UCC Express Issue 8

Wednesday, January 21th 2015 | uccexpress.ie | Volume 18 | Issue 8

South African freedom fighter on equal rights Page 10

WHITE CAMPUS: UCC was covered by frost as students returned to the Leeside campus. Image by: Tomas Tyner.

President Murphy dismisses grade inflation Page 16

UCC ‘No’ to USI would affect all Irish members Barry Aldworth News Editor

Should UCC students opt to vote against re-affiliating with the Union of Students in Ireland, the loss will be felt not only by the union but by all of its members, said USI President Laura Harmon as campaigns prepared for next week’s vote.

UCC first re-affiliated with the USI in 1999, after spending 16 years acting independent of the union. Currently the cost of affiliation stands at €5 per full-time student and €2.50 per parttime student, with the amount paid by UCC to USI in affiliation fees totalling €85,235 for the 2013/4 academic year.

In addition to affiliation costs, UCC also paid another €21,062.38 last year to cover USI-related expenses on items such as travel and accommodation to National Council meetings, buses, t-shirts for USI campaigns, conference fees for National Congress and officer training events.

On the cost of membership, Harmon added that at less than ten cent per week per student the cost of membership is low, “but when it’s all concentrated in one cause it can achieve a lot.” In return for this cost, members receive a variety of benefits such as representation at meetings of the Higher Education Authority, as well as training for

sabbatical officers and access to events such as Pink Training, an event for LGBT* students and allies.

However, UCCSU Business & Law College Rep Marcus Knuttson argued that what USI offers does not justify the cost of membership, highlighting a particular disappointment among members of the SU about the quality of the training they had received: “I spoke to our Sabbats after this year’s training – some really enjoyed it and some didn’t enjoy it at all – but by all accounts it was underwhelming and not worth the thousands of euro it cost to attend and the time lost by being away from their offices.”

In addition to the financial aspect of the USI, students will have to consider the effectiveness of the organisation in representing UCC and also the value of USI-run events, such as Pink Training.

Harmon stated that should UCC opt to leave the national union not only would students “not be able to attend USI training events” but they would also lose the ability to “shape the direction of the national student movement.” She added that the group is prepared to “cut its cloth to suit its measure” by moving on with or without UCC. Contd. on Page 3

Sigerson Cup to start with red-hot derby Page 22

9” Cheese + 3 toppings + + Garlic Pizza Bread + Potato Wedges + Choc Chip Cookies

€14.99

DELIVERING

save up to €5

4 S TA R T I L L 4 - 7 D AY S A W E E K • € 1 D E L I V E R Y C H A R G E • € 2 D E L I V E R Y C H A R G E A F T E R 1 2 M I D N I G H T

• WASHINGTON ST. 021 427 4555 • WILTON 021 454 6666 • DOUGLAS 021 489 5577 14.99 Four Star UCC Ad 56X265.indd 1

• MCCURTAIN ST. 021 450 6666 04/11/2014 16:28

2|

Wednesday, January 21st 2015 | UCC EXPRESS

Inside Today: Governing Body Page 4 Charlie Hebdo Page 7 Into Darkness Page 11 Internet politics Page 15 Ed Walsh profile Page 17 Spursing It Page 21

Editorial team Editor-in-Chief: Stephen Barry Deputy & News Editor: Barry Aldworth Deputy News Editor: Brian Conmy Fiction Editor: Ruth Lawlor Humour Editor: Roger O’Sullivan Features Editor: Conor Shearman Deputy Features Editor: Laura Flaherty Sport Editor: Stephen Walsh Photo Editors: Emmet Curtin & Marc Moylan Designer: Kevin Hosford

The Number Cruncher

YES EQUALITY: The SU backed campaign is expected to face little opposition.

Campus-wide Marriage Equality Referendum expected to pass Brian Conmy Deputy News Editor Students’ Union LGBT* Rights Officer Rob Cas fully expects next week’s Marriage Equality Referendum to pass.

The vote on marriage equality is being held alongside a referendum on UCC’s continued affiliation with the Union of Students Ireland on the 26th and 27th of January.

Although Student Council has already passed a motion to ensure the SU lobbies for marriage equality in the national referendum that’s set for some time in May, a referendum of the student body would supersede this motion. This means should the vote fail the SU would not lobby for Marriage Equality, while a ‘Yes’ vote would help to increase publicity for the ongoing campaign.

The USI will lobby for marriage equality regardless of how UCC votes in either of the scheduled on campus referenda.

1/3

UCC Operation Transformation participants lost over a third of a tonne in weight during last year’s sevenweek programme.

Image by: UCC LGBT

€77,200

The amount that Trinity Student Council voted to dedicate to developing an SU “Sun Room” in the college’s Goldsmith Hall. The room will aim to provide therapeutic resources to promote mindfulness, relaxation, study tips and mental health information.

When asked about what was planned in the run up to the on campus referendum, Cas stated that a word of mouth campaign that framed the issue in human terms was planned. “We’ll be telling our friends to tell their friends to tell their friends, come out vote and support this. The way we’re going to win this and the national referendum is by communicating human stories. It’s not a referendum based on an abstract technical law, it’s based on the life of your friends and family. That’s what we’re driving home.”

He also stated that while no opposition for this referendum has made itself known on campus yet, he was not expecting any to materialise; “Even in national polls we can see there’s a support level of 85-90% in favour of marriage equality among students so when we look at this coming referendum on campus we can fully suspect that it’ll pass handsomely.”

motion to hold the referendum, was about student complacency: “The only danger is that with that level of support we have to worry about complacency and whether or not students will look at that support rate and think, ‘you know what, we don’t have to actually vote on the day that matters.’”

A recent campus.ie survey found that over 92% of UCC students were in favour of marriage equality, with several RedC polls finding similar levels of support within the general public, with 76% stating they would vote in favour. In addition, during the 2013-14 academic year, votes on marriage equality held in IT Tralee, Trinity College and NUIG resulted in students voting overwhelmingly in favour.

The Express was not made aware of any ‘No’ campaign by the time of going to print.

His only concern, stated in November’s Student Council when opposing the

€2,800,000 €3,800,000 The total of lump-sum pension payouts

by UCC in 2013, almost half the 2012 figure (€5.19m). The total pension bill for 2013 came to €20m.

The amount which Dr. James Watson’s Nobel Prize fetched at auction last month, as the controversial scientist became the first living Nobel Laureate to sell his award. He is expected to donate part of the proceeds to UCC.

|3

UCC EXPRESS | Wednesday, January 21st 2015

War of words begins over USI effectiveness

‘Leaving USI didn’t harm UCD’ UCDSU President Feargal Hynes talks to Barry Aldworth about the effect of UCD’s disaffiliation

Contd. from Front Page In response to the possible loss of access to Pink Training, Markus Knuttson claimed that while the event offers great support to people campaigning for equal rights for the LGBT* community, the denial of entry to non-members was wrong. He highlighted that students attending the event had to pay a separate fee, in addition to the overall affiliation fees paid by their university, before adding that he “would like to see Pink Training continue and get better year on year and have the ability to attend whether we’re in USI or not; that seems like the fairest option to me.”

MINISTERIAL BUSINESS: Feargal Hynes meets Jan O'Sullivan.

A belief that there was a gap between the USI and the students it claims to represent was crucial to UCD leaving the union according to current UCDSU President Feargal Hynes.

Knuttson continued by questioning the effectiveness of USI’s protesting, highlighting the failure to effectively tackle fees and prevent the abolition of the Maintenance Grant for postgraduate students. In addition, the Business & Law Rep criticised the USI for having “patted themselves on the back” when the government announced no further cuts to the undergraduate Maintenance Grant in 2014, instead of fighting for the reversal of previous cuts.

Laura Harmon, herself a UCC graduate, highlighted that disaffiliation

by UCC would only divide the student movement, claiming that “the students of Ireland are the strongest when we are most unified.”

EDUCATION IS: Laura Harmon speaking during the USI's Rally for Education campaign.

Image by: Conor McCabe Photography

Furthermore, Harmon noted that the USI holds the only student seat on the Higher Education Authority, which allows its members to directly shape the future of education in Ireland, claiming member institutions “put their priorities and their needs forward to the

The referendum on USI membership, set to take place over next Monday and Tuesday, will likely have a drastically different feel to it when compared to previous referenda. In response to fears that the USI would dominate the

people who make decisions about the education system.”

campus, the Students’ Union Council opted to place several restrictions on those who can push for a ‘Yes’ vote, including limiting USI presence to the eight members of the officer board or their representatives.

In addition, the sabbatical officers of the UCCSU have taken a stance of

neutrality on the issue, with officers only eligible to campaign for either side if they take two days of leave from their duties.

You can follow the Express’s online coverage throughout the campaign and vote at uccexpress.ie

‘USI membership improves SU performance’ issues.” Furthermore, with limited ability to discuss matters with other SUs and members of the USI officer board, O’Donovan acknowledged that he often felt at a disadvantage when debating with senior staff due to the experience gap.

After 14 years out of the USI, CIT students opted to re-affiliate at the end of O’Donovan’s first term as President.

Despite this lengthy period of isolation, the former CITSU president highlighted that students had rarely been offered a platform upon which they could have their say on USI, leading the CITSU Council to call a campus-wide vote.

On the day of CIT’s vote, UCC students formed the backbone of the ‘Yes’ campaign: “There was a strong presence from the ‘Yes’ side on campus but predominately made up of our good neighbours in UCC.” This played a crucial role in the vote passing by a two-thirds majority.

For O’Donovan, the additional insight, knowledge and support offered by USI membership helped to improve his performance during his secondterm, as he noted that during his first year he found it “far more difficult to get high level information or the ‘inside scoop’ on academic and welfare

This decision allowed O’Donovan to perform at a much higher level during his second term, as he highlighted that the biggest advantage of membership was the ability to “talk to our counterparts from around the country, comparing notes and gaining better insights in the third level sector.” In addition, the new ideas which emerged from these

Prior to the vote the no campaign set out 10 ways the USI could be improved and, while the USI ultimately made an offer to implement these ideas, after the no campaign had gained popular support among students, this decision came “too little, too late,” according to Hynes. A central reason for this was the emergence of a campaign led by “regular students who weren’t involved in unions before” but were more in tune with the problems faced by their classmates than the group campaigning for a ‘Yes’ vote, which was dominated by then current and former USI officers.

Whilst Hynes acknowledged there were consequences of leaving USI, such as a reduced number of seats at the USI’s annual Pink Training, the decision to leave has not impacted upon UCD and its Students’ Union in any great way: “I don’t think you could say that it [leaving USI] has benefited them [UCD], but I’m not sure to what extent it has harmed them either.”

Former CITSU President Danny O’Donovan tells Barry Aldworth that USI were a help after affiliation Membership of the USI leads to improved Students’ Union performance, not only when dealing with students but also in liaisons with senior staff, claimed former two-term CITSU President Danny O’Donovan in the lead up to UCC’s vote.

In 2013 students of the alma mater of then USI president John Logue voted by a near two-thirds majority to leave the national union, with Hynes highlighting that two years later there have been “no students calling for UCD to go back to USI.” The UCDSU President, who was himself involved in the no campaign, added that whilst those in favour of disaffiliation supported the idea of a national Students’ Union they believed mass reform of the USI was necessary for UCD membership to continue.

PROTEST PARADE: Danny O'Donovan leading the National Day of Action march in Cork. discussions ensured that O’Donovan and his fellow SU officers found that they were in a better position to offer CIT students a “quality educational and extra-curricular experience.”

Finally, O’Donovan highlighted that the access to the Higher Education Authority and its material, in addition to more frequent discussion with his peers from other institutions greatly

improved his performance engaging in debates with staff:

when

“Personally, I found that my performance at a senior level significantly improved as I was not only better engaged in senior dialogue, but I also was a lot better in my delivery as I was now reciting points from discussion that I would have had many times before with my peers.”

Hynes, however, did acknowledge that the decision to leave USI had improved the financial situation of the UCDSU. “The SU couldn’t afford to stay in USI at the time” and the decision to leave “has benefitted the Union by allowing it to pay off long term liabilities without having to pay the affiliation fees.”

Whilst UCDSU did originally experience an element of isolation upon leaving the USI, with Hynes stating that they had “lost out on a sense of community,” he concluded that relationships with the Students’ Unions in other colleges were rebuilt through other forums and the opportunity to focus on in-house issues was one UCD has not regretted.

4|

Wednesday, January 21st 2015 | UCC EXPRESS

Governing Body elections conclude ahead of February meeting Barry Aldworth News Editor The 13 positions to be held by staff on the UCC Governing Body from 2015 to 2019 have been filled, with those elected set to formally take up their positions in early February.

The body, which includes representatives of staff, students, the Minister for Education and local Councils, is charged with planning the long-term strategic vision of the university, ensuring the correct monitoring and evaluation of any such plans and monitoring the ensuring policies of best practice, including gender equality within the university, are enforced.

“It will be important to keep an eye on trends coming down the track that may adversely affect us all” Staff representation on the group is broken into three groups with five positions reserved for Professors, five for academic staff, not including those who have reached the rank of Professor, and three positions for nonacademic staff. Those appointed to

OUTGOING BOARD: The outgoing Governing Body pictured during their a meeting in Kerry last year. the body were Prof. John Cryan, Prof.

Mary Horgan, Prof. Paul McSweeney, Prof. Nora O’Brien, Prof. Frédéric Adam, Mr. Michael Delargey, Dr. Piaras MacÉinrí, Dr. Angela Flynn, Dr. Marian McCarthy, Dr. Louise Crowley, Ms. Sinead Hackett, Mr. Gary Hurley and Mr. J.P. Quinn.

Responding to her election, Sinead Hackett highlighted the importance to protect and promote the welfare of all

R&G Week Charities Revealed Lia Curtin News Writer

The 2015 R&G Week charities were officially announced this month, with an emphasis on organisations with a pre-existing relationship with several UCC societies.

The two main charities are Pieta House and Cork ARC Cancer Support House, who help those affected by depression and cancer respectively. A third donation will also be made to a number of charities which are currently supported by various UCC societies.

These include the Simon Community, UCC SUAS, Surgeon Noonan, The Hope Foundation, Barnardos, Médecins Sans Frontières UCC and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

In October 2014 charities were invited to apply for places in this year’s R&G Week, both in local press and through the student body. The successful organisations were chosen from a total of 61 applicants. They will benefit from money and awareness raised by a wide variety of fundraising events held between the 16th and the 20th of February.

This year’s choice of charities is also an acknowledgement of the work performed by UCC charitable societies, who regularly raise hundreds

of thousands of euro every year. SU Comms Officer Barry Nevin said that the “Students’ Union wanted to reward [the societies] for this amazing work.”

Nevin also highlighted that UCC’s charitable societies are often responsible for organising and running R&G Week events, even when their cause isn’t the one benefitting – for example, the Simon Community society organises an annual ‘Take Me Out’ event regardless of who the main charity is that year. As a result, this year’s choice of charities aims to give something back to the societies for their work.

R&G Week has been an annual feature on the UCC calendar for decades, with significant donations being made to a number of charities as a result. Nighttime events are often the most popular and successful, as are a variety of competitions and raffles. These events use the goodwill and enthusiasm of the student body to give back to charities and to engage with the wider community. Although in some years this work had been limited to one week in February, for 2015 the Students’ Union has stated its intentions to “extend the real spirit of R&G Week throughout the entire year.”

staff and students during their time in UCC: “It will be important to keep an eye on trends coming down the track that may adversely affect us all. I will do my best to ensure that things are done by the book and will seek fairness for all.”

Hackett continued by noting that in the over the last number of years, staff in UCC have faced increased challenges in doing their job, while still being

expected to perform to the highest standards.

“The staff of the university has been faced with many demands over the past number of years, for example, reduction in salaries, working longer hours, no promotion, covering vacant posts, to mention but a few. As these are national issues. It is difficult to solve these at local level but it is important to remind those in charge of the effect that

these changes have on staff.

“It is, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future, a difficult time to be working in the public sector but we have to hope that improvements are on the horizon.”

Students are represented on the Governing Body by the SU President, Education Officer and Postgraduate Officer.

|5

UCC EXPRESS | Wednesday, January 21st 2015

UCC Professor Appointed to senior Law firm announces All-Ireland energy agency role Challenge Zoe Cashman News Writer

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has elected UCC Professor Jerry D. Murphy, to a senior international role as Leader of Task 37, ‘Energy from Biogas’, for the trimester 2016-2018.

This task is the largest in IEA Bioenergy, and its role is to create the conditions for our gas grids to have green renewable gas. Its 14 member countries dominate the production of renewable gas and the Cork-born Professor Murphy commented that “Green gas in our gas grids will allow Ireland to counteract the fluctuating production of green electricity from our wind turbines.

“We can store this green gas and provide electricity when the wind is not blowing. Green gas can be used to fuel vehicles, heat houses and provide clean green electricity.”

Murphy is also the Vice Director of the SFI-funded Marine Renewable Energy Ireland Centre and is the director of the Degree in Energy Engineering at UCC. Six countries in the EU have signed an agreement that their gas grids will

Barry Aldworth News Editor contain 100% green, carbon neutral gas by 2050. The sources of renewable gas will include biogas from slurries, food waste, micro-algae and seaweed.

A green gas economy would see many bio-digesters across the country converting our wastes, seaweeds and surplus silages to green gas which can be injected into the gas grid.

Murphy has represented Ireland at the IEA Bioenergy Tasks since 2007. In 2013 he edited a book on behalf of the IEA entitled The Biogas Handbook: Science, production and applications.

McCann Fitzgerald, one of Ireland’s largest law firms with a staff of approximately 500 people, announced that it is launching an all-Ireland challenge focusing on business law, entitled ‘The Advocate’.

The Advocate, the only crossborder challenge of its kind, is run in association with the Courts Service and the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service and offers students the chance to compete against each other in a boardroom setting. Students

Trinity top Irish university in new employability ranking

partaking in the challenge will attempt to convince judges that they understand the crucial legal and commercial issues of the day for a chance to win a share of the €3,000 prize fund.

Open to all third level law and business/ law students, The Advocate is made up of four stages. First, a case study where students are asked to submit a 1,000 word overview of the legal and commercial issues it poses; next a boardroom type presentation where the qualifying teams will outline to their ‘client’ their proposed arguments; then a semi-final in the Four Courts

on March 13th; and the Grand Final on March 27th in the Four Courts before a senior member of the judiciary.

Speaking about the competition, now in its sixth year, McCann FitzGerald Chairman John Cronin said: “After a hugely successful 2014 challenge, we are very pleased to once again launch The Advocate, which provides the next generation of lawyers with the opportunity to hone their legal skills and engage with the legal and commercial issues which clients face on a day to day basis.”

“As a corporate and business law firm, we take a keen interest in developing commercial awareness among the next generation of lawyers, and raising the bar on the standard of legal education in Ireland.”

In addition to re-launching the challenge, the firm also announced that 20 students will be taken on as part of the group’s summer internship programme. Part of the firm’s Graduate Training Programme will run for three weeks and is open to all graduates, as well as final and penultimate year students.

Operation Transformation Leaders Revealed

SUPERHERO: Killian Barry pictured at UCC Health Matters Day. Brian Conmy Deputy News Editor Trinity College has emerged as the only Irish university to earn a spot on the 2014 Global Employability University Ranking.

The University of Cambridge topped the list this year, replacing the University of Oxford for the top spot.

This was followed by two American institutions, Harvard, in second, and Yale, in third. While 13 institutions from the United Kingdom featured in the top 150 of the list, Trinity was the only Irish institution to feature.

In 2013 Trinity featured on the list in 103rd place while this year it landed

in the 110th spot. This made Trinity the 53rd highest European institution on the list. The list was compiled in two phases: firstly by interviewing 2,200 recruiters from 20 countries, not including Ireland, and asking about how they perceived the education institutions and systems of their respective countries.

Then the recruiters were asked about their experiences in recruiting or working directly with graduates of various educational facilities. As such, the list is compiled based on the beliefs of recruiters in the field rather than on actual employment figures or statistics that most colleges already compile themselves.

On this year’s list, special note was made of the fact that regional, nonAmerican or British institutions lost an average of five places from last year’s list. Other recent rankings of universities saw Irish universities on the slide, including the most recent Higher Education Rankings which saw Trinity, again the highest rated Irish education facility, fall from 129th to 138th.

Trinity’s provost, Patrick Prendergast, recently stated in an interview with the Irish Independent that this ranking proved Trinity was among the best universities in the world and that the college is “delivering for Ireland at the highest international level.”

Image by: Tomas Tyner

Barry Aldworth News Editor With thousands of students and staff across UCC vowing to lead a healthier lifestyle in 2015, the nine leaders of UCC’s Operation Transformation were announced last Friday.

In total five students, along with four members of staff, were announced as leaders for the seven-week initiative run

by UCC Health Matters in partnership with Kylemore Services Group, the Mardyke Arena and Áras na Mc Léinn.

Support for those partaking in the programme will also be provided by groups such as UCC Staff Wellbeing,

the Clubs Executive, Societies Guild and Students’ Union.

The five students selected to take part were Michaela Maher, Vincent O’Brien, Jim McEvoy, Gregg Frost and Nur Khaleeda Abidin. They will be joined by staff members Kieran Hurley, Dave Otway, Martina O’Reilly and Tim Roche.

In their role as leaders, the nine will participate in weekly weigh-ins, as well as receiving personalised exercise plans. Last year participants in UCC Operation Transformation lost over a third of a tonne in weight.

6|

Wednesday, January 21st 2015 | UCC EXPRESS

Ireland’s health system at a crossroads A move towards Universal Health Insurance may cause further pain for Ireland’s squeezed middle, writes UCC economist Brian Turner Ireland’s health system contains a complex mix of public and private financing and delivery, leading to a number of inequities within the system. However, Government proposals for a single-tier system, underpinned by universal health insurance (UHI), might not be a panacea and might lead to some people facing substantially higher costs.

The Irish health system is predominately tax-financed, with substantial contributions from out-of-pocket payments (18%) and private health insurance (12%).

About 40% of the population have medical cards (mostly means-tested but in some cases based on age or medical conditions), which entitle them to free-at-the-pointof-use primary and hospital care, prescription medications subject to a modest copayment, and a number of other, less widely used benefits. Those without medical cards must pay for these services.

Despite universal access entitlements to public hospital services, 44% of the population (down from a peak of 51% in 2008) are covered by voluntary private health insurance, which typically grants faster access, greater choice of provider and superior accommodation. All of those with private health insurance

have cover for public hospitals, although most also have cover for private hospitals.

Much of the care of private patients takes place in public hospitals, with insurers usually reimbursing providers on a fee-for-service basis, compared with a fixed reimbursement mechanism in the public system. This incentivises hospitals and consultants to treat private patients over public patients, and has led to criticism of the Irish system as being a twotier system, favouring private patients. However, given that those without medical cards face substantial out-of-pocket payments for primary care services, the reality is that there is a multitiered system, benefitting private patients at hospital level and public (medical card) patients at primary care level.

In its Programme for Government 2011–16, the Government committed to introducing a single-tier health system, underpinned by UHI, by 2016. In subsequent Government policy documents, this date was pushed back to 2019, but only weeks after being appointed, the new Minister for Health acknowledged that even this timescale was too ambitious.

Under this system, residents would be obliged to take out private health insurance, which

POSTGRADUATE

would cover a standard basket of services (including primary and hospital care, although the composition of this basket has yet to be determined). Those on low incomes would have their premiums paid for by the State, while another cohort by income would have their premiums partially subsidised by the State.

The transition to a single-tier health system will inevitably involve changes in the relative positions of the various cohorts within the current system. Most of those with medical cards will likely have their premiums paid for by the State, but might face changes in what they are covered for.

Those with private health

OPEN DAY Wednesday 4th February 2015 12 pm–4 pm

Bailey Allen Hall, NUI Galway BOOK YOUR PLACE www.nuigalway.ie/postgraduate-open-day

A top university for graduate employability

insurance will continue to pay premiums (although some might have their premiums partially or fully paid by the State) but receive a wider basket of care—particularly at primary care level—although they will no longer receive faster access.

However, people who currently have neither form of cover—23% of the population in 2010—will fare worst.

As they do not have medical cards, they are unlikely to be on sufficiently low incomes to have their premiums paid by the State, so they will be required to pay some or all of their premiums. However, since they do not currently have health insurance, this

Charlie not compliant in Ireland Dear Editor, Ireland isn’t a stranger to controversial laws, but should we give Charlie Hebdo a carte blanche to publish in Ireland despite our Defamation Act? Due process?

“Our only limit is French law, it is that what we have to obey. We haven’t infringed the French law, we have the right to use our freedom, as we understand it,” said the magazine’s Editor Stéphane Charbonnier in 2012.

“Attacking all religions is the basis of our identity,” added senior Editor Gerard Biard, while Charbonnier further said: “We have to carry on until Islam has been rendered as banal as Catholicism.”

Whereas Charlie Hedbo is compliant under France law, the same cannot be said if it were published in Ireland under Irish Law. For better or worse,

will be an additional cost for them. This cohort has the lowest usage rates of health services, suggesting that their out-of-pocket expenditures are relatively modest, and unlikely to be as much as they will have to pay under UHI. The Government proposals have received much criticism from a range of stakeholders and analysts. Some argue that improvements could be made to the present tax-based system, to make it fairer and more efficient. Others argue that a social health insurance model would be preferable. However, there is widespread scepticism about the competition model as presently proposed. we do not have the same unlimited freedom of expression as recognised in France. It would be hard to believe one could find any “genuine literary, artistic, political, scientific or academic value” (as per the 2009 Defamation Act) in which to defend the seemingly knee-jerk decision to publish Charlie Hebdo.

Surely there are other ways we can show solidarity for the Paris victims without resorting to printing blasphemous material? #JeSuisAhmed #JeSuisCharlie Cillian Campbell

The next deadline for Letters to the Editor is Wednesday, January 28th. Send your thoughts to

editor@uccexpress.ie

|7

UCC EXPRESS | Wednesday, January 21st 2015

“Je Suis Charlie”: I have suddenly forgotten my principles Wider context is integral to understanding attack on Charlie Hedbo according to Ruth Lawlor I sincerely hope that all those who have recently championed the right to freedom of speech do not allow their newfound liberalism to inadvertently blur into Islamophobia. Charlie would do well to remember that the media often forgets to include something called context and that France also has a foreign policy.

“Terrorists are not created in a vacuum.

There is more to this story than one cartoon, even if that was the trigger” It is very easy to raise the banner of free speech from behind a computer screen. It is far easier to do that from a computer screen in neutral Ireland, where the threat of Islamist terror is virtually non-existent. But if you are French, or British, or American, then it may be time to start asking yourself the harder questions.

The French government has a long and chequered history with Islam, and its domestic treatment of Muslims has not been exemplary either. French fighter jets are crusading against the so-called Islamic State in Iraq as we speak; to extremists it seems that France is at war with Islam.

This debate is not just about free

speech and the role of satire and the media has failed to frame it effectively.

In fact, one of my long-standing gripes with the media is its systemic failure to contextualise information properly when it presents the news.

For example, it is useful to point out that while the Islamic State was beheading people, the CIA was detaining people without trial and torturing them. More people are dying at the hands of drug cartels in in Mexico, a country on America’s own borders, than have been killed by the Islamic State. Since 1898 the United States has invaded or been an occupying force in some country every single year, with the exception of the four years of the Carter administration – many of those states in the Middle East, which might do something to explain the resentment that many Arabs feel.

Terrorists are not created in a vacuum.

There is more to this story than one cartoon, even if that was the trigger, stand up for your foreign policy too, if you know what it is. Do you support Stand up for your free speech, sure, but perhaps more importantly France’s participation in the American-led coalition against the Islamic State in Iraq? Do you believe that this campaign is reducing the threat posed by global terrorism, or making it worse? Even if it is working, is the ensuing threat to France and its citizens worth it?

The goal of terrorism is to goad the target state into a reaction that is overly

aggressive, tyrannical or criminal. The result is that the former victim now becomes the aggressor, the democratic liberal society becomes one in which a particular group is hated and feared and formerly peaceful individuals flock to the cause because of the resulting persecution. The initial threat, which may have been minimal, is now greatly exacerbated.

Al-Qaeda’s attack on the United States in September 2001 accomplished such a reaction – the invasion of Iraq in the wake of 9/11 saw the rise of antiAmericanism around the globe, the unprecedented decline of American power and the growth in size and

ferocity of terrorist movements. In fact, the Iraq war gave a new battleground and rallying cry to Al-Qaeda and its allies which, faltering because of their losses in Afghanistan, suddenly had a lot more to play for. The Islamic State has emerged stronger than ever from the chaos that America left behind in its pursuit of power and revenge.

Do not fall into this trap that has been set for you. Calling on our governments to react aggressively or reacting this way ourselves by disseminating offensive pictures of the Prophet Mohammad serves only to cause anguish to our Muslim friends who formerly felt a part of our society and now feel that the

state is out to get them for a crime they did not commit.

Some things done in the name of religion are bad – the sexual of abuse of children, the subjugation of women and the murder of innocents that do not subscribe to a particular ideology. We must condemn these things. But other parts of religion are just silly – the desire not to depict a religious figure or the belief that churchgoers consume the actual flesh and blood of a human being after a magical transformation has taken place. Some things are evil, and others are ludicrous, but the latter cause no harm in reality. It might be about time that we learned the difference.

Media appeals to darker side of human fascination Media coverage of the attacks in Paris is indicative of a wider trend in news reporting according to Conor Shearman ‘If it bleeds, it leads’: a brutal indictment of the media yet one which seems to hold a certain sway.

The media has a responsibility to report on death and violence in the public interest, axiomatically it has an obligation to present this coverage with respect. Events the past week in Paris seem to have refreshed a systematic failure on the part of the media to obey this obligation.

Live reporting of death atrocities is no longer the sole realm of TV coverage but instead lies in the palm of your hand: live blogs and Twitter feed a relentless demand for following bloodshed.

Initial reports of death and violence tap into human anxiety: could we be the next target? Yet prolonged exposure and analysis of these events is doing more than simply catering to human fear, people seem to be inexorably drawn to coverage of violence.

Media attuned to this demand employ a variety of questionable means in order to hold attention. Death tolls are reported as twisted trophies of accomplishment; comparisons drawn between past attacks in order to create a morbid leaderboard of death, winners

get their face plastered across media, simultaneously glorified or loathed based on their audience. Victims meanwhile remain dark splodges of anonymity. It is a telling example that the names of serial killers such as Charles Manson are committed to memory, while their victims remain anonymous. Media glorification of killers only makes the problem worse.

Amateur footage is broadcast of the killers at the scene, the case in Paris a disgusting invasion of privacy on the part of the family of the French policemen whose execution was broadcast by a variety of news organisations. Broadcasting such explicit footage has no purpose in informing an audience, it is merely a shock factor designed to capture attention.

A questionable partnership exists between the viewer, content to consume coverage, and the media, prioritising viewership figures in lieu of ethical concerns. Anxiety cannot be the sole reason for consumption of this news, particularly when one remains globally detached—Ireland is relatively removed from the incidence of terror

attacks. Sympathy too, seems to only form part of the fascination; perversely, psychologists have found evidence for ‘the collapse of compassion’, a process in which sympathy is drained as the death toll in an event gets higher.

One explanation offered that people engage in emotional regulation in order to prevent themselves being

overwhelmed emotionally by feeling for larger groups.

The darker explanation for this fascination is a voyeuristic consumption of material of violence and death. People on some level enjoy watching such coverage: it gives them a sense of purpose, a campaign to fight

for, a hate figure or group to direct their vitriol towards. Until such time as people realise the damage that the media creates by such reporting, it will continue unabashed.

8|

Wednesday, January 21st 2015 | UCC EXPRESS

Religion at the root of Charlie Hedbo attack Radical Islamic motivation for killings raises number of concerns according to Diarmaid Twomey

that has changed has been the religion guilty of the atrocities in given periods of time. It begs the question, does religion deserve respect anymore?

Does the peace it gives those who believe in its Gods, justify the hurt and atrocities it inflicts on others, believers and nonbelievers alike?

Whatever the answer to that question, no religion can be above criticism.

However no religion deserves unfair castigation either. Make no mistake about it, the gunmen responsible for the atrocity in Paris shouted ‘Allah’ as they murdered innocent people in cold blood. However one must question their actual allegiance to Islam given one of the men they murdered was in fact a Muslim.

“Religion has always caused the slaughter and oppression of innocent people in its name”

The Charlie Hedbo attack has delivered yet another chilling reminder of the dangers of religious extremism. The rise of Islamic State in the MiddleEast has shown just how brutal human beings can be to one another when faith differences and interpretation of the creator of the world they seem intent

on destroying, come into the equation.

I am not Islamophobic: I am religiousphobic. I despise any ideology which fuels murder, rape and oppression in the name of their said God. Ireland knows more than most nations how damaging strict societal and individual adherence

to religious teachings can be, having suffered from a century of conservative Catholic teaching and abuse.

Religion has always caused the slaughter and oppression of innocent

.

people in its name

The only thing

The attacks in Paris have exacerbated the flames of fear the rise of Islamic State has sent throughout the world, but it must be remembered that their main victim group is the people of their own faith, whom they slaughter in the name of their ‘God’ every day.

So, as the globe is gripped in fear once more watching the rise of dangerous religious fanatics, it is critical to remember that Muslims themselves are the main sufferers, at the hands of their fellow faith believers.

Islamic leaders have condemned the heinous attacks and forcefully rejected its link to Islam but this avoids the point that without Islam these murders would not have happened. They have spoken about the need for all people, whether believers or not, to respect their God and their beliefs. However, we live in a free society, and if I and others are to respect the religious’ right to believe in what they want, they must then respect both my right and the right of others, to not only not believe, but to draw, write and say whatever we like about something we have no faith in – that’s the way free democratic societies work.

The real worry about these attacks is the cheap fuel they give to the far right parties and groupings. UKIP, Marine Le Pen and the wider far right in Europe, who have been gaining popularity in recent times, rub their hands with glee as yet again religious fanatics divide communities and threaten to destabilise the political and societal landscape of Europe.

The prospect of a powerful far right in Europe worries me just as much as the threat posed by Islamic State, Boko Haram, Al Qaeda and religious fundamentalists worldwide.

Integration is a complex issue, one that is not solved by the murder of those who don’t share your beliefs, nor by the electing of fascists and racists to power, but by the coming together of all people and the breaking down of the walls that separate us. I believe religion to be one of those walls, a wall too insurmountable to conquer in the absence of its fall.

Bucking the New Year’s trend Qualified fitness instructor Cathal O’Reilly gives the lowdown on building and maintaining fitness for the year ahead Check out Google’s search history in January and it’ll more than likely be filled with questions on how to lose weight or build muscle. The solution is simple: work hard, don’t eat chocolate, be consistent and you will see results.

Consistency is the key to success in getting fit whether you want to improve general fitness or run a marathon.

Remember: failing to prepare is preparing to fail. Here are a few key points to remember when you hit the Mardyke this January.

Gear: The basics Please don’t spend needless cash in sports shops in January. All you need is a towel, comfortable runners and some loose fitting clothing you can move freely in. Yes, some new clothes might give you that extra bit of confidence and motivation but be wary as the new gear may pick up dust if you decide not to use it. Wait a month or so until you know it will be a regular habit.

don’t need to drink gallons of water so don’t believe the myths. A 500ml water bottle will be plenty to keep you hydrated during an intense workout.

Post workout.

Bring something to snack on for after your workout to keep the body replenished. You will probably see people with protein shakes and other snacks but don’t panic; a simple banana or apple is enough for immediate replenishment, although food high in protein within an hour after your workout won’t go amiss.

Substitutes Instead of looking at extreme diets, look for substitutes. Substitute brown bread for white bread, full fat butter for other oily spreads. Throw in crunchy vegetables into your evening meal to replace cheese and pasta.

Water

Protein

Bring a water bottle to fill in the Mardyke. Preferably you should fill your water before you get to the gym because the water machines at the Mardyke are very slow and will have queues, especially in January. You

Ask yourself the question: how much protein do I need? The general guideline for someone who exercises regularly is 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight. It is worth tracking how much protein you take in to see if you’re getting enough.

Remember it’s just a guideline; there is no need to be obsessive.

Good protein sources are white meats like chicken or turkey. Protein shakes are only for people who have intense workout regimes and who are training similarly to professional athletes. They can be high in sugars and carbs which will completely stunt your fat loss.

Some people like spending 10 minutes on the treadmill and 10 minutes on the bike. Don’t crucify yourself because it will only lead to burnout. Be nice to yourself and reward yourself for your efforts. Consistency is important; 10 minutes spent exercising is better than nothing at all.

The mental game

Rated Perceived Exertion scale

Your mentality is your key to success in your fitness goals. As most people are aware, the key to everything is balance. Find something you enjoy.

This scale is useful to ask yourself am I exercising hard enough. You should rate your efforts out of 10. You shouldn’t be going above 8 or below 6.

Somewhere in between is perfect for your optimal efforts.

It’s important to remember the harder you work in the gym the more results you will see, but don’t forget that exercise is most importantly about a long term goal of remaining healthy and not a four week fix.

|9

UCC EXPRESS | Wednesday, January 21st 2015

Clickbait: The latest ‘opium of the masses’?

Kevin Galvin examines online content aggregation and the culture of judgement it creates It seems there is no limit to the amount of aggregation websites on the web.

In Ireland alone the likes of Joe.ie and its sister website Her.ie receive over 3.7 million unique views each month (about the population of the country at the turn of the millennium) and are added to by the likes of UniLAD and the LAD Bible, invading our news feeds and infesting our social media sphere with their seemingly endless torrent of regurgitated dross.

These sites and their unfortunate writers (who probably at one stage dreamed of being prominent journalists) dredge the internet for the most shocking, disgusting, spectacular and attentiongrabbing stories, then coolly steal them to increase their own hit count and generate further ad revenue, whilst possibly adding a casual ‘hat-tip’ at the end to cover their own backsides for any potential plagiarism cases.

They are starting to grow exponentially, the average internet user’s short attention span and easily distracted nature means they now click on content directly from Twitter or Facebook instead of taking the time to find it themselves. It seems that years of online procrastination has meant that we now behave on social media like domestic pets, easily diverted by whatever shiny set of keys our owner wishes to distract us with next.

This overflow of Buzzfeed rubbish, combined with the awful decision Facebook made a few months ago to have videos automatically play, has led to the average news feed becoming a total trainwreck.

One can’t log in without being bombarded by the latest videos of mutated children in Palestine and yet another tiresome goal vine from 2002, with a list of ‘29 reasons why your boyfriend’s friends secretly hate you’

wedged in between. While on Twitter endless retweets of pitiful accounts echoing the same jokes over and over again (mostly in a pathetic attempt at irony) have led to countless unfollows on my part. Twitter is, at least, thankfully easier to moderate.

“The social media sphere we have created still resembles that of a primary school playground: everyone trying to shout the loudest to get themselves noticed” However, there are far more serious consequences to this culture of hit whoring. These sites, constantly trying to outdo each other, are always looking for the best way to get you to visit, and the line of journalistic and professional integrity is being pushed further and further back. An excellent piece on ‘The Daisy Cutter’ about Manchester United fan and vine sensation Andy Tate shows just one of a plethora of examples where sites like the aforementioned UniLAD have jumped on the exposure of an ordinary working-class person for the exploitation of, as the Daisy Cutter describes, snobbery.

This same snobbery has facilitated the massive success of MTV shows like

Geordie Shore and loathsome teenage pregnancy programmes, where the ordinary person can tune in and feel a twisted sense of smugness as they watch and judge the protagonists, safe in the knowledge that they would never act or drink or shag like them.

This same snobbery has led to the repulsive double-standards of a world in which we pretend to stand up for those with mental illness, or fight for the acceptance of our body image, while at the same time posting countless memes and jokes about plus-size Gemma Collins, someone who has already had the guts to publicly admit her weight problems. But she’s a celebrity so it’s different right?!

This same snobbery has led to the type of attitude prevailing in society (spoken about at length through a university context in another excellent article by Brendan O’Neill in Spectator) in which one may only possess an opinion if it’s in line with as O’Neill describes “the prevailing group-think.” Unless you’re pro-gay marriage, pro-choice, profeminism (and by this I mean actively call yourself a feminist) or know exactly when your opinion is ‘allowed’ (like in the case of the abortion debate O’Neill describes), then your opinion is

out dated, uneducated and unrequired.

profit from the hit count.

And yet, despite our attempts to be as developed and measured as possible, the social media sphere we have created still resembles that of a primary school playground: everyone trying to shout the loudest to get themselves noticed and if you can earn respect by doing a neat trick, then yours is the voice that will be heard. Friends are hoarded in followers and egos massaged by retweets, favourites or likes. This constant search for internet attention is why we see people do appalling things (remember the girl that ate her own tampon?) just for a fleeting moment of attention, instead of being content with who we truly are and developing the talents we do have to the best of our ability.

Meanwhile we continue to turn off our brains when we get online and fail to make the real connection between what happens online and in real life, just like in the case of Andy Tate. We fail to see how these sites are facilitated by our curiosity combined with our laziness and how the online society we have created allows people to benefit from their keyboard anonymity. We need to start opening our eyes to this deplorable cyber space we have spawned and how it’s only reflecting the very real societal issues we have.

Sites such as Buzzfeed only further deteriorate the problem by appointing themselves the leaders of the playground, expecting people to perform at will so they can profit off their talents. These companies are not press outlets, they’re not looking to investigate our societal problems or make the world a better place, they’re just content to slap up an unsolicited picture of a member of the public, let the readership enjoy their ridicule and

It’s not difficult to change this. The next time you see one of these links, refuse to click on it; you’ll find out a lot more in a half-second Google search yourself.

Question yourself on social media: ask why certain kinds of bullying are so acceptable when we pretend that we’re fighting against it. Have an opinion, your opinion, whether it’s popular or not and stick by that opinion; they define you as a person. Read some articles that don’t begin with the words ‘X amount of reasons why’ or ‘You’ll never believe...’

Perhaps only then will we really see what the internet has to offer.

10 |

Wednesday, January 21st 2015 | UCC EXPRESS

Albie Sachs: Transforming injustice Stephen Goulding and Siobhan O’Callaghan speak to the former South African Constitutional Court judge who survived assassination and imprisonment in order to fight the injustice of apartheid

Sachs’ presence in UCC is not without reason, he is the keynote speaker at a law conference focusing on the ‘invisible victims’ of the prison system: those who are indirectly affected by imprisonment. Sachs, who has a history of making ground breaking judgements during his time in the green robe, now spends his time on the college circuit, discussing his life and pressing legal issues. When quizzed about the momentous S vs M case – in which Sachs ruled that a mother who was a serial credit card fraudster should remain out of incarceration as her imprisonment violated the fundamental human rights of her children – he harks back to her words, mimicking them: “‘I can’t go to jail,’ she says. ‘If I go to jail their lives will be shattered. They’ll end up in gangs.’ At first I thought it was a hopeless case. We, the court, deal with constitutional matters; this is not a such a matter, she brought it on herself. And my female colleague, one of the judges, said; ‘have you thought about the rights of the children?’... and I hadn’t... why should their destiny be so determined by the crimes of their parents?

“The law cannot simply be a passive bystander and send the caregiver to jail without seeing that the children are now going to carry a very heavy burden. What’s the point of saying children have rights, if you ignore them in an important matter like that?

“I had the moment every freedom fighter dreams of, they came for me, and I lived” Clad in a vibrant, traditionally patterned shirt with a soft weathered face, Albie Sachs might at first be overlooked as an elderly eccentric more at home in a bingo hall than at the top of a lecture hall. Warmly greeting the many academics that accost him, Sachs is utterly unassuming: nothing about his demeanour, save for his elocution, hints that you are in the presence of a human rights and legal titan.

“Under apartheid we couldn’t have loved together, have lived together. It would have been a criminal offence to kiss let alone conceive a child” Our first question – ‘Do memories of apartheid still haunt you from your time in exile?’ – brings at first no reply.

He pauses, pensive, before a retort with shaking head: “No. No. I think basically what our generation – when I speak of our generation, that’s the generation known through Mandela, even though there are thousands and thousands of others – what we succeeded in doing was transforming the negativity into positivity “We don’t say ‘forget the past’, we don’t say ‘it didn’t happen’; there was a lot of pain, a huge injustice.

In a strange way the only good thing apartheid produced was anti-apartheid.

Why should I, Albie Sachs, growing up in Cape Town, going to a whites only boy’s school become connected with Nelson Mandela, who was born in a rural peasant family? We had nothing in common in language, culture or background, but we came together through the struggle. We connected through struggle, through resistance to apartheid.

“We developed not just superior power to overcome, but a superior moral sense, a superior set of values through which we were able to transform the negative into positive. So the past doesn’t haunt. We use the past as a springboard to the present. It’s a source of joy to see people doing things now that they couldn’t in the past.

“My child Oliver, his mother has dark skin, I have fair skin; under apartheid

we couldn’t have loved together, have lived together. It would have been a criminal offence to kiss let alone conceive a child. So it’s a sense of accomplishment to see the progress that’s being made. Yet we still have such a long way to go, still so many problems.”

An unfilled shirt sleeve and a blackened scar under the mouth are the only external indications of the life that this seventy-nine year old has really lived: a personal price he has paid in his fight for the equality and liberty of an entire nation. In 1988 the South African anti-apartheid campaigner fell victim to an assassination attempt when a bomb was placed under his car by those who sought to silence him. Despite having lost his right arm and sight in his left eye, Sachs, later appointed by Mandela to the Constitutional Court of South Africa in 1994, demonstrates an astonishing positivity in relation to the incident.

“I felt marvellous. I got over the bomb

,

I had the right from the beginning moment every freedom fighter dreams

.

of, they came for me, and I lived There are certain things that you cannot get over...I haven’t fully gotten over solitary confinement; it leaves a certain residue of sadness, but I’m not preoccupied with it.”

unanimously, it was an important aspect of human dignity. And to say that somehow the marriage of straights would somehow be undermined by allowing same sex couples to marry was very, very insulting. To say that their love and their intimacy and how the public accounts for that somehow amounts to less than the same for heterosexual couples is a gross violation of equality principles.”

Sachs offers a coda to the interview in the form of an upbeat and inspiring piece of advice, fitting of his tenacity and wisdom: “Don’t always have a long face. It’s pretty strong in the west for human rights activists to be gloomy. But if the sole thing is anger or denunciation then you’ll get too tight. I remember vividly when Mandela was released from prison. I was carefree and dancing; yet my British counterparts were mournful and said things like ‘How dare they?’”

“Personally, I just felt there was a difference of culture. Me, I learned to sing in public, to move and shake my body a little bit. The humour, the actions: it’s all very affirmative. It’s not about getting together with like minded people to expose the evils of the world; it’s about getting together with people who are buoyant and eager about life and searching for interesting, creative, lively ways of doing things. This is what it’s about. And for me it’s been a very marvellous life.”

“We picked up on something that is now echoed throughout the world: the impact of incarceration on the people outside who are innocent. They haven’t committed the crime, yet they’re affected. They’re not simply losing a bread winner, there’s a sense of stigma, to being that close to the crime. When the person comes out of jail afterwards, they’re less capable of reintegrating and having a steady life. Instead of being a better citizen, you come out a debilitated citizen. So there are all sorts of reasons why the impact of imprisonment on the innocent parties should be given attention.”

Perhaps Sach’s most preeminent ruling came in 2005, when the Constitutional Court of South Africa ruled that same sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. Sachs, who is an ardent supporter of LGBT* rights, is often cited as being one of the masterminds in the integration of non-heterosexual people into a new South African society.

Yet when asked if he had any advice for the voters in Ireland’s upcoming Marriage Equality Referendum, he refrained from preaching.

“Irish people will decide for themselves.

I’m not offering any advice other than to say you might find it interesting to see how we decided. I think it’s wonderful that the referendum is being held at all.

Anybody reading my decision would know how I would vote.

“Back then, for me and for the court

UCCEXPRESS.IE Availible on all your

Devices!

UCC EXPRESS | Wednesday, January 21st 2015

Into Darkness

Ruth Lawlor

T

here was once a man whose son had died before his time, and the man was greatly troubled.

How many times had he stayed up late, waiting for his son to come home? How many times had he demanded to know where he was going on those nights out with friends, and how he was going to get back? And now he was gone on the greatest journey of all time, the last one he would ever undertake, and his poor father was left behind, and he thought the pain of not knowing might kill him too. His son was a good young lad, all the village was in agreement, and he would be surely missed.

So the man decided that he should take a journey of his own, and he told his wife not to worry, that he would be back before long. And she looked at him with widened eyes and began to cry and, as with all women, those weak and hapless creatures, he did not know whether she was crying because she was happy, or crying because she was sad.

The old man travelled a long way, and spoke to many people. The ones he

wanted were those who had seen that death for themselves, so that he too could know what had happened to his loving son. They spoke almost with one voice, each describing the bright light and warmth rushing towards them, the sense of peace in God’s embrace, and they reassured him that, wherever the boy might be, he was surely at rest.

But the man kept searching: for what, he did not know. After he had spoken to more than one hundred people, they wondered why he did not stop. What more could he possibly be looking for?

And the man said nothing.

News of his journey travelled ahead of him, like a guide on the dusty road.

He reached the capital city, a long way from his little old village, and was invited to appear on national television.

He dressed in his best suit, tidied his beard, quickly sniffed his jacket to make sure there was no trace of stale gin, and took his seat in front of the live audience.

Old man, said the host, we have heard that you have travelled far and wide, searching for news of your son. You have encountered a great many people,

all of whom have experienced a neardeath incident, and they have told you about the peace that awaits in heaven after death. Yet you keep on searching, as though that is not the answer you were looking for. And that makes us wonder – is there something about your son that we do not know: perhaps you have reason to believe that he might not be in heaven at all?

The old man blinked slowly as a hazy mirage momentarily appeared in his mind’s eye: a voice shouting, a body hanging in the breeze.

Before he could speak, his attention was drawn to a person in the audience, who had risen to his feet and stared in his direction.

“I have the answer that you’re looking for,” the audience member announced, though uncertainly, unsure of his place.

And the man looked at him, and he listened carefully.

The younger man from the audience began to tell his story.

A long time ago he had been in a car accident, and took a near-fatal blow to the head. They rushed him into surgery,

where he lapsed into a deep coma, emerging a few days later. But when he surfaced once again he was a changed man.

“I know what you want to hear,” he said, his voice grating. “There is a place beyond the light. There the rivers run red with boiling blood, and the devils whip their slaves with chains of human bone. There the sinners are shorn of their skin, and hanged by the neck from deep thorns that scar the body and scar the soul. The trees don’t want those bodies wrought from their branches, and so they howl and scream, excreting a bitter poison into the veins. The eyeballs turn yellow and melt through the face, and the men are castrated by savage dogs. There you will not find hope. There you will see no light.”

The old man never knew what the younger one had done to deserve his torment, and although in time the image of his face, frozen and afraid, faded from his memory, the picture of men with pierced skin and dying eyes in that great forest never went away, but became distorted with the nightmares of tentative and unspeakable horrors.

Years later, after his wife had died

| 11

of heartache, and his own heart was sputtering out from years of abuse by an uncaring host, he thought about that night he had never really forgotten: his son’s body tied with rope around the neck, swaying from the tree outside, a foreshadowing of what was yet to come. He thought about the bruises visible on his body, and the other scars that the eye could not see. He thought about the nights he had stayed up late to beat his son for running away, and he thought about the words, marred by alcohol, with which he had taunted and tortured his only child.

He thought about these things, and thought about his son, resting in the light with his mother. And as death came upon him, he closed his eyes, and thought he could almost feel the creeping sensation of thorns gently piercing his neck. When the doctors examined him the next day, they imagined they saw curious traces of blood on his pillow.

12 |

News Headlines 439 killed in last week’s 3cm of snow.

Cadbury’s Creme Eggs decrease to five per box. Chocolate chickens refuse to comment.

Contrary to reports, not every Muslim is a terrorist.

Waterford Whispers News replaces RTÉ as Ireland’s foremost news service.

80% of Irish students think wearing a pro-equality badge is the equivalent of voting.

Met Éireann upgrade weather warning from quaint to annoying.

Wednesday, January 21st 2015 | UCC EXPRESS

Sometimes things are not what they seem Tom Millard

It was Christmas morning and Trevor had received a myriad of varied gifts: the obligatory and near inconceivably clichéd pair of socks from his aunt, an ill-fitting and optimistically vibrant jumper from his sister and the now annual, randomly chosen video game from his parents (which in a tragic yet inevitable twist shared a passing phonetic similarity to the game he actually requested).

However, despite this bevy of delights, it was one rather homely little gift which caught Trevor’s eye. Plainly snuggled amongst the poorly chosen knitwear and the disappointing piece of digital media was a meagre little box, containing a diary of all things. On top of that, it was from his older brother no less!

Now, as per the usual parameters established long ago, Trevor and his brother did not share a relationship so much of love as they did one of begrudging acceptance of each other’s existence.

This, understandably, had not been something which had ever extended into the realm of gift purchases.

“Is this a joke? Why did you get me this?” he asked genuinely puzzled by this sign of nascent affection.

Red Rock uncovered as RTÉ coup to make Fair City seem watchable.

Christians manage to reclaim Birmingham in what Fox News is calling ‘A good ol’ fashioned Crusade!’

TV Listings RTÉ One Saturday @ 7pm: The Big Big Movie – Bogman: Two Leinster teenagers discover a perfectly preserved Neolithic man who turns out to be one hell of a rugby player and a mediocre singersongwriter. Starring Niall Breslin.

RTÉ 2 Sunday @ 6.30pm: Reluctant mothers from across the nation compete in order to win the chance to have an abortion in The Choice of Ireland.

RTÉ One Thursday @ 8.30pm: Operation Transformation: This week a rural GAA coach loses three stone while managing to retain his homophobia and racism, ultimately learning nothing meaningful.

Channel 4

Friday @ 9pm: The 2,000 civilian deaths suffered during the sack of Wexford has never been so funny, it’s Carry on Cromwell!

“Trevor and his brother did not share a relationship so much of love as they did one of begrudging acceptance of each other’s existence” “Oh, I just thought now I’m getting older and I’m moving out and stuff, it was time I started growing up. It’s just something small for college. I hope it will help you keep on track of everything.”

The words “thanks, I guess” reluctantly tumbled out of Trevor’s mouth. He refused to dispel his scepticism and spent most of the night trying to unravel the true purpose of the gift.

It was not until the following day that it came to him – why his brother had chosen a diary of all things as his fraternal peace offering. Just as he had expected, it was not the caring gesture it ostensibly seemed to be but was of course meant as an insult! It was an implicit criticism of Trevor’s innate messiness!

Given that Trevor steadfastly refused to believe in the existence of a more efficient way to store clothes than simply laying them out on his floor, creating some form of wearable carpet or a ‘floordrobe’ as he affectionately referred to it, this criticism was not unfounded. However, little did his brother know that this was an aspect of Trevor’s life which he had long come to accept and relished any condemnation of it. On top of that it was an attack so subtly instigated it could hardly cause offence. He had bested his foolish sibling and was one gift up to boot!

Despite his active rejection of structure

and neatness, Trevor decided he would use the diary as an act of defiance. He had naturally assumed he would not be the most ideal candidate for something so focused on organisation and believed he would ultimately throw it out.

However, much to his surprise, he seemed to enjoy this pernickety pastime. Where would he be at 4 O’clock on Tuesday? Well, at home playing video games in his underwear.

What would he be doing at noon on Thursday? At home playing video games in his underwear. Was he busy on Friday at 3? He unfortunately had a lecture, but he would of course be skipping it to play video games in his underwear. He had unlocked the key to the future! He could command time itself.

Before long something awoke within Trevor; he changed. No longer was he content with his messy existence, but instead craved more structure in life.

For the first time in years he saw his own bedroom floor, bit by bit divested of its clothing as he succumbed to his newfound tidiness. So too did Trevor realise the sheer amount of time he wasted upon video games and sleeping and adjusted accordingly. He now filled his days with reading and other cultural endeavours. His college attendance had also improved greatly and with it so too had his grades. He was a changed man.

It was only then that it hit him. His brother had not been trying to slight him or mock him in anyway; instead it was indeed that which seemed impossible – the diary was a genuine act of kindness on behalf of his wise elder. Overwhelmed with emotion he kissed the diary and held it close as if it were a surrogate for his wronged brother. Trevor immediately texted his brother, for the first time ever displaying genuine love and emotion towards him.

“I’m sorry I was so suspicious. I didn’t mean to be so ungrateful. I get it now, you weren’t trying to mock me, you weren’t trying to judge me, you just saw my life for the mess it was and choose to help me in the most meaningful way imaginable. Thanks so much. I love you.”

His phone vibrated a moment later. He excitedly opened the reply expected something similar.

“Haha. I rubbed my ballz all over that diary before giving it to you! Ya big gobshite!”

Trevor realised two things two things that day. Sometimes things are not what they seem, yet more often they are. Oh and his brother was truly the most despicable person on Earth.

| 13

UCC EXPRESS | Wednesday, January 21st 2015

SEX!?

Michael Stack

Now that I have your attention, I’d like to talk to you about sex. I acknowledge that this introduction is a bit cheesy, but then again so is a good omelette.

I didn’t know what to write about for this issue of The Express, but luckily I came across some inspiration on the way home from five-a-side Astroturf football last night (it finished 13 apiece by the way, we came back from 11-2 down). I took the shortcut home to Vic Mills that goes through Brookfield and the Western Gateway Building (WGB, colloquially known as ‘Wijjibuh’). So I was strolling down from College Road and met a girl walking against me who delivered me a wry smile, a nice ego boost for myself.

However, she wasn’t giving me the look as it turns out. You know ‘the look’? In Havana’s for example, if you get ‘the look’, it indicates the other party involved in the visual exchange wants to take you home that night.

You know the one right? Yeah, me neither. Anyway, after passing the girl, I walked towards the WGB bridge and about halfway there I had to do successive double, triple and quadruple takes at what I was seeing. A couple were having sex on the path. Wallets and keys strewn across the ground, a lonely white bra lying discarded in the middle of the walkway, longing for the days when it was nestled cosily around a warm and sizeable bosom.

I’ve been in UCC for four and a half years now and I’ve seen some strange things in my time, too numerous to mention (three in total), and I can fairly say I haven’t seen anything like this before. I understand there is a thrill in public displays of sexual endeavours but this was just maniacal. There was a partially hidden area on the other side of the path with some trees providing shelter and privacy, but nope, apparently this wasn’t good enough.

The criminally overused phrase ‘get

a room’ comes to mind and, for once, I agreed. If I had to even hazard a guess, these were probably two first, or maybe second, years who were going at it (not that I saw their faces, only his bare ass), and given most student accommodations are located within catthrowing distance of where they were, I really found myself wondering why they didn’t avail of the aforementioned and impossibly apt proverbial saying.

It also bears mentioning that this was

at 9.30 in the evening, a time when the walkway is still being used by plenty of unassuming pedestrians. So why couldn’t they have just gotten a room – one of their rooms!? Was the fiery passion of their burning loins too much to bear another minute they engaged in good old fashioned coitus there and then? Note also, this was up against the railing of a f*cking crèche. Now I can count on one finger how many times I’ve had sex in the last month and I can tell you this, doing it outside a crèche

Piled Higher and Deeper by Jorge Cham

was last on the list of ‘TripAdvisor’s Top 10 places to Do It’.

If these guys didn’t know each other previously then well done: I can barely order pizza over the phone, not to mind have sex with anonymous strangers.

So to the potential-couple involved, I wish ye all the best in your fruitful relationship and may your genitalia remain STD-free until Hell freezes over. Although, keep in mind it is apocalyptically snowing outside at

the moment, so maybe best to give the clinic a casual visit. (Back in my youth, going as far back as when I was a sperm and the best swimmer in my class, I was sexually transmitted – does that make me, and everyone else, an STD/STI!?)

P.S. Sorry for standing on your bra but if you leave if in the middle of a footpath it’s a gonna’ get walked on.

P.P.S. Sorry not sorry.

www.phdcomics.com

title: "In case of fire, save my thesis" ­ originally published 1/22/2007

14 |

1

Wednesday, January 21st 2015 | UCC EXPRESS

Crossword

2

3

7

4

5

8

Sudoku

6

Puzzle 1 (Hard, difficulty rating 0.61)

9

Hard

3 10

7

11

12

8

1

13 14

15

16

9

17

3

8

5

19

20

23

4

8

8 6

26

2 8

5

24

25

3

9

6

21

4

3

4

18

22

2

4

5

2

3

9

4

7

6 Across

Down

7 Henry Ford’s ancient name for England (6)

1 Thaws after cold spell (9)

8 Words formed by rearranging letters may be key to this crossword (8) 10 Villas which house UCC Careers Service, by the English coast (8) 11 Measure of post-college employability (6) 12 Teachers lull in the Boole Basement, for example (7,5) 15 The doctor claimed to do this research (7) 17 He uttered his slander in an aggressive tone (7) 19 School master is in charge here (3,9)

Medium

Puzzle 1 (Medium, difficulty rating 0.55) Generated by http://www.opensky.ca/sudoku on Sun Jan 18 22:33:42 2015 GMT. Enjoy!

2 See 6 down

4

3 Eaters look forward to pre-exam festival (6)

6

5 Wilfully destructive person (6)

9

6 Mr. Fleabag awarded with this prize for suicide awareness on campus (5,4)

7

5

16 Take a camera in with US people (8)

25 Feeling despondent (8)

21 Utter disorder (5)

26 Cork train station (4)

24 UCC athletic grounds, in brief (4)

4 2

6

14 Communicating a news story (9)

20 Crush this racquet sport (6)

7

3

13 Club for triple athletic discipline (9)

23 Overwhelm or engulf (8)

9

5

9 Position of Paul Giller (9)

22 Hot or spicy variety of pepper (6)

3 2

4 Sexually explicit (7)

18 UCC society which entails student health and wellbeing (7)

9

1

1

2 1

7 9

9

6 8 5

4

5 3

3

2

9

November 25th Answers

Generated by http://www.opensky.ca/sudoku on Sun Jan 18 22:33:53 2015 GMT. Enjoy!

E N

E

D I S T E E R D Y I

U C C W O R K A E E E N C I R C L B O Q E O B E D I E N C N C T G E T U P S E H R I A N I D E A A L L I I A N O U N C N T S D C E K O R E A A P E S T C H O R A

S E E M E D B L U E N I L

HARD

T R I A T H L O N

MEDIUM

Ireland’s most frequently published college paper now availible on all your devices! uccexpress.ie

K A R A E U G A L V E F I R S I L E G A M O I I T C H R I I A C O M M L P E S S A

| 15

UCC EXPRESS | Wednesday, January 21st 2015

The curious case of Sinn Féin in the social media Robbie Byrne inspects the social media dominance of Sinn Féin and whether it adds up to true political power

Some weeks ago The Guardian posed a simple question: “Does The Sun really speak to more people than Russell Brand?” Many scoffed; it was an absurd question, perhaps the most brainless of the year. The Sun has long been a staple read of the working class, a British institution, a newspaper that has sold over two million copies every day for four decades. So how could a comedian turned political revolutionary control the British psyche?

“Ireland has its very own Russell Brand that comes beautifully packaged in 32 counties and one very odd Twitter account” A recent study revealed that the average American spends 51% of their day with some form of digital media and to people like Russell Brand this matters. Brand has 8.74 million Twitter followers as opposed to The Sun’s 659,000; three million Facebook likes versus 1.7 million; 800,000 YouTube subscribers compared to 8,000. Through freely accessible online platforms, Brand’s political spin reached seven million more people yesterday than The Sun’s digital and print arms.

Last month Brand was the focal point of BBC’s Question Time where he battled with UKIP’s Nigel Farage over a host of socioeconomic issues. This rapid rise as a valid political entity is made more incredible by Brand’s claim that he will never run for parliament.

So just imagine how Ireland’s political landscape would alter if a political party gained the same social media popularity as the erratic comedian. But there’s no need to imagine. Ireland has its very own Russell Brand that comes beautifully packaged in 32 counties and one very odd Twitter account – and that is Sinn Féin.

Sinn Féin’s domination of the political social media landscape is worthy of an (admittedly odd) Hollywood script.

In four years Sinn Féin’s Facebook page has gained more likes than Fine Gael, Fine Fáil and Labour combined, while Gerry Adams has become Twitter’s most followed Irish politician. It’s a startling feat and one that has slipped under the Irish media’s radar.

How did a party once the butt of centre right politics become, digitally at least, Ireland’s most popular party? A quick glance over official party social media pages reveals some fascinating contrasts between Sinn Féin and Fine Gael.

One key aim of Sinn Féin’s PR spin is to please the disgruntled. Like Russell Brand’s utopian ramblings, Sinn Féin’s social media targets specific rumors on its way to making extravagant claims.

One Facebook post from December 12th asks; “Really, what is the point of the Labour Party?” While another reads: “Rich getting richer, poor getting poorer thanks to this Government.”

This all sounds attractive to the disgruntled keyboard warrior, who, struggling to make ends meet, finds comfort in Sinn Féin’s argument.

Conversely, one can easily see why voters would be irked by Fine Gael’s social media strategy, which spotlights their own political achievement, though admittedly one rooted in numerical fact.

But slip away from political spin and we find the jewel of Sinn Féin’s propaganda tool: Gerry Adams Twitter account. Here is somebody who faces accusation of being a key member of a terrorist organization but tweets about kittens, rubber ducks and duvet days, with the odd splattering of pidgin Irish.

But as odd as it may seem, infantile tweets are the ultimate tool in Sinn Féin’s armory.

How can a supposed IRA ringleader dream of eating crème eggs before waking up with a “beard covered in chocolate & cream thingymebob?”

Impossible. And that is exactly what Sinn Féin has achieved under the cloak of otherwise inappropriate tweets; social media has transformed Adams into a loveable rogue who to some would make a great leader and for others, well, he’s a bit of entertainment.

But a murderer? Not a chance.

The party’s Vice-President, Mary Lou McDonald, has experienced a similar

comprehensive membership networks from parish pump politics to the ministerial cabinet are fashioned in an old-world politics that somehow remains relevant. An infantile Tweet won’t get you the vote but ensuring the son of a local businessman gets that college grant sure will.

social media makeover. Portrayed as the stereotypical working class mother, the Trinity graduate is now Ireland’s most followed politician when all social media forums are considered.

Appealing to the average tweeter, city dwellers aged 35 to 44, McDonald’s page is propaganda bliss, complete with Riefenstahl aping camera angles and all the motivational political spin required to reel in her own niche of urbanised 40-something, middleclass parents.

It’s simple reasoning, one that brings us right back to Russell Brand’s affirmation that he will never enter party politics. He knows that social media popularity does not equal political power.

“social media popularity does not equal political power”

For Brand and Sinn Féin, social media provides the perfect platform to forward loose ideologies but when it comes down to the nitty-gritty of watertight programmes for government both falter in spectacular fashion. So while social media popularity may have helped Sinn Féin gather troops at December’s Right2Water protest, convincing somebody to change voting preference is a height that social media simply struggles to scale.

Voting preferences are, wrong as it may be, family traditions or even social statements, and these are customs that social media will struggle to change.

Sinn Féin’s dominance of social media channels would trick those unread in Irish politics to assume that the allIreland party is the Ireland’s ruling political force but this is far from true. Though Sinn Féin may not be a dominant force in parliament, we must question if it’s Ireland’s most popular party today.

Compiling an average popularity percentage from the three RedC polls taken in 2014 presents a complication; especially when contrasted with combined social media popularity.

The RedC average reveals a far closer political race with Fine Gael in the driving seat, boasting a 31% share of party popularity, followed by Sinn Féin with 27%. Under the shadow of RedC, the insurmountable advantage that social media once provided Sinn Féin with has evaporated. It is conflicting information from two different, but equally authentic sources. Though if

we peel back the layers discrepancies can be found.

11% of Facebook users are under voting age, which wipes out a significant proportion of applicable votes. Facebook likes and Twitter followers do not equal ballot box votes.

Mary Lou may have 60,000 Facebook followers but if 5,000 of those come from Cork City the Dublin based politician cannot benefit.

Still, the same could be argued for the other three major parties. But these time hardened political groups with

To use one of Adams’s own tweets, it seems that social media is the duvet day of politics: an oasis where the true bite of state affairs cannot sink its teeth. Where waffle will be hyped and exaggeration praised.

16 |

The Big Interview: Dr. Michael Murphy The UCC President is put through his paces on library hours, semesterisation problems and the value of a UCC degree by Stephen Barry

Wednesday, January 21st 2015 | UCC EXPRESS from something in the region of one staff to 19 students to one staff to 24 students or more.”

Technical support staff and councillors per student have also decreased in a time when student numbers have risen to over 19,500.

The rise in student numbers has also been met with an accommodation shortage, with Murphy outlining that he has dictated for the university to increase control of student accommodation to create more spaces.

Indeed, constructing a new universitycontrolled complex has not been ruled out: “It’s all about affordability and projections on what income from it will be.”

“The state needs to enable the private sector to put loan systems in place”

CAMPUS ENGAGE: Murphy was one of 20 college Presidents to sign the civic charter.

The first thing people tell you before going to question Michael Murphy is that he is hard to pin down: his mantra is that he doesn’t micromanage. It’s something he reaffirms himself before the interview begins: a list of five topics sent in advance are addressed with that caveat: ‘I don’t micromanage.’

Perhaps the simple reason is that Murphy is an outward looking President, one who defends grade inflation claims versus “comparable universities in the English speaking world,” ranking falls on overall score increases and library opening hours on a like-for-like basis: “we are not the worst in the country. Now, that’s not what I would have wished to have as a banner headline and we need to do better,” he swiftly adds.

He twice insists that he doesn’t lose sleep over grade inflation peaks or ranking fluctuations, he shrugs his shoulders in response to one semesterisation related question and doesn’t know details about plans for the Student Hub, which will revamp the Windle Building. His is a university run on laying down first principles and policies, ensuring practices and processes are right and leaving committees to perform their designated functions.

The former two-term Philosoph Auditor and Students’ Union Vice-President didn’t hear of students having essays due during the exam period until asked about the occurrence and sees this as a consequence of the demands of the job title: “I have to engage with the outside world as well as the inside world,” he surmises.

However library hours, the hot topic

of the past season, is one which he has looked at since it gathered national attention and seen a need for change.

It is from the staff that he has asked for the flexibility required to ensure a lasting change from December’s successful sit-in protests.

“There were challenges on the industrial relations front because you can only open libraries and provide functions when you have complete cooperation”

“‘Were the determinants of library closing exclusively in the hands of university management?’,” Murphy asks himself. “My understanding is that there were challenges on the industrial relations front because you can only open libraries and provide functions when you have complete cooperation from all those who are needed.

“I have asked that everything possible be done to improve the service for

Image by: Jason Clarke

term two. Obviously, conditions did change in December and the question now is ‘whatever work practices were changed, can that now allow us to improve the service for the coming term?’ My hope is that it will.”

He avoids the issue of what it says about the university to wait until a student protest before seeking a means to change.

At the best of times Murphy is an evasive interviewee – something that will make tonight’s Student Council interrogation somewhat routine, especially if last year’s pillow fight was anything to go by. However, he is consistent and even on some of his biggest successes he doesn’t give or know the finer details that I seek. His stabilisation and reduction of college debt, a serious issue at the beginning of his term after some large-scale building works, will be a defining pillar of his Presidency, yet he doesn’t divulge how deep in the red the college was on his arrival.

On semesterisation, a pet-project of Murphy’s after noting that UCC was one of two Irish colleges without the system, he bluntly sets out the broad circumstances. “Opening principle: semesterisation has been a big project with lots of complexities. We are just about hearing about the outcomes of the first semester.

“I’ve heard a number of people express concerns about some departments that did not do the necessary work to ensure proper balancing of assessment workload and so on. That I have heard.

On the other hand, I meet people in the street who tell me that the students have been thrilled to have semesterisation because it has balanced out their work through the year and they anticipate less stress in the second half.”

Beyond that, Murphy will await a comprehensive, formal review for a rounded assessment of what, he is sure, will be an imperfect implementation.

His priorities continue to move on and his current number one project is

making former UCC Professor George Boole a global name, “as a consequence of which the reputation and standing of the university will be enhanced and the value placed on a student’s degree out of UCC will be higher.”

He is also keen to defend that reputation in dismissing grade inflation and rankings, again without “losing sleep” over reactionary conclusions.

Paddy Cosgrave, a board member of the Higher Education Authority, gets a dagger for suggesting that a Trinity degree was of greater value than other Irish institutions: “I do not believe it would be borne out on critical analysis.

Paddy Cosgrave’s rationale for saying what he says is known only to himself.”

Murphy is animated in his armchair throughout the hour-long examination but he recites what seems an oft repeated answer about the pathway third-level education should take into the future.

“The financing of higher education has to be a shared responsibility between the state and the student. It’s a perfect storm: a state that’s broke and people who are strapped for money.

“Into the future the state has to restore some of the cuts that it has imposed and I would certainly look at differential fees for people, depending on what courses they take [based on the cost of the course to the university]. The state needs to enable the private sector to put loan systems in place to make sure that, at the end of the day, universities have enough resources to provide as good a quality of educational experience as it can possibly do.”

The interview ends as Murphy’s next appointments arrive, although he takes the time to ask for an opinion on journalism courses. I doubt their necessity although I would like to see Murphy involved in one, especially after an interview which answered some questions but raised many more: Will the library find a resolution? What will his legacy be once his term ends?

And what exactly does he lose sleep over?

That he managed to balance the books from a position of minus €12m or €14m in the annual budget alone, and at a time of vastly reduced exchequer funding, was a necessary move but he is aware that the cutbacks under his watch have impeded the student learning experience.

“They have,” he concedes, after a long, sighing pause, “in the sense that there are services that we would have been providing to a better degree than is the case now or what we would like to be doing. If you look at the staffstudent ratios, for example, they’ve deteriorated over the past six years

NOBEL CAUSE: Murphy pictured with Nobel Prize winner John O'Keefe last month. Image by: Clare Keogh

| 17

UCC EXPRESS | Wednesday, January 21st 2015

Rebooting Ireland: A fresh perspective?

Louise Clancy Features Writer Irish politics got off to an eventful start in 2015 as former Fine Gael TD Lucinda Creighton, alongside financial advisor Eddie Hobbs and Offaly Independent Councillor John Leahy, announced the launch of a new political party. It is not yet known what the permanent name of the party will be, however it is currently under the working title of Reboot Ireland, which will be officially launched by late February.

According to the Reboot Ireland website, there are four main founding principles in the party. The first principle is building an economy for entrepreneurs across the social, private and public sectors. Speaking on The Saturday Night Show on January 10th, Creighton pointed out the apparent difficulty for those who are selfemployed, describing them as facing “a raw deal” by paying eight times more in taxes than those who are conventionally employed on the same income. She also points out the Irish economy is built on a “continual cycle of boom-bust in the property sector” and an “over-reliance on foreign direct investment.”

The second principle is to make the public sector public. The third is giving

politics back to the people. Creighton says that she is “interested in putting in place a new type of politics, a new way of doing politics and a new way of funding the economy and social policy in Ireland.”

The final principle is of measuring government with a clear social target.

One of the ways the party intends on achieving this is to merge the Universal Social Charge and other income taxes into a single tax

“One of the ways the party intends on achieving this is to merge the Universal Social Charge and other income taxes into a single tax” Although it has given some promise on business-friendly policies, the party has given no comment on imperative social issues such as abortion and same-sex

Graduate Profile: Ed Walsh Dr Edward Walsh is the founding president of the University of Limerick, serving a 28-year term as head of the college.

UCC and many of those who peopled it.

He has also served as founding chairman of the Irish Council for Science Technology and Innovation, the National Technological Park and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.

What’s the funniest story from your time in college that is fit for print!?

He graduated from UCC in 1961 with a degree in electrical engineering.

He also holds masters and doctorate qualifications in nuclear and electrical engineering from Iowa State University, where he was an associate of the US Atomic Energy Commission Laboratory.

Fintan O’Toole of the Irish Times once called Walsh “one of the most dynamic, challenging and infuriating figures in Irish public life.”

What’s the most important thing you learned about yourself while in UCC? Working hard is preferable to the alternative.

What’s your best memory of college?

A reforming professor: Charlie Dillon.

He had just returned from Sweden, was as smart as they come and thoroughly cynical of introverted Ireland, archaic

marriage. In response to criticism of a lack of stance on certain social issues Creighton has said, “We will encourage people to know their own mind and take positions.”

In reply to Brendan O’Connor’s statement that Reboot Ireland could likely be a right-wing Catholic party, Creighton clarifies that the party will be centrist in political alignment. When asked on which parties they would be willing to form a coalition, Creighton answered that they will make a coalition with anyone who is interested with placing their policy agenda, although it

“would be impossible to reconcile with the far-left or with Sinn Féin.”

Speaking to RTÉ News, Hobbs has said that the main challenge to the establishment of the party is attaining membership; “There’s about a hundred people involved so far. We need to drive that up to several thousand really to get this thing on the road.”

The Reboot Ireland website has been set up in order to gain funds to sustain the foundations of the party and for applications for people to join the party, either as a candidate or a person

working behind the scenes, regardless of political background. Creighton is quick to stress this inclusivity: “Our door is open. We want to encourage people within the political system, but most importantly from outside the political system.”

Creighton states that she aims to have at least one candidate in all 40 constituencies in the run up to the next general election, likely to be in 2016, but time will tell how the party will shape up in the meantime.

What do you think is the main difference for this year’s graduates compared to yours?

Options.

The President, peering from his office window, observed three young ladies, robed in gowns, sitting on the grass in the quadrangle making daisy chains. The porter was directed to inform them that their behaviour was unbecoming and to desist. Each was fined two shillings.

How did UCC students manage studying before Wi-Fi and online notes?

Borrowing a book from the library was a challenging undertaking. Browsing was not possible: one needed to know what one wanted before filling out the request form. The library was the enclave of the many student-priests, brothers and nuns who carefully guarded individual seats and passed them on in turn to their religious colleagues. Buying and carefully protecting your own text books and study at home was the name of the game.

What would you do differently if you had your time in UCC again?

I would be more intolerant.

What’s the most important piece of advice you would give to someone looking to begin a career in a specific field?

No matter how inconvenient never say ‘no’ to an opportunity: if in doubt do it.

What traits do you least like in others?

Those who demand citizens’ rights while paying scant attention to citizens’ responsibilities.

What’s your worst vice?

Believing I have none.

What’s one rule that you think everyone should follow?

Under-promise and over-deliver.

What was the biggest challenge you experienced in attempting to establish the University of Limerick.

The activities of certain UCC academics who unsuccessfully attempted to strangle the fledgling institution.

How did you make the transition from engineering to educator and consultancy?

Without difficulty: I was involved in all three from the outset Are changes required for the third level education system in Ireland?

A repayable-loan system, similar to the

Australian one, is required to provide a robust market-driven funding system, while giving students real power as clients.

18 |

Wednesday, January 21st 2015 | UCC EXPRESS

UCC EXPRESS | Wednesday, January 21st 2015

| 19

20 |

Cricket Club hoping to retain Intervarsity Cup

Wednesday, January 21st 2015 | UCC EXPRESS

Cork hold on to Canon O’Brien trophy UCC 2-12 Cork 1-26 Stephen Walsh Sports Editor Cork retained the Canon O’Brien Cup, named after the late Michael O’Brien, by an 11 point margin over UCC in a soaking wet Mardyke, in what was a season opener for the county team.

This game will also be remembered as the game where Waterford hurler Jamie Barron scored the first one-onone penalty against Anthony Nash.

Funnily enough, the rule was brought into effect to stop Nash, along with a few others, from crossing the 20 metre line during penalty attempts.

Stephen Walsh Sports Editor UCC will make the long trip to University of Ulster Jordanstown to compete in the Indoor Intervarsities Cup at the end of January. UCC won this competition last year and will be hoping to retain the trophy but they know it will be a difficult task as Kevin O’Sullivan outlined.

“We face a tough challenge against some good sides,” O’Sullivan began, “but if we perform to the highest level, then we should get through.”

However the first goal for UCC will be getting out of the group, as O’Sullivan highlights: “Should we get out of the group, we would be hopeful of making the final. However, as defending champions, we know that we have a target on our back, so we’re expecting fiercely competitive games.”

Coming so soon after the Christmas break it has meant that preparation hasn’t been ideal for this competition.

“This year has been difficult due to the change to semesterisation. We had to take an earlier than usual Christmas training break because of the exams.

However, the team has worked hard since we returned to college and we still feel adequately prepared for the tournament.”

UCC have been drawn in a group with IT Sligo, Dublin Business School and UCD. On the draw O’Sullivan noted that “UCD would always be considered our main rivals and we have to play them in the group stage this year, which should make for an exciting game”.

The closing stages of the tournament will be on Sunday, February 2nd with the final scheduled for 3.30pm.

The UCC squad competing in UUJ: Junaid Amin (Captain), Ali Khan, Shahrukh Nawaz, Thomas Raju, Denny David, Danyal Siddiqui, Shahrukh Baig Mirza, Qassim Butt.

Despite the awful weather, which had caused much of the originally large crowd to leave well before the game’s conclusion, the match itself proved to be fiercely competitive.

Kanturk’s Anthony Nash was announced as Cork captain for the upcoming season shortly before the throw in, replacing Bishopstown’s Patrick Cronin who stepped down from the role earlier as he wished to concentrate on his own game in the coming season.

This was Cork’s first game of the season and it was an ideal warm up game

Murphy soaring to new heights

RAINY DAY: A goalmouth scramble comes to nothing as Cork prevailed by 17 points. ahead of future games in the Waterford Crystal Cup. UCC, meanwhile, had warmed up for this game In losing to Waterford with a very depleted panel due to injuries and other commitments to some key players.

The game started off at a quick pace with Daniel Kearney firing over a point in the first 30 seconds of the game.

On seven minutes, Paudie O’Sullivan smashed in a goal following a Seamus Harnedy pass.

Jamie Barron then converted the penalty on 23 minutes, following William Kearney’s foul on Anthony Spillane, who would end up scoring 1-4 on the night.

In the second half Anthony Spillane

Image by: Marc Moylan

got a goal quickly after the restart and then, later in the game, Michael Collins hit the crossbar with a speculative shot from 30 yards.

Subs: Eoghan Finn (0-1) for Roche (24), Diarmuid Lester for Nagle (37), Shane O’Keeffe for Geary (41), Rickard Cahalane for Foran (64).

But by now the game was over as a contest as both sides look for bigger goals in the coming months.

Cork: Anthony Nash; Christopher Joyce, Colm Barry, William Kearney; Aidan Walsh, Lorcan McLoughlin, Cormac Murphy (0-1); Daniel Kearney (0-4), Patrick Cronin (0-1); Seamus Harnedy (0-1), Bill Cooper (0-2), Brian Lawton (0-1); Darren McCarthy (0-1), Paudie O’Sullivan (1-0), Patrick Horgan (0-6, 3fs).

UCC (Cork unless stated): Tommy Wallis; Michael Breen (Tipperary), David Glynn (Kilkenny), Killian Burke; James Nagle, Tadgh Bourke, (Waterford), Paudie Prendergast (Waterford); Rob O’Shea (0-1), Daniel Roche; Barry Lawton (0-4, 3fs), Jamie Barron (1-1, 1-0 pen, Waterford), Michael Collins; David Geary, DJ Foran (0-1, Waterford), Anthony Spillane (1-4).

Subs: Cian McCarthy (0-4, 2fs, 1 65) for O’Sullivan and Stephen Moylan (0-3) for Horgan (ht), Brian O’Sullivan for Barry and Luke O’Farrell (0-2) for D McCarthy (48), Paul Haughney for Cronin (51).

Stephen Walsh Sports Editor Imagine having 21 seconds to execute 10 different routines on a trampoline as you are catapulted up into the air at a rate of knots…

Well, that is exactly what Colin Murphy, the current National Synchronised Trampoline Advanced Section champion, does during a competition. Murphy also came third in the individual Intervarsities held last November.

The 20-year-old, who is currently in first year Arts having studied in the University of West London last year, only took up the sport last February after his brother Eric joined the club in NUIM. He attributes a lot of his success so far in the sport to his earlier years doing parkour at home which he first started in transition year.

“I was doing parkour from fourth year but then my twin brother Eric took up trampolining in Maynooth and he said I should try it out, so I started it last February.”

He admits that this has helped his flexibility when it comes to competing

on the trampoline. Another advantage he has is that he was used to using the garden trampoline at home and this has helped him competing. “There is a big difference in the power between a club and garden trampoline as a result I have a lot more time in the air after practicing on a garden one.”

He first took up the sport in the famous Kingston Trampoline Academy while studying in London. Kingston academy in South London is among the best clubs in the world, as Murphy explains:

“They have level 5 coaches and would be sending people towards Worlds and Olympics on a regular basis.”

Along with training three nights a week on the trampoline, he is also active with the UCC Kayaking Club. On trying to balance sport and college, Murphy said: “I try and work 9-5 each work day. I stay in Castlewhite so if I don’t have a lecture I just go in there and work away. I like to keep my evening free for doing stuff as that’s when everything happens in UCC.”

His advice for anybody taking up the sport in the future is to maintain patience but to “keep pushing yourself, be courageous and give it time and then you will see the improvement over times.”

The big ambition for Murphy over the coming months is to compete in ISTO (the Irish Student Trampoline Open) in April, where he is hoping to go one step further and win the elite synchronised section.

| 21

UCC EXPRESS | Wednesday, January 21st 2015

‘Spursing’ It! Ryan Collins Sport Writer “The signature of mediocrity is not an unwillingness to change; the signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency.”

When playing the latest incarnation of Football Manager or anything of that ilk, there is something of an unspoken rule; one either selects their favourite team and lives out a childhood fantasy in virtual surroundings or opts for minnows and vows to take them to the pinnacle of the game. Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, or Burnley and Leicester City.

Somewhere within this spectrum, both in a fictional game and in real life, lies Tottenham Hotspur, a team completely devoid of identity; it just cannot be pinned down. If there is any team that tantalises and frustrates its supporters more than the lily-whites, then please make yourselves known so that we can collectively sympathise.

How does one define this team?

They are a maelstrom of frustration and jubilance, taking their fans on a roller-coaster ride replete with peaks and valleys. In what feels like every summer for the past half-decade, fan expectations for Spurs are raised from the achievable, ‘I’ll be happy with qualifying for the Champions League,’ to the recalcitrant and borderline idiotic, ‘We’re gonna win the league,’ only to be dashed once again by Christmas when reality settles in and the White Hart Lane faithful relapse and resign themselves to the fifth-place dogfight.

Spurs have finished in the top-six of the Premier League seven times since the 2005/06 season and a shocking four of these were in fifth.

The back-to-back battles with Chelsea and Crystal Palace serve as the perfect microcosm of ‘Spursing’ – a term that really should be considered for a place

in the Oxford English Dictionary. A dominant, Harry Kane-inspired 5-3 triumph over the most transcendent Chelsea team since Ancelotti can’t be considered a fluke, such was the precision with which they sliced through Terry and Cahill.

“Tottenham’s more expensive ventures into the transfer market are typical hit-and-miss ‘Spursing”

This was followed with a 2-1 loss to Crystal Palace... The argument of Palace being rejuvenated by the appointment of Alan Pardew as manager doesn’t hold water. Ironically, Pardew is the perfect Spurs manager, whether Daniel Levy ever recognises this fact. A model of inconsistency for every team he has ever managed, Pardew effortlessly flits between capable and calamitous roughly every ten games.

Tottenham are perpetually frustrating; they are a paradox. They spend as much money as England’s elite (£103 million in the summer of 2013) and rarely, if ever, sell their best players. When they do, in the cases of Luka Modric and Gareth Bale, they don’t sell cheaply.

Indeed, the notoriously frugal Levy managed to acquire £33 million for Modric and a frightening £86 million for the Welshman.

Levy expects his team to be elite, to be considered equal to the Chelseas and Citys. Otherwise, he wouldn’t solicit the exorbitant transfer fees that Tottenham have compiled. The aforementioned

summer of 2013 saw spending that would make PSG blush. Unfortunately, Tottenham’s more expensive ventures into the transfer market are typical hitand-miss ‘Spursing’.

Roberto Soldado cost £25 million and anyone unfamiliar with him might be surprised to learn that his exploits at Valencia and Getafe actually warranted this price tag. Having notched 91 goals in Spain since 2009, he managed a measly 9 in 27 games for Spurs, despite receiving every opportunity in a variety of situations, notably in Tim Sherwood’s attack-focused 4-4-2.

There doesn’t appear to be any tangible reason why he has failed.

Erik Lamela costing, in hindsight, an identically loathsome £25 million, is looking similarly lost. After sitting out most of his first season and showing flashes of his exciting Roma flair this season, he has fluctuated between invisible and unavoidable. The potential is there and maybe Pochettino is the man that will facilitate his growth. It’s not a good sign if the onedimensional Aaron Lennon is warming up to replace you in the 60th minute though.

Chadli has improved this season while Paulinho, a poor man’s Fernandinho, and Dembele have hardly featured so far. This is a sign that Pochettino has opted for industry rather than style from his holding midfielders.

Tottenham’s attack is slightly above average this season (tied 7th in goals scored) but the defence has veered towards the other end (13th in goals allowed). A midfield with Mason, Capoue and Bentaleb will always struggle against Fabregas and his ilk.

Levy, since Harry Redknapp took Tottenham as far as his managerial ability to deliver, has been somewhat trigger-happy since. Andres VillasBoas was undoubtedly overly-reliant on Bale for goals and sustaining anything resembling an offensive style, but he would be weeping at the proclivity of goals conceded by Pochettino’s side.

Conversely, Tim Sherwood emphasised the attack; he just didn’t have the correct ingredients for what he was attempting to create. The one thing these two managers had in common; their reigns amounted to a matter of months.

Levy, if he truly desires the success his willingness to spend implies, needs to trust Pochettino for more than six months. As Louis Van Gaal and Manchester United fans are learning, success, consistency and identity don’t occur overnight, or even over months, especially if the squad is young and

features a significant amount of foreign stars.

Pochettino the current manager has to be given time akin to Redknapp; his is a far more thoughtful, provocative style than the blustering QPR manager, and he deserves the opportunity that AVB and Sherwood weren’t afforded.

If Harry Kane continues to improve, he is integral to this evolving team.

Tottenham only have one player who is already elite and surpassing every expectation, Christian Eriksson, and he needs help if Tottenham are ever going to shake the notion of ‘Spursing it’.

22 |

Wednesday, January 21st 2015 | UCC EXPRESS

Third-level action set to step up a notch GAA club Stephen Walsh previews the beginning of the Fitzgibbon and Sigerson Cup campaigns

get Aware

UCC GAA Club will once again wear the logo: ‘Aware, your supporting light through depression’ on the College jersey for 2015.

More than 450,000 people in Ireland experience depression at any one time but many hide their condition and never get help. Aware provides information on depression for many people, those affected by it and those concerned for a family member or friend.

The continued partnership between UCC GAA and Aware was launched by county and student stars Alan Cadogan, Orlagh Farmer, Tom Clancy, Doireann O’Sullivan, Mark Dorman and Conor Lehane, along with Dr Con Murphy and John Grainger.

GOLD MEDAL: Billy Morgan, Paul Geaney, Dr Con Murphy and Dr Michael Murphy at the 2014 Sigerson medal presentation.

Reigning champions and hosts of the Sigerson Cup, UCC’s footballers are looking ahead to a bumper month of action. However the college hurlers will be equally busy as they seek to retain the Fitzgibbon Cup they relinquished to WIT last spring.

First up UCC for the will be the hurlers from GMIT who will face them in the Mardyke on Tuesday, the 29th of January. Galway hurler Darragh Burke from Loughrea is the one to watch from the GMIT team.

UCC have warmed up for this game by playing a number of challenge and pre-season matches. Firstly they lost to Waterford after Christmas, 3-27 to

1-11, although UCC were missing a lot of key players for this clash.

They then played against Cork in the Canon O’Brien Cup, losing 1-25 to 2-12. Finally, they defeated Kerry in the Waterford Crystal Cup last Saturday, by 2-23 to 2-14 in Tralee. UCC keeper David O’Gorman made a little bit of history by being the first keeper to stop a penalty under the new one-onone format from Shane Nolan. UCC’s Jamie Barron got the first goal under the new format, ironically beating Anthony Nash from the 21-metre line.

UCC will play Limerick in the semifinals of the Waterford Crystal Cup in the coming week.

The footballers will be in action on the 27th of January against neighbours CIT in the Mardyke at 2pm for the first round of the Sigerson Cup. This is a straight knock-out tournament, unlike the hurling, and the footballers will be hoping to progress considering the fact that they’re hosting the finals weekend in February. The winners of this clash will play the winners of the IT Sligo and Queen’s meeting on the 11th of February in Cork.

Similar to the hurlers, the footballers have had a long run of warm-up games leading in to the Sigerson derby.

They qualified for the McGrath Cup final last Friday night by defeating IT

Tralee, 0-18 to 0-06. It is the second time in recent times that UCC have beaten Tralee, having already defeated them in the league earlier in the academic year.

Before that they beat Limerick in the quarter final of the McGrath Cup played in Rathkeale on a score line of 4-16 to 3-9.

The final will be against Waterford next Saturday evening in Dungarvan’s Fraher Field, with UCC seeking their first pre-season title in their first McGrath Cup final appearance since their 2010 loss to Kerry.

Stephen Walsh Sports Editor

The tournament is the first year equivalent of the Collingwood Cup, which will take place at the end of February in Galway.

Una Buckley Sport Writer

Last year the tournament was won

by UCD, who beat NUIG in the final thanks to a late Conor Cannon goal.

The UCD team that won the trophy one full of League of Ireland experience through Dean Clarke, Timmy Molloy and goalkeeper who Conor O’Donnell, who has since moved to Limerick FC following the end of the League of Ireland season.

UCC athletics club has a long standing tradition of visiting Banna Beach, Kerry for over 15 years. Trained by legendary coach Donie Walsh, who represented Ireland in the Munich Olympic Marathon and won silver in the World Cross country in 1979, the group of athletes grows from strength to strength having over 60 members attending Banna training session this month.

Banna Beach Resort has excellent

UCC set to host Harding Cup UCC was recently announced as the host of the upcoming Harding Cup soccer tournament, where they will seek to end a 20-year wait for the title.

Athletics Club enjoy Kingdom trip

Walsh coaches some of the greats in Irish athletics at present, Mark Hanrahan to Laura Crowe. An essential part of the athletes training year begins with Banna in January. It is a busy programme of events with morning runs, evening hills session and a Sunday morning run, with Walsh having a vast knowledge of coaching and set individual programmes to suit some of our athletes.

The support line for Aware is 1890 303 302 or email supportmail@aware.ie, while the UCC Student Counselling Service are also available on campus.

ON COURSE: UCC athletes pictured at the Road Relay Intervaristy.

Image by: Loughlin Campion

facilities to host a large group with a leisure club and spacious houses and has been used by the club as a destination spot for many years.

However, this year it was very windy which affected the mileage of some of athletes.

It is traditional that all athletes go to the

local pub on the Saturday night. This is a great way to get to know new athletes that may have joined the club for the first time and also to relax after a long day of training. Every year there are always great stories to tell and lifelong memories to be remembered from the trip to Banna.

Throughout the year UCC athletics club will take other trips to the Intervarties, Indoor championships and All-Irelands Cross Country championships, with those serious about their New Year’s resolutions encouraged to join now.

UCD have been the victors in three of the past four competitions and will be hoping to add to this record over the weekend down in Cork. However it was NUI Maynooth who prevailed on the competition’s last visit to the Leeside city in 2012.

UCC will be fielding two teams for this competition: the UCC first team and the UCC Academicals. All teams will play one game on the Friday, with the semi-finals set for the Saturday in the Farm and the final to take place in the Mardyke on Sunday, February 8th.

UCC EXPRESS | Wednesday, January 21st 2015

Demons double still on the cards C&S UCC Demons 95 Stephen Walsh Sports Editor C&S UCC Demons defeated Travelodge Swords Thunder at a packed Mardyke Arena in the semifinal of the National Cup. Demons progress to play UCD Marian on Saturday after Marian were successful in the curtain raiser against UL Eagles, winning 81-70.

The home side cheered on by a loud crowd got off to the better start with Colin O’Reilly and American Lehmon Colbert scoring two baskets as Thunder struggled to get to grips with the game. Eventually Thunder found their groove and went on a scoring run of 12 unanswered points with Michael Goj proving accurate with two shots from outside the arc.

At one stage in the opening quarter Thunder had extended the lead to 14-6 as Demons were guilty of wayward shooting. Demons responded with two free throws from O’Reilly and this was

Steven Gerrard’s shock transfer

Digest Basketball –

Men’s Premier League: C&S UCC Demons 99 BFG Neptune 65 (Colin O’Reilly 23, Adrian O’Sullivan 17, Lehmon Colbert 16); C&S UCC Demons 109 Belfast Star 80 (Colin O’Reilly 28, Lehmon Colbert 22, Adrian O’Sullivan 13); Sun 1st Feb: C&S UCC Demons vs Killester @ 3.15pm in the Mardyke Arena. Men’s National Cup semi-final: C&S UCC Demons 95 Travelodge Swords Thunder 70 (Colin O’Reilly 28, Kyle Hosford 18, Lehmon Colbert 18); Final: Sat 24th Jan: UCD Marian vs C&S UCC Demons @ 8pm in the National Basketball Arena, Tallaght.

Travelodge Swords Thunder 70 quickly followed up Ciaran O’Sullivan claiming two points but Thunder responded quickly with Michael Goj nailing two three pointers in quick succession that had the home crowd slightly worried. Thunder lead at the end of the quarter by 10 points.

Thunder picked up were they left off and kept up the scoring rate as Demons missed shots. Yet, as the half progressed, Demons started to claw themselves back into the game as O’Sullivan hit a three-pointer that got the crowd off their feet. However, it was to be point guard Kyle Hosford who was the driving force behind Demons as they began to claw away at the lead, despite Spenser Mitchell doing his best to keep the Dublin side in front. Demons though were on a roll and went in at the break ahead 46-38.

The third quarter was when Demons really extended their lead with O’Sullivan scoring three consecutive three-pointers as Demons began to pull

FLAG DOWN: The Thunder defence fails to stop Lehmon Colbert's basket.

Image by: Marc Moylan

away, despite Mitchell firing 17 points in this third quarter. Hosford accounted for eight points, while Colbert contributed six points as Demons went into the fourth quarter 74-54 ahead.

The fourth quarter played in an emptying arena due to the score line, with Demons keeping up the pressure as Colbert scored 10 points in a row versus a Thunder defence struggling to cope with his physicality. Juan Torres and Mitchell got late consolation points for Thunder.

C & S UCC Demons: Adrian O’Sullivan, Kyle Hosford, Lehmon Colbert, Ciarán O’Sullivan, Shane Coughlan, Darragh O’Hanlon, Shane Duggan, Niall O’Reilly, Carlton Cuff, Colin O’Reilly Travelodge Swords Thunder: Kevin Lacey, Keith Anderson, Marcus McDaniel, Darragh Verschoyle, Donal Monaghan, Spenser Mitchell, Derek McMahon, Michael Goj, Isaac Westbrooks, Juan Torres, Éanna Rutherford

Gaelic Football –

McGrath Cup Quarter-final: Limerick 3-9 UCC 4-16 (Thomas Hickey 2-5, 4fs; Adrian Spillane 1-1; Tomas Clancy 1-0; Conor Horgan 0-3; Conor Cox, 1f, David Harrington 0-2 each; Conor Dorman, Eanna O’Connchuir, Gary O’Sullivan 0-1 each); Semi-final: IT Tralee 0-6 UCC 0-18 (Conor Cox 0-6, 1f; Thomas Hickey 0-3, 1f; Brian O’Driscoll, Paul Geaney, Sean Kiely 0-2 each; Gary O’Sullivan, Luke Connolly, David Harrington 0-1 each). Final: Sat 24th Jan: Waterford vs UCC @ 6pm in Fraher Field, Dungarvan. Sigerson Cup: Tue 27th Jan: UCC vs Cork IT @ 2pm in the Mardyke. Fresher Division 1 Championship 1st round: Thu 29th Jan: UCC vs Queen’s University.

League Division 1: Sat 24th Jan: UCC vs Bandon in the Mardyke. Munster Senior Cup 2nd round: Sat 31st Jan: Catholic Institute vs UCC in Rosbrien, Limerick.

The general standard of the MLS has been a drawing factor for many former top players looking to end their career on a high in recent years. The likes of Thierry Henry and even our own Robbie Keane have all crossed across the Atlantic to play in the MLS and become heroes once again.

Hurling – Canon O’Brien Cup: UCC 2-12 Cork 1-26. Waterford Crystal Cup Quarter-final: Kerry 2-14 UCC 2-23 (Barry Lawton, 3fs, Alan Cadogan 0-6 each; Rob O’Shea, 2fs, Eoghan Finn 0-4 each; Shane O’Keeffe, Brian Hartnett 1-0 each; Killian Burke 0-2; Michael Breen 0-1); Semi-final: Sat 24th Jan: Limerick vs UCC @ 2pm in Kilmallock. Fitzgibbon Cup Group B: Thu 29th Jan: UCC vs GMIT @ 2pm in the Mardyke.

But let’s look at the details of the deal.

Leaving at the end of his contract this June, Gerrard has signed an 18-month deal with the MLS side worth $6 million a year, half his current wage at Anfield. He is expected to arrive at the StubHub Centre this July.

So, why leave?

Ashbourne Cup Qualifier: UCC 4-12 UUJ 1-10.

Hockey (Ladies) – Munster

Of all the transfers made this January, none have come as quite a shock like the transfer of Steven Gerrard to MLS giants LA Galaxy.

Any football fan can tell you Gerrard is Liverpool FC. He has played there for 17 years making his first team debut in 1998 and been the captain for 11 years, having succeeded Sami Hyypiä in 2003. Gerrard has been the heart and soul of Liverpool football club.

Camogie –

Hockey (Mens) – Munster League Division 1: UCC 3 Harlequins 3 (David Doherty, Fionn O’Leary, John Catchpole); Sat 31st Jan: UCC vs Bandon in the Mardyke.

Colin Healy Sports Writer

However there have recently been talks of a loan return for the Reds captain next January as Liverpool’s chief executive Ian Ayre claimed; “The fact he’s leaving doesn’t mean it’s the last we’ll see of him at Liverpool...

It happens a lot in MLS, and it’s something we talked to Steven about.”

| 23

On July 21st, Gerrard announced his retirement from International football and as captain of the English squad.

This was according to the man himself “to concentrate all my efforts on Liverpool.”

Despite this, Liverpool boss Brendan Rogers did not offer Gerrard a new contract to extend his current one. This was a clear indication that Rogers did not see Gerrard as a future starting player for the Reds. It wasn’t until November that Gerrard was offered a contract extension but he had thought it over and by January he revealed that he would not be signing on for the new contract: “If a contract had been put in front of me in pre-season I’d have

signed it,” Gerrard told the Liverpool Echo.

“I’d just retired from England to concentrate all my efforts on Liverpool.

I didn’t want my club games to be tailored.”

“My injury record had been fantastic for the past two and a half years and I had a great season from a personal point of view last season. It’s hindsight now. The period between the summer and the end of November got me thinking time.”

Despite the fallout, Gerrard claims there is no bitterness towards the club and understands there are others in the

squad.

For Liverpool, losing Gerrard creates a tough transition period. Gerrard himself suggested that Jordan Henderson will be his replacement. The 24-year-old signed from Sunderland in 2011 for £16 million and had a rocky start, but is now the clubs vice-captain.

Only time will tell how Liverpool do without Gerrard, will they fall apart or pull together? Perhaps this will give a youngster a chance to come onto the scene from the club’s own youth academy like Gerrard did. However it turns out, Gerrard will be missed by both Liverpool and English football fans.

Rugby (Mens) – Ulster Bank League Division 2A: Sat 24th Jan: Rainey Old Boys vs UCC @ 2.30pm in Hatrick Park, Magherafelt; Sat 31st Jan: UCC vs Banbridge @ 2.30pm in the Mardyke.

Soccer (Mens) –

Munster Senior League Premier Division: UCC 0 Carrigaline United 0; Midleton 0 UCC 4. CUFL Premier Division Relegation play-off: Wed 21st Jan: UCC vs IT Sligo @ 2pm in Mervue United all-weather pitch. FAI Intermediate Cup 4th round: Sun 25th Jan: UCC vs Glenville @ 2pm in the Farm. Donie Forde Cup Semi-final: Tue 27th Jan: UCC vs Rockmount @ 7.30pm in the Mardyke.

UCC

SPORT

Wednesday, January 21th 2015 | uccexpress.ie | Volume 18 | Issue 8

UCC golfer O’Driscoll driving to success

BUNKER MENTALITY: Jean O'Driscoll practices at her home course, Muskerry Golf Club.

Stephen Walsh Sport Editor Walking fairways on the golf course is just a way of life for Jean O’Driscoll who has been travelling around the world playing golf with UCC. In fact, just last month the plus one handicap golfer was competing in Argentina at the illustrious Hurlingham Club in Buenos Aires, finishing 12th overall in a field of more than 80 competitors.

Of course, competing so far afield while in college requires certain sacrifice as the second year Chemical and Process Engineering student explains: “Well, I had to postpone three of the exams at Christmas as I was playing the tournament in Argentina, so I will now do them in the summer.”

But the 20-year-old is a hard worker who, when asked of the difficulty in balancing college and golf, calmly replies: “I guess it’s kind of difficult but you try and do as much of it as you possibly can do. Thankfully I’m one of those who is well able to get up early in the morning.”

However, O’Driscoll sometimes has to miss tournaments due to her college studies, something she sees as an especially difficult sacrifice.

“Last year it was kind of tough in that I missed three of the big competitions in the run up to exams, for example the Scottish Open.”

“I had to postpone three of the exams at Christmas as I was playing the tournament in Argentina”

O’Driscoll, who likes to use tips from Britain’s star track and field athlete Jessica Ennis-Hill in her preparations, trains hard each week and just listening to her training schedule tells you how committed she is to succeeding in golf.

She goes to the gym to do strength

and conditioning three times a week in the Mardyke with Jeff Gomez and then she sees her coach once a week for golf practice, while doing her own work three or four times a week. She estimates that she would do between eight and ten sessions a week.

Being one of the top golfers in Ireland, the R & A scholarship holder has played golf with the famous Maguire twins from Cavan many times but has never competed against them in a headto-head format, despite them being of similar age.

The UCC Sports scholarship holder has many role models from the golfing world but she mentions meeting Swedish golfer Annika Sorenstam at the 2009 Solheim Cup at the Killeen’s course in Meath as a particular standout moment.

O’Driscoll would like to follow in the footsteps of Sorenstam someday by getting her degree first before going to America and turning pro.

It’s something she hasn’t considered doing at the moment as she says: “I want to get a career first and not get

Image by: David Keane Photography

to 26 having nothing behind me. I’ll get something under the belt first then I might take a year out for golf before doing a Masters in something like Chemical Engineering.”

Inside Sport Page 20

As for the year ahead, she’s not playing the Intervarsity series but she’s looking forward to the Intervarsity Championships in mid-February at the European Club in Wicklow, with a possible final in Tramore in March.

O’Driscoll cites winning a big prize as her main ambition for the year: “I’d like to win a major trophy and I wouldn’t mind what one it is but an Irish National would be much appreciated!”

She’ll have to get used to balancing her schedule, though, as the stroke play championships will take place straight after the exams and O’Driscoll admits: “I might be a bit rusty as my preparation will be affected by study in the build-up.”

Somehow, though, one expects O’Driscoll to take it all in her stride and don’t be surprised to see this name in newspapers in the coming years.

SEASON OPENER: Former UCC goalie Darren McCarthy helped Cork get their pre-season off to a winning start in the Canon O'Brien Cup.