The University Observer Volume XVII Issue 2

VOLUME xViI ISSUE 2

Ne quid false dicere audeat ne quid veri non audeat

5th October 2010

IRELAND’S AWARD-WINNING STUDENT NEWSPAPER

FEATURES Has marriage lost its place in modern society?

COMMENT We explain the current bonds crisis

Page 9

Page 14

SCIENCE The links between maths and music Page 17

UCD will not be asked to repay unauthorized staff allowances

UCD to enter into alliance with NCAD

Katie Hughes

Amy Bracken

Chief News Writer

News Editor

T

he University Observer has learned that UCD senior staff members will not have to repay €1.6 million in unauthorized allowances that UCD paid to them.

Prior to this announcement, it was revealed that UCD may have to repay the funds. The payments were made over a ten-year period, without the mandated approval of the Higher Education Authority (HEA), between 1999 and 2009.

On top of the €1.6 million paid out, €266,000 in performance bonuses was split between twelve people, with the payments starting in 2005 and ending in 2008.

The details of all payments made were revealed going back to 1999. UCD President Dr Hugh Brady expressed his belief that HEA approval was simply a formality until 2007. The process of phasing out the payments began in 2007, however due to contractual commitments, they could not be completely abolished until 2009.

Dr. Brady stated that the payments were made for surplus management duties carried out and that this practice was common internationally.

While Dr. Brady insists that “we weren’t told to stop’’ the payments, Chief Executive of the HEA, Tom Boland, said that it was clarified to UCD that the payments needed to be ceased immediately, when asked why UCD was not put under more pressure to end the payments once the situation became apparent.

Mr. Boland said that the HEA was first in contact with universities in 2001 regard-

Continued on p2>>

U

CD is expected to form an alliance with three other thirdlevel institutions in the wake of the proposed dissolution of the NUI (National University of Ireland), under whose jurisdiction UCD falls.

The alliance, which is understood to still be in the negotiation process, is understood by The University Observer to be between UCD, the National College of Art and Design (NCAD), the Institute of Bankers and the Institute of Public Administration (IPA).

The Director of NCAD, Mr Declan McGonagle, told The University Observer that the idea originated in the aftermath of the government’s proposal to dissolve the NUI, as the dissolution would prohibit NCAD from being able to issue their own degrees, prompting them to look to other universities for degree validation.

Mr McGonagle said that both UCD and Trinity College Dublin were interested in validating NCAD degrees, but that “it would be implicit to talk about more than that. And of course, we were interested in that as well, because there’s lots of synergies with different areas of UCD, and different areas of Trinity.”

He explained how after four to five months of discussion, the board of NCAD decided to form an alliance with UCD. The legal elements of such an alliance as well as the relevant paperwork are currently being finalised, and the scheme is expected to be up and running before the end of October: “We’re talking about the alliance being live from October onwards, but live

A student takes the plunge and bungee jumps during Freshers’ Week. Photo: Killian Woods

just means in the preparation.”

Mr McGonagle said the alliance will be an expansion of the existing links between UCD and the NCAD: “There’s some linkages already, in some research areas as well; so we will build on those, and then at some point in the future try to develop new programmes as well as creating linkages between existing programmes.”

The alliance is expected to be finalised

despite an ongoing controversy with regards the dissolution of the NUI. A spokesperson for the NUI said: “For the abolition of the NUI to go ahead will require legislation; now we understand that the preparation of that legislation is continuing in the Department of Education, but there’s no sign of it.

Mr McGonagle spoke of the alliance involving the IPA and the Institute of Bankers:

“The Bankers’ Institute is already linked to UCD. The IPA is in the same position as us; I think the same approximate timeframe as us as well as having the draft memorandum of understanding for that relationship.”

When contacted by The University Observer, the IPA declined to comment on the matter. A spokesperson for the Institute of Bankers was unavailable to comment at the time of going to press.

UCDSU launch loyalty card scheme Marianne Madden

U

CDSU have launched a loyalty card scheme based on a system of rewards for regular users of SU outlets.

Students who activate and swipe their student card when purchasing will receive a point for every euro spent. Every point is worth one cent and points can be redeemed against purchases in SU shops.

UCDSU President Paul Lynam said the scheme works on the principle that “if you’re a regular user of the SU shops, you should be getting something in return”.

Lynam was keen to highlight that “the difference is we offer rewards also. If you buy ten coffees, you’ll get the eleventh one free. We will have constant schemes like that.”

Top users will receive automatic rewards, while regular users will be entered into draws for rewards. Lynam made reference to Ents “gold-tickets” and Premier League tickets as examples of rewards for the most frequent users. “If you’re the most regular user in Arts, you might get an Ents goldticket which will access you to all Ents events throughout the year.”

The rewards may encourage students to spend at SU shops, but Lynam pointed out that the scheme will ultimately be of more benefit to students “if our profits are increased, as always, we put them right back into our shops and into our SU.” The scheme is expected to be extended to the Student Bar in mid-October where meal deals are anticipated. According to Lynam, “you’ll buy four meals and get the fifth one free”. Alcohol and soft drinks are not included in the loyalty card scheme.

UCDSU President Paul Lynam is confident that the loyalty card will succeed.

A Students’ Union loyalty card initially featured on Lynam’s election manifesto.

However, some adjustments were needed

to make the scheme operational: “We made it a priority of the year to implement; that meant that we had to change over all the

tills in our shops and introduce new tills that can swipe with your student card.”

The scheme is based on a similar scheme of NUI Galway Students’ Union. The UCDSU loyalty card has been integrated with the university student card, whereas in NUI Galway, the scheme was based on a separate card. Lynam explained how “we use the student card because every student has a student card. We have 24,000 student cards out there.”

A preliminary report last Wednesday indicated that hundreds of students had already joined the scheme. As an incentive, students who join early can receive extra points to spend. There have been issues with the slow registration online system, but action has been taken to improve the process. Lynam added: “Come this Friday, the time will be halved, taking between 90 seconds and two minutes.”

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THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVER 5 October 2010

News News in Brief • Semesterised payments introduced for registration fee UCD students have welcomed the semesterised fee payment system offered to free fees undergraduate and full year graduate students for the 2010/2011 academic year.

Students paying fees in this manner are required to pay half of their fees in a first instalment due by September 12th of this year, with the second instalment due on January 31st 2011. For students on a three semester programme, the scheme offers the option to pay fees in thirds by semester.

Students’ Union Education Officer James Williamson told The University Observer that “my feedback from the students is that it has been welcomed”.

Williamson indicated that the idea had originated in 2008, when students returning to UCD for one semester in order to re-sit exams were required to pay the re-sit fee and the full registration fee for the academic year.

The University Observer understands that after reaching an agreement with UCD, the returning students were only required to pay half the student services charge, as they would only attend for one semester.

Williamson said that the sabbatical team had felt “very strongly” about the issue and that pushing for this semesterisation of fees was one of the first things they had done in office.

“We’re a student-orientated university according to our strategic plan,” he stated.

“We want to make sure that we focus towards the students.”

In light of the current economic climate, he praised the initiative, saying: “This is just one of those measures to make sure that students are looked after in the long term and that we don’t lose any students because of their financial situations.”

• Survey shows students miss lectures in favour of daytime TV A survey of 250 third-level students has revealed that 75 per cent of students skip lectures to watch daytime TV. The results emerge from an online survey carried out by Irish broadband and Digital TV provider UPC. This survey aimed to ascertain how important broadband and TV are to student life.

Australian soap Home & Away was the most popular alternative to attending lectures amongst the students surveyed, with 46 per cent of those surveyed having admitted to skippng lectures for it.

There was some bad news for social networking site Bebo, with the ailing site only managing to attract a mere three per cent of students surveyed. Social networking giant Facebook secured 95 per cent usage, while YouTube came a strong second at 61 per cent.

Pasta proved the staple of the student diet, with 42 per cent of students identifying it as the number one food on the shopping list.

Of the 250 students surveyed, only 2 per cent were willing to sacrifice TV and 7 per cent discarding broadband in order ensure they had enough money to pay the rent.

• Freshers’ Ball proves fastest selling in recent times The UCD Freshers’ Ball has been deemed a success, in spite of it being held unusually late into the first semester.

UCDSU Ents Officer Jonny Cosgrove described the 2010 Freshers’ Ball as “the fastest selling Freshers’ Ball in my living memory, which is a long time in UCD”.

Cosgrove’s reasons for the scheduling change included ensuring “everyone would get a chance to go” and to ensure that students “knew it was going to be on”.

International chart-topper Tinie Tempah headlined on the night, with acts such as Frank Jez & DJ Tandoo, The Shoos, Propaganda DJs, Spin 1038 DJs and I-Rate Soundsystem completing the line-up.

He believed that the acts “really went down well on the night” and was pleased that “a lot of people stayed right through to the end”.

Tinie Tempah proved a fortunate choice of headline act with his next single ‘Written in the Stars’ topping the Irish iTunes chart on the night itself.

Cosgrove emphasised that though he “wanted to have the big name act,” he believed that Students’ Unions are “a founding ground for good Irish home-grown talent” and he wanted to ensure that there was “a mix of everything”.

Cosgrove emphasised the importance of the success of the Freshers’ Ball, and of Freshers’ Week in general, in ensuring that this year’s Ents campaign is appealing to students. With an Ents crew of over 350 students, Cosgrove is pleased with its success: “The main thing is that the bar is back, we’re in business and it’s going well.”

Sarah Doran

news@universityobserver.ie

Work set to commence on Sutherland School of Law T Noreen Moloney

he construction of the new Sutherland School of Law has already started on the former playing fields near the Quinn School of Business, where the UCD Students’ Union held the UCD Ball in 2010.

The centre has been designed by Moloney O’Beirne architects and is designed to produce a modern and innovative centre of learning.

It will be equipped with the latest technology and a moot court. This will provide students with a centre to engage in mock court cases as part of their education.

The building work is expected to cause traffic delays on campus, which will affect both students and staff. However, these delays are not expected until work properly commences.

The €20 million development is to be the first of its kind in Ireland, financed through government funds and other sources including a €4 million donation from former Irish Attorney General Peter Sutherland, after whom the building is to be named.

One of UCD’s most distinguished alumni, Mr Sutherland is currently a non-executive Chairman of Goldman Sachs International. He has also held a range of prestigious positions and has been the chairman of the AIB Group; EC Commissioner and Director General of the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

President of UCD, Dr Hugh Brady, said

Former Attorney General Peter Sutherland has donated four million euro to the new law school.

of Mr Sutherland: “His generosity will enable us to transform the undergraduate experience of our law students.”

The new centre will contribute signifi-

cantly to level four legal education at UCD, by creating links with other schools in the university and create a base to work with the legal profession both nationally and interna-

tionally. The new building is projected to be completed in late 2011 and it is hoped that it will become a core centre of legal education in Ireland.

Continued from p1>> ing the unauthorised payments, when they stated that the payments should not continue to go ahead.

In 2005, it came to the HEA’s attention that there had been a substantial increase in payments. Mr Boland, quoting from a letter sent to UCD in 2006, said that the payments were not in line with the HEA’s legislation and not within the realms of UCD’s power.

Mr. Boland rejected the removal of UCD’s governing authority, labelling it as “disproportionate”, but did not rule out the possibility of other consequences. The governing authority consists of senior figures including Dr. Brady and Dr Philip Nolan. It is responsible for overseeing policy and “monitoring the performance of top management,” according to the UCD website.

Mr Borland was quoted as asking “What part of ‘No’ does UCD not understand?”

Student Assistance Fund 2010-2011 Applications for the Student Assistance Fund 2010-2011 will be available on Monday 11 October 2010. This scheme is funded by the Department of Education and Science with assistance from the European Social Fund. It is means tested and funding will be targeted at those students who are in most financial need.

Students who are currently registered at UCD to a course of at least one year are eligible to apply. Please note that students who have completed a degree, and are registered for a second degree at the same level, (e.g. students undertaking a 2nd Bachelor, Masters or PhD degree) are not eligible to apply.

Application to the Student Assistance Fund is a three part process as outlined below: Part 1 Read the guidelines for applying to the Student Assistance Fund. The guidelines can be found here: http://www.ucd.ie/studentadvisers/financial.html Part 2 If after reading the guidelines you believe you may be eligible the application may be accessed through your SIS account under the Student Services tab beginning on Monday 11 October 2010. Please complete Part 2 of your application on-line and print it out.

Part 3 of the application process requires applicants to submit the printed application along with hard copy financial documents (original or copy) and receipts to a Student Adviser. Only fully completed applications will be accepted by the Student Advisers.

Closing Date Friday 12th November 2010 at 12.00 noon For further information contact your Student Adviser or Students’ Union Welfare Officer You must submit your fully completed application including relevant supporting documentation by 12th November at 12 noon. No late or incomplete applications will be accepted.

If you are considering making an application, you are strongly encouraged to request the appropriate financial documentation (e.g. P21, P60, etc) from the relevant source immediately as there are usually delays in obtaining this information.

Dr Hugh Brady has come under criticism from the HEA over unauthorised payments

THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVER 5 October 2010

3

News

news@universityobserver.ie

Pink Day raises over €3,000 for Bodywhys AMY BRACKEN

P

ink Day, the Students’ Union organised event centred on women’s health, has raised over €3,000 for eating disorders charity Body-

whys.

Pink Day was held last Thursday in UCD and featured a number of events to raise awareness of issues relating to eating disorders. SU Welfare Vice President Scott Ahearn explained that “we had a table quiz on the Tuesday night; that went really well, we raised around €300 at that. The big emphasis was on charity collection, and the emphasis on Bodywhys in the Student Centre. So we had a lot of collectors all round.”

Other events included a TradSoc session in the Student Centre, and a Pink Party in d|two, which raised money from ticket sales.

Ahearn spoke of the information stand in the Student Centre and discussed how the media often uses airbrushing for images of models: “The media sometimes does not portray beauty as we think it does,” he said.

Ahearn was keen to thank all of those involved in the campaign, saying “I credit a lot of the help to Pat de Brún, the Campaigns officer and Regina [Brady], the Womens’ Officer, and I’d also like to acknowledge the help of the volunteers, the Welfare

crew, who’ve given a huge amount of their time away from studies to help raise money for Bodywhys.”

Ahearn also wished to praise the students who donated to the cause, especially in light of the current economic situation: “I would also credit the success of the event to the students to donate money. I think in tough times like these, it’s brilliant to see students who are still willing to be so generous and donate whatever change they have to a cause where support may not actually be there for people who suffer from eating disorders.”

In addition to the money raised for Bodywhys, Ahearn has launched eating disorder support groups for people in the South Dublin area. UCD is one of the first universities to introduce such support groups, which are scheduled to start on October 13th in the Student Centre. The groups however, will not be specific to UCD students, but are to be accessible to all people in the south Dublin region. Ahearn said: “It’s a fantastic service. I’ll be linking with other colleges to promote it and I’m hoping that other colleges around the country will start doing it as well.”

Ahearn said that he would like to see the campaign spread nationwide in a similar fashion to the Please Talk campaign, which encourage students to talk about issues that are upsetting them. Please Talk began in UCD and is now in all major third-level in-

stitutions. Ahearn is one of the first Welfare vice-presidents to emphasise the need for awareness for eating disorders. He said the Bodywhys is an important cause, but another reason for his desire to emphasise its campaign is that he feels universities are often reluctant to highlight disorders that are very common among third-level students: “It is a charity that’s close to my heart.

It’s a charity that helps a huge amount of students who suffer from eating disorders, male and female.

It’s also a charity that has significant budgetary cuts in terms of funding and the level of support has been declining. I felt that Bodywhys was an ideal charity that students needed to support.”

While Pink Day is traditionally associated with breast cancer awareness, Ahearn felt it necessary to incorporate that with an eating disorder charity: “Last year when I did Pink Day, I did it for breast cancer, and I didn’t want Pink Day to just be about one issue, one year after another. It’s about women’s health.”

Ahearn added: “Hopefully whatever happens next year can be on a different element as well; I just want it to be more spread to different areas of charity.”

The student support groups will convene on October 13th in the Student Centre at 7.30pm. The groups are open to the public as well as UCD students.

Talks were held on Pink Day to discuss the media’s negative portrayals of female beauty.

Students LawSoc surpasses move to new L&H as largest society Roebuck F residences Mícheál Ó Gallchóir

Laura Scanlan

S

tudents who were unable to move into the new Roebuck Castle catered accommodation during Orientation Week as originally scheduled have finally been permitted to move in.

The new residences, which boast a private gym and flat screen televisions in its lounges, were opened to students on Friday 24th of September. This residency has been the subject of some controversy as it opened three weeks behind schedule, which meant that students were placed in Roebuck Halls residences temporarily until Roebuck Castle became available.

In addition, students were not informed that they would need their student cards to check into on-campus accommodation. This meant that queues for student cards in the Student Centre were massive, as first year and international students, who make up the bulk of on-campus residents, did not have their student cards.

Students who had booked places in the new residence were informed that accommodation would not be ready for them to move into on the 6th of September, soon after they paid their deposit. One student described her experience: “I found out that we weren’t going to be moving straight into Roebuck Castle the minute I paid my deposit. I got an email saying that Roebuck Castle wasn’t finished yet.”

Students were then informed that they would be housed in temporary accom-

modation. “They said we were going to be in it for a week or two,” said the student.

In reality, the actual delay was just under three weeks, with students being moved into their accommodation on Friday the 24th of September.

To lessen the disruption for students, a moving company was used. One student was fairly positive about the moving experience: “The move was grand. They had IMAC in helping us. And the company moved all our belongings; we had to pack them the night before, so it was swift and very painless. We came back after lectures and all our stuff had been moved into our new rooms.”

The student said that she felt that Residential Services had been “very unhelpful” with regards to the situation: “They came in and apologised the first night, the Monday night. They came in and explained the problem. They explained that due to the floods and bad weather over Christmas, there had been delays.”

Although students have now moved into the residences, it is the understanding of The University Observer that some work is continuing around the residencies.

Residential Services had been “very unhelpful”

reshers’ Week proved successful for the university societies as thousands of students signed up for membership in the Freshers’ Tent during Freshers’ Week, which took place between 20th and 24th September.

The majority of societies saw a rise in membership, with the Literary and Historial (L&H) Society and Law Society (LawSoc) emerging once as the two biggest societies in UCD. LawSoc topped L&H in terms of membership, despite the latter being traditionally seen as the largest society.

Auditor of LawSoc, Kieran McCarthy, suggested that the recession may have impacted on the number of sign-ups: “I know that my committee and myself put in a lot of effort to get the 4,168 and I thought maybe the recession had an effect on that.”

Auditor of L&H, Niall Fahy, believes that different factors led to the demotion of L&H from the membership top spot, such as UCD Freshers’ Week being held at the same time as the beginning of Trinity College Dublin’s first semester.

With the absence of the Business and Legal Society (B&L), it seems that the Commerce and Economics Society (C&E) are doing their best to fill the void left. However, membership is down by 600 this year, with the total standing at 2,933. Auditor of C&E, Eoin Heffernan, spoke of the society’s reputation as a ‘party society’ and his desire to untangle the society from this reputation: “We’re going to do a lot of stuff like that, looking to get a debate team going and do charity events going with schools around the area.” In addition, Heffernan stated that he will be running careers talks with fi-

nancial giants KPMG. This year saw the introduction of a number of new societies such as the Fashion and Design Society, which has broken the 1,000-member mark in its first year.

Joining the established faculty societies such as Engineering Society and Arts Society were newcomers such as the Science Society and Nursing Society (NurSoc).

NurSoc, under the leadership of auditor Chris Day, broke the 500-member mark in their first year.

Some of NurSoc’s planned events in-

clude a Health Science rave and a joint Engineering and Nursing Ball.

Science Day has now become its own society, with science student Justin Brayden as its first auditor. Its objectives remain to raise money for Crumlin Children’s Hospital through its fundraising events, such as the Jock Walk and Cycle to Galway.

Students will have a further chance to join clubs and societies on Refreshers’ Day, which will take place in the second semester.

An enthusiastic canoeist gets into the Freshers’ Week spirit

News

news@universityobserver.ie

University awards Bill Clinton Ulysses medal James Conlan and Paul Fennessy

F

ormer US President Bill Clinton spoke at a specially arranged conference in the UCD Clinton Institute for American Studies last Thursday evening, September 30th, after being granted the university’s highest honour, the Ulysses medal.

During the event, Mr Clinton spoke for an hour and discussed a number of topics including his tenure as President, the Irish economy and the future for the US Democratic party. He spoke of the United States’ inextricable roots with Ireland, stressing the importance of continuing this relationship, while praising Ireland’s humanitarian efforts in recent years. “The sense of obligation that the Irish have can be amplified dramatically if you can maintain these links with the American diaspora.

“Ireland is the only country in the world that every single day, since the creation of the United Nations, has had someone from your country representing the world community in another country.

For a small country, that’s an astonishing thing.”

He added: “In Mozambique and Leso-

tho, two countries along way from here, they think Ireland is the closest place on earth to heaven, because your funds and our foundation are keeping their children alive.”

The former President also joked about the US’s reputation for procrastination.

He recalled Churchill’s response to reporters who were criticising the Americans’ reluctance to intervene in World War II. “Churchill said a very funny thing about America. He said ‘the United States of America invariably does the right thing, after exhausting every other alternative.’”

Mr Clinton concluded the talk by expressing satisfaction with his political career and hoping that others could follow his example.

“There are only three things that matter about public service and about one’s life later,” he said. “Are people better off when you quit than when you started? Do children have a brighter future? And are things coming apart or coming together? If you can get the right answer to those three questions, then none of the rest amounts to a hill of beans.”

He added: “I love this country and I want you to get through this mess and when you get to my age, I want you to be able to have the right answer to those questions.”

In preparation for the visit, two students from each course were randomly selected to meet Mr Clinton in person.

The director of the institute, Professor Liam Kennedy, spoke of the amount of preparation done behind the scenes for the former President’s visit, emphasising the pivotal role played by the Institute’s manager Catherine Carey, in conjunction with the President’s office at UCD, to ensure the event was properly organised and ran.

“A lot of preparing has gone on behind the scenes,” he explained. Professor Kennedy also spoke of the security measures being put in place for Mr Clinton’s visit, which included attending daily meetings which to go through the complete itinerary of the former President’s visit.

Professor Kennedy added that the Institute has been in contact with Mr Clinton’s office on a regular basis since its foundation, and that the former President has communicated directly on several previous occasions with the Institute. “We want things to go well; we want him to enjoy his visit to UCD.” The Institute has plans to expand its curriculum in the near future due to high enrolment figures in their Masters courses and they also have a number of research programmes being undertaken within the campus. Professor Kennedy said: “I would

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STI

STI Screening is back on Campus.

Book your appointment by dropping into the Health Center or by ringing them on 01-7163133.

BODYWHYS EATING DISORDER Support Group is now starting in UCD on October 13th in Rooms 1 & 2 in the Student Center from 7.30pm till 9pm.

BODYWHYS

Join the Welfare Crew today

by emailing welfarecrew@ucdsu.ie with your details and be apart of the movement Pop into Scott, our Welfare Officer in the Student Centre or contact him at welfare@ucdsu.ie & phone 017163112

Former US President Bill Clinton addressed an audience in UCD last week after being awarded the Ulysses medal

like to think the kind of coverage that we get for this and the sense of confidence that it gives us to have President Clinton visit, that it would be good for us at this pivotal time.” Professor Kennedy spoke of his admiration for the former President’s role in the Northern Irish Peace Process and stated that the Institute harbours a deep

fascination in this topic of study. It has a module which examines Clinton’s Foreign Policy in relation to the Peace Process.

Professor Kennedy also added his appreciation for Mr Clinton’s work on designing ideas of humanitarian intervention in conflict zone, saying that he was “a president who truly had a global vision.”

Brand new management for university pharmacy Caitriona Farrell

U

CD’s campus pharmacy has reopened under new management.

Students and staff expressed surprise that the pharmacy, which is located in the Student Centre, closed midway through last semester.

The pharmacy has reopened under the new management of Procare Pharmacy, who describe themselves as “being committed to low prices for all their customers”.

Manager of the new pharmacy, John O’Meara, spoke to The University Observer about this new entrepreneurial leap for Procare Pharmacy, explaining that it was a “new angle” of pharmacy for the company, which currently manages three pharmacies in Co. Wicklow. When asked

by The University Observer of the need for a pharmacy on campus, the manager said he felt the need “is purely reflected by how many people we’ve had in even just since we opened.

“If there’s people who are living on campus, or are having lectures from 9-5, 9-6 and they don’t have time to get out; they may not have a car or anything, so they can’t drive in to Donnybrook or to a local pharmacy.”

O’Meara says that it is the aim of the

new management to keep the pharmacy more “student orientated” by ensuring that low prices are offered. The pharmacy is operating on a 20 per cent mark-up in comparison to the 50 per cent mark-up that most high street pharmacies operate on. The pharmacy aims to appeal to the student body by offering services attractive to young students. O’Meara cited the new range of make-up products available which he feels best appeal to younger people.

No alternations are to be made to the existing pharmacy on the basis that it will be moved to a different outlet in the new Student Centre that is scheduled to open next year.

Student Centre manager, Dominic O’Keeffe, told The University Observer in March 2010 that “there will be little visible change in the level of services provided at the pharmacy”.

Former owner of the pharmacy Sean Foley is believed to have pulled out of the premises in order to focus on his other pharmacies as well as business interests abroad. Foley is currently developing a range of dermatological products that he had hoped to market abroad when he left the Belfield premises.

The services offered by the pharmacy include prescriptions, nutritional counseling and cosmetics.

THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVER 5 October 2010

News

news@universityobserver.ie

Charles Institute to be completed by December 2010 Alyson Gray

C

onstruction is continuing on the UCD Charles Institute of Dermatology, and, according to a university spokesperson, works will be completed by the end of this year.

The new research centre will be located between the Health Sciences Centre and the Conway Institute and will be the first of its kind in Ireland. The funding for this building is to be provided by UCD and City of Dublin Skin and Cancer Hospital Charity.

The Charles Institute will be a centre for research and training in dermatology. The Institute, in co-ordination with Dublin Academic Health Care, hope this centre will lead to better patient care through the discovery of new treatments. The Institute’s vision is to become a world leader in dermatology, and thus a European centre of excellence for dermatological research.

The Charles Institute will also host Systems Biology Ireland, which will continue research into the development of novel approaches for drug target identification, personalised medicine and toxicity profiles.

The project was launched in June 2008 and construction began in November 2009. The renovation caused some minor disruptions throughout the Health Sciences building as work was undertaken in order to integrate the new structure to the

5

Work on the Charles Institute began in 2009.

existing building.

Disruptions have been seen in the form of classroom changes and a temporary alteration in layout to the Health Sciences café. While the café was able to remain open throughout construction, it has temporarily been closed again while the layout is restored and the Charles Institute is completed.

The Charles Institute is a partnership between the UCD School of Medicine and Medical Studies; affiliated teaching hospitals such as St. Vincent’s University Hospital and the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital; and the Board of the City of Dublin Skin and Cancer Hospital Charity.

The Institute is named in honour of Andrew Charles; founder of Hume Street Hospital and his son, Havelock Charles, who worked as a dermatologist in the hospital throughout his life. Part of the proceeds for the Charles Institute was contributed from the sale of the Hume Street Hospital.

Record number of students run for class rep Sinéad O’ Brien Elections are taking place to elect this academic year’s class representatives in the Students’ Union.

This year saw a record number of nominations totalling 315 nominees, a record jump from approximately 260 that applied last year.

UCDSU Campaigns and Communications Vice President Pat de Brún said: “According to our returning officer we broke all the records for the amount of nominees, so we’re absolutely delighted with that.”

In this year’s class rep elections, 213 of the seats were contested, while 69 seats were uncontested. 48 constituencies were left either fully or partially vacant, many of which had more than one seat.

The vacancies were to be found mostly in post-graduate programmes and in finalyear classes.

21 applicants were rejected for a variety of reasons, some of which included having

invalid signatures or not being registered to the nominated stage.

This year, the Science and Engineering constituencies were the most competitive, with 13 candidates competing for two seats in Engineering stage one, and 27 candidates vying for one of six seats in Science stage one. The Nursing and Agriculture constituencies also saw a large number of nominations.

The competition for seats in the Arts constituency was not as drastic as that seen in Science and Engineering, and the Business, Law and Medicine constituencies saw a healthy number of nominations.

Seats went uncontested in stages one to five of Veterinary, while Architecture saw the lowest turnout in nominations with seats in Architecture stages two to five being either uncontested or left vacant.

The nomination procedure involved the individual candidate gathering ten signatures from their constituency. De Brún explained: “The elections are done quite

properly and professionally; you’ve to get ten signatures from people from your constituency, and the constituencies might be divided as just simply a class, but there are certain quotas to fulfill, though if your class is below 45 you might be joined in with another class.”

Once the results have been verified, the successful candidates will be brought on the annual class rep training weekend.

This year, the training weekend will not take place in Blessington, Co. Wicklow as it did last year, but in a location that has yet to be disclosed.

“We’re keeping lids on it for now,” said de Brun. He explained: “We [have] found in previous years if everyone finds out where class rep training is, everyone turns up, and damage can be caused, so we’re actually going to keep it a secret until the day.”

Voting for class rep elections took place yesterday, Monday 4th October, and continues today, Tuesday 5th October.

Time capsule to be buried beneath new Student Centre Jennifer Fitzgerald

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he University Observer has learned that the management of the new Student Centre have begun plans to bury a time capsule underneath the centre. The new centre, which was paid for by sutdent payments, is due to open next year, ahead of schedule.

Head of the new Student Centre project and and current Student Centre manager, Dominic O’Keeffe, said that the time capsule will be a way of preserving a glimpse of the kind of life that current UCD students are living. It will also illustrate the kinds of issues and projects that students are currently involved in.

“We’re going to gather up paraphernalia, maybe a year book from the Law Society, maybe the minutes of a meeting from

council meeting from the Students’ Union.

Then, in 20 years time, [people can] open the capsule and see what life was like 20 years past.”

Mr. O’ Keeffe explained how “the idea was to reflect on what UCD was like in the year that the building was going to open, and this is the year.”

A space for the time capsule has been allocated in the foyer of the main building in the new Student Centre. The management hope to gather submissions from all corners of university life including sports clubs, societies and the Students’ Union to place in the capsule, which is set to be opened approximately 20 years after it is sealed.

Students are encouraged to contribute any objects that they think would be relevant to the time capsule.

Objects subject to consideration for the capsule will be held in the new centre. Be-

fore the sealing of the capsule, items which will actually enter it will chosen by the auditors of the Students’ Union and the Chair of the Societies’ Council.

With the new Student Centre set for opening in September 2011, the ceremony for the lowering and sealing of the time capsule is likely to be held at the end of the academic year. Students’ Union President Paul Lynam or other staff members who are nominated will be selected to seal the capsule. In an effort to encourage the university’s students and staff to contribute their ideas for potential submissions to the capsule, Mr.O’Keeffe stated: “We are going to have to have it reflect the whole of college life, so it should be spiritual, cultural, all that kind of stuff.”

Ideas or suggestions for the time capsule can be submitted via the Student Centre website: www.ucd.ie/scentre.

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THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVER 5 October 2010

News

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Does it pay to be loyal?

Chief News Reporter

As UCDSU formally launch their loyalty card, Katie Hughes, asks whether this scheme really offers students value for money

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CD Students’ Union has recently launched a loyalty card scheme which operates with a valid student card. Registration to the scheme was open from September onwards, and it is due to start in October.

Students who chose to pre-register their student cards in September gained 200 points on their card – or €2 to spend in Students’ Union outlets.

As well as introducing the loyalty card this year, the Students’ Union Ents Office has brought in a discount card to rival last year’s, as well as the usual nightclub concessions, there are discounts from Gap, Domino’s Pizza and Tower Records to be availed of. With this card already in place,

the necessity and worth of the loyalty card scheme must be put into question.

The promise of buying ten coffees and getting one free is not something new and spectacular on campus, however, the promise of an Ents ‘gold ticket’ or even a Premier League ticket definitely is. The system is setting out to reward its most loyal users with such goodies, while less frequent users being entered into draws.

The plan will be introduced into the Student Bar in mid-October. However, the Student Centre Bar is not going to be included in the loyalty card scheme, as it is set to close in December. Additionally, only meals in the Student Bar are set to be included, while alcohol and soft drinks will not be covered under the new system.

The decision not to include alcohol in the scheme is definitely praiseworthy.

Had alcoholic beverages been covered, one would have had to question whether a negative impact would have been made on students’ already questionable drinking habits.

With nightclubs starting to offer alcohol for the obscenely low price of €2, a points system which includes alcohol is likely to encourage students to adopt a ‘the more I drink, the more I get back’ mentality and hence, to increase their consumption.

In similar fashion, by putting a points system on all products in the Students’ Union outlets, are we not being encouraged to spend more money – money, perhaps, that we do not have? With the promise of a ticket that will allow one access to all Ents events throughout the year, students may strive to become top users in their faculty or even the university.

Will the SU loyalty card encourage budgeting students to spend too much?

A similar scheme was launched in NUI Galway, from which the UCDSU claims to have done its research. However, there are some major differences between the scheme now employed in UCD and the one in Galway.

While Galway students receive two points for every €1 spent in Students’ Union shops and four points per €1 of purchases in cafés and the bar, UCD students receive a mere point per €1, regardless of where the money is spent. However, it must not be forgotten that the scheme in Galway is more of an incentive

for students to spend money.

A decision was made to combine the loyalty card with student cards. This is an initiative that will cut down costs for the Students’ Union and a good one at that.

However, by combining the university’s student card and the Students’ Union loyalty card, are we not combining what are essentially two separate entities?

While the new scheme is a good initiative at heart, like most schemes, it has its flaws. If a scheme that is supposed to reward students for shopping in SU outlets is going to be introduced, should it not be

designed in such a way that the student benefits most from it?

Should it not be a plan to provide an optimum reward system for students, instead of a ploy to create more business for the Students’ Union? Every little makes a difference when it comes to student budgeting.

However, the SU could definitely be providing a more beneficial plan for students more reminiscent of the one implemented in Galway. In saying this, the scheme has only just been introduced with much room for improvement, which the SU will hopefully strive to fill.

Freshers’ Week – Fun or Fraud?

After another year of freebies and chaos, Amy Bracken questions whether Freshers’ Week is encouraging students to spend money they simply do not have

News Editor

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he Freshers’ Tent has always been a symbol of fun and excitement for those entering UCD for the first time. The noise, free pizza and dodgy freebies are symbols of a week in which madness and fun reigns.

The event has many good and bad attributes. For those first year students desperately trying to create a niche to help them through the transition process from second to third level education, joining a society could hold the key to helping them adjust to university life. Unsurprisingly, the number of sign-ups to societies has increased.

However, it seems that the perceived success of Freshers’ Week is encouraging students to waste money on membership and freebies and misses out on its ultimate aim of encouraging them to socialise.

An interview The University Observer held with the auditor of one of the largest UCD societies revealed that he felt that the continued increase in society membership is attributable to the recession. His contention seems eminently feasible. The lack of part-time employment available to thirdlevel students encourages them to engage in university activities to enhance their university lives. However, despite the lack of employment, it seems that the current arrangement of Freshers’ Week is merely a means of lowering students’ bank balance even further.

First year students are encouraged to

join as many societies as possible during Freshers’ Week. My own recollection of this is being informed that I would collect a load of freebies that would last me months and would become very useful at some stage in the year. Some of the freebies provided are very useful – pens, highlighters, t-shirts, DVDs – and very reasonable, considering you normally get a whole bag of goodies for €2, as well as membership of that society.

Yet it seems that with each year as the Freshers’ Week event becomes bigger and bigger, the more impractical the ‘benefits’ of joining a society become. Despite being in my final year, I couldn’t resist joining a few societies this year, just to see what was on offer. My acquirements were simply disappointing – countless bags of Haribo, a yo-yo, and load of teeth-damaging glucose drinks that are supposed to be a lifeline after a night out.

On top of all that, I spent money for these countless items and I will probably never follow up on my membership to these societies. The discount to nightclubs provided by my membership cards usually does not surpass €2 – a saving of €2 after spending €2.

In short, Freshers’ Week has become something of a commercial event, and fails in its ultimate aim to aid first-year students in adjusting to university life. If we estimate the overall cost of the event – the marquee, the extra security, the piped music; it seems irrelevant in encouraging a healthy and social university life.

On the face of it, the previous arrangement of placing a few stands in the Newman Building hardly appears appealing to first years. Yet if it is investigated further, it seems that this arrangement was more focused on settling first years in to the university, as opposed to encouraging them to spend the last of their pennies on joining

Thousands of students visited the Freshers’ Tent for freebies and to join societies

societies.

While it is hardly questionable that the numbers joining the societies are reflective of a successful Freshers’ Week, the reasons for which students are joining are flawed.

It’s probable that a high percentage of students sign-up for the freebies and discount perks, rather than for social reasons.

On the positive side, the rescheduled Freshers’ Ball is a good and affordable means of allowing first-year students to get

a taste of what they can look forward to throughout the course of their degree. Always a sell-out event, this year it was held at the end of Freshers’ Week as opposed to the first day of term.

A further improvement would be to leave it for a few weeks into term, when societies have convened and first-years have begun to make friends in these societies. While allowing two weeks for the first friendships to be forged ahead of Freshers’

Ball, there are undoubtedly still many students who failed to attend as a result of not having made deep enough friendships.

Yet the reports are positive from the night, and in short, the Freshers’ Ball seems to be one of the few remaining aspects of Freshers’ Week that truly aspires towards its apparent aim. It may be time to consider the core principle of Freshers’ Week and to make that principle hit home.

THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVER 5 October 2010

7

Features

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Safe Behaviour Features Editor

With drinking an ever-rising facet in Irish culture and an apparent fall in the trust of our taxi drivers, Leanne Waters investigates how safe we really are

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uropeans are often said to be the top consumers of alcohol in the world. Among the culprits, we find a collection of the younger generations. Drinking heavily or ‘binging’ is part of the culture of northern Europeans in particular, which leads us to the inevitable question: are we putting our personal health and safety at risk?

Far be it from a would-be journalist such as myself to preach about the drinking habits of my peers – none of us are tee-totalling angels, to be fair – but it seems that, in relation to the risks that we as young people must face in contemporary society, direct links can be found to the consumption of alcohol, particularly among us students. And so, in a bid to highlight the issues of personal safety, it is appearing more and more that the issue of drink – or “getting in the bits”, as the case may be – is an unavoidable factor.

In countries such as Ireland, the UK and Denmark, what is termed ‘binge’ drinking is common. This refers to reserving drinking alcohol for a few days a week – usually from Thursday and then consuming four or more litres of beer, or seven pints of beer in an evening. The intention of most young drinkers – yes UCD, that means us too – is to get drunk when heading out on an evening to drink.

Ireland’s per capita litre consumption has increased from 7.0 in 1970 to 14.5 in 2001 and 13.5 in 2004, according to the World Health Organization. This compares with 20.4 in France in 1970, which travelled its way down to 13.0 in 2004.

A report published on November 1st 2007, shows that alcohol consumption in the Irish population has increased by seventeen per cent over the past eleven years, from 11.5 litres per adult in 1995 to 13.4 litres in 2006.

This rise in consumption has led to increases in alcohol-related harm and disease, and has resulted in more than 1,775 deaths. This, in turn, has created escalating pressures on our health and hospital services. These figures are reported in a comprehensive new overview of the health-related consequences of problem alcohol use published today by the Health Research Board (HRB).

The report provides strong evidence of the impact of alcohol-related illness on hospital services, according to Dr Deirdre Mongan, Research Officer at the HRB and lead author of the report. The number of people discharged from hospital with alcohol-related problems or injuries increased by almost ninety per cent in the ten years between 1995 and 2004. In 2004, people with alcohol-related illness used 117,373 bed days in hospital – more than double the figure of 55,805 bed days in 1995.

While the Irish undoubtedly drink like fish, the director of policy at Ibec, Danny McCoy, takes issue with the actual expen-

diture comparisons. McCoy wrote in The Irish Times that that spending on alcohol is recorded differently across the EU in contrast to Ireland.

When comparisons of alcohol consumption are made, distinction is normally made between spending on alcohol in pubs on the one hand and in off-licences on the other. In most European countries, only spending in off-licences is attributed to the category ‘alcohol’ in national statistics, whereas money spent in pubs and restaurants is included in categories such as ‘recreation’ or ‘entertainment’.

The Irish numbers, in contrast, include spending in off-licences and pub sales combined. A recent Drinks Industry Group of Ireland report estimated that seventy percent of alcohol in Ireland is bought in pubs and restaurants.

This is a substantially higher proportion than our European counterparts, largely due to the greater propensity for Irish people to drink in pubs and restaurants rather than at home. The inclusion of both categories therefore greatly inflates alcohol expenditure levels in Ireland in comparison with other EU countries.

While there is a continuing trend towards more off-licence sales in Ireland, it is the classification distinction that significantly explains the exaggerated comparisons of Irish alcohol expenditure with other countries.

With a society so seemingly dependent on alcohol as a means of recreation, the dangerous repercussions can often be overlooked. To shed some light on the issue, the Garda Press Officer, Superintendent John Gilligan, comments on the results of dangerous drinking and how it affects our local authorities.

“It’s not a question of trying to put a downer on everything. People react in different ways with drink and they could fall asleep on the street or they could fall and hurt themselves. They could become violent or they could become sick.

“In general, you know, it’s not like that all the time but maybe if someone’s drinking too much or has an over-reaction to drink, it can cause problems where we have to intervene and help people out. Or arrest them if there’s an offense, or call an ambulance or the Dublin Fire Brigade, or get them home. They’re some of the dif-

Irish people’s drinking habits have risen exponentially in recent years.

ficulties that can happen, particularly at night or at the weekend in the city centre.”

Moreover, it seems that our personal safety does not stop with our drinking habits. Another issue coming up again and again is the safety of young people when they step into a taxi. It is becoming clear that image of a friendly taxi-man is slowly dissolving in our society.

On the matter of whether this is a healthy shrewdness or the manifestation of a bad reputation, The University Observer asked students for their opinions.

Third year Psychology student Cormac Martin concludes: “I think people should definitely be more careful. It doesn’t matter if they’re with an organisation or not.

At the end of the day, you’re getting into a car with a stranger. And if there’s drink involved, you’re just so vulnerable.”

Not in total disagreement with Martin’s statement, first year Arts student Danny Carey comments: “I think you should just stick to a company that you know and that you trust. Fair enough, it’s never going to be one hundred per cent safe in any situation, but at least if you know the company, you have that extra security.”

It is a fair statement that many among us, when faced with an overly intoxicated

friend, would do our duty to put them in a taxi home. But it is certainly coming to light that this, quite simply, is not enough. Especially when we take into consideration the many media reports of not-so-wholesome drivers.

On July 21st 2010, The Irish Times published a report surrounding the rape of a female passenger in a taxi. It read: “A taxi driver who brought a woman back to a party in his apartment and raped her while she slept has been given an eightyear sentence with the last two years suspended at the Central Criminal Court.”

The judge in the case noted that Anthony Omagufi had abused his position as a taxi driver to gain the woman’s trust and take advantage of her while she was intoxicated. He stated that “a taxi must be considered a place of sanctuary to get home at night, especially for single women.”

But it is too narrow an assumption that all taxi drivers are dangerous, for many of us would praise the country’s taxi ranks.

Second-year Arts student Ahmed Baky comments: “It’s not fair to generalise like that. Taxi drivers provide a service and it’s up to the individual to take care of themselves.”

This is a contention that seems to be backed by Superintendent John McMa-

hon, who emphasises the importance of the individual catering to their own safety and protection, as well as that of their friends.

“I think people, young people in particular – for example, kids living away from home or their first time in college – people have to be aware of where they are. If they’re going out, they have to be aware of where they’re going and who they’re with.

“I’m not saying people need to be paranoid about their personal safety, but when people go out at night and if they’re with groups or separated from groups or if they don’t know the other people, they have to be aware of how they’re getting home.

“And when there’s drink involved, sometimes, their senses are clouded. And it’s not just your own safety; it’s the safety of your friends. And that’s what I would sort of give advice about. When you’re with other people and you know other people in the group, if they’re not feeling too well or they feel a bit sick or tired, their friends should take responsibility for them.”

It appears that for every stride we make for our own safety, we must face that inevitable factor of – yes, you guessed it – responsibility.

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THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVER 5 October 2010

FEATURES

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John Henry Newman: A shaol, a shaothair, a ollscoil Tá John Henry Newman i mbéal an phobail faoi láthair mar gheall ar a bheannú. Labhair Bríd Doherty le Fr Leon Ó Giolláin, faoi Newman, a shaol, a thionchar agus a éachtaí

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a bhancair é a athair agus ba é Newman an duine is sine sa chlann. Rugadh é mar phrotastúnach ach d’athraigh sé i lár a shaoil chuig an Eaglais Chaitliceach. Ba mhinistéar phrotustunach é. Bhí óige sonasach aige ina chlann. Tháining tubaiste ar shaol Newman nuair a bhí sé thart ar cheithre bhliain déag d’aois. Thit na bainc.

Bhí an-chuid deacrachtaí ag an gclann ag an am sin. Chomh maith, d’éirigh Newman an-tinn. Fad is a bhí Newman breoite, bhí se gafa le cheisteanna chreidimh. Ón macnamh agus ón plé a rinne sé fad is a bhí sé tinn agus a chlann i gcruachás, tharla rud an-speisialta dó.

Thuig sé go raibh Dia fíor agus go raibh sé beo. Deir Newman nár athraigh sé sin go dtí noiméad a bháis. Bhí creideamh láidir, doimhin aige. Bhí sé fíor chráifeach ón uair sin ar aghaidh.

Ba dhuine sár-chliste é gan amhras dá laghad. Dúirt Newman faoin reiligiún: “Ní thagann creideamh tríd an intleacht ach tríd an samhlaíocht, ní trí argóintí. Is rud iomasach é, rud a mhothaíonn tú le do chroí.”

Thuig go leor daoine go luath gur duine fíor abálta é Newman. D’fhreastal sé ar Ollscoil Oxford. I rith a thamall ansin, rinne sé staidear ar stair na heaglaise. Bhí sé gafa le haithreacha na heaglaise éagsúla ón anallód agus arís thosaigh sé ag machmanh go doimhin ar an gCríostaíocht.

Tháinig athrú mheoin air agus thuig sé diaidh ar ndiaidh go raibh rud an-thábhachtach ag gabháil leis an Eaglais Chaitl-

iceach agus sé sin an Pápa. Bhraith sé go raibh carasma ag an bPápa a choimead slán teagasc na heaglaise. Cheap sé go raibh an fhírinne ag an Eaglais Chaitliceach. Cé gur cinneadh fíor dheacair é, d’athraigh sé a eaglais mar go raibh sé dílis dá choinsias féin.

Timpeall 150 bliain ó shin, tháinig sé go hÉireann, thug na heaspaig cuireadh dó teacht agus ollscoil a bhunadh toisc go raibh clú agus cáil air i Sasanna mar fear mór intleachtach. Ba é an t-aon ollscoil in Éirinn a bheadh ar fáil do Chaitlicigh.

Chomh maith le sin bhunaigh sé an L&H, agus thóg sé an séipeal álainn agus Teach Newman ar Fhaiche Stiofáin.

Cheap sé go raibh an Eaglais an-thábhachtach do shaol na hollscoile. Bhí fís ag Newman don ollscoil agus tá sé sin léirithe sa leabhar The Idea of a University. Níl leabhar cosúil leis ó thaobh smaointí ar an ollscoil.

Dar le Leon, séiplíneach anseo i UCD, “Measaim go bhfuil sé an-ábharach sa lá atá inniú ann, níl aon amhras faoi sin, ó thaobh oideachas de mar gheall a scríbhneoireachta. Bhí sé glan in aghaidh ‘fóntachas’, ciallaíonn sé sin scileanna a mhúineadh do dhaoine ionas go mbeadh siad in ann dul amach ag obair. Is coincheap an-chúng é.”

Faoi láthair, tá Newman ar a bhealach chuig naofacht. “Ciallaíonn sé sin go dtuigtear gur fear tábhachtach, fear mór le rá é ó thaobh cráifeachta de, ó thaobh tuiscint ar an gCríostaíocht, ó thaobh maitheasa de.” Chun a bheith beannaithe, caithfidh go bhfuil míorúilt ann. I rith an searma-

fós, mar gheall ar na rudaí a bhí ráite agus scríofa aige. Is léir gur duine acadúil é. Ba fáigh é, bhí fís an-leathan aige. Chabhraigh sé leis na millte daoine. Féach ar na millte a tháinig amach don searmanais sin i Sasanna. Ba dhuine fíor speisialta é.”

Is léir go bhfuil móran déanta ag Newman don Eaglais Chaitliceach, do mhuintir na hÉireann agus don oideachas ar fud an domhain. Tá a fhís don ollscoil ábharach faoi láthair agus gan amhras, beidh sé ábharach go deo na ndeor.

Gluais Protastúnach – protestant Caitlicigh – catholics Iomasach – intuitive Tubaiste – disaster Creideamh – religion Macnamh – reflection Cuireadh – invitation Fís – vision Cráifeach – religious Carasma – charisma Ábharach – relevant John Henry Newman, faoin reiligiúin: “Is rud iomasach é, rud a mhothaíonn tú le do chroí”

Anallód – past

nais thall i Sasanna don bheannú, tháinig leigheas ar fhear thinn idir guí Newman.

Ní raibh míniú eolaíoch ar sin, níor thuig na doctúirí cén fáth gur tháinig leigheas

Cinneadh – decision

air. Dúirt sé gur ghuí sé chuig Newman agus ina dhiadh sin tháinig leigheas air.

Dar le Leon, roghnaíodh Newman “toisc gur sheas sé amach agus seasann sé amach

Fóntachas – utilitarianism

Intleachtach – intellectual Beannaithe – canonised

Life After UCD: Equine Surgery

Discussing the equestrian surgery with Dr Bryan O’Meara, Sarah Doran discerns that there’s more to a future in veterinary medicine than simply caring for cats and dogs

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hen you ask a child what they want to be when they grow up, there are a various number of standard responses: a doctor, a teacher, a fireman, and Spiderman to list but a few. An equine surgeon would arguably be an unanticipated and puzzling response. This is hardly surprising considering that, for many, the equestrian domain rarely extends beyond a bet on the Grand National, the name Ruby Walsh and the legend of Shergar.

For UCD graduate Dr Bryan O’Meara, equine surgery is a way of life, rather than a career choice. Originally hailing from Cork, Dr O’Meara initially studied Veterinary Medicine in UCD, graduating in 2003. “I loved it,” he states, adding that he was amongst the first students to graduate from what was then a “new veterinary college”.

He attributes much of his success to the assistance he received from current Head of Veterinary Microbiology and Parasitology, Professor Grace Mulcahy, while he was studying at UCD. He explains that Professor Mulcahy supervised a paper he researched and worked on on horse parisitology.

Dr O’Meara maintains that said paper offered him “the opportunity to get back into academia” following a period spent working in veterinary practice. He asserts that Professor Mulcahy’s encouragement and the fact that he had “published [the paper] and presented it at meetings” made a difference in the long term.

With the assistance of UK based organisation The Horse Trust, Dr O’Meara is currently completing a three year residency in equine surgery. Founded in 1886, The Horse Trust is the oldest horse charity in the UK. It is committed to a programme of welfare, science and education and is the largest provider of grant funding for equine welfare in the UK. “Without the scholarship, there would have been no chance,” he explains. The Trust’s funding allows Dr O’Meara to embark on a range of courses that he otherwise would not have been able to. These courses focus on a variety of topics, such as arthroscopy, fracture repair and laparoscopic surgery.

During his scholarship with the trust, he has undertaken two research projects. The first project examined tendonitis in horses, whilst his second concerns keyhole surgery techniques. He is now working on designing a lacroscopic instrument that will enable surgeons to obtain a sample of a horse’s intestine in a less invasive way.

His three year residency is split between Donnington Grove Veterinary Surgery in Newbury and Weipers Centre Equine Hospital, at the School of Veterinary Medicine in the University of Glasgow. He spends half his time in practice doing surgery in Newbury, where he is a member of the surgical team.

Dr O’Meara is also continuously studying. With exams this February and further assessments scheduled later in 2011, he isn’t closing the books just yet. His current aim

is to obtain a diploma from the European College of Veterinary Surgeons, upon receipt of which he will become one of fewer than 50 equine surgeons worldwide.

With such a small number of equine surgeons practicing, why has Dr O’Meara chosen this career path? He attributes his choice of profession to a “lifelong interest in racehorses and show-jumping,” whilst ascribing his specific interest in surgery to the variety and complexity of the work.

For Dr O’Meara, the most enjoyable aspects of equine surgery include “sending a horse home that has had colic, or that has had a fracture for example”. Job satisfaction can be derived from success in a case where “the chances are that the horse won’t make it for whatever reason”.

As regards the less enjoyable aspects of his jobs, one of which he says is “phoning an owner and telling them that everything has gone wrong,” Dr O’Meara highlights how the level of anaesthetic risk in horses is “still quite high, at around about 1 in 300”.

However, advances in equine surgery that have reduced the figure from about 1 in 100 in the past ten years. Equine surgery is also a time-consuming profession, but for Dr O’Meara it is still ultimately very rewarding.

He believes that he is lucky to have had support from the Horse Trust, and indeed some inspiring supervisors at the University of Glasgow and at Donnington Grove Veterinary Surgery. He has enjoyed working with other veterinary surgeons who have given him their support and guidance.

Dr O’Meara encourages current veteri-

Dr O’Meara believes the scholarship he received paved the way for a career in veterinary medicine.

nary undergraduates to be proactive in their studies and to “get involved in publishing papers and travel as much as possible”. When it comes to life after UCD, he believes that for those with veterinary aspirations, internships are definitely beneficial, saying that it

would be “best to get into a practice where you’ll learn as much as possible”.

For more information on the Horse Trust’s clinical scholarship programme, contact Susan Lewis at susan@horsetrust. org.uk.

THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVER 5 October 2010

9

Features

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Marriage In The Modern World

Gay rights protests led to the introduction of the Civil Partnership Bill, which will come into effect in the New Year

Chief Features Writer

How is the age-old institution of marriage relevant in the rush of contemporary society, asks Natalie Voorheis

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arriage has undergone such severe generational-driven change in the last few decades that today it’s barely recognisable. Ireland’s young couples are no longer following meekly in the shadow of their ancestors.

Traditional couples are deciding not to marry and divorcing in high rates if they do tie the knot, and a new breed of couple is emerging from the LGBT community.

Same sex couples are determined, now more than ever, to champion for those rights that will see their coupledom considered equivalent to and afforded the same rights as heterosexual couples.

Our generation has moved so far past the shackles of the traditional familial set up of female homemaker, male breadwinner and 2.5 children in the back seat of the Chevy that this way of life simply constitutes a kitsch image. Vintage is in, but when it comes to our romantic and sexual relationships, this is just not the case.

In 2002, the number of divorced people in Ireland was 35,100 – a figure that increased by 70 per cent to 59,000 in 2006. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly what is causing a growth in divorce rates other than that it is a phenomenon associated with modern life.

The availability of divorce to young couples has proven all too enticing when strains and problems of modern living arise. Issues

such as the expectation that both partners should work, the breakdown in community support systems, where once a neighbor was always willing to reach out a helping hand, and the instability of our economy have all impacted on the success of marriage. The financial strain of an economy most particularly has been detrimental to the institution of marriage, putting many people off it in the first place.

The Courts Service Annual Report for 2008 indicated that Ireland’s marital breakdown rate was 27.5 percent, a figure set to increase. In light of this, The University Observer spoke to Solicitor Muredach Doherty and asked him what the benefits of marriage really are if such a prevalent rate of failure exists. Doherty stressed the importance of marriage as a legal contract, which provides safety nets for families should divorce occur.

“It’s important to enter into a legal contract, particularly if you’re going to have, or intend to have children. It’s important for the children that there is some clear legal recourse, which marriage offers, and the fact that the family courts are set up to deal with children of broken relationships.”

Rising divorce rates have left UCD students with a bitter taste in their mouth about the issue of marriage. The University Observer spoke to some students about their views. Second year Arts student Susan Quinn said: “Marriage is really only important from a legal standpoint, because if they end up in divorce, then they get proper spousal support and protection for their kids. So people will more choose marriage as a safety precaution.”

Michael Healy, in his first year of a Neuroscience degree, stated: “I think marriage is irrelevant in society, but you need it for the tax breaks, the inheritance and all that. It’s just an institution at this stage. People do it because it’s the next step towards having kids, but it really doesn’t mean anything.”

Ross Loughran, a final year Arts student, commented: “If two people are in love, I think they should definitely get married.

Whether it lasts or not doesn’t matter.”

This year, a huge step towards the recognition of same sex couples was taken when legislation was enacted that introduced civil partnership. The Civil Partnership and Cer-

tain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitations Act 2010 was passed by the Dáil on July 1st 2010, the Seanad on July 8th and was signed by the President on July 19th.

The new legislation is expected to take effect from December.

Said legislation offers confirmed recognition of the existence of gay and lesbian relationships and will afford couples a degree of financial security. Partners will be able to benefit from the other’s pension rights, a joint income will be recognised when calculating tax benefits and a civil partner may be named on the other’s travel pass for the over 65s.

According to the bill, partners of same sex couples will now be able to claim rights in areas such as inheritance, social welfare and a shared home. However, amongst other gaps in the legislation is the hole concerning the right of same sex couples to adopt children.

The University Observer spoke to auditor of UCD’s LGBT society, Sinéad Glackin, about her views on the recent Civil Partnership bill. “My personal opinion is that it’s a step towards equality but that it doesn’t go far enough. I’m happy that there has been progress but I think it falls short of equality. It’s saying we’ll give you some rights but we’re still not seeing you as an equal citizen.”

She continued: “It’s not necessarily just about partnership. We are looking for equality. This bill wouldn’t be needed if we had the same rights as other citizens.” Glackin went on to discuss the atmosphere within the LGBT regarding the topic, stating that most had mixed feelings on the issue.

“People are happy that it came in. There are some rights that have come with civil partnership, but the majority of people that I’ve come across in the society would be looking for civil marriage.

“There are also a lot of people who don’t understand the difference between civil partnership and civil marriage and people think that because LGBT people are looking for civil marriage, that we want to get married in church, or that it’s somehow connected with religion, which isn’t the case.”

Recently, The Irish Times published the results of a Behaviour Attitudes Poll that was conducted on members of Irish society

both young and old and of varying religious and cultural backgrounds. The findings of the poll suggest that there has been a shift in Irish society towards a more liberal attitude to issues such as homosexuality and same sex marriage – issues which have been considered taboo here for decades. A consensus seems to be emerging on the question of same sex marriage, traditionally such a divisive issue.

When asked if they thought gay couples should be allowed to marry, 67 per cent of those questioned answered yes, 25 per cent said no and the remaining eight per cent felt unsure. These results throw into question the Irish government’s decision to reject legalising gay marriage and to propose civil partnership in its stead. The government took this decision due to concerns that gay marriage would prove too divisive an issue if put forward in a referendum and would be unlikely to be approved by the electorate.

Now, with the knowledge that 67 per cent of us would in fact be in favor of gay marriage, we must question whether the government in passing civil partnership was acting as a representative of the views of the Irish nation, or with the clasp of the Catholic Church firmly around its neck. A government that aims to deliver pacification to its people in the place of universal civil equality is one that is cheating the very people who elected it to power.

While conducting interviews amongst UCD students for the purposes of this article, The University Observer found that

75 per cent of students were completely unaware of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010. Despite this, when the proposal was explained to them, the UCD students interviewed unanimously expressed the view that they had no problem with same sex marriage.

When asked to comment on these findings, Glackin said succinctly: “I’m not at all surprised by that figure.” She went on to describe how her experience amongst UCD students has been in keeping with this. Certainly, ignorance does not facilitate social change. We must raise our voices in support of the LGBT’s fight for equality, the human rights struggle of our generation.

The road to equality is one paved with milestones. Although radical change is a dream upheld by so many of Ireland’s LGBT, small, regular changes result in an ultimate goal. The first step, taken in 1993, was the decriminalization of homosexuality in this country. The next will be this year. The civil partnership bill, with the confidence and determination of the LGBT community, should look next to the implementation of civil marriage, then to adoption rights for same sex couples.

Loughran spoke again to The University Observer about the need for equality of rights regarding marriage for same sex couples putting it simply and with absolute conviction: “At the end of the day, they’re people too and they’re people in love, so why not?”

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THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVER 5 October 2010

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The Bare Necessities With belts tightening more and more, James O’Connor looks at how the typical student attitude towards alcohol and cigarettes rarely changes

N

oel Gallagher once wrote: “All I need are cigarettes and alcohol.” The sentiment is echoed by a large proportion of the student population on a weekly basis. Food, cleanliness, sleep and education are all sacrificied in order to pursue one’s chosen vice.

I, for one, should have completed this article long before I handed it in. But with valid drinking occasions such as Arthur’s Day, a birthday and a boring Monday evening, it was hard to find the time to fit it in.

I even had the greatest intention of starting to write when I got home this evening.

However, it is now midnight on the night before my deadline and I am just back from my local pub. Put simply, students will always find the time and the money to spend on drinking and smoking. It is one of life’s inalienable truths.

With so many students now relying on grants, and job opportunities few and far between, budgets have never been tighter for those attending third level education.

However, it seems as if there is always room in any budget for cigarettes and alcohol.

If you take a walk past the Newman Building at any time of the day, you can’t help but notice the huge numbers outside smoking. This is certainly a modern paradox with the high cost of cigarettes (your average twenty-pack can, for example, range from €7.80 to €8.60) and the popular image of the typical student being constantly strapped for cash.

However, students understand the basics

Alcohol proves to be a bigger priority than food for some students.

of bookkeeping and are willing to sacrifice the less important things in life in order to get their fix. One UCD student discussed how she “regularly skipped meals” in order to pay for cigarettes.

With the cost already high and likely to rise even further, it seems that this onlybearable price tag does little to deter smokers. Fourth year science student Danielle Kelly pointed out that “with the money spent on smoking two packs a week, you could get a ten-day sun holiday”. However, despite this forewarning opinion, Kelly continues to smoke.

May 31st 2007 was World No Tobacco Day. In Ireland, the day was celebrated with the banning of cigarettes sold in packets of ten. They were illegalised with a view to re-

duce the sales of cigarettes to young people and, in effect, reduce the prevalence of smoking. That same day, the sale of confectionary cigarettes was also prohibited.

Though a good idea to assuage parents’ fears of their children smoking, many student smokers feel that such measures have done little to curb their habit. James Collins, a fourth-year Science student, began smoking around the time that ten-packs were being phased out. He said, “[the ban] hasn’t stopped me buying twenty-packs, it’s just annoying due to the price”.

On the other hand, final year Business and Law student, Carly Martyn, feels that since the ban, she is smoking a lot more than she used to. She said that “if you only have ten, you tend to be more careful about

smoking and it is easier to smoke less”.

Similarly, alcohol is notoriously popular within the student community. It is clear that when socialising, alcohol is viewed as a necessity and an expected companion in today’s student society.

A large number of student events are located in the on-campus bars or city centre nightclubs. If you are to join nearly any club or society, you know you can expect the social aspect of the organisation to be centered around alcohol. This is the accepted norm and has obvious consequences on the life of the student.

Education takes a back seat, with one student explaining how he missed an early morning mid-semester exam as a result of consuming alcohol the night previous.

When looking at it from a monetary perspective, the first aspect of life to take a hit – as a result of budget cuts for alcohol – appears to be the student diet.

It seems that beans on toast are more bearable than missing a big night out. The majority of students asked said that if they were to sacrifice something in order to afford to buy alcohol, it would be a proper meal.

Even in today’s economy, it appears that, regardless of their level of income, the student will always set aside enough money for their chosen vice – or vices as the case may be. Drinking and smoking are part and parcel of student life and look set to remain at the forefront of student culture for the foreseeable future.

Postcards from Abroad: Chicago Upon landing in Chicago, James Fagan learns never to trust a guidebook and that an Irish accent is the perfect icebreaker

A

h America. Oh great Columbia.

Home of the brave, land of the free, now featuring me. Good bye Dublin and good morning

Chicago.

To begin, the fact that I wound up late for college by a week due to work, did not help in any way, shape or form. Word to the wise: it’s not an easy task trying to set up a phone and bank account, clear your status with the International Students Office, meet all your lecturers to say “hey, I actually exist,” and somehow catch up on what you’ve missed, all within the first thirty-six hours after you arrive.

More importantly, I find myself in the Windy City (fun fact: it’s not actually windy) to study Law. I never thought it could be possible to have a better timetable than what you can swindle in UCD, but my three-day week put that myth to rest.

Certainly, the biggest difference is that it’s mostly small classes. At the moment the biggest class size is fifty, which feels tiny compared to the three hundred and fifty plus lectures I’ve had in Theatre A. However, the flip side is that all the classes then become like a bigger, longer and uncut tutorial.

Having decided that I would prepare and come ready and willing to show these Americans what’s what, I’m an even bigger nerd than back home. Truth be told though, some of the students can be ridiculously intimidating with the depth of their answers in class. I suppose that if you’re putting yourself into $150,000 of debt by the time you finish up your degree, then you had better make the most of it.

As cities go, Chicago is all that and a bit more. Considering its blockbuster affiliations, the place gets instant kudos.

The hardest part about getting your head around it is the size.

The place is huge. Most of the buildings are massive skyscrapers, so it’s next to impossible to navigate by landmark, or to easily get a sense of compass directions. The amount of times I’ve walked the wrong way could easily add up to taking a few days out of my life.

Luckily though, taxis are cheap and college students get an unlimited travel pass for the 24-hour public transport.

In terms of funky places I’ve found, Wicker Park is probably the king worthy of that ritzy crown. Remember the old Eager

Beaver store in Temple Bar, before it got renovated? Imagine a whole area with shops like that. It is essentially a hipster Mecca, with The Wormhole being a highlight.

The walls are covered in movie posters from the 1980s, the muffins and cookies are all homemade, the coffee is exquisitely delicious and the mugs are old collectable Star Wars. There is also a DeLorean in the middle of the cafe.

Note: If you are thinking of using a Dorling Kindersley guidebook, don’t. By way of example as to why you shouldn’t, it almost did me in. Out in Wicker Park, it suggests viewing two examples of beautiful architecture.

Being in an explorer mood, I decided to head in and check it out. The first building was, of course, condemned and falling down. The second, a “cathedral,” was not only the shoddiest and ugliest place of worship this side of the Westboro Baptist Church, but it was also conveniently located in Hispanic gang territory. Dorling Kindersley, I hate you.

However, the social scene in Chicago is unparalleled. The fun thing about being Irish is that our accent is the best icebreaker for anyone you meet.

Moreover, Americans are very amiable, so making friends here is as simple as saying “what’s the craic?” However, most Americans fail at pronunciation, so do not be alarmed to hear them say “kray-ek”.

So far, we have had the pleasure of being invited to frat-boy ring dunking, a trailertrash-themed party, several random bar crawls and that most American of pastimes – the humble kegger. If there was any worry that being in a postgraduate course was going to sap the party buzz, it’s all gone now.

America, it’s good to be here at last.

THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVER 5 October 2010

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Bright Young Things Not all young people are akin to the stereoypical slackers portrayed in the national media, as Sean Finnan and Siobhan McGuinness discover

“T

here’s a work ethos missing from the young people,” says Bill Cullen, of The Apprentice fame.

It seems as if the facts and figures we have bombarded at us every day about the number of young people out of work are unavoidable. However this may not be a fair claim to make especially since the opportunities for employment, or even internship, are especially hard to find as Ireland heads closer to a double-dip recession.

With such claims come the onslaught of negativity, often promoted by aspects of the media. We are being told that as a nation we are helpless in the face of a troubled banking system and failed politics. However, UCD students Chris Rooney and Elaine Lavery have defied the shackles of the above and have the businesses to prove it.

In the past year, Rooney, a third year Business and Law student, along with his friend Liam Ryan, who studies Engineering in Trinity College, have brought an idea from infancy to maturity. The pair have developed a service, called Safetext, that sends a daily reminder text to women reminding them to take the contraceptive pill. Liam came up with the idea after his sister, who is a GP, discussed the problems that women have in adhering strictly to taking oral contraception daily.

“The idea came to Liam to send them a text message everyday to remind them to take their pill everyday and it would hopefully be a more effective reminder than memory or by setting an alarm on your phone,” Rooney tells The University Observer.

In the early stages of the business, the pair surveyed five hundred women attending Dublin universities and uncovered some surprising results which confirmed the need for the service. Sixty-four per cent of women forgot to take the pill once per month, while fifteen per cent forgot to take it three times or more in the month.

This service can be of particular help as it offers peace of mind and reduces the reliance on emergency contraceptive. It is especially relevant in a college environment where routines can be scattered. In

The key to Elaine Lavery’s success has been the simplicity of her idea.

addition, university is traditionally a time at which students generally become more sexually active. The pair have noticed the need for this service and Rooney explains how the project has taken off.

“We’ve already got support from the Students’ Union in UCD and in Trinity and have also received support from medical practitioners who would see themselves encouraging their patients to sign up for it.”

Difficulties for small businesses in receiving loans from financial institutions have been well-documented. However, in this case, the business duo succeeded in securing a loan to get their business up-and-running.

Prior to this, the pair had no business experience, but developed the idea with determi-

Students such as Liam Ryan and Chris Rooney are defying the current economic climate.

nation and the support they received from other business people.

“The two of us went into this with hardly any idea of how to run a business. We basically had an idea and taught ourselves how to get there.”

Electric Picnic attendees may have noticed the presence of the Safetext crew at the festival where the guys were promoting the service before the big launch. Safetext launched on Monday 13th September, offering a free trial to the service. It is hoped that by February, Safetext will be able to step up a gear for Sexual Health and Awareness week and make students more aware of the service.

The pair now have to find the right balance between study and business, a problem which is familiar to another Business and Law student, Elaine Lavery.

Lavery’s pizza party business has been going strong for the past year and is immensely popular for children’s parties. Lavery’s idea came about from her love of food. In addition, at the time of the conception of the business, she had been working with children showing them how to bake and cook.

However, this proved too tricky and technical, so pizza was used instead because of its simplicity.

“As the business started, I was working with children. So it became the best way to show them how to cook and I had to make it easy so they would be able to do it,” Lavery explains.

“The pizzas are so simple to make and it does not take a lot of concentration, or a lot of effort. I have done baking with children before and that can be quite difficult, as there is a lot of technique involved. However, with the pizzas, I come with everything prepared. All the kids have to do is roll out their dough and add their own toppings on to it. So it’s more creative, like an art form rather than a cooking exercise.”

The nature of the business meant that the

cost surrounding the running of the pizza parties was relatively minimal with just the baking utensils and ingredients constituting the main expenditure. Lavery was lucky enough to even get the website for the business set up at minimum cost, with the help of her cousin who runs her own online business.

When asked about how she got her business ideas into the public domain, Lavery explained that as well as advertising, she came up with a novel idea. She promoted her business by including a cookbook that she had designed and published in the pizza party package.

“It was a really good way for me to market the business as I deal with small kids.

If they are not going home with anything, parents will hear what the kids did, but they might not remember [the business], so on the cookbook I have my name on the front and the website and my email and phone number too.”

Loving your job is always important and Lavery is clearly passionate about her work.

She has been cooking from a young age and has also attended cookery courses by Rick Stein in Padstow as well as some in Ballymaloe. She has won awards for her skill and experimentation in cooking and also has a food blog called The Amateur Critic, in which she reviews various local and international restaurants.

When asked by The University Observer what advice she would give to students, or any young person interested in starting a business, Lavery advises: “Unless you get someone to invest in your idea it will be hard to start, however if you have idea start small and talk to people about it and don’t be afraid to put your idea out there.

“From my own experience, I would be dealing with parents and people older than me and dealing with the media. You can’t think they are going to judge me, because I am so young. You really need to go out there

and people will take you at face value.”

She continued: “Marketing is the key to getting a business started. My advice is get in contact with journalists and try to get as much free media as possible, as you never know your luck.”

Lavery is now in her third year of college.

With the business up-and-running, is it hard to juggle it with study?

“No, college doesn’t get in the way at all.

I have the parties booked on weekends, so I am able to allocate that free space to do them. I started the business in first year, so I have it fine tuned now.”

Another interesting part of Lavery’s business is that she has a link on her website for a franchise and when questioned further, Lavery explains: “Yes, I have set up a franchise in Limerick at the moment with a lady there. I set her up with the business package and with her own email address and it is going really well.” Although it may come as a surprise to some that there are students who are running their own businesses while maintaining their studies, it is clear that it can be done and is being done.

While people such as Bill Cullen may criticise the youth of Ireland for their perceived laziness, they remain blissfully unaware that under the surface, there are many making names for themselves in the business world.

For example, one of the main winners of the recent Your Country, Your Call competition, which looked for entrepreneurs’ ideas to transform the Irish economy, was a recent undergraduate from DCU. It is common knowledge that we are all guilty of complaining. We complain about the college workload, the pressures of our part-time jobs and sacrificing our social lives for such things. However, it is very clear that these bright young entrepreneurs are showing that the “missing work ethos” is just hidden from view.

For more information on these businesses, visit www.safetext.ie and www.pizzaparties.ie.

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THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVER 5 October 2010

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The Hardest Problem to Solve After UCD’s recent decision to award bonus points to honours level maths students, Aidan Forde and Aoife Harrison argue the benefits and pitfalls of this initiative

U

CD’s decision to offer bonus points to Leaving Certificate students who sit maths at higher level is not an effective one. Issues and concerns for both students and teachers of maths at secondlevel schools will inevitably remain and deteriorate.

Realistically, it is far more important to deal with the severe discrepancies within the teaching of the subject itself rather than award extra points for undertaking its study. In many ways, this decision will result in further problems emerging from this ever-worsening pitfall within the Irish education system.

The release of CAO offers last August clarified that the points race is a deeply flawed system. 20,000 students who entered the CAO process did not get a single offer for entry into third-level education.

The additional points that certain students will acquire from undertaking higher-level maths will result in a surge of pressure and competition nationwide.

It is clear that pupils who take higherlevel maths will have an unfair advantage over those who choose not to.

Leaving Certificate maths has a considerably large syllabus; it requires a vast amount of commitment, work and dedication. It is reputed as being one of the more challenging Leaving Certificate courses and faces a great deal of criticism from students and educators alike. As a result of this demanding workload, students often neglect other subject areas.

The combination of points woes and coursework will lead to increased stress for over-worked second-level students.

It is undeniable that Leaving Certificate students face substantial pressure during this intense and important period. The

The Leaving Certificate honours maths curriculum has a reputation for being particularly challenging.

National Council of Curriculum and Assessment recently released preliminary results of the Post Primary Longitudinal Study, which indicated that four out of ten students lose sleep due to exam angst.

A further issue is that students will use the extra points to get into competitive courses where higher-level maths is not a requirement, such as law. Last year, when I was preparing for my Leaving Certificate exams, a large proportion of students from various schools studied higher-level maths throughout fifth year.

However, many students opted to drop down to ordinary level for sixth year, even though they were more than capable of sitting the subject. They informed me that continuing the subject did not justify the added pressure and mountain of work it required. The reality is that there are fundamental problems within the maths courses, and firstly they

must be addressed.

The decision to award extra points does not deal with the issues relating to maths at higher level, the main problem being the teaching of the subject itself. As a result of the government’s last budget, funding has been cut back significantly.

Nationally, secondary schools have dwindling resources – a situation which has resulted in numerous complications.

In some schools, there is such a small amount of students opting to take higher-level maths that they are unable to facilitate these students with the opportunity to do so. In 2009, 79 schools had no student choosing to sit maths at higher level, partly due to teachers not having the appropriate training.

The quality of teaching of maths at second-level schools is shocking. A recent survey of teachers and principals by Dr. Máire Ní Riordáin and Dr. Ailish Han-

nigan at the University of Limerick highlighted the extent of the problem, revealing that 48 per cent of maths teachers at second level are unqualified to teach honours maths. The report makes specific reference to “out of field” teachers, i.e. educators who are primarily qualified to teach science and business subjects, but did not study maths as a major part of their degree.

Why would it be effective to offer extra points for a subject where the educators are not even qualified in their field?

Would it not it be far more productive to firstly address what is in fact wrong with the system?

The government is consistently promoting the idea of a “smart economy”.

Based on this principle of creating such an economy, should we not also offer bonus points for scientific subjects such as chemistry and physics? Or subjects

that inspire entrepreneurship like business and economics? Or subjects like art and design that would create innovative entrepreneurs? These are also important elements for future prosperity.

However, if we wish to reform the maths curriculum, we also need teachers to have the necessary skills to educate students. The teaching of maths at Junior Certificate and primary level also needs to be looked at if we want considerable changes to be made. If we wish to truly envisage this “smart economy,” then surely the maths system needs to be addressed.

The decision to award bonus points is not an acceptable incentive within a fundamentally flawed system. Without any doubt, both the maths curriculum and its teaching need to be changed before the decision to award bonus points for its study is ever put into practice.

nology are so clearly the way forward in the world. The most basic computer is run based on binary code, an essential part of maths; the economy is nothing more than a complex relationship of numbers. And with little over 50 per cent of secondarylevel maths teachers actually qualified to teach, maths graduates are exactly what society is calling out for.

To address the issue of fairness and equal opportunity, a compromise would be to only offer double points for entry to courses with maths as a requirement. But then surely it stands to reason that students pursuing studies in the area of maths would have a certain degree of ability in the subject. Which leaves us right back where we started; with students using double points as a means to gain access to high points courses where maths isn’t really relevant.

Admittedly, this does raise the question

of fairness. Will this really be a problem though? Who is to say that those extra points won’t be giving a boost to someone who wants to give sports science a go? Or providing a leg-up to someone interested in computer science?

There are plenty of avenues for further education. Just because you got 600 points in your Leaving Certificate doesn’t mean you automatically have to study medicine or law. These are not the only fields for our best and brightest. One could argue that our best and brightest are more urgently needed in our education system.

There is definitely a problem with the way we both teach and grade maths in this country. Maybe bonus points are not the whole solution, but they’re the best we’ve got for the time being.

W

hen talk first began about introducing double CAO points for higher-level Leaving Certificate maths, there was absolute uproar about the unfairness of the scheme and how it would only further disadvantage mathematically challenged students.

Then when UCD announced that they would be introducing these bonus CAO points for a trial period of four years, starting in 2012, our own Students’ Union spoke out against this decision, saying: “The introduction of bonus points will give students an unfair advantage in accessing courses where maths is irrelevant, such as law and medicine.”

This concern is legitimate, but the fact of the matter is that something has to be done. This year, more than 4,300 students failed maths across all levels. The honours rate for higher level maths is down; three per cent fewer students earned a C grade or higher in honours maths in 2010.

In a study carried out in 2007, Ireland was found to be 22nd in the top 25 world ranking for maths and 20th in science, with New Zealand, Australia, China, Korea and most of Europe beating us to the top rankings.

One of the main reasons for this is most likely that only 16 per cent of students study honours maths at Leaving Certificate level. In turn, the reason for this is often that students feel they can achieve a higher

The Leaving Certificate has been criticised for its emphasis on rote learning.

grade at ordinary level with only a fraction of the work required to achieve an honour at higher level. Many students believe that honours maths requires so much work that it would be to the detriment of their other subjects.

And this is where we reach the crux of the matter: maths, unlike English or history, requires an understanding of the subject and the ability to apply that understanding to the questions, but students can achieve a very high grade in English or history by rote learning alone.

You don’t need to understand the poetry of John Keats to write an essay on it.

An understanding of the Easter Rising is not necessary as long as you can recite the appropriate names and dates. This is not enough. This is not an acceptable method of “education” to be sending the next generation out into the world with.

Rote learning is of little use in college or university and of even less use in the real world. Maths, at a very basic level, gives people the ability to problem-solve. It encourages you to look at the issue from several different angles before finding the best and simplest solution.

I am not denying that maths requires more work; anything that requires an understanding requires more work than a subject where you need only memorise facts and phrases. And it is because it involves so much more work that this extra work should be rewarded by extra points.

Double points are intended as an incentive for students to put in the extra hours of study, not as a way to give an unfair disadvantage to those already gifted in the subject.

A higher standard of maths is what we need in this country, as science and tech-

THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVER 5 October 2010

13

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Militant Discrimination With the repeal of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy by the US Senate, Elizabeth O’Malley asks if it is a pragmatic way of approaching the issue of homosexuality

‘D

on’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ seems a simple idea on the surface. Gay men and women are allowed to serve in the military in a manner that does not “create an unacceptable risk to the armed forces’ high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion”.

Superiors will not investigate your sexual orientation (don’t ask) if you don’t announce it (don’t tell). This was the compromise arrived at by President Bill Clinton when setting out to remove the bar against homosexuals in the army in the face of opposition from the military. But if you read the last sentence and found something amiss then you’re right. The crux of this policy lies in the belief that homosexuality is somehow a threat to the army.

President Obama has frequently renewed his pledge to eliminate DADT. Apart from the fact that it is, according to him, “just wrong”, there are also practical considerations. Since the policy was first implemented in 1993, 14,000 soldiers have been discharged for being gay. This cost the American taxpayers $363 million.

Given that the US is currently fighting two wars, the loss of personnel and funding is nonsensical. For these reasons, a bill was brought in front of the senate to repeal DADT. It fell six votes short of passing.

Pop singer Lady Gaga has been a vocal opponent of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and brought dismissed gay soldiers to the MTV Video Music Awards

This bill is expected to come to a vote again in the near future. With a recent Gallup poll showing that 70 per cent of Americans are opposed to DADT and District Judge Virginia Philips ruling that the policy is unconstitutional, everything seems to be going in President Obama’s favour. However, the army itself would likely act as a bulwark against such a measure.

Let us consider the army’s concerns. It is not only important, it is vital for the army to be a cohesive unit. The army is not saying that they legislate private lives, but it is important that the officers can bond and rely on each other.

It is an unfortunate fact that some people are uncomfortable around homosexuals.

What happens if two men on the frontline become romantically involved? Would it affect their job performance? Could the idea of leading someone on make you less likely to trust them in an area where trust

is paramount? The only problem with these arguments is the lack of evidence to support them. Not only is there no credible basis for these fears, there are many studies proving otherwise. In 1993, the Government Accountability Office did a study of twenty-five foreign militaries with a special focus on Israel, Canada, Germany and Sweden. According to its final report: “Military officials in all four countries said that the presence of homosexuals in the military is not an issue and has not created problems in the functioning of military units.”

The Palm Centre’s study in 2000 assessed the effects of openly gay service in Britain, Israel, Canada and Australia and not one person observed any impact that “undermined military performance, readiness, or cohesion, led to increased difficulties in recruiting or retention, or increased the rate of HIV infection among the troops.” In 2006, a poll by Zogby International of 545

Iraq and Afghanistan veterans found that three-quarters were comfortable around gay service members.

Another good example of gay people serving in the military is that of the ancient Greeks. Under the leadership of Alexander the Great, the Greeks succeeded in conquering most of the known world without any prohibition on homosexuality in their army. Indeed, Alexander the Great famously had a male lover of his own, yet he is still one of the most successful commanders of all time.

If there are no reasonable grounds for DADT, then all it leads to is homophobia and prejudice, or supposition. People are simply discharged for being gay. This can arguably do far more to create a negative impact on army cohesion, as members are removed from the team. DADT seems a lot less neat when you consider that all it takes is a claim from a third party to have you

removed from your chosen vocation. It has nothing to do with ability, only your predisposition towards the same sex.

This in turn creates an atmosphere of paranoia, lies and guilt purely for being born a certain way. As President Obama so aptly put it, “just wrong”.

One could argue that the army isn’t an instrument for social change, but that’s not strictly true. This is a case where, in a country in which there is no legal bar on gay people in other walks of life, the army is actually acting as a force to resist change that has occured in the rest of society.

Women became part of the army and it dealt with the change. African-Americans were integrated into the army and it dealt with the change there too. It is long past the point where such prejudices should be entertained, let alone legal. It is time for the army to finally start reflecting the people they are fighting for.

A War Beyond Repair

While the fatalities in Afghanistan continue to increase, Kate Rothwell asks what the withdrawal of troops will leave behind

Comment Editor

I

t has been a long and bloody nine years since the war in Afghanistan began.

It seems with every news bulletin it is becoming an increasingly tragic battle that no one side, soldier or civilian, can profit from, let alone win.

2010 has earned the disheartening statistic of being the bloodiest year of combat since the removal of the Taliban in 2001, with the presence of almost 150,000 foreign troops not enough to prevent a death toll of over 540 foreign military. The 2009 number of 521 deaths had been the highest number of fatalities until just last month, when a helicopter crash added nine more US troops to this year’s grave statistics. Concerns have also been raised for the safety of a British aid worker who was abducted in the Kunar

province of Afghanistan little over a week ago. The woman, who is reported to be Scottish and in her mid-thirties, was abducted along with three Afghan colleagues. There had, at time of going to press, been no confirmation of who had abducted them or further information as to when or where they might be found.

Foreign military troops and aid workers are clearly putting themselves at great risk by serving or working in Afghanistan. However, even after nine years of foreign intervention, Afghan civilians are not able to vote while in confidence either of their safety or of the trustworthiness of the ballot.

September’s parliamentary elections were subject to far more insurgent attacks than the previous year, as well as widespread complaints of fraud. The final results of this vote are due to be released at the end of October, but are bound to be both delayed and distrusted as a result of the volume of complaints.

US President Barack Obama’s promise to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2011 is an optimistic one, but the question will have to be posed as to whether the foreign military presence in Afghanistan has done more harm than good.

Many other foreign forces – German, Danish, Canadian – have also made plans to take their troops home, with Dutch troops having already left in August.

These removals will no doubt bring relief to relatives and loved ones worldwide, but one would wonder how wise it is to have so many troops leave in succession, when insurgent attacks have anything but ceased and the country’s electoral system is still in tatters. Is this a well-timed removal or a hopeless retreat?

Foreign troops have suffered a large number of fatalities and in the eyes of the media have had little obvious success in Afghanistan; therefore it is no surprise that there have been numerous calls from the general public in many countries for their troops to return home. Former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has defended the role played by British troops in Afghanistan, saying that their forces are “not an occupying army, we’re trying to prevent an occupation”.

The plan to start reducing American troops in Afghanistan as early as July 2011 is an optimistic one. Britain’s Lt Gen Sir Nick Parker has recommended a cautious approach for the next stage of military planning, and is of the opinion that there should be as few troops as possible removed next year. The wary response of a British lieutenant to the withdrawal plan is however, the least of Obama’s worries when it comes to the media coverage of his administration’s

Barack Obama’s (pictured with US General Stanley McChrystal) plan to start withdrawing US troops by July 2011 has come under scrutiny.

handling of the war.

The release of Obama’s War, a book written by veteran investigative reporter Bob Woodward, has highlighted the apparently tense relations between high ranking US generals and the White House. The revelations of intense arguments between military generals and members of the Obama’s administration will not restore anyone’s faith in the American presence in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the claim that the President put the withdrawal deadline into place in order to please the Democrats will not help the party to earn any extra votes for the midterm elections in November.

It is also not the first time that this military-administrative strife has been brought in to the limelight; General Stanley

McChrystal was sacked after making derogatory comments about senior administration officials in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.

The controversy of the American presence in Afghanistan is only damaging the global reputation of the Obama administration and the American military, and it is costing the American state a great deal of money and more importantly, numerous lives.

The time is overripe for the withdrawal of troops, but the questions that will seal the depiction of this war in the history books now wait to be answered – how will the withdrawal take place and what sort of country will it leave behind? Obama may not have started this war, but he will face serious judgement as he attempts to finish it.

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THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVER 5 October 2010

COMMENT

comment@universityobserver.ie

Critical Acclaim or Cash?

As Sheila O’Flanagan takes umbrage at her books being branded ‘chick-lit’, Dearbhail O’Crowley wonders why the term causes such outrage among authors

T

he champagne has gone flat, the Tiffany solitaire has lost its lustre, and recessionary times have everyone on the defensive.

In particular, it seems as if authors branded with the ‘chick-lit’ title are choosing critical acclaim over the size of their bank balance.

Chick-lit hasn’t exactly got the best reputation. It’s the poor relation of the literary world that we’re reluctant to admit we’ve even read, never mind enjoyed. Interviewed last week on John Murray’s RTE1 radio show, Irish author Sheila O’Flanagan said she resented her novels being labelled as chick-lit, while English novelist Allison Pearson has expressed her outrage at the same labelling.

So the immediate question that springs to mind is why are chick-lit authors so defensive about this label? Female commercial fiction, as some authors prefer it to be known, sells. And in large amounts – one in four of all book sales, in fact. So why do authors need critical acclaim on top of that?

The choice comes down to that of critical acclaim or mass public admiration, which is represented by the clanging of the cash register, as the sales of chick-lit continue to out-gross any other genre in this

country.

The term chick-lit itself did not originate as an insult; it stems from the time when the top ten books were women’s fiction and Marian Keyes, Cathy Kelly and Sheila O’Flanagan were just breaking through.

It was mainly women using it themselves about books they liked. However, it seems to have become a byword for vapid and easy reading, based around formulaic storylines.

Chick-lit stands for stock characters, clichéd language and predictable plotlines.

The women in the books are driven by materialism and a thirst for the dream life of a white picket fence and 2.5 children. After all, while Jonathan Franzen’s focus on “family as a microcosm of micro-history” is being lauded as the next Ulysses, a woman’s selection of this subject would only invoke disdain.

Franzen has been highly praised by critics in the United States; he has received the National Book Award, been pictured on the front cover of Time magazine and has been lauded as the new Updike. This further ignites claims that female writers, while out-grossing males, will never reach the same critical acclaim as “white male literary darlings” akin to Franzen.

Chick-lit stands for stock characters, clichéd language and predictable plotlines

Female authors are not happy with the use of the term ‘chick-lit’.

Jodi Picoult, who has criticised what she sees as an inherently sexist system and others like her, will no doubt be written off as being envious and ignorant of what it takes to write the next Great American Novel.

And in part, these claims are fair; Picoult lacks the literary standing to lead such a charge. However, she does have a point, as do O’Flanagan and Pearson. A female novelist would never receive the frenzied scale of adulation that their male counterparts enjoy, largely due to the two distinct tiers still evident in the literary world.

This is in part because the literary marketplace is still dominated and maintained by male precedents, male literary critics and male standards of greatness. The heavy hitters, this century’s answer to Joyce (or at least that’s how they seem to view themselves) are cultural icons within the literati like Franzen and Moody, as were Updike

and Mailer before them. They are all, and I do mean all, exclusively male. Then there’s the people who actually sell books, who keep the industry afloat by selling to its primary consumers – women.

It’s a travesty, yes. It shouldn’t be happening in the twenty-first century. But ultimately, does it really matter? Is critical acclaim really the most important outcome?

Reading is one of the simplest and most absolute indulgences open to us, a chance to literally fill someone else’s shoes, live their lives, think their thoughts. It’s something most people contemplate a wish for on a daily basis, and the literary world offers it in every thread of life imaginable.

Whilst I’m sure literary acclaim is an understandable desire, is that really the end goal of writing? Being lauded for great writing is no doubt heady, but the ability to earn a living by having your words speak

to people en masse seems a greater goal in the end, whether it’s labelled chick-lit or not.

As Joyce Carol Oates has ruefully noted on more than one occasion, “the woman who writes is not a writer by her own definition, but a woman writer by others’ definitions”.

For the same reason that J.K. Rowling was advised to use her initials less she narrow her audience outreach, a female writer can never transcend her readers’ assumption about her based solely on gender.

Unlike their 19th-century predecessors, women novelists have now moved past this particular hurdle. Their books sell, and in vast quantities. For now that will have to do. However, it seems evident that if Uncle Tom’s Cabin had been signed by ‘Harry Beecher Stowe,’ then women’s standing in literary history might look very different.

Confessions of a Ministerial Shopaholic Given that Ireland’s borrowing costs have hit near-unprecedented highs, Eoin Brady examines the causes and possible solutions

T

here’s a scene at the beginning of Confessions of a Shopaholic in which our heroine attempts to buy a luxurious green scarf.

It costs quite a bit, so she decides to put some of the bill on each of her twelve credit cards. She tries them all, but she’s still $20 short. In a panic, she races from the department store to find a hot-dog seller willing to give her cash for a cheque.

Life gets complicated when people stop believing in your ability to pay back what you owe. That’s why Ireland’s last bond sale got so much attention.

A government bond sale is like a member of the public getting a loan. This month, the yield (effectively, the interest rate) on Irish ten-year bonds exceeded 6.5 per cent. This is bad news for two reasons: firstly, high interest rates mean that the already strained national accounts are laboured with an extra expense. Secondly, it is a signal from the markets that there are fears that Ireland will be unable to repay what it has borrowed.

To put Ireland’s travails in historical and international context, it is now borrowing at the highest rate since the currency crisis of 1992-1993, which cumulated in the devaluation of the Punt by ten per cent. Currency devaluation is a drastic measure: this was equivalent to wiping out ten per cent of every citizen’s wealth.

In the international context, Ireland is borrowing at around the same rate as Portugal, another troubled peripheral

Ireland’s membership of the Eurozone has been blamed by some critics for exacerbating the country’s financial crisis.

Eurozone member. Greece, however, is in an even more precarious position: it is borrowing at over eleven per cent, and accepted a €110 billion bailout from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), which is a fund set up by Eurozone members to protect its least solvent constituents from default.

Popular commentary has mooted defaulting on our debts and starting afresh as a viable course of action: a column in The Irish Times by Breda O’Brien suggested that we should stop “worshipping the markets,” and analysis in the Sunday Business Post by David McWilliams compared Ireland’s sit-

uation to the apparently favourable one in Iceland, where banks were allowed to fail, costing foreign investors billions.

The problem with ceasing to “worship the markets” is that they are vital to the successful running of a developed country.

In this context, “the markets” refers to entities that hold a large quantity of capital that is available to be invested. Before these investors existed, there was no source of capital for large, expensive projects. Large, expensive projects like road networks, hospitals and universal education systems.

Ireland’s situation is different from that of Iceland in two substantive ways: firstly,

it is a member of the Eurozone, so it will be prevented from defaulting by the EFSF. Secondly, unlike their Icelandic counterparts, the Irish government explicitly guaranteed Irish bank bonds.

It is evident that Ireland’s present situation is grave. In order to work out the best way to extricate itself from its current predicament, it is perhaps useful to try to determine how it got there.

The aforementioned guarantee could be blamed, but that would be to ignore the wider context in which it occurred – one of long-term government financial mismanagement. Former Minister for Finance,

Charlie McCreevy, , has been quoted as saying: “If I have money, I’ll spend it. If I don’t, I won’t.” This is precisely the opposite of correct fiscal (government spending) policy.

More broadly again, Ireland’s membership of the single currency could be blamed for having brought about the current mess. This gave Ireland, among other peripheral Eurozone members, access to cheap money. The savings of prudent Germans became freely available to adventurous Irish investors.

Furthermore, the Irish government lost the ability to set its own interest rate. Normally, this is a key component of a government’s economic policy; it is one of the main ways of determining money supply.

The other side of government economic policy is fiscal policy. A government must balance the two in order to either stimulate a weak economy or rein in an overheating one.

The problem for Ireland arose because it only controls one arm of this – the ECB decides monetary policy, or money supply, while Ireland decides spending. For the situation to be resolved, the two sides of economic policy need to be reunited.

This means that either Ireland and the other peripheral economies leave the Eurozone, or fiscal policy is determined from the top – by a Eurozone finance ministry.

Neither option is palatable for the Irish electorate at present, but in the long term, one of the two will need to occur for stability to reign in Europe once more.

After much distress, our shopaholic did manage to get her new scarf. Until the Eurozone either further unites or disbands, the Irish public will have no such luck.

THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVER 5 October 2010

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SCIENCE & HEALTH

science@universityobserver.ie

The Battle of the Sexes

Old Wives’ Tales Debunked: Urine Provides Relief from Jellyfish Stings

The Spice Girls, Simply Red and Robert Browning are just some of the names who have meditated at length on male/female differences.

The differences between men and woman have been well documented in popular culture, but Ekaterina Tikhoniouk looks at the science behind these anomalies

R

ight up to the second half of the twentieth century, there had been a vast divide between the sexes, with women being perceived and treated as different and inferior to men. The lens of sexism gave a distorted view of women as frail, delicate creatures that needed men to guide their simple minds. In what was primarily a male-driven society, men were seen to be the breadwinners, with women reduced to cooking, cleaning and rearing children.

Fortunately, these roles and perceptions have changed drastically since then. Nowadays society is striving to see women as both equal and as capable as men. Under law, women and men now have a right to equal treatment, equal opportunities and protection. We are trying to get closer and closer to total equality between the sexes.

But even now, in the 21st century, despite the efforts of feminists the world over, some stereotypes do still linger; that men understand maths and cars, and women are better at cooking and relationships, or that men are users and think about sex every seven seconds, while women talk a lot and are manipulative and emotional.

But sexist stereotypes aside, are there really no marked differences between men and women? Or are we all so fearful of being politically incorrect that we are willing to ignore the obvious differences between the sexes?

The relevant scientists and thinkers seem to be split up into two main groups. The first is made up of people who truly believe that there is no real psychological difference between men and women, and that any difference that does arise between the sexes is one imposed by society and upbringing, not nature.

Experts such as Gina Rippon, Professor of Neuroscience at Aston University, say that there is no difference between male and female brains. The view is that it’s all a case of nurture, that boys and girls are unconsciously raised differently and that this behaviour is ingrained into us from an early age.

This different treatment of boys and girls was illustrated by a survey that was run by the researchers at Colorado State University in which adults were asked to play with a baby who was dressed in either blue or pink. The researchers found that adults played much gentler and tended to smile more when the baby was dressed in pink, and played more boisterously when the

same baby was dressed in blue.

There’s a second faction that believes that men and women are equal but physically and psychologically different. None of us could possibly deny the fact that men and women are physically different, as these differences are rather obvious and can been seen and measured.

It seems that millions of years of evolution have resulted in many distinct differences between the sexes. Women have been bred by evolution to be child-bearers and gatherers, while men have been bred to be hunters and fighters.

Men are built more for endurance and strength. They have greater upper body strength, build muscle easily, and have a higher pain threshold. There is evidence, however, that women have twice as many pain receptors per square inch of skin than men, which would account for women’s supposed weak nature.

Women live longer and tend to be smaller and weaker, with narrower shoulders, but much wider hips. Men have thicker skulls and their brains are typically eleven to twelve percent bigger than women’s.

There is still a debate about which sex is smarter, but according to the British Journal of Psychology, men are more intelligent than women by about five IQ points on average.

This second viewpoint, that men and women are psychologically different, appears to be backed up by a wealth of evidence. The differences between men’s and women’s brains are well-documented and well-researched through countless studies and brain scans. Scientists have been documenting the differences for decades now.

So, apart from the obvious biological differences between men and women, there are also a large range of subtler psychological differences, such as spatial ability, language, general behaviour and mentality.

Although these differences are often greatly exaggerated, they contain many truths.

Females tend to be much better at communicating, as well as picking up on nonverbal cues such as tone, expression and body language. Males, meanwhile, have a harder time noticing emotions that are not explicitly verbalised.

Women are more emotional than men because they have a larger deep limbic system that regulates emotion. This allows them to not only be more in touch with their feelings, but to also express them better. This also allows an increased sense of

empathy. In both men and women, high levels of testosterone tend to bring about an increased insensitivity and decreased sense of empathy towards others.

According to surveys and statistics, women tend to be much better at languages than their male counterparts. One reason for this could be that two of the brain sections responsible for language are usually bigger in women. Women also process language in both sides of the brain hemisphere, while men typically use their dominant side.

Males also have better mathematical abilities than females. An area of the brain called the inferior-parietal lobe is typically much larger in men than women, and is thought to control mental mathematical ability.

Furthermore, men also have superior spatial abilities. They are far better at mentally visualising shapes in three-dimensions, while women tend to struggle with both visualisation and mental rotation of objects and shapes. Medical experts have discovered that this may be because women have a thicker parietal section of the brain, which tends to hinder the ability of mentally rotating objects.

An overwhelming amount of evidence points towards the viewpoint that there are, in general, significant differences between men and women.

Decades of research tell us that there are profound physical and psychological differences between the sexes that must be taken into account, as not even politically-correct thinking can undo millions of years of evolution.

experts such as Gina Rippon, Professor of Neuroscience at Aston University, say that there is no difference between male and female brains

Jellyfish stings: Nasty and not relieved by urine.

Resident old wife Alison Lee questions whether peeing on someone can really relieve the pain of a jellyfish sting

I

t’s scary to think that thousands of people’s knowledge of jellyfish sting first-aid stems from one episode of Friends entitled “The One With The Jellyfish”. Thus, The University Observer has decided to fill this knowledge gap with this simple guide to jellyfish sting remedies.

According to Joey Tribiani, urine can soothe the pain of a jellyfish sting because urine contains ammonia, which neutralises the formic acid. Unfortunately, Fox TV should have checked their sources when they scripted that particular Friends episode, because in fact urine can make the sting feel even worse.

Jellyfish tentacles are covered with cells called nematocytes containing a stinging apparatus known as a nematocyst. This consists of a poison sac attached to a hollow tube covered with barbs. Certain mechanical and chemical stimulation, such as a person brushing off the jellyfish’s tentacle, can cause the nematocyst to be ejected into the victims skin where it often remains embedded.

Why can urinating on a jellyfish sting

often not help the pain? Firstly, jellyfish venom differs depending on the species of jellyfish.

In addition, the composition of urine varies from person to person, depending on their diet, hydration status, etc. If the urine doesn’t contain the right balance of electrolytes and water, which it most likely will not, it will not assist in pain relief either. In fact, if it contains too much water, it triggers any excess nematocysts in the skin to fire, thus releasing more venom and worsening the pain.

The correct first-aid procedure is as follows: rinse the sting with seawater to remove tentacles, then bathe it in white vinegar. Remove any remaining stingers embedded in the skin by applying a paste of baking soda and seawater and scraping it off when it dries with something like the edge of a credit card.

Use painkillers and antihistamines to relieve discomfort. However, some unlucky jellyfish victims may experience anaphylactic shock, a whole-body allergic reaction that requires hospitalisation.

In addition, species like Australia’s box jellyfish possess such strong poison that their victims need antivenin to recover.

Beware the Portuguese Man O’ War jellyfish; reports suggest that vinegar makes the sting of this guy even worse, not to mention how lethal a sting from this creature can be.

In conclusion, it’s good news for anyone who likes swimming in the sea but doesn’t like the thought of peeing on themselves.

Just remember to pack baking soda and

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THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVER 5 October 2010

SCIENCE & HEALTH

science@universityobserver.ie

A Brief History of Contraception

From Africa to ancient Rome, sex and contraception have a long and storied history, writes Science, Health and Technology Editor Alan Coughlan

An early contraceptive plant called silphium is thought to have inspired the modern heart shape.

T

he question of why we are here and the point to our possession of free will can be debated for as long as the average human lifespan. From a humanist point of view, man is the measure of all things and thus, the pinnacle of all creation. Through self discovery and the pursuit of knowledge and more importantly, experience, a person will achieve a worthy life. This philosophy of human ideals ignores the baser elements to both everyday life and unconscious decision-making.

If one was to be more primal in their thinking and keep humans firmly within the animal kingdom, when they sum up our baser instincts, it should come as no surprise that sex fuels a lot of decisionmaking. From bacteria to flowering plants to dogs and even humans, all life is preprogrammed from the moment of inception to pass on their individual genetic material. To procreate, or more simply to have sex. The ultimate goal is to make another living thing.

Along the way in the history of life, certain beings have developed bizarre mating rituals and ways of both bearing young and then raising them. Human reproduction, at some point in our evolution, became linked with pleasure. At what point in the history of civilization did it become more important for humans to have sex for pleasure, abandoning a desire to make babies and simply, to enjoy it?

At the northern tip of Africa in ancient times, a group of Greek settlers founded the city of Cyrene. Whilst here, they came across a herb which today is now extinct.

The plant was known as silphium. What made this plant so special is that it appeared to have a very special and soughtafter property. It would give people the

ability to enjoy sex without the risk of the female falling pregnant.

Silphium was a powerful abortifacient.

This basically means it was a plant that, when ingested, could induce an abortion.

What this gave to the the settlers was, amazingly, a marketable product.

In fact, silphium figured so highly in the economy of Cyrene that an image of the plant was stamped onto every coin the city minted. There was also a variation of the coin which had an image of the plant’s characteristic heart-shaped seed on one face. Some historians have argued that the modern-day graphic of ‘I love you,’ with ‘love’ substituted for a heart, can trace its origins to this symbol of unrestrained lovemaking.

The effectiveness of the herb cannot be tested today, as the plant was harvested to extinction. All attempts to cultivate it elsewhere failed. It was notoriously difficult to cultivate and so, only grew it in small geological and climatic band in which it first evolved. Due to this fact, modern scientists have never had a chance to test any of the supposed properties of the plant, but it certainly seemed to be effective.

A high ranking Roman doctor at the time said that “all women should drink the silphium juice once a month,” as it “not only prevents conception, but also destroys anything existing”.

The origins of contraception are hard to pinpoint, but it is known that a multitude of techniques have been employed throughout the ages.

The next time any male reading this feels it an inconvenience when putting on a condom, they should spare a thought for the ancient Romans and Turks who partook in heat-based contraception. In other words, a man would submerge himself in

a bath and heat his testicles at 46 degree celsius, which is just below the threshold of pain for up to 45 minutes. What this achieves is to adversely affect the way the sertoli cells function.

Sperm cannot survive for long outside a narrow temperature range. Ideally, this is thirty-five degrees celsius (slightly below body temperature). By heating the testicles in this manner, it was a somewhat crude way of temporarily rendering a man infertile. They were able to enjoy sex and their chances of conceiving were greatly reduced.

One can only wonder how such conclusions were reached in the ancient world.

As bizarre as heat-based contraception may sound, it is by no means the weirdest method employed by humans to simply enjoy sex. Shots of mercury, large amounts of honey smeared in the vagina and piercings at the base of the penis (which would supposedly create a crude escape hatch for sperm) are just some of the more eclectic choices favoured by ancient civilizations.

In ancient Rome, it was recommended by some ‘magicians’ that if a woman either spread menstual blood on herself or simply walked over it, she would be immune to conception.

In more recent times, citrus fruits were employed as a precursor to the diaphragm. A lemon or lime or orange would be cleaned of fruit and then inserted as a means towards blocking the passage of sperm with the citric acid, hopefully acting as a poison to all the little swimmers.

‘Coitus interruptus’ is another antiquated method of contraception which has somehow made its way into modern times and practice. Commonly known as the ‘withdrawal method,’ this crude and ineffective method is still used by almost three per cent of couples where the woman is of

child bearing age. The thinking behind the method is that if the male withdraws before ejaculation, no sperm will be released inside the female.

The problem is that there are other fluids released before ejaculation which can contain sperm, along with the fact that the procedure is crude and avoiding any accidents is fraught with pitfalls. Nowadays, where there are proper and effective alternatives such as condoms and the contraceptive pill, there is no excuse for using such a shockingly irresponsible method.

The basic tenet should be that if the average human couple want to enjoy sex without any of the consequences which would normally and naturally follow, it is of paramount importance to take some kind of precaution. Of course it is easy to forget that, in tandem with the obvious primal urge to procreate, humans and a few other animals partake in sex simply for pleasure. Studies have proven that dolphins and bonobos (a primate species) have sex for the sheer joy of it.

Neurological knowledge of sexual arousal in both humans and other animals shows that both male and female sexual arousal is linked to heightened levels of activities in areas of the hypothalamus. This can be found in a slightly more primitive part of the brain called the limbic system.

We have all heard about the wonderful chemicals which help us to experience pleasure such as dopamine. However, it should be noted that within the hypothalamus, areas which are linked to both female and male sexual arousal are also linked to the area governing hunger for food in females.

In fact, the female of many species possess an anomaly within the scope of nature. As far as can be told, the clitoris has no purpose other than to produce and maintain

pleasure within an organism. There is no other reason for its existence.

One could easily join the dots in terms of natural selection. If a female was born with some physical attribute which made them enjoy sex more than normal, they would have it more frequently and in turn produce more offspring. In this way, perhaps natural selection favoured human females who enjoyed sex.

In terms of modern contraception, the responsibility often falls to the female. This is exemplified in the usage of the contraceptive pill which utilises hormones to alter a females cycle and inhibit conception.

The one-sided role of responsibility has its main downfall in the fears surrounding the effects of long term usage of the pill.

There are links between the pill and several debilitating conditions such as deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolism and even strokes. There are also fields of study which have linked prolonged use of the pill to certain cancers.

In looking back on the history of contraception, one can find humour and also shocks in the lengths people went and continue to go to in order to enjoy sex without the risk of pregnancy. If there is anything to be learned from this, it is certainly worth noting that people today have never had it easier in terms of how they can enjoy the simple act of physical pleasure.

Perhaps it should always be worth noting that as inconvenient as some may find it, it has never been more convenient for a person to have sex whilst protecting themselves from unwanted pregnancy.

Next time you get annoyed at the cost of condoms, or the irritated at having to take your pill every day, be glad you’re not using heat or honey based contraceptives, as those who came before us had to.

THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVER 5 October 2010

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SCIENCE & HEALTH

science@universityobserver.ie

The Score to Maths Music and maths are far from mutually exclusive entities, writes Chien Buggle

A

s the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras travelled through a forest, his ears detected the presence of a blacksmith’s workshop in the distance. He became captivated by the beautiful sound of hammers striking anvils in unison and took it upon himself to discover the mathematical principle behind the harmony of these sounds.

After investigation, he concluded that the secret lay in the fact that the hammers were in simple ratios to each other: one was half the size of the first, another twothirds the size and so on. Thus, Pythagoras discovered the secret principle behind the tuning of musical instruments. Though the mathematical theory behind this story is true, the story itself is almost certainly a myth. However, it marks the first example of the meeting of music and mathematics.

The idea that maths and music have something in common has fascinated people for centuries. Most people today would agree that the fields are related.

Danny O’Reilly, lead singer of The Coronas, claimed in a recent Irish Times interview that music and maths “have a lot in common”.

Even the great Russian composer Igor Stravinsky expressed a similar, if more cautious, opinion when he stated that music is related “to something like mathematical thinking and relationships”. Clearly this is a common opinion, but like the Pythagoras myth, its origins are unclear.

A strong relationship between music and maths implies that music must, in some way, influence its partner. To this end, links between the thought processes of both areas, have long been suggested.

Einstein famously stated about his theory of relativity that “my discovery was the result of musical perception”.

The idea that listening to classical music

can somehow help develop rational thinking gained popularity in the nineties thanks to the discovery of what was called the Mozart Effect. This is the idea that listening to Mozart can at the least (as described by Rauscher, Shaw and Ky in Nature in 1993) temporarily improve our ability to solve spatial temporal problems; and at most transform even the most simple troglodyte into an intellectual behemoth.

The theory’s popularity grew until in 1998, it reached the summit of Mt. Ridiculous, when the governor of Georgia Zell Miller legislated for the provision of classical music CDs for every child born in the state. Miller also famously played an excerpt from Beethoven’s Ninth for legislators, and asked “now don’t you feel smarter?”

Ultimately, the Mozart effect has been disproved and put down to changes in mood that music can cause. Yet it lives on, whenever we watch a human interest story featuring a farmer who claims music helps his cows produce milk or solve spatial temporal problems.

Whatever about the effect of music on maths and rational thought, the use of maths in music is a lot easier to discern. As anyone who has learned a musical instrument can attest, the use of numbers in this process is common.

When playing guitar for example, a notational system called tablature is used, which relies on the assignment of numbers to the strings and frets of the instrument.

Students of the piano are taught to identify the fingers of both hands via numbers, introducing maths from the earliest stages.

On a basic level, there is a comparison between musicians and mathematicians, in that both use an array of symbols that can be intimidatingly complex to the casual observer. Think of the similarity between a blackboard of dense mathematical equa-

The Mozart Effect looked at the potentially revolutionary influence that music could have on our thought processes.

tions and the complexities of an orchestral score.

Unlike mathematical theory, musical theory (our system of scales, keys and harmony) is not concerned with the fundamental rules or universal musical truths; instead it is an attempt to explain how we subconsciously make sense of music and at the same time, aims to codify standard musical practices.

Aside from its connection to traditional music theory, maths is often thought to have an even more explicit connection to music. Music from a wide variety of genres

has been analysed for mathematical relationships. Explicit use of maths in compositional processes was extremely rare prior to the twentieth century.

However, some music analysts have claimed hidden mathematical structures in a variety of music, including that of Bach, Mozart and even rap group Blackstar. While the most plausible theories exhibit a connection to “something like mathematical structure,” many have been criticised for taking numerological significance too far. Only in the twentieth century, with the advent of modernism, was

maths introduced to both the visual arts and music in a more systematic method.

A great number of avant garde composers including Iannis Xenakis, Stockhausen and Schoenberg experimented with maths for both inspiration and as a unifying system.

The extension of this (music which is solely the expression of mathematical formulae) is extremely rare and does not necessarily sound unique.

The two aspects of music that maths has had the most impact on are instrumental tuning and musical notation. Prior to Pythagoras, it is likely that tuning was highly idiosyncratic. Imagine, for example, an orchestra in which each individual uses a different tuning system. The result would be unimaginably weird.

Without maths, we couldn’t have standardised tuning or developed the complex tuning method that we use today. The technological apparatus of maths also enabled the development of musical notation by allowing us to divide time into rhythmical units, ultimately leading to the system of notation currently used.

Clearly, maths provides an invaluable technological tool for music, whether it is through music theory, instrumental tuning or notation. Without maths, music would be vastly different. But in this sense do music and maths have a unique relationship?

Maths has a huge number of applications, even within the arts. In relation to painting and sculpture, maths had a pivotal influence on perspective, colour and geometry. The importance of maths to architecture hardly needs to be stated.

Finally, there is the more complex question of an aesthetic relationship between music and maths. Unfortunately, there is no consensus on this issue, and in the absence of any concrete proof or far reaching theory, this debate will continue for as long as maths is studied and music is played.

Mean Machine Given its numerous advantages, Conor Murphy questions why people have yet to embrace Linux

T

here’s a strange beast in your world. It’s in your phones, TVs, cars, and the majority of the Internet would collapse without it. It helps the poverty-stricken corners of the world get access to basic computers and runs on the most advanced systems on the planet.

Linux is a powerful flexible operating system which can’t get viruses and is completely free. This is because it’s open source, which simply means things will be better in the long run if we share, so everything in Linux is free.

There are many versions of Linux, but the one in question here is the computer operating system. Ubuntu is the main version of Linux used on computers, and it has quite a different feel to Windows or Mac

Linux is only present on about four per cent of the world’s computers, even though it’s free OS. When I first ordered a free CD from Ubuntu, it came with the following advice: “please copy and share this software as much as possible”.

Ubuntu operates at efficient speed and can be quite fun to use. You install things from a ‘Software Centre’, basically an app store for your computer. And there’s tens of thousands of programmes free on it.

You can have everything replaced with free alternatives that do pretty much the same

Linux contains a number of bonus features which distinguish it from other systems such as Windows and Office.

thing as Office, Photoshop, iTunes, Moviemaker, recording software, really whatever you want. Linux is only present on about four per cent of the world’s computers, even though it’s free. Why? Well it used to be because it was really hard to use. However, now it’s as easy as

Windows, if not easier, for most day-to-day things.

Linux’s impressive efficiency makes it even more frustrating that schools still use expensive programmes like Windows and Office, when Linux is simple. It just requires a slightly different approach, much

like Mac OS. Installing the operating system is the only possibly tricky bit, since it doesn’t work with every single computer perfectly, but if you search your problem, it’s usually an easy fix. However, to do a basic install is getting easier all the time.

If you want to install Ubuntu, you now only have to download it at their website.

You can then burn it to a CD, pop that CD into Windows and install it like any programme, by just clicking a few buttons.

This puts your information in no danger at all and when you restart the computer, you will now have a choice of operating systems. The installation process is fairly simple thereafter.

Have a look around and you’ll soon see you can do as much as you ever could on Windows or Mac OS and sometimes a lot more. The choice is the main thing, if you don’t like the Media Player or Office programme or game, go into the Software Centre and just browse and click on a new one.

Ultimately, I’m not really sure why I use Ubuntu rather than Windows. There are advantages such as speed, the amount of software and some really fancy things you can apply quite easily. Overall, it’s just because I like it. It never crashes and since there are never pop ups or viruses, there is no pirating software needed.

For more information, visit www.ubuntu. com.

18

THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVER 5 October 2010

EDITORIAL

editor@universityobserver.ie

Talleyrand

Critics have said that today’s students are being graded too easily.

Making the Grade Reflecting upon recent criticism of so-called grade inflation, Professor Ferdinand von Prondzynski argues that Ireland’s educational system as a whole needs to be overhauled

O

ver the past year a certain level of hysteria has built up in Ireland over student performance. All sorts of people have been popping up to tell us that students the length and breadth of the country have been getting worse and worse, and are unable to do a proper job once in employment. And how do they know this? Because their exam results have been getting worse and worse? No, no, it’s because they have been getting better, of course! And because anyone who knows anything knows that better results mean lower standards! At least, that’s what some of the commentariat seem to think.

Actually this matters, because the more that people repeat that standards are falling and that graduates don’t deserve what they are being awarded, the more this will come to be accepted as true, even without any real evidence.

But equally, the more this kind of stuff gets repeated, the less likely it is that we will address the problems that really do exist, and there are enough of those.

So how have we come to this position?

It all started in the old days, some time before 1980, when Irish universities were for the very few and generally very rich. If you were awarded a degree from, say, UCD you were set up for life. You would leave Belfield (or Earlsfort Terrace if you want to go back that far) and sail right into a job – pretty much any job of your choosing.

Frankly, nobody would be very much interested in your degree classification: you had the degree, what more could anyone want?

As a result, you probably didn’t feel a huge need to work extra hard for that first class result, either. In addition, you would have had examiners who thought that awarding more than one or two people a first was a bit excessive.

The long and the short of it is that until a few years ago, students didn’t have the same motivation to get really good results, and examiners didn’t exactly mark over-generously. Really, none of it mattered much.

Then, various things began to happen.

The participation rate in higher education began to go up and up, and so graduates didn’t necessarily have the same automatic access to the best jobs. They now had to compete with each other. Competition meant that they had to try to get the best possible degree classification, and this meant working much harder. Globalisation was getting under way, and so Irish graduates were not just competing with each other for jobs, but also with the best from places like America and Australia. It then became clear that the relatively harsh grading in Ireland was disadvantaging Irish graduates when they were competing for jobs across the world.

I remember back in 1989, when I was working as a lecturer in TCD, one of our external examiners pointing out that all our students were being marked half a grade lower than they would have got for the same performance in some of the best UK universities. He suggested that we were being unfair, and that we needed to look again at how we were recognising student achievement. Similar comments were being made in other departments and in other universities, and gradually the marks awarded to students in Ireland started to go up. Partly this was in order to fall into line with international practice, and partly in recognition of the greater work students were putting in.

But now we have people studying all this and concluding that it must amount to ‘grade inflation’, by which they mean that standards are slipping and that students are being awarded marks they do not deserve.

A group of lecturers from the Institute of Technology in Tralee have turned this into something of a campaign, reaching their conclusions by comparing grades between different periods without fully taking into account all the things that have changed over that period of time.

The problem is that all this chat is quite dangerous, as it has persuaded some industry leaders to conclude that Irish students are not measuring up well compared with their counterparts from other countries.

This in turn has set of a kind of national panic about grade inflation, which may be targeting wholly wrong issues.

It’s not that we don’t have problems; we do. But these problems are to do with an increasingly dodgy secondary school curriculum, an inadequate focus on basic writing and presentation skills, a distorted CAO system that pushes young people into the wrong degree programmes, and what are essentially rather old-fashioned pedagogical methods across the whole education spectrum. Not to mention the totally inadequate funding, but that’s maybe a rant for another occasion. These are the things we need to address. But here we are, being led to believe that only if we marked papers more strictly all our other problems will go away. They won’t, because we are targeting the wrong thing.

So, if you work hard and get a first class degree, don’t let anyone tell you that this is somehow undeserved or improper. It is what you worked for and what you are entitled to get. But equally, let us get on with the real education reform that in our hearts we know we need.

Professor Ferdinand von Prondzynski is the former President of DCU and has recently been appointed Vice-Chancellor of Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen.

Bonjour birdbrains, Another Freshers’ Week has come and gone, and Talleyrand could not be more – well, not ‘happy’, perhaps, slightly less disdainful? A great monument to Hackdom, the only thing that great white tent is good for is blocking sunlight to the Sap-bats’ offices. Without sunlight, how can Jonny “Suddenly not-so-single” Cosgrove tell if it’s day or night in his new permanent abode on the Horrordor?

Talleyrand must commend the hacks on such an innovative, exciting, imaginative, lively Failure Week, full of such traditional ‘fun’ activities that have been on the schedule since 2001. Just like last year, and the year before, and the year before that, and the year before that…

Well, you get the picture. It’s a pity the hacks don’t.

Talleyrand feels it’s incredibly appropriate that the sole ‘main’ event to take place during Flatulent Week was Catty & Effluent’s ‘Iron Stomach’. It sort of summed the whole week up in one word – VOM. Reigning champ Jonny “Can’t you think of anything more imaginative than ‘Bottle of Jager’?” Cosgrove beat off stiff competition from Justin “Better get my act together. I’m no James Williamson” Brayden to claim the ‘esteemed’ title for another year.

Again. It’s about time you shared the Iron Stomach, Cosgrove, no one likes a glory hog.

Eoin “Running for Ents… in several years’ time” Heffernan must be happy with the numbers he enrolled for Crew 98, and that his sucks-ciety performed to the same levels as the Lacklustre & Haggard and LoserSoc. The L&Hers must have been so concerned with John Henry “Sneaky gay” Newman’s ‘beatification’ that they forgot to book an actual porn star for their porn debate. Either that or Niall “Baby Cowen” Fahy was too busy cooing over his ’Rock ring to do a decent job of co-ordinating the event.

And as for LawlessSoc? Well, the less said, the better. Literally.

Talleyrand can forgive a pleb for thinking that in the void left with the demise of Bust & Lame, a new power would rise, but alas, no. The hacks aren’t that cunning.

One person – in fact, the only person – who enjoyed the week was Stephen “Hunk of burning love” Whelan, who used the opportunity to strut his stuff on

the wooden marquee floor and keep the hacks in line. Pity about the snot-green ski jacket though, it really doesn’t bring out your eyes, Stevie boy. Whoever decided upon that colour must be fashionably challenged, among other things.

Talleyrand wonders what Freshers’ Week 2011 will have in store? Probably a bungee jump, a rodeo machine, the Classic Beatles, an inflatable gauntlet and a seven-year-old Creative Zen playlist. So predictable, so very predictable.

One person who certainly (believes he) broke from tradition is Pat “Why is the paper picking on me?” de Brún, who has been shouting from the rooftops about how he has allegedly broken the record for the amount of Reprehensible Reps nominations. Well, when you increase the number of constituencies, you tend to get an increase in candidates.

Senõr C ’n’ C is delighted nonetheless.

His nine-month Presidential campaign is off to a great start, seeing as he’s recruited all these Reps as his campaign team. He might want to sort out things a little closer to home, though. Having two other Presidential rivals on the Horrordor won’t make things easier for Patty Boy. Still though, he could always base his campaign on the promise that he’ll overhaul the Loyalty Card scheme (are you taking notes, Pat?), seeing as Paul “terrible email etiquette cant even type basic email sesh tonight lads coppers 1am” Lynam has made such a mess of it. €1 off for every €100 spent? What a way to reward loyalty, SLynam.

James “Just crawled out of a bush” Williamson returned to the fold last week after his attempt to end his miserable life on the Horrordor by throwing himself under a car. His near-death experience notwithstanding, Talleyrand is struggling to think of something that Jimbo has actually done in the past three months. Perhaps it’s a case of ‘Like mentor, like mentee’? You got what you wanted, UCD, now you have to live with him. Talleyrand voted for Logue anyway.

Speaking of Fianna Fáil’s rising star, Loguey Bear made an appearance at Jonny’s Fleshers’ Ball to work the room and do some schmoozing. He has quite a bit of catch-up to do to match Pat’s campaign.

Talleyrand feels like something’s missing… Ah yes, Scott “Your honuor” Ahearn has been seen rocking in a corner of the Horrodor, watching with panic as his email messages increase to around 1,000,000,000. So many people. So many funds. So little time to hug them all. Not enough smiley faces or scented candles. Talleyrand understands your pain, Scottie, but frankly, you deserve it.

You asked them to Please Talk, and they obliged. See if you can make your days a bit better by dipping into that charity money in your office. Not like it’s never been done before!

Talleyho!

Talleyrand

Quotes of the Fortnight: “Churchill said a very funny thing about America. He said ‘the United States of America invariably does the right thing, after exhausting every other alternative’” Former President Bill Clinton on the US’s special relationship with their British counterparts

“We are going to have to have it reflect the whole of college life, so it should be spiritual, cultural, all that kind of stuff” Student Centre manager Dominic O’Keefe explains the criteria for an item to be put in the time capsule of the new Student Centre.

“It is a charity that’s close to my heart. It’s a charity that helps a huge amount of students who suffer from eating disorders, male and female” SU Welfare Vice President Scott Ahearn explains why he chose to raise funds for Bodywhys on Pink Day.

THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVER 5 October 2010

EDITORIAL

editor@universityobserver.ie

Editorial

N

ow that we’re all back into the swing of things, summer seems like a long time ago. The concourse of UCD is once again populated with the throng of students, a far cry from the empty campus of just over a month ago.

While we’ve just entered October, midterm assignments and exams are already becoming relevant for many students.

The library is beginning to get more and more visitors, as both undergraduate and graduate students begin to realise the workload that they have for the academic year.

Many students have incredibly busy timetables and can often not visit the library until the evening. As we get closer and closer to Christmas, these evening crowds will just get bigger. However, it seems as if UCD is completely ignorant of this situation. Despite the fact that many students are now around during the evening and at weekends, there are no proper food facilities for them.

The main restaurant closes at seven sharp, hardly convenient for the average student who may wish to get some study done before dinner. Students are not just in class until five. Film screenings, language labs and other modules can often run until eight o’clock, rendering the restaurant completely inaccessible to stu-

dents. Other privately owned restaurants also close ludicrously early.

It seems that for a campus that tries to market itself as a community, the resources for UCD’s residents are shockingly lacking. We are supposed to be a university of international standards, yet facilities for students who live on campus or who wish to study late are basically non-existent.

While budgets are an issue, late-night food provisions are something that every university needs. Students cannot be expected to use study and socialising facilities if the only food they are able to eat is junk food bought from the Students’ Union shops. Healthy study patterns are based upon a healthy body and mind.

Students will not study as well on a diet of chocolate bars and soft drinks than if they were provided with proper restaurant facilities, with healthy meals.

A

ccording to UCDSU, a record number of students have applied to be class representatives. While the campaign to allow people to run must be admired, we cannot lose the run of ourselves.

Until our representatives have been elected and have proven themselves to be able for the job, there is no real cause

for celebration.

Countless students run for class rep every year, and they invariably get sucked into the clique of the Students’ Union. If you are running for class rep, well done on standing up and being counted, but the real work comes after the election and the inevitable messiness of class rep training.

Do not feel intimidated by those who are in roles above you. You are there to represent a class of your peers. Do not feel pressured to toe the line just becuase they ask you to. Stand up for yourself and for what you feel your class needs.

Ask your class what they want from you.

Take this position as an opportunity to change things. Of course you can make friends, but don’t get sucked in.

People seem to think that Students’ Unions do not have the power to do anything or affect any change. This is only as true as the representatives that inhabit the councils. If class reps stand up for the issues they believe in and refuse to listen to the criticisms they may face, hopefully certain levels of change can be affected. In a time when students face several problems in relation to educational funding, money in general and employment opportunities, it is more important than ever that our representatives truly have our best interests at heart.

one of our colleges - Trinity College Dublin – is ranked within the top 50 in the world, and our runner up UCD is the only other to make the top 100.

Some are in debt (UCD has a debt of €11m), all are having to cut staff and services, most have seen an exodus of some of their top academic talent because of cutbacks and all of this means the quality of teaching in Irish universities is on the decline. By any standards, this is a poor return for an English speaking country at the edge of Europe and highlights the inadequacies within the Irish system.

It also raises the question - why

Contributors: Volume XVII, Issue 2 Editor Bridget Fitzsimons Deputy Editor Paul Fennessy Art and Design Director Jenn Compeau o-two Editors Emer Sugrue Killian Woods News Editor Amy Bracken Chief News Reporter Katie Hughes Features Editor Leanne Waters Chief Features Writer Natalie Voorheis Comment Editor Kate Rothwell

Letters to the Editor Madam, In relation to Danielle Clarke’s interesting article about standards in Irish universities I have a couple of points to make.

Firstly, with record numbers going to university because of the recession, the choice of college has never been more important, but given the current state of crisis at Ireland’s top colleges, and their “virtual insolvency,” (as described by the recently departed DCU president Ferdinand von Prondsynski) how good really are they?

A critical examination would show that Irish universities are not world class, not even close. Only

19

does a country, with the same population as greater Manchesterneed seven full universities? This was reflected in the Higher Education Authority’s ‘Merge or Die’ warning earlier this year. The sector is in crisis in terms of funding with all seven universities currently subjected to harsh budget cuts of six per cent over two years.

Let’s stop fooling ourselves.

While league tables don’t give us the full picture, they give us enough to tell us that Irish universities are, at best, second rate.

Is mise le Meas, Padraig O’Duffai

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 All letters are subject to editorial approval. The Editor reserves the right to edit any letters.

Clarification In our September 21st 2010 edition, in the article “De Brún defends lack of collaborative effort on SU diary”, we incorrectly quoted Pat de Brún as having said “I would like see this idea kept on and eventually the Freshers’ Guide will be known as the SU diary and guidebook.” The Student Guidebook and Diary is no longer known as the Freshers’ Guide.

In the same edition, it was stated that two candidates running for the position of B&L auditor were not considered suitable for the position by UCD Societies Council, when they were, in fact, not considered eligible.

The University Observer is happy to clarify these errors.

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.

Science, Health and Technology Editor Alan Coughlan Sports Editor Ryan Mackenzie Music Editor Grace Murphy Film Editor Jon Hozier-Byrne Fashion Editor Kieran Murphy Online Editor Chris Duffin Contributors: Steven Balbirnie, Jonathan Baxter, Kevin Beirne, Lorenz Beyer, Eoin Brady, Chien Buggle, James Conlon, Alex Court, Stephen Devine, Bríd Doherty, Sarah Doran, Amy Eustace, Caitríona Farrell, Sean Finnan, Jennifer Fitzgerald, Aiden Forde, Sam Geoghegan, Alyson Gray, Aoife Harrison, Imelda Hehir,

Hannah Higgins, Matthew Jones, Adam Kearney, Alison Lee, Marianne Madden, Michael Madigan, Catherine Maguire, Siobhan McGuinness, Lauren McKeown, Fadora McSexypants, Noreen Moloney, George Morahan, Conor Murphy, Sinéad O’Brien, Gordon O’Callaghan, James O’Connor, Dearbhail O’Crowley, Míchéal Ó Gallchóir, Elizabeth O’Malley, Rachel O’Neill, Dermot O’Rourke, Michael Phoenix, Laura Scanlan, Alison Sneyd, Róisín Sweeney, Talleyrand, Ekaterina Tikhoniouk, Aoife Valentine, Ferdinand von Prondzynski Illustrator: Olwen Hogan Photographers: Amy Bracken, Emer Igbokwe, Rebecca Windsor, Killian Woods.

Special Thanks: Peter, Ian, Tim, Malcolm, Ade, Jonathan, Dave, Emma, Jed, Bob, Steve (and the robots) at Trafford Park Printing; Paul at Higgs; Eilis O’Brien and Dominic Martella; Colm, Sabrina and Rory at MCD Promotions; Bernie Divilly at PIAS; Mary Kate Murphy at EA; Giselle Jiang; Dave Carmody; Dominic, Grace, Charlie, Jason, Gary, Stephen, Mark, Sandra, Paul and all the Student Centre staff; Gavan Reilly; Catriona Laverty; David Neary; Ciara Brennan; Catriona Blake; Bombay Pantry; Pizza Hut; Dan Savage; Rafael van der Vaart.

Very Special Thanks: Rob Lowney Tel: (01) 716 3119/3120 Email: info@ universityobserver.ie

Pat de Brún

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James Williamson

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“HOW TO”

TALKS How To Talks

are starting up again this year.

First talk is "How to move away from home" given by Marie Murrey (head of counseling) and Aisling O'Grady ( Student Adviser) at 1pm, in Rooms 1 & 2 in the Student Center.

Tea, coffee and sandwiches are provided.

SVP

SVP Emergency Fund is now started and is taking place in G005 every Tuesday from 11am till 1pm. You can apply for financial assistance of up to €150 Pop into Scott, our Welfare Officer in the Student Centre or contact him at welfare@ucdsu.ie & phone 017163112

Need academic advice?

For any academic issues pop into James our Education officer or you can contact him at education@ucdsu.ie or call him on 01-7163111 The SU BOOKSHOP is now open, make sure to drop down and check out the best value books on campus!

Notice!

UCDEnts proudly sponsored by Vodafone & in association with Spin 1038 present...

PRESENT

Election for Positions on the S.U. Executive!

THURSDAY NIGHT LIVE

Late! bar

Tickets only €3

SUPPORT FROM

Elections will be held for the positions of: -International Students Officer -Mature Students Officer -LGBT Rights Officer -Disability Rights Officer

&

ENYS DJS €3 TICKETS, 2 MANY DECKS, 1 WHOPPER NIGHT

Thursday Night Late n’ Live 7th October @ The Student Bar Doors 9pm The best student promos in Dublin Your home on a Thursday night!

Tickets available now online at ucdents.com & at the door

The elections will be held at SU council, at 6pm in Theatre Q, Arts

Doors 8pm, Tickets @ €3 from UCDEnts.com (Also available at The Student Bar, SU Shops (Library, Student Centre, Engineering, Science) ROAR/ GOV id essential Over 18's

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Get on board now at vodafone.ie/redline Terms and conditions apply. Subject to port in via vodafone.ie/redline, online registration & €20 monthly top up.

proffesor green.indd 1

28/09/2010 16:34

Building on Thursday 7th Ocotber.

THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVER 5 October 2010

Sport

sport@universityobserver.ie

The Land Of The Rising Sport As the unprecedented economic prosperity of Asia is drawing much of western culture to the east, James Conlan discusses the affects this shift is having on the world of sport

I

n a time of a global recession, where western projects, such as the London 2012 Olympic games, are struggling to meet financial requirements and deadlines, sport in the far east is flourishing. Western sports in this part of the world over the last decade have endured somewhat of a renaissance, especially in Korea, Japan and China. A lot of financial capital has been pumped into sporting projects and infrastructure, mainly due to the economic revolution that has enriched these countries.

In Japan in the early nineties, the number one sport was undoubtedly baseball.

However, the launch of the J-League in 1993, Japan’s first-ever professional soccer league and the first of its kind on the continent of Asia, quickly began to challenge baseball’s dominance.

The J-League, which consisted of corporate sponsorship, flag-waving cheerleaders and flamboyant stars and managers such as Zico, Dunga, Stoichkov, Schiallaci, and Arsene Wenger, began to capture a lot of fans away from baseball.

The league also inspired the youth of the nation to take up soccer, which evidently led to the birth of cult figures such as Hidetoshi Nakata, a former Asian player of the year in 1997 and 1998. Nakata, Japan’s first-ever soccer poster-boy, was the sixth highest paid soccer player in the world in 2002, earning over €10 million a year.

Nakata paved the way for a production line of talent. Asian soccer players, such as Shinsuke Nakamura, dubbed the “Beckham of the Far East” for his prolific free-kicks, and Park Ji Sung of Manchester United have emerged out of this growing interest and funding. In Park’s hometown of Suwon, for example, a road has been named after him to commemorate him being the first South Korean native to play in the Premier League and the first player from Asia to ever win a Champions League medal.

Furthermore, it is no coincidence that the influence of baseball and American

21

SPORTS DIGEST Rugby: The college’s rugby team triumphed in the Dudley Cup last week in Trinity College. UCD were drawn against the home side in the semi-final and a thrilling match befitting of this great rivalry ensued. UCD secured a 20-13 victory, thus earning their place in the final, where they met Belfast’s Queens University.

The final was less competitive, as the Students eased into a commanding early lead. Three tries in rapid succession proved too much for Queens, who conceded a 24-7 loss on the day.

American football: The hard-hitting hysteria of American Football has been a feature of the UCD sport scene for a few years now.

Last year, they upgraded to the Irish American Football League. Unfortunately, they were unable to make a real impact on the league and failed to reach the playoffs –finishing with a record of 2-6. The team’s season opener is fast approaching and with stiff competition, such as that of Ireland’s number one unit, the Dublin Rebels, ahead of them, they face a tough task in the coming months.

Hidetoshi Nakata is one of the most recognisable faces of Asian soccer.

culture in the far reaches of Asia prompted the growth of basketball, and similarly, the emergence of the continent’s greatest sporting export. In China he is called Big Brother Yao, but to any NBA or Houston Rockets fan, he is known as Yao Ming.

Yao is adored throughout China and in 2006, he was named as China’s most influential athlete of all time. The 7’6” giant is widely respected, not only for his ability on the court, but for his modest and hardworking personality, despite his wealth and fame. He has been held up as the personification of China’s embrace of western

capitalism and in 2004 and 2008, he carried the Chinese flag during the respective Olympic opening ceremonies.

The tiger period in the Asian economy, especially in China, has led to this rapid growth of western sports in these populated regions. There can be no doubt that it has lead to the funding and completion of sporting works of art such as the Shanghai’s Qi Zhong Tennis Centre. The complex was completed in 2006 to host the Tennis ATP World Tour Masters and for use as part of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It stunned the viewing public around the world with its

futuristic aesthetics. The magnificent stadiums that were constructed for the 2002 football World Cup in Japan and South Korea are further testament to this growing interest in western sports and can be viewed as a legacy of prosperity.

Unfortunately, the shift in traditionally European and American-based sports (for example, the ATP Tour and the Formula One championship) towards the Asian market in recent years, suggests that the sporting world may well be willing to abandon its heritage in pursuit of a bigger cheque.

Rowing: UCD Ladies’ Boat Club were announced as winners of the senior title in the 2010 Rowing Ireland Grand League last Wednesday.

Over a course of six nationwide regattas and against over 100 crews, the team took the 2010 title in stunning fashion. With wins at Queens, Cork and Skibbereen, the ladies demonstrated their dominance over the field to earn a total of 141 points, which was 28 ahead of second place rivals Trinity Boat Club.

Ryan Mackenzie

Students Open Rugby Season In Winning Fashion The UCD rugby team began their season with a home win against De La Salle Palmerston last Saturday, edging out their opponents by 2217. Gordon O’Callaghan reports

G

oing into Saturday’s game, UCD would have been very aware of the talent that De La Salle Palmerston had on their side, having won the corresponding fixture last season as well as finishing fourth in the league, and narrowly missing the play offs.

As the rain fell over the Belfield Bowl, DLSP RFC were hit with some bad news just before kick off: their powerful number

12 Adam Philpot was a late withdrawal, having failed a fitness test. To fill their vacant inside center role, De La Salle brought in a late replacement.

This late change did not seem to have much adverse affect however, with Palmerston bossing the opening exchanges.

The away side continued to apply the pressure, especially in the middle of the park, where out-side center Ken Copeland was breaking the game line at every opportunity. Just after the minute mark, De La Salle’s right-winger Andrew Mitchell stormed down the wing and forced a penalty off the scrambling UCD defence.

However, he pulled it left and wide.

DLSP did not have to wait long for the opening score though. UCD were consistently being pinned back inside their own twenty-two, as the visitors’ back line’s moves were causing them all sort of problems. It was one such move that led to the opening try, with DLSP captain and outhalf Phil De Barra breaking down the left channel, enabling him to cross the line and

with a successful conversion, it was 0-7 with 13 minutes played.

The first try seemed to be a wake up call for UCD. After the restart, they began to force the visitors back into their own half.

The Students completely dominated at the scrum and it looked only a matter of time before the students were able to open their own account.

The home side finally got their reward, when another malfunctioning DLSP lineout gave UCD a penalty inside the twentytwo. College’s number 10 James Thornton stepped up and slotted the ball over the bar to make it 3-7 with 29 minutes played.

The home side were high in confidence and Davis McSharry in particular was winning every battle in the middle of the park.

In the 33rd minute, he broke through the DLSP defence and stormed down the left touchline, beating three of DLSP’s covering defenders only to draw in the full back and offload to a grateful Michael Twomey, who was left with the easiest of finishes. A missed conversion, however, meant that

UCD lead 10-7 at halftime.

De La Salle would have been grateful for the half-time whistle for a much-needed opportunity to regroup and come out stronger.

The visitors came storming back. The UCD defence was unable to do anything after a sublime move from DLSP set up a ruck just short of the line. Late call-up Thompson was able to barge over to put the visitors ahead by four points.

As in the first half, a poor start spurred UCD on and they were able again regain control of the game.

College scrumhalf Rob Shanley fed the ball to second row Mark Flanagan who showed great hands to send James Thornton over for UCD’s second try. But with another missed kick, the score stood at 1514.

UCD’s animal instincts sensed blood and they went for the kill. Their backs began to spread the ball from wing to wing, dragging De La Salle’s defensive line one way and the next. Eventually, the Students

found themselves with a two-man overlap on the left as David McSharry sent a long pass out to the wing for substitute David Doyle to receive and convert for yet another try. A successful conversion this time made the score 22-14.

UCD were soaking up their opponents’ pressure with relative ease and on occasions, were able to counter-attack. They even looked set for another try when captain Andrew Cummiskey broke through the defence, but his pass fell into the hands of a Palmerston defender.

De La Salle pressed hard to get back into the game in the last ten minutes, choosing to go for the line with a penalty, only to dive just short of the line.

With the clock inching closer to fulltime, the visitors were awarded another penalty inside the UCD twenty-two. They opted for a conservative kick at goal, which Conor Hickey duly converted. The score thus finished at 22-17, to give the Students the best possible start to the new season.

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THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVER 5 October 2010

Sport

sport@universityobserver.ie

Heineken Cup Pours Back

With the Heineken Cup set to begin, Stephen Devine outlines what we should expect from the highly anticipated season ahead

Most Memorable Moments in Irish Sport #5 – Robbie Keane’s Equaliser Against Germany. Ibaraki, Japan, 2002.

In the first of a regular countdown of great Irish sports moments, Sports Editor Ryan Mackenzie recounts the moment when skepticism and cynicism were quashed during the Republic of Ireland’s 2002 FIFA World Cup campaign in Japan and South Korea

Having won the Heineken Cup two years ago, Leinster are not among the favourites this season

E

urope’s domestic leagues may have started a few weeks ago, but attention will now shift towards the most important club competition in Europe. Since its inception in 1995, the Heineken Cup has grown to become one of the most prestigious tournaments in world rugby.

Last year’s competition was dominated

by French sides culminating in an allFrench final, with Toulouse edging out Biarritz by three points in, rather fittingly, the home of French Rugby – the Stade de France.

From a French perspective, Toulouse will be favourites to increase their record number of titles to five this season. However, fellow Frenchmen Clermont Auvergne look menacing enough to make a good run in the competition and will no doubt relish a return to Leinster’s RDS arena in the pool stages, where many feel they left with an undeserving loss in the quarter-final stage last season. This was largely due to a horror kicking show from Australian out-half Brock James.

Last year’s beaten finalists Biarritz will be very confident of qualifying from their pool, which includes both Bath and Ulster.

However, it seems as if English rugby has been in decline for the past few seasons. The introduction of a salary cap has led many of the country’s brightest stars to relocate across the Channel. In spite of this, English fans will still expect success from the likes of Leicester, Northampton and Saracens.

The latter face a tough task having being drawn in the unenviable ‘group of death’.

Leinster fans, however, should be look-

ing forward their away fixture against the London side, as it will be one of the first rugby union matches to take place at the new Wembley stadium.

Saracens have already hit the headlines in the past couple of weeks, but for all the wrong reasons. Club captain Steve Borthwick decided to snub the Heineken Cup launch in favor of a team-bonding trip to a beer festival in Munich. Club chief executive Edward Griffiths has defended the trip.

Speaking from Munich, he commented: “[This event] is all part of what we’re trying to do at this club. It’s a game of inches and we’re finding a few more inches here. We’re trying to be a little bit different.”

The Welsh will be aiming to have only their second-ever finalist as the Grand Finale comes back to the Millennium Stadium this year. The last time a Welsh side contested the final was in fact in the nation’s capital way back in the competition’s first year during the 1995/96 season – with Cardiff losing out to Toulouse after extra time.

Their best chance this year would appear to come in the form of Ospreys. Head coach Sean Holley is aware of the challenge his team face against some of Europe’s top sides: “We have some old foes there with Munster, new blood with Toulon and with London Irish top of the Premiership at the moment, we’re in for a really tough ride.”

Another Welsh side that will have high hopes for this season are current Amlin Challenge Cup holders the Cardiff Blues.

The Welsh unit have bolstered their side over the summer with the signing of Scottish international Dan Parks.

So what of the Irish challenge? Last sea-

son was disappointing for Irish sides after their success in the two previous years, with both Munster and Leinster taking home the trophy respectively.

Munster have made the best start to the season and appear to be the more settled squad. They open their campaign with a trip to the Madejski Stadium to face an in-form London Irish team, who will be trying to make up for not getting out of their pool last season. They will, however, be without captain Paul O’Connell until November at the earliest. The team is rich in experience, though, and should emerge from the group with relative ease.

Leinster will also be without captain Leo Cullen for the foreseeable future after he had shoulder surgery during the summer.

No doubt he will have found it hard to watch Leinster’s lackluster performances so far this season.

With only one win from four, even the most diehard of fans may not have much hope for coach Joe Schmidt’s first year in charge. Coupled with the tough group in which they are drawn, it will be a good achievement for the Irish province to make the quarter-finals.

Ireland’s first ever Heineken Cup champions, Ulster, have also made a good start to the season, and expectation in Belfast is high. This may their best chance to progress from the group stages, since their titlewinning campaign in 1999.

This weekend sees that start of a big year for European rugby considering that the World Cup now less than a year away.

However, players and fans alike will be looking no further than the Heineken Cup when it kicks off this Friday.

L

Robbie Keane brought hope back to a team in tatters after Roy Keane’s departure.

ed by Manchester United legend Roy Keane, the Republic of Ireland soccer team surpassed all expectations in the qualifying round of the 2002 World Cup. With a second place finish in a ‘Group of Death’ – behind Luis Figo’s Portugal and ahead of the star-studded Dutch – they earned a play-off with Iran, whom they overcame to book their spot in the Far East. For only the third time, we had qualified for the World Cup finals and the nation was in ecstasy.

With the opening fixture approaching, the team began their preparations on the small island of Saipan. Utterly disillusioned by the inanity of the poorly organised provisions of Ireland’s training camp, Roy Keane sparked an argument with manager Mick McCarthy, which proved to be irreconcilable and devastating.

Within days, one of the best players in the competition had left the World Cup, as Keane departed for his home in England. The country lay in wake, as the general consensus shifted towards heartbreaking pessimism.

Confidence and enthusiasm in the Irish public was hard to find. An opening draw to an overrated Cameroon side did little to spur passion into the spirits of the Irish fans. The next match, which would make or break our World Cup dreams, was against Germany, who had just beaten Saudi Arabia 8-0.

Within the opening twenty minutes in Ibaraki, Japan, a Miroslav Klose goal had put the favorites 1-0 up. The rest of the match was a dismal procession of German defence and failed attempts at an Irish comeback. We looked to be mak-

ing the early exit from the competition that every level-headed football fan had predicted.

The standard ninety minutes had elapsed and only a short period of injury time remained. The mood was flat, as the all-too familiar feeling of disappointment known to Irish fans set in.

But then, out of a desperate long ball from Steve Finnan came a remarkable stroke of luck. Niall Quinn rose high into the air to head the incoming ball from the edge of the German box into the path of the welcoming Robbie Keane. The young striker from Tallaght blasted it past the legendary German keeper, Oliver Kahn, who could only tip it onto the post en route to the back of the net.

The shock from an Irish perspective was epitomised by the face of Mick McCarthy, who’s jaw dropped with comical disbelief at the stunning miracle of this 92nd minute goal.

The fans in the stadium went berserk and a sense of euphoria swept the nation. This 1-1 draw kept the dream alive and with only a seemingly simple match against Saudi standing in their way, a place in the knock-out stages was now amazingly a very real possibility.

An eventual agonising penalty shootout loss to a fortunate Spanish side in the final 16 teams stage proved to be the team’s last heroic endeavour.

However, Keane’s late goal changed the complexion of Ireland’s World Cup and proved the team could prevail.

A moment to be proud of, from a team most people had written off.

THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVER 5 October 2010

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Sport

sport@universityobserver.ie

Boat Club: Fenno On Sport A Season In Review The UCD rowing team recorded a famous victory at the

prestigious Henley Regatta in London recently. Kevin Beirne discusses the magnitude of their achievement

T

he UCD Boat Club is one of the most successful sports clubs in the both the university and the country. Its proud history is matched only by the hunger and vision of the success of its current crop of members.

Founded in 1917, the UCD Boat Club demands respect everywhere it goes. The 2010 season has been an exceptional one, even judging by the sky-high standards the club sets for itself at the beginning of each year.

An incredible display at the famous Henley Regatta in London saw Tom Doyle, Finbar Manning, Colm Pierce, David Neale and Jennie Lynch bring home the Prince Albert Challenge Cup for coxed fours. It is UCD’s first win at Henley since the “Animals” of the mid-1970s.

Coached by Pat McDonagh, the team impressively overcame some stiff opposition. Victory at the Henley Regatta was never going to be easy, as every year, teams from all over the world flock to this small part of London to compete with the best.

This year, 20 nations were represented and a total of 505 crews took part.

UCD quickly discovered the enormity of the task ahead of them, when they were forced to play catch-up in the second round, as Cambridge University’s Goldie Boat Club fought as hard as they could, holding the lead beyond the Fawley. But UCD showed their resilience and pushed through

The UCD Boat Club recorded a historic victory last July, winning the National Championships.

to advance to the semi-finals by two-thirds of a length.

The semi-final saw UCD face-off with a very strong Harvard team, and it took the record time of the tournament to see them off by two-thirds of a length once more.

This left UCD in the unfamiliar position of a Henley Regatta final, something worthy of applause itself. But UCD had not come here to be second best and saw off the University of Bristol by an impressive two lengths.

However, this was not the end of UCD’s successful season. The National Championships, which took place in Cork two weeks after Henley, saw UCD’s novice eights finish their season undefeated. The year, which began in Belfast back in February, came to a crescendo in July. The team secured the National Championships by an incredible twelve seconds, beating Trinity and NUI Galway in the process.

The team of Dermot Sheridan, Conor Walsh, Hannah Fenlon, Tim Ryan, Darragh McHugh, David Breheny, John Simpson and the Clifford brothers – Cian and Cathal – were coached by former Olympian Pat Gannon and John O’Keefe.

Dermot Sheridan was keen to stress that John O’Keefe, a former National Champion himself, was instrumental in their emphatic victory.

Obviously, no look back at the season of a UCD team would be complete without a mention of the colors races. For the third year in a row, the boat club brought home the Gannon Cup after beating the Dublin University boat club of Trinity by the comfortable margin of four lengths. Unfortunately, UCD still trail Trinity by eight victories in the history of the meeting. If recent form is anything to go by however, that gap will become significantly smaller in the coming years.

As it stands, both teams have won the Dan Quin Shield an equal amount of times.

Unfortunately, this means that the Shield was not retained by UCD boat club, but the manner in which it was lost is encouraging for the team. The 2011 colors races are expected to take place next March, although an official date has yet to be decided.

For more information on the UCD Boat Club, please visit: www.ucd.ie/boat-men

Eagles Soar Past Students UCD’s basketball team started their season on Saturday night with a 72-84 loss to the Limerick Eagles. Sports Editor Ryan Mackenzie reports on the game

Sports Editor

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ith the introduction of new signing James Crowder from Pfeiffer University, North Carolina, and the return of Meany brothers Conor and Niall, to the squad, UCD would have hoped for a bright start to the new season. Unfortunately, this was not to be the case. The visitors scored first and never looked back, leading until the final whistle.

The Students would have no doubt been shaken by the early and consistent shooting from their opponents – notably from guard Matthew Hall, who opened the scoring with a deep three-pointer.

The Students struggled considerably on

offence early on. The same could not be said for the energetic Eagles who started brightly.

Point guard Scott Kinevane led the assault and joined his teammate Hall in an exhibition of fine shooting.

UCD were crippled by their poor command of the boards. The Eagles simply bossed the home side up front, who rarely came down with the ball when a rebound was offered. This often put the Students on the back foot and allowed Limerick to control the tempo of the game.

The first quarter ended with the visitors in a commanding position at 14-26 ahead and the rest of the half continued in similar fashion. The home defence seemed to be asleep at times and simply gifted their opponents more chances to extend their lead.

The third quarter began promisingly for UCD, with the home side demonstrating a real desire to break the deficit. Before long, Limerick’s lead was reduced to only four points and a miraculous comeback appeared to be on the cards.

However, the Students were plagued once

again by poor rebounding and offence. Limerick’s Matthew Hall continued to impress from deep and scored a number of points from the arch, which severely dampened the resolve of the home side.

The quarter ended with the visitors back at twelve points adrift. The task now seemed insurmountable, and the passionate encouragement of the home supporters would prove fruitless.

The Eagles held on for a convincing victory and were no doubt deserved winners.

However, positives can be taken from the game. Overseas recruit James Crowder impressed with 22 points on the night and the young side looked great at times, showing a real desire to win.

Luckily the season is only in its infancy and the Students have plenty of time to resolve the issues of complacency and inconsistency that proved fatal for them on this occasion. Their next game is another home fixture this Saturday against the UCC Demons, and they will be looking to bounce back with a win to kick-start their title campaign.

Paul Fennessy analyses Ireland’s prospects in the upcoming crucial European Championship qualifiers, as well as looking at Manchester United’s recent poor form

O

ur aging generation of Irish footballers have one last chance to extinguish the pervasive inferiority complex which continually haunts the team.

This Friday’s encounter with Russia, along with next week’s trip to Slovakia, are inarguably the team’s most crucial challenges since that infamous playoff against France.

A number of obstacles confront the current set-up. These include Giovanni Trapattoni’s selection policy, which is invariably bizarre. Trapattoni seems to largely favour players who made themselves available for the summer training camp which preceded the qualifying campaign.

There are several players who have been handsomely rewarded, owing to their willingness to simply show up when called upon. Paul Green, for example, a journeyman footballer ploughing his trade at Derby County, is now pushing for a starting place in the team. He appears to have earned such status solely as a result of his performances against Paraguay and Algeria.

James McCarthy, on the other hand, missed the summer camp and has been ostracised from the squad ever since.

McCarthy patently possesses more footballing talent than Green – his fine form since breaking into the Wigan team last season even enabled him to be linked with Arsenal at one stage.

Yet even if McCarthy were to secure a dream move to a top side, it remains doubtful whether Trapattoni would pick him. The Italian tends to prefer two physical, combative central midfielders in the mould of Green, in contrast with the footballing elegance of McCarthy amongst others.

For all Trapattoni’s idiosyncrasies however, his obstinate team selections and cautious footballing philosophy has brought the side a certain degree of success. Nonetheless, if he is to achieve significant progress with the players at his disposal, he must encourage the team to refrain from adopting their usual overly negative approach.

A lack of confidence in their own ability has been a perpetual peril for Irish footballers. Roy Keane bemoaned this attitude as far back as the 2002 World Cup qualifiers, when many Irish players left the field celebrating, despite letting a two-goal lead slip to draw with Holland.

And there was a touch of this lack of ruthlessness last November in Paris too.

Although it is true that the French had superior individual players that night, their vulnerability was apparent for all to see. Trapattoni’s Ireland, notwithstanding their admirable efforts, lacked the conviction to truly expose their opponents’ weaknesses.

There was a similar element of regret

following the respective draws in the games against Italy and Bulgaria during the same campaign. In each of these matches, the consensus was that Ireland had played well and were unfortunate not to grasp an elusive victory. With added self-belief, Trapattoni’s side could have qualified without even having to go down the playoff route.

Of course, critics would argue that Ireland do not have players to compete on the international stage. But this argument is flawed. Switzerland, for instance, have appeared in the last four consecutive major international tournaments, despite hardly possessing copious talent within their ranks. Ireland, by comparison, have not figured in a major competition since their colourful exploits at the 2002 World Cup. Surely Trapattoni’s men have the capacity to emulate the Swiss team’s achievements.

Speaking of events in Japan and Korea circa 2002, the tournament’s aftermath was also telling from an Irish perspective. Most supporters expected the likes of Shay Given, Damien Duff and Robbie Keane to improve in the preceding years.

Instead, it proved to be the beginning of the end for this brief renaissance in Irish football – a contention highlighted by the fact that two of these three players are no longer first-team regulars at their clubs. Meanwhile, Duff has never fully fulfilled the promise of his early years.

The sense of disappointment experienced by Irish football fans has been long been exacerbated by numerous factors – a large number of those involved with Brian Kerr’s successful youth sides of the late nineties swiftly descended into obscurity thereafter. For instance, Ireland finished in an unprecedented third place at the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, but of that side, only Damien Duff subsequently played football at the highest level.

All these considerable disappointments coincide with the aforementioned inferiority complex afflicting the Irish team. So far, Trapattoni has proven to be a fairly astute tactician. Ultimately though, his man-management skills will determine whether or not his side are again left cursing what might have been.

Manchester United’s challenge for this year’s Premiership title appears to be under threat even at this early stage of the season. An unconvincing 1-0 win against Valencia in the Champions League last week was followed by a toothless 0-0 draw with a brave, but limited Sunderland side in the league.

Given their precarious financial situation, United’s recent indifferent form will only exacerbate fans concerns. Deprived of their resident magician Wayne Rooney, they are currently having to depend on either the unreliable likes of Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen, or the raw talent of unproven youngsters such as Javier Hernandez.

If this situation continues to worsen, it is highly doubtful that their few players of the calibre of Rooney will stick around much longer.

sport@universityobserver.ie

SPORT

VOLUME xViI ISSUE 2

5th October 2010

PAGE 23

PAGE 22

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Paul Fennessy discusses Ireland’s chances in the upcoming European qualifiers

We preview the upcoming Heineken Cup kickoff

Beginning the countdown of the greatest moments in Irish sport

Students Claim Spoils in Thriller UCD secured a hard-fought 3-2 victory over league leaders Shamrock Rovers in the Belfield Bowl last Friday, writes Amy Eustace

T

he UCD Bowl was the venue for a thrilling encounter on Friday night, as the Students hosted table-toppers Shamrock Rovers. With the visitors looking to secure another three points to strengthen their title challenge and UCD seeking to extend their stay in the top flight for another year, it was bound to be an interesting match. In front of a record turnout, UCD battled to an impressive 3-2 victory that saw them go four points clear of the relegation play-off places, whilst putting a considerable dent in Rovers’ title dreams.

The opening minutes saw both teams with plenty of the ball. Rovers’ Stephen Bradley failed to capitalise on a free-kick, while the visitors defence cut out an excellent move from UCD in the first ten minutes.

Rovers’ Chris Turner headed over Billy Brennan’s goal shortly after, as did Craig Sives just two minutes later. This seemed simply a warm-up for the Hoops. They began to take the lion’s share of possession, and Rovers took the lead with a perfectly placed header from star man Gary Twigg.

The Scot capitalised on Neale Fenn’s inchperfect cross to find the back of the net on 20 minutes.

But UCD were far from out of the game, forcing Rovers’ Danny Murphy to make an impressive goalline clearance to keep Ci-

aran Kilduff from drawing level.

The visitors once again raised the pressure, with Tommy Stewart attempting to put Twigg through on goal. Brennan had other ideas, racing from his goalmouth to win an aerial challenge with Twigg on the edge of the box, and UCD swiftly cleared the danger.

It wasn’t long before UCD had equalised.

A scramble in the box saw captain Evan McMillan find Paul Corry, whose effort was deflected, only to fall to established striker Ciaran Kilduff who fired the ball past keeper Alan Mannus on 33 minutes.

A free-kick at the other end saw Bradley again miss the target, while Brennan saved Gary Twigg’s effort towards the end of the first half. UCD’s Paul O’Connor was left to clear the danger when Chris Turner sought out Neale Fenn on 43 minutes.

Two half-time substitutes for UCD saw Sean Russell and Karl Moore make way for Brian Shortall and Robbie Creevy.

After the restart, there were chances at both ends, but UCD were the first to pounce. The Students took the lead on 64 minutes after another poor defensive showing from Rovers. Substitute Shortall was the goalscorer.

Rovers looked to press harder, and made a number of changes. Stephen Bradley made way for Robert Bayly, while Paddy Kavanagh was replaced by Billy Dennehy.

UCD bravely defended against Shamrock Rovers for a superb victory. Photo: Rebecca Windsor

Dennehy in particular added a cutting edge to the Rovers side on the left wing.

However, it was a Chris Turner penalty which provided their equaliser. Following a handball in the UCD box, referee Richie Winter pointed to the spot and Turner coolly put the visitors level at 2-2.

The tempo rose even further, with both sides seeking the winner. Ciaran Kilduff almost added his second to put the home side in front, but Mannus was on hand to make the save. With just three minutes left on the clock, UCD were awarded a freekick in a dangerous position on the edge of the box.

Heated scenes in the visitors’ box saw Rovers’ Robert Bayly given two yellow cards in quick succession for dissent, as he had to be guided off the pitch by one of his teammates. When the situation finally cooled down, Chris Mulhall made no mistake and sent the ball curling over the wall and beyond Mannus to make it 3-2 to the home side.

While the visitors looked to find another equaliser, UCD attempted to catch them on the counter-attack. Danny Murphy’s last-ditch tackle quelled an excellent move down the right wing by the Students.

However, Murphy was given a second yel-

low card – and Rovers’ second red card of the match – for his challenge, and departed from the game in injury-time.

With the visitors down to nine men, the Students shut up shop to take all three points. Rovers, though still ahead of rivals Bohemians by five points, will rue not capitalising on the opportunity to extend their lead at the top of the table.

The two title-chasers meet at Dalymount tonight for what will be a make-orbreak fixture. UCD, however, can rest easy for now. They are well-placed to remain in the Premier Division with just four games to go.

Without The Devil There’s a Ray of Hope in Tampa

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As the Major League Baseball playoffs begin, Sam Geoghegan takes a look at the chances of the Tampa Bay Rays

hile the MLB playoffs provide each team with a chance to dream of the ultimate glory in American sport, one side in particular will be relishing their opportunity to go all the way.

The city of Tampa, Florida has had moderate success with their sporting franchises.

Their NFL team, the Buccaneers, who are owned by the Glazer family who purchased Manchester United in 2005, won the Super Bowl in 2003, while the Lightning won the NHL Stanley Cup in 2004. However, their baseball team, the Rays, have never won a championship.

Ever since their Superbowl success, the Buccaneers have regressed considerably.

Their team has aged and they eventually fired head coach Jon Gruden. In 2009, they finished with one of the league’s worst

records at 3-13, sadly regaining their reputation as the league’s beat-up team, which had always plagued the side until their triumph in Super Bowl XXXVII. The Tampa Bay Lightning have deteriorated in similar fashion since their championship year.

The Rays had always been baseball’s whipping boys. This was until the 2008 season, where they advanced to the playoffs for the first time in their history, only to be defeated in the World Series by the Philadelphia Phillies. This demonstrated an incredible turnaround for a team that had finished last in their division in nine of its ten years as a franchise.

The Rays entered the league in 1998 and were known as the ‘Devil Rays’. They were placed in arguably the toughest division in the majors: the American League East. The AL East has baseball’s two most

storied franchises, the Boston Red Sox and defending world champions the New York Yankees.

The ‘Devil’ was dropped from Tampa Bay’s name entering the 2008 season and it seemed God was on their side thereafter.

They defeated both the Yankees and the Red Sox on their way to the Fall Classic.

The Rays have built a strong, solid foundation of youth since the middle of the last decade and now this youth is maturing in front of America’s eyes. Led by first baseman Carlos Pena and outfielder Carl Crawford, the Rays have plenty of offensive weapons.

Their defence is also formidable with third baseman and 2008 Rookie of the Year Evan Longoria playing a staring role.

The 2008 top draft pick, David Price, is a Cy Young pitching award contender, with

19 wins, while Matt Garza threw a miraculous no-hitter this season against Detroit.

However, the Rays are in an unfortunate position. Aside from the Miami Dolphins, the people of Florida do not seem to be America’s biggest sports enthusiasts and there are no doubt better markets to host a franchise than Tampa Bay. Tropicana Field, the Rays’ home, hosts 36,000 people, yet the Rays have consistently struggled this year to reach 20,000 and this is with one of the MLB’s best records. Following the Rays’ playoff-clinching win last week, their front office provided 20,000 free seats for their next match.

October will be a big month for the Rays. Can they take the next step and claim their first world title? For baseball fans in a state where Disney and Dolphins rule, it’s crucial that they do.