VOL. XXIV, Issue 5, UO

THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVER HOW WILL LEO FARE IN 2018?

OWEN CUSKELLY PAGE 5

INTERVIEW WITH COLM O’GORMAN CLAUDIA DALBY PAGE 9

IS THE EARTH FLAT? CHRISTINE COFFEY PAGE 13

ENTIRE CLASS TO RESIT “COMPROMISED” EXAM

DYLAN O’NEILL OTWO EDITOR

Students of PHYS20050 Cell-Cell Communication did not receive their grades for the module from last semester but were instead informed that they would have to resit the exam. The exam was described as having been “compromised.” It has emerged that images of an exam incredibly similar to this one had been circulated among many students before the exam.

On Monday 22nd January, students enrolled in the module received an email, stating that the exam had been “compromised and thus rendered invalid.” The email also informed students that they would have to sit “a new examination of the same format” this semester. The date and time of the new exam was discussed between the class representatives and the school’s faculty during a meeting, which took place later that week. Consequently, the students did not receive a grade for the module along with the rest of their grades on Wednesday 24th.

The results for the exam showed a suspiciously high

number of As and Bs. “The usual bell-curve that you get with grades didn’t happen. It was skewed to the right, so there were more A and B grades than would usually be the case,” Alex Conway* told the University Observer. Several students have claimed that 230 students of the approximate 300 enrolled in the module received an A grade.

The exam was worth 100% and featured no negative marking. It was a 50 question multiple choice questionnaire (MCQ).

Speaking to the University Observer, Conway, who sat the exam, “there was an old exam that a student produced...that was going around between us and we saw that paper before we’d gone in.”

Aoife Sheahey, a third year medicine student admitted, “this year, someone in the year below me asked my friend for the notes she had for Cell-Cell and since my friend knew I had the questions and answers from sitting the repeat she asked me for them. I gave them to her to pass on and I told her to encourage them to pass them to everyone in their year and they did.”

This is not the first occurrence of exam questions being leaked for this particular module. Multiple students who sat the exam last year and had to repeat, spoke about their experience.

Students who had failed the module previously arranged private meetings with Dr. Baugh, the module coordinator. Sheahey was one of those students and this meeting provided her with the images that were

30TH JANUARY 2018 VOLUME XXIV ISSUE5 UNIVERSITYOBSERVER.IE

distributed throughout the second year class. Another student, Claire Mitchell* stated that during her meeting with Dr. Baugh “he showed me the MCQ which he had printed and asked did I have any questions etc. He told me to have a good look at the paper and hinted heavily that the repeat would be very similar to the original exam.” Dr. Baugh left Mitchell alone with the exam paper, “He told me to take down some notes but not to copy the MCQs directly. I spent a good half an hour alone with the paper, which was plenty of time for me to take down notes on every MCQ that came up and their answers.” This description was echoed by Sheahey who added that “The final exam contained about 80-90% of these questions.”

The University Observer has seen copies of the images circulated before the exam.

When asked for comment by the University Observer, Dr. Baugh stated: “I have never provided students with exam questions ahead of resit exams. I have allowed students to review, under supervision, the exam paper that they sat and failed so that they can identify topics they need assistance with. Students have never been allowed to copy questions or take exam papers from my office.

Students taking this module are explicitly informed that the School does not release past MCQ papers.”

The resit exam for PHYS20050 Cell-Cell Communication is set for Week 5 of Semester 2.

OTWO LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE INSIDE

MARIA KELLY INTERVIEW WITH A RISING STAR IN IRISH MUSIC DYLAN O’NEILL PAGE 14

IRISH FILM SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON THE BEST OF IRISH FILMS ALEXANDER GLOVER PAGE 13

ALMOST 4000 UCD STUDENTS FAILED MODULES LAST YEAR

RUTH MURPHY DEPUTY EDITOR The University Observer has obtained details of repeats in 2016/2017 under the Freedom of Information Act 2014. In this year, 3873 students failed at least one module. This excludes students who missed exams due to a leave of absence or had extenuating circumstances.

UCD received at least three quarters of a million euro in repeat and resit fees.

In semester one of last year, 288 UCD students repeated entire modules and were awarded a grade.

This therefore does not include students who paid to redo the module but failed it. This number increased in semester two to 783.

Numbers were higher for students who only repeated exams and not the full module. 737 students received a grade for a repeat exam in the first semester, with this figure rising to 1567 in semester two.

Last year a total of 2096 students failed more than one module. 1763 failed more than one module in semester one and 333 failed multiple modules in semester two.

The number of students who failed modules varied across different areas with 1190 students, the highest for any subject, failing at least one module in Mathematics and Statistics. The lowest failure rate was in Education where only two students failed a module.

Economics featured the second highest number of fails based on numbers alone with 892 students failing at least one module. The schools of Languages, Cultures, and Linguistics; English, Film, and Drama;

History; Business; and Medicine followed with 869, 841, 594, 540, and 480 fails, respectively. Law featured just 144 fails whereas the relatively small Veterinary Medicine had 346 students who failed a module.

Information previously obtained by the University Observer revealed that in 2014/2015, 16 modules had a failure rate of 100%. Several of these modules however, had just one or two students.

Earlier in the year a committee was established in UCD in partnership with UCDSU to review fees for resitting exams and retaking modules. At the time the committee was announced, Education Officer Robert Sweeney told the University Observer: “UCD students view the fees as unreasonably high as it has become financially crippling in many cases.”

A decision is expected to be announced regarding a possible change in resit and repeat fees in the coming semester.

BOOJUM! A NEW BOOJUM IS OPENING IN DUBLIN (BUT NOT IN UCD) AOIFE MUCKIAN PAGE 21

YEAR OF THE WOMAN A FASHION SHOOT TO CELEBRATE 100 YEARS OF VOTING RIGHTS FOR IRISH WOMEN PAGE 22 30TH JANUARY 2018 1

NEWS

UCD ON GOOGLE MAPS STREET VIEW UCD has become the first Irish University to be featured on Google Maps street view. Originally announced by UCD on their Facebook page on January 19th, viewers can now take a look inside some of UCD’s most impressive buildings; such as the O’Brien Centre for Science, the Student Centre, the FitzGerald Debating Chamber, and the Global Lounge.

This view into UCD’s buildings gives potential students a glimpse of college life, whether they are in Ireland or further afield. It also allows UCD the opportunity to show others (such as potential donors) around the buildings on campus, right from their computer screens.

Starting at the front doors, viewers can take a virtual tour throughout the O’Brien Centre for Science, right into the Science hub and can even get a glimpse into the Pi restaurant. Viewers can also look around the Student Centre, from the entrance to the gym, all the way down to the DramSoc Theatre at the back of the building.

The Fitzgerald Debating Chamber upstairs in the Student Centre can also be seen, as well as the Global Lounge in the main restaurant building.

DEEKS CALLS FOR LESS REGULATION President Andrew Deeks has called for more university autonomy and an increase in funding in a recent article in the Irish Times. UCD currently faces challenges such as a decrease in state funding combined with a rise in student numbers as well as a higher number of decisions related to UCD being made outside of the University.

A main concern for the future of UCD is the fact that a lot of decision-making has been taken away from the University, as they now require state approval.

Deeks believes that the key to a successful university is have matters resolved at local level.

State funding to UCD has gone down to 35%, which is a dramatic decrease from 65% in 2008. This becomes a major problem as while funding to the university goes down, it was reported that student numbers have grown by 25%.

Deeks concludes the article by stating that we cannot continue to increase student numbers without also increasing investments, otherwise UCD will have to limit its places for future students.

NEW ARTWORK OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED IN SUTHERLAND SCHOOL OF LAW A new artwork, entitled Croí, was launched on Thursday evening, 28th January in the UCD Sutherland School of Law. The artwork, commissioned by law firm McCann FitzGerald and created by installation artist Martina Galvin, hangs in the gallery above the Gardiner Atrium inside the building and consists of a number of brightly coloured squares of varying sizes.

Galvin, a graduate of the National College of Art and Design with a Masters from South Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education, Cardiff, has described the artwork as an “explosion of the joyous celebration of colour, but also a metaphor for intellectual concepts that the Sutherland School of Law stands for; debate, intrigue and interaction.”

Managing Partner of McCann FitzGerald, Barry Devereux spoke of the firm’s continued commitment to the School of Law, highlighting the firm’s sponsorship of the ‘Law into Art’ essay competition two years ago.

Speaking on the night, Professor John O’Dowd of the School of Law stated that “[one] of the necessary sacrifices made for this building to come into being was the loss of a particularly handsome stand of old estate trees that stood on the former road junction, which many former UCD students will remember with affection.

For many reasons, Croí is a fitting new heart for the building that stands where they once cast shadows.”

2 VOLUME XXIV, ISSUE 5

Author: Brían Donnelly Information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act 2014 has confirmed that UCD is planning to introduce applications for fee supports for refugees and asylum seekers.

UCD Access and Lifelong Learning (ALL) will serve as the initial point of contact for refugees, asylum seekers, and those with leave to remain and subsidiary protection status. Applications for fee waivers and financial assistance will be received by UCD ALL. UCD ALL staff members contacted by the the University Observer stated that they were not in a position to comment on the plans. The UCD ALL website contains no information on supports for refugees, asylum seekers, or people in similar situations.

Although UCD does not hold any central information on the number of refugees or asylum seekers in the university, a spokesperson confirmed that there are “people here under the status of refugee.”

An asylum seeker is a person who is seeking to be recognised as a refugee. A refugee is anybody who leaves their country because they fear that they are in danger of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership of a particular social group.

A spokesperson for UCD has also claimed that the university has received University of Sanctuary status.

No public announcements have been made by UCD or Places of Sanctuary Ireland in relation to this claim.

Dublin City University, University College Cork, University of Limerick, and Athlone Institute of Technology have all previously received Sanctuary status. The status of these institutions has appeared in many national news articles.

Guidelines on Access to the UCD Community for Refugees, Asylum Seekers, those with Leave to Remain and those with Subsidiary Protection state that for universities to receive this status, they generally must make progress in providing financial support to prospective students who are refugees or asylum seekers.

UCD’s David Kelly, Director of Financial Planning for the O’Brien Science Centre, is a member of the University of Sanctuary Steering Committee. The committee’s aims are to validate applications for

higher education institutes applying for Sanctuary status, develop a University of Sanctuary network, and to advocate for asylum seekers and refugees on issues concerning higher education. The committee first met on 7th December 2017.

The guidelines adopted by the University Management Team on 20th June 2017 state that “UCD wishes to respond to these and other kinds of barriers by offering support and opportunities to widen the participation of displaced persons seeking sanctuary in Ireland and providing access to University College Dublin for them as students, for work experience, or as employees.”

“UCD works to seek funding for Scholarships, and to offer fee concessions and financial supports to applicants who meet normal academic requirements and who would not otherwise be able to avail of higher education.”

Under the guidelines, international students who

cannot produce evidence of previous education may be required to sit an entrance test.

Children who are asylum seekers are entitled to free primary and secondary education in Ireland, but are liable for non-EU fees if they wish to pursue higher education. A limited pilot scheme is available which provides some financial support for asylum seekers who have spent five years in the Irish school system, and who have been accepted into higher education.

In 2017/18, UCD non-EU fees ranged from €18,300 to €52,000 for undergraduate bachelors degrees.

Those who obtain refugee status are entitled to EU fees and are eligible for SUSI maintenance grants. EU fees range from €3200 to €20,300 for undergraduate bachelors degrees.

Asylum Seekers waiting for a decision on their status reside in direct provision centres and are provided with €21.60 per week to live off. There are currently over 4000 people in the direct provision system in Ireland.

PICTURE: STATICFLICKR.COM

Clare Appezzato, Brían Donnelly

UCD DEVELOPING FEE SUPPORTS FOR REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS

TCD TO INTRODUCE REPEAT FEES IN ANTICIPATION OF REFORM

BRÍAN DONNELLY NEWS EDITOR Trinity College Dublin (TCD) has announced plans to introduce financial charges for repeating modules in an effort to reduce the university’s loss of revenue from year-long repeat students.

Reforms aimed at dispensing with the need for students to repeat a year in full will lead to a fall in academic fees received by the university.

TCD is the only university in Ireland that does not

charge for repeating modules. TCD’s current system “So, in essence, college want to charge for suppleinvolves free repeats, or supplementals, if a student mentals, but make repeating the year cheaper and with fails their first sitting. If the student fails their supple- a smaller workload.” mental, they must repeat and pay for the year in full TCD Vice-provost Chris Morash has reportedly and sit all their exams the following year. The cost of stated that a cap on the number of exams a student repeating a full year in TCD generally ranges from would be charged for could be considered, but that €5,809 to €8,499. the current system “simply isn’t fair” on students and The introduction of repeat fees will be debated by that TCD’s financial state must be taken into account.

TCD Students’ Union at their first council meeting this “[The] university as a whole is carrying a very large year. deficit, which we are working hard to reduce, we simIn a Facebook post dated 22th January, and which ply can’t bear the cost of losing the income currently has approximately 20 comments at the time of writing, produced by repeat student fees.”

TCDSU sought the views of the student body, stating TCD posted losses of over €9.4 million for the year that “[TCDSU] want to be led by you on this.” The post 2015/2016 while raking in €133 million in academic fees. stated that the university originally wanted to charge UCD charges €230 per module for repeats, at which €230 for supplementals, which TCDSU “rejected the resulting grade is capped at a grade point of 2.0. If outright.” It is envisaged that under the new system, a student fails more than 2 modules, they must repeat students would pay for the module that must be re- the year. peated, rather than the full year.

PICTURE: WIKIPEDIA.ORG

CAMPUS NEWS IN BRIEF

NEWS OXFORD UNIVERSITY INTRODUCES EXTRA TIME FOR EXAMS TO HELP FEMALE STUDENTS Science, said: “I am uneasy about schemes to favour one gender over another. But I am happy when people see gaps between groups of people who should not reasonably have such gaps — such as between genders, races, or class — and take that as a starting point to think about the kinds of people they unintentionally leave behind.”

Some see it the decision as a misguided attempt at

DEAN SWIFT

bridging the gap that has been dug between men and women. Statistics show that boys and girls generally both do well in maths when they first start school but as they grow up girls begin to do worse.

The university appears undeterred by the lack of positive results and plans to continue until a better and more conclusive pattern emerges.

EUROSTAT REPORT DETAILS UNIVERSITY LIFE FOR STUDENTS

PICTURE: SAM LIMBY VIA PIXABAY.COM

Author: Priscilla Obilana It has been recently revealed that last summer, Oxford University added 15 minutes to their maths and computer science final exams in the hopes that the increased time limit would help female students to obtain higher results.

This meant increasing the duration of exams from 90 minutes to 105.

Although this extension was for all students, it was stated that the decision was made in aid of women. This unique step was decided after the number of men who got first class honours was found to be double that of the number of women who obtained the same grade classification in the previous year.

The reasoning given for this decision was that women are more likely to be held back by time constraints.

The decision for the change was seen by the Daily Telegraph who published that the reasoning was that “female candidates might be more likely to be adversely affected by time pressure.” The decision was met with backlash, as many felt women do not need, and should not be given, special treatment.

Oxford defends its decision despite being met with little success in its first year, as men continued to get more first class honours degrees than women. The change did however, result in more women overall getting a 2.1 grade, and fewer scoring a 2.2.

A spokesperson for the university stated that “women have performed better in our examinations. However, it is too soon to draw firm conclusions from this evidence.”

Speaking to the Telegraph, Antonia Sir, an undergraduate representative of Oxford Women in Computer

NATIONAL NEWS IN BRIEF

EMPLOYMENT RATES FOR GRADUATES INCREASE The Higher Education Authority published a report on graduate employment in which over 18,200 students who graduated with a level 8-10 qualification from a university in 2016 participated. Over 70% of all surveyed are in employment, with 10% employed abroad.

Nine months after graduating 62% of graduates who received an honours bachelor degree are employed with education being the highest at 85%. The survey found no gender imbalance for graduates with a bachelor degree in terms of employment. Higher and Postgraduate diploma employment dropped to 73%.

Of the participants, 77% of females were employed in comparison to 66% of males. Those with a Master’s/ Doctorate have an 81% employment rate, up one percentage point from 2015, with females only 3% higher in employment.

The report found that Dublin presents the most employment opportunities for all graduates, 42% for those with a bachelor’s degree. 40% of graduates with a bachelor’s degree receive a salary of less than €25,000 a year, down 7% from last year.

Arts and Humanities graduates were the least well paid with 15% on a salary under €15,000 a year. Only 9% of all graduates with a doctorate receive under €25,000 a year, with 35% receiving a salary of over €45,000.

Overall ICT students were the highest earners with 38% of graduates receiving €35,000 or more a year.

EU REFUSES TO HELP CLAIM BACK UNPAID STUDENT DEBT

CAREER GUIDANCE SERVICES SET FOR REVIEW BY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

PICTURE: HARDTOPEEL VIA STATICFLICKR.COM

Author: Katia Gillen The Danish parliament is considering challenging a ruling of the European Court of Justice which states that students that work in Denmark should be eligible to receive Danish student funding.

The EU has refused to help the Danish government claim back the unpaid student loans of other EU member states’ citizens.

The Danish government is experiencing difficulties claiming the debt back as many international students leave Denmark after completing their studies. In 2016 the international students’ debt amounted to DKr426 million, or approximately €57 million, which is double the amount owed in 2012.

European citizens owe approximately DKr123 million of total foreign students’ debt, and roughly 40% of it has not been repaid. The Danish government is now considering directly approaching the governments of the countries in which the majority of those students are understood to have settled.

The United Kingdom is facing similar negotiations on European students’ debt after Brexit. More than 12,000 graduates are said to have gone ‘missing’ after receiving their university degrees, leaving behind a debt of £89 million. Similar to Denmark’s loan management agency, the UK’s Student Loan Company (SLC) has a poor record of tracking down foreign graduates that have left the country.

British universities were reportedly worried about the loss of funding as an increasing number of European students feel less secure attending university in the UK after Brexit. As a result, the British government has agreed to provide European students with loans of up to £28,000 until 2020.

A spokesperson for the Danish People’s Party, Kenneth Kristensen Berth has called for Denmark to go to war with the European Court of Justice over the 2012 ruling. Berth has also called for the enforcement of emergency laws to terminate the foreign student loan arrangements.

The Danish Conservative Party previously proposed to limit funds to students from countries with which Denmark has bilateral tax agreements. Denmark’s Liberal Party, however, did not support the proposal.

The parliament eventually reached a cross-party agreement in 2012 which stated that if the total amount of international student debt owed to the Danish government exceeds DKr 500 million then the eligibility of EU students for the funds will be renegotiated.

The Eurostudent VI study was published on January 22nd by Minister of State for Higher Education, Mary Mitchell O’Connor. Over 20,000 students were surveyed for the report. The report highlights an increase of 7.8% in the number of students enrolled in higher education since 2013.

The gender balance was found to be relatively even, with only a few courses showing higher portions of one specific gender, such as females in Education, and males in Engineering. The report also found that nearly a third of the total student populace are in receipt of funding from a non-repayable national student source, such as SUSI. A notable factor of the report was with regards to student financing, with approximately 36% of the total student population experiencing serious or very serious financial difficulty. Older students appear to experience greater financial difficulty with over-24s experiencing the most difficulty.

For each category of students surveyed financial difficulties appeared to be the most likely cause for interruption of studies. The report however also indicated that 71% of students are satisfied or very satisfied with the quality of teaching in their course.

The Minister for Education and Skills, Richard Bruton has announced a review of career guidance programmes at higher-level institutions. The goals of the review seek to achieve many educational progression milestones, such as the Action Plan for Education 2016-2019 that seeks to make Ireland’s education system the best in Europe by 2026.

The allocation of funds for reform to certain sectors has been proposed by an independent expert panel, appointed by the HEA. Such proposals include a performance fund that would reward institutions that excel, to promote research and innovation.

The review which seeks to promote high quality career guidance at post-primary levels has been supported by the last two budgets which restored 500 guidance posts.

Mr. Bruton said: “if we want to be the best in Europe, we need to provide a career guidance service that provides people across the system with access to high quality career guidance tools and career guidance information.”

The review will be headed by Professor Tom Collins, current chair of Dublin Institute of Technology, Institute of Technology Blanchardstown, and Technological Higher Education Association.

30TH JANUARY 2018 3

NEWS INTERNATIONAL 17,000 UK STUDENTS FACING ARREARS ON NEWS IN BRIEF STUDENT ACCOMMODATION NAËLLE BELARIBI, SAM LIMBI

The Welsh government has voted to legalise the medical use of marijuana. The majority of the assembly voted on January 17th, to allow people to use cannabis to reduce pain, arguing that there was no scientific or medical proof that the “class B” drug was harmful.

The assembly debated the effectiveness of cannabis as a medicine, as well as the potential danger it could become. Neither the Welsh Government nor the Welsh Assembly can take the decision themselves however, as it is only the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency that can act on it. Indeed, in the UK, cannabis is still classed as an illegal substance in all forms. However, Sativex (a medicine that contains similarities with cannabis) is currently legal to use in Wales. Medical use of cannabis could be legalised in Wales, but would be controlled much like Sativex is today. This comes 18 months after sheep went on “psychotic rampage” in May 2016 after reportedly eating cannabis plants, spreading panic and destruction in the little village of Rhydypandy.

ANGER OVER POPE’S DEFENSE OF BISHOP ACCUSED OF PEDOPHILIA Pedophilia and sex crimes scandals tainted the visit of Pope Francis in Chile, which was meant to repair the view of the church in South America. When asked about the Bishop Juan Barros Madrid (who has been accused of both protecting Fernando Karadima, Chile’s most senior priest, and of sex crimes committed himself), Pope Francis said that “The day someone brings me proof against Bishop Barros, then I will talk, but there is not one single piece of evidence. It is all slander.

Is that clear?” Victims’ associations have criticised the Pope’s declaration, stating that they expect sanctions against Fernando Karadima. However, Pope Francis and Juan Barros Madrid appeared close during the visit.

The Pope met some of the abuse survivors during the trip, but the most active associations were not invited.

While the Pope expressed “pain and shame” for sexual abuse by members of the clergy, he also added he knew the pain of priests and nuns “who after working so hard, have seen the harm that has led to suspicion and questioning.” The Pope’s declarations reveal an attempt to find a balance between defending the victims of sexual abuse, while showing his support to clergy members.

NORTH & SOUTH KOREA TO FLY UNDER SAME FLAG FOR WINTER OLYMPICS With the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in just two weeks, a surprising show of unity has been agreed upon between both North Korea and the host nation, South Korea. With the two agreeing to both play under a single Korean flag, as well as having a united single Korean women ice hockey team present at the games, in which the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved on Saturday.

This apparent thawing of tensions comes on the back of increasingly harsh international sanctions imposed on the isolated North, in response to its nuclear program.

This has led much of the International community to look upon this sudden show of unity with caution, with Japanese foreign minister Taro Kono stating that the world should not be blinded by Pyongyang’s recent “charm offensive.”

South Korean’s president Moon Jae-in has also been criticised at home, with a poll in South Korea showing that 70% of the South Korea public are opposed to the move, due to it damaging the hopes of South Korea in the coming games. This led to many in South Korea to now refer to the games as the “Pyongyang Games.”

4 VOLUME XXIV, ISSUE 5

FIACHRA JOHNSTON DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR While the issue of students being priced out of Dublin continues, the problem does not just lie within Ireland, but also abroad. Information recovered by the Liberal Democrats party in the UK revealed that approximately 17,300 students living in halls of residence have found themselves in arrears of their accommodation fees, leaving them on the cusp of eviction.

The information, gathered from ninety participating universities, also found that 21 of these locations evicted students from their accommodation after failing to make payments. 97 students were evicted from halls in 2017, a marked increase from the 40 students in 2016. Student arrears figures also show that there has been a 16% increase from 2016 in students who have been unable to make payments on time.

Spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, Layla Moran, made the claim that it is the direct fault of the Conservative-controlled government: “I cannot believe it is sheer coincidence that the number of students evicted or having the tenancies cancelled has doubled in the last year since the Prime Minister scrapped grants for students from the most disadvantaged backgrounds.”

Though the issue remains on a case-by-case basis, there have been trends across the board. According to an article in the Guardian, student accommodation fees rose 13.4% from an average of £4,583 in the 2012-13 term to £5,208 in 2016-17.

Despite this, the Department of Education remains adamant that it serves the best interest of students stating: “This government increased means-tested maintenance support for full-time students on the lowest incomes by 10.3% in 2016-17 compared with the previous grants and loans package, with further increases in both 2017-18 and 2018-19.” Since the Labour party, under Jeremy Corbyn, have moved in favour of abolishing tuition fees completely, UK Prime Minister Theresa May has remained adamant that they will be lowered. This would counter her uprooting of

the previous grant system for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, and May has said: “We have listened to those concerns and we are going to act to offer a fairer deal for students and young people.”

Outside of major university towns, places such as Liverpool have improved through looking off campus to en-suite rooms, with Place Northwest writing how “at £135 per week, the average price of a new en-suite bed space in Liverpool is almost 10% lower than the average new bed space price nationwide.” Wales has fared better purely through accessibility outside of on-campus halls of residence, with Mederco Housing submitting plans for at least 300 new studio flats by redeveloping old coal storage depots. This has been met with local criticism however, with residents calling it a “gross overdevelopment,” and Cardiff North MP Anna McMorrin reminded media outlets that previous plans for redevelopment of the depots were “met with anger and hostility of residents who felt alienated in their own community.”

The issue of students unable to pay does not in any way seem to have hindered the production of new flats outside of universities. David Feeney of real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield was hopeful for potential growth in the UK, saying: “The sector will continue to prove attractive to investors and if developers are able to meet student demand for en-suite rooms, rising student numbers will provide suitable and reliable returns.” C&W’s UK Student Accommodation Report

2017/18 does not share this growth for en-suite rooms however, saying that while demand has been mostly met, there has been a 106% increase in the supply of much more expensive studio rooms. Given the issue of making payments, this housing increase is useless to students currently unable to make payments on oncampus accommodation.

The issue in the UK, comparatively then is not quite as hindered by the availability of student housing, rather the inaccessibility of affordable housing, something familiar to an Ireland that sees rent increase at an uncontrollable level, particularly within major cities such as Limerick, Galway, and Dublin. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has been resolute on not following the UK student loan system, saying in the Irish Independent that he believes it wrong to leave Irish students “with the kind of debts that American or English students do.”

This comes, however, just days after Varadkar made the claim that securing the deposit for housing after university was easy if people ask the ‘bank of mum and dad,’ and move back in with them to save up the lump sum, claiming “lots of us did.”

If the Irish government bring in a loan system such as the UK then the current housing crisis students are dealing with is only going to become more problematic, bringing more challenges to students day-to-day lives, including making it more difficult to pay rent for the necessity of safe housing.

PICTURE: 0THEFOOL VIA PIXABAY.COM

WELSH GOVERNMENT VOTES TO LEGALISE MEDICAL MARIJUANA USE

US FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN EXPLAINED Author: Andrew Everett On January 22nd, the Democratic Party leadership in the U.S.A agreed to back a short-term government funding resolution ending the three-day federal government shutdown. This was after they accepted promises from Republicans that there would be a debate on the future of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the US as children.

The current resolution that keeps the government funded until February 8th is the latest of multiple short-term funding bills Congress has passed in recent months, unable to come to a long-term bipartisan agreement. In the immediate aftermath of the shutdown, Democrats and Republicans are each blaming the other party, while claiming their own victory. To understand the political ramifications for both parties, it is important to understand how and why the government shutdown happened in the first place.

Negotiations over long-term appropriations have been ongoing since last October, when the 2018 fiscal year began. Within that time, disputes over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration policy became entangled with budget debates when the Trump administration rescinded DACA in September. The Administration put the issue to Congress, setting an expiration date of March 2018. DACA was the immigration policy established by the Obama Administration that allowed certain individuals who were brought to the country illegally as minors (referred to as “Dreamers”) to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and be eligible for a work permit. As of 2017, approximately 800,000 individuals were enrolled in DACA protections.

Democrats wanted a bipartisan DACA deal to be

adopted before Republicans passed their budget that increased funding for Trump’s border wall, his staple immigration proposal. To Democrats, they actually succeeded in coming up with a deal on immigration in the form of the “Graham-Durbin deal” (referring to Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator Dick Durbin). The package negotiated by the senators, according to sources, included $2.7 billion for border security, which includes Trump’s $1.6 billion request for wall planning and construction, as well as $1.1 billion for security infrastructure and technology.

The legislation would also include a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers. This deal, Democrats would claim, was rejected by the White House and more conservative Republicans in Congress. Republicans maintain it was an unfair proposal. This lead Democrats and their supporters to draw a line in the sand, saying “No DACA, no deal.”

On 20th January, this line in the sand took the form of a filibuster, a Senate procedural tool to extend debate which requires a supermajority of 60 votes to end. The filibuster is how a party with majorities in both houses of congress, and a president in the executive branch failed to prevent a shutdown. Republicans needed Democratic votes to pass the budget. President Trump has repeatedly called for the Senate to end the filibuster, advocating for the “nuclear option” which would lower the threshold for votes to a simple 51-majority.

Republicans initially thought they could pressure the Democrats into voting with them by including the refunding of the Children’s Health Insurance Program into the budget bill. However, Democrats held their line. By midnight, Republicans lacked the votes to overcome the filibuster and the government began shutting down. The vote was not strictly on party-lines.

Five Republicans voted with the 47 Democrats and five Democrats voted with 51 Republicans.

When Senate Democrats agreed to end the shutdown, the battle of blame had been present on social media and cable news, Trump and Republicans labeling it the #SchumerShutdown (referring to the Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer) while Democrats placed the blame at the president with #TrumpShutdown. This year’s November elections has high stakes for both parties. Republicans are decreasing in popularity and are growing anxious about holding on to their majority in both houses. Meanwhile, Democrats are on the defensive, cautious of overplaying their liberal hand and losing Democrats in Trump-won states.

The shutdown may have ended, but the fight over immigration and a long-term budget remains. The White House presented a plan to Congress on Thursday that would provide a path to citizenship for 1.8 million undocumented immigrants in exchange for restrictions on future immigration and $25 billion for border security.

As the shutdown brought higher public attention to DACA, this can be expected to be at the forefront of the budget debate prior to the deadline of February 8th.

The long-term political consequences are harder to gauge. In the aftermath of the 17 day long shutdown in 2013, Republicans were blamed in the opinion polls but then achieved high electoral success in the 2014 midterms. Showing the public mostly forgot, or forgave, the shutdown. This shutdown will most likely also be forgotten by the general public. However, the possibility of shutdown in three weeks still remains, and this could be more consequential than the previous. Until then, while each party claims victories and points fingers, the public sees a dysfunctional Congress plagued by partisanship.

COMMENT ‘TIME’S UP’ FOR MALE SILENCE Katie Breen asks why it is left to women alone to challenge rape culture and sexual assault.

The possibility of being outed as an abuser could be one reason why men do not speak up.

Liam Neeson told Ryan Tubridy on RTÉ’s The Late Late Show that “there is a bit of a witch-hunt happening” and spoke about Dustin Hoffman, who has been accused of exposing himself to his daughter’s then 16-year-old friend and of sexually assaulting two women. “I’m on the fence about that” Neeson said, “I’m not saying I’ve done similar things like what he did… apparently he touched another girl’s breasts and stuff but it’s childhood stuff.” Neeson went on to say that there is a “healthy” movement happening.

Ben Affleck, on the other hand, condemned Weinstein on Twitter, saying: “I am saddened that a man who I worked with used his position of power to intimidate, sexually harass, and manipulate many women over decades … we need to do better at protecting our sisters, friends, co-workers and daughters.” Affleck seemed to forget that in 2010 his brother Casey Affleck was involved in sexual harassment lawsuits against two former co-workers. Hours after Affleck spoke out on Weinstein, he was accused of sexual misconduct.

Speaking to The Associated Press, Affleck said he is “looking at [his] own behaviour and addressing that, and

making sure [he’s] part of the solution”.

This is one of many reasons why it is important for men to speak out; it causes them to have their views challenged and to check their own harmful behaviours.

There can be no discourse without self-awareness, and there can be no self-awareness without the voicing of opinions. The possibility of being outed as an abuser could be one reason why men do not speak up, but if a man is innocent, what other reasons could there be for distancing themselves? Do they not believe it is an important issue, or if they do, do they believe that it is purely a women’s issue?

At the 75th Golden Globes, the male winners of the evening faced an audience of uniformly black-clad women who were ambitiously declaring that the time for the perpetration of sexual assault with no repercussions is up. Not one man mentioned the most topical story of the night. Many male stars, including Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, said that they too would wear black to show support for the movement, a weak and ineffective move considering black is the default colour worn by men to red carpet events. Among those who called it quits after sporting a black tuxedo and ‘Time’s Up’ pin was James Franco, who angered many after he was accused by five women of an “abuse of power,” allegations which Franco and sister-in-law Alison Brie have both said are “not accurate”.

Another problematic aspect of the Hollywood debate seems to be female forgetfulness. On January 20th, Scarlett Johansson blasted James Franco during her speech at the Women’s March 2018. However, Johansson has featured in three Woody Allen films and said that paedophilia accusations against Allen were all “guesswork.” The same can be said of Greta Gerwig’s avoidance of the issue when asked about Allen, Alison Brie’s dismissal of accusations against her brother-inlaw Franco, and Lena Dunham dismissing accusations against her friend.

The list goes on, and begs the question: can sexual abuse be swept under the rug if the perpetrator is talented, or if there is a personal connection? Why do women in Hollywood speak up but not put their words into action? It reflects our culture on a wider scale in

the misogyny perpetrated by men and internalised by women in such a way that they feel ashamed for speaking up, and that the onus is placed solely on women to fight this battle.

To enact real change, participation is needed by both men and women equally.

In the wake of #MeToo and ‘Time’s Up,’ a debate has been opened about what constitutes sexual harassment, such as catcalling or groping, and whether this behaviour is worthy to be career-ruining. Some men

are more likely to call it a ‘witch-hunt’ and play the victim than to condemn their fellow actors, or at the very least take part in the dialogue surrounding the nuances of the debate.

They do not seem to understand that it is not about hating men or believing that any situation can be interpreted as sexual harassment with the right lawyers.

It is a rightful call to challenge the inherent power structures which are embedded in our society, a call made all the louder by the behemoths of Hollywood debating the issue on the world stage. To enact real change, participation is needed by both men and women equally as victims, enablers, and abusers, to guarantee that the abuse of power in Hollywood and other industries eventually ends.

PICTURE: MEDIA.DEFENSE.GOV

In the wake of the allegations made against American film producer and mogul, Harvey Weinstein, countless women have said #MeToo and come together to condemn sexual misconduct and say enough is enough when it comes to sexual abuse and harassment in work, on the street, or elsewhere. However, a key and powerful voice is absent from this conversation. Men, as both the perpetrators and victims, have stayed largely silent in this movement when their collective voice is arguably the most needed, with many who have spoken out being accused of missing the mark or being tone-deaf in their responses.

NEW YEAR, NEW TAOISEACH? 2017 proved an eventful year for the young Taoiseach. Owen Cuskelly takes a look behind the curtain to see what 2018 might have in store.

The imminent referendum to repeal the 8th Amendment presents itself as another challenge for the young taoiseach.

In June 2017, Varadkar bested his challenger Simon Coveney in a race to assume the Fine Gael leadership, instantaneously garnering international press coverage.

Across the globe, he was lauded for his Indian heritage, his sexual orientation, and his status as Ireland’s youngest leader. Yet, at a national level, media coverage cautiously questioned the youthful leader’s vision for his seemingly divided party. Varadkar made a cunning move by appointing Coveney as Deputy Leader of Fine Gael, thereby unifying the factions represented by both men. After overcoming this first obstacle in solidifying the party base, Varadkar breezed through his first couple of months unscathed by controversy or political turmoil. Unfortunately, this would not last forever.

Much like Hilary Clinton’s presidential campaigns, modern-day Fine Gael governments are plagued by the digitised curse of email controversies. In late November, then-Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald came under intense scrutiny relating to emails received when she was Minister for Justice. These exposed her knowledge of

an internal campaign to defame Garda whistleblower, Sgt. Maurice McCabe, although she denied such claims.

Varadkar, attempting to demonstrate authoritative and decisive leadership, chose to defend the Tánaiste despite increasing pressure for her to resign and nearly pushed the country to the brink of a general election.

This governmental crisis culminated in the resignation of the Tánaiste, yet Varadkar emerged unharmed while remaining loyal to his party colleague: “It is my strong view that a good woman is leaving office without getting a full or fair hearing,” he told the Dáil. Unlike his predecessor, Enda Kenny, the McCabe scandal did not inflict fatal damage on the Taoiseach though it did test his political nerve.

One thing for which the Taoiseach can be commended is his artful and invigorating handling of Brexit affairs. Previous Taoisigh would recoil at the thought of provoking tensions with Northern Irish unionists like the DUP, but Varadkar appears unencumbered by such niceties. Since taking office, the Taoiseach has made his views explicit on Northern Ireland’s place in the Brexit negotiations. This has stoked backlash with figures like DUP leader Arlene Foster labelling him “reckless” and MP Sammy Wilson criticising his Brexit approach saying: “since this nutcase Varadkar has taken over … things have all changed.”

Despite these remarks, however, Fine Gael and Varadkar enjoyed a surge in popularity in early December following the government’s tough stance against unionist objections to a Brexit agreement reached between UK Prime Minister Theresa May and the Taoiseach. Varadkar succeeded in acquiring assurances from the UK Government of a frictionless Irish border post-Brexit while securing support from EU member states: “We have achieved all we set out to achieve in Phase One of these negotiations,” Varadkar told reporters.

Yet while the Taoiseach treks smugly across Europe to Brexit talks and EU summits, his domestic policies lack substance. The housing crisis remains the single most pertinent issue facing the government at present with a shortage in housing supply, a lack of rental security, and sky-rocketing prices all resulting in dire homelessness. Although the Taoiseach remains adamant that all is as it should be, he retorts that Ireland has “one of the lowest homelessness [rates]” compared to international standards and suggested recently that homebuyers look to their parents’ coffers for attaining a mortgage deposit.

On healthcare, the Taoiseach’s former ministry, the Department of Health, received a rude awakening following the festive season. The nation’s hospitals were, and still are, inundated with patients subjected to substandard care and lengthy waiting times. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) recorded that over 2,400 patients were forced to wait on trolleys in Irish hospitals in the first five days of January. All the Taoiseach had to offer on the subject was that he is “frustrated” with the slow pace of progress on health matters.

Varadkar’s domestic policies lack substance.

Furthermore, the imminent referendum to repeal the 8th Amendment presents itself as another challenge for the young Taoiseach who is oft-portrayed as a social justice warrior veiled by a haggard right-wing exterior. With an Oireachtas committee recently recommending abortion access up to 12 weeks, and the announcement of Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin’s support for these recommendations, pressure mounts for Varadkar to outline his own position, which remains vague, perhaps to his detriment. He argues, however,

PICTURE: WIKIMEDIA

Throughout 2017, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar demonstrated his ability to exert an image of control, modernity, and stability, particularly regarding Brexit on the European front. However, it will be his ability to resolve pressing national issues and to balance a shaky minority government that will truly mark his 2018 and his legacy as Taoiseach.

that as leader he must remain neutral and consider all positions on the issue. This argument may not hold up well for much longer.

Leo Varadkar is an elusive figure, one that Ireland has never seen the likes of before. He simultaneously blends modernity and progressiveness with his social media savviness and diverse background, which intermingle with the regressive reality of his right-wing conservatism. If he can maintain this fragile balance, his legacy awaits its place in history.

30TH JANUARY 2018 5

COMMENT

HEAD-TO-HEAD

PICTURE: STATICFLICKR.COM

HAS REACTIONARY ‘CANCEL CULTURE’ GOTTEN OUT OF HAND?

IN FAVOUR

AGAINST

MICHAEL O’DWYER CONNOLLY

ADAM LAWLER

The recent phenomenon of ‘cancel culture’ is a dangerous, counterproductive trend, and a misfiring weapon in our ‘Cancel culture’ is a relatively new phenomenon that sees large factions of people on social media declaring their arsenal of ways to deal with controversial public figures. It is both self-righteous and dangerously authoritarian. intention to boycott or ‘cancel’ the careers of public figures of whom evidence of bigoted behaviours and beliefs This phenomenon would appear to be a product of the increasingly divided and radicalised times in which we has been unearthed. This phenomenon has reached a new peak of fervour and influence, but I do not believe that live, where influential groups, more often than not on the far left, feel that they have the right to shut down debate it has gotten out of hand. I think it is a fledgling offshoot of activism that is still developing for reasons pertaining and ruin the careers of people they deem too disagreeable or controversial. to the very nature of discourse.

Advocates of ‘cancel culture’ and no-platforming generally argue that it should be applied to those who are It began as something purely reactionary, for entertainment value more than anything else, where celebrities extremely bigoted, hateful, and/or criminal in some manner, however it is difficult to ascertain what constitutes who exhibited racism, sexism, transphobia, and more were declared ‘over’ by a small group of people. Back bigoted and hateful (as that is often subjective) and whether they are in fact guilty of any crime. We have seen then it seemed borderline gleeful, but that was simply because the cases were black and white. The figures numerous examples in recent years where anyone can be accused of a crime – often without evidence, and the consistently showed signs of bigoted behaviour and no remorse for their actions. It was easy to pledge to avoid jury of public opinion and social media will attempt to ruin them before anything is proven. someone who was universally considered problematic, and this initially took the form of hashtags. When rapper In practice, however, ‘cancel culture’ is used against people who are in no way criminal and merely express Azealia Banks went on a racist tirade against Zayn Malik, the hashtag #AzealiaBanksIsOverParty was popular, views counter to the mainstream liberal ideology that dominates the corporate media and college campuses today. and this particular mode of boycotting proved effective (Banks was suspended from social media and dropped One prominent case is that of provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, a self-described ‘flamboyantly gay Jewish-Catholic,’ from many festival appearances). who regularly experienced protests by fanatical left-wing activists at his speaking events and had others cancelled The conversation has gradually developed to the point where opposing factions row over who deserves to be due to pressure from these groups. On the historical front, this treatment was extended to the great writer, Oscar boycotted, whether numerous microagressions equal one act of overt bigotry, and what exactly it would take for Wilde, who was persecuted and his works denigrated due to his sexual orientation being deemed disgusting and a public figure to redeem themselves. The case of Emma Watson is the most immediately satisfying example; too controversial for the time. as a prominent advocate for feminism who helped launch the #HeForShe campaign, Watson was often labeled a Lately, this totalitarian treatment has been extended to renowned psychologist Jordan Peterson due to his views white feminist for not factoring race into her view of gender equality. Instead of reacting in the defensive manner on Canadian legislation penalising those who refuse to use preferred gender pronouns, as well as his critiques common of white people confronted with this label, Watson delivered an introspective response which showed of radical feminism and Marxism. Ironically, it is clear that attempts to silence and de-platform people result in that she had taken a step back to consider how she “upholds a system that is structurally racist,” how she can increased publicity for them and, usually, increased popularity. make it a teachable moment, and progress with a mindset of inclusivity.

The best way to deal with those we find controversial is to let them speak, to allow their views to be heard far On the other end of the scale there is lauded author and outspoken feminist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who and wide. If their views are truly hateful and lacking in basis then they will not stand up to scrutiny and will almost was criticised last March for suggesting that trans women are not “real women.” Instead of considering that the certainly be exposed and derided (as evident with the British National Party). If not, then perhaps they actually outraged majority may have a valid point, she closed off, and her retort that the backlash was due to the “language have important points that are worth hearing and strike a chord with many people. Repressing ideas gives them orthodoxy” of the left was disappointing to say the least. a level of mystery, and not only do you increase the anger and radicalisation of the silenced, you inadvertently Even Azealia Banks has proven to be more receptive to criticism. Since being shut out of the public conmake their ideas more attractive. sciousness she has apologised numerous times, and frequently calls out racism as well as the misogyny evident To suggest that people need to be kept from hearing controversial ideas that they might find offensive is both in the demonisation of black women for the same behaviours for which black men are lauded. This relative patronising and unhealthy. It assumes that most people are easily taken in, and shows a distinct lack of faith in self-awareness would not have been possible had she not been taken to task by the public and forced to consider their ability to use reason and logic. It also has an extremely negative effect on the scientific community, who her harmful behaviours. often find their research options are limited due to the perception that some subjects are off limits.

We have reached a point where internet discourse can make a real difference. The outcry of hundreds of thouThe very idea that people who we dislike should not be allowed a platform to express their views is regressive sands can make a tangible impact on the careers of bigots and abusers, and this is why cancel culture originally and tyrannical. It risks radicalising huge portions of the population who hold conservative views. Free speech came about, as an attempt to give voice and a semblance of power to those who felt that too many public figures is perhaps the most important aspect of our civilisation; it is the method by which we exchange ideas and faced no accountability for their actions. That the arguments surrounding who should be canceled and why have compromise. If we cannot debate on the controversial issues of the day, we risk pushing people to desperation grown more nuanced makes sense and runs in parallel with the development of discourse on social issues in general. and, as often seen throughout history, violence and revolution.

I think we only need to wait until the kinks of this new mode are worked out and we will have an effective new form of activism that sends the message that the public will not tolerate certain behaviours.

REBUTTAL

REBUTTAL

ADAM LAWLER

MICHAEL O’DWYER CONNOLLY

Cancel culture is not exclusive to right-wing people with conservative values. It can target anyone, including fake allies on the left, and takes a uniformly uncompromising tact against anyone who displays these behaviours.

Discussion is an invaluable part of this process, but what happens when certain beliefs do not warrant discussion? If a person demonises a whole group of people and spreads what is clearly hate speech, are we obliged to hear them out? Furthermore, are we even obliged to educate them when it is clear from their existence in a world of easy access to infinite knowledge that they have remained wilfully ignorant?

We have gotten this far and let beliefs rooted in ignorance settle to the seafloor of public consciousness by “just letting them speak.” When white men are allowed access to a platform on which they police how people of colour should feel about racism, this is dangerous. There is no element of censorship when people like Milo Yiannopoulos have been given free reign for years. As you said, de-platforming does not function as a definitive solution when ‘canceled’ figures simply reappear in other forums. We are just growing more conscious of the kind of public figures we want to support.

If anything, it has only been made clearer that this ‘cancel culture’ phenomenon is unstable. To trust social media as censors of debate, and to give them the power to destroy people’s careers based on mere assumption is one of the worst and most dangerous trends of the day. The online example is only half of the story, however; ‘cancel culture’ has been even more damaging in silencing speakers on campuses with actual violence.

To attack and silence famous individuals, or anyone for that matter, based on spurious accusations of ‘microaggressions’ and eminently subjective standards of bigotry is demented. For example, who is to say that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is wrong? She merely voiced an opinion on a subject that is still widely under debate, only to be viciously and personally attacked online for it instead of her argument being dissected and discussed.

This demonstrates that the people behind ‘cancel culture’ are simply blind ideologues. These are the last people who should have a say on which opinions should or should not be permitted, as they demonstrate minimal insight along with abundant authoritarianism. Public figures should face accountability; too many get away with what any ordinary person would be crucified for. However, it should not come in the form of endless legions of online ideologues with a penchant for threats and personal attacks.

6 VOLUME XXIV, ISSUE 5

COMMENT ANTI-DEPRESSANTS: A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, BUT A LONG WAY TO GO In light of the HSE’s recent boost to their Little Things campaign, Katie O’ Dea examines the shortcomings in mental health resources in Ireland. in Ireland each year.

Ireland was first introduced to antidepressants in 1987 with the USA-imported ‘sunshine drug,’ Prozac, followed by second and third generation antidepressants. There is growing concern, however, that antidepressants are being overprescribed. Doctors, under pressure to do something for their patients, prescribe antidepressants without their patients necessarily being able to avail of counselling services. For individuals who feel they need more than just antidepressants, they are stuck.

There is strong evidence to suggest that an important aspect in tackling depression is taking care of an individual’s psychological needs.

campaigns have achieved, but it feels like someone forgot to ask the question of what will happen to these people once they feel empowered to take action and find scarce resources to do so.

This is a clear reflection of the shambolic state of our healthcare system. In July of last year, it emerged that 2,400 children and adolescents were on waiting lists for mental health services, 218 of them for longer than a year. We are frequently told that medical staff are overworked and that there is a severe lack of resources in the HSE. While the stigma surrounding mental health has undoubtedly been eroded in recent years and will likely continue to be eroded in years to come, the resources available to deal with mental

health issues are wholly inadequate. UCD counselling services are quite literally outsourcing their services to private providers to keep up with the demand of students. In November 2017, the University Observer reported that there were 194 students on a waiting list for the counselling service and that “the waiting list is the highest it’s ever been for a number of years.”

When people are ready to talk, someone needs to be there to listen.

If you need someone to talk to you can freephone Niteline at 1800 793793 between 9pm and 2:30am, and Samaritans at 116 123 during the day. You can also check out niteline.ie, pieta.ie, and samaritans.org.

Depression is understood medically and scientifically as a chemical imbalance in the brain, low serotonin levels, and it was on this basis that medication has been designed to treat it. However, there is strong evidence to suggest that an important aspect in tackling depression is taking care of an individual’s psychological needs, and this highlights the large problem: where do people go when they need counselling help? Services such as the Samaritans are not counselling outlets, and cannot such facilities. Where are the services to back up the expensive television and radio campaign advertisements encouraging people to seek help? This is not wishing to take away from the positive work that these

PICTURE: MEDIA.DEFENSE.GOV

Irish society has come a long way on the issue of mental health. What was once a taboo subject is now beginning to be unfolded and discussed, albeit with no shortage of stigma attached. The HSE’s ‘Little Things’ campaign is one step in promoting positive mental health and opening up a discourse in Irish society.

The campaign emphasises the little things we can do to improve our mental health, such as keeping active and talking about our problems. An aspect almost as important as the message itself is what is behind it, a state-funded investment into people’s mental health.

This is, in effect, a public acknowledgement of the seriousness of the issue by the HSE and, by extension, the government.

Although many might argue that it is too little too late, or simply not enough, particularly in light of recent budget cuts to mental health, it sends an important message to all Irish people. To those suffering from or affected by depression, anxiety, or other mental health issues, it says that their government acknowledges them and has not abandoned them. To those who remain unaware as to the extent of depression as an illness, it too sends a strong message; this government takes mental health seriously, and so should you.

Whether it is doing enough to combat stigma is another debate, but the message that such a high-profile and well-funded campaign sends is an important one.

The fact that depression and poor mental health is a major issue in Ireland is not news. Aware, a charity which supports people with depression, estimates that as many as 450,000 are affected by depression in Ireland at any time. According to the WHO (World Health Organisation), more than 300 million people globally suffer from depression and it is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Between 2011 and 2016, an average of 467.5 people committed suicide

KERRY BABIES: THE LATEST EXAMPLE OF IRELAND’S ATTITUDE TOWARDS WOMEN? Nathan Young looks at the scandal through the lens of Ireland’s continuing history of mistreating women.

The calls for respectful, reasoned debate are coming from a church whose political influence was once unparalleled.

The story of the “Kerry Babies” began on the 14th of April 1984, when the body of a baby was discovered in Cahersiveen, County Kerry. The Gardaí investigating the murder contacted local maternity wards to see if any unmarried women had been in their care recently, and checked to see which of these women were unaccounted for. This led them to a woman by the name of Joanne Hayes. She and members of her family were brought to the Garda station for questioning where she confessed to the murder. She later denied the murder, giving a different account in which she miscarried and buried the foetus on family land, and claimed that the initial confession had been coerced.

The foetus was recovered, and the coroner ruled that evidence of independent life was “inconclusive,” meaning that the miscarriage story was plausible at the very least. The Gardaí then began investigating whether Hayes had had twins, and it was found that the blood groups of the two babies were different. Hayes, the foetus from the farm, and the probable father Jeremiah Locke were both blood group O, but the baby from Cahersiveen was blood group A. Of course, not content with absolving a single mother, they proceeded with a new theory; that Hayes was the mother of both babies through superfecundation. This would mean that Hayes

would have had to have sexual relations with two different men in a short space of time in order to become pregnant by both of them. The expert opinion was that this was “extremely rare and unlikely,” yet Hayes was questioned about other men she had had intercourse with in a bid to prove superfecundation.

Since this saga there have been ongoing accusations of misconduct by the Gardaí during the investigation, mostly centred on the fact that the initial confession was withdrawn. It is in the news most recently because DNA evidence from late last year shows once again that Hayes is not the mother of the Cahersiveen baby.

The Kerry Babies case is one that differs from many other cited examples, as the Catholic Church is not directly involved, although strict adherence to Catholic sensibility was evident throughout every botched step of the process. During the tribunal Locke was introduced as a married man with three children. Hayes, however, was cross-examined about every detail of her sex life as an unmarried woman in open court. A priest publicly criticised the fact that Locke was questioned on contraception, which had not been used. No comment from any church official was made on how Hayes was treated.

that of the Tribunal, which states that Hayes killed her baby, and that there was no wrongdoing on behalf of the Gardaí aside from “exaggeration.”

With this case, as well as the Magdalene laundries and mother and baby homes such as Tuam, it is possible to think of Ireland, or at least Irish officialdom, as cruel, draconian, deeply distrustful of women and completely in the pocket of the Church. To believe that there may be ethical concerns with late term abortions may merit some debate, but to believe, as Irish law does, that an abortion in the first trimester is the taking of the life of a child is only valid if one accepts canon

law on when a soul enters a body. Our constitution also criminalises blasphemy, another crime that can only be understood if you accept the existence of a jealous, tempestuous God. Divorce was illegal until 1996 and homosexuality was illegal until 1993.

It is in the context of these stories and this unfortunate history that the upcoming referendum debate should be examined. The calls for respectful, reasoned debate are coming from a church whose political influence was once unparalleled, and it must not be forgotten what life was like then.

Strict adherence to Catholic sensibility was evident throughout every botched step of the process.

PICTURE: WIKIMEDIA.ORG

The fact that recent headlines centre around the case of the mistreatment of a woman in 1984 comes as no surprise. After all, Ireland’s historic mistreatment of women both socially and through state or statesanctioned abuse is well-documented.

The story as an isolated occurrence is important as an example of a woman and her family being grossly mistreated, and because the true story of the baby was never learned. It is also a case study in the behaviour and attitudes of Irish officialdom. The Gardaí and Leo Varadkar have apologised since the recent DNA evidence, but the official position of the state is still

30TH JANUARY 2018 7

FEATURES DO SINGLE-SEX SCHOOLS OFFER ANY BENEFITS FOR STUDENTS, OR ARE THEY A RELIC OF THE PAST? The issue of Gender equality will always be a focal point of conversation, however with the new year marking one hundred years since women got the right to vote in Ireland, it seems as though equality has become even more topical. This heightened awareness and discussion has only recently spurred on debate in relation to the place of gender equality in one of the most prominent areas of life: education. Is the Irish education system hindering the progress of equality by keeping in place an archaic system founded on the basis of a strict religious culture that we no longer adhere to?

By keeping this stigma alive, are we not just perpetuating the problem?

Over a third of secondary schools, and about a fifth of primary schools are single sex. This being the case, one would assume there must be some benefits to their existence. The President of the Institution of Guidance Counsellors, Beatrice Dooley, presented what could be unanimously viewed as the main arguments in favour of single sex schools on the Newstalk radio show, Lunchtime live. Most of the studies supporting single sex schools state that worldwide, girls in particular do better in single-sex schools.

One could suggest two main factors contributing to this conclusion. Firstly, second level can often be seen as quite a fragile and vulnerable time for girls, as

between the ages of 12 and15, they begin to focus on Dympna Devine, head of UCD School of Education self-image and acceptance. Dooley made the point that who argued that “It is not true to say that boys and girls at this difficult age, girls would further suffer due to the do better in single sex schools although that tends to exposure of a mixed environment. be a common view. What the research suggests is that The second argument preferential to single-sex it is only in the area of mathematics that girls tend to schooling is the age-old, arguably exhausted idea that do less well in co-education contexts than in girls-only boys and girls serve purely as distractions to each other contexts, attributed to the misperception that ‘maths’ is at this stage of maturity. a boys subject and one which girls tend to have less Nevertheless, one must call into question whether confidence in.” reducing members of the opposite sex to mere objects According to Devine, the socio-economic backof distraction is not only undermining, but continuing grounds of students is “more significant in determinto do more damage than harm. By keeping this stigma ing education achievement… The biggest concern in relation to under performance tends to be with respect alive, are we not just perpetuating the problem?

From a careers perspective, mixed schools would to boys in working class schools.” be preferable as there are undeniably a wider range of The most recent Irish review of research in the area, subject choices available. With gender-based schooling carried out by Emer Smyth at the ESRI in 2010, found unfortunately comes restricted subject choice. There is “very little consensus” on whether single-sex education seriously restricted access to STEM subjects along with leads to better outcomes for girls or boys. Therefore, it certain sports in many female-only schools, which can is difficult to defend the benefits of single-sex schools have the consequence of leading to gender stereotypes from a purely academic standpoint.

Looking at the issue from a societal and equality in terms of gender-based career choices.

Muiris O’Connor, head of Policy and Strategic point of view, Labour Senator Aodhán O’Ríordán, says Planning at the Higher Education Authority wrote a “there are issues around the heavy gender segregation in 2007 Report for the Department of Education titled Irish schools that I think the Department of Education SéSí; Gender in Irish Education. This report drew atten- should look at.” He argues that “if they already made tion to the worrying truth, that in today’s twenty-first the policy 20 years ago that they won’t sanction any century Ireland, “the prejudices about what girls could or new [single-sex] school, then maybe they should start could not do, or were or were not capable of, were deeply talking to existing schools.” ingrained.” Whether this is due to the separate education If we are trying to encourage the youth to believe of both sexes remains uncertain, but it is doubtful that absolutely in equality of the sexes and genders, dothis is having any positive effect in this regard. ing it in separate buildings does not really make The University Observer spoke to Professor sense. This idea has been backed by many, including

DIARY OF A TAOISHMUCK An exclusive look into the personal diary of Leo Varadkar.

Dear Diary, It’s me, Leo. It’s happened again. It’s like no matter what I do I just can’t keep people happy.

That Ruth Coppinger one said that I had “more positions on abortion than coloured socks.”

How rude! Why did she have to come for my socks like that? I’ll have her know that I have a different pair of coloured socks for every day of the week. Matthew bought me a pair in a different colour for every day of the week. You remember Matthew, diary? I don’t get to talk about him a lot because “marriage in our Constitution is very clear that it’s man marrying a woman,” which is why he’s my….boyf partner? Anyway, this Ruth one was so rude to me. I was just trying to go with the flow and organise a referendum so everyone could get a day-off from school, and she totally brought up what I was like as Minister for Health. Apparently diary, when I was the Health Minister, there was like what, “12 people leaving the country DAILY for abortions,” according to Ruth, trying to steal my spotlight. She totally put me on the spot like that. If I said I “pro-choice,” the opposition would have my head, and if I said I was “pro-life” the party members could call for a “no-confidence vote.” So diary, I did what any leader would do. I shifted the responsibility to someone else. I was like, “I would like to see how the Oireachtas committee deal with the issue to develop a consensus, around the wording.” See? Genius. I bought myself time to distract everyone with another scandal, before I actually have to make a definitive decision. Very Taoiseach-like. Bertie would be proud.

Anyway diary, I gotta go. Matthew and I are going to watch the Post. We’re going to laugh at all those silly journalists.

Leo out.

PICTURE: WIKIMEDIA.ORG

With Ireland having the highest number of single sex schools in Europe, Aileen McGrath discusses whether this helps or hinders students.

Kathleen Lynch, Professor of Equality Studies at the UCD School of Social Justice, making the point: “how can we advance in terms of gender understanding or in terms of equality more generally, without organised social scientific education?”

In summation, it seems apparent that while there are pros to single-sex schools they seem to run contrary to the principles of diversity and pluralism in Irish Society.

20 years ago, the Department of Education stopped giving sanction to new single-sex schools, which could be seen as a rejection of their very existence. In order to move forward, we must get rid of backward thinking concepts that do not align with the vision and views of today’s society.

really doesn’t affect me in any way, so like, why bother? I’m still waiting for the team to get back to me on whether or not students will vote me in if this doesn’t pass, you know what those young ones are like when they get involved in politics?

That’s all from me today, Diary. I have to get up early and negotiate with the EU big wigs about the Brexit hissy fit.

Leo xxx Dear Diary, So like can I just be really honest with you for a second? My life is not all that easy. Here I am trying to have it all: friends, a career, a loving husb partner, and all I get is abuse. So, remember when I said I was going to Brussels to talk about the future of the EU? Well, that went to hell!

This guy, Sammy Wilson, who is this spokesperson of the DUP (*psshh* the DUP), called me a “nutcase.” It’s like, why is everyone bullying me?! Oh, and before I forget, he said my approach for Ireland’s involvement in the EU, was going to “eventually destroy Ireland.” Like the DUP, are saying I’m going to destroy Ireland. THE DUP said that!

Like is Arlene doing a U-turn to the days of Paisley? I don’t know, Diary, but I don’t appreciate it. Anyway, I sent Coveney to go re-build that bridge, get him to stretch his legs. He builds relations and I get the credit! Win-Win…for me. I really need this one, after that faux pas with the house-buyers comment. When I was growing up, I just asked mommy and daddy for whatever and they gave it to me. Like, we were fine, but we weren’t like Trump loaded, that’s just ridiculous. I don’t think the Irish realise how lucky they have it, with a down-to-Earth centrist man of the people like me. It’s hard being a Taoiseach when everyone takes you for a Taoishmuck.

I have to go, Diary. Matthew and I are having our annual date-night. This year it’s in McDonald’s on Grafton Street, with high collar coats and sunglasses.

Leo out.

PICTURE: MEADHBH SHARIDAN

Dear Diary, That Irish Times is all full of troublemakers. All I ever see is “Strike for this” and “Repeal that,” like can people just you know, keep their opinions to themselves? Now everyone with an internet connection can see what TDs are voting. Well except Mayo, their internet connection speeds are terrible (hehe). What’s wrong with keeping things the way they were? The country was doing fine. Everything was fine. I mean, yes, I did have a peak to see what way people were voting, so I didn’t commit career suicide, but like ugh, whatever. I finally came out (get it?) in favour of liberalising Ireland’s abortion laws. So now I have to go and campaign for God knows how long. And honestly diary, what is the point? I don’t really care because this

PICTURE: MEADHBH SHERIDAN

8 VOLUME XXIV, ISSUE 5

FEATURES WILL ROBOTS STEAL OUR JOBS? With automation increasing and entering new areas, such as surgery and driving, will humans be made fully redundant? Orla Keaveney investigates whether we will still have jobs in 100 years’ time. are still aspects of robotics that have still not caught up with the complexity of human evolution. For many minimum-wage jobs that vary over time or require physical agility, it’s simply more cost-effective to pay someone rather than design a robot specifically for the task.

As technology rapidly becomes more advanced, many are beginning to wonder if robotics will soon outstrip the capabilities of humans. If that happens, what will that mean for a world where unemployment is already a major social issue?

From lamp lighters to switchboard operators, there have been countless jobs that have disappeared from modern industry. However, these losses have given way to new career paths; nobody could have guessed even ten years ago that someone could make YouTube

It seems likely that very low-skill or very high-skill occupations are the safest.

videos or post selfies for a living.

Although some fears of robotics have proven to be unfounded in the past, it is impossible to know for sure which industries will become obsolete. Kevin J Denny, an Associate Professor at UCD’s School of Economics, suggests that “it seems likely that very low-skill or very high-skill occupations are the safest. So it’s unlikely that cleaners, for example, will be replaced by robots.”

This may come as a surprise, since many people would expect that low-skill jobs would be the easiest targets for automation.

While computers are far better than humans at doing simple, repetitive tasks quickly and efficiently, there

With robots generating greater profits, the extra revenue could potentially be put back into employing people into currently shortstaffed, and potentially more fulfilling, jobs.

in primary and secondary schools would be better than one for 40 students.”

If there is less demand for a human workforce, countries could even implement policies that spread the remaining workload more evenly among their citizens. In France, the government passed a law that heavily taxed companies that made their employees work more than 35 hours a week, in order to balance the gap between the unemployed and the overworked.

Although this model is far from perfect (France still has the highest rate of unemployment in Europe), it does pave the way for creative solutions if automation does have a major impact on career opportunities.

The world we live in today is virtually unrecognisable from the world thirty years ago. How advancements in robotic engineering will change the future is yet to be seen, but it seems unlikely that the robots are going to be stealing all our jobs.

Similarly, very high-skill jobs, particularly those that involve more intuition or creativity, are unlikely to be replaced by automation. That said, certain aspects of these industries could be performed better by machines.

If high- and low-skilled workers are safe, where does this leave people in the middle? Professor Denny imagines that “jobs that require moderate skill could well be replaced. If so, we will observe a hollowing out of the labour market. Driverless cars could put taxi-drivers out of business. A lot of the functions of bar staff could probably be automated... You can pay in supermarkets by self-service. Could, for example, barbers or hairdressers be automated?”

Before getting too anxious, it’s important to consider that these changes won’t happen overnight. No matter how fast technology develops, society needs time to adjust. Sarah Parlane, another UCD economist, notes that people generally do not “care whether the cars they are driving have been assembled by a robot, as one would probably never know who did what in their car

PICTURE: MAXPIXEL.FREEGREATPICTURE.COM/PRINT-3D-ROBOTIC

ORLA KEAVENEY ONLINE EDITOR

but when it comes to direct health care, or education, or safety, some may be reluctant to let a robot do the job. Some combinations are scary: robots with syringes, dentist robots...” Even if machines are probably better at certain tasks, the market is affected by public opinion at least as much as technology.

In the meantime, Parlane imagines that the best strategy to mitigate the effects of automation on unemployment would be “to provide constant training and offer to all the possibility to learn and adapt to new environments. In fact, it demands that we have a better understanding of mechanisms at play.”

With robots generating greater profits, the extra revenue could potentially be put back into employing people into currently short-staffed, and potentially more fulfilling, jobs: “A country could always do with more people that provide more services,” says Parlane.

“More people to look after the elderly and individuals with special needs... Having one teacher for 15 students

COLM O’GORMAN VOICES HIS THOUGHTS ON THE MEDIA’S ROLE IN THE EIGHTH AMENDMENT Claudia Dalby meets with Colm O’Gorman, the Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland to talk about the eighth amendment.

As we move towards the summer and the likelihood of referenda increases, most notably on the eighth amendment, anticipation is rising and the discussion is getting louder. A reliable point of reference for many is the Marriage Equality referendum. Held in 2015, it was a decision on human rights that many were expectant to see passed, while others were desperate to preserve what they saw to be traditional marriage.

During the lead up to that referendum, the media provided a platform for debate from both sides, giving the public a place to engage in and with debates with varying levels of balance and fact. Approaching the referendum of the eighth amendment this summer, the University Observer spoke to Colm O’Gorman, the executive director of Amnesty International Ireland and a prominent figure during the 2015 referendum on same sex marriage.

There will certainly be a huge amount of debate surrounding the issue, and this is understandable.

How RTÉ and other news organisations manage the discourse they platform, will be important so legal requirements are followed to ensure balance, but it is also that the media have a way to stabilise the line between opinion and fact. O’Gorman believes Irish people “need to have a conversation about our public discourse, and how we maintain an informative, engaged, objective, respectful public discourse, because we don’t have that.” From 2013 to 2016, as interest in the eighth amendment began to increase, media reporting focused “mainly on drama within the political system, what the parties were saying on the issue.” He found that there was little to no analysis of the issue with no focus on the reasons women have abortions or women’s experiences, details on the medical procedure and administration of the termination. This has meant

people have needed to find their information elsewhere, as following the media coverage leads to more questions than answers.

In October 2017, a poll was taken by Amnesty which questioned 1,000 people on their knowledge, perspective, and standpoint on the issue, as well as aspects such as religious influence, how comfortable they were talking about their opinions on the issue, gaps in their knowledge, and how they wanted these gaps filled. Most of all it asked what outlets people felt they could rely on for information. “We thought it was quite reassuring that 69% of people trusted doctors, and the next group was 62% who trusted women who have had abortions.”

69% of people trusted doctors, and… 62% trusted women who have had abortions What was most telling were the groups that people didn’t trust. Only 7% trusted politicians, and a meagre 9% trusted the media for information on abortion.

O’Gorman feels that “when we published that polling, we thought there would be a degree of self examination by the media, but it was largely ignored by the media, despite it being the most detailed, nuanced, and multifaceted research on abortion in Ireland.” O’Gorman believes that the reason people do not trust the media is the lack of analysis the media provides. While people are told that abortion is divisive, that politicians are arguing about it, and that there is varying amounts of

scandal surrounding it, people do not believe this is the forward, regardless of that position.” He expects that information they need when making a decision. every organisation, and every side to the issue, should The question then is: is abortion as divisive as we be at the end of rigorous questioning with viewpoints have been led to believe? What are the extremes? and facts being challenged.

Organisations such as the Iona Institute and Love Both O’Gorman recalled speaking to a former minister are prevalent on social media, attempting to keep their who said: “in Ireland we are pathologically incapable views relevant and appealing. Amnesty’s polling shows of having a position on abortion.” O’Gorman believes that 5% of people in Ireland are personally opposed that this “may have been the case before, but is not to abortion in all circumstances, “but this is not an anymore.” If the media provides a space for people extreme position,” argues O’Gorman, “because of that “to listen, to learn, develop thinking based on evidence, 5%, half would vote to repeal the eighth as their objec- and look at the outcome objectively,” O’Gorman betion is personal opinion.” Recent polling shows that lieves this would be a huge step forward in developing there is a majority of Irish people in favour of changing a framework that will deliver access to safe abortion.

Ireland’s constitutional ban on abortion. This week, the wording of the upcoming referendum on the eighth will be released following the recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly. During that assembly, “we saw evidence based analysis, real and meaningful discussion, and challenging, robust and difficult conversation.”

O’Gorman thinks this is crucial when approaching a second human rights referendum.

What changed during the Marriage Equality referendum, according to O’Gorman, was that there was an “interesting departure from the usual way the media dealt with debate during referendums, such as rigorous rule applied to the amount of time a speaker had during the debate.” In looking towards the eighth, the media needs to provide people with objective evidence and allow them to make their own analysis on the basis of fact, which includes details of abortion procedure and outcomes, and the reality of women’s experiences.

“Amnesty will certainly launch a campaign after the wording is announced.” He says that in Amnesty “we believe the job of the media needs to be to robustly interrogate the positions [that] people [are] putting

30TH JANUARY 2018 9

FEATURES ARE COLLEGES REALLY A “SAFE SPACE” FOR LEFTISTS?

Modern students, we are told, don’t want to be challenged. They would prefer to stay in a “Safe Space,” receiving an education devoid of challenges to their views from social conservatives. Conservative students, meanwhile, have extreme difficulty fitting in socially if their views become known. Many on the left, including Angela Nagle and Peter Tatchell now argue that this perceived closed-mindedness creates an environment where conservatives feel out of place and the ideas of the far and alt rights go unchallenged. Is this the case in UCD?

The Union’s history of social activism, though strong, has very few examples where direct censorship has been used as a tactic.

When the debates conveners for L&H were asked whether conservative students feel comfortable expressing their views in public, Aayan Atiq said “I’m not going to name any names, but there are some sort of go-to speakers that we have in the L&H that we know are relatively conservative so [when] we have motions which call for those kinds of opinions we ask them to come and speak.” Atiq adds “we know they don’t have an issue...we can easily find speakers who are espousing rather right-wing stuff.” Georgia Stynes, another debates convener, said “There are those presumptions made at the start of some debates like ‘presuming we’re okay with the LGBT community, presuming we’re okay with feminists’...but in something like a free speech debate, or a politics debate, like a Brexit

debate, we try to make that neutral and invite both sides to speak at it.” On where they would draw the line on right-wing opinions, Atiq stated “We’re never going to have a motion that asks people to defend stuff like Neo-Nazism and all that kind of crap” A speaker who has been highly critical of the LGBT+ community, feminists, and anyone of the left in general is Milo Yiannopoulos. The alt-light firebrand’s antics are highly documented, from denying the gender-pay gap to using ad-hominem attacks on his opponents, such as “fat, angry, lesbionic cat ladies.” The tactics of his liberal student opponents are also cause for controversy, as they have ranged from disruption of his talks to costly destruction of university infrastructure. When he came to UCD at the invitation of the Philosophy and Economic societies, however, he was greeted with no real protest, save the feminist book club requesting the format of the event be changed to allow a more critical examining of his views. When the societies involved declined to make these changes, no further action was taken, and Yiannopoulos’s talk even received a glowing review in this newspaper.

Another source of oft-presumed liberal conformity on campus is the College of Arts and Celtic Studies.

Professor Danielle Clarke, Head of the School of English, Film, Drama, and Creative Writing in UCD explained “One of the reasons why humanities departments tend to get tarred with this particular brush is [that] the nature of teaching in an English department is highly individualistic.” Clarke adds that when you’re teaching critical thinking “one thing you might do is get people to question orthodoxies, all orthodoxies, whether they’re right wing, left wing, or somewhere in the middle.” Clarke believes that “the perceptions of left-wing bias in the humanities department generally come from people who don’t like left-wing thinking

Picture: wikimedia.com

With debate raging across the anglosphere about the overly liberal nature of university campuses today, Nathan Young investigates where UCD falls into all this.

and don’t like humanities people.”

Cormac O’Herlihy, one of the editors of the Trinity based “Burkean Journal,” which is expanding to UCD this semester, told the University Observer, “there are a large number of centrist and conservative students in UCD and elsewhere that feel that their beliefs are not represented, and we want to make them heard.” He says that “ultimately conservative students are underrepresented in campus media. That said, one of the key tenets of conservatism is personal responsibility, so it’s time to stop complaining and actually do our best to make a positive contribution.”

Georgia Stynes who is heavily involved in the Feminist Book Club, as well as the anarchist book club, told the University Observer “I wish there was (a left wing bias), genuinely.” She explains,“when we tried to

do petitions for a feminist society and stuff like that the backlash was huge. People hated it, people laughed at me. People aren’t on board.”

Clearly then UCD’s student population, while liberal enough to show their support for campaigns such as marriage equality for same-sex couples and legalising abortion, they are not the censorious or close-minded people the stereotype says they should be. The Union’s history of social activism, though strong, has very few examples where direct censorship has been used as a tactic. Perhaps things will change in the future, but for the time being it seems UCD campus is a place where conservative voices and students are given a fair hearing.

SAFEGUARDING DEMOCRACY: SPENDING LIMITS ON REFERENDUMS AND LOWERING THE VOTING AGE

GAVIN TRACEY FEATURES EDITOR “I don’t know who created Pokémon Go, but I’m trying to figure out how we get them to Pokémon Go to the polls.” - Hillary Clinton Voter turnout has always been an issue that has concerned politicians and those invested in the notion of representative democracy since the inception of modern representative democracy. In the past, and in many places, the political classes are concerned with how to prevent people from voting, as is the case in the United States, with voter ID laws and gerrymandering.

However, in Europe, the trend is more towards trying to increase the number of people going to the polls. We in Ireland seem to have a peculiar love/hate relationship with voting, with over 61% of people voting in the Marriage Equality referendum, but only a 33.5% voter turnout for the Children’s Referendum in 2012. In relation to the rest of Europe our voter turnout is good, and it has been on the rise since the early 2000s, but there are still a large amount of people who do not vote, and this number is much higher among young people.

With the aim of increasing voter turnout, the Citizens’ Assembly has put forth a range of suggestions to be discussed in the Oireachtas. They voted overwhelmingly for the establishment of a permanent Electoral Commission, weekend voting, and lowering the voting age to 16. They also voted in favour of a system similar to that found in Switzerland and Australia, whereby a

10 VOLUME XXIV, ISSUE 5

public petition could trigger a referendum. Will these measures really help to increase levels of voter turnout, or is voter apathy simply too strong to be counteracted by simply changing who can vote and when?

Perhaps the most important of these would be the establishment of a permanent electoral commission. An electoral commission is tasked with overseeing referendums and elections, and ensuring everything is above board. Ireland is one of very few countries that does not have a permanent electoral commission. As it is now, an electoral commission is set up for each election or referendum and is disbanded afterwards. Speaking to the Assembly Michael Marsh, a professor of Politics at Trinity College, said that establishing a permanent electoral commission was a “no-brainer.”

98% of the Assembly voted in favour of implementing spending limits for referendums. This is a good proactive step in preventing monied interests in interfering with politics, a problem that has led to huge levels of voter dissatisfaction and disillusionment in many countries, perhaps most notably in the United States. This was backed up with 72% voting in favour of preventing anonymous donations to political parties, politicians, or campaigns.

The key to a functioning democracy is an engaged citizenry The Assembly was also concerned with voter turnout, putting forward many proposals aimed at making voting easier and more accessible to everyone. 100% voted in favour of weekend voting, with a smaller majority voting in favour of postal and early voting, and being able to vote in any polling station. The vote that will spur the most debate was the overwhelming vote in

PICTURE: WIKIMEDIA.ORG

With a range of important referendums on the horizon, Gavin Tracey examines the recommendations made by the Citizens’ Assembly aimed at increasing voter turnout and engagement.

favour of lowering the voting age to 16, with 80% voting in favour. A poll conducted by Amárach Research for theJournal.ie and Claire Byrne Live found that only 16% of the public would be in favour of it. It was also floated by the Fine Gael and Labour government in 2013, who planned on holding a referendum on the issue, but never did. Likewise, Fianna Fáil also floated the idea of lowering the voting age, before u-turning on it last year. The National Youth Council of Ireland has made the point that all of the arguments used against lowering the voting age were also used in the debate around giving women the vote: that they would be easily manipulated or uninformed. However, there are doubts that the political will exists around this issue, especially in parties like Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, who rely heavily on the so called “grey vote” for their

electoral survival.

All of these motions are due to be debated in the Oireachtas, and it is unclear what will happen in relation to them. While the Citizens’ Assembly no doubt plays a large part in influencing future legislation, it is after all only an advisory body, and government is under no obligation to follow what they vote on. However, with increased voter participation in the Marriage Equality referendum, and with a number of referendums on the horizon, most notably the referendum concerning the eighth amendment, the debate surrounding voter turnout and participation is only going to intensify. The key to a functioning democracy is an engaged citizenry, and we must ensure that this upward trend of voter turnout continues.

SCIENCE IS THE DISPOSABLE CUP HALF-EMPTY OR HALF-FULL? Are we actually helping the environment by using these heavier, more manufacturing-intensive reusable cups? Sean Mooney investigates.

also impacts the fuel usage required to transport them.

The environmental effect of cleaning reusable cups is often overlooked, and using a dishwasher to wash the cup significantly increases the CO2 emissions and the energy usage of the cup. Studies have shown handwashing to be significantly more efficient. As paper cups are single-use, there is no associated impact from having to clean them.

If you must use a paper cup, avoid a lid unless necessary.

The most crucial variable of the equation is the disposal of the cups. The non-recyclability of disposable cups means that they either wind up in a landfill or in an incinerator. Each option has its drawbacks. Older incinerators merely burned the waste, whereas newer plants, such as the Poolbeg incinerator, also harness this heat to generate electric power. However, incinerating a paper cup recoups a negligible amount of energy while simultaneously releasing a sizeable amount of CO2 into the atmosphere. If they instead go to landfill, though, they can take a long time to disintegrate, potentially becoming a pollutant and being ingested by marine life.

The end-of-life treatment of reusable mugs cannot be neglected. Due to the robust materials from which they are made they are likely to take hundreds of years to decompose in a landfill, while contributing to the pollution associated with landfill usage.

Without information as to where the UCDSU cup was manufactured, what materials were used, and the product’s lifespan, it is difficult to say how it measures up against the paper cup in each domain.

Several studies have addressed this issue using

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Nothing epitomises our throwaway culture quite like the coffee cup. Paper cups cannot be recycled because they are lined with a thin layer of plastic which cannot be separated from the paper. Hence, two million cups end up in Irish landfills each year.

UCD are accountable for thousands of these cups and the Students’ Union has acted in response to this, with SU shops offering a €0.20 discount on tea or coffee when a reusable cup is used instead of the standard disposable cup. Branded mugs can be bought in the Student Union shops for €5.00 and the first cup of your beverage of choice is then free. Such a discount scheme is compelling, even if it takes 20 uses before one profits from the exchange. However, since the key motivation is to reduce the environmental impact, the central issue is the number of times the reusable mug must be used before it becomes the most eco-friendly choice. A lifecycle assessment is required to compare reusable cups to their disposable counterparts.

First we must look at the manufacturing process.

Due to their durability, making reusable cups is far more intensive, requiring multiple materials. On top of this, the cups are often sold with excessive packaging. Paper cups require far less energy. However, very little recycled paper is used in these cups, and it is estimated that a tree is cut down for every 2,500 cups produced. As well as the loss of potential natural habitat that comes with removing these trees from the ecosystem, there is also the loss of the ability to absorb carbon dioxide.

Both products must then be transported to the stores.

A cup that is made locally will have less of an impact than a cup that is shipped thousands of kilometres.

Although both paper and reusable cups are subject to the same transport conditions, paper cups can be packed more densely, thereby reducing the transportation impact. The fact that reusable cups are heavier

similar reusable cups where the global warming potential and the non-renewable energy usage are used to quantify the differences between reusable and disposable cups. There is broad consensus in the results: A reusable cup, whether it is plastic, ceramic, or glass, must be used between ten and twenty times before it becomes more environmental than a standard paper cup.

All reusable cups are not created equally, however, and there are several reusable cups which are particularly considerate from an environmental standpoint, namely the Ecoffee Cup (which is made from bamboo fibre) and the KeepCup. In terms of disposable cups, polystyrene cups actually have a lower carbon footprint than the paper alternative, although they present a more significant pollution threat. The ideal scenario would involve a shift from a linear economy to a circular economy in

which resources and waste are minimised and disposable cups are manufactured from recycled material with a high recovery rate.

Comparisons of the life-cycle assessments of reusable versus disposable cups, while far from a precise science, tend to reach similar conclusions. Short of curtailing our tea and coffee intake, reusable mugs are the best option, and its impact is reduced considerably when hand-washed. If you must use a paper cup, avoid a lid unless necessary. In any case, buying a reusable mug only for it to get lost at the bottom of a bag after a handful of uses is the worst outcome.

Finally, we should be cognisant of which tea or coffee actually goes into the cup, prioritising brands which take their social and environmental responsibilities seriously. Buying coffee is not exactly a piece of cake.

DOGS ARE THE BEST Following the death of her dog Leia, Aoife Hardesty explores the science that proves dogs really are the best.

Training guide dogs began in Germany during WWI for soldiers who were blinded in the war.

MRI scans have shown that dogs really do love us humans right back. Have you ever seen a dog around food? Maybe they’re wolfing down their dinner, or watching you eat yours, with those eyes looking at you, seeing right into your soul, begging for ‘just a morsel?’

MRI scans of dogs’ brains showed they received as much pleasure from human affection as from food. The dogs were given food while having an MRI scan and their brains lit up in all the right pleasure places. When receiving praise, the brains lit up just as much, and in some cases, more than when given food. Another similar MRI test measured dogs’ responses when presented with different smells (as smell is the strongest of all a dog’s senses), and when the dogs smelt their human’s smell, the pleasure areas of the brain lit right up.

Studies on dog brains have also been performed to

measure their intelligence. There is an age-old argument over cats or dogs. Science has also shown dogs to be smarter than cats. The evidence for this statement comes from a study in Vanderbilt University, Tennessee that found that while cats have 250 million neurons in their cortex, dogs have 530 million. Humans have 16 billion. Neuron complexity in the cortex is linked to intelligence and the greater the number of neurons in the cortex, the more complex it becomes, and thus the more intelligent the animal.

The intelligence of dogs is largely undisputed; dogs have been trained for roughly 100 years to act as guide dogs, and more recently as service and assistance dogs.

Training guide dogs began in Germany during WWI for soldiers who were blinded in the war. In the century since, dogs have been trained for medical assistance: to accompany diabetics and alert them if their blood sugar levels are becoming too high or too low, to care for individuals with epilepsy in cases of seizures, and there are now several studies of dogs who detected their owners’ cancer. Scientists are currently looking into how this incredible canine sense of smell could be exploited as a diagnostic method for cancer.

Most dog owners will have at some point had the experience of being really upset, when it seems like the world may have been about to end, and you go sit with your dog, and everything becomes okay again.

This moment is part of what makes dogs such good companions and assistance dogs for individuals with autism, anxiety, and PTSD. Research has shown that having a dog in the room with children having blood taken lowers the child’s worry levels, the researchers measured cortisol levels, a hormone that is released during stress, facial expressions for pain, and also usual observable signs of distress. They took data from children with a dog in the room for the procedure, and from a control group of children who did not have a dog in the room with them, the data conclusively showed that the mere presence of a dog resulted in lowered stress levels.

Decreased stress is one of the mental health benefits of having a dog that are listed on many different websites. One of the biggest psychological needs in humans is the need to be loved and wanted, and dogs can give that for people, and that has been shown to boost overall feelings of goodness. For anyone who has a dog, you don’t need the scientific proof to tell you that.

As scientists and researchers delve more into studies about dogs’ abilities, they’re only proving what dog-people have been saying all along: dogs are really pretty incredible.

Dogs have remarkable intelligence which enables

them to learn a whole host of commands, like jump through hoops, to round up those sheep, to check if this dish might have cancer in it, to being able to calm people down by literally just being with them. The unconditional love from a dog can make a life whole, and seem worth living, and the loss of a beloved canine companion can be earth-shattering and heart-breaking.

Such is the price we humans must pay for loving these intelligent, kind, and ridiculously funny animals, and ultimately, for all the goodness we get in return, it is a price well worth paying.

PICTURE: AOIFE HARDESTY

Most dog owners can tell you about the wonderful feeling of coming home to your dog. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been gone for a few hours, days, or weeks; the general reception you receive from your canine companion is a flurry of love. The excitement, possibly barking, maybe some jumping, body wiggling, insane tail wagging, the pressure your dog may put on you as they lean against you, as though in an attempt to get as close to you as caninely possible.

The incredible love, never-ending loyalty, and constant ability to make people laugh, dogs are (in this author’s opinion) the best things on the planet. Not only have I got my own opinions built on years of experiencing the wonders and joys and heartbreaks of owning dogs, I have Science on my side.

Leia (left) and Millie (right) mesmerised by a dog biscuit.

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SCIENCE MYTH UNIVERSE: THE 10% MYTH

PICTURE: PIXABAY.COM

The oft-heard thought that we only use 10% of our brain is a farce, Roseanna Shanahan explains how we know this.

One of the most commonly heard science tropes is that we only use 10% of our brain. This is a bizarre claim, and there is a great deal of evidence which prove it to be incorrect. This evidence has been around for decades, yet time and time again we see the 10% myth pop up in the media. Since 2011 Hollywood has made over 600 million dollars from films such as Limitless and Lucy which suggest that somewhere out there, there

could be a magical drug which will help you tap into that other 90%.

This neuromyth has been so pervasive that it’s hard to pinpoint where it began. Some claim that the American Psychologist William James started it about 100 years ago, while others attribute it to Albert Einstein. However, there has been no direct quote to prove that either of them is the culprit. This myth gives

us hope that we could have untapped potential and that in fact somewhere in our brain lies a hidden genius, or an extra sense we have yet to discover. However, there is no scientific evidence to support it.

In fact, we use all of our brain, not 10% not 25%, but the full 100%. How do we know this, you might ask?

Well, as technology advances, there are many different techniques that can show us what is happening inside our brain, such as functional MRI. When a certain part of the brain is active, oxygen rushes to the site, the fMRI machine detects the location of the oxygen, and displays this activity as colour on a black and white image of the brain. Blobs of red, orange, and yellow show up when an area is highly activated. When you are working out a maths equation, for example, areas of the prefrontal cortex become excited and appear red.

If you are not thinking hard about the equation, these areas will exhibit a bluish tone, indicating lower levels of activity. When you are thinking about someone that you love, or looking at a picture of them, your amygdala lights up. When you hear sound, your auditory cortex lights up. Using imaging techniques over the course of a day proves that the entire brain is active, eradicating the notion that we only use 10% of it. Neurons which are not used shrivel and die, something which would not bode well for our brain if we only used 10% of it.

Another reason the 10% myth is false is that it would be a waste of metabolic energy to use a high percentage of our daily energy on a brain that only needs 10% of its mass to function. Every protein, cell, tissue, and organ in the body serves a purpose. Therefore you can be guaranteed that whatever is inside your skull is completely essential to your existence. Hauling around a brain that weighs about 1.3 kg and uses one fifth of your oxygen supply is not a good strategy if 90% of it

is unnecessary.

Just because we use all of our brain does not mean that we are always at our mental peak, however. As with exercise, in a given day you probably use a vast amount of your muscles, but unless you train your muscles, they will never reach their full potential.

It would be a waste of metabolic energy to use a high percentage of our daily energy on a brain that only needs 10% of its mass to function.

Every time we learn something new we train our brain, increasing our mental ability.

The brain is a very dense mesh of wiring. Each of our 86 billion neurons has about 10,000 connections, putting the total number of connections in the trillions.

This allows us to encode and process libraries worth of information over the course of a lifetime. So given that we use all of our brain, we have a responsibility to use it wisely. People who read, travel the world, learn a new language or a new style of dance are continuously enhancing their brain, creating more memories by encoding information in their neurons and making neural connections that can last a lifetime. So instead of fantasising about all of the things we would like our brain to do, the truth is the brain can do extraordinary things already - we just have to work at it so that it can reach its full potential.

CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE LIMITS OF SCIENCE Is consciousness amenable to scientific inquiry, or is it beyond the scope of Science? Emmet Feerick investigates.

Imagine being a rock. What is it like? For the mentally sound, this is an impossible feat. This is not just because rocks don’t think or feel; they lack something more fundamental than that. Now imagine being a dog, or an owl. While this is not exactly easy, you can imagine trading places with them, and experiencing the world from their point of view. The distinguishing feature here is the presence of consciousness. We have it, dogs have it, but rocks don’t.

Consciousness has been a mystery since at least as far back as ancient Greece, with Aristotle’s formulation of what we now call the mind-body problem. This problem centres around the fact that the universe seems to consist of two types of things: the mental and the physical. For scientists and philosophers, the challenge is to reconcile these two aspects of the world. What is the relationship between mind and body? How can something immaterial, like mind, interact with something material, like body? If somebody asks you to point to consciousness, where do you point?

In the last few decades, scientists have answered this question by pointing to the brain. Aided by modern brain imaging techniques, research into consciousness has progressed tremendously in recent years. It has yielded some of what are called the “neural correlates” of conscious states. Using brain imaging, we can “see” fear, or anger, or relaxation in the brain. More than just being able to see states of consciousness like these, we can now see the “signature” of consciousness itself.

This signature consists of brain waves within a certain frequency range, and longer-lasting neural activity

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How can something immaterial, like mind, interact with something material, like body?

A paper published in Nature in February of last year, found three neurons which encircled a mouse brain, and branch extensively, enabling a vast amount of connections to be made. From this discovery, the suggestion has been made that these three giant neurons are responsible for consciousness.

This discovery however does not provide a satisfying answer to the question of what consciousness is, and maybe even a completed science of the mind would fail to answer suhc a question also. There is something “other” about consciousness. Consciousness may arise from the physical brain, but it is not identical to it (though some philosophers disagree on this point).

Science appears not to be designed to answer this type of question.

As Noam Chomsky points out though, this limitation of Science may be a feature, and not a bug. The founder of modern Science, Isaac Newton, is often credited with showing the universe to be a kind of massive machine.

In this view, it is thought that by discovering the mechanical laws governing it, we may come to understand the universe. This, as Chomsky has indicated, is exactly the opposite of what Newton showed. The mechanical philosophy of the day was in fact (reluctantly) overthrown by Newton. The philosophy was mistaken, Newton contended, in assuming that the universe operated by contact-action; the idea that two objects must touch each other in order to interact. Rather, he said, there was abundant evidence that contact was not required for action – moons orbiting planets, and apples falling from trees, for example. Thus was introduced the notion of forces; action without direct contact.

Newton was derided by his colleagues for apparently returning to the “occult” mysterianism of the premechanistic era. The idea that the universe operated on mechanical principles was so appealing because it meant that the universe could be made intelligible. We can understand the world if it works like a machine, because our intuition takes contact to be a prerequisite for influence.

Yet here was Newton, saying that there were

invisible forces controlling matter; something he himself admitted was absurd. Despite this, it was an absurdity to which he felt committed. The reality of forces would have to be accepted and incorporated into our science, whether they made intuitive sense or not.

The scientific standards of intelligibility had thus been lowered. When we do science now, we no longer seek to understand the world, but to understand theories of the world.

This distinction has been the basis of the science of the last 300 years, an endeavour which has been so successful that scientists today have forgotten that it exists.

What is now referred to as “body” is not something intelligible to our common sense, but a useful theory.

For Science to understand consciousness, a further reduction of the standards of intelligibility may once again be required; once which includes those aspects of the world we call “mental.” Such change is unlikely to give us an intuitively satisfactory account of the mindbody relationship, but as with the science of the last 300 years, it may yield unthinkable promise.

PICTURE: PIXABAY.COM

EMMET FEERICK SCIENCE EDITOR

resulting from novel stimuli, such as when an unexpected tone is heard within a series of similar tones.

Despite this progress, an issue remains. Imagine that at some point in the future, we have discovered the exact signature of consciousness, and have uncovered all of its correlates. Imagine we can look at a live brain scan and say not just “this person is remembering some event,” but “this person is remembering blowing out the candles on the caterpillar cake at their 12th birthday party.” Given enough scientific knowledge, such precision is at present conceivable. Yet the problem is this: Does this get us any closer to understanding what consciousness is? Does linking every state of the brain to a state of the mind tell us what kind of thing the mind is?

SCIENCE MDMA MAY SOON BE USED FOR PTSD TREATMENT MDMA has shown to be a highly promising treatment for PTSD in clinical trials. Gavin Tracey takes a look at its potential use in therapy.

As well as CPT and PE, sufferers of PTSD usually undergo Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). The drugs available to these people only treat the symptoms of the condition, and are similar to drugs used to treat depression in that they increase the quantity of neurotransmitters relating to good mood in the brain.

In recent years, many studies have been published to show that the illegal drug MDMA

NO SMOKE WITHOUT FIRE: THE DANGERS OF VAPING Electronic cigarettes may be helpful in aiding traditional smokers to quit, but research suggests that these devices are far from harmless, Aoife Muckian investigates.

Studies have suggested that e-cigarette smoking, also known as “vaping,” can help tobacco smokers quit smoking and there is evidence that vaping is less harmful than tobacco smoking. Nevertheless, several groups, such as the World Health Organisation, have spoken out against vaping.

E-cigarette smoking may act as a gateway to the more harmful tobacco smoking.

Showing the benefits of vaping, and its usefulness in quitting smoking, a study funded by Cancer Research UK found that the blood of e-cigarette users had lower amounts of tobacco-related carcinogens than their tobacco-smoking counterparts. It also found that when tobacco smokers switched completely from traditional cigarettes to electronic ones, the amount of toxins in their bloodstream also decreased to a level found in people who use nicotine replacements (such as nicotine patches).

Additionally, a study published by the American Association for Cancer Research determined that switching from cigarettes to e-cigarettes may lead to a reduction in the amount of nicotine consumed, and an increase in will to quit smoking. These results indicate that smokers have much to gain by switching to e-cigarettes.

However, worrying results have been found in studies with adolescents who have only ever used e-cigarettes. A study published in the British Medical Journal reported that teenagers who had only ever smoked e-cigarettes were four times as likely to go

on to smoke tobacco cigarettes a year later, compared to teenagers who had never vaped. This suggests that e-cigarettes may act as a gateway to the more harmful tobacco smoking. The study however cautions that there is “no direct evidence that electronic cigarettes normalise cigarette use.”

Not only might they act as a gateway to tobacco smoking, e-cigarettes by themselves may not be as harmless as once thought. A Californian study using self-reported measures has indicated that teenagers who use e-cigarettes are twice as likely to develop a persistent cough, wheeze, or bronchitis than those who have never used these devices. The Surgeon General in their report also warned that e-cigarettes contain nicotine, which is addictive and has adverse effects on cognitive development.

Possibly, more should be done to advertise ecigarettes to smokers as a means for them to quit smoking, as research has shown it is less harmful than tobacco smoking. All the same, when advertising such a message, it may be worth pointing out the adverse effects associated with e-cigarette use, particularly for teenagers.

PICTURE: STATICFLICKR.COM

the highest classification for drugs in both countries; legally-speaking it sits among drugs such as heroin and cocaine. Despite this, companies in the UK have developed the drug for medical trials. In the U.S.A next year, stage three trials will commence. This is the final step in the process, which, if successful, would pave the way for the legalisation of MDMA for medical use.

Stage three is the most difficult stage for new medical treatments to pass, about half of all medical treatments do not make it past stage 3.

While many are hopeful, and the findings from the few studies undertaken so far are positive, the data on

the usefulness of MDMA for psychotherapy is far from conclusive. Ben Checinski, a consultant psychiatrist at St. George’s University, London, has raised issues over the potential bias of MAPS, and believes that “a confounding placebo effect and bias towards reporting positive changes is to be expected.” The empirical evidence is simply not sufficient to call it one way or the other.

In the future, if the results from the small scale tests can be replicated in larger ones, the way PTSD is treated could be forever changed, and the lives of those who suffer from it could once again return to normal.

PICTURE: DATRIO VIA WIKIMEDIA.COM

Sufferers of PTSD endure flashbacks, nightmares, and a sense of shame and guilt.

(methylenedioxymethamphetamine), also known as ecstasy, can have hugely beneficial, and importantly, permanent effects for those suffering from PTSD. Clinical trials that have been tried so far have shown the drug to be hugely beneficial. Most of these trials have been run by the non-profit organisation Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). They stress that MDMA is not a be an end all cure; it is no magic pill, but rather a tool in a long process that allows people suffering from PTSD to begin to recover.

In these trials, patients took the drug, were blindfolded, and had headphones placed over their ears. During the long (up to eight hour) sessions, the therapist guided them through their ‘trip.’ The assessment used by clinicians working with those suffering from PTSD is known as the CAPS scale. It uses a numerical system to measure how the severity of the disorder. A score greater than 60 signifies that the person suffers from severe PTSD. In a trial done by MAPS, one patient’s CAPS score dropped from 160 down to 2, and then reached zero after only three sessions.

Many of those working with MDMA say that it allows the patient to open up in a way that they would normally be unable to without the use of the drug.

However, it is still not known why the drug is so beneficial. What is known is that after taking MDMA, the brain is flooded with neurotransmitters; notably serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and norepinephrine.

These neurotransmitters return to normal levels in the space of a few hours, however. There is no explanation yet as to why MDMA has such long-lasting effects.

There are many roadblocks facing the use of MDMA for treatment. It is still classified as a Class One drug by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in the United States, and as a Class A drug in the UK. This is

IS THE EARTH FLAT? Despite an abundance of evidence to the contrary, thousands of people still believe that the Earth is flat. Christine Coffey explains why this group are wrong, using common sense and centuries-old knowledge.

The UCD Flat Earth Society might disagree, but we’ve had evidence of the curvature of the earth since ancient Greece, and we’ve got Bill Nye the Science Guy, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Aristotle on our side. While few of us will ever get to see our planet from space, centuries of reasoning and evidence mean that we do not need to do this to know that the Earth is not flat.

The ancient Greeks observed that our planet would sometimes cast a shadow on the surface of the moon during what we would know today as a lunar eclipse.

This shadow was always circular in shape, and the only shape that could create such a shadow would be a sphere, not a rectangle or a square. After travelling to Egypt, Aristotle observed that different constellations were visible at different distances from the equator and from this made the correct inference that the Earth was approximately round. He also noted that not much distance was required for these differences to be noticeable, and so assumed the earth wasn’t very big.

Any self-respecting navigator has no choice but to believe in a round planet.

We, like the Greeks, can also use the simple method of watching distant objects sinking under the horizon as we move away from them to understand that the Earth is not flat. The progression of the Age of Exploration brought with it a further understanding of our planet.

Many instruments used widely during this period, such as sextants and the astrolabe, operate on the assumption that the Earth is spherical. Any self-respecting navigator has no choice but to believe in a round planet.

The flat Earth theory does not hold up when tasked

PICTURE: PIXBAY.COM

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder which affects those who have lived through traumatic events, whether it be abuse, sexual assault, war, or another trauma. These devastating events leave those who experienced them with effects that can last long after the event. Sufferers of PTSD endure flashbacks, nightmares, and a sense of shame and guilt.

They also experience panic attacks when faced with situations that remind them of the traumatic event, known as triggers.

Current methods of treatment are Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), and Prolonged Exposure (PE). In CPT, the patient attends regular therapy, and attempts are made to change unhealthy and dysfunctional thought processes. PE involves facing whatever it is that has caused the PTSD, and attempts to desensitise the patient to allow them to live without fear. While both can work, the vast majority of those who undergo treatment find that the treatments do not cure them of PTSD.

with explaining the effects of gravity. The force of attraction due to gravity is towards the centre of the earth, a specific point of reference. On a flat Earth, objects placed further from the middle of the Earth would move towards the middle, as this would be the gravitational centre. This would also be reflected in the growth of plants, which would grow at increasingly obtuse angles the further you planted them from the centre of the planet.

Incidentally, there is a measurable difference in the force due to gravity, for example, in Hudson Bay, Canada when compared to that experienced near the equator. This is because the rotation of the earth on its axis causes a slight bulging at the equator. So, in this limited sense, the flat-Earthers are right - the Earth is not spherical, exactly. Rather, it is what is called an oblate spheroid (a sphere which is flattened at the poles). The flat Earth theory does not accommodate for this difference. At the end of the day, the flat Earth theory falls flat on its face.

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STUDENT VOICES POSTCARDS FROM ABROAD: FRANCE TO IRELAND AND BACK Jumping between France and Ireland, Camille Lombard compares the beautiful lonely streets of Paris to the friendly rainier ones of Dublin.

When I moved to Ireland in 2015, I was terrified, for all the reasons you would expect an 18-year old French girl to be terrified when moving to a new country. I knew no one, had no plans for accommodation, and I had barely a notion what my course in UCD was going to be like. Despite all these fears, I took my suitcase and my shaky English and made my way to Dublin on a rainy August day.

A little more than two years later, I packed that same suitcase, plus two extra, and moved back home. Not out of choice, but simply because my course required me to. I thought the move back home would be easier, because even if I was moving to a new city, Paris, I already spoke the language and knew the culture; this was, after all, the country in which I had grown up. I was excited to discover a new city and a new course.

Little did I know at the time that I would struggle to leave Ireland behind for the same reasons I feared going there in the first place.

Its architecture, its history, everything about it makes it an exceptional city Don’t get me wrong: Paris is fantastic. It is much easier to find decent accommodation here than it ever will be in Dublin. It is cheaper overall, the transport system is not a complete nightmare and, most importantly, you can find decent bread at every street corner.

Its architecture, its history, everything about it makes it an exceptional city. You can walk around for hours, get lost in the streets and always find your way back.

It’s bustling with life and art, full of museums and monuments of all kinds. There are a million reasons why Paris is the perfect city to live in as a student, much better than Dublin in many aspects, and yet, I find myself missing Ireland on a daily basis.

The weather is a little bit dryer, much like the people.

Of course, college has a lot to do with it. In Ireland, after a few weeks of aimlessly roaming around campus, I found my way into societies, where I found friends that would make my years in UCD immensely enjoyable. Here, there are no fun societies: you can either enter the debating club, the law society, or play darts.

That’s about it. If you do want to enter one of these clubs, you have to do an interview, and pay quite a hefty fee. It is clearly a reflection on the type of students who go to law school in Paris: rich, snooty, and who have very much decided not to mingle with the common folks.

Coming straight into third year here means being seen as a foreigner, whether you actually are one or

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not. You rarely get to talk to other third years, who’ve all known each other for a while and seem to live in a different world. This was another sharp contrast from UCD. I am still, to this day, baffled by the speed at which I made friends there. It was never a question of which year you were in or which course you studied.

There are no interviews to enter societies, and the goodie bag is always worth the €2. The vastness of campus life could seem daunting at first, but the constant friendliness of people made up for it. There were a million ways to get involved and make friends. Here, the cliquish attitudes make me want to run for the hills.

It’s all these little things, the everyday changes, which make me miss Dublin so much. I miss my friends, I miss the campus, but I also miss the easiness with which you could meet people with the same interests as you, go for a pint and then, three hours later, be the best friends in the world. I miss being on

And no matter how many times I’ll complain about Dublin Bus, the rain, tourists on Grafton Street, and the price of living, going back to Ireland will always make me happier than any freshly baked baguette.

campus twelve hours a day, because there was always something to do, someone to see. In Paris, the price of a pint is enough to make you wish for a life of soberness, and you never spend more time in the university building than you absolutely have to.

I don’t regret coming to Paris and getting to experience college here; I enjoy my course and intend to graduate next year. Being closer to my parents is also a plus, as I get to go home and see them more. The weather is a little bit dryer, much like the people. But for me, Dublin will always feel like my home, for a thousand reasons. And no matter how many times I’ll complain about Dublin Bus, the rain, tourists on Grafton Street, and the price of living, going back to Ireland will always make me happier than any freshly baked baguette.

GAEILGE FICSEAN GAEILGE Labhair Orla Keaveney le Anna Heussaff i mí na Samhna faoina litríocht agus a saol go dtí seo. idir coir, grá agus ficsean déagóra. Faoi láthair, tá sí ag obair ar a seachtú urscéal.

Átha Cliath, suíomh thar a bheith atmaisféarach. Bíonn a lucht leanúna an-tógtha leis na príomhcharachtair, Aoife Nic Dhiarmada agus Garda Réamonn Seoighe, agus moltar an forbairt a chur Heussaff orthu.

Cé go ndeirtear i gcónaí go bhfuil an teanga ag dul ar mheath, is fianaise é saothar Heussaff go bhfuil margadh ann do litríocht nua-aimseartha as Gaeilge.

Tá moladh aici d’éinne atá ag smaoineamh ar trial a bhaint as scríbhneoireacht inár dteanga dúchasach: “Nuair a thosaigh mise ag scríobh scéalta, níor ghlac mé páirt in aon chúrsa scríbhneoireachta. Ina áit sin, thosaigh mé ag scríobh... agus tar éis tamaill thug mé cúpla caibidil a bhí scríofa agam do dhaoine eile le léamh. D’inis siadsan dom cad a bhí go maith agus cad a bhí le feabhsú, dar leo, agus lean mé orm ag scríobh agus ag athscríobh... agus de réir a chéile d’fhoghlaim I measc a leabhar is ceiliúrtha, is é an sraith de ur- mé conas scéalta a insint. Rud eile a chabhraigh liom i scéal coire a thosaigh le Bás Tobann. Sa chéad cúpla gcónaí ná bheith ag léamh - úrscéalta, gearrscéalta agus leabhar sa sraith, tharla an ghníomhaíocht go léir i leabhair eile i nGaeilge agus i mBéarla. Más mian leat mBéarra, baile cois farraige i gContae Chorcaí. Áfach, scríobh, bí ag léamh agus ag scríobh, má’s ea!” dá húrscéal is úrnua, Scáil an Phríosúin, bhog Heussaff Gluais: taighdeoir- researcher coir- crime a carachtair go Príosún Chill Mhaighneann i mBaile

Cé go ndeirtear i gcónaí go bhfuil an teanga ag dul ar mheath, is fianaise é saothar Heussaff go bhfuil margadh ann do litríocht nuaaimseartha as Gaeilge

PICTURE: ORLA KEAVENEY

I mí na Samhna an bhliain seo chaite, tháinig scríbhneoir agus Gaeilgeoir Anna Heussaff go Coláiste Ollscoile Baile Átha Cliath mar aoi speisialta an gClub Leabhar, imeacht eagraithe ag Bord na Gaeilge. Ba é an leabhar á phlé ann ná Scáil an Phríosúin, urscéal coire atá scríofa go hiomlán as Gaeilge. Tar éis na himeachta, shuigh Heussaff síos le iriseoir an University Observer, Orla Keaveney, chun solas a chur ar a cúlra, a tionchar agus a saothar.

Tógadh Heussaff i mBaile Átha Cliath, le máthair ó Dhún na nGall agus athair ón Fhrainc. Labhraíodh Gaeilge sa bhaile, agus d’fhan grá don teanga inti le linn a saoil. Rinne sí staideár ar Ghaeilge in anseo in COBÁC, ag tuilleadh céim mháistir san ábhair. Ansin, d’oibrigh Heussaff le RTÉ mar taighdeoir, léiritheoir agus stiurthóir ar feadh beagnach fiche bliain.

Tar éis tamaill, thug sí faoi deara go raibh easpa urscéalta as Gaeilge ar fáil, go speisialta do dhaoine a bhí ag lorg scéal siamsúil. D’fhág sí RTÉ chun a aird a dhíriú go hiomlán ar a scríbhneoireacht chruthaitheach.

Thar an sé bhliain seo chaite, scaoil Heussaff sé leabhair as Gaeilge, a bhaineann le réim leathan seánraí

LÉIRMHEAS: SCÚP Dar le Orla Keaveney go mb’fhéidir gurb é Scúp an clár is greannmhaire a bhfuil feicthe aici le tamall anuas.

Go ró-mhinic, ceaptar go bhfuil drámaíocht as Gaeilge dairíre agus trom, tuairim atá bunaithe ar Cáca Milis, An Triail agus na samplaí atá ar siollabas na hArdteiste Leanann Scúp na himeachtaí ag “An Nuacht”, nuachtán beag lán-Ghaeilge i mBéal Feirste. Nuair a faigheann an eagarthóir bás go tobann, ní mór do Rob

Cullan, iriseoir ón cheantar atá tar éis a phost mór i Londain a chailleadh, teach abhaile chun “An Nuacht” a shábháil. Ar dtús, bíonn an nuachtán ag streachailt le airgead, ach tosaíonn Rob agus a foireann ag tuairisciú scéalta spreagúil chun luach “An Nuacht” a ardú sa chathair.

Is sraith láidir é mar thoradh cúpla gné. Ar dtús, bíonn na snáithe scéil i gcónaí suimiúla: pléitear réim leathan ábhair, ar nós ciníochas, coir agus ról na meáin.

Ina theannta sin, tá gach carachtar dathannach agus dea-scríofa, agus is easca a bheith infheistithe ina scéalta. Tá an méid sin fíor, go háirithe i gcás Alix, ball amháin den fhoireann ag “An Nuacht”. Cé go bhfuil a snáithe scéil rómánsach saghas intuartha, is banlaoch maith í taobh amach den méid sin. Léirítear gur iriseoir dícheallach agus oilte í, agus níl eagla ar bith uirthi seasamh suas di féin nó a thuairimí féin a labhairt.

Ach is é an tréith is siamsúil atá ag Scúp ná an greann atá le feiceáil i ngach eagrán. Go ró-mhinic, ceaptar go bhfuil drámaíocht as Gaeilge dairíre agus trom, tuairim atá bunaithe ar Cáca Milis, An Triail agus na samplaí atá ar siollabas na hArdteiste. I gcodarsnacht, bíonn spraoi ag Scúp leis an teanga, agus tá sé níos siamsúil mar thoradh. Sa chéad eagrán, scríobhtar “CAC” ar

taobh an veain oifigiúil a thiománann Rob, agus ní mór – is minic a imíonn clár ón seinnteoir seo gan rabhadh. dó dul timpeall na cathrach leis ar feadh an sraith. Ní Agus má tá dearthair nó deirfiúr agat ag ullmhú don fheicfear rud ar bith de na leithéidse i bhfilíocht Caitlín Cluastuiscint san Ardteist, seol nasc chuige: éiríonn Maude! canúint Béal Feirste i bhfad níos easca a thuiscint tar Má tá suim agat Scúp a fheiceáil duit féin, tá dhá sé- éis éisteacht leis ar feadh cúpla eagrán! asúir iomlán, le fotheideal as Béarla, ar fáil saor in aisce Gluais: ag streachailt- struggling intuartha-predictaón Seinnteoir TG4, sa roinn “Boxsets”. Ach bígí tapa ble gan rabhadh-without warning

PICTURE: WIKIMEDIA.ORG

Is dócha nár chuala tú riamh faoi Scúp, clár as Ghaeilge a craoltar ar TG4 ó am go ham. B’fhéidir, ceapfá ón tideal go mbaineann sé le uachtar reoite nó rud éigean de na leithéidse! Ach i ndairíre, tá sé i measc na geandrámaíocht iriseoireachta is fearr ar an dteilifís, i dteanga ar bith.

UCD MAR OLLSCOIL IDIRNÁISIÚNTA: PLEAN MHAITH? Tá sé mar aidhm ag UCD a bheith aithnte thart ar a domhan ar fad mar “Ollscoil Domhanda”, ach níl Niamh O Regan ró-chinnte gur smaoineamh maith é.

Tá mórán iarracht á dhéanamh le cinntiú go mbeidh UCD mar cheann de na Ollscoil is domhanda ar domhan, nó ar a laghad, ceann doíbh. Tá sé mar pháirt de ráitis de chuid UCD “UCD a Global University”. I 2016 bhunaigh UCD an “Global Engagement Srategy, 2016-2020”, le cúig príomh aidhm leagtha amach ann: 1.Cultúr domhanda a fhorbairt a mbeidh baint aige le gach aon cuid de saol na hollscoile 2.Leathnú agus fhorbairt a dhéanamh ar caidrimh straitéiseach chun feabhas a chur le gnóthaí domhanda.

3.Cáil domhanda i bhfoirfeacht oideachas, taighde, nuálaíocht agus tionchar UCD, a saothrú 4.Méadú a dhéanamh ar tionchar ár scoláireachta agus ár nuálaíocht 5.Timpeallacht a chruthú a cabhróidh le gníomhaíochtaí idirnáisiúnta UCD Ón a leagadh bun smaoineamh an phlean sin amach tá ceithre príomh ionad bunaithe ag UCD timpeall an domhan ó thaobh earcaíocht de; Beijing, Kuala Lumpar, Nua Eabhrac agus Delhi. Is iontach an go bhfuil fonn ar an ollscoil na daltaí ab fhearr timpeall an domhan uile a earcú, ach an bhfuil an iomarca béime ar earcaíocht domhanda, agus gan béim ar aire a thabhairt nuair a thagann an domhan?

Is croílár na hollscoile iad a ndaltaí, agus do ollscoil

domhanda, na daltaí idirnáisiúnta ach go háirithe. Tá thart ar 7,789 dalta idirnáisiúnta i UCD bliain in aghaidh bliana agus níl ach comhairleoir daltaí amháin ann le déileáil lena gceisteanna agus lena bhfiosrúchán ar fad. An cuma ón tSín nó na Stát Aontaithe nó an Aifric Theas gur asat; comh fada agus nach as an Aontas Eorpach tú, is chucu sin go dtéann tú. Is tábhachtach go mbeadh comhairleoir ann gan dabht, agus bíonn roinnt de na ceisteanna céanna ag gach aon dalta idirnáisiúnta ó thaobh víosa agus coinní GNIB. É sin ráite tá daonraí móra éagsúil ón tSín, ón India, ó na Stát Aontaithe, ón Aráib Shádach agus ón Mhalaeisia. Cé gurb í UCD an ollscoil is idirnáisiúnta sa tír, níl ionadaíocht ar Aontas na Macléinn i bhfoirm Oifigeach Shabóideach, agus ní ró-ait go gceapfá go mbeadh duine ar leith ann. De réir shuíomh UCD Global, bíonn a ndóthain de thacaíochta ag daltaí idirnáisiúnta idir an tolglann domhanda, comhairleoirí béal mhúinte (idir daltaí agus baill foirne) agus an Cumann um Daltaí Idirnáisiúnta. An t-aon rud ná go bhfuil na rudaí seo ar fad, don chuid is mó, bainteach le daltaí idirnáisiúnta eile, agus bheifeá ag ceapadh gur chuid lárnach de ollscoil domhanda ná go mbeadh caidreamh agus idirghníomhaíocht idir daltaí baile agus daltaí idirnáisiúnta. Don chuid is mó de dhaltaí lán aimsire na hollscoileanna áfach, is chorr

dhuine go mbeadh aithne acu orthu a mbeadh mar dhalta idirnáisiúnta (rud atá beagáinín beag ait nuair is daltaí idirnáisiúnta iad thart ar 27% de phobal an príomh champas). Do dhaltaí atá ag freastal ar UCD ar feadh seimeastar amháin nó bliain amháin agus má bhíonn a le daltaí idirnáisiúnta eile, an bhfuil an nasc á láidriú ag UCD le ollscoileanna eile, nó an bhfuil Baile Átha Cliath mar áit ag láidriú an nasc le cathracha eile?

Is cinnte gur infheistíocht agus ranníocaíocht ríthábhachtach iad na táillí idirnáisiúnta, ach bheithfeá ag súil nach é an airgid amháin go gcuirtear an luach ar.

Rud amháin atá faoi daltaí idirnáisiúnta ná an chostas; is áit fíor chostasach é UCD, nuair a feictear ó dhearcadh an dalta idirnáisiúnta. Má’s dalta idirnáisiúnta tú, agus fonn ort leigheas a dhéanamh mar

fochéimí, dóibh siúd a thosaigh i mbliana beidh costas €51,000 orthu ar feadh sé bhliain, don mhúinteoireacht amháin. Is cinnte gur infheistíocht agus ranníocaíocht ríthábhachtach iad na táillí idirnáisiúnta, ach bheithfeá ag súil nach é an airgid amháin go gcuirtear an luach ar.

Bíonn Uachtarán UCD ar dturasanna thar lear chun an ollscoil a chur chun cinn, agus na naisc idirnáisiúnta a láidriú, ach nach bhfuil sé tábhachtach go bhfuil an tacaíocht atá i gcampas ilchultúrtha UCD, láidir comh maith? Tá sé tábhachtach go mbeadh cáil domhanda ar ollscoil ar leith; as an ainm agus aitheantas na hollscoile a chur chun chinn timpeall an domhain. Ní féidir go mbeifeá ag súil áfach go mbeadh cáil domhanda ar ollscoil, agus ag leanúint uirthi ag mealladh tallann agus cistiú idirnáisiúnta mura bhfuil a ndóthain tacaíochta ann nuair a thagann an lucht idirnáisiúnta. Is é an tacaíocht mar chuid den chúigiú aidhm sa phlean, ach toisc go bhfuil an tacaíocht an cuid is tábhachtaí, b’fhéidir, is ionadh nach bhfuil sé níos cóngaraí de bharr an liosta.

Gluais: Domhanda- global nuálaíocht- innovation earcaíocht-recruitment nasc- link ranníocaíochtcontribution(financial) aitheantas- recognition

30TH JANUARY 2018 15

BUSINESS GLASS CEILINGS, THE RAT RACE, AND EDUCATION: PROBLEMS FACING IRISH WORKING WOMEN

Seán Mooney and Lána Salmon explore the gender pay gap, discover interesting findings, and note that not all may be as black and white for businesses as we believe.

Seán Mooney :

A factoid is an item of unreliable information that is reported and repeated so often that it becomes accepted as fact. To say that there is a 14% gender pay gap in Ireland is a fact, whereas to say that women are underpaid by 14% due to gender inequality is a factoid.

Most of the pay gap can be explained on the basis that men and women gravitate towards different jobs.

In 2016, women in Britain were paid 28.6% less than their male counterparts, but this narrowed to just 0.8% when a like-for-like comparison of jobs with the same level, company, and function was made. The gender pay gap is therefore driven mainly by the fact that on average men hold higher-paying jobs than women. The debate then centres around the factors which lead men to hold higher-paying positions.

Most of the pay gap can be explained on the basis that men and women gravitate towards different jobs.

The first aspect is that men occupy most high-risk positions as men are generally less risk-averse. The U.S.A workplace death gap highlights this: In 2015, 93% of all workplace deaths befell men. It need not only be a risk of physical death. One reason there are more male than female entrepreneurs is the associated risks, and entrepreneurship is a potentially lucrative venture.

The second factor behind the pay gap is that many of the highest positions are held by men. Rising to the top of a company requires many sacrifices. Such an endeavour favours those willing to work 80+ hours a week at the expense of their social lives for decades.

Those who do not participate in the capitalist rat race are left behind. Anyone who leaves the workforce for an extended period suffers this fate and most often, these are women who opt to have families. Tangentially, unmarried women are paid more than married women on average.

This is not to say that the workplace is devoid of

systemic gender discrimination, especially when we widen our perspective to beyond the borders of countries such as Ireland where liberal values are upheld. Equality is absolutely something we must strive for, but the problem is multifaceted.

Attempts to establish equality of outcome directly oppose a meritocracy. Instead, we need equality of opportunity, where everyone can freely choose a career, irrespective of gender. Education is the first step and the fact that more Irish women hold thirdlevel qualifications than men as of 2016 is a mark of progress. However, societal expectations can still discourage women from entering lucrative fields that are dominated by men, and that may prove to be the biggest hurdle yet.

Lána Salmon:

The gender pay gap in Ireland currently stands at 13.9%, meaning that on average, women in Ireland work for approximately one month without pay compared to males. Ibec has recently suggested two solutions to tackle this inequality. They first suggest public salary reporting, which, much like the implementation of quotas, forces companies and their HR departments to change their day-to-day operations rather than creating change from within. This public pressuring of companies ignores the underlying societal causes of the gender pay gap.

I first encountered the limits that society’s gender roles place on women’s careers when I was considering applying for a PhD. I had to acknowledge how my career would be affected in the future if I choose to have a family. These kinds of limits lead to the glass

ceiling, which is caused by, amongst other things, unequally shared domestic roles amongst males and females. Gender roles cause women to take career breaks and shorten their hours in work, ultimately leading to females being overlooked for promotion and pay rises, as their loyalties must lie both at home and in their occupation

The roots of the gender pay gap begin at second level where there is a significant gender gap in STEM subjects.

The ill-effects of the gender pay gap on businesses and employees are numerous. The financial effects on women are evident, but undervaluing women in the workplace leads to women undervaluing themselves and their abilities. This suppressed confidence is one of the other causes of the glass ceiling, but women in Ireland are looking above this barrier with support from the numerous women in business organisations and support groups. Another ill-effect of the glass ceiling is that boardrooms lack diversity and place themselves at a great disadvantage. By diversifying the workforce you are empowering a company and its employees.

The second recommendation put forward by Ibec addresses the role that society plays in marginalising women in the workplace. They recommend tackling gender stereotypes in schools, through teacher training and updating the curriculum. The roots of the gender pay gap begin at second level where there is a significant gender gap in STEM subjects, leading to more marginalisation at third level and in the workplace in sectors like IT and engineering. Ibec’s suggested approach could have a huge impact.

Younger generations are embracing equality and rejecting gender stereotypes, leading to a 1.4% wage gap between men and women in their 30’s. This societal approach clearly works, and should be encouraged.

PICTURE: WIKIMEDIA.COM

OUR NATION MUST USE OUR SURROUNDINGS With oil and gas affecting global warming and in limited supply, Priscillia Obilana looks at Ireland’s untapped resources namely water and how they could be used to power this island nation.

The world is beginning to recognise and understand the magnitude of the threat posed by the overuse of carbon-based resources. Initiatives like the 2015 Paris Agreement demonstrate the commitment of the vast majority of the world to preventing global temperatures from rising and furthermore towards the betterment of the energy sources currently being utilised. A primary step being taken towards this goal is switching to renewable energy sources. Herein lies an opportunity for Ireland, surrounded by bodies of water, containing more than a hundred rivers, and over 12,000 lakes.

Ireland’s overflow of water allows it to tap into the outpour of resources submerging its surroundings and heavily invest in hydroelectricity. The shift towards safer, eco-friendly resources due to the Paris Agreement is inevitable in practically every country, meaning an investment into the industry is worth considering. In this new world it is a cause for concern to see Ireland with so much renewable potential to simply partake passively.

16 VOLUME XXIV, ISSUE 5

Developing this form of energy would be beneficial on many counts, the positive eco-related results hydroelectricity could provide as a clean fuel resource would result in reductions in the pollution of the atmosphere.

It is renewable and reliable, unlike oil and gas which are finite and becoming more expensive commodities.

The reliability of hydro power makes it more af-

The reliability of hydro power makes it more affordable as prices would not fluctuate like those of non-renewable resources. fordable as prices would not fluctuate like those of non-renewable resources. Hydro-electric plants can also carry out other functions, like that of flood control or irrigation. In addition, there is also the benefit of leading the way in an eco-friendlier world. By being proactive and eager to make drastic changes quickly, taking far-reaching steps in the hydro industry would be beneficial for the Irish government. They have been heavily criticised for dragging their feet in regards to the Agreement, signing the much contested European proposed regulation, Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR), which experts have said is a way to reduce the agreement of reducing carbon emissions by 2030.

It would not be the first time Ireland took a risk and

led the way with hydroelectricity. In 1929, the first hydro plant in Ireland was built on the River Shannon at Ardnacrusha and due to its supply of 85 megawatts, it was the biggest scheme of its kind for the time. It is still one of the biggest dammed power stations in Ireland, now joined by only two others.

Hydro generators provided only 3% of Ireland’s electricity in 2016, while in the same year, it was reported that Ireland was dependent on 85% of energy in the form of imports which cost €5.7 billion annually.

Hydroelectricity would serve as a path for Ireland to gain energy independence. Furthermore, energy can be generated from hydropower through various means.

As there are many forms of hydroelectricity such as micro-hydroelectric power, pumped storage plants, and wave generators Irish companies can begin to invest in and reap the benefits within a few years.

However, developments in hydro power are being made. The latest development in hydroelectricity is a deal which was signed in the summer of 2017 to build a zero emission, pumped storage power station in Tipperary. A project that was first started in January of 2016 by Minister for Environment, Community, and Local Government Alan Kelly, is due to start construction in two years. The project is backed by PowerChina, suggesting that maybe employing foreign direct investment is the way to go in building hydro plants. The plant will be the second of its kind following the station in Turlough Hill in Wicklow, which was commissioned in 1974. It took 42 years for another plant to be built, for the sake of our planet it cannot take another 42 years for another.

Due to the Paris Agreement, the change from

carbon-based to renewable energy must be made anyway, Ireland should take steps towards not only reaching its agreement but also to surpass it and to be a significant actor in an emerging industry. While statistics show that Ireland is leaning towards wind power to reach its 2020 and 2030 goals, perhaps a better energy source to invest in is hydro power, a form of power which is significantly less publicly contested than wind.

A large criticism for hydro power however is that it is the world’s number one renewable energy source. This and global climate change cause professionals to say hydro power is not steady enough to invest in for the long term. Water will be greatly impacted by climate change and so if energy depends on water, then it too will be impacted. This hypothesis mainly concerns countries forecasted to be affected by droughts, which Ireland is thankfully not. All things considered, developing the industry now, utilising this clean fuel when it is so greatly needed would be in our country’s, and the world’s, best interest.

PUZZLES THE LITERARY ALPACA Across

Down

6. Accidental invention by Thomas Sullivan in 1908 (7) 8. Location of the Sea of Tranquillity (5) 9. Benedictine Monk who was a quality pioneer for Champagne (12) 11. UCD staff member and leader of team fundamental in helping to diagnose BSE (11) 12. Theoretical physicist known for their work in the theory of quantum electrodynamics (8)

1. Porcelain considered to be the finest of all Ming porcelain output (7) 2. Word that precedes vest, beans, and quartet (7) 3. Study of plants of the genus rubus (9) 4. An irrational aversion to being happy (12) 5. Collective noun, referring to a type of bird, which has 14 vertebrae (11) 7. Largest exporter of butter in the world in the 18th century (5) 10. Three piece Icelandic-British band, originally formed as part of an art project (10)

For puzzle solutions, go to universityobserver.ie/puzzles/

ILLUSTRATION BY DANIELLE CROWLEY

SUDOKU Easy

Medium

Hard

30TH JANUARY 2018 17

EDITORIAL EDITORIAL We have entered 2018, and semester two, with exam results now revealed for most. Congratulations to all, and if you failed a module or two, or didn’t manage to get your assignments in on time you should be proud that you got through the extremely stressful exam season and lived to tell the tale. Also, know that you are not alone. UCD does not boast about the number of people failing their modules, for some reason. Our front page article highlights just how common it is to fail a module at this university and how it occurs more in some subject areas than others. The SU has published a post-exam guide that you can check out on their Facebook page.

Repeats are a frustratingly costly affair and UCD has the highest repeat fees of any Irish university, with currently no cap on fees. It is currently free to resit an exam in Trinity but the university is proposing introducing fees. UCC charges €35 per repeat with a cap of €245. This means that to repeat two exams in UCD would cost more than repeating all your modules in UCC (provided you managed to do this without doing an extra year of college). Resits in UL cost €171 per module.

THE The possibility of repeat fees can be a cloud over some students’ heads where others have the privilege of not having to think about it. Those who are working long hours to get themselves through college or are studying courses with high fail rates are more likely to have to resit an exam.

Failing an exam can mean that you have to repeat that entire module the following year or semester on top of the modules for that semester. This can put undue pressure on students and lower their overall results for that year. If outside pressures are affecting those students’ grades, these may only continue to interfere with their grades as they attempt to do more modules than is usually required in a year. The student may then have to repeat even more modules the following year, or semester, which could force them to take a year out.

Some students end up being unable to graduate with their class as they have to repeat more modules.

The cost of each €230 exam resit adds up and extra years of study are not covered by so-called ‘free fees.’

Furthermore, if the module that was failed is not a core module, the student can take on a different module of

the same stage and credits. This would be most common in Arts as Arts courses offer the most possibilities for this. However, this costs a lot more than a simple repeat. According to the UCD website, taking a substitute module starts at €468.84 for students of Arts, Social Science, Law, and Business. The cost is higher for students of Engineering, Architecture, Science, and Agricultural and Food Science, higher again for students of Health Sciences, and highest for students of Veterinary Medicine at a maximum of €812.50 per module. Some courses have so few optional modules that students would not have this option.

While the emotional cost of repeats is difficult for the university to adjust, the university can make resit fees cheaper so that a student only has to consider if they would be able to pass a module the second time and not if they can afford it. It is not fair to have students who are working extra jobs and doing longer courses (which already cost more) supplying the university with three-quarters of a million euro in resit fees while it could not seem to muster up enough money to build its own running track.

UNIVERSITY OBSERVER TEAM EDITOR Aoife Hardesty DEPUTY EDITOR Ruth Murphy NEWS EDITOR Brían Donnelly DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR Fiachra Johnston COMMENT EDITOR Adam Lawler FEATURES EDITOR Gavin Tracey SCIENCE EDITOR Emmet Feerick BUSINESS & CAREERS EDITOR Ciarán Busby EAGARTHÓIR GAEILGE Niamh O’Regan

TALLEYRAND Howdy there pathetic student scum!

There’s a rodeo coming to town, a big, giant, large, rodeo. That’s right boys and girls, your Students’ Union have hit an all time low of patheticness, and are bringing a giant rodeo penis to UCD for your entertainment.

Really I think it will be more for their entertainment to watch people try to stay on a bucking dick. Judging the amount of times that dildos are thrown around their corridor, there is most certainly a cock fondness amongst are dong-ed sabbatical officers. This giant backwards vagina does seem like overcompensating.

Some people are very excited about the arrival of penis on campus, for some it will be their only chance to get up and personal with one, however some students, at RCSI, are less pleased. Maybe they’re really just complaining because they wish someone would bring a giant bucking shaft to their campus. Chances are slim, I think Mac Doughnaaailllll is going to hide it in his office after SHAG week for some midnight fun.

Others in the SU corridor are also having midnight

SPORTS EDITOR Ian Moore fun; Talley would like to extend his congratulations to Niall Tourist who seems to have found true love.

Still on a quest for true love, is Robert Slimey Swiney Willy. He wanders the UCD campus, hiding from his emails, muttering endlessly about resit and repeat fees, and running scared every time he sees a University Observer journalist.

Leading this sinking ship of a union is Barry-Ilike-lambs-look-at-me-I’m-from-a-farm-Murphy. The sneaky usurper of the president might want to watch his back, a tell-all book might just be heading our way. The working title: Katie Ascough and the Giant Impeachment.

Ms Impeached’s career since she left the Students’ Union appears to have almost reached climax, with appearances on radio with Irish Royalty: Pat Kenny, and Marion Finucane, winning the (possibly prestigious) Westminster Award from a pro-life group. Writing a book could pave her path to becoming a science journalist, but Talley would like a bit more clarity on her views regarding evolution and the big bang theory

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters, corrections and clarifications pertaining to articles published in this newspaper and online are welcome and encouraged.

Letters should be addressed to: The Editor, Unversity Observer, UCD Student Centre, Belfield, Dublin 4

Correspondence may also be sent to editor@universityobserver.ie

18 VOLUME XXIV, ISSUE 5

before believing any science articles she may write…

As UCD enters its second semester of the year, the SU will be turning their attention to the upcoming elections. Will they be before or after the two week break?

Who knows! Talley certainly doesn’t.

The SU elections are always an entertaining time of the year, where candidates for these politician-training positions appear out of the woodwork claiming to do good deeds, and vehemently denying any and all political affiliations. The elections also offer a chance for the SU to hide the pitiful amount of work they’ve been doing all year and pretend they’ve done buckets for the betterment of their fellow students.

At least this year, the SU can truthfully claim to have done that, by removing a particularly manipulative president.

If Ascough had remained president, Talley wonders if she would have been accepting of the giant, mechanical, mobile, fleshy banana.

Yeehaw!

DEPUTY SPORTS EDITOR Christine Coffey CHIEF OF PHOTOGRAPHY Phoebe Ireland CHIEF OF ILLUSTRATIONS Meadhbh Sheridan STAFF WRITERS Priscilla Obilana Orla Keaveney BROADSHEET CONTRIBUTORS Clare Appezzato Sam Limby Dean Swift Katia Gillen Priscilla Obilana Naëlle Belarbi Andrew Everett Katie Breen Owen Cuskelly Michael O’Dwyer Connolly Nathan Young Katie O’Dea Aileen McGrath Seán Mooney Roseanna Shanahan Camille Lombard Lána Salmon David Kent SPECIAL THANKS Martin Healy Christine Coffey David Kent Leia Join up the write for THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVER at www.universityobserver.ie/ jointheteam

SPORT ENGLAND’S WORLD CUP WOES

PICTURE: ALIENM2011 VIA WIKIMEDIA.ORG

With a World Cup Year now in progress, Premier League pundits and fans are questioning whether the competition is worth it ahead of the summer festivities. David Kent investigates.

Every four years, we hear the same discussions when it comes to the preparations for a World Cup. ‘Where will our team be based?’ or ‘What players could force a transfer to get more playing time?’

With the majority of the top European football leagues enforcing their annual winter break, Premier League supporters once again find themselves debating with friends, colleagues, and fellow fans about whether the ‘’Best League in the World’’ should follow the likes of Spain’s La Liga, the Italian Serie A and Ligue 1 in France in allowing their players to rest over the festive period.

The majority of this argument takes place between supporters of England. In yet another attempt to gloss over its country’s catastrophe at a World Cup the finger is being pointed at how English players are forced to often play three matches in the week running from Christmas to New Year’s. During the German Bundesliga’s winter break last season, Premier League clubs had nine games. You can see where the fans that call for a pause in the season are coming from.

In the last World Cup in Brazil, almost 15% of players that took part were based at Premier League clubs.

England topped the list with 22 of their 23 man squad, Belgium came second with 12, while France had eight.

Eventual champions Germany had just four players in their squad that played in the Premier League. Yet, you do not here the Belgian manager, or the French fan base use the Premier League calendar as an excuse.

There is no solution which would please all parties, but the most ignorant and incorrect solution would be to have the competition end earlier. Currently, 380 matches are squeezed into nine months and two days, culminating in May. If the clubs agreed to end the league a month earlier, they’d have to play on average a game more per week to fit the whole season in. At that point, you would have to imagine international managers would start to complain.

Almost 36% of Premier League players are English.

It trumps every other nationality by a mile (Spain are next with a measly 6%) yet there are still world class international players plying their trade in England. The problem does not lie with the Premier League calendar.

In reality, it is the FA’s failure to adequately develop and nurture young talent which leads to England’s repeated failures at major tournaments.

THE BADGER

CAMPUS ROUND-UP: STUDENTS ON THEIR BIKES UCD teams are succeeding in rugby, basketball, football, and hurling, Christine Coffey recalls, while Sci Soc cycles to Galway.

It’s a new year! A time of hope and prosper for everyone. A World Cup year no less! A World Cup which Irish fans can look forward to (once again) from the comfort of their armchairs. We didn’t make it. Again.

Far be it for the Badger to tell an international manager how to do his job, but the actions and soundbites from Martin O’Neill over the winter hibernation period have been downright pathetic. The Badger imagines it is quite rare in any workplace for an important employee in that workplace to keep the workplace in the dark as to whether they’ll sign a new contract, while they openly apply for every other job around them. It wouldn’t work in Microsoft, and so it shouldn’t work here.

The FAI foolishly offered Mr O’Neill a new twoyear deal BEFORE the World Cup playoffs against Denmark. Those of you who have successfully managed to freeze what happened then out of their brains, congratulations. It still haunts the Badger every waking day.

Content with not embarrassing the nation enough with that performance, O’Neill held off on signing that new deal which had been offered for four months. In the meantime, there were plenty of managerial vacancies on offer to him as well, most notably Stoke. The Badger wished many times that O’Neill would indeed leave, but alas, he has decided to stay until at least the European Championships in 2020. Which are of course, the easiest European Championships to qualify for in the history of time. Should he fail to bring Ireland to the Euros in two years, it will be the worst thing to happen to Irish football since John Giles retired.

Now we have this fresh and exciting UEFA Nations League to look forward to! Where Ireland will have to play none other than the two most recent teams that

they have played, Denmark and Wales. Hooray. The Badger cannot wait for the inevitable 0-0 draws at a half empty Aviva Stadium and 3-1 defeats in Cardiff and Copenhagen.

Following the magnificent draw for that Nations League, all-round-nice-guy Tony O’Donoghue was doing his job as a reporter and an interviewer by asking O’Neill general questions about the draw. Instead of giving the public answers to these questions, the manager decided to deflect, waffle, and ignore them as he pleased. He spent almost half of the interview picking at O’Donoghue for a supposed jibe the broadcaster made (which doesn’t actually exist apart from in Mr O’Neill’s head) in a previous interview.

True, the Badger can have sensitive moments himself from time to time, but to show that level of paranoia and arrogance, having had multiple moments of humiliation, really trumps the Badger. The relationship between the Irish sporting media and the Irish international manager is at an all-time low. Which is madness, when you consider the Saipan incident, Steve Staunton’s disastrous reign, Brian Kerr and Jack Charlton’s demeanours and the whole thing that was Giovanni Trapattoni’s time as manager.

The first chance that O’Neill will get to silence his doubters is when the Euro 2020 qualifiers take place in the spring of 2019. While the Nations League will kick off before then, at the end of the day, they are glorified friendly matches. If O’Neill’s attitude is this childish and prickly now, the Badger can only dread what he will be like the next time Ireland fail to win a game.

Some parting advice to the boss: if there’s already a smoking hole in your foot, it would be wise to put the gun down. Two more years!

UCD Sci Soc went on a trip without their favourite rocket ship. The annual ‘sci-cle’ from Dublin to Galway in aid of Crumlin’s Children Hospital took place last weekend to raise funds for the charity. The group of over 100 students assembled at 6am outside the Health Sciences building before departing on a 200 km journey across the midlands that concluded with bucket collections in the streets of Galway. All participants had to raise €200 before the race and at least €450 was contributed by each person. Congratulations to all who participated and made this event possible!

UCD women’s Rugby team recorded a great win against local rivals Trinity in the league, beating them 52-0, a result that bodes well for the upcoming colours game. The Junior team overcame Sligo IT in a comprehensive fashion to maintain their unbeaten start to the season and the first years went undefeated in the inaugural IRFU Freshers Festival. Next up is a double-header at home against Athlone IT and DCU on the 7th of February for the seniors and juniors respectively, important fixtures at the start of a busy schedule of league games for both sides.

UCD Marian Basketball won the Pat Duffy National Cup semi-final and now face Black Amber Templeogue, whom they recently beat, in the final. UCD narrowly avoided defeat against Maree, in what would have been a major upset had the result gone the other way. Thanks to a 25-point game from man of the match Conor Meany they maintained top spot in the Super League and can turn their focus to the final in the National Basketball Arena on the 27th of January.

John Divilly and the Senior Footballers started the new year with a win in the Sigerson Cup against a strong Maynooth side. Tipperary Seniors Jimmy Feehan, Liam Casey, Charlie Manton, and Colm O’Shaughnessy were on hand to help the side to a 2-15 to 1-06 victory in Maynooth’s home ground and take another step towards defending their title. Laois corner forward Eoin Lowry was in clinical form on the day and the Dublin side could afford to rest Young Footballer of the Year Con O’Callaghan. They now have a home quarter final to look forward to on the 6th of Feburary. The Hurlers also recorded a win in round two of their Fitzgibbon Cup group away to UCC with a final score of 1-15 to 0-13.

An anonymous donor has agreed to donate €3 million to fully cover the cost of building a running track on the UCD campus. The running track in UCD was shut down in 2011 and is currently used as a car park.

The new running track will not be built on the site of the original running track, but will instead be built in the Sports Centre area of the university campus.

In a statement, President Andrew Deeks welcomed the donation. “The lack of an athletics track on the campus has put additional pressure on our athletes, some of whom have had to commute daily between campus and off-campus facilities for their training sessions.”

“We are grateful to these athletes and to the wider university community for their patience. The University always aspired to have a world-class athletics track as part of the university’s overall sporting facilities, but lacked the funding to deliver on this aspiration. We are extremely grateful to the anonymous philanthropist who stepped into the breach.”

It may be some time before work commences on the running track, and in the meantime, UCD athletes will continue to train on tracks located off campus.

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SPORT STOPPING THE SWEET CHARIOT CELEBRATIONS With Irish rugby stars performing well at the moment, Christine Coffey, analyses which players might attempt to steal the glory from England.

It’s shaping up to be a scintillating few weeks of rugby after the November international series, even if it is going to be broadcast on an entirely unfamiliar TV3.

England will again be tipped as favourites going into this year’s championship, but Ireland stands a reasonable chance against an Eddie Jones’ side that failed to impress over the November series and appeared uncharacteristically human against Australia. Another team pipping England for the title is not unthinkable, and certainly more likely to occur than last year.

Luke McGrath might have overtaken Marmion as Conor Murray’s understudy, given the high standard of the UCD man’s recent performances for his province.

Joe Schmidt commented on the official IRFU website that it was “great to see some competitive depth in certain positions” and there are many UCD players directly involved in this competition and putting their hands up to feature prominently in this year’s campaign.

Picking the Irish backrow, given the current level of competition, is not a managerial headache you would wish upon anyone, but one that Joe Schmidt and his

backroom team will view as a good problem to have.

With Sean O’Brien being unavailable for selection due to injury, UCD’s Josh van der Flier is expected to join Munster’s Peter O’Mahony and CJ Stander in the backrow.

Other UCD forwards Dan Leavy, James Ryan, and Andrew Porter will be looking to make significant impacts when called upon, with an eye on Japan next year, and accumulating invaluable competitive test rugby minutes to be in contention for a place on the plane. Rob Kearney will add much-needed experience to the crop of youthful back three options and Luke McGrath might have overtaken Marmion as Conor Murray’s understudy, given the high standard of the UCD man’s recent performances for his province. His growing partnership with out-half Johnny Sexton and his defensive leadership and work-ethic, with particular reference to the impressive set of three tackles in a row against Cardiff, cannot be overlooked. If this Irish side are still in the running for the championship come Paddy’s Day, expect the UCD boys to have been heavily involved in getting them there.

Jacques Brunel will be hoping his youthful French side can muster up some French flair, with 17 of the 32-man squad under the age of 25. He has named no less than six uncapped players, including the dynamic 19-year old scrum-half Matthieu Jalibert. Baptiste Serin, Louis Picamoles, and Francois Trinh-Duc are the notable omissions from the French side set to face Ireland in what can only be described as a bold move by the new head-coach. We are hoping that Conor O’Shea’s side can pull a tactical masterstroke out of the new rulebook after Eddie Jones’ churlish reaction

to last year’s tactics and the subsequent introduction of the ‘Italian rule.’ It seems that despite their vast improvements, Italy will struggle without this tactical advantage and are destined to retain the wooden spoon for another year at least. It will be an enormous task to keep pace with this formidable English side, who are slowly building towards next year’s world cup and accumulating much silverware on the way. Scotland gave one of the best performances of the November series against the All-Blacks and came agonisingly close to beating the team ranked first in the world. No Irish rugby supporters will need reminding how our side fared against them last year. With their new lightningpaced, expansive rugby under Gregor Townsend, the opener against the abrasive Welsh side in Cardiff could be the game of the series.

It will be an enormous task to keep pace with this formidable English side.

The women’s side of the competition should be an equally entertaining encounter as indicated by last year’s closely contested affair. The Irish team pulled together a victory against the Welsh for new headcoach Adam Griggs and new captain Ciara Griffin in a pre-championship warm-up game and will look forward to their first competitive test away against the French team in February. Megan Williams, Alison

Miller, and Sene Naoupu were all on the scoresheet in Wales and were not included in the 7s side that travelled to Sydney for the next round of the series. There were some excellent displays from the Irish players throughout the women’s interprovincial series in December and hopefully the girls in green will still be in contention for the championship when they face England in the final game.

Regardless of the outcome, we can expect some highly entertaining rugby from the Irish backline.

Stockdale and Conway were both given a lot of game time during the November series and Keith Earls is in an impressive vein of form for Munster. Joey Carbery was tearing open the Fijian defence until his contribution came to an unfortunate end. Nevertheless, he has sufficiently recovered from his injury and could be used very effectively to expose tired defences with his broken line running and stepping ability. This is all without even mentioning Jordan Lamour. Hopefully this unprecedented competition for places will precipitate strong performances, and positive results, because we do not want to be listening to ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ for too long on the 14th of March.

CLUB FOCUS: SUB-AQUA CLUB Aoife Hardesty dives into learning about the world of scuba diving in UCD. The Scub-Aqua Club in UCD was set up in 1993. The club is devoted to training its members to “see and explore the other two-thirds of our blue planet… to experience the amazing underwater world.” Club Captain Mehdi Entezary spoke to the University Observer and assures us that “while you need to be comfy in the water and be able to swim, you don’t need to be an Olympic swimmer” to join the Sub-Aqua club. In saying that, every year, “all club members must complete a 200m swimming test before the season starts.”

Scuba diving isn’t the only sport the club practises, “the club is split into three main divisions of activities: scuba diving, snorkelling, and underwater hockey.”

Yes, you read that correctly: Underwater hockey. It is a sport in which the divers basically play hockey on the swimming pool floor. UCD’s underwater hockey team compete in “a number of national and international tournaments each year.”

Diving groups see “dolphins, octopuses, lobsters, cuttlefish, crayfish, scallops, and colourful fish such as the cuckoo wrasse,” but last summer, they came upon a basking shark.

A “large portion” of the club, is “running different courses and training programmes to qualify our members in different grades and aspects of scuba diving. On average we have at least one training session or course per week throughout the year.” Some courses provide members with internationally recognised diving qualifications, and other courses even train members to become diving instructors.

“We spend a large portion of our time running different courses and training programmes to qualify our members in different grades and aspects of scuba

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diving. On average we have at least one training session colourful fish such as the cuckoo wrasse,” but last or course per week throughout the year.” summer, they came upon a basking shark. This shark Members not only receive training in the three main species is “ the second largest fish in the world,” and activities, but also are given the opportunity to learn the footage captured “on video … made it to [the] valuable life skills such as “how to tie different knots, mainstream media including RTE news.” to life-saving CPR.” In addition to Irish-based trips to the likes of Cork, For many club members, the joy of the club lies in Kerry, and Wexford, they also organise foreign holidiving into the ocean. The club organises “15 national days, “at least one scuba, and two underwater hockey. and foreign trips each year. On average we do three In recent years we have visited Malta, Croatia, Iceland, dives a day (a total of one hour under the water).” The and Ibiza.” club also has “two dedicated snorkelling trips each Socialising with members is an important aspect year.” Most of the trips take place around Ireland, and of the club and they “try to have at least one social when diving, several club members have come up and event or activity per week.” Previous events have been close and personal with “marine life in their natural “movie nights, beach cleaning, and a Dalkey Island habitat.” Typically, the diving groups see “dolphins, BBQ (where we competed in Tug-of-war and treasure octopuses, lobsters, cuttlefish, crayfish, scallops, and hunt against Trinity and DCU).” In addition, the club

meets in the student bar for drinks after pool training.

To keep the social life alive “we have a dedicated officer on the committee whose sole job is to focus on the social aspect of the club!”

There’s loads of reasons why people get involved.

To share “the joy of swimming with Fungy and Dusty (friendly local dolphins along the West coast),” to learn an exciting new sport, or even to see “WWI and WWII battleships and U-boat wrecks [that] lie beneath the waves off Malinhead in Donegal.”

For any students wishing to get involved with the sub-aqua club can find everything they need to know on the website www.ucdsac.ie or the Facebook page UCD Sub-Aqua.