The University Times Volume 2 Issue 7

UCD vs Trinity Which has better students?

Ents Officer Darragh Genockey goes head-tohead with his UCD counterpart on p10

“Dad, I’m hung over, stoned and in bed with a stranger”

Rory O’Donovan on those awkward parental phone calls: p5

Intervention in Libya is bad.

No intervention is worse.

Tommy Gavin explains on p12

The University Times Irish Student Newspaper of the Year WEDNESDAY, 23RD MARCH 2011

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Candidates clash with IUA

Anger over GSU Provost vote

Tom Lowe Editor

Ronan Costello News Editor

Former Vice Provost/ Chief Academic Officer and Provostial candidate Paddy Prendergast has sent mixed messages on whether he would advocate disaffi liating with the Irish Universities Association in light of information uncovered by The University Times which showed that Trinity contributes an annual subscription of €256,000 to the organisation. (Full report: p3) In an interview with The University Times about the IUA and its funding, Prof.

Prendergast attacked the organisation, saying that it “needs to up its game” and that it “needs to take on board the importance of differentiation of mission.” He added that he would consider “advocating breaking with the IUA”, before correcting himself and adding that “advocate” was too strong a word, but that he was defi nitely “putting it out there”.

Following the interview,

The University Times made contact with the Irish Universities Association to seek a comment on Prof. Prendergast’s remarks. Some 25 minutes later, IUA Chief Executive Ned Costello told the paper that he had “spoken to Paddy in relation to the matter and Paddy has said to me that what he said was that the universities collectively need to raise their game when it comes to communicating with the public” In a later interview with Prof. Prendergast, he resiled from his previous comments, saying “I don’t believe I said that” and that he hadn’t meant his comment in a negative way, claiming that the third-level sector, including the IUA needed to pull together to overcome present difficulties.

He still maintained that he was not afraid to “throw down the gauntlet” with the IUA, and that he was happy that The University Times had “relayed that information” to Mr Costello.

Colm Kearney, meanwhile, was also critical of the

Fencers face off during Health & Sports Week. Photo: Dargan Crowley-Long IUA in an interview with The University Times.

He decried the “Stalinist idea that all universities can be treated as one sector” and added that the IUA was a “conduit through which the HEA pushes us around”, although he maintained that “there are benefits and I’m not saying we should leave it.” Prof. Kearney argued that Trinity has

“cosied up too much to the IUA and Higher Education Authority” and decried “clientelism” as “a feature of the old Ireland”, saying that relations with the IUA and HEA should “not be based on individual relationships, it’s based on professional engagement with respect” In response to these points as raised by The University Times, IUA Chief

Executive Ned Costello said that all colleges are “different colleges with different needs - it’s only when it’s something major where they all agree that collective action is better that we act sectorally” and pointed out that the IUA was itself founded by the universities “because they saw a need for a body that could represent them and it’s them representing

themselves through us.”

Prof. Kearney argued that Trinity should be positioning itself on the world stage, rather than in Ireland, saying that Trinity’s “natural alliances are not in the IUA”.

On this issue, IUA Communications Manager Lia O’Sullivan said that Kearney “sounds a little bit confused about what the IUA does.”

MEMBERS OF the GSU executive feel that their process for selecting a preferred Provostial candidate has been misrepresented as undemocratic by an article in the latest issue of Trinity News. Two members of the executive committee, last year’s President and VicePresident of the organisation, are openly campaigning for Patrick Prendergast.

The article in Trinity News led with the sentence: “The Graduate Students’ Union is being accused by post graduate students of ignoring their preferences for the Provostial election.” GSU President Dearbhail Lawless has said that this is untrue and that she had received no complaints about the GSU’s selection policy prior to the article’s publication. However, a poster on the boards. ie TCD forum had raised the issue at length over a week beforehand.

Since the article’s publication, Lawless says she has

received one e-mail of complaint.

While it’s true that the GSU’s four votes are not mandated to follow the result of the SU Provostial poll, postgraduate students were entitled to vote in that poll. When speaking to The University Times, Lawless was keen to point out that the GSU is an entirely separate body to the SU and operates in a way that, she says, best gauges the interest of the postgraduate community. “There are over 5,000 postgrads in Trinity. They are very smart and if they have a problem they know they can always put it to me in an e-mail or by phone,” said Lawless. “I would question where Trinity News got their information and who went to them to complain because we certainly hadn’t had one word of complaint, and I had sent out three emails about these elections.” Instead of polling its constituents, the GSU will gather Continued on p3

Security alert as fake TA calls Irish ‘the new Jews’ Jack Leahy FOLLOWING A law lecture intrusion in December, further Arts block security issues have been raised by a bizarre tutorial intrusion by an unidentified man posing as a replacement tutorial assistant (T.A.).

The man, described by a student in the Junior Freshman oral French tutorial as ‘tall, with grey hair and a beard, a long coat and a pint of water’, entered the classroom on the fourth floor of the Arts building, inquired as to the subject being taught and declared himself to have been sent by the French department to cover for absent regular T.A. Samantha Weyer-Brown, though he did not indicate any knowledge of her identity.

Speaking to The University Times, a number of students in the class described how the man began to conduct the class in a mixture of broken French and German, with suspicions aroused when the man wrote a basic sentence on the board but omitted the verb.

One of the students, who

does not wish to be named, told The University Times that the man excused – through his broken combination of languages - his poor standard of French by admitting to having not spoken the language ‘for a long time’.

When another student inquired as to why the man insisted on teaching the class German rather than French, it was the response which confi rmed the students’ suspicions that he was not in fact sent by the department.

A female student of the class described the atmosphere as ‘shocked’ and one of ‘silence and utter confusion’ when the man insisted that it would be useful to learn German in case the Germans were to invade Ireland, with the Irish destined to become ‘the new Jews’.

‘At this moment the whole group agreed, by the exchange of sideways glances of shock and disbelief, that there was something not quite right, and clearly this man was not in fact a tutor sent to help with our tutorial’ said the Junior Freshman student of TSM (Two-Subject Moderatorship) French.

At this stage, more than five minutes into the tutorial, Ms. Weyer-Brown arrived and dismissed the man, who cited a mix-up in the department as the cause of the even more confused situation brought about by her arrival. As he hurriedly left the class, the man is said to have muttered ‘I’m telling you, think about it, Irish as the new Jews, it could happen. Especially with what you do babies before they’ve even left the hospital. [You are] bleeding them dry. And I’d know, I’ve seen it all’. It is not known if this event is linked to a reported sighting of a man drinking Bulmers Cider on the same floor by the same group of students on the previous week.

In a statement released exclusively to The University Times, however, College Communications Officer Caoimhe Ní Lochlainn claimed that the man in question was in fact a student who later admitted to carrying out the tutorial invasion as a joke. ‘A TCD student has admitted to perpetrating the deed and pretending to be a tutor’, said the statement received

by this paper last Monday afternoon. However, the Communications office backtracked from their claims to have discovered the identity of the perpetrator and the next day claimed that ‘the matter was investigated and a TCD student will be apologising for his involvement’.

Outside the same tutorial on the following Monday, this reporter witnessed College security staff patrolling the fourth floor of the Arts block, casting doubt over the official assertion that the man in question was most likely a harmless student engaging in some sort of prank.

Cal Gray, a Junior Freshman French and Italian stu-

him later and he explained he was attached to the Russian department, although that is most likely [not true]’.

“It was such a surreal experience, I didn’t know whether to burst out laughing or crying!” added Kayla Walsh, a French & English Literature TSM student who was also in the tutorial at the time.

On the Friday following the incident, The University Times made contact with acting head of security Michael Noonan, asking whether or not the department of security were made aware of the incident, and if so what action was taken.

The response came through Caoimhe Ní Lochlainn,

During said conversation, Ms. Ní Lochlainn inquired as to the class, tutorial assistant, and year group involved in the incident and her end of the conversation indicated no awareness of the event, suggesting that security did not and perhaps could not provide College authorities with sufficient details. A verified account sent to The University Times by a member of the class was forwarded to the Communications office at their request and they issued us with the following statement: “The College’s staff, support services and security ensure that correct protocols are followed to ensure

Press Officer in the College Communications Office, who telephoned this reporter on Friday afternoon to inquire as to what exactly was alleged to have occurred.

been conducted was less than twelve.

Late on Friday afternoon, The University Times contacted the head of the French department Professor Johnnie Gratton in person with a view to confi rming that the man was not sent by the department.

Professor Gratton rejected our efforts to clarify the matter before civil conversation could begin, but Ms. WeyerBrown and a French department Executive Officer both indicated their understanding that the department were to carry out their own inquiry independent of that conducted by Security and the Senior Tutor.

Apology

“The matter was investigated and a TCD student will be apologising for his involvement.”

College Communications Office

dent who was in the commandeered tutorial, told The University Times that the man was still present in the building after the session in question: ‘I ran into

to conduct a class until the tutor arrived. The matter was investigated and a TCD student will be apologising for his involvement. If and when such incidents occur, staff and students should inform their department and/or school office. Should assistance be required, the Building Attendants should be contacted.”

Th is would appear to confi rm suggestions that Ms. Weyer-Brown did not inform security of the intrusion. It is also worth noting that the number of working hours which elapsed between the department fi rst making contact with this reporter and the receipt of the statement claiming an ‘intensive investigation’ had

In an article by Tom Lowe about the DUSSC ski trip on page 1 of our 25th January edition, a reference was made to a phone call made by Mr Robert Maguire to the perpetrators of an assault. a safe environment for both students and staff. The College can confi rm that an incident did take place involving a French oral class in which an individual tried

On reflection, mentioning him by name indirectly associated him unfairly with acts for which he was in no way responsible.

The University Times would like to take this opportunity to apologise to Mr Maguire for any harm or offence caused.

This apology was not requested by Mr Maguire or any other party.

SEMESTERISATION Some students have as many as 12 end-of-year exams.

College’s staff and students are being placed under undue stress.

Decisive leadership is needed to properly implement semesterisation without further delay.

Colm Kearney Senior Lecturer 2005-2008

Wednesday, March 23rd 2011 | The University Times

2

TIMESNEWS

Dobson shines in the chair at Provostial debate

Ciaran Nolan Research Editor The GMB was host to four of the five remaining candidates in the race to become Provost of Trinity last week, as RTÉ’s Brian Dobson chaired a debate which was co-hosted by The University Times. Students were allowed to submit questions to be asked of the candidates online prior to the debate, and this facility allowed for a lively debate and discussion amongst the candidates about some of the many important issues affecting students.

The candidates in attendance were Jane Ohlmeyer, Patrick Prendergast and

Colm Kearney, all working in Trinity, and Des Fitzgerald of UCD. John Boland was not present at the debate. Each of the candidates talked about the experience they had dealing with senior government officials and politicians, particularly in light of expected cutbacks and the introduction of third level fees.

Prendergast was the only candidate to go so far as to say that he favours the re– introduction of some sort of student fee, saying that a contribution would go a long way to ensure the longterm security of College finances. “For example, if students gave €1000 yearly, this would total to over

€11 million for college,” explained Prendergast. “I also think we could target our alumni for some more funding.”

The issue of philanthropy was the focus of some friction between the candidates.

Jane Ohlmeyer told the congregation of her plans to raise €1billion in her decade as Provost, mostly from philanthropic sources, “Hopefully €400€600 million would come from our alumni and philanthropic sources, and this would give us the ability to invest this money on the ground levels.”

Colm Kearney dismissed the €1bn figure as “magical” and suggested that

Piranha editor set to apologise despite Junior Dean’s reticence Tommy Gavin Deputy Editor Following a meeting with the Junior Dean, Dr Tim Trimble, Piranha editor John Engle has begrudgingly admitted that the satirical newspaper will “probably run some sort of apology” to Sebastien Lecocq in its next issue. Th is comes after his defence of the nowinfamous candidate profi le the paper ran in its Students’ Union election issue, which drew wide condemnation across Trinity for its harsh tone. It called the Student Union Presidential contender a “douchebag from the moment of conception” and referenced a medical condition which the former candidate said is not open to public discussion. The article was broadly seen as disproportionately malicious towards Lecocq, whom joke candidate Aaron Heffernan referred to as having been “so atrociously slandered in some grubby publication” in his withdrawal speech.

Other student leaders who denounced the article included Students’ Union President Nikolai TrigoubRotnem, Philosophical Society President Declan Meehan and then-Players Chair Matthew Smyth The Junior Dean expects the Piranha to apologise according to University Times sources familiar with Engle’s predicament, but will not force the publication to do so. Engle was accompanied to the meeting with the Junior Dean by Senior Lecturer in Law, Eoin O’Dell, who is a member of the Trinity Publications Board and specialises in media law.

He has provided legal advice to numerous Trinity

publications including this one, but when contacted by The University Times, John Engle dismissed any inference of legal threats from O’Dell’s presence, saying that “he was helpful in formulating our position and it was good to have an advocate, but there were no legal issues”. Commenting further, he said that “nothing was mandated, if there is an apology it will be on the initiative of the Piranha team.

We are not being mandat-

“the Committee did what is required of it in defending Publications [the committee].” The committee has discussed the issue at length and has asked Engle to show Publications Chairperson Grace Walsh the apology before it goes to print. She has said to the University Times that this is merely a “precaution” and that “the committee recognises the importance of not publishing slanderous or offensive material, but the issue has been

“To distinguish between two things that haven’t yet happened is pointless” John Engle - Piranha Editor

ed to in any way, though we probably will run something in the next issue, taking the human factor into account.”

One member of the Trinity Publications Committee who asked to remain nameless said that the “whole committee (editors, etc.) want John to apologise. He’s being stubborn.” Both GMB and Trinity Publications sources claimed that the Piranha would be printing a “clarification” as opposed to an actual apology, but when Engle was asked about this, he dismissed it saying that “the difference is speculative, a clarification and an apology can both take the same form. So to distinguish between two things that haven’t yet happened is pointless.”

When asked about whether or not he has been happy with the level of support from the Publications Committee in the debacle surrounding the article in question, Engle said that

resolved with the Publications Committee so I have no other comment to make about it.”

As well as being editor of the Piranha, Engle is also the general manager of The Social and Political Review, a Committee member of the Student Economic Review, Vice Chair of Trinity Ógra Fianna Fáil, Treasurer of The Phil, and a section editor for Trinity News. Ricky McCormack, Deputy Editor under Engle, is set to replace Engle next year following his election at the Piranha annual general meeting last week, so the next Piranha issue will be the last under Engle’s tenure. He commented that he “was happy to see Ricky McCormack elected”, and that he plans to contribute to the satirical paper next year.

The next issue of The Piranha is expected to be published in week 12.

Ohlmeyer “belongs upstairs”, where on the fi rst floor of the GMB, a Harry Potter table quiz was in progress. Kearney argued that it would be “difficult to fi nd a philanthropist who would throw money at a black hole” referring to Trinity’s accelerating debt levels.

Kearney described the Employment Control Framework, a government policy which restricts the hiring and promotion of staff in third-level institutions, as being a vicious assault on the University system in Ireland and pledged to combat its implementation. Fitzgerald, in response, suggested that Kearney should also be taking part in

the Harry Potter table quiz.

At one point or another, each of the candidates insinuated that another should be taking part in the table quiz.

In response to a question submitted through TimesOnline asking how Trinity could maintain a top 50 position in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, all candidates poured scorn on the methodologies of university rankings.

Prendergast described university rankings as being “rubbish,” and recalled a French rankings system specifically designed to ensure high French achievement. All candidates yet maintained that, despite

the inadequacies of the system, rankings did have a big effect on prospective students. Prendergast spoke of the excellent facilities College had to exploit. “Trinity has an excellent academic staff and students,” said Prendergast. “There are so many fundamentals in college that are strong.”

With the number of staff in College being reduced and the same amount of students coming in yearly, the candidates also discussed the possibility of re-introducing a cap on the number of students being allowed to study in Trinity. Th is motion was the only thing that all four agreed on, they said it would have to be looked

into in the future to ensure the quality of teaching at Trinity. The University Philosophical Society President, Declan Meehan, in an angry exchange, said that radical reform was needed, “Trinity is seen as Ireland’s number one college, yet it has so many problems; from lazy library staff to an absolutely appalling IS Services. The incoming Provost needs to reform college services.”

The only outsider, Des Fitzgerald from UCD added humour to the end of the debate, when each candidate was asked about their experience gained by running for the post he said that he would be the best leader UCD had ever seen. When

asked whom the would give their transfers to, each declined to answer.

The election for the Provost of college will take place on Saturday April 2nd.

Provost Hegarty celebrates his election in 2001. Photo courtesy of Trinity News

Players raise ¤1002 for Our Lady’s Hospice with 24-hour musical PUTTING TOGETHER a show is notoriously difficult but that challenge can become nigh on impossible when you’re given just twenty-four hours to do so but each and every year Players do just that. The twenty-four hour musical is one of the highlights of the Trinity calendar and one of the biggest fundraising events to take place on campus. Each year, Players cast, rehearse and perform a musical in just twenty-four hours with a cast of Players regulars as well as faces new to the Players’ stage.

This year saw Players perform South Park The Musical, which was naturally lewd, obscene and above all else wonderfully entertaining.

The show, directed by Martha MacGregor, Manus Cronin, Richard Shaffrey and Tim Forde, was in accordance with tradition a somewhat lavish affair with an impressive set as well as an ambitious lighting and sound design, which when they worked, added a whole new dimension to the performance.

Much credit must be given to the cast of the show who gave up their weekend to work around the clock, including rehearsing during

Matt Smyth offered an unsurprisingly accurate portrayal of Satan. Photo: Gráinne Pollak the interval, to get the show up and running and raise funds for Our Lady’s Hospice. There were some standout performances from the ranks with Oonagh O’Donovan, Manus Halligan, Jack Toner and Jack Gleeson excelling while Paul Testar

and Gavin Carberry’s turn as Canadian renegades, Terrance and Phillip, elicited huge applause from the audience. However it was Matt Smyth’s portrayal of a leather -clad Satan that was the clear audience favourite.

Given the short rehearsal

span of the show, it is never going to be a piece of polished theatre but it never aims to be. Instead what we get is a show which is great fun to watch and clearly great fun to be a part of and one which year on year manages to raise much needed funds

for good causes and that’s what the twenty-four hour musical is all about.

This year’s 24-hour musical raised ¤1002.

David Doyle - Theatre Editor

UCDSU President to run for Seanad Ronan Costello News Editor UCDSU President Paul Lynam has decided to contest the upcoming Seanad elections as part of the NUI Panel. Contesting one of the six available seats to University panels, Lynam will most likely be in the running for one of the two fi nal seats in the allocation, with Shane Ross and Joe O’Toole not seeking re-election.

Lynam was elected UCDSU President last year with a resounding victory, having previously held the position of UCDSU Education Officer.

A confident public speaker, Lynam has featured prominently in USI-organised campaigns, speaking at the “Education not Emigration” march last November.

As a recent graduate Lynam may face an uphill battle simply because

of his youth, but he has already secured the endorsement of outgoing Senator and now immensely popular Independent TD Shane Ross, who has said that Lynam “would be a forceful addition to the Seanad.

His independent ideas and youthful energy would shatter the cobwebs of the Upper House. He will bring the radical politics of change to Kildare Street.”

Speaking about his motivation in running, Lynam said, “In the next five to ten years we’re going to start rebuilding our generation. I love this country and I want to get involved in that, I don’t want to sit on the sidelines, I want to get my hands dirty.”

“My literature is strong and detailed and has been sent out to the entire electorate, almost 100,000 graduates in total,” said Lynam. “I can be part of the political reform.

I’m not in this race just for the sake of running, I’m in it to win a seat and I think the appetite for change will give us an edge.”

Lynam is basing his candidacy on four pillars of policy: economy and job creation, education and training, political reform and social justice. As part of the the fi rst policy, Lynam proposes a cut in the lower rate of VAT, from 13.5% to 11% until 2014 in order to stimulate labour intensive industries such as tourism, which employs over 190,000 people. He also proposes clearing the debt of the Dublin Airport Authority through the sale of non-strategic state assets, which would hopefully reduce airport charges and make Irish tourism more competitive internationally.

As regards education and training, Lynam wants to see the

abolition of FÁS and the establishment of a One Stop Shop for training the unemployed. The introduction of a Public Service Programme is also one of Lynam’s main proposals.

Th is would see second level graduates being given the opportunity to gain workplace experience in An Gardaí Síochána, the Armed Forces and the HSE, amongst others.

Lynam naturally opposes the introduction of third level fees and also wants to see the level of research funding increase to 3% of GDP by 2020. He also wants to see a cap on the number of TDs, proposing a maximum of 100, with one per constituency where possible. On the social justice policy, Lynam hopes to make mental health awareness a national priority, with a particular focus on suicide prevention.

3

The University Times | Wednesday, March 23rd 2011

TIMESNEWS

Redmond re-elected, Fox rejected Ronan Costello News Editor Gary Redmond was re-elected as President of USI at USI Congress last Monday. After receiving a warm reception by Congress delegates when he took the stage in the hustings, it was no surprise when the ex-UCDSU President received 92% of the vote, in a straight yes/no plebiscite. TCDSU Education Officer, Jen Fox, was less fortunate however, narrowly losing a similar yes/no plebiscite in her run at USI Education Officer.

The mood at Congress, held in the four-star Dunboyne Castle Hotel, could only be described as celebratory, with the Officer Board being hailed as the most successful in USI’s history. Words like “revolutionised” and “amazing” were frequently used to describe the performance of those who had been elected this time last year to lead an organisation which had been previously decried as occasionally shambolic in its organisation. Personality clashes and egos had gone some way to creating an image of a dysfunctional outfit, used by career politicians to launch careers on the national stage.

While some had levelled similar allegations at Redmond, most acknowledged his impressive work rate and the fact that USI had operated effectively as a lobbying organisation under his watch - staving off a rise in the registration fee to the much-touted figure of €3000 and ensuring the Student

Support Bill was passed into law before the previous government succumbed to electoral annihilation.

The Trinity delegation arrived to Congress expecting a better welcome than that received. Placed towards the back of the conference hall, and with many other delegations, including UCD, pledged to oppose TCDSU Education Officer Jen Fox’s candidacy for USI Education Officer, the “Trinity versus everyone else” mentality set in with the more paranoid members of the delegation. It didn’t help that most major delegations, and some smaller ones, were sporting their own t-shirts to emphasise the solidarity between their respective delegates while Trinity remained plain-clothed.

The more sartorially-polished President of National Union of Students UK Aaron Porter was the first guest speaker to address the group. Having endured a year of massive defeats at the hands of the Tory/Lib Dem coalition, not least the rise in standard tuition fees from €3000 to €9000, Porter has been the subject of massive criticism from left-leaning student groups in the UK. He recently decided not to seek reelection, stating that NUSUK needed a new face at the helm if it was to leave the fees issue behind it. Another student leader who has been the subject of jibes of careerism, Porter spoke eloquently about the unrealistic expectations of the militant left and the outdated tactics they had used when raiding Tory HQ which, he claimed, had done

nothing but give Lib Dem MPs political cover when voting for the Tory-led fee increases. Eloquent and assured, Porter’s performance set a high standard for the USI Officers who followed him to deliver their annual officer reports.

Normally the opportunity for delegates to grill officers on their performance, this report session turned out to be a love-in between regional sabbats and their superiors in USI HQ. Not only were no particularly taxing questions asked, but every question was prefaced with back-slapping congratulations for being “such a great guy”.

Only one hard question was asked in the whole session, directed to the LGBT Rights Officer, who was asked if she thought that her position needed to be designated as full-time. Knowing it would be controversial to say yes, she relented and admitted she could fulfil her duties by working on a part-time basis.

Once the reports were completed, the room’s atmosphere became tense.

Time for hustings. For TCD, Jen Fox prepared to make her case against the Re-Open Nominations vote. While the option to re-run the election rather than vote in the nominated candidate is never a serious contender in Trinity elections, at USI Congress candidates who run unopposed are frequently rejected. One of the reasons for this is that quite a few of the larger delegations such as UCDSU and DITSU vote as a block, based on a mandate received after the various candidates

GSU in vote controversy Continued from p1 an impression of the most favoured candidate by conducting individual faculty caucuses, circulating emails with information on the different candidates and asking for feedback, as well as conducting a hustings, which took place yesterday evening in the Synge theatre. All twelve members of the GSU executive are required to attend the hustings and are invited to ask questions of the candidates during the ensuing caucuses. Lawless has also asked each member of the executive to prepare a report on each candidate based on the feedback they have gotten from postgraduate students around the college.

“The GSU executive will then have a meeting where all the feedback will be discussed and a vote will be taken. The candidate who wins the vote will receive all four votes of the GSU. I will personally ensure that this mandate is enforced,” said Lawless. Trinity News made no mention of this meeting, nor did it hint at the fact that the GSU votes as a block and not on the personal preference of the four voters - the President, Vice-President

and two Faculty Representatives.

Former GSU President and current member of GSU executive Ronan Hodson said the GSU operated this way because “postgrads don’t interact with the GSU in the same way as undergrads interact with the SU. We don’t get big turnouts, we rely on a small group of people to get feedback from our constituents. We have a perfect representative balance between faculties on executive.”

“We have a different system because postgrads just don’t turn up,” Hodson explained.

Hodson has openly campaigned for former ViceProvost Patrick Prendergast, as has fellow member of GSU executive and former Vice-President, Alexandra Murphy. When asked if he had discussed the GSU vote with Prendergast, Hodson said “We gave him some advice … we are not being paid. Other candidates were paying people to work on their behalf, Colm Kearney being one of them. There is nothing like that going on here.”

Hodson went on to say that at least three other members of GSU executive

Staff Listing EDITOR Tom Lowe DEPUTY EDITOR Tommy Gavin NEWS EDITOR Ronan Costello DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR Rónán Burtenshaw FEATURES EDITOR Caelainn Hogan DEPUTY FEATURES Editor Ian Curran OPINION EDITOR Marykate Collins DEPUTY OPINION EDITOR Eugene Reavey SPORTS EDITOR Jack Leahy DEPUTY SPORTS Editor Matthew Rye PHOTO EDITOR Dargan Crowley-Long MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Fionn Fitzpatrick WEB EDITOR Peter Twomey SENIOR DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Jamie Wright

were openly campaigning for other candidates. Hodson preferred not to name either the campaigners or the candidates they were supporting. When asked, Lawless remained similarly tight-lipped.

Rob Kearns, former SU Education Officer and Chair of CSC, who is campaigning for Colm Kearney, has rejected the assertion that there are three people on executive campaigning for any other candidates. Kearns says that this assertion is based on assumptions and rumour. If Kearns is correct then Patrick Prendergast is the only candidate with explicit representation on GSU executive, with two of the twelve representatives canvassing on his behalf.

GSU President Dearbhail Lawless rejected the claim that such blatant campaigning from members of GSU executive would unduly influence the final vote.

Aoife Crowley, Editor of Trinity News, says that the GSU had not contacted her about the article and that any disgruntlement felt by the GSU committee members was never communicated to her.

have made their cases at their respective Councils. Fox knew that UCD had voted to oppose her candidacy, in part as a rebuke to members of the TCDSU Executive having canvassed against the welfare candidacy of UCD’s Scott Ahearn. UCCSU had also decided to go against Fox, reflecting their generally more left-wing stance which stands at odds with Fox’s approach to student issues.

So it was then, that Fox took to the stage, with some of the leading delegations staring her down with folded arms. Swing voters could still have been persuaded by a particularly strong stump speech but Fox seemed nervous, her demeanour belying her normally confident public speaking.

For the other positions, it seemed like the only really contested race was between current USI Education Officer Colm Murphy and NUIMSU President Aengus Ó Maoláin for the position of Deputy President. Murphy was judged to have acquitted himself well this year, but gave a far more understated speech than Ó Maoláin who spoke about how Maynooth SU had transformed under his watch from a campus joke to an effective and professional organisation.

When the results were announced on Monday, both Fox and Ó Maoláin were left with head in hands - the silence in the room excruciating when it was announced that Congress had turned against Fox. Speaking about her defeat Fox said, “it’s horrendous that four out of the five USI officers are from

UCD. It gives USI a massive bias and a very limited viewpoint.” Fox said that she was giving herself a week to think about her next move, but that she was unlikely to contest the vacant position at USI’s National Council. Early last Sunday morning a Facebook page was set up to encourage the current UCCSU President Keith O’Brien to nominate himself for Education Officer at USI National Council. O’Brien had lost his bid at re-election only a few days prior to Congress’s beginning and some have noted the similarities between O’Brien’s Presidential campaign page and the current USI campaign page.

The elections over, an entire programme of motions had still to be debated. Fist-time Congress attendees would be forgiven for expecting these to be controversial, topical issues on which USI needed to take a stance. Instead, what we got were mind-numbingly obvious votes on whether USI should support a loan scheme for graduates or whether USI should make the nurses’ pay campaign one of its national priorities. On more than one occasion it felt like delegates were speaking just to be heard. None more so than a particular DITSU delegate who set up camp on stage for the duration of the congress.

While Steph Fleming and Darren O’Gorman spoke well on TCDSU’s behalf, O’Gorman’s contribution was restricted to LGBT issues and Fleming offered opinions on Welfare motions.

No TCDSU delegates spoke on national

issues bar Irish Language Officer Peadar de Blúit whose input was restricted to motions related to the Irish language. Trinity lacked the same punch as other colleges whose Presidents proved to be excellent speakers, most notably UCDSU, UCCSU, NUIMSU and DITSU. This was due in no small part to the fact that Nikolai Trigoub-Rotnem spent much of Monday ill with food poisoning. This notwithstanding, Trinity’s lack of a statesman-like President was noticeable, and only added to what was a disappointing Congress for “Ireland’s premier University”.

Gary Redmond addresses the crowd at USI Congress. Photo: Isobel O’Connor

Trinity pays IUA €250k annually Rónán Burtenshaw Deputy News Editor Trinity College paid an annual subscription in excess of a quarter of a million euro to the Irish Universities Association in each of the last three years. The IUA is a private company with charitable status directed by the seven heads of Irish universities. Documents obtained

by The University Times also indicate that the IUA had substantial sums in cash reserves available to it during the time that it was receiving this money.

In total the Irish Universities Association received over €1.5 million from Irish universities in each of those years. Further significant funding came from the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF), a state body run by the HEA, amounting to over €8 million since 2006.

Despite receiving public funds, the IUA is a limited company and is not subject to requests under the Freedom of Information Act. Speaking to The University Times on the issue of oversight, CEO of the IUA, Mr. Ned Costello ,drew attention to the review of externally funded IUA activities by the funding parties, the HEA and the C&AG. This,

however, does not include operations “funded directly by the universities”.

The IUA intends to implement a 12.5% cut in the subscription fee for universities in 2011. Trinity’s contribution is forecast to fall from €256,122 p/a to €217,200.

UCD, the largest contributor, will commit €282,987 (down from €329,223) and the overall contribution will drop from €1,555,510 to €1,365,000.

The latest complete accounts available for the company, from 2009, show that it had a balance of €2.7 million available to it at year’s end. This “cash in hand and at bank” sum is almost twice the total contribution of the Irish universities, who themselves have seen millions of euro of cuts since 2008. Trinity College faces a projected debt of between €80 and €100 million by 2015 after a €41 million reduction in the state grant (almost 40%) in 2010.

Mr. Costello said that having cash on hand was “prudent” practice for organisations. He continued that the SIF and HEA funding would be “reflected in [their] cash balances” but had “no further comments to make” about how much money is currently in IUA

accounts and why it had not been used to lower university costs further.

Payments to the IUA do not feature by name in either Trinity or UCD’s accounts.

No mention is made of the money paid to the organisation in any of the approved Trinity College Board meeting minutes for the academic year 2010/11. In response to questions about this subject, College replied that “IUA payment is expensed in the College Funding Statements under miscellaneous expenditure.”

Speaking in February, Mr Costello said that the organisation had 14 or 15 employees. Their 2009 accounts show their fifteen employees then receiving a combined salary of €1.45 million, with the company, who rent a property on in Merrion Square, also paying almost €200,000 in leasing costs annually. He also claimed that it would cost the universities more in administrative costs than it has cost the IUA to do its job.

The Irish Universities Association’s stated aim is to “assist in the development of a common position on higher education policy issues among Irish universities” and to “advise the Government [and] the HEA...

regarding the views and policies of Irish universities.”

This paper asked Mr. Costello whether the sole presence on the Board of the IUA of the heads of the universities gives rise to potential difficulties in fulfilling this objective. He replied that “IUA decisions are taken by consensus” and it had “no role” in the internal governance of universities.

The decision-making body of the universities extend beyond their Presidents to their Boards. A review of the approved Board meeting minutes for this year shows a disagreement at November 10th’s meeting over an IUA discussion on Higher Level Mathematics points in the Leaving Certificate. The group also responded recently to a controversy in UCD over academic freedom and tenure with a statement on those topics which seemed to differ from a policy agreed just weeks before by Trinity’s Academic Council.

On the website of the IUA the company is described as “the representative body of the Heads of the seven Irish universities”. When asked

by The University Times whether the IUA was representative of the universities or their leadership, Mr.

Costello was unequivocal, “the IUA is the representative body of the universities”. This opinion, however, was not echoed by the Communications Department of Trinity College who viewed it as “the representative body of the universities and presidents collectively”.

Mike Jennings, General Secretary of the Irish Federation of University Teachers, suggested recently that they be renamed “the Irish Universities’ Presidents’ Association” to clarify the position of the organisation.

Trinity’s Communications Office, in response to a question about whether university subscriptions were value for money, responded with a description of the IUA as a body designed to “develop strategy and policy to advance third and fourth level education”.

When asked whether Trinity College should be paying subscriptions while the IUA had considerable reserves in the bank College replied, “In addition to the the services provided by the IUA to its members, there are matters which are of a sectoral nature and which need to be dealt with sectorally by the universities and for that reason among others the IUA is a valuable asset.”

Doyle elected LGBT Auditor for 2011/12 James Hagan Staff Writer The 2011 Annual General Meeting of Trinity’s LGBT society took place on Tuesday 15th March at 8pm in the Graduate Student’s Union Common Room. David Doyle, a second year Religions and Theology and English Literature student, ran unopposed for the position of auditor and was elected. Stephen Keane, also in second year, was elected treasurer and Aoife Ryan-Christensen became the society’s new secretary. A constitutional amendment to remove the requirement for the committee to designate specific committee members to be liaison officers for gay men, lesbians, bisexual people and transgender people was passed on the grounds that in practice it was more organisationally sound to let this happen naturally. Doyle said of the amendment, “I was happy the constitutional amendment was

passed. I think it was an unnecessary provision in the constitution. I appreciated the argument made for not amending it but ultimately I think that the buddy system that we currently use is enough to suffice and so the provision had become outdated.” Tess Thompson, former auditor, and Eoin Silke, former Treasurer, both received “Matt the Jap Lifetime Achievement Awards” for their commitment to the society throughout their time in college. Turnout for the AGM was over capacity, with many people having to stand in the corridor outside the GSU common room in an effort to experience the events of the evening.

The AGM comes at the end of a year that has been widely regarded as highly successful for the society and most of the speeches focused on how the society can expand even further in the following year. Ryan-Christensen, in particular, stressed her commitment to making it more politically active in

her speech, claiming that the social aspect of the society was strong but that Trinity LGBT needed to help campaign more for gay rights in Ireland. She specifically cited organisations like TENI (Transgender Equality Network Ireland) and lgbtNOISE (a protest group committed to the introduction of gay marriage in Ireland) as groups with which a college society could work to try to further the national interests of LGBT people. Doyle agrees with her, telling The University Times that “there is definite scope for the society having a political aspect. We have to a degree this year by getting involved with Amnesty’s Mock Marriage and it’s definitely something that I think there is room to build on.”

However, Ryan-Christensen was positive about the academic year 2010/2011 overall and in general it was hard to find critical voices when the past year was discussed.

The work of the society throughout the year,

specifically the events which ran during Rainbow Week, was celebrated. This speaks very well of Darren O’Gorman, Auditor of the society 2010/2011, who was unsuccessful in his bid for Welfare Officer of the Student’s Union. Trinity LGBT has started to gain a continuous association with candidates for the sabbatical office. In 2009, the society’s then-auditor Cormac Cashman was elected to the office and some of his success was attributed to the commitment members of the LGBT gave to his campaign. Yet over the past two years the society’s influence over the election seems to have waned, with Cashman failing to get re-elected in 2010 and O’Gorman recently losing out to Louisa Miller. When asked if he would follow his LGBT auditor predecessors in running for the position of Student’s Union Welfare Officer, Doyle told The University Times, “I have no plans to run for Welfare Officer.”

Wednesday, March 23rd 2011 | The University Times

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TIMESNEWS

Trinity’s Year in Photos 1 - The Rubberbandits want to fight your father at The Phil during Freshers’ Week - Photo: Tom Lowe 2 - Students and gardaí clash after the November 3rd student protest march.

Photo: Ana Lezcano 3 - A snow-topped Campanile while College was closed due to snow.

Photo: Tom Lowe 4 - Gordon Brown addresses The Hist.

Photo: Dargan Crowley-Long 5 - Aaron Heffernan addresses the crowd at SU election hustings. Photo: Dargan Crowley-Long 6 - Stephen Fry charms a Philosophical Society audience. Photo: Dargan Crowley-Long 7 - Students make their presence felt at the November march. Photo: AP Vyas 8 - A member of the Capoeira Society impresses onlookers during Freshers’ Week. Photo: Dargan Crowley-Long 9 - One of the unused shots from our UTculture cover shoot in October.

Photo: David O’Dwyer 10 - Barry O’Halpin, Peter McNamara and Robbie Kitt at the Daft Punk Orchestra concert. Photo: David O’Dwyer 11 - Bryan Dobson listens to Colm Kearney at the University Times/Philosophical Society Provostial Debate. Photo: Tom Lowe 12 - Trinity’s first XV come up against Midleton at College Park. Trinity ended up losing the match 17-18. Photo: Dargan Crowley-Long 13 - Ents candidates Chris O’Connor and Elaine McDaid hug it out after the race got a bit nasty. Photo: Tom Lowe

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The University Times | Wednesday, March 23rd 2011

TIMESFEATURES

“Dad, I’m hung over, stoned and in bed with a stranger” Did you have sex last week? Did you take any drugs? Did you drink so much that you vomited? Did you smoke too many cigarettes? Did you spend your rent money? Because of any of these things, did you miss a lecture? A tutorial? Imagine you did any or all of these things. Imagine your mum calls you, or your dad.

They ask what you’ve been up to recently.

What do you say?

Rory O’Donovan asks Trinity students about their relationships with their parents.

S

OME, I HAVE discovered, would tell nothing of the above to their parents. Some would lie if they were pressed.

Some would happily tell them about some things, whilst never tell them about others. Some would tell them, quite frankly, about nearly all of them. How do we decide what we can and can’t tell our parents? Do we have different rules for our mum, or our dad? Do we tell them more, or less, now we’re older and at college? Do we lie to them or hide things from them because we are scared, or ashamed? Or do we do it to protect them, to avoid confrontation? Over the last few weeks, I have endeavoured to find out just how much we tell our parents, and why we hide things from them.

Mark* tells his parents very little about his life at Trinity. ‘I smoke, my parents certainly don’t know about that. I drink a lot more than I’d ever let on. I would never tell them about the drugs I have tried.

Anything to do with girls I certainly wouldn’t bring up with my mum or dad. And yeah, as far as they’re concerned, I’ve never missed a lecture.’ To be honest, I had thought this might be the typical response to my prying. I would consider myself to be fairly honest with my parents about most things and, from experience with friends’ parents I had always found they share less with their parents than I do with mine. But, as I soon came to realise, it’s not that we share less or more with our parents than others do, it’s that we are all open and honest about very different combinations of things. ‘I’m fairly sure

my dad wouldn’t be able to handle anything to do with sex or drugs,’ Mark concluded, ‘and I certainly couldn’t talk to my mum about sex. I’d tell them ‘”I’m going for a few beers” rather than “I’m going out on the piss”. Without a doubt, I tone things down. Mainly because I haven’t a clue how they would react if confronted with the truth.’

Having thought that Mark’s approach was that of the majority, I was corrected substantially by the many whom I talked to who tell their parents about far more than I ever would. Sarah* tells me she would tell her parents pretty much everything: ‘I wouldn’t wake up the day after a bender and walk into the kitchen and be like ‘Mum, Dad, I took these drugs last night and had sex with this guy’, but they know I take drugs, they know I have sex.’ I asked Sarah about how she thought her parents felt about this, she replied with a smile, ‘well, obviously I think sextalk makes my dad pretty uncomfortable, but my mum always says it’s good for him. I have talked about using condoms or the pill; I have talked about friends having threesomes and the like.

Drugs are kind of different. I’m not sure my folks really understand drugs too much; they find my drug-taking fascinating, as it’s something they never experienced. I w o u l d n’t tell them how much

or how often I take things, but I think they know a lot of the drugs I have tried.’ Did she think this was a ‘strange’ relationship to have, I asked her, ‘well no, not for me,’ she replied, ‘but obviously from meeting friends’ parents I understand it maybe isn’t typical. It’s just what I’m used to, I’ve always been brutally honest and my parents either like that, or have learnt to put up with it’.

Talking to parents frankly about drug-use is something I find particularly fascinating. Surely, unlike spending too much money, or having sex, which could at least be forgiven as fairly natural, most parents wouldn’t condone drug use, would they? Isabelle* tells me that she had never told her parents about taking drugs until recently, when she thought she had been smoking cannabis too regularly. She had a candid

conversation with her mum, telling her about all of the drugs she had taken and asking her if she would be prepared to test her regularly for cannabis use using home-tests. ‘I had to explain to mum about all of the drugs and what they meant. It was awkward I suppose, saying things like “well, that’s horse tranquiliser mum”, but to be fair, she was really cool about it.’ I talked to Ed*, who told me that he had also opened up to his parents about drugs, having told his dad about everything he had taken. My conversation with Ed though took an interesting turn when he told me that ‘Dad would be fairly clued up about how much I smoke, drink and take drugs, but I’d never tell him if I missed a lecture.’

I was quite astounded by this.

Here was a

student who would tell his dad about girls he had sex with, drugs he had taken, fights he had been in, but would never tell him that he missed some college work. It was at this point that I realised that the interesting thing about what we all do and don’t tell our parents is that for every single one of us, there exists a very unique and very complicated set of rules by which we all deem what is appropriate for our parents. I met students who would tell their parents everything apart from the fact that they smoked, others whose parents knew all of their misdemeanours but whose mothers would never be told if they were eating badly, and some who could be frank with their dad about anything other than how poorly they were handling their finances.

‘I think it depends on the parents really,’ said Sam*, another Trinity student who censors what he tells his parents regarding the life he leads at Trinity. ‘For example, some might have had a grandparent who died because of smoking, so they wouldn’t tell their parents they smoked. Or some might have had a cousin who died because of an overdose, or have a family member who had a serious drinking problem; obviously, this would affect what they do and don’t tell their parents.’ Surely, I replied to Sam, we are all old enough now to be honest with our

parents about how we lead our lives? ‘I don’t think it’s as simple as that,’ he countered, ‘I think some people have very liberal parents, or even very ‘modern’ parents who know what young people get up to these days. But some don’t. Imagine telling your grandparents you have sex all the time, with different people, or that you regularly take drugs? They would be hugely upset; they’d think you were an addict or a whore. For some people it’s like that with their parents, they’re of a different generation, with completely different cultural – or even religious – standards which they live by.’

It is impossible to find even one broad explanation to summarise our hugely varying reasons for what we do and don’t tell our parents. But one student, when I asked her the following question, came pretty close: Does it mean that we are not as close to our parents because we keep things from them? ‘No,’ says Claire*, ‘I think I am very close to my parents. But if I ever have a daughter in lots of ways I would love her to experience all of the stupid things I have done, because they teach you a lot.

But as her mum, if I ever knew, I would have to stop her, I would have to intervene. Yes, I think we’d all judge our friendships on how much we can honestly share with a person, but parental relationships are completely different. A friend is there for you, whereas a parent is not just there for you, they’re responsible for you as well.’ *Interviewees’ names have been changed to protect their identities

Here today, gone tomorrow: pop-up shops Ciaran Nolan Research Editor With consumer wallets empty and the closure of many once-successful businesses, entrepreneurial minds in Ireland have had to become somewhat more creative in their thinking to make money and create employment.

At the moment one innovative strategy is taking hold in the retail and food industries, particularly in Dublin.

The “Pop-up Shop”, which involves entrepreneurs

leasing premises to open a business, but with the sole intention of only trading for a very short period of time, usually somewhere between two days and three months.

The concept of a pop-up shop is in no way a new one, in the past it has been a popular strategy in the US and UK retail markets. What is somewhat unusual is the plan by the owners of these businesses, to only remain open for a short period of time. The reason behind this sporadic opening and soon after closing, is seen as the

key concept and the main reason for success of these businesses, their exclusivity and them being very current. They are exclusive and current in the fact that they are only going to be open and trading for a very, very short space of time, and if people want to try them out they realistically don’t have long to do so, these sporadic businesses are seen as trendsetters and build up hype within a community or certain genre of people like students or the middle aged. If customers want

to try them out they don’t have long at all, so they must act quickly to try it, this of course also means instant cash for the business owner, who normally sets up these types of businesses on a shoe string budget.

Recently, the Dublin retail scene has been subject to the opening of a number of pop up shops, and no doubt in the future, with so much empty retail space within the city this is what Dublin consumers can expect to see more and more.

Surprisingly, even big

names like Brown Thomas have joined the popular trend, and have taken it upon themselves to open pop up shops within their stores, an example of this is in their flagship Grafton Street store where there are pop up shops from designers Zoe Jordan and Stella Mc Cartney, they also opened up a new and innovative Christmas shop called The Marvel Room before Christmas, which created talk and hype amongst Christmas shoppers.

Without a doubt the

biggest name to be associated with the new Dublin pop up phenomena is CrackBIRD, a pop up restaurant spear headed by foodie entrepreneur Joe Macken, who is also behind the ever-popular and “hip” restaurant, JOBurger in Rathmines. In his quest to be alternative, Macken decided to rent out a premises in Temple Bar’s once dingy Crane Lane and transform the dormant retail space into a chicken lovers’ heaven, with a bare menu, being so limited that if you don’t eat chicken there

isn’t much of a choice for you. Macken joining this trend, decided to set up the restaurant for only a short twelve-week period, open until Mid May, and the restaurant uses a innovative way of advertising and creating a hype amongst the Dublin consumer, using Twitter, which has really got people talking a lot about the restaurant. CrackBIRD has achieved this by using an innovative idea which allows any table up to six people to eat free if they tweet at the restaurant using the

“#tweetseats” hashtag. This is definitely something a lot of us hungry students will be trying out in the coming weeks before CrackBIRD packs up and moves off.

It’s not just hype, however, in a TimesOnline review, Luke O’Connell wrote that his buttermilk bird “made [his] mother’s roast chicken seem like a waste of time.”

Pop up shops are set to continue to flourish, so keep your eyes open for these alternative and unusual businesses in the future.

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Wednesday, March 23rd 2011 | The University Times

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TIMESFEATURES

The money was just resting in my account...

Paul Kelly talks with Dr Elaine Byrne about political corruption in Ireland and where we go from here. Dr. Elaine Byrne is a lecturer, journalist, consultant and political analyst as well as lecturer in the Department of Political Science in Trinity. Her first book, A Crooked Harp: Political Corruption in Ireland 1922-2010, will be published

by Manchester University Press this spring.

What do you think is the gravest problem facing our new government as regards political corruption in the Irish political system?

I think really the big issue, and that’s what my book looks at, is how the definition of corruption evolves and changes. How thirty years ago we had certain definitions and understandings of corruption and they change over time. When we look at the issues now we can ask: well how did that happen? But back then it was perfectly normal, and I think the same thing is happening now in terms of the influence of vested interests in decision making. I think that’s the big challenge for the current government to understand- that that’s a serious issue.

What do you think about Fine Gael and Labour’s proposed reforms to the political system?

Well, myself and several other academic colleagues have put together this methodology called reformcard.com where we rate the different proposals in the program for government against different criteria. They’re being released soon and I think they’ve scored relatively high. We’ll have to wait and see, lots of governments in the past have promised to implement different proposals but

they haven’t done so. If they do implement them that’ll be a massive step, a fantastic step, but I’m a little worried about political funding.

I don’t see a commitment in the Programme for Government that they will publish their accounts. I know in Fine Gael’s manifesto they said that they would do that so I’m a little bit concerned about that, but on the whole I think it looks very positive.

What would be interesting though, is that they have a minister for public sector reform, Brendan Howlin but it’s not immediately clear to me yet who’s the person responsible for political reform in government. That’s something that would be great to see more of an emphasis on.

more as a sexist issue then?

There has been a lot of discussion about that. I think it’s sad and, as a young women, it’s disappointing to see that there aren’t more women in cabinet and that there aren’t more young people in cabinet. There are only two ministers under 50 in the cabinet and only two women.

Do you see a correlation between people wanting more experienced members and this age gap?

I think that you could say that Joan Burton is a friend of the government just as much as Brendan Howlin.

I can see that argument, but just because you have more experience does not mean that you’re very good at what you do. In the last government we had ministers who were in government for 14 years and we still had the intervention of the IMF, so experience didn’t matter very much because we still lost our economic sovereignty because of decisions that very experienced ministers made. I would go back to the very first government Ireland had: apart from Eoin McNeill and WT Cosgrave the entire cabinet were men in their thirties.

I think we tend to define experience as longevity in a position and I think that experience should be defined more as meritocracy for a position. We see people talking about glass ceilings for women, but I think we also have glass ceilings for young people.

Do you see this

Why do you

Just going back to Brendan Howlin’s appointment. There was a huge scandal that erupted about Joan Burton being passed over for that same position.

Do you see that as there being more of the same in this coalition government? That people are just being passed over for friends of the government?

think previous to govern? Have after an economic collapse part of corruption? tends to be very reactionary We could get into a very anti-corruption people lost faith in and in protest. The new gov- deep philosophical discuslegislation has failed the political system? ernment’s symbolic actions sion about whether clienso miserably? We’ve The Euro Barometer polls like going to the Oireachtas telism and patronage is a would show that, in com- in a bus, cutting the pay of form of corruption as we had anti-corruption parative terms, Irish people the Taoiseach- those things define it or whether its just legislation in the have one of the lowest levels matter. Those kind of things politicians acting in the inpast but it hasn’t of trust in government, sec- instil a sense of trust in poli- terests of their constituents. really stopped ond only to Greece, but that ticians far more than rheto- I have a very definite view can be changed. However I ric. on that. I think that it’s not anybody such as think that Irish people have just politicians that need to Senator Callely very little trust in authority Is there a problem act differently, it’s people and the expenses in general, whether that be that need to act differently, with excessive the Church or the Gardaí. it’s the electorate that need scandal that erupted A whole series of institu- localism in Irish to act differently and it’s the there. tions in Ireland have under- politics? What you electorate that need to take Well the legislation wasn’t gone incredible challengresponsibility for electing consider that as a always necessarily there. es and self-scrutiny. There people to office who have The ethics act was brought in in 1995 but before that anti-corruption legislation in Ireland dated back to British statues of 1916 and 1906 so we had a very outdated legislative framework. I think there is a focus on the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law which means the law always has to play catch up because there are always loopholes to be found when people only define their behaviour on what’s legally expected of them and not necessarily what their own moral obligations as servants of the public trust is. I think were coming to the point now where people are beginning to define their behaviour and realise that there’s not only legal expectations of them, but also moral expectations. It’s interesting in resignation speeches of a Ceann Comhairle or a Taoiseach or a former minister you see this phrase that crops up a lot: “I broke no law, I did no wrong.”

So on one hand they’re resigning in protest because there saying I broke no law so I don’t see why I have to resign, but, on the other hand, they’ve resigned because of moral pressure and public pressure.

Do you think this has hurt the government’s ability

records that are less than clean. You look at Ireland over the last 20 or 30 years and you can look at cases where there have been questions about the integrity of some people, yet the electorate return them to office in record numbers. And you can see people who were trying to introduce ethics into public life and were punished for it by the electorate by recording a lower vote. We can blame politicians and political parties, but people vote them in.

have been approximately 30 different inquiries since the 1930’s into public life in Ireland and that’s very welcome because that’s a redefinition of values that’s occurring now, rather then just taking things for granted and not challenging and not questioning.

Would you see that as linked to the crisis in party politics that’s occurring in Ireland right now?

The latest election has received the largest independent vote in the history of the state, is that a challenge to party authority?

I’d see this election as a protest election. 41% of candidates in this election were independents which is absolutely incredible and an indication that people don’t trust the formal party political system but still want to contribute to politics. It’s great that so many people felt that they want to engage in politics but, on the other hand, didn’t trust politicians, but still did something about it. I’m not sure we’ll see that next election because I think the first election, just as we saw in Iceland and in other countries,

Dr Byrne in her office. Photo: Dargan Crowley-Long

HPAT opens up medicine courses, but is it for the best?

Gavin MacDermott Staff Writer “I think it is a good concept because it seems to be giving the more medically apt people a chance which is the way it should be in my opinion,” says Patrick Cooper, a medical student in UCD. The ‘Health Professions Admissions Test’ has been used in Ireland since 2009. Before then, most Leaving Certificate students who walked through the door to a life in medicine scored in the high 500s or captured the revered 600. It’s a different ball game now though as the introduction of the HPAT has led to a change in the demographic of medical students who will become the doctors of the future.

The Government at the time, saw fit to ‘improve’ the system of examining prospective medical students by importing the HPAT from Australian Council of Educational Research (ACER) who now moderate the examinations held every February in Ireland.

It all sounds quite rosy and the concept is a progressive one, but what does it mean for Irish educational merit when the 600 point winners are not getting their place? Is fairness in education in question regarding the training of our doctors?

The HPAT website states that the test “measures a candidate’s logical reasoning and problem solving skills as well as non-verbal reasoning and the ability to understand the thoughts, behaviour and/or intentions of people” and claims the test is not linked to any particular “academic discipline”. In

other words, it believes the HPAT can determine whether a candidate has the personality to be a doctor or not. Full marks on all three sections of the test would be 300, but here’s the rub- its bloody hard and you cannot ‘study’ for it.

“The exam was awful, I just remember not knowing how long was left for each section because I couldn’t see the clock. Also, I remember thinking that I would have to rewrite my CAO application because I was certain that I wouldn’t get in!” explained Aisling Fagan, a first year medical student in Trinity. Aisling managed to prove both herself and the HPAT wrong as she scored very respectably in the 100th percentile of the HPAT overall in 2010. She was also awarded 570 points in the Leaving Cert. The minimum CAO points required for medicine was changed to 480 recently as well to open courses up to Leaving Cert graduates more. Yet, in 2009, the first year of the HPAT in Ireland, most of the people to receive places in medicine still had 520 or more. This has significantly opened the margins for more students but many who place their hopes in the lowered CAO points requirement depend heavily on a top class result in the HPAT. Aisling acknowledges that it benefited her case, as she would not have had enough points to get a place in medicine under the old regime.

Top scores on the HPAT in 2010 were up around the 220 mark but most candidates score between 140 and 170.

The Trinity hopeful needs 723 to secure a place in medicine. This is a

combination of the HPAT score and CAO points. Candidates, like Aisling and Patrick, who score mainly in the 700’s, usually make the cut. So, the overall process of applying for medicine still favours those with very strong academic inclination. However, there is always the “back door” option for students whereby they undertake a certain course in the health sciences and then transfer to medicine after year one or two.

The test itself has received some criticism in terms of its lay out. Patrick noted that the test could be “weighted inaccurately” with regard to what aspects of a candidate’s personality the HPAT should evaluate. “At the moment Verbal Reasoning has the biggest percentage whereas, I think, Interpersonal Understanding should be the main section.”

Given the importance of the HPAT result under the new regime for qualification, there has been a change in the demographic of medical students. The HPAT has led to further arguments regarding gender. Since the HPAT was introduced the number of successful female candidates has declined and the number of successful males increased. This has some correlation with the fact that traditionally female students do better in the Leaving Cert than males and now it seems that males have a better record in the HPAT. The gas thing about the HPAT is that, according to ACER themselves, it cannot be prepared for! ACER even go as boldly to state that private tuition is unnecessary as there is no way

of knowing what will come up on the HPAT, unlike the trusty Leaving Cert.

However, there are so many expensive grinds courses being offered in preparation for the HPAT. Aisling paid a substantial €350 for a two-day HPAT course and, even though she found it quite helpful at the time, in hindsight it was not worth the money.

A lot of what we want from a doctor as patients, other than pure medical competence, is the good old-fashioned ‘E.R.’ type bedside manner. The HPAT is supposed to recognise that in candidates today. It is very difficult to quantify intangible things like friendliness,

warmth and compassion but perhaps it is a stepping stone. Some Medical academics reckon an interview would be a more plausible method of examining students than a written exam. Patrick argues that, although the HPAT has its limitations, the vast majority of people in medical courses seem to “fit the bill.” Patrick himself received 600 points. He is still, however, of the opinion that the HPAT stops people “cruising into medicine” and that it seems to be giving the more “medically apt a chance”.

Aisling has a contrasting view of the HPAT. “If it was up to me I would get rid

of the HPAT,” she states, “I think it’s a ridiculous exam. I’ve always done well in aptitude tests, but I don’t see how this is reflective of being a good doctor.” She is firmly of the belief that 600 points in the Leaving Cert warrants the choice of any course.

So the battle will continue between the existing system of combined HPAT and CAO scores and the previous system of pure academic merit. However the real question today is; will the apparent change in the demographic of medical students signify a postive change in the quality of Ireland’s doctors in the future?

Ruairi Quinn, Minister for Education, said while in opposition that students should only be allowed to sit the HPAT once.

He is pictured here at Front Arch signing a USI pledge not to introduce third-level fees. Photo: Tom Lowe

7

The University Times | Wednesday, March 23rd 2011

TIMESFEATURES

Our curious media Julianne Cox

T

HE IRISH MEDIA is more subtle and nuanced than in many countries worldwide but does this mean that it is often left under scrutinised? When comparing internationally we are exposed to the differences observable. When we look to the USA and the UK there is a clear division between conservative and liberal Medias. Irish newspapers vary drastically in quality and content however there is arguably no clear division in ideology.

It could be argued that the Irish Times is critical of certain political parties and decisions, the Sunday Business Post is marketed rather specifically and that the Irish Independent offers a less polished articulation. However no newspaper or television channel is blatantly politically aligned as observable elsewhere. If anything the primary criticism often heard about the Irish media is its overly introverted analysis.

What does the Irish media look like, what role should the Irish media play, is it fulfi lling this role and is the media in Ireland adequately scrutinised?

The role of the media in a society is a multifaceted question. The media is a complex alignment of commercial and social interests. On the one hand we understand the commercial nature of most media outlets, their primary function; to ensure a return on shareholders’ investment. Yet much is expected of the social role that the media plays. It is viewed as having an investigative responsibility; responsible to a certain extent for acting as a watchdog, holding state and commercial decisions to account and for informing the masses. In the information age sources are not in short supply. Perhaps the ease of access that is enabled by the

internet has exposed the Irish population to a wide variety of international media sources that negate the Irish media’s need to focus on international news. Irish media sources are introverted because they couldn’t and don’t need to compete with international sources. The fi nancial constraints of a market of four million nationally, the demand from a minority of Irish Diaspora and the limited international acclaim of Irish media naturally limits its ability to comprehensively cover international news to the same extent as larger media entities.

When broken down the Irish media consists of a series of local, regional and national newspapers, radio stations and of course television.

Each element has a role and although local and regional medias are struggling to remain commercially viable there is considerable appetite for these sources. What then can we expect from the future of the local and regional Irish media? Perhaps they will shift from traditional towards progressive means with an increased internet orientation and lower cost margins? According to Euro barometer statistics Irish people are highly informed, above the EU average for our consumption of radio and newspaper content. However as active internet users it is probable that online content consumption is only going to increase; 20% of Irish people use the internet every or nearly every day and this is of course increasing. Interestingly there is a high degree of trust accorded the Irish media. According to Euro barometer seventy-eight per cent tend to trust television media making Irish people the most trusting of television in the EU, tied with Portugal (the EU average being 62 per

cent). Th is trust is potentially misguided when examining issues where the state’s interests clashed with public or local interest as in the Corrib Gas pipeline. A hugely subjective case RTE’s coverage was hotly contested to be not entirely untainted. Mark Little (correspondent with Primetime investigates at the time) argued that RTE’s hesitation with covering this particular series of events was restricted due to difficulties sustaining the public interest. The public rapidly grew disinterested in Shell to Sea argued Mr Little and the coverage waned accordingly as in any commercial media outlet. Yet the award winning documentary ‘The Pipe’ presents the Shell to Sea campaign in a slightly different light; as a select group of local residents experiencing a series of violations, with the state and the national media arguably failing to adequately advocate for their interests.

The case is currently being pursued internationally and is a small but important example. Investigative journalism is hardly thriving in Ireland the main sources (television- programmes such as Primetime Investigates and the Frontline) completely missed the massive discrepancies unveiled in the fi nancial crisis, the media in part blamed for engaging in what David McWilliams described as incessant ‘property porn’ advertising.

Much of the critical reporting around the crisis had a retrospective sentiment, catching Seanie wandering around car parks not quite the same as digging through the data and being the fi rst to blow the whistle. Perhaps more could be demanded of the Irish media; certainly a degree of scrutiny is always necessary and often lacking.

Book of Kells-branded beer? What?

Ciaran Nolan Research Editor The Book of Kells is one of the oldest Irish manuscripts and attracts almost 27 times more visitors yearly than the entire student population in Trinity, but in an unusual move College has decided to apply to the EU Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market for copyright of the name for use on a number of memorabilia including unusually beer, ale, lager, spirits and even soap!

As we all know college is usually swamped with tourists looking to see this ancient manuscript and more than likely everyone has been asked by tourists to give them direction to the Book Of Kells, which a lot of us have never even seen ourselves. They flock in their droves and after the excitement of seeing the book and the fantastic long room, these tourists do not hesitate on spending in the gift shop. After asking two American tourists approaching me and asking me for direction, I decided to accompany them and of course let them in for free.

Asking them about their experience afterwards, “We thought the book was excellent, the long room is simply fantastic!”, when asked about the possibility of buying a Book Of Kells beer they wanted to know where they could buy it, “A Book of Kells beer, that would be excellent, it would be a lovely gift to take back to our family at home”. It is estimated that college makes over €4 million yearly on collections from the Book Of Kells gallery.

Not only have they applied for the Book of Kells name to be copyrighted for alcohol it is also already copyrighted for a number of other unusual things including containers for contact lenses, fi re extinguishers and life saving machinery. Of course the logo and name is em-blazed on numerous gift shop items in Trinity, which the tourists love to get to symbolize their visit to the Emerald Isles.

However, it is hard to imagine students drinking “The Book of Kells beer” in the Pav instead of Bavaria and the like. Students were also somewhat positive about the beer, one said: “I suppose it is a good idea and a great spin for the tourists, who are nearly sure to buy it. If it was cheap I would probably buy it” said one Pav attendee. Others said: “I suppose it is a bit of an Irish scam, if they just plastered it on some random beer, but if it was brewed like the Oscar Wildcat in The Porterhouse, I would probably give it a try, at least we would have something up on the other colleges, we would have our own beer!”

Don’t expect to see this special brew for sale in Buttery or the Pav, but you never know, it could be the next big Trinity drink in a couple of years time, on that note college has not announced whether or not it will even be selling the “Book of Kells” branded alcohol any time soon.

Writing the future: students and politics come together Tomas Sullivan Staff Writer

T

HIS YEAR HAS seen a dizzying rise in the involvement of students in politics. The recession hit home like never before with soaring emigration rates and sudden change of the question from ‘who will bail out the banks?’, to ‘who will bail out the country?’, precipitating a landmark election with possibly the biggest turnover of seats the Dail has ever seen.

It wasn’t just cuts and fee hikes that we were faced with, it was disillusion with our entire political system, an immensely cynical belief that politicians had done made a mess, would continue to do so and that there was nothing we could do about it.

But students haven’t been idle. Though fees have been rising for the last three years, so too has student protest against them: this year seeing more student involvement, more protests and more lobbying by USI and TCDSU. An ‘I am a Vote’ voter registration campaign and a ‘Tell your TD’ letter writing campaign were launched the aim being to mobilise the student electorate. When it was proposed that student nurses would have their pay phased out completely over a number of years an organised but assertive activist movement was formed immediately in combination with trade unions. Yes, Dylan Haskins did not get in, but over 1,300 votes is nothing to scoff at for a fi rst time candidate struck a chord in his constituency.

The pivotal moment for many students from around Ireland as well as from Trinity, was the march of over

TCDSU on the march in November. Photo: Tom Lowe

30,000 students against fees and cuts to education in on the November 3rd. While the government will undoubtedly try to continue raising fees, talk of doubling fees before the protest almost immediately subsided and there was a feeling that students had fi nally done something.

SU President Nikolai Trigoub-Rotnem said “the march was a real tipping point for Irish student involvement in politics. We finally all saw that the decisions made by politicians do affect us and those around

us after maybe growing a little bit apathetic during the boom years.

Dr Elaine Byrne, a political science lecturer, comments that there has never been a huge involvement of the youth in the political system as ‘historically it’s the young people who emigrate’. Emigration is coming back, but Dr Byrne argues that as Ireland has the 2nd largest amount of young people in Europe and because, due to the introduction of free fees, Ireland’s young people are now highly educated, Irish students

will continue to have an impact.

She points out that formal political involvement in political parties has not really changed, but informally, in terms of activism and political awareness, she has observed huge changes. ‘I’m incredibly impressed with what my own students have done this year. I’ve seen them on TV, quoted in newspapers like the Irish Times and setting up websites like telluswhy.ie.’

Th is change is welcome, Dr Byrne argues that this is ‘a young person’s recession’

and groups like pensioners have been able to fight their corner much more effectively with more immediate results.

She fi nds the student reaction to fees welcome, but suggests that it would be good for students to protest on issues that affect the country as a whole as well, which in turn would make them seem more credible.

Certainly we can all see sharp contrasts between the pivotal role other student bodies play in other societies and our own case.

Around the same time as the

fees march here, in France students took a leading role in protests against Sarkozy’s raising of the retirement age of all things.

Th is example is barely worth mentioning when we look at the regime toppling effect young people in the Arab world have had.

Th is region in general has a huge young population; who are more interconnected, thanks to the new social media, better educated and less content to endure an unjust political system than the preceding generations. One could draw parallels all day.

But that’s not to say we have to should go to such extremes. Unlike the UK, where huge protests swarmed through London, one with as many as fi fty thousand people, (not to mention the odd ransacking of conservative party HQ and attack on the heir to the throne) ultimately to no avail, our politicians aren’t nearly as decisive.

The last government veered away from pensioners, public sector unions and even students whenever a fi rm objection was raised. ‘Firm objection’

meaning letting your politicians know that your vote hangs in the balance; this is the only language they understand.

Though, while it’s usually effective in the short term, say the length of an election campaign, after that is anyone’s guess. Th is government has promised us everything under the sun, but does anyone, for example, really believe that Labour will remember their pledge to oppose further fee rises on their own?

Wednesday, March 23rd 2011 | The University Times

8

TIMESFEATURES

Norris launches presidential bid on campus

Senator Norris addresses an excitable crowd in the Science Gallery. Photo: Sarah Maguire

Danielle Ryan Staff Writer

L

AST MONDAY SAW the official launch of David Norris’s campaign for president, held in the Science Gallery in Trinity. Primarily an event attended by press, it felt more like a room of excited supporters. The enthusiasm in the room was palpable. Norris took to the podium to applause and began his speech by announcing that he was indeed seeking “the highest office in the land”. He acknowledged that the victory he seeks will not be easy, but that he seeks the office “not for its glories, but for the difference it can make”. During his speech, Norris made reference to past presidents, noting his believe that the office of president “exemplifies all that is good about our country”.

The senator highlighted mental health as a cornerstone issue of his campaign, and made reference to the figure of 527 people who committed suicide in Ireland in 2009 alone and vowed to “remove the stigma and meet the crisis headon”. This figure, he said, highlights the rise of a silent crisis in a country whose people above all must find a way to “renew their self belief”. It is in the nature of Irish people to “endure, overcome and succeed”, he said, and we must become a country which “values its young, respects its old and cherishes all of the people of the nation equally”.

The floor was opened for questions after the speech, and unsurprisingly, the vast majority of the questions focused directly or indirectly on Norris’s sexuality. In fact, an Irish Times reporter who received first question privileges opened with “you have never been shy about your sexuality…” and

questions from other reporters followed that pattern for the most part. Norris, appearing unfazed and unbothered by questions pertaining to his sexuality did at one point inject a reality check for journalists seemingly stuck on the issue, by announcing to applause, that while he has no problem answering their questions, he believes that the Irish people are rather “bored” by his sexuality at this stage.

Asked whether he would be willing to take a pay cut were he to win the office of president, he said that he does not believe he needs the full salary (currently €250,000) and that he plans to set aside a significant proportion of the salary which he would invest in making the presidency more accessible to the people, but refrained from giving details on exactly how much he meant by “significant figure”.

In a quick interview granted to the University Times, third

in line after RTE and TV3, I asked Norris did he have a message of support for the students of Ireland, graduating into uncertain times, to which he replied that we “do have a lot to be positive about” but that we also must be “realistic”. To the question of emigration he believes that students should travel to gain experience “if necessary”. This, he believes is “not the end of the world”, but he continued on; “the one thing I would say is please, if it’s possible, stay here. We are going to lift this country up again, and I want you all around when this happens”. To hear David Norris speak, one could not help feeling hopeful, and it is indeed very difficult not to believe him.

What will the new government’s reform look like?

Ciara Begley Staff Writer

F

INE GAEL AND Labour have taken to the stage. So what exactly are they going to do to the Irish political system and what are the projected ramifications? First they are going to propose referenda on; whether to abolish the Seanad, whether Oireachtas Committees should have investigative powers and whether communication between public representatives and citizens should be private.

Second they propose a constitutional convention that will report within twelve months on a variety of topics. The range includes; the electoral system, reducing the presidential term to 5 years and aligning it with the local and European elections, samesex marriage, amending the clause on women in the home, removing blasphemy and reducing the voting age.

Third a significant number of decisions have already been taken: Ministers: Will have

reduced salaries and must vouch all expenses. The government jet will be used more transparently and effectively, no more drivers, no more severance payments, no more pension entitlements upon leaving office until over retirement age of 65, and no pension above 60, 000 per annum will be given.

The Dail: The day to day functioning of the Dail will look very different; it will operate for longer and more regularly with a 50% increase in the number of sitting days. There will be time for committees and back benchers to propose legislation, with a day per week dedicated entirely. Bills will be publicly available in draft form and public representatives will be consulted more in their conception phase.

Committees will have greater time allocations, they will liaise with EU MEPs and a specific committee will be established to deal with national petitions on issues (similar to the EU parliament mechanism). Attempts will be made to prevent guillotining legislation and

ensuring due consideration with a full day per week given to private members bills and committee reports.

Furthermore standing orders and debate structures will be changed to ensure increased focus on issues of urgency.

The general workings of government: There will be fewer TDs in line with the population as of Census 2011. The Ceann Comhairle (house chair) will have the power to ensure questions are answered adequately. Question time will be changed to allow for more time to be spent on questions and to ensure that the right people are available to answer them. The Freedom of Information act will be expanded and enhanced.

There will be whistle blower legislation. They will establish an electoral commission, election spending for all election types will be capped, corporate donations will be banned and political donations will be reduced with disclosure required. There will be a register for all lobbyists with rules about their activities

including a conflict of interest provision for retired public sector employees.

Dealings between Committees and the civil service will change with civil serv-

to liaise with the public (via petitions) and the Ombudsman; it will be chaired by a member of the opposition.

Finally there will be an attempt to change the current

Reducing the salaries of ministers and TDs is of questionable merit given the desire to attract dynamic individuals to political careers ants having clearer responsibilities for which they will be held to account. There will be a new powerful investigative style committee

dependency that the state has on a limited selection of expensive private solicitors.

Conjecture or results?

Much debate has ensued about the effectiveness of such changes. Some of the promises made are ambiguous, what does the Constitutional Convention mean in terms of composition and implementation? Potentially a mere publicity stunt of no policy substance, this is idea has significant potential, but only if handled appropriately. Perhaps the justification for not proposing its direct implementation relates to concerns about the conclusions being too radical. But then why not put the findings directly to the people via another referendum?

The document also makes vague assertions like; ‘the issue of cabinet confidentiality will be addressed’.

Procedurally the practical realities of what these assertions will entail have yet to be distinguished. Sentiment, (necessary given the current state of Irish politics) is only of merit if it transpires to have substantive meaning. Political scientists are already expressing concerns that the actualisations of the above reforms have

been lack lustre. According to one such political scientist Eoin O’Malley of DCU the move to empower the Ceann Comhairle seems misguided given his limited information and probable biases in favour of the Taoiseach that appointed him.

Much is made in the programme of the reduction in the costs incurred by TDs, with salary reductions and a general tightening of the ship featuring heavily. Absolutely the system in the past was problematic; unvouched expenses engendering incredulity among private sector workers and luxuries such as state cars being exploited. However, reducing the salaries of ministers and TDs is of questionable merit given the desire to attract dynamic individuals to political careers. Obviously a point of contention among angry citizens that view political figures as supposed leaders, supposed to be setting an example. Yet perhaps the small cost reductions gained would be negated by the loss of talent. Certainly many of these more ‘symbolic’ reforms are

long overdue.

Perhaps one of the more radical changes relates to the Freedom of Information Act and the general transparent direction that this government aims towards.

It is exciting to see such common sense based policies finally come to the fore, banning corporate donations, regulating lobbying, enabling petitions and improving the structure of the Dail all long overdue. The main concern is that much of what is suggested must be realised with concerted efforts to follow through.

Scrutinizing the government and policy implementation has rarely been of greater importance. Certainly the series of referenda and the exciting Constitutional Convention should assist sustained public interest and analysis, the first step of many needed to improve the Irish political system.

9

The University Times | Tuesday, March 22nd 2011

TIMESOPINION

Roll out the red carpet for the old enemy Danielle Ryan Staff Writer The time is right for the Queen’s visit and if we can’t recognize it now, we never will. Ireland has nothing to lose from her visit and yet so much to gain. We are supposedly a modern, educated, strong, resilient, independent nation and hopefully, mature enough to see this as an opportunity, and to treat it as such.

She should be shown the same respect that we would show any other foreign dignitary. Personally, I won’t be out on the streets waving flags, but I might show up to watch history roll by. This is a monumental occasion, so let’s not waste it. Our heads of government and our President will stand beside her, equals. What an image that will be. The Queen of England, here only on invite, standing as an equal to our President. It’s an image this country needs to see. It is part of the healing process,

whether we recognize that or not.

Now, I won’t be so naive as to call her “just a figurehead” because to this island she symbolizes so much more. I understand the seriousness of that symbolism, and that to me, is all the more reason to invite her, finally. To say welcome, this is our country, this is what we made of it, and we’re proud of it. To say this is a new time, a new day, and we are ready to move on.

I am well aware that there are still unresolved troubles in Northern Ireland and I know how much pain her visit may cause some families - but for others, I believe it will be cathartic.

A consensus will never be found, so our government’s job was to make the decision that they felt was right for the country as a whole - and I feel that in this instance, they did make the right decision. As for those unresolved troubles. Not one of us knows how the future of

Northern Ireland will pan out politically. We can never know when things will take a turn for the worse, or indeed take a turn for the better, but we can’t put off the inevitable. It is decided. The Queen of England will make a visit to this country. That visit will symbolise what has changed, changes that may come, and will truly make evident the friendly, mature relationship that has evolved slowly over time.

And hopefully, the symbolism in her visit will, once and for all, be stronger than the destructive power of our shared past.

If not now, when will the naysayers feel it is right?

When the North is returned to the Republic? When the sound of the last car bomb is a memory so distant that it can barely be remembered?

If we hang around, waiting for the perfect time, we’ll be waiting forever.

We need to no longer worry about looking submissive.

We need not worry that the

timing is off because of our economic circumstances.

True, economically speaking, we are struggling and will be for some time, but are we really so insecure that we need to wait until business is booming to invite the Queen? Does this visit really have to represent the Irish effectively saying “Ha, in your face bitch, look at us now!” That’s hardly a progressive attitude.

For all my words of hope about how this occasion could be used for good, I’m afraid (somewhat hypocritically) that I lack the optimism to believe it will pan out like this. In reality, I can only imagine the trouble this will cause, but like it or not, it’s happening. If we quit searching for the perfect time and the perfect day, and if we allow ourselves to really think deeply about this, each of us should be ready to say to ourselves: Today is that day. It’s time for us to stand up and be the Ireland we are meant to be.

Free degrees? We’re not there yet Max Sullivan I recently went flat decorating with TCD Vincent de Paul in a complex of social housing in the North inner city. The third storey of the building we climbed commands a view of several other similarly run-down apartment complexes from different eras, divided from one another by pebble-dash walls and barbed wire. The elderly man whose flat we visited was grateful and evidently a good-humoured man, but being unused to many visitors, he was understandably ill-at-ease with several students in his home. With no sink in the bathroom, and other spacesaving features which mean that the same population as Trinity Hall live in a fraction of the space, they sure don’t build social housing like they used to.

Using the TCD student residences as a yard stick against which to measure the condition of social housing may seem glib, and as clichéd as it may be for a middle class student to be thrown into contemplation at the sight of poverty during his first attempt at volunteering, this was not a world which many of us could easily reconcile with that of Trinity. Any attempt to reconcile such visceral inequality must consider whether we allocate taxes according to the correct priorities, and what part we have to play in that allocation. Is a free, or even heavily subsidised, third-level education socially equitable? With a new government upon us and new students’ unions imminent, it is perhaps time to ask: At whose expense is our right to education fulfilled?

Actually, forget whether or not a high quality third level education is a right for every Irish citizen. If it is simply something worth having, which it most certainly is, there are a number of prerequisites which need to be met before such lofty heights are achieved.

Firstly, a high standard of first and second level education must be universally available. In 2010, the Department of Education reported that 100,000

primary school children were being taught in classes of 30 pupils or more. Now, even worse teacher-to-pupil ratios could undoubtedly be found in both primary and secondary schools following further cuts to the Education budget. As it stands, teachers cannot afford to properly attend the needs of weaker students and engender in them any desire to further their education.

Indeed, reports published in the last two years by the Higher Education Authority and UCD’s Geary Institute conclusively refute the claim that the introduction of “free fees” in 1995 made higher education more accessible. Even though places in college courses have increased by 50% since 1995

to make conscientious decisions about what we can, and cannot afford. Trinity College Student’s Union’s default position towards the proposed introduction of tuition fees, an increase in the registration fee and cuts to the grant last November was one of uncompromising opposition. Student grants certainly enable people who would not otherwise be able to attend college to do so, and the student body’s political capital should be spent on improving and reforming the grant system. With that intact, those who can afford to pay for college should have to do so, and those who cannot will have their fees waived. However, TCDSU failed to distinguish between the various options, an approach embodied in the Education Not Emigration march, organised chief-

While this year’s SU has made some limited moves towards the discussion of tuition fees, for one through an online survey, I await the creation of a lively, informed and impartial debate which attempts to engage every student (Irish Times), students from working class backgrounds remain under-represented at third level, and what incremental increase there has been may be attributed to schemes which provide alternative routes of entry, such as the Trinity Access Programme. This very serious disparity of opportunities results in a situation which was not envisioned upon the scheme’s introduction: Working-class tax payers, whose children probably won’t attend university, are paying for the education of children whose parents may otherwise be able to afford it.

Now more than ever we must, as a nation, but also as a student body, be willing

ly by Rachel Barry. The Education Officer elect has since recognized that the march was not wholly representative of the student body’s sentiments, and made an election promise to hold a referendum on the Union’s position on fees during her time in office. While this year’s SU has made some limited moves towards the discussion of tuition fees, for one through an online survey, I await the creation of a lively, informed and impartial debate which attempts to engage every student. The issue is by no means simple, and while the march lumbered those who opposed cuts to the grant, and those who opposed an increased registration fee together, it is

high time that constructive and meaningful discussion took place.

In a recent UT column which extolled the power of the student body, Matt Turner claimed that “we are largely unified on issues relating to the country as a whole and this gives us the ability to organise mass campaigns and demonstrations in favour of the society at large.” Third level tuition fees are, as an issue of state funding, one which effects the national balance sheet significantly, and their opposition by the student body is, if successful, by no means a move which benefits every Irish citizen. However, it was exactly such an assumption on behalf of the USI, that we are “unified in terms of ideology”, which led to the organisation of an anti-fees march without opening a dialogue between students as to where we believe free third level education should place on a list of the nation’s priorities. Students are energetic, vocal, often voters and (most obviously) educated, and thus have a considerable voice when it comes to Irish politics. We must be aware that when we use our voice we may be shouting down those who require the state’s attention more urgently.

In recent years there has been a resurgence in tuberculosis and the Health Service Executive South East region have announced that universal vaccinations will re-commence for new born in County Cork after a break of 35 years. Such regression seems spirited from On High to remind us where we came from: TB had to be eradicated in the 50s before we could dream of free college education. Along with re-eradicating diseases of old, Ireland urgently needs to address some equally pernicious problems and make improvements to primary and secondary education, healthcare and social welfare. Only when these basic requirements are universally provided, will free tuition achieve it’s egalitarian aim. Until then it only serves to entrench social divisions.

Queen Elizabeth II visiting a NASA space station in 2007. Photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Summer moping has me aghast Rory O’Donovan It appears to be that time of year again. Exams are no longer creeping up on you, but screaming in your face. The sum of all of your finances now rests in a jar of coins on your bedside table. Even ‘the summer’, a wondrous and mythical concept, is corrupted by constant pressure to ‘get things organised’: to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right people, doing the right things. Yes, it’s that time of year again, when everyone moans and complains and worries and, seemingly, completely forgets that they are supposed to be students: young, fun and, crucially, free.

So exams are nearly upon us? So what! Yes, of course you need to study and, certainly, you should have done more work throughout the year, but does that mean you need to worry about it all the time? Does that excuse moping around with a grim look on your face and talking to any and everyone you encounter about how their study is going/how much you have to do/how much you are going to fail by/how bad your timetable is? Do as much or as little work as you like, but don’t talk about it.

Endeavour to exceed expectations or to spectacularly fail, but don’t think about it too much. Not only are you a student, but you’re a Trinity student, and, even in your darkest moments of panic, you should be basking in the gloriousness of the fact that you can do your exam again and, here at least, you can do it for free.

Both your pockets and your bank account are empty. You owe money to your parents, your friends, financial institutions and a whole host of gangsters and pimps. Yet somehow, instead of doing either of two perfectly acceptable things, being (i) earning/borrowing more or (ii) not caring, you have instead taken to your bed, hibernating with half-price cup-a-soups and over-watched DVDs, moaning to anyone who will listen about how bored you are.

The scramble in the mornings to find change for the bus/dart/luas puts you in

a dark mood that remains throughout the day at college. You scowl at strangers and dramatically inform your friends that no, you won’t be going out tonight as you ‘just can’t afford it’.

Stop it. Either be broke and grudgingly smile about it, or go out into the world and find funds: swallow your pride, make that cripplingly embarrassing begging phone call to your parents, lie if you have to; if the opportunity presents itself and you really need to, why not turn to theft?; and, if all else fails you, and you really can no longer survive on soup and biscuits, consider employment. But throughout the battle remember, firstly, that no one really needs to hear about it and, secondly, that we may all want money – loads of it – but we don’t need it to have a smile on our faces and we certainly don’t need it to have fun.

And what about the summer? Surely nothing compares to the raw emotion evoked by the panicked realisation that seemingly every other person in the world has something unquestionably cool or practical planned for the summer, and you don’t. The thought of arriving back at college in September without an

excessive amount of fantastic Facebook photos documenting your entire summer fills you with fear. You shy away from conversations involving summer plans, occasionally contributing with phrases such as ‘Oh, I was considering India’ and ‘me and the lads might plan a trip in August’. Seriously though, does that mean there is adequate justification for alarm? Does an unplanned summer have to mean disaster? So you were too late to apply to any of the fashionable volunteer programmes, too poor to go to South America, too lazy to organise a J1, or just too fearful of what a summer spent with ‘those friends’ might entail. Who cares! The summer, longer than it has ever been before at Trinity, exists to give you a break – deserved or not. The ‘summer holidays’, by principle, was a concept created to combat, not to cause stress.

Most of you have close to five months of freedom ahead of you, whether it is perfectly planned or disastrously unplanned, here’s an idea: how about looking forward to it?

Why do so many people insist on tormenting themselves with dread and anxiety and, similarly, why do they insist on voicing these concerns so passionately and so consistently? Could it

Why can’t we just be cheerful like this happy camper?

be an Irish thing? The recession has given rise to a disease which causes unprecedented levels of grumbling, criticizing and protesting in this country, and this terrible affliction appears to have infected our student body. In much the same way as the moaning business men only really have themselves to blame for the recession, one could argue we also have only ourselves to blame for our under-preparation, whether it be regarding exams or summer plans, and one might go so far as to say that much of our personal financial woes are due to our own shortcomings in the budgeting department.

You cringe at the dullness of the taxi-driver’s monologue, as he tells you over and over again how angry and stressed he is, yet you turn down a party, a nightout or even a day of sitting around doing nothing, in favour of another moaning session with a patient friend.

As a supposedly fun-andfree student, to be anxious because of stress you have caused yourself is ridiculous. To talk about it all the time, is tantamount to a sin.

The vast majority of us are not yet supporting a family, are not in untenable amounts of debt and have age on our side. You’re stressing? Ask one of our mature students, or even ask your parents, they’ll articulate what stress truly is – a child, a mortgage or a now non-existent pension. I am willing to bet my jar of coins that most of them would passionately plead with you to stop worrying, to enjoy every second of the freedom you are still lucky enough to have, to keep in mind how young you are and to put things in perspective. One day, a hundred-or-so years from now, your life could be owned by a bank and run by your children, and I am sure you will daydream about your Trinity days, wishing that your concerns were as trivial as exams, or which kind of fun you were going to fill your summer with.

So just enjoy it for now and please, for God’s sake, stop complaining.

Tuesday, March 22nd 2011 | The University Times

10

TIMESOPINION

Ents Officer Head-to-Head

UCD vs Trinity WHICH ARE BETTER, TRINITY OR UCD STUDENTS? Jonny Cosgrove - UCD Ents Officer

Darragh Genockey - Trinity Ents Officer

WHEN SITTING down to write an article like this there are risks involved that should be considered. Firstly, what will the man in opposition write? If his is moderate and mine completely lambastes Trinity and its students, I will look like quite the fool. Th is moment of worry came from a conversation with a BESS friend of mine who summed up the Trinity/UCD relationship in the most condescending way possible. “I know you guys in UCD talk about rivalry with Trinity but to be honest we don’t even consider it.” That hit me like a wet King James bible. Nothing like apathy to make you feel special. Comments like this make it impossible to pass up an opportunity like this.

Secondly, what if his article is self-deprecating, charming and tempered by a level of humbleness? Th is reflection was amended by a further reflection; what Trinity student is going to pass up an opportunity to prattle on (obnoxiously) about how good their University is especially when considered next to UCD. How do you know someone goes to Trinity? They tell you.

Th irdly, this appears in a Trinity paper. The audience is only Trinity. I will be dismissed as a malcontent and a ne’er-do-well who just missed out on Trinity. At this point I should say UCD was my fi rst preference except for Oxford but considering I didn’t fi ll in the application, it was never really a goer.

Fourthly, am I forever and always banished from Trinity ladies undergarments for writing a piece about their college? So far in my life, I have had minimal success with that kind of lady so I think it is a risk worth taking.

Concerns abated, it is due time to bring a bit of sledging, as you cricket sorts call it, into this article. A good a place to start is with the largest group of people, BESS. When will they fi nally accept their status as an arts course? Every bit of that course is an Arts degree except the minor business side of the course, and lets face it, the ‘business’ students will be tottering down to Smurfit (UCD) to polish up that rough piece of coal and make it a diamond. So why not save yourself the time and start in a business school.

There was a moment in Trinity library (I do admit that your library is far superior in content and have availed of the services on a couple of occasions) sitting in what was termed the “BESS area” by a Science colleague of mine. A young man sits down and proceeds to put on a pair of those 3D classes … from the cinema … with the lenses poked … I’m not saying this is representative of Trinity or the people but it is definitely not an endorsement. In UCD the worst you can do is wear a Kerry jersey and really its not even that bad.

I think the question of ents should be addressed. I am not going to talk Trinity Ball because it is fairly well perfected and it can’t really be criticized. It’s an institution! UCD Ball, however, is bigger, and I would respectfully say, better. What I love most about Trinity is that sweetass venue with all those on-campus live international acts and... oh... that’s UCD. Where are all the DJs during the rest of the year? Just look at the list of people who have played on UCD campus; Justice, Tinie Tempah, Example, Dr. Lektroluv, Boyz Noize(twice), JLS, The Wailers, the list goes on. The Pav has its own unique qualities and sipping cider on a sunny day is hard to be beat. But where the UCD bar wins is that it is a venue, it is officially one of the cheapest bar in Ireland and all our freshers are on campus so easy to access, none of this Luas malarky. Plus our Donkey Kong-like Ents Officer has more Facebook friends than little Mario Genockey… just saying…

To wrap it up, like any good UCD student, I must fi nish with the line, bigger is better!

I believe Trinity students are better than UCD students due to their enthusiasm to do more in college than just their courses. The huge amount of Trinity students who get involved in activities outside their course is amazing. Almost everyone you meet in Trinity is part of a society, sports club, the SU, a publication, or some facet of college life not directly linked to their course. Everyone who really enjoys their time in any college will tell you it was the things they did outside of their coursework that was what they enjoyed about college, and this message is constantly reiterated to every student in Trinity.

There is a wealth of opportunities to get involved in something outside of your course in Trinity, and this is constantly growing too. There are new societies set up every year within the CSC, class rep numbers are growing year on year in the SU, the quality of publications within the college continues to improve, and all types of sports are catered for by DUCAC. I know the UCD Ents Officer will just repeat this message, but let’s look at the numbers.

TCDSU has over 350 class reps, whereas UCDSU has less than 100. Trinity has over 100 societies, whereas UCD has less than 50. Each year Trinity societies bring home bundles of awards from the national BICS awards, representing all members of the CSC on a national level. Both universities have similar numbers of sports clubs, even though UCD supposedly prides itself on its sporting scholarship scheme. Trinity also consistently wins more Smedia awards than our counterparts, along with Trinity being the home of Ireland’s oldest student newspaper (Trinity News), one of Ireland’s oldest magazines (Miscellany), and the TCDSU publication is the current holder of the Smedia award for best publication (The University Times). Sure, with the current campaign to abolish the University Observer (UCDSU publication), not even UCDSU like their paper!

These numbers show that Trinity students are more interested in getting involved in life outside of lecture theatres, and are also more successful when they do it. Although to simply base my argument on numbers would not be fair on the hundreds of people who I have had the pleasure of working with during my time in Trinity. Seeing the energy put into Freshers’ Week from every society and sports club committee is overwhelming. They spend countless hours working for free, just because they enjoy what they do, and want to give other students the chance to be the next generation.

In no way am I suggesting there are no UCD students who are enthusiastic in getting involved in college life outside of lecture theatres. I am saying that I have witnessed fi rst hand what UCD student life is like, and I know that as a whole, Trinity students enjoy student life more than UCD students do. I have countless friends who have told me time and time again that they wish they had done more in their time in UCD, whereas I know very few people who attend Trinity and could say the same thing. I don’t know whether it is due to the fact that the UCD campus does not allow for a sense of community, or just because when people arrive there they generally stick to their cliques that they have from secondary school, but it seems like the UCD system is geared against making new friends and enjoying life outside of lecture halls.

I’m not saying Trinity is perfect, but I think if you walk into Front Square on the day each course graduates, it would be difficult to fi nd a student who regretted going to Trinity. Trinity College is all about learning. Whether that is learning a new sport, or learning how to run events. It could be learning how to debate, or learning how to act. Learning how to write for a newspaper, or maybe even edit one. From day one in Trinity I was offered every chance to get involved in student life, and there was no way I was ever going to turn it down. I’ve seen so many friends go to UCD, go along to a few lectures, miss a few lectures, then sit a few exams and repeat a few exams. Th ree or four years later they get a degree. That is not what Trinity is about, and that is not why people go to Trinity. We may have the best lecturers in the country, but I view that as a bonus to having the best opportunities to get involved in college life and come out of college with more than just a degree. Trinity students know the college is about more than a few lectures, and that is why I believe Trinity students are better than UCD students.

I have more Facebook friends than little Mario Genockey...

The Audacity of Harmon

Lenihan’s final act leaves us starved of talent

M

uch of the work of the new government is, of necessity, cleaning up messes left by the previous government. Many of these most notably on the economy – are well known and have been the subject of much comment. However, one mess which has largely gone under the radar of public consciousness but which could potentially have massive implications for both our education system and our economy is the so-called ‘Employment Control Framework’ (ECF), which is the formal title for the restrictions on public service recruitment that are currently in place. Brian Lenihan issued a revised ECF in the dying days of the last government.

Firstly, I should make it clear that I agree with the objective of reducing numbers in the public service, as part of the process of getting the public fi nances back on track, as I have outlined in these pages previously. However, the revised ECF, as it applies to third level institutions, is quite simply daft.

The ECF gives the Higher Education Authority (HEA) the power to scrutinise and approve appointments, which goes against the principle of autonomy of individual institutions. However, while a nuisance, it probably would be possible for institutions to live with such a restriction.

Where the real problem arises is that the ECF is now being applied not just to core staff but to all staff employed in higher education, whether their posts are funded by the exchequer or not. Th is is creating major difficulties for third level research as it means that research staff can not be hired until the HEA gives permission, even where the funding for paying those staff is coming from non-exchequer sources. Th is has led to instances of research institutes having to go back to funders, with great embarrassment, to explain why projects that were ready to commence have stalled.

Even more seriously, the terms of the ECF stipulate that new entrants hired must start at the bottom of the appropriate scale, and the scale is lower for new entrants by 10 per cent in line with Budget 2011 recommendations for new recruits into the public sector. Again, this applies regardless of whether the funding for the position is coming from the exchequer of not. Th is is leading to two principal problems.

Firstly, it is proving difficult to fi nd postdoctoral researchers on the paltry reduced salary scale. For example, a postdoctoral economist could reasonably hope to be hired at close to six figures in a US institution, whereas the salary in Ireland is a little over €20,000.

Secondly, the new salary scales mean that grant funding which Irish research institutes fought hard to receive – often an inward flow to Ireland – is being returned to the funder. It is making Irish institutions look like fools with overseas funders, is causing grant funding to be given to competitor institutions abroad and is taking money out of the Irish economy when we need every cent we can get.

The ECF is damaging us in terms of research funding, it is damaging us in terms of job creation in Irish education, it is causing untold reputational damage and is actually costing the exchequer, through foregone tax income. It is a debacle, pure and simple, and one that the new government should quickly end.

Although this is Declan’s last column, he still blogs on TIMESONLINE.

www.universitytimes.ie

Student’s View: Darragh Haugh And so 2010/2011 academic year has crept past like a fresher on the pull in The Palace. We have a new government, the Middle East played around with democracy, an Australian guy leaked some documents and at some stage we realized the country had no money - but did much of that affect any of us students?

College has always been a fuzzy little bubble in which the student hides, only ever emerging when the real world has the audacity to infringe on our higher education. What’s in a year of Trinity except 365 days where we keep

acting the same way we did the day before?

The year started with a clear plan of action that included falling in love with the cute person you always see around the arts block and aggressively climbing the social ladder to that chosen goal, all the while attempting to secure some kind of job in the hundred-car pileup we call the Irish economy. There was a plan to make it to every lecture, no matter how tired or hungover you may be, but a few months later I was beginning to forget what subjects I was actually studying.

This led to a brief feeling of unease until that sound guy in my course who got Schols gave me his notes for the year. Even now as I’m heading into the final push of late nights to meet long overdue thesis and essay deadlines, my mind is still focused entirely on the Trinity Ball and how much can we predrink and still make it in.

This probably comes across as familiar because it’s the same approach a lot of us have towards college. Year after year the only things that seem to change are the details, while the broad strokes stay the same.

Regardless of who you chose to hang out with this year you still ended up drinking cans in the Pav, or being accosted by an over eager campaigner during the sabbatical elections. You’ll still end up in the same lectures and sit the same exams as everyone else no matter how much you may have thought things had changed. We only get four years here (more or less) and in an institution as old and slow-moving as Trinity, that’s barely a flash in the pan. In my three years here, the biggest seismic shift I’ve experienced in student

day-to-day life is the Deal of the Week making me try a couple of new restaurants every now and again. The “Trinity Experience” advertised in the student handbook exists and we live it everyday.

What really seems to stick in my mind about this term is something that happens every year.

It seems that we are stuck in a never ending cycle of elections, almost as if the college had become a broken record. First our lives were dominated with the always interesting SU elections, particularly due to the brilliant Aaron Heffernan. It seemed

we had barely finished that before further lines were drawn between the segments of the student body that didn’t like Fianna Fáil and those that hated Fianna Fáil. Meanwhile a bunch of people I had never heard of before tried to keep a straight face while telling me they wanted to be Provost to help improve the lot of Trinity students and not for the gigantic paycheck and the mansion that goes with it.

Then just when you didn’t think you could take anymore, you receive a Facebook notification telling you that

someone running for the Seanad wants to be your friend. Honestly, it makes you long for the days of foreign rule. At least then when someone was elected they had the decency to leave the country and stop bothering us, but that’s just me. I think it’s fair to say, then, is that the only difference I’ve noticed this year is that a larger number of elections than usual have congealed around a certain time of year, most of them eventually passing me by in the same manner as everything else seems to. This uniformity in the college year is

so pervasive and insistent that the ritual of making resolutions destined to fail is as important a part of the repetitive experience as any other.

Nevertheless, I’ve enjoyed the latest year of apathy as much as the previous two and there are worse things than a comforting sense of repetition. Here’s to a lazy and unsurprising final year so.

11

The University Times | Tuesday, March 22nd 2011

TIMESEDITORIAL

The University Times WON’T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE STUDENTS?

THE CHANGING FACE OF STUDENT MEDIA

T

his is the last issue of this volume of The University Times. In the past that would have meant no more news, commentary and coverage for the fine students of Trinity until September. Fortunately for you, dear reader, The University Times has branched out into media that could not have been imagined at the time of the last Provostial election.

Everyone knows that the internet has changed the world’s media. Last week, the Pew Research Project for Excellence in Journalism revealed that more Americans now read their news online than in print.

However, student media have lagged behind their professional counterparts in providing an online news service.

However, as it becomes easier and easier to set up a fully-functional news website, we will see the transition finally take place. No longer will the website be the warehouse for the articles not quite good enough to make the cut for the print editions. Rather, as with Anne-Marie Flynn’s article below, we will see the best of the content posted online cherrypicked for the paper version, and hopefully The University Times and Trinity

News will compete to have the first article online on some important piece of breaking news, rather than being constrained by the inherent logistical and time difficulties of ink and paper.

This will change how students see their college newspapers. Rather than being a digest of a fortnight’s events, The University Times will be a running commentary on university life.

Soon enough, newspapers will be an anachronism, even in Trinity, and our trusted correspondents will communicate with readers solely on the internet.

It’s not just the speed of news that’s changing, however. More types of media are now open to students than ever before. Trinity TV has finally started fulfilling its promise, delivering video content tailored for Trinity students over our wi-fi connections. The University Times can publish small bits of information on Twitter to an audience of 500, who can then send that tweet around the world. The power of student media has never been greater - Trinity students’ voices can be heard around the country and even the world, and that’s no bad thing.

I

n May, Trinity College will have collectively decided who is to be its next Provost, a title of immense prestige and duty. The successful candidate for the post will be responsible for planning and managing the university, will be chief finance officer, and will be chair of the Board of the college. He or she will hold the post for the next ten years, long after incoming first-years have graduated, and into the 2020’s. For over 400 years, and under 43 different Provosts, the college has excelled as an institute of learning and research. The primary direction that Trinity takes over the next ten years will fundamentally come down to who will come to occupy the residency at Number 1 Grafton Street and what they will bring with them into the college. Which policies, which agendas, and which biases.

The college, and the country itself, are at a crossroads. There is a new government

under a fragile coalition of right and left, and Ireland’s place in Europe is becoming an ever more important factor in the way the country thinks about itself and makes plans for the future. All the old assumptions and conventions are null and void, obsolete. How Trinity chooses to conduct itself over these next ten years under a new Provost will play an important role in Ireland’s coming years, not just merely as an Irish institution, but in the effect it will have had on its graduates. It is they who will be taking on the burdens and tribulations our country has accumulated, and it is they who are most deserving of the best possible Provost.

It is therefore fitting that we take this opportunity in this, the last issue of the University Times under this editorship, to urge academic and administrative staff to consider the needs and rights of students when they cast their vote.

Don’t mention the war Anne-Marie Flynn AH, THE Erasmus year. A great time for personal development, they say. An excellent opportunity to become independent, to develop and improve language skills, to figure out what direction your life will take. Leaving for Germany in September, I looked forward to doing all of the above. Not to mention living alone, meeting lots of new people and getting my very own grant to finance what I’d envisaged as a yearlong holiday. However, in my naive anticipation of the best year of my life, I’d failed to account for one small detail – all of these things would have to be achieved whilst living amongst 83 million Germans. The most efficient, rigid 83 million people in the world.

And that, I have since learned, is no easy feat.

The Germans have long been recognised as one of the continent’s most formidable nations.

Famous for their steely resolve, terrifying punctuality and rather unique sense of humour, it’s clear that Ireland and the Fatherland amount to the Mutt and Jeff of Europe. Cue Culture Shock.

There are so many marked differences between Irish and German life I’m not sure where to start. Perhaps one of the most noticeable is the strange German habit of dividing time into carefully considered categories.

Take for instance the case of my housemate Albert. When this German maps out his day, as Germans must, socialising is often pencilled in for early evening, followed by a scintillating study session before bed. So from eight to ten, Albert is a perfectly normal, sociable being, who enjoys spending time with his friends, laughing and joking, so much so that you could almost forget that he is German. Almost.

On the dot of ten o’clock, however, this illusion is shattered as Albert, like clockwork, rises from the group and announces “Now, I must learn.” And off to learn he goes. Once study time has commenced, Albert simply refuses

to interact. Why, you might ask?

Isn’t it obvious? In Germany, talking, like every other activity in the world, must be restricted to specific times. Order must be maintained you see. Otherwise the world might come crashing down.

Speaking of order, the strange obsession with adhering to ridiculous rules is another mindnumbingly irritating aspect of the great German character. No matter how small the hour, how empty the road, never will you ever catch a German crossing the road if the light is red. When questioned about the futility of this behaviour, said German will most definitely always respond “but it’s the law”. The law it may be, BUT IT’S STUPID. On top of that, the Germans are always awake. This annoys me. They frown upon anyone who sleeps past 8, regardless of what time you went to bed. In the same vein, there’s no such thing as a hangover where Hans and Helga are concerned. A hangover would be akin to weakness.

And we most definitely couldn’t have that. They’re always annoyingly early. They laugh at you for watching TV all day, while they voluntarily attend classes on Ancient Greek language and culture. They all play sports. And music. And paint. And write poetry. They are the overachievers of the world.

However, all that said, credit must be given where credit’s due.

And much as it pains me to say it, if there’s one thing for which the Germans deserve credit, it’s their university system. The minute you enter a German classroom, something is inexplicably different to its Irish counterpart. It comes down to this – the students really want to be there.

In Germany, a place at university is still accompanied by a significant sense of prestige, a result of the competitive schooling to which German children are subjected from the age of ten. Towards the end of primary school,

teachers are obliged to recommend each of their pupils to certain type of secondary school, based on academic performance up to that point. Only the crème de la crème are chosen to attend Gymnasium, the only type of school which prepares German students for the Abitur (the Leaving Cert equivalent), the qualification necessary for entrance into university education. University thus remains an institution reserved for an academic elite and German students consequently value, appreciate and work to maintain their place there. This makes a refreshing change from the indifference of so many Irish students who have simply found themselves at college by default.

German universities also allow students a great deal of academic independence when it comes to the structure of degree and masters programmes. Compulsory courses are practically unheard of and students are granted the freedom to tailor their degrees to reflect their own interests and strengths. The degree of flexibility in terms of subject combinations for Bachelor’s degrees puts Ireland to shame.

All that said however, I’ve always been of the opinion that the ultimate measure of a university is the kind of people it turns out.

So if you’re into perseverance, diligence, sobriety and success, then Germany’s the place for you….

As you can see, there is much ground for conflict between the mediocrity of the Irish (to which I’ve happily resigned myself this year) and the German desire for success. No need to fear a fight though. Let’s be honest, the Irish are probably too lazy to start one.

And the Germans aren’t allowed.

So alles gut for now.

This article is part of a threepart series by Erasmus students on TIMESONLINE. Like our Facebook page to be notified of the next instalment.

Colm

Kearney

www.colmkearney.ie

vote for Provost 2011

Tuesday, March 22nd 2011 | The University Times

12

TIMESOPINION Visa ripoffs?

Intervention in Libya is bad.

Do it yourself Caelainn Hogan Features Editor Now more than ever, students want the cheapest deals available, especially when it comes to travelling.

Many turn to USIT, “the specialist in student, youth and independent travel”, a company which offers a range of services, including deals on flights, visas and package tours. It would seem the perfect option for those who don’t want the hassle of spending nights scouring flight comparison sites and or trekking out to the relevant embassy. Obviously, as a business, one would expect USIT to take make some profit off what they’re selling, but few who make use of what claims to be a student friendly service would expect to be unceremoniously fleeced. The problem is that companies such as USIT, which monopolise and exploit the student market with their claims to provide the best deals, reasonably exploit the fact that students are often blissfully unaware of the fact that they are being ripped off. High time we get clued in.

The USIT visa service swindles students with the cost of the USIT service often double that of the regular visa service at respective embassies. USIT’s starting price for the Indian visa service, which provides a 6 month Tourist multiple entry visa, is from €90. The processing time for the visa is 10 working days. The price for the same visa at the Indian embassy in Dublin is 50 euro, almost half the price USIT charges. Having bought an Indian visa directly from the embassy last summer, the average

processing time then was less than 5 working days, and they offered to complete it in 2. Unfortunately, I needed the visa completed that same day through the express service, which set me back another €50, bringing the total to €100.

USIT’s express service however costs an extra €80 and takes 5 working days to process, bringing the total to €170. That €70 saved could buy another regular visa, it could buy return flights to London, and at least 8 cans of Bav in the pav to celebrate.

The Chinese visa service is even more excessive. At the Chinese embassy in Dublin, a single entry visa for Irish passport holders costs €40, a double entry visa €60.

USIT charges €120 for its single entry Chinese tourist visa service, exactly triple the price of the normal cost, and more than double the price for the double entry, at €140. If USIT are trying to excuse this extortionate discrepancy in price by claiming it waylays the hassle of travelling to the embassy yourself, the difference in price would probably fund a private taxi ride there and back, with plenty to spare.

One can’t blame a company for cashing in on easy money, and so inevitably it’s up to students themselves to make the choice to stop buying in to extortionate services such as those above.

Some students are willing to pay a bit extra for a good service, but absolutely no one likes to be ripped off, and with the wealth of free travel information online and the numerous independent travel agencies out there, USIT might want to start playing fair.

No intervention is worse.

Deputy Editor and foreign policy geek Tommy Gavin explains This year has seen an unprecedented wave of protests and revolutions across the Middle East and North Africa, beginning last December in Tunisia.

However, Libya is the only country to see foreign military intervention, and this may raise eyebrows as to whether this is just another case of western meddling and nation-building. I would maintain though, that while foreign military intervention is never pleasant and seldom justified, in this case it is preferable to the alternative. Ideally, those countries intervening most forcefully would be Arabic ones, and the United States should take as much of a back seat as possible given its reputation within the Middle East. Yet for all the possible cries of neo-colonialism, not intervening would be to condemn the rebels to failure after they asked for assistance in deposing a dictator who was tolerated and legitimised for the last ten years by Europe and the United States.

This intervention has been authorised and mandated with surprising speed and clarity by the United Nations. What is usually impossible for the U.N. was accomplished in a mere three weeks, as the Council at last lived up to its obligation to prevent massacres by first referring Libya to the International Criminal Court, and then last week, authorised military force to intervene in protection of the Libyan people. This was made possible by the genocidal threats made by Mouammar Gadhafi to “cleanse Libya house by house”, invoking the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, which necessitates that the U.N. Security Council should take action when a state fails to protect its citizens from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. This was unanimously adopted by all countries of the U.N. Assembly in

Gadhafi’s loyalist forces move into opposition or insurgency. A large contingent of the loyalist army is made up of mercenaries and it is hard to see them continuing to fight after his deposal, though it is hard to say because Libya is still quite tribalised and therefore may be prone to fractiousness. This is despite Gadhafi’s brand of Arabic socialism he called Jamahiriya which was supposed to do away with tribalism and focus on national identity, but the old power relationships never really went away and Gadhafi was able to deftly maintain ties between tribes.

Ironically though, it is this concept of Jamahiriya which stressed local governance, which made it easier for rebel cities to form local committees and reject the state. It will also make restructuring the post-Gadhafi state more difficult though, as there is very little administrative experience in Libya; he has kept a near absolute control on power for 42 years, after overthrowing the British installed King Idris of Libya.

Another difficulty that needs to worked out for coalition forces is that it is hard to identify exactly who the Eastern rebels are. It was thought that there was no real opposition to speak of. Most of those who speak on behalf of the rebel movement are centred in Bengazi, several of whom have defected from the military. They represent themselves through the National Transitional Council, but there are internal rivalries within the rebel movement as two different men spent a week claiming that one was running the council and not the other. They have since decided though that one is the council head, while the other is the spokesperson. The council also has a military division which supposedly commands the several militias formed in Eastern population centres, but even with the

2005 and is a still developing norm.

The U.N. Security Council voted in favour of establishing a no-fly zone over Libya and authorised all means short of foreign occupation to protect Libyan civilians by ten to none. There are many reasons for the haste and unanimity of the decision, but arguably the most prosaic reasons are the ghosts of Kosovo and Rwanda, the former if the international community had acted sooner, and the latter if they had acted at all.

The Bagehot columnist at the Economist wrote that “Europe’s shameful failure to prevent genocide in the Balkans was a formative experience for a whole generation of British ministers” and that “some close observers of Balkan suffering now hold key posts in the present-day coalition government.” Kosovo also apparently demonstrated that western intervention could be moral and effective, and be won from the air.

This is last point is not necessarily so, equally important in Bosnia was the training and equipment provided to Bosnians and Croats to route Serbs.

It is not that values can be projected from the loading bay of a B-52 bomber, but that enabling rebels to defend themselves and overthrow dictators is of parallel importance to showing up to fight in the name of democracy. Not that it has essentially even come to that though. The bombing campaign as it is now is explicitly to protect civilians, not to aid the rebels or attack Gadhafi. The R2P doctrine leaves military intervention as the last possible recourse, as a means to prevent genocide. Gadhafi’s rhetoric makes it clear that this is the case. Arming and training the rebels who want to fight for their freedom is what you do instead of occupation.

The question of intervention then lies with the extent to which it remains an exclusively air operation and whether

Allied coalition bombing campaign, they would be hard pressed to topple Gadhafi. What the rebels need is more defections in the West, but it is hard to picture the rebels toppling Gadhafi at all without foreign military interference. Should Gadhafi triumph, he will extend the crimes against humanity he is already perpetrating in centres he controls, in an effort to totally wipe out the opposition he now knows exists.

There are worse places in the world than Libya, places where leaders have eschewed the superficial legitimacy that Gadhafi enjoyed over the last ten years in favour of the freedom the commit abhorrent human rights abuses, like Kim Il-Jong whose concentration camps can be seen on google maps.

Then there are leaderless states like Somalia where there is hardly any law to be enforced, and the Ivory Coast in a state of conflict that is resulting in the worst humanitarian crisis West Africa has faced since 2003; when roaming rebel armies pillaged villages and hacked off limbs, and drugged child soldiers routinely terrorized the countryside armed with old Kalashnikovs.

The people of these countries are no less deserving of being freed from tyranny than the people of Libya, but the international community is able to help Libya, through a combination of selfish factors that do appeal to national interest that coincide with their supposed values. Libya is not in the orbit of a hostile regional power like Iran, being on the Mediterranean it is on NATO’s doorstep, and they wish to be on the right side of the Arab democracy struggle. I am not calling for a ground invasion of Tripoli, merely asserting that for once, occidental intervention in North Africa is not the worst case scenario.

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13

The University Times | Wednesday, March 23rd 2011

TIMESSPORTS

SIX NATIONS 2011: UT’S SELECT XV 15 - Andrea Masi, ITA If Max Medard read UT Sports, he might well address a letter to the Editor, bitter at his exclusion from our select XV having shone at full-back in a French side otherwise bereft of consistent performance.

However, we fi rmly believe that Italian star Masi matches him in terms of consistency and just about shades it for his peerless full-back play in his side’s monumental triumph over the French.

Masi’s try late on in the Stadio Flaminio fi nally raised the self-belief so long hidden beneath the surface of Nick Mallet’s side. Most of the plaudits for the victory will go to Mirco Bergamasco, but it cannot be

12 - Jonathan Davies, WAL Perhaps the toughest selection, but not for the right reasons. If you think for a second about, on paper at least, the main contenders for best number twelve, you realise that few if any managed to hit form during the tournament.

Gordon D’arcy has failed to replicate the dizzy heights of peerless form of 2007, only retaining his place in Declan Kidney’s side due to lack of alternatives. Damien Traille is rarely afford the chance to impress from one game to another, and Shontayne Hape, despite all the hype, was the weakest link in England’s title-winners.

That said, Davies’ performances are worthy of praise in their own right and he should rightly be awarded the inside centre spot when the

9 - Ben Youngs, ENG Th is was a tough one. When formulating my theoretical selection during the Ireland-England clash on Saturday evening, the stand-out name for automatic selection was Youngs’.

Then, in reaction to an error on this part, he shot his already struggling team in the foot in a moment of petulance.

I was ready to replace him with Wales’ Mike Phillips until Phillips had a less than awe-inspiring game in Paris. In fairness, it would have been extremely unfair to suggest that that one moment of madness would spoil an otherwise excellent debut tournament from the young man.

Key to England’s championship victory was the partnership he formed with Leicester team-mate Toby Flood, and it looks as if Martin Johnson may

6- Sean O’ Brien, IRE Leinster fans have been calling for his inclusion in the national side for close to 18 months, due to his stellar performances in both the Magner’s League and the Heineken Cup and he got the start after Stephen Ferris was sidelined with injury. A mixed blessing it would seem for Kidney, as he seems to have discovered one of the future stars of the side.

England, Scotland and Italy all fell victim to the ‘Shobsy’ train, as he was able to create go forward ball from static ball. He has physics-defying speed for such a big man, as well as a sharp step. Easily one of the better performers in a generally badly performing Irish side, O’Brien now poses a dilemma for Kidney as to which

3 - Thomas Domingo, FRA The Clermont man’s tenacity and tirelessness would accompany anyone well, be they called into question for being wider than they are tall. At 5”6 and 17st, with a low centre of gravity and excellent technique, Domingo provides a dilemma for forwards coaches at scrum time. One of the few Frenchmen to survive Lievremont’s purge following the Italian betrayal in Rome, he should continue to make strides in the international team. He possesses a surprising turn of speed, which he showcased in small doses against Ireland and England, carrying well in both matches.

Accompanied with his fellow enforcers Nicolas Mas and Servat in the French front row this year, they were undoubtedly the utilitarian crown jewel of the French side this season. If he continues this form, he could push

overstated just how important Masi’s perfromace was for the Azurri.

Facing a side overflowing with running talent, Masi was the epitome of solid defense as he kept the French in check. Th roughout the tournament he was the jewel in the italian defensive crown and for that reason deserves his plce in our selection

official team of the tournament is announced during the week.

Demonstrating an insatiable ability to make line-breaks and a perpetual calmness under pressure, Davies was part of a much-improved Welsh backline fi lled with youth and vigour.

He earns his place for being relatively solid if not a tad unspectacular.

fi nally have found a long-term scrumhalf the likes of which England have lacked since the retirement of fellow World Cup winner Matthew Dawson.

Please, try look beyond the sin-binning and see the true worth of Youngs’ contribution to England’s fi rst title since the 2003 Grand Slam. Save one disastrous overshadowing by Eoin Reddan in the Aviva, he was the tournament’s stand-out scrum-half .

back-row to start in the World Cup, with Stephen Ferris set to return from injury in time for the Heineken Cup. Aside from his ball-carrying attributes, O’Brien counter-rucked especially well against the English, forcing at least three turnovers. He is solid in the tackle, putting in some thumping hits against the English centres.

O’Brien wins his place for being an all-round blindside bad-ass.

his Clermont side further into the Heineken Cup competition this summer. With the new-found criticism of scrumagging technique circulating rapidly in the media, it’s refreshing to see a traditionalist at work.

Domingo earns a spot in our fi fteen for his work ethic and physical prowess. Still a minnow when it comes to international experience, a run in the World Cup seems incredibly likely considering his club level pedigree.

14 - Chris Ashton, ENG Having set the earwlier stages of the competition alight with an incredible six tries in his fi rst two games, Chris Ashton assertively announced himself onto the international scene during the 2011 Championship.

Particularly in his destructive display against the Italians in which he plundered four tries, Ashton gave a masterclass in wing-play, popping up on Toby Flood’s inside shoulder and effectauting support play with aplomb.

There are few more potent weapons that a team can possess than an all-out winger with pace to burn and a nack for fi nishing. Even his muchmaligned ‘swallow-dive’ celebration should be lauded as a unifying, fun

factor in the Englamd camp which had an unusually strong team spirit.

Combining the physical style of Josh Lewsey with the raw pace of Jason Robinson, Ashton is sure to light up Championships for the forseeable future, still only 23 years of age.

Hi efforts in his debut championship are worthy of the highest praise, including inclusion in the lucrative UT Sports team of the tournament selection.

11 - Tommy Bowe, IRE They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, and there can be no greater example of such than Tommy Bowe’s involvement in the 2011 Six nations Championship.

Having missed the fi rst two games of the Championship due to injury, his impact on the side once reinstated was immediate and telling. Without him, Ireland looked impotent , lacking the extra dimension afforded by his raw pace.

Like Davies, it must be said that a major contributor to Bowe’s selection is a distinct lack of competition. Alexis Palisson and Vincent Clerc may perhaps have been awarded a place in our star-studded side had Marc Lievrement allowed them sufficent game-time, but the French coach’s erractic selection policy makes it

5 - Bradley Davies, WAL A breath of fresh air to an otherwise out-of-form Welsh pack this season, Bradley Davies established himself as a strong ball carrier and an omnipresent option in the line-out this season.

It seems as if Gatland has discovered a Ying to Alun Wyn Jones’ Yang.

The second row now has balance with Jones winning the ball on the ground and running support lines, and Davies attracting defenders whenever he picks up possession of the ball in midfield or around the fringes. The Cardiff Blues lock seemingly made ground whenever he took the ball to the defensive line. His onedirectional approach to running allowed for the Welsh to create quick ruck ball, which the James Hook

2 - Matthew Rees, WAL

Captaining the Welsh side for the fi rst time in his career, the Scarlets’ hooker led his team from the front, following a disappointing Autumn Test series. Often praised for his leadership and motivational skills, Rees seized the opportunity well, turning in good performances against Ireland and Scotland to cement his position at the top of the world hooking order.

Holding together a constantly changing scrum, and under pressure

It now seems quite incredible that barely a year ago, journalists were warning of the demise of the iconic Irish captain. Accusations that he is not the player he once was and that he had activated the ‘lost the half a yard of pace’ clause usually evoked to signal the age-related demise of a star.

Just in case anyone bought into that, ‘Drico’ produced another superlative Champonship of perfromances to silence the few remaining doubters.

The difficulty here is that there really are few words which can accurately depict the desitc qualities of the iconic Irish centre. So many have been used already over such a long period of time that lauding his

10 - Toby Flood, ENG

difficult to judge the performances of his players over the entire tournament.

But take nothing from Bowe, who has become a huge player for Ireland in recent years. Come September, we will count on his tendency towards the juggular as our main attacking threat.

We will be faced with a plethora of attacking, extremely quick wingers to which Bowe will be our answer.

8 - Sergio Parisse, ITA The age-old question of whether Sergio Parisse would succeed in a more successful international side is a moot point due to his excellent form with Stade Francais. The harsh reality for Italian rugby is that they probably wouldn’t have a victory against France to their name if not for captain Sergio Parisse.

Th roughout the tournament, he was Italy’s linchpin at the base of the scrum, carrying ball tirelessly and providing Italy with a focal point to attack from. But, although his physical traits are numerous and relevant, Parisse makes the cut above all else for his leadership skills. An expert motivator, he has managed to become the catalyst for change in Nick Mallet’s side, inspiring others to continue to chase seemingly lost causes,

13 - Brian O’ Driscoll, IRE

As has been every England out-half in the last seven years or so, Flood came into this Championship burdened by the imposing shadow of Jonny Wilkinson peering over his shoulder. Admittedly not half the player he used to be, England’s series of head coachesnonetheless seem unable to get over the good times they had with Wilkinson wearing ten.

Flood’s assured performances in this Championship, however, have fi rmly stuck a nail in the coffi n of the veteran’s hopes of holding down a long-term starting place in the side.

Flood performed with absolute assurance and terrorised defenses with his incisive running and clever tactical kicking. Club-mate Ben Youngs has come to understand Flood’s game well in their relatively short time as

7 - James Haskell, ENG

such as the France game where they came from 12 points down to secure a historic win in Rome.

As well as his physical defensive skills, he also organises the line well.

An option for the Italian line-out, with a solid pair of hands anywhere on the field, and the ability to kick should it prove necessary, Parisse is Italy’s one man show.

orchestrated backline thrived off.

His physical presence would seem to be enough to allow for his inclusion to this fi fteen, but Davies possesses strong leadership and match reading skills, as well as wisdom beyond his experience level. An adequate partner for Jones in the second row, his performance against Ireland edged out strong competition from Lionel Nallet.

from up-and-coming Richie Hibbard, Rees managed to balance the roles of player and captain admirably. In a year where the Welsh failed to remain consistent in many areas, they could always rely on the Hook-Rees-Jones triangle of lineout consistency to put them in strong positions.

Defensive awareness is probably something to work on in the future, fi nding himself in the wrong positions at critical moments. Although he arguably didn’t carry the ball as well as he has in previous seasons, he remained one of the cornerstones of Shaun Edwards’ defensive system.

Almost fi rst to be in Gatland’s squad for this autumn’s tournament in New Zealand, whether he will still be captain this time remains to be seen, with experienced heads such as Ryan Jones and Alun Wyn Jones returning to form.

The pick of the English pack, Haskell provides experience to a side which lacks. Although not famed for his leadership skills, Haskell, who plays his rugby in France with Stade, lead from the front to ensure a win for the English side this year.

Very tactically aware, he has picked up much from his years of playing the game, learning the running lines of the number 7 well. His physical power is another attribute for the English side to harness, giving Johnson’s men another option from the base of the scrum.

His breakdown skill, often underrated, creates more turnovers with which England can counter-attack.

One of his best attributes is undoubtedly his tireless defensive work. He was England’s leading tackle maker

4 - Richie Gray, SCO If Bradley Davies was breath of fresh air in the second row this season, Scottish lock Richie Gray was a gale force hurricane. The Glasgow Warrior hadn’t played much international matches for Scotland before the tournament began, but his club performances and autumn series matches convinced Andy Robinson to start the opener against France.

Although it could be argued that Gray wouldn’t have shone as brightly in another international pack. Gray’s size and speed added a running dimension to a Scottish side that struggled to score tries throughout the entirety of the campaign. He also maintains a significantly high level of fitness, which allows him to impact on

1 - Nicholas Mas, FRA Domingo’s partner in crime, Mas brings to the table a high degree of experience, along with a fearsome amount of aggression. A carbon copy of his loose-head partner standing at 5”8 and 17st, the duo terrorised opposition scrums in all of their matches, save for maybe Ireland. Possessing one of the higher tackle counts in the French side, he can be relied on to tackle continuously around the fringes, and to counter-ruck tirelessly, despite his relatively old age. He wreaked havoc on scrum-half Mike Phillips in the Welsh game at the Stade de France, forcing turnovers in key positions and disrupting the fluency of the Welsh backline. His only lacklustre performance came against Ireland where he was outmuscled in the scrums by Cian Healy on several occasions. He recovered however to put in a solid performance in the

flanker-like style and incomprehensible rugby brain just seems generic.

But screw it, if the glove fits then wear it. Ireland’s totem, there when needed and always ready to put his body on the line. How many of these has he got left in him? I don’t want to think about it.

Popping up when needed has now become his art. One which, on Saturday, saw him become the Championship’s all-time top try scorer with 25 since his debut. Long live BOD.

team-mates and this will surely stand England in good stead for a number of years to come.

The experience of this Championship win will also count in Flood’s favour in terms of game time in future matches; a number of times in this Championship we saw him substituted when the pressure was on, but by and large he composed himself well.

in the competition, a standard issue of the tree-fellers which now occupy the number 7 shirt for international sides. Haskell also possesses an impressive turn of speed which led to him scoring a try in the Italian romp.

Haskell makes the University Times fi fteen for his defensive organisational skills and tackling prowess.

the game throughout the eighty minutes, rather than shining brightly and then fi zzling out. Aside from all this, his inclusion in the side allows Nathan Hines to revert to his preferred position of flanker, giving the Scottish back more scope. His performance of the campaign undoubtedly came in the opener against France where he steamrolled the French midfield on several occasions.

Scottish and Welsh games, cementing his position at the top of a competitive French front row ladder. Whether he remains fit long enough for a World Cup campaign remains a different question entirely. He earns his spot in our fi fteen for his tenacity, surprisingly good reading of the game and his leadership qualities. With direct players like him in the side, France should compete adequately in September.

Wednesday, March 23rd 2011 | The University Times

14

TIMESSPORTS Premier League to go down to the wire. Again.

Jack Leahy Sports Editor While it was exciting for a while and, with five teams still in with a mathematical chance of taking the title, I suppose in some ways still is, one cannot escape the feeling that this year’s Premier League season is conforming to an increasingly familiar script.

Earlier in the year, journalists across Europe were lauding what was the most exciting season in Premier League history, pointing to Chelsea and Liverpool’s respective slides and the emergence of Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City as genuine title contenders as signs that nothing can be taken for granted in a league once dominated by the same four sides.

For a while, we believed. We believed that someone, be they hard-working Spurs or bigspending City, could come along and upset a league which has only yet been won by four clubs. We believed that Arsenal, so long patronised as the talented but immature kids in a crowd dominated by been-there-donethats, could fi nally fi nd it in themselves to mount a serious challenge. We believed that, after managerial turmoil and three successive Manchester United championships were cast aside in 2010, Carlo Ancelotti had restored Chelsea to an overpowering force in English football.

For a while, we believed that this would be a season to remember. In many ways it has been; we have seen Dimitar Berbatov bag five at Blackburn, Wayne Rooney’s dramatic contract U-turn, a 26-game unbeaten run, the emergence of world-class talent in Gareth Bale and Javier Hernandez, minnows Blackpool wreaking havoc amongst the more established boys, the return to management of a Kenny Daglish, whose God-like status on the red side of Liverpool is bettered only by that held by the Beatles.

If even. On paper, it has been one for the history books and gossip columns alike.

That said, does no one else get the feeling that the bigger picture of the business end of the season, supposedly the most exciting portion by its very nature, has become formulaic, upsettingly familiar, and just a little dull? I certainly do.

I will start with Arsenal, perhaps the most culpable in that regard. Bereft of the experience and know-how of the 2003-2004 ‘Invincibles’ for some time, save, of course, the recent return of Jens ‘Prodigal Son’ Lehman, in recent years we have watched as Arsene Wenger builds a talented squad of youngsters, challenge United and Chelsea and even the lead the table for a few weeks, before self-imploding when the pressure is on.

Every year since the likes of Vieira, Henry, and Ljungberg moved on to pastures more lucrative, we have watched Arsenal’s formulaic rise and fall and patted them on the back when it all went wrong with pacifying assurances that they were the one to watch next year.

Until recently, it looked as if Wenger had fi nally turned his side into men. Key to their impressive maintenance of a title challenge were the likes of Samir Nasri and Robin Van Persie, who have brought real potency to a well-rounded side. When Barcelona laid down the gauntlet in the Emirates last month, they stood up to the challenge and sent Los Ché back home with their tails uncharacteristically tucked between their legs.

Their real challenge, however, was fi nishing the job in Camp Nou. It must be said that no team can be criticised for letting slip an advantage against the deistic entity of world football that is Lionel Messi’s Barcelona, but such a morale-sapping defeat when expectations were so high coincided with an extremely disheartening capitulation in four competitions.

Not for the fi rst time in recent years, Arsenal managed to get so far in the Champions’ League, the Premier League, the League Cup, and the FA Cup before a devastating period of two weeks saw the most almighty of downfalls. One has to wonder how a side so lacking in the experience of the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea can pick themselves up after a disastrous showing in all competitions. While Arsenal’s Premier League form is not dreadful in itself, a few blips have come during a period in which the previously unbeaten Manchester United lost three Premier League games

and Arsenal have absolutely failed to take the full advantage that a better-placed Chelsea might have taken a few years ago. Ironically, United seem to have come out of this difficult patch better off than Arsenal; while the Red Devils look to have gotten failure out of their system, for Arsenal failure looks systematic.

Five points ahead of Arsenal in fi rst place and everyone’s Marmite United, who are also reading from a well-known script. So well-known is this act bizarrely entitled ‘squeaky-bum time’ that journalists can take it as understood once the end-of-season run begins. Recently, United have been nowhere near their best and no one can rightly claim that they have, but we can already see familiar patterns emerging.

It is a defi nite mark of the measure of Sir Alex Ferguson that United are still characterised by a never-say-die self belief which has been with us from the days of Steve Bruce’s two 96th-minute headers against Sheffield Wednesday, through the astonishing fulfi llment of Clive Tyldesly’s now famous ‘Can Manchester United score? They always score!’ in Barcelona in 1999, right up to Berbatov’s last-gasp winner against Bolton last weekend. Th is is a side who never know when they are beaten and have the length of tooth to see themselves home.

Furthermore, we have seen much more of Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes in recent weeks than we have at any stage of the season. As usual, Ferguson is turning to the old heads to instill calmness and composure into his charges at a time when the pressure is at its greatest. Th is has been written so many times that it is almost stock journalism for this stage of the season but the importance of those two characters cannot be stressed enough. That said, the likes of Rooney, Michael Carrick, Edwin van der Sar, Nemaja Vidic, Darren Fletcher have all been around for three league titles with United, with John O’ Shea and Rio Ferdinand having lifted four and Wes Brown seven.

So, with all this repetition in mind, is it re-

That said, does no one else get the feeling that the bigger picture of the business end of the season has become formulaic, upsettingly familiar, and just a little dull? ally that bad that we have Manchester City blindly pumping cash into their side? Roberto Mancini’s recruitment policy is frequently maligned for its excessive nature, but I am certainly of the opinion that in terms of enduring entertainment, the league can only eventually benefit from a ‘throw paint at a wall and see what sticks’ approach. Who knows, in a few years Mancini could stumble across a bit of title-winnng experience and cause a real tumult of interest at the end of the season.

All in all, we are in for a fairly repetitive end to the season as the two main contenders fulfi ll their usual requirements. Arsenal will desperately try to catch up as United try to hold on to their lead and rely on their experience to see them home. I think it just about will, but wouldn’t it be nice to see a late title surge from Stoke or something similarly unexpected for once?

RONAN RICHARDSON TRIES: CRICKET I don’t know whether it was when I was told to put on the body armour or when the hard cricket balls started flying; but I got a horrible sinking feeling and realised that I wasn’t in the Berkeley library anymore.

In fact I wasn’t even in the Ussher library. Let me set the scene. It was an alien environment. There were people dressed in sporting attire engaging in physical activities. As I said, it was a strange alien landscape. One would be no more accustomed to the act of playing sports than Rio Ferdinand would be accustomed to writing a novel. Anyway… So there I am, walking up the stairs in the Sports centre, tastefully attired in a sensible pair of brown shoes, brown corduroy slacks, a nice warm woolly jumper and a tweed jacket. I also happen to need thick glasses. I looked more suited to a Woody Allen look a like contest than that of gentlemanly cricketer. But I wasn’t too worried, yet. I had brought my trustworthy bicycle helmet.

Opening up the door of the Ancillary hall was daunting. The cricketers were at the end of the hall, and the walk down to them seemed like the longest mile. I clearly wasn’t one of them. I was asked if I had armour. Armour? My idea of cricket was cucumber sandwiches and lemonade; not of a sport necessitating the wearing of armour! My reply was shorter and took the form of a telling, ‘eh… no.’ No need to worry yet though.

A kindly gent instructed me that there was some spare armour in a bag down the

hall, and there was. There was some sort of mattresslike leg guard there, which after great difficulty I managed to secure appropriately to my shins and knees; and there was the presence of a type of testicle shield. I decided to forsake this particular apparatus. Once I was fully suited up with my leg guards and gloves I was quite confident to say that I looked great. I look like a pro. LOL JK… The laughs from the Cricketers were sufficient to make evident the contrary. Then it got really scary.

Right, for those of you have never been there, they have what I can best describe as cages. Cages in which they put people in and the others hurl balls at them, really hard balls, at high speeds, and that’s not a euphemism. Me? In there? Surely not! I was ushered into the cage with a few words of encouragement from the president of the Cricket Association. He kindly told me that it was easier than playing hurling. I decided not to mention that my schoolchild sport had been tidlywinks.

So there I am, all five foot nine, fi fty-something-kilograms of me, speckled, with no testicle shield or brain guard on; with some very big man throwing balls at me. I am proud to say that I performed excellently. Actually, even the president told me that I was a natural.

LOL JK… The laughs, etc…

Luckily I didn’t get injured, except for one ball to the leg, which hurt like hell, and soon I’d fi nished trying to hit the ten balls.

In fact I even got to throw some of the balls back. I

Ronan does his best in the nets. Photo: Dargan Crowley-Long couldn’t really do that very because I’m a conservative at my expense when I left. well either. However, I’m Anglophile, but because I think next time though, not one hundred percent the cricketers themselves I’ll bring my own testicle negative, I did realise one were a very pleasant group shield. thing, cricket was a sport of people. Though I cringe that I wouldn’t mind be- to imagine and cringe at ing involved in. Not simply the conversation they had

Cricket progress due to years of hard slog Matthew Rye Deputy Sports Editor Ireland’s recent underdog victory against England at the Cricket world Cup isn’t a result that any Irish sports follower should take lightly. It’s the type of win that marks a hard-fought transition for the Irish side, from an outlier position to a role on the main stage. It’s the type of victory which is not won solely by the performance of those on the field, but also by the years of struggle and effort put in by an entire generation of players.

While one victory against Pakistan in the last World Cup could have been labelled lucky, two consecutive World Cup upsets have christened Ireland as Giant Killers among the so-called “associate” nations. Bangladesh, Pakistan, England.

In a few years’ time, under the right conditions, Ireland could scalp New Zealand or the West Indies. From there, test cricket could be integrated, allowing Ireland to

progress further into the international circuit.

The victory against England can further be attributed to the sheer force of unpredictability that is Kevin O’Brien. Coming into this match, he’d had a lacklustre innings against Bangladesh and the Irish team was looking out of its depth at the crease. Swann, Strauss and Anderson all looked like they’re comfortable and in control. Swing, smack, six, repeat. 60 balls later Kevin O’Brien leaves the field a world cup record holder with the fastest century, eclipsing greats such as Adam Gilchrist and Sachin Tendulkar. He batted faultlessly against all the different elements of the England bowling attack. Strauss looked absolutely flabbergasted. He couldn’t fi nd the right strategy. Every time a ball was pitched wide or short, O’Brien pummelled it mercilessly into the stand.

O’Brien epitomises the Irish Cricketing game; resilient, hard-working and with little bursts of talent

throughout. Although it requires a team effort to win at any form of the international game, Ireland’s victory will be remembered for O’Brien’s world class display, built upon years of growth and development by the Irish national side.

However, it could be argued that the Kevin O’Brien Show is a highlight of an otherwise disappointing World Cup for the Irish team in terms of results. Beating Bangladesh at home is difficult, but not impossible, as teams like South Africa and England showed with consummate ease. Solid performances against India and the West Indies were met with disappointing results. Such is the nature of the game.

Ireland’s seemingly exponential rise into the cricketing world is remarkable, considering the squad only gained to right to play in ODI matches in 2006. But it can be attributed to a number of factors. Firstly, full homage must be paid to the International Cricket Council.

The ICC has identified Ireland as a potential new market for cricket to evolve and increase in popularity. It has a developed level of infrastructure compared to some of the other countries in contention for ICC funding, as well as a keen national interest in sport.

The funding the Irish Cricket Union has received has allowed for contracts to be awarded to several of the side’s key players including record-setter Kevin O’Brien, although rumours of an Indian Premier League contract continue to circulate among the league’s press officers. These contracts allow for the continued nurturing of cricketing talent at international level, provoking better national sides, better international results and more interest in the game at grassroots level. More young people will be playing cricket in Ireland next year because Kevin O’Brien consistently smashed Anderson through extra cover for four. Young Players like the enigmatic George

Dockrell will continue to bloom and grow, although at 18, taking Sachin Tendulkar for LBW might turn out to be the young man’s career highlight. Th is phantom funding from the ICC also reaches cricket clubs around Ireland, which can buy better facilities to attract youth. Such talented youth comes in the form of Eoin Morgan and Ed Joyce, who have made a name for themselves abroad by playing for the England ODI side.

The million-dollar question comes when the ICU asks where they see the side in twenty year’s time. England will continue to push for hosting rights to the ICC World Cup. If a situation should arise where England’s bid would fall short due to lack of facilities, the ICU could be in a position to allow the use of Irish facilities.

Gone are the days of losing to Middlesex. Kevin O’Brien and company know their boundaries and are intent on pushing them to the limit.

UTsports Q&A: GAA Development Officer Gearoid Devitt Mairead McParland Staff Writer AT THE end of a year of unprecedent advancement in Trinity GAA, Mairead McParland talks to GAA Development Officer Gearoid Devitt about the progress made by the club in his fi rst year at the helm.

the following in no particular order: the ladies footballers second team reaching a league final in their first year, the 60th Anniversary Dinner honouring our 1951 team and the Hurlers reaching the division 2 league final for the first time and also claiming the college’s first intercounty title (Kehoe Shield).

What was the highlight of your 1st Year as Trinity GAA development Officer?

What do you see are the biggest challenges facing the development of GAA in Trinity?

It would be hard to pick one as it was a great year for many of the clubs. I’ll go with

Our players have to make huge sacrifices to play with

our teams compared to other extra-curricular clubs : missing lectures travelling to away matches on afternoons, trekking down to Rinsgend for training etc; With increased registration fees and increased competition for jobs after college, extra curricular activities across the board are going to suffer in my opinion- it’s my aim to provide students with the environment in which their efforts are maximised and want to continue playing. A full-size floodlit pitch we can call our own is crucial for this, to give us flexibility for training and

matches, and hopefully we see will this in Santry (there are plans afoot!) sooner rather than later.

What are your main aims dor the development of Trinity GAA? To provide all students in Trinity with the opportunity to play Gaelic Games and fulfill their potential (from the social players to intercounty seniors!). There is huge potential for Trinity GAA across all codes and numbers are increasing every year.

It would be fantastic and

not beyond us in the long term, to be competitive in Division 1of Third Level with every club. We have fantastic Gym facilities on campus and I hope all clubs will follow the example of the camógs this year who’s extra training in the sports centre certainly aided their performances.

It would be great to achieve sporting success while students also achieve their academic potential also.

What do you think makes Trinity GAA unique?

The

dedication

and

commitment of the students definitely. - Compared to other universities the main team sports (not just GAA but also soccer, rugby) in Trinity are at a disadvantage (other colleges spend massively on sport) I feel against our opponents due to the competitive points levels for courses which would deter elite athletes due to their sporting commitments. It is also in other sense an advantage though as it creates a great team sprit and work ethic and its probably fair to say a siege mentality in the GAA clubs given

external stereotyping of our GAA sides (I was at match this year where one of our captains was told by the ref during the coin toss that “he supposed we wanted the queens head”). The success of our teams this year though has raised the profile of the clubs within third-level gaa and that is through the hard work of the players in training.

Overall its been a very eyeopening but enjoyable season - coming from a another institute it certainly opened my eyes to the challenges facing Trinity GAA compared

to other colleges - hopefully though we have set a base level for our clubs (in terms of performance & structure) this year and we will continue on the up!

15

The University Times | Wednesday, March 23rd 2011

TIMESSPORTS Tennis teams fall short JACK CANTILLON’S CHELTENHAM DIARY at Galway Intervarsities Jack Cantillon Staff Writer

Tuesday Jack McHugh Staff Writer Trinity’s tennis players have just returned from the annual Intervarsities event, hosted this year by National University of Ireland, Galway. With teams competing from Queens, University College Cork, NUIG, University College Dublin, Dublin City University and The Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland, the tennis was extremely competitve all week.

The Men’s 1st team were runners-up for the second year running, after routing a strong UCD outfit in the semi-fi nals.

In all, Dublin University Lawn Tennis Club had three Mens teams and a Ladies team competing in the event, the biggest inter-varsity tennis competition in Ireland.

Both the Ladies and Men’s 1st teams got off to a fl ier on day one, with comprehensive wins over NUIG teams. The mens team scored a spectacular 9-0 victory despite the absence of two top players, underlining the strength in depth of the Trinity squad. Our Men’s 2nd team, promoted to the Championship event after last years Bowl win, were unlucky to be drawn against reigning champions DCU

in the fi rst round. Despite a great win by substitute Paddy Kilcoyne, DCU eventually ran out winners after a drawn-out contest.

The only ladies team representing Trinity at the event faced a tough assignment in the semi-fi nals against a particularly stong UCD outfit. Former Junior Irish Champion Julie O’Beirne and Trinity number 1 Lisa Lawlor both scored convincing victories in the singles and doubles. UCD’s strength on the lower courts was to tell however, and they rallied with strength to record a 5-3 victory.

The Men’s semi-fi nal was also to pit Trinity against the old enemy, UCD. With doubles out fi rst, Trinity raced into a 3-0 lead with Mark Crowley & Chris Ma and Justin Hintze & Ian O’Connell winning crucial tiebreakers to give Trinity a strong position. The players testified that the support of the Trinity crowd was a cornerstone in these victories.

The singles were at this stage yet to commence, and yet again Trinity put UCD to the sword with wins for Ma and the impressive Gavin Gilhawley earning Trinity a 5-1 victory over their fiercest competition at the event.

It came as no surprise that DCU awaited Trinity in the Men’s fi nal; coming off

the back of 6 straight Intervarsity wins DCU have been the standard bearers in University tennis for many years now. It was evident immediately that DCU had a fight on their hands with Mark Carpenter and Gilhawley , who grew in stature throughout the tournament, taking a commanding win in the number 1 doubles game.

The other two doubles were tense affairs with, DCU coming through in three sets in both matches. Carpenter got Trinity off to a quick start in the singles, winning in a swift manner and thus taking the overall score to 3-2 in DCU’s favour.

With a win now desperately needed to maintain Trinity interest in the showpiece, DCU were to prove too strong on the lower courts, despite the best efforts of the Trinity players and supporters. They were to run out 5-2 winners in the end and take the title.

All things considered, Trinity can be very proud of the performances both on the court and off, where squad solidarity was loudly on display every time a Trinity player took to the courts.

If the Trinity squad continues to improve in the vein of the last 6 months they will defi nitely be in a position to challenge DCU at next years Inter-varsitiy event.

Senior XV defeat Oxford Trinity 43 Oxford 17 College Park Matthew Rye Deputy Sports Editor The rugby playing gents of Oxford University were thoroughly outperformed in last weekend’s annual match against Trinity College.

With Trinity’s AIL season coming to an end, this match affords both clubs the opportunity to give new blood a chance to compete at senior level. In what proved to be an entertaining encounter, for the fi rst time this season, the fi nal score probably flattered Trinity a little.

Oxford retained possession and territory for large parts of the game, but a resolute Trinity defence and a lack of balance in the Oxford attack led to them scoring only two tries to Trinity’s six, with full back James O’Donoghue nailing five conversions and a penalty.

Trinity flew out of the blocks to score two tries in the opening ten minutes. Firstly, winger Shane Hanratty cantered over in the corner, after good ball retention by the Trinity backs created on overlap.

Then, with Oxford kicking

errors leading to opportunistic line-outs for Trinity, a good phase of continuity by the Trinity pack allowed loose-head Ian Hirst to crash over in the corner.

The Oxford players rallied well, considering their lacklustre start, to keep their composure for the rest of the half. Captain and Number 8 Sam McKeen lead from the front, carrying and rucking tirelessly. Oxford fly half Charlie Marr halved the deficit with two penalties, in a sustained period of pressure for the English side.

Yet for all Oxford’s territory and possession, they conceded tries far too easily. Open-side Dominic Gallagher broke the Oxford line, sidestepped two defenders and offloaded the ball well to No. 8 John Iliff who slid over the line for Trinity’s third try before half time.

The game was played at a rigorous unrelenting pace, with both teams wanting to play the ball wide repeatedly. The high intensity rucking and defensive work from the Trinity pack, and Gallagher in particular, meant nothing was given away. David Joyce played well at outhalf, marshalling the defence and providing balance to the attack which kept the Oxford defence guessing.

Although Oxford inside centre Alex Chessman did bring players into the game well, there was little cutting

edge to their attack, and whenever they did break the Trinity line, their back row speed was found lacking, with no players running support lines. However, they did manage to muster two tries from winger Sam Beer, who cleanly fi nished overlap opportunities either side of half-time.

Conversely, Trinity were clinical with the opportunities they had. Inside centre blasted through the Oxford defence, after taking a superb support line off Joyce, to score Trinity’s fourth. The Trinity replacements impacted heavily, as a mass changeover resulted in the team looking more dynamic and explosive than their English counterparts. Trinity’s newfound dominance resulted in more opportunities, as scrumhalf Mick McLoughlin’s line break led to replacement hooker Mark Murdoch crawling over for Trinity’s fi fth.

Hanratty then added his second when he showed blistering pace to chase down Conor Mills’ kick and touch down under the posts to seal the victory for Trinity. Other notable mentions include O’Donoghue who kicked well, both tactically and from the tee, and Colin MacDonnell, who completed a stellar back-row performance.

It’s here. Months have turned into weeks, weeks into days, days into hours and the Cheltenham Festival is fi nally here. A 7.00am Ryanair fl ight can’t even drain the excitement coursing through every fibre of my body. I reach down and pick up the crisp, fresh Racing Post beside me and turn to page 64, Cheltenham. The page just drips with anticipation. The Supreme Novice, the Arkle Chase and the Champion Hurdle and that’s just three races of the fi rst four. The place is alive.

Horses circling the paddock, bookies screaming the latest prices and different punters everywhere united in their common conversation, “What’s going to win” The sign above my head really says it all, “ Welcome to the Greatest Show on Turf”.

The great thing about the start of Cheltenham is that you haven’t backed a loser yet. Th is quickly addressed in the fi rst. I’ve two speeds of betting when it comes to the festival, “lump on” and “to have an interest”. Thankfully this was of the “to have an interest” variety as my fancy Spirit Son is done by Paul Nicholas trained Al Ferof. I make it two in a row, as Medermit runs no sort of race in the Arkle. two bets, two losers, it can only be up from here.

I send a text to everybody that’s looking for tips everyday during the festival.

It racks up quite the phone bill but I’d be killed if I didn’t share my thoughts. Th is text though can prove majorly restricting. Th is restriction becomes evident in just the 3rd race of the festival. I arrive into the betting jungle to fi nd my fancy from the text Sunnyhillboy now 4/1 favorite and the horse I thought would be favorite Bensalem out to 13/2. What am I supposed to do? Back Sunnyhillboy even though he’s now poor value just because he was in my text or back the now-good value Bensalem.

Feeling a tad guilty I back Bensalem but that decision is rewarded as Choc rousts him home for a great victory. Th ings are suddenly not feeling that bad at all especially with my biggest bet of the year coming up in the next race.

Hurricane Fly, he’s pretty magical isn’t he? Weeks of putting more and more money on are rewarded as Ruby pulls out a length victory from Peddlers Cross. I can’t contain my excitement and tear down the stairs to greet Hurricane Fly back in the winning enclosure. As Ruby waves his whip in delight, I know that after this guy’s win, I can’t have a losing week. It feels good, really fecking good.

Quevega is next up in the mares’ hurdle and she wins easy. Actually, to say she

Wednesday Wednesday proved to be the difficult second album. A loser in the fi rst race was followed by a good bet on Oscar Wells. Not having been popped a question and looking by far and away the likely winner coming down to the last, Oscar Wells made a terrible mistake to put him right out of contention.

Th is felt like a day that nothing would go right and that was the only prediction I got right all day!

Mikel D’Augunet was running in the RSA chase and, down on my luck compared to yesterday’s red-letter day already, I decided to have a nice bet on to try steady the ship. Sadly, Mikel proved there were choppy waters ahead - it wasn’t going to be easy to right this sinking ship of a day. He was still going well at the top of the hill, but he too made a terrible mistake and fell to the floor. Th is gambling lark wasn’t proving as easy now as previously thought.

The Queen Mother Champion Chase proved a war between heart and mind, the heart of Captain Cee Bee and the mind of Big Zeb. In the end, neither proved correct as Sizing Europe stormed up Cheltenham Hill to record a famous success. The Captain was third and the Zeb second but now it felt like any further bets today would be like rearranging the deck chair on the Titanic.

Ireland had won the fi rst four races by this stage and then won the next two.

Did I have any of them? Of course I didn’t. I mean what kind of a gambler am I that I can’t even back one of the six horses that won from my native country? Further salt is rubbed into six fresh wounds as Cheltenhian, my original fancy for the Bumper, storms in. I officially don’t like Wednesdays after that debacle of a day.

Thursday Thursday had a weird feeling to it. I was still up a fortune but felt I was losing the battle after drawing a blank on day two despite the six Irish winners. I felt my prospects might be bleak unless I took immediate action. That action was as follows - back Big Bucks, back

him again and back him again, again. And boy was the ship back on course.

No pace whatsoever, the presence of potential superstar Grand Crus and the lack of a whip after Ruby lost it a furlong and a half out could not stop the almighty - I was rolling in the winnings once again. Big Bucks was never so apt a name.

My usual tactic of bets for an interest did not pay off again as I backed five losers on the card (I should really stop taking interest bets if I’m honest) a particular lowlight was the case of Solix. I had heard from a well-connected source that Solix had a squeak each way in the Coral Cup. Now by “wellconnected” I mean I heard it from the trainer’s wife’s hairdresser’s cousin’s neph-

Coopers was a certainty in what looked a very ordinary race. A sneaky bet on at 5/2 did very nicely and my day wasn’t fi nished yet with the “lucky” last to come.

The last race on the Thursday at Cheltenham is actually a charity race. As a charity race it’s not run under the rules of racing (so anything goes really) and the horses are ridden by ordinary Joe soaps like you and me (as a result they are not exactly Ruby Walsh) so it’s not exactly the best medium in the world for a bet. But this is Cheltenham, there used to be a dog race run instead of the charity race and I once had my biggest bet of the meeting on trap 6. My theory is: well, 200 quid on trap 6 at 4/1 pays exactly the same as 200 quid at 4/1 on

Now by “wellconnected” I mean I heard it from the trainer’s wife’s hairdresser’s cousin’s nephew but that’s very much “well connected” when it comes to desperation for Cheltenham info ew but that’s very much “well connected” when it comes to the desperation for Cheltenham info. So off I went, down into the jungle, to procure the best each ways odds I could. The fi rst bookie I found was offering 50/1 paying out for a place 1, 2, 3, 4; but the second bookie was offering 40/1 with places all the way back to 5th place. I went with the fi rst bookie, who could resist 50/1? Where did he fi nish?

Bloody fi fth, of course.

An early Cheltenham lesson I learned is that other meetings should not be ignored in the pursuit of the ever-elusive winner, so step forward the bumper in Wexford. Word had come through that Tom

the winner of the Gold Cup. On the presumption that all the jockeys would be equally useless (I preface that by saying not quite as useless as I would be but anyway) I based my betting on the best horse in the race. Plain and simple that horse was Plato trained by Henry Cecil. A nice bet on at 6/4 and he skated in. These charity races are easy pickin’ so they are!

Friday Now, with renewed vigor, I faced my fi nal day of the festival. I sent out my daily text and headed to the course. Today my day was to be all about Long Run. The Albert Bartlett proved

a frustrating race to say the least. After heading down to the bookies to back my text tip, Bobs Worth, I changed my mind and ended up with a ticket for a few quid each way on Gagewell Flyer. How the hell did that happen? After the Bensalem fiasco, I just presumed any change from my text tips would all be to my benefit. How wrong I was. You’ll need a flashlight to fi nd Gagewell Flyer as he’s still running while Bobs Worth hosed up. Murphy’s Law, and I, kicking myself all the way till the next race.

The Gold Cup was next up and this was a biggie. I had loaded up my Hurricane and Big Bucks winnings big time on Sam Waley Cohen and the French-bred six year old. After making a few early mistakes, I started to sweat a little bit but in the end Sam galvanized him home under an heroic ride from the English amateur. That was it an epic Cheltenham completed by a serious amount of winnings. It certainly had been a long run but my god was it worth it.

In the next, I had advised with confidence in my text, Sir Des Champs to win the Martin Pipe. On arriving in the ring I found he had been backed into 4/1, I said “no thanks” and again diverted from my original selection.

Of course Sir Des Champs decided he wanted to piss me off more then anything and, after being nowhere early on he came from out of clouds to get his head in front to pip my 12/1 pick on the line. Gutted, but I was still miles in front and from this Cheltenham I would be returning home with a lovely big wedge of cash in every pocket.

So the Cheltenham festival had come to an end once more. I have won money and lost money. I have roared with delight and cried with despair. I have questioned my thinking and my confidence has been sky high.

Over the course of the week I’ve been asked repeatedly “what’s the certainty” and it’s only now with the roars silenced, the horses at home and the races run, I know.

The certainty is I’m back next year and every year because this is Cheltenham, my Cheltenham, our Cheltenham and it really is the greatest show on turf.

Fencers retain inter-varsity title in style Jack McHugh Staff Writer

DUFC ‘s inter-varsity champions celebrate their victory. Photo: jack McHugh

won easy would be the understatement of the year.

She simply destroyed her rivals. A cheeky double with Hurricane Fly and a huge single made her victory one to savor. God this betting lark is easy!

Th ree more “to have an interest” bets result in three more losers. Not to worry though, a wheelbarrow would be needed if I won any more money and that would be simply embarrassing. Pockets suitably bulging, to quote the Black Eyed Peas, “I gotta feeling, that tonight’s going to be a good, good night”

Trinity’s reign at the top of Irish University fencing continues as DUFC retained the Frank Russell Intervarsity trophy for the fourth year in a row. Fencing in Galway at the NUIG hosted event, Trinity were to win a total of 37 duels out of 40, with UCD coming in 2nd with a meager 25 duels to their name.

The weekend started off with a scrappy loss in Men’s Epee against the eventual winners of that event, Queens, but things rapidly improved as that team made some amends with a dominant victory over UCD in their next match. Following the fi rst match neither Club Captain, Alex Kelly, nor Colm Flynn dropped a

bout all day. The efforts they put in were matched by a solid performance from Lochlainn Coyne on his Intervarsity début. The efforts of the team weren’t enough however as the Queens’ team fi nished unbeaten to prevent Trinity’s male epeeists from claiming a fi fth title in a row.

Elsewhere on Saturday morning, Women’s Foil wasted no time in establishing a winning pattern and although midway through the day they were pushed by a strong UCD team in a match that ended in a 5-4 win for Trinity, they won every match they fenced.

Propelled forward by the presence of Canadian international, Anna Smith, the other three members of the team, Viviane Brefort,

Geraldine Davies and Jenny Jennings, all made significant contributions.

In Coleraine in 2009, when Trinity won five out of six weapons, it had been Men’s Sabre that proved too tough for our fencers.

The investment the club put into the development of the weapon has paid off in spades since then and they laid waste to all before them on Saturday afternoon. Final year Law student Christopher Mills is to be singled for special mention, remaining undefeated on the day and bringing the Men’s Sabre trophy back to Trinity for the fi rst time in a decade.

The strongest team performance of the weekend was perhaps that of Trinity’s Men’s Foilists. Fencing on the second day of

competition, they managed to win every single bout 5-0! Led by former-captain, Louis Arron – who returned from London to make use of his ‘year of grace’ – the team benefited from consistent showings from Ned Mitchell and Declan Gibbons as well as an impressive Intervarsity’s début from novice Li Dong.

The Women’s Epeeists were without carded pentathlete Natalya Coyle but newcomer Jenni Myung, who was able to look to the experience of Kate Cunningham as well as that of the Irish Champion, Hannah Lowry-O’Reilly, ably fi lled her place. In the Women’s Sabre event, our Ladies Captain, Helen Naddy, led from the front with a strong, focused performance

alongside the impressive Liz Fitzgerald and foilist-cumsabreur Bairbre Holmes who excelled, particularly psychologically, in the most pressurised of events. Bothe teams were to emerge victorious, coming through on head-to-head scores after dropping one match apiece.

The overall victory represents Trinity’s thirty-fourth triumph in the 57-year history of the competition. Following a number of years of UCD dominance in the middle of the last decade, DUFC wrested the championship back from UCD in Cork in 2008 before defending the crown in Coleraine, DCU and now also Galway in the three subsequent years.

utsports

Inside

Ronan Richardson does his best at cricket

March 23rd 2011

Colours Rowing: UCD complete 4-0 whitewash Jack Leahy Sports Editor

than a length and make it 5-2 in terms of overall Moorhead trophy victories.

What transpired thereafter can best be described as a masterclass in boating by the UCD teams. While DUBC were more than adequately prepared for the encounter and had been putting in extensive hours of practice since training began in September, they were blown away by the sheer pace and harmony of their Colours counterparts, the tone for the morning being set in the first few strokes of the first race.

Next up were the novice men competing for the Dan Quinn Perpetual Shield, held by Trinity following their victory in 2010. Once again, the UCD team coached by Alan Curran and Joe Murphy stormed ahead from the very start, building up a lead of half a length by the 1km mark before finishing at St. James’ Gate a good two lengths out in front.

The comprehensive victory meant the UCD tied

In one of the biggest College sporting events of the year, Trinity slumped to four defeats from four races in the 2011 Colours rowing competition as UCD boating crews powered their way to a clean sweep of victories which included the prestigious Gannon Cup. The races, screened live on RTE television on St. Patrick’s Day, set off in the early morning from O’ Connell Bridge on Dublin’s River Liffey and followed a 2.2km course before finishing at St. James’ Gate.

This was the first time in recent years that the race was incorporated into the capital’s St. Patrick’s Day Festival.

The first race began at the ungodly hour of 8am as the ladies novices competed for the Moorhead trophy won by UCD last year.

From the start there appeared to be little chance of a Trinity victory as UCD seized the initiative from the start to win by more

the Dan Quinn Perpetual Shield series at 4-4 in the eighth year of competition for the award.

The next race was the first senior clash of the day, the Ladies Seniors competing for The Corcoran Cup. The teams, UCD led

by Laura Reid and trinity led by Iseult Flinn, were competing for one of the oldest trophies in Colours competition, dating back to its first being awarded in 1980. By this stage, Trinity needed a win to keep alive faint hopes of finishing the competition level, but having remained on level terms throughout the race, UCD stormed ahead in the final 800m to win by 3/4 of a length. The win was their 19th overall in 32 years of Corcoran Cup competition.

With a 3-0 lead already established, the Senior Men knew that only pride was at stake and that the Colours competition was already lost. That said, there was much pride at stake as the prize at stake was the Gannon Cup, one of, if not the single most

prestigious trophy in College sport in Ireland. While buoyed by their victories in the morning’s earlier races, this was by far the toughest opposition provided by Trinity’s rowers in the competition to UCD’s dominance of the event.

After choppy waters made for a slow start, the holders powered ahead in the second half to take a victory by more than four lengths. This was the fourth year in succession that UCD took home the main prize, with the overall record now standing at UCD 28-34 Trinity with a single dead-heat recorded in 1950.

Dr. Hugh Brady, President of UCD, presented the trophies at the GPO later that afternoon to a club which truly deserved its accolades. The bloodsweat-and-tears effort of the Trinity rowers in preparation for the event will make defeat to their biggest rivals even harder to swallow, while UCD will be delighted with the dominant tone set by this seaMens’ Rowers fail to match UCD’s pace Photo: John Kavanagh son-opening victory.

McDowell inspires American football win over UCD Jack Leahy Sports Editor When the most hyperbolic rivalry in Irish University sports meets the most showmanlike and brash sport known to man, the one thing of which you can be sure is a spectacle. That was exactly what came to pass in a 20-16 victory for Trinity over rivals UCD in the American Football season opener.

It was no all plain sailing, however, and having established a 14-0 lead with two touchdowns from McDowell and an early safety, complacency crept in early in the second half and two well-worked touchdowns from UCD gave them a surprise 18-16 lead on home

turf. Fortunately, only a few seconds separated UCD’s second 2-point conversion when McDowell returned a kick with blistering place to give his side a lead which eventually saw them home.

Trinity QB Alex Canepa was finding his men with ease in the first half. Having driven his side upfield with the help of the McDowell, he scrambled for the first touchdown of the match and, having narrowly missed an attempt to convert, he say his side lead 8-0 by the second quarter. Trinity struck once more when a meticulous pass from Canepa found McDowell in flying form on the left, with the running back beating off tacklers to increase Trinity’s

lead to 14-0.

Having started the third quarter looking like they would rather hit the showers early, UCD suddenly came to life mid-way through the third quarter when they capitalised on shoddy passing and lax defending to reach the endzone with a series of long passes, the touchdown supplemented by a twopoint conversion. Another long ball into the Trinity endzone found the same running back less than five minutes later as UCD, suddenly held a 16-14 lead with seven minutes left on the clock.

Thankfully, McDowell caught the resulting kickoff and sprinted the 80 yards between the catch and the UCD endzone to regain the

lead for his side, the conversion once again missed by Trinity’s offense.

Trinity managed to remain calm and run down the slow-ticking clock to take a valuable win in the 2011 season opener. Having dominated for large periods of the game, the Trinity coaching staff will be less than impressed with how sloppy their side’s play became having taken what looked like an unassailable advantage.

They will, of course, take heart from the comprehensive manner in which McDowell regained control for his side, having substituted him to preseverve his talent for a fixture the following weekend.

QB Alex Canepa (SF HistPol) runs the ball himself into the endzone. Photo: Jessica Pakenham-Money

Jack Hogan’s Champions League Miscellany Jack Hogan Armchair Footballer With something of a lull in the Premier League of late, the world’s greatest club competition has once again stepped in to provide all drama, excitement and (most importantly) quality football.

Arsenal, and in particular, Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner will rue missed opportunites against Barcelona. Though if the Catalans had themselves taken their chances, the tie could have

finished 10-3 on aggregate. They will go on to meet the impressive Shaktar Donetsk who have been punching above their weight in the tournament. Luiz Adriano in particular looks as though he could cause some serious problems for the Barca defence. However, it would be a true underdog story if they were to overcome the Spanish champions.

Elsewhere, Tottenham will be relishing their tie against Real Madrid, especially with the second leg in White Hart

Lane which has become something of a fortress on European nights. If the likes of Bale and Crouch can link up, as they did so well against Inter Milan earlier in the tournament, do not be surprised to see them progress to the semifinals. Not many people gave them a chance against AC Milan but Harry Redknapp has again proved his worth to the club.

Another tasty encounter will see Inter Milan take on the impressive Schalke. The Italians have shown

significant improvement since the departure of Rafael Benitez and showed true grit and determination to overcome Bayern Munich in an epic last16 clash which saw Goran Pandev’s last minute strike seal an memorable win having looked dead and buried for a significant period of the tie.

However, it will be no walk in the park against Schalke who gave an outstanding performance against Valencia to progress in the tournament. However, this win was not

enough to save manager Felix Magath who was sacked last week due to poor form in the Bundesliga. It will be intersting to see how the players react to this and whether or not they can upset the current European champions.

However, all of this is insignificant in comparison to the supermega-epic-all-English tie between Manchester United and Chelsea. The sides have not met in Europe since the famous 2008 final in Moscow. Chelsea, and in particular

John Terry, will be out for revenge having just fallen short in that game in the penalty shootout.

Based on current domestic form, it is impossible to call this one as neither team have been at their best of late, mainly through injuries. However, the stage is set nicely for a no-holds-barred battle between the two old enemies., as domestic rivalries are temporarily put to bed. Overall, this year’s quarter finals are shaping up to be very exciting contests!

Trinity 2-7 Carlow 3-9 Mairead McParland Staff Writer The journey ended for Trinity Ladies Gaelic footballers when they suffered defeat at the penultimate stage of the Lynch Cup in UL on Saturday.

Carlow opened the scoring with a well taken point but Trinity responded in style. Carol Dooher won possession for Trinity and laid the ball off to Siobhan Melvin. Melvin played an excellent first time ball to Aisling Clifford and the full forward shook off her marker to land a great point.

Sinead O’Sullivan put Trinity ahead with a pointed free b and Karen O’Shea worked a score from a 45 but amazingly this was to be Trinity’s

last score of the half.

Carlow’s Maureen Young set of on a solo run from her own half of the field and kept her composure to lay the ball of before an unstoppable shot was dispatched to the net. It put Carlow in the driving seat and while Trinity were still shell-shocked Carlow capitalised and added a second goal minutes later. A further three points were tagged on before the break leaving Trinity trailing by eight points on a score line of 2-5 to 0-03.

Trinity hadn’t even begun to show what they were capable of yet but the character and desire which characterised this team all year shone through in the second half. The girls started the half with all guns blazing

but a third Carlow goal against the run of play left them with a huge mountain to climb. A Karen O’Shea goal immediately cancelled the Carlow major and points from Sinead O’Sullivan and Jacinta Brady narrowed the gap to four. With a bit more luck on their side Trinity could have edged closer but Carlow finished the half with a flourish and ran out five point winners.

It was a bitterly disappointing end to a brilliant year for the Ladies team but great encouragement can be taken from the progress made by the club this year.

To reach a Lynch Cup weekend is no mean feat and the experience can only stand to the players involved for the future.

College faces a projected deficit of €80-100 million by 2015 due to government cuts.

The government provides 90% of College’s funding.

Financials

Balancing Trinity College’s books will be difficult.

Choosing the Provost who can do it is simpler.

Colm Kearney: Professor International Business; formerly Professor of Finance, Professor of Economics, and Senior Adviser to the Australian Treasurer and Finance Minister 1991-93.