Volume XIX - Issue Three

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University Observer Comment: Defining Patriotism

OTWO: Mumford & Sons V O L U M E

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Features: State of the Union

W W W. U N I V E r S I T y O b S E r V E r . I E

24 hour UCDSU release previously missing accounts study area to open on campus

by AOIFE vALEnTInE · DEPUTy EDITOR

A 24-hour study area is due to open this week in the new student centre.

The facility is being trialled over the coming weeks, with a view to sourcing a more permanent location if there proves to be sufficient demand.

The area is located adjacent to the swimming pool entrance in the new student centre which has up until now been used for the induction of new gym members, is set to hold “roughly 40 to 50” students at a time. UCD Students’ Union Education Officer Shane Comer stated that he would “love to have a permanent location for it, but a much larger one, similar to the berkley Lecky Ussher in Trinity. This will be used on a trial basis and we’ll see if it goes well.”

The facility, which is still dealing with “logistical issues”, was due to open at the start of term, but the University were reluctant to put it in place, partly because the new student centre was intended to bring all non-academic activities to one end of campus, and all academic activity to the other. This would bring a study area into the recreational area. Comer commented that he hopes to amend this if the trial period proves successful: “The ultimate aim is to see plans for redevelopment of the library and newman area, to see some sort of 24 hour access facility in that area. I’ll be looking for a permanent facility, but that’s obviously extremely long term.”

Security is also an issue, with no supervisory staff being provided by the Students’ Union for the space.

Comer says they are working “to create, with campus services and Pulse security, a sort of monitoring service.

They’ll pass it every so often to make sure nothing is going on.” The Union, however, will be responsible for all liabilities, with Comer stating: “There’s a cost to the SU in terms of liability, so if there is damages caused but we are under insurance.”

Comer believes that students who do not currently have access to the library because they have not paid their fees or are waiting on a grant, will be able to use the facilities, however this is still under negotiation. “That’s something I’m currently trying to nail down with the student centre management but I don’t see that being an issue.”

He is aware that the facility will be not be needed all day and says when it comes to reviewing the usage of the area, he will be “hammering home that you can’t use stats from say, 9 in the morning to 9 in the evening, because we do have libraries on campus that do open during those hours.”

He expects that the facility will become overcrowded as it approaches exam time, and says to cope with that he will “look to do something similar to what my predecessor did and open up the blue Room or the Astra Hall” to cater for the surplus.

UCDSU President Rachel Breslin and Gerry McNally of McNally Business Services Limited release accounts at first Union Council .

by EMER SUGRUE · EDITOR

The figures for UCD Students’ Union’s finances for the last five years were released last Thursday at the first Union Council, with details of the losses made each year.

The yearly deficits show the highest losses in 2008/09 with a €726,000 shortfall, over 250% higher than the previous year’s loss of €281,000. Regarding these figures, Students’ Union President Rachel breslin stated: “I will ask for a more detailed breakdown of the particular years and why there was a f luctuation, but it could even be the way that payments were made, because there were a lot of late payments from other years so perhaps there

was a larger cash inf lux in 2009 that was used to push out expenditure from 2008 or before, because that did happen quite frequently.

There were no startling differences between years or between administrations.”

The accounts for the Students’ Union Shops between 2007 and 2012 were released alongside the main Union figures, showing a huge shift in the money generated over the period. While a profit of €88,000 was generated in 09/10, the next year saw a loss of €282,000. When questioned about possible reasons for the dramatic losses, breslin described the figures as “puzzling” but claimed that year did not see “any administrative or management

changes” that may account for it.

There will however be an investigation launched by the Union into the reasons for the losses of both the shops and the Union as a whole.

“I think that does fall down on me.

I have seen those figures and there was nothing which stood out. In 2011, you have the issue with the ball [which made a large loss] and there was a higher overall spend but there wasn’t anything that stuck out particularly extenuating ... when you break it down year by year you miss out on the detail that there was a continual presence here and a continual mismanagement that remained constant.”

The budget for the following year, including detailed accounts for the

three months ending September 30th 2012 were also released, showing a surplus of €123,508 for the period. breslin explained: “We’re spending a lot less now. A lot of that is because we physically don’t have the money in our accounts to spend more but it does show a very different ethos in the Students’ Union that we’re trying to spend as little as we can... I don’t expect our spending habits to change really at all once the loan does come through.”

The accounts will be finalised on Thursday once auditors Grant Thornton sign them off, and more detailed figures will be released at Union council on October 25th.

€5000 saved on class rep training

by DAnIEL KEEnAn · nEWS EDITOR AnD CHARLOTTE MCLOUGHLIn Union Rep training took place in nUI Maynooth on Saturday October 6th, with a significant cut in costs from previous years. As opposed to a weekend long event, Union reps were brought on a daylong training event.

Cutting costs was a priority for this year’s Students’ Union, who in 2010 brought the class reps to a four star resort for a full weekend of training, costing approximately €12,000. Last year, the Union cut €3,500 of the cost, but training remained a weekend long event.

“It was €375 for transport for all reps,” says UCD Campaigns and Communications Officer Paddy Guiney. “Speakers were a mixture of former people who were in the Students’ Union and who

sat on council, and professional speakers. In total, for the speakers, it’s estimated at €850 for nine speakers, including expenses…

We got the nightclub for free. The most expensive thing, and it’s the necessity, was the food. To break it down, it cost us €4 for their breakfast, €4 for lunch and €10 for dinner; so it was €18 per student, and about 80 people.”

“I can’t confirm it, but apparently class rep training in other colleges is in the €20,000, excess. Last year (in UCD) it was €8,000. The year before it was €12,000; this year, the estimated fig ure is €2,665.”

The use of nUI Maynooth as a base for training was a cost saving move by the Students’ Union, as the

use of their facilities were given free by the Maynooth Students’ Union. Guiney says the Union didn’t use the facilities in UCD, as “less people would’ve gone and people would’ve left during the half day, because it was a very long day.”

Reps were trained in public speaking and negotiation skills, as well as the basics of being a rep.

Guiney was confident that the reps are now fully trained to carry out their duties, despite the shortened time period for training: “I’m very confident they will be effective for the council and their classes. I was on class rep training last year, and I feel like a weekend away is not necessary.”

This year sees the introduction of a two tier rep system, with

a number of class reps serving under the Union reps. Class reps are mostly in charge of the social aspect of the Union and their training is due to take place on campus, once elections are over. “The class reps process is beginning next week in the Ag. building and we have a plan of action with the conveners about where we will go in each class, and we will divide out which ones need the most. For example, English, Drama and Film all have the one class rep. So, we’ll be looking at filling two extra seats from the class in Drama and Film, and will be walking into classes holding informal elections from the beginning of next week.”

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NEWS

The University Observer | 16 October 2012

Student Health Centre provides free external NEWS IN BRIEF counselling by daniel keenan · news editor

Students’ Union in minor breach of Constitution The UCD Students’ Union has been found to be in breach of their constitution. Article 10, Paragraph 2, subsection 3 of the Constitution states that: “The sabbatical officers shall display on their door their office hours, including hours when they will be available to take personal queries and cases.

When absent during office hours, the sabbatical officer shall display an explanatory note on their door.”

Sabbatical officers have only sporadically displayed their timetable this semester. Campaigns and Communications officer Paddy Guiney. “In previous years, the receptionist has done them up and put them on the door, but we don’t have receptionist anymore, but we are hiring a secretary.

“I don’t have it (a timetable) on my door today, I’ll put my hands up on that.

I can’t speak for the other members of the team, but I know they haven’t put it up and I have suggested it to the President,” says Guiney. “I do think it’s important, because if you’re not in your office then students don’t know where you are.”

by AOIFE VALNTINE · DEPUTY Editor UCD’s Student Health Centre has launched a new initiative to reduce the waiting lists for its counselling service.

The health centre budget this year is providing for external counsellors from an approved list to take on UCD student cases for periods where people are being left on the list for “6 to 8 weeks”.

This service will be free of charge for UCD students, and is designed to act as an overflow for the Health Centre’s service. UCD Students’ Union Welfare Officer Mícheál Gallagher says the initiative will begin this week, as waiting lists get particularly long at this time of year.

“Waiting lists become a problem around the same time every year… If you’re on the waiting list you’ll be contacted about these and if you do go to them you’ll be refunded whatever expenses that you do incur, to a certain extent of course.”

There is no limit on how many people can take advantage of this scheme; it depends on the waiting list, according to Gallagher. However he does note that there “may be a limit on how many sessions” but that by the time you’ve done sessions with the external counsellor “you’ll be at the top of the list for the Health Centre counselling service.”

This scheme comes in addition to

the ‘Reach Out clinics’ that Gallagher set up at the beginning of this term.

This scheme involves “a counsellor who works for the SU for three hours a week” to who Gallagher can refer students.

He says this counselling service is “for anything. Generally it’s for people who are unsure if they do need to go to a counsellor or not, and they can kind of talk to them in an informal setting, whether it’s about mental health or they want to identify something. I use

it generally for emergencies.”

The scheme is paid for by the Students’ Union and is a deal with a counsellor who “came highly approved. She was a part employee of the University so she’s very used to working with students.” The scheme will remain in place until such a time as it’s no longer needed, with Gallagher commenting that: “It’ll probably be judged on how much it’s being used, viability, and usefulness of the service.”

Gallagher hopes that between these

two initiatives that the counselling service will be in a much stronger position this year, with significantly reduced waiting lists. “I do feel we’ve a very positive outlook… The situation isn’t ideal but it is good that we have some safeguards in place so we can cut down the waiting lists and we can outsource it to an extent, for free still… I think there’ll only be a need for it in the first semester and the waiting lists will go right back down.”

March planned to protest Library cuts and lockouts

SU launch ‘Quit Day’ The Students’ Union is organising a campus wide “Quit Day” this Thursday.

The campaign will encourage students to quit or cut back bad habits such as smoking and drinking. Campaigns and Communications Officer Paddy Guiney says: “Through this day, in a variety of ways, we’re encouraging students to cut out very bad habits and that highlights some very serious issues such as drink, drugs and alcohol.

It also reflects a number of more lighthearted issues such as Facebook, texting, coffee, and chocolate.”

The Campaign crew are currently working on a poster campaign which will involve effective imagery of the impacts of smoking, alcohol and drug abuse.

The Union is also hosting a discussion in the Garret Fitzgerald chamber about the negative impacts of smoking and alcohol abuse. The Union has invited a number of speakers including a health professional, a recovering drug addict and a lung cancer patient to speak about the issues.

UCD Smurfit School ranks 88th in Financial Times MBA rankings UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School has been ranked 88th in the 2012 Financial Times Global Executive MBA Rankings, published last Sunday. UCD Smurfit School is the only Irish business school to appear in this list, the 13th year in which it has done so.

UCD Smurfit School is one of a number of elite business schools in the world to hold the ‘triple crown’ of accreditation from the three international centres of business and academic excellence: EQUIS, AMBA and AACSB. The full-time MBA programme at UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School has also recently been ranked 63rd out of 100 of the world’s leading MBAs by the Economist. The ranking also places the programme among the top 20 in Europe.

Speaking about the ranking results, Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, Dean of UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, said, “We are once again delighted to stand as Ireland’s only entry among the top business schools in the world ... Our ultimate aspiration is to make a significant impact in business education globally and have the UCD Business School brand synonymous with the best business education, not just in Ireland, but worldwide. UCD is quickly adapting to the new business and economic environment and has recently recruited 14 new faculty members, 60% of whom are from overseas.

They each bring a range of academic research and real-world multi-cultural experience that will provide our students with the necessary tools they need to succeed as the entrepreneurs and business leaders of tomorrow.”

by Yvanne Kennedy · Senior Reporter

A protest has been planned by UCD students in action against the reduction in library hours and the locking out of students who have not yet paid their registration fees. The students plan to march from the Student Centre at 1pm on Thursday October 18th to the library to register complaint at the decision to close the library on Sunday until week eight of the semester and demand that the same does not occur in semester two. They will also issue complaints at the treatment of those who cannot pay their fees as not all grant money has been issued.

A public meeting was held last Thursday, the 11th, in the Fitzgerald Chamber, which was aimed at mobilising students against the library cuts.

The meeting was well-attended and

garnered Union support from Campaigns & Communications Officer Paddy Guiney, as well UCDSU Education Officer Shane Comer who described the decision as coming “out of leftfield”.

The library as a whole is a prominent issue for the Students’ Union this year with Comer placing part of the blame in this situation on “the Library Users’ Committee [having] fallen apart” and a lack of discourse and discussion with student representatives generally.

The unexpected closure is something which it has taken awhile to react to but that has had more to do with the “slow, bureaucratic, drawn-out process” that was involved in acquiring the relevant facts and figures necessary to back-up any campaign in the area.

The University initially justified the decision as being influenced by student use on this Sunday where demand was relatively reduced. On a regular weekday, excluding exam periods, the library is used by an average of just over 4,000 students. This increases to over 5,500 during the busier months when study is much and deadlines loom. For a Sunday, the numbers vary from approximately 250 in the early months of September and January to 600 within four weeks with the potential to peak at over 2,000.

Other access issues as regards the library are currently also being dealt with by the Union. Due to external issues, which have affected Universities across the country, grants being administered by the new SUSI system

Netsoc launch laptop repair with UCDSU by sylvester phelan

Netsoc along with UCD Students’ Union will be launching a laptop repair scheme in the next fortnight. According to UCDSU Campaigns and Communications Officer Paddy Guiney, the scheme will be running shortly, beginning with a two week trial period: “I’ve just finalised the details now and will be working on this in conjunction with Netsoc, offering students a cut price in comparison with what other professional repairers would offer.”

With third-level education now dependent on the internet for education, laptops are now a necessity in many cases, rather than a luxury, for students. The laptop repair scheme aims to reduce costs for students when they damage their laptops: “Professional repairers outside UCD offer repairs for

in excess of €100 to €200. We will fix your laptop for €30,” says Guiney.

The repairs will be carried out by the UCD Internet and Computer Science Society (Netsoc): “It’s going to be advertised to first and second year students in Computer Science, so they can come in and fix people’s laptops under supervision,” says Head System Administrator at Netsoc, Sam Dunne.

“They’re also getting a practical element to the subject that they’re studying, that’s not in the subject that they’re studying, because Computer Science is a very theoretical course.”

The repairs will be supervised by NetSoc committee members David Doyle and Dunne, who says: “The whole idea of the laptop repair scheme is that students can bring in their laptops and have them looked at and repaired for €30 for the first two weeks.”

“Laptop repair is currently quite expensive. I think a lot of places charge you €50 to have a look at your laptop before they do any repairs, and that’s not including parts,” Dunne continues.

“The €30 they pay for the first two weeks is ‘no fix, no fee.’ If we have to buy in a part, we’ll ask them first and if they’re happy, they’ll just have to pay for the part, on top of the fixed fee.” The fee is split 50/50, with 50% going to the Union and the other 50% to the repairer.

Guiney is optimistic regarding the project and says: “I am very excited about this scheme and am looking forward to it being successful, and that we can improve on this. Our next stage of the project is that we are going to launch an iPhone repair scheme for mobiles and iPhones as well; it’s going to be done judging on the success of the laptop repair scheme.”

have, in large part, suffered from a failure in efficient processing.

While this is not an issue that restricts itself to the library, it does mean that affected students have been excluded from entering the libraries and cannot checkout books or utilise any other essential services. Acknowledging the fact he is “extremely dissatisfied, extremely disheartened and just annoyed at the performance of SUSI” overall, Comer is proactively working with the University to ensure that students in receipt of grants are not penalised for external factors beyond their control. It is Comer’s goal to have full opening hours reinstated when classes resume in January.

The University Observer | 16 October 2012

NEWS

Mental Health Week raises awareness amongst UCD students

by Sean o’grady · DEPUTY news Editor UCD Mental Health Week took place last week with several events running over the course of the five days. Welfare Officer Mícheál Gallagher outlined what he hoped would be achieved by the week-long event: “One, it was to decrease the stigma around Mental Health in UCD and Ireland and second, was to encourage people to talk about their problems. All the studies coming through show that people who share their experiences have better mental health.”

One of the main themes of the week was to tackle the issue of suicide. Gallagher hopes that Mental Health week will decrease the stigma around talking about suicide, and that people will be more encouraged to share their feelings, with many students completing SAFE Talk training during the week. “I think it is a really important thing that people have the right skills to actively listen for the signs of suicide, but also have the skills that they can feel comfortable asking someone are they suicidal and also that they have the right connections so that they can keep them safe.”

The launch night, which took place last Tuesday, brought in speakers to raise awareness on issues relating to mental health. Fine Gael TD, Jerry Buttimer, spoke about the issues that many LGBT students may face: “We had Jerry Buttimer speaking; he gave a more personal touch to everything because a lot of the surveys coming through show that people from the LGBT community really feel marginalised, and they can experience difficulties with their mental health.”

To further help students feel comfortable talking about their personal issues, Gallagher, along with Welfare Crew member Maeve DeSay, launched

Two teams of students from UCD School of Computer Science and Informatics have been chosen to represent UCD in the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) Northwest European Regional programming competition.

The UCD CSI Programming Contest at which the teams were selected was held last Saturday, and was organised

by CSI Web Developer, Dr Alexander Ufimtsev. “It has actually been a long tradition that was lost and we’re trying

An image on posters advertising the abortion debate organised by the Literary and Historical Society (L&H), have been met with an online petition to have them removed. The posters for the debate, titled ‘This house would legalise abortion? You decide!’ show an edited version of the ‘Please Don’t Litter’ sign, with the litter being replaced by a stickfigure baby, being thrown into the bin.

An event demanding the posters be taken down was started on Facebook on Friday by UCDSU Engineering Convenor, Cian Dowling, titled ‘Remove L&H Abortion Posters,’ which at the time of going to print, had almost 400 people attending.

“They are very distasteful,” says Dowling about the posters. “It’s a reaction I’ve got off a lot of people. Obviously [abortion] is a controversial issue, and you’re never going to get people to agree on it, and people are always going to throw their opinions around, but I just didn’t agree with it. Instead of attracting people towards the issue, it has a cheap, attention seeking role.”

“The stance is fine; the debate is a debate that has to happen,” says Dowling. “It’s a stigma in Ireland, and people need to address it. It’s the actual poster that’s the problem. I just want the image censored or the posters taken down. It’s not something people should have to look at.”

Auditor of the L&H, Daisy Onubogu was surprised by the campaign against the posters: “It came as a surprise in the sense that you expect something to happen, but you don’t expect that [an event being set up] to happen. The L&H always strives to be particularly controversial with this debate. Last year,

News in Brief TCD vote to stay affiliated with USI

Photographer: Sinead Scullion UCD Welfare Crew members Ciara Johnson and Neill Cooney at the Mental Health Week launch the ‘Need a Hand’ initiative which provides a number of resources for students looking for support. Gallagher says “there are local supports here in UCD that are relevant to students whether it is issues around sexuality, with things like positive options and rape crises centre or else very relevant mental health issues like depression, eating disorders

to actually get back on track and the last time we went to an international programming competition was in 2008 and then the people that were doing this left and then a couple of years later I picked it up,” Ufimtsev explained.

The contest featured teams of three given ten programming problems to solve within five hours. No internet access was permitted other than to submit solutions to the test system, and to look up Java, C, and C++ API. The problems required specific algorithms to be solved within a certain time and certain megabytes of memory to be ac-

Outrage at L&H abortion debate posters

by Daniel Keenan · news editor

national

by Caroline McEvoy

or even a suicide help line.”

Wednesday saw a Life Skills session being held for students to help them, in keeping with the theme of the week, feel comfortable to talking about their mental health: “Simple life skills to help you live your life, like dealing with stressful situations that might make you anxious or make you feel down and

they are really useful and practical.”

When looking at Mental Health Week overall, Gallagher says it was an improvement on last year’s campaign.

“There is a lot more direction and a lot more objectives with end goals, and I do think that it has been a lot more successful. It is the simple missions like this that really do make a difference.”

Students to represent UCD in international programming competition

by Emer sugrue · Editor

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the wording of it was ‘Kill the unborn.’

We had quiet mutterings, but we didn’t have the one person who stood up and shouted loud enough that he galvanised everyone, and we did have that person this year.”

The reasoning behind the controversial posters, according to Onubogu, is to get people to face up to the reality that abortion should be talked about, something that the L&H has done on numerous occasions to advertise their debate: “I’ve read the archives and seen some pretty horrific posters. The majority of our society, both in UCD and the wider society, just won’t talk about abortion because we don’t like talking about uncomfortable things.

We squirm away from them and unless we’re put in a position where we can’t squirm away, we’ll just keep running.

Even if you argue that this poster is on the extreme end of it, the benefit you get from that is that everyone is talking about it.”

The L&H welcomes the fact that the posters have people talking about the issue of abortion, maintaining that the poster was made for a starting point of debate, and not for publicity.

cepted, in addition to being correct solutions. There are no judges in the contest, but rather an automatic pass or fail from the test program.

Ufimtsev’s aim in holding the contest is to provide UCD Computer Science students with extracurricular programming experience to improve both their abilities and their employment prospects. “The biggest thing that students face when they graduate is the ability to find jobs so anything that gives them an edge like extracurricular activities like programming competitions, participating in open source

software projects or doing something else similar gives an edge. That’s what people look for when they want to hire graduates, to see that they are more interested in the field than what they have to do when they do specific subjects.”

ACM’s Northwest European Regional Competition will be held in Delft University, in Netherlands from November 23rd - 25th. The regional winner will go on to represent their university in the European Finals, followed by the World Finals held in St. Petersburg in July 2013.

UCD Student Legal Service launch Know Your Rights Week

by AOIFE VALNTINE · DEPUTY Editor

UCD’s Student Legal Service (SLS) has this week launched their annual ‘Know Your Rights Week’ campaign.

The SLS, who have been actively campaigning this year against the onerous Licence to Reside for UCD Residences, believe that informing students of their rights is extremely important.

The week will see the SLS running numerous events, from a training session for all volunteers on landlord and tenant law, a special address for all students on the Irish prison service from former Governor of Mountjoy, John Lonergan, a trip to the Four Courts for first year volunteers and a stand in the Student Centre manned by volunteers who will be available to offer legal information to anyone with questions.

Chairperson of the SLS Patrick Fitzgerald says: “Know Your Rights Week seeks to engage all students

with the law. We cannot separate law from our lives: it affects us on a daily basis whenever we enter a lease, buy a coffee or drive a car. However, there is a tendency within society to see the legal system as outdated, elite and inaccessible.”

His main aim for the week is to open up the law to all students across all faculties on campus. “UCD Student Legal Service seeks to remedy this by trying to make law accessible to students of all disciplines in a clear and comprehensible manner.”

The Student Legal Service is having one of its busiest years yet, having broken records for the society in terms of membership numbers as this year marked the first time the society were given a stand in the Freshers’ tent. They were also involved in Orientation Week, particularly for first year law students, as well as launching their new website, and running weekly free and confidential legal information clinics in the Student Centre on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Fitzgerald hopes that with all these changes this year for the society that “Know Your Rights Week will be another step in making the society an intrinsic part of student life in UCD and in progressing our aims as a society of increasing awareness of the law.”

The students of Trinity College Dublin have voted in favour of the TCD Student Union’s continued affiliation with the Union of Students in Ireland (USI). Students were asked to vote ‘No’ if in favour of maintaining the affiliation and ‘Yes’ if in favour of separation.

The ‘No’ side, led by campaign manager Jack Leahy, received 1,496 (61.5%) of the votes, while ‘Yes’ received 829 (34.1%) votes. In total 2,431 votes were cast with 106 (4.4%) spoiled ballots. Leahy expressed his “delight” at the victory of his campaign as well as expressing his commiserations to the leader of the ‘Yes’ campaign, Mark O’Meara.

O’Meara also expressed his congratulations to the opposition, but said that the USI need to live up to their campaign promises for future reform. USI President John Logue said TCD’s continued affiliation will strengthen USI in its upcoming campaigns and that USI “will continue to resist any increases in fees, cuts to the maintenance grant and any measures that affect access to education.”

Technical Innovation in Irish Universities MOF Technologies, a fledgling spinout from Queen’s University Belfast (QUB), have recently met with success in the North’s latest 25k awards.

This annual competition is held to raise profiles of up-and-coming technology innovators and offers £25,000 (€31,000) as its first prize.

MOF Technologies beat 40 rivals to claim the title of company with the “greatest commercial potential”, as well as a cheque for £10,000. This title was awarded to them for their development of a revolutionary technique to take advantage of a class of nano-materials known as Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) that is both fast and environmentally friendly. The five-strong team of academics and entrepreneurs of MOF are delighted with the result and hope it will enhance future opportunities for further investment.

New research carried out by Lero, Ireland’s National Software Engineering Research Centre at NUI Galway, has reported the first empirical evidence of the benefits of cloud computing. The Research confirmed prior suspicion that cloud computing has cost and time benefits as well as demonstrating that it produces positive changes in the way in which companies interact with external sources and employees interact with each other.

University-Community Collaboration in UCC’s CARL UCC has become the first Irish thirdlevel institution to use student research as the means for increased interaction between the university and the wider community through the launch of its pilot project, CARL (Community-Academic Research Links).

CARL aims to promote collaboration between students and community groups on research projects in order to address specific needs in the community. In one recent project, students conducted research into a new form of respite service for persons with intellectual disabilities that is being introduced in County Clare, gaining funding from Home Share Clare as a result. Another recent CARL project examined the impact of a local youth work project being undertaken in Cork City, working alongside YMCA Cork.

CARL invites non-profit organisations to suggest potential projects that can be conducted by students across all academic disciplines.

This has resulted in the completion of 15 CARL projects in the last two academic years. These projects have mainly concerned social issues such as disability, youth work and provisions for the elderly. Currently there are more than 25 research proposals available to incoming UCC students next year.

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NEWS

UCD to host international medical device conference by emma smith

Over 200 guests from around the world are expected to attend the Biomaterials Conference, which UCD will host later this month. The conference will be held in O’Reilly Hall from Tuesday October 23rd to Thursday 25th.

The conference, which is being held on behalf of the US-based ‘Surface in Biomaterials Foundation’, will bring together academics and representatives from the industry to discuss advances in biomaterials research and innovation.

It is the first time since its establishment in 1990 that the foundation will hold the conference outside the US, and chose Ireland due to the large number of medical advice companies in the country.

UCD School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and a member of the conference organising committee Dr Denis Dowling, said: “We are delighted that the Surfaces in Biomaterials Foundation chose to host its first ever conference outside of America at University College Dublin. This helps to demonstrate the global recognition of the importance of the medical device sector in Ireland.”

Speaking ahead of the conference, Dan Hock, from Bausch & Lomb and President of the Foundation, said: “We decided specifically to hold BioInterface 2012 at University College Dublin as it is at the forefront of cutting-edge research and innovation in biomaterials and surface engineering, in addition to its strong links with the medical in-

dustry in Ireland.”

The two day event will allow industry figures and researchers to present their findings and discuss key topics including biomaterials, wound healing and surface modification of devices.

The interface between the human body and a medical device is critical to the device’s performance. The 2012 BioInterface conference, which has a strong applied focus, will enable representatives from industrial, academic, clinical and regulatory communities to gather together to discuss recent advances in biomaterials research and innovation which can improve the performance of medical devices.

Representatives from companies such as EnBio, Bausch & Lomb SurModics, Boston Scientific and Medatronic, will be among those presenting at the event, as well as leading academic researchers from Universities in Utah, Sydney, Utrecht, Washington, Liverpool and Nanyang.

The prestigious Excellence in Surface Science Award will be presented to honour the significant contribution of a researcher or entrepreneur within the field and in addition this year there will also be a student award to recognise outstanding research based on the student poster presentation held during the conference.

Along with Dr Dowling; John O’Donoghue, CEO of Enbio Ltd which, has its headquarters at NovaUCD, will make up the Irish representatives of the Biointerface 2012 programme committee.

The University Observer | 16 October 2012

Ag and Vet Convenor position left vacant as Graduate Officer is elected

by Sean o’grady · DEPUTY news Editor A new part-time Graduate Education Officer was elected on Thursday at the UCDSU council, while the post of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine Convenor remains vacant.

The new Students’ Union constitution has introduced the role of a full time Graduate Education Officer, however this year it is only being phased in on a part time basis. This is in order to set the infrastructure in place for coming years, when full time sabbatical positions like Campaigns and Communications Officer will be scrapped.

Mark Stokes was elected to the graduate office, and has several issues he plans to tackle in order to help the needs of graduates. One issue of particular importance to him, is the graduate loan scheme: “I’ll be following up on a national basis on the issues of a properly resourced, funded and structured post graduate loan scheme.”

The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) is similarly concerned with

the loan scheme, and Stokes plans on working closely with them to improve the scheme: “I will be working to make sure that this a major priority for them throughout the course of my term.”

The number of vacant seats for graduate class reps has traditionally been much higher than for undergraduate students. Current C&C officer, Paddy Guiney says: “With the graduate convenor I want to find out what the issues are with graduate students, and what I can certainly see, is a disengagement with the Students’ Union; unfortunately that is the case. Before a postgraduate sabbatical officer takes his or her place in July, I would like to think that we will have improved our position and our relationship and involvement with postgrads.”

While there are many issues that both undergrads and postgrads will have in common, Guiney recognises graduate students have many unique concerns which he hopes will be tackled more substantially in the following year: “It would more be graduate unemployment and access to further

education and those are two of the main issues that I hope myself and the graduate convenor can work on.”

The position of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine Convenor was left vacant. Guiney however, does not foresee a problem in filling them: “I do not see a difficulty in it being filled, I am looking at two names of two people in those buildings now who are Union class reps.”

When asked about the amalgamation of these schools into one convenor position, Guiney says: “I feel it will give them greater representation in the union if there is one convenor who is in charge of one quite substantial faculty, and then Vet obviously is considered to be smaller.”

Guiney is confident that the changes made to the Students’ Union will be a learning experience and hopes the new positions will encourage students to get involved: “I feel like you will get more people involved in the union and that is exactly what you need and you get more people interested in the issues.”

Insomnia new SU coffee supplier

by AOIFE VALNTINE · DEPUTY Editor

A survey carried out by UCD Students’ Union on students’ coffee preferences has returned with results stating Insomnia is their preferred brand of coffee and that the price they’re willing to pay for coffee is between €1.25 and €1.50.

UCDSU President Rachel Breslin ran the survey to find out what students wanted from the Students’ Union’s shops, as the Union are currently in the middle of the process of restructuring their retail practices, as well as moving The Kiosk from the old student centre into a new, larger outlet in the new student centre. After completing the survey, she brought in several suppliers in the hope of getting the best deal for students.

She explained: “We’re rationalising and looking at all aspects of purchasing, so one of our biggest sellers is coffee. We’re actually one of the highest volume coffee sellers in a shop in Ireland at peak times, because we sell huge volumes around exam time and it is quite consistently high throughout the year. We felt that when we were opening a new shop and were looking

to put in new machines in that new shop that we would review our overall purchasing methods and systems for coffee. We invited several suppliers in to make presentations, to propose what they would offer the students’ union and the students.

The exact price of the coffee, which currently retails at €1.25 in SU shops, has yet to be finalised, but Breslin is aiming to keep the price below €1.50.

“We won’t be looking to go anywhere near high-street prices. It’s really just about what is the best way for the Students’ Union and the shops to balance good value coffee but at the same time turn the tide on the loss.”

There will be no baristas from Insomnia in shops; the coffee will be dispensed from self-service machines, in an Insomnia-branded area of the shops. Breslin is hopeful that confirming Insomnia as the SU’s new supplier will be a positive change within the shops. “We’re excited about it and it certainly seems like it’s a brand students really like, a taste that students like, and all their products are fair trade and they’re an Irish company so it works quite well.”

Alternative venues for UCD Ball being investigated

by Daniel Keenan · News Editor

This year’s UCD Ball has no definitive venue as of yet. At UCDSU Council last Thursday, Entertainments Officer Eoin Heffernan had said that the Gardai would inspect the two proposed sites for the UCD Ball on Friday October 12th, and a venue would be decided after Garda approval.

“There’s been no venue confirmed for the ball yet, so we’re still in talks with the university on two potential sites we have,” says Heffernan. “They [the Gardai] came in; they didn’t deal with the sites as much as I thought.

It was like another de-brief, what we should be looking out for and the main problems from last year, and how we’re going to address them and fix them going forward.”

Previous years saw the Ball located on the pitch where the Sutherland School of Law is currently under construction, before moving to the now defunct running track for the past two

years.

“The two potential sites are the running track and one of the car parks located behind the Student Centre.

There’s building planned for the running track; they’re planning on building an access road around it, so it might not be available at the time due to that building work.”

When asked about the viability of hosting the Ball in the car park, Heffernan said it was a practical alternative to the track because the event takes two days to set up as well as the day of the event. “We can relocate the car parks, I don’t think that’s a huge issue. It’s not really that disruptive because to have the Ball, you have to shut down campus anyway. The last time the Ball was there [in the car park], I think they only sold 3,500 tickets, but there’s potential to use another car park as well.” The capacity for the ball hosted on the running track last year was 8,000 students.

Another issue raised at Council was the need for the UCD Ball to be profit-

able this year, having incurred losses for the last few years, particularly in 2010/2011. Heffernan intends to plan production around ticket demand to reduce costs.

“To make it profitable, we’re scaling the gig to go on ticket sales… If we have say, 3,000 tickets sold, there’ll be a set level of production, and then when we sell 4,w000 tickets, we’ll kick that production up a bit. So it’s not just one plan, we’re planning for three or different eventualities.”

Heffernan maintains that scaling the cost of the event won’t mean a change in booking ability; the costs will be cut only from the production side of the Ball: “In terms of scaling it up and down, it’s down to the planning stages.

It’s basically just the equipment: the production of the Ball is the most expensive aspect of it.”

The confirmed venue for the UCD Ball should be known “in the next few weeks,” according to Heffernan.

Road Safety Week launches in UCD

by Aoife Brophy · CHEIF REPORTER

The UCD Students’ Union, in partnership with the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) and the Road Safety Authority (RSA), are hosting Road Safety Week next week.

The campaign will involve a number of events across campus, including a mock crash scene, driver simulation and the chance for a student to win the use of a car for the remainder of the academic year. UCDSU Campaigns and Comminations Officer Paddy Guiney says: “The main flagship event will take place Wednesday. Skoda Ireland are bringing a car in the Student Centre and a student can win the use of it for the academic year, fully insured.

There’ll be a number of challenges on the day; they have to take theory tests and a test on Skoda. It’s light-hearted and I don’t think it’s ever been done.”

There will also be a number of se-

rious events taking place across campus to remember the victims of road accidents in the hopes of preventing further accidents. Guiney says “the Candlelight Vigil, like previous years, will take place on Monday to remember people who were lost through road accidents. Another event we have is the road caster coming in, and we’re going to have a mock crash scene with RSA to highlight how in your face and effective and shocking a car crash can be.”

The RSA road caster will be on campus on Monday. This vehicle contains driver simulation programmes, computers installed with driver theory test programmes and information about various road safety campaigns. There will also be information for students about the driver theory test and opportunities for students to practise the test, find information on the cost and an opportunity to book the test.

Road deaths in Ireland are at an

all-time low this year. Campaigns run by the RSA to create awareness about drink driving, seatbelts and using mobile phones have been linked to the reduced road accidents, with Dublin recently announced as having the safest roads in any European capital city.

However 186 people lost their lives on Irish roads in 2011.

Road safety week has taken place in UCD in previous years, but not last year. In 2010, the campaign focused on drink driving. Guiney stresses the importance of awareness of road safety for students. “Road Safety Week was not done last year. I really want to have an effective one this year because it does affect a lot of people. We have AXA coming in to offer students cut down prices on their insurance. We want to encourage students to ensure that their cars are fully safe and fully insured.”

The University Observer | 16 October 2012

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use of condoms is enforced to protect both workers and customers. Pasha’s website even offers a (rather surreal) “money-back guarantee”.

The German approach appears to promote respect for prostitutes by normalising the industry. The authorities there even attempted to tackle trafficking by encouraging customers to notice and report any signs that prostitutes may have been trafficked or forced into the industry. However, many reports have concluded that the regulations have provided little improvement in the lives of those working in the sex industry, or had increased the transparency of it for the authorities.

Illegal brothels still exist and operate throughout Germany, and several sources indicate an increase in the numbers trafficked in to the country for sexual exploitation since 2002. Also, a widely circulated report highlighted the theoretical situation

that could occur, where prostitution is considered a legitimate job, those unable to find other employment may be forced to take work within the sex industry, which does nothing to increase freedom of choice.

While there may be benefits to legalising and regulating prostitution, in that it provides better access to supports and rights for all those involved, it is clear that it is not a simple solution to an age old problem. Even in situations of full legalisation and regulation, more work must be done constantly to protect those who may be abused and exploited. Prostitution has been with us for an immeasurable time, and is likely to remain with us. Overall the objective should be to establish rights and respect for all men and women, and ensure that all those who engage in sex work do so voluntarily and of their own free will.

Observer comment comment@universityobserver.ie

The problem with prostitution As the government reviews the current legislation on prostitution, Victoria Sewell looks at the approaches other countries have taken

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rostitution is often referred to as the world’s oldest profession. While accurate evidence of this is hard to come by, no one would deny that it is something that has been present in societies almost as long as societies have existed and is unlikely to disappear any time soon. This leaves governments in a difficult position with regard to how best to approach the issue.

Prostitution itself is not illegal in Ireland. However, most activities surrounding prostitution, such as brothel keeping, forcing others into prostitution and trafficking humans are against the law. In June, the Department of Justice and Equality released a paper on the future of prostitution legislation in Ireland. They determined five main legislative approaches to prostitution, each with inherent benefits and drawbacks.

These range from full criminalisation; partial criminalisation (as exists in Ireland); criminalising the purchase of sex, but not the sale; decriminalisation and full regulation.

It is undeniable that prostitution can be one of the most high-risk industries for people to become engaged in, particularly in countries where it is illegal and exists as a black market.

Prostitutes are the highest risk group in society to be the victims of violence, rape, HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, drug and alcohol abuse. There is also evidence of a greatly increased mortality rate amongst prostitutes, as well as a far greater risk of being the victims of murder.

In Ireland, prostitution is often seen as being linked with organised crime, and only taken up by those with

little or no other options. However, in many countries (particularly Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and New Zealand) it can be deemed an acceptable form of employment, and many sex workers would view themselves as providing a necessary service.

There are even some brothels in these countries that offer “sexual assistance services” to the elderly or disabled. In many instances where prostitution is regulated, prostitutes work in safe, secure environments, pay taxes, and are obliged to meet health and safety standards.

Officially the Irish government is not concerned with the exchange of money for sexual services, as long as two willing adults do it in private. It is however concerned with protecting those who would be exploited and being forced into prostitution. Even in cases where prostitution is regulated and accepted as a legitimate form of work, it is essential that governments strive to protect those at risk of exploitation. An Garda Siochana last year reported 57 confirmed cases of human trafficking, of whom nearly 70% were alleged victims of sexual exploitation.

One example of legislation often provided is that of Sweden, where it was made illegal to purchase sexual services, but not to sell them. The objective was to criminalise the act whilst protecting women working as prostitutes.

According to the Swedish government, this has succeeded in reducing the number of prostitutes by nearly 90%, and removing the demand for both prostitution and human trafficking.

However, critics of the legislation have argued that it has merely pushed the industry deeper underground, thereby

increasing the risks to those involved and isolating them further from society.

The contrasting example often used is that of Germany, which legalised and regulated prostitution in 2002. In the last ten years, prostitution as an industry has been incorporated into the mainstream economy, the objectives being to increase the social and legal protection of those in the industry; to increase their access to medical care; to reduce the spread of disease by enforcing the use of condoms; and to reduce the amount of human trafficking. Large-scale prostitution is now commonplace in Germany, with many “Eros Centers” (or “Love Centres”) across the country. “Pascha” in Cologne is Europe’s largest brothel, with 120 prostitutes spread over 12 floors and up to 1,000 customers each day. The prostitutes working here are offered security, medical care and meals. Each room is equipped with an alarm in case of emergencies, and the

Private investigation With the growing interest in social networking sites, Laura Woulfe examines the threat posed to personal privacy

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ith an estimated 2,219,020 Facebook users in Ireland alone, social networking has become a leading global phenomenon of the 21st century. Of this figure, which stands as 48% of the entire Irish population, 25-34 year olds are the largest category of participants, with 18-24 year olds following second. On a worldwide scale, Mark Zuckerberg confirmed on Thursday October 4th that Facebook now has one billion active members. As a result, it is not surprising that privacy with regard to social networking is a growing concern among internet users in Ireland as well as throughout the globe.

While a growing awareness has developed among the general public about online tracking and data collection, it is only a minority who understand how this collected information is used. What’s more, there are others who are unaware of the importance of internet privacy altogether. Labour MEP, Emer Costello told the Irish

Times: “I really do believe people are very quick to give information away [online] without realising the implications of what they’re doing”.

Interestingly, the general public willingly give social networking sites details such as date of birth, address, age and other personal details without hesitation. Furthermore, consumers offer online shopping sites knowledge of their interests, likes and dislikes.

Regardless, all of this information is retained in a data bank, yet it is only when this information combines, forming a profile of a person, that the subject is alerted to their online privacy.

Only earlier this year, Google were accused of disregarding the privacy settings of millions of iPhone users by discovering a way to track the users of the Safari web-browser. As is the reason for most online tracking, Google are thought to have been using the information in order to target advertisements to potential buyers. Google replied to the Wall Street Journal saying: “The Journal mischaracterises what happened and

why. We used known Safari functionality to provide features that signed-in Google users had enabled.”

However, it is through the medium of social networking sites that advertising agencies gain most of their information. Logically, social networking sites that allow members to sign up free of charge use advertisements to earn money, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flicker and so on. Facebook, as the leading social network, allows companies to target possible customers according to location or interests, in order to ensure effective behavioural advertising. Recently, as the Wall Street Journal states: “It has also started selling ads that follow Facebook members beyond the confines of the social network.”

Moreover, in a bid to encourage more companies to advertise on the site, Facebook have recently partnered with Datalogix, a company that are now able to tell product marketers how many of their sales were due to advertisements featured on Facebook.

Despite recent protests among worried Facebook users, Facebook state under their Data Use Policy: “We may share your information when we have removed from it anything that personally identifies you or combined it with other information so that it no longer personally identifies you.” Each member upon joining Facebook agrees

to these conditions. In addition, Facebook provides a Site Governance page where it presents all proposed changes to their Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and Data Use Policy for the users to read and give feedback.

However, only a meager 2,355,604 people have liked the page in comparison with a total one billion users.

Unfortunately, privacy issues are not confined to the use of data for advertisement targeting. According to the Irish Times, with the introduction of the timeline, many Irish Facebook users claimed that private messages dating from 2007 and 2009 were visible on their timeline. In response, a Facebook spokesperson denied the accusation saying: “In some cases people may have used wall posts instead of private messages by mistake… No mechanism has ever been created that would allow a private message to be published on the timeline.”

Many Facebook users found the new face detection feature when uploading pictures unsettling and as a result the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) has recently ordered Facebook to delete all data of EU members used to run its automatic face detection and tag suggestions features by the middle of October.

However, the most distressing revelation in social networking and privacy was revealed in relation to Twitter. A site named WeKnowYourHouse.com

was released in August 2012, describing itself as: “A social networking privacy experiment… designed to show what could happen when you tweet about being at home with locations enabled.”

The site selects tweets where people mention being at home and which include location data. By doing this, the perpetrators are then able to identify the possible location of the house and conclude by using Google Maps to show a picture of the house in Streetview.

The site claims: “Only the past hour of data is displayed, after that it is fully deleted to protect the users privacy.”

WeKnowYourHouse.com reminds internet users of the possible dangers of distributing personal information on social networking sites. According to the American Newspaper, the Examiner: “Kidnappers are using social media to target their victims and violence to commit their crimes.”

Personal information distributed on the internet should always be treated with caution. Despite social networks’ privacy policies, privacy settings, and organizations such as the Data Protection Commissioner, the only hard and fast way of keeping your personal information private is not to divulge it on the web. While social networking sites are beneficial for connecting with friends and family worldwide, users should always be selective in order to guarantee privacy.

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The University Observer | 16 October 2012

Defining patriotism With political leaders arguing that paying taxes are a duty for the public good, Evan O’Quigley takes a look at the politics of patriotism

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atriotism is a strange animal, similar to its cousins, nationalism and jingoism. It is often defined as ‘vigorous support for one’s country’.

Most often in modern political discourse, patriotism is associated with support for the military, your government and its leaders. The former US president George W. Bush often springs to mind when discussing being a ‘patriot’. He often pushed through unpopular policies by asserting that support of them was akin to being a patriot, and in the case of the now infamous PATRIOT Act, even voting on specific legislation. Such a definition of the word is somewhat flawed, as unlike nationalism, patriotism is not inherently ideological, and does not reduce love of one’s country and traditions to blind flag-worship.

Since the recession however, a new sort of pattern has emerged, whereby policies of the left are now being associated with being ‘patriotic’ and good

for the country. President Obama and his fellow Democrats have been keen to hop on board this new economic populism as of late. In his first televised debate with Republican opponent Mitt Romney earlier this month, the US president rhetorically asked his audience: “Are we going to double down on the top-down economics that got us into [the recession] or do we embrace a new economic patriotism, that says America does best when the middle-class does best?”. This falls nicely in line with Obama’s criticisms of millionaires and top-earners in the United States who often pay very small amounts of tax through various loopholes such as capital gains being taxed at a lower rate A notable case of this is Mitt Romney, who if elected would become roughly the forth richest president in history (including early presidents that owned slave plantations), who paid a rate of 13.9% in 2010 on his large income, and also has a Swiss bank-ac-

count which protects some of his earnings from further taxation. Obama has used this to his advantage by arguing that paying higher taxes in your own country, especially during a recession is a patriotic duty. The President has regularly called on America’s top earners to pay their ‘fair share’ of income tax in order to bring in more revenue, as an alternative to further cuts to public services, one large feature of his economic policy.

The British author J.K. Rowling, one of 54 billionaires resident in the UK in 2006, has also claimed that paying taxes is part of a duty to one’s country. Rowling said earlier this year that: “The main [reason] was that I wanted my children to grow up where I grew up, to have proper roots in a culture as old and magnificent as Britain’s; to be citizens, with everything that implies, of a real country, not free-floating expats, living in the limbo of some tax haven and associating only with the children of similarly greedy

tax exiles.” Rowling also cited her support of the welfare state in Britain that was there to ‘break the fall’ when her life had hit ‘rock bottom’.

This is in contrast to the Irish entrepreneur and media mogul Denis O’Brien. O’Brien likes to assert himself as a man of the people, all of whom pay their taxes in Ireland and benefit from public services like free education, roads and bridges and health care. The only problem with this is that O’Brien, like many others in his income bracket, is a tax-exile, who is a permanent resident of Malta for no other reason than to protect his income in a Mediterranean tax haven. Of course O’Brien is not a resident of Malta, but maintains a home here in Ireland, but his money is not. It is hidden away offshore where it can’t be grabbed by low-life scroungers and dole-ites.

While patriotism seems to be finding a new home on the left, there is no doubt that it is also still home to conservative forces. Calling on the patriotism of the public has also been attempted in bringing in austerity measures. Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore earlier this year told Sinn Fein’s Mary Lou McDonald and other members of the opposition in the Dáil to ‘put on the green jersey’ in order to assist the Government in dealings with the troika, which have arguably caused many cuts to the public services including education and health care.

The major problem with Gilmore’s argument, as with our government

citations and less illustrious research and thus lower rankings. Indeed, low rankings could just as easily be deemed an input in such a process as an output. Leading academics are not inclined to leave top institutions to join a university which is currently struggling to stay in the top 200 in the world, regardless of the salary.

This point is hammered home by the fact that, as of 2010, 19 heads of British universities were paid in excess of £300,000 (there were 31 British Universities in the Top 200). In fact, for the current academic year, the top wage bracket at Harvard University ranges from $219,000 to $409,600.

It is not that Ruari Quinn does not understand the consequences, unintentional for the most part, of banning such payments, in fact he probably does. Indeed the recent RTE ‘fly-onthe-wall’ documentary of the Irish Department of Education illustrated that, despite what many ‘independent’

observers and opposition spokespeople would have you believe, he doesn’t spend his days formulating ideas to bring our education system to its knees. He wants to make a difference and as long as this desire is present, actions should soon follow.

However, Quinn is a politician first and foremost, and staying in power has to be very near the top of his list of priorities and concerns. Eliminating politically dangerous unauthorised payments is a mandatory step to survive in our current climate.

However, if we want our Universities to survive in this economy, such payments should instead become authorised, not outlawed. A glance at the latest Times Higher University Rankings makes this clear.

UCD is not alone is its disappointing performance. A number of wellregarded British universities have also tumbled down the rankings, Bristol and Sheffield among their number, with Sussex having dropped out of the

top 100 altogether. The tide is turning towards the big spending Asian universities that have been mounting quite an assault on the rankings in recent years. South Korea is a perfect case in point, as it now has four universities in the top 200, all of which moved up the rankings by an average of 24 places. Hong Kong contributes another four to the top 200 while both of Singapore’s two leading Universities have made large strides. That’s all without mentioning China.

Although only two universities in the top 200 represent the Asian superpower, a group of elite universities has been earmarked for large investment and have been called the C9.

The nine universities are expected to enter the top 200 with some vigour in the coming years and will no doubt illustrate three things very clearly to those at the helm in this country: money talks.

While Oxford and Princeton may have centuries of prestige, honour and

in general, is that there is nothing patriotic about adhering to nonsense economics and the ideologically right wing programme of social engineering that is austerity. Calling for fairer taxation for the public good, and negotiating a fairer deal for Ireland with the EU and IMF is a sign of solidarity to its population. The left is now finally making the case, and should have been long ago, that austerity itself is inherently anti-patriotic, as it does not protect the public good, but rather the interests of big business and capital.

Patriotism would find a better home on the left. Perhaps George Orwell said it best, in making the distinction between being a patriot and reactionary nationalism that: “By ‘patriotism’ I mean devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force on other people. Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable from the desire for power. The abiding purpose of every nationalist is to secure more power and more prestige, not for himself but for the nation or other unit in which he has chosen to sink his own individuality.”

The left should be clear in making the argument for a patriotic social contract, whereby if we pay our fair share through taxation, we will all receive an adequate and fair share of social services that benefit the public good.

prowess to attract the best students and academics, the colleges that don’t compensate in other, financially aided methods. It also conveys how quickly universities are improving. In fact, UCD scored higher in this year’s rankings than last year, although the trouble is, so did everyone else. Improvement no longer suffices. Radical improvement is now par for the course, and Asia is about to hit a hole in one.

It too makes it abundantly clear that investment is needed in our own universities if Ireland is to compete internationally. A €250 increase in registration fees won’t get us there and we’re deluding ourselves if we think otherwise. As President of UCC Dr Michael Murphy pointed out in the run up to last year’s budget, fees of €4,500 - €5000 are required for Irish Universities to maintain standards.

Top universities require top academics to function but without funding we will very soon be a country with neither.

Bonus round With the Minister for Education, Ruairi Quinn’s new plans to ban large bonuses for university staff, Colm Egan looks at the ramifications it may have on university education

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t’s a natural number, a composite number and the second perfect number. It denotes the day of November 2012 when we will have the next lunar eclipse and also the length of the average menstrual cycle. However, 28 is also the number of places UCD dropped in the latest Times University Rankings.

Undoubtedly, the next number of weeks will likely witness much finger pointing and accusation dodging, but the root of the problem is, as ever, money. This is a problem which would only be exaggerated should Ruairi Quinn’s latest proposals come into law. The proposal in question is to ban all unauthorised payments to senior academics in Irish Universities. This is in response to the €7.5 million unauthorised allowances that were paid to 223 senior academics across the country from 2005 to 2011, €33 million of which was paid by UCD to 77 staff.

Universities, just like any other institution, must compete for high calibre staff and the most competitive battleground determines the size of the wage packet. The importance of this issue is illustrated by the difficulty the government has had in maintaining a public service salary cap. Indeed the enforcing of such a cap could be, quite convincingly, argued to be a false economy. Should a less than competent individual be appointed to run a large semi-state body such as RTE or Electricity Ireland, the inefficiencies this creates would manifest themselves in increased costs for a variety of reasons, none of which would be long in making a larger salary looking very measly indeed.

This false economy principle translates into third level education seamlessly. Low wages lead to lower calibre academics, leading to less

The University Observer | 16 October 2012

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of homosexuals throughout history performed were strongly influenced

by Christian teachings. Looking at Sweden we should think that all this terrifying past can be left behind, but are other European churches prepared, and more importantly, willing to do so?

Even North America isn’t a good place to look to. While same-sex marriage is legal in the whole territory of Canada since 2005, this is not the case in the United States. The USA, the land of contrasts, shows radically different attitudes towards homosexual people.

There the ‘Defence of Marriage Act’ prevents the federal government from recognising same-sex marriages and many of the states don’t recognise it, although it has been legalised in six states and one district.

The situation is, of course, dramatically worse in some non-Western and non-democratic countries where homosexuals are discriminated against, abused and sometimes even killed every day. It is the duty of Western democracies to become a model for these countries, as well as in many other issues concerning human rights.

First, however, there is still a lot to be done inside our own boundaries to

reach that aim.

In Northern Ireland there are special circumstances that affect the question of same-sex marriage. The DUP, the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, has a reputation of being an extremist anti-gay force.

Many of its members have showed an open rejection of everything related to gay rights and some of their public declarations have led to media scandals because of their extremism.

Moreover, according to some surveys, Ulster is the most religious part of the UK. In a society in which globalisation and multiculturalism are playing the main role in the definition of cultural identities, it is no longer possible for governments to adopt positions that don’t accept the variety and diversity of lifestyles and that don’t consider the possibility of a society built on dialogue and respect. This is of course, a long road that we have to walk step by step, because that’s the way society changes: little by little. When something is worth fighting for, eventually each of these little steps turns out to be worthy. And, for the gay marriage vote in Northern Ireland, this has been a successful defeat.

A successful defeat With the controversial same-sex marriage debate rising and reaching the Assembly in Northern Ireland, Enrique Anarte Lazo looks at the roots of the problem and the attitude towards it of the international community

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ast week, the Northern Ireland Assembly rejected a motion to introduce same-sex marriage in the province. Of the 94 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) present, 45 voted in support of this motion, but only three among them were Unionists. Nevertheless, considering that only three votes separated gay marriage supporters from approval, couldn’t we consider this as a breakthrough?

Marriage equality is a contemporary issue that politicians can no longer avoid. Year after year Gay Pride parades grow bigger and, at the same time, gay rights activists try to go further in their attempt to reach that utopian equality. Though in the past many of these events would have only been attended by the LGBTQ community, now we are getting used to seeing a growing number of heterosexuals who are also willing to fight for their cause.

The answer to the question of whether same-sex couples should be able to get married or not is not simple.

In countries like Ireland and Spain, in which the Catholic Church has had a history of strong influence and politi-

cal power, it is difficult to have a constructive debate leaving aside personal opinions and beliefs.

The Spanish discussion about this topic, for example, shows bi-directional steps. On the one hand, the Spanish Royal Academy, the official institution in charge of the regulation of the Spanish language, recently included in its dictionary the concept of samesex marriage. On the other hand, the recently elected conservative government is trying to revoke the law that currently allows for same-sex marriages because of its alleged unconstitutionality. The Supreme Court hasn’t pronounced itself on the matter yet.

The Spanish Constitution, nowadays widely criticised by the 15-M movement and many minor parties because of its many political irregularities, defines marriage as the union between a man and a woman.

Nonetheless, it was made more than 30 years ago, in a time in which no country had granted same-sex marriage rights. It wasn’t until 2001 that this first became law, in the Netherlands. Now the problem is whether laws should be adjusted to the real social situation, or should they stay the same just because they are part of

the Constitution?

To solve these problems in a satisfactory way, at least for the majority of the society, it is necessary to create a space of dialogue. That is why European democracies have always been an example to follow. This myth collapses, however, with topics like gay rights or abortion, which both require forgetting about theological and religious thinking, and focusing on legal, social and political arguments. Spain and Ireland are two obvious examples of the failure of the secular state for exactly this reason.

On the other side of the coin we have the case of Sweden. Not only have Swedish people created a model democracy and judiciary system, but they have also reached something that here is almost unbelievable. Since the first of November 2009, Swedish Christian priests have been allowed to wed same-sex couples. This looks somewhat less realistic or even likely when looking at the rest of Europe.

The opposition of Christian churches to homosexuality is not new, but neither are their arguments, which are mainly based on the medieval theology of Thomas Aquinas. Furthermore, most of the persecutions, tortures and murders

In sickness and in health With problems in the Department of Health leading to delays in plans for implementing universal health care, and insurance prices set to rise, Patrick Kelleher examines the situation we find ourselves in today

H

ealthcare is expensive.

It always has been, and luckily, Ireland is a country where free healthcare is provided for many people. This is not all it should or can be, and it often means long waiting lists, poor hospital facilities, and the shutting down of A&E services. On the other hand, wealthier people can afford private health insurance, allowing them to skip the queue and receive the best medical attention possible. While the public healthcare situation is in such a dire state, private insurance companies profit from those who can afford extra healthcare.

The recent resignation of Roisin Shortall as Junior Minister for Health shows just how serious the problems of the Department of Health are. Her resignation was down to Health Minister James

Reilly’s refusal to deal with ‘big ticket issues’. This shows a major problem with the health service, and it seems that even our Government representatives cannot formulate a solution to the problems Ireland is encountering.

Private health insurance has been around for a long time. It was a way for people who had more money to avail of better healthcare from more expensive doctors. It is advantageous for those with the money, but what about those who can’t afford it? Should they not be entitled to the same health services that other citizens are? It is, after all, a human right.

The problems with our health insurance policy are numerous. The most detrimental of these is that it has created a two-tiered society; one in which those with money can get better health service than those

who are not as privileged. It separates people into classes: the ‘private healthcare’ and the ‘state healthcare’ groups.

It’s undeniable that there is a need for change and recent statistics prove this. Since the recession hit, the numbers of people availing of health insurance fell drastically. In the two years from June 2010 to June 2012, 100,000 people dropped their health insurance. Over 16,000 of these alone dropped their insurance between the end of March and the end of June of this year. Since December 2008, there has been a decline of 7.6%. A clear pattern emerges from these figures: people just can’t afford health insurance anymore. Increasingly, families are struggling to put food on the table, let alone pay a health insurance bill every month.

This is on top of the fact that health insurance costs are set to rise,

although it’s not clear yet by how much. This is because, from January 1st 2013, a new risk equalisation scheme is to be put in place, which, according to the Health Insurance Authority (HIA) is a process that seeks to neutralise the cost of health insurance across all age profiles.

It will mean everyone with health insurance will pay the same price. It is understandable that families are getting worried about paying that bill, especially when there’s still uncertainty surrounding the cost of this monthly bill in January.

In the meantime, health insurance companies are profiting from the hardship of others. Yes, in return for money they guarantee better healthcare, but is this enough? Everyone pays taxes, and money from those taxes funds the public health service.

What’s happened in Ireland is that people with insurance are paying two charges: their private health insurance and also the public health service. The latter, in theory, is one that they have little reason to use.

It’s obvious to anyone who knows of the funding crisis surrounding the public health service that something needs to be done, and many things need to change if there is to be a health service that caters equally for everyone and one that is provided by the state. It is perhaps for this reason that the Government are looking to set up a universal health insurance system. This system would seek to give everyone in Ireland the same health coverage. It would mean no queue jumping and no special treatment because a patient has more

money than another. Those with less money would pay a small premium, and those with more money would pay a bigger fee.

However this system may pose problems. A similar system was adopted in the Netherlands in the 2006 health reforms, and according to the National Secretary of the IMPACT Trade Union, Louise O’Donnell, the move was poorly thought out. It created a three-tier system, and had left half a million people uninsured or defaulting on insurance payments.

Despite this, the Dutch system was ranked as being the best healthcare system in Europe in the 2009 Euro Health Consumer Index (EHCI).

This leads to the question of what should be done about the Irish health service. It is clear that the move for universal health insurance is a strong one, and has been motivated by the desire to decrease the influence of the money making racket that is private health care. On the other hand, the system could potentially be a failure, with the main issue being that many people can’t or won’t pay the premium they’re supposed to, leaving the system in a funding crisis.

Despite the dangers, universal health insurance still needs to become a reality. The health service in Ireland at the moment is not viable, and it is time to embrace change. A new system is always going to be a risk, but one thing is for sure, it can’t be much worse than the two-tiered system we have now that favours the rich over the poor.

8

COMMENT

The University Observer | 16 October 2012

Advertising attention

In the wake of an online controversy surrounding posters produced by the L&H, Conor Kevin O’Nolan talks about the phenomenon of selective outrage

E

very Thursday morning, UCD’s societies take part in the weekly poster run, a fierce competition for the few spaces left on the concourse to put up posters advertising themselves and events they are running during the week. Two different posters advertising debates on controversial topics were put up last week, both of them with an illustration depicting the debate motion.

One was advertising an L&H debate; ”This House Would Legalise Abortion? You decide!” with a stick figure throwing a baby into a bin in a parody of littering notices. Within hours there was an event on Facebook entitled “REMOVE L&H ABORTION POSTERS”, with hundreds of people invited and auditors of societies, captains of sports teams and UCD Students’ Union college conveners encouraged to spread this event as far as possible. If you took a walk down the concourse the day after, some of the posters had been defaced with ink and tape, and while not as drastic as expected, it was an unusually vigorous and physical reaction by the normally apathetic students of UCD. The other poster was put up by Lawsoc, with “This House Would Legalise Assisted Suicide” accompanied with a cartoon of two people apparently helping each other end their lives, with it being made look as simple as flicking off a switch or unzipping a zip. There were no suggestions online that this poster

should be removed, and no events complaining about it. Assisted suicide is a controversial issue, one that shouldn’t be trivialised by a cartoon on a poster either. Despite this, the callous treatment of the subject was still ignored by the masses who were busy seething over another poster.

One of the many arguments presented on the Facebook event was that people who have been affected by abortion should not have to see this sort of thing while walking through campus. However, no one has bothered to mention that the posters put up by Lawsoc might affect someone who has been affected by a relative seeking the right to die. It might seem like a thoroughly less significant issue in Ireland, but a former law lecturer from UCD is currently at odds with the state over her right to have her partner assist her in death should she not be able to complete suicide herself. It’s not that far a reach of the imagination that a number of students on campus have watched an incapacitated relative die despite wishing to at least have the option to die with dignity.

After the ‘Kony2012’ campaign earlier this year, it became apparent that some people’s involvement in certain types of activism is done out of some bizarre need stand for something without actually thinking critically about the matter at hand. The probability that a large enough number of students were offended by the poster to justify the outrage caused is slim. The vast

A completely irrelevant picture for the sake of emotional manipulation majority of people joining the event to support the removal of the posters were probably persuaded that they should feel a certain way about it because of the ire it drew from their peers.

If someone has had an abortion, they could possibly have been affected by the crudeness of the poster, and they themselves have a right to complain. The reality of the reaction to the poster, however, is that there were a large number of people postulating about how someone could theoretically react to it. If roles were reversed and the posters about assisted suicide were the topic of the internet’s outrage, there’d have been a fantastic number of people, angrily writing about something that most of them have never been affected by.

People’s reactions to situations like this are incredibly blinkered. When one person does something: it’s fine.

But when another does it, as long as one person starts shouting loud enough, it’s outrageous and needs to be stopped immediately. People reacting to things selectively is nothing new and it doesn’t just happen on campus.

One of the more high profile incidents of this happening in recent times

was a campaign by the pro-life organisation Youth Defence. Youth Defence have always been fairly consistent in their message that abortion should never be legalised in Ireland and have been actively hindering people’s access to abortion abroad by picketing family planning clinics for years. This summer they ran a massive ad campaign essentially saying that there is always a better solution than abortion, and that as well as killing the foetus, it can have lasting psychological damage to the mother.

Among the many complaints made about the campaign was that it was emotionally manipulative. However Youth Defence are not the only organisation who routinely manipulate people’s emotions to further their causes.

There’s currently an ad campaign being run by the Jack and Jill Foundation, showing a mother holding her child, holding a sign saying “Will my child stay in hospital or come home?

You decide.” with a number below for you to directly donate to the charity by text. Barnados, Trócaire and the Irish Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Children, amongst many others are all guilty of similar tactics.

It would be completely unfair to imply that these charities are not deserving of support, but when the one organisation gets singled out for its marketing strategy and others are allowed to do essentially the same thing with no backlash, the argument makes no sense.

People should react to things, they should make their voices heard, but they should make their voices heard in such a way that the people listening will actually think about what they’re saying rather than mindlessly agree.

People shouldn’t feel the need to be offended on someone’s behalf, no one other than a person who has been directly affected by abortion will know how they feel about a poster crudely representing abortion. Similarly, shock imagery is not limited to those trying to illicit controversy. Previous victims of child abuse will almost certainly support the efforts of charity like the ISPCC, but do you know for certain whether an image of a beaten child will draw up horrible memories for them? Either way, you don’t see anyone complaining when charities use the same ways to promote themselves that the L&H did.

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The University Observer | 16 October 2012

FEATURES

9

fighting to maintain the contribution charge while at the same time coming under equal criticism for not being radical enough and not fighting hard enough. We get criticised for spending students money and being paid to do the job and spending money on activities, but at the same time, this year we’ve spent very small amounts of money, but you have a perception there that the students’ union are spending a lot on things that maybe individual students don’t prioritise.”

“I think you also get criticised for the fact things don’t happen overnight.

That’s very understandable and reasonable. They expect that when negative decisions are made overnight, like the closure of the bar or the library opening hours, that change should happen straight away. That’s one that I’m much more understanding of because I can see where it’s coming from. We have to follow procedures, and unfortunately those do not happen overnight. You can’t jump from hearing information into radical campaign.”

Some of these criticisms are the first to come up, when The University Observer looked for a snapshot of students’ views on campus. One final

consensus seems to be that without a Union, UCD would be a much worse place for students to be. Breslin, more than anyone, is certain of this fact.

“I think almost every aspect of UCD would be different without a union because the we sit on representative bodies, the academic councils, the programme boards, the governing authority and make inputs every day that are preventative. A lot of what you see the union do is reactive but it’s also at one of those committees when something comes up saying, ‘I don’t think that’s okay’ before it gets any further; you halt it and that’s something students don’t see, nor should they have to, it’s our job. I can’t even imagine some of the negative effects that that would have or some of the measures that would have come into place but I think, almost every aspect of UCD life has been influenced by the Students’ Union… As well, you can’t put a price on enthusiasm and that’s something that the Students’ Union will have if we’re fighting a battle with the college or the state that they’re never going to be able to equal.”

Guiney, too, backs her up, saying: “The University, we’ve a good relationship with them, but they like doing their own thing and they don’t like telling the Union at all. You need representation. People who are in their 40s and 50s are not going to be engaged with students as people who are going to be 18-22 or who have just graduated.”

A Business and Law second year picked up on the importance of the Union when it comes to University matters, despite her lack involvement in the SU in her time in UCD. “It’s easy to be critical of the small things, but I think we do need them there bring things to the college or government and tell them what we want or need.

Small groups wouldn’t have much effect and wouldn’t get the same respect at that level. Whether that’s worth the money in their budget every year, I’m not sure, but that’s another issue entirely. That’s more a matter of better management.”

Wong makes the point, as well as representation with the University and the State, the Union provide services that largely go unnoticed. “Many people that complain about X, Y, and Z gloss over the services which the SU successfully provide and this is because they have been established for so long it just feels as if the college offers it all without consultation… Even if you are anti-SU, pro-SU or don’t really care about the SU you should factor in the pros as well, even if there are cons.”

While many still argue that the Union are useless, irrelevant or simply a waste of resources, it seems the general consensus from those at all levels of involvement with the Union, is that students would be worse off without them there. Whether or not they believe that the Union is representative, people prefer to know that there is someone there to look after their needs, should they ever require such a service. There are still problems, but the Union acknowledged all of the many concerns and criticisms of its electorate as ones they are aware of, and working on.

“One way or another,” the Law UCR concludes, “The Students’ Union hasn’t really done any tangible bad. If you take one free condom a year and you’ve construed some benefit from the Union.

I know you’ve paid a bit for it but who cares. Realistically, the Union is very cheap for what you get out of it.”

Observer Features features@universityobserver.ie

State of the Union With a new sabbatical team settled into the Students’ Union corridor, and class rep training just over, Aoife Valentine looks at student representation on campus

I

t is likely that the average student on campus will have heard a hundred negative things about UCD Students’ Union for every positive they hear. That is, unless they are heavily involved with the union itself, or have close friends who are. The general perception, at least at a quick glance, is that the Union isn’t all that useful to students, or that it’s simply a way for baby politicians to get some elected experience onto their CVs. Half these students are unaware that many of the services they use throughout the year such as the shops or the second hand book store are run by the Students’ Union, or that the Union regularly weigh in on University decisions on anything from library opening hours to the number of counsellors there are in the Health Centre. The rest know all this, and still feel completely disconnected from the Union, despite it being the body designed to represent them.

A large majority of students remain largely oblivious to the Union’s presence until they’re being physically pushed to the ballot box to vote in the elections in March. For a minority however, the Union is where they have met some of their closest friends and spent more time than they ever have in class, working with one of the campaign crews or as an elected official representing their class or school. The average students’ view of the Union, it seems, is largely tainted by how involved they have become in it.

The Students’ Union is an elected body within UCD, currently made up of five sabbatical officers, eight executive officers, and just over 100 class representatives. It was set up with the intention to act as a voice for students, to represent their needs and defend their interests. Students’ Union President Rachel Breslin explains how this is structured: “The Students’ Union has different pillars. There’s the campaigning pillar, the representation pillar and the services pillar. The representation pillar is where we filter up from on-the-ground students up through our reps, up through council, up through exec, through the sabbats, and bring them to the relevant people.

Also we provide services. I see the Welfare Officer’s almost main job as being a service, as that service isn’t provided by the college in terms of a peer support and the education officer likewise. We also provide services like Clever Cuisine, or the shops. The campaigning pillar is kind of linked to the representation pillar, but it’s the one that goes out and does awareness campaigns or the national campaigns.”

Students’ Union Campaigns and Communications (C&C) Officer Paddy Guiney echoes this sentiment: “The point of the Students’ Union is that it represents students. It’s an independent body from the college itself and it’s a union that represents students and campaigns for their issues and looks after their needs and that’s over a variety of areas… The most important aspect of that isn’t the Sabbatical Officers, not the Exec, it’s the Union Class Reps (UCR).

They’re the direct link between us and every single year group in UCD. If students don’t get involved, we don’t have a link to that class. They’re not going to be as represented.”

This year however, has seen only 50% of the available UCR seats filled for first Union Council, which took place last week. With so many seats vacant, many classes are now, as was

Guiney’s concern, left without a direct link to the Union. UCDSU Arts College Convenor Declan Clear is quite realistic when it comes to the SU’s reach: “They do represent students… I do think it’s important. It does provide valuable service but I’m not going to say every single student benefits from the SU because they don’t.”

As per the C&C brief, Guiney ran a full ‘Run for Class Rep’ campaign, urging students to run to become a member of council. However, despite being hounded by their College Convenors and many classes being lecture-addressed by Guiney, in a large number of cases, students could not be convinced to get involved. Breslin reacted to these results, saying: “The Union is making efforts to show that we want you. If you don’t want to run for election, you can join a crew…

I think it’s just important to get involved. I’m always very conscious that some students would never want to get involved with the SU and it wouldn’t be for them. You do have to take ownership of your experience of college and that’s what getting involved is; it’s taking ownership.”

Such a large number of seats left

to blame for the current situation.

“Due to the negative press UCDSU has received over current issues, that has made the Union lose a lot of face. If you don’t have faith in an organisation to avoid a situation like that [the Union’s €1.42 million debt], who would want to invest time and effort into it?”

Clear is certain too, that the Union’s perception is part of the reason for consistently low turnouts. “A lot of students see the SU as a big party fraternity and that it’s a big clique. I don’t think we have a 100% approval rate of the students. There is apathy, and I suppose even myself, I’ve been anti-SU in the past… I felt that if you couldn’t beat them, join them and work your way in.”

Can an organisation with seemingly quite little confidence from its electorate then claim to be representing what students actually want?

Breslin points out that the Union make concerted efforts to have their UCRs consult their constituents, as well as holding occasional ‘town hall’ meetings, in order to ensure they’re not just representing “a vocal minority”. The Law UCR however, had a different view: “What makes it representative is the fact that everyone has a chance

“You never see them, except when they need you to provide numbers. The government would take none of their national campaigns seriously if only the elected people showed up.

They make you pay for a t-shirt to go out and make almost no difference year on year. Half the time I think it’s just so we don’t go mad at them for doing nothing. They know they’re not changing much with their marches.” unfilled coupled with a low voter turnout, year on year, could very easily be construed as a sign of disengagement with what students want, especially when you factor in how hard both the class rep and sabbatical campaigns are pushed every year. One Economics and Politics student commented saying: “I don’t really care. I have never voted in any of my rep elections, or the big ones where they’re all over the place. They do what they do, and fair play, but very little of it seems relevant. I just don’t pay any attention. I don’t think my vote makes a difference, and I’m not sure that they do either. I just don’t see the point.”

Breslin herself admits that they are aware that this is an issue facing the Union: “It is a problem, and something that we really need to look at. It certainly must be a sign of disillusionment.” In contrast, a newly elected UCR in the Law faculty commented that: “I’ve seen how much those Officers think and work and try to get people involved in the Union so I don’t blame the SU for the disengagement.”

Last year’s Science Programme Officer (now known as Convenors), Chris Wong believes that past Union’s actions are

to be represented. The vast majority of students do choose not to vote in those elections. The people who claim the SU isn’t representative just aren’t seeking representation. When people say it’s not representative, I think what they mean is if all the people who are too cool to vote had actually voted; someone else would have got in. That’s probably a fair point. I think a lot of the time ‘hacks’ get in because 100% of hacks vote but only 4% of students vote.”

A final year Commerce student however, commented that: “I know they always bring discussion topics at council to talk about and decide on but my rep has never asked my class’ opinion on any of them. I don’t know how they can claim to represent our opinion if they never ask.”

Breslin feels that some of the criticisms levelled at the Union, while understandable to an extent, are not always entirely fair. “We get criticised for being unrealistic in terms of

year law student stated: “You never see them, except when they need you to provide numbers. The government would take none of their national campaigns seriously if only the elected people showed up. They make you pay for a t-shirt to go out and make almost no difference year on year. Half the time I think it’s just so we don’t go mad at them for doing nothing. They know they’re not changing much with their marches.”

A second year medicine student quickly picked up on the financial criticisms: “I think the Education Officer and Welfare Officer do actually provide services that some students really need. The Union gets some good things done, but mostly it just seems to spend too much money on things that only matter to a small number of students. Especially when you see how much debt it has racked up, and when you see the bar still closed, you really wonder what it is they’re doing. What is the point if all they seem to do is waste money, but not really give you back anything?”

Regardless of these criticisms, whether involved in the Union or so far removed they couldn’t name a single SU Officer, the

10

FEATURES

The University Observer | 16 October 2012

Outside society Following a report on the living conditions of the Travelling Community, Dairiona Ryan looks at what is being done to improve the lives of those living on the margins of Irish society

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or hundreds of years, travellers have been widely acknowledged as one of the most marginalised and disadvantaged groups in Irish society. Today there are approximately 27,000 travellers living in Ireland, fairing poorly on every indicator used to measure disadvantage from unemployment, poverty and social exclusion; not limited to illiteracy, education and training levels. It is not surprising therefore, that the Economic and Social Research Institute concluded that: “The circumstances of the Irish travelling people are intolerable. No humane and decent society, once made aware of such circumstances, could permit them to persist”. The ESRI also stated that Irish travellers are “a uniquely disadvantaged group: impoverished, under-educated, often despised and ostracised, they live on the margins of Irish society.”

Traveller rights and support groups such as the Irish Traveller Movement have been fighting for their recognised equality in our society for years. As traveller issues have been put on the human rights agenda and as laws have been introduced, settled traveller and father Martin Collins from Pavee Point says: “We have grown in confidence as a community, and we are a lot more demanding in asserting our rightful place in this society.”

The first phase of a clear and explicit government response to the travellers in Ireland can be linked to the Report of the Commission on Itinerancy in 1963.

The Commission set out “to enquire into the problem arising from the presence in the country of itinerants in considerable numbers; to examine the economic, educational, health and social problems inherent in their way

of life”. In order to provide a better way of life for travellers the Commission undertook “to promote their absorption into the general community.”

The starting point for the Commission was that itinerancy was a problem to be eliminated, and rehabilitation, settlement and integration were the means for achieving this. Travellers were viewed as a problem and were frequently referred to as being in need of charity rather than rights.

The most public and controversial area where anti-Traveller discrimination arises is in relation to the provision of accommodation. Local authorities and resident associations are accused by travellers and traveller support groups of turning the accommodation issue into a political football. Taking the Phil Hogan case two weeks ago, this is a perfect example of how elected local councillors from all political approaches are keenly aware that their political survival depends on the support of local residents who easily outnumber travellers.

This issue highlights the underlying contradiction of the ‘settlement’ project. It also raises to us the question: should we be restructuring our political system to take local issues out of our elected Ministers and TDs hands to allow them to focus more on matters of national importance? Are we undermining ourselves in creating laws upon laws to ensure societal equality, when our government representatives do not demonstrate these themselves?

The deplorable living circumstances of many travellers because of the lack of suitable accommodation is a crucial factor in the poor health of travellers. The life expectancy of travellers is far below the national average while traveller infant mortality is more than twice

that of the majority population. These realities, combined with a failure to address them comprehensively, are seen by politicised travellers and traveller support groups as other manifestations of institutional racism.

Having said this, when speaking to Collins, the question came up as to whether he felt there was a willingness amongst travellers to want to merge into and conform to society’s norms.

He believed that we needed to move away from a notion of uniformity, conformity and any ideals that we live a homogeneous society and instead that it we need to “support the full inclusion and integration of travellers into Irish society, in a manner that respects each other’s cultures, each other’s histories and each other’s traditions.”

This perhaps brings to us a notion of birds of a feather flocking together;

that we as a society simply do not know enough to understand or relate to the traveller way of life, and therefore treat them with an increased hostility. Rather than creating more equality laws, perhaps we should be going back to the fundamentals of how law works. What is a law if it is not abided by? In our common law legal system, we are a society who shapes our laws and then are shaped by the laws. If true integration is desired Collins suggested, celebrating rather than conforming is the way forward. Compromise is essential, and in order for this to occur we must also be educated to increase empathy for this discriminated minority. Then, and only then, can we truly call ourselves a diverse society in celebrating all the cultures Ireland has to offer.

The marginalisation of travellers in Irish society is acknowledged by people

of varying political positions and approaches. Past policies, while designed to overcome this marginalisation, have sometimes worsened the situation because of a failure to grasp the nature of the oppression experienced by travellers. In particular, the denial of discrimination and racism, that contributed to that marginalisation.

In order to address this situation there is need for a comprehensive approach involving statutory and voluntary bodies. Legislation, information, and awareness campaigns are needed to protect people and to overcome obstacles to equality. In the context of a growing acknowledgement of the dangers of racism throughout the European Union, there is an additional incentive and opportunity to face up to this challenge in Ireland, as well as throughout Europe.

can’s dream with Diageo promoting your local as one of the hot spots to celebrate the day. Some, however, may have taken the slogan ‘Paint the town black’ a little too far, with complaints among hospitals and Gardaí of having to deal with the spillover effects from the event. The effects of a masterful advertising campaign on levels of consumption are clear.

Events such as this may be restricted as some of the recommendations featured in the report are the introduction of minimum pricing, regulations on alcohol advertising and the phasing out of alcohol sponsorship. Community and Health Officer for the GAA Colin Reagan says that: “They have to be looked upon as a collective stance and it does need a multi-level approach like that, to have an impact on a culture which is a very difficult thing to change. So I think any policy that has to be implemented can’t just be targeted at one sector but looked at the population as a whole and I think the tendency of the adult population of Ireland to simply look at problem drinking as an issue that is relevant only to young people. I think is a case of maybe not facing up to the full facts.”

Critics of the report argue that it does not tackle the misuse of alcohol but merely alcohol consumption in general. According to the minority

report released by the ABFI, alcohol consumption has fallen 17% in the last decade. Acting Director of the ABFI Jean Doyle points out: “We’re not drinking any more than a lot of other countries in Europe. It’s just that we tend in our drinking to drink more on the one occasion and that is a problem and it’s a health problem.

We are coming down to mid-levels but it’s how we’re drinking.”

One of the most controversial elements of the report is the phasing out of sponsorship by the alcohol industry of sports and other large public events by 2016. Concerns have been voiced about this aspect happening too quickly and the effects it would have on sports funding.

“I think that would be really a very negative move.” Says Doyle, “The consequences of this could be you would penalise the Irish sports organisations, festival events, community events, all of that and it won’t actually do anything especially if you are looking at any type of international, say, sporting fixture.

I think it could certainly as well cut off a very important source of funding,” According to Reagan: “Over the last number of years, the GAA

would have taken a number of steps in relation to its engagement with alcohol. It obviously has a long and successful partnership with Guinness as sponsors of the Hurling Championship. A number of years ago, Guinness was moved as being the title sponsor to just one of three in the hurling championship alone and one of nearly 14 sponsors that the association has across all league and championship competitions. So it has already removed a direct relationship with Guinness. Beyond just a sponsorship model, the association has put in place, the ASAP Program, the alcohol and substance abuse prevention program, since 2006 it’s been up and running within the GAA and it’s a joint initiative with the HSE.” Former Minister McDowell’s initiative to tackle binge drinking recommended licenses for European style café-bars but the idea never proceeded due to a number of objections. However, cheap drink has now made drinking at home one of the biggest problems in Irish drinking

habits. Lack of a controlled drinking environment has made it more difficult to realise the volume of alcohol people are consuming.

According to Reagan: “I think a lot of commentators in the area of alcohol education prevention and response would be happy to see it return to the traditional model of consumption in a licensed premises where measures are defined, people know exactly what they are drinking, it’s done in a more social environment over perhaps a longer period of time.”

Only time will tell whether the new Minister, Alex White will remain as determined as his predecessor to see the bill through. Most are not denying that Irish people need to change the way they approach their celebrations but it remains to be seen whether stricter measures can really change the role alcohol plays in Irish society.

A drink too far?

With Róisín Shortall’s resignation creating uncertainty around the government’s alcohol misuse strategy, Isobel Fergus explores the possible impact of the strategy

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t’s no secret that many Irish people have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol. As part of our national stereotype, alcohol has begun to define us as a people. The recent departure of Junior Minister for Health Róisín Shortall raises the question of whether the government strategy to crackdown on the misuse of alcohol will be delayed further.

The report released in February by the Steering Group has shed light on some alarming statistics.

According to the report, alcohol was responsible for at least 88 deaths per month in 2008, and alcohol related illnesses cost the health sector €1.2 billion in 2007. However, in response to the report, the Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland (ABFI) released a minority report highlighting the 62,000 jobs the drinks industry supports throughout the country and the €2 billion it provides in taxation annually. In these harsh economic times, there is an ongoing battle between the revenue that the drinks industry supplies to the cash starved exchequer and the problems that alcohol misuse costs the state.

In just four years, Arthur’s Day has become the second St. Patrick’s Day bringing in huge revenue and big names. The event is a publi-

The University Observer | 16 October 2012

FEATURES

11

Emigration nation With the emigration wheel again turning, Sean Finnan looks at the impact of emigration on the relationship between the state and citizen

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n the 12 months leading to April, the number of Irish people leaving the island was estimated to be at 46,500. This is an increase of about 6,000 from the year before. In 1989 Ireland saw over 44,000 people leave the country for foreign lands according to the ESRI, but that marked the highest the rate of emigration got during the recession at that time. In terms of comparing our present situation to the previous grievances of emigration, this chapter has already been written.

According to the 1996 census, 207,951 people resident in the state had lived outside the state for one year or more. This figure rose to 329,836 in 2002 and again rose to 778,577 in the 2006 census. Although these figures give no insight into reasons for leaving the state and how long the individual has been away, there is a huge suggestion that when the nation can support its numbers, many would rather remain here.

Comments by Minister for Finance earlier this year in which he stated that emigration is “not being driven by unemployment at home… it’s being driven by a desire to see another part of the world and live there” do not reflect the reality of emigration.

“I plan to travel home,” says Claire Mullen, a UCD graduate now living in Perth, Australia. “I’ve been here two and a half years so in the next two years I hope to travel home.

Well, not necessarily back to Ireland but maybe to Europe, to England.

Hopefully in the next two years things will pick up and there will be work in Ireland. But if not I’ll just go to Europe, it’s much closer to home anyway.”

This is but a reflection of the government’s attitude to emigration.

Since the beginning of the crisis, the government has become more engaged with the diaspora abroad through The Global Irish Economic Forum. One of the plans of the forum is to see Irish expatriates sit on the boards of state bodies and offer their expertise for free, while another is The Gathering, set to take place in the coming year.

The Gathering wishes to showcase the country to the Irish diaspora and hopefully extract as much as it can from their pockets. At the same time, thousands of young people are leaving, possibly sharing flights with wealthy ancestors. The state for all its investment

in a yearlong homecoming, ignores the leaving party, not even offering them as little as the opportunity to vote abroad.

The future promises that they may need their support but for the moment this dependence is easily ignored.

Noreen Bowden of GlobalIrish. ie spoke to the University Observer on the issue of emigrants having the opportunity to vote abroad. “Our constitution says that citizens all around the world are actually entitled to be part of the Irish nation but we haven’t really come to terms with that…

Allowing emigrants to vote would increase their level of engagement in the country, and this would be a positive thing at a time when Ireland needs all the help it can get. I believe it’s a necessity from a democratic perspective. Emigrants are affected by a whole range of policies in Ireland; some that affect their chances of return such as the economy and spousal immigration laws, for example. Others have an impact on their lives overseas: the emigrant support budget, the level of consular support available in their new countries, broadcasting policy, pension levels for those who worked in Ireland and are entitled to an Irish pension. Many are paying Irish taxes on properties they own back in Ireland. There’s no one charged with speaking up for overseas citizens in the Dáil so their perspective is utterly unrepresented.”

“Sometimes those who oppose emigrant voting rights make the argu-

Often the argument is made that emigrants should not be allowed to vote because they don’t pay taxes.

Taxation however, does not equal citizenship. Another argument denying the vote to the Irish abroad is that they are not politically in-tune, yet with advancements in technology, it means it’s as easy to be aware of current affairs in Dublin as it is in New York. The voice of emigrants is effectively hushed.

Despite them occupying a kind of inter-state existence with one eye at home, analysing the situation until it is suitable to return home and another in their adopted country, yet in both, their influence on society is denied.

“I left home for a couple of reasons but mainly for work,” says Mullen. “I couldn’t get a job at home. I finished my masters in UCD in structural engineering in 2009 and I was at home for about seven months and couldn’t get a job. I did want to travel as well for experience so this was a good reason to get away. I definitely think they should [have a postal vote]. I think they should have postal votes because there was a lot of stuff in the past we had no control over and also in the future for people who want to travel home, their voice should be heard, especially because of the sheer volume of people that are now outside of Ireland and looking to go back home.”

The impact of technology is the key to change for this situation. The distance between home and abroad in some respects is now the distance

going to use the old argument that people cannot keep in touch with what is going on,” says Bowden. The second thing as well is that we have a very highly educated cohort going out. People are going to have expectations about how their relationship with their country should be. There is an increasing awareness as well of the number of countries that have moved in the last twenty or thirty years to allow their own expats the right to vote.

Ireland is going to become increasingly isolated in not allowing its expats the right to vote.”

Another former UCD student Kate Rothwell, now working in Switzerland, speaks of the impact of technology on her emigration experience. “I think that it has a huge impact. There’s really not the same sense, at least for me, of being cut off, or homesickness.

I used to find that if I came home after

ment that they shouldn’t vote because they’re not affected by the policies made by the government,” continued Bowden. “But this is untrue.

Instead the reality is that emigrants are affected by these policies, but the policy-makers aren’t accountable to them, and have no incentive to consider the effects of their policies on overseas citizens.”

from your nearest internet connection.

Politically interested emigrants can tap into the networks of Irish people abroad whether it is Facebook or some other site in creating a political entity capable of achieving their right to vote.

“If you have the technology which is going to keep people more in touch than ever before, it’s just going to become inconceivable that we are

being away for a few months, I’d have the feeling that I should have a load of news to share but then I’d Skyped my mother the day before so they already knew everything. Sometimes that makes it a bit more difficult to move on, in other circumstances as well, people are calling home the whole time. Generally I found it a lot easier to stay in touch with family and friends,

photo by lauren conway

“Sometimes those who oppose emigrant voting rights make the argument that they shouldn’t vote because they’re not affected by the policies made by the government, but this is untrue. Instead the reality is that emigrants are affected by these policies, but the policy-makers aren’t accountable to them, and have no incentive to consider the effects of their policies on overseas citizens.”

to organise with them what I’m going to do when I’m coming back, and even for the likes of Facebook, where my parents can see and say: ‘Oh look, she’s out, she’s having a good time’. I think the little updates of my life, even if I’m not in touch the whole time and obviously you’ve got to monitor that as well… it makes the world a much smaller place. That sounds corny but it’s true.”

Support services for emigrants are hard to come by in Ireland. Are they really needed however is a difficult question to assess. The Council for Emigrants of the Irish Catholic Bishop’s Conference provides support to those emigrating by offering information on host destinations, numbers of support services, liaising with other migrant network groups for the needs of migrants, etc. The lack of support services by the Government though is perhaps unsurprising.

“Obviously you could say that they could provide more jobs but that’s a very complex issue in itself,” says Rothwell. “I think if there was a more positive attitude towards foreign language learning. There are huge issues with the way languages are taught in secondary schools and that’s something again that’s being cut back and cut back…

There isn’t enough competence or even confidence in language learning. I think if more of us had that, if we had a second language which we felt a little more strongly about, then a lot more of us could go to Germany, to France or wherever, where you wouldn’t be that far away. They would be a Ryanair flight away rather than those who unfortunately feel that no, I’ve got to go to Australia, I’ve got to go to New Zealand, to Canada and again, there are a lot going there because it’s an adventure, but it’s a huge investment to go that far. If it doesn’t work, then people are stuck. I think one way to help, or at least reduce that is to take a second look at foreign language learning.”

Currently 18,900 Irish people have emigrated to the United Kingdom this year according to CSO figures ,with the number growing daily. The number of Irish people in London is believed to be reaching the one million mark, making London the second biggest Irish city in terms of Irish residents.

The two cities have never been closer with dozens of daily flights between Dublin and London, cheaper than that of a train to Cork. Yet, as of last month, RTE closed down its London headquarters.

With the importance and interest of Irish people having often been intrinsically tied with Britain’s capital, now when the city is a direct personal interest for even more Irish families, commuters and emigrants the decision to close it is but another reflection of the State and its bodies’ indifferent attitude to the Irish Abroad.

In a recent Ipsos MRBI/Irish Times survey, 72% of respondents said they would prefer to return home.

Ireland at the moment is losing the most educated generation that it ever possessed thanks to the free third level education provided by previous governments. The dynamisms of youth are being lost in Ireland to other states worldwide. Ireland’s youngest generation is being denied not only a political say due to their lack of vote but the chances to develop Irish society anew from the corruption that burned through Ireland for the past 40 years.

However, the phoenix has emigrated and we are left with the burnt out ideals that dominated turning the wheel again.

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FEATURES

The University Observer | 16 October 2012

Meaning of life With the island’s first clinic offering abortions being opened in Belfast, Cathal Coghlan looks at the moral and social implications of abortion

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ccording to the Feminist Majority Foundation’s 2005 National Clinic Violence Survey, 18.4% of clinics in the US suffered “severe violence” by anti-abortionists including “includes blockades, invasions, arsons, bombings, chemical attacks, stalking, gunfire, physical assaults, and threats of death, bomb, or arson.”

One can question the fairness of the label ‘pro-life’ that is given to the aggressors with these statistics in mind, but what is unquestionable is that the abortion debate is still a high profile and pertinent problem in society.

ous process, that said, it is reasonable to argue that the foetus from the moment of conception meets the criteria of a living entity to a greater extent than a skin cell or single sperm. The absolute dependence of the foetus on its mother means it cannot meet the criteria of an independent living entity, so scientifically one cannot prove that it is a human being, as humans are not dependent on a single host.”

One of the major criticisms of the idea potentiality is that it leads to the conclusion that male masturbation is immoral because sperm have the potential to become human beings if put through the correct

the anti-abortionists aren’t fighting for greater personal sacrifice to the health service.

Abortions don’t have to kill the foetus; they can simply allow the foetus to die by taking away what it parasitically depends on to survive.

This is where a foetus differs from a newborn child; the former is critically dependent on the mother, the newborn child is not. A newborn child also has the capacity to feel pain; neurobiological research suggests foetuses don’t even have the capacity to feel pain until twentynine weeks at earliest. This is after the legal limit of how far into a pregnancy one can get an abortion

“I would support the present situation whereby we don’t have direct abortion in Ireland but we also have the safest maternal health care system in the world,” says Quinn. “That is, the lowest number of deaths as a result of pregnancy in the world so therefore we have a win-win, both the unborn children win and the mothers win.”

However, is this the best measurement to deduce affects of abortion in society? According to the Department of Health in England and Wales in 2010, a total of 16,460 resident women under the age of 18 had an abortion. One can only wonder how many of these girls were saved from living on benefits, dropping out of education, having to give up their life plans and suffering various psychological problems due quite simply to the abortion they had.

In Ireland, abortion is illegal except in the case where the primary intention is to save the woman’s life, but due to previous government’s f loundering on the issue, this is largely ambivalent. The UK’s Department of Health says in the same report that 4,402 residents of the Republic of Ireland travelled to England or Wales in 2010 to have an abortion. The IFPA reports that between January 1980 and December 2011, at least 150,000 women travelled out of the Republic of Ireland to have a safe abortion abroad.

It would appear the illegality of

marginal children who were not born as a result of abortion legalisation would have systematically been born into less favourable circumstances if the pregnancies had not been terminated: they would have been 60% more likely to live in a single parent household, 50% more likely to live in poverty, 45% more likely to be in a household collecting welfare, and 40% more likely to die during the first year of life.”

Spokesperson for Pro-Choice Ireland, Sinead Ahern says: “As a statute, banning of abortion doesn’t work. Huge amounts of evidence worldwide suggests that countries that do have a total ban on abortion, do see the women just travelling to different jurisdictions as we see here; or, what’s much more concerning, in countries where women can’t travel for reasons of finances or geography, that women are dying as a result of backstreet abortions.”

Women will get abortions, legal or not, immoral or not. It is in their best interests that they be able to access them freely and safely.

So in favour of limiting the ‘sanctity of life’ right, England has decreased harm through underground abortions, arguably decreased social crisis through unwanted babies, and increased happiness for the mother through control of her body. Does sanctity of life hold any advantages?

Some argue that the legalisation of abortions will cause people to care less about using contraceptives.

“As a statute, banning of abortion doesn’t work. Huge amounts of evidence worldwide suggests that countries that do have a total ban on abortion, do see the women just travelling to different jurisdictions as we see here; or, what’s much more concerning, in countries where women can’t travel for reasons of finances or geography, that women are dying as a result of backstreet abortions.”

The main Pro-Life argument used is that the unborn foetus has a right to life. “Life begins at conception” is quite a big phrase among them, predominately among certain Christian denominations such as the Catholic Church.

The University Observer spoke to Irish Independent columnist and vocal spokesperson on the topic of abortion, David Quinn on the issue.

“It seems to me that it’s unarguable that from the moment of conception you have a human life. Irrespective of what your opinion might be, it’s very hard to see how we’re not dealing with a human life that has, genetically, everything that he will ever have from the moment of conception.”

There are two ways in which the phrase ‘life begins at conception’ can be interpreted: the literal and then the medical interpretation. The literal interpretation is false; life is a continuous process, it has not begun per se in the billions of years so far as we know. The sperm and ovum that form a zygote are alive; life no more begins at conception than when an amoeba asexually reproduces by splitting in two.

If we infer the phrase to mean that the genetic information, for what has the potential to become a fully-grown adult, is fully formed during the process of conception then the statement is true. The question that follows from this is: so what? We have the fully formed genetic information of a human that is so small you can’t even see it. Any given skin cell on your body contains your fully formed genetic information. They die all the time and it’s not considered immoral. This is where the anti-abortionists will appeal to the argument of potentiality.

A zygote has the potential to become and live a full human life and this means it should be treated as a human; thus, they argue, to abort it is murder.

Practising consultant in the Royal Free Hospital, Dr Gerard Coghlan, offered a medical and scientific perspective on the matter: “No one can create life as life is a continu-

processes. In exactly the same way, zygote will only become a human being if put through the correct processes, and masturbation is actively preventing the sperm from being put through the correct processes, as abortion prevents a foetus from being put through the correct processes to bring it to birth.

Even if we do assume a foetus has the right to life, there is further disagreement about the lengths we should go to protect it. This is the question of whether or not someone’s right to life supersedes another’s rights to their own body.

Philosopher Judith Jarvis Thomson in her essay A Defence of Abortion, which William Parent claims is “the most widely reprinted essay in all of contemporary philosophy”, presents some interesting thought experiments. Here is one of them: “You wake up in the morning and find yourself back to back in bed with an unconscious violinist.

He has been found to have a fatal kidney ailment, and the Society of Music Lovers has canvassed all the available medical records and found that you alone have the right blood type to help. They have therefore kidnapped you, and last night the violinist’s circulatory system was plugged into yours, so that your kidneys can be used to extract poisons from his blood as well as your own. ... To unplug you would be to kill him. But never mind, it’s only for nine months. By then he will have recovered from his ailment, and can safely be unplugged from you.”

Does the violinist have the right to be a parasite off your body for nine months? You did not agree to be hooked up to him; likewise a woman does not consent to a foetus feeding off her body for nine months (tacit consent is not given by the act of sex to a possible result of it, by analogy one does not agree to getting STDs by performing unsafe sex). If the ‘right to life’ and ‘sanctity of life’ arguments are to be taken seriously in respect to foetuses then they must extend to the famous violinist, drawing questions of why

in places like the UK and the Netherlands. The claim that abortions cause foetal pain is a myth.

It is clear from even the briefest glance at prominent thinkers and countries’ laws that the extent to which the right to life should be brought to is a heavily disputed question. In the US for example, they believe it ends at people who commit abhorrent crimes, so they can execute them; in Ireland, it apparently has no limit whatsoever; in the UK it encompasses a person’s entire life after birth. If Ireland’s understanding of rights is superior, it should lead to superior social results compared with countries with contrary laws, so let us test that by looking at some of the social effects of abortion.

such actions within Ireland does not prevent residents from travelling to perform them.

The 1972 Rockefeller Commission on Population and the American Future claimed that the children of women who were denied an abortion “turned out to have been registered more often with psychiatric services, engaged in more antisocial and criminal behaviour, and have been more dependent on public assistance.” This is one of the earlier and best-known examples of this theory and it has encountered a lot of controversy in more recent papers advocating the suggestion.

Supporting this theory is a paper published in 1999 studying the effect of legalisation of abortion in America that found that “the

This certainly appears to be true if we compare England and Ireland, with England having over double the rate of pregnancy in women aged 15-19 as Ireland. But if we look at the Netherlands, where abortion is legal, the teenage pregnancy rate is half that of Ireland. Consequently, it is difficult to say whether or not the legality of abortions has any effect on pregnancy numbers as there are so many other factors involved, such as the cultural attitude towards sex.

Arguably, it is likely that the legalisation of abortion affects the individual and society positively; the question of the moral implications, and its many different interpretations, of doing so is the sticking point for the population at large.

The University Observer | 16 October 2012

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Newman Fund have you a great idea for an event on campus? why not try the Newman Fund for funding?

The Newman Fund is a sum of money arising from that part of the Student Registration Charge which the university allocates to support organised student activities. It is designed to fund activities which are organised by individuals or groups, other than the recognised clubs and societies in the University, whose aim is to improve student life on campus. Any individual or group of students may apply for ďŹ nancial support for their project. The Newman Fund is administered by a committee of the Student Consultative Forum

Last year the Fund supported: Seachtain na Gaeilge An International Students’ Hustings An Irish University Entrepreneurship symposium A Handball tournament A concert by the Noughties Orchestra

Applications are now invited for grants from the Fund for the current session.

There is no standard format for applications but they should include full details of the applicants, the use to which any funds granted will be put and detailed costings.

Applications for support in this session must be submitted by November 1st at 5.30pm to: Elizabeth Cronin, Student Consultative Forum, Student Centre, UCD or email to: Elizabeth.cronin@ucd.ie

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SCIENCE & HEALTH

Research in Brief James Kelly Cows bred to produce Hypoallergenic Milk Hypoallergenic milk is the latest breakthrough in the world of the genetically modified produce.

Stefan Wagner and colleagues at AgResearch, in New Zealand, have created the world’s first hypoallergenic milk producing cow.

Their work was carried out in an effort to overcome allergy to beta-lactoglobulin (BLG), which affects about 1.5% of infants.

The group achieved their aim by identifying the gene responsible for BLG and producing a corresponding miRNA (microRNA, a small single strand of genetic code that works by blocking the intermediate steps involved in translating a gene into a protein), and treating a cell nucleus with it. The treated nucleus was then transferred into a cow egg cell that, after fertilisation and implantation, went on to form healthy female calf. She was, however, missing a tail.

The calf was induced to lactate, and the resulting milk was shown to be BLG-free. Its taste is another issue however, as current regulations prevent its consumption.

Ban On Gay ‘Cures’ “These practices have no basis in science or medicine and will now be relegated to the dustbin of quackery.” These were the words of California governor Jerry Brown (in the San Francisco Chronicle) following the signing of legislation to ban therapies aimed at ‘curing’ homosexuality in youths, on September 29th.

These therapies, which aim to ‘cure’ homosexual individuals, are a combination of cognitive and behavioural exercises designed to make the individual more heteronormative, if not heterosexual.

The therapies have been heavily criticised by human rights groups, most vocally LGBTQ groups, who deem them ‘abusive’ and ‘cruel’. Further rejection of the practice comes from the American Psychological Association, who carried out an assessment of all published works in the field, and now state: “The scientific evidence does not support such therapies.”

Curiosity Rover Finds Former Stream NASA’s Curiosity rover, now entering its 11th week on Mars, has already found evident of past water on the red planet.

Curiosity is investigating Mars’s climate and geology to find out if the planet’s conditions were ever favourable to microbial life.

The potential evidence of water, an integral find in their research, is seen in classic conglomerates; that is, rocks comprised of gravel and sand. Mission scientists say the rock’s size and shape indicate that water was involved in their formation. Satellites have previously shown channels on the planets’ surface, believed to result from flowing water.

It is thought that the rocks pictured are part of an ancient network of streams, most likely formed hundreds of millions of years ago, but it is possible that water remained in the streams thousands to millions of years after this. NASA researchers are further investigating pebbles deposited in the rocks, hoping to gain insight into the dynamics of these Martian streams.

With Curiosity funded for an entire Mars year (two Earth years), more such discoveries are likely.

Observer Science

The University Observer | 16 October 2012

science@universityobserver.ie

Will blurting “Beam me up Scotty!” be the norm sooner than we think? Ethan Troy-Barnes talks teleportation.

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umanity has an obsession with things of the future; things being the operative word. We have an insatiable thirst for new gadgets, utensils and trinkets that promise to transform the way we live, and countless works of fiction have speculated on what nifty new technologies the future might offer.

Few such future technologies are as terrifically ingrained in the public consciousness as those of teleportation, transporters and transmat beams of sci-fi renown, and even Harry Potter had those port-key whatsits. The idea of being able to instantly teleport from one place to another at the flick of a switch fascinates us, but is such a thing even possible? And if so, when can you expect to trade your Nissan Micra for a teleportation-belt?

The idea behind teleportation is simple: the desired matter (person or object) is scanned to obtain a meticulously detailed blueprint at the departure location, before being destroyed. The information gathered from the scanning process is then sent to the arrival destination (via a radio signal or something similar), where it is used to rebuild the object from scratch, producing a perfect copy of the object, effectively teleporting it to the new location.

Assuming the object can be broken down and rebuilt very quickly, over short distances such as those found on planet Earth (e.g. between two continents), the travel time should be practically non-existent, as information sent over the electromagnetic spectrum travels at the speed of light.

While teleporting a large object such as a suitcase or a human-being might be a long way off, scientists have already demonstrated that it’s possible to teleport subatomic particles across space and time in this manner. Earlier this year, researchers from the University of

The Big Barnes Theory: Teleportation Vienna managed to scan a photon in one place, and then recreate a perfect copy somewhere else. Effectively, they transported a photon of light instantaneously across a distance of 143km between two Canary Islands, using a technique known as quantum teleportation.

In simple terms, quantum teleportation exploits the phenomenon of quantum entanglement to get around the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.

This principle outlines the impossibility of our making a perfectly detailed observation of subatomic particles such as photons without disturbing them, thereby making our pre-departure scan inaccurate. Quantum entanglement allows us to account for discrepancies caused by the scanning process by ensuring that the new photon at the destination is intrinsically linked to other photons present during the scanning process. Thus whatever disturbance occurs as a side effect of the scanning process will also be magically transmitted to the new photon.

Does all of this really matter when what we really want to do is teleport large objects on the scale of human beings? Surely it doesn’t matter if we get the odd detail about each subatomic particle wrong so long as we get the gen-

eral details about hair colour and tone of voice right? Maybe not, as it’s possible that you don’t need to go into such detail when recreating large objects.

On paper, people, primates and even mammals are all basically the same. But, let’s not forget that the devil’s usually in the detail, even an identical genetic makeup can result in a totally different person when the likes of environmental factors are thrown into the mix. As such, it may well be that we need to go into the very fine detail of an individual’s each and every atom to ensure that we get their mannerisms, memories and personality quirks just right.

Kind of like faxing a document from Boston to New Delhi; the basic physics of transmitting information about an object instantaneously isn’t beyond our means. However, building the ‘fax machines’, a device that can perfectly record every detail about an object on one end, and another device that is equally proficient at recreating that individual on the other, is easier said than done.

We don’t even really know what every molecule in the body does yet, not to mention how we might resurrect the person instantaneously at their destination; human beings are traditionally grown in a uterus over a span of months.

Even if the ‘fax machine’ weren’t a problem, on average the human body contains fifty trillion cells, which would be a gargantuan amount of information to transmit. As Dr David Whitehouse explains: “To send that information down today’s fast data transfer systems would take a hundred million times longer than the present age of the Universe [which is about 15 thousand million years].”

The TelePad 5 will not be in stores any time soon, however most argue that it’s only a matter of time before we work out the kinks. As Professor Michio Kaku puts it: “It’s no longer a question of physics; it’s an engineering problem.”

All things going well, however, there are also the metaphysical implications to consider. Namely, are you still you after you’ve died and been recreated somewhere new? Or, is this copy really a clone; a prefect replica with a new soul? As Star Trek’s Dr McCoy once grumbled: “What worries me … is whether I’m myself any more. I have a horrible suspicion that I’m a ghost and that I’ve been one for maybe as long as twenty years.”

Lighten up; surely your ticket to the afterlife is small price to pay to pay for the ultimate first-class boarding pass!

Science News: Winners of Summer Student Research

by Priyadarssini Karunakaran Reddy Awards 2012 announced The Summer Student Research Award (SSRA), a gold medal award function for excellence in research by the UCD School of Medicine and Medical Sciences (UCD SMMS), took place on October 4th at the new UCD Student Centre.

Parallel to the aim of being an internationally recognised researchintensive university, UCD SMMS is now in its fifth year of hosting the event, hoping to encourage development of scientific and communication skills among students from its five degree programmes; Undergraduate and Graduate Entry Medicine, Biomedical Health and Life Sciences, Physiology and Radiography.

The SSRA programme offers students the opportunity to pursue an eight-week project in a wide array of fields. These include laboratory researches, clinical based projects and also Patient & Advocate Centred Education and Research (PACER) where students work alongside Irish charities such as the Irish Cancer Society and the Dublin Simon Community. This year, grants were available for students to undertake projects in reputable institutions overseas such as the DanaFarber Cancer Institute, Boston and University of Queensland, Brisbane.

The annual research evening, accompanied by wine reception and live band, provided a platform for students to showcase their research and compete for gold, silver and bronze medals. The gold medal adjudication took place at the Garrett Fitzgerald Debating Chamber where approximately 150 guests in attendance listened to presentations by eight finalists who were successful at the preliminary ad-

judication on September 25th. A team of more than 30 senior academics, consultants, clinicians and researchers interviewed the finalists on their presentations.

“The overall standard has reached new heights that will be hard to beat.

Due to this exceptional high standard the adjudicators identified eight participants to compete for the Gold Medal in the finals, as opposed to the usual six,” says Dr Amanda McCann, a Senior Lecturer at UCD SMMS and Chair of the SSRA 2012.

The Dean of Medicine, Professor William G. Powderly, made the announcement of the winners. Final year biomedical student Elisa D’Arcangelo, whose research involved bioinformatics, received the prestigious gold medal and a €200 award. Sean Owens, who undertook an international elective research in the Emory University, Atlanta, was the recipient of the bronze medal and €100, while silver medal recipient Mark Savage commented on the award, saying “The entire research experience was very rewarding, and I was really happy just to be in the final”.

“The UCD SMMS has a particularly strong research background and we wish to instil in our undergraduate and postgraduate students an appreciation for the importance and relevance of research to medicine and indeed inspire some of them to consider a career as a clinical scientist,’’ says Professor Powderly.

“I am so proud of all the participants and their hard work. Each year students never cease to amaze me with their confidence in presenting and commitment to the projects” says Dr McCann.

photo by Mark Byrne

The University Observer | 16 October 2012

SCIENCE & HEALTH

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This ‘amyloid plaque’ hypothesis did not experience as rapid a fall from grace as the cholinergic hypothesis. It was still possible that the plaque irreversibly damaged nerve cells once it took hold, and that what was needed were drugs that stopped the plaque from taking hold in the first place.

For this reason some scientists started to become skeptical of the plaque theory. Others thought that the problem was that once the plaque had lodged itself in between nerve cells, the damage had already been done, which would explain why the drugs failed. More development was started on drugs that would prevent the plaques from taking hold. The result was bapineuzumab and solanezumab.

However two years ago, while the above two drugs were still undergoing testing; the amyloid-plaque hypothesis suffered another blow. It was discovered that mice without any plaque but

with free-floating amyloid protein were just as weakened as mice with both. For this reason, some suspected the two drugs would fail long before the results were in.

This does not mean that this class of drugs holds no therapeutic potential.

But with the costs of development rising and revenues falling as older drugs come off patent, it becomes increasingly likely pharmaceutical companies will shy away from anything that does not offer hope of an actual cure. Only time will tell whether the answer will lie with free-floating beta amyloid, tau tangles or something else entirely.

The story of Alzheimer’s is a tale of how modern medicine has become of its own success. Dementia is a disease of aging and is becoming an epidemic only because modern medicine has increased our lifespans. It may have given us more life, but now it must give us more of the life we want.

The drugs don’t work While leading pharmaceutical companies may soon run out of steam in the race to find an Alzheimer’s cure, Barry Singleton explains why we are failing to defeat dementia

T

he search for a drug that could cure or effectively treat Alzheimer’s has been defined by repeated failure. In August this year, two of the most anticipated experimental drugs for the disease were reported by their respective developers to have proven unsuccessful in clinical trials.

The failure of these drugs in particular has not ended the development of new Alzheimer’s medications. In fact, while Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson scrapped further studies of their drug bapineuzumab in its intravenous form, Elil Lilly insist that their drug solanezumab could yet be salvaged, as there were some signs that it slowed cognitive decline in patients with a mild form of the disease.

The perseverance of the pharmaceutical companies is easily explained: the potential market for an Alzheimer’s drug simply huge. They have invested hundreds of billions in research and development to date and yet the cause of the disease remains a mystery.

The changes in brain structure that accompany Alzheimer’s have been known since they were first identified

by Alio Alzheimer in 1906. He noted globs of a peculiar protein in the space between nerve cells (beta amyloid plaques) and tangles made of another strange protein inside the nerve cells (tau tangles). Ever since, the challenge has been to determine whether these

proteins cause the disease or whether they are an effect of something else.

The problem of disentangling cause from effect is not something unique to dementia or even biology: we discover all the time that many cause-and-effect relationships we thought of as ‘obvious’ were merely fiction. To borrow an example of a positive from the social sciences: students that attend the best schools tend to do the best in exams. Most people would assume this is because better teachers, facilities and so on have the effect of making students learn more but they are mistaken. When children are allocated to schools at random, as happened in Chicago a number of years ago, they perform no differently to how they would have expected to perform in the school they would have chosen. The real explanation lies in the fact that the most motivated pupils want to go to the best schools, and they remain motivated no matter what school they end up in.

To only way to determine whether something is really a cause is to perform an experiment: remove the factor you suspect to be the cause, and observe whether or not you get the result. Although the method is clear, applying it at the level of the brain is rarely straightforward. For one thing, we are bad at designing specific drugs to do specific things (many of the most effective drugs we have for any disease or condition were discovered accidentally) and once you’ve solved that, there is the problem of unacceptable side effects.

The first explanation for why the proteins caused Alzheimer’s disease was that they reduced synthesis of a brain chemical involved in memory formation, called acetylcholine. Scientists then set about developing a drug to increase the action of acetylcholine in the brain. The results were far from what was hoped for: while the drugs improved patients’ symptoms, after a period of time they ceased to be effective.

The so-called ‘cholinergic hypothesis’ fell out of favor (although such drugs are still used today in the treatment of the disease).

More scientists started to think that the real culprit was the plaque lodged between nerve cells. They accordingly set about developing more drugs that would remove the plaque. Again however, they only slowed progression of the disease for a time and after that it continued at normal or even accelerated pace.

Under the sea

T

rade the streets for Australia’s Great Barrier Reef; Google Street View has expanded to Ocean View.

For the last few weeks, hundreds of kilometers of underwater vistas are accessible to the public for unprecedented virtual dives. This stunning project is the result of the Catlin Seaview Survey team; a group of marine biologists, researchers and photographers who are technologically supported by Google.

The team aims to bring into the public’s eye a part of the world that is in rapid decline. Some effects of climate change are as evident as the smog hanging over the city, but the oceanic impact is largely out of sight, out of mind. The Catlin Seaview team recognises that bridging the gap between scientific research and public awareness is an important step in widespread ocean conservation. “There has been such a lack of engagement between the

general public and ocean science; it has been a huge issue over time, and this project can really address that,” says Project Director Richard Vevers.

The survey’s starting point is the 2300km long Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland, Australia. This World Heritage Site, visible from the moon, is host an unimaginably diverse habitat, home to 1800 species of fish, 5000 types of mollusks, 125 kinds of shark, and the pièce de résistance, an immense stretch of over 400 coral species.

Few people know that the Reef is actually made up of a jumble of hundreds of unique individual reefs that differ in size, shape and life form due to variations in the proximity to the shore, the amount of light the coral is exposed to and the strength of the waves and currents.

Richard Vevers wants to change the limited perception that most people have of the Great Barrier Reef.

Through Catlin, people get a chance to experience the Reef’s beauty through

the eyes of the diver. The team’s database of over 50,000 images shot in 360 degrees is available to anyone with an internet connection.

The Catlin website also highlights reef importance; coral reefs provide food and livelihoods to over 500 million people around the word, most notably those living on the tropical coasts of developing nations. They also protect communities and towns from the open sea and its dangers, such as massive waves and storms. In Australia especially, the tourism arising from the coral reefs is a huge source of national income; bringing in $6 million annually.

Regrettably, a recent study revealed that half the Great Barrier Reef’s coral cover has been lost in the past 27 years.

Researchers analysed data from 217 individual reefs and concluded that tropical cyclones and outbreaks of coral-feeding crown-of-thorn starfish accounted for 90% of the damage, with two severe coral bleaching events car-

rying 10% of the responsibility.

Bleaching is a stress response during which the coral’s colorful algae become toxic and are expelled, leaving a skeleton white coral remain. The main causes are increases in temperature and increased UV rays hitting the ocean.

Ocean acidification is another major concern in the conservation of reef life. With unprecedented levels of human carbon dioxide, sulfur and nitrogen emissions, corals have less and less time to adjust to the changing acidity of the ocean. National Geographic magazine estimates that much of the reef may be bereft of life in 50 years, rendering it a “brittle empire”.

The Great Barrier Reef has a long history of disasters, and is continuously expanding and eroding. But the factors that enable reef growth are changing, and scientists are worried that the reef will degrade to a point from which it can’t bounce back. Richard Vevers and his team are working on counteracting that.

With the world’s coral reefs are under serious threat, Barbara De Kengal looks at how Google is revolutionising our view of Oceanic life The Catlin Seaview Survey, as an independent baseline scientific study, aims to provide a solid benchmark to which future fluctuations in reef life can be compared. Vevers wants to create a significant record of the current state of reefs all over the world, something that wouldn’t have been possible as little as 4 years ago. The technology that the Catlin works with allows for a major leap forward in the monitor-ability of underwater habitats that have been historically difficult for scientists to research.

Specially designed cameras also record the exact geo-location and camera direction of each image taken. Enabling scientists to retake the same pictures in the future, showing them how the reef changes over time.

Two highly advanced cameras, Sylvia and Ron, also referred to as SeaViewII (SVII) travel through the ocean at 4kph, taking rapid-fire 360 degree images at three-second intervals. These cameras were designed to be user-friendly and eventually, for wide-spread global use.

They are operated by underwater tablets that can connect to the internet; which enable divers to communicate live with the world above the surface.

In May 2011, the first underwater social media post was made on Google+

by Richard Vevers: “I’m diving with these turtles right now!” Since then, members of the Catlin Seaview Survey team have even held Google+ hangouts (live video-conferencing) from underwater. During the Mission Blue gathering in Monterey California on September 26, the day Google sea view was announced, attendants were taken on a live night dive by Vevers, who gave them a tour of the corals and chased a sea turtle. As Vevers says, the technology “can [now] engage people with our oceans in a way that has not been possible before”.

16

gAEILgE

The University Observer | 16 October 2012

Observer Gaeilge gaelige@universityobserver.ie

An modh mícheart ár teanga dúchais a spreagadh

Coimisiún na Scrúduithe Stáit

Le teach chun cinn na Gaeilge ar an idirlín, déanann Charlotte Ní Éatún pléigh ar an éifect atá ag é seo ar úsáid na teanga

n

“

uair a nach bhfuair mé mo chéad rogha de bharr cúig phointe is fichead, an chéad smaoineamh a tháining chuig m’aigne ná ‘cén fáth nach ndéarna mé mo hArd Teistiméireachta as Gaeilge?’ Dá mo rud é go raibh an rogha agam arís, ba mhian liom go ndéarna mé na scrúdaithe as Gaeilge.” Is iad seo na smaointe a bhí ag Diarmuid bolger nuair a chonaic sé na sochrúcháin coláiste a bhí faighte aige.

Is macnamh é seo a bhíonn ag scata mór mic léinn a bhí díomá orthu fhád is a chláraigh said don dara rogha CAO i mí Lúnasa.

Chuireadar an córas nua seo in aithne do mhic léinn sna 1920aidí. Dúireadar go dtabharfadh siad breis pointí do aon mac léinn a dhéanadh an Ard Teistiméireachta as Gaeilge. Modh an teanga a chuir chun cinn a bhí sé. Ach, tá a lán daoine ann nach dtuigeann an tionscnaíocht seo, agus mar sin tá a lán mic léinn atá ag breathnú air na pointí leis na tuairmí mícheart fuathu.

Rinne Eoghan Mac Aogáin, David Millar agus Thomas Kellaghan as Coláiste Phádraig taighde a mhínigh an tslí ina oibríonn an córas. Deirtear nach ngnóthaigh mic léinn pointí sa bhreis cosúil leis an Tionscanamh Mata a tháining amach an bhliain seo cháite, ach go ngóthaigh siad faoin gcéad i ngach ábhar. Tá an briseadh síos é féin fíor mhionlach, ach tá go leor ann chun grád a aistriú.

Dar leis an taighde a rinne siad, deirtear “tá uasmhéid de 10% sa bhreis tugtha i Laidin, Gréigis, Staidéar Clasaiceach, Staidéar Eabhrach, Stair, Tíreolas, Fisic, Ceimic, Fisic agus Ceimic, bitheolaíocht, Staidéar Gnó, Eacnamaíocht, Stair Eacnamaíochta, Staidéar Talamhaíocht, Eacnamaíocht Talamhaíocht, Eacnamaíocht bhaile, Ceol, Stair agus Léirthuiscint Ealaíne,

Oideachas Reiligiúnach agus Arabach.”

Ansin tá “5% sa bhreis tugtha sna hábhair Francais, Geramánais, Iodáilis, Spáinnis, Mata, Matamataic Fheidhmeadh, Cuntasaíocht, Innealtóireacht, Staidéar Foirgníocht, Rúisise agus Seapánach.”

Cé go bhfuil bónas éagsúla ann, tá fós go leor ann go rachadh grád suas leis na pointí sa bhreis seo. ní hé go mbeadh daoine in ann an chéad rogha a fháil leis na pointí breise seo, ach fós féin, tugann sé buntáiste mór do na daoine atá an Ard Teisiméireachta á dhéanamh acu as Gaeilge.

An locht is mó atá ag baint leis an modh seo ná gur theip air sa fheidhm a bhí aige! bhí sé curtha chun tosaigh chun an Ghaeilge a chuir chun cinn agus chun mic léinn a mhealladh chun an leibhéal Gaeilge atá acu a fheabhsú go leibhéal líofa agus go mbeadh grá acu ansin don teanga. Áfach, tá a lán focail agus phrásaí in ábhar Eolaíochta agus Matamaticiúl nach mbeadh ag labharthóirí líofa de gnáth fiú.

Sa fhichiú aois, bhí a lán focail Gaeilge nua cruthaithe do na focail béarla nach raibh ann go fóil as Gaeilge, téarmaí Mata agus Eolaíocht irl. Tríd luaíocht a thabhairt do dhalta a bhaineann úsáid as na focail seo, níl aon marcanna sa bhreis á fáil don grá atá aige/aici don teanga, ach don méid pulcadh atá déanta acu.

Dar le Charlotte ní Éatún, dalta a dhéarna an Ard Teist as Gaeilge “nuair a chríochnaíonn daoine nach bhfuil líofa as Gaeilge na scrúdaithe, déanfadh siad dearmaid iomlán ar na téarmaí a bhí acu mar níl aon úsáid acu dóibh a thuile.

Freisin, ní fhoghlamaíonn na daltaí seo conas an teanga a labhairt go líofa ach foghlamaíonn siad na téarmaí do na ábhair éagsúla amháin.”

Tá sé easca dearmad a dhéanamh ar fhocail atá againn i ndara teanga nuair

a nach mbaintear úsáid astu ar feadh tamall. Is fíor é seo le chuile teanga, agus níl seo ag baint lenár gCóras Oideachas.

Ach fós féin, dá mo rud é go ndéanann daltaí an Ard Teist as Gaeilge don teanga é féin nó do na pointí breise, ní féidir a rá nach bhfuil fadhbanna ag baint leis an gcóras atá again.

Cuirtear an cheist go minic faoin Ard Teist a chuir i dteangacha eile do na mic léinn a tháinig cugainn as tíortha eile.

Déanann an chuid is mó de na mic léinn seo an Ard Teist as béarla fiú nach bhfuil sé mar an gcéad teanga atá acu. An gcóir go mbeadh na pointí bónas ar fáil má tá an scrúdú á dhéanamh i dteanga eile ag mic léinn, ní amháin as Gaeilge? “nílim cinte an ndéanach mé mo hArd Teist as Seapánais dá mbeadh an rogha agam arís,” arsa Louie Hamilton, mac léinn as an tSeapáin a rinne an Ard Teist as béarla. “Rinne mé staidéar i scoil béarla. bheadh sé deacar an scrúdú a dhéanamh as Seapáinis.”

Ach, fós ní aontaíonn sé leis na pointí breise dos na páipéaraí as Gaeilge, “Do na daoine a chuaigh chuig scoileanna Gaeilge, ní cóir go mbeadh na scrúdaithe as Gaeilge chomh deacar orthu is a mbeadh ar dhaoine nach bhfuil Gaeilge acu. Más aon rud- ba cóir go gheobhach daltaí ón nGaeltach pointí sa bhreis chun na scrúdaithe a dhéanamh as béarla!” b’féidir gur chóir fáil réidh leis na pointí bónas seo agus go cóir bónas a chuir i láithir do na mic léinn a dhéanann Gaeilge mar ábhar Ard Leibhéal, cosúil leis an modh atá acu anois don cúrsa Mata. Cé go bhfuil ‘Project Maths’ mar chúis do a lán díospóireachtaí trasna na tíre iomlán.

Tá sé deacar fáil réidh leis na marcanna bónas go hiomlán anois, mar tá sé fós tamhachtadh ár teanga dúchas a spreagadh i tslí éigean, fiú muna bhfuil an modh ceart faighte again go fóil.

_____________________________

SCRÚDÚ NA hARDTEISTIMÉIREACHTA, 2012 _____________________________

MATAMAITIC -- ARDLEIBHÉAL PÁIPÉAR 1 ( 300 marc ) _____________________________

DÉ hAOINE, 8 MEITHEAMH – TRÁTHNÓNA, 2:00 go dtí 4:30 _____________________________

Freagair SÉ CHEIST (50 marc an ceann). _____________________________

RABHADH:

Caillfear marcanna mu ra dtaispeánfar go soiléir an obair riachtanach go léir.

Gluais

Ba chóir na haonaid tomhais chuí a lua sna freagraí, nuair is ábhartha iad. _____________________________

locht.......................................................fault luaíocht.............................................reward pulcadh..........................................cramming tionscanamh................................initiative Leathanach 1 de 5

sa bhreis......................................in addition fheidhm............................................function seapáinis.......................................... japanese

An cóir fáil réidh leis an Teastas Sóisearach?

Labhraíonn Cian Ó Tuathaláin faoi na hathruithe atá á dhéanamh ar scrúdaithe daltaí an triú bhlian.

b

€30 milliún don rialtas go bliantúil. ní choinceap nua é chun an Teastas Sóiserach a chur ar cheall ach an oiread.

Faraor, b’ábhar conspóide in 2009 é nuair a fhoilsíodh alt sa Sunday Tribune ar sceitheadh ó thuairisc athchóiriú in aidhm na scrúduithe fadálacha a bhaint as an gcóras. Dúirt iar-Uachtarán John White, ón ASTI (aontas na múinteoirí meánscoile) ‘gur uafás a bhí ann chun na scrúduithe a scrois go huile is go hiomlán’, agus anois go bhfuil an cinneadh cinntithe, is léir nach bhfuil an ASTI sásta go fóill.

Deir Pat King, an uachtarán reatha, go bhfuil sé ag súil leis an gcóras nua chun daltaí a spreagadh ó thaobh na heolaíochta agus ar thaobh na mata de.

Ar an bpointe sin, tá sé soiléar gur theip ar an seachóras, an Teastas Sóisearach, chun déagóirí a spreagadh as gach réimse sa saol. Ag díriú ar na figiúirí, déanann cailíní ó chúlraí meán-aicme go han-mhaith sna torthaí, ach bliain ina dhiadh bhliana bíonn buachaillí ó cheantair níos boichte faoi ghannionadaíocht. Úsáidtear an téarma ‘rólódaíl churaclam’ agus measaim féin go bhfuil an rólódáil seo ag múchadh scoláirí as ábhair tábhachtach ar nós eolaíocht go dtí an Ardteist. ní rún é go bhfuil easpa daltaí ag déanamh staidéar ar cheimice, ná fhisice mar shampa. beidh an córas nua ag teacht isteach céim ar chéim ó 2014, ag tosnú le béarla amháin. Mar sin, beidh daltaí i Rang a Cúig faoi láthair an chéad dream chun an córas nua a thrialú.

Seachas ábhair deacair toirtiúil, beidh ‘gearrchúrsaí’ ann, a rinneadh cláir píolótach astu i scoileanna éigsiúla ó cheann ceann na tíre, cosúil le Scoil naomh bríde i gCluan Dolcáin, baile Átha Cliath. In áit an seanchóras grádáil (A, b, C go nG) beidh ‘bainte Amach’, ‘bainte Amach le Gradam’ nó ‘Gan bhainte Amach’.

Anois, is fada an lá uaim ag déanamh

aithris ar na frásaí sa téacsleabhar, ag glanmheabhrú seanfhocail le haghaidh an aiste nó ag úsáid abairtí náireach ar nós ‘brú, brú is a thuilleadh bhrú’. Is mac léinn ollscoile mé, agus buíochas le Dia táim ag foghlaim seachas a bheith múinte an t-am ar fad. Le cúineamh Dé tá an córas nua chun fail réidh leis an mbrú a mhothaíonn 45,000 daltaí Éireannacha go fíréanta gach uile Mheitheamh agus cruthaitheacht agus nuálaíocht á gcur chun cinn.

Róbat ab ea mé ar feadh sé bhliain, ag ghlanmhabhrú gach rud chun athchognadh ar phíosa páipéar ag an deireadh. Anois go bhfuil smacht ag na daltaí ón Chéad bhliain go dtí an Tríú bhliain ar a gcuid foghlaim féin, b’fhéidir ní chaithfidh siad staid an róbait a aimsiú go dtí an Cúigú bhliain!

Ag deireadh an lae, bíonn chuile dhuine ó Loch Garmáin go Tír

Chonaill ag gearrán faoi na scúduithe stáit agus nach bhfuil siad ceaptha i gceart ar chor ar bith. Anois tá seans ag muintir na hÉireann triail a bhaint as rud nua, caithfidh muid seans a

thabhairt do rud eicínt difriúil ar aon chaoi. Mar a d’fhoghlaim mé féin nuair a bhí mise ag déanamh an scrúdú Gaeilge don Teastas Sóisearach, ‘Cleachtadh a dhéanann máistreacht!’.

fatach.......................................................................giant céasta...............................................................crucified sceitheadh................................................................leak athchóiriú........................................................renewal fadálacha............................................................tedious toirtiúil..................................................................bulky athchognadh...........................................regurgitate

Gluais

eagánín níos mó ná bliain ó shin, shuigh mé síos os comhar béarla, Páipéar a hAon don Ardteist, agus cé go raibh mé thar a bheith néirbhíseach, bhí mé i dtaithí ar an suíomh sin, mar chríochnaigh mé scrúdú díreach mar an gcéanna ó thaobh structúr de trí bliana roimhe sin.

An Teastas Sóisearach- 10 nó 11 scrúdú bunaithe ar an méid atá foghlamtha ag an dalta tar éis trí bliana a chaitheamh sa tSraith Shóisearach. Gan aon agó, ullmhaíonn an scrúdú don Ardteist thú, ach spreagann an córas scrúduithe seo imní, brú agus ísle brí fiú i measc déagóirí gan ghá. Caithfidh tú dul thairis an fatach mór ag deireadh an Séú bliain chun áit a fháil san ollscoil nó cíbe atá uait – ach an bhfuil an Teastas Sóisearach tairbheach ar chor ar bith d’oideachas an 45,000 dalta a bhíonn céasta gach uile Mheitheamh?

D’fhógair Ruairí Quinn an tseachtain seo chaite go bhfuil an Aireacht Oideachas chun fáil réidh leis an Teastas Sóisearach. In áit na scrúduithe beidh measúnú leanúnach ón Chéad bhliain sa mheánscoil go dtí an Tríú bhliain, 40% ag dul leis an measúnú seo. Ansin, ag deireadh an Tríú bhliain, beidh scrúdú ar fhiú 60%, gan a bheith níos faide ná dhá uair. beidh an tSraith Shóisearach grádáilte ó mhúinteoirí na daltaí féin seachas na scrúduithe deiridh le haghaidh béarla, Mata agus Gaeilge, mar chaithfear iad a sheoladh chuig Coimisiún na Scrúduithe Stáit chun súil a chóimeád ar dul chun cinn na daltaí. Is gá feitheoireacht a dhéanamh ar na croí-ábhair seo mar is iad an trí cinn is tábhachtaí ó thaobh oideachas na hÉireann de.

Deirtear gurb é seo an t-athrú is radachach ag baint leis an gcóras oideachas le blianta anuas. Tá buntáiste ag baint leis an t-athrú seo agus eacnamaíocht na tíre freisin, mar sabhlófar

OPINION

The University Observer | 16 October 2012

Observer Opinion Kill.i.an: Fan-tom of the Opera

The FirstYear Experience: What have I learned?

Nearly halfway through term, Lucy Montague-Moffat is learning how to cope with curry leaks, torrential rain and annoying questions

A certain poster on campus grabbed Killian Woods’ attention last week and he has mixed feelings

L

ast week, I was walking down the campus concourse and a certain poster caught my eye. I didn’t know what to think when I first saw it.

Offended? Pleased? Won’t somebody think of the children? no, not the abortion bin baby, but The Phantom of the Opera poster.

The Phantom of the Opera is not just a personal favourite musical of mine; it is without doubt one of my favourite things that has ever existed, ever. It only narrowly lost out to oxygen and my iPhone.

Last Tuesday marked 26 years since the show opened for the first time at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London and it has enjoyed glorious worldwide success since. The show has been seen by over 130 million people, grossed in excess of €4.3 billion, and is the longest running show in broadway history. It’s even better than Les Misérables. Well, that’s my personal opinion, and I know I’m right therefore you must be wrong.

After seeing The Phantom of the Opera for the first time, I remember becoming infatuated with it. I got my hands on an old cassette that featured some of the all-star original cast such as the first Phantom, Michael Crawford, and the angel of music/cosmonaut herself, Sarah brightman, and devoted hours to learning the lyrics to every song. I even put on a small one-man show of the rock opera in my living room.

My production only ran for a day.

One poorly attended matinée and a disastrous evening performance at which the two bed sheet stage curtains collapsed was a gentle reminder that I don’t belong in musical theatre, and I resigned myself to playing football in the green with all the other kids. back then I was quite naïve and blinded by how much I loved the musical. naturally I assumed that everyone who didn’t recognise how amazing The Phantom of the Opera was needed some education. Unfortunately, none of the boys in my 4th class in primary school shared my views and a reputation here and there may have been tarnished. To be honest, I think I lost most of my friends at the word ‘musical’.

What happened next was kind like a form of hibernation. My passion for the Phantom went into arrested development because, like most boys at the age of ten, I didn’t really feel like being called “gay” or being associated with, as my classmates put it: “musicals for the gays”. In fact, it was fundamentally a chat with a bully who featured high in our class hierarchy that swayed me away. He put it pretty bluntly when he said: “I can’t risk catching gay off you. you’re kind of like that leopard we learned about in religion that was banished. What’s his name? Jesus”.

Anyway, time passes and we’ve all grown wiser. Well, not wiser. Tolerant maybe, not wiser. That ex-bully now owns more pairs of skinny jeans and

frameless glasses than I do. I’m not trying to say he’s gay now; he just looks awfully uncomfortable and has since learned that leopard is a type of animal and fashion print, not a highly contagious disease.

I rekindled my Phantom passion once I overcame my mildly homophobic and bigoted notion that theatre was something only women, and men who are sexually attracted to men, are allowed to appreciate. The height of that passion was last summer when I got to see the current West End production on tour in the Grand Canal Theatre.

An amazing show that will be a very difficult act to follow for any future productions I attend.

This is where we come to a stumbling block; a point of no return. My curiosity will get the better of me and I will have to attend the Community Musical’s attempted showcase next semester. However, after learning a bit more about their production, I’m not exactly filled with confidence that such a masterpiece has been left in capable hands.

Initially I thought this was the UCD Community Musical’s first ambitious attempt at staging The Phantom of the Opera. I’ve since realised that plans to bring the musical to UCD last year were abandoned due to poor organisation and management and those involved felt that the production team lacked the sufficient experience to see this project through.

This is why I’m hesitant that the Phantom of the Opera is coming to belfield next year. Here in UCD, we have this unmitigated ability to screw things up. That may seem a tad unfair, but if you think about it, with all the financial irregularities protruding from every administrative and representative body in UCD, it’s a miracle the lights turn on. And after previously admitting that they lack experience to pull-off such a feat, what has suddenly changed in the last year?

Truthfully, I should get involved with the community musical and help in any way I can, but like the Oakland Athletics general manager billy beane, I hate failing even more than I want to succeed. And no matter how good their performance is, it will never match up to my admittedly unfair expectations. barring some sort of ironic phantom-esque intervention, I’m resigned to fact that The Phantom of the Opera will probably go ahead next semester.

All I ask of you is that you think of me and other devoted fans, and don’t butcher the power of the music of the night.

And by the way, you’re welcome for the free half-page advertisement. you can leave my complementary tickets at the door.

Competition: Killian is offering his Dublin Bus receipt collection worth in excess of €10 to the person who can find all the Phantom of the Opera puns in his column.

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he question I have been “I hadn’t time to asked numerous times in the past few weeks is: put any makeup “How are you getting on in college?” It’s one of unanswerable questions that on due to duvet those proper adults always ask at annoytimes. Christmas is usually the difficulties. ing worst for them, with aunts, uncles weirdly old cousins constantly Sometimes I and enquiring, “How is everything going for you?”

What sort of answer are they literally get looking for? “Well I’ve been trying to sleeping around so much but it’s trapped in it, it’s stop hard when the boy is offering a free home. Hopefully I can get out of not my fault!” taxi the habit in the new year.” The thing

“Last week, I was walking down the campus concourse and a certain poster caught my eye. I didn’t know what to think when I first saw it. Offended?

Pleased? Won’t somebody think of the children? No, not the abortion bin baby, but…”

is that they actually don’t care about your life, all they want is a shrug and a quick “Fine, thanks.”

So when people have been asking me about my first few weeks in college I have been trying to avoid launching into a dramatic monologue about all the adventures and ‘mad times’ that have happened so far. Like the other day, I contemplated buying a mini bottle of wine from the campus restaurant and then decided not to. Mad. I have been keeping my answer short and to the point. For example, if someone in work asks me how it’s going, I reply with “It’s better than being here!” usually far too loudly and accidentally within earshot of a manager. Or if it is a parent inquiring I try to sound like I am working really hard at my studies: “It’s going well but I’m just so tired, I was in the library for like two hours today.”

However, the last few days I have been thinking back over the past few weeks and wondering how I am genuinely getting on. I am a little bit worried about the whole thing because when I think about it, like really think hard, I can’t pin point one new piece of information that I have learnt yet. This can’t be a good thing.

I have been doing everything right though. I have attended my lectures and have listened a large amount of the time.

I was distracted the other day in a lecture when I was sure I could see someone in the corner of my eye staring at me. I didn’t look back at them straight away but sat there wondering why I was of such interest to this person. Was I looking particularly attractive this morning? I was sweating profusely from my rushed cycle into college and I hadn’t time to put any makeup on due to duvet difficulties. Sometimes

I literally get trapped in it, it’s not my fault! but maybe I was rocking that fresh-faced, shiny look and with this newfound confidence I looked around to see who my not so secret admirer was. It turned out to be someone fast asleep who happened to be turned in my direction so the lecturer couldn’t tell they were having a nap. I leant a lot in that lecture, but nothing about the actual module.

I have been learning a lot of life lessons actually. For instance, I now know that I need to do liquid tests on lunch boxes before I fill them with vegetable Korma and throw them into my bag. After a vigorous cycle (that’s my general style of cycling, vigorous. This directly relates to my general cycling facial expression: severe squinting) I opened my bag to find a curry bomb had exploded everywhere, most upsettingly all over my €70 textbook. Amazon won’t be happy about that when I try to sell it next year. I sat on the floor in front of my locker trying to mop up the mess with a piece of paper as students around me clearly enjoyed the 9am blast of Korma aroma wafting around the hall. yum.

On the subject of spillages, I have learned the hard way not to trust the plastic takeaway coffee lids. I was sitting at the lake alone having a lovely time with my coffee and yetto-be-soiled €70 book completely unaware that every time I took a sip a huge amount of it was leaking on to my lap. I had to walk around for the rest of the day looking as though I had incontinence issues, which as you can imagine, is great when constantly meeting new people.

I have also decided to start carrying around my helmet for the first lecture of the day so people understand why I am either panting, sweating or completely soaked, and more than likely all three. I was caught in the rain so badly a few mornings ago that I literally left a puddle behind me after every lecture, and it wasn’t because of my rumoured incontinence issues.

I may not be learning anything about my subjects but I do seem to be learning valuable life lessons, which I feel are much more important. And if worse comes to worse and my brain decides to completely reject education, well at least I know I could be a Chinese takeaway delivery girl because, if I have learned anything the past few weeks, it is how to efficiently transport a curry.

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The University Observer | 16 October 2012

Observer OpEd

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ell me this, have you ever heard the claim that “one in four people will experience a mental health problem”?

One in four; that is a huge amount of people. To put it in context, it’s enough to fill Croke Park fourteen times over. Fourteen times over. It’s the combined population of Cork, Clare, Galway, Limerick and Waterford. If you give yourself a moment to reflect on that, it’s a pretty big slice of the Irish population.

However, you may think “nah, it’ll never affect me”. This term ‘one in four’ means it can affect you directly or in a non-direct way, so you might not be the one who is affect but it could be your mother, brother, cousin, uncle or even a friend.

So why if it affects so many of us, why is there such a stigma around mental health problems? Why are we so uncomfortable talking about our mental health? Why are mental health problems one of society’s greatest and last taboos? For me the answer is actually quite simple; it’s the fear of others finding out and non-acceptance.

Mental health problems are nothing to be frightened of; they’re part of the normal ups and downs of life. We all have mental health, both positive and negative, and we are all vulnerable to mental health problems at points in our lives. yet many of us who experience mental health problems are too scared to tell our friends, family, neighbours and colleagues for fear of how they might react or what might think.

For many who attend college it will be first time you experience real

See Change Outreach Officer Scott Ahearn So what can we do?

Thankfully, in UCD you have a very proactive campaign called Please Talk.

This campaign started in UCD back in 2007 and it was a result of a suicide that occurred and on the journey home from that unfortunate funeral.

The Welfare Officer, barry Colfer and the then head of the Chaplaincy were determined that some kind of action needed to happen. Please Talk was created. both students and student support staff came together as one to overcome this problem. Over a five year period the campaign has gone from just UCD to 35 Higher Education Institutes, and recently has been established in northern Ireland with the support of the national Union of Students and the Union of Students in Ireland. A “by students for students” initiative is the best way to tackling the issue within the college setting. With this initiative it promotes the message that “talking is a sign of strength” and informs

We found that while the majority of people agree that virtually anyone can experience a mental health problem, one in two of us wouldn’t want others to know if we had a mental health problem.

We found that stigma acts as a barrier to people asking for help. nearly 30% of young men would delay seeking help for fear of someone else finding out, and one in three people would hide mental health problems from friends.

The outlook for recovery fromental illness is also seen as poor, with only one in five strongly agreeing that ‘the majority of people with mental health problems recover.’

However from 2010 to 2012 our research has actually shown an increase in people seeking professional support and being more aware about mental health. In contrast there has being a decline in people speaking about mental health with their family and friends. This leads to the statement: Ireland is talking about mental health but not to each other.

“Ireland is talking about Mental Health – But not to each other” life situation that can lead to stress.

Things like trying to fit in; having the confidence to make new friends; paying bills such as ESb, phone bill, your rent on your own; a lack of money; or a broken heart, effect everyone at some stage.

That is only a short list of some of things that can lead to someone feeling down or overwhelmed. The irony is that this is normal and it’s okay on your first attempt to not do so good. Think about; first time your drive a car you’re not going to be a Michael Schumancher zipping about the place. It takes time and practice to get it right; same can be said in relation to life experience. A person with a mental health problem is not in fact different from the rest of society, but rather experiencing quite an ordinary part of being a human being.

Let there be no doubt that people with mental health problems can and do recover. However, stigma that surrounds mental health problems can prevent us speaking out or seeking the assistance that could help start our recovery. bill Clinton once said: “Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but stigma and bias shames us all”. People need to understand that stigma hurts.

Stigma can be used to isolate, exclude and discriminate against people. It’s quite often mentioned by many who experience mental health problems that the stigma was just as difficult to battle.

people where they can help in their college.

Outside of this I’m very lucky to be working with See Change, Ireland’s national campaign working to change minds about mental health problems.

Over the last two years we have conducted much

research on Irish attitudes to mental health problems.

The results paint a worrying picture about how Ireland thinks about mental health problems and the stigma that surrounds them.

Greetings gutterlings, It’s been an eventful week at Hack HQ, with the constitutionally monthly-mandated Union Council finally taking place five weeks into term. The Sabbats were all of a flutter with the pressure of having to condense all of their work for the last three and half months into a short document. Shane “Dangerously Diligent” Comer required size 16 font to achieve this herculean task, and is reportedly terrified at the prospect of only having two weeks to complete his

Talleyrand

Only recently I got to experience a project which aims to directly encourage and increase the informal supports.

I was kindly invited to speak at the UCD Students Union Mental Health launch that took place on October 9th. It was this event that the current Welfare Officer Mícheál Gallagher and a first year student Maeve DeSay launched the clever “need a hand” pocket card.

Tackling the ingrained stigma that surrounds mental health problems will not happen overnight. Projects like the “need a Hand” card or the Please Talk campaign seek to engage and inspire conversation among young people in college and are a prove way to help create change.

With UCD Students Union as a part of the See Change family, together we are working hard to create

This card helps with raising awareness, increasing peer to peer support and informing people about what supports are there and so it helps to create more meaningful dialogue on mental health problems.

social change by using a multi-pronged, internationally tested approach, the cornerstone of which is social contract theory, where individuals with lived experience share their stories, and people (one person, or one ripple at a time) realise that mental health problems are indeed

rock solid promises of “planning” and “negotiating” before being able to continue forgetting to go to his meetings.

Rachel “Don’t Mention the War” Breslin on the other hand had the opposite problem, listing each and every person she’s ever sat in a room with in microscopic font lest anyone be interested enough to read it. This may be a continuation of her “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy regarding the goings on of the Exec, whose pledged transparency continues to resemble the blacked out windows of the limos that Aodhán “Dolla Dolla” Ó Deá denies hiring to drive him home every night.

The bresident publicly scolded the reckless convenor Declan “Clearer Than” Clear when he dared question the policy, fully embracing her role as Union Mammy with her declaration that she was not angry, just “disappointed”. He was then forced to do the least popular Union chores, including cleaning the SU toilet, listening to Guiney and talking to students.

Paddy “Faster Than a Speeding Bullet” Guiney donned his very tightest red trousers to address students this week, speaking so quickly that

the Earth spun backwards and time stopped. Or maybe it just seemed that way. Among his many ongoing campaigns has been that of denying his presidential ambitions, a claim made less convincing by the many posters already declaring his reign. To distract from this freudian slip, Paddy “Look at me” Guiney has been launching a campaign a minute, from getting other people to repair laptops for him, to having pretend car crashes. He is determined and nothing will stand in his way. His plans were momentarily threatened when he was distracted by his own reflection, but luckily his skinny jeans are too tight for him to get too excited.

Eoin “Who, me?” Heffernan has been the least visible Sabbat this week, possibly attempting to hide from Talleyrand’s eagle eyes. Luckily, even an eagle on medical marijuana for degenerative eye disease would have noticed the scenes at this year’s Rep training drink-a-thon, where Eoin “P.I.M.P” Heffernan sold the services of his convenors necks in his “Hickeys for Gold Cards” scheme, neglecting to mention to the revelling reps that they get into events free anyway.

quite ordinary and that there should be no prejudice or discrimination around our mental health.

Luckily in UCD you have a number of champions in your college. The Students’ Union has a student acting as the full time Welfare Officer, along with a Welfare crew who give up their time to help in the promotion of mental health support services and ensure no one feels they are alone or isolated. We can’t forget the staff who go over and beyond the call of duty. However it’s important to understand that everyone has a role to play in challenging stigma on an individual level by being open to the possibility that anyone can experience a mental health problem in their life-time. l would like to leave you on this.

Unfortunately, in my life I have experienced of the loss of my mother through an illness and the loss a friend of mine in college through suicide. In contrast between the two, I have the foresight in relation my mother’s loss: that I treasure the time I have with my father, brothers, extended family and friends. With my friend Kevin however, my foresight is to do as much as I can to help prevent it from happening again to others.

In my grief I have learned to understand there was nothing I could do for my mother, of course, but with cases like Kevin’s, there is so much I can do, as his death was preventable. I channelled my energy in this area to help others to not take their lives and I ask you to do what you can to help others.

Finally, the newest member of the sabbat squad is Mark “I Have a Follow-Up Question” Stokes, who finally won an election after an overwhelming lack of participation by anyone else. bridging the gap before the extremely overworked Education Officer position is split into two paid jobs, the new Graduate Officer launched straight into action, alienating himself from everyone with his pointless attack on Mícheál “Extra Safe” Gallagher for having merely two campaign weeks and 40,000 leaflets regarding sexual health. Mark “Sexual Healing” Stokes decries the lack of information provided by the constant campaigns, and demands that Gallagher barges into the bedrooms of everyone he has handed a condom to, explaining all the options and statistics regarding STDs and pregnancies. While that would be a foolproof method of contraception, luckily Stokes has his own personality to keep those consequences at bay.

Tally Ho! Talleyrand

The University Observer | 16 October 2012

19

Observer Editorial editor @ universityobserver.ie

“Legalising abortion in Ireland is an important issue, but creating a society where women can feel safe in talking about their experiences, whether positive or negative, is even more vital.”

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ampaigning for social rights and equality seem to have been the theme of the last few months.

Every week a new issue gathers steam and people erupt with passion for the topic. The issues being campaigned for have varied widely and in recent months we have seen the March for Marriage fighting for equality in marriage law, the Blood Ban campaign in UCD asking to donate blood on behalf of their gay allies who are banned from doing so, and the March for Choice saw thousands of people marching through Dublin city to call for the legalisation of abortion. While many have supported these issues previously, they have always been minority positions in Ireland. When given the opportunity to legalise abortion in 1992, 65% of the country’s voting population rejected it and in 2002 a referendum to make it even more difficult to get an abortion by removing the threat of suicide as grounds for a legal abortion failed to pass by less than 1% of the vote.

Now however, for the first time it feels like things are changing. Among the younger generation at least, support for gay and reproductive rights is a majority opinion. Students tend to be more progressive than the majority of society anyway, but the country is following suit.

At the start of September, Dublin City Council voted overwhelmingly in favour of full marriage rights for same sex cou-

ples, with only four out of the 43 members voting against. Cork City Council voted unanimously in favour of it, as did Waterford City Council and almost every week more Town, City and County Councils vote to support marriage equality.

The taboo of declaring personal support for the right to an abortion is also eroding. Even the most ardent supporters have always said they were not “proabortion” but “pro-choice”, suggesting that abortion was an evil but a necessary one. While people would support abortion theoretically, they would never suggest that they themselves would ever consider it. While thousands and thousands of women around the world get abortions every year, including roughly 5,000 Irish women who travel to Britain for an abortion each year, very few women admit publicly to having one.

In some places there is good reason for this, despite abortion being legal for nearly 40 years in America, nearly 20% of clinics come under attack each year and anti-abortion activists have even killed doctors who perform abortions. On this side of the pond however, admitting to having had an abortion is now becoming possible without fear of ostracisation.

UK columnists Caitlin Moran and Lucy Cavendish have written positively about their experiences, trashing the notion that the procedure is universally one of trauma and regret for those who opt for

Letters to the Dear Madame Editor, Could class representatives please stop telling me how they will get me drunk or laid in exchange for my vote? While there is no doubt that elected members of the Students’ Union do undertake considerable work on our behalf, the way class representatives market themselves to students makes it hard to take their position seriously.

editor

In successive lectures during the election period prospective class representatives assured the class that they would deliver “drinking and riding” in exchange for our vote.

Another nominee was even more direct and informed the class that he was running ‘to get the ride’, listing organising a stag do complete with strippers as relevant experience. Of course, this was perhaps because they had not yet attended class

Clarifications & Corrections

them. Legalising abortion in Ireland is an important issue, but creating a society where women can feel safe in talking about their experiences, whether positive or negative, is even more vital.

This culture of silence pervades another area covered in this issue, that of mental health. Last week was Mental Health Week here in UCD, and both the news story and our Op-Ed, Outreach Officer at See Change Scott Ahearn outlines that the biggest aim of the campaigns have been to get people to talk to someone, whether friends, family or a professional about their problems. The goal is to reduce the stigma, real or perceived, that surrounds mental health issues. As with abortion, people are getting comfortable talking about mental health in the abstract, but don’t admit to experiencing it first hand. Ending our culture of silence needs to be the first priority for those fighting for rights. We have taken the first few steps but there is a long way to go.

In contrast to the liberalisation in social issues like gay rights, reproductive rights and mental health, when it comes to economic issues, Ireland is getting progressively more conservative. Welfare, benefits, grants and education are all being cut to muted protest. While someone reading complaints in message boards or the comments after a news article may be surprised given the ire and insults directed at those in charge, when it comes to

Letters should be sent by email to letters@universityobserver.ie or by mail to The editor, The University Observer, UCD Student Centre, Belfield, Dublin 4

representative training and were therefore not themselves completely aware of what other duties their position entailed.

Nevertheless, it is a sad state of affairs if students, supposedly some of the brightest individuals in the country, require the assistance of elected officials to purchase contraception and engage in relations with a suitable sexual partner. Why is this the preferred strategy for attract-

It is the policy of the University Observer to rectify any errors as soon as they arise.

Editor Emer Sugrue

the

University Observer Volume XIX Issue III Telephone: (01) 716 3835/3837 Email: info@universityobserver.ie www.universityobserver.ie

The University Observer is printed at Webprint Concepts Limited Mahon Retail Park Cork Ireland

Deputy Editor Aoife Valentine Art, Design and Technology Director Conor Kevin O’Nolan

Irish Editor Charlotte Ní Éatún Science & Health Editor Emily Longworth

Chief Designer Gary Kealy

Sports Editor Kevin Beirne

News Editor Daniel Keenan

Chief Writers Aoife Brophy Ethan Troy-Barnes

Deputy News Editor Sean O’Grady Comment Editor Evan O’Quigley Features Editor Sean Finnan

direct action such as protests, the turnout is underwhelming.

Despite the many marches and complaints against University fees and the rising cost of registration, when called to a referendum, UCD students came out in favour of student contribution. And that’s just those interested enough to vote; turnout in UCD rarely goes above 10%.

National voting turnout is better, the 2011 general election getting the highest number since 1987 at 70%, yet the choice between the right wing Fianna Fáil and the righter-wing Fine Gael go unchallenged.

People do seem to want change at their hearts, but the feeling of resignation and inevitability seems to prevent action. People have confidence in their moral beliefs. Despite the huge debate surrounding each issue, people regard it as more simple to have a conviction about it. There is less conviction surrounding financial issues, and most don’t have the confidence that they are intelligent enough to understand the economy.

If the people running the country can’t understand it, what chance have we? Yet, if we can fight for openness for an issue as complex as mental health and the right to an abortion, why shouldn’t we fight with equal vigour for our economic belief? I believe no issue is too complex to research and understand, and it’s time we treated the running of the economy with the same passion we treat equal rights.

Senior Writers Yvanne Kennedy Jack Walsh

Quotes of the Fortnight “I don’t think there’s a lack of apathy towards the Students’ Union” paddy guiney misunderstanding communication

“Trinity are all a bunch of slags” A law ucr on trinity students’ willingness to get involved

“It’s not easy and there’s definitely awkward moments when it’s your first time” rachel breslin on making... friends

ing interest and votes? For as long as class representatives continue with this message, I suggest it might be hard for the general student population to understand why they should care what class representatives are doing, let alone get involved themselves, or continue to fund such positions.

Yours sincerely, Matthew Gregg

“We haven’t even had the time to buy a white tiger” mumford and sons on the pressures of fame

Queries and clarifications can be addressed to info@universityobserver.ie.

Contributors Enrique Anarte Lazo Seán Cooke Cathal Coghlan Sean Craddock Colm Egan Isobel Fergus Shane Hannon Patrick Kelleher James Kelly Barbara de Kengal Aaron Kennedy Caroline McEvoy Charlotte McLoughlin Thomas Mitchell Lucy Montague-Moffatt Matthew Morrow Seán O’Neill Cian Ó Tuathaláin Sylvester Phelan Barry Singleton Priya Reddy Dairiona Ryan Victoria Sewell Emma Smith Talleyrand Killian Woods Laura Woulfe

Chief Photographer Caoimhe McDonnell Photographers Lauren Conway Ed Scannell Special Thanks Eilis O’Brien Dominic Martella Giselle Jiang Dominic, Grace, Charlie, Jason, Aifric, Lorraine and all the Student Centre Staff Laura, Tony and all the Webprint staff Very Special Thanks Balazs Pete and all the robots at NetSoc, Teresa Alonso Cortez, Declan Clear, Dave Connolly, Geraldine O’Nolan, Kate Rothwell We would like to wish a very happy birthday to Áine Valentine.

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The University Observer | 16 October 2012

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AMPAIGNS

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Take part in Public Speaking workshops Soup Run/Homework Club with UCDSVP Social media internships with Radio companies

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The University Observer | 16 October 2012

SPORT

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Head-to-head: Should the GAA go pro?

Seán O’Neill and Shane Hannon debate whether the GAA should embrace professionalism, or remain amateur

Amateurism works best

Time to go pro

by Seán O’Neill

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ertainly one of the biggest issues within the GAA over the last 20 years or so has been the question over whether ‘pay-for-play’ should be introduced. Traditionalists throughout the country would certainly argue that the whole idea of professionalism would taint the proud nature of our national games.

People may argue that the amateur ethos of the Association is central to its survival but, with demand from players for more justifiable expenses, it is becoming increasingly likely that professionalism is just over the horizon for the GAA. The Gaelic Players Association was established in 1999 with the aim of gaining extra rights and recognition for players and has been highly successful since when, earlier this year, the GAA and the GPA’s adversary signed a joint five year deal worth €8.5 million to contribute to player welfare. Many have criticised the GPA as they feel that they only have one goal in mind; professionalism.

The hierarchy of the GAA have long stated that they are committed to ensuring the amateur status of the Association, but the players deserve more than this. They currently get a pitiful grant of less than €1,000 a year for their efforts.

Critics of professionalism have said that paying players would simply not be sustainable in such a small country as ours. This is remarkable when we see figures released which state that the players and fixtures they play in, directly or indirectly, contribute €192 million to the Irish economy annually.

With massive amounts of capital being amassed by the organisation, surely the people who make it all possible should be the ones who receive the majority of this income.

Instead, the administrators and executives exploit honest players for their own benefit. The President of the GAA, Liam O’Neill, earns in the region of €100,000 a year while the players only get a few hundred euro, depending on their progress throughout the year.

This exploitation can mainly be traced back to the amateur status of the players. For the players to break free from these shackles, professionalism must be realised. Gaelic games are unique in sport due to the fact that practically all other sports operate professionally.

This has manifested itself into a major issue for the GAA, as young talented athletes are beginning to choose the discipline in which they will earn a salary.

It’s an easy choice for these young stars.

There have been several cases where possible young stars of the future have chosen rugby or soccer over Gaelic football and hurling.

The discipline in which this is most obvious is Australian Rules Football.

With Aussie Rules being so similar to Gaelic football, agents and scouts of AFL clubs have made Ireland a breeding ground. Players between 17 and 24 with extreme talent are being targeted by

Australian clubs with sets of trials being organised regularly by clubs.

These trials have seen players such as Marty Clarke and Tommy Walsh travel to the southern hemisphere to try establish themselves in a professional sport. The latest acquisition has seen 19 year-old Ciaran Kilkenny sign as a rookie for Hawthorn. He stated that the lure of testing himself in a professional environment was too hard to turn down.

To add to the GAA’s woes, Tadhg Kennelly, the only man to have won an AFL Premiership and All-Ireland medal, has been appointed to oversee an academy within Ireland to source Irish players for a career in the AFL. The powers that be at Croke Park simply cannot stand idly by. There has been a constant trickle of gifted Irish players to Australia over the last decade.

As long as amateurism remains, the possibility of this turning into a flood is a distinct possibility.

Another discrepancy on the part of the GAA is the illegitimate payment to managers at county level as well as club level. Although managers receive travelling expenses, it seems that county boards have been in breach of the organisation rules on amateur status for an extended period.

In a recent survey carried out on this grey area, five county boards were revealed to be paying senior county managers more than the outlined amount in their travelling expenses. With a highranking official from each county surveyed, 21 out of 32 believed that illegal payments are prevalent.

In a team sport such as this, the manager and the players must feel united if any type of success if to be achieved.

How must a player feel sitting a in a dressing room alongside his manager or coach who is getting paid handsomely while he remains empty handed for his endeavours?

Promises have been made to make amendments to ensure managers receive the correct payment of 50 cent a mile travelled to training sessions. If this problem is not addressed players will begin to feel even more aggrieved and protest such as strikes could be possible.

Former GAA Presidential candidate Sean Fogarty earlier this year argued that the GAA would fall to pieces with the onslaught of professionalism. Oldschool purists of the game believe that professionalism will ruin the identity of the parishes and rural areas of Ireland.

This simply wouldn’t happen.

The club game would remain the same within every county, while elite players would progress to county level.

More money would be pumped into our games and this would see football and hurling thriving like never before. The template the GAA can work from is rugby where it was argued that the grassroots level would be destroyed. Since rugby turned professional in 1995, it has grown dramatically. Professionalism is ultimately inevitable within the GAA.

by Shane Hannon

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“President of the GAA, Liam O’Neill, earns in the region of €100,000 a year while the players only get a few hundred euro, depending on their progress throughout the year.”

“The players themselves fully back the decision not to go professional, so why would we even consider that prospect?”

h en the GA A was founded on Saturday November 1st 1884 in the billiards room of Hayes’ Hotel in Thurles, County Tipperary, no-one could have foreseen the ever-present and vital role the Association would go on to play in Irish society.

The GA A was founded by men who wished to “foster a spirit of earnest nationality”, and it really is hard to ignore its political origins.

Today, however, the GA A is a true global phenomenon with over one million members worldwide.

It lays claim to the title of the greatest amateur sporting organisation in the world. The key word to focus on is amateur; the GA A was founded as an amateur association, and in my opinion that is the way things should stay.

Within the past decade, the competitiveness of Gaelic games has peaked. Some would argue that the training and fitness levels and the sheer amount of time spent training would make you think it was a professional organisation, and yet no players, coaches or officials get paid.

For example, when on their way to winning last year’s All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Dublin side often trained twice a day, including one session at 6am. It cannot be denied that counties are taking matters more seriously than ever, but this just highlights the desire to win that is prevalent within the game. Players don’t need financial gain as an incentive; the love of the game will clearly suffice.

The GA A is spreading globally faster than ever, and so there is pressure being put on for it to enter the professional ranks, but the association shouldn’t buckle. In soccer, for instance, it’s indisputable that some players become greedier with every penny they get, and we can’t let that ugliness enter the psyches of GA A players.

Assuming only county players would get paid if the GA A did turn professional; many club players who feel they should be playing at an inter-county level would feel hard-done by. That’s not to mention the transfer controversies that would undoubtedly arise; many top players playing with small counties would want to move to play with the bigger ones in order to follow the money trail.

Strong counties would get stronger, while the weaker counties would only get weaker. In essence, the entertainment value of those sports we love dearly would disappear forever. Not only would players move to bigger counties, but many more players would likely

move abroad, where GA A clubs often benefit from more funding. If the association does go down the road of professionalism, it could have abhorrent consequences for Irish society as a whole.

In spite of the amateur status, it’s not as though GA A players aren’t compensated for their efforts.

You’ll often find that inter-county players get paid travel expenses, and the top players reg ularly get advertising fees for wearing particular products or for appearing in TV commercials.

They may not get paid to the extent of professional players in other sports like soccer or golf, but socially, morally and ethically the GA A is richer than all of these sports combined. GA A players get their thrill out of not only winning games, but also playing an Irish sport alongside their friends. They are supported by people from their local area.

So what are the thoughts of the players themselves on the matter?

In November 2010, after being accused of fighting for a ‘pay-for-play’ system, the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) announced it was in fact committed to the amateur status of the GA A. As part of a deal earlier this year, the GPA will be supporting the amateur status of the association for the next five years.

This deal g uarantees the GPA €1.5 million a year of the GA A’s money, with this will rising to €2 million a year from 2015. It’s evident that the GA A and the GPA are on the same waveleng th, and that the players themselves fully back the decision not to go professional, so why would we even consider that prospect?

The GAA released a discussion paper in January of this year on the matter of keeping the association neutral, in which they made it clear that any person who accepts payment in conjunction with the playing of Gaelic Games is liable to a 24week suspension or even expulsion.

GA A clubs and county boards can’t afford to pay managers and players at any time, let alone in the current economic climate, so why should they have to? If the GA A turned professional, it would go against the fundamental ethos of the organisation: that it functions essentially on the basis of the voluntary efforts of its members.

Some players would be playing for the money rather than the love of the sport, and we cannot let that happen. Armagh’s former AllIreland winning goalkeeper Benny Tierney once stated: “Professionalism in our association could never work and would effectively destroy our wonderful games.” The GA A is a national treasure and an association that should never be polluted by professionalism.

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The University Observer | 16 October 2012

Caught in a Trap Kevin Beirne explores if Giovanni Trapattoni is the man to take Ireland forward

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et’s go back to a magical time. The year is 2012, it’s early June, and there is a sense of optimism in the air. Cars drive by with mini Ireland flags poking out from the tops of the windows and everyone seems to have the tricolour on their wing-mirrors too.

I know it’s hard to remember, but please try. Remember back to the morning of June 10th, and try to feel that same sense of anticipation you had. It was a feeling Irish fans hadn’t felt in quite some time. We had managed to get out of our group, actually win a play-off and qualify for Euro 2012.

Unfortunately, June 10th is when the boys in green trotted out against Croatia and everything changed. We were humiliated by a technically superior opponent. Ireland looked lost and conceded after only three minutes.

Things looked ominous for Ireland, and they were. Sean St. Ledger’s 19th minute equaliser would be our only goal in a tournament in which we conceded nine times in three games. Our once resolute defence had crumbled in the face of actually talented players.

Fast-forward to last Friday night and it seems the rot has not stopped.

Ireland shipped six goals to an admittedly exciting German side. Andy Keogh’s last second consolation meant nothing besides making our goal-difference less bad.

Going in to Euro 2012, Ireland had a 14 game unbeaten run and had not lost a competitive game outside of Ireland under Trapattoni. Now, Ireland have lost four of their last five

competitive games, with the sole avoidance of defeat being an extremely lucky 2-1 win over Kazakhstan.

In that time, Ireland’s once sure defence has leaked in 16 goals and our pitiful attack has only managed four in response, with two of those coming against minnows Kazakhstan and one coming in the last second of a 6-1 defeat.

If Ireland were a club team, this run of defeats would be very distressing, but in the context of international football, where so few games are played, these results are hugely worrying. Could it be that Trapattoni has taken this Irish team as far as he can?

It would seem that the answer is yes. Although we can’t expect to be beating teams with the quality of Germany, Spain or Italy, we can at least demand to be competitive against them. The Irish public still remembers Ray Houghton’s strike beating Italy at USA ’94 or Robbie Keane’s late equaliser against the Germans in 2002. The truth of the matter is, Ireland have yet to beat a team ranked higher than them in a competitive match under Trapattoni.

Ireland’s play under Trapattoni has been, to put it lightly, largely uninspiring. The most memorable performances under his tenure were the infamous second leg playoff against France, where Ireland played their most expansive game in years, and the 0-0 draw away to Russia, in which Richard Dunne played like a man possessed.

In just over four years at the helm, Ireland’s two most remarkable performances were both draws, and one of those games is only remarkable because we should have lost by a margin

of 4 or 5-0. At this stage, the honeymoon is well and truly over and Trapattoni’s reputation should not make him exempt from the criticisms being levelled at him, despite Liam Brady’s assertion to the contrary.

Where Trapattoni was once seen as confident and assured, he now looks foolish and arrogant. His decision to play a five-man midfield was welcomed, until it was realised he planned to play a striker as part of that midfield.

He cannot even be claiming to be building for the future. This Irish team is supposedly the one which gives us the best chance to win now, but we are not even doing that. An injury to an established first teamer is the only chance if game time for players like Seamus Coleman, James McCarthy and James McClean.

Trapattoni has also fallen out with a number of Irish players in his time in charge. Some of these players would not necessarily be starting, but it is relevant to note that Trapattoni has complained about his lack of depth while also freezing out certain players.

At the moment, Darron Gibson, Shane Long and Stephen Hunt are the biggest names to be involved in some form of disagreement with the Italian, who appears to have quite a delicate ego. Over the four years, Trapattoni has also clashed with Stephen Ireland, both Reids (Andy and Steven), James McCarthy and Ciaran Clark, to name a few.

Irish football appears to be in a place which does not support the relationship with Trapattoni, as the FAI are in serious debt, and cannot afford

to pay his salary without outside help.

This current crop of players is not good enough to succeed, but that does not mean recent results are acceptable.

At the moment, it seems that Ireland need for the young players to be given their chance and older players to be phased out. Trapattoni, at this point in his career, is not the man to rebuild a national team. Even forgetting his age, he has shown great reluctance over the past few years to give the next generation any consideration.

Ireland’s best chance at avoiding a repeat of the post-2002 hangover is to accept that they need to rebuild and begin right now. No one expects us to get to the same level as Germany, but to concede six goals at home is a disgrace. Ireland need to rebuild, and Trapattoni needs to go.

Passing the torch With Michael Schumacher retiring for a second time, Seán Craddock examines whether his return was a mistake and if Lewis Hamilton can live up to the German’s legend

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ichael Schumacher has announced that he will hang up his Formula One helmet at the end of this season. It’s not the first time he has retired from the sport, having left behind a legacy of seven World Championships, 91 race wins, and 67 pole positions in 2006. He will be replaced at Mercedes by Lewis Hamilton, who has left the McLaren team that has supported him since he was 13.

In 2010, Schumacher joined reigning champions Mercedes and was reunited with Ross Brawn, who had been technical director at Benetton and Ferrari back when Schumacher raced for them. There was a lot of expectation on him to add to the impressive stats which he is so famous for. To date, he has only managed to add to his pole positions when he qualified fastest in Monaco earlier this year. It doesn’t look like he’ll be getting any results in the remaining five races.

Schumacher was an icon to many of the drivers on the grid, and drivers below Formula 1, when they were younger. Drivers like Sebastian Vettel and Nico Hülkenberg grew up

watching the dominance of a fellow German. So was his return a mistake given how disappointing the results were; he had left on such a high, should he have kept it that way?

In hindsight, it’s easy to say that it was a bad idea, but even before his return there were signs that he might not be competitive. At 41 years old he was the oldest driver on the grid and returning to such a physically demanding sport after three years was always going to be a challenge.

The biggest challenge however, was to adapt to the changes to the sport.

The younger generations of drivers are able to adapt their driving styles to cope with new cars. When you’ve driven the same way for over 20 years, like Schumacher has, it’s more difficult to change. Having the young Nico Rosberg in the same car didn’t help. Before his return, Schumacher had never been beaten over a full F1 season by a teammate.

He has only managed 191 points in his three years back, compared to the 324 of Rosberg. He has been on the podium only once in a car that Rosberg proved is capable of winning. This isn’t the Schumacher that should be remembered and idolised.

When he left in 2006 he had won

seven races in the season, a feat that wasn’t repeated until last season.

Schumacher will always be remembered as one of the greats of the sport, even if his records are eventually broken, which won’t happen anytime soon.

Lewis Hamilton is the man taking Schumacher’s place at Mercedes, having spent his entire F1 career at McLaren. The 27 year old Englishman is looking for a fresh challenge in his career and even though McLaren tried to hang on to him, in the end he found the Mercedes deal more appealing.

Over the past year, it’s been clear that Hamilton has wanted a change.

He got rid of his father as his manager, and hired XIX Entertainment; a company which also manages Andy Murray and the Beckhams. These are the names that Hamilton wants to join. He wants to be the name in motorsport.

McLaren have always limited their drivers to what they do commercially.

Unless it’s one of the team’s sponsors, generally they won’t be allowed promote a product. At Mercedes, on the other hand, Hamilton has the chance of being a brand ambassador for one of the biggest car brands in the world.

In terms of racing, McLaren are more likely to win races; but that’s another reason to bring about this move. Hamilton wants to prove himself in a slower car. When Heikki Kovalainen was Hamilton’s age he joined a brand new team which was uncompetitive; some would argue he’s been racing better than ever before now.

If Hamilton can get the most out of a slower car it will give him more confidence in himself and push him to do more. He has already shown what he can do with a fast car; untouchable some days in qualifying. If he can help Mercedes develop their car to deliver consistent results, they can challenge for a title.

Hamilton has been close to winning the world title almost every year that he’s been in Formula 1.

It would be surprising if Mercedes have a championship winning car for

Hamilton next year. In 2014 there will be new engine rules and if they can get it right there’s no reason why Hamilton can’t win multiple world titles with them.

It’s similar to what Schumacher did when he joined Ferrari in 1996; a team that hadn’t won multiple races in six years. They built the team around him and re-wrote the history books. Hamilton has already shown that he can perform at the very top; he is more than capable of turning a team around and getting them back to winning ways.

The biggest losers in this move are McLaren. They can’t afford to lose such a fast driver to a rival team. It has been 14 years since the constructers world title went to the team from Woking, and the way things stand now it may be another while before they claim it again.

The University Observer | 16 October 2012

SPORT

SPORTS DIGEST

The Badger: The Musical

The Badger talks Lance Armstrong, football chants and attempts to relate to the kids by naming the first indie band that showed up on Google

by Matthew Morrow

Swimming

Four members of UCD swimming’s first team travelled to Stockholm on the morning of Friday October 12th until Sunday 14th to compete at a Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA) World Cup Meet over the weekend.

The four swimmers are 2008 Olympian Lisa Comerford in the 50m, 200m and 400m freestyle, Aisling Cooney in 50m and 100m backstroke as well as 50m butterfly, Shauna O’Brien in the 50m and 100m Butterfly, the 100m freestyle and the 200m individual medley and also Shani Stallard in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke and 200m individual medley.

The four swimmers were accompanied by Head Coach Mr Earl McCarthy, who represented Ireland at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Rugby Leinster ‘A’ selected three UCD students in their match day 22 for their British and Irish Cup opener against English side Leeds Carnegie in Donnybrook on Saturday evening. Wingers Andrew Boyle and Sam Coughlan-Murray were in action, while flanker Jordan Coughlan was a late selection as the side was captained by tight-head prop Jack MacGrath.

UCD man Jordan Coughlan opened the scoring for a Leinster ‘A’ team that was blessed with an embarrassment of riches. He was not the only UCD man to score, as under-20 international Sam Coghlan-Murray managed a try as Leinster ran up the scoreboard against Leeds. Leinster completed the rout with seven tries in total, as they won 47-18.

Leinster will be looking to improve on their performance from last year, as they lost out to eventual winners Munster in the semi-final last year. Their group consists of Leeds Carnegie, Welsh side Pontypridd, and newcomers Jersey of the Channel Islands.

Matches will take place on the same weekends as those of the Heineken and Amlin Challenge Cups. Leinster will be away to Pontypridd on Saturday October 20th.

Basketball UCD Marian produced a storming resurgence in the second half of their Nivea for Men’s Superleague game on Friday.

Marian dug deep to come from 32-21 down at half-time to beat Dublin Inter 65-48 at the National Arena in Tallaght.

John Galvin led all scorers with 23 points for Marian, as they recorded their second win of the season. The win takes them to third in the league behind first place UL Eagles and second place UCC Demons after three games. Marian’s next game is on the October 20th against DCU Saints in the DCU complex.

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Flags over fists Aaron Kennedy takes a look at the world of sporting rivalries

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hroughout the 20th and 21st centuries, sport has become an important component of people’s everyday lives. The passion felt by these fans for their teams inevitably breeds some fierce rivalries. These rivalries between teams often stem from the region in which they live in, a past event that occurred between them, or even religion.

These games place immense pressure on the players, the owners and the manager, but perhaps it is the fans with whom it strikes a chord the most. In recent times, club owners often encourage rivalries to increase television ratings as well generating further income from game attendance.

Intensity of these rivalries varies from a professional and friendly encounter to a far more extremist and violent nature. In one particular case, the so-called Football War between El Salvador and Honduras of 1969 lasted for 4 days and resulted in the deaths of approximately 3,000 people.

During the qualifying rounds for the 1970 World Cup, the two teams played each other in three matches over a two week period where eventually El Salvador came out victorious. Mass scenes of violence ensued after each match, gradually leading to violent border clashes between the two nations as well as El Salvador severing all ties with Honduras.

This is a clear example of how sporting rivalries can lead to the most horrific of circumstances such as hooliganism, rioting and fighting. Sometimes, in the worst cases, these clashes between rival fans end in the loss of human life.

If there is any sport where hooliganism has been heavily discernible for decades, it has to be football. Fans

take to the terraces to roar on their beloved teams to victory in most circumstances, but occasionally a select few disrupt the ‘beautiful game’. One of the best known of these rivalries is that of Glasgow’s “Old-Firm”: Celtic and Rangers.

The two teams have a long standing rivalry, which dates back to the late 19th century, and is largely based on the differing religious beliefs of their respective supporters. The rivalry does not stem solely from religion, as the fans differ on social ideology in regards to conservatism and socialism as well as their beliefs on Northern Ireland related politics regarding republicanism and loyalism.

An example of this rivalry being brought too far is the aftermath of the 1980 Scottish Cup Final. Celtic won 1-0, sparking one of the worst pitch invasions ever witnessed. This ultimately lead to the banning of alcohol on football grounds in Scotland.

El Clásico is another example of both the good and the bad side of sporting rivalries. Barcelona and Real Madrid are the two most successful clubs in Spain, and their rivalry stems mainly from the Catalan bid for independence from Spain. The game between these two giants of Spain has had a mixture of the good, the bad and the ugly.

With the Santiago Bernabéu and the Camp Nou being the stadiums involved in the rivalry, the games take place in two of the most beautiful stadiums on the planet as well as hosting an array of the world’s finest footballers on show, but the match often tends to bring out the worst in some of the players as well as managers.

The same can be said for Liverpool and Manchester United, where recently fans from both sides horrendously

chanted at one another about the Munich Air Disaster as well the Hillsborough Disaster. The bad side of rivalries is clearly on view here as tragic events of the past involving both teams are clearly being marred by idiotic fans taking the rivalry too far.

Much closer to home, the rivalry of the Leinster and Munster in rugby has been an enjoyable watch over the past few years. Rivalries in rugby seem to be much less intense than their footballing counterparts. The allowance of alcohol on rugby grounds is an indication of trust from the governing bodies that violent outbursts are unlikely.

This confidence is supported by the refusal to segregate the fans in to home and away sections. Fans from both sides enjoy the game side by side.

This has the added benefit of removing a mentality of violence as fans see the human side of the opposing supporters.

Rivalries in GAA are much similar to that of rugby in the way in which no apparent violence occurs between the sets of supporters and fans are not separated.

One of the best-known rivalries in GAA occurs between the two Munster counties of Kerry and Cork in the football.

Whether it be Páirc Uí Chaoimh or Croke Park, both sets of fans have cheered on their teams without violence.

Rivalries are what make sport so lovable. Without them, we would lose the passion needed to play these sports.

They are certain people who take things too far in every aspect of life, but that should not reflect upon the majority of fans who simply come to enjoy the game with their family or friends.

A select few people may tarnish the image of several sports and their fan base, but in the overall scheme of things, the ones who genuinely love the sport come out on top.

T

he Badger does not care for cycling. A badger’s frame does not agree with bicycles and therefore cycling is ridiculous. It is for this reason that The Badger is delighted with the recent report that confirms what everyone already knew about Lance Armstrong.

Nevertheless, the human had a point.

The true answer is something many of you reading this may suffer from, but, like an Arts student who actually goes to lectures, you are living in denial.

Finally, The Badger will be free from hearing about what an inspiration Lance Armstrong was and that he was so amazing to have stayed above it all in an era of doping in cycling. As it turns out, the only way in which Armstrong stayed above it all was as the head of the operation.

The only regret over this whole thing is that Armstrong will not have to face the fans in the same way footballers do. One of The Badger’s favourite things in sport is the chanting that takes place during football matches.

Despite their reputation as intellectually inferior (a reputation that The Badger feels holds true in most cases), football chants are by far the most advanced in terms of original lyrics and harshness. In rugby, the best team in Europe only has one chant unique to them; a song about a hooker.

The GAA is even worse. The Badger isn’t sure if there are any actual chants in GAA besides ‘Molly Malone’, ‘The Fields of Athenry’ and everybody’s favourite: ‘Shouting your team’s name and then managing to clap at a different time than everyone else in the stadium’.

Before anyone says it, The Badger knows that many football fans are horrendously stupid and chant about things such as Hillsborough or even the Holocaust. The Badger hates these people and so should you. The Badger also knows that some fans are horrendously lacking in creativity, and encourages you to hate these people to a lesser degree.

Football still remains the most innovative sport in terms of chanting. As far as The Badger is aware, no other sport uses pop culture more effectively, with fans reworking the lyrics to Blur’s ‘Parklife’ being a favourite. Also, as a complete cynic, The Badger enjoys the use of players’ private lives in these chants.

For example, Ashley Cole has probably had more songs written about him by football fans than Rage Against the Machine have written about not doing what you tell them to. The Badger hopes that you too find Cole to be one of the most deplorable characters in football, for reasons such as “trembling with anger” about only being offered £55,000 a week to play football and defending John Terry.

But The Badger is a pessimist, and sees an end of these beautiful chants in the near future. Music is changing, and songs like ‘Parklife’ are becoming a thing of the past as bands try their best to be different. For some reason, The Badger can’t imagine a stadium of football fans chanting abuse to the tune of a song by The Maccabees.

1990: David O’leary celebrates

OSbserver P O R T

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The University Observer | 16 October 2012

Drogheda United put to the sword UCD 1 - 0 Drogheda United

O

n a night when Sligo Rovers were crowned Airtricity League champions, UCD played host to a Drogheda United team looking to apply pressure on St. Patrick’s Athletic for the runner up spot. It was UCD who took the spoils in an evenly contested battle between two teams seemingly suffering from end of season syndrome.

UCD, playing in their alternate all white strip, started the game brightly and almost opened the scoring from an early corner as Drogheda struggled to defend the UCD set-piece threat. The first major chance fell to the claret and blues of Drogheda, as a well worked cross from the left hand side fell to Brian Gannon, who could only direct his header wide of Ger Barron’s goal.

Drogheda appeared to prefer a slower tempo, with UCD’s industrious midfielder Paul O’Connor driving his team forward with a succession of powerful strikes from distance, being UCD’s most apparent threat to the Drogheda goal.

Some neat footwork from O’Connor certainly pleased the crowd as he dinked the ball over two Drogheda players before striking an effort from distance in to the arms of Drogheda ‘keeper Michael Schlingermann.

As the half progressed, Drogheda began to threaten the UCD back four, utilising the space on the wings, as they looked to impose their dominance, as reflected in their league position, and craft an opening. Indeed, Peter Hayes

may have felt he was about to break the deadlock on the stroke of half time, only to be denied by a superb late challenge from UCD skipper Michael Leahy.

Both teams had resolute defences, as UCD were restricted to long shots and, despite both teams trying to keep the ball and play football, the half time whistle was a welcome relief to a match which had threatened to descend in to a war of attrition between two solid defensive performances.

The second half began with more urgency as UCD looked to dominate proceedings, and were almost gifted a goal as Gary Burke’s deflected strike had Schlingermann scrambling across his goal to see the ball behind for a UCD corner.

A flurry of dangerous shots continued to pour in on the Drogheda goal, with Paul O’Connor continuing to be at the heart of all of UCD’s attacking play and Gary Burke remaining a constant thorn in the side of the Drogheda defence. Burke then rattled Schlingermann’s right hand post with a fearsome drive from the edge of the box.

David McMillan, who sits 9th in the UCD all time goal scoring charts, looked more and more lively as the students worked away at a tiring Drogheda back four, and he almost claimed a penalty after a clash with Schlingermann and Brian Gannon as he raced down on goal.

No penalty was given by the Maltese referee Trustin Farrugia Cann.

The introduction of Dean Clarke on the left hand side inspired UCD’s attacking

play, as the home team continued to pressurise the Drogheda defence. It was the visitors, however, who gained an advantage against the run of play as UCD were reduced to ten men in the 73rd minute.

Drogheda’s Declan O’Brien raced clear of the UCD back four and a clumsy challenge saw David O’Connor receive UCD’s first red card of the Airtricity League season. Momentum favoured the visitors who twice had efforts blocked off the line. Michael Leahy led from the back with a fine goal-line clearance, as Paul Crowley looked destined to score.

Despite all the pressure, it was UCD who opened the scoring. Paul O’Connor illustrated great vision to pick out David McMillan who showed neat footwork in the box to draw the foul and win a penalty with just over ten minutes remaining. McMillan stepped up to blast home

a right footed strike through the hands of Schlingermann in to the bottom right hand corner.

Drogheda fought back strongly and felt aggrieved in the 85th minute as a Ger Barron mistake saw the ball bundled in to the net, only to be ruled out for a foul on the relieved UCD ‘keeper after a manic goalmouth scramble.

Barron made no such mistake in the final moments, as Drogheda went route one in a valiant attempt to salvage a point from the evening, only to be denied by a string of fine catches from the imperious stopper.

With four minutes of injury time remaining, UCD ran down the clock and claimed a hard fought three points over a strong opposition. In a game with very limited chances, UCD deserved the three points and go in to next week’s

penultimate fixture against 4th placed Shamrock Rovers confident of a result at the Tallaght Stadium.

Drogheda, on the other hand, will be disappointed not to have made the numerical advantage count, but Mick Cooke’s team will look to return to winning ways against champions-elect Sligo Rovers, who have lost only one game in this season’s league campaign; also away to UCD. The fans warmly applauded both sets of players off on a cold night at the UCD Bowl, as both teams begin to look towards next year’s campaign. Both will feel optimistic that they can build on respectable seasons thus far in the Airtricity League and achieve even better next season. by thomas mitchell photo by ed scannell

constraints on small businesses in Ireland today. Although they have applied for sponsorship with larger companies, Ní Riordáin does not expect any monetary sponsorship, although equipment remains a possibility.

At the moment, sports clubs are forced to do whatever they can with limited resources. Just like everyone else, the clubs are left to rely on volunteers and makeshift, temporary solutions to problems with equipment.

Ní Riordáin is quick to credit those who have given their time to support the club, in particular her fellow committee members saying “Andy is our gear officer, and without him, we’d be absolutely screwed because he fixes the boat, basically, and the trailer too.”

It remains to be seen if UCD sports clubs can withstand the cuts to their budgets. They will continue to throw together whatever equipment and funding they can. So long as they can find students who are passionate about their sport, they will find a way.

The long term problem lies in UCD’s competitiveness outside with other colleges. Other colleges could soon pass out UCD in terms of reputation for sporting prowess, and this could lead to students deciding to apply elsewhere. If UCD wishes to maintain its spot at the top of Irish college sports, it needs to provide its clubs with enough money to operate.

Let’s just hope that those in charge appreciate the importance of sport as part of the UCD way.

Feeling the pressure Windsurfing captain Orla Ní Riordáin talks to Kevin Beirne about the funding available to UCD sports clubs

W

ith the building of the new student centre, it would appear that UCD are making some great investments in sport in the university. A new gym, with membership for all students, and an Olympic-sized 50 metre swimming pool are some of the new facilities students can avail of.

The new gym means that the average student is more likely to keep fit and the new pool means sports like swimming, canoeing and water polo have a place to train on campus. However, if we look below the surface, a question arises; does UCD provide enough funding to its sports clubs?

Orla Ní Riordáin, captain of UCD’s windsurfing club, says that the answer is a simple no. In particular, she says, sports that rely heavily on equipment, such as her own, lose out greatly when funding to sports clubs in general is cut.

Ní Riordáin paints a picture of the pressures facing many clubs at the moment; “If we can’t get enough money to fix our trailer, then the boat can’t get down to Seapoint and we can’t run our sessions… It’s not a club then, at that point, because we won’t be able to run windsurfing.”

She goes on to say that “the most we can do is go out on nights out that don’t cost us anything, but that’s not windsurfing.” And while Ní Riordáin sees the benefits of social events for the club, her priorities lie with the windsurfing aspect of the club.

Not only is a lack of funding detrimental to the development of less popular sports such as windsurfing, it is also dangerous in some cases.

In the case of windsurfing, a lack of funding means that most of the equipment used is old and, in some cases, rusting.

This may seem like something the club should just “get on with”, but using old equipment increases the chance of breakages, and on the water, this leads to a greater risk of drowning. This contributes to water sports having the slightly higher registration fee of €15, to cover the extra insurance for a “high-risk” sport.

The lack of funding also affects the social side of the club. Many students join sports clubs in the hopes of it providing an active and exciting social life with like-minded people, as well as for the love of the sport it offers.

For some students just starting life in UCD, a sports club can provide them with some much needed grounding and focus during a huge change.

“We only do a certain amount of trips a year, because of the cost of it, and we don’t subsidise them at all,” explains Ní Riordáin, “because the club just can’t pay for them at all.”

For a university with such a proud sporting tradition, many people feel let down by the low level of funding available to sports clubs. Despite this disappointment, it is understandable that the college cannot afford to give every club the funding they feel they need, given current financial restraints.

Ní Riordáin laments the recent cuts to her club, saying that “Our trailer weighs loads, so towing that down to Seapoint and back, it’s a €20 round trip from [UCD] to Seapoint for petrol and we also have to tow the boat there and back.

That’s four trips [€80] worth of petrol money every weekend… You have to take a lot of what could be allocated to gear for petrol. We’re going to have 10% less [funding] than last year already, but even last year we were under money pressure… If they could give that 10% extra, that would make a massive difference” Sports clubs may have to resort to investment from outside of UCD in order to getting the funding they need, but this can only go so far. Most sponsorship comes in the form of a discount for members or in prizes for events, rather than equipment or money.

Ní Riordáin says that the windsurfing club has managed some sponsorship, but that none of it is in monetary form, due to the financial