboo, such as PhD pay and what her income and expenditure generally look like as a PhD student in Ireland. This is refreshing as there is often a lack of clarity on the financial aspects associated with undertaking a PhD when students are making the decision whether to embark on one. Whelan studied human genetics here in Trinity for her undergraduate degree and says that for a long time what she
would do next seemed uncertain. “Then, in the summer of my third year, I did a research internship in UCD with the Kennedy group in The Conway Institute. After this, I knew I liked research and working in a lab environment. I’m also generally a very curious person so I thought it [a PhD] would suit me! My final year project in Professor Farrar’s lab really cemented this. I loved genetics and I wanted to work somewhere where my research would have a direct impact on patients. The project that I’m working on, Target 5000, is the perfect combination of these two things.” For undergraduates or recent graduates weighing up the pros and cons of embarking on a PhD themselves, accounts like Whelan’s are an invaluable resource. Whelan also uses the account to share the benefits of her growing platform with other PhD students; in her “Share Your Research” series other researchers with growing accounts share their work on the PhD with Laura page. She seems at home in the online PhD community and enjoys the content from many creators with accounts not dissimilar to her own: “@ thephdstudent is a PhD student in UCD who I have followed for a while who is a dry lab scientist doing her entire PhD from home. @holly__studies makes very funny study-related reels.” says Whelan “There are so many more as well, #phdstudent is full of brilliant and diverse people!” she recommends to anyone looking to fill their timeline with a little more PhD or research inspiration. Whelan hopes the account, as part of the wider community of other PhD students, will help to break down myths and
generalisations about the type of person who undertakes a PhD: “I want to dispel any stereotypes there are around people who work in a lab or do a PhD. I’m just a normal person pursuing science as a career. I didn’t meet a PhD student properly until I was in my final year of undergrad and I’d have loved to have had a better insight into what it was like before that point. So I hope my account can provide that for current undergrad students. I also hope that in the time I’ve been doing my PhD I have gained a little experience - some tips and tricks that I can share with newer PhD students to make the process easier.” In terms of issues that PhD students across Ireland face, such as lack of funding, unpaid teaching, non-living wages, Whelan says she could write an “endless essay.” She acknowledges the Trinity PhD Workers’ Rights Group as doing an excellent job at “advocating for PhD rights and raising awareness of the challenges PhD students face, including pay, much-needed employee status and future job prospects.” There are many challenges PhD students, and indeed those at any stage of their academic career face. Some of these are far-reaching societal problems that will only change with reform, regulation and funding. But some are much more personal issues, such as rampant imposter syndrome and inadequacies felt by PhD students, or outdated and stereotypical notions of PhD students that deter talented young students from becoming them. In these cases work like Whelan’s, and her honesty, and clarity about her experiences could be a catalyst for significant change.
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Tuesday 30 March | TRINITY NEWS
Sport
The purest form of football James Mahon
page 26
Has sports entertainment gone too far? Cameron Hill
page 28
GAA putting up best performance despite changing restrictions The GAA has been through a long and complex journey over the past year Phoebe Otway-Norwood Deputy Sport Editor
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nfortunately a championship postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic is something that is all too familiar to us now. At this point, most sports players are fatigued by the uncertainies brought with changing rules, and GAA has been no exception, with the All-Ireland championship being postponed until the winter months. The London and the New York teams were also pushed out of the tournament as they were unable to travel to play as the timing of the matches roughly corresponds to the gaps in between the second and third waves of the virus. This did not affect the teams’ performances though as each side turned out in super form to put on a brilliant display just before Christmas in each of their respective championships. The 133rd staging of the AllIreland hurling championship was held for the first time since 1917 in winter - October to December - after originally being scheduled for the months of May. These were delayed due to the pandemic, as we all well know by this stage, and put an end to a large number of the sporting tournaments of 2020. It began on October 24 with the final being played on December 13 in Croke Park with no spectators. In the game itself, Limerick played Waterford and went on to beat them 0-30 to 0-19, a relatively low-scoring game. In fact, it was the first goalless final since 2004. It was a tense match, the Limerick side being the favourites with a hungry Waterford on their tail in their second final in four years, yet it wasn’t enough from the Munster side as stellar performances by Tom Morrissey and Gearoid Hegarty were crucial to their success. Gearoid Hegarty then went on to win Sunday game player of the tournament.
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It’s missing out on times when the community would come together and support each other A huge blow came to Waterford when they lost Tadhg de Burca in the 21st minute after sustaining a knock to his knee. While they went in to half time 2 points up, it wasn’t enough to help the Waterford side and they sustained their defeat. In the All-Ireland Men’s Football Championship, Dublin and Mayo went head-to-head as the reigning champions of the inter-county competitions. The match was held on 19 December
in Croke Park and it was the first straight knock-out tournament since 2000, owed again to Covid. It was also Mayo’s bid to win for the first time since 1951 after they have lost nine finals in a row, yet this was not to be on the day as Dublin calmly won their sixth consecutive Sam Maguire Trophy. Another small triumph came to the Dublin team in the form of Dean Rock’s new world record for the fastest goal scored in an All-Ireland SFC final after scoring 13 seconds into his side’s clash with Mayo. The Leinster side, after beating Cavan in the semi’s 1-24 to 0-12, were confident in their approach to the tournament with a formalistic approach to the day. Cavan had hoped, after claiming the Ulster crown for the first time in 23 years, that they would succeed against the seemingly unstoppable Leinster side but this was not to be. For Mayo, their route to the final was a little harder as they played Tipperary in the semis in the highest scored game in a semifinal with Mayo winning 5-20 to Tipperary’s 3-13. GAA undoubtedly has rooted itself in Irish history and culture and the lack of ongoing play is inevitably affecting players’
training and communities’ morale. It’s truly more than just matches being cancelled; it’s missing out on times when all members of the community would come together and support each other, and even help fundraise. I’m sure we all miss seeing everyone sporting their team’s gear and looking happy to cheer on their friends at weekend matches. However, it remains
crucial to continue being vigilant and abiding by all government guidelines and regulations. This does not mean it is a crime to reminisce though and we can stay hopeful that there will be a return to a level of normalcy by next year. For the moment, GAA is again postponed; since February, under the new restrictions, GAA has not been classed as an elite sport.
PHOTOS BY ZAHRA TORABPOURAN FOR TRINITY NEWS
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 30 March
Sport
Rowing through it all Trinity Sport Scholar and paralympic rower John Tanguay’s journey to training for Tokyo has been duly affected by the pandemic Shannon McGreevy Sport Editor
T Previously it has been, along with rugby and hockey, which allowed for the tournament to continue last year. Unfortunately it looks unlikely that these restrictions will be lifted in the near future as daily Covid-19 cases continue to fluctuate between 300 and 600 cases. In a letter John Horan wrote to club and county secretaries regarding the future of GAA under the current restrictions: “In the interim, and despite any speculation you may read or hear to the contrary, we would again reiterate that the GAA have not decided on what competitions may or may not be facilitated in any revised national fixture programme for 2021.” The lack of professional sports just highlights the need for the government to discuss a revised programme which incorporates this aspect as morale begins to dip just before summer. Allowing sports to continue will help ease this burden.
op-tier athlete, Sport Scholar at Trinity, and paralympic rower John Tanguay is a professional at adapting. With an impressive journey that has led to him currently training for the Tokyo 2021 Paralympics to represent Team USA, Tanguay talks about coming to terms with his disability, putting the paralympics on the same level as the Olympics, and finding that self motivation to keep training during the Covid-19 pandemic. Even if you do not have a disability yourself, you can definitely learn something from Tanguay–even if it’s just being more aware and a better advocate for sport accessibility. Born with bilateral clubbed feet, a connective tissue disorder that requires surgery as a child to try and reconstruct the foot – as Tanguay says, “golf club feet” – , Tanguay didn’t shy away from giving other sports a shot. Tanguay had a short stint with basketball and other sports involving running, but e eventually found rowing where he could avoid using his feet for extended periods of time as it was too painful to ignore or play through. It was “perfect” for him. “At about 13, I went to a rowing camp and joined the local club team, then did that through high school and college. Now I’m here,” Tanguay says about his background with the sport. Ironically, Tanguay “hit the ground running” and his athletic career took off from the start. Pursuing his undergraduate degree at Columbia University in New York with an academic scholarship, he was not a part of any paralympic team up until that point and had solely competed with able bodied individuals. The spring season during his college years was packed with around 10 races and the national championships and it wasn’t until college that Tanguay really went through a “growing period” in learning to “embrace” his disability. “I reached out to the US para-coaches and said ‘I’m interested in Tokyo, I want to give it a shot’”, he recounts. “Then the
summer of 2019 I got a call from the para-coaches that one of the guys in the boat dropped out and wanted to know if I wanted to row in the World Championships that summer.” This really was a turning point for Tanguay’s paralympic journey, as he quit his job in New York and left to go train in Boston for the World Championships with the team. His time there competing allowed him to get “internationally recognised to row at the Paralympics”, essentially meaning he was qualified to compete using his disability. His path to being involved in para-rowing was really an evolution that coincided with his growth and acceptance of his disability. “It was weird because I couldn’t do other able-bodied sports, so I switched to a sport where my disability wasn’t really a disability at all because I was competing with all these other people at a high level,” Tanguay elaborates on his coming to terms with being a part of the para-rowing community. This really opened up the conversation then to how, although there is absolutely no difference in elite athletic ability, there is this societal stigma that the Paralympics are somehow less than the Olympics. “At the time I almost thought the pararowing was a step back because I was so used to competing at this exceptional level with everyone else,” he says. “But that thought process changed when I realised they [rowing and para-rowing] were both equal.” It has not been until recently that the United States Paralympic Committee and United States Olympic Committee has merged to, in Tanguay’s words, reflect
the idea that “disabilities are not something lower, just different”. With some athletes even crossing the plane and competing in both the Paralympics and Olympics, both Games are for elite competition. Even the word “Paralympic” itself derives from the Greek word “para” meaning beside or alongside, illustrating that the Paralympics are the Games parallel to the Olympics. They exist side-by-side, not at different levels. Tanguay’s training has inevitably been impacted by the pandemic. He was not too worried about having that extra year to train and prepare after the Paralympics was postponed to 2021. At that point he had planned on coming to Trinity for his master’s degree in operations and supply chain management and rowing with Dublin University Boat Club (DUBC), but the Level 5 restrictions being continuously extended made training in Ireland increasingly difficult. “What I was able to do with the team was great, but it was frustrating,” he says about the inability to row out on the water here in Dublin. Tanguay did emphasise that Trinity Sport was great in working with him as much as they could since he is a Sport Scholar, but he decided to return to the States in the winter. “It has been difficult, but I’ve had to adapt, which I’m used to,” he says. “You just have to pivot and make the most of what you can.” The lack of teammates and being able to train with others has made self-motivation and training more difficult for Tanguay as he reminisces and “cherishes the moments” he had with his squad at Columbia. He’s been left alone to get out of bed and make sure
he completes the workouts sent to him, as well as doing his own selfguided practice. “It’s way easier obviously to train with people, but it has been a really interesting exercise trying to create your own motivation,” he says. He has found a passion for cycling which he hopes to take with him the rest of his life as it is also compatible with his disability. When asked about where he sees his future with rowing even past the Paralympics, Tanguay comments, “Honest answer is that I’ll probably be done after Tokyo.” He goes on to add “I really like competing with myself and that internal motivation that comes with rowing” which is why in the future he sees himself moving towards cycling. Another reason why rowing might not be in the cards, competitively at least, forever for Tanguay is that he suffered a back injury during his time at Columbia that has “taken a toll” on his body. Understandably, he wants to avoid any lasting damage that comes with training on a previous injury. “Adapting and finding rowing fit my personality and physical limitations.” Tanguay goes on to give some advice for those who are involved in sport, with or without disabilities: “Do what you enjoy and that’s enough as long as you are happy.” With a common pressure to be the best-of-the-best in everything you do, he is humble and places emphasis on staying committed to what fulfills you, for as long or little as it may be. As an excellent example of someone who is not only an exceptional athlete training for the Tokyo Paralympic Games, Tanguay really embodies a healthy mindset in rolling with the punches – the sky’s the limit.
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Tuesday 30 March | TRINITY NEWS
Sport
Futsal: The purest form of fo The South American sport of Futsal encapsulates the best traits of 11 a side football whilst being free from its many weaknesses James Mahon Staff Writer
C
ynicism in the footballing sense has always been a common trait of most professional leagues. The Man Cities of Guardiola may excel with their free-flowing and incredibly fluent style of play, yet, existing alongside them in the same football universe, are the Mourinho’s and Dyche’s of Tottenham and Burnley. To them aesthetics is secondary, winning at all costs is the name of the game. Defensive, orientated and cautious, the result for the footballing neutral is often boredom and monotony. Now there is nothing wrong with this, winning is the key objective after
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all. In fact, in this publication, I’ve written of the necessity of a diverse range of football styles, nonetheless the lower you go down the divisions, that sense of spontaneity, individual brilliance and expressive freedom seems to be on the decline, being replaced by defensive rigidness or a greater emphasis on the collective team. However, one sport, a variant of football, is managing to keep this spirit of expressiveness and footballing skill alive more than ever: futsal. Futsal, with a close connection to street football, is a version of five-a-side football. Played on basketball sized courts indoors and out, there are unlimited substitutions, and each half is 20 minutes in duration. The ball is smaller, harder and less bouncy in comparison with that used in 11-a-side football. The whole structure is orientated around creativity and player individuality. Smaller pitches encourage player improvisation in tight spaces. The rolling on and off players is a nod to the informality of street football, one of its antecedents. With the smaller ball, technical dexterity and quick footwork is essential in being successful. The whole game is designed to produce players and games with skill, precision and footballing eloquence at its core. In that regard it is no surprise that it has its origins in South America, commonly known to
PHOTO BY DIVISIONE CALCIO/COMMONS.WIKIMEDIA.ORG
be the home of some of the most gifted footballers the world has seen. The genesis of the game can be traced back to Juan Carlos Ceriani, in Montevido Uruguay in 1930. The inspiration came to Ceriani when he observed kids playing football on basketball courts as no football pitches were available. This sparked off the idea to apply the fundamental principles of football while on the basketball hardcourts. The engrained laws of football were transferred to futsal, such as the handball law, however Ceriani was in no way reticent in incorporating elements from other popular sports, namely basketball, where the number of team players (five) comes from. The sport was an ideal fit for the sporting cultural identity of South America. A formalised sport, which had its roots in the non-conventional, free-spirited world of street football, became incredibly popular, none more so in Brazil, where they seemed a match made in heaven. In 1956 some rule adjustments were made to allow adults to participate as opposed to exclusively minors. By 1965, in such demand, the South American Futsal Confederation was formed, made up of Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Argentina and Brazil. The essential ideal of futsal is to be creative, spontaneous and off-the-cuff. In contrast with
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The essential ideal of futsal is to be creative, spontaneous and offthe-cuff, in contrast with tactical limitations the tactical limitations placed on players in 11-a-side football, a constant transition from attack to defence is the defining characteristic of the South American game. YouTube clips, whilst not giving justice to the hyper-frenetic atmosphere of the game, something only experienced in person, show the non-stop action that is commonplace. It is hardly a shock then to see that countries such as Brazil and Spain
are consistent winners of the futsal world cup. Their footballing tradition of an expansive, open approach makes them highly suited to the similar dynamics within futsal. Even more so, futsal has helped forge the early playing days of many famous players from these countries and beyond. “During my childhood in Portugal, all we played was futsal, the small playing area helped me improve my close control, and whenever I played futsal I felt free”. These words were spoken by Cristiano Ronaldo about his adoration of the game. Similarly, Neymar has proclaimed that: “Futsal had a massive influence on me when I was growing up. It’s a very demanding game and it really helped to develop my technique and speed of thought”. Going further, the Brazilian Champions league Winner with Barcelona, has said that futsal is “a fundamental part of a footballer’s life”. This has been echoed by multiple Ballon D’Or winner Lionel Messi, arguably the greatest football player of all time. Furthermore Brazilian greats such as Pelé and Ronaldinho have all honed their abilities with futsal on their home country’s streets. The influence and wider impact that futsal has had on football players is astonishing. Its unique demand on players’ technical skills and ability ensures an even greater
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 30 March
Sport
ootball
CHALLENGE/WIKIMEDIA.COMMONS.ORG
Out of left field: DU Sub Aqua improvement once you have moved on to the football field. Its global effect on such supreme talents as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi is testament to that fact. Whilst still not entering the mainstream, people’s awareness of futsal is rising. The Futsal World Cups every four years have got increasingly bigger. In recent years, countries such as Russia, Portugal, Italy and Spain have all instituted professional leagues, along with the already existing South American countries of Argentina and Brazil. This expansion is going beyond Europe into Asia, where Iran already possesses a football league, with Japan and others keen to follow in their footsteps. With little sign of this growth stopping, there is hope that futsal may become universally known and played at some stage in the future. Nonetheless, until this comes to fruition, I would urge those who even have the slightest interest in football to get involved with Futsal. Having played the sport myself in Spain, I can assure you of the sheer exhilaration and pure joy felt when playing unencumbered by any strict or inflexible rules which are inherent in 11-a-side football. Most of all, Futsal embodies the South American sporting characteristics of its home: skill, energy and passion.
Hopeful for next year, DUSAC is known for their weekend trips and unforgettable dives Shannon McGreevy Sport Editor
T
he most affordable scuba diving training course in Dublin is offered right here in Trinity by Dublin University Sub Aqua Club (DUSAC). If there was ever a time in your life to take up diving and learning a new skill to take with you for the rest of your days, it’s while you’re a student. With an active club and community and a variety of opportunities to dive all over Ireland, DUSAC has a dedicated committee to help new and experienced divers get the most out of their experience. Entertainment Officer Rebecca Schouten boasts of the achievements and success of the club: “DUSAC was awarded the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) Branch of the Year in 2008, which is a well-recognised award in the diving community. More recently in 2010, BSAC awarded DUSAC one of the two commendations for our Heinke Trophy entry.” The Heinke Trophy is how BSAC — the main governing body of the diving community — recognises the contribution members and
clubs make to the development of scuba diving. “Last year one of our members, Diarmuid McGowan, was awarded Pinks for his diving achievements and outstanding contribution to the club,” said Training Officer Lizzy McDowell. Pinks is an extremely prestigious award at Trinity, and it displays McGowan’s dedication to DUSAC. McDowell went on to say, “I would say our biggest accomplishment as a club is the hundreds of dives we carry out safely each year, while also taking on and training up to 40 new members.” In a sport that carries some inherent risk and requires a great deal of training and safety precautions, it is impressive the amount of new members that are trained and receive the necessary qualifications to dive. McDowell said that this is no doubt part of the older members who have remained involved: “Our older members often do further training to become instructors, so that all our coaches are club members who volunteer their time for free.” This volunteering helps keep costs down and makes DUSAC affordable for students at Trinity — an appealing factor indeed. With regards to actively diving during the pandemic, DUSAC has been hit hard with being able to carry out their usual activities. However, they have adapted and have been staying hopeful for the summertime and keeping the social aspect alive. “Unfortunately, we have not been able to train in the pool this year,” said Chair Amy Donlon, “but our
Training Officer has been running theory sessions over Zoom for our trainees.” Schouten has also helped to organise virtual events to keep the club community close, and avoid losing touch. With their low prices to become a trained diver, there are also other aspects of DUSAC that are attractive to newcomers and Freshers. Donlan said: “We’re a very social club — we have pub nights after our training sessions and organise trips all over Ireland nearly every weekend during the summer.” One of the most popular trips that DUSAC runs is the Novice Trip, where new trainees are invited to get their first open-water diving experience and have a weekend filled with nights in the pubs and laughs with friends.
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DUSAC has a dedicated committee to help new and experienced divers get the most out of their experience
“I remember being blown away by how friendly and helpful everyone was when I joined,” McDowell said, “everyone really cares about the club and wants you to like it as much as they do.” With a more complicated sport to be done safely and at different levels of experience, it is really a place for students to come together to learn and experience what Ireland has to offer. Donlon spoke again about her experience with DUSAC and her love for the club: “You get to go to the most beautiful places in Ireland and not only see what’s above ground, but also see the incredible landscape and wildlife under the water. We usually rent a hostel or house that we can cook in, and go to the local pub in the evening. It’s a really lovely way to spend a weekend with friends.” So, if you are looking to try something new and love to explore, this is a great place to start. Always looking to keep costs down to make it the best experience possible for students, DUSAC is comprised of a dedicated committee and a group of Trinity students from all backgrounds making the most of Ireland. They are hopeful for next year and even the summer to get back underwater, exploring cliffs and areas out west, and of course a few quiet ones in the pub afterwards. Becoming a member of DUSAC is definitely something to consider in your college career - who knows, you might just fall in love with it like the committee members have. McDowell said it best: “We’re a club for people who love the sea.”
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Tuesday 30 March | TRINITY NEWS
Sport
GAA trying its best despite restriction Phoebe Otway-Norwood
page 24
Cameron Hill Columnist
Has sports entertainment gone too far?
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t’s the thrilling and tantalising action in the arena. It’s the infectious roar of the crowd produced either naturally or with the help of some auditory smoke and mirrors. It’s the heroes. It’s the villains. It’s the horrendous acting during those dramatic backstage scenes. The lycra. The bulging muscles. The “do not try this at home” that all fans proceed to ignore. Sports entertainment seemingly has it all. Maybe you were a fan of WWE or even some other, obscure brand of professional wrestling. Maybe you enjoy the more performative elements of boxing or mixed martial arts, such as the pre-fight press conferences or the hyperbolic rivalries between two fighters. Whatever your poison, “sports entertainment” (a term coined by World Wrestling Federation [WWF] chairman Vince McMahon in 1985) continues to captivate audiences worldwide. Through a heady mixture of
extravagant choreography and extremely effective marketing, the sports entertainment industry is one which has grown exponentially since the beginning of the 20th century, peaking in the 1980s and 1990s, before a steady decline over the last 20 years. Explicitly designed as a moments factory, it offers an alternative to conventional sport, which is obviously much less scripted but often rather dull. But has sports entertainment influenced how contemporary sport is packaged and marketed today? Did sports entertainment set standards, especially concerning female athletes, which have only recently been interrogated and subsequently abolished? According to the International Federation of Associated Wrestling, professional wrestling originated in France around 1830, with participants having backgrounds in public performance. From its early days, professional wrestling bore strong similarities to the
PHOTO BY MIGUEL DISCART/WIKIMEDIA.COMMONS.ORG
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Sports entertainment” is designed exclusively to be, above all, engaging travelling circus; stars such as “Edward, the steel eater”, “Gustave d’Avignon, the bone wrecker”, or “Bonnet, the ox of the low Alps” would invite the public to try and knock them down for 500 francs (approximately €3585 today). By the end of the century, professional
Out of left field: DU Sub Aqua Shannon McGreevy
page 27
wrestling spread to the UK, the US and even Mexico - Mexican-style wrestling, or lucha libre, emerged in the early 1900s. After a brief decline, professional wrestling’s popularity soared in the early 1920s in the US. In 1948, numerous independent wrestling companies united to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and unified various world heavyweight championships into one “World Heavyweight” title. This, along with the advent of television, saw wrestling’s popularity soar to new heights in the US, and after a small slump in the 70s, the 80s represented a golden age for the industry. With household names like Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and Roddy Piper, the WWF led the way during the professional wrestling boom. 1985 saw the inaugural Wrestlemania, the WWF’s flagship event, take place, and attracting scores of new fans, not just in the US, but internationally as well. The WWF also introduced female wrestlers to their roster with the creation of women’s titles in 1983, and while the golden age came to an end in the early 90s, the success of professional wrestling showed that there was a large appetite for similar forms of sports entertainment. Other outfits such as the Harlem Globetrotters, an exhibition basketball team, proved that there was a market for condensed versions of established sports – versions that prioritised spectacle and ostentatious skill over genuine competition. Indeed, the notion of competition in these forms is practically irrelevant; as the term suggests, “sports entertainment” is designed exclusively to be theatrical, fun and, above all, engaging. The producers of sports entertainment primarily emphasise the supposed high stakes of these performances. This is reflected in the marketing for sports entertainment. Advertising campaigns make liberal use of phrases such as “milestone” and “the whole world is watching”. Athletes are regularly described as the “world’s greatest”, while they are also cast as either heroes or villains, and rivalries often expand to full-scale feuds. Over the last 20 years, mainstream sport has begun to be portrayed in a similar fashion. However, there is a growing tendency among sports broadcasters to advertise their content as being of practically apocalyptic importance. Strobe effects, power and passion imagery, and atmospheric bed music are all used to communicate the idea that nothing – nothing – is more important than watching this
match or that tournament. One thinks of that Mitchell and Webb sketch parodying the marketing of ultimately inconsequential football matches, a sketch which seems to suggest that, in the Premier League era, this escalation in hyperbolic advertising was inevitable. But broadcasters could also be taking cues from the sports entertainment industry in terms of generating hype, breeding perceptions of heated rivalries and crucial moments to create a compelling product. Another legacy of the sports entertainment boom could be found in the presentation of female athletes. For a long time, the sports entertainment industry appeared to have worked under the assumption that their audiences are comprised primarily of heterosexual males. For example, female wrestlers have been predominantly portrayed through overt sexualisation – to the extent that until 2016, the female wrestlers of the WWE were referred to as “divas”. Across many examples of sports entertainment, the female athletes wore revealing costumes, and while male performers were praised for their athleticism and mental strength, women were judged based on their appearance and level of attractiveness. The implications of these portrayals become more significant when one remembers that sports entertainment programmes and events are especially popular among younger age groups such as children. If their first encounter of female athletes involves women being depicted chiefly as sexual objects, it would be very difficult for them to be convinced of the legitimacy of women’s sports. Only in the last few years has work been done to ensure that sports women’s bodies are instruments and not ornaments, to echo the words of Gloria Steinem. One of the biggest concerns of sport in the last 12 months has been the reevaluation of past behaviours and culture within the industry. Whether it is the lack of coverage of women in sport or the unconscious racism in football commentary, sport has been allowed to focus on what can be done to be more progressive by reflecting on its past. Surely, sports entertainment is part of that past, and must be included when considering the formation and growth of certain attitudes within sport, such as misogyny and exaggerated marketing. For genuine progress to take place, current and former fans of sports entertainment must consider the values and perspectives that their favourite shows have instilled in them. To evoke the words of John Cena’s iconic entrance theme, the time for introspection is now.