Volume XXI - Broadsheet - Issue 2

uo The University Observer

October 7th 2014 Volume XXI issue 2 universityobserver.ie

20

th

anniversary supplement inside

confucius institute We examine Ucd’s relationship with the chinese government’s political agenda Gráinne Loughran p7

astronauts an interview with the most isolated man in human history Shane hannon meets al worden P11

Fighting talk conor mcgregor’s rise to the top, ego and how it could all go terribly wrong

above a student reads on the steps of the tierney building

peter murphy P18

photo James Brady

Ucd students will not participate in national rally David Corscadden

The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) are holding a national rally for education on 8th October to highlight the group’s pre-budget submission, ahead of Budget 2015 which will be announced on Tuesday 14th October.

On the significance of this rally and the group’s pre-budget submission USI President, Laura Harmon told the University Observer “This is the first national pre-budget demonstration in three years.” This march also marks the first time the USI has had organisation such as SIPTU, IFUT and the TUI supporting its cause and joining them on the march.

Harmon explains that the rally will “highlight our pre-budget aims to protect student supports and our belief that education is a public

good.” The rally itself will also be used to highlight the positive contributions that students have to make to society as a whole.

Ahead of the rally, set to take place this Wednesday, the USI sent UCDSU an invitation to take part in the rally alongside them, despite the fact UCD voted to leave the USI last year. The referendum held in UCD last February saw 64.5% of voters vote in favour of ending UCDSU’s membership of the USI. Explaining the reason behind inviting non-affiliated students Harmon says “I felt as a measure of good will to non-affiliated students, it would be good to extend an invitation. I brought a motion to our national meeting and it passed so I issued the invite. Many non-affiliates

will be joining us on the day.”

This point was elaborated on by UCDSU President, Feargal Hynes, in a statement to the University Observer in which he said “The invitation came as part of talks between Laura and myself earlier in the year and it was agreed that where there was an event where we shared the same end goal, that we would consider working together on it.”

However following a meeting of the UCDSU Executives last week, the decision was made not to take part in the rally. Hynes explains that he brought the invitation to the group and “we voted not to participate and to focus on our aim at the start of the year to build our presence on campus and to concentrate on re-engaging students in Belfield.” He

added that UCDSU will be working alongside USI in the upcoming Marriage Equality Referendum.

The rally, which will see students from around the country marching from the Garden of Remembrance to Molesworth Street, opposite the Houses of the Oireachtas, has taken on a distinctively creative theme this year. The event will see performances by Temper-Mental Miss Elayneous and breakout Irish band, The Original Rude Boys. Commenting on the creative direction the rally has taken and the presence of The Original Rude Boys at the event Harmon says ‘They were students themselves in NCI and they believe in the messages of our campaign. We have a taken a more creative approach to the campaign

this year and it’s great to have such talented artists in board.”

In the groups pre-budget submission it has lobbied public representatives on the protection of the student maintenance grant and also the Back to Education allowance. It also highlights the decrease in the Student Assistance Fund and the student accommodation issue as areas of concern. “We are also calling for the return of the €25million to overall HEI funding that was withheld in Budget 2013 and 2014” explains Harmon who will be meeting with Minister for Education and Skills, Jan O’ Sullivan, again the day after the Budget.

UCD School of Social Justice Host Graduate Conference

alt-j The curse of the mercury prize and the release of their second album

sean hayes otwo p14

panti bliss politics, selfcensorship and sell-out shows

tadhg dolan Otwo P26

Niamh O’Regan Saturday, 4th October, saw the UCD School of Social Justice welcome over forty graduates, six keynote speakers and guests, to its annual Graduate Conference.

This year the conference was entitled “Challenging Injustice in Ireland: Learning from the Past, Actions for the Future”.

The conference, which was organised entirely by graduate students in the school, was created to highlight and examine how social justice has developed in Ireland over the years and

Campus news

in brief

UCD Students’ Union (UCDSU), UCD Library and the Director of Student Services, Dominic O’Keefe, have jointly announced the opening of a self-service laptop loan scheme in the library.

The move is part of the library’s plan to expand the computer support service it provides to students, and means that laptops can now be borrowed for an additional 30 hours per week.

There will be 36 computers

how current injustices can be addressed, through research currently being undertaken by students, organisations and communities, across the country.

The conference coincided with various milestones for the School of Social Justice. This year the school marks its own 10th anniversary and also celebrates the 25th anniversary of both the Equality Studies and the Women’s Studies departments, which came together to form the school. These departments and the School of Social Justice available as part of the laptop loan scheme, which will allow students to borrow one for up to 3 hours.

President of UCDSU, Feargal Hynes, praised the work of O’Keefe, alongside associate librarian, Marie Burke, calling the co-operative agreement a “strong partnership that I hope will grow into the future.”

O’Keefe said that “are always looking for ways to spend money that will directly benefit students.”

The laptops are being funded from an overspend in the Higher Education Authority’s (HEA) budget. The HEA agreed to let UCD keep half of the unauthorised €3.3 million in top-ups it paid out to its senior staff from 2005 to 2011, on the condition it spends it on student services.

are of significant research importance in their respective areas, as well as launching the Law with Social Justice, undergraduate course, in 2013.

The day consisted of an opening address delivered by Professor Kathleen Lynch Social Justice in the Fitzgerald Chamber, followed by an address by Professor Colin Scott, (principal of the college of Human Sciences), and then a Keynote Address by the Minister of State for Equality, New Communities and Culture, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin.

Afterwards a panel discussion

was held where Professor Emeritus of UL, Peadar Kirby, UCD Alumnus, Vincent Browne and Cathleen O’Neill of the Kilbarrack Community Development Project. During the panel discussion each speaker presented their responses to what they felt were the core social challenges, facing social justice and equality today.

The rest of the day consisted of workshops on various social justice themes, each contained a mix of long and short presentations and discussions

by graduates from various universities and organisations across the country. The closing address was delivered by Professor John Baker of the School of Social Justice.

The event also saw information stands set up in the foyer of the Student Centre, representing several organisations which strive towards social justice in their specific areas. Amongst these were the Transgender Network, the Irish Refugee Council, and INVOLVE: In Partnership with Travellers.

sylvan esso

battling the electro-folk-pop fame monster and the creative process grattan aikins Otwo P17

UCDSU lobby for Section 50 tax relief scheme UCD Students’ Union (UCDSU), has continued with its calls for the government to bring back the Section 50 tax relief scheme which was abolished in 2012.

Section 50 of the 1999 Finance Act provided for investors or universities to claim up to 90% tax relief against the purchase price of accommodation through the rental income they received for providing student housing.

UCDSU President, Feargal Hynes, met with special advisers of both Paidi Coffey, the Junior

Minister for Housing and Jan O’Sullivan, the Minster for Education.

They discussed the possible impact of budgetary measures on the student rental market.

Hynes sent a letter outlining his proposal to all government departments that would be affected if the scheme were to be re-introduced. He referred to the growing student population, the slow expansion of the property market and the lack of student housing in the capital in support of his point.

In a statement, Hynes called

the proposal a “quick, effective measure that will help alleviate the pressure on the student rental market” and that the “student rental market is a safe investment with strong returns for investors.”

Earlier calls by UCDSU on the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) to make property available for students resulted in strong criticism from NAMA over UCDSU’s misunderstanding of its operations.

parallax

student photojournalism Otwo P28

October 7th 2014

News

national news in brief

Class Rep elections see higher engagement from students David Corscadden

Callie Crawley

Trinity College Dublin Votes to Increase Sports Centre Charge Students in Trinity College Dublin have voted in a preferendum to increase their Sports Centre charge from €90 to €120.

Trinity College Students’ Union (TCDSU) offered the students the choice of voting to keep the charge at €90, or raise it to either €120 or €180. The decision to set it at €120 will now proceed to a referendum, which, if passed, will set long-term the SU policy on the issue. The €120 option won with 931 votes to 853 votes for the €90 charge, after the €180 option was earlier eliminated.

TCDSU had said that an increase to €120 would allow the Sports Centre to maintain its current ratio of student to non-student membership, and provide students with new facilities such as increased 5-a-side provisions, a new fitness theatre space in the centre, and improved development programmes for Trinity sports scholarships.

In 2007, students agreed to a compulsory annual charge of €70, linked to inflation. Two years ago the fee stood at €77 and rose to €90 this year. Currently, the charge has to be paid alongside the registration fee.

Having a degree in Ireland adds about €350,000 in lifetime earnings, says OECD An OECD speaker on third level funding has claimed that Irish graduates enjoy the highest income return from their degrees compared to other EU member states.

The OECD figures were presented at a conference of the Irish University Association. Patricia Mangeol, a senior education official with the OECD, stated that “the net return to the State through higher taxation is about €220,000 per graduate, which is the highest return of all the member states.”

Mangeol said that over the course of a lifetime, someone with higher education in Ireland earns about €350,000 more than a student whose education ends at secondary level. According to her, the data from Ireland and elsewhere showed that people with tertiary education “still fare better”.

Speaking at the conference, Minister for Education and Skills, Jan O Sullivan, pushed for the creation of a working group on sustainability.

She also explained the relatively high return for third-level education in Ireland, claiming it was a product of the comparatively low unemployment rate for graduates, 7 per cent versus 20 per cent among school-leavers.

O’Sullivan also highlighted Ireland’s low cost of education, by international standards.

UCC Campus Bookshop Set to Close John Smith’s Bookshop in UCC has announced it will close its doors in the UCC Student Centre on the 21st of November.

The closure will leave UCC without a campus bookshop, as John Smith’s prepares to set up its new digital book service that it intends to launch next year.

The bookshop will close for renovations and re-open as a digital showroom where students will be able to browse through books, with a view towards ordering them online.

It will be operated through the uccshop.ie website and is designed to compete with online retailers.

UCC corporate secretary, Michael Farrell, said that the bookshop had suffered a “very significant decline in sales in recent years.” Staff were made aware of the decision to close the shop at the end of August UCC Students’ Union (UCCSU) President, Mark Stanton, said that the closure reflects a change in how students access information, with a clear shift towards sourcing information online.

He highlighted the example of how UCCSU is reaching out to more students via Snapchat.

2 october 7th 2014

Last week saw the first major voting campaign of the UCD Students’ Union (UCDSU) calendar. Voting for Class Representatives and the Ag-Vet Convenor By-Election 2014/2015 took place across campus on Wednesday 31st September and Thursday 1st October.

While the official voter turn out figures have not yet been released by UCDSU, preliminary University Observer calculations show that approximately 2,080 votes were cast in the Class Representative elections.

Commenting on the overall level of turnout for the elections, UCDSU expressed delighted with the turnout ‘especially in Ag and Vet.’ UCDSU believes that the turn out shows that “when strong candidates put their names forward people will come out and vote.”

Speaking to the University Observer after the elections took place, UCDSU Undergraduate Education Office, Amy Fox

highlighted that this year saw an increase in the number of candidates, with over 225 students putting their names forward. This year also saw an increase in the number of female candidates entering. According to Fox 126 females entered, compared to 107 males, meaning that females “had a slight majority at the nomination stage”. This election also marked the highest number of uncontested votes in recent history of elections in UCD. On the subject of seats available Fox explains that there has been some adjustments on numbers compared to last year. “As with certain courses the numbers fluctuate up and down, so some courses have been amalgamated.”

This year has also seen the addition of an extra number of seats dedicated to post graduate students. “There has been quite a few additional seats put on for post graduate students to engage them and also to reflect the fact that we have a Post Graduate

Education Officer, so now we have someone there to liaise with them directly” explains Fox. Following the elections, newly elected Class Reps departed campus on Friday for a weekend of training. The training on Saturday saw an address by Conor Cusack on mental health and marriage equality. The training also had modules on educational issues, where to find student advisers and what issues to look out for with classes both academically and from a welfare point of view.

UCDSU states that “class rep training is incredibly important and will set the year up strongly to ensure that all students are represented across campus.” This year, unlike previous years will also see additional training and workshops carried out throughout the year, with Class Reps. The hope of this is to reinforce the importance of the roles within the student body and also to ensure that Class Reps David mcwilliams receives the thomas kettle award are trained to the highest calibre. from the ucd economics society image: James Brady

Graduate Careers Fair Set to be Held in the RDS Megan Fanning

The RDS will be the venue for Ireland’s largest Graduate Careers Fair on Wednesday, October 8th. More than 120 companies will be promoting their graduate and internship programmes to the thousands of attendees as part of their recruitment season.

The Graduate Careers Fair will hosted by gradireland, a partnership under the Association of Higher Education Careers Services (AHECS), which represents all third-level institutions in Ireland. Speaking before the Fair, gradireland publisher, Mark Mitchell, stated that this year would mark the

10th Graduate Careers Fair and is set to become the “biggest event” gradireland has ever held.

Organisers are estimating that over 7,000 students will attend the event, which will have 3,000 live graduate jobs on offer. The large interest in the event by employers, including the Public Appointment Service, the ESB and Bank of Ireland, has been called the first tangible indicator for young people of a comeback in the job market.

According to research conducted by gradireland in July, there has been a 35% increase in the amount of Irish-based multi-nationals and leading Irish corporations seeking to

employ new graduates since 2009. In addition, researchers who surveyed 97 major firms confirmed graduates can also anticipate an average of €27,960 starting salary, an increase in over €2,000 from last year.

Mitchell said that the recruiters are “looking for young people with core competencies such as ambition, good communication skills, team work and problem-solving skills.” This echoes the July finds, which stated that 40% of employers felt graduates had poor communication skills, while 25% thought that they lacked confidence.

With future careers at stake, Mitchell emphasised “employers are increasingly interested in

graduates with transferable skills, which can be used in more than one area” and said that graduates of today “need to be more dynamic, more flexible and committed to continuing to develop their skills.”

The Graduate Careers Fair will also feature 28 specialist career seminars providing students with advice and tips in how to succeed in prospective job application processes and interviews. Careers advisers from Irish universities will be running CV Clinics throughout the day where attendees can have their CV critiqued by experts.

Minister for European Affairs and Data Technology, Dara Murphy, will

be attending the event. He will be introducing one of the seminars and promoting the opportunities that exist for Irish graduates to secure employment within EU institutions.

The Graduate Careers Fair will be located in RDS Simmonscourt from 11am to 5pm on October 8th.

Those interested in attending are required to pre-register online at www. graduatecareersfair.com, where the full details of all the exhibitors and seminar presentations are available.

News analysis: Youth Political Wings Submit Pre-Budget Proposals Megan Fanning

The three largest youth political wings, Young Fine Gael, Ógra Fianna Fáil and Labour Youth, have released their pre-budget 2015 submissions. All three budget submissions have acknowledged the need to give back to the public and to lower the burden on both families and students. As the introduction in Labour Youth’s submission points out, this recession will take a decade to recover from, with Ireland expected to reach peak economic output in 2017, but the youth party enforce that Ireland is still “fragile” and still “vulnerable.” Young Fine Gael’s introduction stresses that this should be a budget of “hope”. Ógra Fianna Fáil feel that recent cuts in expenditure have left the public with “little prospect” and that all budgetary adjustments must be progressive, with Young Fine Gael reiterating this by saying that the days of regressive budgets are over. Ógra criticise Fine Gael and Labour of “reneging” on their commitments and says that it doesn’t believe Ireland’s economic future is safe with false promises and “pseudo-economics” of Sinn Féin. Young Fine Gael fights back saying that this Government has achieved what it set out to do, it has restored Ireland’s economic sovereignty by removing the IMF and references recent GDP forecasts of 4.7% for 2014.

Both the Young Fine Gael and Ógra Fianna Fáil submissions address the issue of the property

market; Young Fine Gael calls Oireachtas Health Committee on the Government to hold a should be formed to oversee referendum on rental caps, believing implementation of the strategy. that the rental market should be A freezing of Student Contribution regulated, to keep rental costs in Charge is agreed on by both Ógra line with inflation citing as Italy, the and Young Fine Gael. The charge Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland is due to increase in the upcoming as places where this market budget but both youth parties regulation works. Ógra tackle the believe it should be frozen at its housing market in a different way, current €2,750. However, the two calling for a Deposit Protection organisations see a difference in Scheme for rental properties, how the third level sector should modelled on the United Kingdom. be funded; Young Fine Gael are This scheme would mean that the proposing a Graduate Tax and landlord would no longer hold the gently abolishing the Student deposit but it would instead have Contribution Charge, it wants to a Private Residential Tenancies “break down the financial barrier” Board to control it. Ógra believe that from third level education and that this would force “rogue landlords” those who benefit contribute later to register with the Board due to on in life with the new tax. Auditor pressure from tenants. Labour of UCD Young Fine Gael, Richard Youth don’t address the issue.

Looby, commented saying that Again, both Young Fine Gael and “Education is a right not a privilege, Ógra Fianna Fáil highlight how and a graduate tax we believe is the Government hasn’t lived up to the best system to ensure there are their promises on mental health, no barriers to college for anyone in its programme it committed to who wishes to go.” Ógra propose a spend €35 million per annum on deferred payment method through treatment for those who have mental a student loan scheme. They health issues, instead has only believe a National Education Fund spent €20 million per annum on it. should be set up which would see Young Fine Gael and Ógra Fianna borrowing from State institutions Fáil advocate the implementation at a reasonable rate of interest. of “A Vision for Change”, a When it came to finance, all mental health strategy published three youth wings had a lot of in 2006. Ógra put forward that a input. Young Fine Gael propose high-level committee made up of to abolish the Universal Social representatives of the HSE, the Charge (USC) and incorporate it Department of Health, the health into the tax system. It called for spokespeople of the opposition a 1% tax reduction in income tax, parties and representatives of the from 20% to 19% which Young

Fine Gael believe would incentivise people to work. They also call for an increase in the bands on the higher rate of tax. While Young Fine Gael did not specify, Ógra propose that those earning over €100,000 pay a 3% surcharge and expressed its opposition to bonus payments to public sector workers and employees of the main state supported financial institutions.

It proposes that those payments be subject to a 45% USC rate of the full amount where the bonus exceeds €5,000 in a single tax year.

A lot of Labour Youth’s pre-budget submission is focused primarily on Ireland’s tax system. It suggests a movement to a more Danish tax model, a dual-band model that is considered more proportional, compared to the Comprehensive system we currently have. It also proposes a third rate of income tax, those who earn over €100,000 taxed at 48%. Labour Youth also suggest raising inheritance tax from 33% to 40%, with 50% being taxed on inheritance over €150,000. In relation to USC, Labour Youth want to see it reduced for employees on zero hour contracts or low-paid work in general, contingent on their joining a trade union.

Young Fine Gael is adherent to its senior party’s anti-smoking ban, proposing that excise duty raises the cost of cigarettes from €9.40 to €10.00, the youth party want to be seen to disincentivise smoking. Ógra is the same in

wanting to reduce the VAT on nicotine patches from 23% to 0%.

However, Young Fine Gael want to offset the increase of cigarettes with a decrease in the cost of alcohol, which would be dependent on the revenue taken in by the rise of cigarettes. Ógra Fianna Fáil want to tackle binge drinking and propose a 50c levy on all alcoholic drinks sold after midnight.

While all three youth parties agree that Budget 2015 must give back, all three suggest quite different ways of achieving this.

Both Young Fine Gael and Ógra Fianna Fáil focus heavily on student and youth issues while Labour Youth propose measures on taxes and minimum wage. When asked on the lack of student issues, UCD Labour Youth Secretary, Rachel Walsh, commented saying “obviously there is room for improvement but we are a very student focused organisation and I think that shows on the issues we campaign on.” Labour Youth is due to release an updated version of their pre-budget submission in the run up to Budget 2015, which takes place on Tuesday, October 14th. All three youth wings have submitted their proposals to their elected party representatives but we will have to wait and see if any of the recommendations proposed are taken up by Government.

News Analysis: Education as a Public Good Cian Carton

News international

News in Brief Roisin Guyett-Nicholson

Texas university votes to allow concealed firearms on campus

image: James Brady

The approach of Budget 2015 set the stage for some commentary on the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), its “Education is ...” campaign and a glimpse into the uncharted territory that signals there may be more to education than meets the eye.

USI will be out in force over the next few weeks. There will be its annual rally, where cynics snipe at students being let loose on the streets of Dublin with posters and megaphones.

Nevertheless, it will be a show of strength that students can rise up and cause minor traffic disruptions whenever they please. Currently underway is the “Education is ...” campaign which asks students to tell them what education means to them as individuals by way of social media.

USI may have broken new ground with “Education is...”, an idea which demands attention. As part of the campaign, USI argues that education

is a “public good.” Their premise is simple and armed with a quote from Nelson Mandela on education, USI states that it “benefits the whole of our society and needs to be recognised by the government and the public for the payback it brings to our country.”

Economists generally define a public good as something which is non-excludable and non-rivalrous.

Education would be classified as a public good if it was impossible to exclude non-payers from enjoying it and as long its benefit to X did not diminish because Y started to avail of it. For some, education is therefore not a pure public good, for people can be excluded for not paying for it (UCD takes it to a new level by refusing to allow people to graduate until they pay their library fine).

USI’s core argument (whether they fully understand it or not) is that graduates benefit the most from a

university education, but there is a spillover for society. This point may be illustrated by some recent data.

According to the OECD, Irish graduates can expect to earn €350,000 more in their lifetimes than their compatriots who do not follow the path into university. From a taxation perspective, the OECD claimed a graduate will pay an extra €220,000 in tax during the same time period as a non-graduate.

Professor Ronnie Munck of DCU, writing for USI’s blog, drew sharp parallels between the possibilities of education being a public or private good. Privatisation would involve “equity firms” investing in the education market (something which corporate firms have already highlighted for its potential profitability). He rightly expresses fear about this but then jumps to the conclusion that way to save the Irish education system is by recognising it

as a public good. He does not offer any insights on what a “public good” is.

A caveat to the discussion is the fact that this debate has classified education as meaning “university education.”

Unfortunately, there has been no public debate into the idea that one can educate oneself outside of the realm of a third-level institution, which is just a part of an industry that is starting to see the private-sector sharks circle it.

Could one then argue that USI will fight the wrong course for the right people? Looking through the resulting photos of students defining education, there are two recurrent answers that transcend all the Irish institutions. They are “the future” and “employment.” The USI must respond to what its members want, it will fight the course laid out in front of it. In terms of individual self-development though, are the USI’s actions the equivalent of loading more broadside

cannons onto a sinking ship?

Irish students should consider themselves fortunate that college fees are comparatively low compared to most countries.

Nevertheless, there are many who cannot see beyond the irony in that famous Matt Damon quote in Good Will Hunting, “you dropped 150 grand on an education you could have got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the public library!”

The government has to balance the long-term benefits of mass producing graduates with its short-term cutbacks. However, when public eyes look beyond going to college to get a job in order to fulfill the next part of their life paradigm, only then will the true debate rise up.

Mind, Body and Soul a Success to be Built Upon fergus carroll

Between September 23rd and 25th the Student Centre Quad was the venue for ‘Mind, Body and Soul’, a new arts festival organised by the UCD Students’ Union (UCDSU) for the purpose of promoting student wellbeing on campus. Over three days, a series of events were held, ranging from African drumming to laughter yoga and the presence of catering companies such as Teddys’ Ice-Cream ensured that it was well worth stopping by for even the most hesitant UCD student.

Both the UCDSU’s President, Feargal Hynes, and Welfare and Equality Officer, Maeve DeSay, have already hailed the festival as a huge success with Hynes hoping that the alcohol free event “becomes a mainstay of what the SU provides to students”. With the puppy therapy event receiving a “huge reaction” from students, DeSay echoed the sentiments of Hynes and stressed her hope that the range of activities offered ensured there was something to appeal to all students and extended a “special thanks” to both Headstrong and Grafton Street Barbers who were on site for the duration of the Festival.

Beyond all the events designed to create a fun and relaxed environment for students across the campus, there was a serious message at the heart of the festival, namely the promotion of mental and physical health for UCD students. Indeed, the title of the festival was designed to replicate similar festivals that have been held around Ireland in recent years. The themes for each day were also visible in the festivals title, Mind, Body and Soul, and the on-site presence of Headstrong was evidence of the serious message at the core of the event.

Baylor University Student Senate, in Waco Texas, recently voted to allow ‘students, faculty, guests and staff’ the ability to carry concealed weapons on campus, provided they already hold a gun license. Although it is mostly legal in the state of Texas to carry a concealed hand gun, there are a few restrictions, such as they cannot be taken into any educational institution and the gun must remain in a locked compartment in a car.

The vote was taken in the Senate of 52 members, who represent a different class, after 40 minutes in a session closed to the public.

Final voting numbers have not been released, though reports say it was relatively close. The resolution will have to be passed on to Baylor administration for approval.

The Waco-Tribune Herald reports that Baylor senior Gannon McCahill, 20, wrote the resolution as a response to a recent shooting in June in Seattle Pacific University. He said of the bill, “Regardless of how great our police department is…they can’t protect us in a situation where there’s a shooter in the classroom and the door’s locked.” This measure comes after numerous incidents of shootings in schools and colleges across the USA in recent years.

numbers attending hong kong protests swell Recent student-led protests in Hong Kong have led to wide spread clashes across the city. Originating in class boycotts, the movement has now spread to include 100,000 people demanding choice in the upcoming 2017 election to select a chief executive for the region. Currently it is likely to be a single representative standing that has the backing of the Communist Party of China.

The student movement had been in talks with the authorities but a fresh outbreak of violence has occurred on Friday evening with Beijing (or regime) supporters attacking the Occupy movement. Previously most of the violence has been between the police and the student-led movement.

With these new clashes the police have instead become a mediator between two different sections of the public. There have also been eyewitness claims that there are not enough police to deal with the huge numbers of pro-government supporters, of which around 1000 attacked a section of 100 prodemocracy supporters. However there are suggestions that the pro-Beijing faction are in actual fact Communist Party supporters brought over to Hong Kong to end the movement.

African universities rise in global rankings

Mental Health has been especially prominent in national media coverage in recent years, and websites such as Headstrong.ie and Spunout. ie have been reporting an increase in internet traffic. The ‘Suicide in Ireland: 2003-2008’ study carried out

by Professor Malone of UCD and St. Vincent’s Hospital reported suicide as the leading cause of death of young men in Ireland and according to the Central Statistics Office male suicides accounted for 84% of the 525 deaths by suicide in Ireland in 2011.

These shocking statistics make clear that there is a need to combat

mental illness in Ireland. Speaking to the University Observer last year Malone conceded that while suicide rates may have indeed plateaued in the years since those examined in his survey, he stressed the need for action to be taken, arguing that it was not acceptable to be content with suicide being the leading cause of death of young people in Ireland, and the third highest youth suicide rate in Europe.

With many of UCD’s student population falling into the age group identified by Malone as most at risk, it was welcoming to see such a high profile and visible event being held

on campus to raise awareness of the issue and the greater issue of student wellbeing as a whole. It is impossible to accurately determine just how much of a help this festival was to UCD students, but the high turnout and positive feedback suggests it was a success and its return to campus next year would be welcomed.

However now that the Mind, Body and Soul has ended, the greater issue at hand is how to keep the high profile.

The difficulty in reporting mental health issues in the media is that such stories are often published in the aftermath of a tragedy. This occurrence

was highly visible earlier this year when the famed actor and comedian Robin Williams took his own life. Nor should high profile campaigns only come about with the instigation of a teen with terminal illness. Lessons can be taken from these awful tragedies but they cannot then be forgotten in the meantime. Mental health does not discriminate. It affects men and women of all ages.

The UCD Mind, Body and Soul festival was a success and a great forum to discuss an important issue but it will prove a waste if the success is not built upon.

A report by the World Bank and Elsevier, world provider of science information, recently showed that research output from Universities in Sub-Saharan Africa has increased in the last 10 years, from 0.44% to 0.72%. This has mainly been in health science areas with a focus on diseases such as HIV-Aids, malaria and most recently Ebola, reflecting the serious health issues that plague the continent. In fact health science accounts for 45% of the overall research in the regions.

Areas such as Physical Science, Engineering and Technology have decreased in recent years.

These African Universities are heavily involved in international collaboration, which provide many of the Universities with the funding they need to continue their research.

Collaborators include Harvard and Oxford Universities along with other international organisations such as the World Health Organisation. In 2012 79% of research produced in East Africa was generated with international collaboration.

October 7th 2014

comment To rank or not to rank?

Following the release of this year’s QS World University Rankings Niamh O’Regan looks at why institutions care so much about them

Following the recent publication of the QS World University rankings, the importance and necessity of their existence has, once again, been called into question. Do university rankings really matter, or is it a waste of time and resources for universities to try and bump up their status?

There are four or five major university ranking systems, in the forms of the ARWU, Webometrics, CTWS, QS World University Rankings and the Times Higher Education University Rankings. Nevertheless for the most part, attention is focused on the QS rankings. Each company uses similar data and methodologies in calculating which university is ultimately the “best”. There are slight discrepancies in categories and percentages though.

For instance, Times Higher Education bases 30% of their results on research impact whereas QS only bases only 20%. Despite this difference in calculations, the rankings (at the top of the table especially) remain much the same. Whether we like them or not, the rankings are there and they will be used as a tool of information for prospective students, researchers and employers.

One of the many uses of rankings is to help employers determine which candidate they should employ. There is the belief held that if you went to a highly ranked university, you must be highly skilled to get there in the first place and then even better to graduate with a high result. A top degree from a top university is held in high regard. While this is not necessarily a just or fair way of viewing degrees, it does not stop it from happening. Spending time and resources on improving a university’s place, does not only benefit the

institution itself, but also its students.

It could be argued that there is no point in spending time and resources on the rankings because due to the prestige and reputation of older universities, there is no opportunity for newer universities to rise through the ivy covered limestone. While global reputation is an element of the rankings, it is more about academic excellence than prestige. It may be thought that an older university will almost always rank higher because the name of the institution is so ingrained into academic circles. The global reputation will always remain high and students, researchers and employers alike will always flock to these institutions. The oldest university on the QS top ten is 918 years old ranking eighth, however the youngest university in top ten is only 107 years old, and ranks higher, in third. While historical prestige may have certain leeway in terms of reputation, it is only a small factor effecting the overall result.

University rankings are often used by students, particularly international ones, in deciding where they would like to study. While the rankings released and fussed over are those of the university as a whole, rankings can be narrowed by faculty, and subject, leading potential students to choose a university that best suits their needs and where they feel they can excel.

International students and staff in turn, factor in university rankings. By making themselves more appealing and open to international students and staff, rankings go up, and more diversified education is achieved. That being said, a race can ensue in terms of reputation to try and attract more international students and companies.

Rankings affect investment into

research facilities, and the higher in the rankings a university is, the more applications and students it gets.

Research and citations are strong issues of contention in rankings. Resources used to make improvements for the rankings can also be beneficial to the current students and staff, for example where money is put into research. Universities are judged by their research, and the global impact of their research. Oftentimes university time and resources are used to fund and assist private university research when it could be funding teaching.

However, in researching their chosen field further, PhD students and lecturers enhance their own students’ education with their findings. Corporate research is also often carried out by universities, but the corporations will only go where they feel they would get the best results. The natural inclination is to go to a top ranked university.

There are of course problems in the rankings. While they may be helpful to prospective students, they only reflect the academic side of things, and not the student life. The rankings do not look at what societies and clubs a university has to offer or what sort of student accommodation is available at each university. There are certain ways the rankings can be abused and elements can be manipulated. The rankings are limited in that they focus on research based universities, which sways the bell curve of university performance. Universities may spend a lot of money to improve their position when they could be focusing on what would most benefit their students.

What is important to maintain, is balance. It is important for universities not to invest too much of their time and resources into improving particular

areas to up their rank. It should not be the sole aim of their investment. It is important as well that the university invests time and resources in the students themselves so that they can have the best degree possible.

Perhaps rankings shouldn’t matter, perhaps universities should be judged on student happiness and experience rather than how many citations and publications each faculty has. The current situation however, means that rankings matter and have a particular standing. While this remains the case, resources and time used to improve rankings is not a waste, if their use is managed properly.

Rankings affect investment into research facilities, and the higher in the rankings a university is, the more applications and students it gets

image: James healy

No Womb, No Opinion After the largest ever March for Choice, Danielle Clarke discusses the problems in Ireland’s abortion legislation

The death of 31-year-old Savita Halappanavar in 2012 sent shock waves through our small island, in more ways than one. The young Indian woman’s death sparked uproar and a call for change in Irish abortion legislation.

Halappanavar died from blood poisoning after being refused an abortion by doctors at University Hospital Galway, thus resulting in two lives being lost.

Before this, the laws surrounding abortion had not been in the spotlight since 1992 when the X case was heard in both the High Court and the Supreme Court. This case surrounded a young teenager who had become pregnant by rape. She and her family were originally denied permission to go abroad to get an abortion. The High Court judge Costello ordered that the girl must not leave the country for six months based on the “court’s duty to protect the life of the unborn”. After an appeal to the Supreme Court on the grounds that the girl had become suicidal the family were eventually granted permission to travel to the UK to have an abortion.

These cases are in line with the 8th amendment of the Irish Constitution, which was added in 1983. The amendment states “The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.”

Since being brought into effect no less than thirty years ago, this piece of legislation has resulted in untold misery for many Irish females. From 1980 onwards, over 150,000 women have travelled from Ireland for an abortion abroad. Statistics from the British Department of Health show that 3,500 women from the Republic of Ireland travelled to Britain for an abortion last year. Approximately 12 women a day leave Ireland to have an abortion while many Irish women purchase abortion pills online. These women, who are

refused the right by our Government to decide what they want to do with their bodies, have no choice but to travel abroad and pay the costly fee of €1,500 to terminate their pregnancy.

What about the ‘working-class’ female who is in the exact same position but doesn’t have the sufficient funds for this choice? Are we really going to put a price on the right to do as you choose with your own body?

Many who identify as “pro-life” are concerned with the rights of the unborn child. They worry that by legalising abortion, many may abuse it. That people will begin to rely on abortions instead of using contraception. Some insist that there is never a situation in which a woman should need an abortion.

Many other countries who have not fully legalised abortion still provide it for physical and mental health reasons – Ireland is one of the few countries in the world that makes a distinction between ‘health’ and ‘life’.

Despite having some of the most restrictive laws in the world, the people of Ireland have been seen repeatedly to support the legalisation and improved accessibility of abortion in Ireland. During the weekend, thousands marched from the Garden of Remembrance to the Dáil calling for “real and realistic abortion access in Ireland”. Many waved banners with slogans such as “Feck the State, Repeal the 8th”,“I can’t believe I still have to protest this shit” and “Girls just wanna have fundamental human rights”, as well the common “My body, my choice”. Through passionate speeches and powerful chants the outrage against Irish abortion laws was clear at this peaceful protest.

On 20th August 2014, some two thousand people gathered at the Spire on O’Connell Street to protest against Ireland’s abortion laws. This protest was held after an asylum-seeker who

was a victim of rape had become pregnant, and despite informing doctors she was suicidal had still been denied an abortion. Protestors chanted “not the church, not the State, women must decide their fate”.

It is vitally important that neither the church nor the State (two largely male-dominated bodies) continue to be allowed make decisions on these abortion laws while the women of Ireland can’t. Why should you have a say on what a woman does with her uterus, if you do not have one yourself? Early-twentieth-century American birth control activist, sex educator and nurse, Margaret Sanger famously quoted that “No woman can call herself free, who does not control her own body”. We must remember that those who are calling for a renewal of the abortion legislation call for a method that is both ‘legal’ and ‘safe’.

Today, according to statistics from a Sunday Independent Poll, the majority of Irish people support a woman’s right to an abortion under certain circumstances. 72% support abortion where there is a medical risk to the woman’s life other than suicide, 69% of people say abortion is acceptable if a woman is pregnant as a result of rape and 60% of people say abortion is acceptable where the mother’s life is at risk through suicide.

Research conducted by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency in 2010 showed that 87% of women in Ireland who have had abortions revealed that it was “the right outcome” for them.

It is hoped that the Referendum on Abortion will take place next spring along with the Marriage Equality Referendum and the referendum to lower the voting age from 18 to 16.

Whatever your stance on abortion, you can’t deny that it is time to take a stand against a patriarchal society.

How can anyone think that it’s okay to live in a country where a few

middle-aged men decide what you do with your body and your life? Do we as female citizens of Ireland want to be told how to think, act and speak?

Do you as male citizens of Ireland want someone else controlling the decisions of your mothers, sisters, and daughters? We are being denied our basic human rights. The women of Ireland will not be treated as second class citizens any longer.

From 1980 onwards, over 150,000 women have travelled from Ireland for an abortion abroad Illustration: Rhea Cassidy

4 october 7th 2014

Comment Courting the Youth Vote With the Student Contribution charge set to increase again next year and the cost of living still rising, Roisin Nicholson examines if politicians are really listening to students.

When you consider that voter turnout tends to increase as people get older, politicians would be more likely to listen to middle-aged professionals simply because they are more likely to vote.

Joan Burton meeting with ucd labour youth party members on campus during Freshers’ Week. photo: James Brady

Freshers’ Week in UCD saw many visits from politicians, including Fine Gael TD Eoghan Murphy, Fianna Fáil senator Averil Power and Labour leader and Tánaiste Joan Burton, hosted by their respective party societies. Public appearances are fairly standard in the world of politics, especially if you are in public office. It is understood that politicians need to communicate with their constituents. However these appearances also offer them a great opportunity for exposure and recruitment. This brings up the question: what exactly is it that politicians get from these exchanges?

And also do they actually listen to students when they visit them or is it just another PR opportunity?

This is a complex area. A politician’s avowed purpose is to be the link between the public and the state. It’s the basic principle of representative democracy. This was possibly among the motivations of Murphy and Fianna Fáil Councillor Mary Hanafin coming to UCD, as they both represent constituencies in the South Dublin area. Also with so many UCD students coming from all across Dublin and Ireland politicians can expect that that there will be some voters from their constituency on campus to talk too.

However, with any large population that has many different factions to it, who do politicians listen to first?

Usually, in an elected office that you want to retain, you listen to those who have voted you in and are likely to do so again. This raises a huge problem for students as they tend not to be the section of society with the highest level of voter turnout.

Recent figures from the National Youth Council of Ireland state that in the European and Local Elections of May this year, 43% of 18-21 year olds were not registered to vote and of those that were, only 54% turned out to vote. Also many college students turning 18 only recently, have gained the right to vote. When you consider that voter turnout tends to increase as people get older, politicians

would be more likely to listen to middle-aged professionals simply because they are more likely to vote.

Therefore when a politician is elected, they are more likely to prioritise issues that are not of great concern to students. One such issue is the rising cost of fees. With the final phase of increased fees to be enacted next year, the total student contribution charge will rise to €3000, an increase of €750 in the last 3 years. The big question for students is what happens next?

There are three possible outcomes.

The student contribution charge could decrease. This is highly unlikely, especially given the fact that Ireland is still not completely out of economic trouble. Otherwise the charge could stay the same putting an enormous amount of pressure on most students and their families. It could also increase and students whose parents can just about afford to send them to college now might not be able to send younger children. A high student contribution charge puts a particular strain on students who have to move to Dublin, where rent has greatly increased in the last few years. This coincides with a fall in the average student income which, according to the Irish University Association, stands at a rate of 22% since 2008.

With Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan set to receive a report at the end of next year on possible funding alternatives, what will happen with third-level fees will depend on what kind of government is elected in 2016. A primary concern among much of the student body is sure to be the rising costs they might have to pay. As such, it will surely be one of the main campaign issues in third-level institutions around the country.

A purpose of many of these visits to societies such as Young Fine Gael or UCD Labour, is to encourage members of the party to canvass for them. A politician knows that if they keep showing their face around UCD and at youth party events, they are much more

likely to gain a relationship with interested party members. The members could then be encouraged or even feel obliged then to both vote and canvas for the politician.

Many political parties are often concerned with the grassroots of their organisation. Not only do they offer a great source of support during elections, it also shows a continuation of the party. It is necessary for most parties to build up the base of the organisation and one of the best places to recruit has always been Universities. To use the obvious examples, both Charlie Haughey and Garret Fitzgerald attended UCD. Politicians know that many of the future members of their party are currently in university and, with UCD being the largest university in the country, there’s no doubt that it’s currently spawning some future politicians. It is worth a politician’s time getting students excited about their party’s views in order to get them to participate in the party after leaving college.

The executive of most parties, especially in recent years, would have attended a third-level institution.

This often means that their strongest political socialisation would have come from third level experiences.

Thus they themselves know the opportunity that institutions like UCD can offer a politics enthusiast and a political party.

Despite this it seems that many have become detached from the experience of students. If a politician’s main focus while visiting any third-level institution is a PR opportunity, it is possible that they do not really take into consideration the issues that really affect students.

With the future funding of third level education still unsure along the rising cost of living, it is becoming harder and harder to be a student. Whether or not there are any politicians able to appreciate that reality is yet to be seen.

“Did you just grab my ass?”

With cat calling and ass grabbing refusing to go away, Tara Hanneffy discusses what constitutes sexual harassment

Nights out are hard: planning where to go, who to go with, what you’re going to wear, how you’re going to get to and from the venue, how much money you’ll need.

Yes, nights out are hard enough without being sexually harassed too. It’s a strong term: ‘sexual harassment’. A term that makes people uncomfortable, a term that is widely misunderstood and thrown around the place, but a term that describes an incredibly prevalent and serious issue in our society.

While there’s a common misconception that sexual harassment, abuse and violation, only affect women, it’s important to realise that harassment is not confined to any gender. More importantly, it’s vital that we understand that harassment is not isolated to nights out. It’s a very common everyday problem that affects almost everybody in our society. The biggest issue is that the general public seem to be a little vague on what constitutes sexual harassment. Imagine you’re in public, and you feel someone try to pinch your bum, or touch a part of your body that you don’t want touched by a complete stranger; or somebody shouts something crude at you in the street, or whistles at you, in short, ‘catcalls’ you.

The attention is unwanted and uncalled for, therefore it makes you feel uncomfortable, and in some situations, you may feel violated.

That is not flattery. It doesn’t make you feel good about yourself, therefore it’s not to be taken as a compliment. Sexual harassment is the unwanted, insistent directing of remarks or looks of a sexual nature and unnecessary physical contact with a person who hasn’t expressed a desire for such contact.

The bottom line is: if there’s no consent, it’s harassment.

But how is this an ubiquitous problem? Very simply, more people are experiencing this kind of harassment than is necessary in a modern, informed society. Too many people are whistled at in the streets for it to be normal. Far too many people are inappropriately touched in nightclubs and other social venues for it to be taken lightly anymore.

This forces us to ask ourselves an important question: do we live in a society that normalises sexual harassment, and even condones mild forms of the behaviour?

During UCDSU’s Mind, Body and Soul festival an anti-street harassment organisation called Hollaback was introduced on campus to encourage people to look critically at street harassment and teach people about what constitutes street harassment. A committee member of the group said that “A lot of people weren’t familiar with the term street harassment, but when we broke it down into what it is: cat-calling, lewd comments, sexual invitations, public groping, a lot of people told us that it happens to them. Many said they often just consider it a part of daily life, and it doesn’t even occur to them to get upset about it.“ It is a serious realisation that people right here in UCD experiencing street harassment and failing to recognise it, a situation the organisation is actively aiming to correct. “Our aim is to educate people about the fact that street harassment isn’t a compliment, and nobody should have to put up with it. A lot of people who do it don’t realise how scary it can be to feel like you have no power to stop someone commenting on or even touching your body. We want to start

those discussions so those who are upset by this feel supported and know they aren’t alone, and those who witness or engage in it start to take action to discourage it.”

Very recently, a popular YouTube star, Sam Pepper, released a ‘prank’ video in which he approached girls in the street and then pinched their bums when they weren’t looking. Pepper is famous for his prank videos, and this wasn’t an isolated incident. He’s released videos in the past which contain footage of him handcuffing himself to girls, demanding they kiss him and performing many other highly inappropriate forms of behaviour.

The most shocking aspect of these videos is the fact that it’s all passed off as a joke: a harmless bit of fun, which really couldn’t be further from the truth. The content is not only disturbing to watch but Pepper makes it seem like this type of behaviour is ok. These videos promote the message to young people that it’s acceptable to touch people without their consent for a laugh.

What we should be telling them is that it’s not. It’s never ok to touch somebody without their consent.

How else does our society seem to promote sexual harassment as an acceptable form of behaviour?

Look at our media industry. Songs such as Robin Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines’ tell girls that “you know you want it”. Nicki Minaj and others perform songs and have music videos that make humans out to be mere sexual objects. The internet is filled with sexual jokes that encourage people (sadly, mostly young males) to openly appreciate the body of a person, sometimes without consideration for the other person.

Is it the media’s fault? Is the media’s portrayal of people as mere sexual

The bottom line is: if there’s no consent, it’s harassment

beings to blame for society believing that some forms of sexual harassment are perfectly acceptable? If young people are brought up to believe that pinching girls’ bums and cat calling is normal behaviour, and indeed, a form of flattery, then they will continue to accept it. It’s hard to point the finger of blame at anybody in particular in this situation, it seems to be an accumulation of factors that’s led to the problem. The urgent message that needs to be addressed here is that if we go on like this, we’re going to find ourselves in a society that condones far more serious forms of harassment.

The bottom line is: harassment, touching somebody without their consent, is wrong, whatever way you look at it. Maybe it’s the media’s fault, maybe it’s just the result of several years of ignorance. How do we overcome the problem? We teach people that harassment is wrong through ourselves and groups such as Hollaback. We stop objectifying people. We stop making everything about sex. We look beyond what meets us at face value and start thinking in terms of respect. Are my actions making someone else uncomfortable? Am I being considerate of someone else’s feelings and body? Most importantly: would I like it if it happened to me?

The solution to a problem such as this lies within our behaviours and actions as a society. It’s better to take action now before it’s too late.

October 7th 2014

comment

Head to Head: Scholarships belong to everyone

The UCD Choral Scholars receive financial support for their singing talents. Image: Leslie Van Stelten

pro

con

Arguing that a student’s financial situation shouldn’t affect their ability to get a scholarship, Sean Totterdell looks out how giving everyone access to scholarships encourages academic excellence.

With many students getting scholarship funds they don’t need Donal Swan focuses on how scholarships could do so much more for lower income earners

Scholarships encourage excellence.

That is their purpose. While it may be true that some students have no want in terms of finance, it would be silly to suggest that there is anyone in UCD that never has to choose between food and the pint. Of course, some students don’t struggle for money, but a scholarship exists to encourage academic achievement. The Ad Astra scholarship is UCD’s version of this encouragement, and it should be available to all, regardless of family earnings, due to the meaning behind it.

So what do we gain from giving money to people who don’t need it? The answer is a lot. A college is the sum of its students.

When students succeed the reputation of the college increases. When students who show great potential to succeed select UCD over many other offers the college gains. When we lose a student because another college offers them more, or they don’t try as hard because there is less reward, the college loses out.

You go to university for the hope of a better job and better prospects; which are reserved so often in this day and age for college graduates. The encouragement of excellence within the college, not just for some but for all, means that the college gains and therefore your degree increases in worth. There is a reason why an Oxford student is preferred over a UCD one. A glance at the rankings, published recently, shows where we stand.

We could improve this with excellence, which is encouraged by scholarships for all.

A scholarship like Ad Astra isn’t about helping a student through college. There are other services that help with this, which UCD tries its hardest to provide.

It is not purely about excellence, often academic, but also in sport, or other major achievements, all focused on providing a service to all of the students of the college.

There is another purpose of scholarships.

In among the glossy posters, myriad freebies, and polished sales pitches of societies and clubs during Freshers’ Week and throughout the year, it can be easy to get distracted from the academic interests of the university. The existence of “Black Weeks” and constant events can affect the ability of students to focus on studies. College is a time where you find yourself, and sure, if you wish to be the

person who abandons that degree to perform in a DramSoc production, or seek excellence in your County Colours (either on the GAA pitch or in Coppers) then that is up to you, go for it! All too often however, students can find themselves adrift. They love their course but, and particularly in STEM courses, they are labelled as the “dry-shite” or being told that they need to get out more. An Ad Astra scholarship, or even the existence of it, can be something to show you that if you are that person, then it’s ok for you to spend more time on your studies than in Coppers.

College is a terrifying place. Yet it is worse for the many first years being told that the 600 points they got in the Leaving Cert is not even an achievement. That it can even predict failure, as many people say that they are merely book smart and have no place in a college of individual thought. To be shown that the college stands by its principles of academia, is vital for many students who may be lost in the storm of confusion that is finding your place in a college of 28,000 students.

However, it may be argued that this aim can easily be achieved in near equal part by merely offering more scholarships to less welloff students.Yet, the more students who feel comfortable in their skin, and who achieve the excellence in their own field, regardless of what family they came from, the better.

The amount UCD spends on scholarships is not significant. Simply offering the top few of each stage and course a recognition of their excellence, which in itself means so much more in the long term than the relatively small financial benefit, does not serve to make UCD a less accessible place for everyone.

The final reason I will put forward as to why there should be no restriction is that it is a prevailing fact of Irish society that there are very few people who live with no thought of money. The advantage of offering a scholarship is that it takes the pressure off the student in relation to having to seek work and balance work and study, allowing them to achieve. While this doesn’t directly help many people it means something important. When a college has students who achieve, and when a college has students who put their best into every aspect of college life, and are shown encouragement to do so, everyone benefits.

The encouragement of excellence within the college, not just for some but for all, means that the college gains and therefore your degree increases in worth.

Scholarships, to truly be an investment in the future, should go to those for whom they can do the most

Education, like so many other things in this world, has a monetary value. Work is time, time is money, and education involves all three. To help ease the cost of higher education there are grants and scholarships, from the Entrance and Ad Astra Scholarships here in UCD to internationally renowned programmes like the Fulbright Scholarship.

With fees continuously rising over the last few years, going to university is getting more and more difficult for students to afford. Regardless of actually having to pay for college itself, rent and the cost of living in Dublin are not cheap.

Scholarships are a fantastic way to ease the financial burden of university; that is if you can get one! In recent years, grants and scholarships have provided the third greatest source of income for students, after employment and family support. They are vital to students’ ability to get the most out of their university experience, and it is essential that these scholarships are awarded to the students who most deserve them.

A scholarship has two aspects. The first of these is that it is a recognition of a person’s potential, work ethic and desire to excel. In exactly the same way as a sporting medal is a mark of athletic achievement, a scholarship is a mark of personal achievement, bestowed by a university or institution of learning.

The second aspect of a scholarship is the practical aspect – the money.

A scholarship grants financial aid for educational purposes. This is the part of the scholarship that really matters, this is the part that materially affects students’ lives.

Our society and our educational institutions have a decision to make: are scholarships a prize for achieving great things, working incredibly hard and having fantastic academic potential? Are they an investment in the potential of a person who would not otherwise be able to afford to go to university at all?

It is still an investment if given as a prize to an individual who could pay for college without it as they will be able to achieve even greater things with the added support of the scholarship. Nevertheless, for them it only changes their experience in university, easing the financial burden and improving institutional support for their study. For another person, a scholarship can allow someone, who couldn’t afford to otherwise, attend university. However valuable this additional support is for someone who could afford university, it cannot make up for the fact that that money could be used to help give somebody who couldn’t afford it a university education.

The distribution of the financial aid

aspect of scholarships would not be an issue if there were not already barriers to higher education in society. According to the Higher Education Authority, while access to higher education is becoming more equal, the middle and professional socio-economic groups are still greatly over-represented at university. As it stands, university graduates tend to make more money than those who gather their skills in other ways. The children of university graduates are more likely to go to university than the children of those who did not attend university. The Office of National Statistics in the UK recently showed that children of parents with a low level of education are 3 to 7 times (3 in the case of the mother having a low level of education and 7 in the case of the father) more likely to end up with the same low level of education than children of well-educated parents. This is a trend, right across the EU. Scholarships help to lessen this inequality, but they can only do so if they are targeted to help those for whom university is a much greater financial burden and undertaking.

It is not that the students who could otherwise afford university don’t deserve these scholarships or that they shouldn’t be rewarded and praised for their achievements – it’s just that we shouldn’t look at scholarships the way we look at something like the Nobel Prize. The Nobel Prize is just that, a prize, a prize for great achievement in an academic field, with winnings attached. There should certainly be prizes in university for incredible achievement, along with recognition of those achievements. UCD has medals and prizes across all faculties, many established by people incredibly accomplished in their field to reward excelling students. Ideally, these should not be confused with scholarships.

Scholarships, to truly be an investment in the future, should go to those for whom they can do the most, to really advance the educational ideals they stand for.

Scholarships should only be awarded to potential students who, achieving the required excellence, would not be able to attend university without the scholarship. A scholarship should decide whether or not a student would be able to attend university, not in what manner they will attend it.

For UCD a “scholarship is an investment in youth, education and potential”. The truly untapped potential in today’s Ireland is not in those already involved in the university but is the great potential of those who are not able to join the university society because of forces beyond their control, and it is in them that we should be investing for the future.

rebuttal

rebuttal

Sean Totterdell responds to Donal Swan’s arguments

Donal Swan examines Sean Totterdell’s arguments

Scholarships are indeed an investment, but it would be untrue to say that a lack of resources is the only obstacle stopping people from going to university. It would also be unwise to ever assume that the best and brightest will decide to go to their nearest university. Universities all over the world offer great scholarship opportunities to the highest

The amount of money UCD spends on scholarships may not be significant in the overall scheme of the college perhaps, but it is significant for every individual for whom a scholarship affords an opportunity they wouldn’t otherwise have. The Entrance Scholarships in UCD, which in the past were awarded along with

6 october 7th 2014

performing students. Most would choose MIT or Oxford over UCD. Conscious of this, a university has to offer financial incentive to drive the best to UCD and Ireland as a whole. Though the money may help another person more, the investment would yield much more when it draws the best to Ireland.

a nice big cheque, are now just recognition of great achievement by the university with no money attached. They are still valuable, they are still worth working for, and the Ad Astra scholarships would still be very valuable to the “dry-shites” even without the money because they would still recognise their excellence.

features

From Beijing to Belfield: The Confucius Institute and the Politicised Campus With much debate surrounding the presence of Confucius Institutes on university campuses around the world, Gráinne Loughran looks at the troubled programme’s prospects in UCD

Photography: James Brady Where is the line to be drawn between education and propaganda? This is not an abstract query, but an issue UCD will be asking itself soon. The Confucius Institute (CI), a programme established to promote Chinese language and culture in international universities and secondary schools, has had a presence on UCD’s campus for the past eight years and on other university campuses all over the world since 2004.

However, 2016 will bring a new €6 million “model” facility and a much larger footprint for the extremely controversial initiative of the Chinese government onto UCD’s campus, the first facility of its kind outside China.

In the past week alone Penn State University, the University of Chicago and the University of Toronto have begun to cut their ties with the CI, citing issues surrounding academic integrity, censorship and discriminatory hiring processes.

As UCD slips down the Times Higher Education world university rankings, why is it that it will welcome such a contentious institute in such a big way? Do claims of discrimination and censorship on the part of the CI hold up, and will they affect third level education in Ireland? And will there be a clash between the motivations of the Irish and the Chinese governments in the running of their joint investment?

CIs are comparable to the British Council, the Alliance Francaise and the Goethe Institut in their stated aims of promoting Chinese language learning, culture and exchanges, and fostering links between their host country and China. What differs however is their positioning in their host countries. Confucius Institutes run in conjunction with and on the campuses of universities, giving them a certain amount of influence over third level education, and providing accredited courses. Overseen by Hanban, the Chinese International Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language and affiliated with the Department of Education of China, the CIs are seen by many to be an arm of the Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC). According to Marshall Sahlins, anthropologist and professor emeritus of the University of Chicago which terminated its contract with the CI last week, “Hanban’s so-called “affiliation” with the Ministry of Education obscures the fact that it is controlled by a Governing Council of high officials of the Chinese State, headed by a member of the Politburo, Vice-Premier Liu Yandong.” In fact, the link between the PRC and Hanban may be greater than is portrayed by the Institute itself. In statements attributed to then propaganda chief of the Communist Party of China, Li Changchun, he describes the programme as “an important part of China’s overseas propaganda set-up” Describing the teaching of the Chinese language and culture in terms of propaganda readily puts the motives behind the CIs into question. The Chinese government’s

reputation in the classroom for the discussion of more controversial aspects of its history such as the Tiananmen Square massacre is not known for its openness, or even its acceptance that such an event happened.

This tendency for censorship, via the Confucius Institute, may be spread as part of the agreements set up between the Confucius Institute and universities and secondary schools around the world.

For instance, in July of this year, the Director General of the Confucius Institutes Vice Minister Xu Lin provoked outrage when she ordered that several pages be torn out of the conference programme for the annual meeting of the European Association of Chinese Studies in Portugal, which was partially funded by Hanban. One of the conditions for receiving the grant was that “the conference is regulated by the laws and decrees of both China and the host country, and will not carry out any activities which are deemed adverse to the social order.” The pages removed concerned the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange, a Taiwan-based Chinese studies organisation.

According to David Robinson, Executive Director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, “I think the difference [between the Confucius Institute and other cultural institutes] is that with the Confucius Institute there’s clearly strong delineated things that you cannot talk about in the classroom. I raise the three Ts- Tibet, Taiwan and Tiananmen Square, they’re the three brokered subjects. Those things are not permitted to be discussed and the problem is that universities are supposed to be places where we can have complete, robust, rigorous discussions that touch upon academic freedom, that touch upon world affairs, that touch upon controversial issues and if we have to put limits on that, I don’t think there’s any room for that kind of institution on a university campus.”

Marshall Sahlins agrees. “For all their obscurity, moreover, events such as the recurrent suppression of topics that are politically taboo in China in a secondary school CI classroom in the US are of major relevance to the question of the academic legitimacy of the Confucius Institute project in general. In the same way, even the prohibition on displaying the Dalai Lama’s portrait in the precincts of the Confucius Institute of the University of Chicago multiplies the significance of interdiction.”

The Canadian Association of University Teachers, as well as the American Association of University Professors, has come out strongly against the establishment of Confucius Institutes. Delegates passed a resolution at the end of 2013 calling on Canadian universities to cease hosting Confucius Institutes, and for those considering doing so not to continue.

McMaster University, the University of

Sherbrooke, the University of Mattasoba and the University of Toronto have all ended their associations with the Institute. Organisations such as the Free Tibet campaign have also come out strongly against the Institute programme which, in following the PRC’s official line, does not acknowledge Tibet as a separate entity. Alistair Currie, a spokesperson for the Free Tibet campaign in London, says “Hanban-appointed staff in Western universities will never deviate from China’s official line and CIs carry only officially-approved materials relating to Tibet, such as histories which reinforce China’s position that Tibet has always been a part of China. Foreign people taught Chinese language and Chinese culture by, effectively, the Chinese government will never be taught the Tibetan perspective.”

Accusations of discriminatory hiring on the part of the Confucius Institutes have also been recognised. In 2011 in New South Wales a petition urging for the removal of Confucius Classrooms from public schools received 10,000 signatures and was presented at parliament by the Greens. A spokesperson from the party said “Teachers are recruited from China and paid by the Confucius Institute….They must meet certain criteria, including not having any involvement in Falun Gong”, referencing the religious organisation suppressed by the PRC. The spokesperson went to say, “It is clear that the teachers have been politically vetted and will be deeply prejudiced toward Beijing’s orthodoxy.”

Canada’s McMaster University cited similar concerns about exclusion of Falun Gong practitioners from the hiring process.

With all that said, it is difficult to understand why any university would accept a Confucius Institute on their campus at all, let alone a €6 million facility to house them. There is a strong possibility that the Irish government, which is funding half of the €6 million for the facility, sees it as a business opportunity for the country rather than an academic one. Robinson says, “I think the universities, for whatever reasons, under particular circumstances may see this as a good cash infusion, they may see it as a way in which they can reach out and recruit international students, which is a multibillion dollar business these days. I think these are the wrong motivations; it’s not academic motivations, it’s really a chance to get money and to attract a potential Chinese student market. I think given all the other needs on campus and given the funding crunch, not just in Ireland but across Europe and also here in North America, it’s not a productive diversion of resources.” UCD has an additional business interest in China, with plans to open a campus in China in collaboration with the Beijing University of Technology.

A spokesperson for UCD said, “Over the past eight years, the UCD Confucius

“Universities are supposed to be places where we can have complete, robust, rigorous discussions... and if we have to put limits on that, I don’t think there’s any room for that kind of institution on a university campus”

Institute for Ireland has worked closely with the Irish and Chinese Governments, businesses and academic institutions to strengthen the ties between Ireland and China...It will promote and encourage cultural understanding between Chinese and Irish students and staff.” UCD declined to answer further questions on the recent controversy surrounding the Confucius Institute, saying it is not policy to comment on the operation of other universities, and no comment was received from the UCD Confucius Institute at time of going to press.

On the other hand, it is important to note that many academics have no argument with a Confucius Institute that has no part in university curriculums and which operates along the lines of other cultural institutes.

Robinson says, “The really important point is we’re not so much opposed to the Confucius Institute, if the Chinese government wants to set up Chinese language and cultural institutions along the lines of Alliance Francaise, or the Goethe Institut, but what’s different here is that unlike the Alliance Francaise or the Goethe Institut or the British Council is that these are partnerships with universities. Hanban is on campus, they’re buying your academic credibility and in a way it compromises the academic integrity of institutions. Unlike the other cultural institutions that I mentioned, there’s always an element of soft power involved...I’m all for the teaching of Chinese language and culture, it’s a great academic topic to pursue but it should not be left to the inclinations of a foreign government.”

Alistair Currie of the Free Tibet movement agrees. “Chinese culture and language should be taught and the Chinese people themselves have much to contribute to the world’s understanding. [But] The

Chinese government is a malign force in the world and institutions of all kinds need to consider both how ethical and how long-sighted it is to make it welcome.”

As protests in Toronto continue and Confucius Institutes around the world are called more and more into question, it is difficult to predict how Ireland and UCD will react to the controversy but for the moment at least, with little publicity surrounding the project and few UCD students aware of it at all, it seems set to continue unhindered.

Whether this should be the case is a matter for Irish debate, but if we are to follow the examples of the United States and Canada and accept their experience it is questionable whether UCD should play host to the largest Confucius Institute outside China. Robinson says, “If students and faculty members are concerned about academic integrity and the reputation and the academic freedom of the university, one of the things that they should demand is that the administration release the agreement so that you can see what the agreement actually says, and to ensure that if the institution says that academic freedom, academic integrity is not compromised then the onus is on them to reveal what the terms and conditions of the agreement actually are. If there are any problems with it then I think that students and staff of the university should put a lot of pressure on the university to say there is no room on our campus for an institute that sets the curriculum, that decides who’s hired, that delineates or sets limits on what can be discussed in the classroom and is essentially an arm of the Chinese government.”

Sahlins agrees. “You must take a stand, if you have any regard for the academic integrity of your university. You cannot subcontract teaching and research to a foreign government, let alone one whose actions are inimical to your own intellectual values and principles.” Requests made by the University Observer regarding the details of UCD’s contract with the CI programme in relation to academic freedom and hiring policies have not received response at the time of going to print.

That such an issue is receiving so little coverage by Irish media and that it even exists at all in a modern, neutral country is shocking to many, but Robinson puts it best when he says, “What shocks me is that there are still a handful of institutions that seem to be willing to give up their academic integrity to the highest bidder.” It remains to be seen whether UCD students and faculty will continue to allow such an initiative to go unquestioned- and if it does, with the current controversy across the world, it may impact the academic reputation of the university more than anything the Confucius Institute could ever impose.

October 7th 2014

features

Keeping the Peace: Why Irish Troops Take Part in Foreign Wars With Irish citizens participating in peacekeeping missions in some of the world’s most dangerous conflict zones, Claire O’Sullivan looks at the troubles faced by many in the field.

Over the past few months the situation in Syria has become increasingly more volatile. This has led to UN peacekeepers taking action and stationing troops along the Syrian–Israeli border. Ireland, along with Fiji, Nepal, India, the Netherlands and the Philippines are an integral part of the mission. How safe are our troops as peacekeepers in such a war torn area? What work do they do and how has our little country become so infused in involvement with the Middle East?

Irish troops were deployed in response to the kidnapping of 45 United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) peacekeepers that had been forcibly taken by armed forces and detained at the end of August. The Irish troops were sent to reinforce other UN posts along the ceasefire zone. The release of the hostages has been looked on favourably by the UN Secretary-General.

Ireland became a member of the United Nations in 1955. Since 1958 the defence forces have had a continuous presence on peace support operations, mainly in the Middle East. However in recent years, Defence Forces personnel have also found themselves in many other parts of the globe as peacekeepers. The foundation of the state’s approach to international peace and security is set out in Article 2.1 of the Irish Constitution, stating that “Ireland affirms its devotion to the ideal of peace and friendly cooperation amongst nations founded in international justice and morality”.

The Irish contingent deployed in the Golan Heights, with the UNDOF, forms the Force Mobile Reserve. In simple terms, this means that they are tasked by the Force Commander to assist UNDOF troops in dealing with any incident in the

area they are operating in. The Irish contingent has performed this role since their initial deployment to UNDOF in September 2013.

For such a small country, we have a strong reputation and proud tradition of successful participation in peace support operations. The high standing of the Irish defence forces within the UN peacekeeping is reflected in the senior positions that have been held

by Irish military personnel in the past. An Irish general commanded the multinational task force centre in Kosovo in 2007 and Defence Forces officers have served in key positions in UN headquarters in New York.

So how much danger are our troops facing? Realistically, they are in a war zone and safety can only stretch so far. As with all peacekeeping missions, if the area was safe there would be no reason for them to be there. Dr Vincent Durac, a member of UCD’s Centre for War Studies, says “It’s not safe, it’s a very delicate and dangerous situation, as you know there are many elements that are involved in the Syrian civil war, you’re never quite sure which element is allied to another element and as we’ve already seen some of these elements are willing to take UN troops hostage. They’re willing to fire on UN troops, they’re willing to attack UN bases so it’s not a safe environment at all. Then again, that’s the job that they’re there to do.”

Speaking after his recent deployment in Golan Heights, Captain James O’Hara of the Defence Forces recollects on his experience in the area “On a daily basis, we patrolled extensively in the Area of Separation between Syria and Israel in our Armoured Personnel Carriers. The area of separation is quite long, approx. 75km, but the distance in width can be quite short.

In addition we provided security

escorts and armoured force protection for UN personnel and convoys.”

As the situation stands, Ireland’s Defence Minister, Simon Coveney, is preparing to send more Irish troops to Golan Heights and a new contingent of 130 troops will be deployed on the ground in the coming weeks. In reflection of the deteriorating situation on the ground the Headquarters of UNDOF, including the Irish contingent, have now been relocated to camp Ziouani on the Israeli side of the border.

Coveney has stated “We have seen a structural and dramatic change to the mission, but this remains a peace observation mission”.

The question is what happens if the violence spills over and drags Ireland into a battle that has long forgotten the meaning of peace. The Secretary-General emphasizes to

all parties the impartiality of United Nations peacekeepers. UNDOF is on the ground to monitor the Disengagement of Forces Agreement between Israel and Syria. Dr Durac is optimistic that the government will be treading cautiously. “If there’s even a hint that we are sending troops into a context where they are going to find themselves up against any unstable fraction in a Syrian civil war as opposed to maintain the peace between Syria and Israel then why would we do it?”

Ben Tonra, UCD’s Jean Monnet professor of European foreign security and defence policy is in agreement. “The troops and the command structures of the UN are acutely aware of the danger involved, there is no way that they are going to be allowed to suck themselves into that kind of conflict, and if

“How much danger are our troops facing?

Realistically, they are in a war zone and safety can only stretch so far.”

the conflict raised to a level that the UN could no longer fulfil its mandate then obviously the UN troops would have to be withdrawn.”

The very idea at the heart of the Irish Defence Forces is to participate in United Nations missions in the cause of international peace. It is very important for Ireland to be seen to be participating in such missions and be willing to take risks on behalf of peacekeeping and the UN in general.

Undoubtedly, there are risks involvedso far there have been 55 deaths of Irish troops on peacekeeping missions. Evil thrives when good people stand back and allow it to do so. Ireland is part of a mission that is protecting innocent civilians, regardless of the risks incurred, and that is something to be proud of.

The Conscious Non-uncoupling With Scotland voting no to independence from England, Eithne Dodd explains the impact the outcome will have on the rest of the United Kingdom

While there may have been a collective sigh of relief for most politicians in England, and the EU as a whole, when it was made official that Scotland had voted no to independence, the effects of the Scottish referendum have only just begun to hit the UK. After the no vote was officially declared, Prime Minister David Cameron said “It would have broken my heart to see our United Kingdom come to an end.” Though for now the Conservative party will see this as a victory, Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband all must be seen to live up to the promises they made during the campaign and all signed their names to. All three major parties have offered the Scottish parliament more income tax powers but all three have had disagreements in terms of the restrictions that they want to place on this. It is expected that the Scottish parliament will fight for a devolution package that will include total control over income tax as well as corporation tax, air passage duty and extensive control over welfare.

However, while promises have been made to change Scotland’s independent powers, only a timetable has been agreed upon and not the details of the plans.

The first plans will be produced by the end of October and the draft Scotland bill will be published by the end of January 2015. It has been agreed that no new laws will be passed until after the general election.

Scotland may have voted no, but it was by no means a landslide victory; the final vote was 55.3% to 44.7%. The deputy leader of the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon, said the people of Scotland have shown they have

8 october 7th 2014

The people of Scotland have shown they have “a strong appetite” for change. There is no doubt that there will be change- the question is who it will affect and in what ways

“a strong appetite” for change.

There is no doubt that there will be change, the question is who it will affect and in what ways.

Along with the growth of the Scottish independence campaign, there has been a smaller, but still substantial call for the establishment of a specifically English parliament.

Many people are irked by the fact that Scottish MPs can vote on English laws that will only affect England, especially when English MPs cannot do the same in Scotland. A recent poll by YouGov for the Herald suggested 62% of English people believe Scottish MPs should be banned from voting on England-only laws. Miliband, the Labour party leader, said: “Devolution is not just a good idea for Scotland and Wales, it is a good idea for England.”

Wales may also begin to look for devolution in its own parliament. Currently the amount of funding the Scottish Parliament gets is defined by the Barnett Formula which Illustration: roisin mcnally adjusts funds to Scotland,

Wales and Northern Ireland by population for devolved issues. The Barnett formula looks set to be a contentious issue when talks begin, as it implies that Scotland and Northern Ireland get more money per head and more money spent on development than the Welsh.

During the independence debate Scotland got a commitment from the Tories, the Liberal Democrats and Labour to keep the Barnett formula if Scotland voted against independence. As UK-wide talks begin about devolution or even the formation of a federal state, it is possible that Wales will insist that the Barnett Formula be scrapped.

There is no doubt that if the situation changes in Scotland, Wales will also look for a better deal.

Cameron has acknowledged this himself, saying “In Wales there are proposals to give the Welsh Government and Assembly more powers and I want Wales to be at the heart of the debate on how to make the United Kingdom work for all our nations…

In Northern Ireland, we must work to ensure that the devolved institutions function effectively.” This may suggest that the UK may become a federal state in the same way as Germany and the US, with a central government in Westminster to decide national issues.

While Wales will fight for a better way to allocate funds, England will fight for its own parliament- but Northern Ireland is still an important issue to contend with. It must be remembered that the controversial issues of flags,

parades and how to deal with currently in place.” the past in Northern Ireland There are others in Northern Ireland that are still have not been fully far less optimistic as to the settled sixteen years after the Good Friday Agreement, capabilities of Northern Ireland to accept new and in spite of six months powers. Robinson said of talks about the issues “I would always be more in 2013 in which the talks broke down. This may mean impressed when people that Northern Ireland would ask for the transfer of full be less willing to fight for or fiscal powers if they had even accept further devolved shown a competence in powers. Northern Ireland’s dealing with the powers First Minister, Peter Robinsonthat we have.” Naomi Long, an Alliance Party MP said after the Scottish voted to stay in the UK that believes that the politicians in Northern Ireland cannot “more and more people in hope to be taken seriously Northern Ireland want to in asking for more devolved maintain the status quo”.

However, there seems to be powers: “Northern Ireland’s a conflict of opinions on the politicians seem incapable matter of Northern Ireland, of exercising the current as Deputy First Minister of set of devolved powers in a mature way…This is nothing Northern Ireland Martin McGuinness said in relation short of embarrassing and at odds with the direction of to the Scottish referendum travel across the UK...The “I think we could do the same here, and we can do it current immaturity displayed without opening up divisions regularly by some of our so-called political leaders that would be detrimental to the institutions which we makes it almost impossible are part of at the moment.” for Northern Ireland to be taken seriously in talks.”

McGuiness is not alone; While it is clear that the Alasdair McDonnell, the structure of the UK must SDLP leader said “The change eventually, for the people of Scotland have moment anyway the union engaged in a rational, has stayed together. Salmond sensible debate on their himself said that the Scottish future...It is essential that the parties in the Northern Referendum was a “once in Ireland Executive learn these a generation opportunity.” lessons. We cannot continue However seeing as no to have limited politics. We changes will be made until the next general election, must maximise our own which isn’t due until May of politics and devolution.”

Mike Nesbitt, leader of the next year when it is likely Ulster Unionist Part agrees. that the government will change hands, it will be “We now need to have a some time before we see a UK wide debate on where really substantial change devolution goes from here.

This is a great opportunity in Scotland or elsewhere. to achieve a lasting settlement and address the asymmetrical devolution

features

Diary of a Taoishmuck Sept 28 The ploughing championships.

I should’ve outlawed them. I’ve never been through such torture with boggers. People stood around taking photos of me holding a plough. I had to smile and laugh and hide the pain of physical labour. The biggest thing my hands are used to being wrapped around is...probably my iPhone.

I’ve been putting Vaseline on all week but my lips are still red raw and chapped from kissing babies for nine hours solid. Nothing I do makes any difference. The tea tree oil I use for my heavenly hair- useless. And somehow still not attractive to the ladies themselves, even with that beautiful scent.

Gerry up the RA-ddams came up to me in the corridor during the week.

“What in the naym of Éire happened yer fayce, Enda?”

“Kissing babies is a messy business Gerry,” I go, in my most official Taoishmuckly voice.

“Makes a nice change frum kissin’ arses,” says Gerry.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones,” I said, and swept my hands through my hair and walked off. (But the words just go on hurting, I thought). *** Sept 29 I finally got the chance to go tie shopping today. I was running low.

Thankfully the children of Lough Shmuckno National School were well up to the task of furnishing me with all the ties I need coming up to the budget. Their tiny hands are capable of much smaller seams than anything Louis Copeland have ever done. The teachers were delighted.

Apparently it used up all the art hours they are required to fill for the year. And all I had to do was cut their funding for them to invite me down. We had an apple tart in the staff room. Nomnomnom. A good day. I love apple tart. These

Oct 6 Fionnuala, the wife and/or love of my life, thinks I have been working too hard.

“We’ve only been back from summer recess for four weeks Fionnuala,” I go.

“Exactly,” she says to me. “You’ve actually only been back three weeks, but it feels like longer because of how much you’ve been whinging about it.”

Fionnuala can be very harsh sometimes. We have actually been back for three and a half weeks so I just rounded the figure up, as Count Von Count taught me. She is the one who wears the trousers in this relationship.

I just wear the cycle shorts.

children have a bright future in the tie industry. My jobs creation plan is flawless. Forget Apple. We don’t need them anyway. Let’s get Ireland working...for me. And apple tart. *** Sept 30 Ah here. I can’t deal with this today. IMMA should be renamed. To IMMA LOAD OF SHITE. McNulty is out of the picture for now. But I am very sorry for everything I did, even though it was really Heather Humphrey’s fault. I will still apologise. But blame her.

Sorry Heather, you do not have long for this (political) world. Arts and culture minister was never much of a job opportunity anyway. *** Oct 3 Gerry up the RA-ddams is an idiot for tweeting all those photos of his rubber ducks. But I do think that my Count von Count action figure has been instrumental in getting me to where I am today.

He is still in the wrapping on the mantelpiece, looking extremely wise and knowledgeable about numbers and budgetary analysis. I don’t believe in Jesus, because what sort of a Taoishmuck would, but sometimes when I’m in a pickle I think, what would Count von Count do? Usually it is very helpful. I forgot my notes for a speech over in Chicago so I borrowed Count von Count’s opening. “Greetings, it is I, the Taoishmuck. They call me the Taoishmuck because I love to Taoishmuck things.”

Count von Count fact of the day.

His favourite number is 8 because “You can hold it this way you can hold it that way but it is still eight”. It is just like the hard copy of the budget. You can hold it this way you can hold it that way but it is still a monumental fuck up.

Oct 5 Somebody came up to me today and asked was I that guy who played Professor Calahan in Legally Blonde and that other douche that built the Titanic in that film, the Titanic. No, I am not. I need to get my face on the news more. I am going to ask Eileen Doyle what she can do for me. They haven’t done any environmental shots of me on my bike in a while. Maybe I should do another charity cycle. My cycle shorts are very slimming, though my helmet makes my head look larger than it already is and flattens my hair, which is sad.

But maybe with the water charges I can raise awareness for people that can’t afford baths. I will cycle along the seafront, my hair flowing in the breeze, my calves pumping iron, and the view of the water in the background will remind all of us how difficult it is for the middle classes. I know I forget quite frequently.

Thank God people like me exist to make things better for them.

***

***

I’ve been putting Vaseline on all week but my lips are still red raw and chapped from kissing babies for nine hours solid.

R e c r u i t i ng No w!!!

R a t e ; ­ € 18 ­ € 2 5 p e r h o u r ! ! !

I m m e d i a t e a n d p a r t ­t i m e s t a f f w a n t e d .

S e l e c t y o u r h o u r s/d a y s & r e g i o n o f w o r k .

No fees & No exper ience req uired!!!

Nu m e r o u s P o s i t i o n s a v a i l a b l e i n;

Retail

Transpor

Admin, Secretarial & PA

e c n a l e Fre

e c i v r e S r e m o Cust

t

F inance

g r .o d t l s n r e v a t s j e t h re @ o f n i : s u t c a t n o c Don’t miss out, October 7th 2014

We’re people, not robots Graduate Programme Some companies can make you feel like a tiny cog in a giant wheel. CarTrawler is different.

We know that technology matters, but that people matter more. That’s why we want the brightest and the best to apply for our new Graduate Programme in Dundrum. Most of all, we’re looking for people that care. After all, we’re people, not robots!

The CarTrawler Graduate Programme is aimed at kick-starting the careers of our future stars.

If you want real-life experience across a range of disciplines with the opportunity to travel and deal directly with Senior Management, then read on…

The CarTrawler Graduate Programme is a two year, paid experience broken into seven stages.

At each stage, you will be fully integrated into a new business unit, each one different from the last. The Programme is designed to give you invaluable exposure to all aspects of what it takes to make a successful international online business.

To find out how you can join Cáit, Eilish and the rest of our brilliant team write to us at graduateprogramme@cartrawler.com and tell us what makes you extraordinary!

Robots need not apply.

Join our crew

www.cartrawler.com/careers

science

Michigan to the Moon

Al Worden is one of only 24 humans in history to have flown to the Moon. During his recent visit to Ireland, Shane Hannon sat down with the former test pilot and NASA astronaut to discuss his remarkable life.

If you talk about whether there is intelligent life out there, the answer is absolutely, resoundingly yes.

Renowned 18th century British explorer and navigator Captain James Cook wrote in his journals that “Ambition leads me not only farther than any other man has been before me, but as far as I think it possible for man to go.”

One cannot deny that Cook’s first voyage to the South Pacific and Australia was historic, and almost exactly 200 years later the crew of Apollo 15 set off on a momentous mission of their own to Earth’s only natural satellite: the Moon.

Surely Cook would have deemed such a voyage impossible. And yet desire, drive and of course some friendly competition made lunar exploration a reality, two centuries on from Cook’s expeditions on the HMS Endeavour. It was that ambition that Cook spoke of which led a young man from Jackson, Michigan to an eventual flight around the Moon as part of that Apollo 15 crew. Al Worden spent three days alone orbiting our lifeless neighbour while his two crewmates explored an area of Mare Imbrium (the Sea of Rains), 28 degrees north of the lunar equator, on the surface below. The name of the Command Module he piloted during that time was of course Endeavour, in honour of their aforementioned fellow explorer who had sailed very different seas in a time long before Saturn V rockets and lunar modules.

Growing up in 1930s America, Worden could never have imagined the paths he would take, and the places he would see, in his own lifetime. “There wasn’t such a thing as an astronaut when I was a kid. There were television shows that had ‘spacey’ type themes like Buck Rogers, but that was it.” Worden earned a scholarship to the esteemed Princeton University, but a scholastic records check found he hadn’t studied Latin and so that opportunity was taken away from him.

An appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York was the next definitive port of call after a successful Civil Service competitive

examination. Graduating from the Academy in 1955 with a Bachelor of Military Science degree, Worden’s career from then on went down a route now accepted as the norm for an Apollo-era astronaut. “It was only in the early 60s that I realised we actually had a space program and that it might be something worth looking into.”

Having chosen the Air Force after graduation from West Point, Worden went on to receive flight training at various bases in Texas and Florida. A Master’s degree in Astronautical/Aeronautical Engineering with Instrumentation Engineering at the University of Michigan in 1963 preceded stints as a test pilot at the Empire Test Pilot’s School (then situated in Farnborough, England) and then as an instructor at the Aerospace Research Pilot’s School at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Worden remembers his time flying in England particularly fondly, having decided to live with his family in a bungalow five miles south of Aldershot as opposed to staying holed up in an American base.

Selected as one of nineteen members of NASA’s fifth group of pioneering astronauts in 1966, Worden was eventually assigned as the backup Command Module Pilot (CMP) on Apollo 12. The prime CMP that eventually flew on that mission was Dick Gordon, and the constant training together meant a lifelong friendship was formed. “Dick was my buddy. We flew together and worked together for a year and a half when he was training for Apollo 12 and I was his backup. We just went everywhere together. We worked really hard but it was also a lot of fun.”

Worden was selected, along with fellow distinguished Air Force pilots Dave Scott (Commander) and Jim Irwin (Lunar Module Pilot) to form the crew of Apollo 15, the fourth manned lunar landing, launched on July 26th, 1971. When asked if he would have traded his mission for any

others, Worden maintains “Well, maybe Apollo 11, that would’ve been nice. But no, I think we had the best mission of them all. We did the most science and concentrated on that.” He points out that “there were a lot of firsts on our flight that made it a really great flight to be on.” He’s right – Apollo 15 was the first of three ‘J’ missions which concentrated more on science than any previous flights. The mission included the first Scientific Instrument Module (SIM) bay flown and operated on an Apollo flight, the longest lunar surface stay time (Scott and Irwin’s lunar module Falcon remained on the surface for almost 67 hours), the first use of the lunar roving vehicle (or ‘Rover’) to travel further on the Moon’s surface than ever before, as well as the first sub satellite launched in lunar orbit.

On the return trip to Earth, Worden himself completed an historic first spacewalk (ExtraVehicular Activity or EVA) in deep space. During his 38 minutes outside Endeavour, he retrieved film cassettes from the SIM bay and observed the general condition of equipment situated there. As the first person to view the Earth and the Moon from deep space outside a spacecraft, it was a personal mission highlight for Worden. “I’d watched the Earthrise 75 times before that so that was an old thing by then, but to see the Earth and the Moon at the same time like that was kind of unique.”

Training for that spacewalk was a key element of Worden’s mission preparation, with underwater training and parabolic zero-g flights in the aptly named ‘Vomit Comet’ KC-135 aircraft. Colonel Worden asserts however that the water training wasn’t much of a help. “The underwater training was useless. The problem is you have to get into your spacesuit and then get into the water and get neutrally buoyant. Everything you work with in the water has to be neutrally buoyant and that’s a far different thing than working

with the same mass in space.” He does note however that “The water tank is OK for procedures, but to get a real view of what it is like in space it’s not the right thing. The zero-g airplane is the way to go.”

One key aspect of training for Apollo 15 was geology, and it is said that all of the ‘J’ mission astronauts (Apollo 15, 16 and 17) had the equivalent of a Master’s degree in geology by the time they each flew.

While Scott and Irwin were taught field geology, Worden became completely immersed in learning how to be an aerial lunar geologist.

His teacher was Farouk El-Baz, an Egyptian-American scientist who would take Worden on flights above places of geologic interest so he could practice describing what he saw. El-Baz is still a big name in his homeland Worden points out. “Farouk was trained as a petroleum geologist. But what he has really done is remote-sensing geology and his big thing right now is ground-penetrating radar.

He has found several Egyptian tombs and artefacts and they’ve been excavating those things.

He’s kind of a hero over there.”

The flights to the moon between 1968 and 1972 affected each of the astronauts in very different ways. When asked if the Apollo 15 mission changed him at all Worden contends “Only from the standpoint of what I could see when I was there that I couldn’t see here.” He adds that “…you see how many stars there are out there and you realise that the Earth is a finite object. Five billion years from now there won’t be an Earth – it may occur sooner than that, who knows?”

Worden seems convinced that it is only a matter of time before humans take the next giant leap in manned space exploration. “My opinion is that we are genetically driven to go into space. We might take a thirty year slow walk, a hiatus or whatever you want to call it, but we’re eventually going to get back to it and we’re eventually going to go on and do these

things that we’re talking about.”

Many of the Apollo astronauts seem somewhat divided on the matter of whether we should go back to the Moon before sending people on to Mars. Worden is certain however that a return to the Moon is a waste of time. “There’s one thing that it would be very nice to go back to the Moon for. If we could put a big observatory on the surface of the backside of the Moon, that would be absolutely unbelievable. Other than that the Moon is no good to us for anything.”

Even in terms of a launch platform to Mars, the Florida resident believes the International Space Station (ISS) would be a much wiser option than the lunar surface.

On September 16th NASA announced that it had chosen Boeing and SpaceX as the two commercial companies that will fly astronauts to the International Space Station from 2017 onwards.

The $4.2bn awarded to Boeing and $2.6bn to SpaceX will lessen the American reliance on the Russian Soyuz vehicles to get its astronauts into orbit, and is also seen as a key step towards replacing the Space Shuttle fleet, which retired in 2011 after over 30 years of service. Worden feels that for any manned space venture to work “You’ve got to have a vision and you’ve got to have a focus if you’re going to bring people together and do things efficiently.”

Boeing’s CST-100 and SpaceX’s Dragon capsules are both set to be reusable vehicles which will carry at least four crewmembers and limited cargo to the ISS, as well as act as an emergency lifeboat by remaining docked to the station for up to 180 days. SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk sees the announcement as “a vital step in a journey that will ultimately take us to the stars and make humanity a multiplanet species.” Worden thinks space travel is being privatised because commercial companies will do it “more efficiently” than government. When asked whether the move is a long-term solution

or just a mere stopgap measure he contends “I think it’s a long-term thing. Commercial flights into low-Earth orbit or to the ISS is a good thing because it takes the pressure off NASA to do that.”

In terms of whether we’ll ever find any other living species in the universe, Worden seems convinced.

“If you talk about whether there is intelligent life out there, the answer is absolutely, resoundingly yes. It’s deductive reasoning really.” With 300 billion stars in our Milky Way Galaxy alone, it is hard to argue with him.

Worden’s autobiography, Falling to Earth, was released in 2011 and made it to the top 12 of the LA Times Bestseller list. Written with Manchester-born space historian, author and current Director of Education at the San Diego Air and Space Museum, Francis French, the book is a fascinating insight into the thoughts and experiences of an Apollo astronaut.

Worden’s recent visit to the Irish west coast was organised

by Limerick native Paul Ryan.

A hugely successful few days included a lecture at Limerick IT on September 16th, before concluding with a dinner event at the Pavilion in the University of Limerick the following day.

The 82-year-old has no intention of slowing down his schedule just yet. “I enjoy doing this, I enjoy talking to people. It keeps my feet on the ground.” Having flown a half-million mile round trip to the Moon over 43 years ago, terra firma must feel that bit more precious. Al Worden – the boy from Michigan who took a trip to the Moon.

The above interview was exclusively conducted at the dinner with Al Worden event held at the Pavilion on the University of Limerick campus on September 17th, 2014.

October 7th 2014

science

Anti-Vaccination Crisis With cases of smallpox, measles and the whooping cough on the rise, Aoife Hardesty looks at vaccinations and why they play such an important role in modern society.

In 1998, medical journal The Lancet published a now discredited research paper from surgeon Andrew Wakefield, showing a link between the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine with autism and bowel disease in children.

After no other researchers were able to reproduce the results, all of the paper’s co-authors withdrew their support.

Further investigation showed Wakefield had financial conflicts of interest, with a legal firm preparing a case against MMR vaccine producers funding the research to the tune of over £400,000. Other investigations showed that his patients were subjected to unnecessarily invasive procedures and in 2010, following the discovery of false and misinterpreted evidence, the article was officially removed from the journal and Wakefield was banned from practising medicine.

However, since the publication of the article, there has been a wave of people, calling themselves the antivaccine movement or “anti-vaxxers”, who believe not only that Wakefield’s claims are true, but that vaccines are unnecessary to keep children healthy.

Many of these people are parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated due to these misconceptions.

The main argument of anti-vaxxers is that there is no real evidence to prove that vaccines prevent disease, that unvaccinated people pose no threat to those who have been vaccinated and that vaccines themselves actually cause diseases. The evidence for vaccines preventing disease lies in the number of incidences of diseases since the emergence of the vaccines for that particular disease. In 2006, a vaccine was introduced to prevent rotavirus, and now prevents 40,000 – 60,000 rotavirus hospitalisations each year. Between 2000 and 2008, 13,000 deaths were prevented by a vaccination against pneumococcal.

Vaccines work by preparing the body in advance for a potential infection.

When a disease-causing microorganism (pathogen) encounters a person who lacks immunity against it, it is party time for the pathogen. The pathogen can enter the victim, infect them and then reproduce; allowing it to infect people the victim is in contact with. The pathogen will be unsuccessful, however, if it encounters

somebody who is immune to it. Immunity develops from experience of the pathogen.

When the body experiences a pathogen it develops antibodies specific to that pathogen. Vaccinations provide this experience in a safe, controlled way.

When the body detects another invasion by the pathogen, it can react quickly and those specific antibodies can destroy the pathogen before it can cause disease.

If a microorganism encounters a large group of people without immunity, such as a classroom of unvaccinated children, it will spread easily from host to host.

As it spreads it will develop new ways of avoiding detection by the body, until eventually what is left is a pathogen so different from the original that the antibodies from vaccination no longer protect against it. If someone is in a weakened state and they are bombarded with said microorganisms trying to infect their body from different sources, even if they already are vaccinated, disease can still develop. In this manner, there are concerns that by not vaccinating their own children, anti-vaxxers put others at risk and while studies have estimated that vaccines prevent approximately 3 million deaths each year, it is believed that 2 million still die annually from vaccine-preventable diseases.

There are people who are unable to receive vaccinations, due to allergies and other complications, and these people rely on herd immunity to protect them from getting infectious diseases. Within a group of people, if the vast majority (usually over 90%) are vaccinated, a pathogen should be unable to be spread amongst the group, thus protecting the unvaccinated minority. But when the numbers of vaccinated people drop below 90%, it becomes easier and easier for pathogens to infect people and cause disease and spread, and spread, and spread.

There are occasions when people have adverse reactions to vaccines, however these side-effects are reported and patients are made aware of these before being administered the vaccine.

There are no sound reports of people contracting diseases from vaccinations though. Anti-vaxxers fear the chemical ingredients of vaccines which on their own and in large doses could harm a

image: Courtesy of Flickr user Sanofi Pasteur person. However, the amount of these “harmful” chemicals in vaccines is extremely small and the vaccines are prepared in such a way that they should not harm the vaccine recipient.

Anti-vaxxers often claim that research which refutes the dangers of vaccines is funded by “Big Pharma” (representatives of the pharmaceutical industry), while research exposing the dangers of vaccines is covered up.

This belies a misunderstanding about the nature of scientific research.

Scientific papers are subjected to peer-review before being published in credible scientific journals. The peerreview process involves the paper being read by other scientists in the field who check for consistency and validity of the scientific method. Following this the paper is published and other scientists attempt to reproduce the results. Only when this is shown to be possible is the research accepted as true.

Many papers that claim that vaccines are dangerous are published in papers which do not engage in the peer review process, whereas others are too vague to

be conclusive. One paper, for example, linking the MMR vaccine with bowel disease and autism claims the virus causes inflammation of the bowel which allows a particular chemical agent to enter the bloodstream and travel to the brain, causing autism.

These chemical agents, however, have not been identified and there is no proof that they exist or even function in the manner laid out in the paper.

As more and more parents refuse to vaccinate their children, the incidences of preventable and potentially lifethreatening diseases will continue to rise. According to the Centre for Disease Control in the USA, from the start of the year to the end of August, 592 confirmed measles cases have been reported, the highest number of cases since measles elimination was documented in the USA in 2000.

The same source states that the majority of victims are unvaccinated.

While studies have estimated that vaccines prevent approximately 3 million deaths each year, it is believed that 2 million still die annually from vaccinepreventable diseases

Mapping the World’s Oceans The earth is known as the blue planet, but how much do we really know about what lies beneath our oceans?

Diarmuid Finnan investigates

The Voyager 1 satellite left the confines of the solar system only last year and stands testament to people’s desire to explore. Despite this monumental feat, our own planet still remains largely unexplored. The earth is mostly covered in water, over 70% in fact, and yet, only 5% of our oceans have been accurately mapped.

Anyone can quickly view the entire surface of the Moon and Mars online but the majority of our ocean floor has never been seen by human eyes.

The few expeditions that have been undertaken show that ocean exploration is a worthwhile venture. In the mere 5% that has been explored in detail we have found towering mountain ranges and the world’s deepest trenches. Life has been found to exist even in the deepest parts of the ocean (The Mariana Trench).

Underwater lakes and rivers due to varying levels of salinity have been found and giant Tube Worms, up to 2.4m long, have been seen at depths up to 1500 metres. While down there you may also witness some terrifying sights such as colossal squid (up to 14m long) and Japanese Spider Crabs (up to 3.8 metres from leg to claw). The depths also hide strange and mysterious fish that can even produce their own light, with new species being discovered on a regular basis by divers. These along with a multitude of other discoveries have revealed that “We were wrong about life on Earth” according to Ocean Doctor David Guggenheim.

A marine census taken in 2010 showed there to be over 230,000 marine organisms living in our oceans. With the amount of unexplored water and the rate at which new species are being found, scientists estimate there to be up to one million aquatic species.

Discovering these seems like a worthy 12 october 7th 2014

venture. Proteins found in deep sea jellyfish have helped analyse processes such as nerve development in the brain. Breakthroughs in areas like this could lead to advancements in treatment for autism, down syndrome and schizophrenia, to name but a few.

The single celled organisms living at the depths of the Mariana Trench are thought to resemble the first life on earth. All life on earth stemmed from the oceans and still depends on them.

Close to home, Coral Reefs exist off the west coast of Ireland. Found at depths between 800 to 1000 metres below the surface they were initially discovered by the British Navy in 1869 but technology to explore them has only recently been developed.

It was widely thought that coral like this could not exist in cold waters but new exploration has shown the Irish Coral Reef to be thriving. The depth of this reef means very little sunlight gets to the area and so it is not quite as colourful as its cousin down under, The Great Barrier Reef.

The mention of a coral reef off Irish shores comes a surprise to many. In a sense it shouldn’t be too shocking that Ireland has hidden treasures in its 220 million acres of ocean. Teams at NUIG have been studying these waters and it was them, partnered with teams from parts of Europe, that returned with pictures of the coral reef and other marine life surrounding it.

Most ocean exploration has been done by oil companies looking for new reserves. Monetary benefits seem to be one the best incentives and it appears to be needed. For a simple comparison, NASA had a budget of $7.8 Billion for exploration last year while the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association) received $1.6 Billion. A debate at last year’s Social Good Summit pitted space exploration against ocean

image: The Polarcus, a geological survey ship, was hired by Irish oil company Providence Resources to scan for oil in the Porcupine Basin off the Irish coast

All life stemmed from the oceans and still depends on them

exploration. It’s quite easy to see that they were generally making the same points. Both forms of exploration have led to developments in technology and medicine, creation of jobs and economic benefits.

The current mode of large scale mapping is done by autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs).

Resembling a large torpedo they send out sound waves to estimate how deep the area is then dive as deep as possible to take photographs of what lies below. This technology is not very new with the first having being developed in 1957.

The problem is they are not in wide use. The technology is often used only when necessary, such as when oil companies are mapping areas to begin the construction of

subsea infrastructure or pipelines.

Research for the sake of research has been minimal due to the costs.

One of the biggest challenges facing sea exploration is simply the size of the oceans. A stark example of this is the loss of airplanes at sea.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has yet to be found despite the largest and most expensive search mission in human history. It would take ten ships with sonar technology twenty years to map the entire sea floor.

Even then, the map would still be missing a colossal amount of detail.

Iron man style suits are being developed that will allow humans to get up close and personal with deep sea fish that we have only glimpsed before, and a new version of the exploration submersible “Alvin”, the

first deep-sea submersible capable of carrying passengers, has been launched to allow scientists to get to the very depths of our hidden world.

It will still be a long conquest with a certainty of startling discoveries, and many chances to assist in the effort. Websites such as zooinverse. org and seafloorexplorer.org allow users to classify the mysteries of the deep sea, analysing pictures possibly never seen before. You never know what might be found.

science

An Ig Nobel Calling With the 2014 Nobel Prizes approaching, Katy Hudson looks at some of the winners of their satirical counterparts, the Ig Nobel Prizes.

A parody of the Nobel Prize, the Ig Nobel Prize celebrates scientific research of a more idiosyncratic (some might say ridiculous) nature. The annual ceremony sees the winners of each category presented with the accolade by real Nobel Laureates.

Organised by science humour magazine, Annals of Improbable Research, the awards aim to honour achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.”

Have you seen the face of Jesus in your toast recently? Don’t panic, you are not going insane; it’s just face pareidolia. This year’s Ig Nobel prize for neuroscience was awarded to scientists based in China and Canada for researching what goes on in our brains when we recognise faces in things such as rocks, or even our breakfast. Analysis of neural responses suggested that sensory input, with even a vague suggestion of a face, may result in our brain interpreting a face. This is likely an adaptive feature of human beings, due to the great importance of facial recognition in our day to day lives.

So if you did see Jesus in your toast this morning, don’t worry your roommate probably saw the Virgin Mary in their pizza last night.

The prize for medicine was awarded to scientists from America and India for treating “uncontrollable” nosebleeds with the nasal packing method, using cured pork strips. The concept was tested on a four-year-old sufferer of Glanzmann thrombasthenia (a platelet abnormality that can result in fatal hemorrhage) to successfully treat two

separate nosebleeds. Once a shipboard ration, now a medicinal wonder.

In physics, the award went to scientists from Japan, for answering the age-old question “why are banana skins so slippery?” The group measured the frictional coefficient between a shoe and a banana skin, and then between a banana skin and the floor. This was compared with the amount of friction between the shoe, floor and other fruit peels, such as orange and apple. Results showed that banana skin has a much better lubricating ability than other fruit peel. This is due to a release of polysaccharide follicular gel from membranes of the banana skin when it is stood on, which acts as a lubricant. The same gel is found in the membranes where bones meet and the research may have applications in prosthesis design.

The prize for arctic science was presented to scientists based in Norway, for studying how Svalbard reindeer on Edgeøya react to being approached by a human disguised as a polar bear. They measured the distance from which reindeer responded (the point at which animals showed fear and initiated a flight response) when approached by a stalking polar bear, a human disguised as a polar bear and a human dressed in hiking gear. The distances at which the reindeer reacted were significantly longer when approached by a person disguised as a polar bear, compared to when approached by a person dressed in regular hiking gear. This novel experiment is solid evidence for a predator-prey relationship

The awards aim to honour achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think

between the two species in the area.

In biology, the prize was awarded to scientists from the Czech Republic, Germany and Zambia, for observing that dogs like to align their body axis with the Earth’s north-south geomagnetic field lines when defecating and urinating. This is the first time magnetic sensitivity has been demonstrated in dogs. It may sound like a strange topic for research, but these findings mean we must now consider the effects that magnetic storms may have on organisms.

Undoubtedly, scientists would probably rather win a Nobel Prize, but the Ig Nobel Prizes have good intentions at their heart. By recognising offbeat research and experimentation, the awards promote creativity and imagination, showing that however weird or wonderful, all scientific research is important research.

“is there a researcher in the house!?”

Eleanor Dunn, a PhD student in the area of biomedical engineering, talks to Conor de Paor about her research into neurological disorders and her love of the hippocampus.

What is your research about?

My research involves developing computational models of certain parts of the brain that are of interest in neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s disease. Not only can these models be used to better understand the changes and dynamics in the diseased brain, they serve as a tool to improve treatment options, such as deep brain stimulation, for the treatment of neurological disorder.

What’s the hardest thing about undertaking a PhD? PhDs are inherently research based and although research can be very rewarding, it’s not without its own frustrations. Realising and accepting that no conclusive results or negative results are still results and are a very possible outcome of research.

How do you undertake your research?

How did you become interested Initially I spent a lot of time reading in your area of research? journal papers and trying to get an I’ve always been interested in the understanding of everything that is biomedical area, but knowing people first happening within the area. Although I hand who are afflicted by neurological still keep up with new papers coming disorders increased my curiosity out each week, most of my time is now about the how the brain works and the spent coding, running simulations, underlying causes of its diseases. interpreting results, or writing papers of my own.

Why are you doing a PhD? Even after completing an undergraduate What do you use for your degree in biomedical engineering and research in terms of working in industry for a couple years, I materials and equipment? still wasn’t satisfied with the current level Since the majority of my research is of understanding of neural physiology. computational, most of it is done on Completing a PhD lends the possibility the computer. In order to validate this of increasing this understanding and data, however, clinical or experimental making a positive impact, even if data is needed which requires the very small, in the greater scientific use of electromyography (EMG) and community. electroencephalography (EEG).

Do you find funding difficult to acquire?

Being such an interdisciplinary field, biomedical engineering draws the attention of many different interested parties in scientific, engineering, and healthcare areas.

As a result of this, there is a great deal of potential for research funding across the board, however, it can be very competitive to acquire as biomedical research becomes more popular.

What applications do you see for your research?

Despite the widespread success of deep brain stimulation for treating symptoms of neurological diseases, it is still associated with significant side effects and a loss of benefit. The overall objective of my research is to improve the treatment efficacy of deep brain stimulation in Parkinson’s. Not only does this have the potential to save time and money for the patient and clinician, it can improve the clinical outcome and patient’s quality of life.

Do you enjoy teaching undergraduates?

Teaching undergraduate students in the lab is a great way to improve on some of the other aspects that are important to completing a PhD. Completing research isn’t very useful if you’re not able to effectively communicate results, but explaining concepts to undergraduates can be a good way to practice communication skills.

What are your plans for when you are finished?

Catch up on sleep and some TV shows I’ve missed. What is this Breaking Bad everyone was on about?

Would you undertake any more academic research after your PhD? Whether or not the research is in academia I can’t say for sure, but I would definitely like to continue on with some sort of research after I complete my PhD. What is your favourite part of the brain and why?

The hippocampus, but I can’t remember why! a woman wearing an electrode cap, used in gathering brain activity image: Courtesy of flickr user ilona gaynor

Bringing an end to the Silent Spring With growing concerns over the worldwide bee population, Maria Jacobs UCD’s aspiring Eco Soc examines the causes and possible solutions to the problem, including the potential for an on-campusbee garden It’s that time of year when the college is a-buzz with assignments and midterms and students are stressing away to the drone of it all. So what better time than this to talk about bees? Unfortunately there’s less and less of them each year and some probably don’t realise this growing problem.

At the start of this year, the Eco Society had been busy highlighting the importance of this species to the Irish society and to the wider world. If bees were to disappear tomorrow, we would notice it. Without the hum of the bees, a silent spring is a definite possibility. You might be thinking to yourself that honey will be the only produce affected but the problem is far larger than just honey. 7 out of 10 crops that feed 90% of the human population are pollinated by bees. So it’s not just about honey; it’s about the apples, the tomatoes, the onions, the oils, the beans and many other products that frequent our cooking.

To stress the importance of the service pollination by bees is, here is an example. In the U.S. 60% of their entire bee population is trucked into one almond farm annually for pollination. People hire bees to pollinate.

To provide us with the food that we need to survive, bees are estimated to be worth €85 million to Irish economy each year.

So what is causing their decline?

According to entomologist Marla Spivak it’s not any one particular reason but in fact “multiple and interacting causes” that are plaguing bee populations.

The principal reason starts with the fact there are too many flowerless landscapes and a dysfunctional food system. What this means is that there are more lawns than gardens and farms now only grow one or two crops on a large scale. This latter phenomenon is called a monoculture.

This creates what can be classified as an agricultural food desert, meaning there

are not enough flowers in urban areas and worse still, it means that even in the countryside the farms are no longer supplying a consistent food supply all year round. Even in cases like almond monocultures, which are great for bees due to the proteins that they provide, it is only available for a relatively short period.

Furthermore, these monocultures become a feeding ground for pests and thus require intense doses of pesticides to be used. In large doses, these pesticides can be fatal to bees, while in smaller doses, it may be intoxicating and disorientating. One example of such a pesticide is called neonicotinoid, which affects the homing ability of the bees, meaning they cannot find their hives and ultimately perish.

Bees, like any other creatures, have their own set of diseases. They have viruses and blood sucking parasites, which affect conolies. Imagine how difficult life becomes

all of sudden when you are sick and starving.

That’s what it’s like for a bee in the present ecology that we have set up for them.

All of these add up and in the Irish case, this roughly translates to some 30% of our 101 bee species being endangered.

So what can we do to make life easier for them? The solution is not difficult. Planting flowers would be the first step. Bees love wildflowers which mean once you plant them, there is little else you need to do. The best plants are ones with blue and yellow flowers. Bees are also attracted to flowering herbs such as thyme and rosemary.

You can set up bee gardens which are essentially wildflower gardens. They are easy to maintain. Once planted you simply allow them to grow on their own. Make sure to avoid the use of pesticides, bees are sensitive creatures and they have small bodies; even small doses will affect them heavily. You do not have to be a gardener

to help them. Simple steps such as a few pots outside your window will help.

The problem may be on a global scale but the solution is local. In fact, the Eco Society is looking at founding a bee garden on campus. One of the proposed locations is the wildflower sanctuary just beside the Conway Institute. If indeed anybody does want to get involved with this, you can do so at ecosocucd@gmail.com and if you just want to enjoy the view, you can pop over anytime once it is done. We aim to start working on it in February of this coming year. The sanctuary is open all the time if you want to have a look.

If you would like to find out more about other environmental topics or want to talk to someone about any of your ideas for environmental campaigns, you can come down to our monthly bee breakfasts or you can get in contact the society on the above email. Don’t be a hater, save the pollinator.

October 7th 2014

14-16 Oct

EVENTS THIS WEEK Tuesday Know Your Union / Science Meet the officers and have a chat!

TUE

WED

THU

14

15

16

Wednesday Know Your Union /Arts Meet the officers and have a chat!

Welfare Crew Meeting Details to be confirmed Postgraduate Mixer UCD Clubhouse Bar (Upstairs) 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm Open to all Postgrad students Thursday Know Your Union / Law Meet the officers and have a chat!

Please talk coffee in Glenomena 6pm, get some coffee for free!

FUN FACT

FEARGAL HYNES PRESIDENT

president@ucdsu.ie 01 716 3110 @feargalhynes

ANABEL CASTANED A

GRADUATE EDUCATIO OFFICER N

graduate@ucdsu.ie 01 716 3113 @Anabel_UCDSU

AMY FOX AD UNDERGR N EDUCATIO OFFICER

education@ucdsu.ie 01 716 3122 @amyfox93

This years Exec is so new, that none of them have ever been on Exec before. This is the first time in over 5 years that this has occurred.

We can smell the fresh air!

DON’T FORGET

Download our app ‘UCD Ents’ in the app store or on google play

GET W EXCLUEEKLY STUD SIVE ENT ON NI OFF GHT E FOOD S OUT, EN RS TERTA , FASH IO IN & LOT N, TRANSP MENT, S MOR ORT E!

MAEVE DESAY WELFARE & EQUALITY OFFICER

UCD E DOWNLOAD THE NTS A PP

welfare@ucdsu.ie 01 716 3112 @MaeveDeSay POWE RED B Y UCD S TUDE NTS’ U NION

NOW

Gaeilge

Todhchaí na Telifíse

15

Le comoradh bliana roinnt clár telifíse ag tarlú faoin am seo, caitheann Síofra Ní Shluaghadháin súil ar todhchaí na telifíse i réimse an t-idirlíon.

Caidé a rinne tú oíche Aoine/ Sathairn/Domhnaigh seo thart? Is ceist é seo a thagann suas go minic maidin Luain. Ar feadh na blianta fáda, bhí freagra measartha coitianta ar; “Bhí muid ag amharc ar an teilifís.” Idir dramaí, sobal dramaí, spóirt agus fiú an nuacht, tá an bosca sa chúinne mar pháirt lárnach de shaol laethúil na nEireannach.

Ach, an bhfuil sé seo ag áthrú?

Tá cuimhne ag gach duine ar cláranna éagsúla teilifís atá anois íocónach. Is deacair le créiduint go bhfuil comóradh fíche bliana i ndán i mbliana don sraith dodhearmada Friends, dráma grinn suímh atá anois mar mhúnla don seánra sin.

Tar éis taiféadadh de deich sraith do NBC, tá sé fós á chraoladh inniu, deich mbliana tar éis a chríoch.

Níos deacra fós le créidiúnt ná sin, afách, ná go bhfuil scaifte eile de chomoradh dá leithid ag teacht anuas gan mhoill; Desperate Housewives (10 mbliana), deireadh le Sex and the City (10 mbliana) agus The Sopranos (15 bliana). Anseo in Éirinn, tá an sobal dráma Fair City ag ceiliúradh chomh 25 bliana ar an aer i mbliana.

Ach, sin ráite, is deacair le samhladh go mbeidh a leithid de chomóradh i gceann 10, 15 nó 20 bliain fá gcoinne cláranna teilifíse an lae inniu. Gan dabht, tá nadúr an teilifís ag áthrú.

Tá an ráta de dhaoine a amharcann

ar cláranna sceidealaithe ag íslú bliain i ndiadh bliaina. Ina áit, tá úsáid de sheirbhísí cosúil le Netflix agus Sky+ ag ardú. Tugann a leithid de na seirbhísí seo an rogha do dhaoine amharc ar cláranna cibé’n am is míon leo, agus tá éileamh ar na seirbhísí seo ag méadú sa chaoi go bhfuil cláranna anois a dhéanamh agus a chraoladh go heisiach trí na meain seo. Sampla de seo is ea é an tsraith dramaíochta ‘Orange is the New Black’. Craoloadh a chéad dhá sraith den clár seo (lonnaithe i bpriosúin na mbán sna Stáit Aontaithe) go heisiach ar Netflix, agus fillfidh sé ar an mean sin go luath i 2015.

Caidé faoin lá atá inniu ann? An mbeidh a leithid ann de’n radharc thradisiúnta de chlann ós comhair na teilifíse, ag argóint faoin rogha cláir?

Nó an mbeidh sé mar atá ag tarlú cheanna féin; daoine ag amharc ar cláranna ar an idirlín, duine ar dhuine.

An bhfeicfidh muid díospoireacht faoi abhár The Late Late Show maidin Dé Luain a thuilleadh? Ní féidir linn tada a dhéanamh, ach fanacht.

Gluais: Scaifte- crowd Eisiach- exclusive

Iomhá: George Hannaford

Fadhbanna an Tacaíocht Ceiliúráin Valerie Ní Thiarnaigh

oideachas lán Gaeilge- an míbhuntáiste é san Ollscoil?

Kevin Stapleton

Iomhá: James Brady Mar a léirionn na táblóidigh go minic, tá morán súim sna daoine cáilliula. De bharr an mealladh seo, tá an chuid cumhacht ag daoine cáilliula thar an gnáthphobal. Le déanái, tá morán daoine cáilliula tar éis a n-aimneacha a chuir le roinnt cúiseanna agus carthanais éagsúla, cosú le Emma Watson agus an #HeForShe campaign, agus na gcéádta a rinne an ALS Ice Bucket Challenge le linn an tsamhraidh.

Ach, an bhfuil mórán fadhbanna leis an dtacaíocht ceiliúráin seo?

Ar dtús, féachann sé nach bhfuil mórán fadhbanna leis. Is féidir le tacaíocht ceiliúráin ard mór a tharraingt ar catharnas, mar a léiritear Dushlán an Buicéad Oighir.

Bhí go leor daoine go hiomlán aineolach faoin Galar Néarón Luadrach róimh an dushlán, agus is cinnte go raibh an tacaíocht a fuair sé ó daoine cáilliula cosú le George W. Bush and Jennifer Aniston cabhrach aithne, agus na milliúin, a bhailiú don chúis. Luíonn sé le

réasún go féidir an t-airgead seo a úsáid ar son cuid mhór daoine, ach faoin am seo, tá na Dushláin agus óráid Emma Watson imithe ó na hamlíne Facebook, agus le sin, an t-ard-próifíl agus an t-ioncam a bhí ag na gluaiseachtaí sin. Is féidir é seo deacrachtaí a dhéanamh do carthanas, mar fad is gur feidir dea- oibreacha a dhéanamh leis an t-airgead sin, is gá le ciste leanúnach thar thréimse fada ama, chun an éifeacht is mó a fháil.

Frésin, is féidir leis an tacaíocht ceiliúráin bheith leatromach.

Bíonn suim ag daoine cáilliula a n-aimneacha a chur le dhá saghas carthanais ach go h-áirithe- na cinn a bhaineann le paistí, agus na cinn a bhaineann le h-ainmhí.

Ionas go bhfuil an tacaíocht sin go maith do na carthanais sin, bíonn cúiseanna eile agus carthanais eile ag fulaingt. Ní bhíonn mórán suim ag daoine cáilliula tacaíocht a thabhairt do cúiseanna eile, cosú le meachairghalar nó foréigean baile,

as ucht an náire agus conspóid a bhaineann leis na hábhair sin- ach, go buíoch beannachtach, tá an scéal sin ag athrú. Déanann an idirdhealú sin fadhbanna, trí súil a dhúnadh ar na rudaí atá riachtanach do chúiseanna eagsúla, i bhfábhar na cúiseanna atá níos tarraingteach.

Tá buntáistí agus míbhuntáistí leis an tacaíocht ceiliúráin. Cé gur féidir airgead a bhailiú ar son roinnt carthanais, is minic nach thugann daoine cáilliula tacaíocht le cúiseanna deacair, cosú le meachairghalar. Faoi dheireadh, ba cheart dúinn níos lú aird a thabhart ar na daoine cáilliula, ach am a thógaint chun taighde a dhéanamh ar carthanas a thugann tacaíocht do cúis atá tabhachtach duit féin.

Gluais tacaíocht ceiliúráin: celebrity endorsement carthanas: charitable foundation aineolach: unaware leatromach: discriminatory

Cloiseann daoine go leor faoi na deacrachtaí leis an Béarla a bhíonn ag na mic léinn idirnáisúnta, ach cad faoi na deacractaí a mbíonn ag na mic léinn éireannach leis an rud céanna? Ar ndóigh, táim ag scríobh mar gheall ar na mic léinn atá tar éis teacht chuig an ollscoil, ó oideachas lán- ghaelach, mar bíonn morán fadhbanna acu, agus iad ag aistriú ó theanga amháin go teanga eile.

Deirtear gur rud iontach é an oideachas lán- ghaelach, agus gan dabht, is eispéireas fíor- mhaith é.

Baineann na gcéadta taitneamh as gach blain acadúil- agus rachann na mílte chuig na cólaiste samhraidh.

Is léir ó seó go bhfuil ghrá ollmhór ag daoine don oideachas, agus go háraithe don oideachas trí mhéan na gaeilge. Ach, is léir go athraíonn an scéal go mór nuair a rachann daoine chuig an ollscoil.

Ní call a rá gur buntáiste é nuair atá an ghaeilge á staidear agat, ach,

cad faoi na habhair eile? Ó mo thathaí féin, bíonn an t-oideachas lán- Ghaeilge ag feidhmiú mar míbhuntáiste dom agus mé ag iarraidh staidéar anseo i UCD. Táim tar eis staidéar a thosú ar an Eolaíocht, agus tá fíor- deachrachtaí agam leis an téarmaíocht. Tá méid áirithe a cheapann an léachtóir atá ar eolas agat, agus don chuid is mó, bhíonnach as Gaeilge. De bharr sin, tá sé deacair na léachtóir a leanúint, agus fiú na teacsleabhair a léamh.

An t-aon slí chun eachtraí mar seo a sheachaint, nó ar a laghad, a laghdú, ná chun chuile rud a fhoghlaim as Béarla. Tá a lán fadhbanna leis seo, áfach. Bíonn ort an oideachas a raibh agat ar feadh cibé uimhir blianta a chaitheamh amach an fhuinneog agus chuile rud a ath-fhoghlaim arís i dteanga difriúil, ach ní hé seo an fhadhb ba mhó, i mo thuairimse.

An fhadhb ba mhó ná, nuair a bhíonn ort é seo a dhéanamh ná an

teachtaireacht a sheolann sé- bíonn sé ar nós nach bhfuil aon úsáid ag baint le do bhlianta sa Ghaelscoil.

Is rud uafásach, maslach fiú, é seo a rá do dhaoine atá tar éis teacht ó oideachas lán-Ghaelach. Tá sé ar nós go bhfuil an ollscoil ag rá “Ní fiú do dhaoine freastail ar Ghaelscoileanna, ní dhéanfaidh siad aon mhaitheas dóibh.”

Táim cinnte nach hí seo an saghas íomhá atá UCD ag iarraidh cruthú, leis an obair iontach a dhéanann Bord na Gaeilge agus an Cumann Gaelach, chun an Ghaeilge a chur chun cinn i measc na mic léinn, ach is í an íomhá atá á thaispeáint do dhaoine atá ag teacht ann ó Ghaelscoileanna- agus do gach aicme den phobal. Is rud brónach é go bhfuil tú abáta Gaeilge a dhéanamh mar ábhar roghnach san ollscoil, ach ní féidir do rogha ábhar a dhéanamh trí Ghaeilge.

October 7th 2014

student voices Coming Out to Friends and Family

Coming out as part of the LGBTQ+ community can be a daunting experience, Jessica Hayden shares some advice for those thinking of coming out and those looking to support someone who is in the process of coming out I want to preface this with the fact that I’ve been through the beginning, middle and the end of coming out with numerous people.

It’s different every time, the only thing that tends to change is your own confidence level within yourself. Coming out isn’t just a one-time thing, it’s a lifelong process of ‘outing’ oneself to other people. With that said, the more people you talk to and the more people you’re open with the easier it becomes. As a person it gives you an experience that individuals outside the LGBTQ+ will never experience. Our world at the moment works on the basis that we’re all straight until proven gay, lesbian or bisexual and that we’re all cisgender until proven transgender. It can be very frustrating but it’s something that we can cope with.

According to lgbt.ie and my own experience there are three stages of coming out. Discovery, acceptance and integration.

There can be a huge gap between discovery and acceptance and that’s mostly because people discover or have an idea of their own sexuality or true gender as a child. Once the child grows to an age where sexual and gender identity becomes more prevalent they are more able to question and seek knowledge. Acceptance is something that comes with time and that varies from person to person. It’s an acceptance of who you are as an individual and I feel that only comes with a certain level of maturity. Integration is about finding your place within your home, your group of friends, your college and the world as a whole. It’s when you feel comfortable enough to express your lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, asexual or other identity and live life accordingly.

16 october 7th 2014

Coming out to friends can be incredibly difficult because of the fact that you’ve built up a strong friendship with a person without revealing an important part of yourself. Nevertheless, you have to remember that you’re not obliged to put a label on your sexuality or your gender for them or for anyone else.

Coming out to friends can be helpful however, to stop trivial questions like them asking you about what girls you like because they assume as a man you’re attracted to women when it’s quite the opposite. It can also help in educating the people around you whether you’re lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or anything else you identify yourself as. People can never have enough information on any topic and sexuality and gender is one that much of the population get quite confused about. With some friends it might take more time for them to fully understand what it is you’re trying to say to them but if offered patience and a little guidance then there shouldn’t be any problems.

The younger generation is predominantly more open minded than closed, but I feel as if I’m saying that with some sort of bias because of the wonderful people I’ve met. Minorities in society are always welcoming and accepting of new individuals and the people of the LGBTQ+ community are some of the best people. Other people in society don’t understand the pressures that walk hand in hand with coming out and not being the “norm”. That’s said with quotations because being straight isn’t the “norm”, it’s just more common. I would suggest looking into LGBTQ+ friendly events or groups such as LGBTQ+ Soc to mingle and make friends with people who have been through or

who are going through the same things that you are. Their advice and encouragement could prove invaluable and help you become more comfortable within yourself.

When you’re born your family are the first people to love you and they don’t even know you or who you’re going to grow up to be. I was lucky in the sense that I grew up in a family that were always open to the fact that I could be whatever and whoever no matter what. Coming out to parents and guardians is difficult because the emotional aspect can be overwhelming and there’s a constant fear of being shunned. I believe that talking about sexuality and gender identity is the only way to make sure that fear is eradicated on both sides. Views are passed down from generation to generation but that doesn’t mean that those views can’t change. Dialogues being started and candid question and answer sessions can prevent confusion and can get you and your parents or guardians on the same page.

In the end you’ll come to find out that coming out and being honest in who you are with the people who love you will be one of the best things you do. Secrets are just weights that hold you back from being the best self you can possibly be. I always felt like I wasn’t my whole self until I came out to my parents and within a week my world had changed. I was and still am happier and more open than I ever was or could have ever been before coming out. It feels like you’re freeing yourself from somewhere you didn’t really know you were trapped. It’s only after that you can fully appreciate how hard it is to hide parts of yourself from

the people you care most about.

I feel I have to put in a side note, for those who have had people come out to them and didn’t really know how to react, or for people who want to know how to react in those sorts of situations. All anyone really wants to hear is that it’s okay to be who they are and that they’re loved just the same. It’s that simple. A hug wouldn’t go amiss either but just letting them know that you’re going to be a support to them is ideal. Coming out, as you’ve read, can be a very emotionally draining and challenging time for anyone no matter the circumstance. And if you’re not completely sure on what it means that your friend is transgender or gay, the BelongTo website is a helpful resource to have.

Coming out is a completely personal choice and experience.

No two are the same no matter

how identical the words may seem.

For most people in the LGBTQ+ community coming out was the best thing they ever did and it was a thoroughly positive experience once they got past their initial anxiety.

More than likely it will be a positive experience for you if coming out is something you want to do in the near future. And if by some chance it isn’t, there are so many supports out there for you to make use of. The one thing you have to keep in mind throughout the whole lifelong process is that famous Dr Seuss quote: “Those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” In essence those who support you in whoever you are, are the right people to surround yourself by and doing so will make for a happier life experience.

If you ever want some tea and a chat you can always come to one of our coffee mornings! If you want someone to talk to email our welfare officer at welfare@ ucdlgbt.ie or come to the office during welfare office hours of 10-12pm on Wednesdays.

Editorial

Finding a Place for Student Media

In case the notice on the front page or the additional 16 pages of bulk in this issue didn’t tip you off, today marks the 20th birthday of the University Observer. Take the time to read our commemorative supplement.

Written by two decades of editorial staff, it’s a fascinating insight into the history of both this paper and the University. Many of the names you will recognise; Dara O’Briain, Pat Leahy, Roddy O’Sullivan, Shane Hegarty, Samantha Libreri, Daniel McConnell and Gavan Reilly are all prominent names in Irish media who got their start with us.

The stories they share are both historic and playful. Everyone covers the best headlines from their year, but also details the ins and outs of

making the newspaper. The latter tales focus heavily on the kind of character-testing moments we all face in college. From printing deadlines and editorial errors to lawsuits and perpetual threats to have us shut down, everyone persevered, as did the paper. The one sentiment that runs throughout each piece is a sense of nostalgia and gratitude for the opportunities that this publication gave them and the students around them. Not just opportunities to get one’s name in print, or develop a set of skills; the chance to find a place on campus where you feel welcomed and engaged is what most seem to have been grateful to find.

The process of assembling the supplement brought up many issues.

First, as discussed, it demonstrated the impact this paper has had on those involved in it. Everyone was eager to get involved. Declan Walsh, now head of the New York Times Pakistan bureau, filed a piece to us from Kabul. Enda Curran managed to contribute a brilliant account of his time as editor despite being on the ground in Hong Kong covering the ongoing pro-democracy protests for the Wall Street Journal. The effort that ex-staffers have made to ensure that our newspaper’s history is something resembling complete is humbling.

Revisiting the stories that broke each year brings its own lessons.

Finding issues from ten and fifteen years ago that details almost

identical housing crises to those that students are facing nowadays begs for a cynical reaction. The same goes for the perpetual stories of funding cuts, questionable actions of our Students’ Union.

Other things change drastically.

The countless avenues for entertainment that the rise of the internet has brought to us coincide with a certain disengagement with campus life. Two separate years report fights breaking out at the traditional UCD vs Trinity Colours Debate, during one of which Trinity students were pelted with food by UCD students. It is hard to imagine anyone caring enough these days to pick a fight over an event, though maybe that’s a good thing. As we

consider becoming a smoke-free campus entirely, it’s strange to see the regulations brought into effect in the last 20 years, starting with designated smoking areas in buildings to the entire removal of smoking indoors.

Anyone taking the time to read this supplement should take it as a chance to consider the role of all student media, not just the University Observer. In a time where the most established media organisations are under threat from changing markets and consumer demands, publications like us are not exempt.

The rise of the internet has not only made it easier to detach oneself from campus life, but also reduced the demand for long-form journalism and print media. These are tough

times for publications like us, and it is important that we know what service we can offer, and that you know what service you need from us.

During your time here, the policies and actions of campus groups and faculties will decide much of your life in subtle ways, and it is our role to keep you informed. With a national media that often fails to cater to our demographic without talking down to us, the journalistic work of your peers should speak to you in a way that other work can’t.

It is important to support student media, even if that means to challenge it as it currently stands. We are sure we speak for all campus publications when we ask to be challenged.

the university observer Editor Cormac Duffy Deputy Editor David Corscadden

talleyrand

Art & Design Editor James Brady News Editors Megan Fanning & Cian Carton

Salutations to all, I have a personal distaste for the celebration of birthdays, so if you have fixed your gaze here for my nostalgic recollections of my tenure with this paper, look away. I turned 260 this year and did nothing to commemorate the occasion bar making Cian Dowling cry. That was nothing to do with it being my birthday, it was just a Sunday.

No, I do not stay with this paper out of any misplaced love for its ink-stained pages. I stay here to stay closest to those whom I deem most worthy of being taken down a peg or twelve.

Speaking of, I am dreadfully let-down to be housed in my cold grave writing away while I could be at the SU’S CLASS REP TRAINING WEEKEND. Oh the joys of it. The socially inept and the politically driven, brought together at last in the function room of dilapidated Celtic

Tiger reject of a hotel. If you’ve not had the intelligence to avoid such a fate and signed yourself up for Hackdom, I recommend your parents demand a refund from Blackrock.

I do hear that this year’s training is a new curriculum designed to prepare any of the attendees for a career in Irish politics. First on the agenda is ‘Charisma without content’, to be delivered via interpretive dance by Feargal Hynes, as his flailing arms and poorly held lines are easier to understand than a Wexford accent.

Of course his time in the Deep South has taught him some skills that could turn the union around. His five year plan sees a gradual shift of the Union’s focus from representing the interests of its students to making a sizable profit as the world’s largest roadside strawberry stand.

Next is the media management course, kindly given by UCD in collaboration with the Confucius Insitute, who have been lovingly

profiled in the Features section this week. We have been assured that the Institute’s presence on campus will have no impact on free expression, though Talley is concerned by the fact that they wield unwieldy power if this is what you would like to appearin the nommunismewspaper well then that is what we shall doo and no one will ever know what it actually said, hoooo hoooh, what a hilhilarious laugh we are lea] Be sure not to miss the ‘Covering Up Institutional Abuse’ talk given

by UCD’s Welfare office. Now, the editors have requested that I clarify that I have no reason to believe or say the Welfare office has committed any such crimes, excluding their abuse of the generosity of condom manufacturers. But to be able the host a three-day festival on campus without anybody hearing about it happening takes some skill. The MIND, BODY & SOUL

FESTIVAL did at least manage to live up to its slogan: “Give them puppies and free ice cream until the problem of underfunded mental healthcare facilities and generalised social stigma go away.”

We must give some sympathy to the poor union, who have such a low reputation on campus, they could probably decline to march with USI against the abolition of free fees and no one would stop to criticise. Not that they would do something like that, of course. A recent survey revealed that 95% of students think that a Castaneda is a percussion instrument, and that 96% could not answer the question “What does the Fox do?”

Comment Editor Ruth Murphy Features Editor Gráinne Loughran Science, Health & Technology Editor Conor de Paor Sports Editor Ciarán Sweeney Otwo Editors Rebekah Rennick & Shane Hannon Games Editor Karl Quigley Film & TV Editor Aaron Murphy Music Editor Sean Hayes Fashion Editor Sarah O’Shea Arts & Literature Editor Patrick Kelleher Columns The Badger Talleyrand Conor O’Toole Mystic Mittens Photos Ciara Browne Harsha Vardhan George Hannaford James Healy Roisin McNally Arianna Stewart

Mark Cohen Callie Crawley Eithne Dodd Tadgh Dolan Adam Donnelly Carlotta Fanton Saul Fidgeon Diarmuid Finnan Eva Griffin Roisin Guyett-Nicholson Tara Hanneffy Matthew Hanrahan Aoife Hardesty Jessica Hayden Jamie Headon Katy Hudson Genghis Kahn Rebecca Kelly Brona Kieran Ciara Leacy Emily Longworth Ray McGrath Ross McKeever Lauren Moore Peter Murphy Roisin Murray Roisin Nicholson Eoghan O’Neill Maeve O’Neill Niamh O’Regan Claire O’Sullivan Conor O’Toole Lucy Ryan Síofra Ní Shluaghadháin Kevin Stapleton Donal Swan Sean Totterdell UCD Eco-Soc Illustrations Rhea Cassidy Frank Kehoe Emily Longworth Roisin McNally Model Aoife Duffy Makeup Artist Ellen Pettigrew Thanks Eugene, Maeve, Andrew and all the folks at Smurfit Kappa, Kevin Beirne, Killian Woods, Aoife Valentine, Samantha Libreri and special thanks to Conor O’Toole.

Words Grattan Aikins Daniel Ashmore Fergus Carroll Danielle Clarke

October 7th 2014

sport

The race to the Superbowl With the American football season heating up, Daniel Ashmore looks at this year’s NFL Superbowl contenders The best thing about American football is its parity and unpredictability. The existence of a salary cap means that no one team can go out and buy whatever superstars they wish, bankrolled by the bottomless pockets of an exotic owner, like we see for example in the English Premier League. The worst team from the previous year gets the first pick in the annual Draft, when the best college players turn pro and enter the NFL. As a consequence, teams can rise and fall dramatically from year to year, which makes early season predictions intriguingly difficult. However, with the NFL now about a third of the way through its season, a few teams have stood out as early contenders for glory.

Denver Broncos On the 21st September, we were given a tantalising rematch of last year’s Superbowl - Denver Broncos vs Seattle Seahawks. But unlike that cold February evening when the Seahawks ran away with it, this contest wasn’t a one-sided comedy show. Seattle’s defence, led by theirs safeties and cornerbacks known as the so-called “Legion of Boom”, again held the normally relentless juggernaut that is Peyton Manning’s Broncos offense for nearly the whole contest. However, the Bronco’s defence was also getting the best of the Seahawks’ offense, with the game a low-scoring affair early on.

Yet when the Seahawks began to pull away, the Broncos found themselves in a situation where they needed to march 80 yards down the field in the final seconds to force overtime against the best defence in the NFL. But they pulled it off, and despite eventually falling short in overtime, there was no shame in losing to the Seahawks in front of their partisan home crowd. This Denver team is much improved, particularly on defence, and look odds-on to return to the Superbowl this year. Again, for the much-maligned AFC, the path to the Superbowl appears to meander firmly through Mile High City.

Seattle Seahawks Over in the National Football Conference (NFC), the Seattle Seahawks still play in Century Link Field in the Pacific North-West, where they still boast a stadium which holds a Guinness World Record for loudest on earth. The stadium is so loud that opposition offenses have to design hand signals to change plays, due to the cacophony of noise which bellows out from the stands. All this means that, again, Seattle will be nigh-on impossible to beat at home, with a 19-1 record over the last 20 games, really putting Denver’s loss last week into perspective. While yet to reach their dangerous best, this Seahawks team looks scarily similar to last year, plus has the added threat of the dynamic wide receiver Percy Harvin.

Buoyed by that home crowd, and the seemingly tireless efforts of running back Marshawn Lynch, this team has a real shot at a Superbowl repeat.

New Orleans Saints & San Francisco 49ers Disappointing starts for the New Orleans Saints and San Francisco 49ers have been disheartening but there is too much talent to rule these two teams out. A lot was said about the Saints’ revamped defence, but I don’t think they quite envisaged conceding a combined 81 points against the Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns and Dallas Cowboys. Their sole victory to date has come against the lowly Minnesota Vikings. Meanwhile, a San Francisco side decimated by injuries and suspensions has slugged through the stat of the season to an average record of 2 wins and 2 losses.

Unless quarterback Colin Kaepernick turns things around quickly, the 49ers could miss out in the highly competitive NFC playoff race.

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers have had an up-and-down start to the season, with three wins. However the Packers are firmly still in the race, if only because they have star quarterback Aaron Rodgers under centre. Simply

put, Rodgers makes certain throws every game that no other quarterback can make, and therein lies the Packers’ advantage. If he gets injured, like last year, only then would I hit the panic button in Wisconsin.

way he has done so far, don’t rule them era. Then again, with tight end Rob out come playoff time.

Gronkowski not yet back to full fitness, and Brady now with something to prove, New England Patriots I wouldn’t rule out this team quite yet.

The big surprise has been the New England Patriots. They were expected It looks like we have another riveting to be the Bronco’s big rivals for the campaign on our hands. Most of last AFC crown, but, for the first time in season’s contenders are back, and Dark Horses nearly a decade, their offense has there a couple of teams which will no Three captivating sides are the been a complete disaster. They have doubt pounce from the long grass and Philadelphia Eagles, Cincinnati stuttered past the Raiders, lost to spring a surprise in the playoffs.

Bengals and San Diego Chargers. an average Miami Dolphins team, In a league where it is so hard to All three have made excellent starts and were obliterated last week by predict, I am going to make one big to the season, and are genuine the Kansas City Chiefs. Is veteran one: The Seahawks are going to win dark horses. The Eagles boast an quarterback Tom Brady finally it all, for the second year in a row. offense which can put up points in declining? A more likely scenario is the blink of an eye, and could cause that, at 38 years old, Brady alone can problems for the powerhouses of no longer carry the Patriots on his the NFC. The Bengals, of course, back, and thus needs some help from have been here before in the regular a weak supporting cast. Whatever season, only to throw it all away the reason, alarm bells are definitely year after year in the playoffs. ringing in New England. With 10 And if quarterback Phillip Rivers division titles in the last 11 years, continues to lead the Chargers the we could be witnessing the end of an

illustration: frank Kehoe

A knockout performance With Conor McGregor cementing his name as Ireland’s Ultimate Fighting Champion, Peter Murphy examines the notorious fighter’s quick rise to the top On September 27th, in just106 seconds, Ireland Ultimate Fighting Champion (UFC) sensation Conor McGregor knocked out the world’s number 5 ranked featherweight fighter Dustin Poirier. In doing so, placed himself near the top of the title contenders list and further embedded himself into the role of the golden son of Irish sport.

Unapologetically brazen, arrogant and rude are just some of the words that could be used to describe the charm of McGregor. As Ireland’s

18 october 7th 2014

most influential offering to the world of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and more specifically the UFC, McGregor is dripping with the raw talent and confidence that would lead you to believe that he was an established world-beater and on that Saturday night that is exactly what he became.

The build up to the fight between McGregor and Poirier was a drawn out loud affair, with most of that noise coming from McGregor’s camp. This fight had been propelled

by McGregor’s charisma into the

position of the “people’s main event”, eclipsing what many believed was an unexciting top of the card event between Demetrious Johnson and Chris Cariaso. So high were the expectations for this fight that by Saturday there was only one question on people’s mind; can McGregor deliver all that he has promised?

Not only did McGregor deliver, he won the match so fast that some people in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas were still finding their seats. In his most impressive showing to date,

McGregor, nicknamed “Notorious”, produced a brutal display of the prowess of his kicking game and his ability to land punches almost at will. While there was a certain sense of disappointment that always comes with the ending of a contest at such an early stage, it was eclipsed by the realisation of just how far this achievement will propel the career of this young Dubliner.

Since being signed by the UFC in February 2013, we have seen the undoubted talent that McGregor

possesses being put to the test four times against increasingly difficult fighters. Under the visionary tutelage of John Kavanagh, McGregor’s range of skills has expanded and matured. A distinct Capoeira style of movement is bolstered by a strong boxing and kickboxing background.

All of this is interspersed with moves and techniques taken from karate, taekwondo and various others martial arts. With his skills ever growing, the question remains though, how do they stand up against some of the world’s best? We are now somewhat closer to the answer, but there are undoubtedly more difficult tests of his skills ahead.

Coming into the world of the UFC with no fear, McGregor has used any time in front of the TV cameras that he can get his hands on to launch verbal assaults on established fighters, critics and anyone who has caught his attention in the wrong way. Recently he has taken pop shots at fighters such Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes. These attacks are not just meaningless or malicious. They are a useful vehicle for McGregor to self promote in a division that is saturated with talented fighters who are all clambering for a shot at the champion, Jose Aldo himself.

By belittling these heavyweights of the UFC world, McGregor puts himself on a pedestal on which he is confident he belongs, and with every bruising performance on the big stage, many of the MMA world are also starting to formulate this opinion.

The use of the media by McGregor has defined his time in the UFC world as much, if not more than, his time in the octagon. Painting himself as a villain has made him a polarising character. Many of his peers have criticised him for a variety of reasons including his lack of humility, his lack of respect and his failure to use his status as a role model responsibly.

Brian Ebersole labeled Ireland’s brightest UFC talent a “jackass” last weekend. He is not alone either; Poirier expressed his extreme dislike for McGregor on quite a number of occasions lately. The streams of fighters who have expressed their discontent with McGregor’s attitude, unsurprisingly, have a legion of support from UFC fans that are vocal on social media and

Teams can rise and fall dramatically from year to year, which makes early season predictions intriguingly difficult

at McGregor’s public appearances.

Even those that support McGregor must sometimes be worried by the part-time style icon, part-time philosopher’s use of his mouth.

Having talked himself up so much, one must be worried at the thought of what a loss would do to his career. In the average career of an up and coming fighter a loss would be expected. It would be seen as an opportunity for that fighter to regroup, mature and learn from.

However, the career of McGregor has been anything but average. Having created himself as a near invincible fighter, a loss would destroy all his credibility. No longer would he be able to use the attitude that has fueled his rise to the top. The attitude that has earned him book deals, documentaries, clothing lines and most significantly the friendship of UFC CEO Dana White. Without this McGregor would face the challenge of trying to find a place for himself in the MMA world again, very possibly starting at the bottom of a much longer path back to the top.

Effectively McGregor has walked into the casino of the UFC and placed everything he has on himself, and each time he wins he continues to take the double or nothing option.

Each time he wins he gains more attention and ups the risk. This is one of the reasons why he has taken the UFC fan base by storm.

As the reflection on his victory over Poirier begins to wind down, people will now begin to look in earnest towards what comes next for the fighting Irishman. Two camps seem to be emerging. One is calling for McGregor to be fast tracked into a fight for the title with Jose Aldo. The other is of the opinion that McGregor should have to fight at least one more highly placed contender before he earns the top fight and before that title fight would be sufficiently hyped. A fight against the likes of Chad Mendes or Cub Swanson looks most likely to be the next step for McGregor in his self declared ambition to be world champion before the start of 2015.

Regardless of which side prevails in the debate over his next step, be prepared for more fireworks, impeccable suits and some very big fights.

sport

coaching equality

Following the media backlash on comments that women should not coach men in sports, Ciara Leacy looks at the level of equality in sport coaching

Toni Nadal, uncle and coach of tennis master Rafael Nadal, is a man well used to being in the glare of the media’s spotlight. Recently however, he hit the headlines for a more controversial reason than usual when his name surfaced in a row over the role of women in professional men’s sport.

Nadal responded to the news that Gala Leon Garcia, a former professional tennis player, would succeed Carlos Moya as Spain’s captain for the Davis Cup with comments that have provoked accusations of sexism from many quarters. In interviews with the Spanish press, he said “It might be easier for the captain to be a man… a woman is just as capable as a man, but men’s and women’s tennis are different sports… I know nothing about the hours and training systems for women’s tennis. I don’t even know who the best players are. I doubt Gala Leon knows the [men’s] world number 40.”

Nadal insists that he is not old-fashioned, and that he is merely highlighting logical problems with Leon Garcia’s appointment. His argument, however, is flawed. By Nadal’s logic, no coach (whether male or female) could train a player to compete at the top level unless the coach themselves had competed at that same level, in order to experience first-hand the demands and skills necessary for success.

This is an obvious fallacy, and the success of managers and coaches such as Andre Villas-Boas and Arsene Wenger who had less-thanstellar playing careers immediately proves that Nadal’s logic is faulty.

The sport of tennis has changed hugely since Nadal retired as a professional player, so surely he does not have any more personal experience of playing professional men’s game today than Leon Garcia?

Nadal claims that he is not a sexist and that his qualms about

Leon Garcia’s appointment stem from the fact that her gender is different to those she would be coaching, rather than from any belief that women are inferior to men.

However, if he claims that a woman cannot know the key details of men’s sport, then surely the opposite must also be true – that a man cannot know enough about women’s sport to coach a woman successfully.

This, however, can be proven wrong with only a cursory glance at the world’s top female athletes – Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Katie Taylor to name just a few of the top female sportswoman worldwide who are coached by men.

More than 60 percent of women’s collegiate level Division I sports teams across the US are coached by men. Closer to home, Phillip Doyle’s success as head coach of the Ireland women’s rugby team has been well-documented, with him leading the women to a historic Grand Slam win last year. Nadal and others have no objections to this, showing that despite his protestations, he retains a double standard for men and women and is indeed sexist, maintaining a very “old-fashioned” view of women’s role in the sporting world.

Thankfully, Nadal’s views do not seem to be universal in men’s tennis.

In June, Andy Murray appointed former women’s world number one, Amelie Mauresmo, as his coach.

Murray also tweeted in support of Leon Garcia’s appointment: “Congrats to Gala Leon Garcia for becoming first female Spanish Davis cup captain today... hopefully first of many!” Other players under Leon Garcia are similarly willing to have a woman in a position of authority, with Mark Lopez, a doubles specialist, telling the Spanish media “I don’t think the fact she is a woman affects anything… The players have to accept it, to be united, to play, win and go up to the

If a woman cannot know the key details of men’s sport, then surely the opposite must also be true – that a man cannot know enough about women’s sport to coach a woman successfully.

World Group”. Although Nadal may cling to archaic attitudes towards women, others in the world of tennis have more progressive stance.

A moment’s research shows how worrying the statistics for women’s involvement in men’s sport are. Although women are making inroads into many other areas of life traditionally dominated by men, changes in the coaching structures of men’s sport are happening at a snail’s pace. There are, however, a few notable exceptions. Last month, Becky Hammon became the first woman appointed to a full-time coaching position for an NBA team, the San Antonio Spurs. Around the same time, Corinne Diacre

became the first woman to coach a professional men’s soccer team in a major European country, as she took charge of the French side Clermont Foot. It is reassuring to see that despite traces of outdated misogynistic attitudes that remain in some sporting quarters, and in spite of great hurdles that have yet to be overcome, women are beginning to break through one of the remaining glass ceilings.

It is impossible to read Nadal’s statements without thinking of similar claims about women’s ineptitude and unsuitability for partaking in other fields in the past. At one time, women were considered too irrational and not intelligent enough to be

trusted with the vote. For similar reasons, women were, for many years, prevented from working outside the home and were considered the property of their husbands or fathers.

Progress over the last century has shown how absurd and antiquated these views were, so we can only hope that Nadal’s claims will, in hindsight, be viewed as similarly illogical and backward. As women make inroads into every other aspect of life previously dominated by men, surely it is only a matter of time before Nadal and others who share his opinions are widely seen as the reactionaries they are.

The badger The University Observer’s resident sett-dwelling sports columnist discusses a predictable season of sporting wins, risky comments by Toni Nadal and an ever laughable Manchester United performance The Badger can always be sure to find a good laugh when watching Manchester United these days. After newly promoted Leicester City beat United 5-3 a couple of weeks ago, the abuse has been pouring in on manager Louis Van Gaal. The jokes made on Twitter by some of the players were as ruthless as you would expect. One of the Badger’s favourite tweets was by Jamie Vardy, who was man of the match in that game. Vardy tweeted “I just tried changing my laptop password to ‘Man United defence’ but it said it was too weak…” Another tweet then read “Missing: Manchester United’s defence, last seen 2012. If you have any information, please get in touch.”

Albeit United have won a couple of games since then, the Badger can’t help but think that it will be a long season for them this year.

The Badger however, thought the

last couple of weeks of sport have been very predictable. Between Europe winning their 8th Ryder Cup in the last ten competitions, Kilkenny winning their 35th AllIreland Senior Hurling final, Kerry winning their 37th All-Ireland Senior football final and Conor McGregor winning in Las Vegas in just 106 seconds…victories for the underbadgers are nowhere to be seen.

The Badger likes the last few weeks of September and the lead into October as it marks the start of the group stages of the UEFA Champions League. One of the Badger’s favourite furry friends, Basil Brush the fox, was in action as he took on Liverpool on his own, sweeping past them with ease to win 1-0 last Wednesday. Albeit the Badger wasn’t a massive fan of Luis “Jaws” Suarez, the Badger can’t help but feel that Liverpool are a bit at sea without him.

The Badger also noticed comments said by Toni Nadal, Rafael Nadal’s uncle, who said that appointing a woman as head of Spain’s Davis Cup team was a mistake because “women can’t compete on the same level as men”. The Badger couldn’t agree more, I mean eh… yeah, eh…no comment.

The Badger was also intrigued during the week to hear of the former Sunderland striker and Ghana football captain Asamoah Gyan being accused of the murder of his friend, a Ghanian rapper named Castro. Rumours circulated that Gyan had either murdered Castro or had him kidnapped - and even suggested he sacrificed him spiritually to enhance his own career…as you do Asamoah, as you do.

Sports Digest

GAA It was a day of mixed emotions for the strong UCD contingent present at Croke Park, as Brian Cody’s Kilkenny saw off the challenge of Tipperary in the All-Ireland hurling final replay on a scoreline of 2-17 to 2-14. Along with former UCD Fitzgibbon hurler Brian Hogan, the Belfield trio of Cillian Buckley, Joe Lyng and Wally Walsh all found themselves in receipt of Liam MacCarthy Cup winners’ medals.

Current students Colin O’Riordan and Noel McGrath were left to swallow the bitter pill of defeat as part of UCD alumni Eamon O’Shea’s Premier County panel. Of the UCD men involved, Cillian Buckley and Noel McGrath were the only ones to make their team’s starting line-

ups. The university was also strongly represented on the Jones’ Road turf the following day at the ladies football showpiece between Dublin and Cork with Martha Byrne, Niamh Collins, Molly Lambe, Noelke Healy and Sinead Goldrick all forming part of the Dubin squad on the day, in addition to recent graduate Rena Buckley.

Unfortunately for the six players, they were forced to be content with runnersup medals after the Rebels managed to reverse a ten point deficit with just fifteen minutes remaining to retain their crown on a score of 2-13 to 2-12.

Cycling A late dash from Australian an event in which he finished seventh Campbell Flakemore saw 20-year-old last year. Although pleased with his Ryan Mullen just miss out on gold in display, the An Post team member the under-23 category time trial at the admitted to his disappointment at recent UCI Road World Championships having not come out on top. ‘’It’s pretty in Ponferrada. Mullen, who was forced disappointing to come so close to to contend with some unfavourably getting a world title, ‘’ he said. ‘Every slippery conditions, almost built year in the last few years I have upon his impressive showing among progressed slowly. I thought this year I seasoned professionals at the Tour of might have progressed enough to try to Britain time trial by taking victory in take the title but, at the end of the day, Spain but was piped to the finish line I’m pretty happy with the result I’ve got.’

by Flakemore by the slender margin of just 0.48 seconds. Nonetheless, having won Ireland’s first ever world championship time trial medal in any discipline, with 9.22 seconds to spare over Swiss bronze medallist Stefan Kueng, the performance signalled a significant improvement for Mullen in

Intervarsity Cycling With no less than 32 A1 race wins on the national scene to their name, UCD Cycling Club will celebrate their 20th anniversary by hosting the 2014 All-Ireland Intervarsity Road Race Cycling Championships this Saturday the 11th October in Corkagh Park, Clondalkin. Two separate events will be staged on the day; a 30 minute, three lap challenge race open to novice cyclists holding A4 Cycling Ireland and 1-day licences beginning at 10am. Also on the calendar is a 45 minute, five lap championship race commencing at 11am for elite competitors. Current leader of the Cycling Ireland rankings and UCD sports scholarship student Sean McKenna is hotly tipped to emerge as

the Spirit Skoda Sandyford sponsored championship race’s victor. However, fellow World University Championships team mates Danny Bruton (DIT), Alastair McAuley (University of Ulster), Marc Potts (University of Ulster) and Ian Richardson (Trinity College) will all be expected to provide the recently crowned Leinster Road Race Championships title holder with stiff competition. In the women’s race, the UCD duo of Niamh Stephens and Maire Caffrey will both be expected to battle it out with Trinity’s Fiona Guilhean for first place.

October 7th 2014

sport

Defending champions Clontarf crush a weakened UCD side Ciarán Sweeney

clontarf: 28 ucd: 5 On paper, this game was set-up to be a mouth-watering encounter.

Before the game started, Clontarf and UCD were sitting 3rd and 4th in the AIL Ulster Bank League with 10 points each from their opening 3 games, which included 2 wins and a loss for both sides. UCD Director for Rugby, Bobby Byrne was hoping to see a repeat of what happened towards the end of last season, where UCD produced a fine display to topple a Clontarf team that would then go on to claim the title.

However a number of factors made this a different battle than it could have been, factors that in the end that didn’t do “Collidge” any favours.

The first was the depletion of UCD’s squad coming into this affair.

According to Bobby Byrne, up to 12 of UCD’s squad were not available to play having received call-ups to the Leinster ‘A’ panel for their game against Munster ‘A’. Injuries to key players such as Shane Grannell and Barry Daly also made this fixture tougher than it already going to be.

However excuses at this level get you no points, and not even the lashing rain was enough for UCD

to feel sorry for themselves. The rain was always going to make for a tough affair in terms of handling and quick hands through the backs was not really a viable option for either side, which put more of an emphasis on both sets of forwards.

The precarious conditions were evident in the opening changes and made early kicks for touch from both out-halves, David Joyce for Clontarf and Liam Bourke for UCD, visibly difficult. In the space of two minutes, the ball twice skidded loosely of the boot of Joyce and went out on the full, however, both of UCD’s opening lineouts were poor and they couldn’t capitalise on unexpected the territory given to them by Joyce.

After both sides eventually began to adapt to the conditions, a Clontarf scrum led to the game’s first halfchance for a try on 13 minutes. After a knock-on came from UCD’s exciting talent of Billy Dardis at full-back, Joyce played a lovely weighted ball over the top of the UCD backline and it took some scrappy and nervy defending, and an eventual clearance from UCD’s Tom Flecther to avert the ominous danger. However, Clontarf

built on their momentum and Joyce, growing in confidence after his deft kick only minutes earlier, slotted the first points of the night to make it 3-0 after a penalty was awarded to Clontarf following good movement and vision from inside centre Matthew D’Arcy for the home side.

UCD’s first real chance for a try came from a piece of individual brilliance from second centre Garry Ringrose who showed his speed and agility to bound away from the helpless Clontarf defence before being stopped at the death in a last-gasp tackle from Clontarf full-back Ariel Robles. On 27 minutes, Clontarf switched up a gear and good inter-play between the Tarf backs racked up the phases inside the UCD half, with Matthew D’Arcy proving to be the catalyst for all attacks for the home side. UCD’s solid defence could only hold out for so long though, and eventually referee Mark Connolly awarded Clontarf their second penalty of the night for not releasing, which David Joyce converted for 6-0.

It was always going to take something special in the dreadful conditions for the backs of either side to try and force any kind of attack but special was an

second half came and went without a single score. In the 62nd minute, UCD retained possession from a scrum in the shadow of their own posts and decided to run it though the backs under pressure. However, at the breakdown, Clontarf turned over the ball and won themselves a scrum from which they attacked the UCD try-line. Despite a bulletproof performance from UCD’s defence, Clontarf piled on the phases through the forwards and their persistence paid off when prop Ivan Soroka eventually went over for Clontarf’s first try of the match to make it 14-5, which became 16-5 upon a tidy conversion from a reliant David Joyce.

The pressure didn’t stop there and after a few scrappy exchanges, Clontarf sensed blood again and ruthlessly came back at an increasingly deflated but determined looking UCD side. After Sam Cronin and David Hegarty both fell short of the UCD try-line, the ball came out to a very impressive Matthew D’Arcy who summed up his night understatement in describing the with a tidy step inside to go over first try of the match, scored by the line for another converted try Andrew Boyle for UCD to make it to make it 23-5 to Clontarf.

6-5. Here, centre Stephen Murphy With frustration now evident amongst picked up a loose ball on the halfway the UCD pack, a bust-up involving line after a Clontarf kick and Gordon Frayne led to a sending emulated some of the sublime pace off for the Collidge prop and with shown by Garry Ringrose earlier in UCD then opting for a nothingthe half. Impressively quick hands to-lose attacking attitude in the between Murphy and Ringrose dying minutes, they left themselves eventually set up a small gap for Boyle who bowled over just inside the touchline on 31 minutes. A tough clontarf conversion attempt from the far 15 15. Ariel Robles right-hand side was just missed by 14. Jimmy Hawkshaw UCD’s Liam Bourke, who passed up 13. Evan Ryan another opportunity from a similar 12. Matt D’Arcy position, this time in the form of 11. Dan Hanratty a penalty only minutes later as 10. David Joyce Clontarf were guilty of not releasing.

9. Sam Cronin Indiscipline continued from both 1. Ivan Soroka sides and when UCD were found not 2. Jonathan Larbey rolling away, Joyce struck a solid 3. Royce Burke Flynn penalty straight between the posts 4. Tom Byrne to make it 9-5 to Clontarf with 37 5. Conor O’Keeffe minutes on the clock and the score 6. Liam Murphy remained that way until half time.

7. Adrian D’Arcy Clontarf came out all guns blazing in 8. Tony Ryan the second half and it took the guts of 5 minutes for UCD to even get the Subs: ball into the Clontarf half. With no David Hegarty for Ryan (28 mins), sign of the rain letting up, inevitable Karl Moran for Burke Flynn (54), mistakes started to creep in from Cian Culleton for Murphy (74), both sides. Despite all of Clontarf’s Mark Sutton for Hanratty (80+1). pressure, the first 20 minutes of the

defensively vulnerable. With the man advantage in their favour, ‘Tarf picked up possession in the UCD half, and patiently built up a couple of phases in the forwards before second row Tom Byrne added salt into the wounds with another Clontarf try to make it 28-5. With Joyce unable to convert the follow-up, the score stayed at 28-5 until the final whistle.

If bravery and attitude were worth points in this league, UCD would have every chance of winning it. The spirit and heart that they showed even at 2 or 3 tries down was commendable. However in rugby the most important thing is to put points on the board and Clontarf in the end, showed why they are defending champions with a bruising performance. The better team won on a wet night in Castle Avenue, but Bobby Byrne can be happy in the knowledge that this UCD side will fight every match and every battle until there is nothing left to give.

UCD 15. Billy Dardis 14. Andrew Boyle 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Stephen Murphy 11. Tom Fletcher 10. Liam Bourke 9. Bobby Holland 1. Gordon Frayne 2. Risteard Byrne 3. Liam Hyland 4. Michael Cawley 5. Emmet MacMahon 6. Josh Murphy 7. David Fortune 8. Donagh Lawler Subs: Andy Murphy for Cawley (49 mins), James Harrison for Byrne, Harry McNulty for Fletcher, Sean McNulty for Hyland (all 70).

Can Leinster remain on top?

With Leinster making history winning back-to-back Rabo Direct Pro 12 titles last year, Ciarán Sweeney examines the side’s performance so far this season The dust has finally When a team do so well one season, it is always tough to predict how they will respond the following season having set the bar so high. It is often the case that teams can’t live up to the hype and cannot emulate their own success of the previous year. This is one of the reasons why, up until last May, no rugby team had ever successfully defended the Rabo Direct Pro 12 title. However Leinster capped off their second year of dominance and created history, defeating Glasgow Warriors 34-12 in the final to cap of an unprecedented and remarkable achievement. Considering how hard it is for teams to replicate one successful season, Leinster now have the tough job of trying to replicate two successful domestic seasons, and it all began against the same team where it finished…the familiar faces of the Glasgow Warriors.

The first game of any season is always so pivotal in determining early form and attempting to gather early momentum. However Glasgow made sure that Leinster didn’t get the start that they were looking for with a sucker-punch victory, sealed with the last kick of the night, to beat Leinster 22-20. The Blues had been trailing 19-3 at the break but they showed, to the delight of Matt O’Connor the resilience and determination of champions to claw themselves back to 19-20 before eventually letting Glasgow in with one last penalty and a horror start to the new campaign.

Any team contending for a title will have set-backs along the way. It is how those teams react to those set-backs that will determine their ability to become champions. All

20 october 7th 2014

great teams bounce back from disappointing defeats and Leinster were sure to make their first home performance of the season an example of how to shrug off a defeat and put a win on the board. Their battering performance at the RDS against the Llanelli Scarlets, which merited a 6-try bonus point victory of 42-12 was exactly what O’Connor and his team needed to reignite the idea of a third successive Pro 12 title.

Leinster were in control of the match for the whole 80 minutes but to the disappointment of O’Connor, this same team just didn’t show up with the same dominance, in the following game against fellow Irish contingent Connacht. Leinster had won the previous 6 interprovincial derbies in a row and with a half-time lead of 9-3, Leinster would have been confident

of closing out a straightforward win in Galway. But just like Leinster did to Glasgow on the opening game of the season, Connacht came out in the second half like a different team, and turned the game on its head when Kieran Marmion went over for a converted try for Connacht and, unlike in the opening game, Leinster couldn’t fathom a final twist to snatch a victory, and went down for their second loss in 3 games.

Of paramount importance for any team is trying to make your home ground as much of a fortress as possible. The RDS was a happy hunting ground for Leinster last season and was a catalyst in their resulting overall dominance of the Pro 12 League. Despite two away losses in a row at the start of this season, O’Connor was desperate to build on the bonus point win at

home to the Scarlets with another Despite getting the home crowd impressive home performance. This excited when Leinster managed to time it was another Welsh side and plug Munster’s lead to just 8 points albeit the Cardiff Blues put up more with a 2 man advantage at one stage of a fight that the Scarlets, it was as BJ Botha and Felix Jones were another crushing performance from both sin-binned, nothing eventually the boys in blue, and when substitute came of the comeback. With the winger Mick McGrath went over for scores at 23-31 and the clock Leinster’s fourth try of the game, the not favouring Leinster, Munster second home bonus point in a row was professionally shut the game out sealed. A 37-23 win was enough to with the security of an additional JJ soften the blows of the two previous Hanrahan penalty to make it 23-34. away defeats and also put Leinster So overall, evaluating Leinster’s in shape going into the biggest season so far is a tricky task. A game of the season so far-Leinster 40% win rate from the opening five v Munster at the Aviva stadium. matches for the defending champions Coming into the match, both teams for the second year in a row is not were looking fairly evenly matched. a pretty statistic. However, many Munster, like Leinster, had two of the on-pitch performances are convincing wins and two narrow highlighting a will to win inherent to losses under their belts but came into Leinster that could prove pivotal as the game having only won in Dublin the season wears on. O’Connor will once since 2006. However in the know that there are tougher tests to opening half, it looked like the Aviva come than the opening five matches, was Munster’s second home as they and albeit most of the games haven’t ran ragged against a shell-shocked gone to plan so far, when it comes Leinster side. A testament to how to the tense end of season games, close you are to becoming champions Leinster’s winning mentality comes or retaining a championship is second nature to them. To sum it up, how well you match up against the Leinster have the experience of big other contenders for the title. With play-off games at the end of every this Munster side pitched as one of season but this will only stand to the teams to be near the top of the them if they make the play-offs in the table come play-off time, Leinster first place. On paper this should be a were rightfully disheartened when routine job, but with competitiveness Munster went in at the break with increasing every year in this league, nothing less than a deserved 28-9 and with every team vying for a place lead. O’Connor knew that even in in that crucial top-four, a routine job front of a passionate partisan Leinster on paper and a routine job on the crowd, chasing a 19 point deficit pitch can be very different things. against a side that have controlled so much of the first-half with ease was always going to be tough.