The University Express - Vol.23, Issue 9

University Volume 24 | Issue 9 | Tuesday 18th 2020

Express UCCExpress.ie

Universities Hammer Students With More Rent Hikes Writes Samantha Calthrop, News Editor

Several universities across Ireland have announced their plans to increase the cost of on-campus accommodation, following a worrying trend from previous years. The cost of accommodation in all areas is to be raised by 4%, the maximum increase permitted under new student accommodation laws. DCU’s on-campus accommodation has confirmed plans to raise rents for the next three years, introducing an overall increase of 12%. UL and Maynooth have also announced plans An Illustration of the Crow’s Nest - Future UCC Accommodation to increase rents, although shying away from the maximum DCU,” reads a statement by DCU, Ireland. I can only imagine how looking for accommodation.” of 4%-- just about, increasing defending the cost increases. It many more will be joining them by 3.5% and 3% respectively. also pointed out that universities on hours-long commutes from Trinity is also facing proposed do not receive funding for accom- around the country simply to edu- rent increases, which their StuUniversities have quoted refur- modation from the government. cate themselves, something which dents’ Union stands opposed to. is an absolute right and not a priv- “We will do whatever we must bishment projects and the need to build more accommodation Rent increases as high as 11.5% ilege of those more fortunate.” in the lead up to, and in the aftermath of, this meeting to enas reasons for increases, de- were introduced just before the spite pushback from Students’ start of the 2019/2020 term, NUIGSU president Clare Au- sure that students are not burUnions. UL and NUIG have before the rent increase cap stick echoed her sentiments, dened with an increase in rent,” both announced refurbishment was introduced, also for al- saying, “We meet students ev- said TCDSU President Laura refurbishment needs. eryday who have to work two or Beston, speaking to Trinity’s paand building projects, while leged more part-time jobs to stay in per, The University Times. “We DCU referred to “ongoing inDCUSU President Christine Farcollege, students who commute are already working on ensurvestment” for refurbishment. rell expressed the SU’s ‘outrage’ huge distances, students who ing that this decision does not “The University operates the best in a statement released online, can’t afford decent accommoda- pass and will fight this decision value and lowest priced on-cam- condemning the increases. “Stu- tion and students who aren’t in with all the resources we have.” pus student accommodation in dents are already under huge fi- college who should be. We are Dublin, priced significantly below nancial burdens in the midst of outraged that in the midst of an UCC has not made any announcethe prices charged by private sec- the accommodation crisis with accommodation crisis the Uni- ments of increases at the time of writing. tor operators within the vicinity of some facing long commutes from versity is again looking to profit places like Belfast and the west of from the desperation of students

General Election 2020

Page 4 News

Crime and Data

Page 8 Features

Transgender Healthcare in Ireland

Page 28 Byline

Gearóid Morrissey: The Pride of Mahon

Page 39 Sport

Editorial

2 Editorial Team Editor-in-Chief – Ciaran Dineen (Editor@UCCExpress.ie) News Editor – Samantha Calthrop (News@UCCExpress.ie) Designer – Fiona Cremins (Design@UCCExpress.ie) Features Editor – Róisin O’Donnell (Features@UCCExpress.ie) Sports Editor – Jack Maguire (Sport@UCCExpress.ie) Opinion Editor – Elisha Carey (Opinion@UCCExpress.ie) Online Editor – Edel Lonergan (Online@UCCExpress.ie) Proof Editor - Chloe Jesse (Proofing@uccexpress.ie) Marketing Executive – Ciaran Dineen (Marketing@UCCExpress.ie) Webmaster – Jonathan Hanley (Webmaster@UCCExpress.ie) Photographer – Caoimhe Leahy (Photographers@uccexpress.ie) Byline Editor – Cian McGrath (Byline@UCCExpress.ie) (Deputy Editor) Eagarthóir Gaeilge – Hugh Ó Raghallaigh Mac Gearailt (Gaeilge@UCCExpress.ie) Food & Health - Katie Kelly (Food@UCCExpress.ie) Arts & Literature Editor – Fiona Keely (Arts@UCCExpress.ie) Gaming Editor – Jack Coleman (Gaming @UCCExpress.ie) Music Editor – Fiona O’Connell (Music@UCCExpress.ie) Film & Television Editor – Eoghan Creedon (Screen@UCCExpress.ie) Sexpress Editor – Caoimhe Battault (Sexpress@uccexpress.ie) Fashion Editor - Katie Burke (Fashion@UCCExpress.ie) Deputy Sports - Sam Curtin (Deputysports@uccexpress.ie) Deputy News Maeve O’Sullivan (Deputynews@uccexpress.ie) Deputy Features - Molly O’Rourke (Deputyfeatures@uccexpress.ie)

Issue 9 | Tuesday 18th 2020 | University Express

The End of Social Media Can’t Come Quick Enough Writes Ciaran Dineen, Editor-in-Chief

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the University Express. It’s been a very busy couple of weeks for me, with the General Election taking up much of my spare time. While many of you were spending last week and the weekend before out drinking and socialising, I was admiring the nature of PR-STV (as always) and debating whether or not to emigrate if the Shinners got into power, for now at least im still here.

It’s interesting because at election time social media, in particular Twitter, can be wonderfully advantageous if you’re trying to keep up with the latest breaking news, whether it be opinion polls, media gaffs, or commentary from academics and journalists alike. From my own point of view it’s also really exciting to see what others around you are thinking at the same time, while also bearing in mind that Twitter certainly doesn’t win elections (see UK GE 2019). Nevertheless it’s always good to see the gauge and take note of where the wind is blowing. Unfortunately however one simply can’t escape the cesspit that social media has become and its death can’t come quick enough.

I mentioned on my own Twitter feed quite recently that Ryan Tubridy had been in to visit us (see photos later) in our new surroundings in the Hub. He answered lots of questions from students and offered some tips and advice in the process. One thing that he could not emphasise anymore if he tried was his dislike for social media and he made a plea for our generation to distance ourselves from it as much as possible. Just a few days later news breaks that well-known TV Presenter Caroline Flack had taken her own life aged just 40, with social media and tabloid journalism said to be a major factor. Flack was a flawed individual like many, and was due to face the courts following an altercation with her boyfriend, but the treatment of her from ‘journalists’ and keyboard cowards should initiate a catalyst for change. It’s sad because in a few weeks’ time everyone will have moved on and forgotten about this tragic incident, only to regurgitate the same old faux outrage when a similar case unfolds. It’s time to stop the benign hashtags and pointless messages of shallow support, just do yourself and everyone else a favour and be the person that takes the steps to consign your online persona to the biggest dustbin in history.

Brilliant content once again in our latest edition from our fantastic group of talented writers. I hope you all enjoy it. As always happy reading.

Take care, Ciaran.

editor@uccexpress.ie

Ploughs and stars

Writes Samantha Calthrop, News Editor My dad, originally from the UK, furrowed his eyebrow when I told him about Sinn Féin’s surging popularity— fueled by a growing dissatisfaction with the establishment and the state of social funding. He pointed out the surges of racist violence that followed the Brexit vote and the rise of nationalist-populism elsewhere, and asked me if— and where— the pushback would be in Ireland. I told him that Ireland’s scapegoat, to my great pride, is landlords.

I’ll tell you that I voted left and didn’t vote for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, which I know a lot of my fellow left-wing students did too. I’ll also point out that there was something very reactionary about that decision, and I don’t think mainstream media is wrong to ponder the responsibility of it. Like many in the 18-25 age group, I look ahead to a future where I’ll earn less than my parents and live with them for far too long, and look for a way to cause change— in any form. That same sentiment fuelled rising extremism across the West.

There’s something about Irish nationalism that’s a little less insidious than the British and American forms. Let’s not be naive and suggest that Irish nationalism hasn’t caused death and suffering— I’m not going to downplay anything that happened during the Troubles, the Civil War, or even the civilian deaths that came with the Rising, nor am I going to say that Sinn Féin has never had any connections with violence. But there is something comforting in the fact that, when our European and international peers turned against immigrants and the poor, we turned against landlords, corporations, and greed. Sinn Féin’s surging popularity, for all their reputation of Republicanism, was fuelled by a desire for reform of healthcare, housing and business rather than any care for a United Ireland.

I guess a part of it’s history. After all, many of our historical heroes— like Connolly, Larkin, Francis and Hannah Sheehy-Skeffington— were all decidedly socialist, and most of them took explicit pro-immigration stances too. Irish people looking for comfort and certainty in extreme nationalism are more likely to end up with the Connolly Youth Movement, whose ideals line up with our national heroes’ much more than the Irish Freedom Party’s ever will. (Connolly Youth Movement, if you read this, for the love of the god stop with the hammer and sickle and switch to the plough. Our forefathers didn’t invent a perfectly good communist movement and then die for you to use the symbolism of the world’s worst communist nation.)

Either way, if we’re going to be driven to scapegoats, reactionism and emotional politics, I’d rather see that turned against the elite than the vulnerable. And who knows? Maybe something good will come of it. Extremism fuels revolution as much as it fuels conservatism, after all. Only time will tell.

news@uccexpress.ie #uccexpress

Samantha

Issue 9 | Tuesday 18th 2020 | University Express

News

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The Hub is Officially Open Writes Maeve O’Sullivan, Deputy News Editor

Photo Credit: Caoimhe Leahy, University Express Photographer

There has been speculation over the last few months among students, wondering when the construction of the new student building will be open. The O’Donnell & Twomey group were assigned the developmental project of the refurbishment of the historic Windle Medical building, one that had been a part of the UCC community for over 170 years.

With the relocation of medical studies to Brookfield, a new life was to be brought to the campus building. The Hub reaches the height of five floors and houses the offices of Careers Service, Disability Support Service, UCC Plus.

Student Well-Being, Peer Support and the Student Experience Office.

Additionally, the college’s Clubs and Societies have relocated to the building, providing a bright space for students to engage with their extracurricular activities.

Speaking with Kayla Maher, Societies president 2019-2020, she had this to say about their new home. ‘’We are delighted to be in the centre of the campus life for both

students and staff. Alongside the multiple services providers surrounding us, our presence is a positive one for student life. The goal for The Hub is to become a safe place for UCC students to engage with college life in a creative way.’’

Roots Café have also set up shop in The Hub. The initiative behind the café comes from the Cope Foundation as a training centre for service users. The staff, who have mild to moderate learning difficulties, will learn about the art of barista, cash handling and customer service skills. The coffee is provided from Java Republic, an Irish coffee company that sources fair trade varieties of coffee. In line with UCC’s Green Campus campaign, the café only serves customers with reusable coffee cups.

Points of focus within the new building include the Dr Dora Allman and Dr Lucy E Smith rooms, which overlook Cork city. The two doctors were the first female physicians to graduate in UCC in 1898. Dr. Dora Allman was the first female medical graduate of

UCC and was the first woman to be appointed as Chief Medical Officer in a Mental Hospital in Ireland and Great Britain. Lucy Smith became Cork’s first female obstetrician as well as visiting physician to Cork Women’s Prison.

A new state-of-the-art radio station has been incorporated into the Hub, while a large multi-purpose event space, the Atrium, makes up the majority of the ground floor. The old anatomy lecture theatre has been

transformed into an intimate 70-seater indoor amphitheatre, while a new public space between the Hub and the Quad will allow for outdoor student and community events.

The €17.5 million Hub was financed by the European Investment Bank. The building will be the most energy efficient on campus, and is fully accessible and is the location for the first Changing Places facility in Cork.

In This Issue....

Features 5 Reasons UCC Differs From American College Page 10 Food & Health Mindful Groceries Page 21 Music International Music is Good Too Page 24 Gaming From Dublin to Shanghai Interview with Rob “Dagda”Price Page 30

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News

Issue 9 | Tuesday 18th 2020 | University Express

General Election 2020: A Student Outlook Writes Samantha Calthrop, News Editor

The General Summary At the time of writing, the Dáil is looking fairly hung and with little hope of a clear outcome any time soon. Sinn Féin got an overwhelming popularity surge this election, with 37 seats compared to FF’s 38 and FG’s 35 and claiming the largest amount of first-preference votes. Sinn Féin’s popularity has come as a shock to media and to the two larger parties, although was precedented by a strong anti-Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael movement. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have both ruled out the idea of coalition with Sinn Féin, Fine Gael have ruled out coalition with Fianna Fáil, and Sinn Féin have announced their openness to form a government with anybody. With a necessary 80 seats to form a government, no two of those big three can form a government together without the help of independents, the Green Party, or both— and the Green Party have tentatively expressed their reluctance to form a coalition with Fianna Fáil. The idea of a “Left Coali-

tion” of every left-wing party under Sinn Féin would only work with every party’s agreement and propped up by a chunk of the independents, and has been ruled as possible but unlikely— but then again, so has every possibility so far. Mary Lou McDonald has given out a message towards the other left parties about coalition with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael— “Don’t do it”.

Given that Sinn Féin only had 42 candidates in the running, it’s likely that a re-election would see them gaining seats.

Student voters The 18-25 age group’s turnout was about the same as usual, despite the Saturday election.

Sinn Féin snagged 32% of the first preference votes, compared to the next-highest FG’s 15%. As usual, this group voted greener and lefter than the others. Student issues weren’t listed in the exit polls on reasons for voting, although housing, pension age and jobs topped the list, two of which are certainly big concerns on-campus.

Sinn Fein and the Green Party,

two disproportionately popular parties with the youth vote, do have a general stance towards higher public funding, including education. UCC saw some (900) students register to vote during the SU’s Register to Vote drive, an impressive turnout.

The outlook for students The drive towards affordable housing and healthcare has caused every party to make lofty social housing promises, but only some have promised rent freezes and and caps. Fine Gael, who implemented the increased €3000 student contribution fee, have promised not to increase registration fees further and ensure “good student experiences and job-ready graduates” via continuing funding exactly as they have been doing. Sinn Féin has plans to abolish third-level education fees at the cost of 243 million and to increase the student maintenance grant by 10%. Fianna Fáil has promised to freeze student fees (although their manifesto makes no strict promises about removing them), and have promised a higher maintenance fees

increase of 20%, as well as more funding for universities and a restoration of postgraduate grants. While the reality of these promises is yet to be seen, we can assume that one of Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin will be at least try pushing for those changes in the next four years.

The likely outcome While the fate of the Dáil is as of yet unknown, a second FF/FG coalition is looking increasingly unlikely. Fine Gael have seen what coalition did to Fianna Fáil and have no desire to have it reversed on them, and Leo Varadkar has made statements expressing his desire for Fine Gael to act as an opposition party. An FF/FG government would also be a disastrous PR move, with an overwhelming anti-FF/FG sentiment driving Sinn Féin’s popularity forward. It is entirely likely that Ireland will see a government not lead by Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil— for the first time since its legal foundation in 1937.

Issue 9 | Tuesday 18th 2020 | University Express

News

USI Launches National SHAG Week Campaign Writes Samantha Calthrop, News Editor

The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) have launched their Sexual Health And Guidance campaign— or SHAG week— taking place on the week of the 10th to the 14th of February. NUI Galway’s Active Consent also launched their Sexual Experiences Survey across campuses in Ireland, and the campaign saw 30,000 ‘Shag packs’ distributed to students over the week. This year’s theme is “sexual empowerment among students”.

SHAG week is a yearly project that aims to spread information about safe sex practises and destigmatise sexual issues. The Active Consent Programme, supported by the women and childrens’ rights charity The Lifes2good Foundation, is a four year programme of research on consent headed by Dr Pádraig MacNeela.

“The main focus of this campaign is to promote positive attitudes towards sex and raise awareness of all aspects of sexual health,” said USI President Lorna Fitzapatrick, “In Ireland, talking about sex can still be considered a taboo subject and USI believes it is important to break through these barriers and encourage people to practice safer sex and to look after their sexual health.

“The truth is that many young people do not receive adequate relationships and sexual education while in school and for many the first time they learn about their sexual health is when they come to college. The USI continues to lobby for a more inclusive and evidence-based RSE programme for primary and secondary schools to ensure young people have experience of these conversations before going to college.

“This campaign allows us to directly reach 30,000 students with information about masturbation, consent, abortion information and sexual transmitted infections.”

Dr Lorraine Burke, NUI Galway Post-Doctoral Researcher leading the survey implementation said, “The 2019 Department of Education Consent Framework identified goals for HEIs in supporting students’ positive sexual health and to contend with the problem of sexual harassment and violence. The Sexual Experiences Survey will make sure we get comprehensive, up to date information on our students’ awareness of services, the prevalence of negative experiences, and the positive role of students in supporting a culture of respect”.

Dr Pádraig MacNeela, head of

the Active Consent Programme, highlighted the importance of this awareness programme in combatting sexual violence. “The issue of sexual violence and harassment will only be addressed successfully when all of us join forces and act together. We are delighted to partner with USI to carry out this important survey. Each of us brings important strengths, and through collaboration with third level colleges we aim to get a full picture of positive and negative student experiences.

Once we know that information we can use it to help target sexual health education and supports”.

USI Vice President for Welfare, Róisín O’Donovan said, “USI is delighted to be launching this survey in collaboration with NUI Galway Active consent on this important topic for students. The last time USI did a national survey on consent was the ‘Say Something’ survey in 2013, so it’s time for more up to date data to be reflective of the student society at the moment in Ireland. We’re looking forward to gaining a better insight into students’ sexual experiences and how we can best move forward with the ‘Consent Framework’”.

The survey can be found at www. usi.ie/SES.

5 UCC’s Next Top Model: ‘’Body shaming has no place on the catwalk’’ Writes Maeve O’Sullivan, Deputy News Editor

UCC Fashion Society will present the final of the 2020 UCC Next Top Model on the 26th of February. The annual event will showcase the Top 10 student models from the campaign as they compete to secure a contract with Upfront Model Management & Steve Savage Photography.

The 2020 campaign was launched back in October. Potential contestants were told not to include sizing in their application as it was of “no importance” to the organisers.

The society underwent a rebranding during the past few months in a bid to break down stereotypical fashion ‘clichés’ and become more inclusive to all students.

In addition, age was not a factor in securing a place in the competition, as contestant’s ages ranged from 18 to 58.

Speaking with a representative from the society, the Express were told; ‘’People often view the model industry in a negative light, with unrealistic body expectations and overworked models.

Body shaming has no place on the catwalk. We hope to put an emphasis back on the creative practices within the fashion industry through UCC Next Top Model’’ ’By working with Upfront Model Management and Ms Orla Diffy, we ensure the welfare of our models are second to none.’’

The fashion show will take place in UCC’s newly refurbished building, ‘The Hub’, which opened this past month.

Cork’s RedFm have been announced as the official media partners on the night. Judges include Miss Ireland 2018 Aoife O’Sullivan, award winning fashion designer Aoife McNamara, Cork blogger Shauna Doyle and model agency owner Orla Diffy.

Tickets are currently on sale on campus. More information can be found from the society’s Facebook UCC Fashion Society.

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Features

Issue 9 | Tuesday 18th 2020 | University Express

The Camino de Santiago Writes Molly O’Rourke, Deputy Features Editor

The Camino de Santiago (or the Way of St James), is an ancient pilgrimage route that stretches across northern Spain, ending at the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. Dating back to the 8th century, the Camino de Santiago is an important Christian pilgrimage. Considered one of three pilgrimages on which all sins could be forgiven, the walk was hugely important for Christians during the later Middle Ages. Traditionally, the pilgrims would begin their route from their homes, however now the town of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France is considered one of the official starting points.

first time, I walked the Camino Frances, which is the most popular route to take. I started from Roncesvalles, which is a small Spanish village in the Pyrenes. The Camino Frances is the French Camino in Spain and everyone speaks English.

I’ve completed this route twice, the 3rd time I started in Lisbon and walked up the coast to Santiago, and the 4th trip I walked the Camino Del Norte.

My first trip was an entirely new experience; I was dipping my toes into the water. It was such a fantastic, life-changing adventure, so nine years later I decided to walk it again. The While no one officially knows Camino Frances is a daunting how the Camino came to be, it challenge; the route is 800km. is thought that it was by word During my second walk, walkThere are several routes by of mouth. Pilgrims would give ing the Camino was becoming which you can reach the Ca- each other advice about which part of my DNA, but I felt the thedral, however the 800km routes to take, or which villagneed to break out of my com‘French Way’ remains the most es would give you a bed for the What made you decide to fort zone and discover the popular. It is believed that the night. Over the centuries, paths other routes of the Camino. start walking the Camino? apostle Saint James is buried began to form along the popular I grew up in Cork City and in the Santiago de Composte- routes. The modern Camino we My first trip was back in 2004; I didn’t really have a lot of exla, with legends saying his re- know was created in the 1980s had heard about the route from perience with walking long mains were brought by boat by Father Elias Valiña, priest of a friend while living in Spain. I distances or hiking. It wasn’t from Jerusalem to Northern the Galician village of O Cebreiro. was doing research for my book at until I was living in Barcelona the time and decided to walk the Spain. History states that it after graduating that I realised was King Alfonso II who or- The route was declared the first Camino once it was published. The walking was enjoyable; I would dered the construction of a chapel to honour the Saint, which would eventually become the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral. The popularity of the route grew in the Middle Ages, with an estimated 250,000 pilgrims making the journey each year. These numbers declined rapidly during the 16th century due to the Reformation and political unrest in Europe.

By the 1980s, only a few hundred pilgrims were taking the route each year. This changed towards the latter end of the 1980s, when its popularity boomed again, and visitors came from around the globe to walk the Camino.

European Cultural Route by the Council of Europe in October 1987 and inscribed as one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites in 1993. Today, the pilgrimage is favored by Christian pilgrims and non-Christians alike. In 2016, 176,332 pilgrims walked the traditional French Way, while 278,232 reached the end point of Santiago de Compostela. One such person who has walked the Camino several times is UCC’s own John McSweeney. The Express sat down with John to talk about his experience on one of the world’s most important pilgrimages. Working in the administration office at the Student’s Union, many students would recognise John as the man behind our student leap cards.

Outside of this however, John has walked different routes of the Camino a staggering five times.

Features

Issue 9 | Tuesday 18th 2020 | University Express walk or jog up to the Castell de more Montjuïc on a regular basis.

Can you tell me about your latest trip?

Last year, I left from Seville on September 30th. It’s easier to travel at this time because of the weather; late summer in the south of Spain can be unbearably hot. I walked for 43 days, reaching Santiago on the 5th of November and then arriving at Finisterre on November 12th.

The official end (kilometre 0) is at Finisterre, which translates to the End of the World. Here, you can watch the sunset over the Atlantic, and for those coming along the Camino Frances, it is the first view of the sea.

On this trip, I walked the Via de la Plata, which is the longest Camino route (1000km) and crosses the whole of Spain from Andalucía in the South to Galicia in the North.

rainfall

than

Ireland).

Do you travel alone or with a group?

I’ve always gone out to the Camino on my own, however you do form friendships along the way, in particular on the Camino Frances because of the numbers walking. I have made lifelong friends during my time on the Camino; including a group of Danes who I now visit in Copenhagen each year. They have become my family almost, and I have also had friends from the

What is an average day like on the Camino?

On average you would walk between 25-30km a day, for 5 or 6 hours. Most people would start walking between 7 and 8am, which allows them to arrive at the next stop by mid-afternoon (I’m a fast walker so I normally arrive by lunchtime).

Once you arrive at the next village or town, you usually get something to eat, take a shower and wash your clothes (this is usually done in a sink!). At the beginning of your trip you have to get a Credencial, which is essentially a pilgrim’s passport. In each town or village there are albergues, designated hostels for people walking.

These are spread out at regular intervals along the path and are normally very basic, and Camino visit Ireland. People walk you can be sleeping in a room the Camino for a whole range of with up to 30 other people. reasons, many of them are going through significant events in During the evening you might their lives and are trying to find get a meal with your ‘Camino some guidance. Through this you Family’; a group of walkers you form strong bonds and support bond with along the route. Eveach other along the route. The eryone is in bed by 10pm to rest idea of the ‘Camino Family’ is esbefore the next stage. On the pecially strong on the Frances.

Camino, the general rule is to walk in all weather. I’ve walked through torrential downpours What is your most memoof rain in Galicia (which has rable experience from your

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trips?

middle of nowhere; eventually There have been a few! I was in the they agreed to let one guy walk region of Castilla y Leon, which me through the reserve before is basically the central plains of they released the hounds. He Spain. On one particular day I was walked me through, along a walking along a dam with a reser- wide country pathway, for a voir; I had been walking through kilometre or so. Along the way flat cornfields for a few days so there were all these other guys coming into a greener, more lush with guns, staring at us. At the landscape was nice. As I was walk- end I offered the guy €10 for his ing, three trucks drove past full of help, but he waved me on and dogs. I continued on and came left. I guess the central mesto a barrier that read “no entry : sage is that I was determined hunting”, but this was the Camino to continue; “whatever gets in path. Further along I got stopped the way, becomes the way”. by guys in combat fatigues; hold- In terms of challenges, I think ing guns and knives with the dogs. the psychological challenge and fear of the unknown are definitely the most notable.

Obviously, you encounter different aches and pains, but above all the fear of what could go wrong was the hardest part.

I remember having to walk 35km in driving, torrential rain in Galicia; I just had to keep going even though all my clothes were soaked through.

You just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Have you walked any other pilgrimages around the world?

Yes, two years ago I completed the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal. I spent 3 weeks in the Himalayas, which was pretty gruelling. The circuit has great infrastructure, but the increasing altitude makes conditions quite challenging. It is a good experience, but a very different one. I have other walks on my bucket list for the future, such as the Shikoku Island in Japan which has 88 temples along a 1200km route.

Any After being told I couldn’t walk through, I approached them and, in my limited Spanish, told them I needed to walk past. They told me to take another route, but I stood my ground, saying “this is the Camino; I’m walking this route”.

Eventually they rang someone else and told me to wait, a car was on the way to bring through. I said no, cars were not a possibility because I was walking from Seville to Santiago. They were surrounding me with guns, and I was in the

lasting impression you want to add?

Everyone says that walking the Camino is a unique experience, and it transforms the lives of all those who do it. The pilgrim’s journey takes them through a series of diverse physical landscapes, and along the way they may also reach places inside themselves they never thought possible. You will find what you’re looking for on the Camino, you just have to look in the right places.

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Features

Issue 9 | Tuesday 18th 2020 | University Express

Crime and Data Writes Róisin O’Donnell, Features Editor In the world of technology, there is always a limit to how many answers or even guesses can be achieved with just human input. No one works alone in one way or another.

This is one of the reasons that I am so fascinated and inspired by tech and my course, Digital Humanities and Information Technology. With my trusty sidekick, my ThinkPad, I feel I can go beyond limitations.

The world is made up of data and without something to process this data, it is useless. This is especially true in crime. Computers are, most of the time, the uncredited investigator. This was especially true in the Ted Bundy case. In the 1960s, forensic techniques such as DNA analysis were in their infancy and the words ‘computer’ and ‘investigation’ had yet to be put together. Infamous serial killer Ted Bundy was known to the police as just ‘Ted’. A man luring women and suspect number one in several disappearances at the time.

The police had no way of organising the data from over 20 missing women cases and over three thousand possible ‘Teds’.

Due to the quantity of data there was a major danger in something being overlooked.

And the media and the public wanted the culprit to be caught straight away. One of the lead detectives and the department’s IT assistant came up with the idea to use the department’s payroll computer to create a database of information.

ing. One online blog claims, ‘The case introduced the computer as an instrument of serial murder detection.’ This system provided a digitised copy of the information, evidence and recorded all the avenues the detectives went down. It also created a system model that could be followed in other cases.

Ten years before this, the Zodiac killer began haunting America from December 1968 to October 1969. He attacked four men and three women. Only two victims survived his murder attempts.

The Zodiac sent four ciphers to the press and police but only one, the Z408, has been officially solved.

For a long time, it has been unclear whether the other three ciphers (Z340, Z13 and Z32) could be cracked or if they are anything but scribbles. After all, the first cipher to appear in the San Francisco Chronicle was cracked by two school teachers reading the morning paper. They managed to locate the word ‘KILL’ in the cipher, knowing that it had to be in the message somewhere. From there they were able to decode the rest of the message into plain text. The other codes were not that easy to solve but each was signed off with the infamous Zodiac symbol, a circle with a cross. The Zodiac pushed newspapers to publish the ciphers threatening more deaths if they did not comply. In the notes he sent along with the codes he advertised the importance of the ciphers, leaving the public and police uneasy. In the Z408 he wrote in a note with the cipher, “By the way, are the police haveing [sic] a good time with the code? If not, tell them to cheer up; when they do crack it they will have me.”

Information Sciences Institute, Kevin Knight developed an artificial intelligence software named CARMEL, known as a supercomputer to the media. By the time Knight and his team of engineers and cryptography experts assemThe solution was effective. It bled to solve the code, CARMEL sorted the data into categohad already solved the Copiale ries and made it searchable.

It narrowed down the ‘Ted’ It is believed that somewhere in Cipher using a statistics-based search to 26 possible men. Ted the ciphers there is something translation technique. It was 105 Bundy was one of the names beyond violent fantasies and pages long, hand-written and on the list. His name also fol- threats: his identity. Some ar- dated back to the late 18th cenlowed over to the 100 most tificial assistance was required. tury. CARMEL was able to unlock details on the rituals and belikely suspects list the police manually compiled using the Fast forward to the 2010s. liefs of a secret German society. database. It helped police effi- Expert in Natural Language Prociently use time and possibly cessing and professor at the Uni- It was considered highly probprevent another unknown kill- versity of Southern California’s able CARMEL could solve what

was considered the Zodiac’s toughest cipher- the Z340.

This investigation was stretched out in a dramatised 2017 documentary series for the History channel, ‘The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer.’ CARMEL’s main task was to find overlooked patterns in the cipher and the ‘key’ to unlock the cypher. A key is what the school teachers found when they decoded the word ‘KILL’ in Z408. CARMEL was fed everything investigators could gather about the Zodiac including suspects, victims and possible cryptography styles used. CARMEL is

Issue 9 | Tuesday 18th 2020 | University Express

considered the closest copy of the Zodiac’s mind we can come to. With all the data CARMEL has access to, machine learning can be used to allow CARMEL to predict possible patterns, solutions and even write poetry based on what it has learnt.

Such as gems like this:

Alone and angry at a brutal murder.

Surrounded by an artificial lake, Never a convicted murderer…

On CARMEL’s ability to create poetry on any given topic Knight had this to say, ‘“You should’ve seen it before we took the curse words out.”

Features does not work after line 8 of Z340.

Whether this was on purpose by the Zodiac or whether the code means anything at all can’t be answered because there are too many variables to consider. A lot of people do not trust CARMEL’s interpretation because of the multiple translation methods used for no given reason, the disjointed sentences revealed and the insertion of letters to make words such as GAM[E] and CHANG[E]. It is also important to remember when the two school teachers solved the first cipher the last 18 characters of the cipher meant nothing but gibberish to keep the code as one square.

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Nixon (37th United States President) being the Zodiac.

Could this be a serious misspelling of the ex-president’s name or a joke by the killer or a mistake by CARMEL?

Whether CARMEL succeeded or not is not the main takeaway from the artificial intelliMourning moaning mournful gence’s input. CARMEL, like in whispers weeping, But CARMEL’s main purpose is the computer in the Ted Bundy Together through the sleepless not to ‘be’ the Zodiac killer, just to case, provided a data collecstrangers slumber, guess and provide hints to what tion point for all the records in Alone and lonely lovers sleep- could be missing from its database the case and unlike the payroll ing thieving, to solve the cipher. This included computer, this ‘super’ comA helpless dead forgotten for- nodding to the investigators that puter garnered a documentamer lover. the Zodiac could have a military ry and a poetry fanbase. The or naval past based on the symartificial intelligence brought And others that hint at all the bols and patterns used in Z340. CARMEL solution also resulted much-needed attention to the Zodiac data CARMEL has at its So, was this the break the Zodiac in revealing a name: RICHERD 52-year-old case and a never bedisposal. case was looking for? Maybe not. M NIKSON. A Google search of fore seen insight into the case.

Through the taxi and the pris- Using CARMEL, experts were this name revealed mostly conon break, able to uncover a translation that spiracy theories about Richard

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Features

Issue 9 | Tuesday 18th 2020 | University Express

5 Reasons UCC Differs From American College Writes Chloe Jesse When I first moved to Ireland from the United States, I was terrified and had no idea what to expect. I had spent the first two years of college in my hometown going to the University of Oregon and had never lived abroad before. Although my last two years in Ireland have been a great experience and I don’t regret the decision of moving here, I would have liked to have known at least some of the differences and similarities between the two universities beforehand. I largely favor my experience at UCC versus at home, but even so, here are some of the major points of difference that I have come across.

The Grading System One of the major issues I had in my first year at UCC was understanding the grades. In the States they grade out of 100%, and getting anything below a 70% is essentially a fail. When I got one of my first essays back and scored well below 100, I was worried! It took me awhile to learn that getting a 65 or above is actually a good thing, not failing. The States also maintain what is called a grade point average, (GPA), that follows each student throughout the four years of their undergraduate career. A 4.0 is getting all A’s and B’s throughout college, so the equivalent of 6070 in Ireland in all of your lectures. However, you can only get that 4.0 if you maintain your grades throughout the four years. Each year’s grades are not independent from each other and are averaged out once you graduate! Which can be frustrating and makes the grading system very challenging, especially during the first year of college when you are still figuring everything out.

Number of Students Every campus in each state is different, but the University of Oregon is significantly bigger and houses more students than UCC. At the UO, there are

around 24,000 students per annum, while at UCC there are about 19,000. The campus at UO is also significantly larger than UCC’s, clocking in at 295 acres, while UCC’s is 42. The difference in both numbers and size can be felt but, if you are like me and prefer a smaller and less crowded environment, then you will prefer UCC for this.

Class Size Perhaps because of the larger number of students, the class size at University of Oregon is also larger than at UCC. I once had a lecture in psychology that had 600 students in the lecture hall!

The biggest lecture I’ve had at UCC was, at most, 100 students.

This makes the classroom environment more intimate and it is easier to learn. It is less distracting and easier to approach the professor when you have questions or to set up an appointment for office hours. That is one thing I definitely prefer to UCC over UO.

funding available, but it still costs an arm and a leg to attend college in the U.S. A single academic year for in-state students at UO is $11,000, (around 13,200 euro), while for out-of state students it is $34,000, (around 41,000 euro.) Per year! And that is on the cheaper side for the U.S.! Let that sink in. It was less expensive for me to travel across the country and the Atlantic to come to school here versus going to my home university just a fifteen minute drive away from my house.

Two years at UCC combined has cost me less than most schools in the U.S. cost for just one.

Travel One thing I greatly admire about UCC and the schooling system in Europe in general is the encouragement given to students to travel; either after secondary school or on Erasmus in university. In the States, it is almost frowned upon to take a gap year after secondary school before going to college. It Cost of Attendance is expected that you go directly It always blows my friends’ minds from graduating high school into when I tell them how much I was your first year at university. Unpaying for tuition back home. I like here, where I’ve heard taking had a scholarship, and there is a year off or at least the summers

to travel is very common. There are few opportunities that are made clear to American students about studying abroad, gap years and Erasmus. Perhaps it is because countries in Europe are so much smaller than the U.S., making it easier and cheaper to travel abroad, however these opportunities don’t arise much for us. Because of this, I find UCC to be much more diverse than UO campus.

There are plenty more differences between UCC and UO, but these are the ones that I noticed almost immediately when I first came here. Both campuses are beautiful and house some pretty amazing schools of education, but I never would have known what I preferred if I hadn’t traveled to UCC. Traveling and studying abroad is a great way to broaden your horizons and learn new things about both yourself and the world, as cliché as it sounds. I would suggest it to anyone who is feeling for a change––get out there!

Features

Issue 9 | Tuesday 18th 2020 | University Express University of Oregon

University College Cork

by Caoimhe Leahy, University Express Photographer

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Opinion

Issue 9 | Tuesday 18th 2020 | University Express

Blurred Lines: Crime and Culture The Issue of the Cultural Defence Writes Elisha Carey, Opinions Editor In the afternoon of the 29th of January 1985, Fumiko Kimura waded into the frigid waves of the Pacific Ocean from a Santa Monica beach with her two children, Kazutaka and Yuri. Hours later, doctors in a nearby hospital would fail to revive four-year-old Kazutaka and six-month-old Yuri, their mother, however, would live on to face two charges of first-degree murder.

Kimura had attempted to commit a Japanese custom known as oyako-shinju or parent-child-suicide, citing her husband’s infidelity as the primary reason for her actions.

In Japan, oyako-shinju is, in fact, illegal, but still lingers in the culture and is considered to be an understandable way of escaping intolerable situations. Because of this, it generally carries a lighter sentence than murder. In Japanese culture, suicide is seen as an honourable response to shame, Kimura was responding to the shame of what she perceived to be her failure as a wife. Professor of sociology at California State University, Mamoru Iga, explains that in Japan, children are not seen as individuals but as extensions of their parent’s being or as parental possessions. As well as this, it is considered more merciful to kill a child than to leave it without parental protection. Iga explains that a mother who commits suicide without taking her child with her is labelled as an oni no yo na hito or a demon-like person. Kimura, although she had been living in America for over 13 years, could not be said to have been well integrated into American society; she spent much of her time at home and did not have a car.

Her attempt at oyako-shinju came mere days after she discovered her husband had been

keeping a mistress for three years and the Japanese community in California petitioned for her to be treated leniently in the courtroom on account of her culture.

An increasing number of cases over the years have considered the issue of a “cultural defence.”

This is a defence that serves to acquit or lessen a punishment, acting on the grounds that those who commit a crime under some sort of cultural imperative should be considered to be less culpable for that crime than those acting without such an imperative. As you can imagine, the cultural defence is quite controversial and has broken the hearts of lawyers and academics alike for many years now. I struggle with the concept myself: I have always readily acknowledged that true equality does not mean simply treating everyone the same way, that certain minority groups have distinct needs that need to be catered for first, in order for equality to be achieved. But equality under the law is such an integral part of what the law and indeed, justice, is. I mean, if we don’t apply the same standard to everyone, what is the point of the law at all?

Kimura had reacted to her personal struggles in the only way she understood how. Had she committed her crimes in her native Japan, it would have been perceived as an understandable, almost unavoidable course of action and she would have been treated leniently. As children are considered extensions of the self, their destinies were interwoven with their mother’s. The cultural motive is clear but for me it doesn’t take away from the fact that Kimura committed a gruesome and highly illegal act. The autopsy report carried out on the four-year-old Kazutaka revealed “external traumatic lesions” indicating the child had been forcibly held under the water and had bitterly fought for his life.

I find it impossible to reconcile this in my mind. In what culture would this be understandable?

An issue that comes to my mind in relation to the cultural defence is that it can be used as proof of a guilty mind. Quick crash course in criminal law: for a crime to be committed, there needs to be two elements present: a guilty act (the actus reus) and a guilty mind (the mens rea). You must have intended to commit the crime, other-

wise there is no crime. To say that Kimura only committed this odious act on account of her culture is to say that she intended to commit it. The lesions on Kazutaka’s body, confirm, at least to me, an element of premeditation. She knew what she was doing regardless of whether it was culturally fuelled, it satisfies the basic requirements for murder.

Culture has been raised as a ground for defence in many cases. A Nigerian man living in Houston was accused of child abuse and received only probation after he argued that putting pepper in the open wounds of a child was acceptable discipline in his native Nigeria. In Fresno, also in the US, a Salvadoran man who believed his friend was close to death after he suffered a severe beating, slit that friend’s throat in an act of mercy. He received a reduced sentence after the judge paid heed to the man’s cultural understanding of his actions. Despite the fact that what the man did resulted in the death of his friend, substantive equality called for him to be treated differently

Issue 9 | Tuesday 18th 2020 | University Express to a US citizen in his position.

In the early 2000s culture clashes occurred in Europe and North America where Rastafarians were brought before the courts in drug cases.

They argued that marijuana was an integral part of their religious ceremonies. Similarly, individuals coming from Somalia, Kenya and Yemen were prosecuted for chewing khat (a hallucinogenic substance), even though it was a widely used substance in their countries of origin and could not be linked to any harm. In 2006, the US Supreme Court in taking account of the religion and culture of the Brazilian UDV church, carved out a cultural and religious exemption for the church, in preserving their right to drink the hallucinogenic hoasca tea.

I find it easier to accept the notion of a cultural defence when speaking of minor drug use for religious ceremonies or to allow for the Islamic call to prayer. My trouble accepting the defence occurs when it comes to more serious offences such as the murder in the Kimura case. The main worry I have about the cultural defence is that its application is seemingly limitless. Attempts have been made to use culture to defend the practice of female genital mutilation where it occurs in Western Countries. FGM is a cultural practice inconsistent with human rights. This highlights another critical issue with the cultural defence; it serves to protect members of a particular cultural group at the expense of the other members in that same group. When it comes to culturally motivated violent crimes, the perpetrator rarely acts outside their own cultural group. A cultural defence has the potential to leave the other members of the culture vulnerable, especially women.

In the Chen case, Mr.Chen, a Chinese man who bludgeoned his wife to death with a hammer upon learning of her extramarital affair was sentenced to five years’ probation and had his sentence

downgraded from murder to second-degree manslaughter when the trial court found that Chinese culture explained Mr. Chen’s actions. In China, a woman’s adultery is taken to be proof of her husband’s weak character and a source of profound shame.

In Hmong culture, a form of marriage called zij poj niam or marriage by capture is practiced.

This ritual is accepted in Hmong culture. Prior to the marriage, the couple in question will go on dates and exchange love letters, then on the date chosen for the marriage, the man abducts the woman and takes her to his family home where the marriage is to be consummated. In Hmong tradition the woman must protest to the consummation until the last minute as a sign of her virtuousness, and the man must persist in order to appear strong enough to be her husband. In California where many Hmong have settled, the practice of this ritual has unsurprisingly resulted in a series of kidnapping and rape charges against the men of the community. In one particular case, the defendant avoided substantial jail time on account of his culture. The man genuinely believed the woman had consented and was greatly surprised when she filed a criminal complaint.

In a notorious Canadian case, a sentence of seven days was dealt to three Inuit men who had sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of fourteen. The judge was so lenient because in Inuit culture, a young woman is deemed ready for intercourse upon menstruation. It’s clear to see that the cultural defence can undermine the victim’s rights.

When it is argued that it would be fairer not to hold immigrants accountable for their actions on account of their culture, to which immigrants is it fairer? Violent crimes against women are occurring at an alarming rate across the globe, with culture being used as an excuse for it. Francoise Jacobsohn, former president of the New York National Organisation for Women, commented on the Chen case saying that “the sentence declares open season on women with a cultural defence.”

In the end, Kimura did receive le-

Opinion niency from the State but not on any cultural grounds. A psychiatric defence reduced her charge of murder to one of manslaughter.

The Japanese American community rallying for Kimura to receive a lesser sentence got what they wanted, just not in the way they wanted it. A cultural defence for oyako-shinju was not acknowledged, but after an early release from prison and some psychiatric help, Fumiko Kimura was free to live her life however she wished.

William Wetherall takes a rather cynical stance on it; “this need to impute an anthropological exoticism to murder-suicide in Japan, but not to identical acts in Western countries, stems from an unpreparedness to recognize that Japanese murder-suicide is really human behaviour costumed in national-character myths that began centuries ago with caricatures of Japan as a land of people who value death more than life.” Although Wetherall does not consider that Kimura got off lightly, “society” he says, “has entrusted Kimura to the open prison of her own conscience.”

For me, there are far too many arguments against recognising a formal cultural defence than arguments in favour. Most worry-

13 ingly, is that the defence opens a Pandora’s Box of potentially infinite excusable offences on the basis of culture and does not adequately protect the victim. The cultural defence has the potential of putting women and children of certain cultures at risk. Laws are in place for a reason, and while I’d be prepared to recognise a cultural defence for non-violent crimes, society should be able to rely upon the authority of the law, to be protected and defended by the law. I like this quote from the prosecutor in the Kimura case; “people have to abide by our laws or else you have anarchy.” Violence has no part in any culture and to me, the cultural defence comes across as a racist tool, cementing the idea that some cultures are less developed or sophisticated than others by perpetuating the idea that rape, murder and sexual assault are run-ofthe-mill activities of certain cultures. I think elements of a person’s culture can be considered in order for them to receive a fair trial, but I would object to the implementation of a formal cultural defence.

What do you think?

BYLINE @johncianmcgrath

Editorial

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Another issue down and we’re on the home stretch… 3 issues to go now, which is scary in and of itself, but alas! Thanks again for reading my inane ramblings, I’m really clutching at straws with these editorials these days. Last week (as you’re reading) was a busy one, between the election, Tubridy gracing us with his presence and R&G week, it’s amazing how well this Express has turned out s/o to the designer Fiona Cremins for the excellent Byline section!

First of all, thanks have to be given to Reporters Sans Frontieres’ UK Director Rebecca Vincent who took some time out of her busy Friday to chat with me about their work and the issue of Freedom of the media more generally. I think it was really insightful and I hope that reflects in the article I’ve written. These contemporary issues of privacy and personal vindication of rights are the biggest area of interest for me as a lawyer and I like to think that they’re fairly approachable. Please do at the very least give them a follow on Twitter as it’s always good to be up to date with the developments in these areas!

This week’s Byline is jam packed of excellent content. Fiona Keeley’s Harry Potter piece is absolutely fantastic, making me immediately want to re-read the books and even watch the sub-par films (I’m sorry). Eoghan Creedon’s critique of The Walking Dead is excellent, a show that I think most people have fallen out with in the past few years to some degree, glad to see he’s letting us all know why we were right to do so. Huge shout out goes to Robin Daly, who stepped in last minute to fill in for our Music editor, who is a bit under the weather (get well soon Fiona).

In Gaming, Jack Coleman has interviewed Rob Price, a League of Legends caster from Ireland, soon to be casting in China. Welcome back to Rían, last years Sexpress Editor, who has made a guest appearance in Caoimhe’s excellent Sexpress section. Katie Burke’s fashion section may still have not had an effect on my wardrobe (3 pairs of the same tracksuit pants on rotation), but it’s always an excellent section!

As I write this, on Valentine’s Day, my date is waiting for me, Cork City v Shelbourne in Turner’s Cross. It’s my first live appearance on Irish Football Fan TV, so I’m a little bit nervous, but que sera sera. Hopefully we come away with a positive result or else the weekend is a right off! If anyone ever fancies trecking to the Cross, but isn’t sure who to go with, feel free to hit me, or Sports Editor Jack Maguire up, as we will always be there.

Cheers again for checking us out!

Contributions and complaints can make their way to; John Cian McGrath byline@uccexpress.ie

Gaeilge

Hugh Ó Raghallaigh Mac Gearailt

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Toghchán an Ghaelvóta Scríobhann Hugh Ó Raghallaigh Mac Gearailt, Eagarthóir Gaeilge Is cinnte go raibh tionchar ag anchuid grúpaí suime ar thoradh an toghcháin atá imithe romhainn. Ina measc bhí feachtas breá ag Conradh na Gaeilge chun aird a tharraingt ar na nithe atá tabhachtach do phobal na Gaoluinne sa lá atá inniubh ann. Chuir an feachtas béime ar ceithre éileamh go háirithe; go gceapfadh Aire Sínsireach don Ghaeilge agus don Ghaeltacht, go ndéanfaí infheistíocht €18 milliún don teanga, go bhforbrófar an polasaí i leith na Gaoluinne ar bhonn náisiunta sa chóras oideáchas, agus go dtacófar leis an mBille Teangan 2019 a láidriú.

Chuir an eagraíocht ceist ar ghach aon iarrathóir Dála a bhí ag rith sna toghcheantar éagsúla timpeall na tíre. Cuireadh ceist ar na iarrathóirí cén seasamh a bhí ach madair leis na ceithre éileamh san agus madair leis an dteanga ina iomláine.

Tógadh sliochtanna os na Manifestos go léir a bhí ag na páirtithe éagsúla agus cuireadh ar suíomh idirlíne an Chonartha iad, agus is léir ó na sliochtanna san go bhfuil an todhchaí geal don teanga más rud é go leanann na páirtithe na geallúntaí atá beartaithe acu. Is léir ón bhfeachtas go bhfuil Conradh na Gaeilge chun súil géar a choimeád ar na páirtithe éagsúla atá ad’ iarraidh a bheith páirteach sa chéad rialtas eile atá le teacht.

Is ró-mhinic a fheicimid frithghaelachas sa rialtas, agus má fhéachann tú ar an €18 milliún atá an Chonradh ag lorg i gcomparáid le €16.8 milliún atá geallta do lucht rásaíocht chú i mbliana (i ngan fhios do fhormhór muintir na hÉireann dar liom fhéin) tá an éileamh thar a bheith réasúnta.

Is minic a deirtear gur chóir do lucht na Gaoluinne a bheith nios déine ar na polatóirí agus ar na gnótha atá i mbun gnó a dhéanamh sna Gaeltachtaí agus ar fud na tíre. Ba chóir dúinn luach an phingin gaelach a aithint, mar shampla, agus Lidl a mholadh as na comharthaí álainne Gaoluinne atá crochtha acu sna siopaí atá acu, ba chóir dúinn rud a rá nuair a dheireann Banc Na hÉireann go bhfuilid ag fáilt réidh leis na máisíní bainc a sholáthraíonn seirbhísí trí mhean na Gaoluinne mar thoradh costais. Is gá dúinn, dar liom, rud a fhoghlaim ó lucht na Greyhounds, agus luach a chur orainn fhéin mar ghrúpa lobaí.

Is annamh a tugtar go leor measa don teanga sa rialtas, ach más rud é go léirímid an géarghá atá ann ó thaobh Gaeloideachais de i gcomparáid leis an éileamh láidir millteach atá ann di, d’fhéadfaimis cás na Gaoluinne a feabhsú diaidh ar ndiaidh, de réir a chéile. Tá sin go léir leagtha amach in san phlean atá ag an gConradh agus ad’ iarraidh polasaí a chur i bhfeidhm tríd an córas oideachais ó thús an naíonra go deireadh an choláiste ionas go n-éireoidh le cuid níos fearr daltaí le bheith líofa as an dteanga. Má árdaíonn an chaighdeán

sin, i scoileanna Gaeltachta agus Galltachta amhlaidh, tá todhchaí bhuan ag an dteanga. Muna dheantar, is baolach go mbainfear an teanga mar eilimint riachtanach ón gcóras, agus is mór an damáiste a dhéanfadh san.

Tá eolas curtha ar fáil ar suíomh idirlíne na Conartha, cnag.ie, a mhíníonn seasamh na pártaithe agus na iarrathóirí ar na ceithre éileamh a bhaineadar amach ina dhiaidh labhairt le thairis seachtó eagraíochtaí Gaelacha timpeall na tíre, atá ar aon intinn fé na spriochanna. Tá cúis misnigh cinnte ar an suíomh agus sé an t-aon rud ná gur gá dúinn na daoine sin a choimeád freagrach as na ráitisí atá curtha amach acu, ionas go mbeidís ionrac agus macánta linn amach anseo. Tháinig ionadaithe CnaG go dtí an coláiste i mí Eanáir chun fóram idirghnímheach phobail a chur ar siúl le muintir na Gaolainne sa choláiste agus sa chathair leis. Chuadar amach timpeall na tíre chun fáilt amach cad iad na smaointí atá ag an grúpa lobaí ina bhfuilimid.

INTERVIEW

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Rebecca Vincent, UK Bureau Director of Reporters Sans Frontieres Interviewed by John Cian McGrath

Reporters Without Borders is one of the world’s leading independent organizations dedicated to promoting and defending freedom of information.

Thanks to its network of active correspondents in over 150 countries, Reporters Without Borders strives daily to maintain a free press in every corner of the globe. Registered in France as a non-profit organization, it has consultant status at the United Nations and UNESCO. This week, I spoke to Rebecca Vincent from the UK Bureau to discuss the modern challenges facing journalistic freedom and how you can get involved in protecting it.

Rebecca is a Human Rights campaigner, who got involved in RSF in September 2016, opening their first office in the UK, which now liaises globally with the other branches of the organisation. She had always taken a keen interest in RSF, saying that she was taken by the creativity and style of the work done by the group.

In an ever-evolving world, the threats that face journalists are changing too. Despite a reduction in the number of journalists killed last year (49), there has been an increase in deaths in countries which are supposedly at peace, with 63% of deaths being intentional according to RSF. Aside from physical threats, there has also been an evident rise in digital threats to journalism.

The rise of digital journalism has also meant that RSF have widened the umbrella of people that they protect, including more and more citizen journalists.

Rebecca and RSF are also very active in the North of Ireland, with particular attention being given to the case of Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey and also to that of Lyra McKee. RSF have

been vocal, releasing a statement on February 13th welcoming progress in the investigation of the murder of McKee, saying“We welcome this important step towards justice for the senseless killing of Lyra McKee. No journalist should face the threat of violence in doing their job not in the UK, and not anywhere.

All those responsible for this heinous attack must be brought to justice, and better protections must be put in place to ensure the safety of journalists working throughout the country.”

Rebecca also expressed concern as to the freedom of the press in the North and the United Kingdom. She likened recent developments within the UK’s government to similar ones which were seen in the Trump administration in terms of reducing the access of the press:

“We’re quite worried at the moment with some of the behaviour of the new government [in the UK]. We commented recently on actions taken by Downing Street to restrict participation of journalists in the press briefings.

That’s concerning, it’s really reminiscent of early Trump administration behaviour where the White House started restricting who had access to press briefings and now we are at a state where the White House doesn’t even have press briefings anymore so we’re concerned by the signal that is being sent very early on in this new administration.”

Having chatted about asked what may come the restriction of the of the press in the Kingdom. Rebecca was

this, I next in freedom United clear in

her concern of what may come next and the severity of what may come if it is not addressed: “We’re also currently really concerned about attacks on public service media in the UK, in particular the BBC. There has been threatening language used towards Channel 4 as well and we are really keen to emphasise the importance of public service media to democracy.

The BBC in particular is such an international standard setter in that regard they are on of the most respected and widely referenced public broadcasters in the world. We are extremely concerned by moves against them at the moment and this is something that we are raising at the moment in a UK context.”

One of the most notable active cases to which RSF is lending its proficiency is that

Editor: John Cian mcgratH of the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States: “We’re very active on the case of Julian Assange. On the 24th of February his extradition hearing starts in London, so the United States will be arguing to have extradited from the UK to the US where he is facing 18 charges. 17 of these are under the problematic ‘Espionage Act’ and the other is related to hacking. While we don’t consider Mr Assange a journalist, but he has engaged in journalistic activities and that is why he has been targeted.

We are really concerned that his targeting will set an extremely dangerous precedent for the treatment of journalistic sources, for persecution of whistleblowers and many other areas related to journalism, so we defend him, and we will be very present at his extradition hearing.

We are calling for the UK not to comply with the US extradition request and act in the interest of freedom of expression. The UK is one example of a democracy where there are many issues of concern that we are also raising here. We’re stronger when we hold ourselves to the same standards and our policy makers to account, as we do in other countries”

RSF have also worked with Edward Snowden on his case and highlight his as another affront to the freedom of journalism and its importance in protecting the best interests of the public.

“It’s pretty black and white, he was a whistle-blower, he leaked information that was in the public interest and he leaked it to professional journalists that handled it as a professional journalist would. They published stories on the parts that were in the public interest and didn’t endanger sources. We defend Edward Snowden and we do defend Assange as well.”

Currently, Ireland is ranked in 15th place in the world for its press freedom, sitting below countries like Norway (1st), Switzerland (6th) and Germany (13th), but ahead of the United States (48th) and the United Kingdom (33rd). For those interested, Turkmenistan sit in last place (180th), just behind North Korea, Eritrea and China.

Ireland’s position may initially seem excellent, but Rebecca tells me that there are still a variety of concerns with Irish Freedom of the Press, such as the high awards in defamation cases.

She does however stress that strides are being made to tackle the issues, citing the abolition of the offence of blasphemy as a step in the right direction.

If you’re interested in helping with Freedom of the Press locally or nationally here in Ireland, Rebecca has the following advice: “Grassroots action can be really effective here, if there are cases of concern or policy issues or laws of concern, write to your policy makers. This is one really concrete thing that people can do, write to the members of your parliament and encourage them to take action.

Keep your eye out for little movements or protests, reading and sharing things relevant on social media. These can be really effective small areas of activism.

More generally, being aware and educated, speaking about these things where you can, even in your persona life. It’s a really worrying time for journalism and for press freedom. We need more attention to that, and awareness is the first step.”

Reporters sans Frontieres can be found on Twitter @RSF_ inter, @RSF_en or at rsf.org

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International Declaration on Information and Democracy While the concept of “freedom of expression” has been used to justify the lack of accountability for entities including platforms that create the technical mean, the architectures shaping choices and the norms for the information and communication space, the Declaration points out that freedom of expression is a right of individuals, with limited exceptions.

Entities that contribute to the structure of the information and communication space must respect basic principles. Their activities must, for example, respect political, ideological and religious neutrality.

They must guarantee pluralism by favouring serendipity among other means, and they must establish mechanisms for promoting trustworthy information. These entities must be predictable for those over whom they have influence.

And they must be resistant to any manipulation and open to inspection.

The Declaration affirms journalism’s social function, a function that justifies special efforts to ensure its financial viability. The role of journalism is to be a “trusted third party” for societies.

The task of journalists is to give an account of reality, revealing it in the broadest, deepest and most relevant manner possible, not only portraying events but also explaining complex situations and changes, reflecting both the positive and negative aspects of human activities and allowing the public to distinguish the important from the trivial.

The freedom and safety of journalists, the independence of news and information and respect for journalistic ethics are all essential conditions for the practice of journalism, regardless of the status of those who practise it.

Lyra McKee

Edward Snowden

Food and Health

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7 for €7…or less

Writes Laura A Edgerton, Ballymaloe Graduate The Pink Moon café and social space is located squarely between town and UCC. If you’re a carnivore, vegetarian or vegan there are plenty of breakfast options.

This café features the smooth and complex Stone Valley specialty coffee, roasted in Clonakilty. For €5 you can’t go wrong with the oat and cashew crumble, made up of stewed apples, maple syrup and topped with pumpkin and sunflower seeds. This warm bowl of slightly tart, apple goodness is topped with yogurt and berry compote. It’s filling, delicious and great as breakfast or a mid-day snack. Other standout menu items include their variety of savory rolls, including spiced black and white pudding, a vegan lentil roll and a salmon, feta and chickpea roll, all priced at €4.50.

Crust is a newcomer in Cork and is located on the restaurant heavy MacCurtain Street. The café offers student friendly take away lunches from €5-€6 that include a sandwich or salad and a drink.

If you’re not in a rush, eat-in, as Crust has a larger than expected, comfy space that extends into the back of the shop. The Very Special Toasted Special (not a typo!) was launched in January. This toastie is piled high with (deep breath) ham, bacon, cheddar, emmental, tomato, red onion, sundried tomato, relish and Dijon mustard mayo for €6.50. You’d have to have a very special appetite to not be stuffed after this

big sandwich with bold flavours.

Ready to try something different?

Stop into LAODAO creperie across from The Roundy. This recently opened business offers up savory crepes made from millet, soybean and mung bean. The Jianbing Original will set you back €6.50 and it comes with an egg cooked on top of the crispy, uber thin crepe and is filled with cheese and your choice of meat – hot dog, chicken or ham. Inside this burrito-esque crepe you’ll also get crispy wontons and homemade sweet and spicy soya bean sauce.

Once your crepe has been expertly folded, it’s topped with spring onion, chopped coriander and sesame seeds and is then handed off to you, piping hot, while you wait for what feels like an eternity to take your first, delicious bite.

Myo café offers up a beautiful display of vegan and vegetarian sweet and savory items daily. With organic coffee and loose leaf and herbal teas, it’s a great place to slow down from the hectic pace of city life. For €5.50 order up the seriously filling vegan salad with bulgur wheat, nuts, seeds, carrot, leek, red pepper and organic greens. For non-vegans, give the Tortilla Española a go, it is perfectly executed and comes with salad, pico and seeded bread. They also have unique baked goods like their carrot and pineapple cake and vegan chocolate peanut butter cupcakes, all made exclusively for the café.

Burritos & Blues offers a €7 student special each day and you can choose from any of their mains, including a traditional burrito, burrito bowl, salad, tacos, or a quesadilla all for the same price.

Customize your lunch with the Mexican flavours you crave like rice, beans, salsa and cheese, and then pick your protein: chicken, steak, carnitas or barbacoa. While the chicken at Burrito & Blues is the most popular filling, both the carnitas (pork) and barbacoa (beef) are slow cooked and bursting with flavor. For those with a smaller appetite (and smaller budget) a “diet burrito” is on the menu, which is simply a 10” version of the original for €5.25.

The Rocket Man’s Princes Street location features a juice and salad bar that are as colorful as they are healthy. With many affordable options, like stews, soups, rolls and sandwiches, all made fresh and sourced locally, you can’t go wrong. But, the warm flatbread with two salad sides is a particularly good choice for €6.90. Pick from salads like roasted beetroot, Asian slaw with rice noodles or pesto couscous and finish your lunch with the topping of your choice like the homemade rich and creamy hummus or yogurt based herbaceous sauces.

Cafe Gusto is far from the norm when it comes to sandwiches as most of their menu offerings are traditional with a twist. While we’ve all experienced a traditional ham and cheese toastie, Gusto’s three cheese and ham pressed sandwich takes lunch to the next level. Stuffed with warm, melted cheddar, fontina and smoked scamorza cheese and roasted ham, plum tomatoes, red onion and relish, this sandwich will make you forget the basic toastie. All of Café Gusto’s sandwiches are €6.20 and come with a choice of bread.

Editor: Katie Kelly

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Mindful Groceries Writes John Barker, Head Chef

You must have been living under a rock if you haven’t noticed the massive surge in environmental consciousness of late. Be it through headlines of Australian bush fires, an increase in cyclists rushing past on your commute, or the extra compost bin at home; it is everywhere and it is current.

But isn’t food and the way we eat entirely about ourselves, and our own health: about Numero Uno? Unfortunately not. The shift in popularity towards a vegan diet has demonstrated a greater universal empathy towards animals, with ‘organic’ and ‘free range’ labels ensuring at least better care throughout the animals’ life span. However, whilst most admirable and noble, the time has come to turn our attention to the earth that nurtures our plants, the water that feeds them, and the air that gives them life and the heat that propels them.

Mother Nature needs our help!

As a chef, personal values and customer values must dictate the way in which I cook, and the food which I prepare, and being aware of the environmental impact of what I eat on a daily basis is integral in determining what ultimately makes the menu. So too, should we all be considering some of the most basic aspects of our food choices. Our individual consideration may only be a small drop in the ocean, but without small drops there will be no ocean in years to come.

So, what can you consider on your own next personal grocery shop?

-Country of Origin: ever stop and read this on the label of your fruit or vegetables? Did you marvel and think ‘wow this little baby carrot has come all the way from Africa’? Possibly. Probably. We recently pulled our best-selling ‘Avo toast’ from the menu as it

became such a concern that each avocado had to be flown 8,400 km to get here: just to wind up on a piece of toast from a local bakery, and topped with an egg (which too had only travelled as far as a few miles). That’s a whole lot of air miles just for brunch.

-Packaging: do you see plastic and just assume it to be recyclable? Look again and you’ll notice ‘not yet recyclable’ and other such stamps on the packet too. Recycling isn’t as black and white as we once imagined. Those soft plastic wraps around a packet of tomatoes or a head of broccoli are often not recyclable; for example. Buy loose vegetables, and take them home in a trendy reusable tote bag, and only buy what you need.

A couple of extra staples: onions, potatoes, etc are good, but bulk buying vegetables is what creates much of the domestic food waste.

-Same old organic story. Everything mass produced is being

sprayed with all sorts of chemicals, which make their way swiftly into the air we breathe, whilst also filtering into our soil. This is the soil that is expected to harvest another round of crops in its next cycle, and the one after that and so on (remember Farmville?), but with its increasing saturation of chemicals and pesticides, it cannot sustain the level of production and quality it may once have given.

Find what can be grown in our own little country (parsnips, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower) and make them your delicious alternatives and ‘go-to’ vegetables.

Be mindful, and be proud: Irish cuisine is not a hot chicken roll and a bottle of Tanora. It is locally grown produce sourced from some of the greenest fields in the world with some of the best soil. Support it, love it and reap the benefits in your own health and for the health of our planet.

Film & T.V.

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The Death of The Walking Dead Writes Eoghan Creedon, Film & TV Editor

The Walking Dead will soon return to our TV screens for the second half of season 10. Throughout the show’s near 10-year life span it has experienced numerous ups and downs, widely regarded as one of the most inconsistent shows in recent history.

The show has had the advantage of boasting some of the finest actors Hollywood has to offer, as well as having the astounding source of content of Robert Kirkman’s original comic book series of the same name to draw upon for inspiration. However, despite these advantages, as well as an incredibly dedicated fanbase, The Walking Dead has been decreasing in quality and popularity for a number of years now.

The show originally aired in October 2010, with the premiere reaching viewing figures of 5.35 million. These figures grew astronomically over the next few years, reaching an all time peak at the season 5 premiere with 17.30 million viewers. At the beginning of season 5, it would appear that the show could do no wrong.

It was on top of the world, but that was never going to last. The Walking Dead’s title of the King (or Queen) of TV action/drama shows took a severe hit with the increasing popularity of Game of Thrones. This, along with a dip in quality saw viewing figures drop every year after season 5. Season 10 currently has an average view-

ership of around 4 million. That’s less than the very first episode that aired almost 10 years ago!

So, what exactly caused the drastic drop in viewership? We’re going to take a look at some of the key reasons why The Walking Dead is now viewed as less than a shell of its former self.

It has been on the air for too long An obvious reason for a decline in popularity is that the show has simply been on the air for too long. It is extremely hard to keep audiences engaged with a show for a decade of their life.

It is even harder to keep a show about zombies fresh and exciting for that long. Zombies were a huge part of pop culture in the early 2010s. The Walking Dead helped play a huge part in the rise of zombie content. However, trends have a limited lifespan and people move on. Something which The Walking Dead refuses to let itself believe. The show is left hanging on to the little shred of life it still has in its cold, rotting corpse. Just like a zombie. Ironic.

The Zombies are considered more of a nuisance than a threat Throughout seasons 1 and 2 the focus of the show was the group of survivors doing anything they could in order to survive against the manic, terrifying, flesh eating

zombies. The characters could barely stop for a moment to catch their breath without a hoard of the bastards hot on their tails.

Fast forward to season 10 and the zombies are barely even in the show, and when they are, they are take out with a quick headshot without the human character even breaking a sweat. There’s a big difference between becoming desensitised to something and completely disregarding a huge part to the draw of your show.

There are too many ‘nothing’ episodes The general structure of a 16-episode season of The Walking Dead is as follows: the premiere and finale are the major episodes, the mid-season finale ends on a cliff-hanger, with the mid-season premiere resolving it and beginning a new story arc for the rest of the season, and that’s it. 4 episodes of note within a 16-episode season. The remaining 12 episodes are scantly fleshed out with a laughable attempt at character development and little to no action. Instead of using all of the season’s budget on 4 episodes, why not spread it out evenly to ensure an entertaining and consistent season of television? Just a thought…

There is no development of lesser characters Not every character can receive

significant development in a show or a film. That’s simply the nature of the beast. That can be excused if a decent attempt is at least made by the writers, or else if the lack of development of certain characters is subsidised by amazing content elsewhere within the show. However, it is not excusable for a 10-year-old show, with over 100 episodes under its belt to make the same mistakes over and over again.

The Walking Dead has a seriously bad habit of completely disregarding characters if they are not within the very small group of A-list characters. It is not out of the ordinary to have a character be introduced where we receive the bare minimum amount of information about them i.e. their name, then see them on screen for the next few episodes, even seasons in some cases, only to have them say one line per show if they’re lucky.

Eventually the writers realise that a show called The Walking Dead show contain some deaths, so they decide to kill off a character.

Do they decide to kill off a major character to remove the viewers from their comfort zone? No. Do they decide to kill off a character who has served their purpose and has started to overstay their welcome on the show? No. Do they kill off one of the dozen lesser characters who haven’t had an

Editor: Eoghan Creedon ounce of development in weeks and who they know that no one will care about whether they live or die? You bet your ass they do.

This is a tried and tested formula for the writers of The Walking Dead. Despite viewers constantly complaining about this simply lazy format the show has become all too synonymous with, they refuse to change their ways.

It is also far too obvious when this is happening. If a lesser character who hasn’t said much in recent episodes suddenly starts piping up and getting a lot of screen time at the beginning of an episode, they’re minutes are numbered, and they will not make it to the end of the episode.

I cannot stress this enough; this happens ALL OF THE TIME. Rick stuck around for too long As mentioned above, some characters serve their purpose, but the writers keep them around for a bit too long. This is all too evident with the character of Rick Grimes. For almost 9 years Rick

was the show’s protagonist, the leader of the group of survivors we had grown to love. Andrew Lincoln effortlessly brought this character to life from the pages of Kirkman’s comic books to our television screens. Lincoln has gone criminally underrated as one of the greatest actors of the last decade. He himself was never an issue. Whatever material the writers gave him, he performed it with a mixture of grace and intensity, capturing the hearts of millions of fans for years. But then the writers shat all over that.

In early season 3, Rick’s wife Lori dies, and he does not handle it well (understandably). From then on, the writers make Rick flip flop from a stoic leader to a deranged psychopath with a lust for blood.

Rick changes his moral compass about twice the season for 5 years.

And yes, it gets old very quickly.

So much so, that by season 8 Rick is consistently the worst thing about the show. Again, I stress that this is not down to the performance of Andrew Lincoln, but down to the writers not simply not knowing what to do with him.

By the time Rick eventually left the show, fans barely cared. The man we followed for almost every episode for over 9 years went out with a whimper. That is not how his legacy should have come to an end.

The firing of Frank Darabont Frank Darabont is the genius mind behind some of Hollywood’s greatest pieces of art including The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. He is also the reason why The Walking Dead exists as a TV show.

Darabont came across a copy of Kirkman’s comic book and immediately knew it had the potential to be something huge. He was right.

Darabont acted as a director, writer and showrunner for all of the first season, and his presence and input is evident. The first season of The Walking Dead consists of 6 separate hour-long movies for the small screen. It is packed to the brim with action, all the while giving it enough time to breathe in order to provide depth to the original group of survivors we would come to know and love over the course of season 1. It is all killer, no filler.

But then AMC got greedy. AMC are

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the network which own the rights to The Walking Dead and make all executive decisions. And in the development of season 2 they made the decision to up the episode count from 6 to 13, all the while halving the budget from season 1 to season 2. Darabont rightly protested that this was insane and impossible. What did AMC do? They fired him.

Season 2 is widely regarded as the worst season of The Walking Dead, as it predominately takes place on a farm where no zombies appear as they didn’t have the budget for it. Sounds awful right? It was.

AMC shot themselves in the foot by not trying to come to a reasonable agreement with Frank Darabont, as he was in the process of making something truly great, but sadly never got the chance to see his vision through the end.

Instead, viewers were left with a criminally inconsistent series with more downs than ups, all the while wondering what might have been if AMC had kept Frank Darabont around.

Music

Editor: Fiona O’ Connell

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International Music is Good Too writes Robin Daly

As a majority English-speaking country, Ireland has is lucky to have easy accessibility, language-wise, to a large part of the world’s most popular music.

However, this leaves us with a risk of being cut off from a world of non-English language music, music that could be potential favourites, but is dismissed out of hand for being in a language we do not immediately understand. This is a short list of three songs not in English, but still, to speak technically – slap.

POOKIE – AYA NAKAMURA Aya Nakamura is a Malian-born French pop singer, and trust me when I tell you that you cannot go ten minutes in France without hearing about her. She was nominated for Best International Act in the BET Awards in 2019, and she was named by the New York Times as “one of the

most important act in Europe now, musically and socially”.

Pookie is a club banger, and is the third single from her 2018 album, Nakamura. The refrain is catchy, and requires no mastery of the French language to dance to. The music video was the most viewed French YouTube video in 2019. Since the song’s initial release, so has released two remix versions, one with Italian artist Capo Plaza, and another with American rapper Lil Pump.

BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS BTS Where not too long ago all the Irish population knew of K-pop was Gangnam Style, nowadays you would have to be pretty out of touch to not have heard of Korean pop super-group BTS. Consisting of seven members, BTS debuted on the Korean music scene in 2013, but gained international

fame following the release of their 2017 single, DNA. Mostly recently, the septet attended the 2020 Grammy’s, where they performed their 2019 single ‘Boy With Love’ as well as dueting with Lil Nas X, and they performed their latest single Black Swan on The Late Late Show with James Corden in January. My BTS recommendation to you, however, came just before their tip into international fame, and gave them the push so that when DNA came out, they hit the ground running. Blood, Sweat & Tears, released in 2016, is a perfect showcase of what BTS does best – lacing their hip-hop roots with a dance-pop-infused chorus, while simultaneously giving the group’s vocalists a chance to shine.

SOLA – JESSIE REYEZ Born in Toronto, Canada to Colombian parents, Jessie Reyez is one of the most talented upcoming

artists of the moment. Her 2016 single Figures boosted her onto the music scene, and remains one of her most streamed songs. She has been featured on tracks with Lewis Capaldi, Calvin Harris and Eminem, and co-write the incredibly popular 2018 hit, Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa’s One Kiss. Sola is from Reyez’ 2018 EP entitled Being Human in Public, and is one of Reyez’ only Spanish songs, and exhibits how in touch Reyez is with her Colombian roots. It is a tender song, filled only with the gentle plucking of guitar and Reyez’ breathy voice, communicating a true feeling of being sola.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS Tirano – Kali Uchis // Zenzenzense – RADWIMPS // Mundian to Bach Ke – Punjabi MC // Moi c’est – Camélia Jordan

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Photos

Issue 9 | Tuesday 18th 2020 | University Express

Issue 9 | Tuesday 18th 2020 | University Express

RTÉ presenter Ryan Tubridy visits the Hub and interviewed by second year arts student Matthew Moynihan

by Caoimhe Leahy, University Express Photographer

Photos

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SEXPRESS

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Transgender Healthcare in Ireland Writes Rían Browne O’Neill

Sonia kolasinska, from Dublin at the second annual Trans Pride parade passes through Dublin City centre. Picture credit; Damien Eagers / INM (independent.ie) The Basics Most common pathway to access gender affirming care in Ireland is through the HSE by being referred by a GP to The National Gender Service at St Colmcille’s Hospital in Loughlinstown. The individual is then required to partake in psychological consultation in order to be assessed for a diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder. Following a health screening and blood tests they may then be permitted to begin hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or access other care such as gender affirming surgery.

At present individuals are forced to wait up to two years for an appointment from the point of referral. In late 2019 the service admitted to having misplaced up to 100 referral letters for patients which has increased this waiting time by an indefinite amount. But, this is not the only reason the National Gender Service has come under fire by clinicians and members of the trans community alike.

The Criticisms The gender identity service has come under criticism for follow-

ing an outdated practice that is not based upon the informed consent model which is generally considered best practice within the wider medical community.

One of the key criticisms from clinicians and the trans community is the need for a diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder (GID) when the association between being transgender and suffering gender dysphoria as a psychological disorder itself has been dropped by the World Health Orginsation in the last year.

The psychological assessment has also come under condemnation as it is something akin to an interrogation rather than an assessment of the patients needs, with many trans people recounting quite invasive and intensive questioning, to discern whether an individual is meets the clinics standard of whether the person ‘trans’ enough to access care.

This can be incredibly taxing on many folks mental health. Not subscribing to the clinics idea of a trans narrative may result in an individual being denied gender affirming care. Some members

of the community have taken to twitter to voice their concerns and experiences with the service, only to be shot down by the clinic.

As the only public clinic in Ireland dealing with gender identity this forces many from rural parts of Ireland to brave the public transport system at great cost, many forced to take days off work or travel for hours when they do eventually receive an appointment.

The Cost The waiting time between being referred and beginning the process in Loughlinstown can be harrowing with many left without support in between their time of referral and the time of their first appointment. For many accessing gender affirming care (either in terms of counselling, hormone replacement therapy or surgery) can be life changing and the difference between their ability to live a full and healthy life.For many finding out how to even access the referral process or alternatives to public care can only be found through word of mouth with other members of the community online, through trans networks or

activist channels. This can have deeply negative effects for many mental health and wellbeing with many trans people recording higher levels of depression and suicidal ideation (TENI, 2013).

For some - the wait is too long and the psychological cost too high and they may search for other means to access care. This may include searching for private means in NI or mainland UK or taking it upon themselves ‘DIY’ style to administer hormone therapy typically accessed through the internet, which can prove dangerous given the unreliable nature of medicine bought through the web. For others they may need to fundraise or take out loans to afford accessing care outside of the public health system, which can easily reach into the thousands.

Others may not have any option but to wait due to financial or social barriers preventing them from accessing care privately.

The Fight In recent years a movement has grown within the Irish trans community demanding an overhaul of the current trans healthcare

Editor: Caoimhe battault ‘system’. The key demand being the introduction of a model of care introduced by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) which calls for an ‘informed consent’ appraoch in providing care to trans patients. This model is already followed widely throughout Europe and is in line with worldwide best practice.

Within this model clinicians work directly with patients based upon their own individual experiences and needs to find the best care that will benefit them - this may be HRT, surgery, counselling or some other form of intervention.

The key is, the individual themselves has a direct say in their care and are not forced to subscribe to antiquated standards of what a trans person’s experience should look like and instead treatment is provided in line with their own individual experience, medical needs and autonomy respected.

How To Be An Ally So - what now? How can you support the trans community in the fight for better healthcare?

Get informed! As mentioned a massive movement has grown within the transgender community, particularly with the rise of the This Is Me - Transgender Healthcare Campaign (check them out on Facebok!), advocating for better healthcare and supports for transgender people in Ireland.

There is also the Transgender Equality Network Ireland which operates on a national level advocating for trans rights which has a wealth of information online in addition to a listing of local trans groups across ireland! Each year there is an annual Trans & Intersex Pride which saw over 1,000 people take to the streets last July, as well as a Trans Healthcare Protest in Dublin - gather your friends, placards and your voice and add it to the crowd.

Accessing gender affirming care is not a luxury, it is a necessity and for many can be critical to their wellbeing. Until the approach to transgender healthcare in Ireland is reformed, we must continue to ensure trans voices and clinicians are heard.

Sources: National Gender Service at Loughlinstown have misplaced over 100 patient referrals WHO has passed legislation to drop transgender as a mental disorder, a move which has been welcomed by trans advocacy groups.

‘Speaking From The Margins: Trans Mental Health and Wellbeing in Ireland’ (TENI, 2013) WPATH Website Trans & Intersex Pride Dublin This Is Me - Transgender Healthcare Campaign

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Betty Dodson: A Profile Writes Caoimhe Battault, Sexpress Editor Born in 1929, Betty Dodson is a trained artist who left the art scene in order to teach women how to orgasm. An accreditted writer, with over one million copies of ​Sex For One ​ sold, Dodson has the proud achievement of teaching thousands of women how to orgasm. She does this through her workshops where women can learn to orgasm through masturbation, in groups.

Originally from Kansas, Dodson moved to New York to pursue art.

After her divorce from her first husband, Dodson began her pursuit of “sexual self discovery.” This is when she left creating erotic art in order to teach sex to women.

In Dodson’s workshops, which she has been running for over 30 years, women, and sometimes men, are encouraged to talk, explore their own bodies in order to discover their sensuality, and masturbate. On her website she proudly displays videos of masturabation as well as close ups of genitals. In the new Netflix show,​ The Goop Lab with Gwyneth Paltrow ​, Dodson discusses the importance of the normalisation of the vulva and the differences between each person who has one.

In these workshops Dodson provides everyone with a Hitachi Magic Wand to aid masturbation. She also encourages people to place a warm towel over their genitals in order to dull the vibration from the toy and allow for longer lasting pleasure. This has become known as the Betty Dodson method and has taught thousands of women how to orgasm.

Dodson considers herself a fourth wave feminist, having dissacociated from the feminist movement in the past for not being pro-sex. She has refused to become a professional psychologist or pursue psychology as she wouldn’t be able to continue with the workshops which she holds now. Dodson believes too much is made of sexual labels and looks forward to the day when she can just be known as “sexual.”

Gaming

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From Dublin to Shanghai Interview with Rob “Dagda”Price Writes Jack Coleman, Gaming Editor

Starcraft pro, who to this day is still one of my favourite online personalities. He did regular breakdowns of professional players’ games for StarCraft.

This was the first time I realised that esports really existed outside of amateur tournaments”.

The Emerald Isle is not a country often associated with esports, but as we’ve seen with Team Ireland’s stint in the Overwatch World Cup, things could be changing. As Irish players come up through the ranks in games like Overwatch and Call of Duty, a part of the industry that’s less often in the spotlight is broadcast and production.

As an English-speaking country located on the periphery of Europe, Ireland is an ideal breeding ground for talented casters. For those unfamiliar, casting is the act of talking over gameplay for the benefit of the audience, much like commentary in traditional sports.

Ireland has a multitude of rising casting talent, like Oisín “Penguin” Molloy, Tadhg “CelticTiger” Brennan and David Whyms but the individual we’ll be focusing on today is Rob “Dagda” Price.

During his college years, Rob became the support for Trinity College’s League of Legends team but ended up stepping down to focus on his studies during his final year. Price was then thrust into the world of casting: “Soon after this, I got a message from David Whyms asking me to fill in for a cast as one of the regulars was sick. Every part of my body wanted to me to say no but I had only just finished reading Richard Branson’s book “Screw It, Let’s Do It” and thought I can’t say no to the first opportunity that presented itself. After the cast, they somehow didn’t think I was terrible and asked me if I wanted to get involved in more casting”. Rob was just “going with the flow” as he described it and didn’t initially intend to make casting his career but opportunities kept arising and he kept taking them, honing his craft all the while.

Rob recently became a colour caster for the English broadcast of the League of Legends Pro League (LPL), China’s regional league.

To take this job, Rob has had to uproot his life in Ireland and relocate to the smoky Chinese city of Shanghai. Unfortunately, the LPL broadcast has been suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak, and this has forced Rob back home for the time being. In this interview, we dive into Rob’s beginnings in esports and how his career has progressed up until now.

Up until recently, Ireland was an esports minnow which is why it’s surprising that Rob has been pursuing his casting career for a few years now. When asked about his beginnings in gaming, Rob talked about growing up playing games like Spyro and Crash Bandicoot and joked that people today wouldn’t remember the Sega Mega Drive. For a lot of gamers, esports is a natural progression from casual gaming and this was no different for Rob: “I accidentally got involved

as a viewer in esports. My friend convinced me to get StarCraft II and I was damned if I was

going to be the one that held us back when we played 3v3s. This led to me watching Day9, an ex-

In 2018, after working on smaller leagues like the “UK & Irish Premiership” and the Nordic tournament “Ragnarok”, Rob landed a job as an analyst for the European Masters. The Masters is a Europe-wide League of Legends event that features the best teams from every European regional league. Price was fortunate to land this gig, as he got the job last minute after well-known personality Dan “Foxdrop” Wyatt wasn’t able to attend the opening stages of the event, prompting the crew to look for a replacement. Rob talked about the level of pressure that comes with working on such a widely-viewed event:

Editor: Jack coleman “I think the biggest difference is the pressure that comes with it.

You have a lot more eyes that are watching you, some of them even people you admire in the industry that you don’t want to disappoint. There are also people very critical of you. Not only because you are potentially taking a job they want, but also because they expect casters to represent the level of play, which was very different from a G-Series final in the basement of a Dublin hotel.

It made such a difference to have people like Aaron “Medic” Chamberlain and Devin “Piratechnics” Younge there to help ease the transition. They were happy to share their experience, give me some pointers and, most importantly, get my nerves in check. I definitely owe them big time!”.

Fast-forward to 2020 and Rob is now casting the LPL, the biggest league in the world and home of the current world champions, FunPlus Phoenix (FPX). There were struggles along the way, but landing this job validated much of Rob’s life decisions. “Words could not describe how happy I was. I left my job in finance in January 2019 to pursue a fulltime career as an esports caster, but it had been far from sunshine and rainbows up until that point.

Not only was the work sparse but it would come in with very little notice. I would regularly get messages only a day or two out from an event from a tournament organiser asking if you could be in another country. If you missed an event, oftentimes you wouldn’t hear back from the organiser again so that was effectively a pay cut you had just forced on yourself. There was a lot of missed birthdays, nights out and strained relationships as a result. The LPL solved many of these issues, as I would have a guaranteed project to work on with set hours which means I can now coordinate my life much better. Most importantly though, it is giving me the opportunity to show my passion for League of Legends and the LPL to a global audience. I have been a Royal Never Give Up (RNG) fan since Season 3 (2013) when I saw UZI playing Vayne at the World

Championship and now I get to cast my favourite team in the region with some of the most historied organisations League of Legends has. Not even mentioning the fact that the region has just become back-to-back World Champions. It baffles me that this is now my job! It’s so fulfilling getting to create awesome side content that I can deliver to the fans and show them how amazing the LPL really is. It’s a dream come true. A big bonus for me as well is getting to live and experience Shanghai. Having lived there now for just over a month, I can honestly say I love the city.”.

Shanghai is a far cry from the streets of Dublin, but according to Rob, it’s actually quite a Westernised city with brands like McDonald’s and Pizza Hut littering the streets. Most importantly for the Irishman, Kerrygold butter and Avonmore milk are available for purchase in shops. Despite his poor Mandarin, Rob says the locals have been very welcoming and friendly. Not only has the coronavirus forced Rob back home, for the time being, it has also suspended the LPL indefinitely which has resulted in the teams only playing two games each so far. Despite this, Rob was able to give his opinion on some of the teams to look out for. “There are so many teams that look promising. Vici Gaming has just picked up Kkoma from SK Telecom so they will need some time before he has moulded the team to their true strength. TOP Esports and Billibilli Gaming are also looking like contenders that could go all the way, contending well with the usual household names of RNG, Invictus Gaming and FPX. Secretly though I’m hoping that we see the newest team, Estar, take it all. They have shown they came to fight taking the series victory over FPX in week 1. And let’s be real. Everyone loves a good underdog story!”.

When asked about which lesser-known players we should look out for, Price explained that China churns out amazing talent every year and as a result, there are so many players to watch. Specifically, he touted Hwang “Kingen” Seong-hoon, Zhang “Zoom”

Xing-Ran, Ding “Puff” Wang, Su “Southwind” Zhi-Lin and Yuan “Cryin” Cheng-Wei as talents to watch, as well as drawing attention to the already highly-regarded mid-laner Zhuo “Knight” Ding as potentially the next big force in international League of Legends.

To finish, we asked Rob if he had any advice for young Irish people looking to get involved in esports.

He explained that it’s very important to just get involved, and start doing whatever you want your role to be. If you want to be an esports journalist, then start writing and if you want to be a caster, start recording yourself casting games and focus on improvement. He stressed that it’s important to not get discouraged: “And don’t get me wrong, you are going to suck. We all did.

But only with practice and being open to genuine criticism can you improve. I got advice from Derry “Dezachu” Holt that stuck with me through my career. He said never be afraid to reach out to people for help. Everyone in esports got to the place they are thanks to the help they received from someone else. Once you take those first few steps and help yourself people will happily help guide you and help you improve in whatever speciality you might want to follow.

I also think people go into esports expecting the pay off to be much sooner than it is. This industry is a slow grind to get anywhere with many knock backs along the way. I was casting for nearly 2 years before I saw even a sniff of money to cover my transport or food costs for an event. It was 4 years with many 70-80+ hour weeks and lucky breaks before I was in a position where I felt comfortable to try and make it a full-time career. There’s a reason that you see the people at the top are all so passionate about esports because you can’t survive in this industry if you don’t love what you are doing. So if you do want to get started expect this to be a hobby for a long time before you start to see any real pay-off.”

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Fashion

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Eco-Friendly Beauty Tips Writes Katie Burke, Fashion Editor With the world becoming more educated on sustainable ways to save our planet from further decay, we are always on the lookout for ways we can help the environment in our daily lives. Given that a lot of us wear makeup or have a skin routine of some sorts, this is an area where we can all make some difference. From plastic packaging, non-biodegradable products made of fibres such as polyester (here’s looking at you, make-up wipes), and the use of chemicals; the beauty industry has had its fair share of negative impact on the environment. Thankfully, the world is catching on to the fact that we need to make improvements in our own cupboards and routines, and brands are starting to respond with more sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives. Below are some top tips for products which you can easily integrate into your life, that won’t cost the earth (economically or literally).

Reusable Makeup Removal Pads It’s well known that makeup wipes aren’t the best for the skin, and they’re even worse for the environment. Taking years to decompose in landfills (and often on beaches when people flush them down the toilet), wipes are not a sustainable option for removing makeup. Available from places like Amazon or Boots, reusable makeup removal pads are a fantastic creation. Once you have used them to remove your makeup as you normally would with a cotton pad, these items can be washed and used again, and again. So rather than contributing a worrying amount to the pollution of our planet with countless disposable wipes and pads, give this reusable alternative a go. Our ever-growing landfills and beaches will thank you for it!

Facial Soap Despite the age-old line that using bars of soap on your face would be too harsh on your skin, companies such as Lush have come

up trumps and are bringing us products that are both gentle on the skin and the environment. An example of their facial soap is the Movis, with an extra virgin coconut and sunflower oil base, while Fair Trade organic cocoa butter in the product softens the skin. With rave review on the website, Movis, is made with organic ingredients and safe synthetics, and is not tested on animals. At Lush, you can purchase reusable tins to hold products such as your facial soap, making re-purchasing easier and reducing the amount of non-biodegradable plastic packaging making its way to our landfills.

Deodorant Bar Another bar-style product! Like the facial soap, this bar product can be made of mostly natural ingredients which is better for the environment in the long term. Again, you can buy tins for these products which will reduce the amount of packaging waste on the environment. Products like this can be found in other places apart from Lush, such as any good health food shop.

Shampoo/Conditioner Bar A little goes a long way with these products, so you only need a small amount to build up a good lather in your hair which is great in terms of longevity and lack

of waste. Again, you can purchase tins for these products so between all three bar products, you will have seriously cut down on your amount of plastic waste.

Shop Local An amazing way to increase your sustainability is to use as local produce as possible. There are so many incredible Irish beauty and skincare brands popping up, and many are strong activists for becoming more eco-friendly in the development and packaging of their products. By shopping local you are not only supporting Irish jobs, but you will also be helping to reduce the beauty industry’s carbon footprint by lowering the impact of excessive transportation of products from abroad into Ireland. Some great Irish companies who are leading the way in terms of being vegan, paraben-free, and sourcing raw materials (amongst other great things) are Pestle and Mortar, and Human + Kind. Of course, there are always new companies coming on the market so feel free to do your own research and see what eco-friendly companies are setting up shop in our own country.

More Environmentally Friendly Make-Up Make-up is a difficult one to navi-

gate when it comes to being more sustainable, yet even high street brands are making changes, with even Penneys going 100% cruelty free in their makeup range having received a Leaping Bunny certification. Another amazing brand to check out is 3INA, a European brand, who produce products for all skin tones and types. Their products are also cruelty free, and their packaging is made from recyclable plastic and sustainable practises. Of course, there is an increasing amount of cruelty free and environmentally friendly cosmetic and skincare companies and products coming on the scene as time goes on, both at home in Ireland and from abroad.

DIY Face Masks Face masks are one of the best things you can do to take fifteen minutes to just treat yourself, both mentally and physically.

While most face masks don’t cost a bomb, that’s no excuse to not research better alternatives.

There are so many ‘recipes’ online now for how to make your own face masks with items you could already have in your house. By giving these products you already have in your house multi-purposes you will be cutting down on your plastic waste and giving household products a new lease of life.

Editor: Katie Burke People often say history repeats itself, and every time that saying proves to be true, we are shocked.

This statement can be appropriate from everything from politics to fashion. Albeit far less serious in comparison to the political climate, certain fashion trends gaining popularity again causes more than a few of us to scratch our heads and question who is allowing them to return?

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We Regret to Inform You That Early 2000s Fashion Is Back Writes Katie Burke, Fashion Editor

Let’s be honest here, the early 2000s were an incredibly dodgy time for fashion and beauty. We will forever be haunted by those photos of a young Ashley Tisdale on the red-carpet wearing skirts over bootcut jeans, and the memories of Dream Matte Mousse smeared across our lips. While it brought us trends such as the tiny handbags or seashell necklaces which are still popular today, there are others that are far more questionable and in a shocking turn of events, seem to be returning to mainstream fashion.

First up is low cut jeans. From Keira Knightley to Paris Hilton, this jeans style was all the rage, even on red carpets. Now, celebrities such as Normani and Rowan Blanchard have brought the look back, complete with thong waistbands hitched up high for ultimate visibility. Given the rise (pardon the pun) of high waisted jeans from roughly 2010 onwards, we really are forced to question do we need to see a return of a lower waistband? Throw in the fact that with half your stomach now exposed, you’d be absolutely frozen in the Irish climate. Each to their own, but we might need to sit this one out.

Heeled flip-flops. Yes, they really are making a comeback. As with many trends, this shoe style was spotted on Kim Kardashian in 2019 and raised more than a few eyebrows. An iconic, but often forgotten piece of early 2000s style, the heeled flip flop is more than a bit divisive. Amazingly, versions of the style have started to find their way into high street stores in time for the summer season ahead. Here’s hoping that they’ve been given a classier update, although it’s questionable just how much can be done to make this style more appealing.

A slightly less terrifying early 2000s trend return is the cardigan for both men and women, with celebrities such as David Beckham and Bella Hadid making a case for their return. With such a varying style history, from your local Granny’s baby pink, to Kurt Cobain’s grunge look, this item is always open to re-invention. The current favoured styling for this for this piece is cropped with a simple bralette or bra underneath, and neither fully buttoned nor fully open à la Katie

Holmes now viral cashmere look.

A final questionable return are cargo pants. Undoubtedly made famous by artists such as Avril Lavigne, this item wasn’t complete without a chain attached to its side and a cropped tank top or oversized t-shirt. Sure, we’re always looking for extra pocket space, which cargo pants provide in abundance, but these trousers can be difficult to pull off and have the potential to drown the wearer.

But hey, if you think you can pull off any of these returning ear-

ly 2000s trends then kudos to you. Who would have thought we’d return to these trends so soon? Perhaps given the tumultuous political climate we are living in today; Generation Z are craving the nostalgia of their stress-free childhoods in the early 2000s. We certainly couldn’t be blamed for wanting to revert to a time of naivety and innocence, whether that is through the means of clothing or not. Coloured sunglasses lenses and baguette bags complete with Playboy bunny logos here we come!

Arts & Literature The Harry Potter Childhood Writes Fiona Keeley, Arts & Literature Editor When the first Harry Potter book was published on the 26th June 1997 nobody could have guessed that it would fundamentally change the childhood of millions of children. One only needs to whisper the words Harry Potter and any child who grew up in the 2000s will remember the excitement and the thrill of reading the books for the first time. Even if you were not a major fan of the series the maddening crowds in bookstores across the country when a new novel was released are not easily forgotten.

But what was it about this book series that resonated with the millions of fans all over the world?

The 90s children’s book landscape is one that might have been familiar to many while growing up. It was a time of book titles such as Matilda

by Roald Dahl, Bridge To Terabithia by Katherine Patterson, and Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Of the many books released during the 1990s, Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone stood in a spotlight because it introduced the world to new characters and held a promise that there would be a continuation of the series, thus keeping the audience engaged in the story. It offered an opportunity for parents to read through this new wizarding world with their children giving them a new literary outlet to explore together. At the beginning, many in the literary industry did not believe Harry Potter would be a successful literary venture. At this stage Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone alone has sold in excess of 120 million copies worldwide.

A stunning figure in any regard.

Harry Potter was not just a literary phenomenon also a pop culture phenomenon around the world.

There are references to the series found in many modern movies and television shows such as The Devil Wears Prada and Orange is the Black. While these productions were made more recent years, it shows the reach of the Harry Potter series and that it can be relevant in different areas of media. And the

popularity did not stop there. With a successful series comes merchandise from the stories in the form of costumes, stationary, crockery and everything in between. This wasn’t only a form of recognition for the Harry Potter brand, but it brought people into the story and let them explore Harry Potter as a pop culture icon not just as a literary figure. While this all contributed to the success of the series it brought the world of Hogwarts out of the pages of books and into the visual world.

Even those who had not read the series before could learn about the characters through pop culture and then perhaps develop an interest in reading the novels simply by being encapsulated in the pop culture.

A real question I am asking is, will Harry Potter become part of the classic reading list for our generation? In twenty years will we be telling the next generation about the literary phenomenon that captured the imaginations of adults and children alike. The Harry Potter books were released between the 1990s and 2000s and as we read about the characters growing up, we grew up with them. When the final book was released in 2007 those who had travelled on many adventures with Harry, Ron and Hermione queued outside bookstores to find out what would happen to their heroes and villains. It was the end of a journey and the end of an era for many people.

Thirteen years after the release of the last book and nine years after the corresponding movie, many people are still talking about Harry Potter as a series that they are reading for the first time or for the twentieth time. It strikes me as a series that history will remember well. A series that encouraged people to investigate a new world of imagination together with a fanbase that are now known as Potterheads. The Harry Potter series left a deep imprint in literature and it remains to be seen if the next generation will be as spellbound with the series as our generation has been.

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Editor: Fiona Keeley

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The Savoy’s Contribution to the Progress of Cinema in Cork Writes Fiona Keeley, Arts & Literature Editor

It has been a changing time for the Savoy centre in Cork. The building that was once a cinema - now a shopping centre and nightclub – has been in the newspapers in the last couple weeks as plans were revealed to transform it onto a boutique cinema with adjoining apartments. While a final decision has yet to be made on the project, I’m casting myself back to Cork in the 1930s to examine what the Savoy was like when it was known as the Savoy Cinema. It’s hard to imagine the Savoy Shopping Centre as the cinema stalls and Savoy nightclub as the circle of the theatre that once used to be filled with chairs. The shopping centre has existed in Cork for over forty years and the nightclub for twenty years. The Savoy building, designed by architects Albert Walter Moore and Crabtree, is a landmark in the city that many people immediately recognise.

The cinema opened in May 1932 and the Lord Mayor of Cork Frank J. Wallace opened its doors to the public. Not only was this a significant event for Cork this was also a notable time in Irish history. Éamon De Valera was elected as an Taoiseach and operating under the title of the Irish Free State, Ireland faced an uncertain future.

Cinema had been producing films on the international stage since

before the World War I so when the doors of the Savoy Cinema opened people came from all over Cork to enjoy a night of entertainment. The cinema opened on its maiden night with Peach O’Reno starring Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey along with an incredible cast that brought the story of the movie to light on camera. Bringing together a couple who are about to get divorced and their respective absurd lawyers, this humorous and amusing production was only the start of the story of Savoy cinema. From there, cinema in Cork moved on an upward slope as Savoy Cinema brought more motion pictures to the city.

Cinema has had a turbulent history in Ireland since its first introduction to the country in 1909.

This unrest hit a milestone in 1923 when WT Cosgrave’s government passed the Censorship of Films Act which was “an act to provide for the official censoring of cinematograph pictures and for other matters connected therewith” (Censorship of Films Act 1923).

Although the Savoy Cinema had not yet been opened when this law was passed it did set a precedent for the type of films that would be allowed to be screened in Irish cinemas thereafter. Despite Ireland’s relationship with this form of media, Irish history does have

a strong positive connection with cinema as many films were shot on location in Ireland in the early 1900s. Film writers and directors of the day were noticing the stories Ireland had to offer and some of the themes of their movies were inspired by events that were sprawled across Irish history such as the Great Famine and the emigrating Irish diaspora.

The Savoy brought many famous names of the day to its stage including Tom Jones, The Bee Gees and The Rolling Stones. The cinema provided a venue for popular acts to play to the Cork public. It brought business to the city but also helped Cork on its journey to becoming a real destination city in Ireland. It also became the destination cinema for the Cork International Film Festival from its inception in 1956. The festival attracted many international names to Ireland including Jean Seberg in 1959 and June Thorburn 1960. International media attention turned towards Cork as a serious contender in the film festival family as the popularity of the festival continued to grow.

The festival also broke barriers when it showed ‘I Can’t, I Can’t’ made by Ardmore Studios in Bray, Wicklow during the 1969 film festival. It was a controversial film of its time as it sought to shed light on marital and so-

cial issues in Ireland that were present in the 1960s. A jury panel was selected to judge the movies on display from a selection of esteemed names in the film industry each International Cork Film Festival. Jean Leon and Bob Monks were two jury members in 1969 and through the years there have been many internationally known film critics in these panels.

The Savoy Cinema fairytale could not last forever though. As the 1970s approached the rise of television became a real threat to the prosperity of the cinema industry. People no longer needed to go to the cinema to see a movie, instead they watched their choice of media from a screen in a room in their home. It was crowned a new era in technology but sadly this new era brought many cinema closures with it and Savoy did not escape closure. In 1975 the Savoy Cinema opened its doors for the last time to the Cork public. As its final production Savoy screened Irwin Allen’s production ‘The Towering Inferno’, directed

by John Guillermin. As the familiar lights of the theatre closed its doors for the last time a nostalgic sign over the theatre door ‘Thank you Cork and Goodbye’ dimmed into the darkness of the night.

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Sports

Issue 9 | Tuesday 18th 2020 | University Express

All You Need Is Fenn: An Interview with Cork City FC Manager Writes Jack Maguire, Sports Editor

How are you feeling ahead of the new season?

Good, feeling good. We’re just coming off the back of, we had a few injuries and a few niggles over pre-season but just over the last couple of days we’ve had all the lads back training, we’ve avoided that part of pre-season without any major injuries so looking forward to getting into a few games now put a little shape on us and go from there. We’ve still got a little bit of business to do maybe two or three more to come in so looking forward to it now.

How has training been so far are things moving well?

Yeah good, really pleased. We gave them an off season programme that they’ve all come back in reasonable, most of them have come back in very good shape, a couple have come back in good shape so it saves us having to do the real heavy slogging during pre-season. Lads look after themselves better now, we try to make little improvements to the training ground, I know it’s not amazing here now but it’s just somewhere where they can come and eat, and we’re improving the gym here aswell so we’re putting in the foundations that we hope will improve their experience. We’re trying to create a league player environment, professional environment for the players and try and treat

them like top level pro’s that they should be in this country.

That’s what we’ve been working on and we think we’re doing ok.

After a poor campaign last season, going into this season what do you think is your key value?

Its important to us, its important to the whole city that everybody just gets behind us. We all want the best for the football club so there’s no point in people complaining, there’s no point in me complaining about I wish I had this, I wish I had that, or people saying it used to be like this, it used to be like that, it’s not now, this is what we are and we still need to unite and move forward and get us as high up the pitch as possible with young exciting players.

I know we can’t expect too much in the first season, but would you see Europe as a reasonable goal or is it more of a long-term goal over the next few seasons?

I think if we start saying where we think we’re going to finish we’re just setting ourselves up for failure, so my word to the players is just go out there and do your best every game. We’re trying to do our best every game whether that’s not good enough or its good enough you won’t know, but we’re going to go out, we’re

not going to put any pressure on the boys or any pressure on myself or expectation on us that we certainly don’t need to do. So we’ll go out an try to win every game and try and play the way we play and try and attack them and try to get chances to score obviously goals if possible, and keep clean sheets at the other end, is that too much of an ask maybe How do you feel the young players will step up and handle the responsibility?

Time will tell, it’s a big jump coming from 19’s football, its such a big club in the league, while it’s a big league so not sure they’ll all be ready for it, but there’ll be a couple that will definitely be pushing in. They’ve been pressed in training and will be pushing for a place but certainly it’s a big jump it’s a lot for us to expect but they’re just going to come straight from 19’s football parttime and straight into full-time football under pressure with the crowd watching them too, everyone’s got an opinion of how you play, its tough for them so we certainly won’t be throwing them all in, in one go but we’ll be picking the ones that do well in training and the ones that have impressed so far, they’ll play a part.

What’s the most rewarding thing about being a manager

and what makes it all worthwhile, obviously winning but…

Just the collective group that you’ve worked so hard for whether it’s the week, the month, the year, whatever, that you achieve something that you’ve worked on, so whether that’s, whether you’ve kept a clean sheet when nobody else gave you a chance or whether you’ve won a game when nobody thought you were going to win, whether you’ve worked on a set piece, just seeing little bits like that, you’ve all worked together, and you’ve achieved something together so I think that’s the most important thing as a manager is that we’re all working together, we all want the same thing, we want to develop these players, we want to go see them do well, we want them to express themselves, we want the crowd to be happy, we want the press to be happy, we want the board to be happy, so if everyone’s happy, I’m happy.

What would you say to encourage students to come out to Turners Cross and support Cork City?

I’d say it’s a great evening out, you can go and have a drink in your local pubs, not that I condone drinking at any stage. At the ground you can come in, there’s nice food, you’ll watch a good game of football, you’ll

Issue 9 | Tuesday 18th 2020 | University Express be supporting your local club and your local community, even if you’re from out of town, it’s something to do on a Friday Night, its good entertainment.

Cork City acquired the signings of Henry Ochieng from Wingate & Finchley FC, Joe Redmond on loan from Birmingham U23, and Reyon Dillon who most recently played for Corinthian Casuals on the same day I met Neale. He gave his verdict on the new lads.

We’re lighter in defence, Conor McCarthy obviously leaving was a blow to us, we didn’t want it to happen but it did so we feel that we’ve replaced him with certainly a good prospect, Joe Redmond, an Irish kid who I would have known a good few years ago before he went playing for Joey’s and just being aware of him so when it came up the possibility that we could take him, he came in and trained with us just to see what he thought of the place really and he liked it here, really thought it was somewhere he wanted to go.

Birmingham are happy that he’s coming here and he’s going to be playing and training full time, so it ticks all the boxes for what we want. Henry would have been someone that I would have had at Leyton Orient when I was there, so I know Henry, been aware of him, tried to get him last year, didn’t happen, but managed to get him this year. Reyon is a strik-

er that I’ve seen playing in nonleague football when I was in England at Orient, he played against one of our younger teams and I thought he did ok, little bit of a project but happy that he’s here.

Neale also confirmed that Gearóid Morrissey will be captain for the coming season.

Gearóid Morrissey will be the captain, it feels natural just to give it to him really. I’m not a big one for, I think everyone should be leaders and I think everyone in the dressing room should lead the group, so Gearóid will be there, the main man.

When speaking about experience in the squad, Fenn spoke about Gearóid and other senior members of the team.

It’s very important, Gearóid, it probably doesn’t come naturally to Gearóid to be honest. He’s not the loudest lad, he just likes to get about his business, don’t get me wrong, great lad, a winner obviously from where he’s been but he’s not a rally the troops kind of fella, but I’m sure he’ll make everybody feel welcome in the dressing room, which is why Mark McNulty and Alan Bennett, it’s great that they’re still here.

They add that little bit of experience, they help, they’re coaching now as well which is great for both of them but they’re still getting their boots on and going

Sports out on the pitch so you know it’s important to me, important to us that we kept a core of Cork players, and obviously those three are the most experienced.

Neale Fenn announced Joe Gamble as his assistant manager shortly after his arrival on Leeside. Neale spoke about Joe’s role and his importance to the club.

He’s been great, he’s doubling up a little bit as the strength and conditioning which he loves. I’ve known Joe from since I’ve been here and we always talked, we shared the same idea’s on football, how it should be played, so it’s great that he’s with me, and we see the game the same way, not that we don’t argue, we argue all the time but listen I think that’s healthy, I think we can disagree all the time, which we do, and obviously he’s got the background of professional football, he’s professional, he knows what we want, he’s demanding on the players and it’s great to have him.

Dundalk started the season quite badly last year for them and won the league so, I think it’s more important from a mental point of view, from the fans maybe, from us, we just want to see that we’re making progress. So if we go out, we lose the first couple of games, but we can see that we’ve made progress, then we can see that we’re going in the right direction.

If we go out and get thumped in

37 the first three games and we can’t see any progress then obviously, on the other side of that if we go out and win the first three games we won’t think we’ve cracked it and we’re going to win the league so it’s just about keeping level headed, never get too high about a result, never get too low about it.

Believe in the process is an old saying but we certainly will believe in that, we believe what we’re doing is the right thing, and if it doesn’t work the first couple of games, we’ll tweak it here and there, but certainly if we win the first few games, we won’t get carried away, and if we lose the first few games we won’t get carried away.

Speaking about the 3 tricky opening games to the league campaign in close proximity, Neale has confidence in his team.

Yeah, I think if we were playing away to Bohs, or playing away to Derry people would say that’s a tricky start as well so you know there’s no easy games, it’s an old cliché, and we’re just going to go with a game plan of how we think we’re going to get the best result.

It’s a difficult start but then that’s what we’re here for, we want to be going to these places, that’s why the players are here, they want to be playing against Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk, they’ll be looking forward to it, I’ll be looking forward to it and I hope everyone else see’s what we’re trying to do

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Sports

Issue 9 | Tuesday 18th 2020 | University Express

Fight Stars Set To invade Cork at Fight Con 2020 Writes Sam Curtin, Deputy Sports Editor

Cork is set host Fight Con, an MMA/combat sports event attracting UFC stars like Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson and former World Heavyweight champion Frank Mir on February 29th at the Clayton Silversprings Hotel.

The event is the first of its kind to land in Ireland, nevermind Cork.

It is the brain-child of local entrepreneur and MMA enthusiast Jason Woodward along with Combat Offensive Charm co-host Cian O’Leary. It is the biggest expo event of its kind in Europe which will attract other big names such as Ben Askren, Michael Venom Paige and local interest in boxer Gary Spike O’Sullivan and Bellator prospect, James Gallagher.

Irish MMA has grown expo-

nentially in past few years since Conor McGregor first stepped into the UFC octagon in April 2013. Since then numerous fighters from the Emerald Isle have taken to the world stage and some of those along with James Gallagher (Bellator pair Will Fleury and Kiefer Crosbie will be present at the event.

What can be expected from the event? There will be multiple Q&A sessions, panel discussions and meet and greets where fans will get a real up close and personal experience on the day.

The question is, with few high-profile fighters from Cork, why was this an appropriate venue? According to Cian “Fight fans would normally have to

travel to Dublin or Belfast for an event like this but we wanted to bring the world’s biggest combat sports stars to Leeside.”

MMA in particular, has its critics due to its often bloody and violent spectacle with countries such as France making the sport illegal.

However Jason who was the former owner of popular doughnut shop Huckleberry’s said “ There is a community of fans who simply want to see combat sports played out in a safe and honourable fashion. We are of that mindset in Fight-Con, and the conference will reflect that.” It certainly is case of turning doughnuts into diamonds for the Republic Of Work man.

Tickets are still on sale at fightconireland.com but are 80% sold for what promises to be a unique

and exciting event on Leeside.

Finally, in other MMA news, UFC is set to return to Dublin on August 15th at the 3 Arena. However, it appears unlikely that Conor McGregor will be fighting on the night as it is a non Pay Per View card and combined with the early start American time, it will not make the revenue that would be associated with a McGregor fight, who, is rumoured to be fighting American Justin Gaethje next on his quest for a third UFC belt.

Fellow Lightweight Joseph Duffy is the only other Irish fighter on the UFC roster but has not fought since losing to Marc Diakiese at UFC London in March 2019.

Tickets for UFC Fight Night Dublin go on sale Friday June 26th.

Sports

Issue 9 | Tuesday 18th 2020 | University Express

39

Gearóid Morrissey: The Pride of Mahon Writes Jack Maguire, Sports Editor

Gearóid Morrissey is the Cork City captain for the upcoming season. As a Cork native, he has great pride in his club and is positive facing into the 2020 Campaign. I had a chat with Gearóid before the Shelbourne game about pre-season preparation and his hopes for the season.

How are you feeling ahead of the new season?

I’m excited, don’t get me wrong it’s a challenge, but every year is so it’s no different, it’s just a different type of challenge where we’re a whole new group more or less, we’re a young group so we’re eager, we’re training hard, we mean business, we’re in every day, we’re grafting, we’re trying to get better. We have Shels first game so we’re all working hard and trying to tighten up going into that and gear everything towards that first game and see how we fare.

With all the changes in the squad, are you still confident things will go ok?

Yeah, like all you can ask a fella is to give 100% every training session, try and get better, be good professional’s, and I think we have that in this dressing room, I think we have it in abundance, it’s a great group. For a lot of them it’s their first time playing Premier Division Football in the League of Ireland so it’s a massive opportunity, they’re chomping at the bit, they can’t wait to get going so they’re giving it absolutely everything so the standard in training is decent, the sessions that the gaffer and Joe put out for us were brilliant and we’re going into what they’re trying to tell us to do and how we’re going to play so I think we’re really looking forward to it, and as a whole I think everybody is on the same page.

How are you feeling being one of the most experienced men in the squad? it’ll be no bother to you obviously.

No, 100%. Like I said it’s a young squad, bar Mark McNulty and Alan Bennett I’d be the oldest.

Sort of overnight there I went from about being average age to like the oldest player so bar Nults and Benno. It’s a bit strange but yeah it’s football. The dressing room in football is mad, it’s not like any other job. In the dressing room circumstances change almost on a weekly basis, it’s that quick in football, overnight everything changes, it can do so, I’m just really looking forward to it, it’s a new fresh challenge I can’t wait to get going.

How has training been so far and is everyone giving 100%?

Yeah, the 2nd of January we got in, and since that we bought in immediately to what Joe and the

Gaffer were doing. It’s hard work and it’s a graft, we know we’ve a lot of work to do as a fresh group and a young group. You can’t fault anyone, we’re all in every day, training hard, double sessions, giving everything, being good professionals on and off the field.

We’re giving everything every day and trying to improve as players.

the day before you’d have a light session and then you go and play the game, the day before is equally as hard and then you’re going into a game. It’s really just about getting minutes into fella’s legs.

In patches during that game, we showed a couple of glimpses of good play and what we’re about and I think we built on that then.

What did you think of the UCC Game friendly?

The first game of pre-season is neither here nor there really because its literally just fella’s getting cobwebs. Because it’s pre-season, the day before you could be doing a running session so it’s like a normal build up to a game where

Will you be hoping to something like the goals against Finn Harps last season?

Sure look, you’re always trying to put your foot through it and it’ll end up in the stands, 9 times out of 10 it’ll end up over the carpark but sure look you’ll take the ones that go into the top corner any day

University

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UCCExpress.ie

Volume 24 | Issue 9 | Tuesday 18th 2020

Late Late Show Once Again As UCC Retain Fitzgibbon Cup Writes Sam Curtin, Deputy Sports Editor

same year. Despite this, significant progress has been made and they will be a force next season.

As for UCC, this result typified their season. Beginning with a late victory over Cork to win the Canon O’ Brien Cup in early January and followed this up with a narrow, tense victory over NUIG. It was also the late late show in the semi final were the champions came from nowhere to snatch a one point win over DCU with Mark Coleman hitting over what is now a viral, sideline in the dying moments.

On speaking about their extraordinary season Darragh Fitzgibbon said “It was the ultimately comeback really, I don’t know they’re just a great bunch of lads. You saw the way they we held off DCU to win the semi final last Saturday as well. There was just great spirit there to pull through to the end.”

Fitzgibbon Cup winners during RAG Week, does it get much better than that?

Scorers for UCC: S Conway (0-9, 0-7 frees); S Kingston (04); D Fitzgibbon (0-2); M Kehoe and N Montgomery (both 0-1); P O’Loughlin (0-1 free).

UCC left it late once more on Wednesday night as they left it late to overcome IT Carlow to claim their 40th title and their second on the bounce.

The champions, not for the first time this season, did things the hard way and got off to a nightmare start to the history chasing IT Carlow side managed by Kilkenny legend DJ Carey. Two goals inside the first ten minutes from Seamus Casey and Kilkenny star Liam Blanchfield gave the Carlow side a 2-2 to 0-2 lead.

However this fast start turned into a dire 15 minute period where they failed to score and allowed UCC to come back into the game. Cork midfielder Darragh Fitzgibbon was one of the few shining lights for Tom Kingston’s side in the first half and gradu-

ally took control of the game but scores where still hard to come by.

outscored the Carlow men 0-11 to 0-04 for the rest of the game.

From the neutrals point of view, the most unfortunate sight was seeing goalscorer Blanchfield hobble off before half time after injuring his hamstring. His loss did not seem to have an effect on his team however as they traded points before the break.

As a result it was Carlow IT who took a 2-05 to 0-07 lead at half time. History was beckoning.

That weight did not seem to be too heavy for DJ Carey’s side however, they were just as quick out of the blocks in the second half and extended their lead to six. The tide turned in favour of the champions on 40 minutes however.

Shane Conway was raising white flags for fun (the Messi of hurling according to his manager) and

One moment of madness nearly decided the game however when Niall O’Leary saw red for a late swing on Carlow’s Chris Nolan.

This didn’t deter the champions however and five points without reply gave them lead on 57 minutes Laois goalkeeper Enda Rowland did cause some panic for UCC with a late free on goal tipped just over the bar by opposite number Sean Hurley while a last gasp side line went high and wide. Despite being behind from the 2nd until the 57th minute, UCC showed resolve to somehow retain their crown on a scoreline of 2-11 to 0-18.

Spare some though for IT Carlow however who as a result, had lost both the Sigerson and Fitzgibbon Cup deciders in the

Scorers for IT Carlow: S Casey (1-4, 0-4 frees); L Blanchfield (1-0); C Nolan (0-3); E Rowland (0-2 frees); J Kelly and S Bergin (0-1 each).

UCC: S Hurley (Cork); D Lowney (Cork), D Griffin (Cork), P Cadell (Tipperary); M Coleman (Cork), P O’Loughlin (Limerick), N O’Leary (Cork); K O’Dwyer (Tipperary), D Fitzgibbon (Cork); R O’Flynn (Cork), C Boylan (Limerick), S Conway (Kerry); R Downey (Cork), S Kingston (Cork), M Kehoe (Tipperary).

Subs: N Montgomery (Waterford) for O’Flynn (34); M Halloran (Cork) for Kehoe (37); B Sheehan (Kilkenny) for Boylan (53); A Casey (Waterford) for Fitzgibbon (61).