niversity U bserver O
the
Features
sport
We talk to
Conorabout Sammon life in the
Should Ireland reunite? We speak to Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams, and the Ulster Unionist Party
Premier League
v o l u m e
x v i i i
·
OTWO
i s s u e
IX
·
OTWO talks to
Aidan Gillen of Game of Thrones, The Wire & Love/hate
w w w. u n i v e r s i t y o b s e r v e r . i e
UGM fails SU to implement four-year plan for services to reach quorum by Katie Hughes · News Editor
by Jon Hozier-Byrne · Editor
The first UCD Students’ Union General Meeting to be held in twenty-four years, which took place on February 6th in the Astra Hall, failed to reach quorum. The assembly, which was called to decide the motion ‘Should the Union General Meeting overturn the decision by the Union to close the Print Bureau (SU General Office) in the Library/Arts Tunnel?’, was open to all members of the Students’ Union, and required five per cent of the student body (approximately 1,000 students) to vote in order to be constitutionally binding. The Meeting achieved a total of 157 votes, 156 of which were valid, leaving the Meeting over 800 votes short of achieving quorum. The total cost of the Meeting, including twelve staff members and the printing of ballot papers, is estimated to have come to over €3,000. Of the votes cast, eighty-seven voted in proposition of the motion, while sixty-nine voted in opposition. As such, the Returning Officer Morgan Shelley announced that the motion was inquorate, and therefore invalid. Less than one per cent of the student body partook in the vote. Regarding the low turnout for the vote, the final speaker for the Proposition, Elizabeth Coote commented, “I’m disappointed on that, because let’s be honest, 23,000 students – how many actually elect the Students’ Union? Very few students within the college go for election. We got 3,000 [signatures] in seven to eight days.” UCD SU President Pat de Brún commented, “Reaching quorum was extremely unlikely. I think that was clear for everyone from the start, including the proposer, with the full knowledge of what the cost would be to the Union, so to be honest, I think the end result is quite counter-productive compared to what the intended result behind the petition was.” The first speaker for the Opposition, UCD SU Campaigns and Communications Officer Brendan Lacey stated his concern about the cost of the event, remarking, “No democratic process of the Union could be considered a waste of money, but it’s unfortunate that in a year where we’ve endeavoured to make huge savings across the board … to see it struck out with what turned
Electoral hopefuls James Atkinson, Sam Geoghegan, Patrick Wolohan, Enda Conway, Rachel Breslin, Paddy Guiney, Shane Comer, Aisling Sheerin, Karl Gill, Mícheál Gallagher and Eoin Heffernan line up for their first photograph as Students’ Union Sabbatical candidates. The elections will take place alongside the Constitutional Referendum on February 29th and March 1st. Photographer: Jon Hozier-Byrne
out be a measure that wasn’t promoted well, and really won’t have any binding effect on the Union… I’m disappointed.” When asked whether this result would end the campaign to overturn the decision made by the SU, the proposer of the motion, Karl Gill stated, “We’ll have to stick our heads together, but chances are, if the two women [Jacqueline Carey and Anne Dunne, both made redundant before Christmas] aren’t willing to do much more after this then we will have to call it a day, if that’s the case. However, I still think the campaign proved a lot of reasonable points, that there is a frivolous attitude when it comes to finances in the Union, that there is a tendency towards Ents and less of a tendency towards educational services. I think, if we get anything out of it, it’s that student activism is still alive and is still fighting
for the genuine, real things that are on students’ minds today.” Concerns were raised as to why profits from the Student Travel Card (STC) were not included in the accounts of the Copy Bureau; de Brún explained that the STC account was a transferable one, meaning it was not a “key tenant” of the printing bureau and hence could be moved to a different outlet on campus. In addition, a large amount of STCs were sold in the first few of weeks of term, when stands were set up in the Arts Block and Student Centre, and not in the Copy Bureau. The printing machines used in the Copy Bureau were operating under a lease and are expected to be returned shortly. De Brún votes in the UGM Photographer: David Nowak
Counselling waiting list to be reduced through use of external service by Katie Hughes · News Editor
Students’ Union President Pat de Brún has confirmed that the Union will be seeking to reduce the eight-week waiting list for the Counselling Service by referring students to an outside practice, the costs of which will be covered by funds obtained from the University. De Brún expressed concern for students currently on the waiting list, “it is a very serious situation because obviously some of the people on that list might be at serious risk,” which was
his motivation for putting a proposal before the relevant University committee. However, de Brún recognised that the solution was not a permanent one, “it’s a temporary solution but a good solution.” The service will remain free of charge to students, as an “agreement in principle” has been established with the University to provide additional funds to cover the visits. De Brún believes this to be “fantastic because it’s one of the most crucial areas that we really need to look at.”
According to de Brún, the money will be coming “essentially from the Vice-President for Students’ budget,” which is allocated by the Student Experience Management Executive Committee. He explained that with the Community Musical no longer taking place this year, “there was a little bit of additional money, which would normally go as a contribution to that, so that money is being targeted and which has, in principle, been made available.” Students’ Union Welfare Officer, Rachel Breslin, has met with MyMind, a
clinic in Ranelagh, to whom students from the waiting list may be referred. Breslin explained that students on the waiting list will be given a code or a voucher for an outside counselling service. Representatives from the Community Musical stated that they were in no position to confirm or deny whether the funds allocated for the initiative would come from their own budget, “realistically, you don’t know what budgets are available from year to year, but I’m sure that some of this year’s money will certainly be available.”
As a part of becoming UCDSU Ltd, the Students’ Union is implementing a four-year plan for their services, focusing mainly on the various SU shops located across campus. SU President Pat de Brún stated that the plan was to be implemented due to the election of new SU Officers every year not equating to “anything commercial”, as long-term planning and management is required. The SU shops will be the main focus of the plan, “we will draw up a plan of where we want to get to in terms of targets, what we want to be supplying, what each shop will look like. It might involve a capital investment of changing the look of the shops, changing the focus of the shops and making sure that they’re performing to the best of their abilities.” No definite changes have been decided upon yet, but according to de Brún, external retail experts have been offering recommendations so “we’re taking that on board.” Installing delis in the shops and supplying more groceries are ideas the SU is looking at implementing, “We’re trying to find out what the market is and what exactly we should be providing so that over the course of the next number of years we’re providing the best possible service to students, but at the same time we’re being a sustainable service with reasonable margins for the Union.” De Brún does not see foresee any of the shops closing or further redundancies being made, “but nothing can be ruled out, the state of our services wing, the way it was left – there is large change necessary, very comprehensive change across the board. Some of [the changes] will be fantastic and some of them will be more difficult. We don’t know exactly where we are quite yet in terms of those plans.” De Brún has also put forward a proposal to both the Forum Club Committee and the Student Club Committee that the student bars should be incorporated as companies, “I’m in favour of the bars incorporating as companies, not under the Union control.” This proposal has been met with some resistance from the respective committees. De Brún stated that he understood why resistance would be encountered, “some people would not want to do that because … it would involve those people on the committees being directors and there are certain owner’s responsibilities involved, so I can understand people’s opposition.” De Brún maintained that the move would provide a more sustainable, proper structure for the bars. His main reason for the proposal was the obligation to produce accounts every year, “it’s a legal obligation as opposed to what it is currently – yes it’s in the Bar Constitution but it doesn’t have legal standing whereas this would … I think [this would help us] to learn from the mistakes of the last few years.” A Student Club Committee meeting due to take place yesterday was to focus on the financial status of the Student Club, according to de Brún, “the accounts are nearly formalised, we asked for some baseline P and L, profit loss figures, so we should see exactly how much the bar is making or losing. Hopefully, that’s what we requested, so I’m hopeful we’ll get to see that.” The establishing of UCDSU Ltd is nearly complete and is to be finalised in the next couple of weeks. According to de Brún, “it’s not something that really needs to be rushed, it’s just something I’d like to get done before the end of term.”
2
The University Observer · 14 February 2012
Observer News
News in Brief
news@observer.ie
by Katie Hughes · News Editor
SU to secure student deal with Leinster Rugby Following Leinster Rugby acquiring offices, training facilities and research labs on the Belfield campus, UCD Students’ Union President Pat de Brún is attempting to partner with the organisation to secure special deals for UCD students. De Brún has received a positive response to his proposal from the Director of Development in UCD but is still awaiting a response from Leinster Rugby. He explains that he felt the agreement between UCD and Leinster Rugby was an opportunity for students to “get some direct benefits from this relationship.” The deals have not yet been confirmed, “in the past Leinster [Rugby] have done deals for less popular matches … whereby you could get a ticket and a drink, alcoholic or non-alcoholic for a cut-down price.” NUIG Students’ Union and Connacht have a similar structure in place, which is where the idea stemmed from. The scheme is expected to be in place by September 2012.
Maths Support Centre to Launch Video Tutorials The Maths Support Centre (MSC) is expected to broadcast its first video tutorial in the next few weeks. The first tutorial will be aimed at Agricultural Science students and will cover the subject of Radian Measure. This initiative is being piloted with the help of Campaigns and Communications Officer Brendan Lacey, who explained that the MSC is currently on a limited budget: “What I want to start doing now is expand the reach of the Maths Support Centre without having to put more money into [it] … start putting all the video tutorials online and to start advertising for them.” The subject of tutorials will be closely tied to the curriculum of Business, Agriculture, Engineering, and Science students. The MSC currently run tutorials called ‘Hot Topics’, which target problem areas for students, working in conjunction with lecturers to identify subjects. The Maths Support Centre is currently located in the South Wing of the Science Centre.
Seachtain na Gaeilge The Students’ Union’s annual Seachtain na Gaeilge took place last week from February 6th to 10th. A hypnotist, ceílí, and a performance by Aslan were among the various events that took place during the week. SU Irish Language Officer, Caoimhe Seoige, was “delighted” with the outcome of the week, “we kind of kept the same thing going with the hoodies and everything … it went really well. I guess we were trying to get people in from the outside more because last year it was about the hoody sales and this year it’s about the Irish.” The aim of the week was to promote the Irish language on campus, although any profits that may have been made will be donated to UCD Volunteers Overseas. The next prominent Irish event is Ball na Gaeilge, expected to take place during the second week after the midterm break.
Alternative National Archive by evan O’Quigley
A team of experts led by the UCD Michael Ó Cléirigh Institute are currently surveying a wide collection of historical materials dating from the 11th to the 20th century from the Irish Franciscan archive. The project is being funded by a grant awarded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, whose aim it is to “build, strengthen and sustain institutions and their core capacities, rather than be a source for narrowly defined projects.” Director of the UCD Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Institute, and Head of the UCD School of History and Archives, Dr John McCafferty explained that the documents are of primary importance to the “history of Ireland and its relationship with other parts of the world.” The analysis is expected to take a year to complete.
UCD Science Society cycle to Galway by Sara Holbrook
UCD’s Science Society completed their annual cycle to Galway in aid of Crumlin Children’s Hospital earlier this month. Thirty students took part in the cycle, held on February 3rd and 4th. Two members of UCD’s Cycle Club, two Order of Malta ambulances, a bus, a mechanic and Garda escorts accompanied the cyclists at various stages of the route. Training for the 208.3km cycle began in October. Organiser of the cycle, Jenny O’Dwyer said that she “made sure they were organised, just to get their fitness up to a certain level. It’s
more for the confidence of the cyclists themselves.” O’Dwyer recommends that students undertake the challenge next year, “we would say it’s a great weekend just purely because it’s such a good bonding weekend … by the end of the weekend, because you’re cycling in groups … you really bond with people and get to know people quite well.” The cycle brings in on average €9,000 to €10,000 every year, although a final amount for this year has not yet been calculated as sponsorship is not due in until the end of March. O’Dwyer explains that due to the large sum raised every year, “it’s a really big
event for the Science Society.” Each cyclist is required to raise at least €450 in order to take part in the cycle. €120 of this amount goes towards food, accommodation and the renting of a bike and helmet, as well as hiring a bus and mechanic. “The main things in the beginning that people are very reserved about are first of all, the money, but we would say we’re very hands on about helping you organise events to raise it yourself. It’s not going to come out of your own pocket. Then second of all, the fitness level; it’s not a race, it’s just a group of people having the craic, getting to Galway. We provide spin classes … It’s not a
Photographer: Jenny O’Dwyer competition. It’s just a bit of fun.” The weather conditions this year were much better than those encountered by last year’s cyclists, “it was atrocious … even the pro cyclist who was with us at the time was like ‘we don’t even train in this kind of weather’. “I consider it a success, the fact that everyone managed to cycle into Galway, there were no injuries along the way … and we did seem to collect a good bit of money in Galway.” Science Day is expected to go ahead on February 16th with events such as a petting zoo, ‘Pie the Lecturer’, and ‘Shave or Dye’ taking place.
RAG Week to become RAG Day by Jack Walsh
The format for ‘Raise a Grand’ (RAG) week has been changed from its traditional five-day format to a one-day event. The transition from a week-long to a single day event is, according to Students’ Union Ents Officer Stephen Darcy, due to his belief that he could not justify spending unnecessary money on a week of planned events when it could be used for charitable causes. In addition, there is a growing number of university RAG weeks that have shifted in format to ensure that the main ethos
Three break-ins in one week in UCD car park
highlighted is the charitable effort made by students. The plan and format of the day is currently in its provisional stages, but is set to follow an hourly schedule of events. “It’s going to take place provisionally on Monday, March 19th, so it’s the day we come back after our twoweek midterm. Basically it’s going to be a ‘Black Monday-esque’ event in the bar, beginning at maybe midday, and finishing at about half eleven. The idea is just to change acts every hour, so for the first hour we might have a ceili, for the second hour we might have a foam
party etc. “I’m going to try and work with the Sports Officer and we’re going to try get some sports events organised on the day, so it’s going to be campus-wide. It’s not going to just be in the bar as I think it’s going to be important to not be seen as a drinking day, and that’s going to encourage a lot more people to get involved, because not everyone wants to go on a piss-up [sic] at midday”. A wristband system is set to cover admittance for the day, “we’re going to sell about 1,000 wristbands, and it’s going to be about a fiver a pop, which will
UCDSU Welfare launches ‘Food Box’ scheme by Katie Hughes · News Editor
by Kate Rothwell · deputy Editor
Gardaí have confirmed that three cars were broken into in UCD’s Car Park Six on the dates of the 26th, 27th and 31st January. A Garda spokesperson for the station stated that these incidents were instances of criminal damage and not theft, and confirmed that they were being investigated. “We are aware of these incidents, and Gardaí are investigating.” A University spokesperson verified that the car park is monitored by CCTV and that “the system has been used to successfully identify perpetrators of crime to the Gardaí.” One student affected by such a break-in told the University Observer that requests have been made to the University by Gardaí to improve the current CCTV system and lighting in this particular car park, but these requests have as of yet not been acted upon. In response to this testimony, the spokesman stated that “campus lighting and CCTV coverage across the campus is under regular review. Any CCTV upgrade programme is discussed with the Gardaí, and prioritised accordingly.”
entitle you to come in and out of the bar all day as you see fit, and there will be bucket collections at the door and bucket collections inside, and there will be options inside that will be all charitybased events.” All charitable donations made this year will go through mycharity.ie, “every person who gets involved gets to choose their charity, and this is done through a UCDSU feeder system on mycharity.ie so everyone can pick, so loads of different charities benefit.” The UCD Mystery Tour is set to take place two days after RAG day.
Students’ Union Welfare Officer, Rachel Breslin, is launching a ‘Food Box’ initiative, which she will be introducing after the mid-term break. Students will pay €10 at the beginning of the week and in return receive a box of food containing four portions of meat, four recipes and vegetables for each day. The idea was proposed after the release of a set of EU statistics, which suggested that the nutritional value of students’ diets was suffering, was brought before the Health Promotions Committee Meeting. Breslin explained that “students’ income had fallen so much, their disposable income, in particular, was so low that they were choosing to spend their money on things other than food … food was one of the areas that was suffering the most and because junk food is often cheaper, particularly now in the mass produced days … the nutritional value of their diets was suffering a lot.” M&K Meats will be supplying the produce, “the veg will be pre-prepared, so chopped potatoes or chopped carrots but all completely fresh, the meat is vacuum packed, but all completely fresh stuff, we’re getting it directly from a meat and veg supplier.”
L’Ecrivan chef and co-owner, Derry Clarke, will be penning the recipes found alongside the ingredients. Six different sets of food baskets will be on rotation during the year, with ingredients, their preparation, and recipes being altered according to student feedback. While students will pay €10 per week for the box, any profit made from the scheme will be allocated to the Welfare Fund. Breslin explains that different baskets will have a different cost price, “fish is more expensive … it is planned that all the profits will go to the Welfare Fund but we don’t have exact figures.” She concludes by saying that the scheme is not intended to generate revenue for the SU, but rather as a scheme to aid students. “We’re really looking at what students want, it’s not something we set up to make a profit – it’s just to help students who are struggling to afford healthy meals. We also have students who don’t know how to cook them, so it’s sort of ticking two boxes with one scheme and we’ll take student direction completely on board.” Breslin welcomes name suggestions for the initiative, as it currently does not have one.
The University Observer · 14 February 2012
News in Brief
C&C to “put pressure” on Dublin Bus by Denis Vaughan
Following indications that Dublin Bus may re-route the 84 bus route, Students’ Union Campaigns and Communications Officer, Brendan Lacey, has stated that he will “put pressure on [Dublin Bus] to reverse the decision and show the support that’s behind the cause.” The 84 currently operates between Newcastle, Co. Wicklow and UCD, and its re-routing could leave students commuting to UCD from towns such as Greystones and Kilcoole with no means of direct transport to college. It has been suggested that the 84 might instead run from Newcastle to Blackrock, where students would then have to find an alternative means of transport to reach UCD. Lacey expressed his discontent regarding the matter, “I don’t like when any services are pulled like that. It serves the students using it. For some people it’s their only way of getting to UCD so we need to try and fight for it. There seems to be a big interest in it and Greystones County Council seem to have picked up on it as well, which is great to see them getting involved.” The move follows the recent increase in fare prices as of January 1st 2012. Cash fares have increased by an average of fifteen per cent compared with 2011, whilst Leap Card fares have increased by an average of five per cent.
According to Greystones Councillor and UCD SU International officer, Stephen Stokes, the 84 route is a “vital service,” stating that “if you go past Greystones there are no other services to places like Kilcoole and Newcastle, so it would adversely affect those students.” “I cycle to work but it’s not a possibility for people living out the route of the 84,” said Lacey, “I don’t think there are that many alternatives at the moment, which is part of the problem.” Stokes stated that plans to withdraw the 84 altogether had been in motion since as early as last September. “I had two constituents, one of which is a UCD student, who told me of the plans and they were being told by Dublin Bus drivers. I actually contacted a middle-management contact I had in Dublin Bus and they confirmed that it was something that was being actively considered.” “I put a motion before Greystones Town Council about two months ago calling on them to maintain the service and also to enhance certain things like the 84x time … they listened to the community I believe. They committed to, at the very least, having a consultation period, which they hadn’t done in the past. I’m hoping that they will take the concerns of students and also commuters on board.” Dublin Bus were unavailable for comment on the matter.
Representatives of UCD’s Community Musical have confirmed that the production scheduled for this year will be postponed to February 2013 due to time constraints. Jason Masterson and Vivian Rath explained that the plans for the 2012 production of The Phantom of the Opera were put under time pressure by the large-scale undertaking of the show, resulting in its postponement. “We were looking at the feasibility of doing the show in February 2012, but unfortunately The Phantom of the Op-
era is a huge production and we found it required a production team with a huge amount of experience, and it’s going to be the first time it’s produced on this scale in Ireland.” They asserted that the search for a production team for the musical would begin in the third term, as they hope to have a production manager for the show in place before the summer. As the rights to perform The Phantom of the Opera were secured in Autumn 2011, the Community Musical team wanted to ensure that a very highquality production would be put on
by Chris Green
Relay for Life launched in UCD
Photographer: Caoimhe McDonnell
Community Musical’s production of The Phantom of the Opera postponed to 2013 by Emily Longworth
for what would be the fifth show ever staged by UCD group. “With the musical now we’re really taking the next step up” explained Rath. “It’s fantastic that we’re able to get that show, there’ll probably be international interest in it. So I think that possibly put more pressure on us to raise it to the next level. And given that opportunity I think we needed a bit of breathing space” Although a preliminary producer had been assigned last year for the 2012 musical, the unforeseen workload accompanying the The Phantom of the Opera has required a production team
with a lot more experience than formerly anticipated. “We’ve decided to open up [the role of Producer/Director] to the college again this year and see what talents are available in the student and staff population.” The musical team urge any students who are considering getting involved with the musical to show an interest next year when the production team is put together, as they see the show as a great opportunity for the University. “It’s going to be exciting working on it, because we’re going to be challenged to put on the best show that’s ever been produced on campus,” Jason Masterson commented, saying that the production values of their new venture are of a completely different scale to their previous shows.
NovaUCD companies to create 300 new jobs over next two years by George Morahan
NovaUCD has announced the proposed creation of 300 new jobs over the next twenty-four months. Thirty-seven companies based at or strongly linked to the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre at UCD will be looking to increase their work force after individually securing substantial equity investment, totalling €40 million collectively. UCD’s Vice President for Innovation, Professor Peter Clinch, hopes that “many of the new jobs to be created over the coming two years will be filled by UCD graduates,” and states that “UCD Innovation, through NovaUCD, is providing facilities and supports to assist high-tech start-ups to thrive and create quality jobs, which is having a direct impact on helping Ireland’s economic recovery. We see it as part of UCD’s mission to support this activity.” These latest projections are the result of an annual employment survey and present a major increase in job creation after Nova companies established eighty new jobs last year. Clinch believes that this news “demonstrates the growth prospects for these companies in their target markets and reflects their stage of development.” The thirty companies secured their investments from a mixture of “private or angel investors, venture capitalists or Enterprise Ireland,” according to Clinch, and all are “high-tech and knowledge-intensive start-ups ... [in industry sectors] ranging from ICT to biotech, to medical devices to wireless, to renewable energy to energy management to social web-search. The jobs being created over the next two-years will be in these types of sectors and will
3
news
Relay for Life is being held in UCD on March 28th. The relay involves a twenty-four hour team relay event where one person from each team must remain on the track of the relay at all times. The event will commence with a Survivors’ Lap; a celebration of cancer survivors. According to Chairperson of the UCD event, Sarah Thomas, participants will “walk the track in purple t-shirts, which is the colour of survivorship. They’ll do one lap and we’ll all cheer them on because they’re still fighting their battle or they’re survivors, and they’re the VIPs of the day.” A remembrance ceremony will take place at dusk, “we line the track with candle bags which have pre-written messages on them from people who buy the bags, and it’s a message of remembrance or celebration.” After this, the teams will walk through the night, “there’ll be DJs and bands playing throughout the night, just to keep everybody entertained.” The relay takes place under the motto of “Celebrate. Remember. Fight back!” The twenty-four hour timescale holds a special significance; Thomas explained that “Cancer doesn’t sleep. When you’re diagnosed with cancer, you can fall asleep, but when you wake up in the morning you’ll still have cancer. So we go through the night and walk with them, fight it with them.” All proceeds will go directly to the Irish Cancer Society, which supports research, palliative and end of life care. The group can be contacted via “Relay for Life UCD” on Facebook.
Rás UCD scheduled for February 25th Rás UCD is taking place on February 25th, with as many as 600 people predicted to take part in the five kilometre race. Run in conjunction with a number of UCD societies, it is one of various bilingual events on campus, with support from Bord na Gaeilge UCD, An Scéim Chónaithe, UCD Volunteers Overseas, and UCD Athletics Club. All proceeds go directly to UCDVO and competitors may enter individually or in teams of up to three, with a fee of €10 for students or juniors and €15 for adults. The first 500 entrants will receive a free t-shirt and goodie bag and there are over 300 people registered to date. Chairperson of the Rás Committee, Tim Grummell, has sought to make this year’s Rás bigger than ever, “up the sharp end of the field there are always good battles between competitors. However, for many of the participants, it’s very much about the craic. There is always a great atmosphere at the race and in the sports hall afterwards, with free food and tea, as well as lots of physio students helping out for anyone who needs a bit of a rubdown after the race.” Last year’s win was clinched by Emmet Dunleavy, who beat fellow competitor Rob Corbally by just one second. The motto of the race is “Is fearr rith maith ná droch-sheasamh” or “a good run(ning) is better than a bad stand(ing).”
Sports Officer declares Sports Day a success
Pictured (l-r) at NovaUCD are Paul Groarke, CEO, RendezVu, Brian Farrell, CEO, Tethras, Dr Antonio Ruzzelli, CEO, Wattics, Professor Peter Clinch, UCD Vice-President for Innovation and Aidan O’Neill, CEO, DOCOsoft.
therefore be predominantly high-quality, high-skill, degree level, including postgraduate level, jobs.” One such company is HeyStaks, a UCD spin-out company established by UCD researchers to commercialise the intellectual property outputs of their research activities at the University, which has developed a social web search service and secured €1 million of equity funding in 2010 from the Ulster Bank Diageo Venture Fund, which
is managed by NCB Ventures. HeyStaks’ Head of Product, Dr Maurice Coyle, says their plan is to “ramp up to about forty employees in the next two years. We currently employ twelve,” going on to say that “We plan to stay based within Nova for the foreseeable future. We’re a client company, and definitely plan on maintaining our links with the University.” Head of Marketing at another Nova spin-out company, Tethras, Lee Kelly,
says his company will be looking to employ “about fifteen or sixteen” more people, and have no plans as of yet to relocate from Nova. “We haven’t discussed it as of yet, but we’re happy with where we are. If we get much bigger, we may have to move.” UCD holds a small equity in Nova’s spin-out companies, and the University would expect a financial return as they develop and expand both nationally and internationally.
Sports Officer Paddy Guiney and events planner Philip McCann proclaimed the Newman Games, which were held on February 8th, a success. Despite a low turnout, with “spoons from home and eggs from Centra”, the action was described as “creative while cutting costs.” Guiney was keen to emphasise the benefits of an alcohol-free campus event, stating “I wanted to add another element to UCD life, college pride and college atmosphere.” The Sports Crew are concerned with the health of the student body and the provision of facilities for those students who wish to engage in university activities within a non-alcoholic atmosphere. Proceeds from the event were donated to the Mark Owens Medical Fund.
4
news
The University Observer · 14 February 2012
international
UCD scientist wins SFI-HRB Wellcome Trust News in Brief Biomedical Partnership Award by ChloÉ Duane
UK university vicechancellors take pay rise A recent study by the Guardian on the income of vice-chancellors of various UK universities has revealed that leaders were awarded a £9,700 increase last year, raising their average annual pay and benefits package to above £330,000. The analysis has called for prompt action to be taken by Prime Minister David Cameron, to extend the boundaries of the clampdown on executive pay to include universities. The examination of the universities’ financial records from 2010-2011 show that vice-chancellors of Oxford, Cambridge, Leeds, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Southampton, Bristol and Nottingham were all given an increase in salary, despite the pinch on many university budgets. The annual reports also show that while vice-chancellors were obtaining income increases, university budgets were being cut, with 2010-11 seeing more than £215m cut from reaching budgets and £142m being slashed from capital projects such as new buildings and extensions. All thirteen of the universities belong to the Russell group, a group of twenty research-intensive institutions across the UK. Among the thirteen, the highest earning was Oxford University’s Professor Andrew Hamilton, who earned £424,000, of which £53,000 went to pension contributions. Most universities have remuneration committees that are responsible for creating pay packets for university employees, which do not include employees or student representation.
by Niamh Hynes
UCD’s Conway Institute’s Dr Fiona McGillicuddy has won the first award to be given out under the SFI-HRB Wellcome Trust Biomedical Partnership. The €750,000 award will be given out over a five-year period, covering the length of Dr McGillicuddy’s research project, during which time she will examine the links between obesity, “good and bad” cholesterol, diet and coronary artery disease. “The whole proposal is around the area of obesity, and adipose, particularly fat health,” she explains, “basically what I wanted to do was see if the health of your fat tissue dictates your risk of cardiovascular disease. There are people who are obese but they’re healthy, and there are obese people who are unhealthy and tend to develop Type II diabetes, insulin resistance,
and are at a really high risk of heart disease - I think the core component to all this is the fat tissue.” Dr McGillicuddy spent time in the US researching the role of “good” cholesterol, or High Density Lipo-protein particles (HDL’s), “their job is to move cholesterol from your body and eliminate it. It’s a very important function; if your HDL particles aren’t working properly, then you’re pre-disposed to have cholesterol deposited around your body, including in your arteries, where you have coronary arteries, and that would pre-dispose you to a heart attack. My hypothesis is that the function of these particles is reduced by obesity, and therefore clearance of cholesterol from the body is also reduced. That’s what’s increasing cardio-vascular risk.” Investigation of the project will range from in-vitro work to a human
by Hillary Hovenden
UCD Professor from the School of English, Drama and Film, Mary Clayton, has become the first Irish Academic to be elected President of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists (ISAS). As President of the ISAS, Professor Mary Clayton will lead the organisation of the ISAS 2013 conference in Dublin, having prepared the bid for the conference with Dr. Alice Jorgensen (TCD) and Dr. Juliet Mullins (UCC). Professor Clayton spoke of her “delight” about her election and plans for the conference.
“We are proud that the ISAS conference will come to Ireland for the first time in 2013,” stated Professor Clayton. “The theme for ISAS 2013 is ‘Insular Cultures’ and it will focus on relations between Britain and Ireland in the Anglo-Saxon period (c. 500-1100).” The conference is also likely to create research opportunities for both Irish and international graduate students. A significant aspect of the ISAS conference will be its graduate workshop, an event which Professor Clayton hopes will be a “very international cohort” of students. “We’ll have about
twelve students working on databases and creating their own databases. One of our aims is to provide training opportunities for young people working in the field. We’ve chosen databases because it’s of significance for literary scholars and historians. We hope it will give them a very hands-on experience. At the moment I’m trying very hard to raise funding for that.” Established on the 23rd August 1983, the ISAS is an organisation open to all those interested in the culture of Anglo-Saxon England. Formed to encourage scholars interested in the languages, arts, history, and material culture of Anglo-Saxon England, the ISAS supports scholars in their research and allows an exchange of ideas and materials within and among all disciplines. This exchange of ideas is primarily accomplished through biennial meetings of the Society, in which members present papers and topics of mutual interest are discussed. Professor Mary Clayton, professor of Old and Middle English at UCD, also spoke of the many “medieval sites of the right period” in Ireland, which attracted the conference to Ireland. The conference will include visits to Glendalough, the Hill of Tara and Clonmacnoise, and is seen as an opportunity to
showcase Dublin at its finest. She also praised the interdisciplinary nature of the conference, which will include academics of English, History and Archaeology focusing on the medieval period. Venues for the conference will include the National Museum, the Royal Irish Academy and the Long Room in Trinity College. The event will also feature readings by translator of Beowulf and renowned Irish author, Seamus Heaney. Heaney will read from his early Irish and English work, something that Professor Clayton described as “a great coup.” “UCD and IPA are ideal partners to pursue this common vision. UCD’s strengths complement the mission of the IPA. UCD has academic expertise in key areas such as business, law, economics, finance, social sciences, computer science, public health, planning, and civil engineering, which will allow the IPA to also act as a gateway to leading edge knowledge and research that can provide the Irish public service with new insights. On a very practical level, all students enrolling in IPA programmes in future will receive their awards from UCD. For new IPA students, the access to pathways of learning available through a major university such as UCD will be a major bonus.”
Observ er vox pops
?
“I don’t think it should be reopened, because when I first started out here I thought you had to go every week to get all the readings, but “I don’t know “I used the Copy “Yes it should be then I realised where the Copy Bureau and I reopened, and it was all on Bureau was.” think it should no I didn’t use Blackboard.” be reopened.” it.”
Did you ever use the Copy Bureau and do you think it should be reopened?
UBC Vancouver seeks to strengthen its non-academic misconduct policy “Yes I’ve used The State of California is expected to borthe Copy Print, row up to $200m from the University of and no, I don’t “Which one California following a cash-flow crisis. In the last decade the State of Califorwas the Copy think it should nia’s budget has been subject to consistent Bureau?” be opened cuts. This has led the State to look to the University to relieve the cash-flow shortagain.” fall due to the University’s high credit rat-
ing. The State Controller, John Chiang, attributed the cash-flow crisis to inadequate tax revenue from 2011, in a letter to the Senate on January 31st of this year. According to the State Controller’s Office spokesman, Jacob Roper, in order to regulate this issue, University of California and California State University will borrow up to $200m and $250m respectively and loan this to the State. This loan is expected to be short-term, beginning on March 2nd and being repaid by April with an influx of tax revenue. Roper stated he believed the plan was a “tentative” one created by the Department of Finance, the Treasurer and the Controller’s Office. This is not the first instance of the state availing of the University’s high credit rating. In 2009, UC spokesman Steve Montiel revealed that the University had lent money to the State, which was also borrowed from outside sources for campus-related construction projects.
the cost to the health system in related treatment, we believe her work has the potential to improve people’s health and reduce the cost of care in the long term. We also hope that Fiona’s success will encourage more Irish researchers to apply for funding through the many schemes in the Partnership.”
UCD academic elected as President of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists
Georgetown University student business ban The Student Association Senate in Georgetown University voted in favour of a motion put forward by the Student Life Committee to investigate the ban of student businesses on campus by the University. The current policy the University has in places state that students living on campus may not be involved in commercial or private business in their current residence, nor may they use their telephone line, internet connection, or address for such purposes. Awareness of the ban was brought to a head when a group of four students at the University, trading as ‘The Buyback Brothers’, created a book buyback scheme during final exams early last year. ‘The Buyback Brothers’ stated that following a report from a University official, officers from the Department of Public Safety forced them to leave their on-campus accommodation. Senate speaker, Adam Talbot, stated that the ban was enforced largely against those who compete with auxiliary services run by the university. “‘The Buyback Brothers’ was competing with the bookstore. If you look at a lot of student-run businesses, in some sense, they are completely non-cannibalistic with other auxiliary business, and they operate just fine.” The Student Life Committee is calling on University Administration to create a structure to register and operate student businesses on campus.
translational component. Taking HDL particles from both lean healthy individuals and obese individuals, Dr McGillicuddy will see how functional they are by monitoring the movement of cholesterol. The Wellcome Trust, in partnership with Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the Health Research Board (HRB), fund biomedical and clinical research in the Republic of Ireland. Commenting on the award, Chief Executive of the Health Research Board Enda Connolly stated that, “This is the first award under the SFI-HRB Wellcome Trust Biomedical Partnership and it will give Fiona a great opportunity to develop her research career. Her work aims to increase our understanding of potential links between obesity, good cholesterol and heart disease. Given the number of people who are affected by heart disease in Ireland, and
Conor Fitzgibbon Colm Roche
Róisín Adams
Aisling Clarke
2nd Year Irish & Geography
2nd Year Irish & Geography
2nd Yr Landscape Architecture 2nd Year Arts
3rd Year Economics
Voxpops by Eimear McGovern · Photographs by David Nowak
Suzanne Curran Holly Kelly 1st Year Irish, History & Politics
5
The University Observer · 14 February 2012
Observer Features features@observer.ie
Northern Lights
N
orthern Ireland is currently experiencing a state of peace that would have been unimaginable twenty years ago. This is evidenced in the comparatively low rate of politically motivated violence and killing during 2011 and the beginning of this year. This is, perhaps, what prompted Martin McGuiness to recently bring the issue of the North’s relationship with the UK, which had been somewhat sidelined because of the current financial crisis, to the forefront of political discussion again. In recent years, the political agenda in Northern Ireland has been dominated by the economy, as it has in the Republic and indeed most of the Western world. However, in the Irish Examiner last month, the Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland suggested that a referendum to decide whether Northern Ireland would continue its union with United Kingdom “could take place any time between 2016 or 2020.” While its relationship with the UK is clearly never far from discussion, broaching the topic in such an explicit manner could potentially destabilise the fragile state of peace Northern Ireland is currently experiencing. Andy Pollak, Director of the Centre for Cross Border Studies, believes that “any talk on a referendum would be destabilising and it’s much, much too soon.” In contrast, Dr. Michael Anderson, lecturer in the UCD School of Politics, disagrees and maintains that “the moderate way that he [McGuiness] said it … hasn’t seemed to have caused any ripples in the North.” At a time when most average citizens are preoccupied with the economy, it begs the question whether raising the possibility of reunification isn’t just a political manoeuvre aimed at vote winning. Echoing this sentiment is Ross Hussey, Councillor for the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), who sees the issue as mere political posturing in order to keep Republican constituents happy. “People may vote for Republicans and Sinn Féin, but when push comes to shove, they would quite hapMartin McGuinness suggested NI’s union with the UK could be put to referendum pily remain in the Union.” However, the possibility of a referendum also demonstrates an im- bring about a more receptive climate ligion. This was the largest number portant step forward for Northern for a possible reunification. “I think it in this category in all of the UK and Ireland in proving its ability to govern would make the likelihood of a positive significantly larger than the same catitself with democracy, rather than ex- vote for reunification greater so … there egory in the Republic in the 2006 centremism as the driving force behind is a possibility that as the demographic sus, where just four per cent of people politics. This sentiment is echoed shifts so will support.” claimed to be atheist or didn’t state a by Conall McDevitt, from the Social religion. Democratic & Labour Party (SDLP), Yet, even if the number of ardent folwho believes that such a referendum “There’s not a chance lowers is decreasing, the vast majority would be far from destabilising, and of the population continue to describe in hell that it would would in fact enhance democracy their background or upbringing as rebe carried” in the North. “I’ve always had the ligious, coming from either a Catholic view that there’s no reason why we (forty-four per cent) or Protestant (fifshouldn’t test opinions on whether ty-three per cent) background, while the people in Northern Ireland want a only two per cent claimed no religious united Ireland or not.” background. The contrast between reIt is equally possible that the issue ligious upbringing and actual engageof the Northern Ireland’s union with ment in religious practice could be put the UK has resurfaced in light of recent down to the increase in atheism worldAndy Pollak, figures that suggest that, within a genwide. McDevitt credits the release of Director of the eration, the majority of its population religion’s hold on people’s political moCentre for Cross will be from a Catholic background. tivations to an increasing open-mindBorder Studies Legislation states that “the British govedness amongst Northern Ireland’s ernment can call a referendum on the young people, the first to have grown future of Northern Ireland if it appears up in relative peace for generations. likely that a majority of people in the Gerry Adams, President of Sinn “Amongst younger generations [there province want to break with Britain Féin, on the other hand, disagrees and is] an increasing open-mindedness … and form a united Ireland.” Although believes that associating religion and people are looking to define themselves this would not necessarily bring about politics is far too restrictive. He broad- and not be defined by others.” the criteria needed to call for a referen- ens the issue out to a democratic one, For Pollak, “a Catholic majority is no dum, the appearance of a clear Catholic arguing that a potential referendum guarantee of a vote for a united Ireland” majority would traditionally be viewed “isn’t for me about a Protestant major- but he does, however, maintain that as an equal growth in nationalist senti- ity or a Catholic majority. This is about traditional divisions still have a strong ment. citizens making a rational and logical, role to play in Northern Irish society. This could make the possibility of a informed choice in their self-interest “You can always say society is peaceful… united Ireland more of a reality than and national interest.” but the divisions, the sectarian divide ever before, as the time-old dichotomy The results of the 2002 census in is there, if not as deep as ever… it’s still of Catholic-Republican and Protestant- Northern Ireland would suggest that the dominant feature of Northern Irish Unionist will be tested, as will the very religion still plays a large role, but cer- politics and society.” beliefs of the people of Northern Ire- tainly less so than in the past. Fourteen It is also arguable that the deciding land themselves. McDevitt believes per cent of people declared themselves factor for many people regarding being that such a majority would at least atheist or declined to state their re- united with the UK is no longer about
Following recent calls for a referendum on Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom, Anna Curran asks why now is the time to consider such change
political ideals, but rather a question of economics. This is certainly what Ross Hussey believes to be the case. “Clearly in the North, people are aware of the economic situation in the Republic… and people [realise they are] better off with the pound in their pocket.”
“This isn’t about Catholics and Protestants. It’s about finally, democratically and peacefully resolving Ireland’s centuries-old British colonial legacy”
Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Féin
In relation to economic control in Northern Ireland, Anderson points to that fact that members of Stormont do not actually exert much control over daily issues. He views this as one reason why the average citizen is not overly concerned with what discussions go on there. “There’s a distance between the political elite and the ordinary people, and many ordinary people regard what the politicians are doing as irrelevant … Bread and butter issues are still controlled from London … I think most people in the North are fairly happy that that is the case.” The recent discussions surrounding the possibility of a referendum on seceding from Britain also undeniably put the spotlight on the very notion of Northern Irish identity. Identification with either the Republic or Britain is certainly still important to most people in Northern Ireland. There is also, however, an emerging emphasis on simply being Northern Irish, with Pollak believing that “the Northern Protestants and the Northern Catholics are much closer to each other than they are to ... Britain … or to the South. A lot of Southerners see Northerners now as kind of semiforeigners.” This assertion of pride in a specifically Northern identity is echoed by McDevitt. “I think the vast majority of Northerners feel just that: Northern … and an important part of that is feeling proudly Northern, as well as proudly Irish or proudly British.” Of course, it is difficult to discuss the possibility of a referendum in Northern Ireland without discussing the similar referendum that is set to take place in Scotland in 2014, proposed by the current Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond. Politicians in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Westminster alike will surely be watching what occurs in Scotland closely. Adams believes that “the circumstances between the North and Scotland are different, but the fact that there is a debate about the value of the British union will inevitably bring a focus onto the relationship between the North and Britain.” A vote to secede from Britain would be of huge consequence to Ulster Unionists, who identify strongly with Scotland, a relationship that dates from the period of the plantations. Andy Pollak describes a vote for Scottish independence as “a bad blow for Unionism.” This opinion is shared by Michael Anderson, who also highlights the close relationship between Northern and Scottish unionists. “[Northern Unionists are] uncomfortable with the idea that the Scots might be leaving the
Union… it seems to kind of take away from the solidity of the Union.” This is perhaps because, as McDevitt explains, it undermines the oldfashioned type of state unity, which he believes is something that must be left behind by both sides of the political divide, if Northern Ireland is to progress towards more political independence. “The situation in Scotland proves that the UK is becoming an increasingly federal state and that it is quite possible … to explore new senses of sovereignty [in federal states].” As for the actual outcome of such a referendum, opinion is, naturally, divided. Anderson questions whether the referendum will ever even see the light of day. “[The referendum] is an important gesture, but it’s gestural, rather than real.” This view is taken further by Pollak who believes that “there’s not a chance in hell that [the referendum] would be carried.” The very suggestion of a referendum provoked an interesting response from Hussey, who quickly shot down the idea and instead suggested that it was more likely that “the Republic will seriously consider rejoining the Commonwealth and in the future you may actually find some unification with Britain, as opposed to Northern Ireland reuniting with the Republic.”
“I think the Republic will seriously consider rejoining the Commonwealth and in the future you may actually find some unification with Britain”
Ross Hussey,
Councillor for the Ulster Unionist Party
Adams, unsurprisingly, does not think this likely and sees “no compelling arguments that would persuade Irish people living in the south to contemplate either of these two options.” Regardless of the chances of a referendum passing, Adams also makes the point that, as a democratic state, the people in Northern Ireland have the right to decide whether they wish to remain a part of the United Kingdom or not. “Sinn Féin will fight a referendum to win … And while Unionists may feel they have many reasons not to engage with Republicans and Nationalists, the reality is that we are all living in a society which is in transition,” he says. Arguably, the very ability to discuss a referendum on seceding from Britain in the political domain, although its consequences are as of yet unclear, cannot be described as anything other than a milestone in Northern Irish democracy. It seems that Northern Ireland is now developing a stronger identity of its own, rather than one tied rigidly to the religious dichotomy of the past, which could prove essential to its future stability. As a state which has only relatively recently been given the power to govern itself, the discussions surrounding the possible referendum will be the strongest test Northern Ireland’s recent peace will face, as well causing a moment of strong self-reflection for its people. As Adams puts it, the issue of referendum will boil down to “finally, democratically and peacefully resolving Ireland’s centuries-old British colonial legacy.”
6
features
The University Observer · 14 February 2012 Jill Greenberg’s Glass Ceiling
Gender discrepancies Following the release of a report by the Central Statistics Office, Sally Hayden explores why women remain significantly underrepresented in high-power positions
F
orty years ago women “Women that got couldn’t sit on a jury, collect into those positions children’s allowance, buy contraceptives, or drink a changed their perpint in a pub. Now discrimisonality and changed nation on the grounds of sex is illegal, and feminism is almost a dirty word. themselves to fit in But does this mean that equality has with the male ethos” been achieved? In Ireland women are paid on average seventeen per cent less than men. This isn’t just a national phenomenon. On a European level they represent only eleven per cent of the governing bodies of listed companies. Globally, women only constitute 2.2 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs, earn ten per cent of Mary Kershaw, the world’s incomes, and own only one National per cent of the means of production. President at The elusive ‘glass ceiling’ is usually Network Ireland acknowledged but not discussed. Mary Kershaw, national president at Network Ireland, states that its existence One of the figures put forward by cannot be doubted. Her organisation those who doubt the existence of diswas set up thirty years ago specifically crimination is the impressive percentto provide opportunities for business- age of women now attending and excelwomen that didn’t exist elsewhere. ling at higher education. Leadership, “They couldn’t go to golf clubs or any- Learning and Organisational Developthing so a few women from Enterprise ment Coach Mary Holland provides an Ireland set it up so they could meet and interesting theory as to why this trend discuss things. At that time they found doesn’t continue into the workplace. that there were younger men joining She points out how the introduction the organizations, far behind them and of student numbers have played an unthey were helping them get on and then sung but influential part in improving all of a sudden they were above them ... the treatment of women, stating that it so that was a very big issue then.” was proven in previous research that According to their members, such dis- women were systematically downgradcrimination still remains today, albeit to a ed by about ten per cent when their lesser extent. “I think one of the factors is name appeared on a submitted paper. that they feel that girls in their thirties are “So in terms of the anonymity factor, going to be taking time out to have families, that greatly helped women in educaand that’s probably part of the problem, tion.” She continues by saying that unapart from that and the old boys; men feel fortunately, it is far more difficult to be more comfortable in their own company.” gender anonymous in the workplace.
It is impossible to ignore the role children play in changing both women’s priorities and opportunities. In the US sixty-two per cent of women recognised having children as a barrier to promotion, while a shocking ninetysix per cent of graduates from France’s elite grandes écoles would agree with them. But with increased equality, why do women continue to shoulder the majority of the responsibility when it comes to kids? Kershaw says that the sacrifice of career development for a family is a choice, but one that women shoulder a lot more than men. “I think that having kids, probably... emotionally it’s more the mother isn’t it? The mother always seems to be the one that will run the home, the work and everything.” Holland also suggests that a feeling of real or socially-induced guilt regarding time not spent with children can be more endemic in mothers than fathers. Achieving business success often comes at a price. A report by McKinsey & Company found that forty-nine per cent of the best paid women were childless, compared to nineteen per cent of men, while a Harvard Business Review Survey concurs that the further women climb up the corporate ladder, the fewer children they have. Solutions to the status quo are not immediately apparent. Holland sug-
N
ext week Ireland will host its first sex festival. What is a sex festival, you may rightly ask? ‘Bliss Festival’ is a one-day sex, sexuality and sexual health festival/conference, taking place in Dublin. The event is the first of its kind to take place in Ireland, or, as far as the organisers are aware, anywhere. According to chief organiser, Beth Wallace, Bliss is a new concept, for the first time combining sexual health, sexual freedom, and sexual pleasure workshops into one event, “in a way that isn’t salacious, isn’t sleazy. It’s mature, and it’s grown a lot. It’s yes adults have sex, most adults have sexual relationships, so let’s talk about that in a grown-up way.” Past discussions of sexuality in Ireland have traditionally been dominated by the Catholic Church, but an event such as this offers further proof that this is becoming less and less of an issue. According to UCD Sociology Professor Tom Inglis, the festival does not mark a new watershed but is instead the continuation of a drawn-out process that has been occurring on and off for
“It’s mature, and it’s grown a lot. It’s yes, adults have sex, most adults have sexual relationships, so let’s talk about that in a grown-up way”
Beth Wallace,
Chief Organiser of Bliss
“[Men are seen as] striving; they are encouraged to be competitive, authoritative, to take no prisoners, whereas the role perception for women is that they should be much more accommodating, understanding”
Mary Holland,
Executive Coach, Organisational Development Consultant
gests that mentoring and the introduction of flexible working hours can benefit both sexes whilst simultaneously decreasing the income gap, while Kershaw proposes that gender quotas may be necessary because of the breadth of the disparity. Achieving that elusive concept of equality is a complicated process, involving more than just matching statistics. Freedom of expression, and being allowed to play by women’s, as well as men’s rules are significant factors. Holland states that a cultural expectation of men can lead to an
assumption that they’re better leaders and therefore more worthy of promotion. They are seen as “striving; they are encouraged to be competitive, authoritative, to take no prisoners, whereas the role perception for women is that they should be much more accommodating, understanding”, a form of leadership that is perceived as weaker and is therefore less valued. As sexual discrimination in the workplace is rarely discussed by those who are discriminated against, the lack of awareness that there is a problem itself impedes development. Kershaw described once hearing a man speak about his ignorance of the ‘glass ceiling’; “he said that he never thought there was any discrimination against women in the workplace, and it was only later on that he realised why he thought that, because the women that got into those positions changed their personality and changed themselves to fit in with the male ethos.”
Blissfully Unaware With Ireland’s first sex festival taking place in Dublin on February 25th, Hanna-lil Malone explores Ireland’s increasingly confident view of sexuality
Erotic sculptures displayed during the first Xian Sex Culture Festival
the last thirty years. “Sex as an end in itself, independent of love and romance and independent of religion, represents a huge transformation in Irish culture,” but this process has been occurring “gradually through the west in the twentieth century and reached into Ireland maybe a bit later and maybe a bit slower.” Over the course of the twentieth century a transformation occurred in sex and its role in society. According to Inglis, three changes in particular altered the way in which sex was viewed by many cultures, particularly in the west. The first was the explosion of love and sexuality, and the sexualisation of romance. Inglis states that “being sexual, having sex became part and parcel of being romantic or being attracted to somebody and of developing a relationship.” Within these relationships sex began to be eroticised; pursued as an end in itself, “sex for pure enjoyment, as a sensual experience began to be recognised as legitimate.” And thirdly, the exploration of this sexual experience became separated from
“[Sex became] something that can be pursued as an interest and a pleasure in much the same way perhaps as one might engage in sport or one might go to an art gallery”
love and from romance, being seen not only as morally acceptable, but “something that can be pursued as an interest and a pleasure in much the same way perhaps as one might engage in sport or one might go to an art gallery or pursue music and literature.” There was no defining moment when this great change of views on sex and sexuality occurred in Ireland, rather Professor there was a gradual move towards less Tom Inglis, strict norms on sex and sexuality. Inglis UCD School points to the arrival of contraception in of Sociology Ireland in the 1970s and the breaking of the Church’s monopoly over morality as important steps, but also warns that the role of the Internet could prove to be an view ourselves as behind the times, over even more significant and liberalising the past twenty years Irish sexual habits force in the long term. have begun to mirror those of our EuNevertheless, there is still a stereo- ropean neighbours. According to Inglis, typical view of Irish people viewing their “when it comes to age of first sex, number sexual culture as slightly more repressed of sexual partners or frequency of sex, then the rest of the Western world, per- we may have been different up until the haps a remnant from the days when the 1990s but there has been a slow approxiChurch’s sexual morality was imposed mation towards the European norm.” with a strict hand. Despite continuing to Although there are still some statistical
differences in terms of the number of partners and other sexual practices, Ireland is not significantly dissimilar from the rest of the west. Wallace concurs, stating that “we think we’re far behind the social mores and cultural acceptability of other countries, but I’m actually not so sure that we are.” It is this uncertainty regarding Irish sexual norms that Wallace hopes to explore throughout the festival, essentially offering curious parties a safe way to “dip their toes into the variety of different practices and therapies that can help make sex both safe and enjoyable.” Public displays of sexual practices often bring to mind the seedier representation of sex created by the adult entertainment industry, along with the accompanying pressures to define oneself through the prism of sexual prowess. However, Wallace believes that Bliss can help with this, fostering a more confident and informed approach to sex achieved through discourse, rather than a preoccupation with the physical act itself.
The University Observer · 14 February 2012
features
7
Access to Education With finances stretched to breaking point and service cutbacks unavoidable, Aoife Valentine examines where this leaves students with disabilities on campus
R
egardless of the small moves UCD makes up and down the world university rankings from year to year, in recent times it has consistently found itself polling relatively high. Such rankings are compiled based not only on academic reputation, graduate prospects or the strength or impact of research conducted at any institution, but also on the quality of the university’s facilities, and the level of expenditure that is spent on facilities for both students and staff of the institution. At a time when most Irish universities have unprecedented levels of debt against the backdrop of a seemingly merciless economic crisis, many severe and often unforgiving cuts have become necessary. As is frequently the case in such drastic situations, facilities and services perceived to be the least essential are targeted, something which can often lead to the importance of services essential only to a minority becoming lost amid frantic bids to set everything back on track. The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) Equality Officer, Gerard Gallagher, who focuses largely on equality for students with disabilities, is a former UCD student who suffers from cerebral palsy and dyslexia and is all too aware of the reality of the impact our current financial situation has on those students with disabilities. “With the recession there is a tendency for an awful lot of organisations to turn around and say there’s no money. There’s a need, first and foremost, for students’ needs to be met under reasonable accommodations regardless of cost, and there’s probably a need for everybody to work together to come up with cost-effective solutions. There can be a cop-out where there’s no money available rather than trying to look for a solution.” Fiona Sweeney, manager of the Access Centre, which provides pre- and post-entry supports for students with disabilities, broaches the topic with a more resigned tone. “There was a cut in the fund for students with a disability, but everything’s been cut I suppose. It’s a tightening of resources, and certainly things like technology to help students be more independent them-
Photographer Caoimhe McDonnell details the daily sights of a physically disabled student navigating UCD selves and also to not have to rely on having a person [disability support assistant]; they’re much more expensive.” The Access Centre, formerly the Disability Support Service (DSS), has undergone restructuring over the last number of years in order to cater for a more diverse range of people and problems. It now includes outreach programmes such as the Disability Access Route to Education (DARE) and the Higher Education Access Route (HEAR) schemes, which both aim to offer a wider scope of access to university for students with disabilities and students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Additionally, the centre offers academic assistance such as exam supports within the alternative exam centre, classroom supports involving informing lecturers of students’ specific needs, providing equipment, personal assistants and personal supports, in so far as is possible, to any students who register with the Centre. Brian O’Brien, Auditor of the Inclusion Participation Awareness Society (IPA), a society established mainly to lobby for disability rights within UCD and to encourage the participation of students with a disability in UCD, believes that while the supports provided are “adequate”, they are still not the best they could be. “Sometimes they don’t get where students with disabilities are coming from. Sometimes assignments can be challenging and you’ve got to negotiate with the staff, and lecture slides can be a bit of a challenge. There are some things that just aren’t right and they just haven’t gotten their finger on the button yet.” One of O’Brien’s main difficulties with the supports provided to him by the Access Centre lies in the alternative exam centre. Though many students with disabilities require different facilities during exam periods, which would not be catered for in the RDS, he feels that this segregation is thoroughly off-putting. “The one thing I really, really do not like is the Newman Exam Centre because when I was in school, I was in a different exam centre but I was close. I was in a different wing in the school so I’d have the exam craic, the fun, you see the friends, you’re talking about the exam in a very lighthearted manner, whereas in the alternative exam centre, you’re on your own and you’re isolated. I have contemplated going into the RDS because of that but I need the supports in Newman, but it’s a horrible experience in my eyes.” Gallagher too, had some difficulties even with gaining access to the supports he needed before he graduated last year. “Certainly when I was there it was a challenge to get the appropriate supports, but the person who shouts the loudest gets their voice heard and that’s what I did. That’s how I managed to get my degree but I’d say there are a number of students that have suffered dramatically as a result of their disability and as a result of not having the appropriate supports.”
Even despite this, he shared ma. I think there might still be some, O’Brien’s experiences of isolation, I mean students who have a mental not only at exam time, but also day- health difficulty would be much more to-day, as he attended lectures. “If conscious of who will know and will you look at lecture theatres; if you’re their lecturers know and what will a student with a disability study- they know and that kind of thing, so ing, for example, history, you’d be in certainly there would still be a bit.” Theatre L and you have to go into the O’Brien however, has a different back of the lecture theatre, to the lit- perspective. “There is a stigma attle boxes. That was probably one of tached to it. Students are afraid to hand the things that I found most difficult up their DSS letters to lecturers, I find. when I was in UCD because you’re I’ve been asked by other students “Oh, automatically segregated from the can you go up and get the notes for rest of your class and it was some- me?” It depends on the subject. When thing that I tried to fight for, to en- I was in Sociology last year, in Theatre sure something would be done, but L, there were notes handed out at the unfortunately it’s just to do with the end of the class and I remember I used design of the building and fire regu- to go up all the time for it, I didn’t mind. lations that these things often take If people had an issue with my disabiltime to come to fruition. Certainly ity, I didn’t really care, but I definitely the likes of UCD probably has a fair noticed other people were more hesiway to go in that regard.” tant to go up, there was definitely some These feelings of seclusion ex- stigma there.” tended even further, as far as campus Gallagher shared similar sentiliving, for Gallagher. “When I [lived] ments, but admitted that it is difficult in Glenomena, there were four acces- to find a way for everyone to engage sible studios which are independent with disability without further inapartments. Unfortunately, during my creasing stigma, although he has found time in UCD they closed off my park- wheelchair basketball to often be a sucing space when they brought in the cess at UCD. “It’s a fun outlet for people Residences gates. They used to close … to get involved in and it’s addressing the gates at eleven at night and for me the issue of disability in a fun manner. that was really the straw that broke the People are afraid to address disability camel’s back, in that I actually moved and [don’t know] how to talk about it, off campus. When I was coming in from but when they’re in a chair themselves the Student Bar if there was a late bar, you naturally become more comfortI had to phone security and get them able.” to open the gates. I was automatically Not everything can be solved with treated differently by UCD Residences a simple game of wheelchair basketand subsequently by the security who ball however, as he continued; “Basiwere on duty.” cally as a result of the economic recesHe continued, “There was no com- sion, people aren’t as open to disability munal area, so that was another issue, as they once would have been, which in that it was quite segregated. I didn’t is very worrying and even anecdotally get to [go to] campus parties or the I would see that on nights out where general stuff that goes on in campus ac- taxi drivers would refuse to take me commodation. In many ways I missed on more than one occasion because out on the campus living, while I was I’ve got the mobility scooter. I suppose living on campus.” that’s a major issue there, and what These difficulties with the acces- you’re really looking for is a major sibility of student life, or these social societal change and that is not someobstacles, are a large part of what the thing that’s achieved overnight. The IPA was set up to combat, but O’Brien only real way to overcome the chalfeels they are very much still a problem lenge of a disability is to continue talktoday. “I firmly believe they do [exist]. ing about it.” If you add on the stigma as well, if they By the Access Centre’s own admisfound it hard in secondary school and sion, the situation in UCD is far from they’re coming into college off the back perfect, although it is improving. Taiof that, it can be hard. They’re more re- lored orientation schemes for students luctant to get involved.” with disabilities have led to increased In contrast, Julie Tonge, the Dis- registration with the Access Centre, as ability Support Student Advisor who there is now a full-time Disability Acworks alongside Sweeney in the Ac- cess Officer who works to ensure that cess Centre, doesn’t feel that these is- the University is compliant with the sues are as prominent now as they have Disability Act 2005. This demands that been in years gone by. “Certainly we by 2015, UCD must be completely acfeel that they face the same obstacles cessible to the point where a mobilityas all students, particularly around impaired person has the same access transition, and coming from school to to all buildings on campus as any ablesomewhere like UCD … Mostly it’s the bodied person. Along with the vast arsame kind of social difficulties that ray of supports provided on campus, it any student would be having, maybe is extremely difficult to say that stuthey just haven’t met too many people dents with disabilities are under-repyet or their friends have all gone to resented, or treated as an afterthought Trinity.” in UCD. However, it still cannot be Tonge also downplays the perceived denied that there is quite a long way to stigma surrounding disabilities in gen- go before true equality is even within eral. “I think there’s not as much stig- remote reach.
8
features
The University Observer · 14 February 2012
Postcards from Abroad
Verona
T
he return to Verona after Christmas was depressing. Leaving your bed to catch a cold early morning flight only makes it worse. My mind’s focus remained on the previous three weeks and not the infinite lures of returning to central Europe. The impending exams had been ignored all Christmas and the immediate return to Italy would be focused on their passing. After this, Central Europe was once again mine to explore. Unlike UCD, the examination system in the University of Verona is frustratingly disorganised. My first exam was at nine o’clock on a Tuesday morn-
Sean Finnan takes time off from exams and leaves Verona to explore the wonders of the Alps
ing, a fortnight after arriving back. All examinations are oral. Also, these examinations are worth one hundred per cent of the grade, meaning technically you can pass the year without lifting a pen. The format of the exams, however, is a nightmare. Although my literature exam was scheduled for nine, all forty or fifty of my classmates had been scheduled for the same time. It was to be taken in the front of a crowded, small lecture hall filled with bored students waiting to be examined by just two lecturers. After six hours, it was my turn. Unfortunately, I had left the lecture hall for a much needed break when I was called and I had to argue
my presence to even be allowed take the exam. Although successfully argued, I then promptly failed the exam and now have the whole process to look forward to again in a few weeks’ time. One of my New Year’s resolutions was to (significantly) improve my Italian. I started learning it over the summer but, paradoxically, my standard slipped when I arrived here. The bewildered stare I encountered when I spoke made me realise that primitive gestures were much more effective at getting my point across than constant misunderstandings. I met a local guy through a friend who, as a result of his national pride, strove to improve my ef-
forts with the language. However, like most Italians, his national pride came secondary to regional loyalty. After ten minutes of my first lesson, either my ignorance of Veronese churches or my banal use of his language drove him to bring me on a tour of Verona and its churches. The lesson ended with him promising to bring horse (a traditional and incredibly popular Verona dish) for dinner for our next lesson, much to the disgust of my vegetarian flatmate. I have been using Rosetta Stone ever since. At the weekend, every exit of the Brenner Pass is crowded with skiers and snowboarders waiting for a coach to bring them to the mountains. Although the highway leads to Austria, most are heading to the Italian Dolomites, approximately two hours north of Verona. We drove first to a small Italian town called Cavalese in the Dolomites early Sunday morning after befriending a thirty-year-old Slovak with an Opel Corsa. The Brenner Pass is also a catwalk for Italian motors. Throughout the drive, Peter, our driver, overtook Alfa Romero after Ferrari after Lamborghini with ease. I took one glance at the speedometer and never looked again. It read 160km/h. We covered roughly 400 kilometres that day in four hours. We didn’t snowboard in Cavalese but continued into the mountains un-
til we reached San Pellegrino, about twenty kilometres onwards. Cavalese matched none of the beauty of our new destination. We were surrounded by the peaks of the Alps that in the morning remained unhidden by clouds and dozens of slopes, all freshly covered in last night’s snow. It was minus fourteen degrees and so far our improvised snow gear was paying off. Our instructor let us off after an an hour to explore our own course on the piste. The frustrating part for a beginner is trying to get up on your board. Everything else is great but getting up is a nightmare. The board constantly slid forward as I attempted standing up, leaving me flat on my back again. Once I conquered this, everything became easy. When I sailed on the board through the slopes it felt more like a high-speed tour of the beautiful surroundings than a highspeed board, and when I thought this while boarding, I fell. So then I concentrated on the snow in front of me and I still fell. The improvised clothing that I was so proud of earlier had frozen and by then, so had I. I scratched the icicles on my face and we left to commence the unpredictable journey home. To quote Shakespeare’s Romeo, “there is no world for me outside the walls of Verona.” I wish I could have introduced him to Peter. Illustration: Conor O’Toole
Folaíonn grá gráin Bíodh dúil agat ann nó bíodh gráin agat air, tá sé buailte linn arís. Cibé tuairimí atá agat i leith Lá Fhéile Vailintín, tá roinnt leideanna ag Méabh Ní Thuathaláin maidir le teacht slán ar an lá.
N
í raibh mé féin riamh tógtha leis an lá seo. Is cuimhin liom nuair a bhí mé ocht mbliana d’aois ar an bhus ag pilleamh ón scoil, tháinig mé ar chárta aisteach i mo mhála scoile. “Bí tusa mo Bharbie agus beidh mise do Ken.” Is beag nár chaith mé aníos. Cinnte ní raibh mé ró-shásta faoi nó chuaigh mé abhaile láithreach bonn agus chuir mé an cárta sa tine, i bhfolach ó achan duine. Tchím anois go ndeachaigh mé thar fóir ach bhí mé óg. Ar Lá Fhéile Vailintín eile agus mé sna luathdéaga, chuir mé cárta sa phost chuig buachaill a bhí mar chléireach altóra ar aifreann dé Domhnaigh. Robbie an t-ainm a bhí air. Bhí súile gorma aige agus gruaig chatach fhionn. Char chuala mé aon scéal uaidh agus bhí mé croíbhriste ar feadh míosa ina dhiaidh. Seans nach bhfuil Lá Fhéile Vailintín chomh trom orainn anois is mar a bhí, ach is léir go gcruthaíonn an lá áirithe seo neart trioblóide do dhaoine idir fhir agus mhná. Cinnte tá brú ar achan taobh. Más bean shingil thú a bhfuil nádúr rómánsúil agat, tusa is mó a bheas thíos leis. Cuirfidh tú an lá istigh ag faire amach fá choinne an duine speisialta sin atá ag cur spéise ionat le fada, ach nach raibh riamh cróga go leor chun dul i mbun cainte leat. An é an fear a dhéanann do chappuccino achan mai-
din nó an é an fear a shuíonn le do thaobh ar an bhus sa tráthnóna? Ní fios ach is cinnte go spreagfaidh Lá Fhéile Vailintín é chun a aghaidh fidil a bhaint dó. Is maith liom a bheith dóchasach faoi na rudaí seo ach i ndáiríre is beag an baol go dtarlóidh a leithéid. Ach tá seans! Más bean thú atá ag siúl amach le duine le tamaillín, caithfear a bheith iontach cúramach. Muna gcuireann tú mórán spéise sna hearraí amaideacha atá á ndíol sna siopaí, tuigim duit. Níl le déanamh ach cuairt a thabhairt ar Tescos nó Dunnes agus tchífidh tú seilf dhearg atá lán go barr le hamaidí. Béiríní beaga gleoite, cácaí milse a bhfuil x’s agus o’s orthu, Love Heart Trivia agus níos seafóidí fós, cupáin a bhfuil cruthanna croíthe orthu ionas gur féidir leat tae a hól a bhfuil lán le grá do mhuirnín. Má deir tú os ard nach maith leat na hearraí seo nó má deir tú gur lá seafóideach atá i Lá Fhéile Vailintín, bí ag súil le faic. Beidh do pháirtí den tuairim nár mhaith leat a dhath agus go bhfuil sé ag cur le d’agóid gan aon aird a thabhairt don lá. Más fear thú atá i gcaidreamh, caithfear a bheith cúramach chomh maith céanna. Más rud é gur chuala tú do pháirtí ag cáineadh Lá Fhéile Vailintín tá an baol ann go mbeidh sí fós ag súil le rud éigin, comhartha beag éigin
don ghrá atá agat di. Smaoinigh anois, an tusa a spreag an drochmheas fá dtaobh de? Seans nach ise a bhí ann ar chor ar bith agus samhlaigh an raic má théann do ghrá geal le spiorad an lae agus muna dtéann tú féin leis. Más bean thú nach gcuireann mórán spéise sa lá, beidh tú ábalta dul i mbun na ndualgas laethúil gan aon bhuairt. Mar i gcéanna, i gcás an fhir shingil, tá an t-ádh ort nó tá tú saor ó bhrú an lae, seachas más dúil leat duine éigin. An ndéanann tú cappuccino do dhuine speisialta gach maidin nó an suíonn tú le taobh mná a bhfuil dúil agat inti? Más fíor, tapaigh an deis agus gabh i mbun comhrá léi, tá sí ag faire amach duit. Más rud é gur scair tú ar na mallaibh ó chaidreamh éigin, is dóigh go mbeidh na cuimhneacháin ní ba láidre ar an lá seo nó tá meabhrúcháin don ghrá ar fud na háite. Ní féidir pionta a cheannach i mbeár an choláiste gan paicéad milséan lovehearts a bheith a mbrú ort. Mholfainn duit dul amach fá choinne rith, dinnéar deas a dhéanamh duit féin agus suí siar agus bí ag coimhéad ar scannán aicsean, clasaic éigin ar nós “The Rock”. Cibé rud a dhéanann sibh ar an lá áirithe seo, bí cinnte agus ná gabh thar fóir leis. Lá amháin sa bhliain atá ann agus is amaidí ar fad é… Ach ná habair amach os ard é!
opinion.
The University Observer · 14 February 2012
9
Is UCD a university to be proud of?
Is UCD a university that deserves admiration, or could it do more to serve the needs of its students and boost its reputation? Lauren Tracey and Evan O’Quigley debate whether or not UCD is a university to be proud of
yes.
no.
Elizabeth Beecham
UCD is most certainly a university to be proud of. We dominate in the world of academia, producing some of the greatest thinkers this country has ever seen. We are held in high esteem and ranked likewise, continually topping both European and global rankings. University College Dublin also carries with it an element of fame, having seen so many of its past students go on to bigger and better things, James Joyce being perhaps one of our most famous alumni. UCD is a university to be proud of because our students and our faculties strive to provide excellence in every sector of our university. Everyone carries with them that infamous UCD pride. Why wouldn’t we? We have some of the most incredible alumni; the best of the best, from all sectors of Irish society, have walked through the hallways of University College Dublin. UCD played a part in forming some of the greatest literary minds in the world, from the famous poet Gerard Manly Hopkins, to the contemporary novelist Maeve Binchy and the immortal James Joyce, considered by many to be one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. In the fields of journalism we exceed ourselves, with alumni such as Samantha Libreri, Vincent Brown, Fintan O’Toole, Pat Leahy and Miriam O’Callaghan. However the University has not only produced great writers and journalists, but great business minds and heads of state. The newspaper tycoon Tony O’Reilly and king of radio Denis O’Brian, head of the Central Bank Patrick Honohan as well as Eamon De Valera and Douglas Hyde are all notable UCD alumni. In sport and the arts we’ve seen Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon Darcy, Amy Huberman and Gabriel Byrne. Pat Kenny and Brendan Gleeson are also honourable UCD students. UCD is of course a university to be proud of when it has managed to help shape and teach these individuals who have made such an impact on our society and culture. Academically UCD has proven itself to be a gem. Our university has consistently been ranked as one of the best in the world. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2011-2012 placed us at 159th globally, and 67th in Europe. The Financial Times Global MBA Ranking 2011 set UCD in 78th place globally. This is no wonder when we explore the depth of what UCD has to offer its students. UCD is the country’s leading research centre, with a research income of 114.7 million euro during the height of the boom years. Research institutes housed within the university include the Clinton Institute for American Studies, the Centre for Research of Infectious Diseases, the Equality Studies Institute and many more. UCD is a university to be proud of because academically, we are in our prime. UCD offers students a diverse range of courses, from Archaeology to Linguistics, English to
Economics, and that’s just our Arts program. Law, Science, Medicine, Architecture, Engineering and Veterinary Medicine are amongst the many choices for students attending UCD. We can look at the list of our famous alumni, and then at all the academic achievements UCD has to its name, but the most important reason to be proud of UCD as a university is our friendly and inclusive student body. Not once have I ever felt lost or alone among the population of 25,000 students on the Belfield campus. Students in UCD go out of their way to ensure that everyone feels part of the family; societies, class trips, nights out, even class Facebook pages all allow students to meet, get in touch and become friends. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t walk through the corridors of the Newman building without waving hello to a dozen passers-by who have greeted me with a friendly face. We should be proud that even in a university with a population so large, our students manage to make everyone feel like part of the UCD team, family, whatever you would like to call it. I cannot think for one moment when considering every aspect of UCD; the academia, the prestige, the friendly and inclusive atmosphere, why anyone could ever suggest that UCD isn’t a university to be proud of.
Rebuttal by Lauren Tracey
There is no question that UCD has produced impressive alumni, from journalists and actors, to writers and academics. However, if you will notice one thing about the long list named in the opposing argument, it is that most, if not all of these names, are from the past. Indeed, many famous faces have passed through the halls of our many buildings, but as of late, it seems that UCD is falling behind. UCD has continually dropped down the university rankings over the past several years. Having previously been in the top one hundred as recently as 2009, the last three years have seen the plummeting of the University’s international credentials. Of course, much of this is the result of numerous government cutbacks, and is not necessarily the fault of the college. However, as for a ‘friendly and inclusive’ student body? While in my own personal experience, most students here are indeed are lovely folk, apparently not all students feel the same way. An extraordinary fortyfour per cent of students told the University Observer in a poll conducted last November that they felt societies were ‘cliquish’ and ‘exclusive’. This is indeed an unfortunate statistic, considering the active roll societies are supposed to play in college social life. There are many reasons why UCD is not a University to be proud of, but I guess, what are you going to do about it, go to Trinity?
“The most important reason to be proud of UCD as a university is our friendly and inclusive student body”
“It is somewhat embarrassing that today the college seems to be more concerned with maintaining a good business model than maintaining its position as a great centre of learning and providing students with an authentic college experience”
Last week a friend of mine sat in Starbucks in the Quinn Building, when he overheard another student asking a staff member for a glass of water. When she responded that she did not have a glass, but instead could give the student a cup of water, he sneered and turned to his friend saying ‘To think I have shares in this place’. Whether he was joking or not is a mystery, but one point about this story is clear, be it taken as fact, or simply allegory. This type of attitude in UCD makes it, to this writer, not a place to be proud of. UCD is, certainly from an academic point of view, a good, if not great, University. It has produced many of Ireland’s greatest exports, such as James Joyce, Gabriel Byrne, Neil Jordan, and Dermott Morgan, and of course some we can be more critical of (Charles Haughey and Brian Cowen spring to mind). This however, does not answer the question, ‘Is UCD a University to be proud of?’ As of late, I’m not so sure that it is. Several thousand students are accepted into UCD every September, expecting to arrive at a great public institution. A place of freedom of thought and expression, far removed from the corporatised dystopia that Ireland seems to have become over the last twenty years. President Michael D. Higgins recently stated that a ‘materialistic society’ and ‘radical individualism’ were to blame for the current misery Ireland has been left to deal with following the collapse of the ‘Celtic Tiger’ economy some four years ago. Perhaps it was naïve of me to believe that our universities would not have been subjected to the same type of economic ‘Profit before People’ type thinking that our elected representatives have been routed in for some time. Of course, I was wrong. Every week we see headlines in student media regarding some new privatisation proposal and fights between trade unions and University management. A fortnight ago, during the protest against the Students’ Union’s dismissal of employees in the Copy Print Bureau, a second issue was highlighted that has gone with somewhat less notice: the planned privatisation of the main Restaurant. This September the licensing rights to the majority of catering outlets on campus were handed over to
Lauren Tracey the Kylemore Services Group, a private catering company that has outlets on many universities around the country. SIPTU, Ireland’s largest trade union, has called for an “end to privatisation” of the University services. It is somewhat embarrassing that today the college seems to be more concerned with maintaining a good business model than maintaining its position as a great centre of learning and providing students with an authentic college experience. This is, of course, through no fault of any students, academics or staff members, but rather a result of the kind of ‘radical individualism’, which seems to have taken over the country in a larger sense. The idea that everything be about markets and private enterprise has taken too great a hold of both the national conversation, as well as conversation in the University itself. For this reason UCD needs to move on, and get back to what the University should be, and used to be about.
Rebuttal by Elizabeth Beecham
I personally don’t think that we can judge an entire university based on what I truly believe is a minority attitude that permeated the younger generations of Irish society during the boom. Over the past number of years many of us have been influenced by the follies of the Celtic Tiger generation, but we have learned and we’ve grown, and this fact is evident all around campus in the nature of our students. This is perhaps another reason we should be proud of our university: our ability to adapt. Yes, there may be issues and problems at our bureaucratic base, but really, where isn’t there? These issues are far removed from us as students, and the reasons I am proud to be enrolled at UCD. I am talking about the student, and the students’ reasons to be proud of university; our great academics, our prestigious reputation, and our open, friendly atmosphere. To argue that we cannot be proud of UCD as a university because of the basic nature of how the University has to run to keep afloat is ridiculous. We must view this issue with more depth and examine the University as a whole, not just as a “good business model.”
Do you think UCD is a university to be proud of? Have your say on the University Observer Facebook poll.
10
Opinion
The University Observer · 14 February 2012
Size Matters As the US Republican primaries march onwards, Cormac Duffy looks at the complexities and inconsistencies of the small government agenda
T
here is a stereotypical adage that Americans are keen to show off their greatness through size. The caricatured yank drives a big car to a bigger house to eat an enormous dinner, and is darn proud of it. The sole area that the US have never made room for the ‘bigger is better’ argument is in the size of their government bureaucracy. Since the rise of the Tea Party movement in the wake of the Wall Street Bailout, the entire American right has aggressively reasserted the centrality of the
E
very year advertisers get more skilled at saying nothing. They have long since learned that making specific claims can only lead to trouble - an ad for Johnson & Johnson’s RoC Complete Lift was banned for claims that its effectiveness was ‘clinically proven’ when it was discovered that the ‘trial’ had just forty-one participants and a survey - and so instead, they depend on nonsense phrases and meaningless assurance. Recently however, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority has been cracking down even further and tackling the issue of the misleading imagery that more or less defines modern advertising. Earlier this month L’Oreal came under fire for their anti-wrinkle cream ad featuring English actress Rachel Weisz looking wrinkle-free and glowing. Too glowing, as it turns out, as the actress had been heavily photoshopped. Following the ruling, an ASA spokesman released a statement explaining that the “image had been altered in a way that substantially changed her complexion to make it appear smoother and more even. We therefore concluded that the image in the ad ... misleadingly exaggerated the performance of the product in relation to the claims ‘skin looks smoother’ and ‘complexion looks more even.’” Of course the Advertising Standards Agency’s job is to investigate complaints about the accuracy of ads, but do these standards go too far? Yes, the forty-something Rachel Weisz appeared with a face so smoothed back that she looked like she was accelerating at 200 kilometres an hour, but the ad was not in any way a lie. The vague promises of smoother skin and even complexion are true. They are actually true of any moisturiser, regardless of cost. All moisturisers serve the same function and there is
minimal state to its agenda, and it is likely to be the choice line of argument for whoever ends up opposing Obama, whether it’s Romney or not Romney. The candidates clinging on in the race so far are all cosying up to this libertarian base, with varying levels of authenticity. Ron Paul has led a movement of radical libertarianism with the Republican Party for decades, and many voters will remember Newt Gingrich’s willingness to cause a government shutdown to coerce a balanced budget when he was Speaker of the House in the nineties. The other candidates have
fewer laurels to rest on. Romney in particular is haunted by the ghost of the state-funded health insurance mandates he imposed as governor of Massachusetts that served as the basis for Obama’s health care reforms. At the time it was hailed as a model of compromised progression between private and public healthcare systems; now Romney has to declare regret for it to appease the base. The pursuit of the small state has proved a complex one for those inside and outside of the movement to comprehend. To an extent, this apple pie minarchism is the natural, rational response to the economic climate. With US government spending reaching formidable peaks as a result of the ‘war on terror’, bailouts, stimulus and healthcare reform, dangerous debt levels and pushing for balanced budgets have become the concern of the layman as much as the policymaker. However, this penetrates far deeper into the national psyche. The founding of the union was, at its core, an experiment in guaranteeing freedom to the masses by shackling the state, an idea that sees obvious endurance in the symbolism of the Tea Party movement. The problem is that the small state in the late 1700s meant allowing a handful of civil rights to white people and not killing you because of your faith. The contemporary Leviathan
is an altogether more complex beast, something that the discourse needs to reflect. For an example, just look at the opposition to gay marriage expressed by all the Republican candidates. To hold the belief that the state should be as small as possible but still be all-encompassing enough to stop certain citizens from marrying seems to require either an infinite capacity for Orwellian doublethink or a level of stupidity that would make one question whether you can even tie your own shoelaces. In reality, it’s an indicator of the selective, agenda-serving approach that makes it incredibly easy to undermine those seeking small government. Portraying itself as an enemy of excessive spending, the Tea Party’s rise instantly called for an explanation as to why they hadn’t opposed the huge increase in public debt that occurred in the Bush era. The obvious reason is that conservatism is innately tied to military strength, and that kind of big government didn’t count. The same could be said for the long-standing acceptance within the Republican Party, as much as among Democrats, for huge subsidies to corporations involved in everything from natural gas extraction to agriculture, even if it was a burden on the state and a complete contradiction of any free market aspiration. The principles are gaining ground in many ways. The candidates contesting the Iowa primary, a state with a strong agricultural vote, were
not harmed by their declarations of opposition to agricultural subsidies. Even now, many are happy to accept that military spending may be as much a problem as social spending. But the ideology is still distorted by who they appeal to. The low tax agenda has led to somewhat justified criticisms that the movement has been astroturfed by corporate agendas, with particular accusation against the funding from the likes of Koch Industries to small government think-tanks and lobby groups. It is the reason why, for all the progress made, Senate Republicans still blocked a bill to remove subsidies to oil companies last summer. It is the voters who decide where the agenda is applied. The willingness to roll back government interference ends when it contradicts the interests that are there beforehand. If they want to be taken seriously, a level of consistency is needed on a range of issues, not least on subsidies and social issues such as drug legalisation and LGBT rights, or even reconsider the Doha Development round and tackle the government’s bloated, hugely damaging tariffs on imports from the third world. As long as they aspire to please a base with vested economic interests or social views that involve government intervention, there is little reason to take the small government ideal as any more than an election strategy with a worrying stranglehold on American politics.
raised by our square luminous parent, television. We live in the real world; we know that these things aren’t true. There are too many years of eventually buying the toy you so desperately yearned for and finding out that it didn’t really fly. Drinking a bottle of coke and discovering that instead of teaching the world to sing in perfect harmony, all it did was make you need a wee. Realising that Frosties being “Gr-rreat!” is more of an opinion than a fact. While advertising makes us spend money on underwhelming products, it also teaches us a valuable lesson: scepticism. By the time you are an adult you should know that what advertisements promise are impos-
sibilities. They don’t just promise a smell or food or an item of clothing; they promise to make you the person you want to be. They are selling ‘cool’. We want the lifestyle of the ad, not the product. The reason they don’t attempt to explain what the perfume smells like is that it doesn’t matter. No cologne is going to turn you into Matthew McConaughey, and no moisturiser is going to make you look like Rachel Weisz. Even Rachel Weisz doesn’t look like Rachel Weisz, so you have no chance. And if you’ve reached the stage of needing anti-aging cream without realising this, then you deserve to lose your money on pointless products. Consider it a tax on the gullible.
Buyer beware! Following the recent ban of an advertisement for anti-wrinkle cream for misleading imagery, Emer Sugrue looks at the role imagery plays in advertising
little to no evidence that those specifically promoted as anti-aging have any extra effect. But the ad didn’t claim that it was better than other moisturisers, just that it was good. Often these ads back this up with a survey showing that eighty per cent of the women they gave some free face cream to thought it was great. It’s meaningless, but not false. The majority of advertisements are either bland statements of fact or suggestive promises pasted over aspirational imagery. Perfume ads are the best example of the trend. Not one perfume ad mentions what the product is supposed to smell like. Instead they are a montage of aspiration and wish fulfilment. Men’s ads
feature aloof, handsome, mysteriously shirtless men with just the right amount of stubble finding stunning women throwing themselves at their feet. Women’s ads show models draped in silk with said aloof shirtless men in an agony of love, lust, angst and whatever other sexy emotions the Twilight series have popularised, and you could have this life too if only you gave Calvin Klein your money. Could this sort of advertising be banned by the ASA? The imagery is definitely misleading. All a purely factual ad can promise is that if you buy this bottle of smell, you will smell like this smell. But don’t we know all this? We have been exposed to advertising since we were infants being
The University Observer · 14 February 2012
Opinion
Stealing from the rich
I
n January, French president ber of attempts by the French Nicolas Sarkozy expressed in- government to help promote job terest in the introduction of a prospects in the lead-up to the tax on financial transactions country’s general election in April, in the coming year, regardless in which Sarkozy is already facing of the decision by fellow Euro- a losing poll battle with Socialist pean parliaments. This ‘Robin Party candidate Francois Hollande. Hood’ tax, as it is commonly called, The French government hopes refers to a tax on financial transac- that the introduction of the Robin tions at the suggested rate of 0.1 Hood tax will serve as an example per cent. The tax is similar to the to be followed by other EU memTobin tax, and in its current struc- ber states. “What we want to do ture sets out to propose a levy on is create a shock wave and set an currency market transactions as example,” stated Sarkozy in a rewell as trading in shares, bonds cent interview; “there is absolutely and derivatives, which would fun- no reason why those who helped damentally raise revenues for gov- bring about the crisis shouldn’t ernments. This is one of a num- pay to restore the finances.”
T
In an attempt to ease the debt crisis facing Europe, a new tax system has been proposed to take revenue from financial transactions. Jack Walsh investigates the ‘Robin Hood’ tax and its consequences
With such plans, Sarkozy has already won the support of Germany’s Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schaeuble, who firmly believes that investor confidence in the Eurozone would return, despite the turmoil related to the sovereign debt crisis in recent years. Schaeuble is hoping that the Robin Hood tax will be introduced across Europe, but if not then the Eurozone is his next priority. The European Union’s executive proposed a bloc-wide tax on financial transactions, that it claims could raise €57 billion a year. Many banks denounce the plan as nonsense, and Britain has stated that it would only support a global levy.
The EU’s executive European twenty-seven representatives of Commission formally adopted EU states, with only England and plans in September for a finan- the Czech Republic refusing to cial transaction tax, which will sign the pact. Although the possineed unanimous approval from bility of a Robin Hood tax was not EU states. Under the plan, stock discussed, European leaders’ pack and bond trades would be taxed mentality on economic reform has at the rate of 0.1 per cent, with de- become so charged that the possirivatives at 0.01 per cent. The EU bility of the introduction of the tax executive further explains that the is certainly within reason. tax would be imposed on all transIn the United Kingdom, a actions in financial instruments debate has begun between those between financial firms when at who believe that the tax will least one party to the trade is cause London to no longer be based in the bloc. Schaeuble fa- seen as a world financial market vours an immediate introduction leader and those who see the of the tax; “I don’t want to wait un- tax as only beneficial for the til such a tax is introduced world- many who feel cheated by the wide. Otherwise we would risk not economic situation. British Prime only the stability of our financial Minister David Cameron has markets ... but we would also be confirmed the UK’s objection to endangering the legitimacy in the the aforementioned fiscal treaty, public eye for the entire system.” stating, “We are not signing this Yet several states are reluctant treaty. We are not ratifying it. And to introduce the tax, maintaining it places no obligations on the that Europe’s market is simply not UK,” adding “Our national interest strong enough to adopt it and that is that these countries get on and it would harm global financial cen- sort out the mess that is the euro.” tres of trade. Ireland has become a In retaliation, German Chancellor prime example of this, with many Angela Merkel has stated that the uncertain about the changing face new treaty could be slotted into of the markets that this tax may EU law within five years. Many lead to. Under this view, should public figures have come out the tax be streamlined, then Dub- in support of the new tax, with lin’s financial sector could be deci- Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan mated. The fear is that foreign Williams stating, “there is still a investors may abandon the IFSC powerful sense around – fair or for areas and cities that will not be not – of a whole society paying subjected to the tax. for the errors and irresponsibility However, on the 30th of Janu- of bankers; of impatience with ary, Taoiseach Enda Kenny signed a return to ‘business as usual’ – a new European economic treaty represented by still-soaring focused on financial discipline. bonuses and little visible change The conference was attended by in banking practices.”
No Hits, Sherlock
Following the implosion of SOPA in the United States, Philippa White takes a look at its European successor
he vast majority of people do not know much about ACTA (the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or better yet, the European version of SOPA) but they do know that they are against it. They believe that if Minister of State for Research and Innovation Seán Sherlock and the powerful corporations of the entertainment industry have their wicked way, regulation will change so drastically that the world can kiss goodbye to the Internet, as we know it. No more YouTube. Goodbye Wikipedia. So long Sidereel. Dramatic it is. Completely inaccurate it is not. Scratching beneath the surface of the Agreement and taking a more nuanced look, it is apparent that ACTA is not only a poorly manufactured piece of legislation, but also one that could have a profound effect on the way the Internet is used and viewed. Firstly, ACTA affords an excessive amount of rights to the copyright holders. If a website directly or indirectly infringes the copyright of another party, the penalty is not only that the illegal content on its pages is blocked but that the entire website is also blocked. For example, if a website were to direct readers to an illegal musicsharing site, the company whose copyright had been infringed would not only block this particular page but also the entire website, and it would cease to show up on a Google search or any other search engine. This is not only excessive but impractical. Due to the fact that online file-sharing
11
sites are now ubiquitous, the new law could mean that many reliable and indeed legal sites could be toying with extinction if they are not scrupulously filtering their content on a continuous basis. Another significant flaw in ACTA is the way in which damages are assessed. They are calculated based on the ludicrous assumption that for every illegal download that is made, the industry has lost one sale. This is a huge leap in terms of logic and one that would ensure that the middlemen of the entertainment industry - who, unlike the artists, are the worst hit by the arrival of digital downloads - can regain their handsome profit margins. This justification for the farreaching new legislation is dubious. The proponents of ACTA have primarily been from the entertainment industries, which claim to be losing money at a staggering rate due to the online theft of their products. However, it has been highlighted by opponents of ACTA that many charttopping artists and other musicians have in fact been earning more since Napster and other similar sites have been created. Thanks to the file-sharing sites, music has become more accessible to an ever-growing audience, and this heightened publicity has not only brought increased profits to many musicians, but it has also produced a medium in which otherwise unknown artists can shoot to fame, Justin Bieber being the most obvious example. Without any doubt, the Internet will eventually require regulation of some sort. However, ACTA is not the solution. The idea that
entire websites could vanish due to having an indirect involvement in online piracy is simply nonsensical. It would hinder the development of what is arguably the greatest invention of our time and adversely affect significantly more people than it would help. What many do not know is that we currently have some level of regulation in place to fight online piracy. For example, in 2011, Google received over five million complaints of breach of copyright. Their standard policy is to investigate the claim within six hours and then block the illegal activity from showing up on its searches if it is a bona fide claim. Although the proponents of ACTA may claim that this is insufficient protection for copyright holders, it is perhaps a more realistic option. The Internet has brought with it a whole new way of life. The way in which information, art, ideas, movies and music are shared has been utterly transformed. Due to the ease with which perfect digital copies of anything can be made and shared across our planet with the click of the button, the Internet is the dazzling hub of activity and excitement that it is. We have conquered all corners of the globe and now the real growth is occurring upwards in the boundless expanse that is online. There are new rules and a whole new set of players. It may be time for copyright holders to throw out their old business models in favour of ones that embrace the reality of the age we live in. The digital age has not just brought a revolution; it has introduced a whole new world order.
12
science Doctor Doctor
&
PhD student Rob Maughan talks to Conor O’Nolan about life as a postgraduate and his fascinating research in the world of infection biology
What is the official title of your PhD? Wellcome Trust PhD in Computational Infection Biology. Explain the official title in English, please. My PhD programme focuses on studying various aspects of human and animal infection with the help of modern computer-based approaches. This mixed training of computer methods and scientific methods is becoming increasingly important in biology because a number of the methods biologists use today result in a large amount of information, and the easiest way to make sense of this information is using computer-based methods. Wellcome Trust is the funding agency that supports my PhD programme. What undergraduate degree course did you do? I completed my undergrad last year at UCD. It was a four-year BSc in Biomedical Health and Life Sciences. What made you choose to do a PhD? I chose to do a PhD because I’m genuinely interested in the field of infection biology and wanted to pursue a career in this area or something similar. I felt the Computational Infection Biology PhD programme offered me the opportunity to follow this interest, as well as to gain skills in data analysis and
computation. Hopefully skills such as these will make me more employable beyond the world of academia! What is the best thing about research? One of the best things about research has to be that rare feeling of satisfaction and excitement when you finally get something to work that just might show something that nobody has ever seen before. I’m still looking forward to that moment! Another great thing about research is having your own project to work on; this means that you can work at your own times and pace, but of course you have deadlines and targets to meet. My last ‘best thing’ about research is that it rarely gets boring because you are usually doing something different every week. What is the worst thing about research? How easy it is to make a mistake that can be costly in terms of both time and finances. For example, during my fourth year project I made a mistake at the end of an experiment that takes three weeks to do, twice! Unfortunately these moments are far more common than the ‘best thing’ moments above. Another downside is late nights in the lab due to the amount of time that some experiments can take to complete.
How could your work make a difference to the world? I think it’s naïve to believe that your research could make an easily tangible difference in the world, but I am hopeful that my work could form a small part of a larger discovery process. Publishing my work in scientific journals could not only influence others working in my field but it could help make important decisions with regards to healthcare policies etc. How do you hope your PhD will affect your career prospects? Beyond the actual doctorate itself, the skills that I hope to attain in completing this PhD will qualify me to work in a number of areas, even beyond academia. However, I would like to pursue a career in academic science because of the greater freedom to choose what area in which to work compared to other jobs. A PhD degree should enable me to apply for postdoctoral research jobs overseas; I would love to work in the United States or Australia for a while.
The University Observer · 14 February 2012
health
The University Observer · 14 February 2012
As bacteria continually develop resistence to antibiotics, tactics to combat infection need to change. One option is using the weapons bacteria themselves use to survive, writes James Kelly
Science & Health
13
genetic material then incorporates itself into the host genome, turning the bacterium into a bacteriophage factory. In most cases the release of the produced bacteriophages occurs through lysis of the bacterium. The R-type pyocin discovered by François Jacob looks just like a bacteriophage without a capsule, and the type VI secretion system looks like one without a capsule or fibres. In fact, the resemblance is so close that many biologists believe it is unlikely that these structures evolved independently. One possibility is that the genes’ coding for the various components of bacteriophages may have become incorporated into the bacterial genome without lysis occurring (perhaps due to some mutation), and that subsequent mutations then produced structures like R-type pyocin. There are phages for most bacteria, so why not use them to fight harmful bacteria such as Salmonella and E. coli, or as pesticides? Their efficiency and specificity are far beyond most of the current options available. The problem is control. Bacteriophages change and evolve, and sometimes cause bacterial mutation instead of death. The mutation responsible for the E. coli strain that affected so many people in Germany last year was the result of injection by a phage. The use of specific phage com-
ponents is a safer, more elegant way of achieving the same goals. Through the use of various techniques, scientists are creating hybrids between pyocins and phages, with the hope of producing defences against just about any bacterium. However, our own adaptive immunity could prevent prolonged use of these hybrids, as they would most likely trigger an immune response. So the problem moves from control to avoidance. Producing an effective hybrid that the human body would not recognise as foreign is still way down the line. Some labs aren’t even considering the possibility, but instead trying to kill the bacteria before they get near us. Ecolab, a company based in Minnesota, is trying to produce an E.coli pyocin that can be applied to beef. Some have even suggested attempting to use the hybrids as nano-syringes for delivering drugs to cells. Another factor to consider is that bacteria can develop resistance to pyocins/secretion systems, just as they do to antibiotics. However, given the specificity and efficiency of pyocins/secretion systems, the adaptation process would take longer than antibiotic resistance does to develop. While we are still some distance from our goals, the study of bacterial warfare is providing us with some novel ideas for our own struggle against them.
Bacterial Arms Race?
W
ith antibiotic resistance on the rise, in part due to our own heavy-handedness and also due to newer and deadlier strains of bacteria and viruses emerging at a worrying rate, we are in dire need of something new. Bacterial suicide bombers and tiny needle-armed assailants may just be that something. Ongoing investigation of the nanoscopic arsenals employed by bacteria, in their struggle for survival in the micro and macroscopic worlds, is yielding some interesting results that might help humans defend against the ever-more threatening microscopic world. In 1954, while working at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, biologist François Jacob made an unusual discovery. Jacob was studying Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterium that even today kills many people in hospitals, when he noticed that one strain of P. aeruginosa was releasing a substance that killed other strains of the same species. This was an astonishing level of specificity, given that most modern antibiotics kill a wide range of species, not just particular strains. Later studies showed that the substance, named pyocin, was far larger than most other toxins released by bacteria. Electron microscopy revealed another unusual thing about pyocin – its shape. It resembled a rocket, having a tubular body with several fibres protruding from one end. While it may look like a rocket, it acts more like a floating drill. Housed inside the tubular body is a second, narrower tube. When the fibres attach to a bacterium, the tubular body contracts, propelling the second tube through the bacterium’s protective outer layers. This action quickly kills the target, leaving surrounding non-target cells unharmed. This level of efficiency isn’t unique to P. aeruginosa, with a variety of bacteria producing similar weaponry. Some bacteria, such as Serratia entomophilia, even use it to take down bigger targets. S. entomophilia uses its ‘drill’ particles to attack the New Zealand grass grub, a beetle larvae. Crucially, S. entomophilia doesn’t just stab the larvae; it uses its machinery to deliver a toxin that apparently stops the larvae eating. The weakened larvae are then susceptible to invasion by S. entomophilia, which feasts on
the larvae’s internal tissues once inside. There is a downside to utilising such deadly tools. The components of these drill particles are synthesised and assembled intracellularly, and the end product is too large to export safely; their release requires going kamikaze. But what’s the point in such a pyrrhic victory? The simple answer is species survival. Species, or even strains, in which some individuals are likely to sacrifice themselves ‘for the greater good’ must have been more successful than those where they aren’t. Some bacteria have, for whatever evolutionary reasons, avoided the necessity of self-sacrifice. One such bacterium is Photorhadus luminescens, which may have been responsible for glowing wounds observed during the American Civil War. P. luminescens is found in the gut of some worms, and is released when the worms burrow into an insect (or host). Genetic studies of P. luminescens have identified the presence of all the necessary genes for a drill particle. As lysis (cell bursting) of P. luminescens in conjunction with target infection has not been observed, it is thought that the bacterium must have some mechanism for exporting the drill components before assembly. The drill particle, along with several toxins and virulence factors, sets about liquefying the insect and
destroying any potential competition. Studies carried out using wax moth larvae indicate that invasion by P. luminescens is lethal, with all the larvae dying within minutes. Another, somewhat cruder way in which some bacteria have avoided the suicide mission is by arming themselves with spikes. Similar in structure to the drill particles, though lacking end fibres, these spikes stick out of the cell wall and stab other cells that the bacterium comes in contact with. Some bacteria have poison-tipped spikes, while others use the spikes as a means to inject toxins into target cells. They can even kill mammalian cells, which are several times larger. A relative of the cholera bacterium has been observed killing amoebas and mouse cells in this manner. The spikes are known as type VI secretion systems. The advantages of possessing such appendages in the constant struggle for survival are obvious, but what exactly is their origin? The pyocins bare a striking resemblance to bacteriophages (viruses that attack bacteria). Bacteriophages consist of a head/capsule, attached to a tube with grabbing fibres at the opposite end. The fibres attach to specific bacteria, the cell wall is penetrated, and the genetic material contained in the capsule is injected into the bacteria. The
Live long and prosper
Florence Green, the last surviving British veteran of World War I, died on the 4th of this month, at the age of 110.
The extension of the human lifespan used to be restricted to the realms of science fiction, but new research is slowly making it a reality, writes Declan Knittel
T
he pursuit of extending the human life span is about enabling people to maintain a richer, healthier life for as long as possible, but just how long is it possible for a human to live for? The longest unambiguously documented human lifespan is that of Jeanne Calment. Calment died at age one hundred and twenty-two, and ascribed her longevity to generous amounts of olive oil, port wine and chocolate. While those reaching such an age must live a healthy lifestyle and be blessed with resilient genes, somewhere in this ballpark seems to be the upper limit of the human life span. However, there is research being conducted today into rejuvenating medicine that can combat the cellular causes of ageing, perhaps even allowing humans to live indefinitely. Ageing is the multi-dimensional change in an organism’s physiology due to the damage caused by on-going metabolism, which eventually leads to pathology, characterised by gene and protein degradation, cell loss, mutations etc. Such types of damage are summarised by Aubrey de Grey, Chief Scientific Officer of the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence
(SENS) organisation, as the ‘Seven Types of Ageing Damage’ in his book The Mitochondrial Free Radical Theory of Ageing, where he also suggests possible treatments of these causes. Gene deletion with periodic stem cell reseeding, a method that removes mutated DNA and introduces stem cells that replicate and provide healthy new cells to replace them, is among the suggested treatments by de Grey for many of these types of damage, as well as cell therapy (introducing of new cells into tissue) and immune stimulation (boosting of the immune system with supporting nutrients). Dietary restriction is another method of preventing senescence. The life spans of yeast cells, fruit flies, rodents etc, have been significantly extended by altering the animal’s diet so that it is given almost no caloric intake, which results in a longer life span, but with predictably unfavourable side effects. Enzymes such as telomerase and resveratrol (found in red wine) have also been found to increase lifespans of similarly primitive animals, and although not quite the ‘Fountain of Youth’, they offer tantalising clues as to how we might some day unravel the ageing process in its entirety and thus develop a mechanism for its prevention. We are living in exciting times, as the prevention of ageing is currently subject to much exciting research. Although a difficult, multi-faceted endeavour, researchers remain optimistic, maintaining that many of the techniques needed for treatment are available today. The first person to live to be two hundred and twenty-two years old could very well already have been born.
14
The University Observer · 14 February 2012
Observer OpEd editor @ universityobserver.ie
MA Journalism student, two-time Student Media Award winner, and Studenty.me sub-editor Sarah Doran explains the important role that student media plays in third-level education
S
tanding at the Blob, waiting for friends to arrive. Sitting in an alcove, waiting to go to class. Lounging at the back of Theatre L, waiting for a lecture to begin. That’s where you’ll inevitably find someone flicking through a student newspaper. Deep in the bowels of the James Joyce Library you might even find a select few working away in a radio station. Who are these people pouring words onto a page or sounding off on the airwaves? That guy in your class who has an opinion on everything? Some of your closest friends? Complete strangers? Who knows, you may just dismiss them as hacks with nothing better to do. Believe it or not, there is a reason those papers exist. There’s a reason there’s a radio station that you might never have heard of. Student media is there to serve a purpose and the person behind it is someone like you. Whether beloved or maligned, these ‘hacks’ tell you exactly what your University, societies, Students’ Union and USI are doing. Sometimes they’ll even tell you what they’re not doing. They keep you informed regarding what’s happening, who is involved and how it affects you. They’ll ask the questions that you want answered and yes, they’ll even pursue the ones you never wanted answers to. Student media will sometimes tell you things you might not want to hear, but it plays an important
Sarah Doran role in hashing out those arguments that need to be had if student politics, both important and petty, is to be properly played out. “God forbid student internet bloggers/ journalists show some form of respect for actual like, news or truth”, read one comment I came across recently. As both blogger and journalist, I beg to differ. Student journalists are there in the thick of it, pursuing both news and truth. I don’t usually agree with Eamon Dunphy, but he did get one thing right. They are hard-working people who want to secure a job and a future, just like anyone else. They’re the ones on the ground at that protest that you couldn’t get out of your tutorial to attend. They’re the ones at the late night SU Election count that you never even knew existed, and yes, they’re the ones who took time to digest and dissect that new SU Constitution that you can’t or won’t make time to read. They’re providing the checks and balances that can prove as vital as any Students’ Union in ensuring that the third-level education you get is of the quality that you deserve. They’ll even ask if you really have to go to that Opus Dei lecture to pass your course. What’s often forgotten is the fact that student media provides an education in itself. It’s no secret that UCD doesn’t offer a communications or media based undergraduate degree but then again, most people who want to get into the industry are told not to do
an undergraduate degree in journalism. Whether that advice is sound or not is a discussion for another day. This is where student media kicks in, offering students who want to pursue a career an invaluable training ground. It can even open a new window of opportunity to students who never considered a career in the field. Collectively, the University Observer, the College Tribune, Belfield FM and CTN have trained and produced a number of notable figures in the Irish media. RTÉ’s Ryan Tubridy and Samantha Libreri cut their teeth at the College Tribune and University Observer respectively, while both took to the airwaves on Belfield FM. Rick O’Shea of 2FM and Today FM sat behind the Belfield FM desk during his time in UCD, while Richard Oakley of the Sunday Times, and the Irish Independent’s Dan McDonnell served among the former editors of the College Tribune. Political Editor of the Sunday Business Post Pat Leahy launched the good ship University Observer alongside Dara O’Briain, while Stephen Carroll of Sky News, Shane Hegarty of the Irish Times and Gavan Reilly of thejournal.ie were but a few of those who sailed upon her. You can also add me to that list. I kick-started my media career in Belfield FM in 2009 before joining the ranks of UO in my final year. I went on to learn everything I know about the industry, picking up tips and tricks and the odd bit of gossip that lingered
in the SU corridor. I even crossed that great divide and copy edited an edition of the College Tribune. The experience, as my mother would say, ultimately stood to me and the portfolio I created landed me a spot in a highly competitive Masters Degree in Journalism in DCU. If I hadn’t become involved in student media, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Ask thirteen of my seventeen classmates and they’ll give you the exact same answer. NUI Galway’s SIN and Flirt FM, TCD’s Trinity News and Trinity FM, UCC’s Express and Campus Community Radio, Belfield FM and the University Observer, DCUfm and the College View are all represented in my class. Go figure. You see, even in universities that offer media or communications related degrees, student media plays a vital role. It’s all very well and good to learn the theory, but its application is another story entirely. If there’s one thing I’ve learned so far it’s that while your degree is important, it’s experience that ultimately lands you the job. When you sit down in the Arts Café with the paper or flick through it casually while waiting at the Blob, ask yourself one question: what’s involved in producing it? As far as I can remember, it takes an awful lot of work, an awful lot of passion, and just a touch of insanity. When you volunteer or work in a student newspaper you’re not just learning how to put copy on paper. You’re learning about business, mar-
keting, ad sales, organisation, time and people management, writing, a code of practice, and, from time to time, customer service. A broadcast doesn’t make it to air by itself. It requires a team of people working together to compile a schedule, a running order, a show plan, a broadcast licence and an advertising campaign. You need sponsors, presenters, producers, technicians, and of course, listeners. There’s success, failure, and an insurmountable degree of trial and error involved but ultimately, it’s an experience of a lifetime. It’s work experience and training that you simply can’t buy anywhere else and a stepping-stone to a future where, clichéd as it sounds, you can pursue your wildest dreams. Last year I was privileged to write for one of the most inspiring women I have ever known. She was a wonderful student journalist and has gone on to become a successful author. This year I saw my first bylines in a national newspaper and worked alongside a successful television production team. I’m even being allowed to write an op-ed. None of these things would have been possible without student media. It’s about so much more than a student paper, so much more than a radio or television station. It’s about more than a group of ‘wannabe hacks’. Student media is an invaluable investment in student development and should be cherished as such. It’s an education and, after all, isn’t that what going to university is all about?
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 financial support for their project. The Newman Fund is administered by a committee of the Student Consultative Forum
Already this year, the Fund has provided support for:
The UCD Fashion Show A conference organised by PhD Law students A Res. Sports Blitz Belfield FM A reception for postgrad Engineering students in Newstead Further 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 February 20th at 5.30pm to: Elizabeth Cronin, Student Consultative Forum, Student Centre, UCD or email to: Elizabeth.Cronin@ucd.ie
15
The University Observer · 14 February 2012
Observer Editorial editor @ universityobserver.ie
Quotes of the Fortnight
“The unfortunate reality is that while protests may be held and UGMs called to save a debt-ridden “This is an printing service, and academics may bemoan the hiring freeze across campus, students and staff award-winning, independent with disabilities remain, at best, uncatered for, and at worst, forgotten.” accountancy firm”
A
nyone with even a passing identifies a section of UCD’s student resented a minor inconvience for the horrific, yet often-touted ‘wheelchair interest in the dark and irk- body who are under-represented, ill- able-bodied students on campus, for students’, truly, the less said the better. some world of UCD’s political served, and shown a consistant lack of many students with disabilities, the While these throwaway appellations and administrative culture consideration in almost every aspect of campus became nothing short of impas- have, I’m quite certain, no intentional this year will have noticed a University life. The unfortunate real- sible terrain. malice whatsoever, they do represent theme growing increasingly prevalent ity is that while protests may be held However, credit must be given where a subtle culture of objectification that in every walk of campus life. Every Stu- and UGMs called to save a debt-ridden it is due. UCD’s ‘Opening Worlds’ strat- many of our students, our friends and dents’ Union service and University fac- printing service, and academics may egy to 2014 does assert the University’s classmates, face every day. ulty has spent the majority of the year bemoan the hiring freeze across cam- intentions to largely diversify the stuDue to logistical difficulties, the only trying to shout louder than their com- pus, students and staff with disabilities dent body with regards not just dis- society on campus devoted to both caterpatriots, eager for the last few drops remain, at best, uncatered for, and at ability, but age and socio-economic ing and campaigning for students with of their governing body’s liquid assets. worst, forgotten. backround. While this move may be disabilities, the Inclusion Participation Quite rightly, each outfit seeks to prove There is, tragically, what amounts applauded, and any move towards a Awareness Society, is functioning in that their cause and their work is the to a class dichotomy on our campus. sense of social parity is both justified name alone, with a group membership of most essential, that their service is the There are still, today, whole buildings and necessary, it doesn’t remedy the two. I am not privy to the workings of the most valuable to students, or that they on campus that are essentially inac- pre-existing and tangible failings of the society and therefore cannot comment deserve the basic provisions of fund- cessable to unaided wheelchair users. infrastructure of our campus. on its status, but suffice to say, this repreing necessary for their faculty to afford Winding gravel paths, perilously steep It is not oversensitive to take issue sents a microcosmic example of a wider books for the library. Indeed, in a pre- slopes, and ridiculous routes through with the very language of disability, cultural and social divide. By any stanvious editorial I have myself argued for meandering rear entrances and service utilised both on campus and on a larger dards, UCD represents a society, and like the allocation of basic funding to the elevators are not just the order of the cultural scale. ‘Disabled students’, for any other, we may only judge ourselves film department, an argument largely day, they represent very real and ardu- example, far from being a well mean- as a society by how we treat our most informed by their dire need, but more ous challenges for students and staff ing descriptive moniker, is to define that vulnerable. Amongst the clamourous than a small degree informed by the with disabilities, challenges that remain individual solely and primarily by their cries of those clambering for attention, subjective value I place on that faculty completely unconsidered by both the disability, rather than recognising him we must pay special attention to those and their work. majority of the student body and the or her as a subject in their own right. whose voices are the least often heard. This week, however, Aoife Valen- University as a whole. While the harsh ‘Students with disabilities’ is of course It could, of course, be worse – we tine’s article in our Features section winters of previous years may have rep- infinitely preferable, and as for the could have gone to Trinity.
Talleyrand Greetings underlings, What is that nauseating odour you ask? Talleyrand suspects that it is the scent of fresh young hack blood, pints of sweat poured over poorly worded manifesto drafts, and a hint of doomed
Letters to the editor
the
hope. Yes, it’s that detestable time of year again: smellections. The now aged team of Sapbats won’t give up their thrones too gracefully however – they may be in a putrid mess, but they’ve gotten comfortable in their own grot. Rachel ‘Iron Lady’ Breslin has been the only hack foolhardy enough to take on the job of Doomed Duce after this year’s revelation that there is maths involved in managing a company limited both in name and in prospects. There is certainly still a sum or two to be tidied up after Pat ‘With you, and you, and you…’ de Brün has put the skills he learned studying Lols and Polygamy to use. Don’t expect to see him back in a lecture hall any time soon however, as Bruskozy has been busy making plans to leave the country ever since a damning Shaggers United video, in which he threatens to sleep with anyone who watches the vomit-inducing production, has come to light. Never has the phrase
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
‘viral video’ been so apt. Executive Director Preslin was the brains behind the aforementioned blockbuster, but gathering Welfever hacks to pretend they have lost their virginity is only the first step in her camp of pain. Don’t let the pre-recorded cries of distraught first years emitting from her office fool you; the soundtrack of snivelling saddos is just to drown out our Lady Shag’s cries of “GLORY GLORY GLORY” as her would-be successors fight for space on a Welfare couch that can’t possibly be stained by tears alone. Another hack on the glory trail is Sam ‘MOAR’ Geoghegan, whose job is so easy that not only has he decided to attempt remaining in the position until he dies of incompetence, but he has also attracted a line of competitors who will go toe-to-toe with him for the position of Chief Pencil Stockist. Further down the Horridor lie the
Clarifications & Corrections
proverbial elephants that are spEnts and Camp-something-or-other. Neither Brendan ‘What video?’ Lacey nor Stephen ‘Quit while you’re… oh’ Darcy could muster up the energy to fight off fresh-faced hacks, and instead have resigned themselves to their relative lairs, wiling away their last few months of Awfullcer power updating their Facebook profiles with dramatic statuses about stepping down from non-existent campaigns, pretending to organise UCD Ballsups, and leading marches heading in the direction of Centra and back. As for the wretched young hopefuls who dream only of being mentioned by Yours Terribly, Talleyrand advises them to send their campaigners to the hoards of undecided voters to be found in Smurfit and at the bottom of the Secret Lake. Now shoo! Talley-ho! Talleyrand
It is the policy of the University Observer to rectify any errors as soon as they arise. Queries and clarifications can be addressed to info@universityobserver.ie.
The editor reserves the right to edit any letters. All letters are subject to editorial approval.
University Observer Volume XVIII Issue IX
Telephone: (01) 716 3119/3120 Email: info@universityobserver.ie www.universityobserver.ie The University Observer is printed at The Guardian Print Centre, Longbridge Road, Manchester M17 1SN.
Irish Editor Séamas Ó Meachair
Deputy Editor Kate Rothwell
Music Editor Cormac Duffy
Art and Design Director Conor O’Toole
Film Editor Dermot O’Rourke
Otwo Editors George Morahan Aoife Valentine
Fashion Editor Sophie Lioe
Features Editor Matt Gregg Opinion Editor Emer Sugrue
Food & Travel Editor Elaine Lavery Chief Games Writer Steven Balbirnie Online Editor Ryan MacKenzie
Science & Health Editor Conor O’Nolan
Copy Editors George Morahan Aoife Valentine
Chief Science & Health Writer Alison Lee
Chief Photographer David Nowak
Sports Editor Daniel Keenan
“Not everyone want to go on a piss-up at midday”
Stephen Darcy on Rag Day events not taking place exclusively in the Student Bar
“Last year it was about the hoody sales and this year it’s about the Irish” SU Irish Language Officer, Caoimhe Seoige on Seachtain na Gaeilge
“As these UCD spinout companies grow, develop and expand nationally and internationally there will hopefully be a financial return to the University at some stage in the future” Professor Peter Clinch, Vice-President for Innovation
“You’re not going to find a march about it” Brendan Lacey on the 84 bus service
“It’s a long way off doing a musical there in Kilmuckridge” Vivian Rath on the Community Musical
Editor Jon Hozier-Byrne
News Editor Katie Hughes
Pat de Brún when questioned about the accuracy of the Copy Bureau’s accounts
Contributors The Badger Kevin Beirne Daryl Bolger Dixon Coltrane Stephen Connolly Anna Curran Shauna Daly Tadgh Dolan Chloé Duane Sean Finnan Alan Fitzpatrick Sam Gaffney Chris Green Sally Hayden Rachel Heavey Sara Holbrook Hillary Hovenden Niamh Hynes James Kelly Aaron Kennedy Yvanne Kennedy Declan Knittel Colm Lakes Emily Longworth Niall Mac Taidhg Hannah-lil Malone Eimear McGovern Allan McKee Mystic Mittens
David Moloney Emily Mullen Carl Murray Méabh Ní Thuathaláin Sean O’Grady Caitriona O’Malley Evan O’Quigley Michael O’Sullivan Ben Storey Talleyrand Lauren Tracey Denis Vaughan Jack Walsh Phillippa White Illustrator Olwen Hogan Photographers Ciara Andrews Rachel Heavey Marcel Kuzma Caoimhe McDonnell Special Thanks Peter, Ian, Tim, Malcolm, Ade, Jonathan, Dave, Emma, Ged, Bob, Steve at GPC Manchester Eilis O’Brien
Dominic Martella Colm, Sabrina, Rory and Guy at MCD Promotions Mary-Kate at PIAS Priscilla at Universal Giselle Jiang Dominic, Grace, Charlie, Jason, Gary, Stephen, Mark, Sandra, Paul and all the Student Centre Staff Very Special Thanks Amy Bracken, Sarah Doran, Donna Doyle, Bríd Doherty, Paul Fennessey, Bridget Fitzsimons, Danielle Moran, Joe Murphy, Dave Neary, Quinton O’Reilly, Rob Lowney, Ruth McCourt, Gary Kealy, Gav Reilly, Natalie Voorheis and all other friends and family who have supported and encouraged us during our ninth issue.
16
The University Observer · 14 February 2012
25ú Feabhrá 12pm Sat 25th February 12pm
The University Observer · 14 February 2012
sport
17
interview
Sammon among the sharks Daniel Keenan talks to Wigan’s Conor Sammon about how he went from playing in UCD to the heights of the English Premier League
T
here may be only about 150 miles between UCD and the DW Stadium in Wigan but they are a lifetime apart for Conor Sammon. From class on Mondays, studying for a diploma course in UCD while working a job in Bank of Ireland and playing with the college soccer team, to England’s Premier League, it has been a rollercoaster five years for the Malahide native. Sammon moved from UCD to Derry City, to Kilmarnock in the SPL, then to Wigan in England, but still retains a strong North Dublin accent, one which he doesn’t believe he’ll ever lose. His path to England’s best football league started early. He “was constantly kicking a ball around from a very young age,” playing for various underage teams before arriving at UCD. “Eddie Wallace had managed me at the Leinster underage team, and I had a link [to UCD AFC] through that. Lots of us were going to the trials and different things, and weighing up our future options after we left school, and UCD was obviously the top place to go. With the soccer scholarship that was available, you had a chance academically to do some studies, and also to play first team football. It was semi-professional, in the Eircom League, which was a huge attraction; one that I was delighted to get at the time. “I can remember making my UCD debut against Cork City. I’ve got fantastic memories of playing there. Loads of good memories playing under Pete Mann, Eddie Wallace, lots of good times at the Belfield Bowl. I can remember scoring some good goals there!” If his path to UCD was the well-travelled one of impressive underage performances and provincial representation, then his path to the Scottish Premier League is down the road less travelled. Recent players to make the switch from Ireland’s top tier to foreign leagues have needed a string of hugely impressive performances to secure moves, as is evidenced by Seamus Coleman’s move to Everton and James McClean’s transfer to Sunderland. Sammon had impressed
enough in the League of Ireland to secure a move to Derry in 2008, but struggled to hold down a first team place at the northern club. It was the man who signed him, Derry City’s then-manager John Robertson, who would have a big influence on his career. “I caught John’s eye when UCD beat Derry City, the quarter final of the cup I think, and I managed to score that day at the Brandywell. I signed in the off-season, and by the time it came back for us to go into pre-season training with Derry, John had left the club, so I never had a chance to actually play under him.” It was a recommendation from Robertson to Jim Jefferies, Kilmarnock’s manager at the time, which saw Sammon offered a trial with the SPL club having only made sixteen appearances. Two days later he was training with Kilmarnock, and a week after that he signed a professional contract with the club. Sammon admits to being frustrated during his first two seasons at the club, which saw him dropped in and out of the team, and scoring inconsistently, but his third season saw him score eighteen goals in twenty-seven games: “Mixu Paatelainen came in as manager; it was a fresh start for all the players at the club, and I felt that I was in my strongest physical condition, as fit as I’d ever been. He took a big risk by playing me, and I feel that all those things came together to help me improve as a player and score lots of goals.” With big performances in Scotland’s top tier came the inevitable interest from English clubs. Sammon turned down a move to Scunthorpe and tried not to read into any rumours of other clubs that he was linked with. “It was a crazy period,” he says, “When you’re scoring goals as a striker, it catches the eye of lots of teams.” On the deadline day of the 2011 January transfer window, Wigan came in with a formal inquiry. “I had trained at Kilmarnock that morning; I was on my way home along the motorway, and my agent Damon Collins phoned me and said that Wigan had been in touch, and the manager wanted to talk to me. Again, it happened extremely quickly. Basically, I went home to my flat, then travelled down that day to meet the manager, and it was finalised that day. It’s crazy how things can change in football. One day you wake up and you’re playing in the SPL, you go to bed that night, and suddenly you’re playing in the Premier League. The stuff of dreams really.” Wigan managed to avoid the drop last season, but have since found themselves in the relegation zone once again. Even though Sammon is enjoying life in the Premier League and the roll he occupies at Wigan, he is frustrated with the club’s place at the foot of the league. “It is frustrating with our league position. I think we have a great chance of staying up. The league is so tight, with five or six teams who are going to be fighting out, and we definitely have the players to cause an upset, because everyone’s already written us off as the team to go down. “I’m looking to keep training hard and get into the starting XI for some
Sammon scores his first goal in the Premier League against West Ham
“You’re used to watching Match of the Day and watching these players, then suddenly you find yourself going on to the park and playing against them” big games coming up. From my time at Kilmarnock, in the last season when I was scoring lots of goals, I was playing as a lone frontman with two attacking midfielders playing off me. It was a roll I revelled in. There was a lot of space in behind defences and that’s what my game is all about, trying to play on the last man.” The move to the Premier League comes with many changes, on and off the field. Sammon has netted in the Premier League, scoring in Wigan’s 3-2 victory over West Ham at the end of last season, a goal which was vital for Wigan to retain their Premier League status, but the improved defending of the Premier League has staggered his goal scoring somewhat. “It’s been harder [to score] this season when chances are fewer, with the defences being of a better level. I’d probably say [Manchester City captain] Vincent Kompany is the best player I’ve ever played against. Very strong, very quick, good on the ball.” Growing up, Sammon was a Manchester United supporter, but the initial shock of travelling to illustrious stadiums such as Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge has since worn off: “When I first joined, they were the games that stood out. You were thinking ‘I’d love to play at Old Trafford.’ My debut was at the Etihad Stadium at Man City; you’re used to watching Match of the Day and seeing
these players, then suddenly you find yourself going on to the park and playing against them. Initially I was amazed by the surroundings, but that soon goes away, and you just want to prove yourself as a player.” The off-field lifestyle of Premier League footballers often comes under the spotlight, with frequent pictures and stories of players out on late nights, but Sammon doesn’t really engage with this side of football, and is not hungry for media attention. “I’m sure there’s a small minority of footballers that live that sort of party lifestyle, but not that I’ve seen. There’s so much written that you can get carried away. When I first started playing I used to always be interested in hearing what people were saying about me. But as I’ve got older I’ve started to look past things like that. The way the media works is that they’re just constantly looking to write something controversial.” The Premier League is a league where most players have been groomed to be professional footballers from a young age. Coming up in academies is a sheltered life, and one which can realistically lead to only one possibility; playing professional football at some level. Sammon was brought through the amateur and semi-professional ranks, so the change in his life is more pronounced. “It’s definitely different from the days when I was at UCD, when I was working fulltime in Bank of Ireland, then you’d
leave your nine to five job and you’d be rushing out to Belfield to train,” he says. One can see how his life has changed so much when he talks through his routine since turning professional: “We usually go in to training for 10.15, start training at 11.00 and finish at maybe 1.00. By that time we’d come in and have a bit of lunch, and then you’re free to go home or do some gym work.” Match days have their own routine. Alan Shearer famously had a plate of chicken and beans before games, and Sammon takes the same approach: “I do tend to eat a lot of food before a game. I think some of the lads would be laughing at me with the amount of food that I’d eat. I haven’t tried the baked beans - maybe I should try that one!” Sammon’s career has now branched across three different leagues, and if Wigan can stay afloat in the Premier League this season, then he is more than capable of continuing to swim with the big fish.
Sammon playing with UCD
18
sport
Sports Digest
Opinion
The University Observer · 14 February 2012
by Aaron Kennedy
Athletics
The Badger
UCD’s Ciara Everard showed up with the performance of her life on February 4th at the IUAA Irish Inter-Varsity Championships in Nenagh. Everard broke the Irish Under-23 800m indoor record of 2.05.90, previously held by Sonia O’ Sullivan who set it in Boston and held the record for twentytwo years. The physiotherapist student knocked .14 of a second off the mark, running an impressive 2.05.76. Everard was competing in her first race of the year, making the record all the more remarkable.
The Badger attacks the Three Lions
Sailing UCD’s Sailing Club travelled to south-west Cork last weekend for the Irish University Sailing Association Southern Championships. The weekend-long event was the third of five college team racing events held in the University of Limerick this year but was also the last before the all-important IUSA Intervarsity Championships. At around 1.45pm, it was declared that there was enough breeze to start racing. UCD 1 scored two wins from two, while UCD 2 started poorly but then managed to improve, and UCD 3 scored three wins from four. After Saturday and Sunday’s races were completed, the final results from the overall competition were excellent for UCD, with UCD 1 placing 2nd in the Gold Fleet and Silver Fleet, with UCD 2 coming 3rd, and UCD 3 placing 4th.
Handball The first weekend of February served up the college term’s most high profile GAA Handball intervarsity. UCD’s No. 2 ranked player, Martian Mulkerrins, impressed throughout, eventually reaching the Open Final. Mulkerrins powered past NUIG’s Niall Malone in a tough encounter and was then set to meet the top tournament seed and fellow UCD man, Diarmaid Nash, in the semifinal. Nash raced in with an 11-2 lead in the first game but Mulkerrins showed his speed and ability around the court to level the match. A spectacular comeback in the first game was followed by a more evenly matched affair in the second. Mulkerrins came through this encounter on a score line of 21-17, 21-13. Mulkerrins’ long route to the final seemed to fatigue him, and he narrowly lost to LIT’s Seamus O’Carroll, the 2010 champion, in the final. In the end, O’Carroll took the title 11-5.
Water Polo The Irish Universities Swimming and Water Polo Association hosted the annual Water Polo Intervarsities last weekend at the University of Galway. UCD’s Men and Women’s teams won the Novice intervarsity in November, giving them high hopes for the tournament. The UCD Women’s squad progressed smoothly throughout the group stages and beat Queen’s University to gain a place in the final against the tough opposition of DIT. In a tight contest, DIT came out on top with a 13-12 victory. The UCD Men’s squad reached the semi-finals of the tournament. NUIG proved to be too much for the UCD players, as their Galway opponents would eventually go on to win the tournament. After the success of both squads, UCD water polo players will be waiting anxiously to hear the announcement of the Irish Universities water polo squad for the 2012 Celtic Nations, to be hosted in Edinburgh at the beginning of May.
End of a golden era
N
With tremors of a disappointing exit from the World Cup lingering in Irelands’ Six Nations campaign, Ryan Mackenzie believes it could be the beginning of the end for Irish rugby’s golden era
W
ellington, October 8th 2011. Ireland lose to Wales in the Rugby World Cup. The average age of the Irish team is twenty-eight, while that of Wales is twenty-five. While the difference appears small, it must be noted that the vast majority of Ireland’s key players are on the wrong side of that average, but more Welsh players are on the right side. Such ominous signs indicate that the Welsh are the new upand-coming side, while the Irish are on the last legs of what was once a great team. It is the end of an era, and it is obvious that things need to change. Dublin, February 4th 2012. The Irish side lines up against the Welsh with twelve of the fifteen players that lost in New Zealand less than four months before; Fergus McFadden simply replacing an injured Brian O’Driscoll. Declan Kidney even favoured Donnacha O’Callaghan over his Munster teammate Donnacha Ryan, despite the fact that the latter starts ahead of the aging O’Callaghan for their province. What’s more, Kidney turns to his veteran out-half Ronan O’Gara in the closing minutes of an agonisingly close match when he perhaps feared that Johnny Sexton couldn’t deliver. Not surprisingly, Ireland lost, and there was no reason why things should have been any different. Aside from a touch of luck, the same team with the same tactics is going to lose to the same team that outclassed them only a few months before. As Einstein said, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” What was surprising, however, was the general pre-match opinion favouring the home side to take the spoils. Realistically, this wasn’t a fair assessment, but perhaps, after a decade of success, Irish fans have gotten used to winning and have thus become blinded to the harsh reality that times are changing.
Our national side have lost six of their last ten tests and, if you exclude the two wins against minnows Russia and the United States, they have only won two first-class competitive matches, marking the worst streak since the dawn of the ‘Golden Era’. Despite this, however, Kidney seems reluctant to make changes or even try a new formula. Such conservative coaching has played to the Cork’s man advantage before, but he no longer enjoys the comfort of an established team, finding himself instead in a period of transition that he seems hell-bent on ignoring.
An example of this occurred back in November. Munster were away to Northampton and down by a point in added time. They battered down the Northampton defence for a staggering forty phases of play before O’Gara slotted over an eighty-fourth minute drop-goal to seal a miraculous comeback. This is what Munster rugby is all about. When you contrast this to Ireland’s inability to work above ten phases at the end of the Wales match last week, the differing levels of success becomes somewhat more understandable.
Astonishingly, the Sexton-O’Gara debate still rings on, despite the latter being nearly thirty-five years of age and having a limited future in the game. Kidney himself is a prominent figure in the O’Gara camp, having an affinity with the fly-half after years of service at Munster together. Yet this is a toxic debate for two reasons. Firstly, it stunts the development of the new generation, and indeed Sexton himself, and, secondly, it breeds a belief within the squad that the new generation don’t compare to their predecessors – a tenet which is, unfortunately, the truth. With this lack of success, comparisons are increasingly being drawn between the national side and its provinces. Leinster are the current holders of the Heineken Cup and look solid again this year, while Munster also look to be staking their claim for the highest honour in the European game. The difference comes down to a different ethos, culture, and confidence.
Munster and Leinster have a steely confidence, a winning mentality that spurs them on when the chips are down. Their following two matches were won by a margin of only three points and then they began to roll. The Munster men topped Pool A by ten points, mimicking Leinster, who managed to win their group by a staggering twelve points. In essence, this success should translate over to the international game, but it doesn’t. Instead, Ireland appear to play with conservative shackles securely fastened to them by their coach. Kidney’s restrictive nature worked at Munster and during his early spell with the national team, but he now finds himself with a side that can’t do a whole lot more when called upon. It seems both ominous and obvious that the dark days of the eighties and nineties are creeping back into Irish rugby and little is being done to compensate for it.
“Kidney’s restrictive nature worked at Munster and during his early spell with the national team, but he now finds himself with a side that can’t do a whole lot more when called upon”
ow the Badger may have grown sick of many things; Declan Kidney, Demba Ba jokes, Trapattoni’s ‘English’, UCD-related memes and George “We Need an Open-Side Flanker” Hook, but if there is one thing the Badger has always hated, it’s tabloids spewing bilge about who the next player to save English football is. The name of the most recent ‘saviour’ to be excreted from the collective faecal hole of the red top brigade is that of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who has garnered attention using his undeniable talent for being English, young (eighteen, don’t let his pug-like face fool you) and in good form. What really irks the Badger is that Oxlade-Chamberlain is a star in their eyes now, but he is one nightclub picture away from being a boozer, two bad performances away from being rubbish, and six inches away from being labelled a love-rat. Let’s not forget that Theo Walcott was once proclaimed as the future of English football, despite having the touch of the Badger when it comes to kicking a ball (the Badger’s sharp claws often make it difficult for close control). All Walcott possesses is the ability to run across a pitch quickly, so by this logic, Dwain Chambers and the Anfield Cat could both be stars for the English national football team. But since Sven saw fit to bring him to the 2006 World Cup when he was seventeen, having made a grand total of zero appearances for Arsenal’s first team, he was subsequently blown up by the media to the size of a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon. When everyone realised he wasn’t close to a complete player, and never would be, he was shrunk to the size of a condom and is now playing at a lower standard than he did three years ago. Walcott is not the only one; media expectation has crushed David de Gea into a shrivelled version of his former self (figuratively, of course. He’s always looked that underfed). Meanwhile, the English football team is in search for a new manager. The Badger can only assume that Prince ‘Arry of Tottenham will be the latest man to follow in Hamlet’s footsteps and drink from the poisoned chalice. His appointment will inevitably be followed by unrealistic high hopes, subsequent failure to reach the heights of the anointed ’66 team, calls for a foreign manager, firing and stoning. Fabio Capello left the English post because John Terry was stripped of the captaincy, but the Badger agrees with the FA’s decision to punish Terry. He should be punished by the FA, if not for being awful, then for everything else he’s done in the last two years, for which it seems his only punishment has been to miss a handshake with Wayne Bridge. If anything, the Badger thinks the punishment hasn’t gone far enough, since Terry didn’t come home to find David Bernstein in bed with his wife.
Opinion The University Observer · 14 February 2012
sport
19
ily with the loss of Reynolds. The final minutes were tight, with the scores frequently separated by just one point. The game changer came in the final thirty seconds. UCD had a one-point lead and possession; they held on to the ball and as the shot clock ran down, they misfired but Gary Edge managed to secure the loose ball. Eanna fouled him to send him to the line, and with only eleven seconds on the clock Gary Edge scored both of his free throws to put Marian up by three. Eanna pushed down the court in search of an open threepointer. However, UCD’s stellar defence kept them searching. Neil Lynch could not find a pass to either MacEvilly or Keane, and when he tried him-
self, Gary Edge showed his class and experience, coming up with a big steal. He was fouled and sent to the line with a chance to put the game out of reach, which is exactly what he did, burying the disappointment of their National Cup final with it. UCD impressed throughout, despite being behind for most of the game. The most notable performances were from Edge, Byrne and Under-17 player Mark Ryan, who contributed twenty points, a very impressive performance from a player who looks set to have a successful career in basketball ahead of him. The game finished 66-70, as UCD Marian celebrated claiming another trophy for their increasingly impressive cabinet.
UCD Marian claim Dublin Senior final UCD Marian were crowned Dublin Senior Champions in Inchicore last Sunday, writes Colm Lakes
U
CD Marian were crowned Senior Dublin Cup Division 1 Champions last Sunday evening in Inchicore, in a game which saw a last-minute brace from Gary Edge to secure the game for UCD. They faced off against Eanna, a team who were right on their tails at the top of the league, and both knew it would prove to be a tight affair. Missing key man Barry Glover added an extra hurdle in UCD’s path to glory. Eanna started the game the better of the two teams, with a high tempo that UCD struggled to cope with. Paddy Young contributed the bulk of Marian’s scores early on, as UCD tried hard just to stay in touch. Gary Edge was relatively anonymous in the first half as he battled with Eanna player/coach Ciaran MacEvilly. Eanna looked to Philip Reynolds for their scores; his size and mobility proving to be very difficult for Marian to handle. Despite their dominant start, Eanna were unable to put points on the board and the first quarter ended level 16-16. UCD made a few changes to begin the second quarter, while Eanna remained unchanged. This may have been the reason for Eanna’s 8-0 run early in the second, while Marian struggled to find cohesion. However, the National Cup finalists were not disheartened and began to claw their way back into the game. Eanna made their first substitution of the match halfway through the second quarter, a tactical error which led to key players tiring and getting into foul trouble early. As the quarter wound down, the momentum began to switch to UCD, and they closed the gap to six,
Eanna
66
with Gary Edge contributing multiple assists. Mark Ryan and Ciaran Dunne were the main scorers as the half time score was 37-31 in favour of Eanna. Marian knew they would have to step up their efforts to avoid a second defeat in a final in two weeks. They came out firing early and drew level within the first few minutes of the second half. Midway through the third quarter, UCD increased their defensive pressure, pressing their opposition up the court in a zonal trap, which the tired Eanna struggled to cope with. However, through the quality of Ciaran MacEvilly, Eanna found a lifeline in the form of three straight three-pointers as the UCD crowd fell silent. Robert Keane then hit a buzzer-beater three-
UCD Marian
70
pointer to break the deadlock at the end of the third, the score 57-54, but the momentum was with UCD Marian. As crunch time approached, UCD set the benchmark for the fourth quarter with two quick scores. The game was tit for tat from then on out, with UCD scoring threes from Edge and Mark Byrne while Eanna looked to Keane, MacEvilly and their Under-20 stars Ian and Neil Lynch for their outside threat. The latter of the twins was fouled on a three-point attempt, allowing him three shots from the free throw line in a huge play for Eanna. Both teams had key players fouled out in crucial moments of the game, but UCD had enough depth on the bench to cope, while Eanna suffered heav-
The Gentleman’s Game
“If this violence is to continue throughout football, it will destroy the reputation of FIFA, the game itself and its large support base”
In the wake of the Egyptian football riots, Aaron Kennedy looks at violence across the sport, and how it has sullied the ‘beautiful game’
T
he post-match violence that left seventy-nine people dead and over a thousand injured in Port Said, Egypt earlier this month has highlighted once again the dark side of the ‘beautiful game’. At its best, football is the world’s premier sport for a spectacle of athleticism and skill; at its worst, it is a cauldron of racism and violence. Forget about diving and back-talking to the referee; the violence that surfaces in football sullies its reputation, yet it is only when deaths occur that we realise just how serious such aggression is. What distinguished the events in Egypt from other notable incidents
Opinion
A scene from the recent football riots in Egypt were the riots that followed, with over a dozen people killed in the aftermath. This tragedy ranks among the world’s most horrific and damaging sport-related disasters. Egyptian officials have had no choice other than to suspend the Egyptian Premier League until things have settled, a move which is rarely made by a league. Egypt’s Deputy Health Minister, Dr. Hisham Shiha declared on Egyptian television that the majority of deaths occurred from asphyxiation or bone fractures. The violence in Cairo is unfortunately not the only footballrelated disaster to strike Africa in recent years. On July 9th 2000, Zimbabwean police fired tear gas
at fans after a stampede erupted; thirteen supporters died at the Harare National Stadium in a game between Zimbabwe and South Africa. In April 2001, mass overcrowding at the Ellis Park Stadium at a derby game between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates caused the death of forty-three people. For decades, football in Italy has transcended simply being a game and has caused vehemence amongst fans. Italian Ultras have caused endless trouble and actually led the officials in Serie A to ban them from stadia in their own country. In 2005, Inter Milan fans forced their team’s derby game against A.C. Milan to be abandoned
after they hurled missiles and flares onto the pitch at the San Siro. On May 29th 1985, thirty-nine Juventus fans were crushed to death before a match against Liverpool, in the Heysel Stadium Disaster. All English clubs were banned from European competitions until 1990, Liverpool getting an extra year due to theirs being the sole contribution to the disaster. In March 1978, a full-scale riot broke out at the Den during an FA Cup quarter final between Millwall and Ipswich. Fighting began on the terraces, eventually spilling onto the pitch and into the narrow streets around the ground, leading to dozens of innocent people be-
ing injured. The 1989 Hillsborough disaster caused the deaths of ninety-six supporters, making it the deadliest stadium-related disaster in England. An enquiry into the case concluded that the violence was due to a lack of police control. The Millwall Bushwackers, the club’s ‘firm’ of supporters, have been at the centre of violence in English football for decades, clashing with the fans of clubs such as Ipswich, Luton, Arsenal, and most recently West Ham, their most hated rivals. After twenty years of peacefulness, extremist fans of West Ham and Millwall started a riot during a League Cup tie at Upton Park in 2009. A man suffered severe stab wounds, and it was also reported that a pregnant woman had a brick thrown at her. If this violence is to continue throughout football, it will destroy the reputation of FIFA, the game itself and its large support base. It is evident that security issues are one of the main reasons such incidents occur, but there is an undeniable socio-political undercurrent in these riots, particularly in Africa. Increasing security and refurbishing stadiums is a must if a repeat of these scenes is to be avoided. Egypt has now given the world of sport a wake up call, and we can only hope that football’s governing bodies tackle the issue. Ireland has also had its fair share of violence in sport, albeit on a much smaller scale, most notably in the GAA of late. The most recent clash came in the All-Ireland Junior Football Club Championship game between Dromid Pearses and Derrytresk, which sparked huge media attention. Violence is beginning to become a trait of the sport and managers are starting to ask for harsher punishments for teams who engage in such activity. Brawls have become more common, and the GAA are yet another governing body that has to step up and address such violence in sport.
20
OSbserver P O R T
The University Observer · 14 February 2012
Inside... We talk to Conor Sammon about life in the Premier League
UCD’s last gasp loss to Buccaneers was compounded with an away drubbing at the hands of Bruff, writes Carl Murray
UCD suffer double disappointment Action from last week’s game between UCD and Buccaneers in the Belfield Bowl Photographer: Caoimhe McDonnell
U
CD will look back on their last two games with frustration. The Buccaneers game is one that they truly should have won. Right from the kickoff, UCD began to impose themselves on their opponents. Following clean line-out ball on the Buccs’ ten metre line, the smaller UCD pack marshalled the Buccs’ forwards back to their own five metre line, resulting in UCD scrum-half Rob Shanley making a quick break to the short side, feeding David Lynch for the impressive inside centre to dot down over the line with less than five minutes on the clock. UCD out-half Niall Earls duly claimed two points with a superb conversion. A period of fifteen minutes of equal pressure exerted by the two teams followed Lynch’s try, with both teams failing to capitalise on any chances they created. Each side’s discipline was hugely commendable as neither team were willing to give away a cheap three points to their opponents. Buccaneers began to display their skill in this period with prop Diarmuid Higgins, lock James Tormey and openside flanker Eoghan Grace displaying some adventurous and accurate offloads. It was in this period that Buccs began to find holes in the otherwise resolute UCD defence. Despite establishing a foothold in the game, Buccs failed to score as the UCD
back row of Danny Kenny, David Doyle and Shane Grannell put in some monster hits. Indeed, it was Collidge who were rewarded on the twenty-five minute mark with a superb team try. Buccs winger Callum Boland returned a loose kick finding Collidge front-row Brian Hall on the half-way line. Hall displayed winger’s pace taking the ball infield to the Buccs ten metre line, and a series of good offloads led to Lynch crossing for his second try, which was not converted. Buccs continued to grow into the game for the rest of the half, with captain Kolo Kiripati and out-half Jack Carthy particularly dangerous. For all their possession and positive play, Buccs could not convert any of it into scores. Collidge out-half Earls also kept Buccs on the back foot with some excellent kicking from hand. The second half began very much like the first ended, with Buccs enjoying more possession. UCD’s discipline began to waiver and Buccs were awarded a penalty, which Carty missed. The young out-half made up for this in style with a wonderfully executed drop goal from the right side of the pitch, which sailed through the uprights. Two more Carty penalties brought the score to 12-9. Next came what was perhaps the definitive moment in the game. Excellent work by Collidge winger Andrew Boyle and second row Keelan McKenna saw
UCD RFC 15 Bruff 27 the ever involved Alex Kelly break into the twenty-two; he seemed to touch the ball down under the posts, but referee Olly Hodges ruled that he was held up, a decision for which Collidge can feel hard done by. An excellent Earls penalty into the wind extended Collidge’s lead to 15-9. Close to the death, the heartbreak moment for Collidge came. Carty, who had impressed throughout the game with his kicking and his breaks, made an unhindered run into the UCD twenty-two, finding substitute winger Luke Satchwell who steamed in under the posts, giving Carty the simplest of conversions and Buccaneers the win. UCD then travelled to Limerick to play Bruff on Saturday, 11th February with hopes of avenging this narrow defeat. Collidge were 21-8 victors when the two sides met in October, but could not overturn their opponents on their home ground. Bruff got off to a great start with Brian Cahill converting an early penalty, before John Shine crossed the line for his first try of the game, which Cahill converted. UCD fought back through a
16 Buccaneers
Niall Earls penalty. Bruff’s powerful forwards bossed the UCD pack, and it seemed another try was inevitable. Ten minutes before halftime, Bruff’s Number 8 Mike Carroll powered over the line to make the score 17-3 after Cahill converted. UCD began to fight back in the second half. Sustained pressure on the Bruff defence culminated in Tom Fletcher crossing the line, from which Earls converted. However it was not to be the comeback that UCD hoped it would be. Another penalty from Cahill and Shine’s second try of the match, which was converted, buried any chance of a comeback for Collidge. With a final score of 87-45, Thunder player Derrick Courtney was awarded MVP for his efforts as he put in a stellar performance, but really any one of the Dublin Thunder players could have received the award. UCD will be upset by this loss, but currently positioned as they are at the top of the Dublin Senior Division 1; they will not lose heart or confidence.
A strong display from CIT sees off UCD in Fitzgibbon Cup, writes Daniel Keenan
CIT’s Steven Daniels in possession during the Group A Fitzgibbon Cup on Wednesday night Photographer: David Nowak lan scoring a free from well inside his own half and adding another soon afterwards. Goal chances were rare, and UCD will rue Domhnall Fox’s miss in front of the goal. The Galway man was through one-on-one, late in the first half, but sent his shot over the bar for a score. UCD went in at half time, one point
better off than their opposition, with Fox’s point levelling matters and a McGrath free giving UCD the lead, 0-8 to 1-4. CIT came out of the blocks quickly in the second half to reclaim their lead through a David Drake and a Tommy Quaid free. Conor Allis levelled matters again for the home team with a monster
The Badger on Alex OxladeChamberlain and John Terry
10 UCD RFC
UCD fall to CIT in Fitzgibbon Cup UCD 0-15 1-17 Cork IT U
CD hurlers squandered a halftime lead, eventually going down by five points to Cork Institute of Technology in their first round Group A Fitzgibbon Cup game in Belfield on Wednesday night. CIT came into the game off the back of a two-point win over the remaining Group A opponents, Waterford Institute of Technology. CIT, finalists in last year’s Cork Club Championship Final, were always going to be tough opposition for the home team. Despite lacking the services of 2011 GAA Young Hurler of the Year, Liam Rushe, UCD got the better of the early exchanges with a point from Andy Smith. CIT quickly responded through a Colin Fennelly goal, after some scrappy play from both sides, then a Tommy Quaid free. The game lacked tempo early on, as injuries disrupted play, while the cold conditions made catching difficult. CIT looked intent on feeding full forward Paudie O’Sullivan but poor passing and resolute defending kept the Cork senior player quiet. Tipperary star and UCD captain, Noel McGrath, kept the score board ticking over for the home side with a point, but CIT responded with two points to take a three-point lead. UCD relied heavily on McGrath’s free-taking ability to cut the deficit, and the 2009 All Star was as reliable as ever, scoring six points (five frees, one from play) in the first half alone. CIT managed to maintain their lead for most of the half, with Jamie Cough-
page 17
shot, scoring from near the sideline just inside his own half. The Cork team seemed to have more about them in the second half and scored four unanswered points, with Jason Condon scoring the pick of them after some impressive flicks from the visitors. O’Sullivan and Coughlan were also on target.
page 18 We look at violence in football in the wake of the Egyptian riots
page 18 UCD fought back once again through two McGrath frees, but they were bookended by two points from CIT. With a four-point lead, CIT dropped a man back to sweep in front of the full back line, which worked to great effect, cutting off the UCD attack, who were desperate for a goal. The two teams then exchanged scores, the best of which was scored by Paudie O’Sullivan after an outstanding catch above Matt O’Hanlon, but neither could sustain any notable pressure on their opponents’ defence. With time running out, CIT had raced to a six-point lead; UCD needed a goal, but McGrath’s free in front of goal was deflected over the bar. Another McGrath free was cancelled out by Tommy Quaid just before full time, leaving the score 0-15 to 1-17. UCD now travel to Waterford on Tuesday night knowing that they need a win over Waterford IT, who also lost to CIT, to progress further in the cup. Both teams have a proud tradition in the competition: WIT have won the Fitzgibbon Cup eight times, most recently in 2008, while the last of UCD’s thirty cup wins came in 2001. This tradition was exemplified in the recent GAA Fitzgibbon Cup Team of the Century, with WIT getting two players on the team to UCD’s trio of Tommy Daly, Ted Carroll and Pat Henchy. As for the present team, UCD will know they can’t rely so heavily on Noel McGrath for the next round and will look to build on this early setback.