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Equality & Diversity Supplement

Have the core principles of Labour been lost?

A supplement celebraing equality and diversity in Trinity and to highlight issues of descrimination

I think they have

The University Times VOL. V - ISSUE III //

Advertising Revenue Shortfall in Trinity News Accounts

TUESDAY 19TH NOVEMBER 2013

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www.universitytimes.ie

Trinity’s Diwali Celebrations UT Investigation:

College to buy up properties as part of thier growth strategy to deal with increasing number of students

Hannah Ryan News Editor

>>News

Former Editor fails to collect advertising revenue already accounted for

T

he University Times has received reports that last year’s Editor of Trinity News ran advertisements in the paper but failed to collect revenue from them. The publication may now have to accumulate the money itself.

A source from last year’s Trinity News editorial team revealed that last year’s Editor, Ronán Burtenshaw, wrote down that he was owed a large sum of money from advertisers, but did not follow up to collect the fees at the end of the year.

It was also said that the former Editor then left the country without giving the incoming Editor, Elaine McCahill, any help in gathering the revenue.

“All of the editorial team were extremely angry with the outgoing Editor for his lack of consideration,” said the source.

Accounts Representatives of Trinity Publications declined to comment on the subject of the uncollected revenue.

When asked, P.J. Moloney, Chairman of Trinity Publications, said only that: “I unfortunately cannot comment on last year’s accounts as the [Capitation] Committee meeting has not happened yet.

There have been no issues with the running of Trinity News this year and everything is on track.”

Moloney further asserted

that: “Trinity News is not in debt this year.”

However, a source close to Publications revealed to The University Times that Trinity News does have some outstanding payments from advertisements run prior to this year which they will now have to pay themselves.

Last year’s Editor, Ronán Burtenshaw, had originally agreed to a discussion on this subject but was unavailable for comment at the time of print.

The current Editor of Trinity News has not responded to requests for a statement.

Funding Trinity News is funded by Trinity Publications, one of College’s five capitated bodies along with the Students’ Union, the Graduate Students’ Union, the Central Societies Committee (CSC) and Dublin University Central Athletic Club (DUCAC).

The Publications Committee receives a grant every year from the Student Registration Fee, which it then disperses among the different publications under its remit. These include Trinity News, Trinity Film Review, The Bull, Piranha, Icarus, and T.C.D. Miscellany.

Additional reporting by Fionn O’Dea & Leanna Byrne

The Skype Frustration

Trinity students celebrating Diwali - an Indian festival which celebrates the triumph of good over evil. The event was hosted by the Trinity Indian Society on the 15th of November. Photo

by Max Grimmeiss.

College to Cut Entrance Exhibition Awards Paul Glynn Contributing Writer

T

rinity College has decided to alter the criteria for the awarding of Entrance Exhibition Awards to incoming first-year students. As such, the 25 bonus points earned from Leaving Certificate Higher Level Maths will no longer be counted in the 560 points required for the scholarship, and the sum of the prize will be reduced from €300 to €150.

The number of scholarships awarded to incoming students rose from 413 in 2011 to 757 in 2012, the latter figure representing over a quarter of all incoming Junior Freshman students that year. The budget for the Entrance Exhibitions had been set prior to the announcement, and the limitations decided on by the College were one of many options considered in light of new budgetary limitations.

Higher Points Dr. Patrick Geoghegan,

Senior Lecturer and Dean of Undergraduate Studies, attributed this increase of awardees in large part to the bonus points scheme, where Higher Level Maths students received a 25-point bonus in their results. Commenting on the decision not to raise the number of points required to 585, or even 600, as was considered, Geoghegan said: “Rather than just being able to honour a very small number, it’s great to be able to recognise the academic achievement of everyone who got 560 points (or its equivalent), excluding the Maths bonus.”

A number of students eligible for the scholarship have voiced their disappointment with the reduced amount to be awarded. In response, Geoghegan commented that: “Some students have contacted me about this, and I have talked to some students who are disappointed that it has been reduced in this way. Academic books are very expensive,

and our students use these awards to support their studies. Unfortunately the budget is set.”

Options College has considered various other means of staying within the budget for the awards, such as keeping the prize at €300 but raising the threshold to 600 points, or using the Relative Performance Rank (RPR) system that favours the highest-achieving students in schools. The latter system was Geoghegan’s preferred option, but could not be introduced this year, and is instead being tested as a possible method of calculating eligibility for the award in future years.

Geoghegan added finally that: “We recognise that a points total alone isn’t the only measure of academic excellence, and we are trying to recognise potential as well as academic achievement as represented by results in the Leaving Certificate. But there is no contradiction as we recognise that excellence in any

single scale – such as the Leaving Cert – is a remarkable achievement, and that is why it is good that College honours that achievement.”

Jack Leahy, Education Officer for Trinity College Students’ Union, told The University Times: “Ultimately, the decision taken in relation to bonus points for Maths protects the integrity of the entrance scholarship award, and it was not without much interrogation that this measure was passed. Though I understand entirely that approval was required from Board to amend the level of scholarship, the lack of clarity available to incoming students as to what amount their vouchers would be for is disappointing.”

Leahy also stated that current students who received the first half of their entrance scholarship last year will not be affected by the move, and will still get the €150 book voucher that constitutes the second half of their prize.

The perks and perils of using skype >>InFocus

Snap-Chat is not your friend

Eibhlinn Ní Fhinn tells us why we should be more cautious with our camera habits

>>Opinion

Trinity Hockey Strong in Home Intervarsities

Stephen Ludgate reports on the Zoti Hockey Intervarsities took place in Three Rock Rovers Hockey Club

>>Sports

Talks of Privatisation at Trinity Global Graduate Forum Sinéad Baker Deputy Online Editor

Reports leaked reveal Trinity College is considering a degree of privatisation

T

he University Times were leaked reports presented to attendees of the Trinity Global Graduates Forum (TGGF) on November 9th and 10th that reveal Trinity College Dublin is considering a de-

gree of privatisation.

The proposal is being considered as part of College’s efforts to diversify income and negate the effects of “escalating enrolments, rising per-student costs and decline in Gov-

ernment funding”, as well as to achieve a measure of “financial and political autonomy.” The idea received support from Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar when presented at the Forum.

The proposal The partial privatisation of Trinity was proposed at the Forum alongside the possibilities of licensing the Trinity College brand and setting up a private college under the Univer-

sity of Dublin structure.

A report delivered at the TGGF revealed that Trinity is considering exiting the public sector and becoming a semi-state body like RTÉ, thus allowing the college to increase EU student fees and gain “financial and managerial freedom”, free from the “Government imposed restrictions” of the public sector.

These new plans are being discussed as part of planning for TCD’s next 5 year strategic plan, due

for implementation after the current plan expires in 2014. One report discussed at the Forum states that the motivation for suggesting this move is that “Trinity could have financial and managerial freedom to innovate and adapt to the rapidly changing international context of education and research.” A spokesperson for Minister Varadkar stated his belief that “in the absence of tuition fees and adequate State funding, Trinity could only

reach its aim of becoming a top-tier university by going it alone and opting out of the State system in the way many top tier universities do elsewhere.”

The report also revealed the college’s concern that Trinity’s becoming a statesponsored body “may be seen as university privatisation and is likely to stimulate extreme political reactions among both the students and the public.” It highlighted that as the move would result in

increased student costs, there “may be a falloff in student numbers.”

The Union’s Stance TCD Students’ Union Education Officer Jack Leahy has stated: “With the strategic plan 2014-19 set to be announced early next term, Trinity is at a critical juncture. The decisions made this year shall be transformative for how and to whom education is delivered until the end of the decade and beyond. A

high-quality education is a two-way street premised equally on the capabilities of teacher and learner.

Trinity’s academic mission - which, let’s not forget, is its raison d’être - is in no way served by the introduction of a lower-quality but higher fee-paying student.”

>> Continued on page 3

UT News

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Welfare Office Damaged in House Six Break- In Finn Keyes Current Affairs Editor

H

ouse Six suffered a significant security breach on Monday 11th of November when intruders broke in and did extensive damage to the office of Welfare Officer Stephen Garry.

An Garda Síochana have been notified and are investigating the matter, though no arrests have been made. Security around the building has been increased, particularly at weekends, and all of the Sabbats and staff at House Six are exercising “increased vigilance”.

Mr. Garry returned from three day leave of absence on Monday morning and found his office torn asunder and in a significant state of disrepair.

Initially it seemed the office’s Apple Mac Computer had been stolen but a sub-

sequent search of the room found the computer and monitor tucked in an Ikea bag, ready for transportation.

It would appear that the burglars were somehow interrupted or heard someone coming or possibly realised the computer and monitor were too heavy to be carried swiftly and clandestinely.

Speaking to UT, President Tom Lenihan commented on the incident saying it had been “fairly disorientating to get to the bottom of” and was quick to praise the reaction of Mr. Garry saying; “Fortunately we have somebody the calibre of Stephen to deal with anything that faces him even if his office is trashed.” and added “by all accounts he is the best welfare officer in the country”.

Corrections & Clarifications: An article entitled “Concerns raised about financial impact of GeneSIS Project; college responds” which appeared in the University Times dated October 22nd, 2013, carried a large photograph of the entrance to the Information Systems Services (ISS) in College with the inference that ISS had overall responsibility for the GeneSIS Project including its budget. ISS wishes to clarify that it had no such role. It delivered the IT infrastructure for the project which was done on time and within budget.

Tuesday 19th November 2013

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The University Times

NCAD to Hold Referendum on Re-Affiliation with USI

Aisling Curtis Staff Wrtier

T

he National College of Art and Design (NCAD) Dublin, have decided to hold a referendum on whether or not they should re-affiliate with the Union of Students in Ireland (USI).

The referendum will be held alongside a corresponding referendum concerning NCAD’s new constitution. A vote will be put to students at NCAD’s AGM either at the end of this semester or early next semester.

According to Eoghan Shankey-Smith, President of NCAD Students’ Union, this referendum will be held in order to allow students to hear “what USI can offer them”. The SU are planning “a series of heated debates and discussions” in the lead-up to the referendum. It is hoped that this will allow students to make an informed decision with regards to re-affiliation.

Beginning in August, USI and NCADSU have met on a number of occasions.

NCAD also sent students to USI’s National Day of Action on 1 October, and

a delegation will attend Pink Training 21 in Belfast next week. Joe O’Connor, President of USI, has called this referendum a “very positive development”. He stated that USI membership is “very beneficial for small colleges”, as USI provides training and support for local Students’ Unions, as well as valuable national representation.

O’Connor also acknowledged a clear benefit for USI if NCAD re-affiliates.

He asserted that “we believe in the mantra “together we are stronger’” and that the collaboration of a greater proportion of Students’ Unions gives USI more weight on a national platform.

NCAD dis-affiliated from USI over an extended period between 2004 and 2009. The then-NCADSU President, Frank Wasser, cited multiple reasons for the split - including being unable to pay USI’s bill, as well as significant dissatisfaction with the Bologna reform that was “fully embraced by USI despite concerns from students

and academics across the country, particularly at NCAD.” The current NCADSU has taken a neutral stance with regard to the proposed referendum. Shankey-Smith told The University Times that he remains “entirely impartial on the subject” and hopes that students will make a personal, independent choice on the matter.

The sole role of NCADSU in this referendum is to ensure that students are informed about the benefits and consequences of USI membership.

NCAD is not the only college that USI hopes will reaffiliate over the next year.

According to O’Connor, USI is in the process of implementing a number of internal reforms that should serve to make it more appealing to an increased number of Students’ Unions. The Union is currently engaging with the University of Limerick and Dublin City University, with referendums regarding their affiliation anticipated in the second semester of this year.

A number of smaller colleges, such as Griffith College and All Hallows College, have also expressed an interest in joining USI. In addition, O’Connor hopes to approach University College Dublin next semester, as he believes the ongoing USI reforms “should be attractive to UCD” following their disaffiliation at the end of last year.

“This referendum will be held in order to allow students to hear what USI can Eoghan Shankey-Smith offer them” President of NCADSU

EU Summit Outcome “Cold Comfort” for Unemployed Youths, says USI President

Fiona Gribben Staff Writer

Youths will still be forced to emigrate despite investment in the Youth Guarantee

E

uropean leaders who convened at the Élysée Palace for a summit on youth employment on Monday 11 November, have expressed hope that Europe’s high youth unemployment rate, which currently stands at an average 23.5%, will improve over the next two years.

This comes as a result of plans to initiate the Youth Employment Initiative on 1 January 2014.

However, Union of Students in Ireland (USI) President Joe O’Connor has said that the length of time expected before Ireland can benefit from the initiative - nine months rather than four - will be “cold comfort” for the many Irish graduates currently without jobs.

Countries that have sub-

mitted action plans by end of the year may begin drawing from the €6 billion Youth Employment Initiative on 1 January. Ireland has sought advice from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in drawing up its plan; once submitted, the government can then spend the money as it sees fit.

Under the Youth Guarantee, no unemployed youth would be allowed to go longer than four months without a job offer or training.

However O’Connor stated that “the four million initial investment in the Budget for the Youth Guarantee is not close to sufficient.

It is reported that the length of time before activation of the Guarantee will be nine months instead of four. This will be cold comfort for the very many graduates that will likely be forced into emigration prior to then if unable to find work.”

European leaders have discussed the Youth Guarantee at every summit for the past year and a half, but the programme is still not operational. Taoiseach Enda Kenny said that last week’s summit was different because “there was a real focus on having the money available and having every country have its programme ready by the

end of the year, and to start this effectively.”

The government has faced criticism for its handling of youth unemployment in recent weeks, for example with the recent Budget cuts to social welfare, which Joe O’Connor describes as an “insult”.

“Opportunities are just not out there,” O’Connor said.

“When times were good Ireland had one of the highest youth employment rates in the EU. Furthermore it is simply wrong to expect young people to be able to live off 100 euro a week - to include rent,

It is simply wrong to expect young people to be able to live off 100 euro a week food, transport, and then be expected to live decently.

“They are being asked to pay for a crisis not of their making. This will undoubtedly force many into emigration.

“The USI agrees that the place for a young person is in the workplace, education or training - however the government has yet to hold up its end of the bargain to ensure adequate funding is in place to resource this,” O’Connor continued.

In addition to the €6 billion allotted for the Youth

Guarantee in the new EU budget, the European Investment Bank intends to finance businesses that hire young people to the tune of €6 billion annually. The European Social Fund will devote up to 70 per cent of its €10 billion annual budget to youth employment, bringing the total available to €40-45 billion over the next three years. However, substantial as that sounds, it is dwarfed by the more than €150 billion which youth unemployment is estimated to cost the EU annually.

Highlighting the scale of the crisis, O’Connor said: “There are over 32 young people unemployed for every job vacancy advertised in Ireland. Over 700 people recently applied for one receptionist’s role at a swimming pool.”

Germany has the lowest rate of youth unemployment, at 7.7%. Ireland looks set to follow the German model of tackling unemployment among young people by combining education with apprenticeships.

Rates of youth unemployment in Europe (as of August 2013)

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Average Greece Ireland France

U.K. Germany Infographic: Leanna Byrne

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UT News

Tuesday 19th November 2013

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The University Times

College Places Bid on Pearse St Property TCDSU Will Fight Against Privatisation

UT Exclusive Continued from page 1

Hall site.

Growth Plans

Fionn O’Dea Senior Staff Wrtier UT Investigation

C

ollege has placed a bid on a property on Pearse Street in an attempt to provide for the ever-increasing numbers of students attending Trinity, as was revealed at the Trinity Global Graduate Forum earlier this month.

Due to commercial sen-

sitivity, however, no exact address or details of the bid have been announced.

However, the college has divulged that the property will initially serve to accommodate activities that will need to be temporarily relocated to allow for the redevelopment of the Luce

College Press Officer Caoimhe Ní Lochlainn revealed to The University Times that the proposed acquisition is still at negotiation stage though “the discussion on the acquisition of this particular property has taken place over recent months.” Should negotiations prove successful, meanwhile, the purchase would still be subject to the approval of the Board of the College.

Material provided at last week’s forum revealed that Trinity is on course to increase its student numbers to 18,000 by 2014. “If Trinity is to maintain a proportionate share of projected national participation rates, it will need to enrol 18,300 students in 2015 and 24,000

in 2030. Growth at this level will require significant investment in terms of staffing and infrastructure,” one report states.

A mid-term review of College’s Stategic Plan 2009-14 revealed that not only is the overall target on course but the targets relating to increasing the number of graduate students and students from non-traditional backgrounds will be exceeded.

This would appear to indicate that, regardless of whether maintaining a proportional share of national participation rates is considered to be a priority by the college, acquisitions of more properties are likely to follow in the future.

When asked about future acquisitions, Ní Lochlainn said that “the College does and will continue to con-

sider acquisitions that will support its strategic objectives.”

In terms of replicating the use of suburban sites such as Trinity Hall and Santry Sports Grounds, she revealed that “College would consider any location that is appropriate for the proposed usage.

Distance and accessibility would be factors to be considered in consideration of such potential acquisitions.”

Trinity Global Graduate Forum Attendees at last week’s forum were asked to consider College’s inevitable increase in size in the context of a number of potential future scenarios, including: staying at the current size and promoting an ‘elite’, high-value mod-

el; growing by setting up overseas activities – campuses abroad, or partnerships with universities or corporates, or both; growing by building on the ‘old campus’ in College Green; and growing by expansion in the city (with aggressive purchasing of city centre properties, or a suburban campus).

Ever-increasing property prices in Dublin, meanwhile, are not a factor in the timing of the proposed purchase. Figures released by the Central Statistics Office in September revealed that property prices rose by 10.6% in Dublin over the previous 12 months.

Ní Lochlainn claimed, however, that “the current proposal is related to a specific requirement, and is not driven by property values.”

Leahy continued, “Privatisation of the university would constitute a complete abdication of Trinity’s 421-year claim to the brightest minds in the country and as such should be opposed under any guise. As the only student member of Board and University (Academic) Council, I can ensure that the Students’ Union shall fight any such measures should speculation on the matter prove informed.”

The consideration of privatising Trinity College has been proposed as a solution to the college’s issues with finances and space.

One report compiled for the attendees of the TGGF outlined how the Global Financial Crisis, combined with rising expenditure and the reduction in state funding from 62% to 57% since 2007, have had “a major effect on the college’s financial planning”. Publiclyfunded bodies, including TCD, have also been called on to reduce state-funded staff numbers; the college claims that these numbers have since plateaued due to the utilisation of nonstate income, yet maintains that the staff/student ratio (18:1 in 2010/2011) “is already high when compared to its international peers”.

The college is also facing issues with space. The growing numbers of college applicants have been cited as a contributing problem; if Trinity is to keep up with current demand it will have a student body of 24,000 in 15 years. The Provost has said that he is unwilling to expand the student population to over 17,000, and as a result the option

of becoming a smaller college, under a similar model to Harvard or California Tech, is now being considered in order to maintain and improve the standards of learning in TCD, and for the college to remain “globally competitive”.

Trinity has tried to address these issues by investing in expansion projects such as the new School of Business due for completion in 2017, and the Bursar is currently looking at investment in further student residences. The college has stated “it is essential that a financing framework is developed which combines state and non-state funding in a sustainable manner”, and has pointed to the money which would be available if Trinity were able to set its own fees for both EU and non-EU students. College is investing in new sources of non-state income to fund these expansion projects, such as the Global Relations Strategy, which aims to encourage more non-EU students to study in Trinity, and the potential privatisation of Trinity College is also being considered as part of this income diversification strategy.

When asked about this potential move, a spokesperson for College stated only that: “Trinity is weighing a range of issues facing the university as we begin to consider the shape of our new strategic plan due for launch next September.

Many of these issues, including growth and funding, were discussed with over 100 of our top alumni at the Trinity Global Graduate Forum last weekend.”

Students’ Union to Announce Opposition to Non-EU Fee Increases

Hannah Ryan News Editor Non-EU students complain of being seen as “just a stream of revenue” in the Trinity community

A

motion was passed at Students’ Union Council on 12 November to oppose the increase in Non-EU student fees which is scheduled for implementation next year.

The motion, proposed

by Nicholas Spare, class representative for secondyear Law and German, mandates the SU President, Tom Lenihan, “to notify the relevant College authorities that the Students’ Union is opposed to their

decision to increase fees for Non-EU students.”

Spare mentioned his personal experience as a non-European student at Council and asserted that the increase in fees would definitely impact on his decision and ability to attend Trinity, despite College claims that such fee hikes will not affect the attractiveness of the university internationally. He criticised comments made by the TCDSU President to this newspaper in October, where Lenihan stated that “it is a step taken not unlike what Trinity’s counterparts have done.

Given the initial success of the Global Relation Strategy the risk level that this would deter potential international students is low.”

The Motion The motion claimed that

Lenihan’s comments “present a stark contrast to the policy the SU has taken in opposing student fee increases for Irish students and seemingly disregards the very real financial and social impact this decision will have on the lives of international students and their families.”

Spare stated that as a result of this, international students in the college now feel “ignored” by the union.

He went on to say that the proposal that the union contest the increases would cost “next to nothing but would reassure international students that our voices are being heard by the union.”

The motion also called for the union to recognise that “Non-EU students are an important part of the Trinity community and valued members of the

Students’ Union. As such they deserve to have their interests protected and their voices represented by the Sabbatical Officers just like their Irish counterparts.”

The vote on the motion was passed, and it was also mandated that Education Officer Jack Leahy will convene a meeting for Non-EU students “to discuss the impact a fee increase could have on their lives and report the findings to the College administration.”

On the passing of the motion, Spare told The University Times: “I am very grateful for the support the motion received at Council. It is reassuring to know that the Students’ Union is willing to take a stand for all its members, including Non-EU students. I would like to thank the Sabbatical Officers for their willingness to listen

to our concerns and the words of support they offered while the motion was being debated. As a NonEU student I feel confident that we are well represented by our elected officers.”

Spare continued, “Hopefully, now that the Students’ Union has adopted an official position on the issue the college administration will be forced to give more consideration to the concerns of NonEU students in the future and the long term goal is to convince the college leadership to see us less as just a stream of revenue and more as valuable members of the Trinity community.”

Context The decision to increase Non-EU fees, revealed in the previous issue of The University Times, was made after a meeting of the College Finance Commit-

tee in September.

It was noted that fee levels for students from outside the European Union have remained stable since 2009-10, and that increased tuition fees would greatly benefit Trinity’s finances. It was also highlighted that a student survey had revealed monetary factors to be of low priority for incoming non-EU students. The decision to augment the fees was then approved by the College Board in October.

Welfare Officer Stephen Garry also spoke on this topic at Council, making the point that the decision on the part of the Board to raise the fees has “already been made”.

However he also said that the SU can notify the Board about opposing the decision, and that they can make a proposal for further financial assistance for

those students struggling to pay for college.

Asked to comment on the suggestion that the SU does more to protect its Irish students than those who are international, Lenihan stated: “The SU represents every member of the union and we put a lot of resources into helping students outside the EU through the Meet & Greet Service, accompanied trips to the GNIB office and our International Officer, Michaela Hogan, has done a stellar job this year.

“We don’t want a university with international students on the fringes. By working with the Treasurer’s Office we aim to help students hit by increases to their fees.”

Exact figures of fee increases have yet to be released, it is expected that costs will rise by at least €4000 across the board.

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UT News

Tuesday 19th November 2013

This week in societies

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The University Times

by Anna Harrington

President Michael D. Higgins Speaks to the Hist

Eamon Ryan speaks on “The Future of Green Politics in Ireland”

Dance Society and History Society

Strip Auction

Crab ‘N’ Shroom Exhibition

Tuesday, 7pm, The GMB

Tuesday, 7.30pm, GSU Common Room

Tuesday, 11pm, Twisted Pepper

Wednesday

Thursday, 7pm, The Atrium

You can’t really boast a much bigger or better guest than the President of Ireland. Go and see everyone’s favourite elf talk in an intimate setting on Tuesday evening, and get your burning questions prepared for the Q+A that follows.

Hist membership card required.

In this week’s tradition of welcoming politicians (active and dormant) to Trinity, the new Trinity Global Development Society and the Environmental Society will hear Green Party leader Eamon Ryan speak about the newly revived topic of green politics in Ireland.

Join the eccentric DU History for the onceoff ‘Anti-Treaty Club Night,’ whereby bizarre French producer Irish Steph gives Irish folk music a dubstep vibe. Tickets were pre-sold but hopefully there will still be some on the door for this unique event.

A love-or-hate event, the annual VDP Strip Auction takes place again this Wednesday. The premise is that various ‘teams’ from Trinity’s numerous societies take to the stage while audience members bid (in the form of VDP donations) for them to take more items of clothing off..

Take to the Atrium on Thursday evening for free refreshments, music and the work of the Photoshop artist under the nom de plume Crab ‘N’ Shroom. The exhibition also features Crab ‘N’ Shroom ‘inspired’ works from a variety of student contributors. See the CNS Facebook page for a better description than I will ever be able to give.

Credits

ut

Trinity College hosts National Media Conference for the second year

EDITOR Leanna Byrne DEPUTY EDITOR Vladimir Rakhmanin ONLINE EDITOR Conor Murphy EDITOR AT LARGE Colm O’ Donnell NEWS EDITOR Hannah Ryan FEATURES EDITOR Ludovic Dawnay OPINION EDITOR Samuel Riggs SPORTS EDITOR Conor Bates MAGAZINE EDITOR James Bennett SUPPLEMENTS EDITOR Shauna Cleary COPY EDITORS Michelle O’Connor Ciar McCormick MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Cailan O’Connell PHOTO EDITOR Andrew Murphy

Vladimir Rakhmanin Deputy Editor

Campus

T

he National Media Conference 2013 took place on Saturday 16th in Trinity College.

The Conference was set up

by Trinity students in order to ‘provide a platform…to gain insight into fields of interest and engage with professionals from across the media’.

The opening address was made by Kevin O’Sullivan, the editor of the Irish Times. He stressed the fact that ‘quality journalism has never been so important’,

as well as mentioning other current issues in the field, such as the rise of social media and defamation.

Roundtable Discussions The first roundtable, which was to do with whether or not the Irish media today represents the Irish population, began soon afterwards. The participants were Bob Collins, Chairperson of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, Sinead O’Carroll,

News Editor of journal.ie, Lord David Puttnam, and Academy Award-winning film producer, and Catherine Reilly, Deputy Editor of Metro Eireann.

The discussion dealt with the need for the people to gather information from diverse news sources and the responsibility to represent minorities within the media. The balance between audience interest and purpose was also mentioned. The floor was then opened to questions.

After the first roundtable, the audience had the option to go to either the sports journalism panel or the radio panel.

The first panel dealt with whether or not minority sports and women receive adequate coverage in sport today. It featured Darren Cleary, radio and television broadcaster, Breifne Earley, sports presenter on 103.2 Dublin City FM, Amy Eustace, chief sports writer of the University Observer,

and Cliona Foley, a sports journalist with the Irish Independent and independent.ie.

The second panel dealt with why the radio is such a successful medium in Ireland. It featured Joe Duffy, presenter of RTE’s Liveline show, Clare Duignan, former Managing Director of RTE Radio, Ger Gilroy, presenter of Newstalk’s ‘Off the Ball’ programme, and Patrick Hannon, a lecturer on radio in the DIT School of Media.

After a lunch break, the audience gathered once again for a second roundtable. This roundtable was to do with the democratisation of the media, and the difficulty in trusting online sources.

The participants were Conor Goodman, Features Editor of the Irish Times, Fran McNulty, a long-time member of the RTE staff, and Tom Murphy, cofounder of Boards.ie. The discussion in this particu-

lar talk was very lively, with lots of audience engagement.

The final two panels dealt with reporting on the ground and film. The subject of the first panel’s discussion was to do with methods of content sourcing and verification in the digital age, and how this affects journalism.

The second panel’s discussion was to do with upcoming trends in mainstream cinema, and what Ireland’s place within these new trends is.

Future for NMC Co-founder and Director of Logistics, David Cullinan, was delighted to see so many students, professionals and general media enthusiasts attending.

According to Cullinan the high attendance was “validating our efforts to provide a platform for discussion and debate on issues facing the journalism, broadcasting and filmmak-

ing industries”.

The conference is crucially reliant on input from students and professionals and Cullinan wanted to acknowledge the lively audience input and generosity of our speakers in contributing to the success of the event.

“I am also tremendously proud of the trojan efforts this year’s organising team made,” he said. “It would not be possible to coordinate such an event without their tireless work and dedication”.

Speaking about the future of the National Media Conference, Cullinan did not know whether it will continue into 2014.

That decision is “yet to be decided”, but Cullinan believes that “there is definitely much more scope to expand upon and continue this student-led initiative and I, for one, would look forward to seeing what direction the conference takes in the future”.

For all your student banking needs Talk to us today

Talk to one of our student advisers www.bankofireland.com Bank of Ireland is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.

doh000692 - Trinity press ad.indd 1

18/01/2013 15:01

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InFocus

Tuesday 1st October 2013

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The University Times

Can’t the Bhoys Just Get Along? alcohol consumed on the day would be hard to ignore. By the time I arrived at the relatively early hour of ten in the morning, many of the assembled fans were on the farther side of tipsy.

Research studies have been reluctant to lay the blame at the hands of binge drinking in fuelling fan misbehaviour, seeing it as peripheral, though it features as a popular narrative in the tabloids. This is likely because many studies have rightfully addressed hooliganism as a European wide p r o b lem, with varying causal factors which give rise to similar activity.

Notwithstanding, alcohol has proved to be a mitigating factor in many cases of senseless violence both in Ireland and the UK and should therefore not be understated when tackling the root causes of this kind of disorder.

Why take a seven hour journey, only to get so wasted that you can’t enjoy the match, it struck me on the day? It evidently didn’t strike everyone.

Taking to the pub is a longstanding match day ritual, one which I don’t care to discredit, but given its influence in feeding the overall problem, perhaps analysts need to start seeing it as part of the wider picture at the very least.

An arguably more central issue is the effect of some club fans’ continued affiliation with Irish republicanism and the IRA. It’s outdated and hardly in keeping with the improved relations fostered between Ireland and Britain in recent years, acknowledged across national sport.

Indeed, these extremist attitudes feature as a common thread in much football-related disorder across the board.

A large number of the hooligan firms across Europe have ultra-nationalist inclinations or endorse sub-nationalist movements in their own countries, as is the case with Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao.

This ongoing admiration was made evident to me when asked by an especially exuberant fan that morning if I would

reductive in many ways to this article’s address. The assertion that these songs are mere fun and games ignores their potential for harm. Simply put, if all fans are unapologetic in engaging in antagonistic chants, of hatred and bigotry, can they continue to point the finger at the “small few” when this cultivated aggression turns into violence?

Some fans would affirm that these rituals are engrained in a club’s cultural heritage and that their presence plays a valid role in the energy and popularity of the sport.

However, in this day and age, the wisdom of reliance on past disputes and old mythologies for a sense of camaraderie should be set aside to make way for alternative forms of fandom. Clubs across Europe would do well to look at the example of the Danes in revising the practices of their fans.

The ‘Roligan’ movement, a clear pun on the term ‘hooligan’ is derived from the Danish word ‘rolig’, meaning ‘peaceful’.

The Roligans have embraced a new style of fanculture, based on nonviolent, carnivalesque methods and has gained popularity in recent years.

This may be one action to look at. Concrete engagement is also necessary from clubs officials to stamp out disorder at a grassroots level. While hooligans may only account for a fraction of the ordinary fan attendance at matches, there are surely steps needed to be taken by all fans to stamp out incidents such as those involving the Ajax supporters in Amsterdam recently? Only then can it really be all about the game.

My first encounter with the veritable sub-culture that is Celtic soccer fandom proved less than favourable

David Walsh Staff Writer

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y first encounter with the veritable sub-culture that is Celtic soccer fandom proved less than favourable. This is as attributable to circumstance as anything else. While working in a London office this summer, I acquired a part-time job in a local Irish pub (an almost mandatory rite of passage for young jobseekers at some point) in the hope of making some extra money. Initially unenthused about the prospect of weekends spent with GAA commentary constantly in the background, my expectations were lifted when told that I would be paid cash in hand each week. My first shift started on a humid July morning.

On a relative’s assurance

of the pub’s inactivity of a Saturday morn, I strolled lightly the short walk down the High Street to my ultimate destination.

Nothing prepared me for the scene that was to greet me.

A sea of green and white jerseys thronged the footpath outside the bar, as a legion of football fans converged on a quiet West London suburb. I recognised my manager amongst the crowd, a stocky middleaged man from the Midlands, togged out for the day and sidled up to greet him. I’d obviously missed the memo but Celtic was playing in a friendly match with nearby Brentford that very day. I’m not the biggest football fan if you hadn’t already noticed. Anticipating a show-me-the-ropes style tour of the pub, my hopes were cut short by the sinking realisation that in the

hazy tumult of it all, I was just expected to roll up my sleeves and start serving, experience or no experience. And it was none in my case.

The hours that followed could only be described as chaotic. Orders were flying in from all different directions, as I struggled to navigate the ins and outs of the cramped bar space and to most importantly, avoid threading on the toes of my stony faced Eastern European colleagues.

Challenging is not the word. First day difficulties aside, my dalliance with the Celtic Army left me questioning the particular rituals of football fan culture. What is the purpose of these rituals and do they serve to perpetuate, albeit indirectly, the ever-present image of the football hooligan, which clubs have long wrestled with, in Britain and on the conti-

nent.

It is important I stress that in the main the group of Celtic fans I served on the day were cheerful and good-humoured for the most part and largely caused no trouble.

Maybe, if I hadn’t seen Sky Sports that night, I’d not be writing this article at all. A soccer correspondent reported that flares had to be cleared by stewards before the game had started and at the end of the match, a 2-1 victory for Celtic, the club’s fans ‘flooded’ the pitch to quote the news correspondent, mounting the crossbar.

Now these disturbances alone are relatively insignificant, paling in scale to the images of unrest that have pervaded the public consciousness in films like Green Street and The Football Factory.

The fact that the media devoted time to it what-

soever is indicative of the bias its quarters are guilty of in treating fan misbehaviour as spectacle, an influencing factor many reports have shown to the issue of football violence.

The British authorities’ response to this phenomenon has been largely reactionary, with greater monitoring and sectioning off of fans at matches, which has seen a dramatic decrease in the level of match arrests across the English and Scottish Premier Leagues.

However, recent Home Office figures revealed that football hooliganism is far from extinct, recording a rise in the number of football-related violent incidents in the previous season. This would attest to the fact that these outbreaks of disturbance are rooted at a much deeper level in the match day rituals of sporting fans.

The sheer quantities of

Socket Trawling Daire Collins Deputy Features Editor

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martphones are the future, as well as the present. For the majority, the smartphone has become an integral asset. It makes perfect sense, a computer in your pocket with all the benefits of a phone.

Being connectable everywhere is now, as they say, key.

Instagramming your lunch, tweeting on the bus, checking in at the Pav; all regular events. Yet this instant information at our fingertips comes at a price. While the common denouncement is that it stifles direct contact, converting us all into smartphone dependent drones, this article isn’t about that.

The real price we pay is mobility. While the software technology for smartphones has leaped forward in the past five years, the less glamorous development of longer lasting batteries has lagged way behind.

This has resulted in creating incredibly fast and complex software which drains the battery very fast.

Long gone are the days of the Nokia 3310 (13 years have passed in fact) and with it have the reality of having a phone last a battery cycle for three full days. Currently, the iPhone 5 can last up to 660 minutes browsing on WiFi. That’s eleven hours at probably the bare minimum anyone would use with their phone, not accounting for making calls, taking pictures or using 3G data(and definitely not accounting for 4G).

This lifespan is further reduced when the iPhone 5 is running on the new operating system of iOS 7; it loses 200 minutes of battery time.

While people may argue that the iPhone is notoriously poor for battery life, the competitors do not significantly increase this figure. This brings us to the crux of this article: the phenomenon of what I shall coin as “Socket Trawling”, in reference to the deep sea fishing technique.

Anyone who has a smartphone that is anymore than a year old should instantly know what it refers to. Noticeable in most

great outdoors, it did not reach my somewhat lofty expectations. In those dark days of frustration and loneliness I did a little digging as to why smartphone batteries are so... sh*t. It turns out that the first nano battery, the lithium ion battery in use in most phones made in the last 7 years has reached its limitations. In fact, its current form was discovered much longer ago; as the software has gotten faster and improved dramatically, the battery hasn’t changed.

So while our batteries are much longer lasting in the iPhone 5 than in the Nokia 3310 (it ran on a nickel based one), the iPhone 5 is running on a very similar battery to the original Iphone.

All is not lost, however. While it did take some time for companies to realise that the software was beginning to far outstrip the practical limits of the battery, they have begun to reverse that trend with the invention and development of smaller nano batteries. Our own Department of Physics and the CRANN institute at Trinity has received acclamation for its part in the development of longer life batteries.

While this may take some time, the growing frustration at the integrated battery, which can’t be easily removed, has resulted in the massive online attention and praise given to the Dave Hakken’s Phonebloks.

While it remains still an idea, it would allow owners to individually update its components, making for a more durable phone.

Perhaps in the future, remaining connected won’t mean remaining next to the socket.

For the majority, the smartphone has become an integral asset public spaces, “socket trawling” or “cruising for sockets” refers to all those around you with their smartphone plugged in and charging.

For those amongst us without the funds to update to the latest modules it’s the search to continue our daily fix. The transition from being king/queen of Snapchat to holding completely a lifeless phone is a harsh slap from reality. No longer are you constantly included in six way Whatsapp conversations nor in on the joke of the moment. By the time you get home to charge your phone, the invitation for that coffee may have long past.

I am deeply sympathetic to my cohorts, trapped between a lack of funds to update and a need to stay in contact. I got so frustrated with my “socket trawling” antics, that I bought a new battery on amazon. While my situation has somewhat improved, now my phone is occasionally usable in the

put on some “Rebel Songs”. Soon after to my surprise, ‘Ding Dong the Witch is Dead’ became the order of the day. Now that wasn’t even a topical choice. What occurred to me on the day though was the somewhat performative quality that some fans adopted in enacting these fan rituals. True, chanting is recognised across all sport as a method of generating team spirit and giving fans a sense of community, but it seemed a little artificial.

This is what we’re known for and let’s play up to it appeared to be the prevailing mentality.

Which raises a significant hindrance in the authorities’ efforts to prevent these disturbances, how can one tackle this phenomenon when many fan cohorts relish the attention received by tactics like this and more, often seeking it out? These tendencies point to the workings of the disaffected and marginalised sections in our society, although an undue focus on class is

The University Times //

InFocus

Tuesday 1st October 2013

7

UT Blogs The Berries That Made Us Blue

Shona McGarry Blogger

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fter going home last weekend to my real family, it was time to spend the first weekend of November with my academic family. It’s another St Andrews tradition that comparison with the TCD student mentoring scheme wouldn’t do it justice. Having a family is a year-long commitment that students take unnervingly seriously. Pity, then, that I only set about finding myself a mother last week under the looming pressure of Raisin Weekend. In an atypically overzealous fashion, I found myself two mothers, one ‘real’ and the other ‘foster,’ seeing as all of her children had run off and she was in need.

Academic mothers and fathers are third years who don’t mind spending time and money on alreadyspoilt first years (or lonely Erasmus students). On Raisin Sunday all the kids go to their mother’s house with ‘raisins’ (cough, wine) and the mothers send them on a scavenger hunt and feed them. It can be either the best or the worst day of your semester, depending on how evil or perfect your mother is.

Luckily, mine is the latter.

My real academic mother is perfect in that she didn’t make us over-drink on Sunday, and she took me under her motherly wing just weeks before Raisin. Sienna is a friend of a friend from home, and she made us Mr Men costumes for the Raisin Monday parade, which beats Playboy bunnies any day. The other girl I had pledged my childhood to in the wake of her offspring’s mass exodus was counting on me and my friend Ed to turn up on Sunday no later than 11.30am. Sienna and her fellow mothers - my aunts were starting at precisely 9.37am. Right, I said to myself. I can definitely do this.

First of all, I was late, as usual. That merited punishment, but my lovely aunts and mothers decided that a mere two shots was enough. Then we played relay races and I felt like I was in first class again, only with tequila. At 12pm, and a little worse for wear, we headed out scavenger hunting. We piled into a phone box, my cousin kissed a stranger, everyone proposed to other kids on Raisin (including one who, upon hearing I was from Trinity, said, ‘THAT IS LIKE SO BORING’, and then proceeded to ask me for a photo because one of her tasks was to be in a picture with a ginger. I told her that was almost as offensive as insulting Trinity. College pride, etc), we gave an old lady flowers and took a boyband photo on the golf course. After that, it was time to hit up my ‘other’ family, because Ed had sent me exactly 32 texts demanding that I save him.

When I got there, I was in trouble. Trouble consisted of a glass of mysterious punch filled with, among other things, vodka, red wine, pepper and gin, and a shot of chilli vodka. My other mother was immediately in my bad books, and once there, it’s nearly impossible to get out. Just ask anyone who pissed me off in sixth class. Anyway, after that unpleasantness, Ed and I set off on my second scavenger hunt of the day, this time taped to a crazed Scot who kept openly insulting people on the street.

After some sweet-talking (‘shut up and detach yourself’), we waited for him to get distracted by an equally drunk girl before speeding off down a lane where we hid for five minutes until the coast was clear.

At five we went to my friend’s father’s do. Unfortunately the floor was taped with plastic bags more of an invitation than a deterrent to vomiting first years - and there was a mysterious smell coming from the stairwell. We left after a glass of extremely substandard cider-y wine and went to Dervish, our resident Turkish takeaway, which is where we always end up after a night.

The only difference was, it wasn’t quite 7pm yet. Not quite 7pm and Kat had already gone home with half of our friends, while the other half of us were shivering in a pizza place.

When the table next to us broke into a needlessly outof-tune rendition of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, we knew that that would be our last impression of Raisin. Little did we know that ten minutes later some weird man riffing to Justin Bieber’s ‘Baby’ would actually be the last act of Raisin before we left for home.

Raisin Monday started in much the same vein as the day before. I was late, as usual, and I spent the morning wandering around with my family, this time dressed as Mr Tickle.

The colourfulness that Raisin is known for shone in the bright Monday light.

There were collections of demons, munchkins, sunflowers, and a troupe of Wally Watchers (the followers of Where’s Wally. I was a big fan). The foam fight sadly had to go on with this sneezing columnist, and by 12pm everyone was passed out in bed. Despite its flaws, Raisin is as much like Christmas as it is like St Patrick’s, another festival that divides opinion. Your family will be tipsy, you will give your mother presents, you will get dressed up festively and you will wake up the next day with a slight headache and a bit of a cold. Despite the unsavoury emphasis on excessive drinking, which I think should be addressed by the college - Ed was unimpressed with ‘Have I Never Ever’ (as he calls it) and we were all affronted by the St Patrick’s Day level of public drunkenness.

@ shozzmcgozz

Alanna Clarke Contributing Writer

Alanna Clarke tells us of her experience of blueberry-picking in France

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he following, ladies and gentlemen, details a brief foray in a work camp in a forest in the middle of France. It is a requirement for students of TSM French in Trinity to spend a minimum of two months in France. Though some fulfil this during an Erasmus year or a year off books, many opt for a summer stint abroad, lapping up French culture and making the most of one of the more enjoyable college obligations. Last May, as a Junior Sophister, I was aware that the summer to follow had to be spent in France, lest the department wouldn’t give me a degree.

I embarked on a lastminute mission to find a job, along with a friend.

We spent hours trawling the internet in an avid search for jobs. The number of CVs and cover letters emailed to obscure employers was embarrassing, but even more so was the fact that only one got back to us. In hind-

sight, this should have been taken as an early warning, but let’s not dwell.

Initial ideas of our French blueberry picking escapade were romantic and wonderful. We had images of ourselves chatting to our exaggeratedly French co-workers on the back of a horse-drawn cart, surrounded by picturesque blueberry fields.

We imagined sitting around a crackling bonfire of a balmy summer evening, drinking wine with all our new friends and musing over how French we were becoming. We were about as far wrong as we could have been. The harsh reality was a tiny sand-filled tent in a sub-standard campsite beside a urine coloured lake in the middle of an endless forest. The only similarity between our expectations and reality was that we drank wine, but this was more a

ut

means of escape than integration.

It felt as though we had entered a surreal alterdimension. There was no civilisation for miles, and thus no access to food.

We experienced a new low when, driven by hunger, we foraged for wild strawberries in the undergrowth amidst thousands of tiny, evil, hopping spi-

theque.” The fridges at the campsite were off limits because, according to the campsite owner whose personality could only be described at best as luke warm, they were only for the Polish people - lovely bit of casual discrimination. Said Polish people did not want to be our friends, nor did the Slovaks, the Czechs, the Latvians or the Lithuanians who made up the campsite.

Actual work hadn’t even begun yet. The day it did, all the crazy we had experienced reached a roaring crescendo. We awoke before dawn. To get to work, we followed a silent procession of zombie-like workers through a labyrinth of forest paths.

The journey took over an hour and there came a point where we could not quite ascertain whether we were in modern day France or a version of 1940s Poland.

The blueberry farm was made up of acre upon acre of sweaty plastic tunnels.

We soon met our supervisor, a rude and barking slave-driver of a woman whose glare would kill a small animal. She gave us a crash course in blueberry picking, the bottom line being that we were to

Initial ideas of our French blueberry picking escapade were romantic and wonderful ders. The same day, we accidently made friends with a local melon farmer who, though seemingly friendly at first, came to be classified as decidedly high on the creep Richter scale.

This potbellied old man with dirty fingernails was all too keen to make us a cake and take us for a drive to the local “disco-

pick anything blue and nothing green.

Setting off confidently along the row of bushes with baskets strapped around our waists, we began to pick the clusters of ripe fruit. For a blissful few moments the novelty of the whole thing fooled us into thinking that the whole escapade was going to be quite okay, enjoyable almost.

Our supervisor soon crushed this little fantasy with her hideous screeching. Nothing we did was right.

First, we were picking too many unripe berries, then we were picking too many ripe ones and always we were picking too slowly, all interspersed with threats that we’d be fired.

The work was backbreaking and in the time we were supposed to have picked 8 boxes each, we had picked 6 between us. During our break we sat, staring hopelessly at the ground, knowing we could not stay but not wanting to make the admission that our summer plans had just fallen through.

After half an hour of silence, we deliberated, contemplated, decided and soon after, vacated.

The music playing on the juke box in our heads was

more along the lines of The Great Escape theme than Fats Domino singing Blueberry Hill which should have been more appropriate. Within five hours of starting our new job, we were running away, destination: anywhere but that godforsaken blueberry work camp.

We all know that moment in many a movie when the protagonist, who has escaped from some hell hole on a night bus, ends up in a diner, not knowing what to do with their life. This scene perfectly describes our predicament after our getaway.

Dishevelled, confused and laden down with damp rucksacks and disappointment, we took a bus to civilisation and sat in a café, embracing copious quantities of food and water which we could be sure didn’t contain typhoid.

We had executed our breakout and though at a loss as to what to do next, we were thankful at least that we would never have to go to the “discotheque” with a pot-bellied melon farmer. Despite the fact that the sight of blueberries triggers terrorising flashbacks, we now look back on the whole experience and laugh, hysterically.

Want to write for the Features section?

Contact the Features Editor at features@universitytimes.ie

InFocus

8

Tuesday1st October 2013

Can We Afford To Forget?

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Me, My Selfie and I Conor O’Donovan Staff Writer

A parody article from Conor O’Donovan dealing with our generation’s obsession with social media

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Emer Gerrard who these Irish soldiers Contributing Writer

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orld War Two may have come to an end some sixty-eight years ago, but the cataclysmic event continues to capture much attention and bear great influence. However, there has always been a somewhat hesitant acknowledgment of the estimated 60,000-100,000 men from the island of Ireland who fought in the Second World War. Of these, more than 3,600 soldiers from the Republic died. For those who did survive, their return home was far from welcoming. Many became known as deserters for leaving the Irish Army and they suffered many discriminations, including being barred from holding jobs paid for by the state and losing their pension rights.

Only last year were these men officially pardoned and apologised to by the Irish state. Many of the men had already passed away, but some did survive to hear their apology. Last week, an RTÉ documentary, Witnesses to War, featured some of these men. The unique documentary provided an intimate account of the men’s experiences in the war, attempting to dispel stereotypes and paint an honest picture of

were, what drew them to fight and the horrors they encountered in the war.

One of these men, Albert Sutton, explained that upon entering the notorious Bergen Belsen camp at the end of the war, he realised, “if ever we needed reason for joining up, this is it…we had done something to stop it and we felt better about it. We didn’t just join up for the fun. It was very serious.”

Last week saw a similar issue being raised within Trinity. News broke that controversy had arisen between the College and a campaign group called ‘Trinity College Dublin War Memorial Project’.

The story ran that a solicitor’s letter had been sent from the college to the project, concerning its use of Trinity’s name, which is a registered trademark, and unsolicited correspondence sent to the Provost by campaigners.

However, this legal action was later withdrawn.

The campaign believes that the College have deserted their dead. Peter Mulvany, the leader of the ‘Trinity College Dublin War Memorial Project’ petition, thinks that Trinity have intentionally written these men out of the story. Mulvany has welcomed the recent action of the Irish government and believes that Trinity has now fallen

What Really Grinds My Gears: Keyboard Warriors Tom Myatt Columnist

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tudents have been hit hard during Europe’s austerity measures – where it hurts, right in the wallet – as national budgets have forced tuition fees to levels unseen across the continent. Irish Premier Enda Kenny raised costs here too – a decision reached through his personal assessment of the facts and with the advice of many highly trained economists. The response of his critics was a little less sophisticated; they called him a “dick”. Regardless of whether you agree with him, this is not the way forward with critique.

Government savings are

indeed in the wrong place at the wrong time and best found elsewhere, but to attack a politician personally for having to make decisions that they may not want to make exposes the “dumbification” of politics internationally.

It is not only unfair but self-defeating. This is the result of a combination of growing apathy and the rapid-fire politics created by the internet and 24/7 digital communications, which demand a constant stream of necessarily poorly articulated snapshots, often just expressed in a meme or insult in current political life.

Attacking political opponents personally rather than constructing intelligent argument in your favour has characterised

behind and neglected its duty to acknowledge the 111 Trinity men who died giving “their lives for our today”. He is campaigning for an “all inclusive memorial” to be constructed, in a form of “Trinity’s own choosing”. He states that this is a “matter of public interest” hence his involvement.

Mulvany was the coordinator of the ‘Irish Soldiers Pardons Campaign’ which concluded last June following the government’s apology.

Mulvany argues that the commemoration of these men is imperative for Trinity’s students of today. When asked if he believes that this is a relevant issue, if the building of a memorial in remembrance of the dead soldiers is of value to current students, Mulvany retorts, “does their experience not have value in the eyes of students?” Mulvany explains that “students are participants in this world and they should be concerned as to world events and its effect on themselves and their college.”

Mulvany goes on to state that the students, both past and present, are the most important part of Trinity and therefore we cannot “let sleeping dogs lie”.

However, is this issue still too controversial to be re-awoken? It was highlighted last weekend

when Derry born footballer, James McClean, was reportedly sent home from the Wigan team for his refusal to wear the red poppy in condolence with those who died fighting with the British armed forces. However, as the government has done, perhaps it is time to move on. Mulvany maintains that “in dealing with those sleeping dogs, we have to step outside the political box and not be constrained by the historical box”. He believes that confronting the actuality of war is positive for society. “Indeed the existence of so many lost lives clearly demonstrates the consequences when countries fail to reach agreement. Men, women and children ultimately pay the price. Is that not an anti-war message?”

The values which the Allied troops from Ireland fought for are those which our democracy depends upon today. As Mulvany describes, “the tomorrow we now enjoy is universal human rights in a world made safe for democracy by the sacrifices made by others”. This seems like a worthy cause to honour.

Can we really allow those Irishmen who preserved our rights, “to become sleeping dogs within the annals of history?” As Mulvany argues, without “the sacrifices made by Trinity men and women

along with their comrades, jackboots could be walking the streets of this city”.

So, is the Provost in disagreement with the group? Mulvany believes that this is not the case and that in reality the two are “singing off the same hymn sheet on the issue”.

Mulvany says that the controversy fails to bother him, “threats of legal action are like water off a duck’s back”. His only complaint is that it was his daughter-in-law who first received complaints and that that was “unacceptable”. He admits that he might not have always acted in the best manner, reasoning: “old age pensioners, we do have our faults”. However, it seems he was right with regard to the Provost. In a letter he received last Friday 15 November, Mr. Prendergast stated that “we are not afraid of exploring the College’s history headon” and went on to recognise “111 Trinity alumni died in the conflict, and their experiences-as well as those who served with them-have been long over-looked. We… will give the matter outlined in your petition due consideration”.

These words seem very positive for the campaign and it seems that all these years later, the 111 dead alumni will be remembered.

politics since the 1980s when Margaret Thatcher excited a particularly vitriolic and personal reaction for being some kind of devil reincarnate. There is plenty to argue against Thatcher’s reforms, but it can be done so much more coherently than insulting her personally.

Yet this is something that we can now witness from both sides of the political spectrum. While the left persists in questioning the morality of the right, socialists receive a probing of their intelligence.

The reality is that all political colours seek to improve society and boost living standards, but simply disagree as to what a better community is and how to achieve it. One’s political opponents are of course always misinformed, even misguided – at the very least they look at the world through the wrong kind of lens - but to descent to calling them “a f*cktard”, as I’m sure Mark Twain once said, not only demonstrates a tragic lack

of wit and vocabulary but also diverts attention from the real political issues. Is this really the land of Oscar Wilde, James Joyce and Peter McCarthy?

Take last month’s University Times article entitled “Horror of the Hunzos”. It was rightly panned by readers for gross sexism and for advocating repressive nineteenth century sexual standards. However its sheer appallingness paled into insignificance compared to the vitriolic nastiness of its critics.

The writer was subjected to a hail of exceptionally personal abuse, in a way completely contrary to notions of free speech.

People threatened to ensure he would never have a career after graduating and incited others to bombard his social media accounts with direct criticism – even providing the web-links. What on earth does this achieve? It will certainly make the author feel embarrassed, but growling and barking in

the most uncivilized way is unlikely change his or anyone else’s mind. The reaction did the cause of feminism no favours. It simply perpetuated the untrue notion that the movement is aggressive.

The secret to debating with a donkey is not to bray louder than the stupid beast but to let your words and the in-

The writer was subjected to a hail of exceptionally personal abuse, in a way completely contrary to notions of free speech. tellectual strength of your argument be the carrot or stick. Those who criticised the writer’s personal life were ultimately self-defeating – in my view the kind of thuggish totalitarianism that defies free speech is perhaps one of the very few things worse than patriarchy.

In the UK, Conservative leader David Cameron is regularly called

The University Times

s Trinity’s first completely interactive online module looks set to change the dynamic of Trinity education - now educational material is instantly accessible to students in areas as far away as Ranelagh - social media and its role in the digital Trinity experience is coming into focus. The relevance of applications such as Snapchat, sites such as Twitter and hybrids such as Instagram is undeniable in a world where students simply do not have the time to be lonely; issues arise when the vision of the institution and the needs of the student are at odds.

It appears Trinity’s first response to any perceived encroachment on the University brand on student social media’s part is one of regulation. Many were angered by the College’s recent decision to fine those who do not include #TCD, #UniversityOfDublin or numerous other variations amongst their on campus Instagram tags. Those fortunate enough to have secured oncampus accommodation have found this particularly invasive; true to form, general feeling amongst the rest of the student body is that they should get lost.

The undertaking of these measures frequently ends in arbitration in cases where “culturally ambiguous” hastags such as #almamater or #unaaay have been used. A more clear-cut case, at least in the College’s view, was the now infamous incident involving a member of TCD’s alumni. The rather blurry selfie shows the perpetrator, draped in a modified graduation gown, attempting to evade campus security and bears the tag #AlmaMaterialGuuurlx.

Perhaps more controversial is the occasional censoring of the images themselves; “I’m not sure I can support an institution which tampers with my charcuterie updates” remarked one disgruntled Instagrammer, describing the substitution of their more obscure meat fancies with Alpen as “the definition of dry”. Another interviewee asserted that whatever they chose to do with their gobbets on Instagram was “their business.” In addition, Scholars are being made to choose from a range of preapproved Commons filters. “A lot of the posts we found tagged as Commons were absolutely rank” said a spokesperson for the Dining Hall, “most of it looked like Buttery Goulash.”

Sentiment toward Twitter seems more varied with many voicing disillusion with the 140-character format.

“Auden said people enjoy their own handwriting much like the smell of their own farts; sadly the stench of most tweets seems to survive the typing process,” quipped one uniquely fragrant student UT found on the fourth a “posh twat”, while his left-leaning opponent Ed Miliband receives similar treatment such as “horseface” or is depicted as the hapless Wallace without Gromit. Ok, it’s momentarily funny, but this has had the adverse effect of seriously undermining real political debate (and their personal credibility as leaders) which is so critical as we all stand at the post-recession crossroads.

Fundamentally, it is irrelevant whether Cameron was educated in a posh school – what matters is how he actually governs the country, not how we think he will govern it because he studied at Eton. Insulting Miliband on his appearance is similarly senseless and childish.

What really matters for both Ireland and the UK are questions such as are we better of inside the EU? Should we be regulating the banks? Is Austerity the best means of recovering growth?

Regardless of what your

floor of the Arts Block. On the other hand it seems students view the tried and tested Twitter as a superior forum for sincere interaction. The vast majority of students interviewed agreed they felt more confident handling sensitive issues via Twitter. “I knew he needed his space, but I think it helped that I could retweet his horoscope,” enthused one tweeter.

Students almost uniformly agreed that Snapchat’s carefree and irreverent cultural milieu made it less suited to the task. “When I heard they were going to defer I knew a half eaten burrito pic probably wouldn’t cut it,” lamented a JF student UT accidentally woke up entering the MacNeil Theatre; “I felt completely powerless. In the end, I dug out my CAO, splashed some Tabasco on it and sent that on.” Others felt let down

by Snapchat in their pursuit of lasting romance; one student confessed to drawing a smiley face on their foot in an attempt to convey their “genuine” enjoyment of a recent Salsa date.

Social media has also changed the nature of student politics, with many identifying Twitter as the best medium for following the excitement on count nights. Much was made, however, of the Electoral Commission’s decision to allow live tweeting from inside the ballot box during the recent Impeachment Referendum. The tweeter in question maintains that any ingestion of ballots that may have occurred during their attempts to draw air from the box’s opening was completely impartial. One commentator stated that the advent of Snapchat has brought the personal lives of those involved in student politics into the public sphere; it has come to light that this year’s President of Geog $oc was almost beaten by his Snapchat persona: The Story Horse. Indeed, speculation as to how the Budestag would have reacted had Merckel’s Snapchat account been infiltrated has dominated College Green tutorials and tweets alike over the past few weeks.

In general, Snapchat’s disposable nature leads students to abandon their inhibitions. A recent study shows that selfies amongst DUPA members are on the rise with 11 in 15 members admitting they are the only one in about 8 in a “cinematographer’s dozen” of their own photos. “I like to take a fly on the wall approach to my selfies” maintained one member. Another slightly newer member UT succeeded in coaxing down from the wall expressed concerns over whether the adjudicators would be able to screen shot his entry to Trinity in Colour in time. “You see, I am a lion and people need to see as well as hear me roar!” he gushed.

On the whole, social media appears to be moving faster than Trinity can manage and its students have adjusted much quicker. Of course there are always those who find the layout of these applications alienating. UT has learned that hasty use of the find friends’ option is a common pitfall of the digital student socialite. “Now I get a daily picture of him pretending to buy The Independent,” remarked one student who had the misfortune of inadvertently adding his father on Snapchat.

views are on these fundamentally important issues for the 21st century, Cameron’s triple-yes to these issues apparently proves that he is purposefully governing the entire country for the sole benefit of him and his Eton friends. Whether only the rich are benefitting is another matter: what is important is that he believes it is equitable – and that is where the debate must lie.

Simply referring to him as a “f*cking dipsh*t” suggests we little else to say in our defence.

As this column has noted before, the instant gratification nature of the internet is grossly distorting politics and political debate. The sheer volume and speed of digital social communications are severely shortening our attention spans, and we tend to agree with the first political meme that comes our way, usually just offering simple quickfire interpretations of highly complex debates.

That is, if you’re lucky.

Often it could just be a picture of someone with a generic inspirational quote next to it. Massively simplistic over-generalizations emerge, which, on a national scale, is actually dangerous.

This new culture of attacking politicians personally and resorting to personality politics is a dangerous and obscene manifestation of the new political culture. This has the effect not only of diverting attention from the serious pressing political issues of the day, but also distracts people from understanding other viewpoints as well as undermining their own point. I haven’t been able to come to any personal conclusion on the austerity debate, but this is one that sees the dirtiest campaigning: Ed Miliband is a “stupid-fucking dipsh*t” and Cameron an “elitist f*ck-face”. I’m sure they’re both nice guys to sit and have dinner with, but you can’t conclude that from their political views.

The University Times //

InFocus 9

Tuesday 1st October 2013

The Skype Frustration

Illustration by Alicia Mitchell

Sophie Guillermin-Golet Contributing Writer

Sophie Guillermin-Golet discusses both the positives and the negatives of Skype

I

f I dare to write, it is to denounce, in the name of all my international fellows, a frenemy, which tries to ruin our cherished moments with our families or friends, across oceans

and fields.

I have been an Erasmus student for two months, during which time I discovered Ireland and began to embrace the Irish way of life.

I almost don’t notice

the rain anymore. A new word has entered my vocabulary. I am not talking about “craic”, or “grand”.

The noun is Skype.

Of course, I knew it before; as surprising as it can sound, we have Internet

in the French provinces, and even drinkable water.

If you are lucky enough to be one of my friends, you often can hear me say with my delicious accent: “Oh sorry, aïe can’t.

Aïe ave a Skype date wiz a friend.”

The purpose of Skype is to do “things together, whenever you’re apart”.

Attractive promise, right?

I could totally vote for that. Well, the promises are going even further away on the website:

“With Skype you can share a story, celebrate a birthday, learn a language, hold a meeting with colleagues – just about anything you need to do together every day.”

Your eyes have lit up, like those of a student in front of a free meal. It seems to be a dream coming true.

I cannot deny the fact that this software born in 2004 makes living away from your relatives easier. As the crow flies,

There are so many stories worth telling that do not belong on social networks that I can talk about with my friends living in Torino, Mexico, or, much closer, London

I live about 1200 kilometres away from home and most of my friends are spread all around the world, as they also study abroad. I guess that, despite everything, I can say a small thank you to Skype.

Thanks to it, I can explain more or less all my life of expatriate in Dublin. There are so many stories worth telling that do not belong on social networks that I can talk about with my friends living in Torino, Mexico, or, much closer, London.

Furthermore, I can seem so posh when I intentionally brag that I am tired because I spoke to that friend who is in Australia.

I introduced my flatmates to my parents.

I managed to catch a glimpse of the new life of my friends.

First of all, the Internet loves not working at the worst times. And I am not going to talk about people who need an Ethernet cable to have Internet.

These things still exist, and are as annoying as you can imagine. If I move my computer one millimetre to the right, the damn thing doesn’t work anymore.

As a result, the Skype conversation you were having goes through so

many bugs that you will never be able to finish it.

It really gets on my nerves when a Skype-date fails. With some people it is so hard to plan one that it is worse than spilling your coffee on your only clean shirt. The time zones do not help. It would so much easier it the Earth was as flat as a pizza, like Homer thought.

Moreover, we are such spoiled children that Skype is never enough. What is the only solution to this problem? Harry Potter should stop being selfish, and start sharing at least a small part of his magic.

I dreamt many times of being the Master of Apparition, or just owning a Firebolt. At least I could spend weekend in Argentina or Spain, and I would not have to pay for my LUAS ticket.

So after all, can we say like old chaps that it was better before?

Maybe it was better when we could only write letters in order to keep in touch; when we had to wait weeks to have some news from our best friend; when we could not share our amazing stories with our relatives.

Oh, well. In fact, as a perfect kid of the 21st Century, I prefer keeping my love-hate relationship with this software.

10

UT Opinion

Tuesday 19th November 2013

//

The University Times

Snapchat Is Not Your Friend Eibhlinn Ni Fhinn Contributing Writer

One simple Google search is enough to confirm all paranoia-induced fears about the ultimate destination of your private snaps

L

et’s get one thing straight - Snapchat is not your friend.

However friendly that little white ghost may seem, it is as addictive and alluring as its infamous blue cousin.

We all remember when ‘texting’ someone was (and possibly still is) a tangible and necessary precursor to any further romantic or platonic relationship. Yet with the advent of the era of smartphones, the traditional SMS has been relegated to the bottom of the communications pyramid, superseded by the timed image-sharing app.

Where texting was a stage removed, both verbally and emotionally, from actually picking up the phone and calling someone, so is Snapchat further distancing the sender and receiver.

Composed messages intended for specific recipients are replaced by fleeting glimpses of an image potentially shared with an entire address book, encouraging the constant paranoia that you’ve been a victim of ‘serial-snapping’ and that up-close coy selfie wasn’t meant solely for your consumption.

In effect, the makers of Snapchat have capitalised on a worrying characteristic of our generation – the reluctance and extreme aversion to commitment.

If Snapchat is the new

texting, it is a debased version, a means of communication that allows us to avoid committing to a message, image, hashtag or otherwise, for a period longer than that specifically chosen by us.

Whilst you might save the holiday snaps for a wittily-titled album on Facebook, or the amusing anecdote for Twitter, ‘snapping’ someone does not necessarily mean that you have anything of importance, or anything at all, to express.

Whether the popular ‘study #fml’ snap or the drunken selfies, the overwhelming success of Snapchat heralds a continuation of the trend started by social media – the relentless and compulsive documentation of the mundane.

Yet, I’m addicted.

It’s not just the endless creeping possibilities enabled by the (often misleading) ‘best friend’ listings, or the simultaneously feared and revered high Snapchat score, it’s the sheer simplicity of it. You feel happy, you take a picture of yourself with an exaggerated happy face, send it to friends to let them know you’re feeling so ah-mazing. It’s fun, it’s quick and it offers instantaneous reward.

But is this simplicity just a manifestation of our increasing literary laziness?

Nevermind the atrocities of ‘text speak’, the majority

Illustration by Stephen Lehane of us now express our current emotions, activities and thoughts by capturing a skewed and often staged visual, rather than exerting ourselves on some kind of basic literary or verbal description.

Almost inevitably with anything online, with use comes abuse - it’s only when you download Snapchat do you curse the nearinhuman dexterity of your so-called friends. Screen-

shots have become the norm, especially for people naïve enough to show their nearest and dearest their best ‘ugly face’ for more than five seconds.

Seemingly, it’s against our nature to embrace the original spirit and intent of the friendly phantom; we’re already programmed to save, store and upload.

Indeed, with the increasing number of ‘Snapped at…’ pages on Facebook,

The makers of Snapchat have capitalised on a worrying characteristic of our generation – the reluctance and extreme aversion to commitment

it’s not surprising that the social media monster have offered Snapchat execs an alleged $3 billion for use of the mobile messaging app.

To cite one of the favourite parental clichés, once something is on the ‘net, it never disappears in the way Casper’s edgy cousin might have us believe. One simple Google search is enough to confirm all paranoia-induced fears about the ultimate destination

Sexism Thrives in the Workplace An anonymous contributer describes how sexism is very much alive and well in the workplace

I

have been a part time member of quite a well-known corporation for the past two years of my life. Generally ,they’ve been pretty decent to their employees - working around college schedules, changing schedules quickly for anyone who’s sick or busy. All in all they’ve been a pretty good company to work for, save for the minimum wage aspect, but I suppose that’s to be expected in a base level entry position.

However there is one blinding issue; racism is not tolerated, but it seems to have been substituted by sexism, which apparently isn’t that much of an issue.

Female members of staff have their sex lives discussed openly between employees. Customers feel there is no issue in infantising the female employees by calling them “good girls,” while the male employees are “great men”.

Frequently customers will disregard you if you’re a female member of staff, even if you are in a higher position than the male members.

In reality, women are working in a “boys’ club” where they are either ignored due to their gender, whenever convenient for the men, or their gender is ignored so the men find limited issue with interaction.

The male members of staff have no issue with commenting on the appearance of the women surrounding them. Be they customer, inspector, or fellow worker, you can be sure that there will be an in depth discussion on their attractive qualities, their non-attractive qualities and what they’d be like in bed. If women say the same thing, they are brushed off and the discussion is promptly finished. I have heard some of my fellow worker bees talking about a girl’s tits for an entire shift once before.

In addition to this treatment, the men I work with find no issue with excluding the women in the workplace.

Outside of work I am quite good friends with everyone else and we frequently frequent various pubs and nightclubs. Yet that is a group thing.

If the men want a night on their own they’ll do so, no issue. No women will be contacted. The women are generally too afraid of exclusion to do the same to the men.

Over the summer there was a work sports team, where none of the female staff were even considered or asked if they’d like to be on the team. The final straw of exclusion is the Facebook page the men have dedicated to talking about work and things to do with work which none of the women are allowed to look at or take part in.

This form of exclusion should definitely be considered bullying. The males I work with are perfectly content with treating the women as equals when there’s a messy job or something they don’t want to do, yet all too frequently they are more than happy to turn the tables and ignore

the women, very often merely because “they’re girls”.

Women should not continue to endure this in fear of offending men or “causing trouble.”

Once, when I called out a male manager for acting in an inherently sexist manner towards me, he spent ten minutes trying to justify his actions and then ignored me for the remainder of the evening. They generally ignore the woman with them and prefer to talk around her than to her.

And women play into this sexism because it is the one defense mechanism that won’t result in dismissal or an even stronger form of alienation. The ladies I work with will ask the men to perform tasks that society aligns with the more masculine sphere, such as lifting heavy things and opening difficult jars.

Playing into masculine stereotypes seems to be the only immunity one can discover in this situation. If you question it you stand out as neither male nor female, no matter of how you actually define yourself, but as some confusing “Other” that should not be humored. And very often is ignored. There seems to be a shared belief that if you can’t beat their subconscious sexism you must join in and appease them to survive.

I like the people I work with. Some of them are fantastic friends that I enjoy spending time with. It seems though that once the name badge and uniform are put on that some switch flips and, because we’re all dressed the same, the men must do something to demonstrate their overt manliness so that they are not confused with their female counterparts. It seems like a form of fear that manifests itself through these sexist actions.

Yet when the women do need the men to act in a perceived masculine way due to safety or violent customers very often they are left to fend for themselves. Violent customers, rude teenagers, and lewd individuals that take out their frustrations towards female staff members are dealt with by the very female staff members who have been insulted, threatened physically or sexually, and made look a fool of before the rest of the store.

Only in extreme cases or persistent asking will the male knight appear and aid the damsel. Having to resort to this when dealing with people who illicit calling the Gardaí on a regular basis demonstrates that the male members of staff only consider their male position for as long as it is a benefit to them. They are men when it is convenient, just as they consider the women women when it is useful for their agenda.

Why can’t we all just be seen as people? My genitals don’t have much effect on my productivity when I’m working. I shouldn’t be judged on this, yet, unfortunately, I still am. And men should not have to act hyper masculine to gain some level of respect from their fellow employees, yet they do.

It seems the only way to get by is to fit into your prescribed gender roles and if you don’t, well then get ready for lonely shifts.

Fionn Rogan Deputy Opinion Editor

SHHHHH...

A t moments it feels like I am being besieged by sound and stimulation. These disruptive forces thunder down upon me, pulling me to from fro. The roar of idle chatter builds and my mind begins to tremble. Bells, whistles and jingles tinkle like incessant pests nipping at my ears. Music pervades and infiltrates every factor of my conscious being. My phone buzzes and disembodied voices flush forward from little white earphones. Soon, I have become the sole audience member of a near infinite cacophonic recital performed by the seven billion other people with whom I share this earth and I become a cast member of their own individualised and frenzied concert as I live my noisy life.

And with this constant stimulation the desire within in me for stillness and silence grows. Silence is a rarely heard thing these days. I long for the cool cleansing wash of hush to fall over my world and me. Thoughts of wrapping myself in a gargantuan blanket of peace and quiet that dampens all external noise kindles a warmth in my chest, which I can only suppose is bliss.

Perhaps my preoccupa-

tion with silence has developed since I moved into the city. Coming from the relative solitude of life in Kildare one can become unnerved by the persistence of the noise in the city. I was never a stranger to Dublin, nor could my hometown Clane be considered a silent haven, but at least in Kildare the noise stops. There are pockets of silence where the mind can wander.

The complete absence of noise creates a stimulus free environment emboldening your thoughts to roam free unperturbed.

Then you silence your thoughts. Your mind empties. You become a vessel for the silence and experience an almost ethereal state of quietude. The silence begins to tremble as it becomes pregnant with meaning then a dog barks.

Its husky cough shatters the air and the earth swings back to the fore. Thoughts tumble clumsily forward as you begin to think, ‘where’s that dog? Is that my neighbour’s dog? That sounded like Kuper’s bark.’ One stimulus incites an avalanche of stimuli as noise returns and the real world rears its head once more.

But that one moment of silence has had a restorative effect. It reinvigorates

of your private snaps, with conspiracies rife that the fleeting images are stored locally on devices, rather than deleted completely.

However, it seems that the potential threat of publication does very little to deter the Snapchat following with a penchant for exhibitionism, with the fully or partial nude 1-second snap remaining a firm drunken favourite.

Snapchat addiction is on

the rise. Soon the realisation that things, events and emotions still matter even if you haven’t sent everyone in your address book a captioned and slightly outof-focus Snapchat of them, will come all too late.

We’ve got to get out now, put down the phones and start taking mental screenshots of what’s going on around us – I promise you, they’ll last more than ten seconds.

you. Your mind has been allowed to relax, unwind, experience something outside of itself. You’re now ready again to engage the world, respond to stimuli and generate your own.

However, living near the city centre means that those restorative silences are few and far between. I am yet to experience one legitimate moment of perfect peace in the city since moving into town. Living behind the Phoenix Park one might imagine it might be a large silent oasis in the city but the hubbub of city life manages to scale its walls and spoil its inky silence.

How does one combat the onslaught of constant noise and disruption in the city then? What measures should one take so as to achieve a moment of perfect silence? Personally, I like to cycle and I have found somewhere not too far from college where silence flows like a muted brook in the Dublin mountains. Ticknock has become my soundless sanctuary away from the city. This Goldilocks like area, close enough to city for convenience and isolated enough to sate my desire for benign solitude has allowed me to indulge my hermetic desires.

Leaving my earphones to entangle themselves on my bedside table, I place my phone on silent. I cycle through the city, enjoying its hustle and bustle now that I know it isn’t infinite and make my way towards my peaceful retreat. Zigzagging up steep 30° roads I arrive at my quiet spot. I undo the clasp on my helmet; place it below at my

feet, breathe in deeply and survey the unimaginable vista of the Irish Sea silently washing inwards into Dublin city.

The muted blues of the sea contrast delicately with the subdued greys of the city and then I become aware of the growing silence.

I quiet the rustle of my clothes by standing perfectly still. The silence begins to steady. Feet planted firmly in the grass of the mountainside I wait patiently for the silence to wash over me. The wind swishes, giving over to a gentle breeze that whispers.

And then the breeze stops. Silence.

My mind begins to drain, refilled with substantial nothingness. The vista fades from view as the silence lowers me into a trance. Warming bliss fills the cavity in my chest.

Thoughtless perfection.

A leaf rustles in the breeze. The world fades back into view, slowly, reverently. Feeling restored and reinvigorated, an excitement for the coming week builds.

Silence has become almost like a religion for me.

I find it spiritually uplifting. There is an ethereal quality to this rarely heard thing and its impact upon the rest of my life is wholly positive.

That one moment of perfect silence is not only enough to balance out the ceaseless onslaught of sound and commotion that comes with city life but helps to enhance it and drives me to engage with it and become one more enthusiastic player in the cacophony of life.

The University Times //

UT Opinion

Tuesday 19th November 2013

11

Daniel O’Brien Staff Writer Non-EU fees and what it means to be in a union

O

Why I Didn’t Vote Kevin Threadgold Contributing Writer

I

study Political Science.

I didn’t vote in the SU presidential impeachment referendum.

This simple state of affairs got me thinking. When I turned eighteen, I thought of people who didn’t bother to vote as borderline traitors: surely the right to vote in a democratic election has to be exercised? I hadn’t simply been brainwashed by CSPE classes either. The more I learned about representative democracy, the more important I considered turnout, and the less I identified with those who shunned voting. And yet, despite the guilty feeling it gave me, I didn’t vote this time. I was left struggling to understand why.

Initially I felt like voting NO, for reasons of convenience as much as anything.

Tom seemed to be a decent character, very well liked among his colleagues and those who had campaigned for him. He had already apologised and been punished by the university.

His statement in the opening pages of the SU journal spoke to me – it shared

my view that college isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be. Admittedly, his trustworthiness had been compromised, but surely impeachment would only cause upheaval rather than making the union work better.

Muddying the waters thoroughly was the mental health issue. Whether it was an excuse or just some explanatory context, it complicated the debate.

Part of me wanted a successful presidency for Tom, to show that depression or a stigma around mental health need not prevent people from succeeding – but taking it out of the equation, I’d be less willing to forgive someone who had cheated.

As the week wore on, my voting preference began to change. The absence of an official YES campaign only gave the NO side the chance to shoot itself in the foot. I consider James Ringland a friend and a true gent, but there are only so many hashtags a man can tolerate. On top of this, some of the campaign rhetoric was baffling to say the least. One article in particular tried to convince

me to vote NO, but relied so heavily on cheap scaremongering about mental health discrimination and party politics that it actually had the opposite effect. Combined with some astute analysis on the YES side, I was left conflicted.

On an issue of national importance, I feel I would have forced myself to de-

For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel what I was being asked to vote on was important enough to force a decision either way cide. In the interest of accountability and standards of public office, I most likely would have voted YES. In the end, I didn’t vote at all, but not simply because I felt too conflicted to decide.

I wasn’t alone either. A few of my classmates felt the same, and the irony wasn’t lost on us. I didn’t believe the usual justifications for not voting; I had learned enough about politics to know how hollow they could be. The importance of context became increasingly clear.

On a national level, I

could be described as “highly politically active”: I take a keen interest in current affairs and vote whenever I can. This vote was in the context of Trinity SU politics, though, and I took the same attitude to voting as those whose behaviour I struggled so much to understand.

Student politics is undeniably different from national or even local government. With a term of one year, it’s almost a bit rich to expect sabbatical officers to achieve anything beyond the fundamentals of their mandate.

For better or worse, Tom Lenihan will be out of office within a year. This led me to think, “what harm if he carries on?” and it leaves student elections especially vulnerable to overzealous and hollow campaign promises.

At the height of last February’s campaign, looking for something beyond gimmickry, I noted Tom’s policy of “Trinity-specific internships across all faculties”. Is this happening?

Members of Team Tom would undoubtedly tell you that it will, or it already is. Anyway, what would it matter if he promised the

earth and delivered nothing whatsoever? How much credit does Dan Ferrick get for the 24-hour BLU library during exams that happened under his tenure as Education Officer? For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel what I was being asked to vote on was important enough to force a decision either way.

You might be wondering what the conclusion is. All I would suggest is that if someone like me, who has a strong interest in politics and votes at every given opportunity, is disillusioned enough not to vote, it sets a troubling precedent. Something like this may have been said before, but it bears repeating.

To counter the inherently temporary nature of student politics, candidates need to make responsible and genuine promises, and (most importantly) do their utmost to fulfil them, or they risk making the whole endeavour look pointless and alienating droves of students.

I wish Tom Lenihan all the best, and a very fruitful remainder of term as President, not least with all those internships he promised.

n October 23rd 2013, the University Times first reported a decision by the Board of Trinity College to increase Non-EU fees next year.

In that article Students’ Union President Tom Lenihan commented that “the risk level that this would deter potential international students is low. It actually reflects how attractive Trinity is with our expanding international community.” In fairness to Mr. Lenihan, he has since clarified that he was responding to a question specifically about the announcement’s effect on the Global Relations initiative.

The fact remains, however, that this statement represents the only public stance the Union has taken on the issue thus far.

The following day, October 24th, The University Times released a second article that provides a very interesting context to the above statement. This piece

by USI President Joe O’Connor

It must be made perfectly clear here, if it has not already, that the issue is not and never has been whether current international students will be able to afford the fee hikes (which history suggests will be relatively minor). The issue is also not whether the increased fees will deter future international students. Trinity clearly still represents a significant discount compared to the fees faced in many other countries. Rather, the point that must be grasped by this university, its Students’ Union, and Irish society as a whole is that Non-EU students and their families are not low-hanging piñatas from which money can be endlessly beaten to cover up the major faults in Irish thirdlevel education funding. These are families who are often putting more than one other child through university, often at a far higher cost than what they pay to Trinity.

Yes, these families can likely afford a fee hike of a few hundred euros every couple of

The apathy displayed by Trinity’s SU is indicative of a worrying lack of inclusive representation within the Union. not only highlights the Union’s success in protecting Irish student grants, but also reiterates its commitment to reducing the Student Contribution Charge (due to hit €3,000 in 2015!) to pre-crisis levels. Mr. O’Connor’s vigorous defense of his constituents is admirable and indeed represents exactly the position a union would be expected to take in such a situation.

The apathy displayed by Trinity’s SU, on the other hand, is indicative of a worrying lack of inclusive representation within the Union.

One of the few basic fees that all Trinity students have in common is a meager USI levy charge. Irish students can generally be sure they are getting a bargain out of this deal; for the cost of €8 this year they were able to fund Mr. O’Connor’s tireless efforts to protect their grants and keep their fees in check. For Non-EU students this exchange is much less favorable. They are effectively paying the same amount into the USI for the privilege of being the first group that both the government and unions agree should pay more.

years, but the reality is that many Irish families could likely afford the same.

Whichever direction the future of Trinity’s funding lies, the Students’ Union must ensure that all of its constituents are equally represented. It cannot accept the inevitability of international fee hikes without protest while simultaneously lamenting the hardship faced by Irish students paying roughly a tenth of what their peers are charged. If Trinity is going to be forced to raise its fees to cover funding shortfalls, that burden should not be felt exclusively by those already least represented in Irish society. Trinity’s Students’ Union and the USI as a whole must consider the future of Irish third-level education and decide whether protecting extensive grants and miniscule student contributions for Irish students is really the best representation of all its constituents. After all, international students have a right to expect equal representation for their interests, especially regarding fee hikes. Presently, however, such support from the Students’ Union has not been forthcoming.

Hypercritical of the Hypocrites

T

Aisling Curtis Staff Writer In the course of their lives politicians do and say a lot of things. The thing is, so do we.

here’s little as incongruous as austerity advice delivered from so humble a perch as a golden throne. But last Tuesday, David Cameron handed such suggestions to his long-suffering citizens, advocating in favour of a permanently “leaner and more efficient state” even when public spending cuts need not be as extreme.

In fairness to him, Cameron did have a point. Constructing a state fuelled by less money is a nice idea, and we can all agree that we don’t want to repeat the mistakes of the boom.

But warning that belttightening must continue while bedecked in black tie, ringed by gold and extravagance, is a manifestation of hypocrisy that we’re happy to sit back and publicly mock.

Political hypocrisy is deeply insidious; Cameron is only the most recent to make us cringe. In the US, hypocrisy is as prevalent as Wal-Mart. John Ensign tried to ban same-sex marriage in America, arguing that “marriage is the cornerstone on which our society was founded”, whilst

engaging in a year-long extramarital affair. Scott DesJarlais won Congress on a pro-life platform, though it later emerged that he’d encouraged both his mistress and wife to have abortions.

As New York State Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer prosecuted two prostitution rings, but was eventually caught frequenting prostitutes himself; and that’s not to mention the larger institutional hypocrisies that suffuse society.

After the French threw a tantrum about NSA spying, it came to light that they’d willingly handed over much of the information, and even gathered intelligence of their own. In June, when the damning Anglo tapes surfaced in Ireland, they cast into sharp relief the hypocrisy of our current political system.

Fine Gael and Labour washed their hands of the tapes, draping full blame over Fine Fáil, and yet in 2011, when they assumed power, they had continued the bailout of the bankers despite full awareness of the economic atrocities committed during our legendary Celtic Tiger years.

Political hypocrisy exposes politicians to a curious effect: already largely disliked by much of society, their hypocrisy offers a neat justification to their haranguers. We reason that if somebody proposes one position and then behaves directly opposite to it any critique is automatically given weight. Rather than requiring evidence within which to root their opposition, people can cite “that one time” a politician didn’t do what he said everyone else should do.

And maybe it is the ultimate crime that our national and international leaders aren’t relentlessly consistent in the way they act. Maybe they deserve to be sneered at and attacked when they veer a little too close to our human realm.

Despite already mocking their abilities in so many regards, maybe it’s fair enough to expect they transcend mortal error and always toe the line.

Except that this all seems a little unfair. We, the nonpolitical folk, can’t deny that at times we’re all a little bit hypocritical; we say things, and our friends say things, that are either mi-

norly or fundamentally at odds with our expressed behaviour. It might be something as basic and irrelevant as a strong stance against smoking, while allowing yourself a few sly drags on an uneventful night out. Or maybe that universal one – “I’d never cheat” – that snares the most ardent romantic despite intentions of the purest kind. Whatever’s your own personal recipe for hypocrisy, I’m guessing that at least once you’ve fallen into its trap.

Circumstances coalesce and combine. The situation can weaken the foundations of the most fervent proclamation, worming into the cracks of what you know you said to get at the heart of what you want to do. We are, after all, human. And with humanity comes an inevitable fallibility; your attitudes aren’t always going to line up neatly with your actions.

As students, we rail on issues we’re not necessarily fully sure about; our opinions are grand and overarching, encompassing huge social, political and economic themes, with a foundation of research

sometimes limited to a few news articles and things we were told by our friends. Inevitably, we’re going to wax lyrical on some topic and later go back on our word.

Thankfully when you make such a mistake nobody tends to notice. No paparazzi lurk to capture your hypocritical shame when you rail against the horrors of world hunger while enjoying a hefty lunch. Nobody enshrines your quotes in the permanence of the Internet, to resurface when you don’t abide by your past self’s words.

When ultimately you fail to follow your own beliefs it’s easy to hope other people won’t remember. And, honestly, they probably won’t. Your embarrassing hypocritical faux-pas will be forgotten the second something more interesting comes along.

But from the warmth of our armchairs we hand out critiques to the political medley with judgemental ease. Though we know that politicians aren’t superhuman – and most of us think they’re a lot less than that – we expect them to keep their words firmly noosed

to how they act. When they make mistakes that we’d likely make in the same situation, we hang, draw and quarter them with chilling glee. Though there’s no excuse for prostitution or extramarital affairs or deeply shady attempts to destabilise your political opponents, the human fallibility that characterises these mistakes is at least understandable. The political system is not Godlike, and its members hail from humble perches like ours.

Hypocrisy is certainly detrimental to a functioning system, but the least we can do is understand the flawed human foundation on which it builds.

Of course, if politicians set themselves up as better than us then they must be subject to greater stringency. And political duplicity can be larger and more hypocritical than a casual smoke on a Friday night. But before we jump the well-worn gun and deride them for their deceit, we should at least stop and think. After all, in the course of their lives politicians do and say a lot of things. The thing is, so do we.

12

UT Opinion

#Longevity? #Success?

Edward Kearns Contributing Writer

O

n Thursday 7 November, shares in Twitter became available for the public to buy. Its initial public offering was conducted with slightly less hype than Facebook’s market debut last year, but it fared exponentially better.

Over the course of the day, after the New York Stock Exchange’s opening bell had been rung by Professor X himself, Sir Patrick Stewart (I did say slightly less hype), the price of ‘TWTR’ shares grew by 73 percent. To compare, Facebook only gained 0.6 percent on its first day, and then proceeded to fall by 27 percent over the next nine days. So far Twitter has lev-

elled off, but only a little; it still sits about 63 percent above its initial offering price. Quite the difference.

Is this down to better PR? Or does it say something deeper about the two products and their potential for longevity?

Obviously Twitter had the advantage of being able to watch its older cousin go first; it could watch Facebook’s mistakes and learn from them. Facebook shares were priced at $38 for its opening. This was considered conservative at the time, given the massive demand which had led the company to decide two days before the IPO that it would release 25 percent more shares than it had originally intended.

People had been waiting for this offering for a long time and everyone knew it

Tuesday 19th November 2013

was going to be huge.

Of course, Zuckerberg the rock star was at the centre of it all, throwing a massive party out in Palo Alto the night before the IPO. Only when morning came, things did not go quite as expected.

Technical glitches marred the first half-hour, before the stock enjoyed a brief surge, and then it just tanked. And tanked.

And tanked. Twitter wasn’t going to let this happen for its own offering; it quietly prepared over the summer with its lead underwriter Goldman Sachs, and opened at the more modest price of $26.

The fact that Twitter has no famous hoodie-wearing figurehead to annoy investors may or may not be a factor, but either way it is clear that buyers simply did not trust Facebook. Yet they seem to trust Twitter.

Perhaps Twitter has more potential for longevity. The quota of 140 characters may be new, but the desire for succinct and rapid communication is certainly not. Have

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The University Times

you ever seen a telegraph message? They were usually only one or two sentences, written in the simplest possible way, often referring to other, longer pieces of text (like letters), and sometimes relying on shared contextual knowledge between the sender and recipient. Does this sound familiar? How about a tweet with a link to an article and a hashtag to

Twitter won’t last that long, but its investors seem to think it will outlast Facebook make it part of a larger conversation?

Other than the expansion of the number of receivers per sender, it’s not that different. Neither are mobile text-messages, or even instant-messages (remember when MSN was a thing?).

We have always wanted the latest information as

quickly as possible, and Twitter is just the next medium to provide that service to us. It has changed the way we consume news, jokes, and, eh, arguments between Piers Morgan and Alan Sugar. Facebook can’t claim to have done that.

Twitter was also quicker to realise the importance of its usability on mobile (in fact I’d argue it’s far better on mobile than on laptop).

Facebook’s great for organising parties, checking out the resulting disastrous photos, and reconnecting with the expatriate family members that you’ve just alienated via the aforementioned photos. But that’s pretty much it. And in business terms, Facebook has always struggled to find a way to advertise that doesn’t annoy the hell out of its users (how many

times have you un-clicked that ‘show in News Feed’ button?).

I don’t want to talk Twitter up too much either; it’s got ads too, and in general it can become incredibly boring if you let it. Just not as boring as Facebook. And maybe that’s enough.

There’s a difference between a trend, and the next step in a linear evolution of technology. Tel-

egraphs were not a trend; they lasted for more than a century. Twitter won’t last that long, but its investors seem to think it will outlast Facebook (or at least make more money for them for however long it does last).

And it can’t be a trend if it’s something that we’ve always done, just in a different way. Twitter might be the future, but it is also the past.

The Danse Macabre Eva Short Staff Writer Eva Short discusses the phenomena and the morbid nature of celebrity death.

“

Lou Reed is dead.” I proclaimed from the top of the staircase, looking down at my family and raising an eyebrow as I anticipated their response.

My father adjusted himself in his leather recliner and said “Oh, right”, while my mother and sister remained glued to the television screen. Mother piped up – “Who’s dead?” With a small eye roll I flapped my arms. “Lou Reed -” I began, “he sang ‘Perfect Day’? He was in The Velvet Underground?”

While I searched the recesses of my mind for any other tidbits or facts, I gauged the reaction. The consensus among the room was that nobody was particularly fazed by this new information. Sighing, I stole away to my room in an indulgent moment of stroppy teen dramatics (because sometimes screaming “You’re tearing me apart!” and running off to ensconce oneself in various social media is deeply satisfying).

For a second I was frustrated that my family failed to appreciate the kind of music that I did, and by extension, failed to appreciate the gravity of the news. This was at least until I thought about what I was doing. Lou Reed had suffered a bout of ill health leading up to his death, and I wasn’t exactly on tenterhooks during this period – to be blunt, I didn’t know the man. On a personal level, I had no association with him, so I wasn’t exactly driven to distraction by the revelation of his death. The closest thing to grief it inspired within me was the urge to

play ‘Perfect Day’ and recount how effective it was as the soundtrack to a strung out Ewan McGregor being pushed out of a car in that scene in Trainspotting. What I was doing was, frankly, ridiculous. The only real reason I’d bothered to mention him that day was because I’d been swept up in the current of everyone else feeling the need to mention him.

People ranging from Salman Rushdie to Simon Cowell were chomping at the bit to pay their respects via Twitter and Facebook, and it’s things like this that draw people into the bizarre phenomenon of public, celebrity mourning. When things are framed correctly, it is amazing what one can be convinced of – if enough people say that the passing of a musician is deeply saddening and significant, you’ll eventually believe it. I was convinced to the point of putting a status up on Facebook – frowny face and all, for it was a very serious affair. Honestly, I can’t help but wonder how entitled I am – or anyone who only knew Reed in the public sphere for that matter – to claim and experience his death as if it had an impact on me.

That’s not to say Lou Reed is the only celebrity whose death has been received with much sadness and grief, and he won’t be the last, but the amount of media attention surrounding it is almost bizarre. On UK radios, the death bulletin was being reported on the half hour, a frequency that is both rare and perhaps a little unnecessary. People were quick to express how deeply disturbed they were by

the news, and probably only a fraction had ever had an actual conversation with this person who apparently had left a huge gaping hole in their lives.

So what, I have to ask, are we mourning? Most people only knew Lou Reed through his public persona – his celebrity, his music and his appearances.

We haven’t lost any of this – that side of him is preserved on a CD or in the annals of history, and if we want to re-experience it, it’s just a matter of doing a Google search. How can I say that Lou Reed has died when in a way Lou Reed was never, to me, alive?

Never alive in that I had no living relationship with him. For although the relationship between celebrity and public can at times seem very special, it can hardly be characterised as a relationship. Relationship implies some form of reciprocation, when in reality the shiny, limelight drenched people of the tabloids and news aren’t even aware of my existence.

Equally, I probably am not that aware of theirs – how faithfully can someone portray themselves with cameras pointed at them? How could I possi-

bly compare the postured, made-up, nipped and tucked person that I, as a member of a public, am allowed to see versus who they are when they arrive home, remove their fancy attire and speak freely?

Is it mourning the loss of poten-

Maybe we should leave the mourning to the individuals that actually knew Lou Reed tial? Perhaps. Though Reed himself hadn’t been especially active over the past few years, this could explain why society reacts the way it does to the death of a musician or an author or anyone with a particular talent. The renowned ’28 theory’ – a theory that catalogues the odd amount of instances of musicians and actors dying at the tender age of

twenty eight – is probably especially poignant in this respect, as the young age implies a potential long and successful career dashed before it fully took flight. Arguably, however, this is a selfish complaint on our part. We’re upset because we enjoyed someone’s music or artwork or poetry and now said person can’t produce the content we like. Again, it has very little to do with them personally.

Despite this, people have a tendency to get caught up in the strange rigmarole of a famous death, the song and dance of a celebrity’s passing. I think there’s a degree of catharsis at play here; in an odd way, mourning is enjoyable, in the same way people can enjoy watching a sad film or reading a sad book. One can invest themselves in the story and allow themselves to feel intense emotions without having any real personal tie to what’s happening, then they can put down the story and wash themselves of the whole experience. This can be done with death too – people can sob over the passing of a celebrity, but then move on pretty quickly, for they have ultimately lost very little.

I know someone whose granddad died the same day as Michael Jackson. Everywhere, there were ostentatious displays of people mourning a cultural icon, a parade of grief so to speak, which all probably seemed bitter and hollow when compared to the very real grief of losing an immediate family member.

This is what concerns me about the celebrity death phenomenon; I wonder whether it isn’t undermining death itself. In a world of voyeurism and an obsession with public life, I can’t help but think that this culture of turning a death into a trending topic on Twitter isn’t one fatal step away from something the likes of a reality funeral - it may seem like a stretch (a dark, horrible stretch), but you can’t underestimate people.

Maybe we should leave the mourning to the individuals who actually knew Lou Reed. We should pay our respects, maybe reflect on his past successes, but after that let things lie.

Anything more may be but a superficial dance, a charade done solely for our own morbid enjoyment, and of no help to anyone actually hurt and upset by the news.

The University Time

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UT Opinion

Tuesday 19th November 2013

13

Fear and Loathing in Liberty Hall Ciar McCormick Contributing Writer

“I have no taste for either poverty or honest labour, so writing is the only recourse left for me.” -Hunter S. Thompson

T

he big day had come. The big day every Irish person experiences at least once in their life. It was the day of my debs.

As I woke, school friends were collecting their drycleaned suits, their dates were getting their hair and makeup professionally done and fitting into expensive dresses. But rather than spending the later part of the morning and early afternoon sprucing myself and preparing for the big night, I had other plans.

I first heard of the We’re Not Leaving movement the same way most people find things these days; on the internet. It seemed like an interesting idea and it would be free in so I thought I might as well go down to Liberty Hall and see what it was all about.

“Does anyone have a laptop?” an organizer asked the early attendants of the meeting, “our laptop won’t work with this projector”.

Well that’s not very forward thinking of them I told myself. “Organization is essential” said the first speaker Laura McKenna of the Young Workers Network.

The irony shivered through my spine as she orated to the crowd unsupported by a projector. “Our future has been robbed… we’re labeled the lost generation,” she said. Her opening speech to the crowd was extremely emotive. I waited for a statement of fact; the speech ended.

The next two speakers described how the ‘We’re Not Leaving’ movement came to be. The idea was formed at Youth Block meetings. They saw it as fitting to form a group that dealt with “the unfinished business of 1913”. I wonder

would Big Jim Larkin have agreed with some of the alternatively cut bohemian haircuts dotted around the theatre.

The aim of this gathering they told us was to develop a Youth Charter which intended to articulate and codify youth discontentment with the crisis in Ireland, and the government measures to address it. We were told the Charter to be developed wouldn’t start with the leaders but with its members.

This confused me slightly. It was Martin Luther King Jnr. who said “a leader is not a searcher for consensus but a moulder of consensus”. Were the leaders of this organization just populists looking for the most fashionable opinion among the people in attendance?

Everyone present was split into groups. I was put in Group Seven. The topic to be discussed in my group was unemployment and forced emigration. Not exactly a precise topic is it?

We sat around in a circle and began by introducing ourselves. It felt like an AA meeting for the unemployed. There was a broad spectrum of people in the group; the age range was predominantly at the older scale of what one would consider young people; I was the youngest there.

Two speakers were present in the group to give information before the discussion began. These speakers were Paul Murphy of the Socialist Party and Becky Jeffries who is currently doing a masters on the topic “Pathways to political activism for young people in Ireland”. They told us there are 66,000 youths unemployed in Ireland at the moment. There

Students from We’re Not Leaving protesting cuts outside the Dáil. Photo by Leanna Byrne. are 6 million unemployed in Europe.

I was shocked. The youth unemployment rate in Ireland is 28%. Youth unemployment is 60% in Greece, 50% in Portugal and 40% in Spain. More than one in five people can’t find a job.

Surely not, I don’t know that many unemployed people? It was stated that there is an ideological war around unemployment as it is being demonized.

A result of this demonization has led to unemployment impacting on mental health according to The National Youth Council. Due to this, 10,000 people emigrate every week the CSO reported. This is higher than the OECD average.

The discussion was opened to the floor. People gave their opinion on the topics at hand, they told their stories, and they

became animated. I didn’t have anything to say, I had no stories; I couldn’t contribute.

People began to disagree on what principles and goals should go in the Charter, which added to the discussion. As I lay silent I found myself quietly agreeing with one member in particular. He looked like he was well educated and came from a privileged background. He wore a blazer and an open neck shirt with shiny leather shoes; I thought, ‘he must be employed? Why was he here? Why was I here?’

The speakers switched and two new representatives came to talk to us.

The first was Tommy Gavin a member of We’re Not Leaving who gave a presentation on “precarious work”; he admitted his only knowledge of the topic was due to the fact he had a

presentation to give on the same topic for his sociology class. I had never heard of this term before. It is an uncertain continuation of employment with very little regulatory protection.

The second speaker was Derek Keane, a CWU activist who spoke about JobBridge. This was another word that was foreign to me. It is a government run scheme to provide an element of work for the unemployed. 19,000 have gone through the scheme and even though the government suggests 61.4% went on to full employment, he proposed that actually only one in five got consistent and lasting employment.

Keane advised that this was a bad scheme as it highly individualises unemployment, it depresses job creation and is replacing employed workers with JobBridge candidates who

work for the company for free. He said it buys into this internship culture we have at present. Someone said “A day’s pay for a day’s work”; you can’t really argue with that.

It came time for the group to set out and write down our proposed goals. Some of the goals presented were ridiculously ambitious I thought. Repudiation of the debt? African countries don’t get that luxury and we’re in a better position to pay back our debt than they are. Substantial investment in creating jobs? God that is vague, the government could argue they have already provided ‘substantial’ investment. People that emigrate should still retain the right to vote? Do they not have that already?

Well they should. Okay that one is good.

Two-thirty came and the group broke up for lunch. I

took this chance to dash for the bus and head home to attend my prior arrangement.

I came home to bottles of champagne, starters bought in Marks & Spencer’s and a professionally dry cleaned tuxedo. My date arrived, we took pictures. We migrated to predrinks. A bigger house, is that a pool in the back garden? More bubbly and idle conversation. “Did you guys rent a stretch limo for the evening?” The hotel was the next port of call, it had four stars. More alcohol, a three course dinner.

As I walked to the bar to throw another €20 note at the barman so as to continue the flow of intoxicating liquid into my system it suddenly dawned on me: I was in denial. This was a bubble built on daddy’s money, this was not the reality. And as I continued to

get drunk as a pig in some hotel on the Southside, there were people gathered working hard to distil down the wants and needs of the young people of Ireland and making it into an achievable Youth Charter.

They were Leaders. They were organizing the youth of Ireland. They were going to mould this country into something sustainable and beneficial for the future. It was an egalitarian idea that my drunken friends and I needed to understand and help to achieve.

For a second I felt disgusted with myself for being so deluded not to realise the problems the youth of Ireland are facing.

At that moment I got called by a friend, “come dance with me! Stop being dry, come on!” She took my hand and I was led off into the crowd of ignorant bliss once more.

Editorial: In defense of an opinion

Leanna Byrne Editor

Vladimir Rakhmanin Deputy Editor

Our mission is to provide Trinity students with news and comment on the issues that affect them. We are a platform of information and discussion for students. Our team is dedicated to the values of the freedom of expression and we uphold our editorial independence.

R

ecently, the comments section of universitytimes.ie has become a keyboard warrior’s paradise. One

shocking article out of over 100 produced by our newspaper a month leads to fantastically contructed remarks such as: “When did

The University Times become The College Times?” or “Doesn’t ANYTHING get vetted these days?”.

Students have been

quick to make sweeping statements about the quality of our newspaper based on one or two articles.

This is unsurprising as the majority of people complaining about bias and editorial lines in an opinion section have extremely skewed ideas about opinion and the freedom of expression.

The main thing that all readers of The University Times should understand is that all articles in the opinion section do not represent the official opinion of our publication. We may not necessarily agree with the articles we publish.

Criticisms of the editors that allow these articles to published are unfounded – we try to make sure that there is a varied mix of contrasting views within the section.

The head-to-head format is an example of a technique we use to allow for this. An issue is debate by opposing sides, meaning that both views are represented.

Of course, we will not accept any articles that are

blatantly sexist, racist or homophobic. Our only redaction during the history of the paper has been of an article last year which argued against gay marriage, which portrayed an opinion about homosexuality to be fact.

There is a line that we draw, and we do carefully read and edit the articles that we put up, making sure that nothing within the article is overly offensive.

In some extreme cases, we will not publish the article if we feel that it cannot be salvaged through editing.

Another common misconception that people have is the fact that opinion articles can be ‘biased’.

With sections such as news, the articles that are written have to be a mere account of events that occurred.

A recent example of this is our coverage of the impeachment referendum.

Regardless of the personal opinion of a reporter covering this topic, the resulting story must be neutral,

non-biased, with both sides being allowed to speak out.

The Opinion section is entirely different – the articles within this section must be heavily one-sided, as the author must be given an opportunity to speak out, to voice their own subjective views. The word ‘bias’ often has

This is your section – and we strongly encourage everyone to partake in it. negative connotations – however, while bias is indeed poisonous for news articles, it is crucial for opinion ones.

The danger with comment sections if often that once one opinion is established about an article that

others will simply follow suit instead of engaging in a debate. It is not surprising to see more people hopping on the bandwagon to leave engaging comments like: “This is just...” and a simple “WTF is this?”.

Those comments are the equivalent to white noise as they do not even engage with the article. It is even questionable whether they have read it or not.

Nevertheless, we do not delete these comments, as every single one of our readers is allowed to voice their opinion on the quality of the article, even if it is not well argued. The line is drawn, however, when the comments start to take on a bullying nature.

A recent article that we published had comments that posted the Twitter handle of the author, encouraging others to ‘give him a bollocking’, as well as threats to sabotage his career by e-mailing the co-ordinator of his course.

This is completely out of line, and comments such as this will be deleted with-

out hesitation.

Our advice to anyone who strongly disagrees with an article published

by UT is to write a response piece.

Out of the few articles that we have published that have had a negative reaction from the community, only two people have offered to write response pieces, arguing against the original articles.

This should be compared with the hundreds of negative comments, usually no more than one or two sentences long, that are posted under the articles.

A recent comment on one of our articles said that no-one would want to write a response piece, and even if they did, it wouldn’t be published. We can guarantee that this is 100 per cent untrue.

The opinion section is in our paper for this very reason – it is there to inspire debate, to talk about issues, and to give you, the students, a voice.

This is your section – and we strongly encourage everyone to partake in it.

14

UT Sport

Tuesday 19th November 2013

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The University Times

The Ultimate Podium

Conor Walsh Contributing Writer

Is Seb one of the greatest champions to have graced the arena of F1? For me, the answer is no.

T

No Compromises for Hybrid Series Conor Bates Sports Editor Another year of Compromised Rules Series?

A

fter every Compromised Rules series, pretty much without failure, the talk of the media outlets turns to the ever rumbling debate: will there be another year?

To date the answer has mostly been yes, with only cancellations in 2007 and 2009 marring the occurrence rate for the hybrid competition.

Over the years numerous problems have been cited as reasons for cancelling the initiative; ambivalence on the part of the Australians leading to lack of competition, overt aggressiveness ruining the nature of the game, lack of interest from fans, and the high costs associated with running a money-losing contest.

All of these are valid concerns. In recent years, Australia have publicly displayed apathy towards the idea, sending younger, rookie players from lower ranking teams, and in 2013 sending a team made of entirely indigenous players.

This did not play to their advantage, as they lost the two-game series by a record 101 points. This disparity won’t increase the attractiveness of the games, and a 28,000 turnout for the final game in Croke Park is evident of the lack of feeling.

Since its inception in 1967 as a world tour, and its formalisation as a three game series in 1984, the steady decline has been omnipresent. After an eight year hiatus in 1990,

the contests returned in 1998 as a scaled down two match series, thanks in no small part to the competitive and negotiating guile of the late Jim Stynes.

The recent incarnations haven’t been much better. Chris Johnson striking Philip Jordan and Mattie Forde in 2005, and Danyle Pearce knocking out Graham Geraghty in 2006, are some of the uglier scenes that have punctuated the matches.

Australia chose not to travel in 2009 citing economic problems, and Australian journalist Mike Sheahan has noted on several occasions that Australians simply don’t care about the longevity of International Rules. But we should.

For one, the games are entertaining. For anyone who follows GAA or enjoys a game of football, the mixed rules matches provide a flavour of similar, but different; a chance to unite under the one banner in a game resembling our own is a rarity and a spectacle that we should all enjoy.

Similarly, for a nation who thrive on sport and competition, a chance to take on Australia, a fa-

vourite competitive rival of ours, is always worth seizing.

Another vital reason for retaining the games strikes to the core of the Irish-Australian relationship. Given the historical and present social, sporting and economic ties to Australia, maintaining the series beyond 2014 is worthy of our endeavour, as was noted at length by Irish manager Paul Earley.

However, the best reason to keep the International Rules series has very little

A chance to unite under the one banner in a game resembling our own is a rarity and a spectacle that we should all enjoy to do with Australia, or even football, for that matter. It does have a lot to do with history, and hurling.

The best reason for us to keep playing the International Series with Australia, is because it means we can keep playing the International Series with Scotland.

Away in the background, and disappointingly out of

sight, the game of shintyhurling is truly a sight to behold, and is most definitely worth fighting for. Beginning in 2003, ten series have been played between Ireland and Scotland.

Ireland have the edge overall, with five wins to Scotland’s four; a draw in 2004 leaves the statistic in Ireland’s favour.

Although it only attracts a modest volume of fans, the trajectory of the composite game has gone in the opposite direction to that of the Antipodean exploit, with an expansion of the game occurring in 2010, from an annual match, to a two game series.

As well as the pure sporting excitement of shintyhurling, the game is of interesting cultural and historical significance.

Shinty, the preferred amateur game of the Scottish highlands, has an intrinsically linked history to our national game.

Indeed, shinty is still played in the glens and vales of Ulster. Although there is some debate about which came first, it is widely accepted that during the British colonisation of Ireland, we played two forms of hurling, separated by

seasons and geography.

Modern shinty, or camán, was a winter game played in the north, while hurling and camogie, or iomán, were summer games played in Wexford and Waterford, amongst other local counties.

In that sense, combining the two sports is more natural than any conjoining of Gaelic football and Australian football.

While the sport of shintyhurling is a truly enthralling one, and it has enjoyed growing popularity, and some television coverage, it is sadly still too niche a sport to survive on its own. The International Rules games in 2014 will go ahead between Ireland and Australia, and Ireland and Scotland.

Without the security of future marquee series’ down the line, the ability of the regrettably smaller matches to stand alone would no doubt come into question.

If they could garner more individual exposure, perhaps they would go on, but without the support of football, it would be nigh on impossible, in this arena, for hurling and shinty to flourish.

FAI Stepping in the Right Direction Carl Kinsella Staff Writer

I

n hiring Martin O’Neill as manager, FAI Chief Executive John Delaney at long last embraced a sanity that’s been sorely lacking since the sacking of Mick McCarthy.

O’Neill has been touted as a viable option for the hot-seat since Mick’s dismissal eleven years ago. To get to this point we’ve endured the FAI’s thrusting of the novice Steve Staunton into the spotlight before quickly scrapping him in favour of Trapattoni. The ageing pragmatist had little interest in Irish football or Irish footballers and stuck the players he liked wherever he liked them regardless of club form or indeed, position.

O’Neill’s small-scale successes with Celtic, Aston Villa and Leicester may not quite stand up to six Serie A titles with Juventus, but

the man from Kilrea has exhaustive experience managing at the kind of clubs where Irish players don’t look out of place. Like Trapattoni, O’Neill prefers to prioritise the strengths of his own players rather than set his team up in such a way that it is merely a reaction to the strengths of the opposition. Unlike Trapattoni, O’Neill devotes much of his training sessions to tightlyspaced five-a-side games - something that will give heart to players like James McCarthy, Wes Hoolahan, Anthony Pilkington, Aiden McGeady and James McClean.

To see the ball travel through the middle of the park again is a major attraction of the approaching O’Neill administration, and will surely appeal to the many fans who have seen teams as limited as Austria and Sweden make our midfield look as porous as Swiss cheese, and half as

creative.

The energetic 61-yearold is a man made very much in the mould of his mentor, legend-cum-myth Brian Clough. Clough was all too happy to delegate much of the coaching to his coaches, leading his players in a way that was more personal than professional.

O’Neill may have preferred this style at his previous clubs, but whether or not it will translate to international management is debatable.

The nature of international football affords the manager less time to understand and inspire the players at his disposal, and the challenge that is O’Neill’s debut in international management shouldn’t be understated.

The question of whether or not O’Neill still places a high premium on the effect of personality is answered succinctly, however, by the next four words: Roy Keane, Assistant Manager.

Keane, another devout disciple of Clough, is in an insurmountably awkward position. He is more hated, more beloved, and generally more spoken about than the man whose orders he has no choice but to follow. No matter how justified Keane’s outrage at the preparations, or lack thereof, made for Ireland’s World Cup appearance in 2002, the legendary hard man will find that any similar instances of insubordination will find him back on ITV’s punditry panel faster than he can say ‘prawn sandwiches’.

As for the effect Keane’s presence will have on the team, one can only speculate. Ideally, an assistant manager is little more than a conduit for the head coach’s instructions and methods. Keane misused his role as captain at Manchester United, where he was working beneath perhaps the most authoritative figure in football history,

when he took to television to savage the attitudes and performances of his younger teammates, including Darren Fletcher and Rio Ferdinand.

There’s no denying that Keane is gifted with a certain incisiveness when it comes to seeing the truth about footballers, but it will be O’Neill’s responsibility to make sure that the manager alone does the talking - as Fergie says, “Keane can debilitate the most confident person in seconds with that tongue”. Judging by the way they play, the Republic of Ireland international football team is not comprised of the most self-assured people on the planet.

Throughout his comparably short managerial career, Keane has already contrived to fall out with three members of the current Ireland squad; Jon Walters, Anthony Stokes and Damien Delaney. The natural animosity Keane

breeds means that he must learn to appreciate his new post as a learning role. After all, there is little on his CV to suggest that he is a manager of the same calibre as O’Neill.

So as for the choice to hire Keane, it’s not a case of too many cooks in the kitchen, per se, but it may be a case of one cook in the kitchen while his apprentice turns up the heat past the point of comfort.

As it stands, there isn’t enough quality in the Republic of Ireland squad to confidently assert that with the help of a good manager we can qualify for Euro 2016 and look good doing it. But O’Neill is certainly a good manager, worthy of patience and support. One thing that can be guaranteed with Keane onside, however, is that if O’Neill builds a squad worthy of 25-plane tickets to Paris in 28 months’ time, at least the bibs and balls will land before the players do.

he 2013 Indian Grand Prix saw Sebastian Vettel join a select group of drivers, when he claimed his fourth consecutive Formula One World Championship. His dominance then continued the following week in Abu Dhabi, where he won his eleventh race of the season. The performances he has shown over the last eight months have got racing commentators the world over asking the same question: is Seb one of the greatest champions to have graced the arena of F1? For me, the answer is no.

It is a difficult task to try and classify greatness.

Many factors need to be considered first and foremost; the number of world championships, race victories and pole positions are the usual starting points but, where F1 is concerned, the idea of a driver being talented, exciting and charismatic are just as important as the statistics. It is, yet again, even more difficult when you consider the ever changing technological landscape and culture of the sport.

To consider Vettel in the pantheon of F1 greats, I have to compare him to the likes of Juan Manuel Fangio (five championships), Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Ayrton Senna (three each), Alain Prost (four) and, more recently, Michael Schumacher (seven) and Fernando Alonso (two).

There can be no disputing their places on the list of the greatest F1 drivers to skim the asphalt. Fangio, Stewart and even Lauda come from a bygone era which placed reckless abandon in the corners on top of the list of priorities of tyres, engine and suspension. The sheer disregard for their own safety that they showed, while driving what can only be described as 900 BHP death-traps, led to a style of racing that favoured attack over defence, and thus led to more challenging Grands Prix with less uniform in the way results fell. Consequently, it was quite an achievement in the heyday of the 60’s and 70’s to win one World Championship, let alone three or four.

Comparing this to the modern day then, we know that Vettel enjoys a greater amount of safety than his predecessors. However, he also is fortunate enough to be employed by the richest team on the circuit, Red Bull, with a technical backroom team consisting of Christian Horner and Adrian Newey that have produced the fastest car on the paddock for the last four years, certainly in terms of power and aerodynamics.

The seemingly bottomless pit of finance at Red Bull added to the design genius of Newey and the tactical mastery of Horner means that Vettel is practically at a head-start for every race he competes in.

For the last four years he has simply needed to turn up to a race, hope for dry weather, secure pole and cruise to victory. His main task then seems to be less about racing and more about maintenance of his tyres and engine – hardly champion attributes to write home about.

That’s not to take away from Vettel as a driver; you don’t win four World Championships by being mediocre. He’s a good driver, but when we examine the performances of Vettel among other great champions there are key elements which he lacks to being considered a ‘great’ champion.

In one instance, he has never come close to the superiority shown by his fellow countryman Michael Schumacher in his handling of wet conditions.

His best performance in this regard – Monza in 2008 – pales in comparison to some of Schumi’s finest drives in the wet: Suzuka (2000) and Sepang (2001) are just two noteworthy mentions. The hallmark of a great champion is versatility: Stewart, Lauda and were just as accomplished on the wet, green hills of Spa and the Nurburgring as they were on the bonedry expanses of Kyalami in South Africa.

If we contrast the situation of Vettel with other drivers on the circuit today, you start to see more of what I mean. Alonso, driving for a Ferrari team which is a shadow of its former glorious self, has for the last two years single-handedly kept the Maranello outfit’s fortunes alive with some blistering performances, and last year nearly did the unthinkable and snatch the world title from Vettel. The Spaniard has shown the hallmarks of a true champion these past years; hunger, endeavour, attacking intent combined with charisma off-track that can see him comfortably placed in the hall of great champions.

Aside from that however, it essentially seems just a little bit early to consider Vettel a great champion just yet. It may potentially mean him winning three more titles as per Schumacher, breaking every record on the way, or he may grind his way to another championship with an inferior car to his competitors – although the likelihood of this is slim. Either way it is unfortunate for him that the sheer advantage he enjoys before the wheels turn on his car for every race means that as things stand he falls short of that elusive branding of ‘great champion’, which so few of his peers have achieved.

The University Times //

UT Sport 15

Tuesday 19th November 2013

Sports in Brief GAA

The men’s senior football team won their first match of the season, and their final game of their league group, away to IT Blanchardstown. A tough match was reflected in the tight result, with Trinity winning 1-11 to 1-10. The same week saw the ladies team beat NUI Maynooth, also by one point, 4-9 to 3-11. The men’s intermediate team progressed to the quarter final of the league, by beating Carlow away. They overcame DIT on Thursday evening to advance to the semi-finals.

The camogie team have also been in good form recently, beating strong competition in the form of DCU. The hurlers were also buoyed by the awarding of a Hurling All-Star to Danny Sutcliffe. Sutcliffe, a forward for Trinity, was rewarded for his exploits in league and championship this year with the Dublin squad.

Equestrian DU Equestrian club were represented at the National Tetrathlon Championships in Kilkenny on the second weekend in November. In a very competitive environment, Trinity’s team finished second overall; edged out by three points, by a UCD contingent. The team consisted of Hugh Weldon, Conor Ledingham, Sari Coakley and Joanna Tottenham.

Volleyball Trinity’s Premier Ladies volleyball team have made a very promising start to the season, winning their first three games. All three opening league matches have gone to five sets, with the collegiate side winning 3-2 against the Ballymun Patriots, the Dublin Volleyball Club and NUIG. Fortunes have not been the same for the men’s team in Division 1 however, as they have been bested in straight sets

by Aer Lingus and Munster Thunder.

Soccer

Trinity have fought their way to the top of the CUFL Division 1 Group D table. The tournament is a university specific league, and DUAFC currently lead their group on goal difference. They have accumulated 10 points, drawing 1-1 with IT Tallaght, beating Sallynoggin 2-0 and hammering NCI 8-0 and Bray IFE 10-0. In the Senior Division 1B league, the team sits mid-table, with a number of games in hand. Recent results include a 3-1 away win against Glenmore Dundrum. They have been drawn against St. Mochta’s FC in the FAI Intermediate Cup.

Basketball Trinity’s men’s basketball team advanced through the first round of the Dublin League Cup with a convincing victory over Tempelogue. A final score of 99-77 saw them through the game, with top scorer Daniel Darby contributing thirty-nine points to the win. League fixtures are scheduled to start in December.

Fencing DUFC travelled to England to take on some of the best fencing colleges across the Irish Sea in a number of challenge bouts. While results from the bouts were mixed, positive results emerged from the women’s epee and men’s novice foil against Oxford. There were also overall men’s wins against University College London and King’s College London.

by Conor Bates

Photo by Leanna Byrne

Trinity Ladies Top the Table Sarah Ledden Staff Writer Trinity College – 4 DIT – 1

O

n the back of an impressive 15-0 victory over Drogheda IFE, Dublin University Ladies AFC had high hopes going into their final group game against DIT. When last DULAFC played on College Park they opened their season with a 3-1 win over IT Blanchardstown.

Maintaining their winning form and driven by the mo-

mentum of their previous wins, Trinity beat DIT by a respectable scoreline of 4-1.

After a disappointing season last year, the increase of numbers signing up to the team and the influx of fresh feet sculpted new boundaries for the club.

The tension of expectation and the knowledge

Getting To Grips with the Taekwondo World Championships Phil O’Gorman Contributing Writer

W

Illustration by Alicia Mitchell

here to start? I suppose an appropriate place would be the selection for the team. I was utterly surprised at being picked in early July 2012.

I’d only recently suffered from severe tonsillitis which resulted in an absence of training until my tonsils were removed. With this four month layoff behind me the selection was very unexpected. It was at this point that the wheels began to turn.

From here on the new training regimes, diet plans and different general organisation came into place. Training consisted of two sessions per day; one in your own time and

that a positive result would lead to succession in the league, perhaps led to a slow start from the Trinity ladies, as both sets of teams struggled to adjust to the wet pitch conditions and adapt to their competition. A long-range shot from DIT’s Laura Chambers in the early stages of the game, which struck the top of the crossbar, was the catalyst needed to ignite a spark in the match that would carry through to the end.

Midfield battles have always been considered crucial with responsibilities to both attack and defend, initiate and conclude offensive moves and prevent opposition advances.

DIT and Trinity appeared equally matched in midfield in the first half with no dominance emerging.

It was when quick passing was imposed by the home team that the DIT defence was broken down, with Trinity displaying one- and two-touch passing finesse, frequently working the ball into an ideal position to cross or

shoot.

The passing and movement from Trinity worked in their favour as accurate and well-timed passing attributed to each of their four goals. Trinity were first to convert from their chances with Vanessa Hullon’s low cross finding the feet of Alex Millstrom who coolly slotted the ball into the bottom corner, out of the DIT goalkeeper’s reach. Millstrom’s goal

then a taekwondo class in the evening. We also had squad sessions every second weekend in many venues all across the country.

I think that’s a big thing that people don’t see. Bystanders always see the end product of an athlete and put it down to “innate talent”. It is far from that. The amount of hours, scarifies and tough decisions that must go into your routine and training are endless. These are what make all the difference.

This year the World Championships were held in Benidorm, Spain. This was a bit of a pity, in my own opinion, because the three previous World Championships were in New Zealand, Argentina and Canada, respectively.

We arrived on a late Tuesday evening into Benidorm and got transported to the Grand Hotel Bali where we all prepared for weigh in the next day.

Many people still had those last few pounds to shed.

After the formalities, Wednesday then consisted of a final training session and preparing game plans.

The nerves started to kick in at this point. All you can think of is all the hours you have trained, all the sacrifices you have made. It could all go down the drain in a matter of minutes. Positivity is often subsumed by the nervous energies.

With three wins from three games, DU Ladies AFC have a very optimistic season ahead of them injected a new pace to the Trinity attack with Ciara Harris striking a free-kick minimally over the bar and Amy Hannigan seeing a last minute save prevent the score from doubling.

DIT were determined to prevent this increase from happening and, went one further, as they succeeded in equalising.

A well-timed through

Bystanders always see the end product of an athlete and put it down to “innate talent” Thursday marked the first day of the competition and after waiting around you hear your country followed by your name being called. Feeling butterflies at this point

ball caught the defence off guard for DIT’s Laura Chambers to drop the ball over the head of the Trinity keeper into the net. In most means of life, balance is a harmonious experience, but in a competitive game, only dissonance can follow the melody of an equalizer.

Trinity were quick to respond to this setback, with Allison Miller taking the ball down the wing, sweeping it into the box to Marissa Barnes who hit it first time into the back of the net.

Vanessa Hullon was denied a goal just before half-time when her strike bounced off the inside of the crossbar onto the goalline in a dramatic moment that would have reignited the goal-line technology debate. Perhaps a ‘Hawkeye’ system is overdue in College Park.

Despite her missed opportunity, Hullon soon recovered to set-up Ciara Harris, giving Trinity a two goal lead at half-time.

With a flow of substitutions in the second half, fatigued feet were not given a

chance to slow the pace of the game. Trinity appeared the more threatening side with many convertible chances hitting the framework of the goal or being sent skyward.

The DIT defence recovered well from the challenged being forced upon them, but as Trinity began to dominate the crucial midfield area, many of their clearances were returned their way.

DIT struggled to push forward, opting more regularly to take long-range chances that were easily dealt with by Fisher.

Trinity put the game beyond all doubt when Barnes’ head met Harris’ corner entry for her second goal of the day and making the final-whistle scoreline 4-1 to Trinity.

With three wins from three games, DU Ladies AFC have a very optimistic season ahead of them. With their win against DIT, they finish top of the Dublin North first division group with maximum points and will now progress into the final stages of the league.

would be an understatement. Many competitors have been known to get sick prior to stepping on the mat. I walked to the edge of the mat, tricolour embroidered on the chest and Ireland livery displayed on my back. You can’t help but feel honoured.

The feeling of stepping out there knowing that your representing your country. It’s indescribable.

I thought to myself; “why do I do this to myself?” I deny my friends time and torture myself in the training just to step on to those mats and feel so nervous it almost amounts in physical illness. Some might say it’s ridiculous but the feeling of winning a taekwondo bout makes it all worth it.

The level of competition is incredible. You make one small, almost negligible mistake and it could cost you your gold medal.

Unfortunately, I made one

mistake in the third round which cost me my competition against a ruthless Italian, Rosario Ciccarelli.

It was the end for me on this occasion, and he went on to be the overall silver medallist, in this category.

I was gutted. More for the fact that I knew I was better than I had shown. It was just a small mistake, but it’s motivated me to try again as I know I’m definitely capable of a gold.

The sport has changed me a profound amount.

I give everything my all, even outside of sport, I’m competitive in the stupidest ways and I respect anybody who excels in sport, no matter what it is, because I know the dedication and motivation you need to succeed. This experience is the culmination and the beginning, of a sporting odyssey for me.

The next step is “Open Dutch 2014” in January and I’m as focussed as I’ve ever been.

UT Sport

Tuesday 19th November 2013 // The University Times

Trinity Toppled by Terenure Conor Bates Sports Editor

Dublin University – 17 Terenure College – 26

The DUFC woe was compounded as Terenure forced their way over the line for a 19-12 lead

T

he adopted home ground of Trinity’s rugby team has not proved a happy hunting ground to date, with the side slumping to two losses in their home games so far.

Their poor season has also been compounded by two away losses and a number of injuries to key players.

All of this meant that DUFC were rooted to the bottom of Division 1B with a home encounter against tabletopping Terenure on the cards.

Despite the pressure on the collegiate side, they started off very positively, with an Ariel Robles chance for a try cut short at the Terenure goal line. They would rue this chance as the game settled down over the opening minutes, and the two teams began to take their turns with the ball.

Trinity certainly saw less of the possession over the first fifteen minutes, making only small gains in attack. This is to be expected when you consider the fact that the starting team has changed consistently from game to game, hindering the formation of any regular partnerships across the squad. Inconsistency like this will ultimately show on the pitch, and after some decent attacking Terenure play, the eighteenth minute marked the opening of the floodgates.

Terenure were brought to a halt by a penalty, which Trinity chose to scrum.

Scrum-half, James Sullivan released the pass from the back of the set piece, but a

mix-up saw it picked off by his opposite number. The grateful Terenure recipient darted ten metres to the line for an easy try, which was converted.

Following the restart, it took Trinity a few minutes to regain possession once more. Some more incisive play from the home side was rewarded by a penalty thirty metres from goal, on the right hand side. Outside centre, Conor Kearns, took the kick for DUFC, which crossed the face of the goal, narrowly missing outside the left post. He had a chance to redeem himself moments later, however, when Trinity won another penalty. This time Kearns found himself the same distance out, but on the opposite side of the pitch. The angle was obviously more favourable to Kearns, as he narrowed Trinity’s deficit, to make the score 7-3.

Both sides were employing a mix of running and kicking attacks by this point, and as Trinity were clawing themselves back into contention the balance could have been tipped in either sides favour. Trinity added to their account with another Conor Kearns penalty. The last action of the half provided DUFC with a very proud goal line stand, against a mounting Terenure attack. Inside the Trinity five-metre line, Terenure employed their powerful and effective maul. On this occasion it would be to no avail, as Trinity pushed

Photo by Conor Bates back with the might of their respective forwards. The defending pack, most notably Martin Kelly, Will Scott and captain Jack Kelly, drove the maul backwards and out over the line, much to the delight of the home fans and the coaching staff.

Upon forcing a lineout, the referee drew the half to a close.

DUFC carried their momentum through the half, opening the second period with a great burst of attacking play, winning a penalty, and scoring it, to take the lead for the first time. Much to their

Every Trinity step forward was followed by two steps back

dismay, however, pole-sitters Terenure rebound- e d with greater strength. In the 46th minute the south Dublin side sliced through the college defence, scoring beside the post, and converting for a 14-9 lead.

Photo by Paul Colton

Trinity Hockey Strong in Home Intervarsities Stephen Ludgate Deputy Sports Editor

T

he Zoti Hockey Intervarsities took place in Three Rock Rovers Hockey Club as a joint-hosted competition

by Trinity and RCSI. Twenty-four teams competed in four separate men’s and ladies competitions – The

Mauritius Cup and Plate and the Chilean Cup and Plate. This year the tournament was restructured so that both men’s and women’s competitions had ‘A’ and ‘B’ divisions, to create more competitive matches and prevent the wide divide of standard which had been seen in previous years. Each division was composed of six teams and

relegation and promotion would then occur between the winner of the Plate and the bottom placed team in the Cup, for the following year.

The Trinity men’s team played the first game of the men’s ‘A’ division – the Mauritius Cup – against reigning champions, UCC, early on the Sunday morning. Trinity came into the

Trinity, to their credit, fought back once more, earning themselves another penalty in scoring range.

Conor Kearns, having found his kicking range, dispatched this one to narrow the gap. The initial infringement also resulted in a yellow card for Terenure, giving the home team an impetus to attack for ten minutes.

However, as was becoming typical in this clash, every Trinity step forward was followed by two steps back. The 52nd minute saw winger Niyi Adeolukan sent to the sin-bin, levelling the numerical advantage that Trinity had held.

Terenure remounted their attack, kicking the ball deep into Trinity territory.

There was a moment of worry for DUFC as fullback Jack Fitzpatrick dived in an effort to secure the ball, and received a boot to the head from the onrushing attackers. The DUFC woe was compounded as Terenure forced their way over the line for a 19-12 lead.

The middle section of the second half was undoubtedly the worst period of Trinity’s day, as the visiting

team relentlessly piled on the pressue. DUFC were as resolute in defence as they could be, but ultimately, the time spent without the ball meant the result was only going one way.

Terenure made their dominance pay at this time, kicking a penalty inside the Trinity five metre line, and mauling towards the line.

In a rather suspect call, referee Mark Patton showed Jack Kelly a yellow card for tackling in the maul situation. With no real justification for this booking, Kelly left the field, and saw his side concede a try in the corner moments later. The conversion made the score 26-12.

After this concession in the 65th minute, Trinity responded with their most lively attack of the day. In driving up the pitch, the collegiate side found themselves ten metres from the line, and with an overlap.

The pass from the back of a ruck was intended to be worked through the line.

However, a mishandling of the ball saw it slip straight out to the wing and into the hands of Niyi Adeolukan. Fresh from his break

in the sin-bin, Adeolukan burst through a tackle and touched down in the corner to give Trinity something to smile about. Conor Kearns could not make the conversion from wide on the left.

Trinity pushed for a losing bonus point in the dying minutes, including a great run from Ariel Robles and Brian Du Toit, which ultimately came to nothing. A speculative drop at goal by Mark Nicholson was blocked, and one final run from Paddy Lavelle ultimately saw the ball kicked away. The game finished 26-17.

This was another tough encounter for Trinity, who have been blighted by injury and poor form this year.

Facing the current division leaders while the club is in this trough was never going to be an easy task, and it proved so on the day.

Without the consistency that they enjoyed last year, it could be a bleak season for DUFC, who sit at the bottom of the table. That said, there were glimpses of the rugby we have come to expect from our side. A win with that panache could kickstart the season.

game on the back of nine successive defeats while UCC were high on confidence, sitting in second position in Munster’s Division 1. UCC started brightly winning a short corner in the opening moments; however the Trinity defence managed to clear their lines and the team began to settle into the game.

Trinity broke the deadlock in the 12th minute, when a crash ball across the UCC goal was deflected in by Steven Roberts.

UCC pressed hard to find an equaliser leaving themselves exposed on the break and Trinity managed to take advantage of this and extend their lead.

A neat one-two between Roberts and Fred Mann allowed Roberts to find Neal Megarity unmarked on the back post; Megarity coolly slotted the ball into the net, scoring his first goal for Trinity after three years.

UCC pulled one back early in the second half from a short corner, but soon after, Will O’Connell made it 3-1. UCC responded with a second, setting up a nervy ending. Despite

five short corners after the final whistle, UCC failed to find the net for a third time, allowing Trinity to secure their first win of the season.

Trinity played their second game against DIT on the Sunday evening, losing 4-2 to a side laden with Division 1 talent and featuring three senior Irish internationals. The result meant that Trinity were relying on DIT to beat UCC in the remaining pool game. DIT did what was needed for Trinity, beating UCC 7-6 in an enthralling tie. UCD won both of their group games, in the other pool, to set up a semi-final with Trinity. This left DCU and UCC to battle to avoid relegation; UCC ran out 10-1 winners.

Another corner followed shortly with the same result, Burns grabbing his second of the evening. Kirk Shimmins added a third before the half time break, leaving UCD in a very strong position. Despite the best efforts of Trinity, UCD, whose team also featured three senior Irish internationals, added three more in the second half.

This sent UCD through to the final where they would meet DIT who got the better of University of Ulster in extra time. The final was a high quality game, which saw DIT take a 2-0 lead into half time. However a Burns hat trick, all from short corners, gave UCD a 3-2 victory and their second intervarsity crown in three years.

The Semi-Final The semi-final between Trinity and UCD started at high pace and began with both teams having chances to break the deadlock. The match remained scoreless until the 21st minute, when UCD won their first short corner which was duly dispatched by Nick Burns.

Trinity Ladies The Trinity ladies team were competing in the ladies plate competition as a result of their 7th place finish last year. They were drawn in a group with RCSI and NUI Maynooth. The ladies team progressed with two comfortable victories

Starting Team 1. Darragh Crosbie 2. Adam Brady 3. Martin Kelly 4. Will Scott 5. Jack Kelly 6. Pierce Dargan 7. Brian Du Toit 8. Nick McCarthy 9. James Sullivan 10. Mark Nicholson 11. Niyi Adeolukan 12. Paddy Lavelle 13. Conor Kearns 14. Ariel Robles 15. Jack Fitzpatrick

Substitutes 16. Colm Goode 17. Andy Keating 18. Hugh McLellan 19. Jack Costigan 20. Caleb Morrison

to meet UL in the semifinals. Despite dominating for the duration of the match, Trinity were unable to find a breakthrough and the match progressed to penalty strokes as the deadlock couldn’t be broken. Despite their supremacy in normal time, the ladies team suffered a heart-breaking defeat in penalties, condemning them to another year of plate hockey. UL went on to beat IT Tallaght in the Chilean Plate final, gaining promotion for the following year.

The IT Tallaght men made amends for their ladies plate defeat, beating Carlow IT on sudden death penalty strokes after a 3-3 draw in the Mauritius Plate final. The tense shootout required eighteen penalties before reaching a conclusion.

In the ladies cup UCD met University of Ulster in the final, looking to avenge a 4-3 defeat in the pool stages. Both teams had benefitted from a wealth of senior international experience but it was UCD who ran out 3-1 winners, replicat-

ing the university’s double of 2011. Aisling Naughton got the first goal with Anna O’Flanagan making it 2-0 to UCD at half-time. Emily Beatty got the third before Vanessa Surgenor got what scored a consolation for UU. The Irish Universities team trialists were also selected from the three day competition, and eight Trinity students; Connor Montgomery, Aran Rooney, Geoff Garrett, Stephen Ludgate, Vera Taaffe, Anna May Whelan, Avril Dooley O’Carroll and Sophie Marshall were all selected after their performances at the tournament. The tournament was a huge success and will be hosted by Queens University next year in Belfast. The event proved to be very positive for Trinity Hockey both on and off the field, with Roger West and Ruth Potterton, the respective club presidents, club captains Matthew Lewis and Emma McErlean and their committees all seeing the bounty of their effort in a very successful intervarsity weekend.