The University Times: Issue 3 2022 (Broadsheet)

Thingmote: Down Under Life in Colourblind

The Long Nightmare Missing the Net

PhDs Face Delays in Promised €500 Pre-Christmas Payment

EDITOR

The €500 increase in the phd sti pend promised to postgraduate re searchers funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the Irish Research Council (IRC) as part of Budget 2023 has been delayed to early 2023.

In an email seen by The University Times, the programme man ager at the SFI Centre for Research Training in Digitally-Enhanced

Reality (d-real) in Trinity said that the €500 payment is “a one-off payment that the government are to make to phd students funded by sfi and irc” and that “the timing is delayed”.

“Accounts believe that there will be no payment for novem ber 2022 but they are working on getting this sorted by the end of the year, if they can”, the email continued.

An email sent to the heads of SFI and the IRC by the PhDs’ Col lective action union (PCAU) and the Post

graduate Workers Alli ance (PGWA) revealed that “there have been conflicting answers from universities, de partments and centres for research training on the matter” with some being told the payment “will ‘likely’ be on the december payroll, with others not expecting it to ar rive until 2023”.

The email added: “given that the maxi mum annual stipend of a phd researcher in this country is more than €3,000 below minimum wage, and phds do not have any

High Society Celebrations

workers’ rights or pro tections, you can un derstand that many of our members are concerned about the coming winter and the cost of living crisis”.

“While €500 may not be a large payment, many of our mem bers live on the mar gins, and this could mean the difference between paying rent or heating a house. Given the promise of this payment in 2022, many have factored it into their budgets.”

“The PCAU expects your organisation to live up to this prom

ise to ensure that phd researchers remain in their homes this win ter”, the letter contin ued, “and do not have to make difficult deci sions on heating, food, and basic necessities”.

The email finished by requesting clarifi cation on “i) whether this payment will be provided to phd re searchers in 2022 as promised and ii) when phd researchers can expect this payment to reach their accounts”.

SFI and the IRC have been contacted for comment.

Provost Discusses Precarious Employment at Address to College

other situations.”

Provost Linda Doyle today spoke on a number of issues fac ing Trinity’s commu nity in an address to the college providing updates on activities over the past year. One of the most pressing issues dis cussed was the ques tion of precarious employment and academic promo tion. Explaining the promotion system within College, Doyle said: “In Trinity, typi cally we have aca demic promotions, and we’ve had what we call role grading for academic staff”.

“We have a lot of conversations about precarious work and the people in vari ous situations. Some of them we can do something about, others we may not be able to. There is a better way and I be lieve we’ll find it.”

“I expect there will be things where we see that we need to stop the prac tice and there is op portunity for these jobs to be perma nent”, she explained.

“I expect I will also see that there’s noth ing you can do about

Long Covid: A Misunderstood Condition

When asked about what the college in tends to do to alleviate precarity by Dr. En rica Ferrara, a lecturer in the School of Ital ian, Doyle responded: “I think people need to have more integ rity in the first place when hiring people in terms of laying out what’s possible, where the job can go and where it can’t”.

Dr. Niall Kennedy, a teaching fellow in the School of French, asked whether the col lege intends to have core modules and how they intend to find people to teach them if they are paid less than €10k a year.

Doyle replied that College intends to see “who’s working on what and what kind of employment condi tions they have”, and to “see if [they] can group things together into a full-time position or if [they] need to stop things altogether”.

Matt Murtagh White, a member of the PhDs’ Collective Ac tion Union (PCAU), questioned the Prov ost on whether Col lege can still claim to provide fully-funded PhDs considering the current stipends. He

also asked Doyle if she supports minimum standards for PhD re searchers in training.

“I don’t think you can say it’s a fully funded stipend anymore,” Doyle responded. “I think PhDs who are working should be treated with con tracts for that work separate to a stipend.”

She also acknowl edged the various levels of funding that PhDs receive, and that none of them are ad equate in light of the cost of living crisis.

Doyle added that “[Simon Harris] is driving for all HEIs to collectively do a much better analy sis of the conditions that people are in”.

The Provost also ad dressed the HEA Bill: “The HEA Bill that many people in this room have been work ing with and against was passed through the Dáil and the Se anad yesterday”.

She acknowledged that “we’ve done an awful lot of work, as have many people in this room, because we’ve been worried about the general parts of the bill” before stat ing “we’re at the end of the journey in terms of the bill being passed

PCAU To Submit Proposal on PhD Rights

tions of – employees under Irish Law”, the FRA states.

The PhDs’ Collec tive Action Union (PCAU) have pro duced a document outlin ing their demands for fair research and pay conditions.

The document, titled the Fair Postgraduate Research er Agreement (FRA), will be submitted to Minister for Higher Education and Research Simon Harris as part of the ongoing review of PhD supports in Ireland.

The agreement was initially drafted by the PCAU executive and received input from Union members before being pre sented at a Town Hall on Friday.

“It is the core belief of the PhDs’ Collective Action Union (PCAU) that all postgraduate researchers in Ireland should be recognised as – and of fered the rights and protec

“PG employees should be paid at least a living wage, based on the current value of the Minimum Essential Standards (MES) model”, the document continues.

“The MES model ensures that the salary paid to PG employees is tracked to the cost of essential goods and guarantees that PG employ ees are paid enough to meet physical, psychological and social needs in Ireland.”

On the topic of working con ditions for postgraduate re searchers, the document states that “all [postgraduate] em ployees have the right to per form their duties under fair em ployment terms” and that “the specifications of these terms must be clearly stated in an employment contract” offered to postgraduate researchers before they begin their roles. The fair employment terms

as outlined by the PCAU in clude a work week of not more than 48 hours across all re sponsibilities, that the total time spent in a teaching role not exceed 10 hours per week unless otherwise requested (in which case it should not exceed 20 hours per week), and that the time spent pre paring for lecturing and demonstrating be paid at the same rate as teaching hours.

The document also empha sises the issues faced by nonEU postgraduate researchers and outlines ways to reform the system to support them, including having institutions cover the costs of immigra tion fees, extending the Irish Residency Permit expiration date to cover the full period of study, reducing tuition fees and granting access to health and disability support.

The issue of spouse rights for non-EU postgraduate re searchers is also covered.

“Spouses and dependents of all [postgraduate] em ployees, whether they be EU citizens or not, should have full working rights in Ire land”, the document states.

“Non-EU [postgraduate] em ployees should be included in the Hosting Agreement Scheme, as is the case with those pursu ing post-doctoral research. Time spent as a [postgradu ate] should count towards all Irish residency requirements in accordance with the Host ing Agreement Scheme, and the right for dependents to re side in the country extended to [postgraduate] employees as is consistent with the scheme.”

In a press release issued af ter the Town Hall, PCAU stat ed that the FRA “serves as a central manifesto and set of demands, outlining the core demands that PCAU consid ers to be basic rights of PhD and postgraduate researchers”.

Eoghan Kennedy

PHOTO BY AILBHE NOONAN FOR THE UNIVERSITY TIMES

High Society Celebrations Provost Linda Doyle held an afternoon reception for the heads of student societies, clubs and publications in the Provost’s

House behind House 1.

Ailbhe Noonan Editor

Eleanor Moseley reviews The Banshees of Inisherin and examines the film’s themes of isolation and male frienships

Professor Chris Morash writes about his analyses of Australian street signs on his travels in Melbourne and how academics should embark on more research projects analysing the signage page 8 »

Siothrún Sardina shows us what it’s like to experience the world as a colourblind person page 4

Faye Murphy examines the impacts of Long Covid on the student population by speaking to three students who have experienced its crippling effects page 4 »

Eoghan Kennedy McPartlan details the rise and fall of the Trinity Meteors in their match against reigning national champions DCU page 9 »

Ailbhe Noonan

PHOTO BY AILBHE NOONAN FOR THE UNIVERSITY TIMES

Ailbhe Noonan and Phoebe Pascoe

PCAU to Submit Proposal on PhD Rights

In the same press release, PCAU Data Officer Matt Murtagh said: “It was re ally fantastic to see a full room and we now have some fantastic contribu tions from our members on the Fair Postgraduate Researcher Agreement”.

“We’re now in a place where we can look forward to the release of the final docu ment and finally get the ball rolling on meaningful improvements to the welfare of postgraduate researchers in Ireland.”

Government to Reduce Student Contribution Charge by €1k

30%

Harris Outlines SUSI Grant, Stipends at Press Briefing

Minister for Higher Education and Re search Simon Harris confirmed a number of measures outlined in Budget 2023 at a press conference today, including the €1,000 reduc tion in the student contribution fees and a 10–14 per cent increase in the SUSI grant.

Speaking at the conference about the student grant increase, Minister Harris said: “we’ve gone from a minority of students in Ireland qualifying for support to a majority of students now qualifying for support.”

The government has announced a once-off reduction in the student con tribution charge by €1,000 as part of Budget 2023 in an attempt to address the rising cost of living and attending university.

This accompanies a once-off double payment of the SUSI grant and a onceoff payment for PhD students to assist with the costs of living.

Announcing the measures to the Dáil today, Minister for Public Expend iture and Reform Michael McGrath said: “To support students and their families, I am announcing a range of measures that will benefit young peo ple in this Budget including a once-off reduction in the Student Contribution of €1,000 for eligible students in the 2022-2023 education year.”

He also announced “a once-off double monthly payment for those in receipt of the SUSI maintenance grant” and an extension to “the 20 per cent public transport fare reduction and the Youth Travel Card discount of 50 per cent on all operators’ services to end 2023”.

“If you’re in receipt of the highest rate of the student grant you will have been due to get over €600 in the month of December. You will now be due to get over €1,300 in December”

Minister for Higher Education and Research Simon Harris announces a double payment for SUSI grant holders to be given on December 16th.

HEA Bill Passes With Amendments Securing Student Union Representation

The Higher Education Authority (HEA) Bill was passed in the Seanad with amendments guaranteeing student union representation on the governing authorities of higher education institutions.

Independent senators Alice-Mary Higgins and Lynn Ruane of the Civil Engagement Group had proposed amendments to the bill that would require student members of academic govern ing authorities to be student union representa tives.

The amendments were backed by the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) in an open letter to Minister for Higher Education and Research Simon Harris.

The USI had called for the new HEA Bill to clarify that student representatives must be members of students’ unions and to establish a clear definition of a students’ union.

Trinity Med Day Aim to Pass €1m Threshold on their 21st Anniversary

Moody-Stuart Senior Editor

Trinity Med Day, a student charity or ganisation run by Trinity’s medical students, was aiming to pass the €1 million mark with the to tal funds raised since the organisation’s foundation in 2002.

The group is raising the money to “say thank you to the hospitals and patients

that teach us so much”.

This year’s Med Day fell on Friday 4th November.

Medical students were spotted around campus and Dublin city sporting bright green shirts and “would appreciate any couple of coins you could spare”, says chairperson Tara Muldoon Breslin.

The money will be dis tributed to five different areas including exercise equipment in the Crum

lin stem cell transplant unit and respiratory equipment for a neu romuscular clinic, and upgrades to patient wel fare including a waiting room for cancer patients attending psychiatry ap pointments, methods of keeping older patients connected in hospitals to reduce loneliness and a specialist fridge for a Blackrock hospice.

Each year since Med

Day’s inception 21 years ago, medical students across disciplines have successfully organised fund drives with the money going towards equipment and invest ment for the hospitals in which Trinity’s medical students train.

Med Day itself sees all lectures for medical stu dents cancelled in fa vour of fundraising in locations across the city.

Harris Announces Over €22m in Funding for Student Supports

Minister for Higher Educa tion and Re search Simon Harris has today announced €22 million in funding for student supports and mental health re sources in colleges across Ireland, includ ing €17.1 million to wards student supports and €5 million towards supporting students’ mental health and well being.

Speaking on the €5 million investment in mental health resourc es, Minister Harris said: “Students have endured an incredibly difficult

few years and this fund ensures we can continue to invest in services and in the wellbeing of stu dents”.

In a press statement discussing the fund ing towards student supports, Harris said: “Budget 2023 recog nised the significant cost of education facing students and their par ents”.

“That is why we re duced the contribution fee by €1,000 for all un dergraduate free fees eligible students and increased all student maintenance grant pay ments by at least 10 per cent effective from Janu ary.”

“The Student Assistance

Fund is available in pub lically funded colleges across the country and is accessible to anyone who needs help with the day-to-day costs such as transport, rent, child care, college materials etc.”

In the same press re lease, CEO of the High er Education Author ity (HEA) Dr Alan Wall added that “the positive mental health and well being of our students in higher education is a building block to their success as learners”.

“By creating support ive learning environ ments institutions and institutional leaders can assist students in navi gating the changes and

challenges students may encounter during their time in formal educa tion and afterwards.”

He added: “In using this funding to provide students with access to supports and to mobi lise all members of the campus community to implement the National Student Mental Health and Suicide Preven tion Framework, HEIs can provide the leader ship needed in the post Covid learning environ ment to enhance the student experience, to ensure each student can capitalise on their po tential and contribute overall to their positive development.”

Students work together from 7am to collect do nations towards their hospitals.

Last year’s Med Day saw students collecting donations towards the speech and therapy team in Tallaght Hospital, where they had planned to invest in software enabling patients in in tensive care to commu nicate and control their environment.

They also attempted to raise funds for an Auto mated Chemotherapy Preparation Robot for cancer treatment in St James’s Hospital in ad dition to other essen tial equipment and ser vices such as exercise equipment for patients undergoing haemat opoietic stem cell trans plantation.

This equipment aims to improve fitness and

reduce frailty in patients undergoing this proce dure and overall improve their recovery.

Donations can be made through their Instagram and Twitter pages as well as their website.

You can keep up to date with this year’s Med Day Campaign by following their official accounts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @TrinityMed Day.

Provost Discusses Precarious Employment at Address to College

but we’re at the start of the journey in terms of what it means for us”.

Speaking further on the bill and the changes in board it will bring, Doyle said: “this is a huge op portunity for us to up date our governance”. She discussed the need to update committees that were constructed decades ago, as well as “the opportunity to have a biodiversity commu nity and embed the EDI that really matters to us”.

“We will be engag ing with that this year as we change the board in line with legislation.”

Doyle spoke further on matters of accommoda tion, reiterating that “we

would like to do some thing more about accom modation”. This involves 250 beds in Printing House Square, which will be the first new square in Trin ity for 100 years. She also touched on the expan sion of Trinity Hall, which has planning permission but is yet to gain funding.

Other changes to build ings on campus included the renovation of the Rubrics, which is “due to be finished in the first quarter of next year”. This will also have a geo thermal heating system.

The Provost also men tioned “facing our legacy issues head on.” Doyle ex plained that “we are an old

university and, by virtue of being a very old univer sity, we have a past. Some of that past is brilliant and some of it is not great”.

She added: “We want to ensure that we can have a really serious, proper, ev idence-based debate and not a debate on twitter”.

Doyle ended by com menting on the collabo rative role students and staff will play in Trinity’s future: “This is only the start of a conversation. There are many questions that need to be asked, but I also know we have great staff and students who will hold my feet to the fire and each others’ feet to the fire”.

The percentage under minimum wage that PhD researchers on the maxi mum stipend receive in payment.

“

The annual Schull Novice Cup took place in Cork’s Mardyke Arena on November 5th and 6th. The tournament is run every year by UCC’s fencing club for those who have been fencing two years and under. For many fencers, it is their first time competing and is a great place to learn as clubs come together to help out the beginners and novices. Trinity took home 12 of 24 available medals this year, making this the club’s best performance in many years.

Charlie

Staff and Students Express Concerns Over New College Board Makeup

Ailbhe Noonan EDITOR

Staff and students expressed concerns with the changes in the make-up of College Board as a result of the HEA Act 2022 at a town hall held in early Novem ber

Opening the town hall with an explanation of the key issues currently fac ing College Board, Regis trar Professor Neville Cox emphasised that the town hall was “a genuinely con sultative exercise” and that the voices being lost from College Board would continue to be heard.

“This is both a stream lining work of our exist ing college committees, but also ensuring that where there is some loss of representation on Board, the voices of members of the college community continue to be heard”, he said.

He identified four key areas of interest for the

Board make-up as out lined in the Act – inter nal membership, exter nal membership, student membership and the re duction in college officers.

According to the HEA Act 2022, the structure of College Board will change to include 11 internal members (six fellows and five non-fellows), six exter nal members and a Chair nominated and chosen by College and three ad ditional members nomi nated by the Minister for Higher Education and Research, three student members consisting of sabbatical officers and the Provost.

On the issue of the in ternal members, Cox iden tified several questions in cluding how they should be elected and which co horts should have a vote, how to ensure the best possible membership and whether policies such as the gender and grade quo tas should be revisited.

Similarly, for external

members, Cox noted that it would be important for College to clearly out line what competencies it would look for in exter nal appointments. He also added that while the de partment of higher edu cation requested a unified approach, they were un der no obligation to follow this.

Provost Linda Doyle added to this, stating: “The government is not forcing us to be uniform, they’re just trying to get us to have a similar ap proach”.

“Essentially, we are en titled to put our own nu ances on the kind of com petencies we want and the way we want things to be represented”, she said.

The issue of autonomy surrounding which Trin ity College Dublin Stu dents’ Union (TCDSU) sab batical officers would be part of College Board was also raised. “It was made clear at the 11th hour that the student members on

board would be students’ union members”, Cox stat ed.

He added that “it’s not really a matter for the col lege to tell students how to do their business” and raised the question of how the sabbatical officers are nominated and whether it should be specified in the charter which officers serve on the Board.

This was also applied to the question of postgradu ate representation on Col lege Board given the cur rent lack of recognition of the Graduate Students’ Union (GSU) after College cut ties with them in Sep tember.

Both László Molnárfi, the TCDSU School Con venor for the School of So cial Sciences and Philoso phy, and Professor Sarah Alyn-Stacey spoke in fa vour of a graduate repre sentative, with Alyn-Stac ey stating that she would “be very much in favour of the GSU having a rep resentative on board” and

Molnárfi stating that “the GSU should come back”.

“We should ensure that not only undergraduate students but also Masters and PhD students are rep resented”, Molnárfi added.

Jamie Rohu, the GSU En vironmental Officer for the 2021/22 academic year, asked how College Board was “going to allow post graduates to represent themselves on the Board when the GSU isn’t func tioning”.

The Provost responded by stating that “there will be a person on the board who represents postgrads and we will leave that gap for that person”.

“We may need to find an interim form of wording but it’s really important that that voice is heard in our college.”

Discussing the new reg ulations surrounding in ternal members of the Board, Chair of the Trinity branch of the Irish Federa tion of University Teachers

(IFUT) John Walsh point ed out that “there’s quite a significant reduction in staff representation in terms of the non-academ ic and the library and ad ministrative support cat egories” and that “it’s up to staff to elect their rep resentatives on the board and we shouldn’t be im posing significant restric tions on them as they do that”.

He added that College should “be pushing back on attempts to enforce standardisation from the department in terms of the external membership” and that it should “consid er the benefits and the val ue that retired staff mem bership could bring”.

Speaking on the ques tion of internal member ship, Ann Nolan voiced her support for the HEA Act and the new provi sions for College Board, saying that “it is impor tant to have external over sight of a public sector

body” and that she “actu ally welcome[s] this act”.

“I would be quite hesi tant to say that we should use the external alloca tion to only look for alum ni and retirees because I think we should be open to fresh and non-related Trinity perspectives”, she added.

The HEA Bill passed its final stages in the Oireach tas on October 6th. The Department of Further and Higher Education stated “this legislation will significantly reform governance legislation for higher education”, which would allow “the reconsti tution of governing bod ies to strengthen institu tional governance”.

Previous legislation dic tated that the number of members on a governing authority be “not less than 20 and not more than 40”. The current legislation “provide[s] for 19 member bodies”.

School of Physics Publishes Open Letter Calling for Provost’s Support For Increased Stipends

Ailbhe Noonan EDITOR

The Trinity Postgradu ate Workers’ Alliance (TCD PGWA) have published an open letter on behalf of PhD researchers in the School of Physics to the Provost calling for support for an increase in the rate of PhD research stipends.

The letter, written by PhD researchers and staff mem bers in the School of Phys ics, requests that the Prov ost take immediate action to engage with the ongoing review of PhD supports in Ireland and to call for a live able stipend.

The letter states that: “With the national review of state support for PhD re searchers on the horizon, we believe you have an im portant part to play in en suring a fair and equitable review process that leads to meaningful change”.

The demands in the let ter include “a public and official statement express ing your support for the im mediate issuance of a living wage pay for all current and incoming PhD researchers, regardless of their source

of funding” as well as regu lation that ensures that “all PhD teaching assistant work at Trinity College are paid per hour in addition to the stipend”.

It also requests that the Provost attend a meeting “with representatives from the [School of Physics] PhD researchers, the Dean of Graduate Studies and Head of [the School of Physics], to discuss how the above points can be best met and how Trinity College can support PhD researchers in their campaign for worker status”.

The School of Physics also state in the letter that “simi lar requests” for public sup port of the stipend increase “have also been raised with the Irish Research Council (IRC), Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), and other or ganisations responsible for the stipends received by PhD researchers in Ireland”.

“We believe that Trin ity acknowledges the huge contribution of their PhD researchers and ask you to explicitly and publicly show your support of their right to employment status and

a livable, taxed salary ad justed for inflation and sen iority.”

The letter further outlines that the current maximum stipend for PhD research ers in the School of Physics in Trinity is capped at €18.5k per year, which is below the Irish minimum wage.

“The recent government defined the living wage as

€12.90 per hour. The Irish Research Council and Sci ence Foundation Ireland sti pends fall drastically short of this, with the average PhD researcher receiving about €8.90 per hour”, the letter continues.

The letter ends by stating: “After years of underinvest ment, Irish universities and the Irish government must

act to maintain and grow the research landscape in Ireland”.

It was recently revealed by PGWA and the PhDs’ Collec tive Action Union (PCAU) that the €500 one-off pay ment promised to SFI and IRC-funded PhD students in Budget 2023 would be delayed, with some institu tions setting a date in De

cember and others saying that the money may not be paid until January 2023.

In an email seen by The University Times, the pro gramme manager at the SFI Centre for Research Train ing in Digitally-Enhanced Reality (d-real) in Trinity said that the €500 payment is “a one-off payment that the government are to make to PhD students funded by SFI and IRC” and that “the timing is delayed”.

“Accounts believe that there will be no payment for November 2022 but they are working on getting this sorted by the end of the year, if they can”, the email continued.

An email sent to the heads of SFI and the IRC by PCAU and PGWA revealed that “there have been conflicting answers from universities, departments and centres for research training on the matter” with some being told the payment “will ‘like ly’ be on the December pay roll, with others not expect ing it to arrive until 2023”.

The email added: “Given that the maximum annual stipend of a PhD researcher

in this country is more than €3,000 below minimum wage, and PhDs do not have any workers’ rights or protections, you can un derstand that many of our members are concerned about the coming winter and the cost of living crisis”.

“While €500 may not be a large payment, many of our members live on the mar gins, and this could mean the difference between pay ing rent or heating a house. Given the promise of this payment in 2022, many have factored it into their budgets.”

“The PCAU expects your organisation to live up to this promise to ensure that PhD researchers remain in their homes this winter”, the letter continued, “and do not have to make diffi cult decisions on heating, food, and basic necessities”.

The email finished by requesting clarification on “i) whether this payment will be provided to PhD re searchers in 2022 as prom ised and ii) when PhD re searchers can expect this payment to reach their ac counts”.

PGWA Galway Releases Petition Requesting Reversal of PhD Payment Policies

Ailbhe Noonan EDITOR

The Postgraduate Workers’ Alliance (PGWA) Galway have released a petition calling for a reversal of the Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) policy that was implement ed at the start of the 2022/23 academic year. The petition, signed by staff, faculty and over 200 PhD students, was delivered to Universi ty of Galway President

Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh and Deputy President and Registrar Pól Ó Dochartaigh on Friday.

In a press release ex plaining the petition, PGWA said: “[The GTA] unilaterally modifies the terms and conditions of teaching, including a substantial payment re duction for PhD workers.

It also removes previous claimable activities such as exam correction, work relevant emails, and marking assignments”.

“The new policy raises serious concerns for our

community and comes amidst a growing cost of living and housing crisis, which rapidly deterio rate our ability to have a living wage”, they added.

“Schools within the university have inter preted the policy dif ferently, creating fur ther confusion and pay disparity among PhDs.”

Addressing the de mands outlined in the petition, PGWA stated that they want “to see the immediate reversal of the decision to reduce teaching pay” and that

they “want the univer sity to recognise [PhD students] as formal em ployees, guaranteeing [them] maternity leave, sick leave and holiday pay”. They also “want to see the university make a sincere effort to en sure PhD workers are paid a living wage of €28,000 per annum”.

Criodán Ó Murchú, the Postgraduate Represent ative of the University of Galway’s Governing Authority, agreed with PGWA’s demands. In the same press release,

he said: “For too long, the university has seen PhDs as a scapegoat to complete unpaid and time-consuming work”.

“PhDs are the backbone of research and techno logical development in universities and deserve to be recognised as such. To be adequately remu nerated for their ardu ous work is at the very least a fair ask, along with proper recognition as employees of the uni versity”, he continued.

“Recently, the univer sity scrapped the 120

hours of unpaid tutor ing for PhD candidates. However, they have si multaneously cut PhD pay down to tutoring rates, regardless of preparation time and if it is lecture substitution. These unjust practices must come to an end.”

The PhDs’ Collective Action Union (PCAU) also came out in support of the petition. Matt Murtagh, the PCAU Data Officer, said: “Refusing to pay [postgraduate] researchers for teach ing work disproportion

ately hurts non-EU PhDs, who already earn much less than EU-registered PhDs due to extra gov ernmental and college fees they must pay”.

“To take away their pay during a rising cost of living crisis will force them and all [postgrad uates] affected further into poverty and se verely damage the qual ity of teaching they are able to deliver to un dergraduate students.“

Photo by Ailbhe Noonan for The University Times

Long Covid and the Student Experience

Faye Murphy Columnist

Long Covid: we all have a general idea of what it is, but what are the symptoms, how is it affecting Trinity stu dents, and what can be done? To investigate fur ther, The University Times spoke to a number of stu dents who have experi enced the condition about what their symptoms were like and how it impacted their college experience.

Initially coined on social media as “Long Covid” or “Post Covid-19 Condition”, this refers to patients of SARSCoV2 who are affect ed by ongoing debilitat ing symptoms of the viral infection. According to the World Health Organi sation (WHO), the lower end of the scale suggests an incidence rate of 10 per cent while patients who were previously hospital ised with SARSCoV2 have an estimated long covid incidence rate of 80 per cent. The WHO notes that Long Covid “occurs more frequently in middle aged women, and in those with more symptoms initially”.

As of January 2022, the HSE has implemented a plan using the lower-end estimates provided by the WHO. Their report esti mates that approximately 114,000 people in Ireland have been affected by Long Covid and the number is still increasing.

However, as the HSE re port states, “this is a rough estimate, not supported by any specific Irish data.” The numbers in this report also include young peo ple and students, meaning that a large proportion of students have been affect ed by the condition.

On November 7th, APC Microbiome Ireland, a re search institute based in Cork, released its findings on a study of 988 Long Covid patients. This is the first study released based on randomised Irish Long Covid patients, and there fore may influence future HSE and Oireachtas plans.

The study found that “89 per cent of respondents re ported that they have not returned to their pre-COV ID-19 level of health”, with “a median duration of 12 months” since the onset covid infection. Another important outcome of the study found that “33 per cent report a moderate, or higher, level of anxiety or depression” since their symptoms began.

With Trinity’s Living With COVID Oversight Committee having such a significant influence on the college community over the past two years, The University Times spoke to a number of students who have been severely af fected by Long Covid.

Speaking to Eoin Ussh er, a recent History and Politics graduate, he found he had “a persis tent cough, especially early in the morning”. At the same time, Gemma Heenan, a final-year Geo science student, lost her “sense of taste and smell for upwards of 6 months”. Similarly, Seán Lysaght, a final year Computer Sci ence and German stu dent, experienced “a loss of taste for six months”, while both Lysaght and Heenan agreed “every

thing smelled the same for months”.

Andrea O’Grady Fernán dez, a final year Spanish and French student, ex perienced “COVID-like symptoms for practically a whole year”, with her Long Covid symptoms be ing “far more severe than the symptoms I had when I was actually testing posi tive”.

O’Grady Fernández, who experienced two sets of Long Covid after being infected with both Delta and Omicron, stated that her symptoms were simi lar to those of Lysaght and Heenan: “My long COVID after Delta lasted three months and consisted of loss of smell, debilitating fatigue, muscle pain, ex tremely low immunity (i.e. was sick with colds, flus, etc. constantly) and mild brain fog which improved very slowly over time.”

Both Ussher and Lysaght experienced breathing difficulties, with Lysaght describing the experi ence as “lung fatigue as if I couldn’t take a deep breath, they kept getting caught at the top of the lung”, likewise Ussher felt as though his “lung capac ity felt diminished, not unlike asthma”.

Similarly, O’Grady Fernández described her Long Covid symptoms after Omicron as “chest pain, shortness of breath, extremely decreased lung capacity, painful cough ing fits caused by every thing from walking up stairs to laughing or in haling too suddenly, de bilitating fatigue, weak ness in all limbs, and loss of appetite. I often woke up in the middle of the night gasping for air and feeling like I needed to physically stick my head out my bedroom window to get enough oxygen.”

Heenan, Ussher, O’Grady Fernández and Lysaght all mentioned experiencing fatigue. In Lysaght’s case, fatigue caused him to be unable to do as much, re ducing his fitness levels and preventing him from “playing college basket ball for months”. Similar ly, Ussher stated, “I wasn’t able to compete athleti cally like I used to”.

When Ussher initially asked for medical advice

from his GP, he was told that he “shouldn’t be wor ried”, while a second doc tor “thought it was just a bad cold”. On the other hand, Lysaght was told that his symptoms were “most likely Long Cov id”, but as it early 2021, Lysaght emphasised that “not much was known about it [long covid], ex cept that it would likely go away with time”.

O’Grady Fernández went to her GP when her “breathing became too laboured” to deal with by herself as she was also worried that her symp toms “ had developed into pneumonia or something more serious”. She was prescribed “antibiotics, corticosteroids and an in haler” while advised to re turn if “symptoms didn’t improve within a month”.

Even on medication, O’Grady Fernández stat ed, “I didn’t feel like my self again until about five months after that. I also began taking daily vita mins and echinacea [and] royal jelly at that point to try and help my immune system a little, but didn’t notice any changes and was still constantly sick with head colds and los ing my voice every couple of weeks.”

Ussher states that Long Covid “hit my self-esteem more than anything”, with the prolonged debilitat ing symptoms causing him to “drink more than I usually would as a result”. O’Grady Fernández shared that “when [she] had long COVID symptoms, [her] college life was greatly af fected, particularly by the debilitating fatigue [she] experienced”.

“I needed 12-15 hours of sleep per day to function at the same level as be fore”, she added, and stat ed that she “didn’t have the strength to get up and walk to the kitchen, never mind to travel to college and attend classes”. Heen an was put off food so much that she couldn’t go out for family meals and felt she had “no incentive to eat”.

As fatigue and “a loss of brain power” affected Lysaght for the guts of the academic year, he felt he was “unable to work as much as usual on assign

ments”. O’Grady Fernán dez mentioned that she “kept my lecturers in the loop about my illness from the beginning and they were extremely un derstanding of my situa tion”, adding that “I was able to secure extensions when I needed them by being honest and simply explaining how tired and sick I was” while Ussher remarked, “I used more extensions on essays than ever before.”

One thing they all agreed on was that dealing with Long Covid is a peculiar situation. As nobody un derstands the variety of symptoms that may oc cur, there is no one treat ment, and no awareness. Ussher believes “there’s no information available for people” and that “peo ple probably aren’t even aware they’re dealing with it”.

With time and research, more and more studies are being released, which gives us a wider under standing of the symptoms and physiology of the dis ease. With this greater un derstanding should come better resources to deal with the symptoms and ef fects of Long Covid, how ever, Dr Frederick Sheedy, an Ussher Assistant Pro fessor in Immunology, mentioned that “as the disease is not easily quan tifiable, it puts scientists off the research”.

When asked what could be done in Trinity to help students dealing with Long Covid, O’Grady Fernán dez suggests “it would help if there were spe cific acknowledgement of the gravity of long COVID somewhere on TCD’s sites, along with an explanation of what long COVID can look like and the different ways it can affect people. That way, students and staff could confirm that it is in fact a real thing, whether they’re trying to justify their own situation or believe someone else’s.”

She added, “Even though my case of long COVID was extreme by all accounts, I still felt like I was asking too much or being over dramatic at times because it’s hard to explain how long COVID feels to some one who’s never had it. ‘I couldn’t write the essay

because I was focusing on breathing’ can sound ut terly ridiculous to some one who doesn’t under stand how severe the breathing difficulties can be in some cases of long COVID.”

Ussher mentions it is im portant to “be patient with yourself” when dealing with Long Covid. Lysaght advises any worried about their symptoms to “go to the doctor to try to figure symptoms out as not a lot is known [about Long Cov id] and it could be some thing else”.

O’Grady Fernández re minded students “not to spread yourself too thin” after recovering from Cov id: “give yourself another few weeks before jumping back into your old life, it could make all the differ ence”.

With Long Covid turn ing students towards alco hol or causing disordered eating, it is important that mental health sup ports are freely available to those with Long Cov id. When talking to Trish Murphy, Director of Stu dent Counselling Services, she mentioned that any students whose mental health has been affected by Long Covid would be offered “an assessment” by Student Counselling Services, after which they may “liaise with College health about what might be appropriate”.

Everyone’s Long Covid symptoms are different, and there is not one spe cific treatment that will cure every single symp tom. As of the time of writing, College Health has released no informa tion or comments about Long Covid. As stated by the interviewees, many of the Long Covid symptoms are similar to the viral in fection itself, yet College Health still recommends that any students or staff with symptoms remain at home. This advice can put off those seeking appoint ments as College Health is often the only studentbudget-friendly health service.

With research still at a very limited stage right now from a scientific point of view, health services cannot do much to imple ment new treatments as

the rate of research and development is far from the level at which compa nies developed SARSCoV2 vaccines.

From a communications perspective, much more needs to be done by edu cational institutions, the HSE and the government to engage with Long Cov id patients about their experiences and needs. More needs to be done to spread awareness: dur ing the pandemic, you could not walk more than 100 metres across campus without being bombarded with posters describing the symptoms of COVID-19 and asking “are you well enough to be here”, and the same should be done with Long Covid.

ENGIN AKYURT VIA UNSPLASH

What does “Happy Holidays” Mean To Trinity’s Multicultural Student Body?

Gina Bagnulo Features Editor

Trinity has previ ously been named one of the most international in stitutions of high er education. Declared the 6th most international university in Europe and 8th most international in the world, the holiday season on campus sees an increasingly wide variety of cultural and religious festivities taking place, especially within socie ties.

Over the course of the 21st century, the move ment to wish someone “Happy Holidays” as op posed to “Merry Christ mas” has gained traction as we have become more aware of global holi days and traditions be yond Christmas, and not everyone celebrates the holiday. To explore this change of phrases, The University Times spoke to students on campus about their holiday traditions and reflected on some of Trinity’s own December traditions.

Christmas is just around the corner, and with it comes the annual Christ mas tree lighting in Front Square, due to take place in early December. In ad dition to this, however, campus is also abuzz with different activities and other celebrations are un derway.

One such celebration that also happens this time of year is the Jewish festival Hanukkah. Ha nukkah, or the “festival of lights”, was originally celebrated to commemo

rate the Maccabean Re bellion in response to the Greek Seleucid Empire’s suppression of Judaism as well as the destruction of the Jewish Temple. Over thousands of years, how ever, it has become a very important celebration for the Jewish diaspora and is celebrated over eight days.

Speaking to Moria Crow ley, a former member of the Trinity Jewish Society, she commented: “We had a lovely Hanukkah. It was a wonderful opportunity to cook and celebrate with society members and fam ily.”

Moria went on to say what the celebration means to her personally. “To me Hanukkah is about community and the won

derful opportunity every year to keep a tradition alive. For me it’s an hon our to be part of such a long practice centred in life and representation.”

Jana AlKhabouri is a Trin ity graduate and a mem ber of Trinity’s Arabesque society.

While the Arab world is comprised of various dif ferent religions and cul tures, The University Times asked Jana about what the society does to celebrate the Muslim celebrations Eid and Ramadan.

“As someone who lives away from my family and those I love, being able to celebrate Ramadan and Eid with people from the Arab society and with the Arab community here

makes me feel at home”, she said.

“Eid and Ramadan are times in which us Mus lims gather together to celebrate these holy times and it means so much to be able to do that even if away from my own coun try.”

Meet DU Gamers: Bringing Back Old-School

Bagnulo Features Editor

November 16th saw the annual board game night hosted by Trinity’s own Dublin Uni versity (DU) Gamers Society take place in combination with UCD’s gaming society.

When one hears the word “gamer”, usually people who play video games come to mind. This, however, is a fairly new concept as the video game industry only took off in the 1980s. In light of this, we must ask ourselves: what exactly is modern gaming?

Well, here at Trinity it may not be what you think. Operat ing out of their space in Gold smith Hall nicknamed “The Bunker”, DU Gamers aims to promote playing almost any kind of game other than video games including board and card games and many more. They also host frequent table top nights involving different roleplaying systems, ranging from Dungeons and Dragons to other lesser-known games.

The DU Gamers board game night is an annual competi tion that was established in 2008 by the then presidents of the DU gamers and UCD’s

Gaming Society. The night was centred around winning the “Duggan-Tisdall” Octarine cup. The prized possession was fondly designed after the Oc tarine colour of magic in Terry Pratchett’s “Discworld” novels, which remain popular within the DU Gamers.

At the head of the ship is Pres ident Colm Ryan. Going on to explain more about the award he stated, “the cup has been in the Bunker (DU Gamers room) for many years, until last year where I gave it a proper look for the first time while clean ing the room after becoming President.”

“I thought ‘Hey, this trophy isn’t really doing much of any thing here; we should get in contact with UCD Gamesoc and see if they want to start this up again!’”, he added.

By chance a good friend of mine from secondary school, Fionn Reid Kelly, is the ex ternal events officer at UCD Gamesoc, making him the per fect person to contact for more details.

“DU Gamers tries to plan all its events far in advance, so when the committee agreed it would be a good idea and our Board Game Officer Claire said she would be interested in running it, we set a prelimi

nary date for November”, he said.

The competition itself was di vided into 8 categories. These were the games Settlers of Cat an, 7 Wonders, Ticket to Ride, Scythe, Coup and Codenames, Carcassonne and Scout, King of Tokyo & Fluxx, as well as Tsuro & Sushi Go!.

Ryan went on to describe what he thought were the best parts of the night. “For me one of the highlight moments was when we were playing King of Tokyo (a game in which you

play giant monsters à la kaiju movies who are fighting to seize Tokyo) and the person in the last place managed to get one of the most powerful cards in the game – one which reduc es everyone’s reputation by 5 –and basically reset the playing field so that anyone could have won.”

Ryan continued to give ex amples of the event’s success. “Other highlights included interacting with the UCD stu dents and getting the TCD stu dents all riled up and ready to

go. While it was kept friendly there was definitely a competi tive spirit in the air, and a lit tle playful banter between the two societies.”

“Another fun moment was when their Board Games Of ficer, Cathal, and I realised we were both wearing the same shade of pink, whereupon we yelled “ON WEDNESDAYS WE WEAR PINK!”, and someone didn’t get the Mean Girls refer ence and we all laughed.”

Claire Ronan, the Board Games Officer, stated, “I’m so

happy on behalf of all of the Gamers’ committee that we won the Colours Cup. We all put so much work into mak ing this event run smoothly and I’m very grateful for the help I got from the rest of the committee. I could not have run this event without the help of my fellow committee mem bers.”

She added that “the Colours Cup holds a place of pride in our society room, The Bunker, so I’m glad that we have won the right for it to stay there another year! As the person in charge of organising board game related events for the so ciety, it was lovely to see all the familiar faces of members who have shown up to our Board Games Nights previously.”

Described as “neck and neck” throughout the night, by the competition’s end the score stood at 145 points to UCD and 150 Points to Trinity and the Trophy came home.

The two societies aim to con tinue this tradition with UCD hosting next year and Trinity looking to claim another win. For anyone whose interest was piqued by the prospect of play ing, DU Gamers has a bi-annu al Uno night coming up where attendees have the chance to dress

GINA BAGNULO AND MORIA CROWLEY FOR THE UNIVERSITY TIMES

The holiday season on campus sees an increasingly wide variety of cultural and religious festivities

“

Gina

fancy!

Eid and Ramadan are times in which us Muslims gather together to celebrate these holy times

“

COMMENT & ANALYSIS

I Have Finally Found Peace in Assessment Season

Niamh Kelly Contributing Writer

As November draws to a close and the streets of Dublin be come awash with the tell-tale sights and sounds of Christmas, college students all over the city prepare them selves for a month of se vere stress and mounting madness. Yes, the dreaded December has returned –a month in which the re lentless merriment of the masses appears to gloat in the face of our misery as we commiserate over essays that should have been finished long ago. Season of joy indeed!

Alas, even the charm of the Toy Show has been somewhat tainted in the minds of college students (or, at least, this college student). For the past four years in college, the last Friday of November has come to signal the immi nent onset of the exam pe riod. Where this momen tous day once marked the true beginning of Christ mas, I now find the last vestiges of my composure diminishing faster than the nation’s patience with the “Woo Guy”.

So, while the rest of the country revels in the tor ment of Ryan Tubridy, I can usually be found fran tically planning the intro duction to an essay that I was meant to finish two weeks ago.

And perhaps that is where the problem lies. Despite the fact that I always set out with the best of inten tions, I am a loyal yet un willing devotee of Parkin

son’s Law in that I can never seem to complete an assessment ahead of its

given deadline. Though I may begin to research an essay weeks before it is due, there appears to be a switch in my brain that will not click into place until it absolutely must. Try as I might, I can al most guarantee that any assignment will be sub mitted with hours or even minutes to spare.

Given this particular character flaw, I am very thankful that I have faced no formal examinations since Christmas of my first year back in 2019 (the joys of being an Arts student combined with the small matter of a pandemic saw to it that I would never set

foot in that accursed place again). One trip to the RDS was quite enough for my academic career – an experience I found noth ing short of nightmarish and one that has led to an unwavering respect for STEM students.

Though the painstaking ly slow progress of writ ing an essay can be aggra vating on its best day and agonising on its worst, for me it is nothing compared to the apprehension I felt in the days leading up to my exams in first year. Or at least, that is what I try to remember when I am looking down the barrel of the dreaded December,

planning introductions to essays when I should be watching the Toy Show. However, as I sat down on Friday evening to watch this year’s opening num ber, I was pleasantly sur prised to find myself once again enamoured by its peculiar allure, any thoughts of unfinished essays pushed firmly to the back of my mind.

With this being my fourth Christmas spent as a college student, despite (or perhaps because of) everything I have endured across my degree, I have now acquired a strange sense of calm in the midst of the seasonal storm that

When Commuting Gets Competitive

Assistant Opinion Editor

Trinity students are spoiled for choice when it comes to transport options for their daily commute. College’s central location makes it incred ibly accessible by numer ous bus routes, the Luas and the DART. Recently, I have been amazed to dis cover how strongly some people feel when it comes to the mode of transport that they take. Something that I considered rather trivial is actually incred ibly close to the hearts of many more students than I could have expected (a phenomenon that seems to happen quite frequently at Trinity). These feelings seem particularly strong in relation to the Luas and the DART. Whether people actually avail of them or not, they seem to be very firmly in one camp or the other.

My choice is, without a doubt, the Luas. It is, in my humble opinion, the best public transport sys tem Dublin has at its dis posal. I cannot quite be lieve the extent to which I am often forced to defend

this opinion to outraged DART-takers, who want to hear me justify my appar ently absurd stance. They are never satisfied that I have. So set in their ways are they that I have never convinced anybody of the Luas’s obvious superior ity, unless they are already aware of it themselves. I can’t deny, however, that I am equally set in my ways, and am unlikely to ever have my mind changed ei ther.

It would be remiss of me to overlook the fact that the Luas stops very near my house and near er still to college, which is of course a big plus for me personally. This is not, however, where the ad vantages stop. One of the biggest selling points of the Luas is its frequency, with trams at peak times being only a couple of minutes apart; if you miss one, don’t despair, you can often already see the next one coming. If you can’t, rest assured, it isn’t far away.

Those who take the DART often boast of the scen ery visible from the win dow as it travels along the Dublin coastline. I cannot

deny that the DART route has the Luas beat here, undoubtedly offering the superior views (unless you find the bright lights of Pret A Manger on Dawson Street particularly breath taking). The views of the sea and headlands from the DART are picturesque

whilst, admittedly, the views from the Luas are ad mittedly less so. Whether or not I have a scenic view, however, is entirely incon sequential when I am in a rush to get a lecture. What the Luas route may lack in views, it more than makes up for in functionality and

is the assessment period. Though still present, the swirling pit of anxiety at the thought of upcom ing deadlines has been overtaken by a grudging acceptance that, though the next few weeks will be unpleasant, the work will get done one way or an other. It may involve dan gerous intakes of caffeine and a healthy dose of pro crastination, but I will eventually press submit on my final assignment and emerge back into the land of the living, ready to revel in the Season of Joy once again.

The time spent feels almost separate from the rest of the day – a forced pause in the chaos of college that I actu ally really enjoy. Journeys into and out of college are so ingrained in one’s daily routine that they are almost ritualistic. Going to col lege, for me, means taking the Luas, just as for some, it means taking the DART. They are inextricably linked. In my case, the time spent commuting to and from college in a day adds up to roughly an hour, or around the length of a class. In the course of a week, that is the equivalent of five added classes. In fact, I spend more time on the Luas than I do in the classroom each week. When I look back at my time as a student so far, I realise I have spent a sizable portion of it commuting.

I can see why people feel so strongly about their means of commuting when they spend so much time there, and such important time as well, be it the hour before having to give an important presentation or minutes after taking an exam. The commute is more than just part of the daily routine, it is integral to college life.

Even the charm of the Toy Show has been tainted in the minds of college students

“

Something that I considered trivial is actually incredibly close to the hearts of many students

“

Whether you’re team Luas or team DART, the daily commute is an important part of college life.

Adam Potterton

COLIN KEEGAN VIA COLLINS PHOTO AGENCY

Conor Luddy via Unsplash

utility, bringing passengers right into and around the heart of town and navigating some of the busiest of Dublin’s streets, and conveniently, passing right in front of Trinity.

Luas journeys represent a not in significant portion of my day, and a portion that I highly

value

as time more or less to myself: to read, listen to music or just sit back for a while.

COMMENT & ANALYSIS

Gina Bagnulo, Features Editor Charlie Moody-Stuart, Sports Editor Jaymee Ní Chonaill, Irish Language Editor Siothrún Sardina, Chair of the Editorial Board

CORRECTION

In the previous issue of The University Times, the article titled “Ireland Ranks Third for Third-Level Attainment in OECD Rankings” was mistakenly attributed to Ailbhe Noonan as a result of an editing oversight. In fact, the author was Alex Payne.

TCDSU MUST TREAD CAREFULLY ON THE ISSUE OF POSTGRAD REPRESENTATION

Postgraduate students recently voiced their concerns regarding the future of their representation in Trin ity over the course of two town halls, led by Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) President Gabi Fullam and Education Officer Zöe Cummins. The town halls offered postgraduate students in Trin ity an opportunity to air their grievances follow ing the decision made by College Board to derecog nise the Graduate Students’ Union (GSU) as the chief representative body for postgraduate students in Trinity.

With the collapse of the GSU, College no longer has a repre sentative body for postgraduate students, leaving a myriad of questions unanswered and several groups wondering who will fill the gap. The model proposed by TCDSU in the immediate future is one based on class rep elections, but this requires at least two weeks to be considered constitutional, meaning that it will take time to get the elections set up and run properly.

At the moment, there are at least 18 subcommittees with out postgraduate representation, including the Gradu ate Studies Committee and College board. With the college statutes stipulating that there must be postgraduate rep resentation on all college committees, the issue of post graduate representation has become particularly pressing.

There are multiple different postgraduate groups in Trinity including those on taught masters, research masters and PhD students and each group has different needs. It is imperative that the needs of each postgraduate grouping in Trinity are met. However, a balance must be struck between resolving the issue of representation in a timely manner and the need to hold elections in a democratic fashion to avoid the issues that plagued the GSU.

It is pivotal that TCDSU tread carefully to ensure that the same problems that led to the GSU’s collapse do not resurface again and that the voices of postgraduate students are heard.

CAITHFIDH AONTAS NA MAC LÉINN COLÁISTE NA TRÍONÓIDE A BHEITH CÚRAMACH AR FHADHB

NA HIONDAÍOCHTA IARCHÉIME

Chuir

an todhchaí

i gCo

na Tríonóide thar thréimhse dhá chruinniú halla an bhaile. Bhí an crinniú seo i gceannas ag uachtarán Aontas na Mac Léinn Coláiste na Tríonóide Gabi Fullam agus Oifigeach Oideachais Zöe Cummins. Bhí deis ag mic léinn iarchéime sna hallaí baile a n-ábhar ghearáin a chur in iúl tar éis an cinneadh a rinne Bord an Cho láiste an teideal a bhaint ó Aontas na Mac Léinn Iarchéime mar príomhchomhlact iondaíoch do mhic léinn iarchéime. Tharla sé seo mar gheall ar go leor fadhbanna sistéamacha. Le titim Aontas na Mac Léinn Iarchéime, níl aon com hlacht iondaíoch do mhic léinn iarchéime ag an gcoláiste agus mar sin, tá go leor ceisteanna gan freagra agus tá grú paí éagsúla ag smaoineamh faoi cé a líonfaidh an bhear na. Is smaoineamh é an smaoineamh a chuireann Aontas na Mac Léinn Coláiste na Tríonóide ar aghaidh faoi cheann ta maillín bunaithe ar thoghcháin ionadaí ranga, ach ní mór coicís a chur san áireamh mar bhunreachtúil agus mar sin, tógfaidh sé roinnt ama na toghcáin seo a fháil faoi lán seoil. Faoi láthair, tá ar a laghad ocht bhfochoiste déag ann agus tá siad gan iondaíocht iarchéime, An Coiste Stai déir Iarchéime agus an Bord Coláiste san áireamh. Cuire ann reachtanna an choláiste in iúl go gcaithfidh iondaíocht iarchéime a bheith ar choiste an choláiste go leor agus mar gheall ar sin, tá an fhadhb seo ag éirí an-phráinneach.

Tá go leor grúpaí iarchéime éagsúla sa Choláiste na Tríonóide, mar shampla mic léinn ag déanamh céim mháistreacha (máistreacht mhúinte agus máistreacht trí thaighde) agus mic léinn ag déanamh Dochtúir le Fe alsúnach (PhD) agus tá riachtanais éagsúla ag gach grúpa. Tá sé ríthábhachtach go sásaítear riachtanais gach grúpa.

Tá sé thar a bheith tábhachtach go gcaithfidh Aontas na Mac Léinn Coláiste na Tríonóide a bheith cúramach a chinntiú nach dtarlóidh na fadhbanna céanna a raibh ba chúis leis an titim d’Aontas na Mac Léinn Iarchéime arís agus go gcloistear tuairimí na mac léinn iarchéime.

When Will the Government Learn from the Hardships of the Housing Crisis?

Richard Robinson Contributing Writer

Many, myself in cluded, see a house as an es sential part of the student ex perience, your college days denuded if you have never en joyed – or endured – one. How ever, the housing crisis raging in Dublin and throughout the country makes finding any ac commodation whatsoever in credibly tough, as so many of us have discovered in the last few months.

My own experience has com pelled me to write about the difficulties of finding accom modation in this city, and I know many with almost iden tical stories.

Much of the house-hunt is online, scrolling past the ob scenely expensive, the dilapi dated and the remote, leav ing a tiny number of suitable properties. Of these, the vast majority are unavailable to students for enquiries and viewings.

Throughout my search, I was met by unsympathetic, unac commodating letting agencies full of empty suits and empty smiles. If you do manage to pester an agency into giv ing you a viewing, you might have to stand in line outside, as those from all walks of life compete for the same prop erty. Students are at the back of the queue, often vying with young professionals who al most always win out due to higher incomes and references from esteemed employers.

Throughout the process, we had to constantly downgrade

our expectations: from living in our ideal area with friends, to an area we never knew ex isted (that just about qualifies as Dublin) with strangers. In August, it felt like every sec ond Instagram story contained the words “looking for a room in Dublin from September, PM me”. Many resorted to Fa cebook, braving the scams in huge group chats, with ‘land lords’ seeking payment in cash upfront, sometimes with no viewings and no contract.

Many of us know about the monotony of house-hunting: an inbox overflowing with hundreds of Daft.ie enquiries, and replies in the single dig its. Daft.ie’s report into rent ing shows that, as of May 1, there were just 51 houses avail able on their platform for rent in the entire country, a shock ingly low number.

The report also illustrates that nationwide rents in creased 12 per cent compared to this time last year, with average rents now €1,567 a month. The situation is the worst in South County Dublin, where rents average €2,387 a month. Increases in rent prices have been as tonishing. The government’s plan to give between €120,000 and €144,000 to developers per apartment built seems to be just another developer- and landlord-friendly policy which will end up increasing profits while offering little tangible benefit for renters and buyers.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar re cently came out in support of a reduction in tax for land lords in order to stymie the reduction of properties avail able for rental. It was not re ceived well, being seen as a rather ill-timed and insensi

tive comment when many view landlords to be consistently given favour over tenants and would-be renters.

The coalition, Fine Gael espe cially, seem ideologically op posed to the measures which would potentially ameliorate the crisis, such as state-pro vided housing or rent controls.

Both parties are regarded as pro-landlord and pro-devel oper, with an unwavering be lief in free market principles.

However, it is these unimped ed free market forces which have caused and worsened the crisis, with vulture funds and tech multinationals buying up huge swathes of property and driving up prices.

As the Irish Times revealed in a recent article, Kennedy Wilson, a property giant with an eye-watering Dublin prop erty portfolio including the Shelbourne Hotel, recently expressed to shareholders that for new houses and apart ments, “market rents will just continue increasing”.

At worst, some members of government arguably benefit from the crisis directly, as the current extortionate prices profit them personally. It is an understandable opinion, fuelled by recent events such as the downfall of TD Robert Troy over his failure to declare his massive property portfolio, which included many houses and apartments in Dublin.

The government’s reticence to become a landlord through the vehicle of social housing is ironic, given that 48 out of 160 – 30 per cent of TDs – are landlords in some capacity.

Of Fianna Fáil TDs, that num ber is a staggering 38 per cent. Amongst the general popula tion it is only 3 per cent. As

seen by the events leading to Troy’s resignation, that num ber of TDs may be even high er. This further cements the feeling that the current Fine Gael–Fianna Fáil political axis possesses very little ap petite to change or address the status quo, or to ease the crippling dearth and expense that is housing in Ireland. The cataclysmic timing of the Troy scandal – when the hous ing crunch is at its most bru tal and many students have to commute or couch surf until they can find accommodation – could prove a lethal blow to this government with an elec tion looming.

The crisis continues to worsen as rental properties be come more scarce, and prices rise. For many of us, the dream of a student house gives way to the bleak reality of a ruthless market with no place for us. This government seems deter mined to stand in the way of home ownership and housing autonomy, which has always had a very important place in the Irish psyche. Whether this reluctance is complacency or something more sinister is up for debate.

Landlordism has always been a touchy subject in this country. Any student of mod ern Ireland will tell you that the old landed order addressed the subject of land reform far too late in the day and were swept away into the dustbin of history in the General Election of 1918 by Sinn Féin. The cur rent housing situation clearly cannot go on indefinitely, so it may be worth asking – is his tory about to repeat itself?

Student Representatives Must Stand in Solidarity with Precarious Staff

László Molnárfi Contributing Writer

In recent years there has been an increase in casualised staff in colleges as a result of the chronic under funding of the third-level sector. Trinity itself has em ployed over 2,500 staff on casualised, short-term and hourly-paid contracts. As a result, many people em ployed by these institutions face precarious working conditions and uncertain times. Precarious workers include anyone who faces insecure working condi tions, leaving them vulner able to underpayment and a high risk of unemploy ment. For a university (and this list is non-exhaustive), these may include teaching staff, tutors, researchers, cleaners, hospitality and administrative staff.

The 5,500 postgraduates in Trinity exist in a space between students and em ployees as they are often paid to teach on top of their research, but many of them are required to take on unpaid teaching work to receive their stipends and have their fees paid. This teaching work can take up hours outside of class time between preparing materi als, planning lessons and marking assignments, but

when pay is received (if it is received at all) and aver aged out across the hours worked, it amounts to less than the minimumhourly wage.

Though many receive some form of stipend to support them while doing their research, whether this be from a funding agency such as the Irish Research Council or from the uni versity, these stipends are often not enough to survive on by themselves. Indeed, in some faculties in Trinity, stipends as low as €6,500 have been advertised to prospective PhD students.

Trinity’s pay rate for tuto rials and seminars ranges from €28.71 to €37 per hour, but to calculate the actual amount of money made, this needs to be divided by three because each class has an hour of preparation, an hour of teaching and an hour of marking. For some one on the €28.71 scale, this amounts to €9.57 per hour.

Casualisation also affects other teaching staff. The av erage rate of casualisation in Irish universities is 50 per cent, with 80 per cent of all researchers being on temporary contracts, often paid less than €10,000 a year. There are a variety of casual contracts they may be on, ranging from being paid per class to employed

on three-year contracts, and the average length of time spent in precarious conditions is 7.1 years for women and 5.7 years for men. Many workers have endured these conditions for a decade or more, lead ing to financial difficulties, poverty and stress. Profes sional staff face their con tracts being terminated if costs are too high in addi tion to a lower rate of pay.

It is for all these reasons that student representa tives such as the School

Convenors within Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) need to be active in standing in soli darity with staff. They have a unique voice on commit tees as they are not em ployed by Trinity and act as a point of contact between students and College offi cials. They can start a con versation about the reasons

behind the administrative and academic difficulties faced by many students and staff. Everyone at Trin ity plays a role in shaping student learning condi tions, from the cleaners to security staff to the lectur ers themselves, and they should all be given the re spect they deserve.

Overall, student repre sentatives need to develop links with organisations such as the PhD’s Collective Action Union (PCAU) and the Postgraduate Workers’ Alliance Ireland (PWAI) in order to improve condi tions for professional and academic staff. In the end, we are all fighting against the same system – if we band together, we just might be able to fix it.

Ailbhe Noonan, Editor

mic léinn iarchéime a n-imní in iúl le déanaí maidir leis

dá n-iondaíocht

láiste

Photo above by Ailbhe Noo nan for The University Times

COMMENT & ANALYSIS

Thingmote: Down Under

Professor Chris Morash explores the artistry behind Australian road signs on his trip to Melbourne.

Prof. Chris Morash Columnist

So, here’s the thing…

Regular readers of “Thingmote” (both of you) will recall that in the last issue of The University Times , I published a letter that had been sent to me by an Economics student, Maeve Drapier, in which she put forward what I thought was a very in genious plan to abolish the Leaving Certificate and dismantle the State Examinations Commis sion (although presum ably not until after they had finally finished marking last June’s Jun ior Cert). Maeve quite sensibly suggested that the €70 million or so a year that this would save could be used to fund the universities to look after their own admis sions procedures. All very clever and reason able – or so I thought.

I had no idea that I had inadvertently assisted in sticking a fork into a sa cred cow, much less that the cow would bite back. Such, however, was the case. Not long after the column was pub lished, more than one person politely but very firmly suggested to me the benefits of foreign travel. Wouldn’t I like to go somewhere far, far away for a while? For a couple of months, per haps? Or at least until everyone forgot about Maeve’s modest little proposal, and my role in its publication. And so, with no expense spared, this “Thingmote” col umn comes to you from Australia.

Never one to waste an opportunity, once I got over the experience of being smuggled to the airport in the boot of a car, I decided that it was time to start work on a new book.

In fact, for some years now I have been con sidering writing about The Poetics of Austral ian Road Signs. This is a topic that has been woefully neglected by my colleagues in the School of English, who rather perversely insist on writing about things like Shakespeare, Jane Austen or Ulysses. In comparison, the texts to be found in public places all over Australia offer a rich field of sig nification that is shame fully untapped.

Let me give you a few examples.

At one end of the spec trum, there is the haikulike simplicity of what I call ‘Porcelain’. This work sits evenly bal anced between two sites of possibility and poten tiality, closing the lid on neither. It is unafraid to weigh negation and pos itivity, staking its ethi cal stance with assur ance. (And, apart from anything else, I know

that this particular sign serves the very practical function of once and for all answering a question that has puzzled more than one correspondent to this column. @con fusedinbotanybay take note).

Compare this with th three-act tragedy that is “Unmarked Holes.” Here is a work on a much grander scale, a piece that can stand comparison to King Lear in its searing sensitiv ity to the precarity of being, understood on an epic scale. The fact that there are no holes, (nor, indeed, much of anything else) visible as far as the eye can see in the Outback around the sign only adds to the sense that this work succeeds in touching the sublime. Where are these holes? What holy mystery is this? We may never plumb the depths of the questions posed here.

However, the true complexity of Austral ian signage did not be come clear to me until I encountered the decep tively simple classicism of “Caution: Watch Out for Snakes”. Now, you may think I found this

sign in a remote part of the Outback, nailed to a post outside an aban doned mine shaft, or tacked to a dried-up weathervane. Not a bit of it. It was in a park in a leafy part of suburban Melbourne. At first I thought that I had dis covered an instance of the Gothic of Austral ian signage, the fangs of pure horror sticking sinking their poison into the com placency of bourgeois life.

However, as I was con templating this clas sic text in the canon of Australian signage, a woman happened along, walking her two small dogs: one a fluffy white thing, the other a terri er-size hybrid with curi ously tufted triangular ears. As she explained how the dog’s unlikely and largely unplanned breeding had resulted in the remarkable ears, the dog itself began sniff ing around in a doggy sort of way at a patch of long grass in a vacant lot. “Come out of that, now, dear”, she urged him gently. “That’ll be snakey.”“Snakey.”

To put this little vignette in con

text, snakes in Austral ia are serious business. Twenty of the world’s most venomous types of snake live here. Some of them live in cities. Only the previous day, I had been told with per fect calmness that a ti gersnake (the venom of which is ten times more powerful than is required to kill an adult human) had been spot ted in the garden of the house in which I was living. It was suggest ed that I should “mind where I walk.” And now here was someone warn ing their dog about the “snakey” grass in the same way that you might worry about a shower of rain.

I suddenly realised that I was in an unfa miliar world, there on the footpath in the Mel bourne suburbs. It was not so much the pros pect of death slithering out of the grass into the citrus-scented morning; it was more the fact that there existed such a cas ual word for it. Snakey. That word seems to con tain a whole attitude to life, to risk and to our relationship to the non- human world. I can’t quite put that attitude into words yet, but it seems to me to warrant further investigation – at least until things calm down back in Dub lin.

Picture 1: No/Yes

Picture 2: Unmarked Holes

Picture 3: Watch Out For Snakes

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I had no idea that I had inadvertently assisted in stick ing a fork into a sacred cow, much less that the cow would bite back

For some years now I have been considering writing about The Poetics of Australian Road Signs

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I had no idea that I had inad vertently assisted in sticking a fork into a sacred cow, much less that the cow would bite back

Trinity Meteors Fall to Defeat at the Hands of DCU

Eoghan Kennedy McPartlan CONTRIBUTING WRITER

In a Dublin derby at the Trin ity Sports Centre, the Trin ity Meteors were no match for Dublin City University (DCU), last year’s all Ireland champions. DCU dominated throughout the game, leading by double digits for the most part before eventually winning 59-67. Though there were bright spots for the Meteors, an in ability to defend against DCUs dominance in the paint was ul timately to be their downfall.

DCU found success throughout the game in broken play, quick outlets, and accu rate passing – all generally run by captain Nicole Clancy and playmaker Lindsey Abed. Down low, DCU were also immensely dominant, primarily through centre Brittany Roberts but sub stitute Maeve O’Seaghdha was also effective both inside and as a stretch big. Roberts’ strength proved difficult for the Meteors to counter. Her rebounding and the challenge of guarding her in the post were tasks seemingly too great for all but Sarah Kenny, Trinity’s star player of the match.

Kenny played the entire ty of the match, providing a strong defensive presence. Her dribbling the ball up court in a fashion not dissimilar to Ser bian National Basketball As sociation (NBA) star Nikola Jokic was also effective as she sought to give the team some structure. Strong shooting was on show from Ciara Mulligan,

however, Mulligan’s ability be yond the arch could have been better used by running some floppy plays which would have stretched DCU’s defence more.

Niamh Kenny showed great hus tle throughout the game, haring down the court on fastbreaks for Trinity before haring back again to contest at the basket when it was DCU’s turn to break quickly.

Dual athlete Dayna Finn who also plays GAA initiated most of the Meteors’ offense, as well as providing good perimeter defence. However, Finn did not have the greatest shooting dis play, scoring only seven points and shooting air-balls from three on multiple occasions.

Trinity gave almost all their players a run out but constantly kept Finn and Sarah Kenny on the floor, which shows the latter two’s importance to the team.

The game began with an “and one” opportunity for DCU from the jump, converted by Clancy.

Trinity started with two shots at the line for Mulligan, followed soon after by a corner three for Murphy. DCU’s fast break of fense was kicked into gear by Trinity settling for long, low percentage shots. The follow ing rebound was always secured by Roberts. Defensive lapses in half court defence by Trin ity allowed DCU to feed the ball into Roberts on multiple occa sions. Although Sarah Kenny provided good defence down low (blocking multiple shots throughout the game), Roberts still managed to score 16 points and gather multiple rebounds.

Roberts did find herself in early foul trouble, committing

two fouls in the first. DCU Coach Mark Ingle opted not to take her out of the game. Trinity missed an opportunity here as attack ing Roberts early on could have negated her impact late in the game. Trinity struggled to box out, offering Roberts multi ple offensive rebounds and a great many second chance op portunities for DCU as a whole. As a result, DCU finished the first quarter ahead by 11-18.

At the interval, Meteors Head Coach Niall Berry stressed that Trinity needed to take away DCU’s first pass, effectively try ing to cut DCU off from get ting the ball inside. Speaking after the game, Coach Berry recognised that the away side were strong inside. Berry also stressed the fact that DCU had two professional Americans in their line up and that they were the defending champions – both of which meant that vic tory was going to be a tall order.

Even so, the second quarter started promisingly enough from a Meteors perspective with two blocks in quick suc cession by Sarah Kenny. After some strong offensive posses sions – in which Mulligan and Finn were instrumental – Trin ity managed to cut the deficit to three points (22-25) following a Niamh Kenny layup. This was the closest Trinity came to DCU for the remainder of the game. The remainder of the second quarter consisted of both teams chucking up threes and getting to the free throw line, not un like a modern-day NBA game. DCU were far more successful in this regard and closed the

half comfortably ahead at 24-38. Sarah Kenny started off the second with a step-back midrange. Soon afterwards, the oth er Kenny (Niamh) also showed great skill with a eurostep fin ish. Trinity closed the lead to seven midway through the third, but whenever Trinity got close, DCU found a momentumkilling three. Roberts showed her dominance inside in the third, with Trinity unable to box her out. Other fundamen tal issues including wayward passing and travelling were fur ther killing any fightback Trin ity were trying to accomplish. The third quarter would finish with Trinity on 44, DCU on 56.

Fatigue was obvious among most of the players in the fourth quarter. Shots were hitting the front rim, sometimes not hit ting the rim at all. Trinity found

most of their success in the fourth quarter with layups at the basket. Both Kenny’s scored well inside, with Sarah in par ticular scoring a nice reverse layup. With ten seconds left and DCU leading 59 – 67, Coach Hugh called a timeout. The fol lowing play would not end in a score but instead a miss and re bound for Roberts – a fitting end. Trinity now have two more games remaining in the regular season. Win both – as Coach Ber ry expects they will – and an allIreland semi-final is on the cards. With two key players scheduled to return in time for the semifinal, Trinity will be hoping that they can challenge for a na tional championship this year.

Lively Lansdowne Locked Down by DUFC in 17-27 Win

Eoghan Kennedy McPartlan CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Dublin University Foot ball Club (DUFC) played an exciting away en counter against Lans downe under the backdrop of the Aviva Stadium, fighting to a 17-27 win.

Lansdowne, although winless, posed a tough opponent for DUFC. Whilst conditions for the game were clear by kick-off, the rain earlier in the day was a wel come occurrence for the players’ knees on the 4g pitch.

DUFC began the game by kick ing off but would soon have pos session of the ball again. With this, they worked the ball down the left, with Louis O’Reilly and Aran Egan directing traffic ef fectively. Eventually DUFC won a penalty five metres out before Egan took the three points.

Colm Hogan made a great line break in the next possession. His heavily strapped ankle evidently not posing a problem, but his pace on the other hand posed a significant problem for the de fence. Lansdowne, hurrying to realign, gave away another pen alty at the ruck and Egan made it 6-0 to DUFC.

Lansdowne won a penalty against the head soon after. DUFC would experience prevail ing issues throughout the con test at scrum time. Lansdowne went quickly and after a se ries of forward carries scored –Tadgh McElroy from a pick and go close to the line. Peter Hastie was successful with the conver sion, making it 7-6 Lansdowne.

Some sloppy offloading by Lansdowne following the restart gifted DUFC back the ball. Trin ity, making gainline breaking one up carries, pushed into the Lansdowne half. On Paddy Mc

Carthy’s turn to carry, he freed his hands to offload. This left Max Dunne with open field in front of him.

Dunne galloped in from twenty metres out, scoring the first of his

brace. Egan converted, putting Trinity back in front.

A few minutes later Lans downe found themselves in Trin ity’s twenty-two with a lineout in a prime mauling position.

Through some dark-arts, Trinity managed to halt the maul and force a turnover. One such dark art included a Trinity player holding on to Lansdowne’s Temi Lasisi, in a fashion similar to the way that Farrell held onto Stand er in Ireland’s game against Eng land in the Six Nations back in 2020.

Lasisi responded, like Stander, in a confrontational manner. Yet whilst Stander wasn’t penalised, Lasisi was, with a yellow card. Controversially, the call was made by the linesman on the far side of the pitch, not the lines man two metres away from the incident.

Although up a man, Trinity would fail to capitalise on this advantage. Indiscipline at the ruck gifted Lansdowne three points. On Lasisi’s return, Trinity found themselves three points

worse off and in their own 22. Trinity would hold them out, showing great knowledge of the rules to hold Murphy up over the line, earning a goal-line drop out in the process.

From the dropout, DUFC then conceded a well-worked Lans downe try. Following a catch and hard carry by Lawlor, Lans downe worked the ball left. They then interwove the ball through the oncoming defence, execut ing a two-on-one to put Walsh in under the posts. Hastie’s con version drew an end to the first half with the score at 17-13 to Lansdowne.

The second half began with a brawl on the halfway line. A Trinity box kick was fielded by Michael Silvester, who then took it into contact. DUFC lock Harry Sheridan would meet him and drag him into touch, whilst hold ing him around neck. Southsid er cries of “what are you doing linesman” and outrage in gen eral ensued. The result: merely a lineout throw-in to Trinity.

The ‘missed high tackle’ scales would be balanced later. This time it was Ruadhan Byron who was the recipient of a high and unpunished hit. No further high tackles would occur for the re mainder of the game.

Fan annoyance with the refer ee would persist, however, due to the number of stoppages – a constant theme throughout the game. It was no doubt a result of the highly physical nature of the match, but it did remove some of the fluidity seen in early pas sages out of the game, The introduction of Thom as Clarkson, returning from Emerging Ireland duty, briefly shored-up the scrum enough to win a penalty. This faltered soon after. The number of penalties conceded at scrum time is some thing that DUFC head coach Tony

Smeeth and co. will be undoubt edly look ing to work on.

Dunne scored his second try after a series of for ward pick and goes near to the Lans downe line.

Tackling fero ciously and car

rying with intent, Dunne was certainly one of – if not the sin gularly – best Trinity players of the game. Leinster’s Alex Soroka, who was spectating, also com mended Dunne for his two tries.

Soroka praised the team’s effort as a whole as well. Ruadhan By ron was also a standout player.

A behind-the-back offload got oohs and aahs from the crowd, along with an incredibly D4-ac

cented cry of “that pass was out rageous”.

A Clarkson try would put the game to bed. This came on the back of a series of good for ward carries – a common theme throughout. Trinity’s defensive intensity would keep Lansdowne out for the rest of the game.

A line-out steal, turnovers at ruck time and a double tackle by Dillon, followed by a cheeky shove in the back on the tackled Silvester, all evidence of a con certed effort and drive to keep Lansdowne out. A last-minute dive in the corner by Liam Mc Mahon for a bonus point would be to no avail. The linesman ruled him out of bounds, which brought the game to a close with Trinity winning 17-27.

DUFC remain unbeaten, a record only currently being matched this season by last year’s finalists Clontarf and Terenure. Lansdowne remain winless – a shocking run of form for a team that finished third last year.

Trinity will host fourth place Ballynahinch in two weeks’ time, no doubt hoping to continue the impressive winning streak.

Fan annoyance with the referee would persist, however, due to the number of stoppages – a constant theme throughout the game

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Whilst conditions for the game were clear by kick-off, the rain earlier in the day was a welcome occurrence for the players’ knees

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Alex Connolly for The University Times