uo
student Newspaper of the year 2014
The University Observer
SU REVIEW We take a look at the performance of each of this year’s full-time officers
POLITICAL CORRECTNESS A look at the language of oppression
INTERVIEW Holocaust survivor Tomi Reichental talks about his experiences
Kate Purcell P6
Shane Hannon P10
april 16th 2014 Volume XX issue xIi universityobserver.ie
above Swimmers take part in Race to Midnight charity event PHOTO Joanna O’Malley
p8—9
UCD Res prices to increase by 11% for 2014/15
Lenny Abrahamson The award-winning director talks about his new film
otwo p12
KILLIAN WOODS UCD Residences are increasing their prices for the 2014/15 academic year, with certain accommodation blocks on UCD campuses in Belfield and Blackrock raising their prices by as much as 11%. Speaking to the University Observer, a UCD spokesperson said that rented accommodation on campus is increasing in price to help fund the expansion of UCD Residences and refurbish Belgrove residences over the next two years. “In preparation for the commencement of a new phase of expansion of student residences, the University engaged an expert to review the campus development plan. The report indicated that there is a strong demand for increasing student accommodation on campus. “The capital development of new residences and the refurbishment of existing residences on campus are funded through consolidated residential revenues. However, the report showed that these could not be achieved based
» SU Council
motion calls on Gallagher to explain failure to inform students of rent increases
» Gallagher
defends decision not to disclose confidential information
on current pricing levels.” Previously, deals have been agreed between UCD Students’ Union (SU) and UCD Residences in relation to a price freeze on rented accommodation on campus. However, this increase represents the University’s move to bring campus prices in line with rent inflation. “A second report showed that the residences at current price levels are under-priced. In addition, annual recurrent costs have increased, largely due to new landlord-related costs imposed by Government, such as property tax, water charges, as well as increased utility costs.” The new residences blocks are set to be completed by the 2016/17 academic year, and will increase the number of residences from 2,900 to 3,200. Health Sciences Convenor, Becky Gilmore, submitted a motion to UCDSU Council for the meeting on Monday, April 14th, which notes that President Mícheál Gallagher failed to inform students of these proposed
increases to rent on Residences. The UCD Residences Prices Motion failed to go on notice at UCDSU Council as the meeting didn’t reach the required quorum of 54 for such an item to go up for discussion. The motion will be put on notice at the next UCDSU Council. The motion notes that Gallagher sits on the committee that the proposal for increasing rent on Residences and states that he has been aware of such a proposal to increase campus rented accommodation prices since November 2013. If passed, the motion will mandate the SU President to relay all future “increase in prices that directly affects students to both the Executive and SU Council as soon as they know of any proposed increases” and why rent for campus accommodation is being increased. Speaking to the University Observer, Gallagher revealed information about increases to UCD Residences rent was readily available to full-time officers that sit on exec, namely, the
Welfare and Equality Officer, Undergraduate Education Officer, and Graduate Officer. “All full time officers on exec have access to the minutes of the committees I sit on by measure of being on Governing Authority, and thus have had access to the same level of information in the same time period as me. “It particularly surprises me to find that a full-time officer with the same level of information that I have is seconding this motion you refer to. If the Welfare Officer now feels so passionate to sponsor a motion which calls on the President to break confidentiality, why did the Welfare Officer not do it at the time with the same level of information? “In short the motion you refer to is a poor one, requesting SU officers to break confidentiality on matters is a short-sighted policy decision that will lead to a break down in trust in the currently strong UCD–UCDSU relationship.”
Irish universities blame gender disparity in higher education management on women Jonny Howson
Research just published by sociology professor at the University of Limerick, Professor Pat O’Connor, has revealed that the management teams in Irish universities believe that women themselves are the chief cause of the gender imbalance in higher education. A focus on “fixing the women” is required in order to achieve a gender balance in third level education, according to the survey of 34 of the senior managers in Irish universities. Prof. O’Connor said, “As they [the senior management] saw it, women lacked career ambition, they were poor at marketing themselves, they lacked political skills and had lifestyles that were unhelpful.”
Andy Bell Former Oasis guitarist and current Beady Eye bassist chats about his storied career
Sean Hayes otwo P14
Goat Simulator
We try out the most hotlyanticipated game of the year Karl Quigley Otwo P6
This view of women as “the problem” was particularly prevalent where the managers in question had only worked in the Irish university system, where women currently hold only 19% of senior management positions, and there has never been a female president. In contrast, men with a background in the private sector or abroad were more likely to see the problem as being with the system, or the organisation. Here, a propensity to look after male colleagues rather than attempting to ensure proper representation of women exists. Prof. O’Connor said, “Not all men are like this, but it can be a bit too cosy in a set-up that favours men.” With no female presidents in Irish universities and only 14% of deputy presidents being women, Prof.
O’Connor believes it is a problem that the male dominance at senior management level can only be changed by the men who oversee the composition of these structures. She said, “If you have someone who’s sensitive to the culture of the organisation, and if he’s not sufficiently strong enough to change that, to create a culture friendly to women, the gender composition of the management team is unlikely to change.” Chief Executive of the Higher Education Authority (HEA), Tom Boland, believes the findings in Prof. O’Connor’s study set a challenge for university management teams “to put in place strategies, targets and key performance indicators” to create more widespread gender diversity in the higher education system.
» Management
teams argue that focus on ‘fixing the women’ required for gender equality in higher education
» Only 19% of
senior management positions in Irish universities are currently held by women
The HEA is currently finalising its objectives for academia, research and teaching, and O’Connor feels this presents an opportunity to actively set goals in relation to gender diversity in staffing, as performance indicators for each university. The changes required for gender diversity in Irish universities aren’t happening fast enough, according to Prof. O’Connor. “There was a time when women had to choose between marriage or a career,” she said. “In the 21st century, are we seriously saying that this is still the type of world we live in? Other countries find a solution. It’s not rocket science.” The research was published in Prof. O’Connor’s book, Management and Gender in Irish Education, which was launched at the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin last Sunday.
ucd weather
Festival Fashion
A guide to what to wear at this year’s hottest festivals Otwo P20
by cathal nolan
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Cloudy
More Clouds
It Is A Very Cloudy Week
Clouds, I Guess
We’re Just Guessing
Assignment Week april 16th 2014 1
News
UCD spin-out wins Innovation of the Year Award Andrew Carolan
OxyMem Ltd, a UCD spin-out company, has won the overall Innovation of the Year Award at the 2014 The Irish Times’ InterTradeIreland Awards, with APC Ltd, also associated with UCD, winning the Bioscience innovation category outright. The overall winner of the competition and respective category winners were announced at a ceremony on April 9th where Taoiseach Enda Kenny presented the Athlone-based firm with the prize. Their competition included 17 other companies, from 322 applications,
across both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The Irish Times Innovation Awards are now in their fifth year and have showcased a range of innovations in fields such as chemical and bioprocess engineering. OxyMem won the award this year for its innovative approach to increasing energy efficiency in wastewater plants. Co-founded last year by Dr Eoin Casey and Dr Eoin Syron of UCD’s School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering, it has placed its main focus on the development of wastewater aeration, which involves
the use of bacteria breaking down waste substances in water. OxyMem, as a company, currently comprises of 12 members, but hopes to increase to 35 by the end of the year, with a projected funding of around of €2 million in the pipeline. CEO Wayne Byrne believes the impact of this award will mean the company can strengthen their position in the marketplace. “We have major plans to revolutionise the wastewater treatment market globally. We have a turnover of €50 million within five years in our sights and receiving the overall Innovation of the Year Award
strengthens our position as pioneers in the wastewater industry and in attainment of an energy and carbonneutral wastewater treatment plant.” The ceremony took place at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham in Dublin and was hosted by Matt Cooper with over 200 in attendance, including an Taoiseach, who spoke of his hopes for further promotion in business areas such as these. “The Irish Government wants to support innovation and research to drive job creation and assist in attracting foreign investment. These awards show that companies
across the island, North and South, can be leaders in their field and innovators like these award winners will play a major part in the economic recovery.” Commending the quality of all UCD entries into the competition, Professor Orla Feely, the UCD VicePresident for Research, Innovation and Impact said, “One of UCD’s key innovation themes is to grow and support new high-tech and innovative companies, such as OxyMem Ltd and APC Ltd, which are commercialising UCD’s research outputs and which have a global impact.
“By winning these awards OxyMem and APC are demonstrating the quality of spin-out companies emerging from UCD and the hard work and dedication of our research community in commercialising their research outputs with the support of our technology transfer and enterprise development team at NovaUCD.” She added, “I would also like to acknowledge the success of Dr Barbara Murphy, UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science, founder of Equilume Ltd, on being shortlisted for these awards.”
Student features in TV3 documentary about transgender youths Megan Fanning Senior Reporter UCD Veterinary Nursing student and UCD Students’ Union LGBT co-ordinator, Sam Blanckensee, will feature in the TV3 documentary Irish Lives: My Transgender Journey that is set to air on Wednesday, April 16th. The documentary follows three transgender people as they search for “a sense of their own identity, strive for acceptance and continue to battle their own government to
be recognised in their true gender.” Ireland is currently the only EU member state that does not offer legal recognition of transgender persons. The documentary was shot last year and gives an account of the journeys of three young transgender people in Ireland and what it’s like living in a country that does not recognise them. Blanckensee was asked to be involved by Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI) as his family
are fully supportive of his journey. Blanckensee says that each month he receives messages from friends who are either questioning their identity or who have family that needs support or who have friends who have just come out. He believes that it is important that these sort of issues are given coverage and more importantly, that the issues are given positive coverage, making it easier for people to find support.
Research shows that transgender people have some of the highest rates of attempted suicides in Ireland, with 30% having tried to take their own life at least once. The same research shows that 40% of the participants reported that media representation of transgender people negatively affected their emotions as well as their mental well-being. Blanckensee reiterated that the airing of this documentary is very
important in light of the RTÉ’s new sitcom, The Centre, misrepresenting a transgender character and fuelling negative stereotypes. “I think it’s so important… If we give this coverage in a positive way we give these people a way of finding support. The Centre on RTÉ at the moment is showing a negative representation of trans* people to a large extent. “I think this documentary
will show people it’s ok to be trans* and that there is support out there. I don’t think there’s enough awareness, but I think it is improving. I know that on campus awareness has improved this year and I hope that I can continue to boost visibility in UCD.” Irish Lives: My Transgender Journey will be shown on Wednesday, April 16th at 9pm on TV3.
O’Driscoll awarded lifetime membership to UCD RFC Killian Woods DEPUTY EDITOR
Rugby union player Brian O’Driscoll, who holds the record for most international caps in the history of the sport, was presented with an Honorary Life Membership of UCD Rugby Football Club (UCD RFC) last Saturday evening at the club’s Annual Dinner in the O’Reilly Hall. O’Driscoll was awarded the membership due to his contributions to UCD RFC and for his success at provincial and international level. The 35-year-old captained his province, Leinster, his national team, Ireland, and the British and Irish Lions over the course of a 17-year career. The first recipient of the Honorary Life Membership was Sarsfield Hogan, who was twice UCD Club President, IRFU President, and instigator of the Colours match and University side. Former UCD President and Treasure for over 25 years, James Troy, is also among the honoured list. After accepting the membership, O’Driscoll remarked how privileged he felt to join such an illustrious list of names. “To join a club as exclusive as the Honorary Life Membership 2 april 16th 2014
of this rugby club with the great men that have gone before and the current club of Adrian Burke and Lee Smith, I feel truly humble to have been included into that club. “I joined the club back in 1997, and aside from a sabbatical at Blackrock, my senses kicked back in during the 2000s and I remember meeting John McClean [the Director of Rugby] in the Goat Grill to tell him that I decided to come back and join UCD. John’s not a great man for emotion, but it was one of the most uncomfortable man hugs I ever got in my life.” O’Driscoll also set aside time to give special thanks to his former coach, Lee Smith. “To John and to Lee [Smith] I have a huge amount to be thankful for. John was the first person to ever pick me as a centre… To Lee, he was my first coach out of school and some of the guidance he gave was, I mean, the club were very lucky to get him board. “I’m very grateful for the tuition I got in those early days to encourage me to go and play the game the way he saw it needed to be played.”
O’Driscoll’s first game for UCD RFC was against University of Limerick (UL) Bohemians in Annacotty in 1998. The game is regarded as the ‘Fog Match’ since conditions meant it was impossible to see from one end of the pitch to the other. O’Driscoll came off the bench that day to make his debut and later that season received his first Colours Cap in a victory over Dublin University. On March 27th 1999, playing for UCD, O’Driscoll had a stand out performance against Monkstown in Sydney Parade. He scored 26 points and impressed the onlooking Irish senior team backs coach Phil Danaher. That summer O’Driscoll made his international test debut for Ireland against Australia in Brisbane, without having even played for Leinster. Other Honorary Life Members of UCD RFC include Judge Conroy (founder of the McCorry Cup), Don Hingerty (Professor at UCD and former Captain of the club), Lee Smith (who coached O’Driscoll), Adrian Burke, and Finbar Costello.
Former UCD Director inducted into Internet Hall of Fame Micheal Halton
News national
News in Brief Emily Mc Morrow
Dr Dennis Jennings, the former Director of UCD computer services, was recently inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame, becoming the first Irish person to be honoured by this award and one of only 67 inductees so far. He joins a list of names who have contributed great things to the internet’s development, including key figures like Sir Tim BernersLee who is known as the inventor of the World Wide Web, Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn who are recognised as fathers of the Internet, and former US Vice President Al Gore
who was inducted due to his work as a promoter the internet and helping to popularise its use. Dr Jennings obtained both his BSc (1967) and his PhD (1972) from UCD and he acted as the director of UCD computing services from 1972 to 1999. He received the award in acknowledgement of the work he completed as the Program Director for Networking for the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the United States in the early development of the internet and for his contributions to European research networking. The Internet Hall of Fame notes,
“Dr Jennings was responsible for the design and development of the NSFnet Program. Jennings developed a vision of an open network of networks – an internet – designed to serve all of US research and higher education.” The program he started significantly “stimulated the development of many regional research and education networks… [and] NSFnet eventually became a major part of the internet backbone,” which supports our daily browsing today. Additionally, Dr Jennings
was central to the development of HEAnet, the Irish national research and education network, and he has served on several international research and academic networking initiatives in Europe including as vice-chair of ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) and as President of EARN (European Academic Research Network). After leaving UCD in 1999, Dr Jennings chose to pursue commercial interests and founded 4th Level Ventures, which is an Irish venture capital firm aimed primarily
at investing in companies commercialising opportunities arising from research completed at Irish universities as well as acting as an angel investor in early stage technology companies. Through his company he now acts as chairman of a variety of small technology companies, while he has managed to combine his connection with his alma mater and his passion for opera and classical music through his position as the Chairman of the UCD Choral Scholars Board of Management.
Students graduate from first university course taught through Irish Sign Language Lucy Ryan
A group of 24 students in UCD have become the first class in Ireland to complete a course solely through sign language in Irish after receiving their Certificate in Equality Studies from UCD. The 24 students who completed the course came from all over the country, including Dublin, Meath, Monaghan, Limerick, Kildare and Kerry. They attended classes every Saturday in each semester completing the 30-credit module course over a two-year period. At the graduation ceremony, Dr
Phyllis Murphy, Director of the Equality Studies Outreach Programme at UCD School of Social Justice, illustrated the learning criteria encompassed in the certificate and spoke of the connection the course has with the groups that offer support services to those with impaired hearing. She also highlighted some of the core subject matters they researched during the two-year period. “During the course, which is delivered in partnership with the Irish Deaf
Society, students examined society’s attitude to the deaf community in the context of their own experiences. “This enabled them to develop a critical view of equality and social justice issues that affect them and other members of the deaf community in Ireland. The UCD Certificate in Equality Studies delivered through Irish Sign Language (ISL) is the first of its kind in Ireland.” Dr Murphy also emphasised the lack of national recognition of the
language as “ISL is the primary language of the Irish deaf community, but is not currently recognised as an official language in Ireland.” Eddie Redmond, the presenter who currently signs for RTÉ, was one of the 24 students participating in the course, and was in attendance with all the other students who completed the course at the graduation ceremony in UCD. The UCD Equality Studies Centre is part of the UCD School of Social Justice. The School itself is dedicated
to seeing that the voice of the minority is heard and to study the marginalised groups in Ireland and various other EU countries. The constant interchange of ideals and visions that takes place between public leaders, scholars and social activists at the UCD School of Social Justice fashions an unrestricted and challenging environment not only for students and staff to experience but to propagate in also.
Economics Society gains official recognition Cian Carton Senior Reporter
Society application and have Thinking to the University Observer, she The UCD Economics Society Big as its flagship event each year.” explained how Thinking Big initially has been officially established as Fanning believes that the newlyreally appealed to her and how she a society in UCD after receiving formed society can build an “economics became increasing involved after formal recognition as a society community around campus,” something hearing of the proposed merger. from Societies Council. that she feels is currently lacking for “The original students who had At the beginning of the year, the students of the subject. She also wants submitted the proposal had graduated Thinking Big initiative and Economics to “generate and maintain an interest so the application was lying dormant. Society combined their efforts in order Last semester, an event called Thinking in economics” for those who do not to seek society status. The committee study it, as it has a diverse nature Big took place, a student forum to of Thinking Big 2013 event took over and wide range of applications. discuss the themes of sustainability, the Economics Society’s dormant For Fanning, the role of auditor food security and climate change, and proposal, using the process that had entails reiterating the “aims of that committee had wanted to form a already been started as a springboard the society so as not to lose sight Thinking Big society, but they were for their successful application. of what it’s there for and to ensure told that that application wouldn’t At its first meeting, Economics that events are well attended, be viable and it was recommended student Megan Fanning was elected TEACH - 160x169.qxp_Layout 10/04/2014 10:08 Page well1organised and relevant.” for them to1take over the Economics as2014 the society’s first ad auditor. Speaking
She is hoping to increase membership over the coming year, but understands that the society cannot be “overly ambitious” with what it wants to achieve as a society in its first year. Her main goal is to lay a solid foundation for future years, ensuring that the society does not “overwhelm” itself before it has established its long-term plan. While she is looking forward to their flagship Thinking Big event in November, Fanning is also planning on organising conference trips, and is currently organising an excursion to Kilkenomics, an event that combines comedy with economics. The Economics Society is also “building links” with the well-known Trinity Economic
Scéim Chónaithe Ghaeilge Bhord na Gaeilge UCD 2014/2015
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Forum, and will be hosting several social events throughout the year. With plans in place to bring this year to a close, Fanning has revealed that Minister of State, Brian Hayes, will be giving a talk to the society on Wednesday, April 16th in room A106 in the Newman building at 6:30pm. This event follows up from their inaugural event that saw Morgan Kelly speak to the society, a talk that gained significant recognition in the national media. For more information on the UCD Economics Society visit facebook. com/ucdeconomicssociety or their Twitter @ucdeconsoc
Controversial new TCD logo proposed Controversy surrounds the move by the Trinity College Dublin’s (TCD) Provost Patrick Prendergast call for a rebranding of the institution’s current logo. Proposed changes were put to an audience of 200 senior college lecturers and students in the hopes of improving TCD’s worldwide brand and make the 400-year-old institution more attractive prospect to international students and increase funding. Dr Prendergast was met with strong opposition to changing the use of TCD to “Trinity College, the University of Dublin” in official communications. Speaking out against the proposed changes, genetics Professor David McConnell, who appealed for reconsideration as he feels the change would lose “very much more than we will gain” and that the reputation of TCD’s research would be damaged with a disassociation from its name. Economist Professor Brian Lucey suggested that students in Asia who cannot decipher that TCD is a university are not even eligible to enroll. At the meeting, Dr Prendergast replied to Lucey’s issues with the changes and addressed the qualms of others who feel a need to preserve the current model. “There is big complacency here that people know about Trinity College Dublin around the world. This is not the case so don’t be self-satisfied about this.” Although Prof. Lucey acknowledged that the brand needed a new level of coherence to international standard, he believes that the new logo looked “cheap, bland and insipid.” This criticism was seconded by prochancellor Professor Scattergood, who says that Prendergast has “botched it” by “draining meaning out of those symbols.” Dr Prendergast has relayed that the board will work to tackle the certain concerns that arose at the meeting, such as the sizing of the symbols on the new logo before finalising the design.
Ava Mahony wins Gradireland National Student Challenge Masters of Taxation student Ava Mahony, of University of Limerick (UL), has won the Gradireland National Student Challenge, becoming the first woman to do so in the process. Mahony competed online against Ireland’s 4,100 elite students in numerous tasks set by graduate employers. To stream finalists, the students partook in aptitude assessments, which included commercial competence, logic, verbal and numerical reasoning challenges. Results formulated a leaderboard for finalists who partook in six further challenges set by Gradireland in association with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), SAP, Ernst & Young, Lidl, Boston Scientific and Jameson. Irish psychometric company cut-e exposed students to assessments they would encounter in the work force thus developing their practical skills. Finalists had to demonstrate key characteristics employers look for in graduates such as organisation, commercial awareness, persistence, teamwork, initiative and innovative problem solving. Mahony came out on top, just ahead of Tiarnan McCaughan of TCD in second, and Ciara Browne of UCD who came in third place.
Laura Harmon Elected as USI President by 2014 USI Congress Union of Students in Ireland (USI) Vice-President for Equality and Citizenship Laura Harmon was elected by a substantial majority as the USI President for the 2014/15 academic year. USI has not had a female president in 20 years. A graduate from UCC, Harmon won outright over four USI Board members running for this position, namely Denise McCarthy (USI Deputy President and Welfare Vice-President), Kevin Donoghue (USI Vice-President for BMW Region) and Stephen Fleming of Maynooth Students’ Union. Laura commended the “high calibre opponents” and looks “forward to working with the incoming team,” stating that “USI will continue to oppose the idea that education is a private commodity… and will continue to mobilise students in the battle for higher education as a public good.” In her acceptance speech, she also addressed the devaluation of graduates by “the culture of unpaid internships… USI will campaign against zero hour contracts and for a living wage to be introduced in this country so that people can work to live as opposed to work to survive.”
april 16th 2014 3
comment
The quarter life crisis With the rising trend of ‘quarter life crises’, Kate Purcell asks if this is a new phenomenon and what happens if you go through one
Andrew Largeman essentially defined a ‘quarter life crisis’ in Garden State when he said, “It’s like you feel homesick for a place that doesn’t even exist. Maybe it’s like this rite of passage, you know. You won’t ever have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, you know, for your kids, for the family you start, it’s like a cycle or something.” The conversation surrounding the concept of the ‘quarter life crisis’ has grown exponentially in recent years. The term was coined to describe the tumultuous and often frightening transition from adolescence to adulthood experienced by many in their twenties to early thirties. It is epitomised by feelings of loneliness, confusion and an overwhelming need to be taken seriously while becoming extremely nostalgic for your childhood. It has been discussed by publications such as the Boston Globe and The Guardian as well as by comedic websites attempting to make light of the idea, like Buzzfeed. But despite popular belief, the idea of the quarter life crisis is in no way a new one. In fact, it’s possible that the characters of Hamlet and Ophelia were an early nod to the concept. It was first described by Erik H. Erikson in his book ‘Identity: Youth and Crisis’ in 1968, where it is depicted as one of eight necessary crises throughout the development of an individual, describing it as intimacy versus isolation. He suggested that once a person has moved past adolescence and attained a personal identity, they seek to create firm, intense and often romantic bonds with their peers. While this in many ways still rings true, the issue our generation faces is that more and more, the steps required in transitioning into adult-
It was first described by Erik H. Erikson in his book ‘Identity: Youth and Crisis’ in 1968, where it is depicted as one of eight necessary crises throughout the development of an individual
hood are being put on the long finger out of fear and confusion as to what steps are right for them, individually. We are getting married later, staying in college longer, our careers are more transient and it is constantly being reinforced that unemployment lurks around every corner. In fact, the pressures of choosing a career and the forming of longterm relationships have become an enormous cause of depression and anxiety in young people. Those most likely to suffer from this phenomenon are recent college graduates making their first tentative steps into the real world, only to be met with disappointment. Damian Barr, author of ‘Get It Together: A Guide to Surviving Quarter Life Crisis’ legitimises the concept by stating that those in their mid-20s now are facing pressures that, in previous generations, would not have been felt until their forties, and for that reason the quarter life crisis mimics the symptoms of the mid-life crisis. Barr stated in an interview with The Guardian. “Our 20s are not, as they were for our parents... being 20-something now is scary. Fighting millions of other graduates for your first job, struggling to raise a mortgage deposit and finding time to juggle all your relationships… We have the misfortune to be catapulted into a perilous property market. We’re earning more and spending more than ever. We’re getting into debt to finance our degrees, careers and accommodation.” Dr Oliver Robinson, from the University of Greenwich, London, took on the first empirical study of the quarter life crisis based on a survey conducted over Gumtree.com. He found that 86% of the 1,100 young people who answered felt under
Streetwise assessment of benefits With Channel 4’s controversial Benefits Street TV series depicting a class of ‘welfare scroungers’, Michael O’Dwyer asks if this is an accurate representation of those who receive benefits, and whether we’re asking the right questions about welfare
Benefits Street has sparked a wide-ranging and heated public debate in the UK about welfare culture and dependence. But amidst the din of politicians, commentators, taxpayers, and the show’s participants, it’s not clear that anything is about to change for the better. Much of the discussion has descended into, on the one hand, claims of widespread benefit fraud, and on the other, protestations that the show is not representative of the lives of the majority welfare recipients. Both arguments miss the point. What’s more, they are a dangerous distraction if we want to get serious about tackling poverty. The Channel 4 show, which is more popular than any of its 2013 programmes, depicts first-hand the lives of residents of James Turner Street in Birmingham, about 90% of whom receive state benefits. Over the course of five episodes, spanning 18 months of filming, viewers are given a selective snapshot of the residents’ lives. A substantial portion of the series paints an unflattering picture of the street, including scenes of shoplifting and addiction. Undoubtedly, the producers play up a negative stereotype of welfare “scroungers” and layabouts, happy to live off taxpayers’ money perpetually. Early in the series a young couple with children have their allowance cut after over-claiming and viewers and commentators eagerly take the bait. A recent Trade Union Congress poll found that, on average, people believe 27% of the British welfare budget is claimed fraudulently. In fact, official figures show the number is just 0.7%. Given this popular belief it’s unsurprising that the anti-benefits brigade has been quick to use Benefits Street as further evidence of its ill-informed fraud argument. But what lends credibility to this line is that they aren’t the only ones engaging in the myth.
4 april 16th 2014
For example Joan Burton, our Minister for Social Protection, continues to proudly announce the astronomical savings her department is making by stamping out welfare fraud. Her figure this year is €740 million, but this is grossly misleading. In 2012, out of over €20 billion spent on social welfare, just €41 million, or roughly 0.2%, was claimed fraudulently. Instead of furnishing us with the facts, the Minister and the Labour Party (the party for a fairer Ireland, let us not forget) play to the antiwelfare gallery for their own political gain by producing a jaw-dropping figure based on “control savings,” which represent the cost that would be incurred over time if no checks were in place. This is a bit like Revenue estimating tax fraud based on the level of evasion, which might exist if it employed no inspectors. The Minister’s eagerness to be seen as tough on fraud only serves to stoke suspicion of welfare recipients and feed fears of soaring numbers of illicit claims. Buying into a rhetoric that suggests a large number of people are seeking to rip off taxpayers distracts from the real issues of genuine hardship and welfare dependence and undermines the Minister’s aim of a fairer society. Until the myth of pervasive fraud is debunked once and for all, both here and in the UK, then those who believe tighter compliance measures are the answer will never be forced to engage in real debate on how to reduce the number of people on welfare. Why discuss job creation and training when ending fraud is the supposedly obvious answer? Why bother investing in industry? Why consider shortening payment periods to jobseekers to incentivise work when there’s even more to be saved by cracking down on cheats? There is an important argument to be had as to which is more effective, and indeed acceptable
on a principled level, in alleviating the plight of jobseekers, the stick of less generous benefits to incentivise re-integration or the carrots of investment in direct supports to help people find work and the promise of less tax when they get there. Both agendas are obscured by the focus on the non-issue of fraud. But rather than tackle the claims of fraud head on, many have claimed that Benefits Street does not accurately depict the majority of welfare claimants or Birmingham residents. Implicitly, they concede that many of the residents of James Turner Street are undeserving or somehow gaming the system. The weakness of much of the response to Benefits Street lies in a desire of the community to distance itself from the participants, a desire to suggest the problems of the programme’s “stars” are those of a minority and are not part of the problems which need to be addressed by government’s approach to welfare and social mobility. But if the agenda is to diminish reliance on handouts then simply ignoring those most deeply rooted in welfare culture won’t make the problem go away. Vilifying and disavowing communities on the periphery only makes engagement with them more difficult. Whatever your views on the programme’s participants, however much or little you sympathise with them, any discussion of welfare, social mobility and how to reduce reliance on the state cannot ignore those most on the fringes of society. Benefits Street has struck a nerve in the collective conscience; it has stirred discussion. But if it’s to be of value then that discussion must move beyond indulging in the myth of rampant welfare fraud and disowning those most on society’s margins. Only then can it move away from a contest to see who can shout the loudest and evolve into a constructive dialogue about real solutions.
pressure to succeed in their career, finances and relationships by the age of 30, with 32% concerned about whether or not they will be married with children by then and 21% hoping for a complete career change. While the crisis can last into a person’s early thirties, many young people see turning thirty as the cut off point for getting one’s act together, at which point at everyone should be settled into suits, 4:00am feeds and quiet dinner parties with a few close friends who have to be home by midnight to pay the babysitter. According to Dr Robinson and other researchers, such as Jeffrey Arnett, a psychology professor in the University of Maryland, there is light at the end of the tunnel for young people yet. According to them, while the quarter life crisis can be terrifying at the time, it is positive and in many ways essential. In most cases it lasts two years, and Arnett describes it as an “age of possibilities.” Dr Robinson states that it is made up of four phases, each of which is a move towards stability. The first stage typifies the quarter life crisis, a feeling of being constantly overwhelmed, an “illusory sense of being trapped,” be it in a job or a relationship. The second is a growing sense that change is possible and at this point the young person can allow the difficulties encountered in the first stage to act as a catalyst for the new life they will build in the third and fourth phases. However, the quarter life crisis remains unrecognised, unlike the mid-life crisis, so there is no real support for 20-somethings who are so worried about their future they can’t live in the present. In Damian Barr’s words, “If, as we’re constantly told, the world is our oyster, it’s definitely a dodgy one.”
Much of the discussion has descended into, on the one hand, claims of widespread benefit fraud, and on the other, protestations that the show is not representative of the lives of the majority welfare recipients. Both arguments miss the point
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april 16th 2014 5
25/03/2014 10:54
opinion
A big hot fuss As the Department of Justice is forced to deal with scandal after scandal, Elizabeth O’Malley asks if they are connected and who is to blame
McCabe had details of cases he believed were not investigated properly in County Cavan, including other physical and sexual assaults, burglaries, false imprisonments and abductions. He outlined the abuse of the penalty points system and how a number of Gardaí had been drunk while on duty
You wouldn’t want to be Alan Shatter at the moment. In just the last six months we’ve had allegations of breaches of the penalty points system, the taping of calls from Garda station, bugging of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) office and allegations of Garda incompetence. However, while all these scandals have only emerged recently, it appears almost all have them have developed over a number of years. Sergeant Maurice McCabe, one of the Garda whistleblowers, went to the Garda Commissioner, GSOC and the Department of Justice back in 2008. He made a number of claims, including that the Gardaí failed to investigate the violent assault of Mary Lynch by Jerry McGrath, who went on to attempt to abduct a five-year-old girl and murder Silvia Roche-Kelly. McCabe had details of cases he believed were not investigated properly in County Cavan, including other physical and sexual assaults, burglaries, false imprisonments and abductions. He outlined the abuse of the penalty points system and how a number of Gardaí had been drunk while on duty. In an example of extreme political opportunism, Micheál Martin has asked for Minister Alan Shatter to resign regarding these allegations, despite the fact that Martin was himself Minister for Justice when McCabe first came forward. McCabe claimed that the Assistant Garda Commissioner, Derek Byrne, assaulted him and falsely imprisoned him in the Hillgrove Hotel in 2010. They had met to discuss the results of a Garda investigation into McCabe’s claims. McCabe revealed that he had removed hundreds of files from PULSE, the Garda information system, which showed Gardaí falsely claiming that people had been involved in criminality. Byrne would not let McCabe leave the hotel with the files. In 2012, McCabe approached GSOC, Minister Shatter and an Taoiseach about the quashing of
penalty points by Gardaí. The internal review by An Garda Síochana returned after a few months concluding that there is no widespread quashing of penalty points. At no point were any of the whistleblowers interviewed during this investigation. A report released recently by the Garda Inspectorate, however, found widespread breaches in the system and that the whistleblowers “got a number of things correct.” Deputy Clare Daly, of the United Left Alliance, used her parliamentary privilege to name a number of high-profile individuals who had their penalty points quashed, including rugby player Ronan O’Gara and Judge Mary Devins. A few weeks later, Daly was arrested on suspicion of drink driving. She was handcuffed during her arrest and photos of this were leaked to the press. However, she was 33% under the legal limit. In 2013, Irish Independent journalist Gemma O’Doherty was ‘voluntarily let go’ after she investigated the penalty point corruption, calling to Garda Commisioner Martin Callinan’s house for comment. It later emerged that the Irish Independent Editor-inChief, Stephen Rae, a former editor of the Garda Review magazine, had his penalty points quashed. In February of this year, it was discovered that there had been a bugging of the GSOC office (Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission), with the Gardaí suspected to be behind it as the equipment found is only available to government-level agencies. The story came out after GSOC hired a British security agency to do a sweep of their office and they found “a sophisticated surveillance operation” including hacking of emails, and into the Wi-Fi and phone system. Retired High Court Judge John Cooke has been asked to conduct an independent inquiry into the matter. The most recent scandal involves the taping of phone calls between
suspects and their solicitors from Garda stations. It is estimated that more than 2,485 phone calls were recorded outside Dublin. This has thrown a number of legal cases into uncertainty as they may be dismissed due to the unconstitutional gathering of evidence and the breach of privacy. These phone calls had been recorded since the 1980s. There is no doubt that there is something rotten going on within An Garda Síochána, and that this stretches across a number of different governments and decades. There are plenty of people to blame, though some are guiltier than others. Shatter, for his part, seems to be in the wrong place and the wrong time. All of these scandals have emerged on his watch, despite the fact that none of them appeared to have been initiated by him. That of course doesn’t make him blameless. When you take on the role you take on the responsibility as well. He has handled every scandal that has come before him poorly. It took him until recently to apologise to the whistleblowers for the treatment they had to endure. If this government is partly responsible for the scandals that have occurred then Fianna Fáil and their coalition partners certainly share an even bigger portion of the responsibility. It was their government who first ignored the information brought forward by Sergeant McCabe and other whistleblowers. Fianna Fáil headed the government of this country for the last 25 out of 35 years. The scandals regarding the phone taping and the penalty point quashing have gone on for decades. Of course the biggest questions arise regarding the Gardaí themselves. The resignation of Martin Callinan as Garda Commissioner will be seen as a welcome step by many, but it is not enough. We need thorough reform of the Gardaí to increase both transparency and trust. We can’t undo what has happened recently, but a good start will be making sure nothing like this ever happens again.
The language barrier With the suggestion that political correctness has gone too far, Kate Purcell asks whether this is the real issue and examines the importance of language as a political tool The first two results thrown up by a quick Google search of the term “political correctness…” are “political correctness gone mad” and “political correctness gone wild.” This is a clear indication of how negatively the public perceives this increasingly controversial concept. We live in a world that has never been more diverse. In an era of free Wi-Fi in every coffee shop, almost all of us have near boundless access to a melting pot of cultures. The internet has broadened the horizons of western society endlessly. Never have people been given the opportunity to so thoroughly educate themselves about countries across the globe. With society’s recent strides forward into a more egalitarian world, be they social or legislative, there is little doubt that we have become more and more politically correct as a society. However, political correctness has been bemoaned since the early 90s as a restriction on an individual’s right to free speech, drawing parallels with George Orwell’s ‘1984’ from its detractors. The question lies in whether free speech outweighs the importance of respecting other cultures. The modern conception of political correctness emerged first from the Republican Party in the US, who used it as an all-purpose criticism of any policy their left-wing counter parts put forward. They argued that these policies imposed a liberal orthodoxy and deferred to politeness and diplomacy at the expense of direct political debate. Jan Narveson wrote in 1995 that the phrase was “born to live between scare-quotes: it suggests that the operative considerations in the area are so-called merely political, steamrollering the genuine reasons of principle for which we ought to be acting.” The term was ultimately a slur, a means for right wing politicians and commentators to divert attention away 6 april 16th 2014
from and degrade the increasingly liberal conversation about the resolve of racial, gender and social class discrimination at the time. Australian columnist Richard Ackland perhaps said it best when he asked, “What is it that these people really want to say about race, colour, etc. that they are currently chilled from saying?” What magnificent freedoms would we receive if the ‘political correctness police’ didn’t exist? It has been argued by some writers that banning certain terms breeds stasis and oppression, and that an insistence on coming across as all-inclusive contradicts the right to free speech. In a recent article for The Atlantic, Jon Lovett spoke out against the emerging culture of whistleblowing in the western world, in particular on the internet. He felt that people should ultimately be allowed to make their own decisions about how and what they speak of. He cited Alec Baldwin and his tirades against gay people, Paula Deen for her racism, be it inadvertent or entirely conscious, and Brendan Eich, formerly of Mozilla, as people who had come under fire unfairly for their use of their right to free speech. Their free speech, however, has not been restricted in any way. They can absolutely still say things that are offensive to other cultures, as evidenced by the Alec Baldwins and Mel Gibsons of the world. The difference between today and 50 years ago is that there is a platform on which the public can express their outrage, exercising their right to free speech. If a celebrity decides to use a word, phrase or idea that is accepted as socially abhorrent, they can no longer expect acceptance or even for it to be ignored. Whatever the views of those who believe that political correctness is damaging, one need look no further than the comments section
Language is used to reinforce certain cultural norms. Derogatory words symbolise difference and inferiority. You won’t find a specific insult for a white heterosexual male, but there are plenty of words for people who don’t fit into this category
of any YouTube video or serious thread on Tumblr to see that for every opinion there are many others that will be voiced. Political correctness has not bred repression nor has the internet created stasis among the current generation. The world of the 21st century is far more culturally aware and tolerant than it has ever been before, and so with a platform on which everyone can
express their views, we have never been able to speak so freely. It is interesting that the majority of people who dislike, not legal prohibitions against offensive language, but society’s disapproval when they use it, are also big supporters of other laws that limit freedom of speech, such as defamation law and injunctive orders against the media. It turns out it’s alright to
say things that are offensive, just not against the rich and powerful. We also need to ask why things like anti-discrimination laws and a culture that is intolerant of insensitive language developed. The use of racial slurs, gendered insults and homophobic language has been widely recognised as contributing to an unequal system. Language is used to reinforce certain cultural norms. Derogatory
words symbolise difference and inferiority. You won’t find a specific insult for a white heterosexual male, but there are plenty of words for people who don’t fit into this category. This not only strengthens the views of those who discriminate, but forces those who are different to internalise those insults and to find it much more difficult to fight for equality or to risk backlash from the rest of society. These are not just words; they are tools used by the majority to entrench their position of power. We should not take for granted our achievements, such as making it illegal to discriminate based on colour, gender, race or sexuality, by citing the right to free speech, which isn’t being threatened in this context. Even if it were, can we really say your right to be a bigot is more important than the right not to be oppressed?
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on the role, interested applicants The Position: can email Philip Mudge (UCDSU Do you understand the UCD student General Manager) at manager@ experience and feel passionately ucdsu.ie or Kevin Beirne (current about working for Ireland’s Student Editor of the University Observer) Newspaper of the Year? Working at editor@universityobserver.ie. closely with the University Observer editorial and design teams, as well Applications should be emailed to as reporting to the UCDSU General Manager, this position provides a great editor@universityobserver.ie and sent to the following address: opportunity for the right candidate to gain experience in sales and marketing. Kevin Beirne, The position is part-time, hours are The University Observer, flexible and payment is commissionUCD Student Centre, based, dependent on adverts sold. University College Dublin, Belfield, Advertising Sales Agents are to Dublin 4 report to the UCDSU General Manager on financial issues as well Note: as Editor and Deputy Editor on • Applicants may be required issues of editorial significance. to present a portfolio of work upon request. Remuneration: • Interviews may be conducted Advertising Sales Agents will using modern communications receive commission from all media for candidates who are advertisements they organise the not able to attend in person. sale of throughout the year. • Canvassing members of the interview panel is forbidden. The Candidate: Candidates who canvass members It would suit a confident, of the interview panel may be outgoing, media-savvy student disqualified from consideration. looking for income to support • No formal training is offered their colleague experience. to successful candidates. Application Procedure: Closing date for applications Applications should be made via the is 5pm, 18th May 2014. application form, which is available from www.universityobserver.ie or www.ucdsu.ie. For more information
april 16th 2014 7
su review
End of Year Review—Adam Carroll, Undergraduate Education Officer When contemplating his year as the UCD Students’ Union Undergraduate Education Officer, Adam Carroll sees his primary accomplishments as the extending of library opening hours from 8.30am to 7.30am, along with revitalising the Grindsfile system. When discussing the improvements made to the Grindsfile system, Carroll explains, “There was no facility just to blanket transfer it from the old website to the new website, so I had to manually pull out every contact from Grindsfile, but I also brought on an external organisation… who operate out of Trinity and have a lot of base in DCU. So, effectively doubled the Grindsfile in this semester.” Carroll credits the split of Education into Undergraduate and Graduate as being a useful move, believing that each held its own vastly different types of problems. “You get a lot higher volume of problems from undergraduates. I wouldn’t say small ones, but ones that are kind of just informative, whereas graduate problems, you get kind of bigger life problems.” Looking forward to passing on the role of Undergraduate Education Officer to Amy Fox, Carroll has very simple advice to offer. “You never know what being a sabbatical officer is like until you are there. “Try your best to either come in early or make sure you leave on time. Don’t get stuck here all night, because it does get quite draining during the summer. You don’t want to lose your enthusiasm before the students come back. You need it.” Carroll believes that at times he suffered from “burnout” from the position, however there were easy avenues to find motivation. “You do burn out, but you revitalise that when students
come back. And the first thing you do with the orientation talks is you see the bright spark in the freshers’ eyes.” When discussing his regrets from the year, Carroll at no point mentions a major criticism of his term; having been absent and unavailable the week when exam results were published. Nor does he mentions the problems associated with the SUSI grants scheme. Instead, Carroll focuses on not achieving all his set goals in creating a proposed week 13 study grinds sessions. “I contacted a number of tutors on our Grindsfile and I asked them to pass on lesson plans, they weren’t able to do it so I didn’t feel confident putting a large number of students in front of them to [take academic advice].” When analysing what caught him off guard over the year, Carroll noted the extreme personal financial problems students face. “It did definitely strike me that there were some people who were living absolutely, not even dayto-day, hour-to-hour, in college and, you know, it definitely caught me off guard. But it was definitely extremely rewarding that I was able to help them.” Overall, Carroll remarks that he did enjoy the role, but did find it testing to deal with the personal problems he had to help students overcome. “Yeah I did enjoy it. It was tough at times. Sometimes it was hard to separate yourself from some personal problems that might get you down in the job but overall, absolutely. “It was one of the best years of my life and it’s not quite over yet, but there’s eight weeks left and… I would recommend anyone to do it. It’s a great life experience and I definitely feel that I’m more mature as a person.”
It did definitely strike me that there were some people who were living absolutely, not even dayto-day, hour-tohour, in college and, you know, it definitely caught me off guard. But it was definitely extremely rewarding that I was able to help them
End of Year Review—Dylan Gray, Graduate Education Officer
I would have liked to have been a bit more visible on campus. In retrospect my goals have always been to set up the structures to make my successor’s job easier, such as relationships with staff. People know that the job is existing now
Dylan Gray’s year as the first Graduate Education Officer of the Students’ Union did not begin with a strong mandate. With only 42 votes, of 68 cast, electing him to the role, it was questionable how valid the position even was. Gray believes that despite running for election on a manifesto of promises, his responsibility this year was to justify the existence of a graduate office, and establish its role within the University’s structures. “I would have liked to have been a bit more visible on campus. In retrospect my goals have always been to set up the structures to make my successor’s job easier, such as relationships with staff. People know that the job is existing now,” he says. He believes this recognition is something he achieved with students as well, citing a higher voter turnout with 500 votes cast, as well as the 130 votes to reopen nominations (RON) included within that. “The large number of RON votes show that people care about it, in forming an opinion. “We didn’t have 130 people voting RON to cause havoc, they were voting because they actually care about the issues. I think that shows its being recognised and as having a role that is needed. It’s really up to next year to cement it. I’m just hoping that I’ve laid down the belief in people about the position that it needs to be here.” Despite focusing his year on the importance of the role, Gray admits that he had more than a little time to spare throughout the year. “There’s definitely some time to take on some welfare aspects of the job as well.
End of Year Review—UCDSU Council What was supposed to be the final UCD Students’ Union (SU) Council of the year took place in the Fitzgerald Chamber in the New Student Centre last Monday, April 14th. Despite reaching quorum at the beginning of the evening, Council had to be abandoned halfway through due to low numbers of present representatives. According to Article 7.6 of UCDSU Constitution, only one third of the members of Council need to be present in order to assure quorum is met. It is therefore very disappointing that last Monday’s Council, which was arguably the most important Council of the year so far, could 8 april 16th 2014
not achieve this low threshold. This meant that a motion on the increased prices in UCD Residences will not be discussed or voted on until the next meeting of Council, which looks to be in the final week of the semester. Among the motions which were heard and passed on was the “Election Conduct Motion”, which states that “No Sabbatical Officer or Director of the Company may be allowed to campaign for any candidate running for any position in the Executive Elections; apart from themselves should they be running for election at the same time.” The motion was proposed in
direct response to UCDSU President Mícheál Gallagher campaigning for Maeve DeSay during the recent elections, in which DeSay was elected the new Welfare and Equality Officer. Gallagher took annual leave before campaigning on DeSay’s behalf, which meant he was not campaigning on Union time and therefore acting as a private citizen. The debate centred on whether or not an SU officer or director should be allowed to do this, given they carry their status regardless of whether or not they are on the clock. It seems strange that the SU would decide to ban its own officers from attempting to ensure that its future
stays in the best hands possible. SU officers have a unique perspective of what it takes to do the job, as they have actually done it. If an SU officer identifies a candidate who has the ability to fulfill the role, should they not stand up and say they support said candidate? Should the leaders in our Union not be taking a stand and showing leadership by trying to steer the organisation in the right direction, even when they are gone? Although the motion passed, it is highly likely that it will be referred to the Independent Appeals and Disciplinary Board (IADB) for further review, where it may be
overturned on the grounds that it restricts freedom of political expression. Considering the fact that there were rumblings of an impeachment referendum against Gallagher, a motion that will not have any effect on his actions (and may even be overturned) can arguably be considered a victory for the outgoing President. The inability of the SU to secure more than 53 Council members to attend for the full duration, however, is surely a damning indictment of the disconnect the students feel with the Union.
A lot of the cases I would have dealt with were forwarded on to me by Cian [Dowling, Welfare and Equality Officer]… The scope is definitely there and there is time in the day to do it, so it should be done.” He also admits a degree of crossover between the work of both education officers. “There weren’t set out roles where two education people had to do that. Often times when we were working on something at the same time, it just made sense to combine resources.” While Gray insists that the role simply requires more support and publicity over the next number of years in order to thrive, it is difficult to believe him. It is understandable that it may have taken him a while to find his feet in the new position at the beginning of the year. However, with few tangible achievements beyond having “made contacts with the different schools” in the last ten months, the question of whether graduates need separate representation still seems relevant. Gray accepts his lack of experience within the SU previous to running for election, and seems hesitant when asked whether the role was one he enjoyed, before settling with, “On the whole, yes. Obviously some ups and downs, but not at all what I expected.” With a disappointing level of enthusiasm for the position he asserts he fought all year to establish, it’s possible that the problem doesn’t lie in a lack of graduate issues to address, but perhaps with Gray himself.
Although the motion passed, it is highly likely that it will be referred to the Independent Appeals and Disciplinary Board (IADB) for further review, where it may be overturned on the grounds that it restricts freedom of political expression
su review
End of Year Review—Mícheál Gallagher, PRESIDENT Despite all these bureaucratic hoops the President now has to jump through to effect even a minor change, Gallagher does appear to have realigned the mentality of the SU somewhat. He has helped the organisation transition from being a large member of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) with a national agenda, to one that focuses on fixing problems closer to home
Every UCD Students’ Union (SU) President leaves their mark. It can be difficult at the time to exactly pin-point what they bring to the table during the course of their sabbatical; sometimes the true effects of a presidency don’t surface until a few years down the line. However, due to the employment of a General Manager to oversee the operations of the SU, the President’s role has been somewhat watered down. Effectively the President now has someone to hold their hand, offering sage advice that will hopefully help avoid mismanagement of the SU’s finances and resources. Additionally, the Board of Directors and new structures of the Independent Appeals and Disciplinary Board (IADB) have assumed a significant role within the organisation, leaving the President to appear to be in charge, but have questionable levels of authority. Despite all these bureaucratic hoops the President now has to jump through to effect even a minor change, Gallagher does appear to have realigned the mentality of the SU somewhat. He has helped the organisation transition from being a large member of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) with a national agenda, to one that focuses on fixing problems on campus. Gallagher’s focus on redefining the targets of the SU was particularly evident during election time in UCD a few weeks ago. The majority of the policies proposed by the vying SU sabbatical candidates aimed to put in place policies that addressed matters close to home, such as improving bus routes to UCD, a resit fee abatement programme, and most notably a bold promise to try and get the UCD Ball back on campus. This does demonstrate that Gallagher has had some mark on the SU during his presidency and that at least his successors are willing to continue to carry his vision of a new SU (under a rebrand) into a more stable future. Looking back on his year, Gallagher feels he can breakdown his biggest achievements into the
rebrand of the SU and continuing the installment of structures to protect against financial mismanagement. “The whole concept of rebranding the organisation and I guess what a rebrand is about is much more than just a logo. It’s about changing the ethos about how you do everything. Students are realising that the SU is a service that is there for them in their time of need, but also a vehicle to achieve change for themselves in UCD. “[Also] bringing a very sound sense of stability to the organisation. In October 2013, we finally achieved financial stability after quite a long time struggling through and a lot of this is down to hiring an extremely professional and confident staff team: the General Manager and Entertainments Manager.” Thirdly, despite low voter turnout in the SU elections recently, Gallagher feels student engagement with the SU increasing is a major achievement. “I do feel that there is a sense of reengagement between the students and the Union. It isn’t evident yet in our voter turnout, but I think it is definitely evident in the number of people putting themselves forward as candidates. “I’ve done this through myself and my executive team mentoring students and encouraging to put themselves forward. Whether it was specific programmes such as the Common Purpose Leadership Programme or the Women For Election seminar series.” Also regarding student engagement, Gallagher is apprehensive to be drawn into the student disaffiliation issue that arose when a member of UCDSU requested to leave the Union following the abortion policy referendum last September. “In terms of that, the whole matter came about from a decision by the IADB and I don’t want to compromise their decision by commenting on it. “I don’t think it is something that hurt the Union and I think it is a sign of strength that the only issue that might be seen as a black mark on the year was an issue that was student-engineered [of which] aspects
were backed by the college media. A smear campaign is how I’d put it.” This black stain on his year as President does draw Gallagher to reflect on some other shortcomings. He highlights the inaction around tackling resit fees as one of the main promises he made in his manifesto that didn’t get the attention it deserved. “I think one thing that was in my manifesto I didn’t make any progress on was the high level of fees within UCD for repeating an exam. I think the cost is extortionately high and it is about time that we get something done. “But it is refreshing to see members of the executive getting elected put forward [ideas] on how to tackle that issue. We need to do research into the topic and see where the money will come from, but the suggestion for a fee abatement program is really refreshing because we now have sight of a solution.” In recent years, it is a common trend for SU Presidents to try and claim bragging rights over having the most difficult year to deal with. Gallagher concedes that former presidents may have had bigger issues to contend with, but reminded President-elect Feargal Hynes that he is taking over an organisation that has finally recovered from its financial meltdown. “I’d say to incoming President Feargal [Hynes], on a difficulty curve, for me, it wasn’t as difficult as last year, which was an extreme year… Because of the hard work that Rachel Breslin and Pat de Brún did in terms of first incorporating the company and putting in a sound commercial plan and securing a bank loan to deal with the debt. “Myself, I had to deal with the debt and rebrand of the organisation, bringing it back to basics and getting it through to students that it is truly their union. It’s going to be an open book for Feargal. It’s going to be whatever he wants it to be and he’s in the best position possible compared to the past few presidents.”
End of Year Review—Cian Dowling, Welfare & Equality Officer Cian Dowling took a different approach to Welfare and Equality office to many of his most recent predecessors. While they aimed to take Welfare to the students with a range of varied campaigns throughout the year, Dowling almost solely focused his energy on dealing with the students who walked through his door. This is something he feels was the right decision, as he says: “The nice things that you do are stuff that you plan but the important things that you do are stuff that you react to.” While this may have impacted on his visibility to the average student, he is adamant that it was more important to complete jobs that he saw as needing doing, even if it didn’t come with a publicity stunt attached. This was particularly obvious where the counselling service was concerned. The waiting lists for UCD’s Counselling Service have been a growing concern for the last number of years for SU Welfare Officers, however, no officer has found a long-term solution. This year, according to Dowling, in some cases those waiting lists were spanning up to five months before any contact at all was made with students. This is something he found particularly disappointing. “It’s a service that’s massively filled with flaws. I’d be really worried about the quality of the staff up there… If we have limited resources, I reckon we should be using them more wisely in investing in good counsellors.” Dowling spent most of his budget for the year on emergency counsellors for students, paid for by the Union, to help ease the issue where it was really necessary. This was a conscious priority, as he explains, “The majority of my budget I set aside for that. I was like, I can go without posters, I can go without teas and coffees and stuff; if you’re giving a welfare officer a budget, I couldn’t really find anything else that I’d spend it on.”
He is refreshingly honest about the situation students find themselves in UCD, where the University seems to constantly be placing them second best. “There’s money being pumped into stuff that is just not needed at all; stuff that is nice to have and bumps up the University’s credit list, but a very cruel reality I learned this year is that people’s health and people’s happiness is very much second priority to profits, performance and people’s egos.” A large amount of his energy was expended on personal cases and directing students to appropriate and accessible support services. This is to be commended, as this is an area where UCD is obviously consistently failing students, however, it is obvious further action is needed. Bearing this in mind, it is perhaps not enough for Dowling to simply largely disregard his role as a campaigner in the Welfare Office. He freely admits that this wasn’t a priority. “I could have done a lot more campaigns, but staffing-wise it wasn’t really possible, and I’m very happy with what I did instead.” Placing a large portion of the blame on the abolishment of the Campaigns and Communications Officer role, as well as on UCDSU’s disaffiliation from the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), Dowling says it is very difficult to put together campaigns without these supports in place. This feels like something of an excuse given that Dowling never planned to prioritise campaigns, even in his manifesto. While he may have intended to concentrate only on what needed to be done, it is obvious that issues, like the counselling service, cannot be ignored. In the same way an Education Officer would not be allowed watch the library services deteriorate in front of them, it should be a priority of a Welfare Officer to protect the support services students need most. In addition to ensuring the
SU provided emergency counselling services, Dowling lists two of the campaigns he fit in this year, Women for Election and #UCDJobFairy, among his biggest achievements. Women For Election has proved an inarguable success, with the incoming UCDSU sabbatical team consisting of a majority of female officers for the first time in the Union’s history. Dowling even jokes, “This year we have three female sabbats, so we do need to bring in our ‘Men for Election’; it could be an idea for a job for me next year.” It is difficult to tell if his parttime job-finder scheme has made a tangible difference to students, but he believes that it is still active is proof of its popularity and effectiveness. “I think how you measure the success of something is if it’ll keep going when you don’t put any more work into it,” he says. While Dowling believes he has been visible through these campaigns, as well as distributing condoms around campus, it is clear even from the criticisms levelled at him during the elections for the incoming team that this is one area he has not performed well in. Beyond campaigning on the bigger issues that matter on campus, it’s extremely important that students know who their Welfare Officer is, if ever they need them. Without undermining the value of the work he put into his personal cases, as one of the main links between students and support services in UCD, it seems almost naïve of him to ignore so many students in favour of those who turn up on his doorstep. Nonetheless, Dowling wears his narrowly focused approach to the Welfare Office as a badge of honour, saying: “I was always very aware that I was going to be different to what I had seen the whole time and I was really happy with that… The only things I put time and effort into are stuff that I knew would work.”
The waiting lists for UCD’s Counselling Service have been a growing concern for the last number of years for SU Welfare Officers, however, no officer has found a long-term solution. This year, according to Dowling, in some cases those waiting lists were spanning up to five months before any contact at all was made with students
april 16th 2014 9
features
Child of the Holocaust Thirty-five members of his family were wiped out during the Holocaust, but it’s only in recent years that Tomi Reichental opened up about his experiences. Here he talks to Shane Hannon about his harrowing ordeal
When you’re starving you think about nothing but food, and when you get a meal you’re still hungry. If a soldier threw us scraps we would fight over it like dogs
Born in 1935 in Piešťany, a spa town in western Slovakia, Tomi Reichental’s life began without incident and he experienced quite a normal childhood. He grew up in a beautiful village called Merasice with his parents and brother Miki, four years his senior. Although it wasn’t until well into the Second World War that Reichental and his family would feel the repercussions, the Nuremberg Laws that passed in the year of his birth changed everything for Jews living in Europe. Anti-Semitism was slow to begin with: household valuables had to be handed in, the Jewish people were no longer allowed join the army, and a 20% flat tax was due on all valuables owned. Gradually, however, the situation developed into something far more sinister and Adolf Hitler’s systematic extermination of the Jews and other minority groups began in earnest during period between 1939 – 1945. For Reichental, perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the Jewish deportations from Slovakia was that his own country’s leaders encouraged it. Catholic priest Fr Jozef Tiso was a leading politician in the Slovak People’s Party and during the war he was the head of what was termed the First Slovak Republic, essentially a satellite state of Nazi Germany. According to Reichental, it was easy for Catholic priests to get messages of Anti-Semitism across to the general population. “Slovakia was a very Roman Catholic country. People went to Church and priests would spread propaganda at masses.” He notes that Jews were held accountable for almost everything. “If the harvest wasn’t going well, they blamed the Jews. The entire Holocaust was based on lies. The Germans said their biggest enemies were the Jews. They said, ‘The Jews are taking over the world and if we don’t destroy them, they’ll destroy us.’” When the 270-paragraph Jewish Codex was introduced in Slovakia on September 9th, 1941, one of the terms was that Jewish children couldn’t attend a national school. Reichental and his brother were forced to move to the city of Nitra to their Aunt’s house for school and it was there that Reichental was first introduced to the horrific world of racism and xenophobia. “There, for the first time, I found myself being shouted at on the street. They told me to ‘go to Palestine’ and that I was a ‘dirty Jew’ and a ‘smelly Jew’. Once or twice they caught me and would beat me and spit at me. I was only a kid, 6-years-old. Those that attacked me were the same age.” This stressful and trying period in Reichental’s life made an indelible mark on him. “I used to come home crying to my aunt telling her I didn’t want to go to school because I was being abused. So I used to then run to and from school and if I saw kids on one side of the street I’d cross over.” The Slovak collaboration in sending almost 90,000 Jews (3% of the entire country’s population) to concentration camps is something that would be unthinkable today, and it is only in recent years that Slovakian people
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have learned the true history of what happened to its Jewish populace during the war. Such was the level of jealousy and hatred that the country’s fascist leaders paid the Nazis 500 Deutsche Marks for every Jew deported once the deportations began in 1942. The Reichental family knew they had to escape from their home village where Hlinka guards were sure to inform the Gestapo of their Jewish identity. Reichental and his brother had their names changed on their identity papers from Reichental to Vida so as not to arouse suspicion of their Jewish heritage. However, they knew it was only a matter of time until their identities would be revealed. “Once the country was occupied by Germany, we knew that the collaboration between the Germans and Slovaks would become very efficient and that they would put spies in the villages and towns.” His father stayed behind at the family farm in Merasice, where he would ultimately be arrested himself and sent on a train to Auschwitz. It was on this journey to the concentration camp that he would meet a Hungarian safe-cracker who had escaped twice previously, and the risky jump he would take from the train would prove to save his life. In October 1944, Reichental and twelve members of his family were rounded up in Bratislava by the Gestapo, the Nazi’s secret police division, after someone betrayed his 76-year-old grandmother, Rosalia. The family was spilt up and Reichental was thrown into a cattle-cart with his mother, brother, grandmother, aunt and cousin, where they remained for seven days. Although disease and cruel treatment were commonplace at Bergen-Belsen in northern Germany, it was not an extermination camp as such, and the outcome for Reichental could have been much worse. “We were put on the train on November 2nd, 1944 and were travelling until November 9th. The journey from Slovakia to Bergen-Belsen would normally only take one day, but they obviously didn’t know what to do with us. On November 7th, the gas chambers at Auschwitz were destroyed because the German army was preparing to evacuate it. The Russians were advancing and the Germans were losing the war.” The Wehrmacht government had for a time been in charge of proceedings at the Bergen-Belsen camp, but just prior to Reichental’s arrival, the SS took over, changing things completely. As he explains, “They were animals. They would try and make our lives miserable and there was no let up.” The commandant of the camp from December 1944 onwards was the man known as the ‘Beast of Belsen’, Josef Kramer. Reichental describes him as “a pathological killer” and tells of how Kramer would routinely stand on his balcony shooting random inmates as they went by looking for food. “He used to leave the corpses lying around deliberately as a warning that if you did something you weren’t supposed to do, the same would happen to you.”
Directly responsible for the deaths of thousands and notorious among his subordinates as a harsh taskmaster, Kramer met his inevitable end after the war when, on December 13th, 1945, he was hanged in Hamelin prison by noted British executioner Albert Pierrepoint. Reichental was shocked by what he saw on his arrival at the camp. “At first we didn’t know if we were in a men’s or women’s camp because the women no longer had female attributes.” The sudden change in the Reichental family’s life was immense. “Suddenly you find yourself restricted; no food, you’re starving all the time, and you see all these skeletons walking around.” Starvation was rife at the camp and many would succumb to it, living out their final weeks in agony. “When you’re starving you think about nothing but food, and when you get a meal you’re still hungry. If a soldier threw us scraps we would fight over it like dogs.” Rumours of cannibalism at the Bergen-Belsen camp have some firm evidence today, and only exemplifies the inmates’ sheer desperation for food. But it wasn’t just Jews that were being held in the camps: Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, gypsies 90% of the inmates that were left and German political prisoners were sick and had no strength.” were among those held captive too. The Senior Medical Officer at the The camp was originally built for liberated camp was James Johnston 25,000 inmates, however, an influx of of the Royal Army Medical Corps around 40,000 came from Auschwitz and he described Bergen-Belsen as a towards the close of 1944 and start “horror camp. Half-starved, emaciated, of 1945. Huts that were built for spiritless, demented, these people 150-200 people were now holding roaming the camp have been reduced up to a 1,000 people. The spread to animal level.” Even after liberation, of diseases like typhoid, diphtheria 13,000 more died at the camp either and tuberculosis became rampant. because they were already beyond “Typhoid is a very contagious help or because of the British giving disease; you get diarrhoea, you them food they couldn’t digest. become dehydrated, and you die,” Although 35 members of Reichental’s explains Reichental. The death toll at family perished, his immediate family Bergen-Belsen rose dramatically, and survived the horrors of the Holocaust by March 1945 some 500 inmates intact, which he says was nothing short were dying per day at the camp. of miraculous. “For my immediate Death became a part of everyday family to be reunited was a miracle life at the camp, even for Reichental because 99% of families that were and the other children of Bergensplit like that were never reunited.” Belsen. “We actually saw people die His family never spoke to in front of our very eyes. Some women each other about the horrors they would walk around very slowly. They experienced, and Reichental’s life had no strength and sometimes they after the war brought him some would just fall. We as kids used to normality. He joined a Zionist group, look and see if the women would moved to Israel as a teenager and eventually get up. Most of the time they then went to Germany to become an wouldn’t, they died where they fell.” engineer. He eventually settled in Even the children’s playground Ireland in 1959 for work, marrying couldn’t escape death. “The corpses an Irish woman two years later. He were thrown out into areas where we became a full Irish citizen in 1977. kids used to play. We would play among Reichental’s life was the focus of a the corpses that were decomposing Gerry Gregg produced documentary and had been rotting for months.” that took him back to Belsen for the This death became very personal first time. Till the Tenth Generation, for Reichental when his grandmother and his memoirs, entitled I Was a Boy perished on March 7th, just weeks in Belsen, were published in 2012. before the camp’s liberation and the He received the Order of Merit of the end of the war. “That is a memory Federal Republic of Germany last I will carry with me for the rest of year and speaks regularly at schools my life. She just gave up. There was and institutions both in Ireland and nothing of her, she was a skeleton. abroad. He couldn’t speak of his The guards came for her and threw experiences for 55 years, but as one of her onto the cart of corpses.” the last remaining Holocaust survivors Bergen-Belsen was liberated in Ireland, he realised he must. on April 15th, 1945 by the British Tomi Reichental’s story highlights 11th Armoured Division. By that the horrors of the Holocaust, and one stage Reichental was skinny and can only hope that we can learn from weak, and he recalls, “There was his words and ensure that acts of such no celebration as such, because animosity will never again be repeated.
The corpses were thrown out into areas where we kids used to play. We would play among the corpses that were decomposing and had been rotting for months
science
Hunting for a cure Recent research into Huntington’s disease has led to some interesting developments, writes Aoife Hardesty
Psychiatric problems are usually the most upsetting manifestations of the disease for the patient’s family, ranging from anxiety and depression to compulsive behaviour, and in about 10% of cases to psychosis
Huntington’s disease is a devastating neurodegenerative condition. As a disease, it strips the individual of their ability to do control their own movements and their cognitive functions and it also causes psychiatric problems. Sufferers from Huntington’s have uncoordinated, jerky movements that worsen as the disease progresses. Problems with cognitive function include difficulties communicating, decrease in awareness and memory loss. Psychiatric problems are usually the most upsetting manifestations of the disease for the patient’s family, ranging from anxiety and depression to compulsive behaviour, and in about 10% of cases to psychosis. Huntington’s is a genetic disease, passed from parent to child through the parent’s DNA. When a foetus is made, it has two copies of DNA, one copy from each parent. Within this DNA are sections called genes, which code for amino acids, which bond together to make proteins. In most genetic diseases, for a disease to be inherited, the person must inherit two copies of a damaged gene. If they were to only inherit one damaged copy and one correctly functioning copy, the correctly functioning copy would take over and the individual would be a carrier of the disease with the ability to pass it to their offspring, but they themselves would be unaffected. Huntington’s, however, is an autosomal dominant disease, so an individual who contracts one damaged copy and one functioning copy of the Huntington gene is a sufferer of the disease. If someone with Huntington’s has a child, that child has a 50/50 chance of having Huntington’s. Symptoms of Huntington’s normally
show later in life and the disease is most commonly diagnosed in individuals between 35 and 45 years of age. The good news is that scientists know what causes Huntington’s at the genetic level. At the end of the damaged Huntington gene, there is a string of repeated triplets (one triplet codes for one amino acid that binds to other amino acids to make a protein), each one coding for glutamine. The result is a protein with a string of unwanted and unneeded glutamines at one end, and this causes the malfunction of the protein. The bad news is that scientists still haven’t found a cure for the disease, despite knowing the cause, because they do not know how the protein works and what goes wrong when that protein malfunctions. There is more good news, however. Recent studies on the disease have shown dysfunctional cysteine production. Cysteine is another type of amino acid made in our bodies with the help of the enzyme CSE (cystathionine γ-lyase). Researchers at John Hopkins University noticed that mice lacking CSE behaved the same way as mice with Huntington’s disease. The abnormal behaviour was noted when mice were held upside down by their tails. Healthy mice when held in such a way will squirm and twist around to try and bite the hand that is holding them, the mice in which CSE was absent stayed still and clasped their paws together. This was the same reaction observed in mice with Huntington’s disease. In order to establish the presence or absence of a link between CSE and the Huntington protein, the researchers monitored CSE in healthy and diseased brain tissue from both mice and humans. There
was a dramatic decrease in the CSE levels of the diseased brain tissue from mice and from humans. The researchers discovered that the damaged Huntington proteins were binding to another protein in the tissue. In normal tissue, this protein’s action was to either induce or not induce the activity of the CSE gene, thereby controlling the amount of CSE being made. But when the damaged Huntington protein was attached to this protein, it hindered that proteins ability to bind to the CSE gene resulting in deficient amounts of CSE being made, and as a byproduct, a cysteine deficiency. If Huntington’s disease was really caused by this pathway, then introducing cysteine into the body systems of sufferers of Huntington’s disease might relieve some of symptoms of the disease. This is the train of thought which led to feeding mice cysteine-rich diets. Amino acids can be taken into the body via food, and so these mice were able to take up cysteine, replenishing their cysteine stock. The mice used in the study had Huntington’s disease and the cysteine supplements appeared to reverse their symptoms of the disease. So does this mean these scientists have uncovered the molecular pathway of Huntington’s disease? Well it certainly looks that way, but more research on this particular pathway must be conducted before it is deemed to be correct. As for cysteine-rich diets curing Huntington’s disease, human clinical trials shall have to be performed before we know if the supplementary cysteine works the same way in humans as it did in mice. But the future for sufferers of Huntington’s disease looks promising.
Paving the way for new Sat Nav tech As the European Satellite Navigation Competition begin taking entries once again, Michael O’Sullivan speaks to Linda Fitzpatrick about the benefits of the competition
The regional Irish winner will receive a prize provided by National Space Centre Ltd in Cork, Arclabs and Rubicon and is valued at €20,000
Now in its 11th year, the European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC) 2014 has just begun taking applications. As part of the competition, participants across Europe are invited to submit their ideas for new opportunities in the satellite services market, a lucrative industry worth around €100 billion. The regional Irish winner will receive a prize provided by National Space Centre Ltd in Cork, Arclabs and Rubicon, and is valued at €20,000. The prize includes an incubation space, business coaching, technical support, marketing expertise as well as travel costs and automatic entry to the Galileo Masters, an international competition with a highly sought after prize fund of €1 million. Irelands’ first winner in the competition came in 2012 in the form of Vicinity Systems, who have technology under development that uses Sat Nav technology to calculate the most energy-efficient routes for electric cars, taking such factors as land topography and traffic
into consideration. Last year’s Irish winner was the CarSafari concept, an in-car interactive educational system that provides information on the local region to car passengers as they pass through. Initially started in 2004 in conjunction with a spin-off of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), the competition has come on in leaps and bounds, helping to further facilitate and strengthen the European Satellite navigation market, with implications the world over. The ESNC believes that it is its mission to raise awareness for the manifold application potential of the European GNSS programmes (EGNOS and Galileo) and to promote the use of the technology for new application fields. They also assist start-up companies in the industry to get off the ground and create cross European matchmaking opportunities. Linda Fitzpatrick of the National Space Centre believes the competition has been highly successful thus far. “Over the past 11 years, it has proved to be one of the strongest drivers behind innovative applications of satellite navigation technologies and fertile ground for successful start-up companies. The competition thus has helped to exploit a growing market through fostering a variety of applications and has always led the way in detecting trends.” Now in their third year as a sponsor, the National Space Centre got involved “because until 2012 Irish entries had to enter as part of the UK Region, so we believed it was worth organising in order to promote development in this sector in Ireland, and provide a dedicated channel for Irish entrants.” Applications for the competition are open until June 30th. More information can be found at www.esnc.info
april 16th 2014 11
science Easy as Pi
At the beginning of April, the creator of the Raspberry Pi addressed the Mature Students’ Society and students from the UCD School of Information and Library Studies, and after the event Killian Woods caught up with the former Cambridge academic to discuss the success of his single-board computer
We decided to test the hypothesis by creating a small programmable computer and getting it out to a relatively small number of children and seeing whether that would help to reverse the decline
Computer programming is so prominent in every expanding sector of the economy at present that it is difficult to believe that less than a decade ago there were alarming trends that showed interest in the area had waned in university applicants. In 2005, Dr Eben Upton, then of the University of Cambridge, saw this worrying trend arising first hand when he looked at the number of undergraduate applicants to computer science courses. In the early 2000s applications for the courses were suddenly declining and in addition, Dr Upton personally felt that the hands on experience these applicants had was lower than previous generations. “[In Cambridge] we had gone from 500 applicants to nearer 200, the department had shrunk and more worryingly, although we had found some bright kids to come and study, many of them had no real experience of programming a computer,” says Dr Upton as he conveys how alarming the trend was back then. Although the figures were unexplainable at the time, Dr Upton and a group at Cambridge felt obliged to take a special interest in this issue and present a solution that would bring course applications back in line. The group started out with a simple hypothesis and they had no idea that they were about to kick start what is today known as the Raspberry Pi, a single-board computer that is the size of a credit card and available for as little as $25. “A group of us at the computer laboratory in Cambridge wondered whether we could do something about it,” said Dr Upton. “First of all we started to wonder what had gone wrong… My hypothesis is, we used to have these computers we could programme, those computers went away, and a few years later our supply of students went away.” “We decided to test the hypothesis by creating a small programmable computer and getting it out to a relatively small number of children and seeing whether that would help to reverse the decline.” The goal from the outset, in relation to the product, was to make it as cheap and accessible as possible. Two versions of the Raspberry Pi were made at affordable prices, one being model A costing $25 and model B $35. “We waited for technology to grind on where we could have a product
Printing a new thinking cap 3D printing body parts is all the rage these days and Michael O’Sullivan investigates why
Count yourself lucky then, that you don’t suffer from van Buchem disease, a rare bone disorder found only in small pockets of the Dutch population that causes bones to grow uncontrollably, most noticeably in the skull
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Have you ever felt that parts of your head were so big your mother must have had the world’s most hilarious C-Section in order to birth you? Count yourself lucky then, that you don’t suffer from van Buchem disease, a rare bone disorder found only in small pockets of the Dutch population that causes bones to grow uncontrollably, most noticeably in the skull. Sufferers have enlarged jaw and skull bones as well as lengthened ribs and other bones, but the facial region is usually the most noticeable. Now while this may seem more like a cosmetic issue on paper, the problem with uncontrolled bone growth is that it goes both ways. While the skull thickens, it begins to press on the brain, leading to various difficulties ranging anywhere from impaired movement to complete loss of speech, depending
on where the skull is thickest. A recent case gained international headlines when a woman with the disorder underwent surgery to have the top of her skull replaced with a 3D printed replacement, a surgery that had never been attempted before. The hospital waited three months before reporting on the procedure to ensure that the woman had suffered no serious side effects before the procedure was attempted on other patients. While the procedure was a resounding success, one must ask the question whether medical professionals are actually interested in helping people, or simply overly enamoured with new technology that allows them to create anything they wish as long as they have the correct ink. In recent memory there have been reports of 3D printed replacements for almost every conceivable body part flooding the news cycles, a
trend which could be welcomed as a new era for biomedical endeavours, or simply as the result of spoilt surgeons playing with their latest toy. While three months is a safe period to wait to ensure a patient hasn’t suffered any serious side effects, perhaps we should delay the bells and whistles a while before declaring the operation a success. More complications may not become apparent until later down the line. The moral of the story? 3D printing is a wonderful and innovative creation, but perhaps we should be a little less eager to stick bits of shaped plastic into our bodies until we are entirely sure that the stuff will actually work in the long term, rather than rushing in and ending up with a court case after the patient gets several blood diseases and haemorrhoids after a 3D printed toe replacement goes disastrously awry.
that was eventually going to meet our goals… We wanted to put them in the hands of the right thousand children [to] increase the number of applicants to study Computer Science.” Dr Upton admits that he never thought the Raspberry Pi would be so successful, but does have interesting thoughts about the best way to market a new product. “So, Liz [Upton] was a journalist before and she ran our PR and one thing she learnt is how awful it is being a journalist. “People bombard you with press releases for the most trivial stuff. We never do press releases, we never really push. If we have a really big announcement we might have one or two journalists who we might go and tell about it; people who have shown and interest in the Raspberry Pi before and we will go and tell them about it because it would be discourteous to run something or market without doing that. That’s one thing, is to not be pushy.” This mindset has served the company very well so far. The confidence that Dr Upton has in what they’re doing is evident as he genuinely, and rightfully, believes that they are just trying to solve a problem, something he believes is helped by the fact they are a nonprofit entity run like a business. “It’s an expression that we’re trying to genuinely solve a problem. It means that organisations that are large or commercially focused are much more prepared to deal with us and deal with us on good terms than they would be if they felt that we would just be buying Ferraris with the money.” The Raspberry Pi blog is where Dr Upton really sees the benefits of what the invention is bringing to people’s lives. “We could today, if we chose to, fill our blog with stories about things that children are doing with the Pi,” says Dr Upton, but there are so many applications of the device to keep track of. “A lot of the fairly sophisticated home automation, people who [are] building things that are basically like nest boxes and network attached boxes that allow you to remote control your home from a mobile phone. I think that’s really impressive. “There are a number of people who clearly want a box that they can use to do this and all of the propriety boxes are very expensive. One thing we’ve got now, that we just saw in the office is that there is a company called energy that make remote controlled plug sockets.
“There is enormous potential there for doing the smart home/ smart grid thing. It can either be done from the top down like governments and utility companies saying everyone will have a smart meter and utility companies will open the data that comes out of the smart meter and they will be able to tell your house to turn off the freezer for ten minutes if they feel they need to suppress a demand spike. “You can tell everyone to turn their freezer off. Or you can do it in a bottom up way, whereby you can give people the ability to install in their homes the automation that they want and then they can go and have control over their data and control over the automation of their homes. I think that’s a more appealing way for this to happen.” Aside from the rewarding factor of seeing so many people think of clever ways to adapt the Raspberry Pi to their lives, Dr Upton also said it is great to have companies like Google show an interest in investing in the future of computer programming. “It’s really rewarding. One of the reasons why this problem festered is because there’s not an obvious way to do communal action among corporations around it, because if my corporation spends a million dollars getting engineers then it has to compete for those engineers in the jobs market with all the companies that didn’t invest and there’s a free rider problem. “One of the fantastic things about a company like Google is that they are willing to do these things even though they don’t make economic sense. They do it because they think it is the right thing to do. We were impressed with the level of commitment.” With nearly a decade passing since the initial idea was posited to make a cheap and affordable computer readymade for coding available to children, there is one question that Dr Upton always ends up asking himself. “What’s success for the Raspberry Pi?” asks Dr Upton. “The number we can measure is applicants to study Computer Science at Cambridge. In 2000, we had 500 applicants. Our trough was 2008, when we were down to 200 applicants; a 60% fall. Last year [2013] we had 560 applicants.” Computer programmers principally deal with numbers, so in Dr Upton’s mind it is hard to argue with the statistics. The Raspberry Pi has been successful so far, but this only seems like the beginning for this minicomputer; only one slice of the pie.
science
Psycollegey —Gender norms
The supposition of the existence of ‘gender norms’ could be more damaging than we think, writes Louise Dolphin
The true role played by nature or innate forces has yet to be established in studying the observed differences between boys and girls. But for me, the socialisation or nurture theories are more compelling
Reinventing the wheelchair Looking into Walk Again Project, Sara Holbrook finds that paraplegics may be able to walk again with this new suit
A mind-controlled robotic exoskeleton will debut at the opening ceremony of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. This robotic exoskeleton has been designed with the potential to one day replace wheelchairs. Miguel Nicolelis, a neural engineer based at Duke University in North Carolina, hopes that this technology will turn wheelchairs into a thing of the past. This is essentially a robotic suit, built from lightweight alloys and powered by hydraulics, which a paraplegic person can wear and once again feel as if they have the use of their legs. The Walk Again Project started this idea a number of years ago and there are multiple different technologies required in order for it to work successfully. Nicolelis and his team had to figure out how to read brain waves and then how to use them to control the robotic limbs. Gordon Cheng at the Technical University in Munich oversaw the robotic work that created the exoskeleton that would be worn by those who no longer have the use of their legs, while the exoskeleton itself was built by French researchers. A Facebook page and a website
have been set up to document the days leading up to the big reveal at the opening ceremony. The Walk Again Project regularly updates the page counting down to the World Cup, posting pictures of the exoskeleton and thanking those involved. Nine paraplegic men and women are currently testing the suit in preparation for the opening ceremony, one person will be chosen to walk out onto the pitch and kick a ball before the first game. The chosen person will be helped into the suit and there will be a cap on their head that reads their brain waves in order to operate the exoskeleton. These signals are sent from the cap to a computer on the back of the suit that decodes and uses them to move hydraulic drivers on the suit. The suit is powered by a battery that is contained on the back of it and it has a battery life of two hours. The robot is apparently smooth moving and moves more like a human than a robot, though the truth of this can be judged by the millions who tune into the World Cup this summer. The person using the suit rests their feet on plates
that can detect when contact has been made with the ground. Each time a foot hits the ground a vibration is sent up to a pad in the operator’s shirtsleeve. This vibration seems to trick the brain into thinking that the sensation has come from the bottom of the foot instead. The exoskeleton essentially becomes an extension of their body and so it seems as if they can feel their legs walking and their feet touching the ground. There is a chance that electromagnetic waves from mobile phones could make the exoskeleton malfunction, but researchers have tested the arena for radiation from phones and believe that the chance of glitches arising is slim. There are various safety features that prevent the robot from falling over and injuring the operator. It is also fitted with a number of airbags in case it does lose balance at any point. The idea is that these exoskeletons will become an everyday technology that can eventually be used by all wheelchair users.
The Walk Again Project started this idea a number of years ago and there are multiple different technologies required in order for it to work successfully
Ireland improves PISA ranking With the release of a global study looking at problem solving skills, Conor de Paor says Irish students are nothing special
The lack of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) use in classrooms around Ireland is beginning to become a problem for young students. The Educational Research Centre (ERC) runs a study every three years focused solely on 15-year-old students called the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The last PISA exam, run in 2012, tested the four main areas of students’ academic ability; literacy, mathematical problems, science and problem solving. The first three of these areas were scrutinised with a written exam. However, the problem solving results were obtained through a 40-minute computer-based assessment. In comparison with the previous PISA
from 2009, Ireland has shown stark improvements in all areas. Our students ranked fourth in reading out of 34 OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries, up from 17th in 2009. In relation to the computer-based exam, however, Irish teenagers performed less well than expected, ranking 17th in 2012 in the OECD and 22nd out of 44 countries worldwide. Many believe that this is a result of Irish students lacking familiarity with computers as learning tools. The Junior and Leaving Certificates both remain primarily written exams that do not require the students to use computers. The ERC noted, however, that higher than expected results were recorded
for transition year students. The accepted reason for this being that they have more opportunities for problem solving during that year than other students. The top six rankings worldwide were taken by Asian nations, with countries such as the US, Norway, Sweden and Denmark sharing similar PISA results to our own. Ruairi Quinn, the Minister for Education and Skills, expressed that there is “considerable room for improvement” when the results were released at the start of April this year. The Minister believes that with the introduction of Project Maths and the JCSA (Junior Cycle Student Awards) that the problem solving abilities of Irish 15-yearsolds will be considerably improved.
The top six rankings worldwide were taken by Asian nations, with countries such as the US, Norway, Sweden and Denmark sharing similar PISA results to our own
The hypothesis that males and females are vastly different beings is constantly perpetuated and promoted in modern media. From books like Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus to the current craze in research searching for evidence that our brains are hardwired differently. To track some of these assumptions, it is necessary to go right back to how gender concepts emerge for us in our formative childhood years. Physical differences aside, many studies have claimed real differences between boys and girls in an array of areas such as activity level, cognitive skills, emotionality, and personality. If, for a moment, we accept these claims, that even young boys and girls are considerably different from each other, what might cause this? On one hand we have the biological theories. They maintain that differences between boys and girls are best explained by differences in brain structure and hormone production. That they are innate differences. For example, the universal finding that boys are more aggressive and (as children) engage more in ‘rough and tumble’ play is attributed to higher concentrations of androgens (e.g. testosterone). We need to be careful here, however, as to my knowledge a causal link has yet to be established. It is entirely possible that behaviour and situational factors can effect hormone levels. Just last month, neuroscientist Professor Gina Rippon claimed that any (trivial) brain connectivity differences between men and women are caused by the “drip, drip, drip of gender stereotypes” (e.g. spending a long time multi-tasking, would cause the relevant section of a woman’s brain to develop). The true role played by nature or innate forces has yet to be established in studying the observed differences between boys and girls. But for me, the socialisation or nurture theories are more compelling. Socialisation theories argue that the differences observed between boys and girls are best explained by the different ways in which they are treated, and by the different expectations of the societies in which they grow up. Even newborn babies draw gendered comments. In an experiment, a baby girl dressed in blue was likely to be told “aren’t you so big/strong/a little bruiser,” whereas a baby boy dressed in a pink was “so pretty/cute/gorgeous.” Parents are thought to reinforce gendered norms.
For example, studies have found that particularly fathers are more likely to offer gender-stereotyped toys during free play, such as dolls for girls and trucks for boys. Gendered norms can even impact on how parents scaffold a child’s learning. A study published in Psychological Science in 2001 followed 185 families through a Californian children’s museum. It found that, while boys and girls showed no difference in the length of time they engaged in an exhibit, parents were three times more likely to explain science to boys than to girls. On the topic of education, one (admittedly outdated) study in 1991 found that girls were interrupted more frequently by their teachers than boys and given less time to speak in class. All of these studies looks at differences between the sexes, but a new strand of research is stepping back from this and saying, ‘Hang on, perhaps there are more differences within the sexes than between them.’ A 2014 review published in the latest edition of the Annual Review of Psychology by Janet Shibley Hyde provides compelling evidence that, across the board, fewer differences exist between the sexes than we think. For example, reviewing data on over seven million 2nd–11th graders, she found that there is no significant different in mathematical ability between boys and girls at any grade. In addition, there were no significant differences in terms of vocabulary, reading comprehension or essay writing. In terms of personality and social behaviour, Hyde concludes, “Although stereotypes portray women as the emotional ones... the data, from both children and adults, indicate that gender differences in emotional experience are small or, in many cases, trivial.” Notably, she found exceptions to the “gender similarities hypothesis”, where differences were moderate or large (e.g. 3D mental rotation, the personality dimension of agreeableness/tender-mindedness, sensation seeking, interests in things versus people, physical aggression, some sexual behaviours). But Hyde cautions researches about seeking out gender differences. She says, “Researchers should keep the possibilities of gender differences and gender similarities in balance as they report and interpret their findings. There are serious costs to an overemphasis on gender differences, such as beliefs that boys and girls are so different that they must be educated in gendersegregated schools or a belief that marital therapy for heterosexual couples cannot succeed because of profound gender differences in communication styles.” As a researcher, this surprises me slightly. Like many others, I regularly fall into the trap of assuming gender differences in my data. In fact, one of the first things I do with a clean data set is run some comparison tests between male and female scores. I’m fascinated to see where this research will lead. Advancements in neuroscience are sure to yield some intriguing results. But perhaps we should be wary too. Overinflated gender difference claims may appeal more to our intuition than reality. In fact, such black and white, categorical thinking can be quite harmful. Gender stereotypes can inhibit behaviour change, but also discourage and hinder us from seeing the true individuality in each person.
april 16th 2014 13
science
LGBT* Outreach— SEA Changes: Aspects of an Ally Influenced by an early childhood memory, Eimear McCarthy explains why she cares about LGBTQ+ discrimination and why society should take time to care about how people want to identify themselves
it, so she must be gay,” someone crowed victoriously. The teacher whirled around and the jeers stopped immediately when her eyes settled on my table. “Gay isn’t an insult. I don’t ever want to hear you using it as an insult again.” There was a moment of silence. “Now, let’s move on.” That was my first time hearing the word “gay” used in any other context, and I’d harbour a guess that half of the other kids had no clue what it meant either. If the teacher hadn’t stepped in, it would have been very easy for the negative bias to kick in; filing away the memory that being gay was not a good thing. Their sharp dismissal of childish, mindless homophobia, however, left an impression instead. The most important lesson that teacher taught me was advocacy, which along with support and education, makes up the backbone of what allies should stand for. The term ally does, unfortunately, come with some negative connotations. Insistence that the ‘A’ in the LGBTQ+ alphabet soup belongs to ally instead of asexual, use of the ally-by-association clause (‘My insert-relationship-here is LGBTQ+, so I can’t be homophobic/transphobic, etc.) as a get-out-of-jail-free card upon saying something hurtful, or deliberate use of incorrect personal pronouns are common complaints. Misappropriation of victimisation is another major issue. As a heterosexual, I know that I can’t I have a very distinct memory even begin to comprehend how it from when I was about six-years-old feels to be systematically targeted of sitting around a table in school. by members of the general public, At the time, a ‘last one there is a or to hear stories about LGBTQ+ rotten egg’ phase had swept across the classroom, and new and hilarious hate crimes in Uganda, Russia and consequences were generated hourly. elsewhere and know that it could just as easily have been me. When the teacher’s back was Pats on the back shouldn’t be turned, one of the boys hissed “Hey! expected either; in an ideal world, Last one to put their feet on the floor there would be nothing unremarkable is gay.” Confused, I hesitated before placing my feet down. At the time, my about being an ally. Support is an easy thing to be lazy about. knowledge of the word was limited to Enid Blyton’s Gay Story Book and Tolerance and acceptance don’t quite hit the mark where people Maria from West Side Story. I didn’t that you care about are concerned. see what was so awful about being There’s a difference between being the last one to put my feet down, okay with somebody, and being what was wrong with being happy? proud of them. It’s like trying to “Look, she’s gay! She didn’t do
Their sharp dismissal of childish, mindless homophobia, however, left an impression instead. The most important lesson that teacher taught me was advocacy, which, along with support and education, makes up the backbone of what allies should stand for
brush an elephant mostly under the carpet and pretend it’s a snake; our identity is what makes us who we are, and we should be celebrating these differences rather than ignoring them. It’s the wrong way to go about achieving equality, as the diversity within the LGBTQ+ community is a precursor to the sense of supporting other members’ identities. Support also means educating yourself. Knowing how to be a good ally lies in knowledge of what behaviours are not okay, and subsequent avoidance of those behaviours. If you know that a word could be construed as offensive, don’t use it. If somebody uses a word that you don’t understand to describe themselves, look it up so that you know how to use it in the correct context. Things as simple as using the correct personal pronouns can make a huge difference. It’s okay if you make a mistake; apologise and keep making the effort. Explore queer theory; heteronormativity can be blinding, as it’s automatically presumed that someone is cisgendered and heterosexual until proven otherwise. Try not to presume, as difficult as it may sound. Although it’s not hugely prevalent in many social situations, it’s a good idea to ask people how they’d like to be addressed so that you don’t end up isolating them. Stay informed with injustices and crimes against LGBTQ+ people worldwide; it’s difficult to know exactly how it feels to be discriminated against in this manner, but becoming more informed makes it a little easier to try and step into someone else’s shoes for a moment. It has been almost 15 years since I sat around that little table, and those three concepts, support, education and advocacy are things I try to constantly keep in mind. Being a good ally creates a safe and friendly environment in which people shouldn’t be afraid to express their identity, and this openness and diversity makes society all the richer.
How to be cool with Conor O’Toole In the last thing he will ever write, the Art, Design & Technology Director does something that is objectively the best thing ever
So here it is, the last paper of the year. For some, it will be the last time their writing is committed to extremely thin paper, for others, it will mean they no longer get paid (me), and for an even greater number of people (perhaps the greatest number of all) nothing will have appeared to have changed at all. When I started work on Volume XX, I was a cock-sure dude from the suburbs with a beard and an attitude to match. I’m different now. I must have shaved at some point. Maybe around Hallowe’en. Maybe at Christmas. Either way, I don’t have the beard anymore. Anyway! That’s enough sappy nasal gazing, for at least two paragraphs. At least, I think it’s called nasal gazing, as if you were staring up at your own brain through your nose, although I’ve only ever heard it pronounced naval gazing. That doesn’t sound as reflective. That sounds like something an anorak would do in a shipyard. Anorak is an oldie time insult for people who like things that are unconventional that I use because I am an old man. If you like my column, congratulations, you are an anorak, you anorak. If after reading all my previous columns you are still not cool, here are some last-ditch ways that just might work; be yourself. Even if you are not cool, this may still work. Love thy neighbour. Because nothing is cooler than eternal salvation. Be nice to people and animals. It is disarming and makes you seem laid back, even though you’re a highly strung coke-addict.
14 april 16th 2014
Student journalism may occasionally seem like a total waste of time, money, and my weekend. It may seem to be roundly ignored and sure, a lot of University Observers probably don’t get unfolded; I’ve often wondered what percentage of physical, printed words have actually been read, I reckon it’s probably below 25%, although to be fair that is probably still higher than the online percentage. This, though, is exactly the reason student journalism is so great. They aren’t trying to pander to the populous. Student journalists don’t care if you read this. On average, you haven’t. And that affords them the chance to perform a purer, truer journalism than is possible in the big bad world, with sales and relevance and dodgy financial backers to worry about. What this great team has achieved this year is wonderful. The sheer volume of material that they can produce on a bimonthly basis is staggering. I believe that around 50,000 words goes into every issue of this paper. I struggle to get this column over 500, most days. And I can literally write whatever, look; the filigree marsupial recited the dictionary while Xlzfoicliej and I danced the ancient dance of our people in the shallow pool of flat 7up. See? Garbage. I’m very proud to have had a hand in presenting the superior writings of such a great bunch of people. I mean, I didn’t read half of it, but on average...
science
Editorial
It feels so very strange to already be writing the last of these. In a way, it feels like I have only been doing this job for a month. In many other ways, it feels like I’ve been at this for years. Either way, my time as editor of the University Observer is up and I couldn’t have had a better time. To make a publication like this takes an ungodly amount of work from a large number of people. Unfortunately, I don’t have space to thank each one of you individually, but I will name a few people. These are the people that helped make me look competent this year and are the real reason we won Newspaper of the Year at the Smedias last week. Liz, your work this year has been fantastic and I am so delighted for you to have won Journalist of the Year. Your talent is only matched by your work ethic. I am so grateful for all the extra articles you have written (and rewritten) this year. I am certain that you will succeed at whatever it is you decide to do. Nicole, it is not an easy task to
manage the Features section, but you have done a fantastic job. The standard of interviews this year has been something for everyone in the paper to be proud of, and your willingness to take on anything that needed to be done means more to me than you know. Michael, although we like to joke that it was a punishment, when we extended the Science section to three pages earlier in the year, it was a direct reflection on your abilities as a section editor. You have gone above and beyond the call of duty for us. Even if we didn’t always show it in the most conventional way, we really appreciate everything you have done this year. Shane, it couldn’t have been an easy task taking over the Sports section knowing that you had to report to two former sports editors. You have done a brilliant job of it, and I am so happy to see you branching out into other sections. I don’t know how you get the interviews that you do, but could you give me some tips?
Amy, I am very glad that we convinced you to jump ship to us and I have really enjoyed reading your column this year. You are a fantastic writer with a great eye for analysis, despite being Liverpool fan, but I suppose nobody’s perfect. Steven and Jack, the job of editing Otwo is unlike any of the other sections. Managing a team of section editors can be a very thankless job, but I do hope you know how much I appreciated your work this year. Not only that, but your relationship with each other is so vital to the production, and I hope that you guys feel like you’ve gained a new best friend. I think that you can be proud in the knowledge that you have stamped your own personalities on a great magazine this year. Niall, your management of the Games section has been absolutely fantastic. The quality of your content has been first-class, not to mention the fact that your preparedness for each issue has bailed us out so many times when features from other
sections fell through. Thanks for saving me from looking like an idiot. Laura, you are a fantastically talented writer and editor. Your writing is always totally engaging and enjoyable and I often find myself wishing you had ignored the word counts I set for you, just so that I’d have more to read. I am pretty sure that you could write a review of paint drying and convince me to pay money to go and see it. Rebekah, it has been a pleasure working with you. The calibre of musicians we’ve gotten to speak to this year has been a reflection of your hard work. I hope that you keep contributing to the paper next year, regardless of in what capacity. Emily Mullen, we honestly couldn’t have had a Fashion section this year without you. As cool a guy as I try to be, I know nothing at all about fashion. Thank you for being great fun throughout the year and also for bringing Conor a new friend to play with. Longzo, I don’t know where to
begin. You are one of the most talented writers I have ever had the pleasure reading. I honestly don’t know how you do it. You always knew when to come into the office and lift our spirits, and to satisfy Conor’s bizarre “no meat whatsoever” diet. Even when you weren’t here, your articles were the bright spot in those seemingly endless production weekends. You are a truly unique individual. Aoife, you have been there to lighten the load for us right from the very first issue. I am so glad that I have gotten to know you so well this year, and I owe you and Emer so much for trusting me to be your sports editor last year. I learned so much working under you both, and I can never thank you enough for pushing me to try and be better. You gave me the confidence I needed to do this job. Paul, Bridget, Quinton, Jon, and Kate; thank you all for teaching me how to be a writer. To all the former editors of the University Observer who
offered their help and advice this year, it meant the world to me to have your support. I hope that we made you proud. Conor, it has been an absolute blast working with you. You don’t need me to tell you how talented and funny you are. I am so happy to have had the chance to get to know you this year. Hopefully I am a little bit cooler than I was before I read your column. If not, then your column sucks and it’s your fault I have no friends. Killian, you have been my best friend this year. I don’t think I’ll ever go through something like this with anyone ever again. It has been an honour to work with you and have so much fun while doing it. I honestly think I saw you more than I saw my parents and three siblings combined this year. Thanks for not getting sick of me, or for hiding it very well if you did. I hope that we get the chance to work together again.
the university observer
talleyrand Failure looms!
first place of course. Lorcan, on the other hand, has finally been able The year draws to a close, and to afford an actual pair of shoes. Talleyrand looks forward to feeding Which is unfortunate, because it off the collective despair of the is almost summer, aka the time student populace as exams approach. where it might actually make sense As bad as you no doubt feel for to wear flip-flops constantly. yourself right now, spare a thought According to Talleyrand’s exclusive for the UCDSU Sabbatical team, who sources, SU President Mícheál have to go back to living like the Gallagher is planning on spending rest of you filthy scum, having spent most of his summer in the west of the the last year dining like kings. Free Netherlands. Just north of Rotterdam. machine coffee whenever they want, I am talking about the Hague, in case all-expenses-paid trips to Brava and none of you are geography buffs. free tickets to every UCD gig. It’s A super injunction from Gallagher’s hard to keep going once you have lawyers forbids Talleyrand from already lived out your wildest dreams. disclosing the purpose of his visit With all the pampering, there to the International Criminal Court is a very good chance that Adam (ICC), and so our poor readers Carroll has forgotten how to dress must imagine for themselves what himself over the course of this year, kind of crime could be so heinous assuming he knew how to in the that even Mícheál Gallagher is
Editor Kevin Beirne Deputy Editor Killian Woods
ashamed to be associated with it. It is rumoured that he was reported to the ICC by none other than Cian “Campaigns are difficult” Dowling, while Captain Kind of Helpful swooped in to second the motion quickly, despite the lack of any need for such an action. Cian was hurt when Gallagher came out against his brother, Cian, in the recent SU elections. In repsonse, Cian, with the help of his brother Cian, bugged every square inch of UCD by hacking into all of your mobile phones, not that it will stop any of you carrying them with you constantly. The dynamic duo apparently recorded over 1,000 hours worth of Gallagher admitting to breaching several articles of the Geneva Convention in just
the space of three days. Meanwhile, next year’s SU tributes have been placed in their cocoons for the summer, and are due to emerge at UCD’s annual Hacking Day on July 1st, where one of the previous year’s Sabbatical team is sacrificed to the Void in order to prevent a poor voter turnout at next year’s SU elections. There will be a vote at the final Council of the year to determine whether or not the entirety of this year’s team will be given away, as the Gods are clearly not happy with the recent sacrifices. Tally out.
Art, Design & Technology Director Conor O’Toole Comment Editor Elizabeth O’Malley Features Editor Nicole Casey Science, Health & Technology Editor Michael O’Sullivan Sports Editor Shane Hannon Chief Sports Writer Amy Eustace Otwo Co-Editors Steven Balbirnie Jack Walsh Games Editor Niall Gosker
letters to the editor Send your letters to editor@universityobserver.ie
Film & TV Editor Laura Bell Music Editor Rebekah Rennick Fashion Editor Emily Mullen
Dear Editors, I was disappointed to note that in your review of the campaign for the UCDSU presidential election last week, reference was made to the behavior and performance of previous UCDSU presidents. It has not been shown that the problems of the past associated with the financial management of the union were caused by the actions of presidential office holders and therefore the criticisms of former presidents contained in the article should be withdrawn by the editors. Regards, Mícheál Gallagher, UCDSU President
Chief Otwo Writer Emily Longworth Senior Reporters Cian Carton Megan Fanning Thanks Eugene, Maeve, Stephen, Andy and the rest of the crew at Smurfit Kappa. Orla Gartland. Foil, Arms and Hog. Orla and Rory at MCD. All the Student Centre staff. Kristen Bell. David Reilly.
Staff Writers Conor de Paor Louise Dolphin Sean Hayes Sara Holbrook Kate Purcell Karl Quigley Laura Woulfe Contributors Ann Bach Ciaran Bruder Andrew Carolan Fergus Carroll Sean Finegan Sean Flanagan Michael Halton Aoife Hardesty Jamie Headon Stephen Heffernan Michael O’Dwyer Ciara Leacy Donal Lucey Jack McCann Conor McKenna Emily McMorrow Sean O’Neill Robert Ranson Lucy Ryan Lorna Vernon Illustrations Rory Mullen Emily Longworth Michael Vance Photographers James Brady Erica Coburn James Healy Rory Mullen Joanna O’Malley Congratulations Elizabeth O’Malley for winning Journalist of the Year and Kevin Beirne for winning the News and Politics Features Writer of the Year awards at the National Student Media Awards last week, where the University Observer was also named Newspaper of the Year.
Special Thanks Aoife. Longzo. Jack. Michael. You.
april 16th 2014 15
sport THE 02 / APRIL 25 2014
ROAR / OVER 18S GOV ID REQUIRED LINE UP SUBJECT TO CHANGE TERMS AND CONDITIONS APPLY
16 april 16th 2014
IS THE SKY SPORTS DEAL GOOD FOR THE GAA
sport
Hurling and football are two of the most entertaining codes available and they deserve to receive greater coverage
There will now be a tax on the roof over our heads, the water in our taps and the GAA on our tellies
YES The recent broadcasting deal that was struck between the GAA and Sky Sports has signaled a new dawn for the GAA and its broadcasting partners. From this summer, Sky Sports will cover 14 games exclusively, along with the All-Ireland semi-finals and finals in both codes. The deal has been shrouded in controversy since the agreement due to its groundbreaking nature. The mere mention of a British broadcaster deciding to acquire a portion of the games ensured there would be a backlash from the conservative members of the association. Many have criticised the GAA for “selling out” to foreign rivals, but the benefits from Sky Sports entering the market completely outweigh the negative aspects of such a deal. Division of opinion has not been so evident since the debate of Rule 42 over a decade ago, when soccer and rugby games were allowed to be held in GAA stadiums. The traditional members of the GAA may feel this Sky deal goes against everything the GAA stands for, but the decisions made by presidents and
NO director generals in the past have proven to be correct going forward. Technology and online coverage are about to radically change the experience for the audience, whether they are at the game or watching. The powers that be in Croke Park realise this and an alignment with Sky is crucial. This innovative plan to export GAA further afield promises to be an exciting venture that can only add to the reputation of Ireland abroad. The GAA is unique as every member feels they have an ownership stake, leading to the debate over the broadcast deal. Sky Sports’ investment can only be a good thing as greater capital and finance will be available to develop our games further. Nobody got rich when sponsorship deals were signed and corporate boxes were being sold. The money was invested back into grassroots level and the work on updating grounds is endless, while the numbers of full-time games development officers continues to grow. Players and officials are better looked after in a time when that’s all the participants
are seeking. They haven’t sought pay-for-play and don’t appear to be aiming for that any time soon. The ban didn’t kill the GAA; neither did lifting the ban. The sudden outbreak of provincial rugby mania didn’t; nor did soccer in Croke Park or sponsors’ names on jerseys. And while the GPA caused major fears, they haven’t destroyed anything. These events were questioned in a similar way to Sky’s advancement into the market, but none affected the GAA in any way. They didn’t kill the GAA, and neither will Rupert Murdoch. Hurling and football are two of the most entertaining codes available and they deserve to receive greater coverage. Sky will certainly ensure the greatest amount of coverage is delivered this summer with their expertise in PR and advertisement. The excitement and anticipation around the All-Ireland Championships will rise to an unprecedented level as Sky are sure to capture the imagination with their unparalleled coverage. Sean O’Neill
Let’s not pretend that Sky Sports’ deal to secure exclusive rights to GAA matches is anything other than an economical venture designed to furnish the coffers of both the GAA and Rupert Murdoch. Also, we shouldn’t ignore that this deal will have a negative impact on the people of Ireland, particularly rural Ireland. We shall again be reminded of the collateral damage sacrificed in the name of progress. While everyone recognises the benefits of outlawing drink driving, it had a disproportionate effect on those who live in rural areas. No longer could anyone set off down to the local pub, watch a match, have a couple of pints and then drive home later. Understandably, this simple pleasure is of lesser significance than the danger posed by roads populated by the tipsy, inebriated and catatonic. And now they won’t even have the possibility of watching many of the matches at home on television without paying for a grossly expensive Sky Sports subscription.
There will now be a tax on the roof over our heads, the water in our taps, and the GAA on our tellies. The prospect of the average Guinness-drinking GAA fan attempting to navigate the dodgy, free internet streams sounds like an absurd cross-cultural experiment. Yes, there are merits to the argument that allows for the broadcast of GAA matches across the United Kingdom. Ireland has a poor history of ignoring the multitudes of emigrants who have been forced to leave these shores in search of opportunity. We ought to welcome measures that allow our emigrants to connect to part of the culture they have been forced to leave behind. Yet, that does not mean the GAA’s deal with Sky Sports is the best option. One wonders if outsourcing were considered. Could the GAA have not sold these rights to RTÉ or TV3 so that one of these broadcasters could outsource the right to broadcast the matches across the United Kingdom to Sky? This would have kept all matches free to air
within Ireland and still allowed for the games to be shown in the United Kingdom and perhaps further afield. If only RTÉ had considered approaching Sky and other large sports broadcasters in the United States and Australia with some sort of partnership agreement. We could have the best of both worlds. Alas, this level of foresight and innovation is perhaps asking too much of our perennially complacent state broadcaster. And yet, the one aspect of its remit that RTÉ consistently excels in is sports broadcasting. This was a great opportunity here for RTÉ, and indeed the ailing TV3. Hopefully contact has already been made with US sports broadcasters. Surely the broadcasting of live GAA matches would be enormously popular in the US. Apparently 36 million of Americans claim Irish ancestry. Let’s offer them the chance to connect with their cultural heritage, but let’s not make the population of rural Ireland collateral damage. Robert Ranson
The club conceded an awful lot of goals last year. I think we were 5th or 6th in the league for goals scored and we were last in the table for goals against. I think we have to address the balance in that
Painting the town pink With one of the world’s biggest cycling events comes to Ireland for its opening stages this summer, Shane Hannon takes a look at the Giro d’Italia and the significance of its arrival here in May
The 97th Giro d’Italia rolls into Dublin next month in what is set to be one of the biggest sporting events in the world this summer. The annual stage race is ordinarily held in Italy, with some other countries receiving the sporadic honour of hosting some stages of their own. Alongside the Tour de France and Vuelta a España, the Giro is one of cycling’s Grand Tours, and the popularity of the race is unquestioned. The action is beamed to a global TV audience of around 775 million, and that doesn’t include those lucky few that attend in person and line the route. Both Northern Ireland and the Republic have been chosen to host the early stages, or ‘Grande Partenza’ of the big race this year. On May 9th, the opening stage is a 22km team time trial through Belfast, starting at the Titanic museum and taking in the Newtownards Road, Stormont, Queen’s Bridge, the Ormeau Road, Stranmillis and the city centre. Stage 2 the following
day will be a 218km foray from Belfast to Antrim, then to Ballymena, Ballymoney and Bushmills and on to the Giant’s Causeway, taking in the coastline from Cushendall to Larne, Carrickfergus and back to Belfast. Stage 3, on May 11th, sees the 200 or so riders attempt a 187km route across the border that will leave Armagh and travel to Richhill and Newtownhamilton before heading south, crossing the border at Forkhill en route to Dublin, via Dundalk, Castlebellingham and Drogheda. The Dublin portion of the route is expected to draw in thousands of enthusiastic supporters, with the hub of the activity set to be centred on the Giro Fan Park in Merrion Square on May 10th and 11th. The park will play host to the Irish Cycling Show, as well as a whole range of Italian and cycling themed activities and food stalls. Thousands of visitors are expected to congregate on the capital over the weekend in question, and organisers
are hoping to turn the city pink as a show of support for the race. While the leader of the Tour de France wears yellow, the cyclist they all want to catch in this one is always hard to miss in the pink jersey. The economic benefits of the event both north and south will be immediate and fruitful. The fact that the race is seen by such a vast TV audience worldwide means the tourism prospects are lucrative. If Ireland can do as it has done in golf and advertise itself as a haven for competitive and hobby cyclists, then the potential number of new visitors will be great. The number of people visiting for the weekend of the Irish stages alone is set to be in the many thousands. This isn’t the first time that Ireland has played host to a big cycling event. The first stages of the Tour de France in 1998 saw a short time trial in Dublin itself, followed by a longer stage starting and ending in the city and a 205.5km
run from Enniscorthy to Cork. One of the greatest cyclists in Ireland’s history is Stephen Roche, who became the second of only two cyclists to win the Triple Crown of victories in the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia stage races, as well as the World Road Race Championship, in 1987. He feels the Irish Cycling Federation didn’t capitalise on the early Tour de France stages being held here back in ’98, but thinks they will learn from their mistakes this time around. “When the Tour de France came here, nobody from the Federation was ready to use it as a springboard. It came and went,” Roche said. He feels there is the potential to develop the concept of the Tour of Ireland, and the Giro in May can only help. “Hopefully with the Giro coming here now, and with the confidence that is in cycling at the moment, it will help sponsors come on board for another Tour of Ireland.”
For its size, Ireland has actually been quite successful on the world cycling stage. Roche’s own rise to glory was mirrored in the 1980s by that of his fellow countryman, Seán Kelly. The Waterford man won nine monument classics and 193 professional races in total in a hugely successful career. Other Irish cyclists have also managed to win stages of the Tour de France, namely Martin Earley, Seamus Elliott, and Dan Martin. Cycling clearly runs in the Roche family too, with Stephen’s son Nicolas twice a national champion who has many top ten finishes in Grand Tour stages to his name already. England will play host to their own cycling event this summer, with the Grand Depart of the Tour de France set to take place in Yorkshire on July 5th. But it is the Giro d’Italia that will catch the imagination of potential Irish cycling enthusiasts next month. The race began in 1909 as a novel way to increase sales of famed Italian
newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport. Although the leader wears the pink jersey, there are other classifications up for grabs, such as the points classification for sprinters, the mountains classification for climbers, the young riders classification for riders under 25, and the team classification. The reigning champion and last year’s pink jersey winner is Vincenzo Nibali of team Astana, and this year riders like Cadel Evans (BMC Racing), Ivan Basso (Cannondale) and Joaquím Rodríguez (Katusha) will be hoping to have nabbed his crown by the final finish line in Trieste on June 1st. It promises to be a fantastic spectacle; for a few days in May, our beautiful Emerald Isle will instead be pink. For more information on the ‘Big Start’ of the Giro d’Italia in May visit www.girostart2014.com april 16th 2014 17
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Too much at stake With more betting and match-fixing scandals rocking sport every year, Donal Lucey takes a look at this gambling culture and how it can be stamped out
The FA revealed on April 9th that they were close to imposing a blanket ban on all gambling within the upper levels of football following several high-profile cases
The recent Grand National at Aintree was hailed as a “great result” for the bookies. Pineau De Re, a 25-1 long shot, upset a host of favorites to win the chaotic Steeplechase. He jumped the last of 30 fences in the lead and eventually pulled away to finish five lengths ahead of wellfancied Balthazar King and 10-1 joint-favourite Double Seven in third. This surprising result followed Auroras Encore’s 66-1 success in 2013. It is estimated that over 600 million tuned in and £250 million worth of bets were placed for the festival’s marquee race alone. These are extraordinary numbers and clearly show the growing popularity of gambling on sports. The question becomes, however, is it good for sport? There is a large market worldwide for gambling on competitive sports at bookmakers or licensed websites, particularly for sports like horse racing, greyhound racing and football. Football, in particular, has an associated form of gambling known as pools or accumulators that are only growing in popularity. The online betting market is experiencing a compounding growth rate since about 2009 and the total online gambling population of the
UK alone is estimated to be over two million customers. While obviously the vast majority of customers cannot harm the sport or impact it negatively, there are those who can. It is undoubtedly true that betting goes hand-in-hand with horse racing, and it is an integral part of the experience as well as being good for the actual sport. A major part of horse racing’s economic importance lies in the gambling associated with it, an activity that in 2008 alone generated a world-wide market worth around $115 billion. With this much money involved, you have to expect situations will arise where people try and unfairly take advantage. In 2008, famous trainer Aidan O’Brien
was found guilty of breaching “team tactics” rules. O’Brien was fined £5,000 for failing to adequately inform his jockeys of the BHA’s rule that riders “shall not make a manoeuvre in a race in the interests of another horse in common ownership.” This kind of thing needs to be stamped out, but it is far more prevalent and difficult to deal with in a sport like football. Last year, Europol revealed that they believed over 680 matches across the world had been fixed. People will point to the fact that fixing and corruption are far from a new phenomenon in sport, but it’s the global aspect that has developed over the last few years that is a completely new and modern phenomenon.
The sports gambling market, like the music or film industries, has been utterly transformed by the internet. Now gamblers in any part of the world can place a bet on almost any form and tier of sport in any country in the world. In 2006, Italian football was rocked by a scandal known as Calciopoli. Serie A champions Juventus, AC Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina were all found guilty of leveraging improper and unacceptable levels of influence in choosing referees for top flight matches. Investigations by Italian police in May 2006 at the Italian football agency GEA World, headed by Luciano Moggi, uncovered a number of telephone interceptions and transcripts
that pointed to a substantial network of relations between the referee organisations and club management that suggested significant influence in the appointment of match officials. Juventus suffered the most severe punishment as they were relegated to Serie B, stripped of their last two titles and deducted 30 points from their next season total, but all the teams involved suffered point deduction, fines or other serious sanctions. In the past, the line taken by many British football fans has always been that match fixing only happens in foreign leagues; this is a dangerously naïve notion. The reality may be that it has never been investigated thoroughly because this
season has seen a wave of betting scandals in the British leagues. Blackburn striker DJ Campbell, who has played in the Premier League with Birmingham, Blackpool and QPR, is one of six men that have been arrested. Very recently, Tranmere Rovers’ manager Ronnie Moore was sacked for being in breach of his contract after he admitted a Football Association (FA) charge regarding multiple breaches of betting rules. Football officials must start to put into place new forms of protection for the game. One defense is a proper and well-resourced anti-addiction program for players and referees. Gambling is part of the culture for many young British players and some of them risk, and lose, a staggering amount of their wages in gambling. Former Liverpool and Manchester City midfielder Dietmar Hamann is, perhaps, one of the best examples of this. He admitted recently that he lost an incredible £288,400 on a single bet, a cricket match between Australia and South Africa. It’s not just ex-players that are at risk. In the last 12 months, several big-name players such as Tottenham and England winger Andros Townsend, Stoke striker Cameron Jerome and Newcastle midfielder Dan Gosling have fallen foul of the current rules. Thankfully it seems the FA is now prepared to act. Betting isn’t all negative, but it does need to be strictly regulated. The FA revealed on April 9th that they were close to imposing a blanket ban on all gambling within the upper levels of football following several high-profile cases. The changes will come into effect from the start of the 2014/15 season and would see a worldwide prohibition on betting on any other footballrelated matter. If the FA continues to implement these reforms, they stand a good chance of being able to beat back the modern forms of fixing.
A league of their own As the 2014 Allianz hurling and football leagues come to a conclusion, Fergus Carroll examines the merits of the inter-county competition
With the league titles yet to be decided, many fans around the country will be speculating as to their county’s chances this summer. Among the points of debate that will be raised will be how strong of an indicator league form is. The popular perception is that the leagues are viewed as a testing ground of sorts as teams prioritise experimenting with younger players over chasing silverware. However, league form acts as a better indicator than many would be led to believe. In the 12 years since the format change that saw the league held between February and April, half of the football league champions have progressed to complete the double, compared to five of their hurling counterparts. The Dublin footballers are the most recent example in either code, with Jim Gavin’s squad triumphing over Tyrone and Mayo respectively last season. Of course, too much can be read into statistics. Just as the Dublin footballers can support one point of view, the other reigning All-Ireland Champions, the Clare hurlers, can be used as the perfect rebuttal. Perhaps overshadowed by their thrilling victory over Cork last September at the second time of asking was the narrow two-point relegation playoff victory, again against Cork, that just ensured Clare remained in Division 1A. What then, of the accusation that counties treat the league as a warmup of sorts for the prime event that is the All-Ireland later in the summer? Unsurprisingly, it is difficult to definitively reach a conclusion over this. It may be true for some counties to unofficially take it easy, but there are many others who aim to excel. The relative youth of both last year’s All-Ireland Champions may be taken into account. It is of course wrong to suggest that neither Jim Gavin nor Davy Fitzpatrick would have featured so many youngsters
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The relative youth of both last year’s AllIreland Champions may be taken into account. It is of course wrong to suggest that neither Jim Gavin nor Davy Fitzpatrick would have featured so many youngsters in their squads if not for the league games to test them
in their squads if not for the league games to test them, but similarly the greater margin of error allowed by the league format would have certainly helped in this regard and not merely for those teams. There is only so much a manager can gauge from his players in training environments and the All-Ireland will always take precedence over the League. The Allianz Leagues cannot only be seen as a testing ground for the teams. The GAA has openly used the leagues to experiment with proposed law changes. In recent years trials have included the enforced substitution of a yellow-carded player to cut down on cynical play. While this proposal was ultimately
scrapped, this season has witnessed the introduction of the black card in the league, where in a similar fashion a player who is give a black card is sent off, but may be replaced if he hasn’t already been yellow carded. These proposed rule changes would significantly alter the playing of the game and the trial of these laws simply wouldn’t be accepted by fans in the Championship format whereby one controversial decision may result in the premature conclusion of a team’s season. This clear use of the league for the purpose of trialing laws may detract from its credibility, but the truth is that such practices benefit the GAA in the long-run. In the face of such apparent inferiority in comparison to the
All-Ireland Championships, it is easy to arrive at the conclusion that the Allianz Leagues are a needless hindrance in an already crowded schedule. It is true that the beginning of the league does almost directly succeed the culmination of the Club Championships, but there are many reasons to embrace the competition. In truth, the league presents an opportunity for many fans to experience inter-county competition more than just a few times a season. In the worst possible scenario, counties may play just twice, even after the introduction of the qualifiers. The Carlow football team was just one of the counties to suffer this fate last season. However, under the league
format, Carlow fans can watch their footballers play a minimum of seven games. Or if you’re of a negative disposition, it could be argued Carlow fans are forced to endure their team play a minimum of seven games. Joking aside, there are few reasons not to enjoy and even cherish the Allianz League action. The seeded format ensures that teams are in direct competition with equals and there are few demoralising defeats to endure. Moreover, there is a clear purpose and target. Teams in the lower divisions can aim for promotion while steadfastly avoiding demotion themselves. A second consequence of the seeded divisions is that it ensures the
top teams can directly measure themselves against their rivals. Division 1A of the Allianz Hurling League features just the top six teams in the country and, despite allowing for some experimenting, it is unlikely that any would like to forgo such an opportunity for success and boasting over their adversaries regardless of how highly the league is held. Furthermore the accusation that the quality of play is somewhat diminished is also unfounded as the thrilling 3-10 to 1-15 Dublin victory over Tyrone can attest to. The Allianz Leagues may not be the premier event in the GAA calendar, but they don’t need to be. In its current format the League serves its purpose with ease.
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You just have to be very disciplined. You have to get up and be in early in the morning because you know that your evening is going to be written off with training. Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays of have matches and of course then you have a half-day on Saturday as well taken up by training, so the time you do have has to be used wisely
Luge is one of the most dangerous sports in the Olympics and the athletes who race down the icy, high-banked track can travel at up to 140km/h
A different class Taking time out of their busy schedules, UCD AFC’s Cillian Morrison, Samir Belhout and Dean Clarke chat to Killian Woods about balancing their studies and playing for the club every week Playing for UCD AFC is a very particular experience that most players will never be exposed to again in their career. The club is the only university side in Europe playing in their country’s top division. Since gaining promotion back to the Airtricity League in 2009, UCD have managed to maintain this status, which is impressive considering a significant number of the players in the squad have their studies to balance alongside their commitments to the club. Cillian Morrison, Samir Belhout and Dean Clarke are three such players that have their respective degrees and, in the case of Belhout, PhD, to keep them occupied when they are not training most evenings and doing gym sessions at 7:30am on weekdays. From Letterkenny, Morrison moved to UCD from the Derry City set-up in 2010 after being spotted by the manager Martin Russell and Soccer Executive Diarmuid McNally and was offered a scholarship to join the club. Now in his final year of Civil Engineering, Morrison admits that he’s found you need to be
disciplined to adequately balance the football and college lifestyles. “This year I’ll admit that it’s tough. You just have to be very disciplined. You have to get up and be in early in the morning because you know that your evening is going to be written off with training. Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays you could have matches and of course then you have a half-day on Saturday as well taken up by training, so the time you do have has to be used wisely. “Especially this year for me, I have a thesis and I have a timetable set out. In the evening we train, so from 6:30pm onwards you don’t have much energy so it’s hard to get much done afterwards.” Morrison does concede that sometimes the two can’t be balanced, and remarks that the club officials are very understanding when college work gets in the way of the any club activities. “I think I am fairly good myself knowing that I have to do certain days or that I have to get work done on other days because I have to write off Fridays. But the club are very good and understanding if I have a thesis
meeting with my supervisor. I just say to Diarmuid McNally that I wouldn’t be there for the first 20 minutes and they were absolutely understanding.” Morrison continues, “Sometimes during exam times you have to miss games as well, which they completely understand. In think that is the duty of the club as well. I know some other players at other clubs might get paid more, but we’re getting a lot more in the bank being here at UCD and they are very understanding.” Echoing the sentiments of his teammate, Belhout, who is currently undertaking PhD in UCD that involves researching nanomaterials, believes the club has great structures in place to help the players with their studies. “The club make it easy for us because they understand that if we have an important class or exam then we can miss the odd training session. It’s still difficult because twice a week we’d do gym sessions before class in the morning at 7:30am. “It’s just a case of managing your time and making sure if you are missing a class you are getting
notes or ensuring your lecturers know why you are missing class, or making sure my supervisor understands why I have to take off a bit early for training or matches.” Belhout earned his place in that PhD stream after he came out on top in the applications for Irish Research Council (IRC) Scholarships, one of 200 given out in Ireland every year, and feels that sometimes football may have to take precedent, but that time can be made up in other places. “The thing is with the PhD is that the hours aren’t as rigid, so if I miss a couple of hours one day I can make it up over the weekend. So, it was more difficult with my degree because class times are set in stone and I’d have certain things due on certain days, where as with this it is a little bit more flexible.” After making his debut for UCD just after his 18th birthday, Clarke, now 20-years-old, has been around the set-up for a few years and is reaping the rewards at the moment from a system that is put in place to help the players thrive despite the added stress of college.
He commended the time that McNally, and the Executive Sport Assistant, Georgina Dwyer, put into ensuring the players’ academic wellbeing is looked after, casting football aside until the players are happy that they can give their all on both fronts. “Already I’ve had a lot of help from Diarmuid McNally and Georgina Dwyer with sorting out my scholarship and any problems I have. I think they have the same sort of philosophy across the board and put academic stuff first. Obviously football is number two when it comes to their priorities.” Still, Clarke admits that even without considering the exams and assignments, getting to the training pitch on time when lectures finish up at 6pm sharp can be taxing. “Sometimes you are absolutely shattered going from a class. I finish some classes at 6pm and have to go straight to training to be on the training pitch for quarter-past six and you’re sprinting to make it. Sometimes it can be hard to get food into yourself.” Going into the new season, however, the three players feel the work that James Timmins has done in pre-season
with the squad, which focused on improving their fitness levels, has given them an edge. That added energy in the opening weeks has allowed them to keep on top of both workloads. As Morrison puts it simply, it’s all about routine. “When you’re fitter and concentrated on your football you’re not as tempted to go on nights out and feel better for the next day. Training quite a lot and being up that early to go to the gym sessions gets you into a nice routine.” Maybe that routine will stand out as the winning formula when the season finishes up in six months’ time.
night. From the moment they took to the pitch, the Students appeared more energetic than a lethargic looking Crumlin side who lined out with a midfield five, containing three players who had just returned from LSL representative squad duty in Scotland. Nonetheless it was the visitors who enjoyed a two-goal cushion at the half-time break. The opener came courtesy of a Ger Rowe free kick, which was subsequently doubled by a Daniel Loughran spot-kick. With Crumlin legs growing increasingly tired, UCD commanded the second period possession-wise.
However, despite enjoying a glut of the ball, UCD lacked the invention needed in the final third to break down a resolute Crumlin defence. In a season that will see the bottom three teams relegated to the LSL second tier, UCD lie fifth from bottom above Cherry Orchard and St. Pats CY on goal difference, both of whom the Students have games in hand over.
The Badger In his final column this year, The Badger talks custard creams, his World Cup tips, and revenge
So the Badger has finally reached the end, the final time he voices his always correct and never biased opinions until the summer is out. Well, it could be truly the final time if they don’t decide to renew my contract. I actually get paid more than Wayne Rooney and J.K. Rowling put together. That buys a lot of badger food. And yes, by badger food the Badger means Tesco cheesy puffs and melted cheese from Eddie Rockets mashed together in a centrifuge and canned. Speaking of food, Jose Mourinho was given a packet of custard creams by TV3 reporter Trevor Welch after his Chelsea goons beat PSG to progress to the Champions League semi-finals. Maybe that’s his secret to success then? Either way, his extraordinary record in Europe’s premier club competition continues and the semifinal line-up is an enthralling one. Maybe it’s time Leinster start pumping their lads with custard creams, because Munster clearly are following their progression to the Heineken Cup semis after trouncing Toulouse. It’s sad that Leinster couldn’t replicate the result as they fell short against Jonny Wilkinson’s Toulon side, but the
Badger is fairly certain the shaving brand Wilkinson’s Sword was named after the Englishmen, how else does one explain the razor-sharp accuracy of his left-boot? Okay, so maybe the brand wasn’t named after him, but he still has a left-foot up there with that of Ryan Giggs and Donegal’s Colm McFadden. Onto the sappiest part of the column, the Badger is going to get lonely this summer without his regular visit from the Editor and Deputy Editor of the University Observer. They come to visit every two weeks to pick up my column. Normally they have to completely edit it due to my lack of distinction in the English language, but the Badger doesn’t mind. They see this column as an easy way to print libellous material and avoid getting sued because no one would dare try and sue a badger in court. Especially since they’d probably lose. Although the Badger will really miss the visits from his friends, at least the Badger has the World Cup in Brazil to look forward to. Even though Ireland won’t be there, the action will no doubt be very entertaining. The South American teams are very hard to look past. If Brazil, Argentina and
Sports Digest Basketball intervarsities UCD women’s basketball team failed in their quest to retain their Basketball Intervarsity ‘A’ title after suffering a 71-46 final defeat at the hands of Dublin rivals DCU. The Belfield side began the tournament with flying colours by topping their group with three wins
from three. A 63-51 semi-final victory over UCC then followed to set up an all-Dublin decider with DCU. Played before a capacity crowd at the DCU Sports Complex, the northsiders started the brighter, finishing the opening quarter with a 24-11 lead. Led by the influential Beth Meany, UCD found their way back into the game, managing to narrow DCU’s lead to seven by the end of the first half on a score line of 39-26. DCU
I actually get paid more than Wayne Rooney and J.K. Rowing put together. That buys a lot of badger food. And yes, by badger food the Badger means Tesco cheesy puffs and melted cheese from Eddie Rockets mashed together in a centrifuge and canned
Uruguay don’t make it to at least the quarter-finals it will be big news. The pressure is really on the Samba boys in particular and anything other than tournament victory will spell disaster. It could get very Messi. So, the Irish may not have a World Cup to look forward to, but the FAI did recently announce that Ireland will host England in an international friendly in June 2015 at the Aviva Stadium. The last time the sides met on Irish soil the game had to be abandoned after English fans rioted. Ireland were 1-0 up at the time thanks to a David Kelly goal and for next year’s game the Badger is planning to funnel under the surface and only come up if England take the lead. The Badger likes revenge. So, that’s really it. The Badger has thoroughly enjoyed his year of opinion giving. He knows there are many out there who support him and follow him on Twitter. Let’s just hope they keep me on-board as I have already planned some rants in my head for next year. Please don’t replace me with a cat. The Badger hates them. Cats suck. Badger Out.
stepped up the intensity considerably after the interval and soon began pulling away from UCD’s reach with the scoreboard reading 60-38 as the teams refuelled for the final-quarter. The northside outfit then closed out the final-quarter by hitting another 11 points to seal the title on a final score of 71-46. The men’s basketball team didn’t fare quite as well as their female counterparts at the Basketball Intervarsities, as they suffered a disappointing semi-final exit to NUI Galway. UCD got the tournament off to a perfect start by winning
their group with a 100% record. They failed to continue this impressive early tournament form and fell to an 88-75 semi-final defeat at the hands of a Galway side that was accounted for in the final with relative ease by tournament winners University of Ulster Jordanstown.
Football UCD AFC’s Leinster Senior League (LSL) first team fell to a 2-0 league defeat at home to title challenging Crumlin United last Wednesday
Jamie Headon
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Lilywhites overpower UCD to go top Amy Eustace
UCD
Conor O’Donnell; Gareth Matthews, Hugh Douglas, Tomas Boyle, Mark Langtry; Robbie Creevy, Robert Benson; Samir Belhout, Gary Burke (Dwayne Wilson 71 mins), Chris Mulhall (Tom O’Halloran 80 mins); Cillian Morrison (James Kavanagh 81 mins). Subs not used: Mark McGinley (GK), Michael Barker, Colm Crowe, Michael Scott. Booked: Benson (19), Mulhall (38) Sent off: Douglas (79)
Dundalk
Peter Cherrie; Sean Gannon, Mark Rossiter, Andy Boyle, Dane Massey; Chris Shields; Stephen O’Donnell (Ruaidhri Higgins 68 mins), Richie Towell; Daryl Horgan (Darren Meenan 80 mins), Patrick Hoban, Kurtis Byrne (David McMillan 83 mins). Subs not used: Gabriel Sava (GK), Simon Kelly, Mark Griffin, John Mountney.
Stephen Kenny’s Dundalk went two points clear at the top of the league with a 4-1 win over the Students on Friday night. UCD drew first blood, scoring through Gary Burke in the first half, but Dundalk were rampant in the second half and in the end secured a comprehensive victory. Dundalk’s visit was Aaron Callaghan’s second game in the home dugout since taking over the reins before the start of the season, having served out a touchline ban carried over from last season before Limerick’s visit. As the new boss rightly pointed out in his programme notes for the evening, UCD had been unlucky
to draw against Limerick in their previous home fixture, but couldn’t argue with their 2-0 defeat to Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium. He also wished a quick recovery for Ayman Ben Mohamad, who suffered a knee injury against Limerick. Dundalk started bright, with a long range shot from Richie Towell in the first ten minutes, and were unlucky not to score from a corner shortly after. Students’ goalkeeper Conor O’Donnell, who gave a fantastic account of himself despite the final score, was a match to most of Dundalk’s first half efforts. UCD settled into attacking mode after Dundalk’s opening spell of
action. Gary Burke pounced on a great ball from Robbie Creevy and slotted it past Peter Cherrie to put the home side in front, but the visitors equalised just before the break. Tomas Boyle cleared Kurtis Byrne’s effort, but Daryl Horgan swung the ball back in to meet the head of Patrick Hoban, who guided the ball past O’Connor. The visitors went into half time on a high and didn’t look back after the interval. Conceding troubled the Students, who never again found solid footing in the match. Once Dundalk got in their stride in the second half they were near unstoppable. Horgan gave
Gareth Matthews a busy evening, setting up Hoban again, but Tomas Boyle was on hand to clear. Boxed into their own half, UCD struggled to overcome the pressure from Dundalk. Hoban teed up captain Stephen O’Donnell, who put the Lilywhites in front just before the hour mark. Less than two minutes later, confusion in the Students’ box culminated in an own goal. Hugh Douglas’ clearance ricocheted off Mark Langtry and the ball slipped through O’Donnell’s fingers to make it 3-1 to Dundalk. UCD regained some control over
proceedings after that, but only until Douglas was sent off for a hauling down hungry forward Hoban just inside the edge of the box. The resulting free kick was just wide but Dundalk upped the ante even further. If not for a strong showing from O’Donnell in goal, Dundalk would have quickly added two more to their tally. He could do nothing about Richie Towell’s effort, but fortunately for UCD, his shot merely rattled the crossbar. The visitors, however, weren’t finished. To add insult to injury, former student David McMillan came on as a substitute and set up Patrick
Hoban for his second and his side’s fourth of the night in the last few minutes of regular time. His goal sealed Dundalk’s third straight win and gave them a two point advantage over unbeaten Cork City, who have a game in hand, in the league table. UCD would have been lucky to secure even a point against Stephen Kenny’s flourishing title chasers. The loss was their fourth this season so far and they sit in ninth place. This Friday, Callaghan’s men travel to the Showgrounds to take on Ian Baraclough’s Sligo side and will hope to capitalise on the Bit o’ Red’s recent woes out west.
UCD Hockey Club—A season in review After a successful season on both fronts, Jack McCann takes a look back at how the UCD men’s and women’s hockey teams fared over the course of the year
The first piece of silverware [the ladies’ firsts] picked up was in winning the Intervarsities title up in Three Rock, beating University of Ulster 3-1. They played some scintillating hockey throughout the league, bagging important wins against their fellow title contenders at key points during the campaign 20 april 16th 2014
The 2013/14 season was a very successful one for the UCD Ladies hockey first team. They successfully defended their league title after finishing four points ahead of second placed Hermes. Most impressively, they did so while losing only one game of the 18 they played; scoring 77 goals and conceding only 14. The first piece of silverware they picked up was in winning the Intervarsities title up in Three Rock, beating University of Ulster 3-1. They played some scintillating hockey throughout the league, bagging important wins against their fellow title contenders at key points during the campaign. Picking up an away win against Loreto in November and then two huge victories against Loreto again and Railway in Belfield near the end of the season sealed their third title success in a row. In the cup competitions the team were just as successful, winning the Irish Hockey League and the Irish Senior Cup respectively. In the Irish Senior Cup, the team beat Pembroke 2-0 with goals from Anna O’Flanagan and Nikki Evans, a game in which UCD found hard to get on top of their opponents before the first goal went in. In the Irish Hockey League (IHL), UCD were pitted in a group of five containing Railway, Hermes, Lurgan, Greenfields and Catholic Institute. They finished second in the group behind Railway on goal difference. They next faced Loreto in the semifinals up in Banbridge during the first weekend of April, Loreto having topped their group with five wins from five. UCD came out as 3-1 winners, progressing to the final where they faced off against Railway Union. The game was a tense and scrappy affair, finishing 1-1 after extra-time. UCD won 2-1 in the one-on-ones after
Tiffany Ellis superbly saved four out five of Railway’s attempts. Railway were aiming for their fourth IHL crown in five years and had come into the tournament as reigning champions. Players like Anna O’Flanagan, Nikki Evans and Deirdre Duke up front meant UCD always posed a goal threat in games. If the forward line weren’t scoring, the likes of Katie Mullan or Jeamie Deacon would chip in from midfield. A lot of credit is due to the team’s defence, which was led by captain Sarah Greene and goalkeeper Tiffany Ellis. Over the course of the whole season, they conceded only 21 goals from 28 games in total. This is an incredible feat, not least due to the quality of some of the teams they were up against. The Mens’ 2013/14 season didn’t hit the same heights as the Ladies’, but was still a very good season. Captain Shane O’Donoghue admits they were, “Obviously disappointed not to come away with any top level silverware, but it was an enjoyable season in many ways.” They finished fourth in the league, the same position as the previous season. They played 18 games, winning 10, drawing two and losing six. They finished five points ahead of Railway, but 14 points behind league winners Monkstown. They did, however, win the Intervarsities, beating DIT 3-2 in the final. UCD came from 2-0 down in the game, with Nick Burns scoring a hat trick. One of their main problems during the league campaign was that they were only able to beat one of the ‘big three’ who finished above them; beating Pembroke Wanderers 4-3 at home in October. Losing games against a couple of the bottom sides like YMCA also didn’t help their efforts to finish higher up in the table. In the Irish Senior Cup, UCD beat Instonians 3-2 in the first
round, but were knocked out in the following round, losing 2-1 to Lisnagarvey. While in their debut season in the IHL, UCD were pitted in a group containing Monkstown, Banbridge, Cork Church of Ireland, Annadale and Corinthians. They finished third in the group, losing to both Banbridge and Monkstown, who would both go on to compete in the IHL final. They didn’t reach the finals weekend, but as O’Donoghue says they “finished in the top six in Ireland which is a great achievement for the club considering we were fighting relegation two seasons ago.” They did reach the Mills Cup Final, losing out 4-2 to Three Rock Rovers, in a very entertaining game. UCD Mens’ stats for the season were very similar to the previous one, so they have been consistent on that front. However, they would have had hopes to have gone further in the Irish Senior Cup, and to maybe get out of their group in the IHL. New players this season, Peter Brown and Kirk Shimmins, both played very well, adding a new element to the midfield in their debut seasons. Shane O’Donoghue and Nick Burns both added lots of experience along with Luke Chadwick, which is what the team needed considering the fact that it is a relatively young side. Ross Canning also had a very good season, chipping in with 12 goals to go along with O’Donoghue’s 21 and and Burns’ 13. Coming so close in the Mills Cup and having a good debut season in the IHL will only spur them on to do even better next season. As O’Donoghue says, “The club is progressing in the right direction and this is evident as we have more guys representing the club at Irish U21 and senior level.” Whether or not they can build on this strong platform for next season will determine the club’s future.