The University Times (Volume XIV Issue IV)

OSCARS GALORE

Irish Media and the Irish Language

The Irish Postgraduate Researchers’ Plight

Life After Student Sports

Government Announces €26m for Energy Efficiency in Higher Education

Minister for Higher Education and Research Simon Harris and Minister for the Environment Eamonn Ryan announced €26 million in new funding for energy efficiency and decarbonisation in higher education institutions as part of the third call for the Pathfinder Programme.

Among the projects the programme intends to fund are a variety of infrastructure retrofitting, mechanical and electrical upgrades and improvements to the energy efficiency and carbon footprint of heat pumps.

Speaking about the programme in a press release, Minister Harris said: “We

want more institutions involved and more money making a difference and enabling transformational change”.

“Our 2030 targets for energy efficiency and decarbonisation are ambitious, but I’m here to say that we are committed to doing our part. This programme will help institutions get there, developing and disseminating knowledge on a range of decarbonisation pathways will work for the sector as a whole.”

In the same press release, Minister Ryan added: “The Programme also continues to be

Not So Quiet Anymore

highly successful in testing retrofit and decarbonisation solutions in higher education campuses across the country, meaning that we are gathering the evidence needed to scale up and speed up our transition over coming years.”

The Pathfinder Programme is co-funded by the Department of Higher Education and Research and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and the Higher Education Authority are charged with administering the

Tangent i gCeannas ar Dhúshlán Nuálaíochta an Phropaist ar an nGéarchéim Tithíochta

Noonan Editor

Aistrithe ag Siothrún Sardina

programme. The Pathfinder Programme was implemented as a part of Ireland’s National Energy and Climate Plan 20212030, which outlines environmental targets and plans for the current decade. Among the targets it contains are “50% energy efficiency target for the Public Sector by 2030”, as well as a 51% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Tá Tangent tar éis a fhógairt go mbeidh sé i gceannas ar Dhúshlán Nuálaíochta an Phropaist leis an téama “tithíocht na mac léinn”. Tá sé mar aidhm ar an dúshlán mic léinn spreagadh chun réitigh fadhbanna sóisialta móra a fháil.

Socraíodh an téama trí vóta poiblí ina raibh réimse téamaí curtha le chéile ag an bPropast Linda Doyle mar roghanna. Beidh an dúshlán ar siúl ón 10ú lá go dtí an 12ú lá de Mhí Feabhra. Le linn an tréimhse seo, beidh mic léinn ag obair le chéile chun réiteach ar fhadhb thithíochta na mac léinn a fháil. Duais €1,000 atá curtha ar fáil don réiteach a bhfuil an bua air.

I rith na blianta seo caite bhí réimse leathan téamaí ann. Ceann na bliana seo

caite ná faisean inbhuanaithe. Chomh maith leis sin, tháinig roinnt gnóthaí as an tionscadal seo cosúil le Foodcloud – córas atá cruthaithe chun cuidiú le gnóthaí bia breise a aistriú go háiteanna ina bhfuil gá leis.

Sa phreas-ráiteas ina fógraíodh an dúshlán, dúirt urlabhraí de chuid Tangent “Tuigimid go bhfuil mic léinn ag iarraidh athrú dearfach a chur ar an sochaí agus ar an domhain mórthimpeall orthu, agus sin bun agus brí Dhúshlán an Phropaist.”

Lean siad orthu “Tá béim ag an Tríonóid le fada ar Nuálaíocht Sóisialta, rud a bhfuil an-tábhacht leis chun na fadhbanna is mó roimh ár sochaí a réiteach agus chun stop a chur roimh géarchéimeanna eile a bheadh le teacht.”

“Tá Dúshlán Nuálaíochta an Phropaist ina fhoras spraíúil agus cruthaitheach do ghrúpaí mac léinn obair le chéile ar fhadhbanna na doimhne móire. Chomh maith leis sin, is deis iontach é le dul in aithne le daoine agus le mic léinn ó scoileanna agus rannóga eile.”

I bhfíseán faoin ag trácht

ar Dúshlán Nuálaíochta an Phropaist don bhliain 2021, dúirt ceannaire fiontraíochta na mac léinn ag Tangent Gavan Drohan “Is iontach an rud i gcónaí é an réimse leathan tionscadal a fheiceáil, agus is breá liom a fheiceáil go bhfuil paisean ann chun leanúint ar aghaidh leis an obair i rith na bliana acadúla.”

“Sin cuid d’fheidhm Tangent – tá roinnt tacaíochtaí againn i gcomhair pé bealach atá á iarraidh uathu agus pé méid ama atá ar fáil acu”

Rinne Doyle trácht chomh maith ar an dúshlán: “Séard atá i gceist le Dúshlán an Phropaist ná mic léinn a chur ar a gcumas chun breathnú ar an domhain agus smaoineamh faoi réitigh ar fhadhbanna domhanda agus sóisialta.”

Ag labhairt faoina taithí le Dúshlán an Phropaist dúirt Ellen Ryall, duine de na buaiteoirí i 2020: “Tar éis dúinn bua a bhreith ar Dhúshlán ar Phropaist, chuamar i gcomhair roinnt comórtas agus tionscadal forbartha tapa eile. Ligeadh isteach i LaunchBox muid, agus chuireamar isteach ar an Blackstone Fellowship, tionscadal sna SAM.”

College Board Appoints Professor

Dónall Mac Dónaill as Junior Dean

Siothrún Sardina Senior Editor

Acollege-wide email sent by Provost Linda Doyle on Thursday January 26th announced the appointment of Professor Dónall Mac Dónaill as the new Junior Dean, succeeding Professor Philip Coleman in the role.

The outgoing Junior Dean is a professor in the school of English. He has been a fellow since 2015 and served as Registrar of Chambers in College from 2018-2021, and has worked on the Junior Dean team since 2016. He served as

Junior Dean from 2020 to 2023.

Mac Dónaill is the current Trinity Registrar of Chambers and formerly served as the Assistant Junior Dean from 2019 to 2021. He also acted as Pro-Junior Dean several times over this time.

Speaking about the appointment of the new Junior Dean, Provost Doyle said “[Mac Dónaill] brings a wealth of experience to the role of Junior Dean. He has great experience of providing support to students and has been a College Tutor since 2014.”

Doyle also gave thanks to the former Junior Dean for his prior work in the role. “I want to take this opportunity to thank the outgoing Junior Dean, Professor Philip Coleman, for his many years of

dedicated service. Philip served as an Assistant Junior Dean (20162020), Registrar of Chambers (2018-2021) and as Junior Dean from 2020 to 2023. He has made an enormous contribution to our Trinity community.”

The Office of the Junior Dean manages a variety of aspects of college and student life, including oversight of student conduct according to College’s code of conduct, disciplinary action, permissions for overnight guests, and permissions for hosting parties, events, and gatherings on campus.

Our Radius staff explore the films that brought Ireland a record year of Oscar nominations page

Siothrún Sardina explores the role that the Irish media has, in both its bilingual forms page 6»

Ailbhe Noonan investigates the ongoing fight for postgraduate researcher rights in Ireland, revealing the deteriorating conditions in which they live and work page 4 »

Charlie Moody-Stuart speaks to student athletes about their hopes and fears for life after college sports page 8»

Non-EU Financial Requirement to Increase to €10k Per Year From July 2023

Ailbhe Noonan Editor

The Department of Jus -

tice has announced an increase in the financial requirements for nonEU students intending to study in Ireland to €10k per year.

Starting from July 2023, students from non-EU countries will be required to prove that either they or their sponsor have access to €10k per year to support themselves while living in Ireland for each year of their course.

The financial requirement has also increased for students studying courses with a duration of less than six months. Students studying on these courses must prove they have access to either €700 per month or a total of €4.2k depending on which amount is lesser.

The requirement was previously that students from non-EU countries were required to demonstrate that either they or their sponsor had access to €7k for each year of their course to support themselves while living in Ireland. Students on courses with a duration of less than six months had to demonstrate access to €500

per month or €3k per year depending on which amount was lesser.

In an email statement to The University Times , Executive Director of the Irish Council for International Students (ICOS)

Laura Harmon said: “ICOS is disappointed that the financial threshold for non-EEA international students will increase in 2023 as it will likely prevent many people from being able to study in Ireland in the future”.

She continued: “At the same time, we are mindful that there has been a marked increase in the cost of living in Ireland, particularly this year, which needs to be taken into account to avoid international students arriving in Ireland without the necessary funds to support themselves.”

Students from non-EU countries are also required to provide evidence of the money paid into and out of their primary bank account in the six months prior to their appointment to acquire residency in the form of bank statements on headed paper.

The Department of Justice information website states that “Where original bank statements are not available, internet printouts will be accepted

once every page has been notarised by the bank and the statement is accompanied by letter from the bank confirming its authenticity”.

Students are also required to provide an explanation for any large or irregular payments into or out of their primary account. If they are providing statements for a savings account, they must have a letter from the bank certifying that they have access to the money in that account.

In an email to The University Times , a Trinity spokesperson said: “We have been informed that the decision to increase the deposit required for each year of planned study as part of the visa application process is to ensure students are adequately prepared financially to support their studies in Ireland”.

“While it is important for students to be prepared and provided with guidelines in this regard, we will monitor the impact of this policy change on student decisions to accept a place at Trinity given the current growth in applications from international students to study here.”

Tangent to Run Provost’s Innovation Challenge on Accommodation

Ailbhe Noonan

Editor

Tangent has announced that it will be running the annual Provost’s Innovation Challenge on the theme of “student accommodation”. The challenge aims to get students involved in developing solutions to major social issues.

The theme was decided following a public vote in which people voted on a number of topics selected by Provost Linda Doyle.

The challenge will be run from February 10th-12th during which time students will work together to develop a solution to the student accommodation crisis. There is a €1,000 prize for the winning solution.

Previous years have focused on a variety of themes, with last year’s being focused on sustainable fashion. The programme has also seen the launch of businesses such as Foodcloud, which is designed to help businesses redistribute surplus food to those who need it.

In a press release announcing the challenge, a spokesperson for Tangent said: “We know students want to make a positive impact on society, and the world around them, and that’s what the Provost’s Challenge is all about”.

“Trinity has a long-standing commitment to social innovation, which is crucial to addressing some of the most pressing issues facing society today, and to preventing global crises of the future”, they continued.

“The Provost’s Innovation Challenge provides a fun and creative environment for teams of students to work on solutions to real-world problems. This is also a great opportunity to meet new people and students from different schools and faculties.”

In a video discussing the 2021 Provost’s Innovation Challenge, Gavan Drohan, head of student entrepreneurship at Tangent, said: “It’s always amazing to see the variety of the

projects, and I love seeing that the passion is there to continue to work through the academic year”.

“That’s part of the function of Tangentwe have a number of different supports for whatever pathway they want to go through or whatever time they have available.”

Doyle also commented on the challenge:

“The Provost’s Challenge is all about empowering students to look at the world and think in terms of solutions to global and societal problems”, she said.

Speaking on her experiences with the Provost’s challenge, Ellen Ryall, one of the 2020 winners, said: “After we won the Provost’s challenge, we went on to enter a couple more competitions and accelerator programs, we got into LaunchBox and we entered [the] Blackstone Fellowship, an accelerator in the US”.

An tOllamh Dónall Mac Dónaill Ceaptha mar Dhéan Sóisearach ag Bord an Choláiste

Siothrún Sardina

Senior Editor

Aistrithe ag Siothrún Sardina

Iríomhphost a sheol a Propast Linda Doyle chuig an Coláiste uilig Déardaoin an 26ú de mhí Eanáir, fógraíodh ceapachán an tOllamh Dónall Mac Dónaill mar Dhéan Sóisearach. Tagann sé i gcomharbas ar an iar-dhéan sóisearach, an tOllamh Philip Coleman.

Is ollamh de chuid Scoil an Bhéarla é an t-iarDhéan Sóisearach. Bhí sé ina chomhalta ó 2015 agus bhí ról age mar Cláraitheoir na Seomraí ó 2018 go 2021. Bhí sé ar fhoire -

ann an Déin Shóisearaigh ó 2016, agus bhí sé mar Dhéan Sóisearach ó 2020 go 2023.

Is é Mac Dónaill Cláraitheoir reatha na Seomraí é, agus bhí se mar Déan Sóisearach Cúnta ó 2019 go 2021. Thairis sin, ról aige mar Dhéan Sóisearach Reatha cúpla uair i rith an ama seo. Ag labhairt faoi cheapacháin an Déin nua, dúirt an Propast Doyle “Tá a lán taithí aige agus é ag tabhairt faoi ról an Déin Shóisearaigh. Tá an-taithí aige ar a bheith ag tabhairt tacaíochta do mhic léinn agus tá

sé ina Oide leis an gColáiste ón mbliain 2014.” Thug Doyle a buíochas don iarDhéan Sóisearach chomh maith as a chuid oibre sa phost. “Ba mhaith liom deis seo a thapú chun buíochas a ghabháil leis an Déan Sóisearach atá ag dul as oifig, an tOllamh Philip Coleman, as na blianta seirbhíse tiomanta atá curtha i gcrích aige. Bhí Philip ina Dhéan Sóisearach Cúnta (2016-2020), Cláraitheoir na Seomraí (2018-2021) agus ina Dhéan Sóisearach ón mbliain 2020 go dtí 2023. Tá an t-uafás

déanta aige dár bpobal anseo i gColáiste na Tríonóide.” Bíonn Oifig an Déin Shóisearaigh i gceannas ar roinnt codanna ar leith de shaol an Choláiste agus na mac léinn. I measc a dhualgais atá: maoirseacht ar iompar na mac léinn de réir chód iompair an Coláiste, gníomh smachtaithe, ceaduithe a thabhairt d’aíonna a fhanann thar oíche, agus ceaduithe a thabhairt d’ócáidí, do chóisirí, agus do chruinnithe ar an gcampas.

PhD Researcher Leaves Programme Following Difficulties with Visa Requirements

Ailbhe Noonan Editor

APhD researcher at the Southeast Technological University (SETU) has deregistered from her programme following difficulties with visa requirements for nonEEA postgraduate researchers and having her husband and child’s visas denied.

Despite receiving support from her supervisors and from the Non-EEA PhD Society of Ireland, Ola Abagun yesterday made the decision to deregister following a year of appeals and waiting for a decision on her visa status.

In a thread posted to Twitter, Abagun explained that her “study visa was approved in November 2021” but her husband and child had their visas denied as a result of the requirement for non-EEA graduate students to demonstrate access to over €107k.

“The only ground for the denial was “inadequate finances” despite my guaranteed €64k non-taxable stipend over 4 years and eligibility to take on paid teaching hours”, she said.

“How many grad students in the world have €107k idly sitting in a corner?”

In the same thread, she thanked the university for allowing her to complete her research remotely while undergoing the appeals process.

“My amazing supervisors supported me to carry on my PhD research remotely while we immediately appealed the visa decisions in December 2021”, she said.

“It deeply hurts me to say goodbye to my brilliant supervisors, a research project I cared about so much, & a competitive scholarship that I applied for barely 2 months postpartum and absolutely deserve.”

“I am calling out this unjust system that has FORCED me to do this. A system that expects me to either show €107k or leave my 10-month-old behind for 4 years.”

“A system that failed to decide an appeal for over a year for no viable reason. The utter disrespect and lack of empathy is jarring”, she finished.

SETU has been contacted for comment.

Riachtanas Airgeadais do Mhic Léinn neamh-AE le hArdú go €10k i Mí Iúil

Ailbhe Noonan

Editor

Aistrithe ag Siothrún Sardina

D’fhógair an Roinn Dlí agus Cirt ardú ar riachtanas airgeadais go €10k in aghaidh na bliana do mhic léinn neamh-AE atá ag iarraidh staidéar a dhéanamh in Éireann.

Ó mí Iúil 2023 feasta, beidh ar mic léinn ó thíortha taobh amuigh den AE cruthú go bhfuil €10k acu nó ag a n-urraitheoir in aghaidh na bliana mar thacaíocht dóibh agus iad ag máireachtáil in Eirinn le linn a gcúrsa oideachais.

Tá ardú tagtha ar an raichtanas airgeadais chomh maith do mhic léinn atá ag déanamh staidéar ar chúrsaí a leanann ar aghaidh ar feadh níos lú ná sé mhíosa. Beidh orthu cruthú go bhfuil ar a laghad €700 acu in aghaidh na míosa, nó €4.2k ar a iomláine, cibé ceann acu is ísle acu.

Sular tháinig an t-athrú seo, bhí riachtanas ar mic léinn ó thíortha taobh amuigh den Aontas Eorpach táispeáint go raibh rochtain ar €7k acu nó ag a n-urraitheoir in aghaidh na bliana chun tacaíocht a bheith acu agus iad i mbun a staidéir in Éirinn. Bhí ar mic léinn ar chúrsaí a lean ar aghaidh níos lú ná 6 mhí a thaispeáint go raibh rochtain acu ar €500 in aghaidh na míosa nó €3k ar a iomláine, pé acu ab ísle.

TCDSU to Hold Referendum on Sports Centre Levy

Gina Bagnulo Senior Editor

Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) is set to hold a Long Term Policy (LTP) referendum on January 30th regarding the sports levy and its impact on the student body.

The amendment set to be voted upon is centred around the proposal that the TCDSU will support the collection of the Sports Centre Development Charge (SCDC), paid by registered students at the start of the year, provided that the sports centre stops charging booking fees and equipment charges.

While TCDSU has no direct say in how the additional fees are administered, according to its constitution it does support the continued collection of the annual sports charge.

A number of organisations such as The PhDs’ Collective Action Union (PCAU), Students4Change and the Postgraduate Workers Alliance of Ireland (PGWA) have endorsed the “yes” vote.

In a press release on sent out on January 19th on the referendum, “yes” campaign manager and co-author of the motion Lórien MacEnulty, a PhD Physics researcher, said: “The booking and equipment fees charged by the college have gotten out of hand. They do not even contribute enough to [Trinity Sports Centre] income to be reported, and squeezing the last pennies from students looking to keep healthy and active is considered part of the [Trinity Sports Centre] business model”.

“Why didn’t Trinity Sport pressure Trinity College harder for more funding before laying the financial burden on the students? Voting “yes” in the upcoming referendum sends a message to [Trinity Sports Centre] and TCD alike: you may no longer exploit the statistically poorest of your stakeholders, the students”, she continued.

“College must use its extra cash to subsidise the financial burden that currently weighs heavily on our strained sports services.”

In the same press release, Chairperson of Students4Change and seconder of the motion at Council László Molnárfi said: “Students are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis and the housing crisis. Over 11,000 of us are in rent or fee debt to our third-level institutions across Ireland, more than 250 of us at Trinity College Dublin”.

“Our College is complicit in this, by commercialising student life”, he continued. “College’s various charges to access sport facilities quickly add up to become a financial burden, meaning that many of us cannot afford to socialise. This means that students get disengaged and the community is hurt, not the least by increasing the risk of dropping out of College.”

munity and a dereliction of duty.”

Chairperson of Trinity Sport Liam Bean also released a statement on Twitter regarding the referendum. “The proposed amendments to cease booking fees and equipment charges for sports facilities and classes threatens the student sport experience and opportunities, and will inevitably result in less access and capacity for student support, higher charges to student sports clubs and an increase of commercial activity”.

“The proposed wording in the sport levy referendum includes inaccuracies in relation to the inflation provision and there has been no consultation on the sports levy referendum with Trinity Sport Union”, he continued.

“Ultimately, I believe this vote is flawed. Make sure to register as soon as possible and vote “NO” to safeguard student sport at Trinity. If you have any questions on the vote please reach out to me or a member of the executive”, he finished.

MacEnulty later issued a statement on Twitter responding to Bean’s comments: “The content of Trinity Sports Union’s statement is pure, unsubstantiated speculation and belies a deep misunderstanding of the LTP motion under referendum”.

Adding more context to the reason behind the referendum, she mentioned that “students currently pay from the total contribution charge a sum of €120 called the Sports Development Charge (SDC), which contributes massively to Trinity Sport (TS) income”.

“The only body with the power to enforce collection and distribution of student fees is the Capitations Committee (CC). The [TCDSU] has only one of many seats on this committee. So, if the SU decides it no longer supports the collection of the SDC, it will announce this to the CC, and then the committee members will… talk about it. That’s it. Just talk”, she continued.

“The result of the referendum, therefore, WILL NOT directly translate into a functioning boycott against the SDC. The result of the referendum WILL serve as testament to the will of students.”

“By advocating for a ‘no’ vote, the Trinity Sports Union (TSU) is actually shooting itself in the foot”, she said. “Sports clubs and societies also pay inordinate amounts of money in booking fees to TS. They’re worried that this reevaluation of how TS is funded would somehow ‘result in them being charged for facilities to make up the shortfall’.”

“By saying this, they’re trying to make assertions as to how TS would respond to financial crisis, which is an immensely speculative undertaking at best, and anyway, an irrelevant inquiry. This referendum is NOT going to put TS in any sort of financial crisis.”

I ráiteas ríomhpoist leis <em>The University Times</ em>, dúirt Stiúrthóir Feidhmeach na Comhairle do Mhic Léinn Idirnáisiúnta in Éirinn (ICOS) Laura Harmon “Tá díomá ar ICOS go mbeidh an tairseach airgeadais i gcomhair mac léinn neamh-LEE ag ardú sa bhliain 2023 toisc go gcuirfidh sé mórán daoine as a bheith in ann staidéar a dhéanamh in Éirinn sa todhchaí.”

Lean sí uirthi: “Ag an am céanna, tuigimid go bhfuil ardú suntasasch ar an gcostas máireachtála in Éirinn, go háirithe i mbliana, agus gur gá é seo a chur san áireamh chun seachaint go mbeidh mic léinn idirnáisiúnta ag teacht go hÉirinn gan an t-airgead riachtanach lena bheith in ann máireachtáil anseo.”

Beidh ar mic léinn ó thíortha neamh-AE cruthúnas a thabhairt go raibh an t-airgead sin íoctha isteach agus amach as a bpríomhchuntas bainc, mar ráiteas bainc ar phaipéar sainchlóite, sé mhí roimh a gcruinniú ceada cónaithe.

Deir suíomh idirlín na Roinne Dlí agus Cirt “Sa chás nach bhfuil bun-ráitis bainc ar fáil, glacfar le foirm priontáilte ón idirlíon nuair atá nótaireacht déanta ar chuile

leathanach ag an mbanc, agus nuair atá litir leis an ráiteas ón mbanc a deimhníonn é.”

Beidh ar mic léinn léiriúchán a thabhairt do cibé íocaíocht mhór nó neamh-rialta a thagann isteach nó amach as a bpríomhchuntas bainc. Má thugann siad ráitis do chuntas coigiltis, beidh orthu litir a bheith acu ón mbanc a dheimhníonn go bhfuil rochtain acu ar an airgead sa chuntas sin.

I ríomhphost seolta chuig <em>The University Times</em>, dúirt urlabhraí de chuid na Tríonóide: “Cuireadh ar an eolas muid faoin gcinneadh an éarlais bliantúil riachtanach, atá mar chuid den próiseas iarratais visa, a ardú chun cinntiú go bhfuil mic léinn ullmhaithe go maith i gcomhair a staidéir in Éirinn.”

Cé go bhfuil sé tabhachtach do mhic léinn bheith ullmaithe agus go mbeadh treoracha acu faoi seo, beidh muid ag breathnú ar cén tionachar atá ag an athrú polasaí seo ar chinntí mac léinn glacadh le háiteanna sa Tríonóid, i bhfianaise an fháis láithreach ar líon na n-iarratais ó mhic léinn idirnáisiúnta chun staidéir a dhéanamh anseo.”

“I urge everyone to vote “yes” in the upcoming referendum. Instead of squeezing every last cent out of students by commercialising all aspects of the student experience, Trinity should realise that supporting this model of funding is unsustainable, hurtful to our com-

“When the time comes to discuss how TS is funded, the role of TSU will be to take a similar stance to that of the SU: College must subsidise the financial burden that weighs heavily on our strained sports centre, not the students and not the clubs they comprise”, she finished.

Photo by Ruby Smyth for The University Times

“It Comes Down to Funding” – Ireland’s Postgraduate Research Crisis

Ailbhe Noonan Editor

Nothing will be off the table in order to demonstrate our feelings on the matter.”

These were the words of Matt Murtagh, the Data Officer of the PhDs’ Collective Action Union (PCAU).

The conversation surrounding rights for postgraduate researchers in further and higher education institutions dominated the third level sector in late 2022 and into early 2023. Their demands include a minimum liveable stipend of €28k per year, legal worker status as well as improving conditions for non-EU researchers.

The PCAU was founded in June 2022 in response to a new initiative announced by Minister for Higher Education and Research Simon Harris and then-Taoiseach

Micheál Martin providing a €28k stipend for 400 new PhD researchers.

“The rest of us looked at that and went ‘what’ because currently, the highest stipend that any PhD receives in Ireland is €18.5k”, PCAU President Kyle Hamilton explained, adding that “it’s only a fraction of people who get that amount” since it is often only awarded to those funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the Irish Research Council (IRC).

According to data collected by the PCAU, there are approximately 12,000 postgraduate researchers working in Ireland, including those pursuing a research masters. Of these, around ¼ are non-EU researchers who face added barriers to researching and working in Ireland.

“Every year they have to spend €300 out of their own pocket to renew their residence permit”, Murtagh added. These residence permits are often given in as little as 8-month intervals often as a result of needing to reapply at the beginning of the academic year, and there is an 8-12 week backlog on requests to renew their permits, which has resulted in “researchers who have been denied the chance to see their family at Christmas because they’re still waiting for the appointment”.

Researchers are also not allowed to reclaim the money spent on renewing their permit. “The funding that’s provided doesn’t allow these researchers to be reimbursed”, said Murtagh, meaning that non-EU researchers are down an additional €300 every year.

Trinity PhD researcher and member of the TCD Postgraduate Workers’ Alliance (PGWA) Shaakya Anand-Vembar, who is an Indian citizen, explained some of the difficulties she and others have encountered regarding visa issues and a lack of access to equipment and conferences.

“As a non-EU researcher, especially someone with Indian citizenship, my pass-

port is pretty weak, and that really makes a difference … the experience of a non-EU researcher from America or Canada is very different given that they can travel much more easily to places”, she said.

“On a Stamp 2 you have to renew your residence permit every year of your course rather than just having one residence permit that’s valid for the duration, so every year we have to renew our permits which costs €300.”

“There’s no actual reason for us to pay €300 for a plastic card, and they could easily change that,” Anand-Vembar added.

“I have been a student in America and in the Netherlands and they both do it that way – once you get your student visa it is valid for the duration of your course. If for any reason you have to drop out or you fail your course, that’s when you’d have to renew your permit, but other than that your visa is valid for the duration of your course.”

Recent events also saw a PhD researcher leave her programme as a result of visa issues stemming from untenable financial requirements for non-EU researchers. Ola Abagun had received her student visa, but had to deregister from her programme when her husband and daughter were denied visas and the appeals failed to overturn the verdict.

In a thread posted to Twit-

ter, Abagun explained that her “study visa was approved in November 2021” but her husband and child had their visas denied as a result of the requirement for nonEEA graduate students to demonstrate access to over €107k.

“The only ground for the denial was “inadequate finances” despite my guaranteed €64k non-taxable stipend over 4 years and eligibility to take on paid teaching hours”, she said.

Non-EU researchers also struggle with travel. “If you’re within a three-month expiry of your IRP you can’t even apply for a Schengen visa,” Anand-Vembar added. “When you count the amount of time that it takes to renew and receive your IRP card, that will add another few months to the travel prohibition.”

“A lot of [postgraduate researchers] need specific scientific equipment to conduct research and we need to travel to other universities to access that equipment. We often collaborate with other universities to run experiments, so that disproportionately affects nonEU Global South researchers because we can’t travel on short notice.”

The travel and visa restrictions also cause problems for researchers who have had work accepted into con-

ferences outside of Ireland –they are left unable to attend or present. “Usually in those cases, a colleague will go and present your poster for you.

It’s unfortunate that these restrictions exist because it ends up overwhelmingly being the minority researchers who are affected.”

For many postgraduate researchers, their duties are left unclear and many are required to teach without pay as part of their programme.

Hamilton explained that postgraduate researchers “have very little transparency and autonomy when it comes to those duties” and that “we’re hoping to work together and merge so that we can fall under SIPTU’s umbrella so we can exercise some of those union-related rights”.

“The work that we do is work and should be compensated as such. We’re asking for equal and fair treatment of all PhDs and that includes people who are non-EU domiciled”.

The only ground for the denial was “inadequate finances” despite my guaranteed €64k non-taxable stipend over 4 years and eligibility to take on paid teaching hours

Members of the PCAU Executive Committee met with researchers from all the departments in Trinity to discuss the issues they face. Explaining some of their

findings, Murtagh said that not only is “no one in Trinity paid above a minimum wage as far as the stipend provision goes”, the highest stipend payments are “still 30% below minimum wage”.

Researchers also faced issues with maternity and sick leave. Anyone going off-books also loses access to their funding for an extended period of time, possibly for good, he explained. “We do have cases where at some point in their PhD journey, researchers have become parents and they have to leave, and they lose their funding. They may lose it for an extended period of time or they may lose it for good.”

“It’s up to their supervisor in the department whether they want to extend the PhD at the end of that as a result of missing that time in research”, he said.

Both Hamilton and Murtagh describe the situation as “a crisis” – “we absolutely love teaching undergrads, we’re here because we love knowledge and the transfer of knowledge to the wider academic community, but we’re reaching a bursting point where there’s not going to be enough researchers to provide a quality education for undergrads”, Murtagh explained.

For Hamilton, the crisis goes further. “It comes down to funding”, she noted. “I don’t heat my house during the day because I simply can’t afford to”.

She and many other researchers are also expected to pay costs for conferences including registration fees, travel and accommodation out of pocket. “People end up not doing certain aspects of their research, not going to conferences or not

publishing in certain publications that are costly”, she said.

And it’s not just Dublin researchers. In addition to cost of living, mental health and financial issues, the University of Galway (UoG) put out a policy earlier this year that cut pay for teaching and demonstrating in half and removed pay for lecturing.

“The idea behind the policy was to have a comprehensive, inclusive of all schools and colleges, policy for the payment of these workers. Unfortunately that policy was done with very little consultation, if any”, former UoG Postgraduate Representative Criodán Ó Murchú stated.

“When PhDs rely on being recognised as lecturers in order to further their career, the policy stripped that back. It reduced the rates for the tutoring rate that was previously established.”

He also stated that even if their voice is entirely disregarded, having a postgraduate researcher on university boards is enough to count as consultation. “I think the word consultation is completely misused and third level because if you sit on a committee or if you have a postgraduate in a meeting, even if you take nothing on board with what they say, that is still consultation.”

Ó Murchú was elected to Údarás na hOllscoile, UoG’s governing body, as a postgraduate researcher and has since graduated. He has also been involved with PGWA Galway and with the PCAU.

When the policy came into effect, “there was a sincere lack of clarification around things regarding other academic duties”, Ó Murchú

explained. “When this policy came through, it came through in an email which outlined that previously PhDs had to do 120 hours of unpaid teaching contributions per year, and that was removed.”

“I tweeted about it, I said this is great, it has taken years to get that unpaid work abolished, but when actually going through the policy, they had made a number of changes that had made PhDs worse off”, he said.

The reaction from UoG’s postgraduate researchers has been less than stellar.

“The PhDs are unhappy, to say the least. When it was initially raised with HR by the PhDs, they essentially said this is the policy, if you’re unhappy with it contact your manager, and it escalated from there”, Ó Murchú explained.

“I raised it in the Úadarás meeting in October and I was told to go and talk to the head of research and innovation and the dean of graduate studies and have a chat there. They essentially paddled us back to HR but in all of the leadup time to that meeting HR had said this is an academic issue.”

When PhDs rely on being recognised as lecturers in order to further their career, the policy stripped that back

“ Nothing will be off the table in order to demonstrate our feelings on the matter

“

The highest stipend that any PhD receives in Ireland is €18.5k

This may be a make-or-break moment not just for UoG but for PhDs around the country

“

“

You have to make them really realise that without us there is no teaching, the machine stops

“I wasn’t very friendly in that meeting because I was trying to get them to admit what they were saying instead of this long-winded story. I wanted them to say whether they thought people should be paid for equal work … These people are really unhappy, and if they don’t get urgent clarification on this policy this may be a make-or-break moment not just for UoG but for PhDs around the country”, he said.

Fourth-year PhD researcher at the University of Galway Karolina Wojtczak agreed with Ó Murchú: “I know people in the humanities, for instance in the law school, who would teach full lecture courses for their supervisors, and it’s completely ridiculous that you’re doing someone else’s job for them and you’re getting paid half of what they are for not doing their job”, she said.

“The local Postgraduate Workers Alliance did a petition that they asked postgrads to sign, and they hand-delivered it to the president of the university and the registrar. As far as I know there’s been zero response.”

Wojtczak mentioned that while she thought the petition was “a good first step”, what would be most effective would be a general strike action similar to the

events in California in November.

“You have to make them really realise that without us there is no teaching, the machine stops”, she said. “Organising, getting people on board to really just put an end to it, similar to what happened in California.”

If they don’t get urgent clarification on this policy this may be a make-orbreak moment not just for UoG but for PhDs around the country

“The general public is probably the most ignorant about this because they think the PhDs are students who get summers off”, she added. “It’s a full-time job, I don’t get the summer off, I barely get paid enough to live with this full-time job.”

Wojtczak has faced other issues relating to workload and pay in addition to the policy changes. “In our department we’ve been involved in trying to get paid for the work we do in teaching labs because we were one of the only departments of chemistry in Ireland that did not pay their researchers for work.”

“Just the year before we’d managed to get them to pay us for our job as teaching assistants and they wanted to take that away after the pandemic,” she said. “Without us, teaching labs don’t work. If we refuse to teach, there’s no teaching labs and therefore there’s no happy undergrads to pay the fees.”

So, what can be done to solve these issues? The ongoing review of PhD resources in Ireland to be completed in early 2023 may bring about some changes, but the changes already implemented have done little to assist with the cost of living, and representatives across the sector have been increasingly discussing the possibility of a general strike.

“Even with the proposed addresses in the budget for PhDs it’s not enough. We don’t get any supports at all. If we get sick, thank god we have the student health unit in the University because we don’t have insurance”, Wojtczak said.

“Anyone working any job can afford to go to the doctor and have their eyes

checked once a year with PRSI. We can’t, we have to save for months to afford new glasses. We get €1,500 a month, if one of us gets a tooth chipped or has to get a filling, it’s either pay that or starve.”

“The real solution to me is to adopt a model by law where PhD students are considered workers”, Wojtczak stated. “That’s the first step because that allows us access to pensions, tax rebates, whatever special bracket they need to make it happen. And a liveable wage, at least €28k a year.”

The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) has also been working to bring the issues to the attention of the government. USI Vice-President for Postgraduate Affairs Waqar Ahmed said that “when we acknowledge that [we are researchers], the question of how much we need to be paid goes away”.

USI had previously worked with SIPTU to produce a postgraduate rights charter and has been highlighting the issue of low stipends to the Higher Education Au-

thority (HEA) and to other national funding bodies, and they have met with Simon Harris to see what supports are available. “From a grassroots level, we did the national student walkout and one of the four points that we had was a fair wage for all. We want postgraduates to have the fair wage they deserve.”

Ahmed also added that since Ireland has signed the European Research Charter, it has an obligation to uphold the rights of postgraduate researchers. “It’s appalling that Ireland has so many institutions that signed that charter but none of them are willing to act upon the principles.”

As for the policy in Galway? Ó Murchú says: “the PhDs that [he’s] involved with have been invited to propose some changes to the policy, and hopefully that means that the policy can be changed by HR, however, that still may require getting a lot of people on side”.

“There is a clause in postgraduate courses to raise fees in line with inflation,

and that has happened to the postgrads in Galway, but at the exact same time their stipends and fees are not being increased, they’re being cut.”

“If this doesn’t get people out and striking, or really looking for better, I don’t know what will”, he said, adding that while “a strike is the conventional approach that would be taken in a unionised workplace”, postgraduate researchers would face additional challenges in organising one as they would “have their stipends withheld from them by the university”.

“You need the PhDs to stop doing that work, and that puts them in a difficult position. If you tell them to not do their work, that could have implications for them in terms of their future or their funding”, he explained. “The university knows it’s in the wrong here but … they’re relying on PhDs who are not from Ireland who are concerned about the legal ramifications if they go out on strike.”

The right to pay while striking would be among the benefits of worker status, one of the core demands of the postgraduate rights movement and one possible step that would significantly improve the situation.

“There are a few basics in being recognised as an employee such as being entitled to sick pay, being entitled to parental and maternity leave, having pension contribu-

tions”, Ó Murchú explained.

The PCAU are also prepared to put radical action on the table if the outcomes of the review are insufficient. “If it’s the case that the review has a lacklustre conclusion and it’s not going to improve the conditions to a level that is sufficient to our members, we will ballot our members on whether they accept the outcomes”, said Murtagh.

“These are legitimate concerns and this isn’t something that was made up in a day by a handful of people, this is coming from the community and is supported by PGWA”, added Hamilton.

The message from postgraduate researchers to the public and to undergraduate students across the sector is the same: solidarity with postgraduate researchers is essential, both for their own survival and for the quality of undergraduate education.

“Please get behind us and help us because it’s going to help our entire community”, Murtagh stated. “What I would ask for is their solidarity: to understand that it’s not only us that’s being affected by this, it’s the quality of their own education when we have to make the decision on the quality of what we can do based on what we’re paid and the time we’re allotted.”

Or, as Hamilton put it: “We deserve basic human rights and dignity to live and work.”

“

There’s no actual reason for us to pay €300 for a plastic card, and they could easily change that

If this doesn’t get people out and striking, or really looking for better, I don’t know what will

“

I don’t heat my house during the day because I simply can’t afford to “

When PhDs rely on being recognised as lecturers, the policy stripped that back

“

The only ground for the denial was “inadequate finances”

“ It ends up overwhelmingly being the minority researchers who are affected

Language, Media and Preservation: A Case for Reforming Irish-Language News

News in Irish is only about Irish,

national,

Siothrún Sardina

SENIOR EDITOR

Ihave been wondering recently about the place of news in my life. When I return to my flat after my work, I often sit down to read the news. I’ll scroll through Tuairisc. ie and find discussion of language schemes. News from the Gaeltacht. News on Gaelscoileanna. Changes in Irish-language education. Some articles on Ukraine, or maybe one on climate change or public health.

I then turn to English-language news on RTé and what do I see?

Changes to public transport. Political news. Union efforts. Cost of living crises. Inflation. Crimes. Public health issues. Climate change events. Maybe, if I’m lucky, a single reference to the Irish language.

After a while, I developed a habit without fully realising it – I started to read news about the language in Irish and news about almost everything else in English since that was what was available.

News in Irish is only about Irish, to the extent of often gatekeeping local, national, and international news. If you want the “real” news (i.e. any news that is not about the language itself) you often need to read in English.

It’s about time I asked why that is the case.

The easy answer is that there are many fewer Irish-language journalists. But that is only partly true. The reality is that Irish-language journalism has one thing it will always report on first and foremost: anything directly related to the language. But with relatively few writers, this often comes with an exclusion of broader news topics.

Here’s the issue though: Irish-speakers want more than just news about the language. Sometimes they don’t even need that news. They live it.

After a while, I developed a habit without fully realising it – I started to read news about the language in Irish and news about almost everything else in English since that was what was available

gatekeeping

Those stories all too often miss the headlines, and so when push comes to shove, even those who would be sympathetic to the struggles of the Irish-language community don’t always know what afflicts it

They see it every day. They don’t need a newspaper to tell them there is a crisis of negligence driving families out of their homes in the Gaeltacht. They don’t need reporters to mention that Gardaí and public service have failed entirely in their legal obligation to be fully accessible through Irish. They don’t need a journalist to tell them that Gaelscoileanna have a shortage of Irish-language resources that can teach the same variety of topics as their English-speaking counterparts. They live with those problems every day.

But the broader non-Irish-language community in Ireland does. Those stories all too often miss the headlines, and so when push comes to shove, even those who would be sympathetic to the struggles of the Irish-language community don’t always know what

afflicts it. They are never given the chance to care because they are not given the chance to know.

Of course, there are exceptions. But the ratio of the reporting is far, far out of proportion for news topics between Irish and English.

I must admit that I myself have fallen into this trap: to think that when writing in Irish, others want to read news about the language itself. That it’s the most important thing to cover, or that Irish-language journalists have an obligation to report on it. And to want to do that all the more since those topics are rarely covered in English.

I had it wrong. I should have covered those topics in English, given them to the group for which those stories are actually news. The group that might not have known them before. At the time I thought I was expanding

and putting out knowledge – in reality

I fear I was limiting it.

Because Gaeilge should not only be about Gaeilge. After all, fluent Irish speakers want to read regular news in Irish – not news about the language. And the English-speaking media in Ireland should understand the important issues and advancements in Gaeilge too – it’s all part of Ireland, after all.

This is not, of course, to blame journalists as individuals. It’s about the system – what are they asked to write? What press releases are sent to them, and which do they have to actively search out? Is past precedent used to prevent changes to future reporting?

How hard is it to make that change? I cannot answer these. But I can say that some change is needed.

I would therefore ask that journalists run more stories bilingually, rather than exclusively in English. That they specifically emphasise stories about the language in English. And that they place much heavier emphasis on general news in Irish. The system is heavily disproportionate now – but it need not be. That can change.

At the end of the day, it is about making Irish a living language. A language that can be used just like English – the same news, just different words on the page. And if there is less of it – well, that is a problem for another day. It would only be the first of many steps required to fix the issue. But, as the Irish say, “Tús maith, leath na hoibre”. A good start is half the work.

to the extent of often

local,

and international news. It’s about time I asked why that is the case.

I had it wrong. I should have covered those topics in English, given them to the group for which those stories are actually news

Mandela House, 6 Trinity College, College Green, Dublin 2 Phone: (01) 646 8431 Email: info@universitytimes.ie

For Me, Cafés are the New Classrooms, Libraries and Student Spaces

Adam Potterton ASSISTANT OPINION EDITOR

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Coffee is everywhere. Coffee shops line the streets, coffee machines take pride of place on kitchen counters in homes and workplaces and coffee cups are as commonplace in the hands of passers-by as mobile phones. Coffee is the go-to social activity. You can go for coffee with someone you’ve just met, or with someone you haven’t seen for some time, or indeed with just about anybody. It is drunk on the morning commute, on lunch breaks and even after dinner. Caffeine is like the new oil. It would be no surprise to me that the elixir of life, should there be such a thing, contains at least two shots of espresso and would come at somewhat of a discount if you can provide your own cup.

The ubiquity of the likes of Costa and Starbucks and Café Nero only speaks to the prevalence of coffee. Everywhere you look you can see Costas and Café Neros – is that the plural? Perhaps it’s Cafés Nero? And don’t even get me started on the plural of Pret A Manger (Pret A Mangers would probably be my guess). Regardless, these cafés are a firm fixture in the landscape of Dublin city and only seem to be growing in number.

As a result, Trinity students have a truly mind-boggling quantity of coffee at their disposal. Dawson Street alone is an embarrassment of riches in this

sphere, with representatives of several of the coffee giants offering immediate caffeination just a few yards from campus, ideal for the fatigued student.

I don’t actually drink an inordinate amount of coffee, but the coffee I do drink tends to be in cafés. While the prices these places charge for coffee may seem high, it is a price that I am happy to pay when I consider that I am really paying for significantly more than just my coffee. The coffee I buy also allows me access to an excellent place in which to work or to socialise. I spend rather a lot of my time in coffee shops, sometimes enough to drink more than just one coffee – shocking, I know – and more time than I do in class, which I can imagine makes STEM students roll their eyes.

It is as if they are an extension of the college campus itself. Many of my college classes seem to spill into cafés. When students begin to congregate outside the classroom, going for coffee is often almost telepathically agreed upon, as if it is tacitly felt that, unless you have other commitments, going for coffee after class is only natural. Cafés provide an ideal post-class venue for students to convene and discuss the information they have just received, and these discussions often last longer than the class itself. I have done and continue to do much of my college work in cafés as

well. They are an ideal place for working, I find. They are perhaps less tense than libraries and, for the most part, only a little noisier. This is a tradeoff that I can accept. The only major downside to working there, however, is that should you be discovered by a friend, it is next to impossible not to be distracted from your work. When this happens, I cannot help but abandon whatever I am doing. As such, I may have to work in cafés further afield where it is less likely that someone should chance upon me. When I look back at my time in university, it is likely that I will have spent more time in cafés than in classrooms or libraries or any other part of the Trinity campus. While that time was spent drinking coffee, it was also spent in what I shall optimistically deem a healthy balance of time spent academically and socially. The drinking of coffee is almost part and parcel of my university education and going for coffee is a skill that I have acquired and refined. I hope I haven’t made it too enticing though, because I’d rather not arrive at my next café of choice only to find it full. Getting your coffee to go just isn’t the same.

Siad na Caifí na Seomraí Ranga, Leabharlanna, agus Spásanna Léinn mo Linne

Adam Potterton

ASSISTANT OPINION EDITOR

Aistrithe ag Siothrún Sardina

Tá an caife i chuile áit. Tá na sráideanna breac lena shiopaí, bíonn tús áite ag meaisíní caife ar chuntair cistine i dtithe agus in oifigí, agus bíonn cupáin caife i lámh na ndaoine chomh minic is a bhíonn fóin. Ina caitheamh aimsire síoraí a bhíonn sé. Tig leat dul i gcomhair caife le duine a bhfuil tú díreach tar éis casadh leo, le seanchara nár fhaca tú le fada, nó le cibé cén duine fiú. Óltar é ar turas na maidine, le linn lóin, agus fiú tar éis dinnéir. Mar ola na linne atá sé. Ní haon suntas é mar sin go mbeadh sé isteach in éilicsir na beatha, más ann dó, ar a laghad dhá steall espresso –agus lascaine má tá do chupán féin agat.

Feictear tionchar uileghabhálach an chaife i leithéidí Starbucks agus Café Nero. Bíonn Costas i chuile áit beo chomh maith le Café Nero-anna– an in an t-iolra? Nó an é Café-anna Nero? Agus ná habair liom fiú ar iolra Pret A Manger (Pret A Manger-anna, a cheapfainn féin). Pé scéal é, tá Baile Átha Cliath breac leis na caifí seo agus níl siad ach ag fás

agus ag fás. Mar sin, tá réimse as chuimse caife ar fáil do na mic léinn. Chuirfeadh Sráid Dásain náire ort lena saibhreas caifí – siopaí ó roinnt maith comhlachtaí caife móra ag cur so-chaife ar fáil cúpla méadar ón gcampas – foirfe do na mic linn lán-scíse. Ní ólaim féin an iomarca caife, ach an méid a ólaim is sna caifí a ólaim é. Cé go bhfuil cuma ard a chostais caife, táim sásta iad a íoc nuair a smaoiním ar an bhfírinne nach é caife amháin a fhaighim. An caife sin a cheannaím, is cead isteach i sár-ionaid oibre agus cairdiúlachta é. Caithim go leor de mo chuid ama i siopaí caife, uaireanta go leor le níos mó ná caife amháin a ól – suntas mór é, tá a fhios sin agam. Níos mó ama ann ná mar a chaithim sa seomra ranga – rud a chuirfeadh lucht ETIM ag casadh a súile is dóigh liom. Tá sé ar nós gur mar chuid de champas an choláiste iad. Tá an cuma ann go bhfuil go leor ranganna de mo chuid

ag sleamhnú isteach sna caifí. Agus mic léinn ag teacht le chéile taobh amuigh de sheomra ranga, tá aontú beagnach teileapaiteach acu dul i gcomhair caife, ar nós go mothaíonn siad, in ainneoin dualgas eile, gurb in an rud is nádúrtha ná caife a fháil. Is spás foirfe iad do mic léinn teacht le chéile tar éis ranga chun a bheith ag comhrá faoina bhfuil foghlama acu – comhrá a mhaireann níos faide ná an rang féin uaireanta. Tá cuid mór de mo chuid oibre ollscoile déata, agus á déanamh, agam sna caifí chomh maith. Is áit foirfe iad don obair i mo thaithí féin. Píosa níos réchúisí na leabharlanna agus, don chuid is mó, gan a bheith ach ruainne beag níos fuaimní. Sin malartú a bhfuilim sásta glacadh leis. An t-aon fhadhb lena bheith ag obair ann ná, má tharlaíonn go bhfuil cara leat ann, is beagnach dodhéanta gan d’aird a thógáil ó do chuid oibre. Nuair a tharlaíonn sé, ní féidir liom ach stop a chur lena bhfuil á dhéanamh agam. Mar sin, uaireanta

tá orm obair i gcaifí níos faide amach, áit nach bhfuil an-dóchúlacht le cruinniú le cara gan choinne.

Nuair a bhreathnaím siar ar mo chuid ama san ollscoil, is dócha go mbeidh níos mó ama caite agam i gcaifí seachas ar chuid ar bith eile de champas na Tríonóide. Cé gurb in am a chaith mé ag ól caife, bhí sé caite chomh maith sin i gcothromas sláintiúil idir cúrsaí acadúla agus sóisialta. Sin a deirim go dóchasach liom féin, ar aon nós. Is beag nach chuid den oideachas féin s’agamsa caife a ól, agus is scil é atá mé tar éis a fháil agus a forbairt. Tá súil agam nár chuir mé cuma ró-dheas air, áfach – níor mhaith liom filleadh ar caife chun é a fháil lán daoine. Níl sé mar an gcéanna, ná baol air, caife a fháil le tabhairt leat.

Ailbhe Noonan, Editor Rebecca Cleere, Deputy Editor

Anastasia Volobueva, News Editor Gina Bagnulo, Features Editor Charlie Moody-Stuart, Sports Editor Siothrún Sardina, Chair of the Editorial Board Giulia Grillo, Photography Editor Sarah McCarthy, Fashion Editor Eleanor Moseley, Film and TV Editor Álanna Hammel, Literature Editor Adam Rainbolt, Societies Editor

Life after Sport for Student Athletes: Food for Thought or Fuel for Fear?

Charlie Moody-Stuart SPORTS EDITOR

There is no disputing the centrality of sport in the life of an athlete.

It dictates routine, it determines diet, it drives priorities, it denies respite and, of course, it delivers joy.

Ultimately – for better or for worse – sport defines people, whether they be professional or student athletes.

“[Sport] is really central to my routine and takes up a lot of my time. In terms of identity it’s probably too central. If you spend so much time doing something I think it has to be integral to who you are”, says Irish pentathlete and second-year Trinity Computer Science and Business student Isobel Radford-Dodd.

For Ireland and Leinster lock and Trinity fourth-year international business student Joe McCarthy, sport is similarly indispensable.

“Sport is extremely important to me right now and it always will be in my life. There is nothing else I would rather be doing right now than pursuing a career in professional rugby.”

Given the vitality of sport to an athlete, it is perhaps unsurprising that life after sport – that is, when one retires from a passion that is not only their job but also their lifestyle – is such a significant adjustment.

When ex-Ireland Women’s rugby captain Fiona Coghlan retired from the sport in which she won 85 international caps, the difference was immediately tangible.

“There was an adjustment phase both in terms of physical, in the sense of ‘what do I need to keep myself fit’ but also social, because that was my social life for so many years”, she reflects in something of a matter-of-fact tone.

Nostalgia is not entirely absent from her voice, however.

“It’s back to that identity thing that you are known as, let’s say, Fiona Coghlan the rugby player or whatever, whereas you’re not that anymore … and sometimes that’s a tough thing to say.”

Coghlan is not alone in experi

encing a loss of identity. Gearoid Towey is an Irish three-time Olympic rower, former world champion and founder of Crossing the Line Sport – a charity offering advice and information on athlete’s wellbeing and transitioning out of sport.

Having seen and heard firsthand the struggles of so many athletes, Towey – who himself graduated from Trinity in 2007 – is more aware than most of how common an issue life after sport is.

“Finding another driver in life is something many athletes only tackle when they finish sport or when they are faced with an injury or a selection issue”, explains Towey.

He himself was not exempt from confusion. “That’s when I went reading about the issue [adjusting to life after sport] and didn’t find much online about it at the time. So that’s when I set up the website [Crossing the Line] because nobody had yet. That kept me busy and I learned a lot about many aspects of business etc in developing it.”

For student athletes, problems associated with retirement may seem distant. However, an injury-induced spell away from sport can augur the more permanent sense of loss that retirement has induced in so many ex-athletes.

After breaking her collar bone in 2019, the year that Radford-Dodd spent unable to compete was in many ways a sample of the struggle that retirement can inflict.

“I think the combination of starting Sixth Year (at school) and not being able to train to the level I wanted had its effects on me. I just missed the sport. I didn’t feel fit or physically strong like my usual self, and mentally having that outlet would have been really helpful with the stress of Sixth Year.”

Following a significant hamstring injury that sidelined him for six months, McCarthy also realised just how dominant – and yet vulnerable – a facet sport was in his life.

“Pretty soon you really start to miss being part of a team and you just want to be out playing rugby”,

he explains. “It did make me realise how much I love playing sport and how easily it can be taken away from you.”

Through Crossing the Line, Towey has seen firsthand how some student athletes still struggle with planning for life both during and after sport. “We get lots of student athletes and we have run student athlete programs in the past”, he notes.

With age therefore not a discriminating factor in determining who suffers from the anxiety of “losing sport”, it is equally important to establish whether athletes from certain sports struggle with retirement more than athletes from other sports.

Towey argues that there is no obvious pattern. “The range of sportspeople who visit our site shows that this issue isn’t confined to one sport in particular, the common denominator is purpose in life.

“Finding another driver in life is something many athletes only tackle when they finish sport or when they are faced with an injury or a selection issue and that issue is not confined to one sport or another – it’s about the individual.”

However, in Coghlan’s experience while working with retired athletes at Navy Blue – Ireland’s leading sports marketing agency – one genre of athlete in particu -

lar suffers more than most.

“I think maybe some of the Olympians. Probably some of them that just retired following the last Olympics are still finding their way. So they’re coming out of sports in their early 30s … they would have been training as full time athletes so they wouldn’t have necessarily worked”, she says. “I think athletes that train full time that don’t have a job, definitely find that transition a lot tougher.”

Fortunately, Radford-Dodd – an Olympic prospect who may become a full-time pentathlete after university – is at least aware of the risk of being overly engulfed by sport.

“I think a balance is really important. Again, in terms of identity it can be really dangerous to have sport as your only personality trait. I love my sport but time away from it, even mentally, I think is good. Pentathlon is my default daydream, so I need the distraction away from it during the day and college is a good one.”

While ex-Olympians may well have a tougher time than most, for participants in a sport as physically attritional as, for instance, rugby, retirement bears an additional threat.

As shown by the lawsuit brought by over 185 former and current professional players against rugby union’s governing bodies, sport-induced brain damage is

-

“

If you spend so much time doing something I think it has to be integral to who you are

“

There was an adjustment phase in terms of physical but also social, because that was my social life for so many years

far from uncommon. It can make the already unsettling process of retirement disorientating when one struggles with issues such as not remembering much of your career. It can also make retirement very frightening in moments like when you forget to turn your car off. Or when you don’t recognise your own child. Or contemplate taking your own life.

In light of the dramatic implications sport can have on life in retirement, it is perhaps crucial that student athletes – particularly budding rugby players – are aware of the risks that they may be unconsciously taking. However, that is not an easy conversation to have.

“The decisions people make in sport in their early 20s may not have the best impact later in life but it is hard to tell a young person in their prime not to do a sport because it might have consequences later in life”, sympathises Towey.

“That conversation is very difficult because it’s hard to stop a sport when it’s giving you so much at that time of your life.”

It is a conversation that has not escaped McCarthy’s notice.

“Concussion is definitely something that plays on your mind, mainly because it’s such a grey area and there’s very little concrete protocols in place. However, I think rugby is moving in the right direction with reducing the amount of contact in train -

ing and the HIA protocols, he reasons.

One positive sign reinforcing this is that the conversation at least exists – as Coghlan notes, even a decade ago it is a conversation that was not at all considered.

“You know what, I never even thought about it and even playing I never would go into training or games thinking about it … I think people are probably becoming more fearful of it now because they’re hearing so much more evidence in the media”.

At this stage, any help with the brain-damage dimension of retirement will likely be palliative rather than remedial or preventative.

More promising, however, is that when it comes to dealing with the loss of identity that often accompanies retirement, pre-emptive help is increasingly at hand for athletes.

“In Leinster we have a player development officer”, explains McCarthy.

“She makes sure we have at least something else going on outside of rugby. Any career, financial or mental related worries you may have she is extremely helpful to players and well equipped to guide and advise.”

Coghlan notes a growth of similar support in the women’s game.

“Nowadays, and near the latter end of my career … we’d have a player development manager who would go through things like uni -

versity courses or options, job options, and probably psych [psychological] help there if you needed people to talk to.”

As women’s rugby transitions from amateur to professional, these preventative measures will be increasingly important. Players will no longer have the external anchor – albeit an anchor which often borders on burden – of concurrent employment.

Playing professionally may mean that the listlessness of retirement becomes a more pressing issue.

“I think just because that’s what you [will] live and breathe and you have no other outlet, that’s all you know, basically. So if you don’t have something else outside when

you stop that, it’s definitely a harder adjustment”, Coghlan says. With all this in mind, it seems a question of when rather than if student athletes ought to begin thinking about the finish line –not that this is an easy prospect.

“It’s definitely daunting to think about, the highs and lows of sport are something that not everyone gets to experience. There’s a fear it would be hard to replace in your occupational life. It is hard to say seeing I don’t have any idea what I want to do as a career. But I think I’ll always be doing some sport”, reckons Radford-Dodd.

“I think it’ll be very hard to fill the void as there’s nothing quite like professional sport”, muses McCarthy.

“Life after rugby is something

that plays on my mind quite a bit. But I’d hope that my business degree, the connections I am making [and] the resilience and hard work needed to play pro rugby will give me a solid foundation to succeed in any area I enter.”

While Radford-Dodd and McCarthy clearly have a something of a rounded outlook on the sport-life nexus, Towey has advice for any student athletes for whom life is perhaps overshadowed by sport.

“It is essential for sports people to have something else going on in their lives to pull the intensity out of it. The training field is where the intensity should be and stay. Having something else to focus on allows athletes to do something else and come back to training mentally fresh the next day.”

For that reason, he also implores students to make the most of university itself.

“When we work with student athletes we get them to use every resource that is being offered to them and embrace the student part as much as the athlete part”.

In clasping onto the present and now of their sporting careers, student athletes must not forget the future. For the balance – or lack thereof – they reach now will surely shape their life after sport. And not in an insignificant way.

“

I didn’t feel like my usual self, and having that outlet would have been really helpful with the stress of Sixth Year

“

Finding another driver in life is something many athletes only tackle when they finish sport

OF ORANGE LEAVES AND GREEN SUNSETS: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A COLOURBLIND PERSON

Siothrún Sardina Senior Editor

Iremember well the day: the early-Summer sun marking early afternoon, a mid-day blue sky not yet descending into purple. Green blades of grass about us reaching ever-skywards, full of colour: not quite vibrant enough to be called red, and yet not so dull as to fade into pink. The gravel path on which we walked long having forgotten the fallen leaves turning green in the Autumn.Small stones about us marked with subtle greens and blues as they crunched under our feet.

We turned down a single path, choosing without particular cause the first trail to explore in the gardens.

She would have seen white flowers springing up towards the warm sun, rows of green leaves streaking against the sky as towering trunks and branches held them aloft. One in particular must have caught her attention: a tree covered in reddish flowers, jutting out against the green background like the sun shining through the sparse white clouds above.

Each tree painted in light and colour with thousands of brushes, the sturdy brown bark of each branch giving even more vibrance to the glowing reds and greens of leaves and flowers, the blue sky in the background giving a cool cast to the scene.

In my world the painter had but one brush. The browns of bark and branch flowed seamlessly into green leaves. Layers of green upon green slowly faded into a more vibrant, deeper red in the centre of the path before us where the red-flowered tree so subtly distinguished itself from the greens about it. Above its proud branches, the sky stood in stark contrast to all below: its blue colour so alien to red and green and brown alike that the small forest had all the allure of a full moon casting rays into the night sky.

Further on we tread along thin dirt paths in a sea of flowers, the occasional boulder giving a brief break from the backdrop of trees further outwards from the trail.

In her sight, yellow and orange and white flowers reigned over the rocky ground, their vibrance burst -

And if I saw reds in the wood, pinks in the stones, and noted a near-perfect reflection of the sky in purple flowers, who is to say the world is otherwise?

ing forth against the less-assuming backdrop. Further along, thousands of shades of green on the trees would seem a more distant reflection of the lighter-green shrubs and vines before us. No two shades of green ever repeated, each new flowering shrub and winding tendril possessed of its own interpretation of the colour.

My eyes saw pink rocks scattered as a backdrop to each flower, their pink at times seeming to blend with the faint reds of shrubbery leaves. Other shrubs bore leaves with all the vivacity of an orange flame, their leaves akin to the central stand of yellow flowers, though those glowed with a much greater vibrance. The trees far away stood

out against these visions, their darker greens much in opposition to fiery leaves on the smaller flora surrounding us.

It was as this that we walked – past stream and pond, over wooden bridge and stone steps, under tree or sky, paths lined with pebble or dirt. And if I saw reds in the wood, pinks in the stones, and noted a near-perfect reflection of the sky in purple flowers, who is to say the world is otherwise?

If she saw brown wooden planks and grey stones who each in turn made all the other colours stand out the more, if she saw in purple flowers a distant cousin of the sky rather than its twin, who am I to contest the allure of her view?

To each the world of their own perceptions, their own enchanting world of colour –and to each and the alluring beauty of sharing them

Two worlds we walked in, not one, though each step was taken side-by-side. I should be a fool to call one the more vibrant or the more beautiful – similarly, nor can I claim so deep an understanding of her visions as I had of my own. To her, I know, was a beauty entirely different, though no less stunning.

With many words we would exchange our sights – the two worlds merging as one, two perspectives giving another lens into the entrancing colours painting elegant scenes about us. I learned to see the world in a second light, and I should like to think that she was blessed with knowledge quite similar to mine.

To each the world of their own perceptions, their own enchanting world of colour – and to each and the alluring beauty of sharing them.

No two pairs of eyes have ever seen exactly the same. And indeed I have never seen the iridescence of the sunset that my friend would remember from that night after we parted. But as I watched the deep purple sky shift into flame-like layers of green and orange about the horizon, as I gazed upon the waters glow so vibrantly that the violet sky seemed blue in their mirror, I doubted that any other world was ever so lovely.

We turned down a single path, choosing without particular cause the first trail to explore in the gardens

Layers of green upon green slowly faded into a more vibrant, deeper red in the centre of the path before us where the red-flowered tree so subtly distinguished itself from the greens about it

THE TROUBLE WITH TRAINS

Ailbhe Noonan Editor

Over my three years attending Trinity, I have taken countless methods of public transport in an effort to reach our esteemed campus. Many of these have ended with me booking it across town to get where I need to be, but occasionally I end up on a peaceful journey only to be interrupted when the train stops and a delay ensues while the universe decides to punish me as a form of divine humour.

The most frequent of these public transport systems is Iarnród Eireann (also known as Irish Rail) because they are the only way to get into town from where I live without going through every little back alley and street in North County Dublin on a tempestuous Dublin Bus. Those who have known me for any length of time know that Irish Rail and I have an extraordinarily tumultuous relationship stemming from my need to go places and their consistent desire to stop me from doing so by either not showing up or showing up at a time not listed on their timetable, or only going as far as Malahide rather than all the way out to where I live.

It is true that since moving onto campus, Irish Rail and I have significantly improved our relationship, but nevertheless my attempts to find my way home in the dead of night often go horribly wrong, featuring either a delayed train, a train going the wrong direction, or the line to my house just not running at all. Understandably, this has led to much frustration over the years as I attempt to find a routine I can actually stick to. Much to my chagrin, I have done many a class and meeting on zoom from a packed train as I sped along the northern line.

But, I hear you ask, what about the DARTs? For those who have yet to be initiated into the ways of Dublin trains, the DART line is a sprawling suburban system going from Greystones in Wicklow all the way through town and out to Malahide and Howth in North County Dublin.

If you’re hanging around the East end of campus you may occasionally hear the trains rumbling through with a noise so loud that you can barely hear yourself think until they have squeaked their way over one of the most precarious looking bridges in Dublin.

The DARTs come every 20 minutes or so during the day, and every 30 minutes or so outside peak hours. They are fairly reliable, if a little slow, and they can take you from one end of Dublin to the other within two hours. So why, I hear you ask, would I not be content with this? The DARTs only run to Malahide, and unfortunately I live in Skerries, three stops after. For some reason, when they were being constructed, they didn’t go out that far, leaving anyone living beyond Malahide stuck with the hourly commuter trains.

THESE trains come about once every half hour during peak times, and once every hour outside peak times. Many of my classes are not within those peak hours, meaning there has been many a time where I have been left standing on a platform waiting for 45 minutes for the next one. There was one particular train in my first year that would regularly switch between arriving 10 minutes early or 10 minutes late depending on the day, leaving me frustrated at its lack of consistency and wondering whether the train drivers were playing a rather elaborate prank on me.

Perhaps the best example of my troubles with the trains are when they end up going the wrong way. The signage around the stations is almost universally bad, especially in places outside Dublin. Once, in my efforts to get to Celbridge, I attempted to catch a train going that way from Newbridge. The track directions were particularly unclear, as were the signage, so I ended up stuck on a train to Portlaoise. Fortunately, I realised my folly before I went too far and ended up halfway between Dublin and Portlaoise. I did make it back, thankfully, but I will never forget the sheer heart-dropping moment of panic when I realised I was going the wrong way. All this is to say, even though I love the trains and my commute, the universe does appear to be playing some sort of divine trick on me every time I attempt to make use of Ireland’s already dire public transport systems. Perhaps one day I shall make a journey in peace, but until that day I will continue to bemoan my trouble with trains.

Irish Rail and I have an extraordinarily tumultuous relationship stemming from my need to go places and their consistent desire to stop me from doing so

AI A EDHELLEN, I LAM NÍN: LEARNING TO SEE A MONOCHROME WORLD IN COLOUR

Siothrún Sardina Senior Editor

Ihave never seen the world the way most people do. Being colourblind, my world is full of green wood and purple skies. To me the colour wheel is symmetric, and both of the colours that remain are rarely worth distinguishing. Many times I have wondered how another might react to my perception of the world, or how I might react to theirs.

Then I started learning Elvish.

Yes, Elvish. Classical Sindarin to be exact, with a little dialectical flavouring of the wood-elves sprinkled here and there, much like the gems of Donegal and Connemara strewn through my otherwise vaguely Dublin Irish. Add some Spanish and some ASL (American Sign Language) to the mix, maybe a little Italian or Welsh on a good day, and all of the sudden I find myself in the most peculiar situation of being able to distinguish more languages than colours.

So I did what any colourblind linguist would, and I became a painter. Of course, when I dipped my brush I accidentally picked up Sindarin instead of blue, and all of the sudden was left with a beautiful monochrome sky: “Ai a Edhellen! Gin melin, i lam nín!”

Remembering the second colour I quickly hastened for red – that would make some wonderful leaves. But alas I failed once more, and found the words “Céard sa diabhal atá dhá dhéana’ a’d, a amadáin!” scrawled all over the canvas like leaves blowing in the autumn wind. It seemed that I had dipped into Irish rather than red.

Now certainly anyone looking at this painting would have taken me for an amateur struggling in vain to copy Jack the Dripper. For by the end I had a bright Welsh sun over vibrant ASL roses intermingling with glowing Spanish sunflowers and bright Italian lilies.

It was about time I realised I was not a painter.

But what if I saw the world not in colour, but in laguage? After all, what is colour but a different perspective on the same thing? A rose is a rose, be it red

“Ai a Edhellen, i Lam Nín”, written in one of Tolkien’s Elvish scripts

or blue or yellow. But can I not say, a rose is a rose, be it meril or rós or rosa? I then asked myself not what it means to see the world in “full colour”, but what it means to see it in only one language, or in many. What does it change when a whole rainbow of languages gives you your choice of words, when a thing may be known not by one name but by seven, each with its own shade and hue? What does it mean to see in thought and poetry, to feel in every word the myriad of perspectives and interpretations that constitute its being?

m So I closed my eyes to both colours I could see, and I watched and listened to the languages of the world.

Two of the first words I learned in Sindarin were “estel” and “amdir”. Both might mean “hope”, though those three words have remarkably distinct meanings. The English “hope” is broad: it speaks of a desire that unknown events be favourable, or that good prevail over rising tides of adversarial circumstances. Its primary use is an action: I hope. It is something that is done, a choice that is made and a dedication in the mind.

But to step back, for a moment, to the two kinds of hope Sindarin expresses: estel and amdir Estel is the sort of hope that does not despair or abandon the one who has it. It is a hope that keeps hoping even in the darkest of times, because it is steadfast and believes in hope for its own sake. It is a hope that gives comfort.

Amdir is different: it is the sort of hope that is based off of reason, that seeks a way for light to come out of the dark not by chance or desire, but because the one who hopes sees a way that the hope can become a reality. Amdir is a hope that invites action and change.

And then to ask the same of Irish? “Dóchas” is “hope” in broad terms, but it is a hope that cannot be separated from trust. It can be put into something or taken out of it, and it speaks not only of a desire for something, but an expectation or trust in it occuring.

Yet it is not commonly used in action: “súil”, literally meaning “eye” is the word used to convey the idea of “I hope”. To hope in Irish is to “have an eye” for it – in other words, to see the end you hope for and watch it approach.

Many times and many days I have felt hope in all of those senses. They at times overlap – hope that does not fail, for example, can also be based off of reason. Yet in each I find another way of perceiving the world, another lens through which to understand the reality in which I live.

As I walk the world, I see everything in the lenses of the languages I have learned and through the perspectives of the cultures they come from. If I look up at night I see the moon, i ruan and an gealach all at once. To the Sindar I Raun is The Wanderer, one that traverses the sky and whose wanderings define the months. To the Irish an gealach is known for its brightness that shines through the dark of night.

I look up and I see it all at once.

And perhaps this is the view others would be more accustomed to seeing when looking upon a rainbow, flowers, or even a city under a moonlit sky – different hues and shades intermingling, overlapping, fading into eachother even as they stand apart. What colour does for most, language does for me.

They say you cannot create a new colour. That no matter how hard you try, you can never conjure to mind an image of a colour other than the ones you have seen before. I never could, at least, and not for lack of trying. If any others have – well, colours were never exactly my strong-suit, as I am sure you can imagine, and theirs would be a feat that lies on a different path than that one I currently walk.

After all, this question of a “new colour” has concerned me less than that of a new perspective. I ask instead if you can create a new language, and what it would mean to paint the world in its view.

That’s part of why I started learning Elvish.

Sindarin Elvish is, after all, a construction of

Tolkein’s. It reflects a world and a culture so fundamentally different from those of our world that it can speak of lore and beauty in entirely new terms. Yet unlike colours, these new things are something you can actually comprehend, actually see in your mind’s eye. I can see “i vanadh” – that which is either final doom or final victory. One word that means both, one word that binds them. And such a concept should be of no surprise: to the Sindar who speak to estel and know of hope that would never fail as manadh approaches, it is easy to see how to the end they can see a ray of light and hope that doom will become victory, and finality will once again stand on the side of righteousness no no matter how eminent a dark end seems: because that hope never left, because doom and joyous victory can interchange in the blink of an eye.

So I became a painter of words. I strive not to create new scenes or interpret the world in colour and vision – though such an art is by no means lesser. But I find my amdir and know that my hope for understanding the world comes from the place I know best: language.

I learn, I see, and I even create languages for their own sake. Each one is a new impression of the world, a new way of placing myself and my experiences in it. A new way of expressing myself, and a new shade of meaning I add to every part of the world about me.

I have never seen the world the way most people do. Being colourblind, my world is full of Irish wood and Sindarin skies. To me the trees of languages grow intertwined, yet each one’s leaves speak of a different beauty. Many times I have wondered how another might react to my perception of the world, or how I might react to theirs. But now I know: and it’s about time I learned to see the world in another language’s colour.

LEARNING FROM OUR MISTAKES (I.E. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE)

Siothrún Sardina Senior Editor

You must forgive me, dear reader, for the chaos I seek to inflict upon you. Many know me as a pun-master, but I prefer to consider myself a master of corrupting language – of making the perfectly sensible seem incomprehensible. And that is what I seek to do now. Not with long words or overly-winding sentences – I should hope that in both those regards this article be reasonable.

But English is a most pernicious language. It is a wonder we did not leave it behind ages ago for something more fit-for-purpose, like Irish or Sindarin.

Believe me not? Then I pray, dear reader, that you walk away from this article without the slightest clue what was said. In ignorance you shall see the truth.

I have heard that we learn best from our mistakes. If so, the English language is the best learning opportunity that has ever graced the world. Here’s why.

The Night of Bonked Heads

I will recount a day belonging along the long streams of histories forgotten. Yet for you it shall be gotten, that which was for you sworn: for you ever remembered and for you boding well. Ignorance, for you I tell this tale.

From webs and webbing they arose: trapping water with skin and bone. With bites and tears many a broken, time-hardened limb they sewed so tightly together. Ever ripping, tying, binding. A sight most tear-able: of broken twigs a raft grafted!

Ever onwards! In military fashion each strode aboard, though bored. Bored it was downstream, that raft: the raft and its raft as one! And who can say otherwise: all in perfect lines, of one mind and feather, birds unburdened they were.

Yet tides ever exact their high price: a currency of discomfort to redress the troubled waters. Over them – well, even you, Ignorance, know what was there! Yet even upon coming to it, never was it to

be crossed. Such a destiny was withheld from those who sailed upon these cross hardships.

Atop that ill-fated future sat a herd: not a flock, though together they did flock. In their sleep no games did they play, and yet a game they were! Each one of feathers white, save one of black on whom fortune must have smiled this night.

Towards the herd’s station the graftling sailed: its tenants, with long necks, their gazes cast round, glowing eyes bright piercing the dark. Alas, they saw naught: not the haughty, knotty fate before them! The stream crossing they came across, all arrayed to past leave impasse, to pass it below. And be low, they should have! None of the four-sights of the paddlers could save them: disaster struck each.

A duck, yet it could not! Fowl-play followed foul quacks and cracks of heads. The rafting raft was rapidly a-paddling-paddling-paddling swiftly away. What way? Well surely many of them, for such disorder broke their rowing row into rowing! In a row they were, yet most surely in a row they were not!

To each comes the bill, as the saying goes. Of this unfortunate bridge no exception may be made: bills and bills upon it were thrown. Could it have dodged? No, for even were it possessed of motion it should have been afeared to bend down!

Where only recently a bevy of swans had landed there was no more: flight had stolen the flight. Naught but one remained, not even a bank to be bankrupt. So perhaps then it may be said to have been in the black on that day.

A Final Word

So I hope, dear Ignorance, that you have of the tail of this tale gleaned a glimmer of knowledge. That it passed over your head at first I may not blame –indeed, those there should have wished

for your heady fortune!

And should you, dear reader, wonder what all this meant, I shall relate to you in a few simple words. Some ducks bonked their heads as they took a raft downriver. They disrupted a few swans, who flew off.

Think you, then, that it is a mark of our language to allow something so simple, so readily expressed, to be expressed in such confounding terms? For the English poet may write and speak as if grammar does not exist: the pun-master is worse, for they have the liberty of disregarding spelling and meaning both to make their joke!

Let us for a second think in literary terms. If words are leaves, sentences are the trees that support them. A figurative article as this may then be seen as a meta-forest, one to smile at. The tree of English is twisted and overgrown, but more than that, it is grafted from many a source. Each small fragment of it falls like twigs, and then when bound and tied suddenly becomes something more complex still: a dialect. For no two speakers speak perfectly alike.

To speak is to sail, to entrust our lives’ directions to the language’s whims! Yet if the language is a boat then with it we may forge a friend-ship, a ship to redefine and alter at our whole as well.

It is chaos incarnate. Chaos that twists and turns, that shifts and shakes and shapes itself over again. Minds it locks, thoughts it blocks, people it mocks, consistency it shocks and knocks and hocks – all for its own eldritch desires. Each day this occult power upon us will prey, until we even pray in litanies of words devoid of meaning, until our eyes touch words without true reading.

Ready to overthrow the English language now?

Yet if the language is a boat then with it we may forge a friend-ship, a ship to redefine and alter at our whole as well

Photo via Digital Content Writers India

DRAWING CONCLUSIONS

Amy-Louise O’Connor, a Dublin-based illustrator from Cork who brings Irish mythology and fantastical creates to life, responds to 10 prompts in the medium she’s most comfortable with. You can find her at @amylouioc on Instagram and Twitter.

IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT YOURSELF, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU WERE A KID?

WHAT GETS YOU UP OUT OF BED IN THE MORNING?

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE MEAL?

WHAT MAKES YOU CRINGE?

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?

WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL BORED?

WHAT SUPERPOWER WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO HAVE?

WHERE IS HOME?

WHO IS YOUR GREATEST ARTISTIC INSPIRATION?

An Cailín Ciúin Shortlisted for Best International Film at 2023 Oscars

Ailbhe Noonan EDITOR

An Cailín Ciúin has been shortlisted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the Best International Film category at the 2023 Oscars. The film is the first Irish-language film to have been shortlisted for the award and only the second Irish film to be shortlisted in the category.

An Cailín Ciúin , based on the short story “Foster” by Irish writer Claire Keegan, is a coming-of-age drama that

focuses on the protagonist Cáit and her situation dealing with neglect. Set in Ireland in 1981, it examines the new lease of life that Cáit is given when she moves from her flawed household to live with distant relatives for a period of time.

The film debuted at the Berlin Film Festival in February and has since won numerous awards including 8 IFTA Irish Film and Drama Awards and enjoyed a successful run in Irish and UK cinemas, pass -

ing the €1 million mark in October.

Speaking on the film’s shortlist selection, writer and director Colm Bairéad and producer Cleona Ní Chrualaoi said: “We are absolutely thrilled that An Cailín Ciúin/The Quiet Girl has been shortlisted by the Academy for Best International Feature Film and we are particularly proud to be the first Irish-language film to have achieved this”.

“What an historic moment for Irish-language cinema! We feel privileged and honoured to continue to represent Ireland as An Cailín Ciúin/The Quiet Girl bids to secure a nomination at the 95th Academy Awards.” They continued: “We couldn’t have made it this far without the incredible support of Screen Ireland, TG4, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and the hard work and dedication of our distributors”.

“Special thanks also to the Irish Film and Television Academy for its continued support and commitment and to the audiences who came in such record numbers to see our film so far.”

Senior figures from TG4 also congratulated the film. Alan Esslemont, Director General of TG4, said they were “delighted to hear this good news”.

“The success of this beautiful film has been staggering, winning many national and

international awards and delighting cinema goers everywhere”, he continued.

“When TG4 began the Cine4 scheme with Screen Ireland and the BAI, our vision was to win an Oscar for an Irish-language film. [This] news brings us one step closer to that aim and is very encouraging for everybody in the Irish creative community. Comhghairdeas ó chroí!”.

An Cailín Ciúin, Banshees of Inisherin, Paul Mescal Nominated for Oscars

Ailbhe Noonan EDITOR

An Cailín Ciúin has made history by becoming the first Irish-language film to be nominated for Best International Film at the 2023 Oscars.

The film was shortlisted in December and was officially nominated at the announcements last Tuesday in Los Angeles. The film is the first Irish-language film to have been nominated for the award and only the second Irish film to have been shortlisted in the category.

An Cailín Ciúin, based on the short story “Foster” by Irish writer Claire Keegan, is a coming-of-age drama that focuses on the protagonist Cáit and her situation dealing with neglect. Set in Ireland in 1981, it explores the new lease of life that Cáit is given when she moves from her flawed household to live with distant relatives for a period of time.

The film debuted at the Berlin Film Festival in February and has since won numerous awards including 8 IFTA Irish Film and Drama Awards and enjoyed a successful run in Irish and UK cinemas, passing the €1 million mark in October.

In a statement posted to Twitter, the official account for the film said: “Lá dar saol! Tá An Cailín Ciúin ag dul go dtí na hOscars!! We can barely believe it… The Quiet Girl is going to the Oscars!”

“To be nominated by The Acad-

emy in the international feature film category is a truly historic moment for Irish film and the Irish language”, they continued.

TG4TV also posted a statement on Twitter saying “Éacht ollmhór déanta ag An Cailín Ciúin! Tá An Cailín Ciúin ainmithe don Fhadscannán Idirnáisiúnta is Fearr ag Oscars! An Cailín Ciúin has been nominated in the ‘International Feature Film’ category at the Oscars!”

In a press statement released earlier today following the nominations, Désirée Finnegan, Chief Executive of Screen Ireland, said:

“Our huge congratulations to Colm Bairéad and Cleona Ní Chrualaoi on An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl)’s Academy Award nomination today.”

“This is an historic moment for Irish-language film, which we are immensely proud of, along with our Cine4 partners TG4 and the BAI. Best International Feature is an intensely competitive category this year and so it is remarkable to have received the nomination.”

“This poignant film that Colm Bairéad has made in An Cailín Ciúin is an outstanding artistic achievement, as is the work from the film’s cast and crew, from Kate McCullough’s stunning cinematography to Stephen Rennicks’ emotive score, and of course, Catherine

Clinch’s heart-breaking performance”, she added.

In addition to An Cailín Ciúin, this year’s Oscar nominations were a record breaking success for Ireland, with a total of 14 nods across categories. Lir graduate Paul Mescal was nominated for Best Actor for his role in Aftersun, director Charlotte Wells’ feature debut.

In a statement posted to their Instagram, the Lir Academy congratulated Mescal on his nomination: “A massive congratulations to former Lir student Paul Mescal on his Oscar Nomination! Paul Mescal has just received an Oscar Nomination in the category Best Actor for his role of Calum in Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun.”

“Mescal is currently playing Stanley Kowalski in a revival of the play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennesse Williams at the Almeida Theatre”, they added. .

Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin saw success across the board, receiving nine nominations: Best Actor (for Colin Farrell), Best Director, Best Supporting Actress (for Kerry Condon), Best Original Score, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Picture and two nominations for Best Supporting Actor (for Brendon Gleeson and Barry Keoghan).