An Focal (XXIV. Edition 6) by An Focal ULSU

VOL. XXIV Edition 6

NEW STUDENT CENTRE FOR UL? Pg 4

NOVEMBER 2015

PAUL O’CONNELL HONOURED WITH UL DOCTORATE

FOOTBALL & COLLEGE Pg 3

Pg 22

Drug & Alcohol Awareness Week:

Have you ever taken drugs? Recently An Focal spent a week conducting interviews with students in the University of Limerick, asking them about drugs and drug use. The idea was to gauge how students think about drugs and what are the experiences and opinions that exist among the student population. Because of this the questions are standardised and we did not investigate people and their thoughts about the legality and morality behind drugs.

BY SEAMUS TOOMEY WEEK 11 is Drug and Alcohol Awareness week so we decided that we would take a look at drugs from a few different perspectives, from the eyes of various students, some who take drugs and some who don’t. In these interviews we see people who have enjoyed drugs and even seen beneﬁt in their lives from it, people who have been shaken by their abuse and others who have abstained and enjoyed life without the need for drugs. Keeping an open mind and being

Note AN Focal in no way condones the use of illegal drugs. The content in relation to drug and alcohol use in this edition of An Focal relate to UL’s Alcohol and Drugs Awareness Week. The content in this newspaper involves interviews with UL students and opinions of UL students and are solely intended to illustrate opinions and promote discussion. Nothing in this newspaper should in any form be taken as an endorsement of any illegal or unhealthy activity involving drugs or alcohol.

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fair, the question “Can currently illegal drugs be used sensibly?” springs up, a question that the government will soon be debating as decriminalisation is discussed seriously for the ﬁrst time in Irish politics. Have you ever taken illegal drugs and if so what are they? Chad: I have, mainly cannabis, bit of speed once and hash, but nothing else besides that. Todd: Yes I have taken a couple of illegal drugs, mainly weed at the moment, ecstasy a few times, some hallucinogenics TCB, LSD, Mushrooms and I had hash one time. Ned: Yes I have taken illegal drugs, I’ve taken ecstasy, cannabis, TCB, Mushrooms and LSD. Zed: The only thing I’ve taken before is weed. Ted: Yes, weed, cocaine, ecstasy, MDMA, speed, mushrooms, acid and that’s it. Fred: No. Sabrina: Yes, I’ve done pills, ecstasy, LSD, cocaine and weed. In the case of ‘Yes’, how regular was/is your use? If ‘No’, why not? Chad: Semi regular over a several month period. Todd: It used to be a lot less, once a month but now it’s probably once a week maybe twice a week if there’s a long weekend. Ned: It’d be more erratic, I’d do them once a month or it would happen over

a weekend, and then it would be “let’s go crazy” over this weekend then we won’t do it again for another half a year whereas with weed I’ve smoked every day this weekend. Zed: It was fairly regular up until April 20th this year and after that I stopped. Ted: For weed probably around once a week, for all other things much less frequent, less than once a month. Fred: One, it’s illegal. Two, I don’t want to. The idea of drugs is usually used for escape or to get a high and have a euphoric experience but I don’t feel the need to. Sabrina: Cocaine just once, LSD once, pills regularly for a few months but then I stopped, and weed regularly. Can you tell us about your experience with these drugs; has it affected your life positively or negatively? Have you ever felt pressured to take drugs? Chad: I feel it has affected my life positively, it allows me to relax at night and to wind down after a stressful day of college or work, and it really does help with my sleeping as well, as I’ve always had trouble with insomnia and so on, so it really does help me get to sleep at night which is a great help and I can work the next day after getting stoned the night before and be completely ﬁne, at least more so than if I had a hangover. Todd: It’s affected my life a lot actually. It’s made it so much better, it’s

An Focal - Ofﬁcial Newspaper for ULSU

really easy to be not worried when you’re high, the ones like ecstasy just make nights out not boring anymore. It’s a reason to go socialise. Ned: Its definitely changed my outlook on certain things. I’d look into things more deeply now whereas before I would just rather not know about some things and I’ve used weed as an incentive this week to attend all of my classes because if I get up in the morning smoke a bit and then go into the classes it helps me get out of bed so it’s benefitted me that way because I haven’t missed a class this week. Zed: Before the incident on April 20th it was perfect, it was fine, I had no problems with it but afterwards when I had the bad experience I had panic attacks for a good two or three months afterwards so I was pretty messed up after that. Ted: Yes, taking drugs is great. I

manage my time very well in the sense that I only do it when I’ve got free time to do it because it’s obviously something you can enjoy in moderation and if you allocate a proper amount of time to it and don’t take the piss you can enjoy your drug use with a balanced lifestyle. Fred: People have tried [to pressure me] and I’ve told them no. Sabrina: I tried most things - I did just want to try them. I was curious. I think it changes from person to person. Personally pills do not agree with me - I stopped them because they were having a negative effect on my health, same with cocaine, I didn’t see the fuss I thought it was just not good in general. LSD was interesting and I don’t think weed has a negative effect, but it can if you let it take over your life, but not for me personally. *The names in this article are fake names given to the interviewees.

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November 2015 NEWS

Further survey needed for accurate reflection of drug use in UL SEAMUS TOOMEY THE Clubs and Societies office held a survey last year. One of the many questions in this survey was “Do you use recreational drugs?”. The response by 781 students (approx. 92% of people surveyed) was 13.8% Yes and 86.2% No. Perhaps it is as simple as the statistics are correct and UL doesn’t have a drug problem but from anecdotal experience I would highly doubt that it’s as few as 13.8% of students in this college have taken drugs in the last year, let alone those who have ever taken drugs.

Yes I made a distinction, I said have ever taken drugs in the past year and this brings me on to my second point. The problem could be that the question was worded poorly. I would suggest: “Have you ever taken or used illegal drugs?” This might have presented a different result to the question on drug use among the UL population. The problem with the original question being that it appeared to ask about someone who is using drugs as opposed to if someone has used drugs recently, which I believe could massively affect the statistics. People rarely regard themselves as drug

users and just because someone uses drugs this does not mean it’s regular, leading one to answer “no” to the question posed last semester. With that being said the next two questions did ask about which drugs people used and also how frequently but I still firmly believe if phrased differently the first question would have gotten very different results. By simply changing how you define drug use, this potentially could massively affect the results. Is a drug-user someone who is and currently plans to continue their drug use or someone who has used drugs at any stage in the past year, or could we go so far as to say a drug user is someone who has ever used

illegal drugs? I would like to see how much this affects the statistics. A simple time frame included with the survey could allow for a particularly informing insight. Another possible cause of the low numbers of self-reported drug-users could simply be people still not wishing to share their drug use with anyone, regardless of anonymity. So in my opinion we don’t accurately know what the percentage of drug use is in UL and if a survey goes ahead next semester we may gain a better understanding and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a large change in the figures.

CASE STUDY:

The dangers of drug use Lucy’s story is one of both prescription and illegal drug abuse and how it spiraled out of control for her. SEAMUS TOOMEY Have you ever taken illegal drugs and if so what are they? Lucy: “Yes, cannabis and cocaine. If we’re talking about valium, it’s legal how I got them but it began to be illegal the way I continued to get them.” How regular was/is your use? Lucy: “The valium was, when it got really bad, three times a day and the cocaine was coming up to four times a week and now

CREDITS EDITOR: Tomás Heneghan News editor: Evie Kearney Lifestyle editor: Cora Power Clubs & Societies editor: Seamus Toomey Sports editor: Marisa Kennedy Photo editor: Holly Kenny Social media admin: Caryl Faye Yulo Survey admin: Aisling O’Connor CONTRIBUTORS: Seamus Toomey, Marisa Kennedy, Cora Power, Naomi Deevy, Geadóid McCarthy, Tomás Heneghan, Colin Clarke, Seán McKillen, Marian O’Donnell, Ciara Corcoran, Declan Mills, Aisling Moloney, Emma Taylor, Holly Kenny, Aisling O’Connor, Anna Parkes, Katrina Galvin, Meg Molloy, Molly O’Rourke, Rachel West, Clodagh Doyle, Paul Jordan, Brian Crowley, Ruairi Nealon, Emily Kelly, Eoghan Carey.

I would maybe do cannabis once every three months.” Can you tell us about your experience with these drugs? Has it affected your life positively or negatively? Lucy: “Negatively for sure. Basically the way I got into the valium, because I had done pot a few times here and there, was I got very badly depressed in first year and had very bad anxiety which manifested itself, so I was really depressed and not going out very much. “After I had a really bad period of that I went to see a psychiatrist who put me on the average antidepressants and because my anxiety was so bad he put me on valium as well which is basically, for those who don’t know, a pill you take that’ll calm you down. You can

Corrections & Clarifications In the last issue (Volume XXIV. Edition 5) the article ‘UL goes green with its new Green Flag’ should have been attributed to Liz Gabbett. In the same edition the article ‘Pretty in pink’ should have been attributed to both Robyn Griffin and Gabrielle McCormack. In Volume XXIV. Edition 3 the article ‘Horror story: Erasmus & co-op bureaucracy’ was incorrectly attributed to Naomi Deevey. An Focal wishes to clarify that the attribution for the article should have been to Naomi Deevy.

physically feel it a few minutes after you take it and basically you’re supposed to take it whenever you feel panicky or a panic attack coming on. “Even when I was getting prescribed them he was saying ‘these are very addictive so go handy on them’ so that’s how it started. I was taking the antidepressants and the valium just when I needed to but then it also transpired that I felt like I was feeling better. “Then when I was feeling fine and I started to go out more, I don’t know how I realised it but I took a valium in the day and I was drinking afterwards but I realised that if you take the valium and then the alcohol afterwards you get a really nice buzz if you wait a long time. “So then it ended up that it would get worse and worse and when I was getting drunk I’d feel very rowdy but with the valium you would feel like you were sober but you would still get no inhibitions whatsoever. So I started to take more and more. It would go from taking one with a drink, and I had stopped taking them during the day at this stage, then it would go to having maybe three in a night, four in a night, five in a night until it was getting ridiculous, but then I started to realise the longer this went on I started needing them in the day. “I wasn’t drinking during the day but whenever I wanted to feel normal I would take it with drink and then that became regular. That was from about

February until about August so that was a really bad period of my life. I was still getting really depressed but then because I was practically dependant I couldn’t get through

‘well if you’re doing this stuff to get a nice buzz then why not try other stuff’ so that’s how I got into cocaine and all the rest of it and tried some of that but I would say it was defi

You still want to do it more than anything but it’s telling yourself that you can’t and it never really goes away, which is hard. my day without taking valium or something else so other stuff didn’t seem that bad. “I was still very depressed and it was a horrible time in my life and from there it was like

nitely negative. “It took me about a month and a half to get off them and it had gotten to the stage where I was just buying them off the street because I knew my psychiatrist wasn’t going to

prescribe me them anymore. It kind of shook me up for a good six months afterwards. “I had very little support getting off them, so it was basically just me by myself going through withdrawal symptoms and cutting myself down pill by pill and it’s very bad as well because now when you look back on it and whenever you’re having a bad day and you just want to feel nice again the first thing you want to do is go back to that behaviour where you can feel calm. “You still want to do the things - it’s just you have to tell yourself not to, but you still want to do it, you still want to do it more than anything but it’s telling yourself that you can’t and it never really goes away, which is hard.” *The name of the interviewee has been changed to protect their anonymity.

November 2015 NEWS

Rugby legend Paul O’Connell honoured with UL Doctorate Paul O’Connell was “delighted but a little embarrassed” to be honoured with a Doctorate of Science from the University of Limerick earlier this month.

CORA POWER & MARISA KENNEDY FOR three years O’Connell studied Computer Engineering in UL and he said that not finishing his degree is one of his “biggest regrets”. O’Connell is the 100th recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from the university since 1990 alongside the likes of Seamus Heaney, John B Keane and John Hume. Speaking of the award, the former Irish captain said: “to

compliment I could give to the university”. Speaking about the recipient, Professor Don Barry said: “The awarding of a University of Limerick Honorary Doctorate is an occasion when we get the opportunity to honour those who have inspired, who have led with courage and passion and who have made great contributions in their fields of endeavour. “Much thought, consideration

handle watching people diving constantly,” he said playfully. “Those aren’t the values I want Paddy to have.” O’Connell believes sports such as rugby and hurling have great displays of sportsmanship where you, “congratulate your opponent if he hits you with a good tackle,” but insists he won’t be forcing his son into playing rugby. Ahead of his impending move to Toulon, O’Connell spoke about the life-changing experiences his family will encounter. “I’m just looking forward to all the experiences and all the knowledge it’s going to bring me,” he said. With such little time left in his playing career, the Irish legend stated that he is taking every opportunity that is coming his way. “When the time comes to move on, you have to move on...

Paul O’Connell with UL President, Professor Don Barry at Plassey House. PHOTO: MARISA KENNEDY. you’ve got to make the most of where you’re going.” When asked whether he will miss playing rugby with Munster and Ireland, O’Connell

said that he will envy the players but we won’t watch their games with regret. Being a true Limerick man, the city will always be close to

his heart and despite moving abroad, O’Connell declared: “Limerick will always be my home and it will always be somewhere I’ll come back to.”

Arena extension coming soon; featuring second pool but no Olympics Paul O’Connell speaking at a press conference at UL. PHOTO: CORA POWER. get appreciated by your home university is something very special.” “When you grow up in Limerick, close to the city or whatever, the university ends up being a big part of your life.” O’Connell first came to UL at the age of four to swim, training 12 times a week in what was the 33-metre pool during the 80’s. He admitted that he had used “absolutely every facility on the campus in a sporting sense” before ever coming here to study. “If you grow up in Limerick and come here as a student, chances are you’ll have seen every square foot of the place before you set foot in the door. I don’t think many world class campuses could boast that they play such a big role in the community.” As well as swimming, the Limerick man took part in hurling, soccer, camping and debating here on campus both before and during his time studying in UL. “That’s what’s so great about it. UL ends up being every Limerick boy’s playground and that’s probably the biggest

and deliberation goes into deciding who is worthy… except when it is a real-life super hero, and particularly when his name is Paul O’ Connell.” The former Munster player refused to rule out returning to the university to finish his degree. “I think about it a lot. It’s a big regret of mine, not finishing my degree.” While his schedule is hectic at the moment, he admitted that he has spoken to the university in the past about a possible return. Balancing a young family, rugby, an injury and a new life in France has not been easy for O’Connell and he plans to focus on that for the time being. “I probably have 18 months left of playing rugby and then I’ll want to take a break for a while. Who knows, I could end up back here as a student again.” As a role model to his two young children, Paddy (5) and Lola (1) O’Connell appreciates the values that sport can teach, hurling and rugby in particular. “Paddy’s really into soccer at the moment and I sit down and watch it with him sometimes. I can’t stand it, I can’t

SEAMUS TOOMEY THE Arena Extension is underway and looks set to be done in its entirety by this time next year, barring any delays, An Focal has been told by Director of Sport in UL, David Mahedy. What does this mean for UL? Well, it’s good news for our clubs and societies particularly our water-based clubs. With an additional pool there’ll be less fighting between our Kayak, Surf and Swim clubs for pool time and perhaps they may even be able to use the separate pools at the same time. With this being said, the Arena are still playing with the timetable and what they will be able to do with it in the near future. Director of Sport in UL, David Mahedy explained: “There will be hours available to the various clubs because we can split it up and we can still have swimming going on so you’re not canceling stuff and it might be that it’s back in the main pool but we’ll be able to juggle the timetable a lot better and you’ll have earlier times.” Along with this the general public who use the Arena will be able to avail of more space once Munster Rugby moves

out. The National Strength and Conditioning Centre, or Elite Gym as it’s known to most, is going to be available for use by the general public likely to help combat the problem of the often overcrowded Health and Performance area. This can’t happen until Munster Rugby leaves the facility though. There is good news however (and bad), Munster’s new facility will be finished in July of 2016 meaning they should have flown the coop by July or August. The bad news is sort of bittersweet good news - the upstairs is going to be renovated meaning it’ll be revamped for the public, the bitter part being that this means it will be out of access for an undefined period of time. If all goes to plan there is a good chance that it will become available within the first semester. “What is going to happen is that we will be able to reconfigure the second floor here. As Munster move out it means that the whole second floor will become available to be used. Now we can’t start that until Munster move out, so that can only start in, say, August next year,” said Mr. Mahedy. What exactly they’re going to do with the second floor is

still unsure, they haven’t fully decided as there’s a lot of possibilities. Mr. Mahedy uses boxing as an example of one of the possibilities seeing as there’s a large club in the University, or splitting the space between that and a spinning studio which would take up very little space. “We’re toying with ideas but it’s kind of a knock-on effect of Munster moving out of that space becomes available,” Mr. Mahedy explained. Speaking to An Focal, he also defended the decision to continue building the extension regardless of not having the student levies helping (narrowly missing getting student levies with a 63% Yes under a supermajority vote). Instead of discarding the work they had already done, the Arena decided to continue on to get the university these facilities and so far that has been off the back of their own commercial activities. This is likely part of the reason that membership fees for both the 4 month and 8 month term for UL students have gone up in the past year. “We’re funding this ourselves so we have to generate enough money because we didn’t get the agreement with the students to come in on that, but we felt that this was needed rather than stopping the whole thing. “You see this project included the climbing wall, included the handball, included the pool.

There was no point in stopping for two or three years which would have been ridiculous, especially when we had gone through all the drawings and done a certain amount.” Mr. Mahedy added: “The arena and our existing business will pay for this itself - there’s nothing coming, there’s no grants but what we’re hoping is that maybe the students will come on board with the other facilities and it’ll balance out. “Otherwise we would have stopped and we’d have got nothing, which would have been a waste and waiting two or three years and then going again and the whole thing changes and the price goes up - now we got it probably not at a good time but at a better time than now because the prices would keep going up.” Mr. Mahedy also put rumours to rest that the Arena is hoping to host the Olympics. “The second pool was needed for it being full at times. Now I know where that Olympics rumour would come from that you needed a warm up pool but we don’t have enough spectator accommodation anyway - there’s only 500 spectator accommodation there, that’s not changing - so no would be the answer to that but it does mean we can take other events and still have a body of water. Like last weekend, for example, we had a gala on and nobody else could use the place.”

November 2015 NEWS

New student centre for U.L?

Talks on holding a referendum in 2016 on a new student centre for UL are well underway. This semester, a new initiative which will investigate the possibility of having a new and more suitable student centre that would accommodate the Union, Clubs & Societies and all the other necessary student services, currently housed in the Student Union building in the courtyard is currently taking place.

NAOMI DEEVY The current building, built in the 1990s for a student body half the size it is now, has long been insufﬁcient to hold the services it provides. The new idea is to open up the discussion about what exactly the plans would incorporate, to the student body as a whole, as well as to the members of the organisations involved who are in dire need of appropriate space to carry out their work and activities. The architect being tasked with coming up with the design, Hugh Kelly, of Hugh Kelly Architects has been very involved in gathering opinions on what a design might entail. The questions fuelling the basis of his ideas

There is also a need for meeting rooms and ofﬁces for Union staff, because, at the moment, some important meeting rooms have to be shared and other rooms around campus have to be hunted down at the last minute, creating real chaos when trying to conduct Union affairs. As well as that, there have been calls for a student centre that can be the real heart of the campus for students; a place to go just for them, a non-academic space with enough areas to sit, work, chat and socialise in a welcoming and chilled out atmosphere. In a recent survey, students said the current SU building is dark and unwelcoming. A new design would hopefully create a space where students might feel at home, with enough

The current building, built in the 1990s for a student body half the size it is now, has long been insufﬁcient to hold the services it provides

for a design proposal have been:

What services are needed? What is important about having a students’ union and its services? What sorts of facilities do we want in UL? How can we make a student centre that supports student life? In this way, the design will be driven by the needs and wants of the university community itself. Contrary to previous proposals on a student centre, there is a call for ideas to be much more focused on bettering the overall atmosphere of student life in the university this time. In the past, some of the ideas were seen as being over the top and not really dealing with the problems and deﬁciencies of the out of date and inadequate facilities being talked about. Some of the ideas that have come up so far range from basic operational necessities like, for example, space for Clubs & Societies to store their equipment as, presently, they have no suitable storage facilities.

space for all the services to be able to support the challenges of student life. It has been suggested that a large lounge area in the front, where students could stroll in and set up stress free, a courtyardlike central area to encourage social life, open, bright spaces with room to study and high speed internet and kitchen facilities so that they can heat up food and don’t have to pay for food in restaurants, would make a genuine difference. These are just some of the ideas being talked about. The size of the new facility and what it would hold will be decided by discussions like these that look at what we really want from a student centre.

The story so far There has been two referendums so far on the topic; in 2012 the proposal for a student centre, as well as an extension to the Arena Sports Centre and repair of the Maguire sports pitches was put to the student body and was rejected. The proposal would have involved a student levy of €130. Some of the reasons behind the rejection were that mock-up designs were dotted

Current UL Students’ Union building. PHOTO: WWW.GOOVERSEAS.COM around campus on the days running up to the referendum and some voters believed the drawings were final, when in fact they were just an impression of what could be possible. These designs included a three-story nightclub and cinema, and people felt that didn’t reflect their needs or wants. This was not communicated well and there was an issue with people not being well informed about all aspects involved. Voters also spoke about it being an ‘all or nothing’ option, where if you were in favour of, for example, repair of the sports pitches but not of the student centre you might have just voted no on that basis. Another problem was the timing; students felt overwhelmed by a hostile financial climate while already being on a tight budget dealing with the usual costs of student life. In 2014, another referendum was held - this time, the section on the student centre was to conduct a detailed needs analysis with focus groups and expert advice before the final plans being voted on down the line by another, separate referendum. The pitch upgrade and Arena extension were also included. The levy attached was reduced to €67 to take into

account students’ ability to afford it. While this strategy was much more popular, with

the associated levy will have graduated and therefore won’t beneﬁt from the new and

The design will be driven by the needs and wants of the university community itself

a yes vote of 63%, it was not enough to reach the required 66% to guarantee the motion would pass. Referendums of this type require a qualiﬁed majority of two thirds or more to be passed according to the ULSU constitution. For the moment, the student centre alone is being looked into in terms of the plans for the referendum, but this time it is open to all UL ID holders and is being drawn from the ground up instead of being dictated.

The issues One of the arguments, aside from the speciﬁcs of each previous referendum on this topic, was the point that the plans won’t be ﬁnished by the time the student who pays

improved facilities. Justiﬁcation for voting ‘no’ came in the form of “I won’t be here, so why should I pay?” Seen by some as a selﬁsh attitude, it also comes from a place of struggle, student costs and budget management. Sometimes extra calls for students to give out cash they don’t have are just too much to ask on top of everything else. In some cases however, the facilities we have on campus today, can be attributed to past students who voted to pay a student levy for something they saw as valuable to the entire UL community, as well as the wider region. For example, the construction of the UL boathouse was down to a referendum that was passed and now houses the

UL Rowing Club, which has won numerous awards and has gained a lot of prestige for the university, growing our national and international reputation. One important part of the proposed plans this time, is that incoming students will feel some of the benefits. So, some, if not a major part, of the work will be finished within the usual four years of an undergraduate degree, so that first years who agree on the referendum and pay an associated levy will enjoy its benefits by fourth year. As well as this, current students and alumni alike could enjoy a new student centre. In addition, it should be remembered that when the reputation of a university is improved nationally and internationally, the degree that graduates hold is also enhanced and that cannot be bad for their future careers or studies. In the upcoming weeks and months, more talks will be held to discuss the plans further. What is important is that if students are to approve this idea they should be involved in its planning. To have your voice heard, stay in touch with your class, Union and Clubs & Societies’ representatives.

November 2015

Centre for Student Life UL Student Union invite you to propose ideas for the New Student Centre that will serve all the students of the university. A room to reheat meals

A room to make Hot Drinks

A place to call our own Debating chamber

A place to recharge body and mind! Welcoming

Chill Out Zone

Creative Space

Transparent

Open at weekends

Located in the centre of the campus Storage space

Society & Clubs meeting rooms Games room open and transparent

A place to recharge phones and laptops

Have you're say email ulwolves@ul.ie with your ideas! hugh kelly architects

November 2015 EDITORIAL

Goodbye and best of luck . . . for now at least Twelve weeks ago I took on a new challenge. I arrived down to Limerick again for an unexpected eleventh semester in UL (although two of those were spent on co-op and Erasmus). It was to be a test of my abilities as a journalist and as a leader of sorts. I had successfully convinced the decision-makers of the Students’ Union that I would be a qualified Editor for An Focal. I was to bring it back in a sort of blaze of glory.

TOMÁS HENEGHAN THOUGH my An Focal journey began way back in October 2014, twelve weeks ago marked a new aspect in my relationship with this newspaper. From reporter a year ago to Editor now I was sure I knew the newspaper,

the campus and the students well enough to bring something unique to my time at An Focal. I had big plans, massive plans and in reality not nearly enough time to develop and implement them all in my 12 or so weeks. I’d like to now believe I’ve achieved at least some of what I set out to do. None

of it was done alone. I was at the receiving end of spectacular help and support from contributors, SU and UL staff and a dedicated and hard-working team of regular writers. I also hope I had the support of the student body here too. I hope I met my obligations to students to give you all the news and

content you wanted to see. The journey is not over now. Thankfully I will be staying on at An Focal for second semester too. It was a deviation from the plan as it stood twelve weeks ago but a very welcome one. I now have more time to bring in more changes to An Focal and open it further to

students, staff and the wider community. An Focal is your newspaper for your views. It has to reﬂect this or the newspaper’s purpose becomes blurred and eventually disappears. A newspaper however can never cater to all people, all of the time, especially when the audience is at the

very least 13,000 people. We try though to provide balance. Sometimes content might not be what you want to see or read but this cannot be allowed to diminish An Focal’s duty to the community here in UL. We’ve had an interesting semester filled with events, controversial news and opinions, and hopefully a revival of this newspaper. There has also been outside interest in An Focal with some of the content appearing on student website, Campus.ie and the newspaper being read and positively commented on by those in other media groups, such as the Limerick Leader. Next semester will hopefully see more news and a significant increase in the range of content available to read. There’ll also be many more fantastic opportunities for writers and contributors too, especially with both a General Election and a Students’ Union election coming up next semester. There’s also the news that a political party leaders debate may be hosted by RTÉ in UL before the General Election. There is of course the big referendum too, which is covered in a few articles in this newspaper. A new student centre could be on the horizon and considering the debates surrounding the previous two in 2012 and 2014 on a similar issue, this promises to be a matter of discussion throughout semester two. The year looks promising for An Focal and I’m honoured that I can continue to oversee it. But before that, there’re those assignments and exams to contend with. They’re not fun, but unfortunately necessary. Take a read through the exam and study tips here in An Focal and get in touch with Marian, the SU Academic Officer, Ciara, the SU Welfare Officer or any of the services available to students in UL during exam season. Finally, a sincere and genuine thank you for everything you’ve given to An Focal over the past twelve weeks. Best of luck in the exams and (though it technically is only November) happy pre-Christmas.

November 2015

A successful semester – SU President’s update

COLIN CLARKE WELL lads, what’s the craic. That was some semester. It’s hard to believe it’s week 11 already. Get those dirty smelly Christmas jumpers ready because Christmas Daze is just around the corner. It’s been a long semester but an enjoyable one. We had a great Fresher’s Week, our inaugural “Wolves go to the dogs” race night, SoUL Fest with Hudson Taylor, Full Moon welcome party and still have Christmas Daze to come. We hope to continue to organise and support events like this next semester and are looking forward to a fantastic Charity Week. We are also in the middle of planning an amazing new event called UL FEST which will be a music and arts festival for the whole UL community; staff, students and alumni. The proposal is to hold a large festival on Plassey Lawn with a big marquee act to headline the gig. We want to raise a substantial amount for charity this year and showcase UL’s beautiful and unique campus to current and prospective students both nationally and internationally. My day-to-day responsibilities this year are going to meetings and representing students’ views on a variety of different committees. The union have expressed the need for increased resources in the counselling department. Through constant lobbying of the director of student affairs, as well as UL’s

Governing Authority, we were successful in gaining additional resources which will help to clear counselling waiting lists by Christmas. We have also placed a lot more emphasis on press releases and communication. We have had national and local press coverage around our fight for increased counselling services and we were also the first Students’ Union to facilitate the introduction of gender neutral toilets. We have also presented the Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan with a letter calling on her to prioritise mental health services in third level institutions and to collaborate with the Minister for Health on this initiative. The problems with the student health centre have also taken up a lot of my time. There have been over 10 meetings this semester in order to try and find a solution. There has been an increase in the amount of doctor’s clinics on campus which surpassed the amount of clinics we have had on campus for the last three semesters. However, this is only an interim measure as the university is currently in the tender process of finding a new medical director. ULSU will continue to prioritise student welfare and will engage with the university to ensure an effective and appropriate provision of healthcare is available to UL students. I sit on over 30 committees which makes it impossible to give you feedback from them all in this article but I will try to summarise. I sit on the building committee for the Library extension and one of the main things I really wanted to emphasise was the need for a 24 hour study area. I’m happy to announce that there will be a 24 hour facility in the new building, which it’s

hoped will operational by the end of 2017. This is a huge development for UL students. We have also been able to secure additional library opening hours at the weekends leading up to exams. From this week (Week 11) onwards the library will be open from 10am until 10pm. One of the biggest projects that we have been working on is the creation of a new student centre. Unfortunately our current student centre is not fit for purpose and over capacity. Our huge increase in student numbers means that we can no longer operate in our current facility. Next semester we hope to run a referendum which will ask students if they want a new student centre. We are currently in the process of compiling student suggestions for what should be included in our new centre. If you have any ideas please email them to ulwolves@ul.ie I’ve immensely enjoyed this first semester but it has been as challenging as it has been rewarding. I’m constantly looking for ways to improve the union and for student feedback. That’s why I’ve been having a weekly clinic in the stables on a Wednesday night called “Pints with the President” where students can ask me a question, or give a suggestion about how to improve the union and in turn receive a free pint or soft drink. I’ve managed to get over 80 different questions and queries which are being taken into account and worked out where possible. I hope you all have had a great first semester. I’m personally really looking forward to what we have planned next year. Also elections for the students’ union are in Week 7 next semester and if anyone is thinking about running for a position, come in and talk to Liz Gabbett about what the role entails.

SU UPDATES

Representing UL’s postgraduate community

SEÁN McKILLEN HEY everyone, That semester has passed by extremely quickly. Welcome to Week 11. This will be my final piece until next semester. I just want to wish everyone the best of luck with their final assignments of the semester. I hope you all have a fantastic winter break, and come back rearing to go for the second semester. It has been an exciting semester in the PSU. We have been busy tackling many of the issues facing postgraduate students here

in UL. Since taking on this job, I have been engaged in ongoing dialogue with many departments regarding exploitative policies impacting on the postgraduate community. This work will continue over the winter break and right up until my term expires in June 2016. There is plenty left to accomplish. I have represented individual students in meetings with their supervisors and heads of department and have worked with the Graduate School in helping students to avail of the official grievance procedures in the university. The PSU is quite simply here to represent students in all avenues relating to academic life here in UL. If you are having any issues over the course of your study here, do not hesitate to get in touch with me. At this stage you all know where the PSU is located. Feel free to drop me an email and we can arrange a time to chat. Starting in the new-year, the

PSU will be hosting a series of faculty specific research postgraduate forums to address the concerns of PhD and research MA students. People can feel safe in knowing that any of their contributions will be kept anonymous. I believe meetings such as these are necessary as there seems to be a great deal of fear in the postgraduate community about bringing these issues to staff. I’m happy to continue advocating on your behalf. But I do believe these meetings will lead to positive benefits for the postgraduate community in UL. No one wants to go it alone, and this will ensure that you will be given the opportunity to highlight your concerns in a safe space, as well as being able to identify issues of common concern across your departments/faculties. That’s it from me for now. I’ll be in the office up until December 22nd before heading away for Christmas, feel free to pop in and say hello.

November 2015 SU UPDATES

Call in if you ever need anything: SU Welfare CIARA CORCORAN IT’S hard to believe it’s already the last edition of this semester’s An Focal, time has gone by so fast! As this is the last issue until next semester how about a semester review?

What you've achieved for students since starting? Since the start of our term there has been a lot happening. The welfare ofﬁce is always a busy place and without the help of the Welfare Team I’d be lost. They are a fantastic group of students who give up their free time and come up with some fantastic ideas

and initiatives to do throughout campus. If you fancy being one of these amazing people and help look after the Welfare of your fellow students come down to the SU Hub at 6pm every Wednesday or send me an email at suwelfare@ul.ie if you’d like to get involved. As you all know we’ve been working hard to ensure the best medical and counselling services are provided in UL. We have secured an extra 20 sessions of counselling per week. We have also been guaranteed that we will have at least nine general medical sessions per week along with one STI and two contraceptive clinics. On a regular basis I have meetings with Declan Aherne, Head of Counselling, to ensure there is good communication and feedback. These meetings have become invaluable and have given us the opportunity to have an input into the service provided to you and ensure that any issues arising are ironed out as soon as possible. A number of weeks ago we called for nominations for this year’s Charity Week

charities. I received over 25 emails from students nominating their favourite charities then had the immensely difﬁcult job of narrowing them down to eight. Four were then chosen in Exec and brought to Student Council. I am delighted to announce that our 4 charities for this year are: • Corbett Suicide Prevention Patrol • Bumbulance • SVP Drop in Centre • Blood bike groups of Ireland Keep an eye out next semester for more information about each of the charities and plans for Charity Week. In Week 7 we held Console suicide awareness and intervention training which was a huge success. All 50 spaces were ﬁlled in no time and many more were put on a waiting list. It was fantastic to see so many of you willing to give your time to learn a fantastic skill with the hope of helping those around you. I have to thank Liz for all the effort she put into the training and Console for providing a fantastic learning experience for all who attended. An initiative recently kicked off in the Union was the Wolf Wristbands. These bands are aimed at reminding all students what the Union, C&S, and fellow students mean to each other and the

strength we have to support each other. Proceeds from these bands will go towards mental health initiatives to support UL students. The Aldi bus is continuing this year and is always busy. It’s a free bus to Aldi on a Monday evening at 5pm and 7pm. The bus will pick you up and drop you off at whatever on campus village you’re living in. Email aldibusul@gmail.com to book your place. ULSU made a leading step a few months ago by introducing two gender neutral toilets to the Union. There has been nothing but positive feedback from this initiative which has received both local and national media attention. This has become a great asset to our union and our UL community has moved a step in the right direction towards equality for all. Campaign weeks are a large part of what I do and this semester was jam packed. World Suicide Prevention day was marked in Week 1 with a UL Cycle Against Suicide. Week 4 was Physical Health Week with collaboration with First 7 Weeks, Smarter Travel and so many more. Physical Health week saw a huge variety of activities, from cycling challenges, to breastfeeding tips and a Par-Tea. Week 5 was Sexual Health and Guidance (SHAG) Week and with almost 180 of

you at the sex quiz we can safely say it was a success. Mental Health Week was held in Week 8 as a chance to get away from the stress of assignments and mid-terms. We had colouring in the Hub, tea and chats, and mindfulness and positive thinking workshops throughout the week. Week 11 is now Drug and Alcohol Awareness Week so keep an eye out for all the events happening. We will be holding a non-alcoholic event, having some fun in the courtyard (weather dependent!) and providing you with drug and alcohol information. On a day-to-day basis life has been continuing here. I’ve been dealing with accommodation issues, ﬁnancial queries, childcare bursary and hardship loan applications, Student Assistance Fund assessments, student drop-ins and a variety of meetings.

What you're working on still Even though this is the last issue of An Focal this semester work is still on-going here. We are still working on the speciﬁcations of what we want from the medical centre both now and in the future. I’m also working on next semester’s campaign weeks including a Mental Health Week, Road Safety Week and Love Your Body Week. I’ll

also be working with Killian in marketing about getting as many of you as possible to get yourselves a wristband and donate towards our mental health initiative fund. Also, we will be holding a Christmas party for a limited number of students and their children. We anticipate that this will be held in Week 13. Santa will be there and there will be a present for each child. Make sure to register your child by emailing suwelfare@ul.ie before November 23rd.

What you're hoping to achieve before the end of the academic year By the end of the academic year I hope to continue the work started this semester. We hope to provide another suicide awareness and intervention training and I want to complete my ﬁnance guide. I’m also hoping to continue working with Mary I and LIT SUs on a project we’re getting underway at the moment. I also hope that we can do our utmost to secure another full time counsellor in the counselling centre. Most of all I want to ensure that I’m there for you as much as possible throughout the year. My door is always open, I’m here to help you so call in if you ever need anything.

Wolf wristbands for friendship, support, fun and belonging CIARA CORCORAN THE Wolf has become central to life in ULSU but what does the wolf encompass? A number of months ago we asked all students a number of questions relating to C&S and life in the Union. This survey included questions like “what does C&S mean to you?” and “what does the Union mean to you?” Thanks to so many of your responses we were able to get a sense of the importance the Union has to all of you. It was from this we also fully understood what the Wolfpack means to you and what it represents for you. This was portrayed in your answers using words like ‘friendship’, ‘support’, ‘fun’ and ‘belonging’. This is the type of environment we feel throughout the Union building and we want every student to feel that way both in the Union and across campus. And so we wondered if there was some way we could bring that Wolfpack feeling to every student across the whole campus. Thanks to Paul Lee, wristbands were the chosen method

and so here we are. These wristbands aim to embody what the Union, C&S, and the Wolfpack mean to you while also raising money for the provision of mental health initiatives within UL. Student welfare is a major priority of the Union and so the funds raised through these bands will go directly back to UL students and their mental health. Year on year we come across a huge variety of students, all who have a story to tell and many who come to the Union for help, for support, and for friendship. We also come across many distressed students who want support from a friend or familiar face. We encourage all our students to support each other and now we have another way to support each other. The funds from these wristbands will go towards initiatives such as, but not limited to, suicide awareness and intervention trainings. We also hope that this fund will be available to support classmates in tragic situations such as student deaths. We welcome your input into what areas of student mental health you feel we should concentrate on so call into the Welfare Ofﬁce or email suwelfare@ul.ie if you have any ideas or issues you think we should address. We believe that student-to-student support is essential and we feel that this

project is one way to provide it. By having this wristband on you it’s available to you at any time, day or night, as a reminder of what the UL community has to offer you. It’s also a reminder that as a Wolfpack we’re there for each other, we look out for each other. While we have fun and friendship together, we also provide each other with a sense of belonging and a support network that is ever available. For times when things get tough the UL counselling centre is always willing to help. And so, to make the step to attend counselling somewhat easier we have provided you with their phone number on the inside of the band should you ever need it. The Counselling Centre have drop in hours every day from 11am-12pm and 3pm-4pm in CM-071. You are guaranteed to be seen at the drop-in and a follow up appointment will be made as early as possible. The wristbands will be available from SU reception and the Welfare Ofﬁce. There will also be a number of students who will have them in your classes, clubs and societies. The Union is not making any proﬁt from these bands and they are donation based. So please donate €2 or what you can towards a worthy cause we can all relate to and utilise throughout our time in UL.

November 2015

“Lean On Us” Help the wolfpack help the wolves

Donate 2 or whatever you can.€ Proceeds of these bands will go towards the provision of mental health initiatives within UL such as suicide awareness and intervention training. Contact suwelfare@ul.ie for more information or initiatives you would like to see

November 2015 SU UPDATES

A lot done, more to do . . . – SU Academic update So it’s been a long semester for both you the students and us in the SU. I’m sure a lot of ye wonder what it is your sabbatical officers get up to during the day - Is it all just sitting around drinking tea and colouring? I’m afraid not.

MARIAN O'DONNELL IT’S been one hell of a busy semester for us. This semester I have been particularly busy advocating for students on a number of different

committees such as Academic Council, the Academic Program Review Committee, the Academic Regulations Committee and the Faculty Board Meetings. It’s important that student’s voices are heard on all these committees. I have also been very busy in advising students on an individual basis, weather you’re thinking of transferring course, changing module, you’re looking for extra help or you just want to pop in for a quick chant, my door is always open. The projects that I have been working on this year

have been across a wide range of areas. Firstly I was looking at fourth year teaching practice accommodation issues and we did a sample survey of some of last year’s fourth years. We are now looking at ways to make the period before and after students go on school placement as student friendly as possible. I also worked a lot on getting our grinds register on the SU website up and running. Our website now has a detailed list of tutors in a range of different subjects that are there if you need extra help. I have also

been working on developing a proposal for student choice awards. What is proposed is a series of awards to celebrate students who go above and beyond during their time in UL. These awards will hopefully celebrate UL students’ achievements across a wide array of areas such as student representation, charity fundraising, overcoming adversity and personal achievement. The event and awards ceremony will highlight all the fantastic triumphs and successes that our students achieve while they are

studying in UL. This proposal is currently working its way through Student Council and will hopefully be up and running next semester. I have also been working in conjunction with the UL Experience group, made up of members of Student Council to develop a co-op survey. This survey will hopefully shed some light on students experiences of the co-op programme and will enable us to bring forward some realistic changes to the co-op ofﬁce next semester. Finally I am working on the idea of an FYP contract. This proposal is a cross-departmental contract between a student and their supervisor before they start their FYP. While this is currently in its infancy, its aim is to ensure that students and staff have a set of guidelines of what is expected of them over the course of the FYP. Another part of my job is looking after the class reps

with Liz, our Democracy and Development Manager. This year we have had a fantastic recruitment of class reps with well over 250 students volunteering to represent their class. We also had two really successful training days - one in September when we highlighted the role of the class rep and showcased our new and updated Student Representation handbooks and the second one at the end of October when we had a fantastic guest speaker in Adam Harris. Adam gave us a really interesting and engaging talk on autism awareness and on the role we can play in ensuring that everyone in college feels included and respected. That’s all from me! Next year promises to be even more jam-packed and if you have any suggestions, brilliant ideas or small things you would just like to see done don’t hesitate to get in contact with me on suacademic@ ul.ie.

FACT SHEET A number of pills sold as ecstasyy have been tested and found f to contain substances other than MDMA. MDMA,, and many of these substances,, have been linked to hospitalisation’s ’ , deaths and possible ’s mental health isues. There is no way of telling what is in a pill just byy looking at it. IT’S ALW LWA LW WA AYS YS SAFEST NOT O TO T TTAKE UNKNOWN OR ILLICITT DRUGS AT A ALL. If you do take a pill...

IT IS LESS RISKY TO TAKE HALF (ALTHOUGH SMALLER DOSES CAN ALSO BE DANGEROUS). IF YOU DON’T COME UP AS QUICKLY AS EXPECTED DON’T ASSUME YOU’VE GOT DUD PILLS. WAIT 2 HOURS, SOME DRUGS TAKE LONGER TO TAKE EFFECT THAN OTHERS. NEVER DOUBLE DROP. NEVER MIX YOUR DRUGS. ALCOHOL, OTHER CLUB DRUGS AND PRESCRIBED DRUGS CAN ALL INTERACT DANGEROUSLY WITH PILLS, AND WITH EACH OTHER. IF DANCING, REHYDRATE WITH WATER OR ISOTONIC DRINKS REGULARLY, BUT DON’T GO OVER A PINT PER HOUR. TAKE BREAKS FORM DANCING.

The Students’’ Union in no way condones the use of illegal drugs

If you are concerned about a substance that you or a friend have taken: Don’t take any more.

Don’t take other drugs.

Seek medical advice.

For information fformation and support on drugs and alcohol, visit drugs.ie/services. The HSE Drugs & Alcohol Helpline can be reached on 1800 459 459.

November 2015 LIFESTYLE

Fresher’s Diary: End of semester GEARÓID McCARTHY IT is hard to believe that this here is the ﬁnal instalment of Fresher’s Diary for the semester. My ﬁrst semester at the University of Limerick is almost complete, with only a couple of weeks remaining (excluding exams). A stark contrast from when I was in secondary school and the holidays could never come fast enough, now I feel as if I will actually miss being in university for the duration of the Christmas break. Of course, one of the things I’ll miss the most between now and the start of next semester is none other than An Focal. Writing for the newspaper has been a very enjoyable experience and one of my favourite activities at university so far (even if my Fresher’s Diaries don’t always perfectly convey the extent of my enthusiasm for An Focal) and I’m very much looking forward to continuing to work with the paper for the next semester. As well as An Focal, I’ll miss the societies I’m part of, most of my lecturers and classmates who I get on fairly

well with and being on campus in general, because the university is an environment I simply love being a part of. On to the life of the Fresher’s Diarist since the last issue, much of my time at the moment is being invested in attempting to rescue the semester academically and rushing through assignments I put aside, believing I had a lot more time for them than I actually did. Furthermore I got my exam timetable, and to my dismay I had an exam scheduled for a Saturday. A Saturday, at four in the afternoon. What a farce. I have since been informed by some senior students that Saturday exams are unfortunately quite commonplace and to expect them during university, but regardless it is irritating. Generally the idea of university exams is nerve-wracking since I have no idea what to expect from them, other than the guideline given by the limited past exam papers available on Sharepoint (which are in themselves somewhat grim). All that being said, academically, university could be going a lot worse. I received my first grade for a completed project and was reasonably happy with it, and also did my first class test of the semester and was very satisfied with how it went.

Yet there has always been a malevolent sense of dread in the air around exam time for me and it is now starting to hit me. The business end of the semester is only days away at the time of writing (and ridiculously close at the time of publication) and one cannot help but feel nervous. It’s amazing how fast it arrives too. One moment you’re just settling down in university and enjoying student life and vaguely thinking about the distant prospect of end of semester exams which, of course, you don’t need to worry about yet, and then the next you’re less than a month away from doom. Perhaps, intending to prevent future procrastination, I should start considering my hopes for next semester already. All I really wish for is more of the same. Hopefully I will pass all of my exams by a large margin and continue to succeed academically, hopefully I will further my involvement in the societies I joined and hopefully I will carry on enjoying university life. All this, mind you, needs to come after the primary goal of surviving Christmas itself. Now that’s a real test of my resolve.

Trans 101 - Keeping the T in LGBT During UL Rainbow Week, the Irish Trans* Students Alliance (ITSA) delivered a crucial workshop called “Trans 101”. ITSA is a support and advocacy group for transgender people aged between 18 and 30. This workshop sought to bring about greater awareness of issues affecting transgender people who are too often erased not just by society but by the wider LGBTQ community.

GEARÓID McCARTHY Within the past few weeks, a rather malicious petition has been started to remove the “T” from the acronym and some public figures have spread blatantly transphobic vitriol, which goes to show the great difficulty faced by transgender people in gaining recognition. The most commonly accepted definition of

“transgender” is that it describes an individual whose gender identity and/or expression varies from the sex they were assigned at birth. The antonym of this is “cisgender”, which refers to someone whose gender identity does correspond with the sex they were assigned at birth. Not all transgender people ﬁt into the gender binary of male and female, and those who identify outside the binary

are referred to as “non-binary” people. Non-binary identities encompass a range of labels which people are free to use to describe their gender in their own terms. Transgender people were only recognised by the Irish government very recently when the Gender Recognition Act was passed. This legislation has received international praise for its progressive approach, which allows

transgender people over the age of eighteen to legally change their gender without prerequisites. In the United Kingdom, one is required to have been “living as their gender” for two years, a deeply ﬂawed approach as it puts transgender people at serious risk of discrimination and violence due to the lack of recognition for their gender while presenting

as that gender. The Irish legislation is not without flaw, however, as it does not recognise non-binary gender identities and the pathway to recognition for under-eighteens is more complicated. What is rather surprising is how few people appear to be informed about the bill and its advantages and disadvantages. While the marriage referendum received massive exposure, the Gender Recognition Act had been in the workings for several years and organisations such as ITSA and Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI) and people such as Dr. Lydia Foy, a lifelong transgender activist from Ireland who was only recognised as female recently, put an enormous amount of work into campaigning for gender recognition. For much of Ireland’s population, the Gender Recognition Act was a moment they had been awaiting for decades, when their country’s government finally recognised transgender people as people. It is easy for cisgender people to write off transgender rights as unimportant, something that applies to a tiny number of people and that does not apply to them. The majority can occasionally forget to recognise that transgender rights are human rights. Some are tempted to deliberately misgender transgender people, for example by using male pronouns to refer to a trans woman, who has transitioned from male to female and uses female pronouns. Other people see fit to

aggressively question trans people on their genitals, their sex lives or their personal lives before transitioning. What you should consider before you do this is the sheer pointlessness of such comments. It is nasty, dehumanising and simply unproductive. You are not going to force a man to de-transition by calling him by female pronouns. Your behaviour is not helpful for yourself, for the person you’re treating in this way or for anyone else. In this day and age, it is likely that you will simply embarrass yourself by being transphobic. Before you ask a transgender person an intimate question, think about this way; would you feel the need to ask a

cisgender person who you just met the same thing? Now that gender recognition is available in Ireland, it does not mean the battle is over. Trans people are more likely to be unemployed, homeless and socially alienated. High proﬁle cases such as those of Leelah Alcorn and Brandon Teena brought awareness to the issues of suicide and violence against transgender people respectively. However, a vital aspect in the lives of trans people going forward is empowerment and positive exposure for the community. Laverne Cox, the transgender actor widely known for her role in Orange Is The New Black, tags all of her Instagram posts with

#TransIsBeautiful, crucial as trans people are more likely to have a negative body image than cis people. It is also crucial to emphasise that trans people are not lesser than cis people. Trans people are as much their gender as someone who was assigned that gender at birth is. The very fact that I had to use the word “trans(gender)” as a qualiﬁer so many times in this article is proof of why that is important for people to know. The inclusion of the transgender community in society is not radical, it is not tied to “political correctness” and it is not a slippery slope, it boils down to the afﬁrmation of human rights.

November 2015 LIFESTYLE

DECLAN MILLS ON Friday November 6th, Professor Tom Lodge, Dean of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, sent an email to all AHSS postgraduates. In this email, he laid out his response to the concerns I had brought to him at the AHSS Faculty Board meeting in October and subsequently wrote about in the last issue of An Focal. Professor Lodge’s response was wide-ranging and detailed, and should allay many of the concerns that have been brought to the PSU’s attention. Firstly, he noted that payment rates for postgraduate tutors were set at a minimum of €23.50 last year, and while some departments may be paying more than that, none should be paying less. Indeed, he encouraged any tutor being paid less than €23.50 per hour to come forward to him. He added that, while some departments used to pay tutors for preparation time, unfortunately

Dean of AHSS responds to postgraduate concerns the Faculty needs to stick to its position of only paying for classroom hours. Professor Lodge also clarified the Faculty’s position on unpaid tutors: those in receipt of fee waivers are expected to tutor up to four hours a week unpaid with any further hours paid, those in receipt of stipends are expected to tutor up to six hours a week unpaid, and those in receipt of Irish Research Council funding are not expected to teach in their first year of funding, but thereafter it seems reasonable to ask those in their second

and subsequent years to tutor unpaid as every other scholarship-holder is doing so. In a very important step, Professor Lodge expressed agreement with the PSU that a common contract for all AHSS tutors would be a useful step towards ensuring clarity and fairness, and offered to negotiate with the PSU over the contents of such a contract. Speaking as both a postgraduate tutor in AHSS and the PSU’s Faculties Rep, I am very pleased with this development and look forward to working with Professor Lodge on drawing

up a contract. With regard to the new Teaching Fellowships, Professor Lodge stated that while practice has varied between departments on how to award them, in future they will be open to all PhD students, both established and incoming. This will hopefully ease concerns about new PhD candidates being paid for teaching that established candidates are doing for free, and is a welcomed development. However, perhaps the most important thing about Professor Lodge’s response is the

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speed and care with which he has reacted to postgraduate concerns being brought to his attention. As this paper’s Editor noted in an article in the last issue, after the October Faculty Board meeting, I had recommended to the PSU Executive that the matter be left until the December meeting of the Faculty Board, when I felt clarification of these issues would be provided. Given the number of administrative and teaching duties carried out by senior faculty members, I expected that they would need time to address

the PSU’s concerns. To get such a detailed and encouraging response within a couple of weeks, and indeed within a few days of the last issue of An Focal being published, shows just how seriously Professor Lodge and the AHSS Faculty take the treatment of their postgraduates. This should be heartening news for everyone in the faculty, and it seems that we may have a speedy resolution to all of the issues concerning AHSS postgraduates on the horizon.

ers

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What better way to pass excessive free time over the Christmas break than by catching up with the lives of the internet’s most revered vloggers? YouTubers are quickly rising to the pinnacle of modern pop culture, as their videos generate millions of views and their books become instant bestsellers. Vloggers have a wider sphere of public influence than ever before (and it’s not just over their droves of teenage cult followers). In no particular order, I list some of the more prominent figures in the world of YouTube. singer-songwriter BryBry is one of Ireland’s more influential YouTubers. He fronted a well-publicised online campaign known as Cut Cake Not Wrists which sought to support young people experiencing problems with self-harm and mental

GEARÓID McCARTHY

Tyler Oakley The twenty-six year old American is often cited as one YouTuber whom budding vloggers look up to. He has mastered the blog format, using a relatable and humorous tone as a self-proclaimed “professional fangirl” while incorporating very pertinent issues, such as LGBTQ rights and teen suicide, into his videos. With over 500 million views on his YouTube channel at the time of writing, Oakley is one of the more influential and important vloggers.

Troye Sivan Of course, Tyler Oakley is seldom mentioned in a different breath from Troye Sivan. Another openly gay YouTuber - at the age of twenty Sivan has already won a Teen Choice Award (for “The Boyfriend Dilemma”, which also featured Oakley) and topped the charts in his native Australia with his EP, “Wild”. The singer-songwriter’s first studio album is due to be released in December, promising a further surge in popularity for the already beloved vlogger.

Zoe Sugg (Zoella) One of the most-watched YouTubers in the UK, Zoella has to her name a book, a range of beauty products and numerous television appearances.

The twenty-five year old mainly vlogs about makeup, fashion and her daily misadventures. Her influence has been pinpointed by the Telegraph and the Teen Choice Awards, amongst others. Also worth watching is Zoella’s boyfriend, Alfie Deyes (ThePointlessBlog), and her vlogger brother, Joe Sugg.

Emma Blackery Another musical YouTuber, Blackery maintains three separate channels on YouTube, including a gaming channel and a lifestyle channel. She has released three EPs and announced last month that she is in the process of recording a fourth. Blackery has also used her platform as a popular YouTuber to speak about important issues, particularly women’s issues as a self-identified feminist.

Brian O’Reilly (BryBry) M a l a h i d e - b o r n

health issues, and has consistently acted as an ally towards the LGBTQ community. Earlier this year, BryBry toured the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand with fellow music vlogger Dodie Clark (Doddleoddle) and now plans to embark on a complete world tour, visiting every country in the world.

John Green and Hank Green (Vlogbrothers) The original YouTubers, the Green brothers have come a long way since the early days of Brotherhood 2.0. The Nerdfighter community (a nickname given to fans of the Greens, remember they fight for nerds, not against nerds!) has exploded with the growing popularity of John Green’s novels, and this exposure has benefitted

the brothers’ YouTube channels also. They are arguably the most well-rounded YouTubers on the list, covering a range of interests, including books, activism, gaming, politics and history. Undoubtedly central to the culture of vlogging, John and Hank cannot receive enough phrase for their contribution to the lives of young people through education, charity and political activism.

Fire, last month, the enormous fandom of Dan and Phil now has the recognition it deserves, with both vloggers sporting hundreds of millions of views on their main channels.

Skylar Kergil Amongst the more prominent voices of the transgender community on YouTube, Kergil has made videos documenting his transition for six years. A

a name for himself as a public speaker while studying at Skidmore College in New York State. He is also known for his pursuits as a musician, having released an album and an EP, both funded by kickstarters.

Jenna Marbles The most subscribedto female YouTuber, Jenna Marbles is primarily known for her comedic videos. Some of her vlogs have attracted media attention, particularly her video on “How to Avoid Talking to People You Don’t Want to Talk To”, which was reported on by the New York Times. Furthermore, she co-hosts a podcast with her boyfriend, Julien Solomita, and has appeared in videos for other YouTubers, including as a guest voice actor in an Annoying Orange video.

Zinnia Jones Dan Howell (danisnotonfire) and Phil Lester (AmazingPhil) Dan and Phil are household names amongst the younger generation online. Previously the hosts of their own program on BBC Radio 1, their YouTube careers have continued to grow in popularity since the discontinuation of their radio show. The release of their book, The Amazing Book is Not on

prominent activist and educator on trans issues, Kergil made

Similar to Skylar Kergil, Jones uses her platform to draw attention to transgender issues. Her analysis of situations affecting trans people is scientific and steeped in free thought, and offers a rational response to transphobic ideas which is very important when defending trans people from hatred. Jones has attracted controversy for her views on religion and secularism and her assertive style, but her vlogging is very important in the issues it addresses and brings a fresh breath of air with new ideas to the table.

November 2015 OPINION

“Pot” calling the kettle black? SEAMUS TOOMEY DECRIMINALISATION of drugs, similar to what Portugal did back in 2001, could be coming to Ireland. Current Minister of State for the National Drugs Strategy, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin is hoping to bring this to the country amidst his belief that we need to stay focused on recovery. This decriminalisation would see small amounts of currently outlawed drugs carry much lesser punitive measures with the likelihood being that small ﬁnes would replace what often would warrant jail terms under current laws. College students being the stereotypical “stoners” and “potheads” in most tv shows and movies, this then is a decision that no one will be surprised that the student body will be very interested in. This could be crucial to the decision government come to on this, especially having seen the change that the youth of Ireland made during the Marriage Referendum. So what exactly are the arguments out

there at the moment? Well the argument that would say that decriminalisation is a bad idea is strongly centred around recreational drugs being necessarily bad and these drugs having a strongly negative impact on the Irish nation if they become more frequently used. This being very much true to the effects most of these drugs would have on the population’s physical health, perhaps their work productivity and their mental health. As well as that it’s unknown how decriminalisation would affect usage rates. There are counter arguments though and they say that ﬁrstly these drugs are being used by large portions of the population anyway regardless of the severe punitive measures in place and that decriminalisation would at least allow us to accurately measure usage rates and then in turn would allow us to better rehab those who are in serious need of help. In the real world they are a problem and punitive measures aren’t discouraging drug use and punishing people by putting them in jail (a hostile

environment) and giving them a criminal record will not help them deal with their addiction or possible mental health problems. Punitive measures have not prevented people using drugs so why would the Irish Government continue to use them when, with decriminalisation, we can at least identify and better address the problem. “Globally, drug use is not distributed evenly and is not simply related to drug policy,

since countries with stringent user-level illegal drug policies did not have lower levels of use than countries with liberal ones,” concludes the 2008 World Health Organisation study ‘Toward a Global View of Alcohol, Tobacco, Cannabis, and Cocaine Use’. Even more risqué is the suggestion that people could use these drugs in small amounts sensibly. Is it completely daft to suggest people could use these drugs responsibly like many do

with alcohol currently? The cannabis camp have armed themselves with medical research which indicates it does have health beneﬁts and has a place in the medical world there’s also scientiﬁc research which points out alcohol is as damaging physically as well as economically than many other drugs. “Alcohol misuse in Ireland is fueling a growing health and crime crisis that is costing us an estimated €3.7 billion a year in health, crime/public order and other ancillary costs, such as work-place absenteeism,” says Alcohol Ireland quoting a 2010 study from the Health Service Executive. Even more progressive would be the argument that decriminalisation isn’t enough and that to protect and care for drug abusers the best course of action is legalisation and regulation. This, it is argued, would allow the government to ensure that the drugs being used were used as intended and not more dangerous mixtures. The government would receive tax which would be able to fund better rehab facilities and programmes and simultaneously

would take money away from drug lords and hopefully, in turn end the infamous drug feuds which consume so many lives in poorer areas. The options presented by these arguments are not great. Decriminalisation or legalisation are hard because they are a risk to usage rates but the alternative to keep things the way they are and not address that people are using drugs anyway and in a more harmful environment is to me a much crueler decision. Is it even appropriate then considering that the Irish nation who are internationally recognised as a nation of alcoholics and seem to dismiss alcoholism and alcohol abuse as “a bit of craic” are debating the use of small amounts of what are largely considered milder/less harmful drugs? I think it’s more appropriate instead to say that the Irish nation is the pot calling the kettle black when disapprovingly talking about the sensible use of these drugs simply because they are illegal (at least in the case of ‘pot’).

Balancing alcohol consumption AISLING MOLONEY I never thought I would wake up after a night out with little to no recollection of what happened. After one particularly drunken Tuesday night, when the smoking area of Angel Lane was open, I woke up thinking I had full knowledge of my actions from the night before, until my housemates

assured me that I did not. Alcohol does strange things to people’s brains. For me, unlike others, alcohol had never before caused memory loss, however I made the fatal error that Tuesday night. The night all of our mammies warned us about. Going out and having a few drinks on an empty stomach. Oh, she would be tutting now. Drinking on

that empty stomach resulted in a trip to the Regional two weeks later. So, I am the horror story. However I live to tell the tale and frankly, laugh about it. I am neither completely for nor completely against alcohol. I am just like the majority of freshers, drunk on the power of independence. By this stage we all know alcohol’s effects. We have either experienced them ourselves, heard about them or witnessed our friends

experience them. Even though I ended up visiting A&E technically because of alcohol, I would still blame my sober brain ﬁrst, for making the decision to only eat two bites of my dinner before getting carried away with my fake tan. It was a mistake, we all make them, and instead of getting upset

over its occurrence, why not just have a full dinner before the next night out? The consequences of alcohol abuse or abstention are wildly varied. When having “a few pints with the lads” results in you missing an assessment in the morning, then maybe you should sort out your priorities. When staying in on a Thursday night and swearing yourself off alcohol makes you unhappy and lonely then you also need to sort out your priorities. The extremes of any situation are cautionary. You shouldn’t deprive yourself in fear, or challenge yourself without fear. Remember we are not here to drink only, or to study only. We are here to live the college student life, which incorporates equal parts fun (while drinking or not), equal parts education and equal parts independence. In the end, we are most deﬁnitely all here to graduate so if getting drunk too many nights a week is proving to stop you achieving that, then maybe you need to re-evaluate your purpose in college. Irish people, we have a strange relationship with alcohol. It is quite deeply rooted in our culture and has evolved to be quite a topical issue in our society. When I went to France this summer and they offered me wine with

my dinner, I politely refused. When I told them I don’t actually like the taste of alcohol, they were surprised, but then when I told them I only drink with the intent of getting somewhat tipsy, almost drunk, they were horriﬁed. Is my attitude similar to the majority of our generation Your relationship with drink is your own business, not your housemate telling you

to down the ‘King’s Cup’, not your parents who tell you to study all the live long day, most definitely not the person giving you daggers for enjoying yourself on the dance floor and, please, not the guy or girl you fancy. Getting drunk is not a way to become more confident, an excuse for inexcusable actions and is not going to help you in the pursuit of happiness.

What will help you is supportive friends who think you’re great with and without alcohol, a healthy study ethic and some drive to get through exams. I write this as someone who can learn from the shameful head hanging after an eventful night out but who can also drink in moderation and beneﬁt from the entire college experience.

November 2015 OPINION

Alcohol: Friend or foe? EMMA TAYLOR

“If you can’t go out and have a good time without getting smashed, then you won’t fully appreciate life.” These are the words my mother would say to me from the time I was sixteen, having that first glass of wine during Christmas dinner, through to my eighteenth birthday when I had my first legal drink. Her words always stuck in my head after I turned eighteen and started going out instead of going to a random house party once every blue moon. Until college, I never

myself were what I enjoyed on a night in the town. This changed when I came to UL. Suddenly I was playing drinking games and partaking

I’ve come to realise how dangerous this drinking culture really is.

saw the fun of not remembering how I got home the night before (I still don’t) but throughout my first semester in UL it has become clear to me that sticking by my mother’s advice is the best thing I can do. I’m not claiming I don’t drink. We’re Irish, drinking is seen as part of our culture. A culture that I don’t truly enjoy or understand. Before college I wouldn’t engage in pre-drinks before heading out, I had more fun getting ready with my friends to the sound of our favourite songs. A few drinks and couple of glasses of water to pace

in shots before I even set foot out of my accommodation. I was drunk before I even left the house. Without my usual group of friends that I go out with, I found myself relying heavily on alcohol on those nights. It made everything easier. The loneliness of not having my close friends with me, the homesickness, the anxiety all disappeared after a few vodka and cokes. It helped, it was a sort of a crutch for the first few weeks of first year. I didn’t mind that I was tripping in my high heels, or gaining cuts and bruises from various falls. I was free. I could laugh, joke

and talk to people I didn’t know without worrying about how I acted or looked. I let myself become a fool in order to have a good time and to feel like I fit in. I didn’t see any problem with going out once a week and drinking at home on Tuesdays. I was having fun. I was relaxed. I didn’t get hangovers no matter how much I drank. It wasn’t a problem for me. Everyone told me that first year was the year to go out and have fun, party before the workload piled up. “QCA from first year doesn’t count, go drink,” was one of the things I heard when I started in UL. It was the general attitude in my house, my accommodation village, among people back home and those in my lectures. Drinking everyday was okay. It was what was expected of me this year. Go wild a little before reality kicks in. Enjoy first year while you still can. With only a few weeks left in my first semester, I’ve come to realise how dangerous this drinking culture really is. I reached this conclusion the morning I woke up with no recollection of what I had done, where I had been, who I’d been with or how I’d gotten into bed. I still don’t remember much of that night but the horrible feeling I had the next day put me back in my place. When you binge drink, anything can happen. It’s a terrifying thought. I could have fallen and done some serious bodily harm. I walked away with a badly cut knee that night. If my friend hadn’t been with me who knows what could have happened. When you’re so drunk that you don’t recognise the people you’re with, how can you prevent any dangerous things from happening to you? You can’t. Our drinking culture, the way we party and don’t think of these consequences is a serious problem. A night on the town or in a nightclub

should be spent laughing, dancing like crazy or maybe in a quiet bar chatting with friends. It shouldn’t be about who can drink vodka straight, who can handle the most alcohol or who has to drink the health threatening mixture of spirits, beer and cider that is the result of a game of kings. A night out doesn’t have to involve getting so “smashed” that you can’t remember what time you got home or who’s house you ended up in. This is the culture I stepped into when I started here in UL. It’s addicting and fun. It’s freeing, but at what cost? I go back to my mother’s words now. I was always able to enjoy a night out without having my speech slurred or my awareness impaired. First year is a year of freedom and for so many other first years like me it can be a way

Alcohol can be a dangerous drug, but it doesn’t have to be an addiction or something you do to pass the time. I have found that one or two drinks on a night out will give me that happy buzz. It will

isn’t the one where you have partial alcohol induced amnesia or the memory of a friend’s. It’s the night where you danced without care, laughed at the weird faces your friends make and just

of socialising. A way to get to know people, however people probably won’t be able to remember your name. It’s enticing. Starting over again in a new place where you don’t know the rules can be scary. Alcohol is an easy way to relieve this anxiety, the stress, and the urge to be like everyone else. Even as young adults we need to feel validated and appreciated by our peers. The fear of being looked at weirdly or as if you have three heads when you reject a drink or say the words “I don’t drink” causes a lot of us to give into the calling of alcohol.

allow me to enjoy my night without impairing my judgement and putting myself in danger. Often staying home with a few good friends and having a bottle of cider, or a glass of wine while watching a movie can bring us more joy than drinking ourselves blue with people we don’t know. Alcohol doesn’t have to validate us. We’re wonderfully interesting human beings on our own without the influences of alcohol and the regret of the next morning. When my friends start in UL next year I hope to teach them what my mother taught me - that a good night

enjoyed life. We’re so young still, we have a lot of ground to cover yet. Alcohol isn’t our enemy when taken in moderation. But the drinking culture in first year of college is worrying. I can’t tell people what to do, but if I can advise one thing, it would be to cut back on the alcohol. In thirty years when you look back at first year, do you want to remember the nights you had with your friends or the mornings spent wondering what happened while retching into the toilet bowl? I know which option I’ll be choosing from now on.

Alcohol doesn’t have to validate us. We’re wonderfully interesting human beings on our own.

November 2015 OPINION

“You’re really fun sober” HOLLY KENNY BEFORE anyone thinks this is a rant towards people who drink excessively, it’s not at all. If it was, I’d be the world’s biggest hypocrite and if I’m perfectly honest I have some amazing and hilarious memories from those times. I’ve only stopped drinking for a week because I simply couldn’t afford to but I had no idea how much I would realise, I didn’t need to depend on it to make connections. It’s just such a shame that it has taken

this long to realise that. I used to have to drink when I went out because otherwise I’d feel awkward. Earlier this semester I could easily get through about 70cl or more of vodka a week. I’d go out every night with my friends and when I think about it now, the drinking was due to insecurities. I get shy meeting new people and with alcohol in my system I was this confident person that was so completely different from my normal self. I didn’t mind meeting new people, I loved dancing no matter who was watching and I didn’t care what anyone thought about me.

When people would meet me when I was drunk they’d say “You’re so fun to be around” and “You’re hilarious”. When I’d wake up the next day I wouldn’t know what to say to those same people, would they still like me even though I was completely different sober? Am I just boring or too shy now? These thoughts used to race around in my head every day from pretty much the start of college in first year. I was getting through the year and making friends along the way but I always had this anxiety that they only really preferred the drunk me instead of the

normal me. Looking at the bigger picture, I realise that drinking excessively did nothing but hinder my life. It would make my psoriasis flare up which made me self-conscious about my body. It made me gain weight because I would be tempted to get takeaway as it was the easier option. I wouldn’t go to the gym because in fairness who likes going to the gym with a killer hangover? I wouldn’t be able to concentrate in class at all because the hangovers I had on a daily basis were colossal and only got worse as the week progressed. It was just doing nothing but

making me a slob and so unmotivated that it was impossible to achieve anything. This year, I’m living with my best friends from college and it has been nothing but a confidence boost being around people who completely understand and support you. I think this has affected me in such a positive way because when I wasn’t drinking this week, despite them drinking, they didn’t complain that I wasn’t and were completely supportive of my stance. In fact when I was dancing with my friends I was asked “Holly are you drinking?” to which I replied, “No, I haven’t

had anything.” And they were shocked. “You’re really fun sober,” was what I heard this week and it made me so happy. It made me realise the only way I was being ‘fun’ was accepting who I am. I was completely embracing the person that I was and that’s the happy, quirky and energetic person I can be. So the drink was helping me embrace who I was, I just needed to take the time to learn how to do that without it and now I’m so assured of the person I am. Sure, I might enjoy the odd drink when I’m out with my friends but I don’t think I really need that much. After all, I feel great when I wake up in the morning and much more motivated.

Mind your Mental Heath 4: Eating Disorders AISLING O'CONNOR WITH the holidays fast approaching, there’s joy in the air and good spirit all around, but this isn’t the case for everyone. For many, the Christmas season can be an extremely difficult and lonely time. For anyone suffering from an eating disorder, Christmas is perhaps the most stressful time of the year due to the abundance of food and the expectation to indulge. Like before, we have some tips to help you look after yourself and stay safe over the holidays. - Nothing bad will happen to you if you eat, it may feel

that way, but you will not wake up the next morning obese. Try to keep this in mind. - Another thing to remember is that you need food to survive, our bodies convert what we eat into energy. Without it, we end up too tired to do anything. Food is not the enemy here, but the harmful voice inside your head trying to convince you of that is. - Learn to love yourself, it’s easier said than done, but once accomplished is worth it. Wear clothes that make you feel good and confident, stick a note on your mirror telling yourself you

are beautiful, when you go to criticize your body tell yourself what you like about it and don’t be afraid to be vain. - Talk about how you’re feeling with a friend or

family member. This is not something you can battle on your own so the extra support will be beneficial. Even having someone do something as simple as telling you that you’re okay during a meal is hugely reassuring. - Ask for help, don’t leave it until it’s too late. UL offers a counselling service, but you can also go to therapists, doctors and the in and/ or out-patient programmes through hospitals. The sooner you acknowledge the issue the less likely you are to be left with lifelong health implications. - Make a meal plan, and not one that restricts calorie

intake. The rule of thumb is 3 meals and 2 snacks a day. Try to stick to it, even if it means gradually increasing what you’re eating over a period of time. Little progress is better than no progress. Congratulate yourself for reaching your goals. - Swap excessive exercise with yoga. It has lots of health benefits and will relieve a lot of anxiety. - Don’t look at the scales and stop constantly scrutinising your body in front of the mirror. If you have an eating disorder, no matter how low the number is on the scale, it never feels like enough. Your self-worth and your health is not determined by

the number you see or the shape of your thighs, or any part of your body for that matter. - If you’re following “proAna”, “pro-Mia” or anything on social media that bombards you with body image expectations or promotes an unhealthy lifestyle unfollow them. Replace the negativity with mediums that promote body positivity and recovery. healthyisthenewskinny.com is a good place to start. - Ireland’s national eating disorder organization is Bodywhys. They have a hotline, advice and information sections, and respond to emails.

Mind your Mental Heath 5: Suicide AISLING O'CONNOR EVERY year suicide rates peak around Christmas time. We can’t provide all the answers to this troubling issue, but we can assure you that you’re not alone. Here are some things to keep in mind: Reach out to someone, you are not alone and there are people out there who want to help before it’s too late, be it professionals or friends and family. While preventing things from getting worse, by looking to suicide you also prevent the chance of things ever getting better. No one will go to your funeral and think “I’m glad they did it”, they

will cry, they will blame themselves, and they will be absolutely devastated. You are loved. However, don’t just stick around for others. Do it for yourself. Do it because you are worthy and capable of living a long and happy life, even if it doesn’t feel like that sometimes. Think of all the people who have been

suicidal but ended up with happy, successful lives. If they can survive, so can you. 2015 may not have been your year, and maybe the years before weren’t either, but maybe 2016 is. Have hope. I’m not saying things will get better overnight, but life is a series of ups and downs. Once you’ve experienced the downs, you learn to appreciate the highs more. If someone you know is showing signs of thoughts of suicide, such as frequently discussing death, changes in behaviour such as sleep or eating patterns, giving away possessions and withdrawing from others, let them know you’re concerned and try to get them help.

November 2015 LIFESTYLE

Exam tips from the Academic MARIAN O'DONNELL SO the Christmas exams are nearly upon us. For those second, third and fourth years you should be well used to the exam prep and study period by now - but some extra tips and tricks wouldn’t go astray. For our first years this is your first of many exams that you will be going through over the next four years. Don’t consider it an obstacle but a milestone as to how far you have come already. With exams around the corner everyone needs good study habits so put away the Santa hats from Christmas Daze and pull out the paper and pens.

Timetable

Schedule your time so you are making the most out of it - try and stick to it but make sure to include some wellearned breaks.

Targets

Set yourself goals - sample questions, practice essays, past papers, whatever it might be. Have clear aims and get through them.

Combating exam stress It’s that time of year again. Exams approaching, mid-term results might be bringing you down, and you’re biting your nails with worry. Sometimes you find yourself dipping into your limited funds to buy some comfort food (chocolate works wonders when stressed). Assignments are coming at you from left, right and centre and you’re pretty sure that God is out to get you with the amount of work that is piling up. Stress is becoming the devil on your shoulder poking you with its sharp pitch fork.

EMMA TAYLOR THERE’S nothing worse than exam time stress in the winter. All you want to do is curl up with a nice cup of tea, a warm blanket and a good movie but the little devil called stress is taunting you. It’s hard. It’s hard to fight an invisible opponent that is attacking you when you’re least expecting it. But the sun always shines through the clouds in summer, Batman always saves Gotham and those who are lost always find their way home. Instead of catching the winter stress bug, here are a few suggestions to return your energy and get you back to feeling like the superhero you truly are.

Get some air!

This is so important at this time of year. Your house might be party central with others finishing exams before you or maybe you don’t even have a desk in your room. Get a study space. The library is great and has extended opening hours in the run up to exams but there are also other computer labs such as the Venus labs in the main building or in the Kemmy. Just find a space that suits you and stick to a routine.

Oxygen is our friend. It helps to clear the head and cool us down when a meltdown is on the horizon. There is nothing more relaxing or freeing than stepping away from your small corner in the library or your stuffy room and getting some fresh air. You don’t have to si at in the cold for an hour, but a short break in some fresh air will revive your senses. It’ll clear your head. And who knows, maybe you’ll even witness something extraordinary or hilarious once you remove yourself from the books and laptop for a few minutes. It never hurts to step away from the source of your stress.

Noises

Talk to a friend

Food

While feeding the mind with knowledge it’s important to also feed the body. Try healthy food too - not only is it better for you but it will also help your concentration.

Study area

So some people have to study in absolute silence or maybe you like a bit of background music. Go with whatever suits you. Just make sure that you don’t spend more time making that perfect study playlist than you do studying.

Where to begin?

Always start with the harder topics or subjects you don’t like. The subjects that we enjoy and that are easier are always best kept towards the end so that we get through the more difficult material.

What’s coming up?

Go to your lectures in Weeks 11 and 12 and look out for hints and tips from your lecturers. They should also tell you the format of the exam, weather its two essay questions or 100 multiple choice - make sure you know what you’re facing into.

What to do on D-Day

So finally your exam is here. Make sure to relax and try not to forget what you have been studying for the past number of weeks (or what you crammed in last night!). Make sure you know the rules as to what you are not allowed to bring into the exam centre. Pack the extra pen as you will probably need it and make sure to have everything you need such as pencils, rubbers, calculators etc. Most importantly set your alarm and don’t forget your ID Card!

Talking to someone solves most problems. It allows you to open up and release all the feelings of worry and fear that you normally keep bottled up in your chest. Let your words flow. Arrange a meeting with a good friend between lectures or at the weekend. Don’t be afraid of judgement. Your friend is likely to be going through the exact things you are. Stress is a universal problem. Even if you don’t talk about being stressed the relief of being with a friend will have you smiling for days. Friendship is

the best remedy. There is nothing more relaxing than laughing with a good friend, or even just sharing gossip.

Go for a walk, run or swim

Just like stepping outside to get some air, going for a long walk, run or a swim will do wonders. Exercise releases energy and stress. It encourages the muscles to relax and it clears your mind. People often say that during times of hardship a long walk will help them control their emotions. Running leaves you relaxed, a little exhausted and releases dopamine. Dopamine has been proven to be a key factor in fighting stress and depression. Swimming is also great for escaping stress. The feeling of being weightless can be freeing, leaving you feeling relaxed and alive. I’d suggest floating on your back and using your legs to gently kick and keep you afloat for a while, it works wonders when it comes to relaxing.

Watch your favourite movie

Snuggle under that warm fluffy blanket, grab yourself a nice drink and a copy of your favourite movie. In times of distress and stress I have often found myself ending my hours of study with my favourite movies. Make a pillow fortress on your bed, maybe rope in one or two of your roommates and turn on that movie. It could be anything from Anchorman to The Avengers. Quote your favourite lines, get excited about your favourite scene coming up, and let the tears flow at that scene that never fails to take your breath away. If action movies or comedies don’t cheer you up a little, break out an old Disney movie. I cannot survive exam season without singing along dramatically to the soundtrack of Mulan. Which leads me to my next point…

Sing and dance

You don’t have to be Adele to sing your favourite song at the top of your lungs. Sing in the shower, in your room, in the kitchen while you’re making your food. Singing along to a

good song can leave you laughing at your bad attempt at hitting those high notes or leave you feeling triumphant when you flawlessly pull off singing an old favourite. Dance. Don’t be shy, move those limbs and let loose. Stress often leaves us feeling tied down. Let those limbs be free.

Don’t over study

It’s hard to know when enough study has been done. Even harder to realize when you’ve spent too much time with that head in those books. Studying is needed for getting good grades but spending hours locked in your room with headphones on isn’t the best for your mental health and stress levels. Make a plan. Schedule time for one of the above activities, take hour long breaks for meals. Don’t hit the books when you wake up, allow yourself time to come to life. Try not to feel guilty if you don’t stick to a study plan, missing an hour of study because of a headache, distractions or just feeling miserable is not something to feel guilty about. You’re human. You need to live life outside of the exams. This can be hard to remember with the fear of failure hanging over your head but life is more than exams. Exams are stressful. It doesn’t matter if this is your first exam season in UL or your last, exams affect everyone in one way or another. So look out for your friends. If they’re spending hours in the library or at home, take them outside. Remind them that there is a world outside of their anxieties and worries. Go for a meal in town or get a takeaway, arrange a movie night to combat the stress. Don’t brush off their worries as the usual exam “dramatics”. Lend them a hand and make sure they get some fresh air. Especially in winter time when the weather outside is enough to lower people’s spirits. Take some time to yourself and don’t forget to enjoy the little things. You’ll be back to defeating villains in no time, so smile, relax, breath. You can do this.

November 2015 LIFESTYLE

Top 10 Christmas movies We love Christmas here at An Focal and who can think of a better way to relax over the Christmas break than with some movies, fluffy socks and a nice warm mug of hot chocolate? We even complied the list for you!

Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie (1998) - This was my childhood, so naturally it had to go on the list. It’s cheese-ily adorable and teaches good morals for kids seeing as all the other reindeer called him names, but Rudolf still saved Christmas with that bright red nose of his and wished for kindness in others. Cue the “aww”s.

The Santa Clause trilogy (1994, 2002, 2006) - Scott Calvin takes the role of Santa Clause after Santa has...a little accident. We later see the introduction of Mrs and Baby Clause in the series, and he ends up defending his role as St Nick against Jack Frost, and let’s face it, Frost’s seasonal take on “New York. New York” should be in the charts with Mariah Carey and Elsa come December.

Christmas tales out there, so naturally there are a ton of adaptions such the 2009 animation with Jim Carey, the Muppets (1992) version, and even Disney did it in 1983. All Dogs Go to Heaven’s, “All Dogs Christmas Carol” (1998) is a real tear jerker because anything remotely sad is catastrophic whenever animals are involved so perhaps not for criers. No matter which adaption you watch, it’s a traditional must for the holidays.

over the children of the world, initially hesitant but when faced with the threat of Pitch Black he joins the team and saves Christmas.

AISLING O'CONNOR

National Lampoons’ Christmas Vacation (1989) Elf (2003) - While some may argue that Elf is over played this time of year, can we ever really get sick of it? After accidentally crawling into Santa’s sack in an orphanage, Buddy the Elf is raised in the North Pole only to discover that he’s not really an elf after all. He sets out to ﬁnd his real family in the magical land of New York City and teaches valuable lessons to us all, like the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.

Rise of the Guardians (2012) Not to be confused with Guardians of the Galaxy as there are no talking raccoons here, but it does feature the Easter Bunny. Don’t be alarmed, we’re not promoting Easter already. Jack Frost is chosen to take his place among the Guardians to watch

- Holidays never go according to plan for the Griswolds, so it’s no surprise that even staying at home for Christmas is a disaster. Clarke’s “perfect Christmas” falls apart with family arguments and the multiple mishaps that seem to plague the family. It’s hilarious, and comforting to know that you’ll most likely never electrocute a cat in your Christmas tree, well we hope not anyway.

Home Alone (1990) - It is not Christmas until Home Alone starts popping up everywhere, and rightly so! As it turns out there are ﬁve of them, so if you’re a fan then a marathon is a must for the holidays. Left alone by his family, 8-yearold Kevin is ecstatic, until a pair of thieves called “the Wet Bandits” try to break in. He ends up conquering them through his various childish antics and saves the house.

The Polar Express (2004) - On Christmas Eve a magical train called “The Polar Express” picks up the children who didn’t send their letters to Santa and takes them to the North Pole to tell the big man what they want themselves, and maybe even receive “the ﬁrst gift of Christmas”. A young boy, bereft of Christmas spirit, takes the trip but the journey is far from smooth. He meets some interesting characters and receives the most valuable gift of all. For a Christmas movie, it’s quite eerie and haunting, but lovable none the less.

The Nightmare before Christmas (1993) - It was on the Halloween list, and it is going on this one too! Jack the Pumpkin King decides that Halloween Town will take Christmas for their own, except

with a population consisting of the dead, vampires, witches, and all kinds of ghouls, Christmas spirit is something they can’t quite grasp, and naturally enough, Christmas doesn’t go according to plan.

Harry Potter series (2001-2011) - They might not be Christmas movies but are always played around this time of year. As an avid Potterhead and proud Gryfﬁndor I have no objections to this. If you’re sick of non-stop Christmas cheer but not quite in a “bah-humbug” mood, they’re a great alternative and feature magical Christmas scenes making us all wish we had our own initialed Weasley sweater.

A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens’ story of Scrooge is one of the most iconic

CHRISTMAS BOXSET HIT LIST NAOMI DEEVY Huddle up under a blanket, put your feet up, you’ve earned this - time for some great series to get your Christmas teeth into! These are just a few of the many funny, smart, absorbing and downright binge-worthy box sets available right now. But don’t just trust me, these scores speak for themselves.

sometimes guffaw too. Overall, it’s a well-drawn and meaningful comedy drama. Like a hearty, “Sunday dinner” of a box set.

Togetherness

Inside Amy Schumer

7.5 - IMDb 93% - Rotten Tomatoes Follows a group of kooky, ﬂawed and extremely engaging characters who maneuver their sometimes complex relationships producing moments that are moving and hilarious in equal measure. It’s got heart, but it’ll make you laugh and

7.3 - IMDb 100% - Rotten Tomatoes Amy Schumer should be on your radar by now. She’s been doing stand-up comedy and has been showing up all over the place on talk shows and as a guest on other comedians’ shows recently (30 Rock, Curb

Your Enthusiasm). It was just a matter of time until she got her own show and it is just as outrageous, off the wall and unﬂinchingly irreverent as her stand up. As long as you’re not easily offended, you will possibly split your metaphorical sides wide open with this one. Highly recommended.

This Is England 7.7 - IMDb 93% - Rotten Tomatoes Gritty, captivating and unstop-watching-able, ‘This Is England’ began as a spinoff of the hugely successful 2006 British drama ﬁlm of the same name which is centred on young skinheads in England in 1983. The award-winning television version however, goes further and has evolved into an incredibly multi-layered and

engaging series; the acting and writing quality here is exceptional. There are 3 series so far: ‘86 ‘88 and ‘90.

Transparent 8 - IMDb 98% - Rotten Tomatoes Emphasis on the ‘trans’, this series follows Mort, whose wife and three adult children have some difﬁculty dealing with the fact that their father, after many years, tells them he is transgender. This one stars ‘yer

man’ from Arrested Development. The series touchingly and hilariously deals with the trials of its characters and depicts a family who, above all, love each other for who they are. All the characters have a depth and individuality in their own right too. Uplifting and rewarding, but also extremely funny. Thumbs up.

The Affair 7.9 - IMDb 95% - Rotten Tomatoes Follows the emotional and psychological effects of two couples’ affairs and the aftermath of the initial ‘ﬂing’ stage of their romances. It’s got sincere, heart-wrenching performances, sexy bits, and some very real and human issues that are very well portrayed and will keep you coming back for

more. Serious quality.

Dora the Explorer 2.5 - IMDb 15% - Rotten Tomatoes Dark psychological drama following the struggles of an underage Latina trapped in a world of social injustice and systematic discrimination. This series tackles the issues that immigrants face in a socially inhospitable environment. She navigates this world where her only friends are a misﬁt criminal thief who goes by his gang name ‘Boots’ and a strange apparition calling itself ‘The Map’. OKAY, okay! This last one was a joke - making this list a roundup of ﬁve of some of the best new box sets out there. Enjoy!

November 2015 CLUBS & SOCIETIES

Stage punches and 1920’s glamour Exciting semester continues for the Drama Society ANNA PARKES AS exams approach and the ominous pile of assignments grows ever more unsteady, the UL Drama Society continues to provide a haven of entertainment for its members. This week members took part in an energetic stage fighting workshop, led by the extremely talented Simon Thompson. Thompson has been touring the world for the last year with his renowned show, and we were honoured to have him as our guest. The workshop started with

warm up games to test our reactions and reflexes, and soon led to us mastering the acts of stage punches, kicks and hair pulling. A thoroughly enjoyable workshop, it was also exhausting, leaving members with both wide smiles and flushed cheeks. To quote our own Muirenn Casey, “That’s the most exercise I’ve done in about two months!” The tired limbs will pay off in the long run, as we have gained skills that will surely benefit us in our many productions to come. Speaking of productions, a mixture of nerves and

excitement are beginning to kick in as our major production of the semester draws ever closer. Extra rehearsals are under way as we polish up our performance of “The Affairs at Meddlar’s Top.” Sinead Morrissey is sitting in the director’s chair for the first time, and is proving to be an excellent director - hopefully this is not the only performance she leads. The cast is a diverse mix, from members gracing the stage for the first time as a UL wolf and part of our drama family, to seasoned members who always light up the stage when they

perform. The comedy combines the glamorous era of the 1920’s with the hilarity of a murdermystery spoof - perfect for an evening of entertainment and a deserved break from studying. The show will be held in the Jonathan Swift Theatre on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week (Week 11) and we hope the audience will enjoy the show as much as we did preparing it. It has proven to be a successful semester of drama so far, and we strive to keep up this standard as the year approaches

its end. We also have a few fun and lighthearted workshops planned to round off the year in style - including our annual tradition of a charades tournament. World Cup finals cannot compare to the competitiveness of a Drama Society charades match. But will current charades champion Billy Verlinden

retain his crown? Or will a new member swoop in and end his reign? It remains to be seen. As always new members are welcome to our workshops Wednesday evenings at seven in the venue that has become home - the Jonathan Swift Theatre. Hope to see you there!

We’ve Got Rhythm! KATRINA GALVIN THERE’S never a boring moment with Dance UL. This semester has taken off with a whirlwind of events. Within the last few weeks a few of Dance UL’s talented dancers took part in performing in SoUL Week festivities and in Strokers for Rainbow Week, to name a few. This goes to show the outlet of opportunities from simply attending Dance UL classes offers students. Not only will you be learning a variety of techniques from different genres of dance but you will get the opportunity to showcase your new learned skills whilst meeting new people and travelling to events. For example, getting

the chance to travel nationally and meet other students from colleges all over Ireland. Last week was a great success for Dance UL as we travelled up to the Helix for the All Ireland Dance Experiment to perform in the event ‘Dare to Dance’ hosted by Dublin City University. After three weeks rehearsing Dance UL was able to create a piece of dance mixed with many styles of dance. Choreographed by the accomplished Conor O Brien, he was able to interconnect the genres of Irish dance, hip hop, contemporary and jazz into one song. Although it may seem a bit mind boggling as to how we achieved this within such a short amount of time, Conor’s eye for detail combined with the dedication and

comradeship amongst our dancers turned turned it into a success. Even though we all have different strengths and weaknesses in different genres of dance the talented members of Dance UL who participated all became one on stage last Wednesday night in Dublin and brought down the house with the performance. There is still more to come this semester including Dance UL’s annual showcase. The participants of Dance UL’s classes will be performing their new found skills and talents. If you have an interest in performing it is never too late to get involved. There will also be many other acts including singing and drama. Don’t hesitate to attend our show either and see what all the Dance UL fuss is about - not a

Dance UL's last rehearsal for the All Ireland Dance Experiment. PHOTO: KAREN GOLTZ bad study break if you ask me, and at a low cost. It’s all for a good cause at the end of the day so mark your calendars

for Week 12 and keep an eye out for the date on our Dance UL Facebook page. Also a picture represents a thousand

words so make sure to add us on Snapchat as DanceUL for all the behind the scenes fun and news!

RAINBOW WEEK 2015 GEARÓID McCARTHY DURING the ninth week of the semester (starting Monday 2nd November), the University of Limerick’s Rainbow Week took place. Described on the Out in UL website as constituting “education, fun and educational fun”, Rainbow Week is an annual celebration of the LGBTQ community and its diversity and is one of Out in UL’s biggest yearly events. Rainbow Week kicked off on Monday with a bake sale in the SU Courtyard, followed later on by the Cocktail Night in the Scholars Club. On Tuesday the society sought to celebrate those

outside the community who fight for us, with an Ally Awareness Stand in the courtyard. That evening saw a deeply educational workshop from the Irish Trans* Student Alliance called “Trans 101”. This aimed to educate the members on issues relating to transgender people, too often disregarded not just by the general public but by others on the queer spectrum. Keeping up the spirit of educational fun, Limerick-based organisation GOSHH visited the SU courtyard on Wednesday afternoon for Sex in the Courtyard, to promote discussion and information surrounding sex education, protection and orientation. That night, Out in UL had

its Big Night In for members, which was an informal gathering and movie night held in Dromroe Village Hall to bring members of the society together during Rainbow Week. GOSHH returned the next day to facilitate the Erasure Workshop. This was a crucial educational event, held to raise awareness of the erasure experienced by certain orientations on the LGBTQ spectrum – such as bisexuality, pansexuality and asexuality - that aren’t as prominently portrayed in the media or public discourse. Thursday night was the peak of the “fun” element of Rainbow Week as we headed to Strokers on Upper William Street for the Big Night Out. Some members

partook in the evening’s “gender-bender” theme and the musical and drag performances were enjoyed by all. Our recovery after the Big Night Out was aided the following afternoon by the Tea Appreciation Society in SU Room 3 (shout-out to Tea Society for the really tasty green mint tea). Rainbow Week concluded with a Eurovisionthemed TGIF event in Stables, held in conjunction with the International Society. Without a doubt one of the more remarkable events seen on campus since the beginning of the semester, Rainbow Week without a doubt emphasised the vibrancy and diversity of our queer community.

Out in UL’s Rainbow Week bake sale in the SU courtyard

November 2015 CLUBS & SOCIETIES

YFG’s day in the Dáil MEG MOLLOY ON Wednesday the 7th of October the UL Young Fine Gael group visited Leinster House. We left Limerick at 6:30am.The tiredness and crankiness soon left us and was replaced by excitement. Especially the new recruits who hadn’t been to Dáil Éireann before. We arrived in Dublin around 9:30am. We had breakfast and began our walk to Leinster House. Thankfully, we all wore comfy shoes. There we were met by local Deputy Kieran O Donnell TD and his parliamentary assistant showed us in to Leinster House and got

us signed in. We were met by John Lohan, a former UL student who is now a private secretary to An Taoiseach and he gave us a tour of Leinster House, Government Buildings and we even managed to have a look at An Taoiseach’s ofﬁce and had a chance to meet Taoiseach Enda Kenny before he took Leaders Questions. At 3pm we met with a number of TDs including John Paul Phelan TD, former Taoiseach John Bruton, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton, Senator Eamon Coghlan, Jerry Buttimer TD, Noel Coonan TD and Patrick O’Donovan TD in

LH2000 where Regina Doherty TD booked us a meeting room. Here we discussed YFG, the upcoming General Election and Budget 2016. Later the Branch met with Minister Charlie Flanagan’s personal assistant Sarah Kavanagh. She gave us an insight into her job and then kindly brought us on a tour of the Department of Foreign Affairs. After that we headed to the Dáil Bar for a few beverages. At 7pm we headed to Trinity College for a panel discussion on the refugee crisis. The panel speakers included Jody Clarke from the United Nations Refugee Agency,

Hugh O’Connell the political editor of thejournal.ie and Alan Shatter TD. The talk was informative and interesting as it is such a topical issue for Fine Gael at the moment. It was important for us to know what is going on and how we can help to resolve it. After the talk we headed back to the Dáil Bar with TCD YFG. We got the 11:15pm bus out of Dublin and arrived back at the Stables at almost 2am. Although it was a long day it was enjoyed by all and we’re already looking forward to next year. Special thanks to John Lohan, Regina Doherty TD and Kieran O Donnell’s personal assistant, Ciara. Thanks also

to Charlie Flanagan’s personal assistant, Sarah Kavanagh and Department staff for their help and hospitality throughout the

Sober for November MOLLY O'ROURKE

FOR the month of November, ﬁve of our Members (Chris, Joe, Ryan, Kenneth and Paddy) embarked on a major effort to help raise some much need funds for the local Novas Initiative Centre for all their hard work with the homeless.

As we all know, homelessness is a major issue facing this country at the moment and fair play to the lads for taking on such a challenge. Lets face it, a month off the beer is not an easy challenge for college students especially the ﬁve lads that took on this challenge, because if you know any of them they are regulars in the

Stables and can often be seen there having the craic with the bar staff and DJs who all know them by name. So if you see any of our members around please do donate whatever you can to the cause as every cent raised will be donated to the Novas Initiative. We also plan on having a sleep out in the Courtyard at the

Looking forward to more tea RACHEL WEST ONE thing I've learned from this semester is that drinking tea and chatting with friends is something I'll never get tired of. New places, New people, New tea. What's not to love? Since the start of the semester Tea Society has held many events from casual, weekly meetings in the millstream common room on Wednesdays, to our themed Tuesday events, to participating in SoUL Fest, to going on trips to different counties. This semester alone Tea Appreciation Society has gone to Galway twice and made the trip out to Ennis to see what our neighbours have to offer. During these trips we had the opportunity to go to different cafes in both places and sample all the ﬁnest teas in the town, for example An Cupán Tae and their wide variety of tea in Galway city, and the Tea Cosy in Ennis. We had the opportunity to visit different places such as museums, cathedrals, and go for walks along the river banks. Tea society is so much more than a place to just sit around and drink tea, it is a place where you can go to sit around, drink

tea, relax and socialise in a safe and comfortable environment. Our table quiz, that was held in the Sports bar, was a huge success. Thank you to all who attended, and congratulations to our prize winners. For these next two weeks, tea society will be running study meetings for our members in which you can go and study in a quiet area of the millstream, or where you can take a break from your studies with a sociable cup of tea. As for next semester, there are many exciting things in store, the main one being a four day trip to Scotland. As there are a limited number of places,

not everyone will be able to attend. However, there are other trips to look forward too such as meeting with UCD Food Soc in Dublin, as well as more trips to Ennis and Galway and maybe some other places as well. We will play host to a Death Café (I promise, you won’t die!); International Tea Night; and TeaTotallers party for Charity Week. For details about the Scotland trip, please visit our Facebook page: UL Tea Appreciation Society. Finally, we would like to wish you all the very best of luck in your exams, a wonderful Christmas and best wishes in the New Year.

end of the month so keep an eye on our Facebook page for further

info on all things Sinn Féin.

day. A big thank you to Kieran O Donnell TD for organising the visit for us.

November 2015 CLUBS & SOCIETIES

UL Trampoline Club’s successful semester CLODAGH DOYLE THE Trampoline Club have been bouncing with excitement over the past few weeks. Our schedules have been hectic between the UV paint party, Munsters, our Swap Night and more. Our UV paint party, as you all know was held earlier on in the semester. The night couldn’t have gone any better. With glowing paint everywhere (and I mean everywhere!) you were guaranteed to have an unreal time. Thanks to all you paint fanatics who came. Big congrats are in order for the Trampoline club following their first competition of the year, the Munster Open 2015. On the day, students from UCC and UCD arrived to compete alongside UL. An amazing day was

had by all. Whilst the competitors showed us their finest skills, the UL Photo Soc helped out and captured our best bits. We also had Wolfie make an appearance to get everyone pumped and ready for the day ahead. Following the madness of the competition, us students did as students do and headed to Stables for a few pints and some good old grub. The medal presentation took place outside in the stables courtyard. A huge well done to the UL students who basically stole the show. We couldn’t be prouder of them. Becky Dorgan – Silver Novice Ladies (Open and closed competition) Cliondha Regan – Bronze Novice Ladies (Open and closed competition) Brendan Golden - Silver Novice Mens (Open and closed competition) Killian O’Herlihy – Bronze Novice Men (Open and closed competition)

Stephen O’Connor – Silver Intermediate Men (Open competition) Jacob Cairns – Bronze Intermediate Men (Open competition) Ryan Carton – Bronze Intermediate Men (Closed competition) Jorin Stinar –Gold Intermediate Ladies (Open and closed competition) Sammi Chang – Bronze Intermediate Ladies (Closed competition) Rachel Calahane – Silver Advanced Ladies (Open and closed competition) Brian Finnerty – Bronze Elite Men (Open and closed competition) The Munster Open was the perfect experience for our club. All the newbies got a taste of what competitions are really like. (And hopefully it got all our jittery nerves out of the way!) We’re currently preparing our new routines and awesome skills for our next competition, which is

Intervarsity’s 2015. We’ll be heading to Trinity College Dublin in a couple of weeks time to show off the talent of all our amazing members. Were excited already. We thought it was about time to see if the tramps sink or swim.. So an exciting training session went down last week. The tramps and kayakers of UL joined forces for our long awaited swap night. The kayakers jumped into the deep end and experienced our tramp ways, learning everything from trampoline to gymnastics. Then the trampoline members dabbled the dark arts of kayaking. Luckily we all survived the night. Last weekend, the UL trampoline club joined forces with UCC to travel down to Douglas, Cork. What’s is in Douglas you ask? Only the coolest,

most awesomely equipped gymnasium we’ve seen! We got to fool around like proper gymnasts on the beam, asymmetric bars, pommel horse, the rings, tumble track, horizontal bars, in-ground trampolines and foam pits! After the fun and excitement of the day, we unwinded with an awesome night out in the Old Oak with the UCC folk. It was not your average weekend to say the least, but it was awesome. We’re coming to the end of semester one (sob sob). So be sure to like our Facebook page ‘UL Trampoline and Gymnastics Club’ to keep up-todate over the Holidays. You can watch us on snapchat ‘ultrampclub’ for live videos and pictures. We’ve recently joined Instagram as UL Trampoline Club and we would love to see you follow and support our club!

ULRM goes Nutts! For the Halloween weekend, our society headed north, all the way to Belfast in fact. Why? Because RACECAR! Located outside the city is Nutts Corner, an international standard race track. What better place is there to have your first trip of the season.

PAUL JORDAN WE left UL at 6pm on Friday and headed to a hostel on the outskirts of the city, but it wasn’t long until the bags were dropped off and we showed Belfast how to have a good night. We headed to a club just a five minute walk away from the hostel and the hours flew by until it was eventually time to close the doors and head to our beds. In our tired state, we talked about a whole range of topics, from

postboxes and otters, all the way to one lad’s missing helmet. Maybe the northern air was getting to our heads. The following morning we went out on track, but you’d almost be tempted to bring a sailing boat rather than a kart because of how much water was on the circuit. Nevertheless, we all had a great time and nobody got too wet. The following Tuesday saw the first round of this year’s SSI Intervarsity Championships in Nutts Corner. For the first time in the history of ULRM, we brought two teams to compete. Diarmaid Toomey, Cathal O'Donnell,

James Hennessy, Jason Buckley, Paul Curran, Aaron Clifford, Cathal Dineen, Darragh Lynch, Evan Kearns and Josh Sherry were chosen to represent our society. The early morning rain made conditions on track slippery but our trip to the track a few days before made it a bit easier for us. Our drivers secured some great podium finishes in the heats. One great positive we had was that we found some real talents in our new drivers. Overall it was a great day and we're ready to take the fight onto the next round in Pallas on Wednesday.

ULRM members on their recent trip to Nutts Corner in Belfast Coming into the final stages of our league, Cathal O’Donnell has opened up a slight lead on Jason Buckley in the A Championship, while Aaron Clifford and Darragh Lynch are trading blow for blow in the B Championships. It’s still all to play for.

In the next couple of weeks, we will be heading to the brand new track in NKC Cork, which opened in September. If it can be as much of a success as our trip to Belfast, it sure will be something not to miss out on!

Student badminton tournament set new high BRIAN CROWLEY THE annual Irish International Student Badminton Tournament (ISBT) hosted by the UL Wolves Badminton Club last month brought colleges from all over the country and even as far as the Czech Republic

together. Over the course of the three days, participants got to play plenty of badminton. The event was graded based on ability and players got to partake in two of either men's or women's singles, men's or women's doubles or mixed doubles. The night time socialising saw students “gettin’ jiggy with it” in

Crush87 nightclub, playing beer pong in Costello's and swamping the Stables Club in fancy dress associated with this year’s theme of board games. Participants’ appetites were also well looked after with a delicious cooked lunch and dinner in the Stables Club each day over the weekend. On the final day of the event (Bank Holiday Monday), participants played one extra round in each event and then watched the finals of each event while eating pizza. The highlight of the day was undoubtedly the Men’s A Singles final which saw Prakash Nath and Liam O’Leary battle it out in a fast paced and very thrilling match in which Prakash emerged victorious. Afterwards, with the other students packed and ready to go back to their colleges, the farewells going around the hall were too emotional for some. It is with great anticipation that everyone waits for the next ISBT. The UL Badminton Club are also well into the Limerick League, with teams currently competing in men’s and women’s doubles events. The

league will run throughout the academic year. It has so far given new members the chance to stand out while also greatly improving their badminton skills. Some senior members of the club also very recently partook in the Waterford Invitational leaving with top place in the mixed doubles

event and runners up in both men’s and women’s doubles. As per usual, training times for members are weekly on Monday and Wednesday from 9:15pm to 11pm in the UL Sport Arena. It’s never too late to join so some along if you’re interested!

November 2015 CLUBS & SOCIETIES

It’s competition time! EMILY KELLY THE Archery club is forever improving and organising new events. The ﬁrst thing we did since our last event was our Pub Quiz in the Sports Bar last month. It was an extremely successful night with many in attendance and lots of bonding. This quiz had archery members as well as new members and also some people who were neither. The club also ran an event that showed members how to set up a bow from scratch including preparing a new string, on 29th October, which was run by our previous President. On November 4th, our Pro Am competition took place where a senior member of the club was teamed with three new members and competed in a club competition. This event is largely used to teach new members about competition setup and scoring. We have also entered our Inter Varsity season which kicked off with our own Inter Varsity on November 7th and 8th where we brought our new members to their ﬁrst competition. This weekend included a college Inter Varsity as well as a fun shoot for anyone who wanted to shoot. We had members of DCU, UCD, DIT, ITT, ITC, GMIT, GMITC, NUIG, MU, DKIT, UCC and RCSI. It was a hugely successful event that included the presentation of last year’s prizes for the season. We will be bringing members to DKIT on November 21st. All in all, the club is still very active and running numerous events.

ARCHERY QUIZ NIGHT

The O, the O, the OPC EOGHAN CAREY SO as you may know from the previous edition, the club is going from strength to strength. We have hit the 500 members mark since I last wrote to ye. Woopeee! We’re just so cool with our many activities such as walking/hiking, climbing, caving, mountaineering and orienteering/going on treasure hunts. We had the most unreal day hiking Carauntoohil on

Sunday November 1st. It was a cracker of a day and we even got some mountaineering in (i.e. scrambling up an incline on Howling Ridge while harnessed in). This was core to our budding mountaineers who will be jetting off to Morocco in January. Moving on to climbing, G-Force was cool, enjoyed by everybody who participated and which took place at Gravity Climbing Wall in Dublin. We just never stop getting up to shenanigans here at the

OPC. It’s also never too late to join the club. Just pre-register as a member on the Wolves website, come meet us at the climbing wall (located opposite

the Arena in a grey building) to pay the €5 membership fee and then you are good to go. We’re open Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7-10pm.

Sub Aqua intervarsities 2015 RUAIRI NEALON SUB Aqua Intervarsities are a little different to most intervarsities. There is no competition it’s purely a nationwide social event where divers at various levels of training gather, to explore what lies beneath Irish waters. This year’s intervarsities were held up in Carraroe Co. Galway. It’s a quiet country village in the Gaeltacht beyond Spiddal. We packed up gear and our 7.4m RHIB on Friday evening and hit the road. Each club rented a, very spacious, house in a small holiday home complex. We met up with all the other clubs in An Cistin down the village and got to know various characters over a quiet pint. The pub clearly wasn’t expecting 50+ divers to descend upon its narrow front bar and the confused locals huddled together down the end sharing their news ‘As Gaelige’. Some of us rose at an ungodly hour to launch the RHIB from the local slip before the tide went out too far. The rest awoke at a more reasonable hour and cooked breakfast and packed lunch before we headed down to the pier and join the others. The plan for today? Deep dives off Inis Mór. We donned our gear, boarded the RHIB and set off West until we hit the Aran Islands. Our coxswain Gareth located the dive site using the on-board GPS while we kitted up and did our final checks before rolling in off the boat. I was feeling a little bit queasy in the boat but that all faded immediately as I hit the water. A quick check to see that my buddy was OK and then we let the air out of our buoyancy aids and let the lead weights drag us down 25 meters. Keeping an eye on the air level, direction, depth and time, it was a very enjoyable dive. There was about 5m visibility. As we finned through a kelp forest I was watching the crabs raise their claws and scurry sideways when I got a tap on the shoulder and was directed to look behind me. There in front of us was a seal about twice our size flapping about having a look at us. His big puppy doglike face wondering what all the commotion was about. He rolled over did a playful back flip and wandered off for a minute before coming back for another look just to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. The excitement of swimming with a seal at 25m used up quite a bit of my air, so we started the ascent and ended the dive. We ungracefully flopped back on the RHIB that was waiting for us and headed back into shore, passing the zig-zag stone walled fields and tiny cottages that dotted the coast line. After lunch, the boat went out to another dive site with three pairs of divers. Dan and myself stayed on the

pier and brought a lucky trainee snorkeling. There was plenty to see while duck diving down to six meters in the shelter of the pier. Finishing up and packing away the air compressor early, we decided to get dinner on for the divers before they came back to the house. Back down to the pub to meet up with all the other university clubs and find out what they had seen and where their excitement was found for the day. Making friends with other divers from all around the country and agreeing to dive with each other and share local knowledge is what it’s all about. An Cistin was much livelier that night, with the lounge opening up and all the locals and bar staff getting great entertainment out of us. I’ll tell you one thing, it wouldn’t do any harm to brush up on my cupla focail in a town like this. Tá gach daoine ag caint as gaeilge ann. Decidedly the boat was moored out the second night so we could all get up at a reasonable hour and go diving again. Sunday was warmer and Galway Bay didn’t even make a ripple... until our twin engines ripped it up on the way to today’s dive site. Coral Strand was today’s location. It got a glowing recommendation from the cailiní last night. Dropping down to 15 meters and drifting along, the bottom teemed with conger eels, dogfish and thousands of claws. Crabs, shrimp and lobster in every crevice around a sea bed made entirely of broken coral. Poking and prodding provoked the poor creatures into a fighting stance and how we didn’t come up with some sort of critter hanging off our gear I don’t know. Passing over a rock, covered in kelp, to see the tail of what I thought was a small dogfish. Pulling back the kelp revealed a huge dogfish. So placid, he didn’t move as I rubbed him. The sun came out and the sea floor light up before we finally ascended. Not a cloud in the sky and the heat from the sun was a welcome change to the 12 degree Celsius water. Alas we prepared for the journey home, satisfied with our every expanding repertoire of dive sites, experience and friends after the weekend. Permission was sought to moor ‘Plassey Bird’ by the pier so that we can go diving there again in two weeks’ time. After changing clothes and packing up all the gear we headed home, listening to the World Cup rugby match and cheering Ireland on for a win. What else would you be doing on a fine autumn weekend? Other than diving with seals off the Aran Islands? One to remember, for sure! Until next year.

November 2015 SPORT

Balancing football and college UL students Aileen Wall, fourth year English and Irish Arts, and Caoimhe McGrath, first year Physiotherapy, recently took home the Mary Quinn Memorial Cup with the Waterford Intermediate Ladies Football team in the All-Ireland Final.

AISLING MOLONEY

about that.” Aileen also mentioned how prepared she was to play on that epic THE Waterford Ladies came home pitch. “It’s very difficult to look with the title after beating Kildare down to the other end of the pitch, 3-14 to 10 points. To get to the and you don’t really know what’s final alone is a huge achievement going on. It seems really far away for both teams and UL can also and with the crowd, you can’t hear accredit itself with members from a thing. I felt I was more prepared the runners up team. for that detachment this year.” On September 27th, the Ladies Many things contributed to these Football All-Ireland final broke Waterford ladies’ success this year. the attendance record for a female Aileen noted the influence training sporting event in Europe. With here in UL with the college team 31,083 people watching the games had on her fitness. intensely that day one can imagine “I thought last year the training the pressure and nerves both really did benefit me, because we Caoimhe and Aileen felt along with trained up until May. That really their teammates. helped me in county; I was a little It was a big day for many of the bit ahead of everyone else. I was team members playing in Croke doing an extra training session a Park for the first time, including week on top of the county training.” Caoimhe. Caoimhe noted a training “It was quite overwhelming.” weekend the team had in Kilkenny. She said that the pre-match dress“It was very tough, mentally and ing room was very relaxed and calm physically, but it brought us closer.” despite the fact that she herself was From the way Caoimhe and “shaking all-over”. Aileen speak so fondly about their However Aileen, teammates it’s clear the team chemhaving istry has had a huge impact on played their success. “We all knew Alleach other very well, we were very close,” said “It’s very difficult to Caoimhe. “It’s nearly a look down to the other end of family with the county team,” said Aileen. the pitch, and you don’t really Aileen Wall who has know what’s going on. played with the UL team for the last two years said Irewhen asked if there is a lands difference between playing in Croker with college and county: “total twice before difference. I find with the college, said: “I felt this time it it’s great fun. More or less everywas not as big a deal for me, I was one is the same age group; you’re more focused on the match, Croke all going through the same things. Park didn’t really come into my “Obviously you want to go out head.” on nights out, which are a big thing Both Aileen and Caoimhe had for us. When we’re allowed to go, the large responsibility of starting because we’re not often allowed corner and wing forward respecto go, that’s great fun and we have tively in the All-Ireland Final. wicked stories from those nights Caoimhe simply said: “we perout.” formed on the day” and commentAlso she notes the difference ing on the opposition: “I’d say in training atmosphere with the Kildare had a bad day. We didn’t college team. “Up here, when you leave them play.” go to training, it’s kind of having Aileen said: “to be honest, I don’t a bit of craic.” However she also think Kildare came out to play said: “It is a wicked big commitWaterford, I think they came out to ment here, they take it so seriously play the All-Ireland Final.” which is the right way to be. They She also noted the background have won three O’Connor Cups, research they had done on their two in a row this year.” opposition. “We had a lot of work The difference between these done on who we were going to sporting students and many others mark, and who were their key forwho are equally as skilled and dediwards, I don’t think they thought cated across campus is that Aileen

and Caoimhe will forever be technithat. I love reaching my peak.” cally seen as amateurs while being As full-time students both treated and trained as professionals. Caoimhe and Aileen felt the It is clear from their rigorous common struggle between sport training on the lead up to the final and study. It was particularly strenthese ladies are dedicated to their uous for Caoimhe as she sat her team and driven for the champiLeaving Cert when training and onship. Of course there are many matches began. others who dedicate themselves When asking Caoimhe about her and their lives to the GAA for only commitments to the Leaving Certhe glory and honour of winning as tificate and her commitments to the payment. squad she said: “I think I juggled Both Aileen and Caomihe said them well.” She added: “Pat Sullithat if they were to be paid for van [the manager] what they do it would “take the was very fun out of it”. “When you think about the work that “Club, county people put into it, our managers in particular, and college did clash a bit. they put in so much I found that last year.” work and they’re not even playing. “They put in probably more hours than we do, they turn up to training underand they’re not even being paid for standing doing a job,” Aileen said. about giving me Although they acknowledged the time, so I wasn’t under any the fact that the training and dedipressure to be coming back until cation they put in is a far cry from the leaving was over, and I knew “amateur”, Caoimhe says being then I had to work my way back up treated like professionals in trainthe ranks.” ing is necessary - “that’s the way it She confirms being on this victoneeds to be to succeed.” rious team is not an easy feat. “You Aileen said: “To be honest I love have to work for your place.” When training and I love being fit. I like I asked Aileen if she would priora bit of a challenge, at training you itize training over study she was would be at the brink of nearly colclear, saying “100%”. lapsing but I get a bit of a buzz off She added: “Even if essays were

due, I would rather stay up all night than miss training.” However she also explained: “It’s worth it when you win an O’Connor Cup.” Aileen also had to juggle college football at the time of the county season, “Club, county and college did clash a bit. I found that last year.” Aileen praised the understanding nature UL have towards students with huge sporting commitments. “All my lecturers, they know me by name now. If I went to them they would grant me an extension, they are pretty understanding about things like that. “As well, D.J Collins, who is over the Ladies Football here in UL, is so helpful, he would do anything for you, you can approach him about anything, he’d go to lecturers and ask for extensions.” She also mentioned the perks of being part of the college team on such a sporty campus. “We get to use the labs in the PESS building. They even put on yoga for our recovery. It’s lovely.” Overall the friendships made on the college football team has a great impact on Aileen and her experience here as a student. She added: “I think it has deﬁnitely helped, and I go to matches now and we’re playing the girls, and you know them. I love going over and having a chat with someone you know.”

November 2015 SPORT

UL Senior Hurlers and Ladies Footballers secure places in knockout stages of leagues THE UL Senior ladies footballers made it 3 from 3 with an emphatic win over Maynooth University to book their place in the Division 1 league semi-ﬁnal. Their opposition will be decided when DCU play UCD in the other group with the loser of that game facing the reigning champions. Against Maynooth, the UL ladies got straight down to business from the start of the game and went into an early lead 1-6 to 0-2 after 10 minutes, the goal coming from a placed ball by Roisin Leonard. Despite Maynooth’s best efforts, the UL girls dominated across the pitch with the defence and half forward line turning over ball after ball.

Lisa McManamon and Emer Hillery kept the UL wings safe while Maria Curley and Aisling O’Connell defended ferociously in the full back line. At half time the score stood at 4-8 to 0-5. The second half started much like the first half ended with UL on top. The score of the game goes to UL full back Laurie Ryan who made a blistering run up the pitch only to find herself in front of goal with the ball, a glorious shot with the outside of the left boot saw the ball sail over the black spot. Despite a loss to Mary I, the senior hurlers have qualified for the league quarter final against Carlow IT. Previous

wins against NUIG, LIT and GMIT were enough to see UL out of their group. On the day an impressive Mary I outfit combined style and substance to overcome a fancied UL side in the Senior League group game. To their credit, UL battled valiantly to the final whistle with substitutes Liam O’Sullivan, Ian Galvin and Tommy Heffernan in particular providing much needed fire power to the full forward line. Mary I declared their intent from the off, outscoring UL four points to one in the first ten minutes. However, UL managed to keep the scoreboard ticking over in the first half with vital points from Tom and Adrian Morrissey and the

impressive Jason Forde. A mere two points separated the sides at half time on a score of 0-13 to 0-11 points and it looked all to play for in the second half. Mary I enjoyed a purple patch in the opening of the second half with some inspirational scores from Cian Lynch and David Reidy. They managed to extend their lead to eight points with ﬁfteen minutes to go and it appeared UL had no answer. However, a superb penalty save by Shane Hassett seemed to ignite a ﬁght in UL and this, coupled with aforementioned forward substitutions Tommy Heffernan, Ian Galvin and Liam O’Sullivan saw the reigning

Fitzgibbon champions begin to show true form. Unfortunately, it was a case of too little, too late for UL and the ﬁnal score saw Mary I meriting a victory of 0-26 points to 0-22. Best on the day for Mary I were David Reidy, Niall O’Meara, Colm Galvin and Cian Lynch.For UL, in defence, Jack Browne thundered into the game in the second half with Jason Forde consistent throughout. Aidan McGuane toiled diligently in the middle of the ﬁeld with Tom Morrissey, Liam O’Sullivan and Tommy Heffernan being the pick of the forwards. Elsewhere, our senior camogie team received a

walkover from NUIG and won a close game with a strong Mary I team. Our senior footballers had a good win over CIT but just came up short against a strong IT Tralee team. Our intermediate teams across the four codes struggled with our footballers drawing with CIT while the others lost out in close games. Our junior hurlers lost out to CCFE while our Fresher 1 hurlers and footballers beat Mary I and Carlow IT respectively. The Fresher 1 hurlers have qualiﬁed for a league quarter ﬁnal against UCC after a good league campaign.

Ninjas take on the City of the Tribes OUR UL ladies took to Galway on dim, cold dreary November day to take on our fellow colleges throughout Ireland. Luckily the affair was an indoors event to keep them warm and limber. We had 2 two teams taking on the city of the tribes. All our girls started off their days with a bang. UL1 completely dominated trinity 2 with a whopping 14-0 win. UL2 were also straight out of the blocks showing that they can play on any team with a dominating win over UCC 3. Both teams striving to top their groups however UL2 were not so fortunate losing their second game to UCD. Nonetheless UL1 power on and bageled(wining without letting the other team score) DCU 13-0. With both teams well establishing themselves in their grips both UL teams win their 3rd group games with UL1 taking top seed of their group and UL2 finishing second in their group.UL2 had to play a crossover and were drawn against DCU. DCU stood no chance and were easily pushed aside by our girls and them taking 6th seed in the process. A taut moment as UL1 and UL2 had to play each other in the quarter final. There is no game more competitive than playing against your fellow teammates. It’s always a sore loss hence why both teams fought their hearts out. Fortunately for UL1 their experience and patient offence was enough for UL2 to succumb to UL1. Both teams were exhausted and truly gave it their all. Despite the tiredness the day still had much more excitement to come. UL1’s semi-final was against their arch nemesis UCC. The girls played remarkable with

the best offence and man defence I’ve seen this year. Unfortunately not even this was enough to take down the might of UCC. Their coach ‘King of Mixed’ couldn’t be prouder with the attitude and performance shown by both teams so far in the day with only one game left each. UL2’s final game was against UCC2. They knew it wasn’t going to be easy UCC are never a push over. It became clear how difficult the fight for the best second team would be as they went 4-1 down. But did they drop their heads … no they continued to sweat, tire and fight on. They were so clinical on offense and super tight on defence. They brought thy game back to being level. Not only that but they powered on only letting UCC2 score one more point going on an 8 scores to 1 run clenching the game 9-5. UL2 had a super day. They were the best finishing second team of the tournament. UL1’s 3rd 4th place playoff was against Galway. And boy don’t you know that UL like to be involved in intense games. Both teams shot out of the blocks fighting for every disc. Nothing was easy and every point was treasured. It was the closest game of the tournament with both teams trading points the whole way up and several lead changes throughout. The buzzer had gone and the scores were level. It came down to this universe point. A floaty disc was put into Galway’s end zone, it wasn’t looking good but out of nowhere a UL hand raises up ripping the disc out of the air and the win too. Both teams had a brilliant day and super results.

November 2015