An Focal 27th April 2010 Tuesday
Official Paper of the University of Limerick Students’ Union
Volume XVIII, Issue 14 FREE
An Focal wins at Smedias By Jason Kennedy – News Editor
AN Focal has beaten a number of college publications across Ireland to be titled the People’s Choice Award winner in the Student Media Awards this year. Editor of An Focal, Aoife Ní Raghallaigh, is the 2nd person in UL to win a student media award, after former Editor, Anne Sheridan, won it in 2006. In the award ceremony, which took place last Wednesday in Dublin’s Mansion house, An Focal bet stiff competition for Trinity’s The Piranha, Queens’ The Verdict, Trinity’s TCD Miscellany and DIT Aungier Street’s DIT News. Ms Ní Raghallaigh claimed she was delighted with the win. “I still can’t believe it. We were up against four fantastic publications so I didn’t think we’d win. It’s amazing and a fantastic reward for all the students who volunteered their time to make An Focal what it is. I’d like to thank everyone who voted for An Focal because we wouldn’t have won this without your help. I’d also like to thank the oxygen.
ie for giving us this opportunity.” Communications Officer Elect, Finn McDuffie hopes that this win will get people talking about An Focal. “I hope that winning the People’s Choice Award, which is the only publically voted award in the Smedias, gets people excited about writing for the paper and shows people that if you work at something it will pay off. I’m absolutely delighted for Aoife. She deserves this victory. She often spends late nights in the Communications Office and it paid off.” Ms Ni Raghallaigh has similar hopes for the coming year. “I hope this award will raise An Focal’s profile for next year and I have full confidence in Finn McDuffie.” Originally, the University of Limerick Students’ Union was shortlisted for five awards: Newspaper of the Year, Layout & Design of the Year, Editor of the Year, Website of the Year and the People’s Choice Award, but was only on the final list for the People’s Choice Award.
Ms Ní Raghallaigh claimed no matter what happened on the final list, she was happy to be shortlisted. “I was nervous when waiting for the final list to be published, but I was happy either way, because even being shortlisted for an award is a real honour.” During the voting period, the Communications Office put posters up around campus urging students to vote for An Focal for the awards. The People’s Choice Award is considered one of the most important awards of the night and was sponsored by Aero this year. UL were also represented at the award ceremony by 2nd year Journalism Students, Craig Hughes and Rowan Gallaghar, who were nominated for Journalist of the Year (National Press), but were beaten by DCU’s Joanne Hunt, who has been published in the Irish Independent and Irish Times. DCU were the big winners of the night, taking home 10 of the 33 Awards, which were presented by Daithi O’Se and Katherine Thomas.
Editor of An Focal, Aoife Ní Raghallaigh and Eoin Ryan, Editor of www.oxygen.ie Photo: Basil Lim
President Barry slates Government over cuts
• UL must spend less or face “nightmare scenario” • No guarantees on quality of student experience • Government can impose recruitment embargo • Students urged to “get talking to politicians” By Finn McDuffie Chief News Correspondent
UNIVERSITY Head, Professor Don Barry, has spoken out against the government over the University finances, claiming over-spending will have “dire consequences” for UL. Speaking at his third annual address to Class Reps Council in Week 12, he said UL is being directed by the government to make a number of adjustments. The changes, which include an employee reduction of 6% by 2010, require the University to run
a balanced budget in the academic year “regardless of how much the government reduces funding.” The politicians are also insisting UL pays off its accumulated deficit of €5.5 million. “We have to agree a plan with the government to eradicate our accumulated deficit,” he said. Failure to comply with these requirements may lead to a government-imposed recruitment embargo. “If I spend €1,000 more than I get from the government then there’ll
be an embargo on recruitment and any lecturer who retires cannot be replaced. I think that would be a nightmare scenario for the University,” he said. “We are trying to avoid UL getting into that situation and it’s bloody hard to do.” He also spoke about UL’s use of the Student Services Charge (SSC). “The government is playing games with students by engaging in an incredible amount of baloney about the [SSC] being for a particular, confined set of services
to students,” he said. He indicated that, in wake of government cuts, the SSC is being used to pay for services that would otherwise be covered by the core budget. He said, “there is no definition anywhere in government about what this money is supposed to be spent on” and added that SSC money is currently contributing to “bone fide student services.” President Barry also said he could not be sure if the quality of the student experience would remain the same in light of the
University’s financial dilemma. He urged students “to get out there and get talking to politicians! The orphan of the Irish education system is undergraduate education,” he said, adding “the government aren’t paying enough for Universities to be sure of providing a quality undergraduate education.” He called the Batt O’Keeffe formula “a mistake” and criticised Ministers for their inability to see how things are at Irish Universities.