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Students affected by the war in Ukraine
TRINITY NEWS ESTABLISHED 1953
Tuesday 22 March 2022
Ireland’s Oldest Student Newspaper
Vol. 68, Issue. 8 PHOTO BY JACK KENNEDY FOR TRINITY NEWS
UCD professor who publicly resigned from senior role to speak in Trinity David Wolfe Assistant News Editor
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PROFESSOR FROM UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN (UCD) who resigned from a senior position in protest of the college’s response to the invasion of Ukraine will speak in Trinity on Wednesday, March 23. Professor Ben Tonra of the UCD School of Politics and International Relations will deliver the annual Jean Monnet Lecture on the External Relations of the European Union at 10am tomorrow, Wednesday March 23 in the Synge Lecture Theatre. The Jean Monnet Lecture is facilitated by the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, an initiative supported by the ERASMUS+ programme of the European Union. Tonra, Full Professor of International Relations in UCD, resigned from his role as Vice Principal in the College of Social Sciences and Law for Global Engagement earlier this month over the college’s response to the invasion of Ukraine, which he called “pathetic”. UCD attracted criticism for a Continued on page 2>>
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Solidarity forever
Ukrainian flags line College Green and Dame Street outside the Front Gate of Trinity. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is now in its fourth week, and Trinity has said it “condemns” Russia’s actions and “stands in solidarity with the Ukrainian people”.
UT editor bye-election scheduled for April 4 to 7 Jack Kennedy Editor
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RE-RUN OF THE UNIVERSITY TIMES (UT) editor election will run from April 4 to 7, Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) has announced. Nominations for the position closed yesterday, March 21, at 9am. They opened on March 13. Details on the campaign period for the election, as well as whether any hustings events will be organised, have yet to be
announced. Voters chose to re-open nominations in the first running of the election earlier this month, with the ballot option defeating incumbent Deputy Editor Mairead Maguire by 59.4% to 40.6%. In the other five sabbatical officer elections, Gabi Fullam was elected TCDSU president, Zöe Cummins as education officer, Chloe Staunton as welfare & equality officer, Julie Smirnova as communications & marketing officer and Max Lynch as entertainments officer. Voting in the elections ran from March 1 to 3 at the culmination of a two week campaign period, and
saw ten candidates run for the six positions. Three of the six were only contested by one candidate, including the UT editor election. This year marked the first time a deputy editor has not been elected to the position of UT editor since the role became a sabbatical officership, as well as the first time TCDSU voters have voted to reopen nominations since the ballot option was added to all elections approximately 20 years ago. A campaign calling on voters to choose to re-open nominations was set up at the beginning of the election campaign period. This followed the publication of a Trinity News article on February
14, in which students who had acted as sources for an article written by the deputy editor about sexual harassment and bullying alleged that their confidentiality had not been respected. This was the first election in which an active RON campaign was run since 2019. Handover from the current sabbatical team to the 2022/23 officers takes place during the summer. Though campaigning for the elections was allowed to be conducted in person this year, a first since 2020, voting was entirely online. All TCDSU elections and referenda have been conducted
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Tuesday 22 March | TRINITY NEWS
News
Table of contents News Features - page 16 Sabbatical candidate highlights privacy and safety issues in campaign reporting Analysis: The pandemic revealed a need for senior cycle reform
What does Lent mean in 2022?
Comment - page 23
Elitism and party politics in the Seanad
SciTech - page 27 Nostalgia gaming
Sport
- page 31
UCD and Trinity settle scores on the Liffey
TRINITY NEWS EDITORIAL STAFF Editor Deputy Editor Assistant Editor Online Editor Life Editor Editor-at-Large
Jack Kennedy Shannon Connolly Grace Gageby Shannon McGreevy Heather Bruton Finn Purdy
News Editor Features Editor Comment Editor Scitech Editors Eagarthóir Gaeilge
Kate Henshaw Ellen Kenny Sophie Furlong Tighe Lucy Fitzsimmons Nina Chen Niamh Ní Dhubhaigh
Head Photographer Head Videographer Head Copyeditor
Eliza Meller Kallum Linnie Sarah Moran
>> Continued from front page
UCD professor who publicly resigned from senior role to speak in Trinity statement on Twitter which voiced “concern with the situation in Ukraine”, but did not condemn Russia’s invasion. In a response to this Tweet, Tonra said he was “deeply, profoundly ashamed” pointing out that UCD is “Ireland’s Global University”. Tonra followed this up by announcing his immediate resignation from the managerial role he has held since September 2020, saying “it is clear to me that I do not share the values underpinning UCD’s global engagement strategy”. He also highlighted “the role of the Confucius Institute on campus”, an institute funded by the Chinese government to promote ties between China and other countries. Tonra affirmed that he would continue to serve as full professor of international relations in the UCD College of Social Sciences and Law, where he is “privileged
and proud to serve”. Speaking to Trinity News, Tonra expressed his disappointment with UCD’s statement in comparison to other colleges: “My issue with UCDs response was initially how poorly it compared with others, especially that of DCU, which was swift and exemplary. Others like Trinity’s were also strong and UCD’s eventually strengthened. “ “It was clear that part of UCD’s difficulty in issuing a stronger earlier statement related to the anxiety in senior management that such a statement might set a problematic precedent for UCD’s overseas links with other governments.” “To my mind this is a sectoral issue, not specific to UCD. In an era when government refuses to fund anything other than a diminishing share of third level, the globalisation/ internationalisation strategies of universities are inexorably linked to income generation. This also
entails private philanthropy. Irish universities need to think more carefully about the standards applied to such efforts and to prioritize the values for which universities stand” Tonra has commended Trinity’s efforts in response to the war in Ukraine, commenting “well done” following Minister for Higher and Further Education Simon Harris’ meeting with Ukrainian students arranged by Provost Linda Doyle. Doyle has expressed her condemnation of Russia’s actions, saying she was “utterly appalled” at the “brutal invasion” of Ukraine, and College has put in place a number of supports for students and staff affected by the conflict. Dublin City University (DCU) President Daire Keogh called Russia’s actions “unjustifiable”, while University College Cork (UCC) also condemned the invasion.
>> Continued from front page
UT editor bye- election scheduled for April 4 to 7 Though campaigning for the elections was allowed to be conducted in person this year, a first since 2020, voting was entirely online. All TCDSU elections and referenda have been conducted online this year. In November, students voted
for the union to adopt a stance against College’s investment in the armaments industry. In a concurrent vote, a proposal to have TCDSU boycott the Irish Times over its coverage of trans issues was narrowly defeated. A majority of voters approved the measure,
but fewer than the 60% needed to make the proposal a long-term policy of the union. Trinity News has taken an editorial stance in support of the boycott and no longer prints with the Irish Times.
Get in touch at editor@trinitynews.ie
Printed by Webprint at Mahon Retail Park, Cork. PHOTO BY ELIZA MELLER FOR TRINITY NEWS
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 22 March
News
Analysis: What would be the effects of the UT funding petition? Jack Kennedy Editor
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PETITION IS BEING CIRCULATED calling for changes to the funding structure of the University Times (UT). The paper is part of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU), though the union’s constitution stipulates that the paper has editorial independence. If the petition receives signatures from 500 students, it will be voted on by Trinity students at referendum. What are the rules governing UT’s budget? The TCDSU constitution lists ways in which the union is obligated to financially support UT. It does not stipulate how much funding the paper receives, only that the union should provide funding to cover the publication of the newspaper, a salary for the editor, and an office and other facilities. Each year, the editor of UT draws up a proposed budget for the newspaper and brings it to Union Forum (a body consisting
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Both the University Times and the authors of the petition have described it as proposing to cut the paper’s funding, but this is not strictly speaking true
of all officers, sabbatical and part time, of TCDSU). Union Forum can accept the budget, or reject it and ask the editor to draw up a new one. This continues until the forum is happy with the budget the editor presents. What would the current proposal do, if passed? The petition, if passed, would delete the line in the constitution which says the union must provide “a salary for the editor only, granted on a monthly basis during term”, and edit a previous line to add “...excluding salaries or wages”. In other words, it would mean that neither the editor of UT nor anyone else in the newspaper would receive a salary. Both the University Times and the authors of the petition have described it as proposing to cut the paper’s funding, but this is not strictly speaking true; it would place a limit on what the funding could be used for. The decision about how, if at all, the paper’s overall level of funding might be affected after the change would be in the hands of Union Forum. How does it compare to other positions and publications? Most publications in Trinity, including Trinity News, the Piranha and TN2, are subordinate to and funded by Trinity Publications, rather than TCDSU. Both TCDSU and Trinity Publications are “capitated bodies” of Trinity, which receive funding from College’s Capitation Committee. There are three other such bodies: the Graduate Students’ Union (GSU), the Dublin University Central Athletics Club, and the Central Societies Committee (CSC). Only TCDSU and the GSU have paid sabbatical positions; TCDSU has six and the GSU has two. The sabbatical officers of TCDSU, including the editor of UT, receive both accommodation on campus and a living wage. It is usually the case that the editor of Trinity News takes a sabbatical year during or after their time in college to run the newspaper, but it is not mandated that they do so, unlike TCDSU sabbatical officers. Trinity Publications pays for on-campus accommodation for the editor, or provides the equivalent value
as a stridend towards other accommodation, but does not pay a salary. The auditors of the two debating societies (the College Historical Society and the University Philosophical Society), which are funded by the CSC, also usually take sabbatical years, but this is not mandated and is not always the case. They do not receive accommodation stipends or salaries. The overall budget for the University Times this year comes to €26,731, not including accommodation or salary expenses (which are bundled together for all sabbatical officers in TCDSU’s financial statements). Including the living wage, which is €12.90 per hour (and which accommodation costs are included in), adds a bit over €26,000, for a total of approximately €53,000. Trinity News has a total budget of €19,684, including €5,980 for the editor’s accommodation. What’s the historical context? UT was founded in 2009 by then-TCDSU Communications & Marketing Officer Rob Donohoe. For the first five years of the paper’s existence, the union’s comms officer also served as its editor. Following a constitutional review in 2014, the office of editor became a separate, paid sabbatical role. In 2019, following controversy over UT staff covertly recording audio of a student apartment, a petition was circulated which would have severely restricted the
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The petition would merely change what the budget could include, whereas the 2019 proposal would have represented a funding cut of more than 93% newspaper’s funding. The petition received the required number of signatures, but the proposal was defeated at referendum. After the No side was sanctioned for receiving external endorsements for its campaign, UT threatened the TCDSU Electoral Commission with legal action. The 2019 proposal was different to the one currently being circulated, and much more extensive. While the current proposal would merely change what the budget could include, the 2019 proposal would have placed a €3,000 ceiling on the paper’s budget. At the time, this would have represented a funding cut of more than 93%. At time of writing, the current petition has not reached the number of signatures required to be voted on.
Action4Ukraine raise almost €14k for the Irish Red Cross Sarah Emerson Deputy News Editor
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CTION4UKRAINE RAISED NEARLY €14,000 for the Irish Red Cross Ukrainian fund at two charity events this month. The organisation was founded by four Trinity students and recent alumni, Andiry Babiy, Yuriy Kovalchuk, Daryna Kushnir and Donnacha Binchy, who met during their time at Trinity. Babiy, Kovalchuk and Kushnir are Ukrainian. On March 11, Action4Ukraine held a public auction that raised around €7,000, donated directly to the Red Cross to help humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. The auction items were donated by Irish and Ukrainian artists, businesses and students. Over 150 attended the hybrid event, hosted online and on campus, in Regent House. On Friday March 18, the group held a virtual raffle for the Red Cross, again raising nearly €7,000 for the Ukrainian fund. The prizes were supplied by businesses across Ireland. Speaking to Trinity News, Kushnir said that it was “amazing to see that much money coming in so quickly” at the auction. She highlighted that many donations came from Trinity lecturers at the auction, and the Provost Linda Doyle bought a piece. Kushnir said that those who wanted to donate further could do so directly through the Red Cross. She added that people could follow Action4Ukraine on Instagram, where the group advertise Ukrainian artists and businesses still operating from Ukraine. Action4Ukraine also hopes to hold more fundraising events in future. “Mostly we don’t want people to lose any urgency about helping,” Kushnir said. “There have been more refugees displaced from Ukraine in one month than from many other wars over the years combined.” She continued: “The scale is rarely expressed but I’m so glad so many people have the compassion to help regardless of statistics.” The Ukrainian Red Cross Society is working across Ukraine to deliver humanitarian aid and assistance to people affected by the conflict. It has 3,000 volunteers and 550 staff operating from 304 branches. In a press release, Action4Ukraine stated: “We chose to donate money to the Red Cross because they rescue civilians from dangerous areas and reinstate vital infrastructures such as water supplies and electricity.” “Without this help, so many more people would perish.”
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Tuesday 22 March | TRINITY NEWS
News
Trinity Seanad Bye-election 2022
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BYE-ELECTION FOR THE TRINITY SEANAD PANEL is currently underway. One of the three seats was vacated last year when Ivana Bacik was elected to the Dáil in Dublin Bay South, also in a bye-election. The winner of the current election will join Lynn Ruane and David Norris on the panel, which is elected by
Aubrey McCarthy
Trinity graduates. There are 17 total candidates in the bye-election, and all those who graduated Trinity before 26 February Shannon Connolly 2021 are eligible to vote, though the Deputy Editor deadline for voter registration has now passed. Postal ballots have now ubrey McCarthy, from Kildare, been issued to registered electors, is the chairman and founder of and must be returned by March 30. Tiglin, a rehabilitation centre Read on for an overview of this year’s located in the Wicklow Mountains. He is also the managcandidates.
Michael McDermott David Wolfe Assistant News Editor
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ichael McDermott is a current PhD candidate in Trinity, having graduated with a degree in nanoscience in 2018. More than that, he is the longtime admin of popular campus meme page Trinity Collidge, which has over 8,000 followers on Facebook as well as nearly 1,500 on Instagram. McDermott’s campaign slogan indicates that his Seanad bid is in keeping with his career in satire, touting him as “A Nice Alternative to Spoiling Your Ballot”. This is not McDermott’s first foray into politics. In 2018, he ran for both University Times editor and Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) President, in which he received 33.5% and 23% of first preference votes respectively. Speaking about why he is running for the Seanad, McDermott points out that with there being no fewer than 17 candidates in the race: “It kind of felt like everyone was doing it. So I didn’t want to feel left out.” Asked why he is the best candidate for the role, he frankly admits, “I’m probably not.” McDermott’s campaign has featured three main policies; firstly, a living wage for PhD students: “I want to help improve the standard of living for people doing PhDs. If I get elected to the Seanad, my standard of living is going to go up quite significantly, so I’ll already have made a good start there.” His manifesto also indicates an intention to “abolish the Seanad from within” by ruining the prestige of being a Seanadóir by being one himself, as well as creating a hostile
work environment. McDermott also intends to use his Oireachtas privilege to bypass defamation law, which he believes is too strict, and “slander whoever you want”. Asked what he believes the purpose of the Seanad to be, McDermott answers somewhat sincerely that “it pretty much just works as a platform”. He expresses admiration for individuals such as David Norris and Lynn Ruane who “have used that [platform] quite well”. However, he feels that his voice would be beneficial to the representation of Trinity in the Seanad: “They are obviously very intelligent competent people, which doesn’t necessarily reflect most Trinity graduates, so I think you kind of need a gobshite in there, like me.” McDermott’s view of the current government is roundly negative. He refers back to the start of the pandemic when parties were still scrambling to form a government following the general election, at which point our Covid-response was “actually really good”. When the coalition government formed, pandemic policies “turned to absolute shit”, McDermot added. He continued: “So what you can say about the current government is that it’s literally worse than not having a government.” In the event that he actually wins, after ”laughing for a good four hours”, McDermott envisions making himself a very direct conduit for his constituents’ concerns: “I think I’d make it a very direct democracy type thing, because I think what an elected representative should do is just bring up what their constituents brought up. I think if enough people bullied me about something on Twitter I’d just raise it on the Seanad floor.”
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ing director of AMC Moving & Storage, and Chairman of DMC. McCarthy is also a board member of Casadh, a community centre which seeks to “provide a safe and supportive environment, which encourages people with substance misuse problems, move towards and maintain a drug free lifestyle through the provision of training, support services and after care”. McCarthy originally studied business administration and management at the Institute of Technology Carlow (IT Carlow), before undergoing a bachelor of science in business administration and management at Trinity from 1991-1993. Subsequently, McCarthy completed a masters of business administration in DCU. McCarthy also holds a masters degree in theology/theological studies from the University of Wales, Cardiff. Coming from a business background, McCarthy stressed knowing “the importance of investment for creating jobs”, while also controlling costs to maintain and increase employment”. McCarthy is running for the Seanad because “the lessons I have learned through my work need a strong voice in the Oireachtas”.
“We need to focus on inequality but also on solutions that make sense and get results. I can make a positive contribution.” If elected, McCarthy’s priorities will include access to housing, access to education, protecting the environment and sustainability, supporting small and medium sized businesses and tackling violence against women. In 2018, McCarthy faced scrutiny for running a short-term business through Airbnb, while also operating a homeless charity. He was connected to 14 listings on the platform as the host or co-host. These apartments in Dublin 8 were being let as short-term business lets, rather than longterm residential properties. Using homes year-round as short-term lets without planning permission is a breach of planning law, which McCarthy told the Dublin Inquirer he had not been aware of.
Eoin Barry Jack Kennedy Editor
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oin Barry is a social worker and therapist from Laois, having completed a masters in social work in Trinity. He is a Labour Party area representative for Laois, and served on the party’s national executive for three years. He was involved in campaigning for both the repeal of the eighth amendment and marriage equality, and has been outspoken in his support for transgender rights. Speaking to Trinity News, Barry says that issues of mental health and support for healthcare workers are central to his campaign. “Most of the systemic issues in Ireland cause mental health distress,” Barry added, “like too much pressure on students,
but also things like the cost of living crisis and the housing crisis.” Barry believes his training in social work and mental health support makes him particularly well-suited to tackle these issues. Assessing the performance of the current government, Barry says: “In fairness, there have been so many issues that they’ve had to deal with. International issues like Ukraine, and the pandemic. Any government would have found this period very difficult. But I think the main problem with this government is that they’re very short sighted.” As an example of short-sightedness, Barry points to the recent lifting of the mask mandate for public transport and retail environments. “It’s a cycle where it feels like a crisis all the time. would suggest that a more clear, long term strategy is probably what is needed from an effective government.” Barry believes that the Seanad offers a platform from which to advocate and work on systemic issues with that kind of longterm lens. “I think if you see it as well, ‘I’m going to do all these amazing things as an individual senator’, that’s unlikely given the limited powers. But I think you have the power to build consensus around an issue,” he says. For example, while Barry doesn’t believe a senator would have the power to immediately tackle the waiting lists for mental health services, they could advocate for hiring and training of staff over several years to build capacity in those services. “It’s a place to build change. It’s about being clear on your principles and being clear on building consensus.”
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 22 March
News
Maureen Gaffney Shannon Connolly Deputy Editor
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aureen Gaffney is a psychologist, speaker, broadcaster and writer, having written five books to date. Gaffney, originally from Cork, completed her BA in Psychology in University College Cork (UCC), before going on to complete her masters in behavioural sciences from the University of Chicago. Gaffney then completed her PhD in Trinity. Her latest book, Your One Wild and Precious Life, was the winner of the RTÉ Audience Choice Award in the 2021 Book Awards.
Paula Roseingrave
Kate Henshaw News Editor
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hen asked by Trinity News why she’s running for the Seanad, Paula Roseingrave listed three reasons; gender equality, accessibility for people with disabilities and a passion for tackling the climate crisis. Roseingrave cited women’s safety as a “key area” to her. She noted that, as a victim of sexual assault herself, this is “one area that is of immense importance to me, particularly what goes on in campus because I was a student when this happened to me”. She highlighted the climate crisis and an issue of immense importance to her saying that it “is way beyond a tipping point, and has been for quite some time” and
“fossil fuels particularly is the one thing we have to get rid of out of our environment”. Roseingrave ran in the 2020 general election as a member of the Green Party, but is running for the Seanad as an independent candidate. However, she cites her experience in the party as vital to help her to tackle some of these climate issues: “My credentials from that area are very important to my going forward to do this.” When asked what credentials make her the best candidate for the seat, Roseingrave believes her personal experiences fighting for women’s rights set her apart from the other candidates in the race. She said: “In third level, I think there’s a lot to be done.” Specifically she wants to see a ban on sexual relationships between students and academics, saying that this “gray area is an exploitative area”. She also highlighted her experi-
Gaffney has also held a number of academic positions throughout her professional career, as the Director of the Doctoral Programme in Clinical Psychology in Trinity and as adjunct professor of psychology and society at University College Dublin. Gaffney has also held several government roles, including a board member of the Health Service Executive and a member of the Law Reform Commission. Gaffney was a member of the Yes campaign in the referenda to reform the laws on divorce, the Eighth Amendment and marriage equality. She served as the Chair of the National Economic and Social Forum and the Chair on Programme for Revitalising Areas by Planning, Investment and Devel-
opment (RAPID). Highlighting what her priorities will be if elected to the Seanad, Gaffney listed “promoting significant reform in the area of mental health and wellbeing”, “ensuring accessibility and adequate funding for excellence in higher education”, and “advancing real social, economic, political and gender equality”. Gaffney also emphasised supporting “urgent and effective action” on the climate change crisis and defending civil liberties and human rights. “The past two years have taught us much about ourselves, and each other,” Gaffney said. “This is a key moment to progress higher education issues including future funding of the sector, improved access to higher education for all, and an intensive focus on making up for the loss of in-person lectures and events since 2020.”
ence as a psychologist and training in dealing with psychological trauma. She highlighted plans to put together “a training programme” for people to help refugees. Roseingrave also noted her qualifications in international relations and believes we need to “radically rethink the way in which politics and the way in which political security across the world is managed”. When asked about her priorities with regards to access and improvement in the higher education sector, Roseingrave said “‘it’s not just about getting students over the threshold”. She added: “I think that’s kind of a myth, this, it’s about everything you do afterwards, that helps them to stay there.” She wants to campaign for more outreach and better mental health services for students. “These are parallel crises, so we have to be looking at them in an interlocking parallel kind of way, one interacting with the other.”
Catherine Stocker Shannon Connolly Deputy Editor
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atherine Stocker is originally from Cavan, and holds a BA and an MPhil from Trinity. Stocker is a Social Democrats councillor for Clontarf, and has previously been actively involved with the Trinity Access Programme (TAP), working for the organisation for several years. Stocker is a board member of the City of Dublin Education and Training board, which provides primary, secondary and further education services, as well as youth services such as Youthreach, and is the Chair of the board of Killester and Marino College of Further
Education and sits on the board of Marino College. Speaking of her experience of working with TAP, Stocker said that she was “primarily responsible for schools outreach and orientation for incoming TAP students but was also involved in designing and delivering the Pathways to Law programme at undergraduate level and was an undergraduate student advisor”. Stocker also sat on the delivery group for the Higher Education Access Route (HEAR) as the Trinity representative. If elected to the Seanad, Stocker has listed her priorities as being the separation of church and state, housing, and action against gender based violence. Stocker has also emphasised her involvement in the “Together for Yes” campaign
in 2018 as a community leader for Dublin Bay North. Since the victory of the yes campaign in 2018, Stocker also worked with the Together for Safety group, who are working for “safe access zones and in driving towards a repeal review which focuses on eliminating barriers to accessing abortion care only available in 9 maternity hospitals and 10 counties”. “When my daughter was born, I looked around me—and as a Trinity graduate I am aware of my privilege—and knew I could protect her: health insurance, education, extra-curricular activities,” Stocker explained. “But I knew that she would be less, that we all are less, for growing up in a society where all children don’t have those opportunities and where their basic needs are not provided for.” “A society that protects and fights for its most vulnerable members is one where we all thrive.”
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Tuesday 22 March | TRINITY NEWS
News
Trinity Seanad Bye-election 2022
Ade Oluborode Jack Kennedy Editor
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de Oluborode is a practising barrister, with a focus on areas of EU law, human rights, international protection and family law, among others. Two of her three children are currently attending Trinity, and she has been living in Ireland for two decades. As well as practising law, she is a member of the Human Rights & Equality Commission’s Advisory Committee on the Future of Equality Legislation. She is also part of the Climate Bar Association, which advises and publishes on issues of climate law in Ireland. Before pursuing a legal career, she received an undergraduate degree in biology in Nigeria as well as a masters in microbiology. She also holds masters degrees in real estate and in public health, a diploma in legal studies, and a certificate in aviation finance and leasing. She says that she is running for the Seanad “because it is the right time for me to give back to our nation.” She says that Irish society should “fully take on board the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion” to “face the various challenges of our times.” “If elected, I will advocate for greater
equality, diversity and inclusion, not only in our political system, but throughout wider society including equitable access to education, employment, housing and health services.” Oluborode says her other main priority is to advocate for increased funding for Trinity, so that the university can “play a greater role in educating world leaders” and “contribute more to the economy of Dublin and…[provide] innovative solutions to global challenges.”
Sadhbh O’Neill Kate Henshaw News Editor
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hen asked why she chose to run for the Seanad, Sadhbh O’Neill traces her interest in politics back to her election to Dublin City Council while she was still a student in Trinity. During this time she was a member of the Green Party. She said this “really kind of shaped my life in lots of ways because [she] finished out my degree while [she] was on the council, but then went into working in a variety of environmental campaigning, and civil society organisations that worked around environmental sustainability”. “I’ve got a lot of experience on all sides
of the environmental debate in terms of coming at it from the point of view of both government elected politics and civil society and also as a citizen, as a parent, as a mother.” O’Neill highlighted her “deeping commitment to intergenerational justice” as one of the reasons that she believes she is the best candidate for the job. This “crosses a range of issues like housing, and job security, and the nature of the job market, and how that is going to play out in coming years and also the role of technology in driving a lot of these changes behind the scenes”. O’Neill fundamentally “sees politics as public service”. When asked her thoughts on the current government O’Neill said she is “still of the opinion that the Greens were right to go into government, I thought it was a good idea at the time. And I still do, because nobody else is committed enough to [climate] agenda”. She noted that “there’s a lot of people on the left who were very angry about the Greens going into government with these two centre-right parties, and wanted, saw it as a kind of sell out of the Greens to do that” but said; “I don’t share that view.” Finally, when asked about the role of the Seanad broadly, O’Neill highlighted the need for reform noting the low turnout in this election and saying that it “bothers [her] that the college isn’t doing more to publicise this election”. She believes that this should be taken by an Independent candidate, saying “if you elect a number of the candidates, you’re just giving another seat to the government and what’s the point, they already have a majority, they won’t be able to exert any influence, they’ll have to do what they’re told”. “And the same is kind of true for some of the opposition parties as well, although they probably have a little bit more flexibility.”
Aubrey McCarthy Shannon Connolly Deputy Editor
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yan Alberto Ó Giobúin is originally from Camus in the Connemara gaeltacht, but moved to Dublin in 2011 to begin his undergraduate degree. Ó Giobúin completed his BA in Sociology and Social Policy in Trinity in 2015, and was elected a scholar in the discipline in 2013. Ó Giobúin undertook a diploma in German in National University of Ireland Galway (NUI Galway) following his bachelor’s degree, before returning to Trinity in 2017 to work towards a masters degree in statistics. Ó Giobúin is currently completing his PhD in Quantitative Sociology at Trinity, which is on the development and causes of educational inequalities, with particular focus on the effect of the Great Recession on child outcomes, and the negative repercussions of poverty on child development. He is currently a quantitative researcher on the Safe Learning study at University College Dublin (UCD), which aims to improve the educational and gender-equality outcomes of children in rural Sierra Leone. Ó Giobúin has also served as a board member of EIL Intercultural learning in Cork, and was nominated for the Dermot McAleese Teaching Award in 2020. Ó Giobúin identifies his priorities as tackling education inequality, closing the
Covid gap, investing in higher education, supporting students, providing quality education and safeguarding university autonomy. He has also been “active in the not-forprofit sector”, having been a charity board member, and is the acting Alumni Representative on the Scholars’ Committee. Ó Giobúin is “keen to address not only the learning gaps that have emerged during pandemic school lockdowns, but indeed the wider, deep-set issue of educational inequality at many levels across Irish society”. He is advocating for “evidence-informed policy in all areas of pressing concern”, including housing and the environment, intent on raising, improving and consolidating our position in Europe as hosting an “inclusive society for all”.
Tom Clonan Shannon Connolly Deputy Editor
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om Clonan is originally from Finglas in Dublin, and studied in Trinity from 1984 to 1989. A retired army captain, Clonan served in a variety of military roles throughout the Troubles, and witnessed “at first hand the impact of terrorism and sectarian hatred on this island”. Clonan represented Ireland as a UN peacekeeper in Lebanon, which he said had “a profound effect on me” that continues to “inform my understanding of the value and power of Irish peace and neutrality”. Clonan does not belong to any political party, and is a “completely Independent Candidate for the Trinity University panel”. From 1996 to 2000, Clonan completed
a PhD at Dublin City University, while still serving as an active duty officer. This PhD focused on female personnel in the Defence Forces, and was the first equality audit of the Irish military, entitled “The Status and Roles Assigned Female Personnel in the Permanent Defence Forces”. Clonan said that this thesis “revealed systemic gender based violence within our armed forces, with shockingly high levels of sexual assault and rape of female personnel”. “Despite a campaign of vicious whistleblower reprisal from the military authorities, my work was fully vindicated by an independent government enquiry in 2003 – and further vindicated by the disclosures of the Women of Honour in September 2021,” Clonan added. Clonan added that he has fought against Gender Based violence for the last 25 years and am now an expert member of the HEA Advisory Group on Ending Sexual Violence and Harassment in Higher Education”. “In this capacity and as a member of the TU Dublin Task Force on Sexual Violence and Harassment, I continue to help educate – and eradicate – gender based violence throughout Ireland’s third level campuses,” he said. One of Clonan’s four children, Eoghan, has a rare neuromuscular disease. Clonan says that he has “campaigned for a radical, rights-based approach to disability” in Ireland for the past 20 years. He has worked to secure supports for students with disabilities in third level education, and is part of the Disability Stakeholders Group overseeing the implementation of the National Disability Inclusion Strategy.
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 22 March
News
Hugo MacNeill Shannon Connolly Deputy Editor
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ugo MacNeill is a former professional rugby player, having played for Ireland, Leinster, the French club Barbarians, and the British and Irish Lions throughout the 1980s. MacNeill graduated from Trinity in 1981 with a BA in Economics, and subsequently completed a diploma in Anglo Irish literature in 1982. MacNeill was a scholar at Trinity, and also studied economics at Oxford. During his time at Trinity, MacNeill captained Trinity Rugby (DUFC), and is currently a Sports Ambassador for Trinity. MacNeill has worked internationally, including for the Boston Consulting Group and Goldman Sachs in New York, Hong Kong, London and Dublin. MacNeill said that he has always combined his business career with a “passion for social justice”. MacNeill has worked with the Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities. “We have grown from having 4 leading Irish companies in 2016 who take on our students to over 40 today,” MacNeill explained. “The potential is enormous and I am so proud to be centrally involved in both what has been achieved to date and what is yet to come.” MacNeill supported the anti-Apartheid boycott of South Afri-
ca by refusing to play with the Irish rugby team on their 1981 tour of the country, and was subsequently invited to meet President Nelson Mandela during his visit to Ireland in 1990. MacNeill also helped to set up the charity GOAL in Trinity, and “went on to do the same in the UK”. MacNeill has also been involved in North-South and British-Irish relations “for over forty years” through the Ireland Funds, Co-operation Ireland and as Chair of the British Irish Association. MacNeill is currently on the committee of the Trinity Trust and Association.
Hazel Chu Shannon Connolly Deputy Editor
Hazel Chu is a Green Party politician, who has been a member of Dublin City Council since May 2019. Chu was formerly the Lord Mayor of Dublin, and was the first Irish-born person of Chinese descent to be elected to political office in Ireland, and the first person of Chinese descent to be mayor of a European capital. Chu previously ran in the 2021 Seanad bye-election as an independent. There was an informal agreement made by the Green
Party not to run a Seanad candidate, leaving Fianna Fail and Fine Gael to run one candidate each. Chu was unsuccessful in that campaign. Speaking of her time as Lord Mayor Dublin, Chu said that she “oversaw our capital city during the worst crisis of our lifetime”, referring to the pandemic. Chu said that throughout her term, she worked to “ensure supports were in place for the most vulnerable, the marginalised, for older people and for us all.” “I have fought for diversity, inclusion and I have worked tirelessly to truly deliver on a better quality of life, cleaner air and greener transport for our city,” she added. Chu added that she wishes to bring this leadership experience to the Seanad, by talking with constituents, working with advocacy groups in mental health and maternity care, and valuing inclusion and diversity. She wishes to “continue to ensure marginalised groups do not keep bearing the brunt of the pandemic”. “Now is the time to find a new version of prosperity- where everyone has a secure roof over their head, every child can play outside safely, where our rivers are clean, women feel confident at work and in the community, where diverse opinions are respected, and different experiences valued,” Chu said.
Gisèle Scanlon Shannon Connolly Deputy Editor
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isèle Scanlon is the current president of the Trinity Graduate’s Students’ Union (GSU), a position she has held for the last two academic years, after previously serving as the union’s vice-president in the 2019/20 academic year . Prior to this, Scanlon served as the union’s Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences convenor. Scanlon holds
two masters degrees from Trinity, and has been involved in organising and activism on campus throughout her time in the college. Funding has now been withheld from the GSU for over seven months, after Scanlon and the GSU’s vice-president failed to comply with an internal investigation into their conduct last year. Petitions were also circulated calling for the impeachment of both officers which received the required number of signatures, but more than eleven months later the votes on those impeachments have not been held. Scanlon has not responded to repeated questions about why the votes have not been held. Scanlon has written for TV, the Irish Independent and Irish Tatler, as well as publishing a book.If elected, Scanlon promises to “draw on my wide experience in Trinity…as an elected representative and president of the Graduate Students’ Union, plus my former career at national and international level to serve as a clear, courageous and effective voice with you in Seanad Éireann”. Scanlon centred her campaign around an “I care” philosophy, emphasising her commitment to continue to “develop innovative solutions, create online and offline Community spaces, promote Accessibility of services, support Research and advocate for Equality by working with postgraduates, [Trinity] and national policy makers”. “I want to bring everything I know about helping our graduates and bring results with care and Seanad reform into the heart of Seanad Éireann thinking.”
Ali O’Shea Shannon Connolly Deputy Editor
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li O’Shea is the director of AFA Consulting Limited, an Irish education consultancy which aims to accommodate “the need for a reliable network in which students with promising ideas can connect with the right people to realise their potential”. O’Shea was born in Iraq, and moved to Ireland as a refugee 17 years ago. He gained Irish citizenship in 2016. O’Shea has previously worked as a translator in Dublin City University, and undertook PhD research in the University of Limerick (UL) from 2009 to 2014. O’Shea previously ran for the Seanad in 2020, but was unsuccessful. O’Shea defines his primary focus as education, both for Irish and EU residents, but also to “increase Ireland’s profile and impact internationally, in a positive and constructive way”. He has drawn on his experience over the past few years in using connections in the Gulf countries to “facilitate the signing of a number of memorandums of understanding between Irish research institutions/universities and renowned universities/research organisations in Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia”. O’Shea will also lead a “high-profile” Irish delegation to the Doha Forum in Qatar this year. The Doha Forum, as O’Shea describes it, is a global platform for dialogue, bringing together leaders in policy to discuss critical challenges facing our world, and to build innovative
and action-driven networks, under the banner “diplomacy, dialogue, diversity”. If elected, O’Shea will also use his Seanad seat to “speak up on immigrant rights and integration, victims of human trafficking and human and civil rights issues”. “I really want to provide greater representation in the Oireachtas for Ireland’s new Irish. This is one of the reasons I am standing as an independent, because I believe these issues cross party lines and are more easily pursued as an independent.”
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Tuesday 22 March | TRINITY NEWS
News
Trinity Seanad Bye-election 2022
Ray Bassett Jack Kennedy Editor
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ay Bassett is a former ambassador of Ireland to Canada, Jamaica and the Bahamas, as well as having been Assistant Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs. He holds a PhD in biochemistry from Trinity, and was part of the Irish government delegation that participated in the Good Friday Agreement talks. Bassett says that is running “as I
honestly believe I have something to contribute to the Seanad”. He notes that he and his siblings “were the first generation in our family to progress beyond basic education and into third level institutions. I did not come from a privileged background.” He believes “the current Government is out of touch with the average citizen and needs to be constantly challenged on areas such as the cost of living, childcare, housing, community health care, equality issues etc.” He believes the university senators “were created to allow independent voices to be heard in parliament.”
He also says he “abhor[s] the cancellation culture and will vigorously defend the right to free speech.” Basset describes himself as “strongly pro-European but opposed to the creation of federalist Europe” and “a real independent candidate without links or understandings with any political party”, and has pledged not to join any political party if elected. In 2018, Bassett was a guest speaker at the launch of the farright Irish Freedom Party. He does not have any formal affiliation with the party, but does regularly like its social media posts, including ones decrying “grubby globalist tax deals” and promoting Irish exit from the EU. Basset says that he believes “my
experience and record will allow me to hold the government to account”, and if elected, will “use the position of Trinity Senator to press for the full implementation of both the spirit and letter of the Good Friday Agreement”.
Ursula Quill Jack Kennedy Editor rsula Quill is undertaking a PhD in Trinity’s School of Law, focusing on the role of participatory democratic institutions like citizens’ assemblies. She has worked for two senators, Ivana Bacik and Sean Barrett, and is a vice president of Trinity’s College Historical Society—having been the society’s auditor during the final year of her undergrad. She is also on the board of the Institute of International and European Affairs. Speaking to Trinity News, Quill said she’s running for the Seanad “to get involved.” “There’s quite a lot of issues that I would like to see raised,” she said. “Having worked for seven years in Leinster House, I’ve seen how you
can actually bring about legislative change. We often hear about how difficult it is to get things through the political system. And I feel like I have particular insight into how the political system works.” Quill believes that the Seanad is a forum for “the longer term issues, the bigger picture issues” to be raised. Issues like drug policy reform or constitutional reform are “things that the political system is quite poor at”, but she believes that “we’re at an exciting time” with the political situation in Ireland as the pandemic abates, and there is potential for change. She cites her experience with the structure of the Seanad as potentially useful for achieving change despite the chamber’s relatively limited powers; she describes the careful use of measures such a private member’s bills and amendments to bills as “the more mundane and technical aspect of
Seanad. She also noted her victory in a 1995 Supreme Court case, where she successfully challenged the government’s monetary support of one side of the divorce referendum as unconstitutional. McKenna agreed with the government on the necessity of legalising divorce then, but had principled and legal disagreements with its campaigning, which she believes “demonstrates that I will stand by my principles and pursue what I believe to be right and fair”. “In my opinion the current government and its predecessors have failed the people on the most important and fundamental issues,” McKenna said. She thinks the government is not committed to transparency or accountability in public office, and sees the housing crisis as a failure “to put the needs of the majority above those of the privileged minority.” On the topic of higher education, McKenna believes “funding is the key issue”. Equitable access to
third level will “ensure we create a fair and most importantly an entrepreneurial society” in her view. “It is unacceptable that successive governments have relied on the private market for student accommo dation,” she added, citing housing as a barrier to education access. She also criticised the Higher Education Authority Bill 2022, saying that its authors “look at third level education primarily from a purely business model”. McKenna also believes concerns around academic freedom and independence under the bill are well-founded.
U Patricia McKenna Jack Kennedy Editor
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atricia McKenna is a barrister, having been called to the bar in 2016. She received a law & politics degree from Trinity as well as studying in King’s Inns, Limerick School of Art & Design, the National College of Art & Design and Letterkenny IT. She was a member of the Green Party, but chose to leave in 2009 over the party’s performance in government. Speaking to Trinity News, McKenna said her decision to run was motivated by two factors. First, she believes “there is an urgent need to bring back balanced debate and to end the growing culture of the echo chamber”. “Government suppression or unofficial media censorship of
alternative views, a feature very prevalent in today’s world, is not democracy,” according to McKenna Secondly, McKenna describes herself as “bitterly disappointed” at the failure to reform the Seanad in the wake of the vote to retain the chamber in 2013. She was involved in the campaign to maintain the upper house of the Oireachtas, but says that the current system of senator appointment is “a behind-thescenes horse trading between the parties, which excludes any direct involvement or say by the people.” McKenna is running in this election as an independent candidate, which she believes is “a necessary and crucial requirement which allows for the scrutinisation of legislation without fear of interference from political parties.” This scrutinisation is, in her view, the most important function of the
the job” that is “in many ways, the key aspect of it”. But she also wants to use the platform: “if you have an issue, I can raise it with a minister next week.” On the subject of higher education, Quill believes the “chronic underfunding” of the system is “the key thing”. She recognises that “there are trade-offs, the pie is only so large” but that “the fees that students are expected to pay are a massive barrier” even as universities lack sufficient funding. She believes higher education access is also linked to other issues like the housing crisis, and in general that “the cost of going to college is not being seriously addressed by the department [of Higher Education]”. Quill is also passionate about rights for teaching staff at third level, noting that lack of proper contracts “has a huge impact on early career researchers on and on postdocs. There’s barely any path in, you’re on an adjunct contract for so long. All of that has an impact on the learning environment.”
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 22 March
News
Analysis: Higher education’s response to the war in Ukraine Jamie Cox
News Analysis Editor
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S THE RUSSIAN INVASION of Ukraine continues through its fourth week, an estimated 3.2 million civilians are displaced and the process of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia continues to stop and start. It is worth considering, at this juncture, the action taken by Ireland and its higher education institutions (HEI) in accommodating Ukrainian students coming to Ireland. Ireland up to this point has accepted roughly 7,000 Ukrainian citizens displaced by the fighting, some of whom have had their education interrupted. Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris said that “Ireland and Europe wants to respond in a comprehensive, compassionate and humanitarian way to the horrific situation in Ukraine”, and will allow Ukrainian students to finish their studies in Irish colleges and universities. Continuing, he said:“When it comes to education, like so many other areas, we are strongest when we coordinate and work together across the EU. I am sure we can learn from each other – let us share our responses so that we can
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We will also need to provide employment opportunities for people and offer people the chance to engage in further education
ensure our actions are impactful.” Ukrainian students In the first week of March, Harris announced that all Ukrainian students who seek refuge in Ireland and wish to resume their studies will be allowed to do so, and will be treated as though they were Irish in regard to fees. Students will be eligible for Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) grants and will have access to the €3,000 fee rate. This is a deviation from the norm, as these grants and rates of fees are usually accessible for EU students only. Harris said: “We will make sure that any student who comes here will be treated as if they were EU citizens.” The minister has discussed these measures with EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Mariya Gabriel, with emphasis put on the necessity that Ukrainian students have the option to continue their study once in Ireland. Harris has stressed that both Ukrainian and Russian students already studying in Irish HEIs are to be given access to resources to support them. At the time of the invasion, there were roughly 170 Ukrainian students studying in Ireland, with 27 in University College Dublin and at least a dozen in Trinity. Harris has made a note of the language barriers that may be present for many newly-incoming students and the resources that will be needed to ensure students can engage with university material. “This is crucial to ensuring people have the ability to understand the information being presented to them, and to help them embed in Irish society,” he said. “We will also need to provide employment opportunities for people and offer people the chance to engage in further education.” Irish students Harris announced that all Irish students who have had to return from Ukraine due to the war will be able to continue their studies in Irish colleges and universities as well, following a meeting with the Irish University Association (IUA). The majority of these displaced students are studying med-
icine and dentistry. He commented on the need for a robust response from the HEI system in order to fully accommodate returning students. “When it comes to higher education, the immediate priority is to ensure Irish students fleeing Ukraine can continue their studies here,” he said. “My Department has contacted them all and they are deeply traumatised by what has unfolded. We will work to extend supports and care to them.” He continued: “The IUA universities have confirmed they will provide places necessary and we look forward to working with them on that. We will also work collectively to ensure Ukrainian people can access higher education here too.” Trinity’s response Trinity has offered support to Ukrainian students studying at Trinity, having invited all affected
students and staff to a meeting attended by Vice President for Global Engagement, Emma Stokes. This meeting listed the various supports that would be continuously available to students affected by the conflict. These include the senior tutor’s office, student counselling, Niteline and the office of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union Welfare Officer, Sierra Mueller-Owens. Provost Linda Doyle has set up a Global Incident Response Unit, with the aim of co-ordinating Trinity’s response to the current crises, as well as any future crises. This unit has since drawn on advice of organisations with experience in dealing with individuals displaced by war. In the weeks following the invasion Trinity has arranged a meeting with An Taoiseach, Michael Martin and Minister Harris for students affected by the war. From a student level, TCDSU organised a fundraiser for Ukraine, staging a club fundraiser in which 100% of the proceeds from ticket sales were given to UNICEF Ukraine. College has since said that it awaits updates from the department as to how it will accommodate returning Irish students, saying it will need clarification as to how best it can provide places for them.
Student exchange The IUA released a statement saying: “We will robustly support, comply with and implement international sanctions regimes with respect to the Russian Federation and Belarus.” “This includes suspension of the exchange of students, researchers and scientific personnel, the cessation of financial transactions and a halt to the exchange of research material, complying in full with all EU sanctions,” the statement continued. It has been proposed that an Erasmus programme be set up to fund an EU scholarship scheme for incoming Ukrainian students. This scheme would remove all financial and regulatory barriers for students and those conducting research who wish to continue studying abroad in Ireland. Speaking at the IUA meeting, Harris said: “We have the tools and the programmes at our disposal to ensure students can flow freely from one institution to the other.” Harris commented on the issue of ensuring the Irish system of further education is ready to accommodate students fleeing Ukraine: “I don’t believe we should try and create a new system but we could use one that is known to work, and expand it to suit the needs of Ukrainian people.”
PHOTO BY SABA MALIK FOR TRINITY NEWS
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Tuesday 22 March | TRINITY NEWS
News
Sabbatical candidate highlights privacy and safety issues in campaign reporting Former ents candidate Nadia expressed “disquiet and genuine concern” over coverage of her campaign Bella Salerno Deputy News Editor
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SABBATICAL CANDIDATE has expressed concern about how the University Times (UT) handled her concerns about privacy and safety in the paper’s reporting on her campaign. Speaking to Trinity News, Junior Sophister (JS) computer science class representative Nadia shared her experience. For privacy reasons and safety concerns disclosed in confidence to Trinity News and UT, Nadia goes by her first name only. While nominating herself for Ents Officer in the 2022 sabbatical officer elections in early February, Nadia explicitly wrote next to her full name that she prefers to “just go by Nadia”. When candidates running for the sabbat elections were announced, TCDSU’s incumbent Education Officer Bev Genockey asked Nadia “if it was ok to say [her] last name just for the announcement”, Nadia told Genockey it “was fine” and that she “understood even though [she] would rather go by just Nadia be-
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Numerous requests made by Nadia and TCDSU to remove her surname from the articles were allegedly ignored
cause [she doesn’t] really associate with [her] last name”. “I didn’t really wanna be a nuisance,” she explained to Trinity News Nadia said that while the privacy and safety concerns are the main reasons for why she chooses to go by Nadia only, there are several others. “First of all, nobody can pronounce it,” she added. She also believes that her surname makes her stand out in a negative way, and puts her at risk of being discriminated against. “My whole brand is just being Nadia, like that’s who I am and I don’t even really go by my mum’s last name that much,” she continued. Nadia explained that this is because of “potentially making [her safety concern] worse”. During the campaign period, Nadia says that UT repeatedly disregarded her concerns and published her full name in eight online articles and one print edition. Numerous requests made by Nadia and TCDSU to remove her surname from the articles were allegedly ignored by UT, with her name only sporadically changed to “Nadia A” or “A” in online articles. Speaking to Trinity News, Nadia explained how she believed UT “completely took things out of context”. “I remember reading the hustings articles and thinking I didn’t even say this stuff,” Nadia said. The experience caused the computer science class rep to experience “panic attacks” and fear for her own safety. Nadia is currently not planning to take legal action against the publication. Nadia said she did not feel it was appropriate for UT to use an initial for her last name in online articles, and print her full name on the print paper after she asked them not to. She said the experience made her feel at risk, as UT allegedly did not respect her request to remove her last name and has caused her to “have multiple breakdowns”. Nadia continued: “Why is [UT] toying with students’ emotions as some prideful thing, there’s a lot of things bigger than [them] getting [their] way.” “It’s a safety issue at the end of the day and students’ mental health are being affected, not just mine,” she concluded. Nadia has sought an apology from UT, but since the conclusion of elections on March 3, has not received one. On February 7, prior to the beginning of the campaign period, Nadia informed Trinity News that she would prefer not to have her surname used to refer to her. She was referred to primarily as “Nadia” in this newspaper’s coverage of the elections, but her surname
did appear a total of three times on the Trinity News website. On February 25, after being informed that there were concerns about the candidate’s safety, Trinity News removed all instances of her surname online and did not include it in the print edition published on March 1. Timeline of articles referring to Nadia using her surname or as “Nadia A’’ or “A” • February 7: “10 to Run in TCDSU Elections, with Two Presidential Candidates”. • February 20: “For All Three Ents Candidates, Safety on Nights Out Must be a Given”. • February 21: “Amicable Dining Hall Hustings See Candidates Ponder Accessibility and Safety”. • February 22: “Disjointed Equality Hustings Leave Little Room for Detailed Rhetoric”. • February 23: “Ents Candidate Nadia A Given Major Strike”. • February 28: “Sabbatical Candidates: An Astrological Analysis”. • March 1: “Exacting Questions at JCR Hustings Make Some Candidates – and Break Others”. • March 3: “Max Lynch Elected Ents Officer, Defeating Ross Donnelly and Nadia A”. Nadia’s correspondence with UT February 8: Nadia contacted UT Junior Editor Maitiú Charleton and asked if the first article published could be edited to remove her surname since she does not have “much affiliation with that name” and because of “complicated family stuff ”. Charleton replied that he would “get back to [her] on this”. However, Nadia is still referred to as “Nadia A”, “A”,
and her surname in the article. February 17: Nadia contacted UT Deputy Radius Editor Ailbhe Noonan with the same request and reasoning to which Noonan said she would try her “best to do that”. February 20: The second article published still included her surname. Nadia asked Noonan if she could remove the name from the article and the Deputy Radius Editor said she “asked if we [can] change it, and [will] keep that in mind in future’’. While Nadia’s surname was eventually removed from the article, she is still referred to as “Nadia A” and “A’’. February 22: Nadia contacted UT’s Instagram page asking if the newspaper could refer to her “as just Nadia please” since she does “not feel comfortable being referred to as [her surname] due to family issues”, to which she received no response. February 25: Nadia then contacted the UT Editor Emer Moreau personally to arrange a call “about a privacy issue being violated” that she felt “very uncomfortable about” and would “rather not text about”. She added: “It’s very important and I’m very scared about it now because my mum has contacted me about it.” According to Nadia, the UT Editor asked if the request was due to legal concerns, to which Nadia replied ‘“no, it’s not like that at all, I don’t have any history with the Garda, it’s just a concern for my safety”. Moreau then said she “would contact the lawyer” to see about the omission of Nadia’s surname in the articles. Following the phone call, Nadia said she “realised [the UT Editor”] wasn’t going to do anything”, and
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The editor then said she “would contact the lawyer” to see about the omission of Nadia’s surname in the articles she decided to message TCDSU. Speaking to TCDSU Welfare Officer Sierra Müller-Owens, Nadia said she “let her know what the problem was”. Müller-Owens called it “ridiculous” according to Nadia, and promised to contact Moreau about the issue. February 28: The print edition of UT was published, which included Nadia’s surname in several articles. Speaking to Nadia on WhatsApp, Moreau suggested that she could use her mother’s maiden name instead, Nadia said she did “not feel comfortable with that either”. Moreau then “strongly” recommended Nadia to “look into the Right to be Forgotten” and said she “[has] to use some sort of surname in the interest of the other candi-
PHOTO BY ELIZA MELLER FOR TRINITY NEWS
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 22 March
News dates”. However, the other candidates for Ents Officer were aware of her preference and had no issue with it, with Max Lynch saying he “saw no problem with that at all” and Ross Donnelly offering her further support with the issue. March 6: In an email seen by Trinity News addressed to the UT editor, Nadia wrote to “formally express [her] disappointment and, more importantly, [her] disquiet and genuine concern at the manner in which” UT has published her name in articles written about the campaign for Ents Officer, Nadia wrote that she had specifically asked to be referred to as just Nadia by their publication. In the email, Nadia outlined her disappointment with the handling of this issue: “The reasons I gave when asking to be referred to simply as Nadia were reasons which it was genuinely difficult for me to disclose and to explain.” “I explained that I had family difficulties which meant that the use of [my surname] was uncomfortable, strange and more importantly, could give rise to real problems for me,” she continued. “It therefore came as a serious shock and a horrible surprise when I saw the articles written, as they were in the middle of a campaign that I have worked so hard on, it was incredibly difficult to process and impossible to address until now,” the email concluded. Speaking to Trinity News, the UT editor said: “The candidate did not contact me directly until halfway through the campaign about this issue. In the interest of transparency, we made the decision to publish her name as it appeared on the ballot paper. As the candidate was running for public office, it is in the public interest to publish her name as it appears on the ballot. I have been in touch with the Electoral Commission about this since the campaign ended as they
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In the interest of transparency, we made the decision to publish her name as it appeared on the ballot paper...it is in the public interest
are responsible for how candidates’ names appear on the ballot.” EC, TCDSU and Junior Dean involvement When asked how TCDSU acted or responded, Nadia believes while they were sympathetic to her, and attempted to reach out to UT, “they gave up” trying to resolve the issue and “tried to silence [her]’’. “If they’re not doing anything and giving up, what am I supposed to do,” Nadia asked. “The only thing I can think of is exposing her in public because they couldn’t do anything else”. During the campaign, TCDSU’s Education Officer Bev Genockey contacted Nadia after she posted about her experiences with UT on her campaign social media page. Genockey asked Nadia to “take down the post” because it wasn’t “in the spirit of the campaign”, according to the Electoral Commission (EC). The EC, which has admin rights on all campaign pages, then intervened to remove the post and told Nadia she would be issued with a strike if she persisted. Their reasoning was that she was violating campaign regulations which prohibit “direct attack against members of staff/ students”. In a message to Nadia, seen by Trinity News, the EC said: “If this becomes a repeated offence, we will have no choice but to issue your campaign with further strikes, which may result in your campaign being classed as void and your votes won’t be counted.” They concluded that while they “understand [her] frustrations (…) a campaign page is not the place to directly call out a sabbatical officer”. According to section 4.7 (a) of schedule three (which governs elections) in the TCDSU constitution, “verbal, physical, online or other forms of attack or intimidation used against other candidates, members of the electoral commission or any student or staff member will be considered a serious offence by the electoral commission and will result in a candidate’s name being immediately struck off the ballot”. Speaking to Trinity News Adam Balchin, Chair of the EC, said: “Concerns around the use of ents candidate Nadia’s name were brought to the attention of the EC by the TCDSU welfare & equality officer and every effort was made to address her concerns in a timely manner.” “With specific reference to the Instagram post in question, the EC asked the candidate to remove a post from their Instagram story on the basis that it did not uphold the spirit of the campaign and schedule three, as it directly called out another student. The candidate was not told they would receive a strike for posting about the issue regarding their name,” Balchin continued. Nadia added that she spoke to the Junior Dean Prof Philip Coleman about the issue, to which he promised to “try to contact [UT] about”. Seeing her distress over the ordeal, the junior dean referred Nadia to student counselling.
Higher education department pledges “to support and welcome students from Ukraine” Minister Harris met with the IUA on March 12 to discuss the sector’s response to the war Bella Salerno Deputy News Editor
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HE DEPARTMENT OF FURTHER AND HIGHER EDUCATION, Research, Innovation and Science pledges “to support and welcome students from Ukraine”, the department announced last week. On March 12, the department’s minister Simon Harris met with the Irish Universities Association (IUA) to discuss the sector’s response to the war in Ukraine. 46 Irish students were studying in Ukraine before the Russian invasion. As of March 2, there are currently 18 Trinity students in Russia and no Trinity students in Ukraine. In a statement made on Harris’s twitter account, the minister said these students will be able to continue their studies at Irish universities. “My department, the government and our sector will do everything we can to support and welcome students from Ukraine and to also provide supports in terms of English language classes in communities,” the statement read. Harris said his department is
currently in contact with the 46 Irish students individually “to discuss their own situation and to try and put a plan in place”. “We’re also preparing to welcome Ukrainian students to Ireland to make sure that they will be treated just like Irish students, in terms of being able to access student grants and student supports,” he added. Harris said his department is also working to establish a central information point for Ukrainian students who wish to study in Ireland. English language classes will be provided by the department for “anyone who arrives in the country from Ukraine”. The IUA have said that English language training may be a “prerequisite for arriving students” looking to enrol in a course of study. On March 18, Harris signed a European statement on behalf of Ireland as a member of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) that condemned Russian aggression against Ukraine. 18 other countries have signed the statement, such as Germany, Denmark and Poland. It demands for the following actions “the suspension of Russia’s rights of representation in all structures and activities of the EHEA”, alongside “support for higher education in Ukraine including financial support for Ukrainian institutions, intensifying cooperation and generally ensuring the continued involvement of Ukrainian students and staff in European higher education, enabling Ukrainian students or potential students to continue or access higher education if they have to flee Ukraine or are unable to return”.
Around 5,500 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Ireland since the outbreak of the war, after government waived its immigration rules to allow Ukrainian people to enter without visas and immediately have the right to work. In an email to students and staff, the College’s Vice President for Global Engagement Prof Emma Stokes outlined an update to College’s response to the war in Ukraine. Stokes said College continues “to meet regularly with Trinity students from Ukraine and Russia, as well as having regular communications with Trinity students who were in Russia” and have also facilitated a meeting with the taoiseach and higher and further education minister for Trinity students from Ukraine. The email stated that a Global Incident Response Unit has been established in Trinity Global, mandated by the provost. It aims to address “supports for current students and staff (academic and professional), supports for incoming students and staff, fundraising, and advocacy and input into any sectoral response”. Concerning Harris’s meeting with the IUA, Stokes said College “will seek clarifications on how [it] can support a sectoral response and initiatives to providing places for Irish students who have had to leave Ukraine in the middle of their studies”. “We await an update from the Department on the proposed central point of contact for people coming from Ukraine seeking to enter higher education in Ireland,” Stokes added.
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Tuesday 22 March | TRINITY NEWS
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Analysis: The pandemic re need for senior cycle refor Bonnie Gill
News Analysis Editor
T DJ Seinfield, Malaki and GRACEY to play Trinity Ball Several acts from the cancelled 2020 event are finally coming to campus Ria Walls Deputy Student Living Editor
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J SEINFIELD AND MALAKI will be playing at this years’ Trinity Ball, accompanied by GRACEY. After a two year hiatus, Trinity Ball is set to make its comeback on April 22 of this year. A Trinity Ents source has revealed several of the upcoming acts set to play at what is often described as “Europe’s largest private party”. Swedish artist DJ Seinfield will return to Dublin after being in the line-up for the 2020 ball, which was ultimately cancelled due to the pandemic. Producing electronic dance music mixed with lo-fi sounds, he has recently released a single entitled Listen & Nisida (Remixed) Vol.3. Dublin-born artist Malaki will take to the stage to perform his mix of hip-hop and spoken word. Malaki, who also performed at St Patrick’s Festival, peppers his work with Irish colloquialisms, while highlighting stereotypes and seeking to break down stigma surrounding issues such as toxic masculinity. His most recent single, The Light, is available on all major streaming platforms. Malaki also will be touring the UK and Ireland
this year, with Dublin dates in May and June. 23-year-old GRACEY, hailing from Brighton, rose to fame through the 2020 duet track Don’t Need Love, which reached number 9 on the UK Singles Chart and stayed there for two weeks. After having to postpone her 2020 tour due to COVID, the pop star will take to the stage in Dublin next month as part of the ball. The theme this year is “Celtic Revival”, and event organisers say they want to focus on the re-emergence and re-birth of Irish culture as society recovers from the most difficult years of the pandemic. Trinity Ents want to use the event to “present and platform a new wave of Irish talent”, according to the organisation’s Instagram page. For many students, this will be the first Trinity Ball they have a chance to attend. The cancelled 2020 event was to be headlined by British rapper Tinie Tempah headlining, ultimately two years of the event were missed due to the pandemic. Many Trinity students are eagerly awaiting what some would describe as the biggest social event of the year, which will occur just before exams begin. Trinity Ents held a line-up announcement party in the Workman’s Club yesterday (March 21) evening. All proceeds from the event went to the UNICEF appeal for Ukraine, and the full billing for the Ball were announced, and music from those acts played. Trinity Ball will take place on April 22nd, with tickets going on sale tomorrow, Wednesday 23 March, at 9am.
HE LAST TWO YEARS OF EDUCATION under the pandemic have revealed fundamental issues with the current Leaving Certificate and Central Applications Office (CAO) points system. Both 2020 and 2021 Leaving Certificate results were historically high due to the temporary hybrid assessment model being used to calculate grades. This inflation, being a result of the use of a mix of predicted and exam grades, has shown that the current second-level education model is in need of significant reform. In September 2021, Leaving Certificate results were inflated by an average of 2.6% on the already record-high grades of 2020. With the choice of receiving predicted grades instead of purely exam results, 52,600 of the 61,000 students who sat the Leaving Certificate in 2021 chose to receive the former. Though disruption in students’ education as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic led to many opting for predicted grades over traditional exams, it is telling of a greater issue with over-reliance on exams in state assessments. While the grade inflation for 2020 and 2021 Leaving Certificate students will benefit them when
applying for third-level courses in future years, it will disadvantage those from previous years who will now have to compete with the historically high grades of 2020 and 2021. As a result of the grade inflation, Trinity announced that an additional 195 places in courses would be granted this year (2021/22) to cope with the additional demand and prevalence of high-achieving students. The need for additional places in courses is a small response to a wider problem, namely that the current points model and an over-reliance on exams act as a barrier to many students pursuing their desired third-level course. On March 1, The National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals met at the organisation’s annual symposium, with a focus on senior cycle reform. Paul Crone, the organisation’s director, spoke on the need for reform in the years leading up to the Leaving Certificate, asserting that the last few years of the pandemic have revealed its flaws. In his speech, he stated: “Many clearly intelligent students are unable to excel in our rigid education system.” Crone expressed a desire for introduction of “skills-based learning” to create a more flexible
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While the grade inflation for 2020 and 2021 LC students will benefit them when applying for thirdlevel courses in future years, it will disadvantage those from previous years
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 22 March
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evealed a rm system that can “respond to the demands and aptitudes of students”. Crone also highlighted that modern employers seek skills that are not currently taught or encouraged in Irish second-level education, such as “communications skills, resilience and emotional intelligence”. The consensus of the symposium was that more than just minor adjustments to the Leaving Certificate need to be made, but rather that major reform in the current model of second-level education is necessary. As well as this, the need for student voice and assistance in the reform process is absolutely necessary. On March 6, Minister for Education Norma Foley announced that secondary school students are to play a key role in making changes to curriculum and assessment models in the future. This inclusion of student voice will begin with the appointment of a student representative to the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) for the first time in history. Such student representatives would have a say in the full-scale reform of the senior cycle education model, including the future of the Leaving Certificate. Such a voice is certainly necessary, to bring fresh perspective to issues in a system that has otherwise been designed by adults who are long-removed from the education system. Modern workplaces in a range of different fields demand individuals who are intelligent in a number of ways, many of which cannot be assessed by the current Leaving Certificate model.
USI launches student mental health campaign Open Up The campaign aims to encourage students to talk more about their mental wellbeing and seek support Sarah Emerson Deputy News Editor
Harris launches second National Review of Gender Equality The review is expected to make five to ten recommendations to HEIs on how to improve gender equality Kate Henshaw News Editor
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INISTER FOR FURTHER AND HIGHER EDUCATION, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, has launched a second National Review of Gender Equality to be carried out by an expert group. This review is being conducted on behalf of the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and will make five to ten recommendations to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) on how to improve gender equality. In a press release, Harris said: “We have seen significant improvements across higher education when it comes to gender equality. But we acknowledge there is much more to be done.” “The expert group is expected to make five to ten high-level recommendations as to how, in their view, higher education institutions might enhance their equality policies and their implementation to
support gender equality.” Harris said that he looks forward “to ensuring that we can continue to support and improve gender equality, and create an inclusive culture and environment where individuals are able to thrive, irrespective of gender.” The group will “assess progress since 2016 by analysing progress to date, including a review of the implementation of the 2016 recommendations and analysis of data from the HEI Staff Profiles by Gender 2016-2021”. The review will “consult with key higher education stakeholders, including senior HEI representatives, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, funders
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To create an inclusive culture and environment where individuals are able to thrive, irrespective of gender
and relevant state agencies” and the HEA will “run an online consultation open to all staff in higher education in Ireland. The report is expected to be published in late 2022. The 2016 review recommended that a second one be conducted at the conclusion of the lifespan of its 20162021 findings. The group is due to contain six members with expertise in the area from Ireland, the UK and Czechia, and will be chaired by former Secretary General of the Department of Social Protection, Niamh O’Donoghue. Speaking about the group O’Donoghue “diversity is a key strength of Irish higher education. Institutions which allow inequality to exist cannot perform to their full potential.” She believes “the social and economic benefits of equality and diversity are undeniable”. “It is timely to consider how work on gender equality can be leveraged and diversified to ensure equality of opportunity for all staff.” The other members of the group are Dr Allison Kenneally, Dr Karl Kitching, Dr Marcela Linkova, Dr Philip Owende and Professor Anne Scott. As part of the same framework of initiatives that led to the 2016 review, the department also established the Senior Academic Leadership Initiative, the Gender Equality Enhancement Fund, and the Athena SWAN Charter, among other programmes. The department now also publishes staff data broken down by gender on an annual basis.
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HE UNION FOR STUDENTS IN IRELAND (USI) have launched a new national student mental health campaign, to help students open up about their mental health and seek professional help when needed. On Monday March 21, USI began the Open Up campaign, which aims to encourage students to talk more about their mental health with friends, family, teachers, as well as to mental health and medical professionals. The campaign focuses on both the impact of Covid-19 on students’ wellbeing, and the challenges of society reopening. Open Up seeks to normalise conversations about mental health amongst students, and counter many students’ dismissal and minimisation of their mental illhealth. The USI Student Mental Health Report 2019 found that almost 35% of respondents who had not sought any help for their mental health reported having severe to extremely severe depression, and almost 40% of respondents who had not sought help had severe to extremely severe anxiety levels. Launching Open Up yesterday at the Sugar Club, the USI will conduct a social media campaign, as well as a roadshow to colleges across Ireland. Last month, following the death of a Trinity student, a petition was circulated calling for College to increase funding for welfare and mental health services. Over 2,000 people have signed the petition, as of March 18. College has not announced an official response to the petition, but did encourage students affected by the tragedy to contact the counselling service, Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union Welfare, Niteline, or other services.
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Tuesday 22 March | TRINITY NEWS
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Group set up to manage College response to war in Ukraine The Global Incident Response Unit will work to support students and staff affected by the conflict David Wolfe Assistant News Editor
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GLOBAL INCIDENT RESPONSE UNIT has been established in Trinity Global to support students and staff affected by the invasion of Ukraine. In an email to staff and students, Professor Emma K. Stokes, Vice President for Global Engagement, announced that the Response Unit will work to support both current and incoming students and staff. Mandated by Provost Linda Doyle, the initiative will also facilitate fundraising, and provide input to sectoral responses in the college. The email to the college community noted that college responses to the conflict must be “sustainable and genuinely useful”. “We really appreciate the efforts of individuals across College and encourage you to keep us informed in order to ensure a consistent response.” Students are encouraged to get in contact with the Global Incident Response Unit if they have suggestions or feedback about the College’s response to the conflict and the support it is offering to affected students. College has been vocal in its condemnation of the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation and has put in place supports for Trinity students who are Ukrainian or Russian nationals. On February 27, Trinity said that it “stands in solidarity with the Ukrainian people at this most difficult time and that “a peaceful resolution to the conflict is needed.” The email noted that College continues to meet regularly with these students, and says it is providing practical supports, advice and reassurance to those affected. College also helped to facilitate the return of 18 students who were in Russia at the time of the invasion. Support continues to be available to these students as well.
Analysis: How are College's Ukrainian students doing? Constance Roughan
Deputy News Analysis Editor
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RINITY HAS OVER A DOZEN Ukrainian students, all affected directly or indirectly by the invasion of their country that has now displaced over 3 million people. A Global Incident Response Unit has been created and meetings with Ukrainian and Russian students facilitated, including one for the Ukrainian students with Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris and An Taoiseach Micheál Martin. Dara Lesniak, a second-year European Studies student from Ukraine studying in Trinity, attended the meeting with the two prominent politicians. She said that they talked about “free tertiary education for Ukrainian refugee students, and Ireland’s backing of the Temporary Protection Directive”, and that the Taoiseach “assured [them] of Ireland’s solidarity with Ukraine”. Lesniak also said that College was “quick to respond” to the crisis and has “been meeting every week to discuss ways in which we can raise funds for Ukraine and assist Ukrainian students arriving in Ireland”. Dmytro Lutskiv, another Ukrainian student at Trinity, noted that Collegehas “organised a tea time for Ukrainians to talk about the situation there, which is helpful for Ukrainians”. He went on to say that the “most helpful thing” was College making “the fees for Ukrainians equal to EU fees, not international fees anymore”, as “we all might be facing economic issues sooner or later”. He also remarked on the fundraising efforts for Ukrainian causes and academic extensions offered to affected students. Lutskiv elaborated on his personal story of the conflict; although his family managed to leave the capital city of Kyiv for the country, his father later returned as he “wanted to protect his family, his people and his country”, leaving his mother with “sleepless nights” and Lutskiv himself “very much worried”. However, he went on to say that after he went to a protest near to Leinster House and felt solidarity with other protestors: “Day after day, I started feeling better and better.”
Lesniak said she had also found the last few weeks “challenging”. “The worst is the inescapable feeling that you’re not doing enough, and that you’re in the wrong place. Sometimes I stay up till dawn doing volunteer work remotely or just checking the news every couple of minutes.” Notwithstanding the emotional shock of the invasion, she said “everyone I know back home is optimistic about the future”. Her family has been “proactive since the start of the war”, with her mother hosting and helping refugees “escaping areas most affected by the invading Russian forces”, and her father “organising the supply chain in aid delivery for our territorial defence units and collaborating with international businesses to raise funds for our armed forces”. Lesniak explained that this has raised “several million dollars so far”. Lutskiv keeps up to date with the conflict by reading news articles “for hours”. He said he was “fascinated by the Ghost of Kyiv”, a story about a Ukrainian pilot who was rumoured to have shot down at least six enemy aircraft. He added that this led him to reflect on his country’s current state, and his relationship to it: “I’m very proud of my country’s army for
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The worst is the inescapable feeling that you’re not doing enough, and that you’re in the wrong place
holding that well. I’m very proud of my people for staying calm in such situations. But I’m also very mad and upset about, first of all, the Russian invasion (how unexpected it was), and all the war crimes Putin and his people keep on doing. I am very angry at those occupants who came to my land.”
However, Lutskiv also asked people to consider the effects of the economic and political crisis on Russians both overseas and in Russia, saying: “[Russian people], if not now, will be facing lots of issues soon”. He gave the example of a 17-year-old Russian friend of his living in Dublin: “She can not live here for very long with the money she has right now. She only has one option - leave to Russia, but since the European airspace is closed for them, she’s only able to travel through Turkey, a ticket will cost more than €1,000, meaning that she will have to work and study at the same time for a very long time.” When asked how people in Ireland can support the Ukrainian cause, Lutskiv said that “one of the best things that people can help is to talk to us [Ukrainians], to help us deal with psychological problems. But most importantly, they can donate to our army, our charities, etc.” Action4Ukraine is a charity set up by a group of former and current Trinity students to publicise and fundraise for the war. Lesniak was involved with Action4Ukraine’s fundraising auction on Friday March 11 and reported that it raised “€7,000… and another €15,000 from the raffle that followed”. When asked what she like to say to the staff and students of Trinity, Lesniak said “thank you for standing with us”. She continued to emphasise that “the amount of support that Trinity has shown for Ukraine-related projects is monumental”. Lutskiv said he was “very grateful for everything Trinity College has done [for] us”.
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 22 March
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Investigation into head of Estates and Facilities still ongoing Brendan Leahy was convicted of sexual assault last year Kate Henshaw News Editor This article contains discussion and descriptions of sexual harassment and assualt.
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HE INVESTIGATION INTO the Head of Estates and Facilities Brendan Leahy is still ongoing, a College spokesperson has told Trinity News. The investigation contiues a year after Leahy was convicted
and received a suspended sentence for sexual assualt. The victim was staying in his AirBnB. Trinity News reached out to College for an update on the investigation, to which a College spokesperson clarified: “The investigation is ongoing.” No further updates were provided on whether the investigation has made any findings thusfar or if there is an expected timeline for its conclusion. The assault occurred after Leahy brought the guest and her fiance on a historic pub tour of Dublin. 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 threemonth 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 Independent reported. The woman provided a victim impact statement that was read out in court, 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. 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
Postgrads given just two’ hours notice to register for TCDSU sabbatical elections The GSU circulated the registration link at 9:45am on the day registration closed at noon Jack Kennedy Editor
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OSTGRADUATE STUDENTS were given just over two hours notice to register for Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) sabbatical elections this year. The Graduate Students’ Union (GSU) notified its members of the need to register for the elections at 9:45am on Tuesday March 1. The deadline to register was at 12pm the same day. TCDSU notified undergraduate students of the need to register several times over the days and weeks leading up to the election and asked the GSU to notify postgraduates too, but it did not do so until the day of the deadline. All postgraduate students are members of both TCDSU and the GSU. TCDSU has no method of emailing postgraduates directly, and it has previously been the responsibility of the GSU to forward TCDSU communications on to postgraduate students.
The memorandum of understanding between the two unions which gave the GSU a formal obligation to forward communications lapsed in 2019 and has not been renewed. This has led to postgraduates not receiving information about their right to vote in TCDSU elections this year, despite requests from TCDSU that the GSU pass on that information. The GSU’s funding from Col-
lege has been suspended for seven months now, after its leadership failed to comply with an internal investigation into its conduct last summer. The GSU president and vice president did not respond to a request for comment. The GSU president, Gisèle Scanlon, is running for the Seanad. The union’s official social media channels published an endorse-
ment of Scanlon’s campaign, and union representatives were also instructed to pass on the endorsement to GSU members. Trinity News contacted six different officers of the GSU to enquire about how a decision was reached to issue the endorsement, and whether it was voted on by the executive. No responses were received.
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 off-campus. A similar list setting out examples of serious misconduct governing support and technical staff includes “serious breaches of the College’s policies regarding sexual or other forms of harassment”.
Trinity board member denied bail Jack Kennedy Editor
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iarmuid Rossa Phelan was been denied bail by the High Court at a hearing yesterday (March 21) as he awaits trial for murder. Judge Deirdre Murphy ruled that Phelan had a “powerful incentive” to flee before the beginning of his trial. The senior barrister is a professor in Trinity’s School of Law and a member of the College Board. He was charged with the murder of Keith Conlon in late Feburary. Conlon is alleged to have been shot in the back of the head following an argument near Tallaght on February 22. Phelan was arrested that day, and a legally-owned handgun was recovered from the scene by Gardaí. Conlon spent two days in critical condition and passed away on February 24. Phelan was subsequently charged with murder. College has declined to comment on the issue, saying that it would be inappropriate to comment on ongoing legal proceedings, but said it was aware of the charges. The status of Phelan as a member of College’s highest governing body, in light of his unsuccessful bail application, is not yet clear.
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Tuesday 22 March | TRINITY NEWS
Features
Ukraine: How did it come to this?
The rise of student investing
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Jay Purdue
Peter O’Brien
What does lent mean in Ireland in 2022? Has the period associated with discipline and simplicity turned into just another wellness trend? Lara Mellett Deputy Features Editor
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n the first day of February, my local Tesco’s Special Offers section had been transformed; gone were the health-food alternatives and protein shakes, presumably snatched up by those clinging to their New Year’s Resolutions. Instead, there were Easter Eggs; rows upon rows of bright coloured boxes containing chocolate eggs wrapped in shiny foil, all on 3 3 for 22. Next to these bundles of guilty- pleasure, was a Pancake Tuesday selection; pancake mixes, lemons, and maple syrups all lined up in preparation for a festivity that was still a month away. Somehow, two distinctly Christian holidays had been spun into a supermarket sales surge, with the intermittent period completely disregarded. This begged the question; has Lent been abandoned in our times, and replaced with everyday excess? Or is there still room for self-discipline and simplicity in a progressively secular society? Lent is a period in the Christian calendar that marks the time leading up to Easter. Beginning on Ash Wednesday (also known as the day after Pancake Tuesday to the non-faithful foodie community), during the forty days and forty nights of Lent, Christians are expected to reflect on their faith, and live simply, mirroring the Jesus’s 40forty -day sacrifice as he fasted in the wilderness. Traditionally, the period was associated with abstinence of all kinds, and by renouncing day-to-day pleasures, Christians could feel closer to their faith. Nowadays, many young people in Ireland follow a much more secular lifestyle, despite their upbringing. Over 90% of Irish primary schools and 50% of secondary schools in Ireland are under Catholic patronage, meaning that a majority of young people in Ireland have been exposed to mandatory school masses, religion classes and widely- commercialised sacra-
ments such as First Holy Communion and Confirmation. However, this form of religious education is widely performative; most eight year olds don’t understand the relevance of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, but see the appeal of a pretty white dress and a day out, or seen as obligatory. As a result of this, true spirituality or faith doesn’t resonate with many young people, and religion is abandoned as they get older. So, what does Lent symbolise for this widely- secular generation? For many, the original meanings are lost, but the novelty of the period is preserved;, similarly to that of Christmas or Easter. Many people still take on the challenge of giving or taking something up for forty days, but the implications of this have been altered to suit a more self-motivated ideology. Lent can be seen as an excuse to ‘“cleanse’”; with people sacrificing sugar or social media in the name of wellbeing and mindfulness. This is in-line with the recent upturn of healthy--lifestyle trends, with many TikTok users starting a forty day fitness challenge under the hashtag #lentchallenge. In this way, the period of Lent is more accessible to young people, but also more self-centred. Writing for The Guardian, Giles Fraser comments; “the irony of the secular Lent of
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Traditionally, the period was associated with abstinence of all kinds, and by renouncing day-to-day pleasures, Christians could feel closer to their faith
giving up chocolate etc. is that it turns a period of self-denial into one of self-regard…It makes it all about me, and most especially, the cultivation of my own beauty or sense of worth”. These connotations of self-improvement that the practice of Secular Lent has garnered is far from the period’s original purpose, but is it closer to the values of young people today? One Senior Fresher student spoke to Trinity News: “I see Lent as an opportunity to live a healthier lifestyle. I’d consider myself secular, I don’t really engage with religion at all, but I still used it as a time to set out some better habits for myself, such as cutting down on sugar and processed foods, even if I don’t fully stick to it”. Another Senior Fresher student com-
mented;: “While I don’t practice my faith, I would still consider myself Catholic. I think Secular Lent can fit into the modern notion of self-improvement, while simultaneously aligning with the values of Catholicism that we see in Ireland today, even if it isn’t particularly imposed on me. I have always partaken in Lent, maybe because I’ve always wanted to partake in Pancake Tuesday and Easter. I don’t see Lent as a time of penance, but rather as a chance for self betterment; nowadays, whether you follow Lent’s religious narrative is up to you”. For many young people, Lent is just another wellness trend, along the lines of using a gua-sha, doing Veganuary or completing a HIIT workout. While this does not
pose any negative effects for young people, it seems to abandon the Christian values that are embedded in Lent’s cultural relevance. Can this be seen as the appropriation of a Christian observance, or the adaptation of an outdated crux of Irish culture? Many Christian holidays, such as Easter and Christmas, have strayed from their original purpose, and morphed into something much more secular and commercialised as Ireland becomes more and more religiously diverse. While the Lenten period of fasting and frugality is much less profitable for businesses, it may still contain benefits for the Irish population. Perhaps instead of religious reflection, Lent can be used as a period of self-reflection and improvement.
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 22 March
Features vent this pollution exposure from having negative impacts on their mental health. Finally, I was really shocked that there have been no studies on how noise pollution impacts teenagers’ mental health. I believe that noise pollution may be very negative for people’s mental health, but we actually don’t have any research on this at all, anywhere in the world. What impact do you hope your study will have on those reading it? I hope that people will begin to consider that pollution exposure is not just a risk to physical health and to our broader environment, but may also be leading to mental health problems.
Something in the air A Trinity study investigates the links between pollution and mental health difficulties Ellen Kenny Features Editor In February, a study was published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research investigating the links between exposure to pollution and difficulties with mental health. The study was a systematic review— that is, a meta-examination of a wide range of existing research on the topic—and was co-led by Dr Kristin Hadfield of the Trinity Centre for Global Health. The study found that exposure to air and water pollution “was associated with elevated symptoms of depression, generalised anxiety, psychosis, and/or disruptive, impulse control and conduct disorder”, and that lead and solvent exposure was also linked to “neuro-developmental impairments”. Trinity News spoke to Dr Hadfield about what motivated her research, and what she thought the implications and policy outcomes from the study could be.
What inspired you to complete the study? We were inspired to begin this study because we thought there might be a connection between the following two things: First, a large proportion of people have mental health difficulties, and most of these begin in early adolescence. Second, many people are exposed to high levels of pollution in their day-to-day lives. We know that pollution causes a wide range of physical health problems. There has also been a lot of research on how families, peers, and schools influence young people’s mental health, but limited research on the broader environmental factors. We wanted to bring these two factors together to try to understand how pollution impacts mental health in teenagers. Are climate issues something you have always been interested in? My interest in climate issues has grown as I have personally seen the impacts of climate change and pollution exposure. It’s very sobering reading the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports. I do my best in my own life to limit my environmental impact and also advocate for change in Trinity and in Dublin. That said, this research comes from a place of trying to understand how to prevent the development of mental health difficulties in young people or how to treat difficulties when they arise. My re-
search broadly focuses on how best to promote positive mental health and reduce psychopathology among children and adolescents, and one potentially important but very understudied influence is the environment.
What was it like working on a study with multiple researchers from several universities? Because I do global health research, much of my work is with large groups of scientists across different universities and in different countries. I think it’s critical when you have a very complex issue that you bring in different perspectives so that you can study it in a more rigorous way. This project included psychologists, biologists, geneticists, and public health researchers from five different countries (Ireland, South Africa, Brazil, the UK, and Argentina). Given that a vast majority of the world’s children and adolescents are living in low- and middle-income countries, and that people in lower income countries are more likely to be exposed to dangerous levels of pollution, it was also very helpful to have the perspectives of colleagues in South Africa, Brazil, and Argentina in this review. Prof Linda Theron and I co-led the study. She is a world renowned expert in youth resilience based at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. She is also involved in a few other projects looking at climate and environmental impacts on teenagers.
What results struck you most from this study? I was surprised by a few things. First, that there has been a lack of research attention on how pollution impacts teenagers’ mental health. Our systematic review found evidence for pollution impacts, but there were many fewer studies than I expected, and the studies were not as high-quality as the types of studies examining pollution exposure and physical health. If governments are concerned about the mental health of young people, it is important to know what leads mental health problems to develop. Pollution is a potential risk factor for mental health difficulties but we know very little about which pollutants, what mental health problems, what the pathways of impact are, etc, because there just hasn’t been the research. I was really surprised by this. Second, the evidence that we do have suggests that when teenagers are exposed to pollution—particularly air and water pollution—they have more depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, conduct problems, and more issues with psychosis. Third, almost no studies have investigated what could support the mental health resilience of adolescents when they are exposed to pollution. Young people will be exposed to pollution and so it was surprising to see that very few people have studied how to pre-
What steps do you think need to be taken in light of the results? For example, what can Trinity specifically do? I think Trinity could do a few things. To protect the air quality that students and staff are exposed to, all non-disabled parking could be removed from campus. Further, Trinity could lobby Dublin City Council for better public transit, cycling, and pedestrian facilities between and to the Trinity campuses. Finally, Trinity could monitor the air, water, noise, and land pollution that students and staff on campus are exposed to; monitoring is an important first step to understanding what changes—if any—need to be made. Outside of Trinity, it would be great if funding bodies would put resources into investigating how pollution exposure impacts child and adolescent mental health. Because we know so little, it’s difficult to know what interventions might be most helpful. What do you think students can do to alleviate climate issues, if at all? While many of the critical changes need to come from government regulations, infrastructure changes, and from businesses, there are some things that we can all do to reduce how much pollution we produce and our climate impacts. We can reduce our meat intake, drink less or no dairy, not use a car to travel except where absolutely necessary, etc. It’s also important to get active with the local and national governments and to tell policymakers what types of changes you want to see. How can students look after their mental health in light of the results? The results of the review unfortunately don’t provide much guidance on how to look after your mental health, but aside from pollution exposure, the following can be useful in promoting good mental health: keeping active, keeping in close contact with supportive family and friends, sleeping on a regular schedule, using the coping strategies that work for you, paying attention to the positive things that happen to you each day, and asking for help when you need it.
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Tuesday 22 March | TRINITY NEWS
Features
Ukraine: How did it come to this? Trinity News delves into the Ukraine’s history with NATO and the EU in order to understand Russia’s recent invasion Jay Purdue Contributing Writer
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rom his headquarters in the Kremlin, Russian president Vladimir Putin gave the military orders to invade Ukraine. The consequent invasion has led to huge losses of life, destruction to homes and businesses, as well as the forced relocation of millions of people. Putin’s actions have been almost universally condemned by the international community, with harsh sanctions being imposed on all aspects of the Russian economy, from natural gas to sports teams. Arising from these profound consequences is the question of why
PHOTO VIA NATO
Putin chose to invade Ukraine now, and the rationale behind this gross violation of international law as well as human dignity. On 24 February, Putin made a speech recounting his reasons for the invasion. Amongst a plethora of alleged grounds, Ukraine’s movement towards NATO membership stood out. The Russian president pointed towards broken promises “not to move NATO eastwards even by an inch” as his rationale for launching these “special military operations”. Throughout Ukraine’s history, there have been competing forces, west and east, pulling it towards different orientations. However, recent leadership has seen Ukraine seek to integrate itself into the broader European community. These sentiments are informed by successive pro-Russian governments marred in corruption and poor economic growth. These movements towards western institutions have been met with imperialist advances by the Russian regime, representing an existential threat to Ukraine’s sovereignty and future socio-economic prosperity. NATO and the EU: a long and winding road for Ukraine The promises Putin is referring to were made by NATO officials following the end of the Cold War. Since then there has been an eastward expansion of the treaty or-
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The Russian president pointed towards broken promises “not to move NATO eastwards even by an inch” as his rationale for launching these ‘special military operations’
ganisation from its original resting point of east Germany following the fall of the Soviet Union, into former members or satellite states of the USSR, such as Bulgaria and Estonia. Given these accessions, the prospect of Ukraine also joining has been on the agenda for some time. However, until 2014, Ukraine had been governed almost exclusively by pro-Russia presidents, who staunchly argued against Ukraine supposedly integrating into the west. The most recent of these leaders, Viktor Yanukovych, governed until 2014. During this period, he allowed Russia to use ports in Crimea in exchange for cheaper natural gas, a move that generated considerable backlash from the Ukrainian populace. Due to mounting pressure, Yanukovych stated his intentions to engage in some preliminary EU negotiations, which was met with widespread positivity, and he bounced back in the polls. Only a few months later, however, Yanukovych rescinded his support for EU integration. He also sought to change elements of the Ukrainian constitution to prevent protests and consolidate government power, interpreted by many as anti-democratic. This breaking of potential ties to the EU and changes to Ukrainian law led to the Euromaidan move-
ment in Ukraine. This movement held large-scale protests and sit-ins across the country to protest the failure of these EU negotiations. The Euromaidan protests grew into the 2014 “revolution of dignity”, which led to violent clashes between protestors and police, resulting in the deaths of over 100 people. The rising tide of public outrage in Ukraine led to Yanukovych fleeing the country and his subsequent impeachment by the Ukrainian parliament. Putin’s reaction to this revolution was the invasion and annexation of Crimea and support for separatist forces in Donbas in eastern Ukraine. Following these developments, elections were held in Ukraine, with the victor being pro-EU candidate Petro Poroshenko. Self-described as a leader of the Euromaidan protests, Poroshenko was a supporter of Ukraine joining NATO and also sought to minimise Russian media influence in Ukraine as well as limit references to Ukraine’s prior status as a member of the USSR generally. This change meant Ukraine faced backlash from Russia, most notably via a further increase in troop deployments along the border and within Crimea and Donbas. However, Poroshenko’s time in office was marred domestically by sentiments that he was using his role for personal enrichment. Moreover, his bank accounts designed to avoid tax emerged in the Panama papers scandal, consolidating the view that despite Poroshenko’s welcome foreign policy stance, his personal affairs were not dissimilar from his corrupt pro-Russia predecessors. Consequently, when former comedian and political newcomer Volodymyr Zelenskyy ran against him on an anti-establishment, anti-corruption platform, he received widespread support and was elected in a landslide, winning 73% of the vote. Commentators claimed that this victory was looked favourably upon by Putin at the time as destabilising to Ukraine given Zelenskyy’s lack of political experience. Zelenskyy’s approach to leadership has since defied Putin’s expectations, however. He has continued the pro-EU legacy by increasing Ukrainian involvement in the international community and has attempted to reduce global reliance on Russia for energy imports. Like his predecessor, Zelenskyy has also refused to recognise the 2015 Minsk 2 treaty. Minsk 2 was an emergency treaty to create a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in Donbas. The treaty gives Russian backed separatists in Donbas, the LNR and the DNR, a “special status”, which could eventually give the separatist groups veto power over Ukrainian foreign policy. This would override Ukrainian sovereignty by granting Russia a permanent, legitimate fix-
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 22 March
Features
ture in Ukrainian politics. Putin responded to Zelensky’s refusal in a widely-anticipated fashion by increasing the already large troop build-up along the Ukrainian border. As a result, the Ukrainian president accelerated NATO association as a means to protect Ukrainian sovereignty. In October 2020, Ukraine’ updated its National Security Strategy, introducing reforms to its military and defence policy with the
express intention of becoming a NATO member. This move towards NATO heightened the tensions with the Kremlin and is seen as a major factor in why Putin ordered the invasion. What is so troubling for Putin about Ukraine’s move towards the west? Analysts assert that NATO and other western organisations like the EU represent a threat to Putin’s intent to create a larger
Russian sphere of influence. Despite Ukraine’s distinct culture, language and heritage, as well as the vast majority of Ukrainians viewing themselves not as a part of Russia, Putin has long seen Ukrainians and Russians as ‘one people’ sharing ‘historically Russian land’. Consequently, by moving towards western organisations, Ukraine is moving away from Putin’s idea that they are the same state with the same goals. The aggressive strategy Putin is employing now is also related to the political situation in Ukraine. Given widespread dissatisfaction with previous pro-Russia leaders like Yanukovych, the chances of a pro-Russia president being elected in Ukraine are slim to none. Consequently, to pursue his foreign policy goals, Putin sees this aggressive strategy as necessary. Why does Ukraine want to move towards the west? For many Ukrainians, western integration represents a chance at a brighter socio-economic future. Since the dissolution of the USSR, Ukraine’s GDP per capita has been one of the lowest in Europe, and its growth has been more inconsistent than its neighbours. Adding to these economic issues is the huge amounts of money it pours into defence spending each year to fight the aforementioned Russian-backed insurgents in the Donbas region. This is a double-edged sword as since the conflict initially started in 2014 foreign investment in Ukraine has significantly de-
creased. Another, more long-term strain on the Ukrainian economy is corruption. Economists regard Ukraine as having one of the most corrupt economies in Europe, with reports suggesting the country loses nearly 37 billion dollars each year through corruption, close to a quarter of its annual GDP. Importantly, the corruption in the country was generally considered to be at its worst during the leadership of pro-Russian politicians. This is evidenced in the 2004 ‘Orange Revolution’ which succeeded in overturning a fraudulent election result designed to elect the aforementioned Yanukovych. Moreover, before this revolution, the Russian aligned President Leonid Kuchma was also heavily involved in corrupt practices. This was seen to the greatest extent when audio recorded by his bodyguard revealed his apparent involvement in the brutal murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze and arms sales to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Consequently, the EU’s anti-corruption monitory network represents a checks and balances system which much of the populace feel is necessary to make Ukraine more stable and prosperous. Even the EU member state with the most corruption, Bulgaria, is still considered by most measures to be significantly better off than Ukraine. This is in stark contrast to Ukraine’s history of corruption and economic strife within the Russian sphere of influence. Moreover, free trade and engagement with EU institutions are
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Given dissatisfaction with previous pro-Russian leaders, the chances of a pro-Russian president being elected in Ukraine are slim to none seen as a way to pull the country’s economy financially closer to its counterparts on the continent. Whilst these societal issues pale in comparison to the horrors the country is currently undergoing, it helps to illustrate why EU integration and western integration generally have such importance for Ukrainians, and why it drew the ire of the Kremlin.
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[Zelenskyy] has continued the pro-EU legacy by increasing Ukrainian involvement in the international community and has pushed to reduce global reliance on Russian energy imports PHOTO VIA UKRAINIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY
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Tuesday 22 March | TRINITY NEWS
Features
The rise of student investing A get rich quick scheme or a genuine method of enacting social change? Peter O’Brien Contributing Writer
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p until recently, participation in investing was generally associated with working adults engaging in long term investment to increase the value of their savings. However, in the last few years, the number of individuals beginning to partake in investing in assets such as stocks has been increasing, coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic. With stringent quarantine and health regulations being introduced, individuals were now spending more time at home while they were not spending as much money in day to day life anymore. With more spare time and spare change in hand, people began to look for ways of developing these savings and turned towards investing. Given how it has typically been associated with the idea of a male dominated industry made up of cutthroat sharply dressed Jordan Belfort types on Wall Street, the shift of investing being more of a casual and diverse pursuit ap-
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In the last few years, the number of individuals beginning to partake in investing in assets such as stocks has been increasing
pears to be unexpected upon initial examination. Upon closer examination, its appeal to a younger student population becomes clearer, especially in terms of how it interacts with the socially progressive values of this demographic. Dr. Marta O’Hagan Luff, a finance professor at Trinity Business School, is a strong advocate for sustainable investing. From her experience in the industry prior to academia, she is aware that the future of finance is contingent on sustainability as our planet’s health is deteriorating, and therefore more environmentally friendly practices need to be encouraged. As of late, there has been a rising emphasis on the role of Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG), ratings in the investment decisions that both companies and individual investors make. According to O’Hagan Luff, these ESG ratings, which are a metric that measures the social and environmental impacts and efforts of companies, are “still all over the place” in terms of their effectiveness but nonetheless display the increasing influence of socially progressive incentives in financial markets. By investing in sustainable companies, younger cohorts such as students are able to have a direct effect on the glob-
al economy in a way that reflects their values. From talking to various experienced individuals within the realm of finance, O’Hagan Luff also notes that there is a high demand for young people who are passionate about issues such as climate change in order to develop and promote more sustainable business practices. On top of all this, building up a knowledge of investment requires a strong sense of macroeconomic trends, and as a result enables students to become more aware of various ongoing global events. While investing allows students to develop a more informed world view in line with their values, O’Hagan Luff also expresses concern towards the growing view of investing being seen as a “get rich quick” scheme amongst young people. With the huge amount of publicity surrounding Gamestop stock in 2021, and the rise of trendy and highly volatile cryptocurrencies that dominate headlines daily, the image of investment has been distorted to be considered an activity more similar to gambling, rather than pragmatic financial management. This type of risky speculative trading has resulted in many people losing significant amounts of money As such, discourse in the media
surrounding cryptocurrency has become disseminated with misinformation that paint this form of financial decentralisation as the new trustworthy alternative to the institutions that have formed
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In the last few years, the number of individuals beginning to partake in investing in assets such as stocks has been increasing
the foundation of our economy for the past number of centuries. O’Hagan Luff believes that cryptocurrencies are a ticking time bomb that will inevitably implode, resulting in the many small investors in it getting burned while also having a knock on effect on the wider economy. Additionally, she outlines how students engaging in crypto investing is actively harmful towards environmental and social progressivism, as these currencies operate on a system that consumes enormous amounts of energy and is rife with criminal elements using it as the medium for their financial practices to take place. Historically, financial crises have occured due to lack of regulation and misinformation, and for cryptocurrency this appears to be its unavoidable trajectory. So, while crypto may appear to be the new trend within the cultural zeitgeist, buyers beware. This then begs the question, how can students learn about investing in a trustworthy way that is aligned with their social values since misinformation is potent in the media? One way in which students have been able to do so is through the Trinity Student Managed Fund (SMF), a large student society that allows students to learn about and take part in
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 22 March
Features
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Engaging in crypto investing is actively harmful towards environmental and social progress, as these currencies consume enormous amounts of energy finance, especially if they do not have the funds to do so personally. According to their website, the SMF manages a portfolio of €150,000 that is spread across a variety of industries, such as energy,
software and health. While they focus on investing, the SMF also engages in networking opportunities through their mentorship programmes and talks with industry experts, including a subcommittee
dedicated towards closing the long standing gender gap of the industry. For Bryony Hoyle, a Senior Fresher Economics & Politics student who is a junior analyst in the SMF’s software sector, she was inspired to take part in the society in order to meet like minded individuals and learn about finance in a structured environment. For her this formalised approach was much more effective than self research, as she was able to collaborate and learn from older students with more experience in a fun and social setting. From working in the software sector, an area that initially was not her primary interest, Bryony has been able to develop her research, analysis and persuasive skills and discover passion for the industry, through the SMF’s internal pitches and participation in intervarsity competitions. Similarly for Jacques Mathieu, a Senior Fresher BESS student and fellow SMF analyst, the society has allowed him to develop quantitative financial literacy, along with interpersonal and public speaking skills in a proactive environment. Within the SMF, student interest in sustainable investing has come to the fore, with more of their investments and events being centred around the topic. In light of this, the recent scrutiny Trinity has faced this academic year surrounding their investments in the fossil fuels and arms industry has sparked conversations around campus. This is of particular relevance to the SMF, given how their investing is conducted entirely by students. Bryony asserts that while at the moment these may be sound investments in the traditional
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The stereotype of the morally apathetic “finance bro” is losing traction in the face of the rising diverse movement of student investors sense of profit being the only objective, the ethics of these investments does need to be factored in. But at the same time, profitable and ethical investing are now no longer mutually exclusive, given the seismic developments in clean energy and the increasing uncertainty surrounding fossil fuels as a low risk investment. With various incentives nudging business towards sustainable practices, these two
considerations of investments are becoming intertwined. It appears that Trinity College can continue to invest in a way that reflects the values of their student population while also being financially viable, but change in the approach to their portfolio has to occur. The idea that students engaging in investing is contradictory to their beliefs in regards to social justice and climate change does not appear as much water as one might assume. In actuality, it appears those within the financial markets have realised that in order to ensure the long term health of our planet, our businesses and economic institutions have to embrace sustainable practices to thwart climate change. Thus, a space has emerged for students interested in investing who genuinely care about our climate, fuelled as well by the pursuit of new activities during the pandemic. Despite this, it is obvious that students need to approach this area with wariness as information surrounding it, particularly with cryptocurrency, is untrustworthy and could result in losses for them. Societies such as the SMF provide students with a space where they can learn in an effective, reliable and fun way, as well as developing their skill sets for the future. The stereotype of the morally apathetic “finance bro” is losing traction in the face of the rising diverse movement of student investors who believe in enacting positive social and environmental change through financial markets.
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Tuesday 22 March | TRINITY NEWS
Features
“What is your religion, if any?” The Humanist Association wants you to think before filling out the census Julia Bochenek Deputy Features Editor
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urrently, census enumerators are going door to door gathering information and passing out the 2022 Census that will help determine the demographic makeup of people living in Ireland, informing future laws and government funding more accurately. Since the last census in 2016, there have undoubtedly been changes in the country that could be reflected in information given by the people to the government. A category that may face large changes since the last census is religion; this is why the Humanist Association of Ireland is urging individuals to focus on accurately answering the question, “What is your religion, if any?” There has been a major shift since 2016, when the religion question on the census read “What is your religion?” and the option of “no religion” was listed at the bottom of possible answers. The wording could be viewed as leading, since it seems to assume that the majority of those answering
would have a religion. After the last census, the Humanist Association of Ireland engaged with the Census Office and sought for a change in wording, which is reflected in this year’s question, and it is also noted that “no religion” is now the first choice of answer. In the last census, the data indicated that 10% of people do not practice a religion in Ireland, and this number informed government policy and thinking. Yet according to other data this may not be entirely accurate. According to a 2018 European Social Survey, around 36% of people in Ireland attend church services, a massive drop from years prior. There has also been an increase during the time of each census of individuals marking “no religion” - from 2% in 1991 to 6% in 2011, and most recently 10% in 2016. It is expected that there will be another significant increase after the census results come out this year. Speaking to Trinity News, Jillian Brennan, the CEO of the Humanist Association of Ireland, explained the purpose of their campaign urging people to accurately answer the question. Particularly they are keen for people to mark “no religion” if they do not practice one, and stress the importance of accurate representation in the census. Brennan says that “the government uses the information from the census to make decisions about funding and resource allocation,” meaning that inaccurate answers could mean bad policy and government strategy based on those inaccuracies. Sector funding that is influenced by the census includes primary and secondary ed-
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In the last census, the data indicated that 10% of people do not practice a religion in Ireland. Yet according to other data this may not be entirely accurate ucation, as well as healthcare. According to Brennan, “over 90% of primary schools are under church patronage, and the government plans to divest around 400 schools by 2030. However, in the last 5 years only 8 schools have transferred from the church.”
This means that, especially for the non-religious population in more rural areas of Ireland, there are very few non-religious options for schools to attend. This is just one way in which answering the census could affect individuals, yet it is a very important one when considering the future of education in Ireland and how more secular options could be made available for children through increased funding and governmental support. Based on the wording of the 2016 Census Religion question, Brennan says the Humanist Association “believes that many people ticked the religion that they were baptised into when they were born.” The Association believes that the changing of the wording will create a significant change in how people answer the question. “We believe that the 10% in the last census was not truly reflective of the people who are non-religious, and the addition of “if any” and the placement of the “no religion” will significantly impact answers from those who practice no religion.” Ireland is becoming a more secular society, and people are living their lives more and more without religion being the central focus of it. “In terms of a separation of church and state, there is not a place for religion in how the government runs the country for all of the citizens of Ireland. There is of course a place for the church for people who practice religion, but in terms of how the government runs the country there should not be religious influence.” The secularisation of Ireland can be seen, for example, by the recent refer-
endums that have passed; people voted for marriage equality as well as the repeal of the Eighth Amendment, both moves largely opposed by the Catholic Church. The campaign has not been free from criticism, as some people see it as intended to discourage religious people from seeking representation However, Brennan is clear on this topic: “We are not encouraging people to mark “no religion” if they do practise a religion, and we are not encouraging people to turn away from religion. We are focusing on reaching out to the non-religious portion of the population, either those who do not practise or who no longer practise a religion, to accurately answer the religion question on the census to ensure accurate representation.” The Humanist Association has mostly campaigned through social media and press releases after a campaign launch at Stephen’s Green a few weeks ago. Through media appearances, they have been reaching out to people hoping that they will make sure to mark the option that best represents them. “We are encouraging people who no longer go to church, no longer believe in god or no longer practise a religion to answer the question in a way that reflects their life.” Particularly with reference to young people, Brennan encourages any individual answering the census for others in their household to consult them on the question of whether they practice a religion or not before answering.
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Especially for the nonreligious population in more rural areas of Ireland, there are very few non-religious options for schools to attend
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 22 March
Comment
Elitism and party politics in the Seanad
Ellen Kenny
page 24
Our solidarity must be extended everywhere, equally
Editorial
page 26
Ivana Bacik’s election as Labour leader only cements the party’s detachment from the working class Alexander Fay Staff Writer
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he recent ascent of Ivana Bacik to the top of the political pops should come as no surprise. The Dublin Bay South TD encapsulates all that the Labour party has come to stand for today, which is actually very little. Taking the reins from Tipperary TD Alan Kelly, Bacik faces a serious identity crisis for Labour, which isn’t helped by her own political history and the manner in which she has been elevated to this commanding position. The newly appointed leader has spent a considerable amount of time trying to get to where she is now. Bacik has an extensive history of rejection by both the electorate and her current party, failing in the 2004 European Parliament elections, and only being elected to the Seanad and the Dail on her third attempt. On one such attempt to become a TD was in 2011. Bacik found herself unselected by Labour members
to run in Dublin South East, instead being lumped in as Eamon Gilmore’s running mate in Dún Laoghaire. Bacik comes from a background of considerable generational wealth, with herself a millionaire (alongside party colleague Aodhán Ó Ríordáin). As such, it is difficult to see her as understanding of pressing issues such as the housing crisis and health costs, which were exacerbated by her party while in government with Fine Gael. Some may point towards her activism on abortion rights as noteworthy and positive, which although commendable and important, doesn’t exactly gel well with a dubious track record on the issue of sex work. For example, Bacik has openly supported the Nordic Model, and has gone as far to say that sex work should not be considered work. Bacik has done little if anything to shake off these ragged values or atone for her connection to the implementation
of austerity. It remains to be seen if any of this will change with her new, more prominent role. Since assuming the office of leader of the Labour Party in the late Spring of 2020, Bacik’s predecessor Alan Kelly has done little to sway the voting intentions of people in this country towards his party. Taking over from Brendan Howlin after a disastrous general election, he inherited a big challenge, with Labour at its lowest ever number of seats in Dáil Éireann (six). Polling at most at 5% (Red C) back then, and continuously polling now as low as 3%, Labour have stagnated over the course of the pandemic under Kelly’s leadership. This puts them firmly within electoral reach of rivals like the Social Democrats and perhaps even People Before Profit. Beyond the numbers, Kelly’s stint at the helm shows he has produced little of note politically. His inaction and general lack of ambition has carved open a gap for others to
fill in terms of policy to target a wider voter base. There has been minimal overhaul or revitalisation of values, with an air of staleness still clinging to Labour since their malignant time propping up Fine Gael. With a noted lack of confidence in his leadership position from fellow members, Kelly stood down with belief from others that his heavy association with the
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The Dublin Bay South TD encapsulates all that the Labour party has come to stand for today, which is actually very little
2011-16 government was a key reason too. This is fine, although logically inconsistent given Bacik’s own involvement with the same government. It’s a little hard to believe that she is in some way a clean break from that grim period given her role as leader of the party in the Seanad during those years. It is difficult to understand how she is not as complicit in the class warfare and austerity Labour knowingly enacted with Fine Gael. As a slight aside, it would be wrong to accuse Labour of betraying the working class (as many believe they did), because this implies they ever had an actual connection to the working class in the first place. Instead they have scrounged and survived on a superficial liberal image which has been polished up for middle-class people to feel try and good about themselves politically. Forget about that horrific few years in government; everything is fixed now because one man involved then is no longer in charge. Here’s a millionaire with a chunk of generational wealth who is going to make things better, and definitely has no link to those terrible things we allowed to happen. Let’s be real, both individuals have responsibility, yet seemingly not in the eyes of those who have the power to choose who leads. With Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil winning middle class echelons of the voter base, Sinn Féin surging in support from the middle classes while holding ground in working class areas, and gaps being plugged up by other small parties, Labour face a few questions: who are they, and who are they for? By allowing Bacik, who has deep associations with a government of austerity, to assume control uncontested, Labour are doubling down on the current perception that they are not for the working class of this country and never will be. I will say though, to throw them a bone, it’s hard to see what alternatives would have been viable given the only other major name touted to contest the issue of leadership was Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, who was already rejected previously in favour of Alan Kelly. With all other Labour TDs standing aside, the result has been more of a coronation than democratic election, which only serves to perpetuate the party’s terminally middle-class reputation.
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Tuesday 22 March | TRINITY NEWS
Comment
Elitism and party politic Ellen Kenny Features Editor
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eanad Éireann is in a contentious position. The by-election taking place this month, along with Lord Mayor Hazel Chu’s unexpected election bid, should put the Upper House of the Oireachtas at a significantly considerable position in the public imagination. However, in reality the average Irish citizen probably has not had to consider the Seanad since Junior Cert CSPE. This is disheartening, but hardly surprising; the Oireachtas’ lack of dedication to genuinely reform the Seanad and the exclusionary, elitist image that the Seanad portrays does not create a political environment that people want to engage with. The Seanad is in dire need of structural and electoral reform before it is too late and we lose the essential role it can play in Ireland. In theory, Senators are professional scrutinisers – they
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The root of most obstacles facing the Seanad is its outdated and ineffective electoral process
receive every potential bill from the Dáil and are expected to use their expertise to consider if it is constitutional, moral and effective. Senators are essential for checks and balances, for ensuring the Dáil has the wellbeing of the country at heart – the Seanad does not even technically recognise political parties to oblige Senators to hold their counterparts in the Dáil responsible for their legislatives duties. In addition to scrutinising outside legislation, the Seanad has also been the origin of many bills pushing for justice and equality. Recent progress made by the Upper House include the Gender Recognition Act that allows transgender citizens to change their identification without medical intervention. The Seanad as a means of adeptly scrutinising and introducing legislation is an institution worth preserving. The problem is that the Seanad
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What right does the likes of a medical graduate from Trinity have over someone who studied medicine in DCU, or someone who didn’t go to third level education?
is failing to live up to its full potential, and what should be an objective House of experts and representatives is simply a victim of party politics and elitism. The root of most obstacles facing the Seanad is its outdated and ineffective electoral process. The Upper House of the Oireachtas was preceded by the Irish House of Lords, an exclusive body chosen by a domineering minority despite having influence over the whole country. The electoral apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. The vast majority of Irish people do not elect a single of the sixty Senators. Forty-three Senators are elected on five special “vocational” panels of nominees, and chosen by TDs, outgoing members of the Seanad and city/county councillors. These panels include labour, commercial and education, and electors are expected to choose the individuals possessing the most expertise in their specific area. In practice, these panels are glorified consolation prizes for failed Dáil candidates elected by their fellow party members, or simply a breeding ground for aspiring TDs using the Seanad as means to an end and rise through the party ranks. I am also not trying to equate winning a general election with political competence; there could be many
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 22 March
Comment
cs in the Seanad
politicians whose experience and skill earn them a position in the Oireachtas, regardless of vote. However, this tradition reeks of partisan deals and power moves, rather than political goodwill and competence. For example, recently outgoing Senator Michael D’Arcy worked on the Agricultural Panel, so one might expect that he had a background in farming. In reality, he is the Chief Executive of the Irish Association of Investment Management and previously worked in the Department of Finance. He has no involvement with agriculture, but losing his seat in the 2020 general election is apparently adequate experience to his colleagues who elected him. A further eleven Senators are chosen by the Taoiseach themselves of their own volition. This allows the Taoiseach’s party and supporters a comfortable plurality within the Seanad, jeopardising the unbiased and nonpartisan principles the Seanad is expected to uphold. It is understandable that a portion of Senators are chosen by those intimately aware of parliamentary proceedings, as legislative prowess is key to a Senator’s duties and those working in government admittedly have a deeper understanding of what it takes to fulfil that role. However, the current electoral proceedings do not facilitate that role
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It seems that a CAO decision dictates one's level of democratic rights whatsoever. The electoral process of the Seanad needs a healthy dose of accountability and coverage. Each of the five panels must develop unique criteria for its candidates to ensure experience and expertise. Should a person who never set foot in a classroom, like Senator Lisa Chambers, play a prominent role in the Educational Panel? Why was Chambers, a politician with a Masters in Commercial Law, not elected to the Commercial
Panel? This country is not lacking in competent, experienced people who deserve a seat in the Seanad, yet the process of electing the panels is completely unsupervised and arbitrary. If a comprehensive criteria for a stringent electoral process was implemented fully, half the Senators could be elected through members of the Oireachtas and councillors; it would lead to a more efficient Seanad of members with legislative and personalised knowledge, capable of holding the Dáil responsible. The remaining Senators should be elected through a fair democratic election similar to our current election of TDs. With all due respect, it’s bitterly ironic that Hazel Chu is running for the Seanad on a campaign of representation, when the Seanad is anything but representative. As of now, the only people who can elect Senators outside of politicians and councillors are graduates of specific universities; three senators are collectively elected by Maynooth, UCD, NUIG and UCC, while a further three are elected by Trinity graduates alone. This electoral rule is grossly elitist and must be abolished. It has nothing to do with expertise – if you’ve ever used or seen Trindr or Trinity Hall’s Confessions on Instagram, I’m sure you’ll agree that Trinity students are not bastions of wisdom. What right does the
likes of a medical graduate from Trinity have over someone who studied medicine in DCU, or someone who didn’t go to third level education? None of these people have an inherent political knowledge over the other; it seems that a CAO decision dictates the level of democratic rights. What’s more, incomeinequality rears its ugly head under this rule; the aforementioned universities all have the lowest concentration of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, and the highest shares of affluent students among third-level institutions. A very specific cohort of people have a right to elect Senators in Ireland – a cohort that is not dictated by knowledge, but rather by socioeconomic backgrounds. Despite a 1979 referendum that supported changing this unjustifiable rule, elitism prevails in every Seanad election. As Trinity students, the opportunity for our voices being heard is baseless and immoral until every Irish person has a chance to vote within the Seanad. Despite a failed referendum to abolish the Seanad in 2013, and a more recent report showing that 85% of respondents believe that the continued existence of the Seanad is contingent on reform, no progress has been made to improve the Upper House. What should be a foundation for representation, skill and thorough analysis of legislation is instead a symbol of elitism and partisanship. Changes in the Seanad must be spearheaded by the voters who deserve a say in its activities; past experience clearly shows that campaigns for reform will not originate within the government itself, a
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Past experience clearly shows that campaigns for reform will not originate within the government itself, a government that would prefer to keep the Seanad in its pocket government that would prefer to keep the Seanad in its pocket. This must happen sooner rather than later, as interest in the Seanad is deteriorating with the formation of every new government. In 2013, the Seanad was only saved by a razor-thin margin of 2% – I dread to think what another referendum would spawn.
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Tuesday 22 March | TRINITY NEWS
Comment
Editorial: The solidarity we’ve shown the Ukrainian people must be extended across the globe Recent support has been incredible, but where has it been when so many others needed it?
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he Russian invasion of Ukraine has, rightly, been met with almost universal condemnation. Countries across Europe and the world, including Ireland, welcomed Ukrainian refugees with open arms, correctly identifying it as an unassailable moral obligation. Ukrainian refugees in Ireland have been given PPS numbers to ensure they can access state services, and support hubs have opened in Dublin, Limerick and Cork. Irish state figures, including Michael Martin, have criticised the invasion, with Martin deeming the Russian government’s actions as “an outrageous and moral breach of the most fundamental and basic principles of international law.” States have also sought ways to support Ukraine directly in withstanding Russian aggression, with the country receiving huge amounts of military and humanitarian aid, while the Russian Federation was quickly subjected to severe economic and diplomatic sanctions, boycotts and divestment. This immediate, unflinching desire to help the victims of war and stop interstate aggression is heartening to see. But it has made clear the complete contempt and callous cruelty with which Western countries act in every other comparable situation and towards other refugees. Ireland is a prime example: the very existence of the Direct Provision, and years that refugees are usually left languishing in this cruel system, is a testament to the Irish state’s complete indifference to the wellbeing of most asylum seekers. Furthermore, in 2019, four Fine Gael MEPs voted against an EU parliament motion on supporting rescue operations to prevent refugee deaths in the Mediterranean. Among these MEPs was Mairead McGuinness, who is now an EU commissioner. Ukrainian refugees get free transport from Bus Eireann as they arrive in Ireland, others don’t even get saved from drowning. They certainly don’t get treated like EU citizens when they arrive, the way Ukrainians have been; Direct Provision residents have had to fight tooth and nail to be allowed to gain limited rights to work, and have highly-restricted access to many services. It is also commendable that the Tánaiste, Leo Varadkar, has
said that he will personally house Ukrainian refugees. But Varadkar has previously suggested that non-Irish nationals be paid six months of unemployment benefit to get them to leave the country; something of a double standard. Trinity has been quick to offer extensive support to Ukrainian (and Russian) students affected by the conflict, and has pledged to facilitate the transfer of students from Ukrainian universities here to complete their studies. If this kind of will to help always existed, why does College only offer a paltry four Asylum Seeker Access Programme Scholarships? And why does Trinity’s endowment fund support armaments companies which sell weapons used in the slaughter of thousands civilians in Yemen? The United States has implemented some of the most severe economic sanctions in world history in response to Russia’s invasion, and any citizens in Europe and North America are so eager to show solidarity that they’ve been not only boycotting major Russian companies, but anything vaguely associated with Russia (e.g. DCU’s cancellation of a performance of Swan Lake). The latter phenomenon is actually quite bad, and indeed the sanctions are also likely to have severe spillover effects on ordinary Russian people who are very much victims of their own government already; but what’s clear is that Western countries believe war crimes justify sanctions and boycotts. Why, then, are
there laws in 35 US states limiting or banning participation in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) movement, which opposes Israeli oppression of Palestinians? Why is the US still supporting indiscriminate Saudi airstrikes in Yemen? Indeed the BDS movement is, if anything, much more justifiable than the clumsy, often-outright-bigoted cultural boycott of Russia; it’s highly targeted, and seeks only to punish companies, universities etc that directly participate in or profit from the oppression of Palestinians, rather than Israelis generally. What’s the difference? In case it wasn’t already clear, this outpouring of support for Ukraine is a clear positive (incidents of ignorant Russophobia aside). The Ukrainian people are going through unimaginable difficulty, and they deserve our support, solidarity and assistance. No one should begrudge them the help they’ve received for a second. But the double standard is colossal and unjustifiable, and the reason isn’t hard to understand: it’s racism. Western countries are sympathetic to Ukrainian people and deliberately cruel to refugees from Syria, Libya, Afghanistan and other places because Ukraine is in Europe. There are many people facing oppression, conflict and violence, but some are judged to be less deserving of help or sympathy because of their race, and because they come from cultures perceived to be more “different” to ours.
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The double standard is colossal and unjustifiable, and the reason isn’t hard to understand: it’s racism Many people are outright admitting this. Earlier this month, Ryan Tubridy garnered criticism for his comments on those fleeing Ukraine, saying that “whenever I see people fleeing with their bags trying to get on buses to wherever they can go, I kept thinking they all look like us, they look like our neighbours.” He continued to say that “it just feels so real”— implying he thought the images of people fleeing Kabul as the Taliban advanced last year just weren’t that serious. A panellist on CNN last week said that “it’s one thing for sarin gas to be used on people
in far-away Syria who are Muslim, who are of a different culture, but what is Europe going to do when it's on European soil done to Europeans?” [Chemical weapons have not been used in the war in Ukraine at time of writing] The idea that we do, or indeed should sympathise more with refugees who bear an aesthetic similarity to us is abhorrent. It’s insult to any person of colour who has sought asylum, or been forced to flee from war and terror. Even if you find yourself instinctively feeling extra sympathy towards white Europeans, you should be capable of recognising and seeking to rise above that double standard. Tubridy chose to proudly announce it on national television, and the government has advertised it as a policy priority. We must extend our solidarity to victims of war, violence and oppression everywhere. We should be just as concerned about the people of Myanmar and Syria being murdered by their governments every day as they are about Ukrainian people murdered by the Russian state. We should be throwing our doors open to people fleeing Afghanistan and Yemen in the same way we’ve done for those from Ukraine of late. The fact that at all this has been done so quickly proves that those in power have always had the capacity to provide refuge, assistance and compassion to those seeking it. They have simply chosen not to.
PHOTO BY ISOBEL DUFFY FOR TRINITY NEWS
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 22 March
Nostalgia gaming and the return of childhood classics Meghan Flood
Scitech
page 30
Hand sanitiser and soap usage during the pandemic will have real environmental impacts Researchers from Trinity have quantified the effect new hygiene practices will have on our climate, and therefore our health Lucy Fitzsimmons SciTech Co-Editor
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Trinity-led study has found that our increased use of hand sanitisers and soaps during the pandemic will have some knock-on effects on our climate. Hand sanitiser, which before March 2020 was mainly used only in hospitals and healthcare settings, suddenly became one of our most commonly reached for hygiene products, almost overnight. Many of us will remember the shortages of the product and restrictions on bulk buying it at the beginning of the pandemic. Two years on, sanitisers have now become a household necessity and their use is a part of most of our daily routines. Hand sanitiser use and increased handwashing practices hold a vital role in disease prevention and have helped the public to slow the spread of Covid-19, and as a result, will have saved innumerable lives. Their ability to kill pathogens such as the coronavirus is of vital importance. But they do not come without costs, and Trinity scientists have been evaluating these in an environmental context. They have also evaluated the health impact that this climate impact may have. The researchers found that the manufacture and use of hand sanitiser liquids and gels have added approximately 2% to our usual carbon footprint, a non-trivial figure. When this is put into a human health context, the study showed that their negative human health impacts may result in the loss of between 16 and 114 hours of life expectancy, based on a comprehensive disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) impact analysis. The overwhelming majority of human health impacts came from
ozone layer depletion, and this was consistent across all sanitisers and soaps. First author of the work and Associate Professor in the School of Dental Science, Dr Brett Duane commented: “Hand hygiene has certainly made a big difference in slowing the transmission of COVID-19 over the past two years, but this research—the first of its kind that assesses the use of sanitising gels and increased hand-washing practices in a way that clearly quantifies the impacts on human and planetary health— shows these practices do cause significant harm.” There are several ways in which these increased hygiene practices have affected our planet. Firstly, it is clear that any level of increased handwashing will result in increased water usage. Sourcing and treating clean water to use for homes is energy-intensive and in general, we should aim to conserve as much water as possible. As well as this, sanitising gels are normally alcohol-based. The alcohol components are carbon-intensive to produce, even before we factor in packaging and transportation emissions. As we are all familiar with, increased carbon emissions feed into the issue
of global warming. The work by Trinity researchers published in the Environmental Sciences and Pollution Research journal is the first of its kind to evaluate this environmental and health impact on a macro scale. In terms of soap, for liquid soap the vast majority of the climate and health impact came from the ingredients, while bar soap’s harms are predominantly related to the manufacturing process. The researchers modelled the impacts of the UK population adopting each of the following four hand-washing practices over the course of one year: ethanol-based sanitising gel, isopropanol-based sanitising gel, liquid soap and water, and bar soap and water, evaluating the subsequent environmental and health impacts in areas like climate change, freshwater ecotoxicity, ozone layer depletion, and water use. They found that isopropanol-based sanitising gels had the lowest impacts virtually across the board, with four times lower climate impact than liquid soap hand washing (producing an equivalent to 1,060 million Kg CO2 compared with 4,240 million kg CO2). Isopropanol-based sanitising gels would cause a per person loss of
16 hours in disability-adjusted life years (a small reduction in life expectancy) if collectively used by the population of the UK for one year. However, liquid soap and
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The work shows that sanitising gels cause less harm than soapand-water practices, isopropanolbased gels in particular
hand-washing approaches would cause a per person loss of 114 hours, which is almost five days in life expectancy, compared to just 43 hours for bar soap. On the other hand, many public health experts have consistently said that soap and water are much more effective at slowing the spread of pathogens than hand sanitiser. In general, sanitising gels are less effective when hands are particularly dirty, are less capable against particular pathogens such as noroviruses, and cannot remove harmful chemicals. From a purely health-related standpoint, it is generally recommended only to use hand sanitiser when washing your hands with soap and water is not possible. Duane says the Trinity study makes clear the need for more environmentally friendly hygiene practices, to protect aspects of public health outside of Covid-19. “Importantly, the work shows that sanitising gels cause less harm than soap-and-water practices, with isopropanol-based gels in particular leaving a relatively lower impact. That is useful information for reducing further damage but the work also underlines the need for new gels that are more environmentally friendly.”
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Tuesday 22 March | TRINITY NEWS
SciTech
Reintroducing birds of prey to Ireland Regaining a vital link in our food chains and ecosystem Niamh Kelly
Contributing Writer Improving biodiversity and the rejuvenating of our natural ecosystems have been at the forefront of conservation efforts of late. These actions play a significant role in our global plans to halt and reverse the effects of climate change. We are re-wilding previously-manicured lawns, bee-bombing road sides, and generally giving nature some help to settle closer back to its equilibrium. This includes reintroducing species that have disappeared from our ecosystems and re-establishing food chains and symbiotic relationships that were in place for millenia. One particular such effort in Ireland has been the reintroduction of birds of prey to their former habitats. Birds of prey, or raptors, have diets primarily consisting of vertebrates, which differentiates them from other birds. They hunt animals of comparable size to their own and many are consid-
ered apex predators within their food chains. These include species such as hawks and eagles. Organisms at the top of their food chain play a vital role in the stability of an ecosystem. They remove weak or older animals from the system, as well as keeping their prey’s population under control, and overall providing balance to a habitat. Though this may sound cruel, top predators like birds of prey have an indispensable role in maintaining the health of an ecosystem. Birds of prey have always been an element in our biodiversity on this island, and they appear in several old Irish myths and legends. However, several species of birds of prey in Ireland became locally extinct during the 19th and 20th centuries, including the buzzard, golden eagle, red kite and white-tailed eagle. The re-establishment of the Irish populations of these different raptors began with the natural migration of buzzards, who returned to Ireland from the UK. Conscious conservation efforts have been made to re-introduce the other birds of prey species into Ireland since the early 2000s. The first species to achieve such a resurgence, the buzzard, nests in many forest areas, from mountains to lowlands, but prefers areas that have field spaces as well as woodland. Their diet mainly consists of field mice and other small rodents. Buzzards are often seen circling in the air above wooded
areas before diving quickly to the ground and soaring up again. It is one of the most common birds of prey in Europe but the Irish population went into decline throughout the 1800s. No buzzards were present on the island of Ireland in the early 20th century. This changed in 1933, when a pair of buzzards migrated and bred in County Antrim. These buzzards most likely migrated from the UK, and were the catalyst for a gradual recovery in their Irish population. The process was slow, but more buzzards began moving southwards to breed over the next few decades. The number of buzzards was seen to increase during the 1980s, but it was during the 1990s that the population really began to expand their range of habitats and re-establish their presence. The species is now most common in Donegal, Monaghan and Louth, but is found throughout the country. Unlike the buzzard, species like the golden eagle, red kite and white-tailed eagle have required reintroduction programmes to re-establish their populations in Ireland, which has been met with varying levels of success. The white-tailed eagle is the biggest resident raptor in Ireland, with a one-metre wingspan. They prefer to nest on rocky coasts, at large inland lakes or along watercourses. The same nesting site is used every year and is expanded annually. They mainly eat fish
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Organisms at the top of their food chain play a vital role; they remove weak or older animals from the ecosystem, as well as controlling their prey’s population and waterbirds, and hunt by plucking the prey out of the water with their talons. A skilled adult white-tailed eagle may even hunt animals such as herons or geese. The last known wild breeding pair in Ireland—before their reintroduction—nested in County Mayo in 1912. The golden eagle is the second-largest bird of prey in Ireland. Pairs of golden eagles often remain in an established territory, but their young that have recently fledged the nest can travel a great distance. Golden eagles eat a varied diet including hares, rabbits, amphibians, reptiles and insects. They will also eat carrion and have been known to also take young livestock such as lambs or kid goats. Both the golden and white tailed eagle became extinct in Ireland during the early 20th century, and their decline and eventual extinction stemmed largely from shooting and poisoning by humans. When population re-establishment efforts began for both species in 1989, there were steps that had to be taken before any re-introduction attempts commenced. These included finding suitable release sites in good habitats, and figuring out how many eagles were needed to establish a self-sustaining breeding population. Twelve golden eagle chicks, originally from Scotland, were released in Glenveagh National Park in County Donegal in 2001. Now, sixty eaglets overall have been released, and breeding between them began occurring in 2007. Twenty Irish-born chicks have reached adulthood and success-
fully left the nest since. However, these golden eagles have faced challenges, including deaths due to poisoned carrion. These challenges have at present restricted the range of the golden eagles still to the north of Ireland. Killarney National Park, County Kerry was identified as a suitable area for the release of white-tailed eagle chicks. One hundred eaglets, from Norway, were released between 2007 and 2011. The white-tailed eagle has achieved a wider range than its golden cousins, across Cork, Kerry, Tipperary, Clare and Galway, with at least 31 Irish-born chicks fledging. Unfortunately, at least thirteen white-tailed eagles have been poisoned since their re-introduction. The birds themselves are not always targeted, but are killed when they eat the dead remains of crows or foxes that were illegally poisoned. A second phase for the white-tailed eagle reintroduction was launched in 2020 and a further ten Norwegian chicks were released at Killarney National Park, Lough Derg and the Shannon Estuary. The process was in 2021 and 2022 to aid for the eagle population to stabilise enough to be able to survive disease outbreaks or bad weather conditions during the breeding season. Reintroduction efforts are also ongoing for the red kite. During the late 19th century the red kite went extinct in Ireland and across most of the UK, because of killing by humans and loss of habitat. The red kite nests in the highest trees along the edges of wooded areas and will often use the abandoned nests of other raptors. Adapting somewhat to our changing world, they have been observed lining their nests with plastic bags, clothing and even children’s toys. They feed on insects, frogs, lizards, rodents, small birds and sometimes fish and carrion. During the winter, the red kite likes to roost in flocks. A total of 120 red kites, originating from Wales, have been released in County Wicklow since 2007. The population is slowly spreading out from a centre based around Dublin and Wicklow, despite the setbacks of windy and rainy summer breeding season weather destroying nests. Considerable effort, planning and patience are required to re-establish Irish raptor populations and reap the biodiversity benefits. It has been a slow and hard-fought battle to repair damage caused by human influence, and it will be some time before we see the positive impacts their re-establishment at the top of the food chain should have. The efforts to re-introduce and protect these raptor populations are, however, beginning to rectify the extinction of several raptor species in Ireland, and this is certainly good news for us, other wildlife and the world we live in.
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 22 March
SciTech
It’s getting hot in here Temperatures across both the Arctic and Antarctic spiked far above their normal levels this week. In some places, the deviation from the norm was as high as 40°C The mild air temperatures also brought liquid rain to many polar areas, even in the winter darkness near the North Pole. This unusual precipitation combined with the anomalous temperatures to cause rapid, unseasonal melting of sea ice in many places. This may cause a cascade of further melting due to ice’s ability to reflect sunlight.
PHOTO VIA CLIMATEREANALYZER
TRINITY NEWS EST. 1953
Write for us Trinity News, Ireland’s oldest student newspaper, has a long history of high-quality journalism. Many of our alumni are currently working in media, having springboarded their careers with the newspaper, and we are always welcoming new contributors to our written and multimedia sections. Opportunities to get involved include: • Contributing an article to one of our many written sections • Taking photos or creating art to feature in the newspaper and/or online • Working with our video team to produce documentary content around student issues All Trinity students are welcome, regardless of experience. Our editorial staff regularly issue prompts for contributors to work on and we also accept cold pitches for articles. For more information, see trinitynews.ie/write-for-us.
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Tuesday 22 March | TRINITY NEWS
SciTech
Nostalgia gaming and the return of childhood classics How your longing for simpler times is fuelling a gaming revival
Meghan Flood
Contributing Writer
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e grew up in somewhat of a golden age of childhood videogames. The advent of the Nintendo DS in 2004 and Wii consoles in 2006 brought gaming to a younger audience than ever before. We whiled away the hours happily, glued to the likes of Nintendogs, Super Mario Bros, and Pokémon. Over a decade on, Nintendo is now in quite a unique position of being a source of real childhood nostalgia for a large chunk of consumers, and they are capitalising on that. Gaming nostalgia is a powerful experience, as video games are designed specifically to elicit emotion, to spark the part of your brain that gives you satisfaction. There is a reason that nostalgia can be incredibly impactful for those of us
who grew up gaming. The games we played as children create clear markers in our childhood memories and experiences. Ask someone what their favourite game is and more often than not the reply is “I love XYZ but I’ve always loved ABC”. Our childhood games hold a special place for us, and it should come as no surprise that game companies are recognising and feeding into this. Nostalgia gaming has become a point of interest for a variety of gaming companies, most predominantly Nintendo. These brands are returning to older titles to rework them for newer game systems, or simply reusing the title in never-ending franchises. Regardless of the industry, brands must always be rethinking and reworking their marketing strategies to turn the best possible profit. Sometimes this includes playing on what we know, the dependable and the nostalgic. The recent Nintendo Direct, Nintendo’s informational presentation on upcoming games and developments, highlighted the use of nostalgia as an unspoken buzzword in game advertisements. For example, one of the standout titles of this year’s Nintendo Direct was without a doubt the reworking of Wii Sports for their Switch console. Wii Sports and all its reiterations have managed to
stay popular and relevant in pop culture and collective nostalgia. Nintendo Switch Sports, to be released on April 29, will feature classics such as bowling and tennis, while also introducing games such as football that truly use the full capabilities of the joy-con controller pair. This ode to the 2000’s kids’ childhood highlights this long-lasting love for the game, regardless of how awkward the Wii game system may feel now in 2022. While Nintendo has played its part in keeping the game alive, Wii sports has stood the test of time for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the games were good, very good in some cases, but many of the quality games came from later additions to the franchise such as Wii Sports Resort. Nostalgia allows us to simply remember the best instances of our experience, ignoring how frustrating aspects of the (now outdated) Wii could sometimes be. Another element that keeps Wii sports alive in our memory, one completely outside of the marketing strategy of Nintendo, is meme culture. Through meme culture and social media, we revitalise game titles in popular culture by returning to them and bringing them to the front of public discussion years after their release. While you might be in the small group who hasn’t played Wii Sports,
there’s a high chance you’ve seen the Matt memes (about a particularly adept Wii sports non-playable character) circulating the internet for a few years now.
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Remastering games for newer generations of game systems is a sure-fire way to garner interest from an audience of die-hard fans
We are all united by our familiar experiences, and gaming brands have realised that when they return to the games of our childhood, they don’t have to win us over with clever marketing, but rather just appeal to our inner child. Nintendo has created some of gaming’s most iconic titles, which regardless of the iterations will always elicit a degree of excitement, and the Wii Sports franchise is one that deserves the love it receives. However, there’s no denying the clever play on nostalgia the gaming company is using here. Aside from Wii sports reboots, nostalgia gaming shows itself in another area of the recent Nintendo Direct in their Mario Kart expansions. As a franchise, Mario Kart has managed to hold legendary status over multigenerational childhoods. The Mario Bros franchise itself being used for nostalgia shouldn’t come as a surprise in the slightest. That being said, convincing a massive audience to pay for more in-game content is not usually an easy feat. But this year Nintendo is doing just that, introducing a deluxe expansion pack for Mario Kart 8, featuring reworked maps from previous titles such as Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart Tour, and Mario Kart Wii. This wide range of games that Nintendo is pulling from will allow childhood maps to be experienced on the newest game systems. It can be difficult for extras and DLC (downloadable content) to appeal to a wider audience, and companies will always face questions about why it wasn’t included in the first place, and why the player should fork out for expansions to the game. But Nintendo, yet again, has bypassed these frustrations by simply playing up the nostalgia factor. Remastering games for newer generations of game systems is a sure-fire way to garner interest from an audience of die-hard fans. The game Portal has done just this, having been brought to the Switch, and is due to be released later this year. Fans watching the trailer used in Nintendo Direct saw that features will remain true to the original game, not bringing much new to the table, and yet fans will still get a thrill of excitement from hearing the voices of familiar characters such as GLaDOS. The lines chosen in the trailer only further exemplify this, focusing on the time passing of the game. Many other cult games have followed similar tactics, for example, Assassin’s Creed has also been remastered for the Switch. Nostalgia gaming is a growing phenomenon among large-scale game companies and indie producers alike. These appeals to the consumer’s childhood memories have been met with phenomenal success. This year’s Nintendo Direct has only highlighted the relevance of nostalgia in the gaming industry. And this remastered Wii Sports might just get me to finally buy additional joy-cons for my Nintendo Lite, so it’s definitely good business!
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 22 March
Health and Sport Week asks everyone to “find your balance”
Sport
Alan Smithee
page 32
Trinity and UCD put rivalry to the test on the Liffey The 72nd Colours Boat Race took place on March 18 after being postponed for three years Bella Salerno Deputy News Editor
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rinity and University College Dublin (UCD) put rivalry to the test on the Liffey. The 72nd Colours Boat Race took place on Friday March 18 after being postponed for three years. On Friday, UCD achieved a three-peat win and took home the Gannon, Corcoran and Sally Moorhead Cups. Trinity took home the Dan Quinn Shield. The Gannon Cup has been competed for annually since 1947 between the mens’ senior teams from Trinity and UCD. Since then, the race has expanded to include the Corcoran Cup for the womens’ senior teams (est. in 1980), the Dan Quinn Shield for the mens’ novices team (est. 2004), and the Sally Moorhead Trophy for the womens’ novices team (est. 2005) . Trinity has won the Gannon Cup three more times than UCD. UCD has won the Corcoran Cup seven more times than Trinity. The Dan Quinn Shield had been a tiebreaker for Trinity and UCD, but
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Trinity now has a 2:1 advantage. The Sally Moorhead Trophy has been won by UCD six more times than Trinity. The coin toss for the race took place on Sunday, February 27 at College’s dining hall. Dublin University Men’s Boat Club (DUBC) lost the toss and took the south station for the Gannon Cup and the Dan Quinn shield. Dublin University Ladies Boat Club (DULBC) won their coin toss and chose to race on the south station for the Corcoran Cup and the Sally
Moorhead Trophy. Speaking to Trinity News before the race, representatives of DUBC said: “It’s always hard to tell how we’ll fare, particularly at this point in the season when we haven’t yet met UCD.” “We have a very different squad to last year and are enjoying the build up. The history of the event runs so deep that everyone in Irish rowing knows of the rivalry”, they added. “UCD are back this season after winning Senior 8+s at the national
championships, and we won club 8+ championships so it should be a great match up!”. Speaking to Trinity News, repsentatives of UCDLB said: “The whole squad has worked incredibly hard all season.” “We have put ourselves in the best position possible to come out on top tomorrow through the dedicated training put in by everyone and the support from so many around us, especially from our coaches.” They added they are “looking
forward to getting on the water tomorrow and racing for the first time this year”. “Side by side racing is always intense and along the Liffey with the crowds above us it is going to be an exciting race.” “We are taking part to represent our college and club and to do everyone involved proud.” “It is an honour to be selected for the crew and to get to race along the lower Liffey for the first time since Covid makes it even more special”, they concluded.
Members of DUBC Seniors who represented Trinity in the 2022 Gannon Cup:
Members of DULBC Seniors who represented Trinity in the 2022 Corcoran Cup:
Members of DUBC Novices who represented Trinity in the 2022 Dan Quinn Shield:
Members of DULBC Novices who raced for Trinity in the 2022 Sally Moorhead Trophy:
Bow: Julian Schneider 2: MacDara Allison 3: Charley Nordin 4: Ronán Brennan 5: Tiarnán McKnight 6: Alfie Hales 7: Thomas Stevens Stroke: Tadhg McKnight Cox: Rowan Hamilton
Bow: Laura Brown 2: Lily O’Keeffe 3: Jane Hogg 4: Miriam Kelly 5: Julie Moran 6: Aifric Keogh 7: Eimear Fahy Stroke: Elise Carney Cox: Éabha O’Sullivan
Bow: Paudie Moriarty 2: Canice Mc Carthy 3: Anrijs Lorencs 4: Max Hopp 5: Jonathan Atkinson 6: Sam Walker 7: William Ho Stroke: Ben Reid Cox: James O’Brien
Bow: Rose Davey 2: Ellen Trenaman 3: María Mezquita García-Poggio 4: Elizabeth Moeser 5: Rachel Alexander 6: Imogen Cooney 7: Jane Prendergast Stroke: Elizabeth Dorr Cox: Róisín Fox
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Tuesday 22 March | TRINITY NEWS
Trinity and UCD put rivalry to the test on the Liffey
Sport
Bella Salerno
page 31
Events are running throughout this week to encourage students and staff to get involved in sports and exercise Alan Smithee Contributing Writer
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his week is Trinity’s annual Health & Sports Week, and the 2022 theme is “find your balance”. The week was launched yesterday (March 21) with an event in Front Square, marking 10 years of Trinity’s Smarter Travel initiative, in partnership with Transport For Ireland. The programme encourages students and staff to walk, cycle or use public transport to get to campus. Provost Linda Doyle was joined by National Transport Authority CEO Anne Graham and Trinity
College Dublin Students’ Union Welfare Officer Sierra Mueller-Owens. The Trinity Belles acapella group performed a rendition of Queen’s I Want to Ride My Bicycle, and attendees received free sandwiches. A raffle was also run, with prizes including a bicycle, a bus tour of Dublin, and a €50 Irish Rail voucher, and the National Transport Authority handed out 100 free bike lights. Announcing the schedule of events last week, Trinity Health Promotion Officer Martina Mullin said: “We want to encourage everyone to find their balance now that life is starting to become more normal again. We’re looking forward to more than 30 fun events and hope everyone can take part.” Earlier today, Prof Rose Anne Kenny gave a keynote speech based on her new book Age Proof: The New Science of Living a Longer and Healthier Life. Prof Kenny works in the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, which is based in Trinity. The event was followed by a question and answer session, chaired by the Director of the College Health Service Dr David McGrath. The Healthy Library initiative
PHOTO BY SAM COX FOR TRINITY NEWS
Health & Sports Week asks everyone in Trinity to “find your balance”
will be organising activities such as frisbee, tennis and pilates in and near the Library. There will be “come and try” sessions of climbing, badminton and other activities, and a new mural by student Irina Georgantzis Garcia is being unveiled in the Buttery restaurant. Additionally, Trinity Sport is running free exercise classes throughout the week, and the College
Health Service is running mindfulness sessions each morning. Staff will be able to avail of social craft and knitting sessions, as well as talks on the topics of stress management and digestive health. Students can join a healthy lunch being organised jointly by the Food & Drink Society and Trinity Global Room. Healthy Trinity has also promised it will be “an-
nouncing what’s next” for its Plant Based Coffees initiative tomorrow (March 23); proposed by student Heather McClean, the project saw plant-based milk alternatives subsidised in campus cafés during the month of February. Health & Sports Week concludes on Friday (March 25).
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 22 March
A guide to college ball season page 2
Women in STEM societies page 6
On exchange in Leuven, Belgium page 15
LIFE
TRINITY NEWS
Scampolo! at the Douglas Hyde Gallery
Pullout section PHOTO BY AVA CHAPMAN FOR TRINITY NEWS
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Tuesday 22 March | TRINITY NEWS
Table of contents Endgame at the Gate theatre
- page 6
Students affected by the war in Ukraine
- page 4 Scampolo! at The Douglas Hyde Gallery - page 7
Too Good To Go - page 11
Sally Rooney’s new novel - page 10
Aramark at the National Gallery - page 14
Life staff Editor-in-Chief Life Editor Life Deputy Editor
Jack Kennedy Heather Bruton Eva O’Beirne
Arts & Culture Editor Arts & Culture Deputies
Elena McCrory Oona Kauppi Maisie McGregor
Sex & Relationships Editor Sex & Relationships Deputy Editor
Maya Kulukundis
Societies Editor Societies Deputy
Ella-Bleu Kiely Ruth McGann
Student Living Editor Student Living Deputies
Ella Sloane Seán Holland
Lila Funge
Ria Walls
A guide to college Ria Walls reflects on a range of Trinity’s most-anticipated social events this year
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uy your overpriced dresses, find those bow ties and dig out your heels that cut your ankles—because it’s college ball season! The past few months have been bustling with balls left right and centre; from ones hosted on campus, to hotels, to even castles. Clubs and societies at Trinity have left us hungover and penniless from the surge of formalities. It can be tough to balance your social life alongside college, but a work-life balance is essential to a wellrounded university experience. I spoke to a range of people from across campus about the different events they have attended, as well as a few upcoming formals this ball season. Med Ball The 6th of February saw the Medicine Ball. With tickets priced at €65, attendees were instructed to dress for an Alice in Wonderland theme. Hosted at the Knightsbridge Hotel in Meath, the general consensus was that the food wasn’t great overall—but then again most memories of the night are pretty foggy. With chicken caesar salad for starter, chicken with gravy for main and profiteroles for dessert, I don’t know who could be disappointed. Med students agreed that it was a very fun night, with a
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The past few months have been bustling with balls left right and centre; from ones hosted on campus, to hotels, to even castles
photographer, a DJ and a band, but voiced disappointment at the lack of free wine. Despite this, they danced the night away in the countryside. Source: Ellen Ayerst Hockey Colours Ball On February 9, after a morning of matches (my team lost), the male and female teams of both Trinity College and UCD attended the annual Hockey Colours Ball. This year it was hosted in the Royal Marine Hotel in Dún Laoghaire. I was in attendance, and I have been trying to piece together my memories in order to give an accurate account of the evening. The tickets were only €45, which was a great deal as we got a three-course meal. The meal was good from what I can remember, with soup for starter, chicken for the main and profiteroles for dessert. Come to think of it, there was a constant supply of bread on the table, which significantly helped us to sober up enough to act respectfully. There were DJs for
the evening but due to their lack of taking requests, a number of us headed to Coppers for the remainder of the night. The theme was black-tie, and the majority of girls opted for shorter cocktail dresses rather than ball gowns. BESS Ball The annually held BESS Ball was located at Killashee House, Naas this year on February 17. Tickets were significantly expensive, at €70 for DUBES members and €75 for nonmembers. Those who I spoke to stayed the night at the hotel, making a trip of it. They thoroughly enjoyed the prinks in the room beforehand and the spa the next day. The food was rated as average, with a dry chicken for the main. With a casino-meets-James Bond theme, there were casino tables and games throughout the venue for attendees to enjoy. What’s better than drunk College students gambling? The music provided was from DUDJ, who never fail to impress with their sets.
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 22 March
ball season
Source: Kylie Quinn
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Clubs and societies at Trinity have left us hungover and penniless from the surge of formalities
Unfortunately, the staff asked everyone to leave before 2am, cutting the night short, but overall it was one to remember. Source: Orla Downey and Lily Jennings Law Ball On February 23 our future lawyers made the voyage to the Knightsbrook Hotel in Meath as they prepared for the 2022 Law Ball. Speaking to students about the night, several booked into the hotel, meaning they had a room to get ready in. Unfortunately for some, the hotel room photoshoots lasted so long that they missed the free drinks reception. On par with the majority of other balls, the food was eaten so quickly by drunken students that they can’t remember what it was like. The black-tie event hosted awards such as Law King and Queen, and the classic People-Who-ShouldStop-Messing-and-Just-GetTogether. With a DJ providing music, they danced the night away until the buses departed for Dublin.
Sailing Ball This year’s Sailing Ball took place on February 26 at the Royal St. George Yacht Club, Dún Laoghaire. With tickets pricing at an affordable €40-45, those attending enjoyed what was described as a delicious meal before partaking in a raffle and listening to a few speeches. There was music and dancing after dinner, followed by more drinking and partying afterwards in Doyle’s—what better way is there to end your night than in the iconic Doyle’s? Source: Jacques Mathieu Players Ball March 2 saw those of the drama society take to Workman’s Cellar for the Players’ Ball. I went with my flatmates and it was one of the most relaxed and enjoyable balls, taking place in a club rather than the usual hotel or castle— the night consisted of dancing without the formalities of a three-course meal. The theme was “The Lost Kingdom of Atlantis”, and I saw a range of green dresses resembling mermaids, a Neptune, some crabs, and even pirates. With tickets priced at €35, it was an absolute steal, especially as there was seemingly endless pizza for the night. I mean massive pizzas: 20-inch boxes. The highlights of the night for me were the artists who performed: it ranged from DJs such as the talented Puzzy Wrangler, to drag queens Pluto and Viper, to rap artist Ahmed, With Love. Pharmacy Ball
Organised by the DUPSA committee, the Pharmacy Ball took place on March 3 in Clontarf Castle. This black-tie event hosted the theme of “A Night in Hollywood”, with table props, a sweet cart, a photo booth, and even a red carpet. With tickets at €60, ball-goers claimed the food was average at best, but the music made up for it. A band called Waxies played classic sing-along tunes before a DJ took over and
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It can be tough to balance your social life alongside college, but a work-life balance is essential to a well-rounded university experience
played until late. There were plenty of photo opportunities to be had, with a professional photographer, a fairy light wall and LED letters spelling “TCD” to pose beside. Source: Katie McGoldrick Snow Ball March 4 saw a reunion of skiers as DU Snowsports hosted the Snow Ball. Located at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Dublin, attendees were encouraged to dress for the weddingthemed night. We saw a range of outfits, from crazy aunts in fancy headpieces, to a group of unplanned bridesmaids matching in the classic pink Zara dress. A lucky couple was voted to be the bride and groom, and they got to cut a fancy tiered wedding cake. From what I can remember, the food was very mediocre, with a mere tomato and some cheese thrown on top for starters. After devouring the minimalistic feast, we scrambled to the dance floor to listen to Jack Joyce and the Beanstalks play before DUDJ took over for the remainder of the night. If you’re reading this and you haven’t yet attended a ball, fear not! There are several yet to happen. If you’re lucky enough you might be whisked off to the Radisson Blu to attend the Red and Black Ball: this black-tie event will be happening on March 19th, with DUDJ providing the tunes. If rugby isn’t your thing, the STEM Ball is happening on the 15th of March at Mount Wolseley Hotel in Carlow. And we can’t forget the famous Trinity Ball, which is taking place on April 22nd!
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Tuesday 22 March | TRINITY NEWS
“As someone born in Ukraine this war has almost broken me” Ella Sloane talks to students affected by the current warfare in Ukraine
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ince Russia’s sudden invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, College has released a statement condemning it and showing solidarity for “the Ukrainian people”. Undeniably the crisis has had a devastating impact on many members of the College community, including students and staff alike. Speaking to some students who have been affected by the war, I gained a striking insight into their personal experiences and concerns at this difficult time. Trinity News initially reached
out to the freshly formed Eastern European Society (EES) for comment. The society’s Chairperson, Ana Stinca, describes how she felt when news of the war in Ukraine broke. “Our society got recognised just a week before the war started; therefore, when I received the dreadful news on Thursday morning I was just shocked and scared”. Despite feeling “lost” at this challenging time, the society jumped into action, demonstrating solidarity for their Ukrainian members and fellow students. “We got involved in as many protests as possible”, Stinca explains, adding that she was “amazed by the turnout” and the overwhelming support and interest in their society’s efforts. One of their biggest achievements to date is a collection of humanitarian aid to help Ukrainian refugees in Moldova. Stinca expresses her appreciation for the generosity
shown during their collection: “I would like to take a moment just to thank every single person that helped and donated in House 6”. She explains that they “originally estimated 7 boxes” would be collected by the society, however, “by the time the drivers came to collect the goods we had 30 full boxes of humanitarian aid”. In relation to support offered by College at this time, Stinca acknowledges that “we are currently facing a crisis in terms of welfare support on campus and some of the students do not feel comfortable enough to actively seek support”. She shares that so far she has heard from students that “College has offered them support depending on their needs” and hopes that this continues to be prioritised, concluding that when students do reach out for help she “would really count on Trinity to act accordingly”.
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“I wasn’t sure what to expect from Trinity but I have to say I am very grateful for all the support Trinity has provided”
A member of the Eastern European Society’s Ukrainian subcommittee, Oleg, shares how he has been affected by the war: “As someone born in Ukraine this war has almost broken me. I check the news obsessively, and the worrying interferes with my daily life and studies”. He explains how his family at home are currently coping with the war: “Thankfully my family are safe. About half of my relatives have fled the country. Just today a handful of my cousins and their parents have arrived in Ireland, while my other aunt and her daughter are waiting it out in Hungary”. “My grandfather has volunteered and drives trucks for the military, despite being older than the mobilisation age”. Of his grandfather’s volunteering efforts, Oleg adds, “I really respect this and it gives me courage, and makes me believe in our united, unbreakable spirit”. He also talks about the support
PHOTO VIA TRINITY
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 22 March
that Trinity has been offering for its Ukrainian students: “I wasn’t sure what to expect from Trinity but I have to say I am very grateful for all the support Trinity has provided”. Oleg shares that “the student support group for Ukrainian students”, in particular, “has been great”. This has offered both “a place to empathise with other Ukrainian students, but also to help our relatives and countrymen back home in a meaningful war”. Another member of the EES Ukrainian subcommittee, Dmytro, reached out to share his experience since war broke out in his home country. Having lived in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, his whole life, the war has had a large impact on Dmytro and his family. He describes what unfolded on Thursday 24th of February: “I woke up to a shocking message from my mother, saying ‘Dima (my short name), Ukraine has been invaded. I woke up at 4am due to bombings and sirens, woke up the whole family and we left to the countryside’”. Dmytro tells me that his father soon returned to the capital, explaining that “he wanted to protect his family, his people and his country”. He continues, “the following days, my mom wasn’t sleeping well. Obviously, she was stressed; sometimes even in the countryside she would wake up to hearing bombs”. Since then, Dmytro’s family have decided to stay at his grandmother’s house, which now provides refuge for 13 people.
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When asked what people in Ireland can do to help, he replies “talk to us, to help us deal with psychological problems. But most importantly, they can donate to our army, our charities, etc”
PHOTO BY ISOBEL DUFFY FOR TRINITY NEWS
On that very Thursday, Dmytro heard about a protest happening near Leinster House and decided to attend. “I met new friends there, mostly from Ukraine, but also from Russia, Ireland, and others”. “When we started the protest, and then marching, I felt united with my people. It was awesome, knowing that all men and women around me shared the same positions and problems. Then a microphone got into my hands, and I started yelling all the mottos we were following, such as ‘No war in Ukraine’, and ‘We want peace’”. Since then, Dmytro has started helping to organise other protests, being one of the speakers. He states “I have a strong anti-war position; I am very patriotic, and my family, including grandmothers and grandfathers, know about that. They have seen the news and my videos, and this made them very proud and calmed them down to some extent”. The war has become allconsuming for Dmytro; he explains “I’ve never read so much news in my entire life. Every day, I’ve been reading [news stories] for hours, so that I could be sure of what I’m talking about to friends and on protests. I’ve heard a lot of terrifying ones and obviously great ones too. I am fascinated by the Ghost of Kyiv, a pilot that has taken down at least 20 enemy planes”. Dmytro offers an insight into the multitude of emotions he has felt since the onset of the war. They range from initial worry and anxiety, to pride towards his country
and people, to feeling “mad and upset” at Russia’s abrupt invasion and the war crimes Putin has committed. He also expressed anger towards “those occupants who came to my land, and started shooting civilians, raping women and bombing hospitals and kindergartens”. Dmytro states that he is “very grateful for everything Trinity College has done”. He highlights what he feels has been “most helpful” is how “College, as far as I know, also made the fees for Ukrainians equal to EU fees, not international fees anymore”. He thanks his lecturers for giving him extensions for his assignments. When asked what people in Ireland can do to help, he replies “talk to us, to help us deal with psychological problems. But most importantly, they can donate to our army, our charities, etc. This will have the largest impact”. Dmytro emphasises that “not all Russians and Belarusians are to blame” and explains how one Russian friend of his is suffering as a result of the war. “She cannot live here for very long with the money she has right now. She only has one option, to leave for Russia, but since the European airspace is closed for them, she’s only able to travel through Turkey, and a ticket will cost more than €1000”. One student who had been doing Trinity’s gap-year exchange program with Moscow State University, and “was living in Moscow from September until last week”, shares how he “had to leave when the political/economic situation in Russia became too
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Dmytro offers an insight into the multitude of emotions he has felt since the onset of the war: from initial worry and anxiety, to pride towards his country and people, to feeling “mad and upset” unstable”. Speaking to Trinity News, the student explains how “most of the international students in Moscow (and almost all the Irish) have had to leave”, adding that “it was only possible to get out of Russia via a plane to Turkey, trains to Finland, or buses to the Baltic”. Underlining how
College reached out to himself and fellow students partaking in the exchange, he recalls that “Trinity were in pretty close contact with us, we had Zooms every other day once the war began until we were able to get out”. He describes how in the lead up to the war, “it really had not felt like there was going to be any conflict based on the feelings of students around me (Russian ones and internationals alike), professors, and everything I was reading from western foreign correspondents based in Moscow. Then we were shocked and horrified when the Russian army did invade. Almost all the Russians I knew there felt the same way; they were sickened by their government’s actions and would try to explain to me that it was Putin’s war, and not their own”. Asked if he witnessed the effects of sanctions prior to leaving Russia, he responds, “I first noticed the impact of the sanctions when I started to see Russians queueing up at ATMs (and when ATMs began to run out of cash). I was able to get out before it really became impossible to access money from Europe/the US.” He “saw a number of protests” and “ had lots of young Russian friends who were risking so much to get out on the streets”. He added that these friends “could easily be expelled or imprisoned for opposing the war, and still felt they had to voice their frustration and anger”.
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Tuesday 22 March | TRINITY NEWS
Women in STEM Ella-Bleu Kiely speaks with three of Trinity’s STEM women on their society and academic lives
T Dramatising the end of the world Caitlin Kawalek reviews Samuel Beckett’s Endgame at the Gate Theatre, on show until March 26 Despite the comedic tilt of Danya Taymor’s Endgame, nobody laughed at Hamm’s heavy declaration that “You’re on Earth. There’s no cure for that.”. The performance tightroped between humour and austerity, carefully depicting the concurrent self-pacification and dread of humanity post-catastrophe – a condition that is eerily close to our “post-pandemic” world and its immediate encounter with invasion, in Ukraine. The play, written by Samuel Beckett, features four characters, each in some way incapacitated, who are confined to a bunker-like room whose outside is “nothing”. They engage in narrative, nostalgia, and linguistic play as a means to both occupy their minds and pass the time – but these efforts prove ultimately futile against the haplessness of the characters’ existence. This is an end after the end, a relentless elongation of survival. Beckett probes the disintegration of identity, connection, and purpose coterminous to the death of a social world. Whilst what has happened is equivocal, its consequences are clear. Humanity has been reduced to a “static choreography
of mutual dependency” within which nothing means anything (Eva Horn). Taymor remained true to Beckett’s text. The curved floors and slanted walls of the set emphasised both servant Clov’s pain as he limped around, following the constant commands of his master, Hamm, and the sense of confinement of the characters’ existence. Scottish comedian Frankie Boyle emphasised his character, Hamm’s, resignation through wearied and humorous expression of his lines, whilst Robert Sheehan, as Clov, tempered his bursts of frustration with selfsoothing laughter. Nell and Nagg, two elderly amputees, played by Gina Moxley and Seán McGinley, were confined to dustbins, moving between solitude and brief, useless interactions that were marked by a desire to enact the impossible past, epitomised in Nell’s sad recollections of “Ah, yesterday!”. Clov and Hamm’s relationship had less cruelty and friction than that which emerges from a reading of the play, but this made for an interesting sense of connectivity behind the distance inherent in their conversations. Similarly, Nell’s death was played subtly, which served less to efface the moment than to emphasise the perpetuity of human mortality and its insignificance amidst a world in decline. Clov’s arduous movements were joined by moments of stillness and silence, ultimately including the audience in the performance’s labour. Overall, the performance was a faithful but nuanced rendition of Beckett’s original – poignant within our contemporary setting.
he fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, known collectively as STEM, are often considered supreme areas of study, especially in the Trinity sphere. Many female scientists have made pioneering contributions to the history of science, confirming their integral role in STEM, which has been challenged down through the ages. Significant gaps and obstacles still exist. Therefore, it is imperative to create more collaborative, equal, and inclusive environments for women in every office, lab and workplace. For this, Trinity’s STEM societies are an active platform. I spoke with Kate Elliot (DU Physoc), Fiona Brogan (DU Management Science Society) and Tara King (TCD Science Society) on their views and experiences in their line of work and extra-curricular lives. Kate Elliot is a third year physics student specialising in nanoscience, and the current secretary of DU Physoc. After entering college straight from an all-girls secondary school, she described it as a huge change going straight into physics: “It’s
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Some people would still think Physics or STEM is so male dominated and that it hasn’t always been women who discovered such important things
probably 75% male. The change was kinda hard in first year but I honestly think being so involved in Physoc definitely helped with that.” The body and committee of Physoc is made up of a majority of women, which Elliot feels is “nice to have a space that’s still all about physics but more equal. It’s always a welcoming community.” Elliot believes that stereotyping of women in physics still lingers, but recognizes the positive constant progression. “There are more women in STEM and especially physics with more equal views. But I think it’s almost like sometimes internally you feel like you have to do better to almost prove that you should be there or can be there. When, of course, you should.” What attracted Elliot to physics was understanding how the world around us works. “There’s so many things that we just see everyday and there’s actually a lot behind that…I think in my later years of school I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do but I always had some form of science in the back of my head.” An individual from the STEM world who Elliot admires is Rosalind Franklin, who is credited with the discovery of the structure of DNA, and who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine in 1962 alongside Francis Crick, James Watson and Maurice Wilkins.
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The society definitely gives you a good taste of what you could do, and if you have an interest in the field it can really help you with where you can go with it The English chemist and x-ray crystallographer’s contributions to the major discovery were greatly unrecognised during her life, for which she has been referred to as the “wronged heroine”, the “dark lady of DNA” and a “feminist icon”. Elliot said: “Some people would still think Physics or STEM
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 22 March
M societies is so male dominated and that it hasn’t always been women who discovered such important things.” Most recently with Physoc, Elliot travelled to Switzerland where they were guests at the University of Geneva there, as well as to Kraków in Poland with the society when she was in first year. “When I was in first year I thought it was so nice and great to see people in older years that were similar to me and kinda just to have that connection of what was ahead of me”, she expressed. “I think it’s so important for women in the STEM field to have a community. In Physoc you’ll be supported and made to feel like your place is the same as everyone else’s.” Fiona Brogan is a third year Management Science and Information System Studies (MSISS) student and a member of the Dublin University Management Science Society (DUMSS). She first joined the society in first year as it was recommended by older years in her course. “It’s quite a small society, which in a way is nice because you really recognise all the faces around campus,” she said. On being asked how she would describe her standing as a woman in the STEM world, Brogan explained that she feels lucky in the sense of both her course and DUMSS both being equally full of men and women: “I’ve never faced any issues or discrimination
with being a female in what I do. I find the environment that I’m constantly in to be fair, with no judgement.” “I’m also lucky enough that I’m quite outspoken. I suppose if I was shy I’d maybe have a different outlook”, she laughed. The third year MSISS student, who would consider herself more of a computer scientist, recognises that there’s still certain stereotyping of women in the field, but not so much in her area of expertise. “Honestly, if I ever think about the standing of both men and women in STEM I’d never look to computer science. It’s so heavy-going on the actual content that there’s not really room for debate or opinion,” she
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What does a scientist look like? Braces and nerdy? The typical stereotype of being socially awkward?
explained. Brogan feels that “it’s like learning a new language, not exploring new theorems or other people’s work.” From work experience in her younger years, Brogan came to understand how important working with technology in businesses is at times like these. “I have an interest in finance, but I’m also bringing with me a massive interest in computer science and technology, with a sprinkling of business.” “I’m not a purebred STEM kid, but I appreciate all the benefits that come along with it”, she said. Brogan shared that she feels one of the greatest things about DUMSS is all the contact the society keeps with Trinity alumni: “Networking is a huge benefit of being involved in the society.” DUMSS frequently hosts guest speakers from the management field, as well as holding career fairs in the areas of finance, consulting and data analytics. “The society definitely gives you a good taste of what you could do, and if you have an interest in the field it can really help you with where you can go with it.” Tara King is a final year Biochemistry student and the current Secretary of TCD Science Soc. She has also just completed her thesis, entitled Examining the signalling effects of Nitric Oxide production in Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cells. She first got involved in the society last year as she has always been passionate about communicating science to younger people or those who aren’t very familiar with it. “Sort of just making it sound less complicated,” she explains. “Science is just such an interest of mine. Basically, I wanted to be
involved in something that helps other science students and makes it more accessible.” King feels that being a young woman in STEM now has “come on leaps and bounds.” “I personally haven’t experienced any of the misogyny that the likes of some of my lecturers would have. Science Soc actually held a women in STEM panel a few weeks ago, and one of the female lecturers who was giving a talk was saying that in the past men have commented on her chest size at conferences”, she said. “One thing I’ve always noticed in lectures is that men will always get credited for what they find, and lecturers often forget the womens names involved.” She understands that she does not face the obstacles that women in her field would have just a generation ago, but definitely feels that stereotyping of women in STEM is still here: “I feel that sometimes when I tell people I study science there like ‘oh really? You don’t look like a scientist.’ What does a scientist look like? Braces and nerdy? The typical stereotype of being socially awkward?” King alluded to stereotypes of women being less intelligent, which she says that both her and her friends have been subject to. “Just because we have a decent social life and we’re not studying or in the lab 24/7 we can’t be properly dedicated scientists? There’s definitely a burnout culture in science, and you feel like you have to work so much harder to get where men are. It feels like you’re never doing enough and it’s an issue”, said King. When asked if there’s anyone in the STEM world she particularly
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In meetings she’d always bring up her family and it’s nice that she feels like she didn’t have to make the sacrifice of family for academic success admires, King referred to the Women in STEM panel held by Science Soc: “What was most inspiring is how these greatly accomplished women were speaking about imposter syndrome, and how they still feel like they don’t fully belong.” However, King expressed that one who she truly looks up to is her thesis supervisor Emma Creagh ( Assistant Professor at the School of Biochemistry & Immunology). “She’s such an accessible and friendly person. In meetings she’d always bring up her family and it’s nice that she feels like she didn’t have to make the sacrifice of family for academic success. She has both, and even runs her own lab”, said King. The notion of having to trade off family and career is often foisted upon women, in a way it isn’t on men. “I really look up to Emma and if I was half the woman she is now I’d be proud,” King adds. King said that Science Soc is fantastic for networking, and from regular career talks held by the society, you’re given different insights into a lot of different paths. “I think the society can really show you what life as a scientist can really be like”, she explained. King encourages to get involved in a society as young as you can and wishes she got involved in Science Soc sooner: “There can be some work involved in being in a society, but it’s worth it, and it’s a great college and life experience.” From speaking with these three STEM-driven women, it was interesting to consider the overlap in their own personal standings in their separate fields. Over time, the attitudes of and towards women in STEM have evolved greatly, but stereotypes and difficulties with inclusivity are still present. However, Physoc, DUMMS and Science Soc are working to break down these barriers. These three women, along with their societies, are working towards a truly equal standing for women in STEM.
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Tuesday 22 March | TRINITY NEWS
Scampolo! at The Douglas Hyde Gallery Ava Chapman discusses Eric N. Mack’s exhibition in Trinity
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rinity’s on-campus contemporary art gallery, The Douglas Hyde, is hosting Eric N. Mack’s first solo exhibition, Scampolo!, until May 29 2022. Mack is an American artist whose work has been shown at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Serpentine Gallery in London, Camden Arts Centre, and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) PS1. The Douglas Hyde describes his exhibition as “tether[ed] to the gallery’s architecture and present[ing] a series of movements through abstraction, colour and image.” Mack was able to use the gallery space however he wished, meaning that the art interacts with the architecture on a reactive level – not simply being placed in the gallery but having been made in the gallery. Mack’s paintings question the form itself – made of hanging sheets of fabric and printed images, they are not paintings in the classical sense of the form, but they invoke in the viewer the same sensations of awe and aesthetic enjoyment. Walking through the gallery, which Mack was given the freedom to use however he liked, feels like walking through a deconstructed painting– expanded, textured, colourful, layered, lines of fabric intersecting, a series of
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PHOTOS BY AVA CHAPMAN FOR TRINITY NEWS
images also included – taken from magazines, photographs. As others walk through the space, their bodies are shrouded by the fabric, tinted blue, red, orange. The fabric is occasionally layered – in the gallery with a friend, taking photos of each other, I appeared blurrily under the colour blue whereas they appeared all purple-pink. A seemingly small detail, this sense of visual play is what makes Mack’s work interesting. It engages you in the space,
forcing you to examine your own relationship to the art – even if only your distance from the fabric, the walls, the photographs– as well as how you and others move through the space, implicitly changing the composition of the exhibition. Scampolo! questions the boundaries of form and it is viscerally beautiful. By communicating artistically in a form that is not easily categorizable – textile, painting, collage, photograph, and sculpture are all words that
could semi-successfully be used to describe this piece – Scampolo! forces the viewer to put aside our preconceptions of how we should look at art, how we should interpret it. Walking through the space, we become immersed in it. Travelling through colour, light, image, and texture, perhaps, we forge a relationship with the artwork without immediately categorising it into a form – instead, experiencing it on its own terms, as a changing and beautiful experience. Mack takes inspiration from fashion and has worked with fashion brands before. Some of the movement, fluidity, and embodied quality of his work can be attributed to this connection. Fashion, after all, is about movement, bodies, colour, space, and beauty. An example of Mack’s work with designers is an installation he did with Missoni for Desert X – draping and hanging fabrics over a car garage overlooking the Salton Sea.The movement of the fabric is sculptural and reactive to the environment– billowing in the wind, glowing with light. In Scampolo!, one of the pictures pasted on a wall of the gallery, behind draped fabrics you can walk behind to view, somewhat cocooned from the rest of the gallery, is a picture of a woman in a white outfit. She is quoted as saying, “My clothes are from my very inner self.” One of the very few sentences included in the artwork, it is easy, as a viewer, to ignore it because of its sourcing from a magazine page. However, the magazine model quote, ostensibly trying to sell someone
Scampolo! forces the viewer to put aside our preconceptions of how we should look at art clothes at some point in time, reflects an interest in fashion and how we express our inner selves. Mack is American, based in New York City, and was recently an art fellow in Rome before coming to Dublin to set up this exhibition. Scampolo! Stitch es all of these places together, each place influencing the piece. Hewitt, who is connected to Cooper Union in New York as well, has work exhibited in the next room. The title, Scampolo!, is Italian for remnant, reflecting both his time in Rome and the sometimes scrap-like quality of his work, reflecting something, yet not entirely communicating a whole. Many of the fabrics in the show have been sourced from local Irish textile manufacturers, tethering the installation materially to Ireland as well as the gallery space.
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 22 March
What’s on the market: Three to visit this spring Róisín Finnegan walks us through her top three crafty marketplaces to visit this spring
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arkets remain an integral part of Dublin culture. In archival footage of the city, the lives of Dubliners seem to be embodied by the clamour and bustling of our vibrant market spaces, much like at Christmas, when the festivities are marked with the Henry Street stalls. There’s no need to wait for the winter, though. There are great markets this spring in Dublin to keep up the old-time tradition of having a good gander. I spent some time this Thursday, Friday and Saturday of reading week doing just that. On Thursday evening from 6pm, Fegans 1924 Cafe on Chancery Street shifts from a comfy daylight spot into its
own mini event. Fegans Night Market claims to be the biggest fully student-run market in Dublin, and it has lots going for it. The atmosphere is not quite your traditional Dublin street stalls, with a DJ keeping the vibe up alongside some good old LED lighting. As I walked in, I first noticed the art stall to my left, then the person getting tattooed to my right. Yes, as well as browsing some cool art and self-made jewellery, those who fancy can even get tattooed before a browse at the vintage clothes stall. This market was very small, just the little room in the back of Fegans, so it’s not one for wandering all day. It is, however, a good spot to check out if you wish to invest in some Irish artists’ work. The added bonus was the café still being open and sitting down for a cup of tea with the friend I dragged along with me. She noted from the crowd that it seemed like a popular NCAD spot, but I think your average arts block market enthusiast would get something out of a trip! They do also serve alcohol, and the night market is open on Saturday, if you are looking for a very artsy/ supporting the arts prinks idea.
Friday was Liberty Market. This is an enduring piece of the old-style Dublin that you are still able to amble through today. A large banner marking Dublin’s Famous Liberty Market emerges past Meath Street, and past a lovely flower stall. I passed a stand with a jumble of tarot cards and crystals, a modern addition to this traditional market layout. Next was a towering wall of cards, leading you down to a labyrinth of indoor stalls. There really is a bit of everything here, with no exact order to how it is laid out. You make one turn and meet a jewellery stall, another and it’s shoes. Then lights, baby clothes and band t-shirts you might have thought to go looking in Temple Bar for. This is definitely a market to check out if you are unsure what you’re looking for, as with such a variety of things available there should be something for everyone. On Saturday afternoon I took a bus out to visit the Red Stables Food Market in St Anne’s Park, Clontarf. The 130 bus will leave you right at the park entrance, and if you fancy a market to make a day out of, this is the one to pick. There are rows of
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This market was very small, just the little room in the back of Fegans… it’s a good spot to have a look at if you wish to invest in some Irish artist’s work. tents set up around the top of the avenue, so I would recommend not following my lead and pick a day where you are less likely to get pelted down with rain. Before
the showers the atmosphere was lovely. The most surprising stall was a minimal waste grocery one, with eco-friendly products such as bamboo toothbrushes and natural toothpaste on offer. It was the kind of setup I hadn’t seen in Ireland before, and with the market on every Saturday it provides a great resource for those looking to go plastic free. There were some options for the natural beauty inclined too, with lavender and seaweed products each having their own dedicated stall. As the market’s name suggests, there is a great selection of food available, including vegan and vegetarian options. There are also stalls of fruit and vegetables, and even some homemade cider. After you’ve picked your food of choice, you can browse Irish owned art, oil, candles, photography and even some outfits for your dog. With plenty of space to sit or walk around before, during or after your shopping St Anne’s is a good option for a day out, and hopefully you get the weather for it. These markets were just three I happened to visit over the course of three days, but they are a great place to start. I got something different out of each of them. Fegans was a definite shout for scavenging a good present to buy from an Irish artist, and I loved that you could have a cup or tea or something stronger - depending on what you were looking for. Liberty Market felt like wandering through a bit of old-fashioned Dublin, and in a time where so many cultural landmarks of the city are threatened, it is a nice experience to have. And lastly, despite the rain, St Anne’s was a lovely experience, with so much on offer and with many small Irish businesses to support.
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This market was very small, just the little room in the back of Fegans… it’s a good spot to have a look at if you wish to invest in some Irish artist’s work.
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Tuesday 22 March | TRINITY NEWS
Sally Rooney has a knack for creating relatable characters Alice Woods discusses Sally Rooney’s new novel Beautiful World, Where Are You? alongside her acclaimed Normal People
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ince the release of her debut novel Conversations with Friends in 2017, Sally Rooney has become somewhat of a household name, not just in Ireland but on a worldwide scale. Hailed by the New York Times as “The First Great Millennial Novelist”, Rooney’s long-awaited third novel Beautiful World, Where are you?—released in September 2021—was an instant bestseller and An Post Irish Book Awards novel of the year. But written in the blaze of her previous success, elevated by the television adaptation of Normal People—does the novel live up to expectations? There is something poignant about a title like Beautiful World, Where are you?. In a world that has just suffered a global pandemic, such a title begs the questions: Why are we here? What is the meaning of life? Indeed, the book does tackle modern-day existentialism, as the two main characters, Alice and Eileen, search for happiness and security
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Rooney’s third novel steps further away from the grounds of Trinity College and delves into the lives of two friends who are attempting to navigate adult life. while dealing with two different perspectives on success. Rooney’s third novel steps further away from the grounds of Trinity College and delves into the lives of two friends who are attempting to navigate adult life. In a classic Rooney style, there is a noticeable detachment between the writer and the main characters. However, the novel is slightly more structurally complicated than her previous works. The alternating perspectives between Alice and Eileen are punctuated by in-depth emails, in which both women question politics, history, apocalypse, and the world in
general—along with themselves and their relationships. It is difficult to determine what Rooney intended with their placement in the story. One can not help but wonder if these emails, which present more like essays, were personal indulgences for Rooney and a means for expressing her own thoughts, concerns and beliefs about modern society. This question is accentuated by Alice’s character; she is an author, a Marxist, and hates the publicity work she must do following the success of her two novels. It is difficult to believe that the character is not in some way based on Rooney herself, at least from a career standpoint. Rooney has a masterful way of creating characters that you root for, and want to see succeed, despite the fact that they are not entirely likeable. There is a sense that the characters feel superior to the people that surround them, despite their highly self-critical nature. There is the Rooney-esque will-they-won’t-they question throughout the book, as both female characters yearn for intimacy—and in some ways, validation. In this sense, the female characters do not differ hugely from Normal People’s Marianne or Conversation with Friends’ Francis. Once again, Rooney’s characters come from homes in which there is, to a greater or lesser extent, a lack of familial support or love. This is a running theme in all three of her novels. Despite the characters in Beautiful World, Where are you? confronting different issues at different stages of their lives than the characters of the previous two novels, the basic theme of the novel is not unlike what has come before. With that said, Rooney successfully introduces the concept of online dating into her work and the complexities that arise from it, with a relationship status reared from the likes of Tinder. Rooney’s own editor has referred to her as the “Salinger of the Snapchat Generation”, and there is no denying that Rooney has a way of igniting conversation. Beautiful World, Where are you? certainly highlights the instability of friendship and intimacy in the modern world while confronting controversies such as modernday Catholicism, Marxism, and the intricacies of living life in an era of addictive technology. However, in my view, the book did not flow with the same ease that her previous two novels have been praised for. Perhaps, my own expectations were slightly too high. In the same breath, I will admit that I am looking forward to seeing where Rooney takes us next.
Fighting food was Sophie Dibben and Saskia Steinberg rate Dublin’s best Too Good To Go spots
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oo Good To Go is all about fighting food waste. The company was founded in Denmark in 2015, connecting people through their app to cheap surplus food and has saved 29 million meals since its launch in 2015. For a reduced sum, customers can pay for a surprise bag of food that restaurants, supermarkets or cafes would have otherwise thrown out. It’s a great solution to the frightening amount of food waste thrown away each year, which according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), totals to 150kg per Irish household. But we’re not here to yabber on about food waste, and the fact that a third of food produced ends up in the bin, we’re here to tell you how one third of that delicious food can end up in your mouth, for a very small price. How does it work? First and foremost, download the app. Then reserve a “magic bag” filled with food that a store, cafe or restaurant of your choice has left over. It’s a surprise, and sometimes a bit of a gamble, so you can consult our guides for advice. The app gives you a specific time frame to collect your bag from the store. Warning: If you miss the collection time, you will not be refunded. It’s as simple as that. What if I’ve got a dietary requirement? For the veggies out there: in my eyes, Too Good To Go is the best excuse to sink your teeth into meat and eat dairy products guilt-free — it’s going to waste anyway if you don’t eat it. Otherwise, many stores specify a “vegetarian bag”. You can also let the staff at the store know your preference as soon as you arrive because some allow you to pick and choose the food. For others, the bag is already prepared for you so this isn’t an option. Umi Falafel and Tang definitely come out top for vegetarian food. However, vegan and gluten-free options are a lot harder to come by. Sophie Dibben’s guide to the best Too Good To Go spots Caffè Nero, Merrion Row €4.99. App rating: 4.2 stars Personal rating: 3.8 stars Caffè Nero offers copious amounts of hearty and substantial
ARTWORK BY OTTOLINE MACILWANE FOR
food. I had a ham and cheese panini, a sausage sandwich and a cookie - good times! All Caffè Neros provide the same sort of thing. Meat-free paninis are also available. KC Peaches - Nassau Street €4.99. App rating: 4.5 stars Personal rating: 4.8 stars Wow. We’re talking two boxes of lasagne, that cheesy pasta bake, those typical vegetable dishes, a soup, and a sweet pastry. If you play your cards right, you can also wangle a cheesecake brownie. Incredible value for money. Although, after consulting friends, 22-year-old Georgina Farrelly had a bone to pick (literally) with KC Peaches. According to Farrelly, they do not offer a vegetarian option and her bag was a “big mush up of stuff.” Wren Urban Nest, just off Exchequer Street €3.99 App rating: 4.0 stars Personal rating: 0.5 stars In my opinion, this “trendy
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 22 March
ste with Too Good To Go Too Good To Go bags from supermarkets usually provide milk, cheese, yoghurt, crisps maybe and an orange. It is always bitterly disappointing. SPAR in particular is so expensive anyway that you might as well go to Lidl or Aldi for these products at a smaller cost (and they won’t go off in the next day or two). Camerino Bakery. Capel Street €3.99. App rating: 4.2 stars Personal rating: 2.3 stars This bakery really takes the “taste over presentation” mantra a bit too far. My experience involved a box of tarts all stuck together in a bit of a mushy mess. Don’t get me wrong, I love how Too Good To Go is rough and ready. We don’t want perfect, pristine fine dining. We want value for money. But the caramel shortbread had melted onto the second tart, which made for a heart attack sugar sandwich. Fresh, Smithfield €5.99 App rating 3.9 stars Personal rating: N/A I’ve never collected a bag from here so I consulted group chats. “20/30 quid worth of food,” reported Jaspar Taheny, 21. But it is “not very fresh and not very useful,” according to Ferdia Rocher, 20. We have a mixed bag of reviews there.
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hotel featuring a café” is NOT a good option. My 4pm collection gave me one box of weird quiche. I suppose it’s bougie hotel food, but I was not impressed. Having said this, I have not tried out the breakfast here and the place does have a 4.0 rating which is not too shabby. Hotel breakfasts usually involve a lot of mini pastries - which are always fun. Hanley’s Cornish Pasties, Merchant’s Arch, Temple Bar €4.99. App rating: 4.0 stars Personal rating: 3.5 stars Three pasties - mushroom and cheese, chicken, and beef. This is a certified bargain. Nutritious and delicious might be a stretch, but delicious? Absolutely. I ate one of these on the way to the pub, and the rest in the pub with no weird looks. You can eat pasties wherever you like. SPAR - College Green and North Dock €3.99. App rating: 4.4 stars Personal rating: 1.3 stars
Hustle Kitchen, Smithfield €3.99 App rating 4.4 stars Personal rating: 5.0 stars Every day they are Hustlin’ Fresh and homemade, large quantities of meals for under four euros. This palace is the Bee’s Knees and my personal favourite. Sprout & Co, Exchequer Street €4.99 App rating 4.7 stars Personal rating: 4.5 stars
Well, they should take a page out of Pizza Truck’s book… Pizza Truck HQ, Phoenix Park €5.99 App rating 4.2 stars Personal rating: 4.7 stars If you don’t get lost enough in Phoenix Park en route, you’ll get lost in the staff ’s eyes. Dashing men occupy the truck and give you three pizzas, making it well worth the trek. Saskia Steinberg’s guide to the best Too Good To Go spots I was first made aware of Too Good To Go in 2019, while living in London. The concept really appealed to me, being both a massive foodie and wanting to be more eco-conscious. I also enjoyed the surprise aspect of it, not knowing what food you will be picking up until you get there. With London’s bustling food scene, there’s a lot of variety and ability to purchase from reputable names such as Pret a Manger and Paul. Generally, these businesses tend to give food worth the price stated on the app. I received a loaf of bread, two pastries and a sandwich from Paul, all for the mere price of £5. This was a massive result, in that my bag consisted of food worth well over £15. However, it’s not always a successful shop, especially when buying from somewhere less well known. All in all, my experience using the app in Dublin has been pretty varied. My first pick up was from Soup Dragon, a café on Capel Street, specialising in an array of soups. I paid €3.99 and received two large soups, a side salad and two slices of bread. However, I was fairly disappointed to learn that both of the soups were carrot and coriander, arguably bottom of the soup hierarchy. The side salad consisted of a meagre handful of leaves yet, the large slices of bread were the saving grace. To conclude, Soup Dragon didn’t quite fulfil
my expectations, it is certainly questionable whether it totalled to €12. Yet for €3.99, it’s a deal and if you are a carrot and coriander fan, you definitely know where to go! My second experience was at Tang, a Trinity hotspot on Dawson Street. I paid slightly more, coming in at €5.99 and in return received a large salad, a side salad and a soup. I appreciated that I was given a choice of protein. This is a rarity for Too Good To Go customers, as you often have to take what you’re given. However, upon calculating the price, it’s safe to say it didn’t fulfil the €18 it was said to be worth. Yet, for Tang prices, where a salad is at least €7.50, it again was a bargain. Others unfortunately have not been as successful. Student, Gen Finn, explains she purchased a €3.99 bag from Taste of Spain on Capel Street, and received a large tub of pork fat and expired ketchup. Gen does say however that ‘it’s generally a reliable app. A tip would be to use the favourites feature and keep track of the restaurants you like. Eventually you start to notice when they put their bags up for purchase, and
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The discrepancy between the value of the product and what you receive, however, does not take away from Too Good To Go’s core goal
this is really helpful info if you’re looking to get one of the really indemand bags’. Gen quotes her most successful bags being Yum Thai, Veganic, Cornucopia, Margadh and Fruitique! Speaking to third-year student, Lottie Basil, she explains that ‘you don’t know if you’re going to like what they give you and then you’re stuck with food you didn’t want. But when it’s food you do want it’s great!’. As highlighted, it can inadvertently create a contradictory outcome, as you can have food you don’t end up eating. One solution to this can be purchasing multiple bags with a friend and sharing the food between you. Finn mentions that from experience, restaurants can also cancel your order. She says that ‘while this is ultimately a good thing for the environment, as they’ve sold all of their food. It’s worth having a backup in case you’re relying on your bag for a meal.’ Upon reflection, Too Good To Go is certainly hit and miss. Depending on where you order from it can be disappointing. Student, Eliza Sinclair, says ‘you have to give lots of them a go and then you can revisit the ones that are good’. Additional advice from Eliza: ‘if there’s anything less than 3 stars I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole’. The discrepancy between the value of the product and what you receive, however, does not take away from Too Good To Go’s core goal. Through buying surplus food, it contributes to the fight against food waste. It’s a cheap and easy way to grab a meal whilst simultaneously benefiting a great cause. To round this guide off with some tips - Too Good To Go is a bit of an early bird catches the worm situation. The bags sell out pretty quickly, so if you are dilly-dallying on whether to reserve, just go for it. You can also cancel your order up to two hours before the start of the collection time. Dublin’s Too Good To Go scene is definitely on an upper trajectory, with more and more restaurants joining the app. And what better way to help the environment than through eating food.
You can get two vegetarian bags here, jam-packed with tofu, mushrooms, and sweet sweet potatoes. Your health is your wealth in this store. Rosie’s Café, Dublin Castle €3.99 App rating 3.7 stars Personal rating: 1.2 stars This was my first Too Good To Go experience in Dublin after using the app extensively in Geneva. I have no idea how one salty quiche made me such a fanatic of the app. I tried explaining to the staff that one food item is not going to cut the mustard (in a friendly way of course), but they objected.
PHOTO BY ELIZA MELLER FOR TRINITY NEWS
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Tuesday 22 March | TRINITY NEWS
PHOTO VIA THE BUTTON FACTORY
Revising the write a new I James Mahon examines Fintan O’Toole’s new book We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Ireland since 1958
F Ents to host mental health charity event Ria Walls gives the lowdown on the Shit Shirt Shindig
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rinity Ents will be hosting a charity event on Wednesday March 30 in the Button Factory in order to raise money for mental health causes. The event, which is being organised in collaboration with Dublin University Hockey Club (DUHC), is in memory of a club member who tragically took his own life three years ago. The night is entitled the ‘Shit Shirt Shindig’ and is in aid of charity Pieta House, an organisation providing suicide prevention and mental health support. With doors opening at 11pm, the event will include raffles for charity alongside featuring some of Trinity’s own acts. Last Apollo, who have recently sold out their headline show at Whelans, will take to the stage to perform, alongside other artists from across college. Event-goers are encouraged to wear the worst shirts they own, so go find that Hawaiian print button-up that
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So go find that Hawaiian print buttonup that your mum told you not to buy and prepare yourself for what is set to be a memorable night for a great cause. your mum told you not to buy and prepare yourself for what is set to be a memorable night for a great cause.
Pre-pandemic, the same event was organised in 2019 by current Ents officer Greg Arrowsmith and DUHC during November; alongside the shirts, moustaches were sported in order to partake in Movember and raise awareness for men’s mental health. Similarly, this upcoming event will donate all proceeds to Pieta House. Around 400 attendees partied the night away, raising roughly €7000 for the charity between tickets, donations and raffles. Since 2006, Pieta House have welcomed and assisted over 60,000 individuals in need of mental health assistance; from counselling, freephone helplines and texting services, the money raised on the night will directly aid and support the free services provided by the charity. It is through fundraisers and support - such as through events like the Shit Shirt Shindig - that Pieta are able to offer their services and run their charity. Their mission is to change the stigma surrounding mental health and suicide, and replace it with messages of hope and self-care. The services available are accessible for all and can be reached through their website, pieta.ie.
intan O’Toole, in his most recent book We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Ireland since 1958, proposes a drastic, new way of approaching Irish history. Part historical account and part personal memoir, O’Toole subverts the structured rigidity of traditional historiography, invigorating it with a unique individual and authentically emotional tone. Whilst there are some underlying issues with his methodology, for the most part it allows O’Toole to go beyond the clichéd generalities of Irish history. The initial part of the text offers a concrete illustration of the Catholic authoritarianism that informed much of the republic’s history since its creation, whilst the latter half chronicles the increasing transition to a dominant, capitalist, commodified culture of nineties and noughties Ireland, reaching its zenith with the Celtic Tiger. Intrinsically embedded in the book is the typically original, insightful criticism of O’Toole’s writing, combined with personal experiences, that create a vivid reality. One of the most significant issues that O’Toole immediately confronts, is the sheer dominance and omnipresence of the Catholic Church in everyday Irish life for most of the 20th century. Perhaps the greatest manifestation of this was the unlimited power possessed by Fr John Charles McQuaid, Archbishop of Dublin from 1940-1972. O’Toole describes the enormous remit that McQuaid had to intervene in all aspects of civil society. Facilitated by the devoutly Catholic Taoiseach at the time, Éamon de Valera, McQuaid had an immense influence in the making of the first Irish constitution in 1937. Yet even more emphatically highlighted, is the supervision of all artistic or creative enterprises. In a bid to create a hegemonic Catholic culture, virtually every radio broadcast, play or novel went through a process of review and if
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Mistakenly seen as antireligious, O’Toole’s fluid polemical prose captures the oppressive socio-cultural insularity that was a product of Catholic repression
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 22 March
e past to Irish history
PHOTO VIA CATHERINE CRONIN
necessary, of censorship. The level of paranoia surrounding anything that might transgress Catholic conventionality is highlighted with McQuaid’s concern of RTÉ’s radio broadcast of Cole Porter’s “Always True to You” – with Grace concerned with the “circumscribed morality of the song”. Living in what was known as the Palace, his Archbishop’s mansion in Drumcondra, McQuaid’s decadent lifestyle conflicted with the modest, humble lifestyle he encouraged of his fellow Catholic men and women. O’Toole evokes this explicit hypocrisy by recounting an interaction with McQuaid he had as a young altar boy. Before entering the Church for service, the young O’Toole found McQuaid’s driver kneeling down and polishing the archbishop’s shoes. Mistakenly seen as antireligious, O’Toole’s fluid polemical prose captures the oppressive socio-cultural insularity that was a product of Catholic repression, added by his depiction of his brief interaction with its strongest proponent, Fr John McQuaid. The material effects of the Church’s
social policies on all demographics of society are chronicled in detail. Most strikingly is the culture of sexual abuse and exploitation of young boys within the institutions of the Catholic Church. Industrial schools for orphaned boys, were, as O’Toole states, “child slavery in workshops.” Moreover, O’Toole depicts with forensic detail the continuous cover-up of rape and sexual assault of children by clergy at the highest level. One example amongst many given is the continual employment and even promotion of the priest Ivan Payne, by the Archbishop of Ireland at the time Desmond Connell, during which Payne continued to abuse more victims. Despite Connell’s gross deceit being uncovered in 1995, he would still be promoted to the role of cardinal. Added to this was the imprisonment of women, both figurative and literal. The primitive view of women’s role as a domesticated producer of babies was sacrosanct to Catholic culture – women’s educational opportunities were limited; they were forced to give up work when they were married and discriminated against
on a daily basis. The outcome of such a regressive outlook reached its zealous climax in the shape of the Magdalene Laundries. A continuous policy, up until 1996, of putting women in prisons and selling their babies as products to foreign consumers. It is very easy to compartmentalise this aspect of Irish history, as the Catholic Church seems to have done – yet the ramifications of what occurred less than half a century ago (when our grandparents and some of our parents were alive) still very much exists within our cultural consciousness as a nation. The narrative received by most of us in our education is of Ireland’s heroic anti-colonial resistance to British rule, that eventually led to the creation of the republic, which embodied the core ideals of Irish identity. But this republic was surely not a democratic republic. Not when actions like this were permissible and further approved by the state. In reality up until the 1980s and possibly the 1990s, Ireland was a religious authoritarian society facilitated by willing and submissive governments. The Catholic Church did inevitably lose its iron grip on Irish society, although it still possessed a large amount of influence within the country up to and including most of the 21st century. O’Toole, though, does not paint a very enticing picture of what came after. During the 1980s, covert Catholic corruption was replaced by overt capitalist corruption. A process of Americanization was happening, leading to vast increases in multinational companies such as Intel and Microsoft locating here, and massive flows of foreign investment. O’Toole utilises two specific people to brilliant effect as manifestations of the consumerist culture taking place. Charles Haughey was the catalyst for this new force, engaging with political cronyism for his own self-interest and greed. Journalists’ phones were tapped, private donors received special preference from the government and direct stealing occurred from the public purse. This took place during a period of an acute decline in state expenditure and high unemployment – the number of unemployed rose from 61,000 in 1971 to 230,000 by 1993 and public health spending was “slashed”. Yet it was his “protégé” Bertie Ahern that led the ship during the heady times of the Celtic Tiger. Whilst as O’Toole notes, Ahern’s self-styled image of the everyday man was in contrast with Haughey’s, their fundamental aim of money-making was the same. They replaced the mantra of religiosity with that of commodity fetishization. Free-markets, globalisation and consumerism helped you get a “job and a house and a choice about staying in your country”. This boom of productivity and excess was great, until it wasn’t, and everything collapsed. There is an issue with the conceptualisation of O’Toole’s
reasoning as to why the Celtic Tiger materialised as it did. He points generally in the right direction, stating that it was the “ruling elites” encouraging “the belief that Ireland had captured a genie whose golden lamp need only be stroked to ensure success”. Whilst O’Toole does not explicitly say so, perhaps for fear of the connotations attached to the word, this is a variation of a Marxist argument professed by the likes
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The outcome of such a regressive outlook reached its zealous climax in the shape of the Magdalene Laundries.
of Antonio Gramsci and Noam Chomsky, that point to the ability of the elites to control spheres of influence in exploiting the masses. Although this is undoubtedly valid, O’Toole fails to provide much concrete examples or evidence of the fact, resorting to commenting on the corruption of individual politicians without explaining the mechanisms they used to induce so many to participate in this period of extreme excess. Nonetheless, he accurately pinpoints in vibrant, colourful prose, the transition from Catholicism to Capitalism as the hegemonic culture in Ireland. A Personal History is not solely concerned with a polemical lambasting of Ireland over the last century. There is an acknowledgement that we have progressed a long way from the stultifying effects of the Catholic Church and overcome the disastrous consequences of the Celtic Tiger. The landmark referendums of 2015 and 2018 legalising gay marriage and abortion are indicative that we are progressing towards a more liberal society. O’Toole has comprehensively covered this progression on a momentous scale, without ever losing his tone of intellectual acuity combined with acerbic wit. He does, on occasion, tend to psychologise and generalise cultural patterns in somewhat reductive brushstrokes. Nonetheless, he has truly achieved his objective of writing about Irish history in a refreshing, transparent, and honest way.
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Tuesday 22 March | TRINITY NEWS
Direct Provision operator ‘Aramark’ at the National Gallery Caroline Costello discusses key issues with Aramark being awarded the café contract at the National Gallery of Ireland
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he National Gallery of Ireland (NGI) has recently awarded its catering contract to the American corporation, Aramark, which provides food, facilities and uniform services to various industries. This company earned $16 billion in revenue alone during 2019, several million euros of which come from catering numerous state-owned Direct Provision centres for asylum seekers in Ireland every year. The Irish Direct Provision system has been highly criticised and the Government outlined their plan in the White Paper publication of 2021 to end Direct Provision as we know it by 2024. Even the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights have spoken out on this system, noting that it violates a number of rights of asylum seekers, while Amnesty International deems it “an ongoing human rights scandal.” On the 2nd of February 2022, NGI staff voiced their “deep distress and strong opposition” over the catering contract and asked the gallery’s board members to reconsider their choice via a letter signed by 34 of 170 gallery staff members. In protest to this announcement, several artists competing in the gallery’s Zurich Portrait Prize competition have pulled their work from the walls. Artist Brian Teeling first removed his shortlisted work “Declan Flynn in Dublin” which the gallery quickly covered up with another piece from the same group exhibition. Teeling, along with artists Emma Roche, Jonathan Mayhew, and Salvatore of Lucan (2021 winner), decided to write a letter to the the Board of Governors and Guardians of the NGI in support of the gallery staff who had called out management for awarding “the American prison-industrial corporation Aramark a three-year catering contract worth up to €7,500,000.” In the gallery’s Strategic Plan 2019 - 2023, the NGI highlights their aims to “increase accessibility,” as well as “embrace diversity and audiences representative of contemporary Irish society, and promote equality.” However, in their letter, the artists touch on
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By signing the contract with Aramark, it feels as though the NGI management has forgotten about this great exhibition and the collaboration the gallery staff had been working on with asylum seekers the fact that as a national cultural institution, the NGI fail to fulfil these goals by signing a contract with a company which profits off of the inhumane system that is Direct Provision. Following what was felt to be
an unsatisfactory response from the NGI, artists Emma Roche and Emily O’Flynn decided to remove their work from the exhibition with Teeling. Since then, five other groups and artists have further cancelled or postponed upcoming events with the gallery. In a recent opinion piece for RTÉ written by visual artist and judge for the Zurich Young Portrait Prize, Aideen Barry, Barry speaks about the failure of the NGI to recognise the artists’ protest, or even apologise for the swift replacement of Teeling’s work. By ignoring the great Irish history of protest through art, Barry believes it is a missed opportunity for the NGI to recognise this action taken by the artists for its “cultural and ethical significance.” Instead, the gallery has only said in a statement to The Journal that it “respects the wishes of individual artists, but regrets the changes to display.” The NGI had been making great steps to improve accessibility and diversity in the gallery in recent years. From December 2020 to June 2021, the gallery held an exhibition called “Something From There” which was created with people living or formerly living in Direct Provision. The idea behind the exhibition was to explore the idea of home as asylum seekers showcased objects they brought to Ireland from their homes, and “the value and meaning that they have now come to hold” since their experiences of coming to Ireland. The NGI hoped that by sharing these objects and the stories behind them, visitors would “gain insights into the personal stories of the participants in a contemplative
space within the Gallery.” However, by signing the contract with Aramark, it feels as though the NGI management has forgotten about this great exhibition and the collaboration the gallery staff had been working on with asylum seekers to increase accessibility and diversity. Instead, in a statement from the Gallery on the recently awarded café contract, they attempted to avert the blame by noting that “as a public sector organisation, the Gallery is bound by Irish and EU procurement law as to how external suppliers tender for, and are awarded, contracts.” They state that Aramark was awarded the contract “following the tender process, as it scored highest on the prescribed assessment criteria.” They even acknowledge the initiatives that had been done in recent years which they believe “positively reinforces the Gallery’s inclusive approach.” What they fail to acknowledge is that by signing this contract, they have undone the staff ’s hard work as it seems like it was just “virtue-signalling”, since they are happy enough to work with a company that profits off the broken system which they had been trying to highlight through the stories of asylum seekers. Rather than apologise for signing with Aramark or acknowledge the protest from staff and artists, they have instead shifted the blame to the tender process which is a huge disappointment. This could have been an opportunity for the NGI to take responsibility for their actions, learn something from it, and even teach others that this is not how a national cultural institution should be operating.
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This could have been an opportunity for the NGI to take responsibility for their actions, learn something from it, and even teach others It gives the impression of being less welcoming, less equal, and less diverse to the nearly 7,000 people, including 1,993 children, who are currently in the Direct Provision system today. On Friday 25 February, more than 100 people gathered outside the NGI to protest its decision, organised by the End Direct Provision action group. However, as Barry notes, there is also unfortunately a “long history of protest being silenced by those in power who benefit from the status quo.” Until the gallery acknowledges and changes the mistake they have made in not only signing with Aramark, but also in ignoring the protest of their staff, artists and people working directly with asylum seekers, it can no longer claim to be a public institution welcome to all.
PHOTO BY SARAH MEEHAN FOR TRINITY NEWS
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TRINITY NEWS | Tuesday 22 March
A further look into Trinity’s exchange programmes Ria Walls discusses Erasmus with Shana Beims as she spends her second term in Belgium
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hana Beims, a third year Classical Civilisation and Philosophy student, is currently on Erasmus for second term at KU Leuven University. In the third part of this series, I spoke to Beims about her experience so far in Belgium. Originally hailing from Germany, Beims had been to the country before, however, it was her first time in the local area of Leuven. Apart from knowing a close friend who is in Leuven for the full academic year, Beims only knew of one other Trinity student who embarked on the journey to Belgium at the same time as herself for second term. At her host university she is studying two Philosophy modules. Unfortunately the university offers none of the Classics modules in English, meaning that Beims has to undertake specific classes for international students that fall under the Faculty of Arts, as well as taking a Dutch language
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A thing I think everyone should know before applying to go on Erasmus is that it involves a great deal of research and organisation that one is expected to do by oneself
class. Despite this, she feels that the classes themselves are very organised and they are currently all in person as well as being recorded, making it “easy to incorporate a more hybrid learning experience” as well as being “very useful for maintaining a flexible schedule”. When discussing the application process, Beims states, “A thing I think everyone should know before applying to go on Erasmus is that it involves a great deal of research and organisation that one is expected to do by oneself ”. Similarly to students interviewed before, the responsibility of correlating modules and matching credits falls into the hands of the stressed student who is trying to find their feet in a new country. Beims also highlights the time-consuming nature of organising the travelling, accommodation, paperwork and extensive administrative work. Thankfully for Beims, she
reflects on the helpful Erasmus coordinators who have guided her along the process, but not everyone is this lucky, with many students expressing the complications that come from the lack of communication between both Trinity and the host university. Despite the work that must be done prior to travelling, Beims states that the process is worth the Erasmus experience. She tells Trinity News, “there are always hurdles to overcome and I have had my share of problems, for instance, finding accommodation, but I think overall it is an experience that up until now has been extremely enriching”. The location of the city makes it easy to travel on excursions elsewhere; Beims has so far been to Antwerp, Brussels and Amsterdam, and has plans to travel to Ghent soon. She compares Leuven to Dublin, stating that it is much smaller than what we’re used to
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Because the city is so small it has a campuslike feeling altogether that is similar to the Trinity campus
here at Trinity, which means that everywhere is easy and quick to access, as well as the feeling of safety that comes with a small city. Many would consider Trinity a microcosm in itself, and Beims compares this feeling to her experience in Leuven, stating that “because the city is so small it has a campus-like feeling altogether that is similar to the Trinity campus”. Living in a country which borders Belgium, Beims did not experience the ‘culture shock’ that other Erasmus students have claimed to feel when they first arrived at their exchange university. Similarly to others, she finds that the international students tend to stick together naturally, and wishes to immerse herself more in the Belgian culture before her time at Leuven ends.
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Tuesday 22 March | TRINITY NEWS
Crossword
Across 5. Roman Ares/chocolate bar (4)
Down 1. Bird kept for eggs (4)
8. Flower with prickly stalk, symbol of love (4)
2. Cavalry sword with handguard, often curved blade (5)
9. European country bordering Ukraine and Romania (7)
3. Low-frequency component of sound (4)
10. Beats scissors (4)
4. A clearing within a forest (5)
13. Mound of sand (4)
6. Wading bird, also construction equipment (5)
14. Large flat area of land (5) 16. Surplus (5) 18. Fuel made from purified coal (4) 19. Rebound off a surface (6)
CROSSWORD BY JACK KENNEDY FOR TRINITY NEWS
7. Language family including Romanian, French and Italian (7) 9. Cocktail made with gin, dry vermouth and olive garnish (7) 11. Large-scale armed conflict (3) 12. 43rd US state, known for its potato growing (5) 14. Beats rock (5) 15. Energy transferred per unit time (5) 17. One of the human limbs (3) 19. Low, continuous hum or vibration (4)
ARTWORK BY ELLA MCGILL FOR TRINITY NEWS