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16-page supplement inside
The University Times Irish Student Newspaper of the Year TUESDAY, 22 FEBRUARY 2011
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Bartlett beats RON, COC squeaks home » Student Centre Levy defeated
» Kearney gets the nod for Provost
» Miller wins on first count
All-Ireland campus survey: Fine Gael are students’ pick
Ronan Costello Editor-Elect
Tommy Gavin Deputy Editor
LAST THURSDAY saw the culmination of two weeks of intense SU election campaigning. When Returning Officer Ashley Cooke announced the results it was revealed that Ryan Bartlett had beaten back the RON scare to become TCDSU President-elect and Chris O’Connor had come from being the rank outsider in the Ents race to squeaking past Elaine McDaid to be elected Ents Officer by 141 votes. The Mont Clare Hotel, just off Merrion Square, was the venue for the count and from 8pm speculation was leaking down from the count room as the ballots were sorted and fi rst impressions were gleaned by University Times Editor, Tom Lowe, and quickly tweeted to the UT Twitter account. Lowe was promptly asked to eave the count room, leaving him leaning in through the doorway, furiously typing any scraps of information that came his way. There was some early drama in the night as Seb Lecocq’s campaign manager and then John Cooney campaigner Danny O’Keefe took an unfortunate spill down the stairs of the hotel to the detriment of his chin, having to be carted off in an ambulance. By 10pm the bar was packed with anxious hopefuls and their weary but unendingly enthusiastic
In a poll of 1,248 university students conducted in a collaborative effort by student media across the country, it has emerged that Labour have much greater support among students than among those polled for the Irish Times and the Independent. Students from TCD, UCD, DCU, UCC, UL and NUIG took part in the opinion poll, coordinated by UCD’s College Tribune in association with The University Times and other student media outlets across the country. The results from each individual college were weighted by dividing the number of students in each college by the total number polled, and multiplied by each result, so that colleges with comparatively larger student populations were represented accurately. Irish students on average prefer Eamon Gilmore to Enda Kenny, as the Labour leader is thought to be the best candidate for Taoiseach to 23% of Irish students, compared to Enda Kenny’s 20%. Micheál Martin polls much lower among students than the national average, with only 13% considering him to be the best candidate for Taoiseach, compared with 28% in a Sunday Independent/Millward Brown Lansdowne opinion poll. Fine Gael is still seen as the party in the lead with 34%, but is followed closely by Labour with 30%, with the next-highest polling party for fi rst preference votes being miscellaneous independent candidates with 13%. Fianna Fáil trails with 10%, beating only the Green Party, Sinn Féin and Other. The poll also demonstrates a level of political attentiveness amongst students, with 73% saying they will be voting, of whom 24% are undecided, dispelling the myth of youth voter apathy. The Green Party fared extremely poorly in the poll with 4% intending to vote for them, and only 3% of students think that John Gormley would be the most capable Taoiseach, as students have apparently come to see the Green Party as not being worthy of consideration following their inglorious time in government with Fianna Fáil.
Chris O’Connor (right) celebrates with Campaign Manager Plunkett McCullagh and Paddy Lynch after being elected. Photo: Dargan Crowley-Long campaign teams. But before the SU results could be tallied, the student centre referendum and Provostial votes had to be counted. The student centre has been promised for ten years now, it being a central plank of current Provost John Hegarty’s manifesto. The passing of this referendum would
have cleared the fi nal funding hurdle and construction would have begun in earnest. Trinity students were asked if they would be willing to pay a levy of €69 with an additional €2 being added every year for twenty years. The fi nancially strapped student body rejected this proposal by 2399
votes to 2066, setting back ten years of work and leaving the project with no clear way forward. The dismay on the faces of Sabbats present was obvious, with Ents Officer Darragh Genockey particularly annoyed at the result, as it meant that the promised gigs venue with capacity for 700 may not see
a guitar licked nor a banjo picked. After this initial surprise, the gathered audience returned to their drinks as the Provostial votes were counted. Patrick Prendergast entered this race as the clear favourite but Colm Kearney’s savvy electioneering and student-centric
promises had given the business Professor the momentum heading into the final days. Th is was borne out in the result, with Kearney beating Prendergast by 1721 to 1599 on the third count. Thus, the six SU votes in the Continued on p3
Student leaders round on The Piranha Ball lineup revealed Ronan Costello News Editor STUDENT LEADERS were outraged last week by an article in the Piranha Election Special on the subject of former SU Presidential candidate Sebastien Lecocq. The Piranha Election Special, edited by John Engle, was published on 14 February and featured profi les on all SU candidates. While most profi les were judged to be within the bounds of satire, the article on Seb Lecocq shocked many who read it and many deemed it to have gone beyond the bounds of satire and into character assassination. The publication also misspelled his fi rst and second name. Classifying Lecocq as a
“joke candidate”, The Piranha stated that Lecocq was “fucking weird”. While claiming that it did not want to mock LeCocq for having a medical condition, The Piranha nonetheless named the condition. In an interview with The University Times, LeCocq said that that part of the article was the most offensive to him, and that his medical condition is not open to public discussion. The article went on to say that that Lecocq “has generated a completely warranted societal ostracism for his incredibly abrasive personality and general douchebaggery.” Lecocq’s friends also came in for harsh character criticism. The article falsely stated that Lecocq’s campaign manager was
Dan Reilly, whom it called a “noted douchebag”. In commenting on this fallacy, The Piranha stated that Lecocq is “clearly an absolute asshole who surrounds himself with assholes. A giant black asshole orbited by smaller
Lecocq said that he was “shocked by the piece” and that it could only be described as “bullying”. “I want a public apology,” said Lecocq. “I would expect the editor of The Piranha to issue an apology in the next
Seb Lecocq said that he “would expect the editor of The Piranha to issue an apology in the next issue”
assholes, one might say.” In concluding its synopsis on Lecocq, The Piranha said that he was a “douchebag from the moment of conception” and that he is “what is wrong with Trinity”.
issue.” Current SU President, Nikolai Trigoub-Rotnem said the article was Continued on p2
Ronan Costello News Editor IT WAS announced yesterday that The Streets are to headline this year’s Trinity Ball, with Bell X1 given second billing on the ticket. Mike Skinner’s act tops a lineup that includes Jessie J, Simian Mobile Disco, Chipmunk, Professor Green, Fight Like Apes and The Rubberbandits. “I think it’s a great lineup,” said TCDSU Ents Officer Darragh Genockey. “There’s a huge headliner, with talent all the way down the list. I think it’s the best lineup in years and fi ngers crossed students will be happy with it. I think there’s something in there for everyone.” Further down the lineup
are acts which MCD are sure will shoot to prominence in the near future, including Ryan Sheridan, Katy B, Glasser, Bitches With Wolves, Jenna Toro, Devlin, Alex Metric, Starsmith, The Minutes, The Kanyu Tree and Royseven. Best known for their fi rst and second albums, The Streets’s popularity peaked with the release of the “A Grand Don’t Come for Free” in 2004. Since then the band has released three albums, with the latest being released only two weeks ago. Critically acclaimed and commercially successful, The Streets have reached the top of the Irish and UK Continued on p2
Th is will no doubt cause some annoyance to the Greens, claiming that it was Paul Gogarty (who infamously quipped “With all due respect, in the most unparliamentary language, fuck you Deputy Stagg” during a debate in the Dáil in 2009) that kept tuition fees off the table as chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Education and Science. If that was the case, it evidently is not enough for student voters. Sinn Féin are also below national average figures when compared with students, as only 6% of those polled intend to vote for them, and a mere 4% think that Gerry Adams would be the best Taoiseach. 14% thought that none of the candidates offered would be a desirable Taoiseach and 23% don’t know. USI President Gary Redmond said to The University Times that “One thing that this poll shows is that voting intention for students is much higher for the Labour Party than in older generations. I would imagine that this is because the Labour Party have come out very strongly in favour of free fees, and indeed have said that they would reduce the Student Services Charge. Th is is obviously incredibly important to students and that’s factoring in strongly in their voting intentions.” He blames the lack of support for Fianna Fáil on their failure to deliver on student issues, commenting that “with Fianna Fáil at around 8% lower than in national polls, it’s clear that students feel very strongly about what Fianna Fáil have done in government. They cut student grants, raised the registration fee hugely and did nothing to tackle graduate unemployment. “At the National Student Protest, we said that parties who failed to tackle these issues would pay the price at the ballot box, and it’s clear that this is the case. Trinity and other Students’ Unions around the country have been registering students to vote for the last few months and parties that don’t respect students’ needs will be punished come election day. Every opinion poll shows that students are more politicised than ever and that their voices will be heard in this election.”
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.