An Focal (Vol. XXV Edition 10)

Vol. XXV • Edition 10

March 2017

Whistleblower pg 3

Louise O’Neill Visit pg 5

Handball, pgs 22 - 23

A Bite at UL on Facebook • • •

on campus which are managed by Aramark – Want to have your fin- award-winning global ger on the pulse of leaders in food service. what’s new in the University of Limerick The eateries include: • The Eden Restaufood scene? rant in the Main Enjoy keeping one Building, Block D, step ahead of friends Level M, and colleagues on where’s going to be • Proud to Serve Starbucks, Subway the next must-try new & Chicken Shack in place to eat? Then ‘A the Main Building, Bite at UL’ is the FaceBlock B, Level 1, book page for you.

This year ‘A Bite at UL’ • The River Café & River Bistro at Milllaunched at the Universtream Courtyard, sity of Limerick and can be considered the home • Café Allegro in the Foundation Buildplace for all food-relating, ed news on campus.

The page is updated • The Cube Café in the Kemmy Busidaily with information ness School, on their eleven eateries SPONSORED CONTENT

Café Aroma in the Computer Science Building, Café Verde in the Health Sciences Building, Right Track Café in the PESS Building.

In recent months a number of improvements have been introduced to these food locations including Eden restaurant which now has a m out h - w a tering car ver y offer available d ai l y, a new homemade baking counter and an enhanced live-action street food counter.

Chef Ger’s homemade baking has been appearing across the campus with products such as biscuit cake, banana and walnut

bread, coffee cake, lemon drizzle cake and many more proving very popular.

River Bistro – which is open to students, staff and members of the local community – is the only place on campus to stock the delicious Java Republic coffee range.

Three of the eateries were also recertified in the Happy Heart Healthy Eating Award in association with the Irish Hear t Found a tion.

Since

l au n c h ing on Facebook these eateries have received a surge in positive customer feedback and increased consumer awareness of the many events recently held such as Pancake Tues-

day, Subway Cust o m e r Appre c i a tion Day, International Food Week, Kan o o d l e Street Food Pop-up, Coca-Cola Zero Tasting, Quick & Easy Cookery Demo, Club Zero Tasting & On Campus Gyroscope, Valentine’s Day Treats, SiSú Healthy Juices Tasting among many more.

For the remainder of semester two ‘A Bite at UL’ will be hold-

ing several competiing several tions exclusivecompetito their tions exclusive to their Facebook followers.

Facebook followers.

Make sure you have Make sure liked their you pagehave to liked their page to keep up to date with keeplatest up toindate with the on camthe latest in on campus food news. pus food your news. hunger, Satisfy Satisfy your like ‘A Bite at hunger, UL’ on like ‘A Bite at UL’ on Facebook.

Facebook.

March 2017

2

LIMERICKS FROM LIMERICK

BY MARTIN LENNON

ROMANTIC POET Wordsworth, Coleridge, inspiring Lady Lamb and Lord Byron Nature and the animals Pyramids and camels Firing squad without firing

An Focal Crossword Test your knowledge of this week’s edition!

EDITOR: Paul Saunders NEWS: Evie Kearney SPORTS: Caoimhín Reilly DESIGN: Hannah Carr-Murphy COPY: Naomi Deevy CONTRIBUTORS: Jonas Pagh Ditlevsen Muireann Duffy Liz Gabbett Sarah Gilmartin Nicole Glennon Ciara Maria Hayes Caoimhe Hennigan Martin Lennon Darragh Lynch Siobhan MacLoingsigh Conor O’Brien Aisling O’Connor Chloe O’Keeffe Kathleen O’Sullivan Anna Parkes Sonya Ramondino Patrick Reddin Frank Stafford Seamus Toomey Eilis Walsh

ACROSS 3.

Number of students who received President’s Awards

DOWN

5.

Shave or ___

1.

Handballers travelled to this state

8.

Trampoline Club hosted a Naked _____

2.

Limerick-based rapper

10.

Fresh Film Festival Manager

4.

Number of UL boxers who entered the All-Ireland

11.

Duo who performed Charity Week

6.

Hermitage ___ played in Elm Park

12.

Newly-formed club

7.

Location of ULSU AGM

9.

Author of ‘Asking for It’

@AnFocal_UL

An Focal

AnFocalUL

March 2017

3

Allegations of Improper UL Expenditures Highlighted in Viral Whistleblower Video came across her desk as she soon began to feel A video by more uncomfortable whistleblower Leona signing off the claims.

O’Callaghan has “I didn’t put anything received over 20,000 through without views, leading to questioning it and I renewed interest in the became the problem.

University of Limerick’s UL have taken a expense practices. lot from me and I The eight minute am scared and I’m video was shared on wondering what more Facebook as many new they can take from me students are hearing of the alleged fraudulent expense claims for the first time.

Leona O’Callaghan and two anonymous whistleblowers have claimed that UL lacked a strict policy on what staff could claim from the University.

Fitted kitchens, laptops, trips to spas and a vacation in Australia were amongst the expenses that Leona O’Callaghan said she was forced to sign off on for a select group of people working at the University.

“What was allowable for on person didn’t seem to be allowable for another person,” said Ms O’Callaghan.

Ms O’Callaghan said that there was a specific and UL is giving the group of high-powered line that there was no individuals who wrong doing.” would regularly make In two specific extravagant claims and instances, Ms charge the University.

O’Callaghan claimed “Straight away,I that a certain started to look to get individual was abusing an expenses policy and his right to claim when other Universities have he billed UL for a trip expenses policies but to Australia for himself UL just seemed to have and his wife while he a few notes written was on paid sabbatical down on the back of leave and close to each claim and I began retiring. to see many of these “That lecturer was on irregularly expanse sabbatical and they are claims and one day I continued to be paid went to my boss and their salary while they asked if I could have are on sabbatical and the VIP list of people they don’t usually claim I don’t question,” Ms expenses because that’s O’Callaghan added. their time.

She began to question “And he is one of the all expense claims that ones who went to coffee PAUL SAUNDERS

with the Financial Controller and the claim was for €4,500 which is for a lot of money and I was told to send back for half the claim and pay for him but not his wife.”

The claim was denied and labelled “ridiculous” by Ms O’Callaghan and her colleagues.

the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and the Department of Finance as she was concerned that lecturers were abusing public funds.

In a separate incident, a UL staff member claimed for B&B services and transcription services without giving a proper

stretch as far back as 2009 and have not been found guilty of any wrong doing.

A UL spokesperson said: “Issues raised by a former employee, as outlined in a recent online video, have been fully addressed by the University in 2012 to the satisfaction of both the internal and

“In reaction to that, he put in a new claim for €15,000, it was for a 100 days on per diem rate where no receipts would be needed.

“My management said they were going to stand firm and not pay out the new claim and I thought fair play, at least they are standing up.

“The suddenly I got the claim form back and it was signed and I was told that we were to leave it through and pay the €15,000 and they asked me to divide it into different amounts so we won’t be caught by auditors.

Ms O’Callaghan spoke anonymously with

receipt.

Upon ringing the number provided, Ms O’Callaghan found that the person who provided the aforementioned services was in fact the staff member’s sister.

“I asked if she ran a B&B and she said no. I asked if she does transcription services for anybody else and said no. I asked if she was paying tax on this money and she hung up the phone.

“I feel like I was kind of put under pressure to break the rules,” she added.

However, UL have been investigated for these claims which

external auditors and the Comptroller & Auditor General.

“The allegations relate to expense claims dating from 2009 and 2010 and an independent audit found that all claims were appropriately dealt with by the University.”

UL staff members can only claim for expenses incurred during the performance of their jobs and the Universities expenses policy can be viewed online.

“There are extensive safeguards and controls in place which are audited annually.

An employee can

only be recompensed once they provide prescribed evidence of approved expenditure duly authorised by their manager.

“The controls are robust and the processes are subject to regular audit,” the UL spokesperson said.

The University has denied any allegations of wrongdoing in the treatment of Ms O’Callaghan and the two anonymous whistleblowers that are currently suspended.

The UL Spokesperson said: “Our two employees have referred their complaints to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) the correct authority for investigating such matters.

The two employees made two sets of complaints to the WRC. The first set of complaints were heard by a Rights Commissioner in October 2015. The Rights Commissioner found in favour of the University. The two employees had the option to appeal this decision but no appeal was lodged.

“The second set of complaints are before the Workplace Relations Commission and the university is cooperating fully with this process.

However, the two suspended employees have sought and have been granted a deferral of three scheduled WRC hearings to-date.

The University was available to attend the WRC on each occasion.

“The next WRC hearing is scheduled for 13th March and the university remains ready to engage fully with the WRC process.”

March 2017

4

Hermitage Green Host Elm Park Gig for Charity PAUL SAUNDERS Hermitage Green surprised the residence of Elm Park during Charity Week by performing an impromptu concert in the student housing estate.

Following a similar house party they performed at in University College Dublin, the everpopular folk band put the call out to see if the students of UL would be interested in hosting the band.

The band who performed their earliest gigs in UL decided that it was a good time and possible their last time they might perform at UL. Banjo player and back up-vocalist, Darragh Graham said: “Being a Limerick man and starting out in the Scholars and Stables, we thought wouldn’t it be great to go and do a gig at UL during Charity Week. “ The band received over 500 offers to come and play house parties around the campus and decided on a house in College Court.

However, following the viral video of a large rave in the infamous housing estate the

guards stopped the band from performing at College Court.

The band received a last minute offer from some students in Elm Park but decided not to publicise the performance, instead keeping it a secret and live streaming the entire event.

“We heard of the rave in College Court and though it was a great place to go perform, so we posted on Facebook that it was cancelled and someone messaged offering their house in Elm Park so we packed up the gear and went over there.

“We didn’t want to make it too big so we

didn’t post online but we streamed the gig live. There was about 40 tp 50 people in the one room and it was really intimate and a lovely gig,” Mr Graham added.

The band performed for over 40 minutes and collected money for Corbett Suicide Prevention Patrol (CSPP) before the guards asked the band to leave again.

Mr Graham said: “We didn’t want to miss out on Charity Week and we are turning 30 so we thought it was time for one last gig.

“We wanted to be part of Charity Week and do our bit, we would have

continued for hours but the guards showed up and it was good while it lasted.”

DJ and organiser Sean Murray, along with Limerick rapper Weenz, helped the band in their quest to perform for the UL students and hopes the band will be welcomed back by students in the future.

“It was fantastic, it was all in the one house, in a kitchen and the crowd and atmosphere were beautiful and the band was awesome but unfortunately then cops turned up and told us to shut down, so we obliged and did but it was uncalled for,

it was four in the day, in a private house and all for a great cause,” Mr Murray said.

He said he was annoyed with the heavy-handed nature of the guards, as the band tried its best to keep the noise to a respectable level.

“It’s not a gig as such but a private performance, so we don’t need to be apply for permits, and the police didn’t even contribute,” he added.

Mr Murray was instrumental in shifting the performance from College Court to Elm Park.

“The first house, where it was originally meant

to take place was shut down before the band even started playing.

“Fortunately some other students in a more secluded part of a different estate offered their kitchen… and it’s so good to see bands that are already doing well still making the effort to do small surprise, intimate performances for free for fans,” he added.

The money raised at the performance will be divided between the CSPP and a private charity in memory of deceased friend of a student.

“It got broke up before a larger crowd had got there so it wasn’t millions but every bit helps and it was great awareness. To be fair I don’t think one person inside the house didn’t contribute something, it was fantastic,” he added.

With the response from the students of UL, Hermitage Green have decided not to rule out a return to the college.

“We hope to come back to you UL in the future due to the response we got,” Darragh Graham said.

“We said it was our last time last year but who knows.”

Students Fear Lack of Garda Presence in Estates EVIE KEARNEY A large-scale brawl broke out in a student housing estate during Charity Week.

Student Paddy Reddin and his housemates asked four strangers to leave their home after they entered at 5am.

“One lad slapped me after that and it all kicked off,” he said.

The men immediately turned on the occupants and refused to leave the property.

According to Paddy, there were roughly 25 other men outside the house, accompanying the original four.

The large group fired bottles and other objects at the students.

“These were definitely not UL students, they just appeared out of

nowhere.

“They damaged my housemate’s car and were throwing bottles at the house.

“The front door was taken off the hinges and a few of they boys have busted lips, black eyes and all that.”

Paddy believes that the main problem surrounding the incident was the lack of Garda presence in

the area at the time.

“The guards weren’t there when they should have been,” he said.

“25 older lads who clearly weren’t students – if that doesn’t look sketchy I don’t know what does.”

Paddy said that ringing the Gardaí would have been “absolutely useless,” and that they should be

patrolling these estates anyway, particularly as it was Charity Week.

“They’ll only come afterwards and take statements and you’ll never hear from them again. They know this gang but they won’t do anything.”

The issue of selfdefence has become a concern for students in recent years in dealing with these types of

incidents.

Students often have no other choice but to engage in fights with these types of gangs or else risk further damage or stolen posessions - waiting for authorities, Paddy explained, is not even a realistic possibility.

“Of course we had to fight back,” Paddy said.

“What else were we supposed to do?”

March 2017

5

Louise O’Neill Visits for ‘One Campus, One Book’ NICOLE GLENNON Author and columnist Louise O’Neill visited UL to discuss her award-winning novel ‘Asking For It’ last Wednesday.

‘Asking For It’ is the novel chosen by the Regional Writing Centre for this year’s One Campus One Book initiative.

It follows the story of Emma O’Donovan, a beautiful and popular eighteen year-old who is gang raped at a party.

When she wakes up the next morning she has no memory of the rape, but explicit pictures shared on a Facebook page reveal

what happened the night before.

The book raises important questions about consent, rape culture and victim blaming in the setting of a fictional small town in West Cork.

After an introduction from Associate Vice President Academic at the Centre of Teaching and Learning in UL, Professor Sarah Moore, the Clonakilty author read a harrowing passage from the award-winning novel.

Professor Moore and Louise O’Neill then entered into a discussion before the floor was opened to the audience to ask

questions.

Among the topics discussed was the idea that Ms O’Neill was ‘brave’ or ‘courageous’ for writing about rape in this way, and that indeed rape victims who speak up are often spoken about like this.

O’Neill explained how she used to talk in a similar way about rape victims until she met Niamh Ní Dhomhnaill while making the documentary ‘Asking For It?: Reality Bites’ for RTÉ.

Ms Ní Dhomhnaill, whose ex-boyfriend received a suspended sentence for raping her as she slept, continually questioned O’Neill on why she believed she was brave for coming forward and “being so open” about her rape.

O’Neill said: “I realised that there was a part of me that internalised this idea that actually it was shameful to be a victim.

That there was some sort of part of her that

should have carried the shame of what had happened to her and why I thought she was brave was because she was rejecting that idea and she was very openly, in a public forum, saying that she had been raped.”

Questions posed to O’Neill from the audience of UL students and staff included her opinion on Casey Affleck receiving an Oscar, why she chose to make Emma’s beauty so core to her character and how the author deals with negative comments.

UL One Campus, One Book is an annual initiative that invites students and staff to read and discuss one novel together.

Professor Moore, described the project as “a real movement to try to bring reading novels right into the centre of what it is that learning and personal and professional development is all

about.”

Previously selected books for the initiative included Spill Simmer Falter Wither by Sara Baume and The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan, who recommended Asking For It be chosen for

2017.

Louise O’Neill will return to the University on April 5th for a “How I Write Ireland” interview exploring her writing processes and strategies, conducted by co-director of the RWC Lawrence Cleary.

New Anti-Microbial Coating to Save Lives KATHLEEN O’SULLIVAN A University of Limerick professor is part of a group of European experts working on special bacteria coatings that potentially have the ability to prevent the spread of drugresistant bacteria in hospitals.

Professor Colum Dunne, Director of Research at the University of Limerick’s Graduate Entry Medical School is a member of the Anti-Microbial Coating Innovations Consortium.

Studies are being carried out by the consortium on the use

of bacteria coatings on textiles such as bed sheets and gowns as well as solid surfaces including floors, walls and beds.

In an interview with the Irish Times, Professor Dunne said: “New approaches are needed to protect hospital patients and healthcare staff.

“These are surfaces fortified with active ingredients that are responsible for the reduction and even elimination of microorganisms that come into contact with them.”

This comes after reports on previous research by the professor and his

colleagues which showed the emergence of multi-drugresistant bacteria in Irish hospitals.

These Irish researchers play an

important role in European work as they continue with this four-year long project that hopes to not only prevent but also eliminate the

micro-organisms that hospital furnishings come into contact with.

The main aim of this project is to prevent the spread of superbugs such as MRSA and E. coli.

Steps like this are becoming increasingly necessary for two reasons, one being the demand for hospital beds in Ireland is constantly on the rise, especially when there is a serious outbreak such as the flu after Christmas of 2016, which led to a chronic shortage of beds in the major centres of population.

The other reason is the reliance on

antibiotics.

Speaking to Live95FM, Professor Dunne explained the connection between these two reasons.

“We have forgotten to an extent that we only have antibiotics for about a hundred years.

“We now find that because of our poor performance in managing the stewardship and the use of those antibiotics in addition to the numbers of people who are coming through our hospitals, not just in Limerick or not just in Ireland but globally that we’re almost entering into a post-antibiotic era.”

March 2017

6

ULSU Holds Another Successful AGM PATRICK REDDIN On February 22nd 2017, over 107 students gathered to attend the ULSU’s UGM for Semester Two. Enticed by the updates and information regarding the activities and projects of the Union and the prospect of a free slice of pizza, students came to KBG12.

Students could also watch the proceedings live via Facebook or tune in to ULFM online.

The meeting started

on a good note with the announcement that quorum was reached for the second UGM in a row. Chairperson Joseph Curtin began the meeting with the topic of the minutes from October’s UGM. These were duly passed.

Next on the agenda was Matters Arising.

The motion to install microwave facilities in North Campus was discussed, as was the issue of the improvement of food outlets around campus.

SU President Sarah

Dunphy made it clear in her presidential report that she would make it her priority to try and push these motions through and get them implemented around campus.

Ken O’Connor presented the Audited Accounts. Reporting that a turnover of €363,000 and a net profit of €14,000, which was reinvested into the Union, were achieved last year, news regarding the accounts was good and well received.

The next agenda

item was that of the Constitution & Policy Review from Council.

This consisted of the ULSU Drug Policy that was drawn up by Welfare Officer Caolan O’Donnell and Student Support Co-Ordinator, Sean Bailey-Whyte.

Student Council approved the policy the week before and it states that: “ULSU acknowledge that there is a culture of drug use amongst some students of the University of Limerick. ULSU does not condone drug use amongst its student

members. ULSU does also not condone the possession, use or supply of illegal drugs at or on any premises under their responsibility.

“However, ULSU accepts that some students will partake in drug use. ULSU is committed to delivering a responsive service for its student members which provides information, raises awareness and highlights the implications of drug use.”

Following the drug

policy, executive officers presented their reports. When these were completed, an update was given on the upcoming student centre and sports facilities.

Succeeding this was the winner of “Boher’s Best Arse” ’12,’13 and ’15 competitions: Welfare Officer Caolan O’Donnell.

After the discussion of “Any Other Business”, students were free to enjoy a free slice of pizza and a can, after what was a short but successful UGM.

ULSU Elections: Get your Nomination forms on Thursday LIZ GABBETT ULSU elections for Sabbatical Officer roles, Student Executive and Council are fast approaching. On Thursday 23rd March (Week 9), from 7am – 8pm any registered UL student can logon to https://vote.ulsu.ie with their UL ID and password and vote for their chosen candidate. We don’t know who all the nominees are yet, but from this Thursday coming, 9th of March, any student is welcome to call into the Union and pick up a nomination form for the roles of President, DP Welfare, VP Academic, four student executive positions and all 40 student council representative seats. Completed nomination forms must be returned before Thursday 16th of March, 1pm.

If you were to compare the ULSU governance

structure to the Irish government the Student Executive are the Cabinet and the Student Council are the Dáil. The Executive meet weekly and Student Council meets fortnightly.

The President, Welfare and Academic roles are fulltime paid roles, all the other roles are voluntary. The representatives of Executive and Student Council are the primary representatives of students and they vote/decide on the policies of the Union. These representatives work with class reps listening to students, advising and pushing forward student concerns. The Students’ Union staff are here to help the student representatives carry out their roles, keeping student interests at the core of Union activities and ensuring the future of the Union for all students.

Being a student rep is a great experience for anyone who has the time to give to the role. Elected

student reps really get to know UL, the Union, what is going on and what change students can bring about. One of the greatest example of this is was in 2014, Student Council gave permission to the Executive to lobby TDs for budget funding for the much needed library extension. We were very successful. €10million was secured; the library extension is well underway and is due to be completed next academic year. So you see, student representatives can and do make a positive impact for all students benefit.

If anyone is interested in getting involved and running for election please check out our website https://ulsu.ie/representation/ governance#elections . You are more than welcome to call into my office – downstairs in the Union – and ask any questions, even if you are just thinking about a role.

March 2017

7

Students Honoured at President’s Awards Ceremony EVIE KEARNEY Six students received the President’s Access Scholarships in a ceremony at Plassey House on Thursday February 23rd.

The scholarships, worth €2,500 each, were launched by outgoing President Professor Don Barry in 2011 to reward students within the Access Programme who receive the highest annual QCA for the academic year 2015/16.

“These awards were created to acknowledge the highest standard of academic student and inspire all Access students to continue to strive for excellence,” Prof Barry said.

Prof Barry has ensured that, despite his departure this coming May, funding for his Access scholarships will be available up to the academic year 2021/22.

The Access Programme allows those who may not have been able to enter third

level education the opportunity to succeed by providing support through the university’s Access Office.

Prof Barry commended both the students and the Access Office on their continued growth, describing the ceremony as “due

public recognition” for them.

“I particularly value what the Access Office do, and they do an extraordinary job.

“I am very proud of the growth of this programme and the work and support of our Access programme in encouraging young

people to participate in higher education,” he added.

In 2006, UL had just 290 students in the Access Programme.

There are currently 976, including 34 postgraduate students.

A total of 31 scholarships have been awarded to high

“A scholarship provides students with support to help them on their journey of learning and discovery,” Prof Barry said.

“However, they must also have the pasion and commitment to succeed.”

This year’s six scholarship recipients were: Joseph Greaney, Bachelor of Science in Computer Games Development, Listowel, Co Kerry; Paige Kemp, Bachelor of Arts in New Media and English, Killorglin, Co Kerry; Robert King, Bachelor of Science in Computer Systems, Ballyporeen, Co Tipperary; achieving students Ellen Ryan, Bachelor since the programme of Laws (Law Plus), was established, Limerick City; enabling students to Marie Salova, focus on their studies Bachelor of Science in instead of financial Product Design and worries.

Technology, Killarney, Students Joseph Co Kerry; Greaney and Paige Jordan O’Connor, Kemp received the Bachelor of Business award for the second Studies with French, time.

Raheen, Limerick.

400-Year-Old Exam Tradition Comes to an End in Trinity MUIREANN DUFFY Trinity College Dublin is set to put an end to a 400 year old tradition within the college by changing the format of their exams to fall into line with UL and other Irish Universities.

From 2018, exams will be held at the end of each semester, and the academic year will begin earlier.

The change is part of reforms suggested by the Trinity Education Board following the agreement of the majority of Trinity’s 200 fellows and senior academics, and also a vote in favour of the change from the student body.

UL was one of the first Irish Universities to adopt this method of examination, following the format that had already been established in many American Universities which has long thought to be more beneficial for students.

The obvious advantage of holding exams biannually is that the workload is more evenly distributed throughout the year and that the lecture material should be fresher in the student’s memory come exam time.

Despite Trinity student’s receiving high results in relatively high proportions (having

one of the highest percentage of graduates receiving a First), UL is commended for the emphasis placed on the practical application of learning - in particular CoOp, but also with the majority of modules containing some element of continual

assessment or group project.

These methods of assessment, which are so common in UL, allow lecturers and tutors to provide feedback and help students who may be struggling, but would not have been noticed

had there only been an end of year exam.

The exam induced stress is also reduced if students know that they have a certain percentage before even sitting the final exam, and two sets of five exams is a lot more manageable than one set of ten.

Speaking to the Irish Times, Trinity ViceProvost, Prof Chris Morash said: “There are no end of studies which show that the feedback students get on what they do is one of the most important factors in shaping how they learn…[The final exam] isn’t giving students feedback on what they did right of

wrong- it doesn’t help learning.”

Although some senior academics in Trinity argued that the change would undermine research and raise expenses by having to correct two sets of exams, the majority felt the positives outweighed the negatives.

So while Trinity may value tradition, UL’s “employability” and “teaching” ratings of five stars, the only University in Ireland to receive top marks in both regards, show that the skills being developed and examined in UL are what employers are looking for.

March 2017

8

The Link Between Sedentary Life and Disease CIARA MARIA HAYES It’s recently been brought to the attention of many of Ireland’s doctors that leading a sedentary life can pose serious risks to your health, including links to many lifethreatening diseases.

The longer a person remains inactive throughout the day, the higher their risk of developing such an ailment.

A study conducted in the University of California San Diego School of Medicine last month revealed a shocking development in women aged 64 to 95 who were inactive for more than 10 hours a day – the cells of these women resembled cells of women up to eight years older compared to women who lived more active lifestyles.

UL exercise physiologist Dr Brian Carson also offered a comment on the epidemic, stating: “It is now considered that sitting of itself, may be an independent predictor of health, with increased sitting time associated with cardiovascular diseases and metabolic diseases

such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, as well as ageing and dementia.”

According to findings by the Irish LongituDinal study of ageing, just over a third of older Irish adults reach the recommended level of physical activity for their age group, however sedentary behavior among this demographic has no longer been measured.

However, Carson commented on rectifying the situation through a collaborative effort with the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at UCC, where they will be studying the link of sedentary behavior’s link to cardiometabolic health on adults in the Mitchelstown area of Cork.

“We currently have seven days of objectively measured data on physical activity, standing, sleep and sitting, of more than 300 older adults,” he said.

“This data is exciting as it will inform us of the pattern of this behavior in these individuals and any associations with their cardiometabolic

health and thus allow us to design appropriate interventions in an Irish context.”

A peer-reviewed medical journal, The Lancet, released a follow-up to its 2012 series on physical activity. It was entitled Physical Activity 2016: Progress and Challenges.

One of the key papers was a compilation of data from over a million partakers, which confirmed that those who are inactive for over eight hours a day are 59% more likely to die of any cause, and must engage in 60-75 minutes of moderateto-vigorous physical activity in order to combat the negative effects of engaging in sitting activity for so long.

“Such research clearly has health implications for our older adult population in which we see an increase in sitting behavior and a decline in physical activity where only 34% of older Irish adults meet the guidelines,” Carson said.

“It also has implications for older adults in the workplace, with an increase in

sedentary work.”

A senior lecturer in sport and exercise psychology in DCU, Dr Brendan Egan, has an interest muscle mass and strength.

He claims that even if we do half an hour of moderate exercise, we are bound to spend 90% of our waking time in a seated position.

“So even if you do exercise during the day, if you do it in a single bout and spend the rest of the time sitting you could be what is called ‘an active couch potato’.

“Among the many other things that

inactivity is associated with, is the likelihood to lead to loss of muscle mass and strength.

But in the elderly, inactivity-associated muscle losses can be as much as three times the size, in one-third of the time, compared to young healthy adults.”

As part of the National Physical Activity Plan launched in 2016 by Ministers Leo Varadkar and Paschal Donoghue, Ireland is aiming to put more emphasis on standing up in the workplace and the aim to “Get Ireland Active”.

The Irish Sports

Monitor reported in 2013 that individuals who engaged in a higher proportion of sedentary individuals engage in watching more than five hours of TV per day than highly active individuals.

We as students may also want to take this into consideration as we spend countless hours on social media via computers and phones, as well as sitting at desks studying for long periods of time. It’s very important to remember that the human body is designed for movement.

“Leave Weenz Alone,” Says Local Rap-scallion of UL but one man in particular has been It’s been an eventful just as busy. week for the students Local musician Keith PAUL SAUNDERS

‘Weenz’ Ryan has been in the headlines for the past few weeks as the students of UL were advised not to invite the rapper into their homes.

Weenz has been the centre of attention this Charity Week and culminated with the Gardaí calling to his house to warn him against throwing a house party.

“I woke up and the Garda was banging at the door and they said that they received

information that ‘DJ’ Weenz was throwing a party tonight, or tomorrow night, or performing at one and she was cautioning me not to go ahead with it,” Weenz said.

He said that “nothing could be farther from the truth” and that he was simply at home working.

However, Weenz is going to consider the advice of a solicitor just in case: “The Garda who came to the door seemed sound enough

actually and she had a message for me, so now I’m gonna give a solicitor an aul bell I think.”

Weenz is trying to see the lighter side of all the attention he is getting: “Victimised a bit but bemused by it. It all started from the house party in College Court and then the Students’ Union document saying don’t invite Weenz, two radio interviews later and it just keeps on rolling

to the guards this morning.

“Throughout this I’ve maintained a sense of humour but others are taking me very seriously it would seem,” he added.

Weenz did make an appearance during Charity Week when he collaborated with Hermitage Green in a secret house party in Elm Park; he is currently on working on some new songs and will be holding a gig in Dublin soon.

March 2017

9

A Vehicle for Change in Ghana SIOBHAN MACLOINGSIGH What do a used Irish fire truck, a Ghana district hospital and a UL Canadian medical student have in common?

Answer: this summer’s coolest fundraising journey for the NGO Ghana Medical Health (GMH) The cross-continental adventure begins in Cork this June, when Kelly Hadfield and two other passengers will start their journey to transport a used fire truck from Ireland to rural Ghana.

Once in Ghana, the fire truck will serve as a much-needed form of transportation between district hospitals where GMH

operates.

Hadfield, a UL Graduate medical student and niece of astronaut Chris Hadfield, started GMH in 2010 as a community-oriented and educational initiative to aid underresourced district hospitals in Ghana.

Now an organisation that reaches two million people in 14 district hospitals in Ghana, GMH serves to uplift communities from grass-root levels and implement a structural and lasting impact on the community.

Hadfield started the NGO when she was only 21 but found that her youth was advantageous in

the creation of the organisation.

“I started the organisation when I was very young. The advantage of this was that I knew I knew nothing. I didn’t come in with any ego or preconceived notions.” she noted.

The organisation works to educate medical nurses in Ghana who will in turn return to their communities and pass their knowledge on to other health care professionals.

“We work to increase base-line skills as the highest mortality rates occur in the prehospital phase.

“We train nurses on basic healthcare who then go on to train

other nurses.”

Hadfield noted.

GMH has a strong community based approach and works with thirty local people to ensure that the needs of the Ghanaians locals remain central to the project.

The organisation has also worked to create a strong support system between the district hospitals in Ghana by emphasising the necessity of collective action to implement lasting change.

“When we first arrived there was no community between the hospitals and a lot of competition for resources. Now the hospitals share equipment and work together.”

Hadfield comes from a research background and noted the importance of an empirical approach to NGO’s, remarking “Why would you do an experiment and not follow-up on the consequences?”

GMH consistently monitors their progress in the district hospitals and conducts follow-up evaluations every three months to evaluate the challenges that arise. Hadfield will complete the journey from Ireland to Ghana in two weeks with two other passengers: a mechanic from Clonakilty and a photojournalist who will document the trip.

GMH has a variety of sponsors ranging

from Nissan, to Chris Hadfield, to the paramedic department of the University of Limerick, but Hadfield notes that more funds are needed to sustain the project.

GMH will organise several fundraising events in the next few months and hopes to involve more students in fundraising and spreading awareness of the project.

If you are interested in volunteering, you can apply online at www. g h a n a m e d i c a l h e l p. com.

You can follow GMH’s summer adventure on twitter @ghanamedicalhealth, on www.ghanamedicalhelp.com or on Facebook.

Bayer Insecticide Linked to Death of Bees AISLING O’CONNOR

A petition sumofus. org is attempting to prevent an insecticide from being introduced in Ireland.

The insecticide, “flupyradifurone” from Bayer, is related to neonicotinoids which have been linked to mass death of bees.

Other life is said to also be at risk if it is introduced.

According to retired zoologist, John Breen, neonicotinoids became notorious because while they were not toxic to bees at normal dose levels, they changed the behaviour of both Honey Bees and Bumblebees.

A report on Irishbeekeeping.ie states that the new insecticide is not toxic to bees.

Bees already have major difficulties as

honeybees have viruses causing problems, so this is another issue, the zoologist said.

Liz Gabbett of the University of Limerick says that honeybees account for 30 percent of pollinators, and other species like bumblebees need to be protected too.

The number of pollinators have been decreasing globally even though bee keeping in Ireland has been increasing, she said.

The Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN Europe) says that pesticide companies use “pseudo-science” to give new pesticides a more positive image.

These companies have classified flupyradifurone and sulfoxaflor as different to neonictinods by hiding similarities in their biochemical

properties, deceived regulators by designing new insecticide categories, and the companies themselves decide what category a pesticide belongs to, according to PAN Europe.

“One of the benefits of social media is that it has the ability to bring certain things into the spotlight that nobody was paying attention to before… recently, social media has done this for

bees” said the Public Relations Officer of UL’s Environmental Society, Kate McMahon.

“Remove any pollinators from the network and the crop suffers, remove bees certain foods simply don’t grow.”

Biodiversity Ireland’s All Ireland Pollinator Plan 2015-2020 aims to make Ireland pollinator friendly, raise awareness to and protect pollinators,

support beekeepers and growers, expand knowledge in the area, and collect evidence to monitor changes.

The pollinator population is said to be declining and the problem “requires immediate attention to ensure the sustainability of our food production, avoid additional economic impact on the agricultural sector, and protect the health

of the environment,” according to Biodiversity Ireland.

On an indivudual level, Ms Gabbett suggests creating habitats that are bee friendly. Grass that is short, such as the grass seen on a golf course, is not ideal as there are no flowers for pollinators.

Meadows are ideal, she explained.

Mr Breen says that single flowers are better for bees than double flowers, as double flowers produce less pollin.

However, for farming producing organic crops it is “significantly more expensive and not everybody can afford to go that way.”

In UL, Ms Gabbett hopes that through green campus committee, signs will be put up in grassy areas explaining why it is needed for pollinators.

March 2017

10

Shifting Standards: What’s in a Kiss?

JONAS PAGH DITLEVSEN A few weeks ago, a roommate of mine came back from Stables with an impressive array of hickeys on her neck.

How did she come by those? A frisky Irish lad. Apparently, he’d immediately proposed that they ‘stepped outside for a shift’.

Not quite sure what that entailed, my roommate hesitantly agreed, and next thing she knew there was a tongue in her mouth.

Surprised, she eventually opted out of the shifting. Now, we’ve laughed a lot about the whole ordeal, but it got me thinking: What precedes a kiss in our day and age?

Certainly, kissing is less of a big deal than in the olden days.

It’s innocent, but it’s intimate. I’d argue that today it’s akin to foot massages, as explained

by Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction: “We act like they don’t mean something, but they do, which is what is so fucking cool about

them!”

My roommate’s experience was more about m i s c om mu n i c at i on than anything else, adding to the hilarity.

Grabbing or kissing someone without any sort of invitation is harassment though.

According to most women I know, unwanted groping or kissing by strangers happens a lot, which is insulting and pathetic.

We’re all better than that.

Now, boundaries definitely have changed though. Kissing used to signify the solidified end of the courtship process: you’d succeeded.

Today, for better or worse, kissing is often step one in pursuing the opposite sex, especially when drunk. But where did courtship go? With the risk of romanticizing the past, I still say it’s a damn shame that awkwardness and/ or mind-numbing intoxication has replaced honest effort in our romantic

endeavors.

In the past I’ve definitely put on a vest of beer-induced courage before pursuing a first kiss with a cute girl.

Now, nothing wrong with a few shared pints to calm nerves (which tends to improve a date).

But drinking your brains out and thus struggling to uphold enough motor function to produce speech, nevermind actually kissing, doesn’t improve the odds of it going well.

Lord knows I’ve been guilty of a performing the ol’ sloppy tornado tongue quite a few times. The best dates of my life, though, have all started sober.

One obvious problem: What even is courtship, and how do you in fact court someone? In the renaissance, a favorite tactic in any young suitor’s arsenal would be reciting and writing poetry.

Writing someone a poem seems a bit awkward in a modern setting, but the purpose was the same as it

is today: Paving the way towards physical intimacy with a desired partner.

Back then, instead of Netflix ‘n’ chill you’d invite someone to Shakespeare ‘n’ quill, but the euphemism remains the same: “I’m dtf. You?” The latter involves a lot more effort, and that’s what I kinda like about it.

Maybe that’s it: There’s no need for any actual effort anymore.

Sexual liberation has come a long way, and barring gossip you’re free to sleep with any consenting adult around you.

I mean, If you wanna shift and/or bang someone new every night: more power to ye. But if you’ve taken a real liking to someone.

If you fancy him or her more than just a little, maybe it’s time to rethink courtship in a modern setting: No Tinder, no slurred, drunken declarations of love, just an honest, respectful show of interest.

I think one might have a lot of luck with that.

March 8th: International Women’s Day KATHLEEN O’SULLIVAN March 8th is International Women’s Day. International Women’s Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

Around the world, various events will be held, including award ceremonies, summits

of various sorts, fun runs and even marches and protests.

There are many ways to commemorate the day that’s in it and it is no doubt the day has a different significance for every woman.

On International Women’s Day in Ireland, support will be shown for a referendum to be held for the repeal of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution through strikes that will be taking place around the country.

These strikes are being organised by Strike4Repeal.

In the University, the Feminist Society will be participating in the general support by wearing black and promoting others to wear black on the day too.

Secretary of the UL Feminist Society, Megan Thornton explained how wearing black is a sign of unity and support for the many women who have been affected

by abortion laws in Ireland.

“We are wearing black as a sign of support and solidarity for the countless woman still forced to travel abroad or go through dangerous methods in order to get an abortion which is still illegal in Ireland.

“We wear black to stand out, to show that we are unified in our fight to obtain the right for Irish women to have control over their own bodies.”

March 2017

11

“Ever Since, My Head Has Been Freezing” NICOLE GLENNON ULSU President Sarah Dunphy decided to get her hair dyed red to raise money for the four chosen charities.

“I’ve never dyed my hair before and I was just like why not it’s for charity, it’s for a good cause,” Ms Dunphy said.

“I talked to Caolan and Donal and then we decided we’d all do something together. So we did that, and then we did the dunking as well.

We just felt that we really wanted to embrace [Charity Week] this year, so that’s why,” she explained.

The ULSU President

said that Caolan didn’t decide to shave his head until moments beforehand.

“Myself and Donal had nearly peer-pressured him into it, like g’wan g’wan.. but he was really adamant like ‘No, no, no.’

So we were more joking than anything and then he was like ‘You

Caolan Before & After

The past week has been a busy one for us in the trampoline club. Last weekend (February 24th – 27th) marked our inaugural Limerick Open competition which took place in the UL Arena.

It took months of planning and a huge effort from both committee and members to pull off, so a huge congratulations to all who helped.

The competition was a success with our members taking home the plaque and a variety of medals in varying disciplines.

Not only was there lots of work but there was lots of play with two social nights organised for all the competitors.

The first of which was a Great Gatsby themed night in the pavilion which saw our members dolled up and dancing like they were fancy 1920’s folk.

We had 6 colleges in

Academic Officer Donal Foley dyed his hair and beard blue and red respectively.

“It was a good experience and very well done. The only problem with it is that my face is stained red from the dye.

I actually wanted to peroxide my hair but they didn’t have it so I chose red and blue. I’d definitely do it again for such good causes.”

“You don’t usually get the opportunity to dye your hair for other job,” he added.

He said: “Once I saw Caolan shaving his

head I knew I had to go through with the dye. It was for charity, so the three of us weren’t going to back out.”

Sarah said: “It was nice for the students to see that we aren’t these elite three people behind closed doors.”

The four charities chosen for this years Charity Week were Cliona’s Foundation, Focus Ireland, Mid-West Spina Bifida and St Gabriel’s School and Centre.

These charities were nominated by UL students and then voted for by Student Executive in a secret ballot.

Nearly Naked Mile a Success

Naked Trampoline Bounce SEAMUS TOOMEY

know what? I will,’ and we were like ‘Are you sure? This is a big decision’ and then all of his lovely locks were on the floor and that was it.”

Welfare Officer Caolan O’Donnell said he had agreed that if a certain amount was raised he’d shave his head.

“I thought it would be a bit more severe than the dye. Ever since, my head has been freezing,” he joked.

“I shaved most of it myself but Johnny’s Barbers were there and anyone else who wanted to have a go at shaving my head could.”

attendance and over 120 competitors, 62 of which were from UL, it was a huge achievement for us and we’ve received lots of compliments for how well both the competition and social nights were run.

“Great job on the competition guys, from what I saw on Sunday it was really, really excellently run, congrats to all who competed, even more so to those who finished 2 routines,” Gavin Dillon, one of the judges who attended this weekend, said.

Not only did we have this massive competition but as you probably also saw we were out in the courtyard on Wednesday, and I mean we were all out.

In support of the nearly naked mile we held a nearly naked bounce flaunting our bods and promoting body positivity and helping to raise money for the 4 charities (Clionas Foundation,

Focus Ireland, MidWest Spina Bifida and St. Gabriels School and Centre) selected by the SU for charity week.

It was a chilly afternoon but we had plenty of our “tramps” showing off their skills (and much more) for the cause.

Over the few cold hours we spent in the courtyard we managed to raise over €250 in donations from the small audiences that gathered to watch.

“It was great fun and amazing to see so many people be comfortable in their own skin, strip and help raise money for UL Charity week” said Eoghan Hodnett who took part on the day.

We also had 5 members participate in shave or dye, all choosing to dye. Special thanks to Eoghan Mason who went above and beyond and dyed his hair 4 times going from blond to blue then adding red and then finally pink.

SIOBHAN MACLOINGSIGH One of the highlights of Charity Week was the Nearly-Naked Mile – which involved a very chilly sponsored run around UL. The Naked Mile started at the Students’ Union and involved the scantily clad students running 1.5 miles (in fact) around the campus in nothing but their underwear.

The Nearly-Naked Mile has been a tradition of charity week for several years and is always a popular event.

“We ran a mile and a half around the college, it’s something different and a fun way to raise money,” said participant Colin O’Brien.

Like all charity week events, the aim is to be fun but help with the fundraising.

“It was a good success and raised some money so it did its job,” commented Mr O’Brien who ran in his boxers, a ULSU cape, promotional stickers and Wolfie’s head.

The Nearly Naked Mile also attract-

ed some female participants as Emma Louraine Flores took part in the run along with a whole host of Charity Week events.

In total, she raised over a €150 by participating in the Nearly Naked Mile, Dunk Tank and spending hours in the rain collecting donations.

Ms Flores has been an active participant in numerous Charity Weeks but thinks that the week has become hijacked by drinking and partying instead of giving your time and money to worthy causes.

“I think that Charity week is more than just a week of going out and partying. I feel people need to be reminded that there are a load of things to do that are fun as well as going out,” Ms Flores said.

Ms Flores competed in three charity events, works as a class rep completed her course work and volunteered as a member of the MnM’s, to ensure that students were safe.

“Volunteering doesn’t

have to be seen as a job, you just have to put your own twist on it to make it enjoyable for yourself as well as other people. Some people didn’t even know that the stuff I did was for charity because it was such a laugh.

“I feel like even after changing the name of the week to Charity Week, people still just think about the drinking aspect of things, even though it does end up raising a good bit of money it’d be better if people got more involved rather than just the night events.

Charity week should be about having fun, no arguing that but if there was just as much interest in volunteering and raising as much money as possible,” she added.

Ms Flores won’t slow during next year’s event and is looking forward to it already.

“It may take up time and I was exhausted by the end of it bit like every Charity week I always look back on it with a smile knowing that it was worth it.”

March 2017

12

Charity Week

March 2017

13

Highlights 2017

March 2017

14

Wednesday, March 1st: Jax Jones

BY EILIS WALSH

UL Students’ Union played host to two talented music acts during Charity Week.

The first headlining act was Jax Jones - all of the UL Freshers’ pages were full of students desperately vying for the coveted tickets.

I myself had never heard of the man before, an English DJ, known predominantly for featuring in Duke Dumont’s single “I Got U” and for his own single “You Don’t Know Me.” The weather was not

on the students’ side as we all queued up outside the SU. Security did not allow students to enter the courtyard until at least 7:45pm, which was a bit later than the 7pm advertised on the tickets.

Despite the poor weather, the courtyard had a fine set-up of popcorn, candyfloss and crisps, which I availed of so that my belly was empty.

The Stables provided a welcome respite from the icy winds.

Playing support was David Sheerin and Charlie Moloney, they

really got the crowd going with loud, booming beats.

Techno isn’t something I would usually listen to but I found myself bopping along with everyone else.

A remix of “You’ve Got The Love” was received particularly well.

The stage production was very well done, I liked the edgy and atmospheric smoke and flashy lights used during the gig.

It added to the overall experience.

Jax Jones was greeted warmly by those who had waited patiently for

the main event.

The DJ played classics such as “Format” by Chunky B and David Zowie’s “House Every Weekend”.

The loud pulsating beats could be heard all the way from the courtyard to Milford Grange.

Remixes included Notorious B.I.G’s “Juicy”.

Jax Jones impressed because he really seemed passionate and enthusiastic about the music, which I like to see.

It turned out that I had actually heard one of Jax Jones’ songs before, it actually being the most famous “You

Don’t Know Me ft RAYE”.

One student that was there, Maria Lynch, remarked that the famous tune had to be played twice due to technical difficulties.

“The whole reason most of them (students) were there was for the main song. The equipment messed up just before the bass drop so he had to start the song again. People weren’t complaining because they got to hear the tune a second time.”

Student Ciaran praised the security on hand for the event who

were kept busy due to rowdy student crowds.

A few students fell due to masses of people pushing but the security kept any chaos at bay by wading into the crowd regularly.

For most that went, despite the typical Irish weather, the gig was a success and many headed into town to continue the night of partying.

There was an after party into Angel Lane, transport offered were buses into the city centre, where the entry fee into the club was a pricey €8.

March 2017

15

Thursday, March 2nd: All Tvvins

BY EILIS WALSH

I didn’t have to be asked twice to write a review on All Tvvins, which happen to be one of my favourite bands.

I personally queued up at 8am to make sure I got my tickets to the gig.

The duo is made up of Lar Kaye and Conor Adams, whose music mixture of synth pop, irresistible riffs and

loud booming drums.

All Tvvins are known for Conor Adam’s synthesized vocals in their songs.

Both Adams and Kaye had been in different bands before coming together on All Tvvins, who supported Kodaline on tour last year and there even is a YouTube video where both All Tvvins and Kodaline come together to sing the duo’s song ‘Unbelievable.’

Support included Battle of the Bands winners A Weekend Away, who won the final round of the competition just two days prior to the gig, and Cider Wasps.

Despite Conor Adams’ voice being heavily synthesized, I was impressed with his live vocal ability, especially while he was jumping around the stage.

Favourites of mine on the night were their

cover of Justin Bieber’s “Where Are Ü Now”, which turned into a head-banging worthy song at the chorus with heavy riffs and loud electronic sounds.

Other songs I loved were ‘Thank You’ and ‘Unbelievable.’

I would recommend you listening to bands such as Sundara Karma and Blossoms if you like their sound.

New Media and English student, Chris-

topher Dunne said: “What got me was that the band had such a positive energy about their performance that it removed you completely from the cold and rain.

The future of Irish indie rock is bright.”

The crowd drawn to All Tvvins’ gig in the courtyard was certainly extremely different to that of Jax Jones, and smaller, but people went away beaming,

having come together with a love of good music.

All Tvvins are proof that the Irish music industry is healthy and thriving.

Their album is out right now if you’d like to pick that up and just in case you’d like to see these guys live again, they will be playing festivals up and down the country such as Sea Sessions, Indiependence and more.

March 2017

Faces of Charity Week: How was your Charity Week experience?

16 Never looked forward to sleeping more in my life, but worth every minute. Every minute of everyday was exciting. Thank you to all the students to engaging in all of the weeks activities. Roll on Charity Week 2018!!!!

Olwen Murphy

Ridiculously stressful but worth the stresss in the end. Great to see all the students come together and run this massive event. It’s a stressful but nice to pull it off for the charities.

Killian Stone

Really enjoyed working during Charity Week cause it offered a different perspective on the whole event and what goes into running these big events and it’s a great week.

Colin O’Brien

It was a very successful week. Our students really embraced the fundraising side of things which was a huge success. I’d like to thank all involved, in particular our huge team of student volunteers.

Adele O’Carroll

What a crazy week that’s for a great cause. Loved every moment of it even getting my head shaved.

Charity Week does so much good and it’s great to be a a part of it.

Caolan O’Donnell

A very successful week made all the better by helping the team in the SU for some very worthwhile charities.

Susan Sheehan

Big thank you to all the volunteers, great to meet more students and raise money for charity. Absolutely delighted with how the week went.

Seán Bailey-Whyte

Some week in fairness, I definitely enjoyed it more than last year, being involved with the SU and all the events added to it a lot more. Jax Jones was surely the highlight of the week as was drinking pints of Guinness inside in Mollys of course with Jack Guiney and Joe Errity.

Paddy Reddin

Great craic from start to finish except the part where I face planted the stage at the end of Jax Jones!

Plenty money made for 4 great causes! May the bad dreams and beer blues not be too bad over the weekend!

Donal Foley

March 2017

18

Drama Soc Shows No Sign of Slowing Down ANNE PARKES UL Drama Society shows no sign of slowing down after a hectic start to the semester.

The past couple of weeks has seen the welcome return of our writers group.

Every Tuesday at 7pm, drama members with a flair for writing meet in SU room Two. They work on scripts that could one day be brought to life on stage and new members are always more than welcome to come along and join the group.

We’ve also had another instalment of our Tuesday Tech Series workshops.

Our Arts Director Billy gave an insightful crash course on sets and props – essential knowledge as our production of Pigtown

is swiftly approaching An ambitious play and extensive props list means Billy and his team will have their work cut out for them but we’re confident they will rise to the challenge.

Our Wednesday workshops continue to be the highlight of many students weekly calendar.

We’ve had Productions Officer Ray give a workshop on stage confidence.

The evening started off with tongue twisters that had us all giggly and relaxed before tackling some script pieces.

Our next workshop was led by Ciarda Tobin.

Ciarda is the Festival Manager of the Fresh Film Festival so we were extremely excited for her workshop.

The evening centred around improvisation – a vital theatre skill, because you never know what could happen under the pressure of the dazzling stage lights.

The highlight of the last couple of weeks for our society has undoubtedly been our “Are You Smarter Than a 10 Year Old Quiz” we held in Scholars last week.

It was a successful night with over 60 competitors, some proved they were smarter than a 10 year old while others... well we won’t say anymore.

We also held a colouring competition on the night which competitors really embraced.

It was quite a different sight on a Thursday night in Scholars to see 60 young adults trying

their best to stay within the lines.

We were blown away by the generous prizes sponsored by local businesses, including Munster Tickets and an Inglot Voucher.

A huge thank you to

anyone who joined us on the night – and of course thanks to Scholars, with impeccable service as always.

We hope to continue our success in the following semester,

with a production, workshops and events a plenty.

So check us out on Facebook and the UL Wolves website so you don’t miss out on any of our upcoming performances.

Dance UL to Represent at College Intervarsities SONYA RAMONDINO Dance UL’s Hip Hop, Jazz and Contemporary varsity teams are all set to travel to the National University of Galway (NUIG) for the 2017 All Ireland Intervarsity Competition.

The teams are due to depart from campus on

Tuesday morning and will arrive in Galway to rehearse onstage before the big day.

On Wednesday, March 8th, Dance UL will be competing against nine other Irish colleges and marked by award-winning judges.

The teams have been working extremely

hard to prepare three technically challenging, powerful and entertaining pieces to capture the hearts of the audience, and welcome any and all support!

NUIG is opening its doors to all who wish to watch the teams compete and everyone is welcome to come show their UL pride.

This is an excellent opportunity to engage in a national demonstration of dance culture, and enjoy a day away from that ominous pile of books sitting precariously by the edge of your desk.

If you will be unable to join us, on March 6th in Dromroe Village Hall for a preview of the pieces, they

will all be filmed at the competition and posted through Dance UL’s Facebook page.

Dance UL will also be holding a showcase at the end of the semester in Week 11, featuring all three of the intervarsity teams, as well as dancers from

our weekly classes and workshops.

Entry is two euro and proceeds will be donated to charity (more information will be provided closer to the date).

Presently, we are extremely excited to be representing UL in

Galway this coming week and invite you to join us in person or in For more information and further details about the day, visit (and follow!) DanceUL on Facebook, Twitter (@DanceUL), and Instagram (/officialdanceul).

March 2017

20

UL Archery Goes to Irish Student Nationals FRANK STAFFORD AND CONOR O’BRIEN The weekend of February 5th and 6th saw the archery club of UL attend the Irish Student Nationals hosted by the UCC archery club in Nemo Rangers.

Our convoy left the Stables at 8am packed with equipment and archers all ready for the weekend.

As Saturday was just the qualifying round for Sunday, the shooting followed the standard format of shooting sixty arrows, broken into two sets of thirty arrows with a lunch provided during the break.

Many of our archers did very well, with Sean Flavin finishing fifth in the men’s recurve, which is always the most competitive category.

After UL’s good performance on Saturday,

many of our archers now were in a good position for the head-tohead matches.

In head-to-head matches an archer is awarded 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw, with the first to 6 declared the winner.

Many of our arch-

ers came up against top-ranking archers in the head-to-heads.

Sean Flavin, Frank Stafford and Karen Power won their matches; however, Charlie McGreevy, Luke Vickery and Ciara Fergus were knocked out.

In the next round it

was just Sean Flavin who was left getting into the quarter finals.

Unfortunately, Sean Flavin was knocked out in his next match.

While he started well, his opponent came back strong and eventually won 6-4.

At the conclusion of

the Individual head-toheads it was now time for the team head-toheads.

When the UL recurve team of Charlie McGreevy, Frank Stafford and Luke Vickery arrived on the line, they were confident they could win as they were against DCU and two of them had already knocked out two of the DCU team earlier in the day.

Also, the sun that was blinding everyone else was hidden behind a pillar for the UL team.

The first two ends of non-scoring practice went well, with the team well-practiced in switching between people between arrows.

Then came the first proper scoring end of the team matches. UL won this comfortably, gaining a 2-0 lead over DCU. However, when they got back to the line the

sun had moved from behind the pillar and was now blinding our team also.

It took one end for the team to adjust to the new conditions, as the sights had been put off by the change in the light.

DCU won both, getting up to 2-2. While UL made a strong comeback in the second and third end, DCU were just a bit too strong – winning by 3 points in each end.

While it was not a massively successful weekend for UL, it was still an important learning experience for many of our archers who were new to head to head matches.

We would like to wish the best of luck to all our archers who will be attending the finals of the archery intervarsity league on the 11th of March in DCU.

Ultimate Frisbee Host Siege of Limerick Tournament SARAH GILMARTIN Unfortunately by the time you read this, ‘The Siege of Limerick’ will already have come and gone.

It’s a shame really.

You’re missing out.

The Siege is not only the biggest Frisbee tournament in the ultimate frisbee calendar, it’s without doubt the most enjoyable.

My only wish is that we could move the tournament to later in the year – as the weather may be slightly more appealing.

The Siege is an incredibly well-run tournament that brings in interest from all around the world; we’ve Americans and Germans playing pickup and a host of teams from the

UK and Belgium too.

Although the Siege is a serious tournament with everyone trying their utmost to take home the gold, it’s a tournament where both fun and socializing play an important role too.

With a charity ‘Shave or Dye’ on the Friday night and a themed costume party on the Saturday night, there really is something for everyone.

The theme of the party this year is “2016: A Lost Hope” so if you saw a few Donald Trumps or Clowns walking around campus at the weekend, that’s why!

Outing number two of March shall involve some lovely lads and lassies setting sail for mixed outdoor in-

tervarsity’s in Galway.

March 11th and 12th are the dates and we’re already super excited.

We’re hoping that our weekend in Galway will be a successful one and we’ll be coming home with more silverware to Limerick in just over a week’s time!

Apart from these two tournaments, the majority of March will be spent in preparation for both Open and Ladies’ Intervarsity, which will take place the first two weekends of April.

The next two months are – without doubt – our most strenuous, so I’m hoping bones and bodies stay intact for just a little while longer to get us out the gap.

If none of that caught your attention, maybe a general knowledge quiz

will?

If so, join us Week 7 in Scholars’ at 8pm. Bring a team of four and we’ll provide the finger food and the entertainment.

We’ll have a raffle and some decent prizes on the night too.

If you’d like to join our team, we ladies train every Tuesday at 6pm

on the Kilmurry astro and our beginner training for all genders are on Thursdays at 8pm, also on the Kilmurry astro.

March 2017

21

UL Boxing Club: 12 Entered for All-Irelands CHLOE O’KEEFFE The most highly anticipated fortnight of University boxing has arrived in the form of the Irish Amateur Third-Level Association Intervarsity boxing championships which kicked off last weekend March 4th – 5th, and will continue this coming Friday, Saturday & Sunday, 10th – 12th.

Amongst the entries was a strong 12-person squad representing the University of Limerick. The squad consists of boxers from Novice to Senior and everything in between with Fionnbarr Thompson, Eoin Meaney, Eoin Roche, Patrick English, Caoilte de Barra, Cormac Long, Raymond McNamee, Colm Henry, Jason Kirwan, Dean Griffin, Tanya O’Flynn and Chloe O’Keeffe.

Following previous successes over the years in these championships, the clubs prospects look strong.

“This year we have the best team ever . . . we will [definitely] have 6 or 7 medals coming away from [the championships], which is unprecedented in the clubs history,” speaks Club co-Chairman Ciaran Cronin.

Comparing the entries for UL last year to this year, it is clear the club has come along leaps and bounds since then: “Last year we only had two guys competing and there

was no real buzz about the club in the lead-up to the event,” quips Chairman Killian Campbell, who has been involved heavily with the club since September 2013.

Campbell got on great with the founders of the club, and once they had moved on from the university felt he owed it to them to continue their ongoing work with the club. The chairman admits the club had a shaky period around then as “nobody really knew what they were doing when it came to running a club,” but speaks of how the club is the strongest he has ever seen it at this current moment.

Committee member Colm Henry, who anticipates to win at the Senior Novice 67kg category vouches for this point too, “This year [has been] the club’s best year to date and I’m really excited to see where it goes in the future.”

It was a difficult week for the boxers as they carefully watched their weights and trained in the lead-up to the opening day of the championships last Saturday.

The difficulty of that final week of weight cutting was heightened by one of the most much-loved weeks in the college year – Charity Week.

“It’s a pity the tournament starts the weekend after UL’s Charity Week which makes not drinking a harder fight than the tournament itself,”

says Henry, “[but] I’m sure myself and the lads and ladies from the UL Boxing Club will have our own Charity Week after dominating this Intervarsities.”

The boxers all enjoyed a rather quiet Charity Week – watching their weight, training, doing assignments to fill in the time they weren’t spending participating in the Charity Week activities.

“The discipline isn’t easy, but I draw strength from not being able to take part in Charity week,” club PRO Fionnbarr Thompson says.

Thompson is no stranger to wearing the UL singlet as he has won two IATBA titles – the 2013 Novice and the 2015 Intermediate.

Entering in at Senior level this year, Thompson hopes to add a Senior IATBA title to his list of accomplishments – which would see him having won an IATBA Irish title at all three levels of experience.

Thompson started his boxing year with UL on a notable high when he secured a steady win over a Dublin opponent last December in IT Carlow’s ‘Showdown in the Barrow 2.’

O’Keeffe, a current National champion is striving to claim her second Irish title over the next weekends in the University Championships and hopes to build on her success with her college to date.

One of only two girls en-

tered under UL, it is evident of the difference of popularity boxing holds over girls compared to that of the popularity it has with boys, but both girls entered under the University of Limerick hope there will be a lot of girls entering from other Universities to increase the chance of having fights.

“Hopefully . . . more girls will go for it this year, so there will be less walkovers,” says Munster Champion, Tanya O’Flynn.

The pride everyone holds in representing UL Boxing Club over the next two weekends is highly evident.

Rathkeale’s Cormac Long speaks of how he is looking forward to “hopefully winning my first title for UL. [It’ll be] nice to represent the college.”

Dean Griffin, who will be entering into the 75kg Intermediate category, tells of how he is simply, “just proud to represent UL.” The training is tough but the outcomes are rewarding.

Killian Campbell speaks of how he is grateful for people putting their trust to him when he told them that although the original committee members had left and the newly assigned committee members were underknowledged, UL Boxing Club would and could be one of the strongest clubs in UL.

ULRM Races at SSI Karting Intervarsities

resenting us at two of the rounds.

Also a shoutout to UL Racing & Motorour photographer Caosport sent two teams of imhín Ó Ceallaigh for five drivers to compete driving us to most of in this year’s SSI Kartthe rounds and capturing Intervarsities. ing some brilliant phoThe season kicked tos of us all. off in Whiteriver back Now it’s time to focus in November, with on our own internal rounds taking place at championship which Pallas, Nutts Corner has only three rounds and Watergrasshill. left and its getting It was our most successful year to date O’Donnell, our karting wins in heats from Aar- Kart Centre in Limer- tight at the top of both with our A team finish- captain, was our best on Clifford in White- ick for their sponsor- the A and B championships. ing fifth overall and our driver – finishing 15th. river. ship for our suits.

B team finishing tenth, Sean Evans, Cathal We would like to take It’s safe to say we For a more in depth a steady improvement Dineen, Seppie Lysaght this opportunity to looked the most pro- report on how our inon previous years. and Darragh Lynch thank Bank of Ireland fessional team out tervarsity’s campaign From an individu- made semi-finals in for their Enablement there on track, even went, visit our blog at al perspective, Cathal various rounds, and Fund and The National with Evan Kearns rep- ulracing.com.

DARRAGH LYNCH

Ladies Shock Carlow IT CARLOW 0 UL 4 CAOIMHE HENNIGAN On Tuesday February 28th, the UL Ladies made the long journey for the second time in a matter of weeks to play cup favourites in the semi-final of the cup.

The memorable win in their previous encounter did not phase the UL girls who overcame Carlow 4-0 to reach their first ever cup final.

Keara Cormican was first to score, Carlow continued to pressure the UL goal but after strong defending from the team and exceptional saves from Laura Fitzgerald in goals.

It wasn’t long until UL were back on the attack with the next goal coming from Fiona Moloney, it wasn’t before UL scored again with a goal from Eleanor Stafford on the brink of half time.

In the second half Carlow created many chances but thanks to strong defending from the whole team, could keep them out.

Fiona Moloney got on the scoresheet for a second time, with the final goal of the game.

The girls now have the cup final against NUIG on Wednesday March 15th, to be held in the University of Limerick.

March 2017

22

UL Handballers Travel to

CAOIMHÍN REILLY While most UL students used Week 5 to ready themselves for Charity Week in conventional style, by staying in and minding their pennies, the same cannot be said for those excelling in handball.

11 members of the UL Handball Club arrived back on the Emerald Isle last Tuesday having spent the previous nine-days competing at the 65th US Collegiate Championships in Arizona State University, Phoenix and, while most enjoyed last week for social reasons, it was the handballers who had the most reasons to celebrate.

The club returned with accolades including the men’s ‘open’ – which is the top-ranking class – singles and doubles titles, the singles won

by Clare senior Colin Crehan before he teamed up with Jason English to collect the pairs title.

While Niamh Dunne was defeated in both the ‘open’ singles and doubles finals, where she played alongside Natasha Coughlan, with the duo being the only two girls on the UL team to travel.

Still to reach the finals of the top events in both codes is a mesmeric achievement and something that club chairman John Bosco Hurley, himself a member of the travelling and playing contingent, struggles to do justice to.

“The tournament started on the Wednesday. We played grading tournaments to decide what division you went into and then from Friday onwards it was knockout,” Hurley explained to An Focal.

“For the first couple of days we had mixed results but then everyone got going and it turned out to be a great success with everyone winning at least game and putting in strong performances and we also came home with a few titles which is always good.

“We won the men’s ‘open’ singles and doubles titles which is some achievement. Colin (Crehan) was the number one seed going over in the singles and himself and Jason English were the number one seeds in the doubles so they more than justified their rankings.

“We’re coming up to the club’s 20th anniversary soon and those who founded the club can’t believe the strides that have been made.

Originally, we would have struggled to go to Irish intervarsity meetings whereas now we have six or seven trips around Europe and they just can’t believe the difference since then.

“This was the first time that we have ever won the singles title in America and there was 167 competing in the men’s while there were another 50 women so we had the top two out of four in that.”

Add these milestones to the fact that for the second year in a row UL won the men’s overall title, which is based on the performances of your six best overall performers, while also coming sixth overall in the team event, and the success is evident.

“We won the men’s team title meaning that we’re the first Irish club to win it twice and we did it twice in a row too, with the only other previous Irish win coming from DIT in 2004.

“We also finished sixth overall combined between men and women and that’s over the finishes of your top six men and women together but we only had eight competing against the other competing colleges who had 12 because we only had the two women actually scoring.

Putting it into perspective, our players did so well to get into the top ten.”

The trip to America is an annual event and the pinnacle tournament for the club, this despite there being an intervarsity event and several other competitions which see the squad fly off the exotic regions across Europe, with Belgium, Spain and France being just a few of the places taken in by the handballers this academic year.

“This year we had the biggest representation of all the colleges competing at the varsities and also in terms of the Irish colleges competing in America, while we also went

around Europe playing throughout the year but definitively America is the biggest from our point of view.

“The start of February we had the Irish intervarsity, it was good preparation for America.

Unfortunately, Colin lost the ‘open’ final but we had success in the women’s ‘open’ for the seventh year in a row as Ciana Ní Churraoin was crowned champion having won it last year as well.

“We also won the ‘A’ title at the varsities with Niamh Dunne winning there.

“Overall, the varsities were very successful for us as a lot of the newer players got their first experience of it which bodes well for them in the future in getting that experience.”

And, while the American voyage was certainly one that won’t be forgotten for the team’s performances on the courts, it also gave them an opportunity to see some of the country’s greatest landmarks, although certain elements did hit Bosco hard in terms of the gap between the high-quality facilities enjoyed by their cross-Atlantic counterparts in comparison with what UL has to offer in this regard.

“For the first couple of days we just got used to our surroundings with the courts being slightly different so we spent time training ourselves and went to a shooting range and to see the Grand Canyon as well which

March 2017

23

USA for Championships helped bond and coming together I suppose.

“But, there is a huge difference in terms of facilities out there, they had 15 courts and in UL we’re still trying to get one. It really is a big difference.

“We’re still in talks about getting handball alleys in on campus, especially with the referendum result, because at the minute we have to travel for up to 20 minutes to train and we do that three times a week so it’s difficult.

“We go to either Newport or Ballynahinch (both in Tipperary) or Bohermore (Limerick) to train. It’s a big problem for transport reasons and you lose a lot of new members due to not having alleys on campus for them.

“If we had them the numbers playing would multiply we believe and they would also allow the members that we already have to train a lot more and it would help development even more.

“Compare us with the American colleges where they take handball as an actual module so they might have three-four hours’ solid hours per week of playing handball, whereas we might get two hours at most depending on alley availability and we’re still beating them!

“That proves how good we can be but if we had alleys on campus our skills would improve even more and, obviously, we’d hope to get more members and particularly more female members and try and challenge across the board.”

Despite these obstacles, the club continues to grow and at the moment they stand as the biggest third-level handball club in the country and one of the biggest nationwide, with just

over 30 members.

Being such a small group, in UL terms,, while also having a separate identity from the GAA club, has its benefits with the club being incredibly close knit as their recent trip illustrated.

“We have 34 current members, in handball terms that would be a very big club. We’re the fifth biggest in Ireland and by far the biggest collegiate club.

“We’re always the little brother of the GAA. I know in other colleges that’s the way it works and handball is a subset of the GAA but we have always been by ourselves.

“I know that we are part of the GAA but we are always the ones forgotten about when you talk about GAA and you never hear much of it.

“Whereas in UL because we’re separate we have our own identity and we’re able to decide what we want to do. We don’t have to answer to anyone whereas if we went in with the GAA we might be forgotten about like it is on a more national level.

“It’s nice that we have our own independence and we’re all very close and watched each other’s matches out in Phoenix and helped each other out and the success along with the bit of craic and setting probably makes it the best of our trips yet.

“Handball just gives you the chance, if you stick with it, to go to these places and experience it all while making friends for life.

“The American trip is a unique, not just compared to other GAA sports, because you don’t travel internationally, but to other sports in UL where you don’t get that chance to interact with that many people.”

RESULTS COLIN CREHAN - 3rd year Financial Maths Singles - Won 5 games to win the Men’s Open title Doubles - Won 3 games to win the Men’s Open title JASON ENGLISH - 1st year Business Singles - Won 2 games to finish joint 13th in Men’s Open Doubles - Won 3 games to win Men’s Open title DANIEL RELIHAN - 3rd year Arts Singles - Won 2 games to finish joint 5th in Men’s Open Doubles - Won 2 games to finish runner-up in Men’s Open SEAMUS CONNEELY - 2nd year Masters Singles - Won 3 games to finish joint 11th in Men’s Open Doubles - Won 2 games to finish runner-up in Men’s Open FERGAL COUGHLAN JNR - 1st year Civil Engineering Singles - Won 4 games to finish 10th in Men’s Open Doubles - Won 1 game to finish joint 5th in Men’s Open GORDON NOLAN - 3rd year Music Singles - Won 1 game to finish in last 16 of Men’s A2 Doubles - Won 1 game to finish joint 5th in Men’s Open LIAM BRADSHAW - 3rd year Architecture Singles - Won 3 games to finish joint 3rd in Men’s A2 Doubles - Won 3 games to finish joint 3rd in Men’s A JOHN BOSCO HURLEY - 3rd year PhD Singles - Won 2 games to finish joint 5th in Men’s A2 Doubles - Won 3 games to finish joint 3rd in Men’s A EVAN O’DONNELL - 3rd year Biomed Engineering Singles - Won 1 game to finish in last 16 in Men’s C2 NIAMH DUNNE - 2nd year Arts Singles - Won 4 games to finish runner-up in Women’s Open Doubles - Won 2 games to finish runner-up in Women’s Open NATASHA COUGHLAN - 2nd year Arts Singles - Won 3 games to finish joint 5th in Women’s Open Doubles - Won 2 games to finish runner-up in Women’s Open

#PostGradAtUL