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Wednesday, January 13th 2016 | uccexpress.ie | Volume 19 | Issue 7
Zoë Cashman - News Editor
The Union of Students in Ireland launched their General Election manifesto outside the Dáil today, which emphasises the deciding impact young people will have on the makeup of the next government. The manifesto focuses on areas such as accommodation, Higher Education Funding and Repealing the 8th.
USI President, Kevin Donoghue, stated that “The 32nd Dáil has the opportunity to introduce real and lasting change for our citizens. 100
years on from 1916 and we can build an Ireland our children and parents will be proud of”.
The USI are campaigning for an Ireland where workers are paid the living wage and there is a right to full bodily autonomy. Donoghue continued to say that the Dáil will have an opportunity to create an Ireland where “every person is treated with the dignity and respect that they deserve”.
“Ireland has gone through significant change in the last five years. The impact of harsh and brutal cuts must be
accepted and those responsible must now ensure that it is our most vulnerable who see the fruits of our recovery. In the past two years alone, USI has registered 80,000 students to vote. USI and Students’ Unions will be making sure that young people vote in the next election”.
Former UCC Student and current USI Deputy President, Annie Hoey, agreed by saying “Young people want candidates and political parties to demonstrate leadership that befits the positions they seek and to map out a clear path to a
strong, sustainable future”.
“Education from early years to post-doctorate is not just a right but key to economic growth. A highly skilled and well-educated workforce is a benefit to everyone in Ireland. The next Government should seek to follow the example of most of our EU partners and introduce free, publicly-funded education”.
(Article continues on page 3)
USI Launch Gen. Election CampaignGENERAL ELECTION 2016: USI Officers Launch General Election Campaign Outside Dáil Eireann (PHOTO: Union of Students in Ireland)
Free Legal Aid Service Launched
Pg. 5 - News
Teetotalism in University
Pg. 6 - Features
Interview with Fish Go Deep
BYLINE Magazine
Wednesday, January 13th 2016 | UCC EXPRESS
Inside Today:Flood Investigation Page 4
Teetotalism in UCC Page 6
Travellers in Ireland Page 7
Top Fashion Blogs Page 10
In Memoriam Page 12
Sports in Brief Page 14
Editor-in-Chief: Brian ConmyDeputy & News Editor: Zoë Cashman Deputy News Editor: Chris McCahill
Features Editor: Deirdre FerriterDeputy Features Editor: Katie Jeffers
Sport Editor: Neil WilloughbyPhoto Editor: Emmet CurtinDesigner: Robert O’Sullivan
Byline Editor: Xander CosgraveFiction Editor: Austin Dowling
Humour Editor: Lauren Mulvihill Arts & Lit Editor: Colm Furlong Film & TV Editor: Olivia Brown Gaming Editor: Aoife Gleeson Music Editor: Holly Cooney
Comics Editor: Dylan O ConnellFashion Editor: Jessica NiMhaolain
Fashion Editor: Kenneth Nwaezeigwe
Editorial team
/UCCExpress
UCCExpress.ie
@UCCExpress
2 |
Letters from the EditorsF**k It
In Memoriam - Louise Clancy
More of these editorials have been about death and generally unfortunate situations than I imagined they would be when I took this role. I kind of thought these editorials would generally be filler pieces, little insights into my relatively dull life. Instead I’m writing this piece about 12 hours after this issue was due to go to print because almost everything that could go wrong in the design/editing stage that could have gone wrong, did go wrong. Following that then when content was finalised again, David Bowie passed away.
Those who knew me may be unsurprised to hear I got picked on as a little queer kid for being different. Not even different in any interesting way, I preferred reading to soccer and had a lisp for a number of years. That was enough though to make me feel and generally be quite left out of my, would be, peer group for years and years. So obviously someone like Bowie was an inspiration to me in some ways. While I got into his music more recently than I care to admit his striking eyes and surprising acting talent were things I enjoyed in films like Labyrinth before ever I discovered his music proper.
But now he’s gone. And that sucks. It’s an odd reality of getting older that these people you’ll never meet but appreciate or even worship in our
own quiet way will be leaving this mortal coil at some time. Morosely we hope this is before we pass but that’s not always the way. The reality of this is more apparent than ever following the untimely loss of a UCC student over the Christ-mas period. Louise Clancy and her mother were involved in a car accident and both tragically lost their lives.
Louise has previously written for the Express and was a member of the Journalism society, our thoughts are with her family and friends. Even though I didn’t know her I feel some small kin-ship for caring about this tiny little publication or this contextually little college environment we collectively make up for our short time here. There’s nothing I can say that makes either of these losses less shitty to those affected. Some-times all we can do is muddle through. So here’s the first muddle of 2016, hopefully it’s the last.
Sadly UCC Express was made aware of the passing away of a former writer for this paper, Louise Clancy, over the Winter break. Louise, aged 22, was an incredibly active member of the UCC community, being a well-loved member of the UCC Science Fiction, Horror, Fantasy & Anime, Journalism and Mythological Socie-ties. Journalism was one of her main passions, writing for the Express, Motley Magazine & her own blog during her years in UCC.
Louise, who had been studying in Brighton as part of her year of study abroad, had returned to her north Cork home to celebrate Christmas with her family. Sadly, when travelling to do some Christmas shopping, the car she was in was involved in an accident, and both Louise & her mother Geraldine sadly passed away. A constant inspiration to all around her, and someone with a bright future in her chosen field, Louise will be sorely missed by all who knew her. The UCC Express would like to express our
sincerest condolences to Louise’s family, friends & colleagues. If you need support you can contact the UCC Students’ Union Welfare Officer on 086 383 6794, UCC Counselling Service on 021 490 3565 and the Samaritans on 116 123.
Brian Conmy - Editor-in-Chief
Robert O’Sullivan - Designer
UCC EXPRESS | Wednesday, January 13th 2016
A 38 percent rise in housing prices means Cork is now one of the most expensive places to buy housing in Ireland. The av-erage price of a house in Cork city is now €227,000, which marks a 38% increase on the lowest point from early 2013. Property prices have also in-creased across the country, with the average price of property risen 20 percent to €172,000 from the same period in 2013. Cork is now the second most expensive place to purchase housing; second to Dublin where the average property
price is €306,613.
These figures were released as part of a report from Daft.ie on housing prices for the fourth quarter of 2015. These figures arrived just as Cork county council announced plans for the construction of tens of thou-sands of new houses across the county in the coming years to accommodate the population growth in many areas such as Ballincollig, Carrigaline, Carrigtwohill, Glanmire and Ballyvolane.
In the planning preparation for the municipal district area, Cork County Council has outlined its vision for the future which includes the construction of nine thousand new houses needed in the Ballincollig-Car-rigaline area; requiring over 347 hectares of land. The construction of four thousand homes is planned for Ballincol-lig and 3,500 in Carrigaline which will be divided over two sections. A further 900 new homes will be required for Passage West and an additional 12,000 are also expected to be
needed in the Cobh area includ-ing Glanmire and Ballyvolane.
The author of the Daft.ie report and Trinity college economist, Ronan Lyons, praised the new mortgage rules; which will mean that huge spikes in property prices will unlikely be experienced again. Mr. Lyons, however, stressed that tough reforms are still needed to fully tackle the housing crisis in Ireland but stated that “at least there are encouraging signs that policymakers understand not only the nature of the problems
but also of the solution.” Mean-while Chief economist Marian Finnegan is predicting only single digit inflation in 2016, which may prevent further housing spikes in the future.
USI has released new survey information which shows that 93% of student nurses have considered emigrating when they finish college. Over 600 student nurses were surveyed across the country and 564 said they have thought about emi-grating when they qualify.
USI President, Kevin Donoghue, stated that:
“If the vast majority of student nurses emigrate
Ireland once they qualify, Ireland will be deporting essential skills, talent and
finance”.
“It’s easy to see why so many student nurses have considered emigrating. A lot of those who move to England to start their careers have their flights, first month’s accommodation and postgraduate paid for”.
More than 1,000 nurses are set to retire from the health service by June. Irish Nurses and Mid-wives Organisation General Secretary, Liam Doran, spoke about how the hospital over-crowding situation is affected by the amount of staff. Doran went on to say that the INMO wants extra beds to be opened but the hospital does not have adequate staff to deal with the current beds and cannot open new beds without additional staff to service them.
“Many student nurses feel a better life awaits them
abroad.”
“Countries with a huge shortage of nurses such as England, America and Australia are actively recruiting Irish nurses - some are even offering them positions before they’ve finished their final year. If the Irish government fail to educate and maintain their health professionals, it risks repeating the mistakes of the
1990s when past generations of newly qualified nurses had no option but to emigrate”.
| 3
USI General Election Campaign (cont.)Cover Story - Continued
Cork Property Prices Rise to Second Highest In Ireland
93% of Student Nurses Considering Emigrating
Chris McCahill - Deputy News Editor
Zoë Cashman - News Editor
“Education from early years to post-doctorate is not just a right but key to eco-nomic growth. A highly skilled and well-educated workforce is a benefit to every-one in Ireland. The next Government should seek to follow the example of most of our EU partners and introduce free, publicly-funded education”.
In their manifesto, USI urges the next Government to reject any proposal to increase third-level fees and/or the introduction of an income-contingent loan scheme. This proposed scheme fails to bring state and enterprise contributions to a sustainable level. Income-contingent student loan schemes have failed to deliv-er the promised efficiencies in Australia and the UK. Donoghue commented on this, stating that “USI wants an education system that is free of both financial and societal barriers. Failure to adequately invest in education is a failure to invest in society”.
USI also focuses on repealing the 8th in the General Election Student manifesto, and urges the next Government to commit to holding a referendum on repealing the Eighth Amendment of Bunreacht na hÉireann. USI requests that the new Government repeal the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 and replace it with laws that ensure safe and legal access to abortion, at a minimum, in cases of rape, incest, risk to health or severe and fatal foetal impairment. USI also urges the next Government to repeal the Regulation of Information Act 1995 and any related censorship laws.
Student accommodation is also a topic of the manifesto, as USI urge that the Gov-ernment should prepare a short-term solution, such as the use of NAMA-owned
Wednesday, January 13th 2016 | UCC EXPRESS4 |
New Study on Overpopulation in Flood-prone Locations
European Research Project Launched to Promote Preventive Dental Care
Zoë Cashman - News Editor
Siobhán Maire O’ Donnell - News Writer
New research by Dr. Tom McDermott of the School of Economics at UCC, with colleagues from the London School of Economics and Ox-ford University, has examined the exposure to urban flooding worldwide and whether urban populations respond to large floods by moving to safer areas.
Extreme rainfall during the end of 2015 has resulted in wide-spread flooding across Ireland and the UK. With the devasta-tion set to cost the UK econo-my as much as £3 billion, an important policy question has been posed: why are so many people affected by flooding,
particularly in locations that are repeatedly inundated.
These recent events are just an example of a major glob-al problem. Over the past 30 years, flooding worldwide has killed more than 500,000 people and displaced over 650 million people. The problem is likely to worsen as populations increasingly concentrate in urban areas vulnerable to such conditions; and with climate change causing more intense rainfall episodes and rising sea levels.
In this new study, McDermott and his colleagues look at the
effects of more than 50 large floods, which displaced at least 100,000 people each, in over 1,800 cities in 40 coun-tries from 2003 to 2008. The study finds that low-lying urban areas are hit much more often by large floods; and yet these vulnerable locations also concentrate a higher density of economic activity. The low-ly-ing areas of cities also sustain more damage when hit by floods, but they recover rapidly and economic activity does not move to safer locations.
So the question is why do urban populations not move to safer areas in response to
flooding? Part of the problem is that many historical cities were built in flood-prone locations whose risks were once offset by access to rivers and oceans. Another reason is that private developers can build on cheap flood-prone land without bear-ing the full cost of their actions and, consequently, too many people end up living in these risky areas.
McDermott commented that “As a society we appear to be overly-exposed to flood risk - there are various reasons why developers and house builders do not take full account of flood risk when deciding where
to build. Rising sea levels and more extreme rainfall as a result of climate change will lead to greater flood risk - more frequent flooding of existing flood-prone areas or an expan-sion of areas at risk”.
The new study has been pub-lished as part of a Working Paper series at the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP), LSE. McDermott concluded by saying “At a minimum, tighter planning restrictions are re-quired to prevent new building on existing flood plains”.
University College Cork is now commencing work on The ADVOCATE Project (Added Value or Oral Healthcare), a new EU research project with the aim of promoting the use of oral health treatments that are able to prevent diseases before they occur. Dental treatment costs an estimated €79bn a year across the EU, yet these diseases are almost entirely preventable. The key word in this initiative is prevention.
This 6 million euro study is funded under the EU Horizon 2020 grant programme. The project is led in Ireland by Dr Noel Woods of the UCC School of Business, while the overall project is directed by the Uni-versity of Leeds in conjunction with the Academic Centre for
Dentistry Amsterdam and the University of Hidelberg, in col-laboration with NHS England, universities and dental insurers from across Europe.
The Irish Dental Association recently revealed that 10,000 children under 15 are been hospitalised every year for dental extractions under gen-eral anaesthetic which is five times higher than the UK. The research project will work to change circumstances like this by collecting data on the self perceived oral health status of Europeans in a representative and comparable way.
The project follows Dr Noel Woods successful HRB grant on Cost Containment Measures on Drug Prescribing. According
to Dr Woods, ADVOCATE was one of the five projects chosen by the EU from 107 applicants. A great achievement in itself.The project will have access to the patient record databas-es, of six European countries including Ireland, Britain, The Netherlands, Germany, Den-mark and Hungary. In addition to hearing the views of pro-fessionals the project will also consult with patients in the participant countries to identify their preferences and gain their perspective on the dental care they receive. Thus, what is new about this project is that there will be a huge increase in the amount of information which will, hopefully, develop new models for safe and efficient prevention and patient centred health systems.
The study will look at all aspects oral health according to Professor Helen Whelton, Dean of the School of Dentistry in Leeds, and former Director of the Oral Health Services Research Centre in UCC said:, “We will be looking at things such as how long teeth re-main healthy with no need for treatment or, at country level, the amount spent on extractions every year. This information can be compared across differ-ent systems and countries.”The study will take place over a 4 year period, uniquely results will not only be released at the end of the study, but continu-ous feedback will be provided by the researchers. Professor Helen Whelton said: “The hope is that, by continually
assessing and giving feedback on the performance of dental professionals and healthcare systems in keeping teeth healthy, it will foster change in practices and encourage a move to more preventative dental care.”As Professor Whelton upholds: “This is a fantastic example of collaborations between univer-sities, the public sector, with the aim of improving the dental health of an entire continent.”
UCC EXPRESS | Wednesday, January 13th 2016 | 5
Dr James Kapolo Awarded ERC Grant
USI & TUI Launch ‘I Value Higher Education’ Petition
UCC Connects Startups to Free Legal Advice
Kieran Kelleher - News Writer
Lauren Mulvihill - News Writer
Siobhán Maire O’Donnell - News Writer
Dr James Kapolo, a lecturer in the Religions department in UCC, has become the second UCC luminary to receive a research grant from the Euro-pean Research Council (ERC). Kapalo has joined a prestigious group of up-and-coming minds developing exciting new ideas in the field of engineering, social and physical science and the humanities. His project, entitled ‘Creative Agency and Religious Minorities: hidden Galleries in the secret police ar-chives in 20th Century Central
and Eastern Europe’, ques-tions the negative assumptions concerning religious minorities that are still prevalent in some European societies.Dr Kapalo will receive a ‘starting grant’ of just under 1 million euro and, together with a group of two postdoc-toral researchers and two PHD students, will focus on the confiscating of material such as pamphlets, books, diaries and any other indications of how people resisted totalitarianism through their creativity. The
project will last for a duration of four years.Following the announcement of the ERC award Dr Kapalo highlighted the significance of such an important project: “I was absolutely delighted on hearing the news as this project will give me the opportunity to work on important historical and social questions that are very close to my heart.” The genesis of the endeavour was formed after Kapalo recent-ly travelled on sabbatical to Romania for the Royal Irish
Academy and discovered many personal items, lists and liter-ature which provided a visual truth to understanding the past. Hidden Galleries will further explore the communist-era se-cret police archives in Central and Eastern Europe to uncover the creative ways in which members of religious minorities resisted both communism and fascism in the twentieth cen-tury. Dr Kapalo acknowledged “the excellent support of the Research Office at UCC” and stated that “In the current inter-
national climate it is important that as Europeans we reflect deeply on Europe’s historical experience of extreme ideolo-gies and the profound impact they have on ordinary lives.” Dr Kapalo was one of six Irish-based researchers, three male and three female, awarded an ERC grant in the recent an-nouncement.
The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) has joined forces with the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) as part of its #Ed-ucationIs coalition to launch the ‘I Value Higher Education’ campaign, which aims to safe-guard higher education for the next generation.
The ‘I Value Higher Education’ campaign “seeks to promote the value of higher education in Irish society”, according to USI President Kevin Donoghue. “The campaign acknowledges higher education as a central function within the social, cul-tural and economic fabrics of Irish society. It recognises the
contribution already made to the Irish economic growth and social development through the provision of publicly-funded higher education [and] pro-motes free higher education as a public good.”
The Irish state currently funds 14 institutes of technology, sev-en universities and six colleges. While the public higher edu-cation sector has expanded to meet growing demand, budgets have not kept pace with this development; funding in the higher education sector was cut by 32% (over €428.3m) over the last 7 years.
The magnitude of the funding cut over a relatively short peri-od of time is having a profound impact on the sector’s capacity to function. In addition to the budget cuts, student tuition fees for undergraduate programmes have increased to €3,000 per year. The proposed student loan scheme would deter students from applying to college and place a significant individual-ised debt on each student upon graduation.
Presently, there are just over 200,000 students attending higher education programs (undergraduate and post-grad-uate) in the Republic of Ire-
land. Demand for places in the higher education sector has grown considerably, with an up to 20% increase in student numbers between 2008 and 2014. At the same time, staffing levels have been reduced by 2,000 between 2008 and 2015. The funding cuts, rising student numbers and reduced staffing levels are pushing the higher education system to breaking point. “It is vital that students and lec-turers work together to achieve the aim of free quality higher education which is accessible to all,” according to Aidan Kenny, Assistant General
Secretary at TUI. “Higher education as a public good should be funded collectively by society.”As the general election ap-proaches, the ‘I Value Higher Education’ campaign encour-ages the public to raise higher education as an issue with political candidates. The cam-paign’s online petition against the erosion of publicly funded higher education in Ireland can be found on Change.org.
UCC has become the first univer-sity in Ireland to offer free legal information startups with the launch of its new IT Law Clinic.
The Clinic is comprised by twelve postgraduate law students collab-orating with academic staff and established law firms including McCullagh Wall, Ronan Daly Jer-myn and O’ Dowd Solicitors. To-gether this team will be responding to legal questions from startups, ranging from protecting copyright to ensuring websites comply with data protection law.
The new IT Law Clinic has not
only an added a new niche to Law Department of UCC, it fills a much needed gap in the mar-ket according to DC Cahalane, founder of BUILTINCORK, a community initiative to aid the development of Cork technology startups: “The new IT Law Clinic at UCC provides a badly needed resource for fledgling technology startups in the region. Legal issues are unfortunately something that many startups avoid in their early days because of perceived cost and complexity issues.”He further added that “Free access to the expertise within UCC and local established law firms will
be hugely beneficial in helping startups get started the right way. It’s another great example of how UCC is playing a powerful role in the development of the local technology ecosystem.”
The Clinic was inspired by suc-cessful IT clinics abroad and the UCC clinic forms part of iLINC, the European Network of Law Incubators which collaborates with many thriving clinics in cities such as Amsterdam, Hamburg and New York. One of the clinics co-found-ers Professor Maeve McDonogh explained that having seen the model work really well in other
countries, alongside, Dr Darius Whelan they set up the clinic with the aim to bring together the talent within the university to provide this innovative service.
Access to legal advice is critical for the future and stability of all early stage companies, as noted by Cian Hughes, General Manger of Wave2WaveNetworks, yet it is often at this early stage when a new business can least afford it. The new clinic tackles this critical issue, providing what Cian Hughes views as a “fantastic service” and solution.
Such a programme will also do much to inspire and provide new opportunities for UCC Law students. As Dr Whealan notes, the clinic provides a valuable opportunity for our postgraduate law students to apply abstract legal knowledge in real-life situations, “It highlights UCC Law School’s strong emphasis on exposing stu-dents to the practical side of law as well as its theoretical aspects.”The clinic is an exciting new ven-ture for the UCC Law School and soon to be a sought after tool for new startups.
Wednesday, January 13th 2016 | UCC EXPRESS6 |
On TeetotalismAlexandra Philbin - Features Writer
“What? Really? Why not?” That is the usual response from a fellow student when I reveal that I am teetotal. Sometimes, it is phrased more politely, with a “if you don’t mind me asking?” to cover up their obvious surprise. Others struggle more to hide their shock horror, recoiling with a “WHAT?” - the way I would imagine a person would react were I to tell them I had com-mitted brutal murder. Either way, though the first is entirely more tolerable, it worries me that the question even needs to be asked by anyone. I do not drink, quite simply, because alcohol is bad for a person. It makes it harder to think clearly, leads to heart problems from cardiomyopathy to high blood pressure, liver sclerosis in the long term, certain cancers, etc. Many of these health issues are not simply down to alcoholism, to which students think they are immune, but also from a single binge-drinking session. So avoiding these deadly issues, at the expense of the supposed “deadly buzz” that alco-hol brings, seems worth it to me. A simple logic.
‘Don’t get me wrong, a house party or a few is fine, but take away my sleep when I want to sleep? We have a problem’
Nevertheless, as I began my CAO choices, looking for an institution brim-ming with academia and logic, it never left my mind that I would be en-tering the stage of my life where the drinking culture around me would be most prevalent. It was my abhorrence of this culture that helped me in my decision to choose U.C.C., in fact. With the option of alcohol-free accom-modation at Victoria Lodge, moving away from home was made easier. The prospect of house parties keeping me up on nights before exams and beer bottles scattered around my kitchen floor did not appeal to me. Don’t get me wrong, a house party or a few is fine, but take away my sleep when I want to sleep? We have a problem. Days after the CAO offers came out, when I had the joy of accepting U.C.C. as my university, I received the welcome pack, with a letter from the President of the university inviting all incoming first years to fill out the e-Pub survey, based on alcohol consumption. This further consolidated my trust in U.C.C., above the other academic institutions in Ire-land, to share my mind-set on alcohol and student life. But after a semester in the university, did it match my hopes as a teetotal student?
‘When I told friends in Dublin that I was staying in alcohol-free accommodation before starting, they often expressed the possi-
bility that I would share an apartment with socially inept “weir-dos”. The opposite is true...’
I have had an absolute ball this semester, without a drop of alcohol. When I told friends in Dublin that I was staying in alcohol-free accommodation be-fore starting, they often expressed the possibility that I would share an apart-ment with socially inept “weirdos”. The opposite is true, and my evenings are spent in fits of laughter with my very funny, very lovely roommates. When friends suppose these things about people staying in alcohol-free, they separate me from their stereotype of a non-drinker. They do not seem to real-ise that their comments are aimed at everyone who does not drink, a group of which I am a part. People who do not drink are just as capable of having a good time and of being “normal” (whatever that is) as anyone who drinks. In fact, their ability to have fun without the use of a mind-altering substance shows perhaps a greater sociability.
‘I have no problem with people who drink, everyone is entitled to make their own decision’
I will not pretend that I am one for going out all the time, but occasionally I venture out into the world of pubs and clubs. I have no problem with people
who drink, everyone is entitled to make their own decision, but I do have a problem with some of the general attitudes I observe. Aside from the previously-mentioned shock horror, an issue that I come across often as a non-drinker is other students’ idea that I need to be converted to their unhealthy faith. Comments such as “oh we will have you drinking by the end of the night”, even simple ‘ah go on’s are really irritating. It is as if what you are doing is something that needs to be prevented. Then, there are those who believe I have simply not been enlightened. “Everyone has to get plastered at least once in their life”. Do they? Does everyone have to irreparably damage their brain once in their life, on purpose? I wouldn’t say so. There is usually a direct correlation between people who say these statements and their own insecurity about their alcohol consumption. It is my advice to these people that if they want to drink, they should do so, but should not convince other people to follow them to validate their own behaviour.
‘One week in, I received an e-mail from a club I had signed up for, revealing that they would be having a welcome social in a
pub...’
I was aware before starting that clubs and societies were helpful for socialis-ing as a non-going-out-all-the-time, non-drinker. So, on clubs and societies days, I signed up for many in which I was most interested. One week in, I received an e-mail from a club I had signed up for, revealing that they would be having a welcome social in a pub. I understand that there was no purpose-ful attempt at exclusion here, but as a result of me not attending the initial welcome, I felt too awkward to join a group of already-introduced people. Many Muslims, based on their faith, would never enter a pub. Societies meeting in pubs, some of which only meet in pubs, automatically exclude these people. It could be deemed religious discrimination were it not due to the mask of the drinking culture clouding that fact. I would invite the univer-sity to do more to distance the university’s societies from pubs, to create a more inclusive student life.
‘Improvements could be made to the various societies that de-pend so much on pubs’
On the whole, I have had a fantastic semester despite of, and because of, my teetotalism. While the exclusive attitude that alcoholism brings still exists with vigour, the alcohol-free accommodation and care about student health that U.C.C. demonstrates make me feel much more comfortable as a student who chooses not to drink. Improvements could be made to the various soci-eties that depend so much on pubs, however, to make me fully comfortable. All I want is to be able to have as good time as anyone, and this university really does help with that, though individuals within it can detract from it. I have many friends here, all of whom value my contribution to debate and discussion with no disregard for my non-drinking. I would encourage non-drinkers to consider U.C.C., but as a culture within and outside the uni-versity, we have a long way to go.
Opinion
UCC EXPRESS | Wednesday, January 13th 2016
11% 154 x6-11-15 x3.5
of Traveller deaths are caused by suicide excess Traveller deaths per annum the suicide rate of settled communities
years of life expectancy for Traveller womenyears of life expectancy for Traveller men the infant mortality rate
| 7
Irish Society & the Travelling CommunityDeirdre Ferriter - Features Editor
The Travelling Community have featured heavily in the media recently due to the tragic fire in Carrickmines where ten people lost their lives. Closely followed by controversy regarding the relocation of the grieving community after the fire. Irish society was very quickly divided into two camps, those who argued that the com-munity should be shown compassion and allowed to move into a nearby housing estate and those who supported resident’s resistance to a new halting site.
‘This conflict is indicative of a larger divide between the settled and Travelling community’
Support for this resistance is largely bolstered by anecdotal ‘evidence’ regarding the Traveller way of life and antisocial behavior. This conflict is indicative of a larger divide between the settled and Travelling community which has existed in our soci-ety for decades and appears to be worsening.
‘The general view of the Commission was that Travellers were not an ethnic minority but a symptom of English
occupation who had ‘fallen out’ of Irish society’
Last week a submission by Sinn Fein to have Travellers recognized as an ethnic mi-nority was rejected but this is not a new issue. Government policy pertaining to the Travelling community began in 1963 in the form of a ‘Commission on Itinerancy’. The wording of this report is truly shocking; the general view of the Commission was that Travellers were not an ethnic minority but a symptom of English occupa-tion who had ‘fallen out’ of Irish society. The Commission proposed a ‘final solu-tion’ to the ‘problem’ of itinerancy and it was envisioned that the ‘problem’ would be solved within one generation. Commission members consisted completely of members of the settled community such as a High Court judge and the only effort to consult the Travelling Community was to send a member of Dublin (blah) whose ordinary role was moving Travellers on from halting sites. It’s difficult to do justice to the blatant prejudice in this report. Two proposals which were considered but rejected by the commission were firstly to give all Travellers identity cards to track and discourage crime and secondly to take Traveller children from their parents and keep them in institutions as a way to educate them.
‘Fifty two years on Government language has become more politically correct but the Dail has just last week rejected a proposal to recognize Travellers as an ethnic minority which is symbolic of a widespread rejection of Travellers in our society. This refusal is also shocking in
light of the UN recommendation that Travellers be recognized as an ethnic group’
A recent health report entitled ‘Our Geels’ into the Travelling community which had an 80% participation rate found some extremely worrying health issues in the
community. The gap in life expectancy for Traveller women compared to settled women is 11 years and for men it is 15 years. The suicide rate in the Travelling community is six times as much as the settled and amounts for approx. 11% of Traveller deaths. This amounts to an excess of 154 Traveller deaths per annum. Despite the avalanche of stories supporting protests about the Carrickmines reloca-tion, no logical person could argue that these health statistics are proof that Travel-ling community are largely neglected by our Government.
In my opinion it is clear that structural and societal injustice has been done to the Travelling Community ever since the first policy intervention in 1963. Rather than base our perception of Travellers on negative anecdotal evidence and a large-ly negative or whimsical portrayals in the media, we should examine historical Government intervention and the resulting living standards and health status of the Travelling Community.
‘The study also found that three quarters of people would be reluctant to buy a house beside a Traveller family’
A recent study by Fr Michael Mac Greil into the Travelling community entitled ‘Emancipation of the Travelling People’ which studies attitudes towards Travellers found that one in five Irish people would deny Travellers citizenship. The study also found that three quarters of people would be reluctant to buy a house beside a Traveller family. The report showed that attitudes have largely not improved over 20 years.
‘Although the language has changed in Government policy towards Travellers, it has been 52 years and
travellers are still not recognised as an ethnic minority despite campaigns and UN recommendations’
I believe it is clear from early policy interventions that all efforts were made to eradicate the Travelling way of life. Although the language has changed in Govern-ment policy towards Travellers, it has been 52 years and travellers are still not rec-ognised as an ethnic minority despite campaigns and UN recommendations. More worrying perhaps is that Social Policy pertaining to the Travelling Community has not improved relations with the settled community, if anything it has made them worse. This in my opinion is a result of ineffective social policy which is socially unjust and favours one section of society.
Wednesday, January 13th 2016 | UCC EXPRESS8 |
Hell Is Other… HousematesAisling Coleman- Opinion Writer
Opinion
Apologies to Sartre for hijacking his famed phrase, but I’m sure that anyone who has ever gone through the experience of sharing their living quarters with random people they’re not related to, that possibly make them despair on a daily basis, and for which you’re paying a hefty sum to a member of the landed gentry, will agree. I’m adamant that even Sartre himself had some old roommates to thank, at least in part inspiration, for his oft-quoted words. Since I’ve moved out of home, I’ve had the pleasure/horror of sharing a house with thirteen different housemates. In fairness, most of the unlucki-ly-numbered bunch have been lovely. I keep in touch with the vast majority of them, and am firm Facebook friends with almost all of them. All things considered, I haven’t had the worst luck as far as housemates go, at least as percentage go. However, I have had a couple of, what could certainly be loosely classified as, interesting, housemates.
‘I never once saw a single one of them clean their self-made crumbs off the countertops!’
The only thing that I can truly complain about regarding the largest percent-age of my thus-far housemates is: I never once saw a single one of them clean their self-made crumbs off the countertops! As this is something that majorly irks me, I was (even if only in self-appointed form) the official countertop cleaner of the chez nous. And, usually ended up doing most of the hoovering, mopping and bathroom cleaning. I was so innocent, wide-eyed, and naive… If only I knew what I would end up cleaning…
‘I’m pretty adamant that I heard non-work-related moans being emitted from the general confines of his bedroom one
day on passing’
The first unusual housemate I had was a guy I’ll call Clinton, on account of my initial impressions regarding the amount of ladies he had coming and going from his boudoir. I later found out that he was, at least sometimes, doing work with them in said boudoir. But, I’m pretty adamant that I heard non-work-related moans being emitted from the general confines of his bedroom one day on passing, when he was holed up in seclusion with said lady/ladies. So far, so-not-incredibly-scandalous. However, he rarely used the shower, never used the washing machine, or the oven, or, actually (that we could work out) any of the kitchen appliances. He never once sat down with any or all of us to chat, or to watch TV with us. Clinton also either had buckets of cash to blow, or was swimming in take-away-related debt, as he ordered takeaway almost every single night - at least 4/5 nights per week. I think there was food of his in the fridge twice: two bottles of milk that went off before he touched them (they had to be taken out of the main bin, so that they could be emptied and recycled, this is how I know they had gone off before he used/binned them); and a 2 litre bottle of Sprite. Clinton would always go straight to his room on arriving home, and pretty much stay there until he next left the house. Surprisingly, he was neither overly pungent, nor overweight. The next guy who had his room found that one of the main planks of wood supporting and comprising the right hand side of the bed was majorly broken, so make of that what you will. The rest of us living there didn’t really ever have any problems with him, per se, but we were all in general agreement that he seemed a bit unusual.
‘That Saturday night (I’m talking 1 a.m.), I awoke to the dul-cet sounds of her headboard being bashed against the wall
with every thrust of her boyfriend’s bits and bobs’
Moving on from broken beds, let me tell you about the girl I house-shared with who I am amazed didn’t have a broken bed. To set the scene, I’d moved in on the Thursday. That Saturday night (I’m talking 1 a.m.), I awoke to the dulcet sounds of her headboard being bashed against the wall with every thrust of her boyfriend’s bits and bobs. I’m actually amazed that the girl (let’s call her Blair) had any semblance of a wall left actually intact behind her headboard. You could hear the banging of the headboard throughout the entire house. It was kind of comical, yet entirely cringe-inducing. Oh, and courtesy of her moans, I felt like I’d stepped on to the set of a pretty low-budget porn flick. Moans that were loud and repetitive, and, ones I didn’t know that I quite believed, to be honest. I didn’t quite believe that I was hearing any of it, to be blunt. When I found out that it had just been her birthday, I thought it might have been a one-off. I hoped that it was a one-off. …It was not a one-off.
‘Jesus, the other girl that’s living here was seriously getting banged last night. Is this a regular, noisy, head-board-bash-
ing occurrence?’ The next day, I met the housemate’s boyfriend. Let’s just call him Will. At this stage, I didn’t actually know that it had been Will and Blair making all the racket the previous night. There was another girl with a room upstairs, next to Blair’s room, who I hadn’t met yet. I mistakenly thought that the responsibility for the previous night’s noise-fest lay with her. So, when Blair and Will invited me to watch a match with them in the sitting room, I thought, “Great, friendly housemate and boyfriend-of-housemate. Brilliant.” I ended up declining the invitation, as matches on TV aren’t really my thing. In hindsight, it’s probably best that I did, as I very almost would have re-marked something along the lines of, “Jesus, the other girl that’s living here was seriously getting banged last night. Is this a regular, noisy, head-board-bashing occurrence?”
‘A time passed until all sex stations were go again’ A time passed until all sex stations were go again for Blair and boyfriend. They were deposited home, one Saturday night, drunk as skunks in heat. I don’t know if skunks are ever on heat, and I’m quite sure they don’t drink, but just work with me here. Well, ladies and gentlemen of the audience, boy-friend was on form tonight. By God did that wall ever get bashed. The two of them were going at it like skunks (I know, you expected that to read ‘rab-bits’, but I’m both trying and failing miserably to extend my skunk-y meta-phor) well in to the wee hours. And, again, come the next morning. I honest-ly don’t understand how Blair wasn’t embarrassed when I bumped in to her later on in the day. Some skunks have brass necks, I suppose (and there is it, the sound of a terrible metaphor, wailing in embarrassment. Something
UCC EXPRESS | Wednesday, January 13th 2016 | 9 Opinion
Blair, clearly, wasn’t prone to do, may I add). I moved out not long after, but I’m sure Blair and Will are still getting all hot ‘n’ heavy with the headboard on the regular. And, also, are possibly in need of a new bed frame.
Sexual shenanigans over, let’s move on to the tale of a truly shitty house-mate. The shittiest, if you will. Let’s call him Sergio. Sergio was foreign, in his twenties, working nearby. The first few things about him that weirded me out, I let go, but I was soon to find out that he was truly a shitty housemate. When he first moved in, I would be cooking, and he would grab my ingre-dients from the countertop, and rudely demand, “What’s this, what’s this?” This was bog-standard, everyday stuff; I don’t yet have the chops to rival Heston Blumenthal. He also grabbed my bottle of foundation, when I had it with me downstairs, and did the same thing. One day, he picked up bread rolls that were in the kitchen, and asked me what they were. I told him that I didn’t know, that they weren’t mine. He stated he had bought them, but didn’t know what they were. Are you scratching your head, yet, as much as I was that day? He did the same with cuppa-soup – took it out of his cupboard and asked me what it was. When I bemusedly told him that it was soup that you made in a mug, he said that he didn’t know that, and acted surprised. Somehow, the big mug of steaming soup on the Tesco Value packaging didn’t give it away…
‘Every time I went to put a load in the washing machine over the next few weeks, I would notice that loads of the detergent
was gone A.W.O.L. I half-wondered was he eating it’
When he wasn’t getting handsy in the kitchen with my stuff, or asking the most nonsensical of questions, Sergio was using my stuff… He washed his laundry with my expensive Vanish stain remover. Stain removed that I hadn’t yet used, and which he had to break the seal to open it. He never so much as apologised when I stated that it was mine. When I explained that you had to use laundry detergent in the washing machine, I was asked where the detergent was. When I told him that I had some, that he could use it now if he needed it (I didn’t quite altogether abhor him, yet, at this stage), then proceeded to tell me, as cool as you like, that he would use my washing detergent, and would buy more when it was gone. He had to be told quite firmly, “No, you can’t,” bearing in mind that he was in a good-paying job; that I was in college; and also that he was abjectly taking the piss. However, this didn’t stop him. Every time I went to put a load in the washing machine over the next few weeks, I would notice that loads of the detergent was gone A.W.O.L. I half-wondered was he eating it, there was so much extra being siphoned. I ended up having to place it somewhere far more obscure downstairs in comparison to its original cosy spot, to guard from his deter-gent-thieving digits. I would later have to move it up to my boudoir, but all in good time…
‘There was nothing for it, only hope, prayers and Dettol on the daily’
He was also an inconsiderate-at-best, dangerous-at-worst chef, frequently leaving the oven running when he had finished using it. He would burn hobs, a fair few pots, and would leave the hobs switched to ‘on’ on the rare occa-sions that he bothered turning off the oven at the mains. Which means, that if you didn’t check that the hobs were switched to ‘off’ before powering up the oven, and you happened to have a tea-towel, oven glove or other item which can be fairly flammable when in contact with intense heat from an unexpectedly-lit hob, you have a horrible recipe for a potential house fire. As I’m sure won’t surprise you, Sergio was a hairy Sergio if ever there were
a hairy Sergio. A couple of hairy-bath-days after he moved in, I had to tell him in no uncertain terms that he needed to clean the bath, that there was a lot of his body hair in it. He lied, said it wasn’t his hair, that it was Clinton’s hair. The same Clinton who tended not to use the shower, and had never before left the bath like that... Funnily enough, the hair kept appearing, even after Clinton moved out. There was nothing for it, only hope, prayers and Dettol on the daily. Grim times, but not the grimmest there would be, in relation to Sergio and bath-time.
One Friday night, when the buchaill was being his usual, considerate, noisy self, he went up to the loo, then clomped back downstairs. With con-crete-soled shoes, seemingly. A few minutes later I went to the kitchen for a drink, and because I had a bit of a funny feeling. Turns out that Sergio had either opened and left the front door open while inside the house, or left it wide open from when he got back. And there’s just no way he was unaware that it was open, it was too near his bedroom door. So, he left the front door wide open, at almost 1 a.m. on a Friday night/Saturday morning. I knocked on his door, and asked did he leave the door open, only to be met with a denial. After turning away in stunned silence, he then asked me was the door open…When told that it was, he then said, “Oh God,” in a faux-concerned tone.
‘Lo and behold, on entering the loo, what do I spot, straight away? Why, a smear of shit, front and centre, in the bathtub.’
If I haven’t yet impressed upon you the actuality of his shittiness, this final tome just might. One weekend, I was home, alone. I popped up to the pow-der room, which featured a shower that hung above a bath. Lo and behold, on entering the loo, what do I spot, straight away? Why, a smear of shit, front and centre, in the bathtub. Which, on further inspection, proved to be a dry smear of shit. Which, beggars the question, if, somehow, you got shit in the tub while having a shower, why wouldn’t the water from the shower stream wash it away? …Because the smear of shit was a deliberate one, was our only conclusion, after a fluffy of texts to the (now-blissfully-absent) oth-er housemates. From that day forth, Sergio was known as shitty Sergio; the landlord agreed to have words with him, and my detergent and everything that I had in communal space was put safely in my bedroom.
‘Don’t let these tales put you off the wonders of houseshar-ing, though, if you’re considering it’
So, between crumb-happy; bed-breaking, sex-mad and literally shitty house-mates, I’ve lived with a motley crew. Don’t let these tales put you off the wonders of housesharing, though, if you’re considering it; it’s far more like-ly that you’ll merely be bunking in with pacifist crumb-symphathisers as op-posed to shit-in-the-bath-ers. And, if you do come across a housemate whose bath habits are of the scatological sort, you know who to call: the landlord.
Wednesday, January 13th 2016 | UCC EXPRESS10 | FashionTop New Fashion Bloggers You MUST Read in 2016Jessica NíMhaolain - Fashion Editor
Anita O’Brien What Anita Writes About: Current trends and how to wear them, including some makeup tips too - and considering Anita is one of Lockdown Model’s busiest models, she certainly knows her stuff!
What I Like About Anita’s Blog: This is prob-ably true of all the bloggers on the list but I’ll write it nevertheless - her writing stye is effort-less and flows so well. Anita makes sure her pieces are constructed with a lot of her favour-ite products or examples of new style trends coming on line. If you’re a novice fashionista or a well-dressed style-aholic looking for a few tips - this blog is definitely for you.
Where to find it: While Anita has no Facebook presence specific to her blog, you can read up on her posts at www.anitaobrien.eu - don’t forget to check out her Instagram account too @missanitaob
Holly Barry - Along Came Holly
What Holly Writes About: Anything you can think of that falls under “fashion, beauty and lifestyle” Holly writes about it! Holly also writes lifestyle pieces and has a few recipe blog posts too!
What I Like About Along Came Holly: Holly’s posts flow so well together that you’d be forgiven for thinking they were chapters in a well structured fashion, beauty and lifestyle novel! Holly’s pieces are very honest also, which is important when it comes to fashion blogging - her words ring true for those of us that know certain trends may or may not flatter us. That kind of honesty in fashion blogging is refreshing.
Where to find it: Along Came Holly has a strong presence across the three main social media platforms - Facebook, Twitter and Ins-tagram. The blog is available online also at www.alongcameholly.com
Kenneth Nwaezeigwe - Dapper Sapeur What Kenneth Writes About: As the blog name would suggest, Dap-per Sapeur is purely focused on male style and offers advice on how to reinvent and individualise style.
What I Like About Dapper Sapeur: This blog is completely focused on the importance of individuality when it comes to style which I love! As most fashion bloggers will focus on trends and seasons, it is a rare thing to find a fashion blogger who reinforces the importance of breaking away from what is traditionally viewed as fashionable.
Where to find it: Dapper Sapeur has a strong presence on Insta-gram under @dapper_sapeur which is filled with lots of suit ideas!
David Babington - Material Boy
What David Writes About: This blog is one for you stylish fellas - or maybe you’re not so stylishbut you’d like to learn! Material Boy features plenty of outfit ideas for all occasions, with full purchasing information too.
What I Like About Material Boy: I’ve said it about every blogger in this piece - the flow to the writing style within Material Boy is really effortless. For any novices interested in understanding their style more, this blog is so easy to follow and read. Material Boy updates his blog very regularly too, so any budding style gurus can keep right up to date.
Where To Find It: Material Boy has a big presence across Face-book and Instagram (Material_Boy_Fashion) where he provides regular updates from his Blogshot page. He’s also on Snapchat under materialboy5
UCC EXPRESS | Wednesday, January 13th 2016 | 11 FeaturesFor & Against - Star Wars Battlefront
For - Aoife Gleeson (Gaming Editor)
Against - Xander Cosgrave (Byline Editor)
With the recent release of the Seventh main-series installment of Star Wars, UCC Express looked at Star Wars Battlefront, the latest video game based on the franchise.
It’s easy to be cynical about Battlefront. EA’s public image could be lik-ened to that of Moneybags from Spyro the Dragon – constantly scheming to extort more cold hard cash off you for access to content. Battlefront’s lack of a single player campaign has raised many an eyebrow, causing people to complain that EA was just cash grabbing by ensuring a release window that coincided with The Force Awakens. And, let’s be honest: that’s almost defi-nitely what happened. Such is the nature of movie tie in games: if you catch the hype train on time, you can ride it all the way to the bank. Yet, asides from all this dodginess, Battlefront is still a blast to play. If you manage to park your cynicism at the door, then you’re in for a great time.
Battlefront’s greatest charm lies in its sheer, accidental goofiness: inhabiting the Star Wars universe amid the sheer chaos of its online maps makes for some great situations. Giggle with glee as you repeatedly fling your lightsa-bre around and force choke rebels as Darth Vader. Experience an alternate ending where Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader kill Luke Skywalker on Endor, before Darth Vader is gunned down by a single rebel while Emperor Palpatine escapes using a bizarre spinny flying attack. Watch as Boba Fett accidentally jump packs right into an AT-ST before being trampled under his feet, while a Millenium Falcon crashes inexplicably into the ground behind them. Attempt to flee as a Stormtrooper on Endor (everyone can see you
because you’re white – play on Hoth, you’ll be an opposite ninja) after being surrounded by rebels, only to hop onto a cruiser and immediately crash face first into a tree (I feel for those Stormtroopers in Return of the Jedi, those things are unwieldly).
I’m getting a bit carried away now but, the point is, Battlefront nails the look and feel of Star Wars and lets you loose to goof around in it, providing you with a fun, light hearted experience. It also brings back a mode that is, unfortunately, frequently ignored in modern AAA gaming: local multiplayer. Playing a survival map with a buddy is a lot of fun and is a good place to practise if you’re getting repeatedly slaughtered online. All of the aforemen-tioned goofiness comes up, just with less dying. Unfortunately, you can only play split screen co-op offline, a definite minus.
Undoubtedly, Battlefront has its problems. The content, fun as it is, is not all that plentiful: it definitely feels like a game that was reduced in scope in order to meet a release window. Yet, what’s there is great fun and, if you deprive yourself of Battlefront, you’re depriving yourself of an absolute treat of a game experience in order to grumble.
Star Wars Battlefront is a game that needs to be reviewed in two parts, on it’s own, and in comparison to the franchise it is reimagining. I should also say that I really love Star Wars, so this review is probably less critical than it ought to be. On it’s own it is an absolutely stunning looking game, with some amazing skyboxes and graphics, and a massive attention to detail to make it feel like Star Wars. Which is a good thing, but essentially, the end of the good things about it, because once you go beyond that. and start getting into things like, I don’t know, unique design ideas, it starts to fall down. It’s multiplayer modes are mostly interesting insofar as they have AT-AT’s in some of them, and you can play as Darth Vader or Luke Skywalk-er. Boba Fett and Han Solo can at least get around and do some fun stuff, and Leia and the Emperor, in an ageist/sexist combo that’s still coming out of the games in-dustry, are support units that are just not fun to play as. The often touted hero hunt mode is cool because you have Star Wars heroes, but is once again, hardly new or groundbreaking. You also have to progressively unlock gear and equipment to get to play around with the fun classes, which means you do end up at a disadvantage when you start off, which is perhaps a touch annoying for anyone who wanted to play a game that didn’t involve grinding after paying a full Sixty Euro for it. The only multiplayer part I can really get behind is the Fighter Squadron mode, but this is because I get to fly X-Wings around rather than any exciting, if I wanted a genu-inely good fighter simulation, I’d play ‘Elite: Dangerous’.
You’re not here for that though, you’re hoping for an interesting single player experience, and you are completely out of luck. Battlefront comes with a ‘Surviv-al’ co-op mode, also known as ‘Horde’ or ‘Firefight’ and the ability to play against bots. There is no pretend attempt at a campaign, it is very clearly a multiplayer only game, and when it comes down to it, is essentially DICE reskinning Battlefield and adding some AT-AT’s. With all this in mind, you need to ask yourself if you want to fork out 60 Euro for a game that will probably have it’s best parts behind a DLC paywall,(which comes in at an additional 50 for the season pass) because it’s got Star Wars on the front. Because if that sounds a bit daunting to you, you’re not alone, and you are still a reasonable human.
Should you buy this game: Only if you really want every possible piece of Star Wars drip fed into your veins, it is a overpriced vehicle for EA and DICE’s Hubris, and is only marketable because it has a Familiar Name and Logo attached to it. So NO, do not buy it, go download a Star Wars mod if you’ve got a PC shooter you like, or play Battlefront 2 on your old console.
If all of this doesn’t phase you and you’d buy it for the sake of Star Wars, let’s look at the comparison to older Battlefront games. Battlefront is a poor attempt at bringing back the classic charm of the franchise. Firstly it is missing at least three quarters of what the game should have, that is to say a single player experience, and the entire Clone Wars segment. One of the key parts of older games in the Franchise was just how different every unit felt, if you were playing the Droids, you had a very different experience to the Clones, because you could roll around in a destroyer droid and ruin christmas, and the clones were very obviously tailored to only fight droids, with their special-ist unit being obviously designed to take out his droid opposite. Indeed the class system meant that people were on an essentially equal footing, but guaranteed to be different rather than the cards and progression of the modern game, which results fairly indistinguishable units on both sides. I’m not against the idea of progression and leveling up things, but it is poorly implemented here, and at the cost of a core game mechanic.
Beyond that, the number of maps and planets leaves a lot to be desired. You have 12 maps in the base game and the free ones in the Jakku DLC, (It still costs the same as Halo 5, which launched with 18, and is releasing 15 more in free DLC, and also has a full singleplayer experience) which are spread across very few plan-ets, and are visually different, insofar as you have desert, trees, more desert, lava and Ice. If they had just taken the maps from Battlefront 2 they would have had some greater bloody diversity at least, even if the maps would have been smaller. Everything in Battlefront is a bit less than it could be, sure there’s more polish, but that extra few frames per second or pixels in a Stormtroopers butt don’t make up for the fact that it is ultimately another example of EA sucking out the quality from a franchise with its vampiric gaze as it attempts to fuck gamers for more of their money. Let’s not even talk about how cool the Alpha Footage for Battlefront 3 looked before it died either. Overall, if this is what’s going to happen to Star Wars as it gets ground down into a mush that is more palpable to the masses, I am not looking forward to the movies.
Wednesday, January 13h 2015 | UCC EXPRESSIN MEMORIAM12 |
UCC EXPRESS | Wednesday, January 13th 2016 IN MEMORIAM | 13
Wednesday, January 13th 2016 | UCC EXPRESS
SPORTS NEWS IN BRIEFNeil Willoughby - Sports Editor
Sport
UCC W.F.C. Premier Squad Captain Laura Lynch has con-tinued her impressive rise in recent years by signing on the join Cork City Womens Football Club last week. Lynch, who plays in central midfield, has been a crucial member of the UCC Premier Squad for the last four seasons. The news signals Lynch’s second spell in Cork City colours. She also represented Cork City during the 2011 and 2012 seasons.
Lynch was delighted at having signed on for Cork City fol-lowing her treble winning 2013 season at Wilton United, “I’m looking forward to playing in the national league with Cork City again, having taken a break for a few years. After a few very suc-cessful years with Wilton United I think the time is right to test myself again at a higher level, with the hopes of improving as an all round footballer.”
Manager Niall O’Regan was also pleased at the move, “Laura Lynch comes from a family of great footballers, and we are de-lighted to be able to have her on board for the rest of the season. She will bring an added dimension to the squad and her knowl-edge and ability is of the highest calibre and I can’t wait to see her in the team in the coming weeks. 2016 is going to be an excit-ing year for the club and the transfer window has been a massive help in that respect. The club has seen a number of significant signatures with the Management Team working hard to attract top players into the club and we are delighted to achieve this with the signature of Laura.”
Lynch could make her debut next weekend as Cork City W.F.C. face Kilkenny United in the first round of this seasons League Cup.
UCC Director of Sport and Physical Activity Declan Kidney was in attendance as the 2016 Collingwood Cup was launched at the Mardyke Pavilion. This years competition is set to take place in Cork with UCC FC acting as hosts. College will host the com-petition opener on February 23rd. The Collingwood Cup will feature UCC, NUIG, UL, DCU, TCD, Mary Immaculate College and Ulster University as seeded teams as well as NUI Maynooth, RCSI and Queen’s University Belfast as unseeded teams.
The competition has a rich history going back over one hundred years to 1914.
While the Cup will predominantly feature the best collegiate tal-ent many sides will have League of Ireland players on show.
A busy Saturday of sport at the Mardyke arena was tinged with sadness as UCC paid tribute to two of its former sportsmen. A minute’s silence was observed for Eric Philpott before UCC’s Canon O’Brien trophy match against Cork. Philpott won a Siger-son Cup with UCC in the 1960‘s as well as representing Cork at inter-county level. In recent years he had been brought into the UCC football management team as a mentor. Philpott died fol-lowing a prolonged illness on Christmas Day.
UCC Rugby also remembered one of their own in a minute’s silence before the Senior side took on Corinthians in AIL Divi-sion 2A at the Mardyke arena. Chris Martin, a member of the clubs J3 side sadly passed away over Christmas. Martin was a student of Biological, Earth and Environmental Science before his unexpected passing.
Hurling: UCC came off second best in the Canon O’Brien tro-phy match against Cork at the Mardyke on Saturday. The Rebels won out 2-12 to 0-13 in a close encounter, the sides going in at half-time with just two points in the difference.
Soccer: UCC’s Greg Yelverton has been appointed as the Head Coach of the Irish Colleges and Universities National Team. Yelverton is the first person to hold this position due to the amal-agemation of the CFAI and IUFU.
14 |
Football - Lynch Signs for Cork City W.F.C
Football - Collingwood Cup Excitement Sttarts to Build
General - UCC Sportspeople Remembered
Sports Round-Up
UCC EXPRESS | Wednesday, January 13th 2016 Sport | 15
Corinthians Crushed As Unbeaten Run Continues
UCC Men’s Hockey Claim First Peard Cup Victory
Neil Willoughby - Sports Editor
Fred McElroy - Sports Editor
UCC continued their pre-Christmas dominant form as they defeated Cor-inthians for the second time this season on Saturday. The Mens senior side racked up an impressive 44-3 win at the Mardyke to continue their rich vein of form and extend their winning streak to three fixtures after a shaky start to the season.
UCC’s dominance told from the very beginning of the game and saw two tries come in quick succes-sion within the opening ten minutes of the game. Chris McAuliffe touched down to give UCC a 5-0 lead before former Ireland age grade
international Charlie Slow-ery gathered the ball from a messy scrum to go over from Prop. Kevin O’Keeffe stepped up to add the con-version and a penalty before the game moved into double figures on the clock.
Corinthians struggled to keep the ball in hand due to the tough weather condi-tions, frequently squandering any territorial gains they made. They managed their only points of the game in response to UCC’s opening onslaught with a kick for the posts to make the score-line 15-3. Openside Flanker Cathal Gallagher lead UCC’s response to a Corinthians
resurgence by adding UCC’s third try of the game before O’Keeffe again knocked over the additional two points. Number 8 Edward Earle wrapped up the bonus point for UCC before half-time with some impressive handling to put Ben Mitchell in under the posts leaving O’Keeffe to send the sides in at 29-3.
UCC again ignored the weather conditions and spread the ball wide, contin-uing to keep the ball in hand. Winger Paul Kiernan made his way over the line after another impressive attacking move by the students before adding UCC’s last and his
second of the day in the final quarter. O’Keeffe converted the former and not the latter before scoring a penalty to give the students an excellent 44-3 win. The win sees UCC extend their unbeaten run to five games now, their last defeat coming in mid-October at home in a tight 14-15 loss to fifth placed Cashel RFC. A draw with Queen’s Univer-sity Belfast and wins over Banbridge RFC, Thomond and Corinthians home and away has returned UCC to the upper end of the table. UCC now lay in fourth just one point behind third placed Naas RFC and two points
behind second place Malone RFC. A gap has emerged between the top four and the mid-table sides leaving UCC with a five point cushion over Cashel RFC.
A tough fixture away to league leaders Banbridge at Rifle Park is next on the schedule for UCC. The stu-dents earned a 27-26 win last time out at the Mardyke and will be hoping for a repeat performance next weekend to shorten the eight point gap between the two teams in AIL Division 2A.
While most of us sat in a slumber on St Stephen’s day UCC men’s first hockey team went in search of their first ever Peard Cup win. UCC had previously never lifted the Peard Cup through-out its 57 year history. Sig-nificantly, this year saw the notable absence of Church of Ireland from provincial competitions. The Cork side have dominated the compe-tition in the past, amassing an astounding 40 Peard Cup titles. Due to their partici-pation in the EY All-Ireland League they were ineligible to play in this year compe-tition. Their absence firmly marking a new era for both provincial hockey and the Peard Cup. Nevertheless the students were still facing strong opposition in the form of last years runners-up, Bandon, who were also go-ing in search of their maiden Peard Cup title at Garryduff. The game started as a nervy affair with neither team
wanting to give anything away early. Both sides moved tentatively into the game as the pressure of the occasion impacted on the initial proceedings. UCC had the best of the chances in the opening quarter. Good pressure saw the students win two short corners in the early exchanges, but neither opportunity saw UCC open the scoring.
Bandon returned UCC’s attacks with Darren Beam-ish in particular dictating things. Their pressure told and Bandon were the first to break the deadlock through a nicely worked short corner routine. David Smith fin-ished with a touch on a drag flick from Clinton Sweetnam from just inside the D to give Bandon a precious 1-0 lead. UCC continued to threaten in the final third of the pitch, but it was the Bandon goal-keeper, Ian Hosford, who stole the show in the first pe-
riod. Hosford made several spectacular saves to keep the score 1-0 to the west cork men and give them the edge going into half time.
At half time UCC coach Neil Welch was happy with the overall performance and stressed the importance of his players approaching the second half with patience. UCC’s newly adopted calm approach paid off as UCC finally found the equaliser at the 50 minute mark. UCC veteran John Catchpole pounced on a loose ball and finished well to score. The Left-Back picking an ideal moment to score his first goal for College in four years.
UCC were spurred on and moved into high gear as they sought to get their domi-nance noticed on the score-board. Lovely work from John Catchpole’s brother, Peter, found his captain, Fionn O’Leary, in space.
O’Leary took his chance well as he lobbed ex-team-mate Ian Hosford in the Bandon net to put College in the lead for the first time in the game.
UCC pushed on as they found their rhythm and it wasn’t long after this that the students doubled their lead. A dangerous ball across the goal from O’Leary was deflected in from a Bandon defender attempting to clear his lines. The scrappy goal making it 3-1on the score-line.
Bandon continued to attack in search of a goal to make their way back into the game. A lapse in con-centration from the college defence gave them their opportunity in the form of a short corner. Clinton Sweet-nam’s low drag-flick beating Peter Coulter at the fifth time of asking, giving Bandon a lifeline at 3-2.
UCC soon found them-selves under the cosh again as Bandon forced the majori-ty of play into UCC’s defen-sive third. Sam Grace saw a chance and sent a searching ball the length of the pitch. The pass found Greg Cham-bers in space, the threat forc-ing Bandon to foul Cham-bers and concede a short corner in the dying moments of the game. The Kilkenny man ripped in a drag-flick on the final whistle to finish the move he started and to hand the students their maiden Peard Cup.
UCC 4-2 Bandon (J Catchpole, O’Leary, OG, Grace)(D Smith, C Sweetnam)
While most of us sat in a slumber on St Stephen’s day UCC men’s first hockey team went in search of their first ever Peard Cup win. UCC had previously never lifted the Peard Cup throughout its 57 year history. Significantly, this year saw the notable absence of Church of Ireland from provincial competitions. The Cork side have dominated the competition in the past, amassing an astounding 40 Peard Cup titles. Due to their participation in the EY All-Ireland League they were ineligible to play in this year competition. Their absence firmly marking a new era for both provincial hockey and the Peard Cup. Nevertheless the students were still facing strong opposition in the form of last years runners-up, Bandon, who were also going in search of their maiden Peard Cup title at Garryduff.
The game started as a nervy affair with neither team wanting to give anything away early. Both sides moved tentatively into the game as the pressure of the occasion impacted on the initial proceedings. UCC had the best of
the chances in the opening quarter. Good pressure saw the students win two short corners in the early exchanges, but neither opportunity saw UCC open the scoring.
Bandon returned UCC’s attacks with Darren Beamish in particular dictating things. Their pressure told and Bandon were the first to break the deadlock through a nicely worked short corner routine. David Smith finished with a touch on a drag flick from Clinton Sweetnam from just inside the D to give Bandon a precious 1-0 lead.
UCC continued to threaten in the final third of the pitch, but it was the Bandon goalkeeper, Ian Hosford, who stole the show in the first period. Hosford made several spectacular saves to keep the score 1-0 to the west cork men and give them the edge going into half time.
At half time UCC coach Neil Welch was happy with the overall performance and stressed the importance of his players approaching the second half with patience.
UCC’s newly adopted calm approach paid off as UCC finally found the equaliser at the 50 minute mark. UCC veteran John Catchpole pounced on a loose ball and finished well to score. The Left-Back picking an ideal moment to score his first goal for College in four years.
UCC were spurred on and moved into high gear as they sought to get their dominance noticed on the scoreboard. Lovely work from John Catchpole’s brother, Peter, found his captain, Fionn O’Leary, in space. O’Leary took his chance well as he lobbed ex-teammate Ian Hosford in the Bandon net to put College in the lead for the first time in the game.
UCC pushed on as they found their rhythm and it wasn’t long after this that the students doubled their lead. A dangerous ball across the goal from O’Leary was deflected in from a Bandon defender attempting to clear his lines. The scrappy goal making it 3-1on the scoreline.
Bandon continued to attack
in search of a goal to make their way back into the game. A lapse in concentration from the college defence gave them their opportunity in the form of a short corner. Clinton Sweetnam’s low drag-flick beating Peter Coulter at the fifth time of asking, giving Bandon a lifeline at 3-2.
UCC soon found themselves under the cosh again as Bandon forced the majority of play into UCC’s defensive third. Sam Grace saw a chance and sent a searching ball the length of the pitch. The pass found Greg Chambers in space, the threat forcing Bandon to foul Chambers and concede a short corner in the dying moments of the game. The Kilkenny man ripped in a drag-flick on the final whistle to finish the move he started and to hand the students their maiden Peard Cup. UCC 4-2 Bandon (J Catchpole, O’Leary, OG, Grace)(D Smith, C Sweetnam)
UCC Claim First Peard Cup Victory
Inside Sport Page 14
Wednesday, January 13th 2016 | uccexpress.ie | Volume 19 | Issue 7
CELEBRATIONS: UCC Men’s Hockey team celebrate victory in the Peard Cup (PHOTO: Paul Colton)
Fred McElroy - Sports Editor
PREVIEW: UCC W.F.C. Premier Squad Captain Laura Lynch signs
for Cork City W.F.C
UCC MHC Claim First Peard Cup Victory
ucc sport
