pressplay4;the midway issue

Connaught-Ulster Regional Session 2014

a note from the editors

Naomi Foale (U

K)

Anthony M

cKee (UK)

James D

e Burca (IE)

Dear all,Here we are again to annoy yourselves a bitmore. The journalists have been working hard(yet again) to get thisto you, but not just onthis issue writing wise.They've been a prettyall-dancing, all-singing,all-tweeting, all over brilliant team. We wouldn'tbe able to do the tiniest percentage of what we wanted to do without their help.So we hope you again enjoy your issue, as you try and shake off the stress and slight exhaustion that GA may bring you. Make thosepoints, wave those placards in the air, and get your voice heard.You can do it (we promise),Anthony & James

come meet the team

Overheard in the media room'I was looking out the window on the bus here, and I was like, "Aw yeah, my life's a movie."'- 'They didn't make "12 Years As a Slave" feel as long...'- 'It was only 3 hours long.'"James has particularly nice red glasses. They suit him well."

Anna Kosova (FR) Oisín O Sull

ivan (IE)

Eileen De Sousa (IE)

Hugh

Whe

lan (

IE)

Katarzyna Kessler (PL) Jack Sarge

nt (IE)

Conor Dunne

(IE)

Aoife Watson (IE)

Lisa Smith

(IE)

Naomi Foale (U

K)Jam

es De Burca

(IE)

delegate survival guide

It's 4pm and you're licking excess coffee off the committee tables for caffeine sustenance. There’s a shortage of biscuits and water. The orgas are scurrying like mice. Your chairperson is chewing the last of their nails on your left. Your journo has completely given up and is curled up in the corner of the room, sobbing, gently rocking and muttering about impending doom. The sun is going down, along with your hopes of writing a de-cent resolution. This is your all time low.Unfortunately, this is an all too common scenario. To help combat EYP related exhaustion, we have put together a tried and tested, step-by-step plan to help you survive the dangers of EYP.

Step 1. Sleep. I cannot stress this enough. This is the root of most EYP fatigue. Sleep can be for the weak or the week. Both need to be used in conjunction at EYP. Nine hours is ide-al, five, realistic.

Step 2. Stay hydrated. There’s nothing worse than a delegate whose eyes have sunk so far back in their skull, they’re basi-cally zombified. It’s not a good look. Like a dried out potato, you will be no use to anyone at committee work. Aim for 8 glasses a day, everyday.

Step 3. Talk it out. No one can deny, EYP is stressful. If things are going ’Wesht’, find an unsuspecting victim and sur-prise them with deeper conversation than they expected. Not only will you feel much better, you will also make a friend for life as your shared trauma will create a bond that not even death could violate. This is a basic and effective list. If these do not solve your problem, contact your closest orga, they could write the man-ual on sleep deprivation.

Panicky? Tired? Famished? All of the above? That's EYP for ya. Eileen De Sousa (IE) has devised a plan for you to keep hangin' on

we checked everywhere; we swearSome light gets shed on the mystery of the session: Oisín O Sullivan (IE) turns up the

conspiracy factor, whilst Conor Dunne (IE) gives us a visual representation of our confusion

As you were all filling out your application to your session there was an option to be on the committee of ECON II. On arriving to the session it came as a shock to us all that ECON II had disappeared. After hours of scientific tests and staring into a blank void where once was the laughter of delegates all of the officials agreed they do most definitely not exist. Some say they vanished beneath the waves of the Corrib, much like the legendary city of Atlantis, others are prescribing to alien abduction nonsense. There are whispers among the officials that the illusive illuminati are behind their disappearance after scribbling triangles all over the name ECON II before donning their tinfoil hats to stop the Dáil from reading their thoughts. Personally I think we should keep an eye on the committees intended chairs James and Ed, maybe a game of ’Mafia’ got slightly out of hand and one of them snapped under the pressure. The most likely theory put forward is that the ECON II committee actually cracked the secret of time travel and that this is some bizarre ploy to shock everyone in GA with a resolution that they literally prepared 50 years earlier. Regardless of what became of ECON II, keep your eyes peeled for their reappearance.

envi

with Lisa Smith (IE)

cult 2 with Katarzyna Kessler (PL)

Walking into the ENVI committee room it felt as though Beyoncé's ’Run the World’ was on repeat in my mind. A committee room filled with feminine power and Eoin Hennessy, no one and nothing was getting in the way of these delegates. Even thrown in the mist of a zombie apocalypse, not even a flinch. Under pressure to make life changing decisions, ENVI’s determination and teamwork came to light. Trying to decipher which was more valuable, an axe and the innocent life of dear old Paddy Smith our local shopkeeper. ’The Eye of their Tiger’ was definitely peeled when a zombie apocalypse was on today’s busy agenda. Unphased and at ease with their decisions, ENVI was faced with the next obstacle. After being given mistaken and misleading information by their witty and flawless Journo, ENVI had less then five minutes to make up their routine for last night’s show stopping dance-off. But this had no effect on what was V-ENVI professional performance, despite the opinions of certain judges’*cough*’Megan Smith. Obviously their Journo knew they didn’t need as much time as other committees, what a thoughtful and caring Journo they must have.

Every committee is a different story. Some start at a terrible level of awkwardness and just stay that way - to everyone’s de-spair. Some manage to work their way out of the awkwardness. They learn how to listen to each other, how to make everyone feel included - just like CULT II. As they showed during the dance competition on the first day, they are not afraid to make an effort. I'm not sure what it is that makes CULT II so special, but it might be the right balance of personalities. Hannah has one of the rare EYP qualities - she knows exactly the right moment to contribute, while Kate makes everyone feel supported and calm. Ciarán was so committed to preparation for the dance compe-tition that he was ready to sacrifice his phone! Speaking of phones, some people can’t live without social media - such as senior CUGal-way Snapchat contributor Cathal. I have no doubts that he and Enda, the unfailing source of CULT II’s rationality, will put on their dancing shoes tonight. Hopefully, their footwear won't make us as green with envy as Aoife's today. But no worries CULT II, you’re all nailing the smart-casual look! And with Lauren’s and Ellen's expert taste in music, I’m just as ’posi-tive’ about tonight's disco as Cathal.

empl with Naomi Foale (UK)

agri with Aoife Watson (IE)

Once names had been learnt, it was time to build a team. The ’"I love..."’ game taught us that Emma is the only one of the committee to not love swag and Cathal’s dislike for sweets and chocolate. Differ-ent interpretations of 'two truths and one lie' led to some unexpected twists, including ’EYP maths edition’. Despite Jack’s detailed descrip-tion of his trip to meet the Pope in Rome, the comtittee knew him well enough to see through his lies. Similarly, Rachel’s lack of knowledge of Paris, provided proof of her deception. For anyone wanting a ninja challenge, then Daniel’s ’lethalness’ would provide tough opposition. Indeed, his injury of’individual finger marks’, proved his commitment to his craft. What’s more, EMPL defy averages with a whopping 33’ of the committee who are lefties (despite a 10’ world average). Tom, Emma and Daniel represent.Mafia threatened to ruin the newly formed friendships when the com-mittee turned on Amy and Niamh, allowing the Mafia to take control of Townsville ’ having killed every peasant and the doctor. But what had been a group of individuals only hours before, emerged even still as a team. The rendition of ’Call Me Maybe’ certainly proved that EMPL can bust some moves.

I must admit, I was a little nervous walking into the AGRI committee room on that fateful Friday evening. But, as soon as I entered the room, I knew I need not have worried. They weren't even there, hav-ing left the room to play a game of ’Two Truths and a Lie’, and root through a few open lockers.A late arrival, and a game of pass the orange later and we were all friends. A more few games down the line and I knew that this committee were going to be gas craic. A game of Abigail brought about an impressive difference in this com-mittee's communication and teamwork skills. This journalist also believes that the Whitney Houston tribute, as witnessed on Friday evening, was vastly under-recieved. Hello, they merged the world's greatest love song and PokéMoN! It's Saturday, and the committee has morphed from a chill bunch of banta-ful teenagers into a lean mean resolution busting machine.My final thought? These guys are gonna be ones to watch in GA.

econ 1 with Anna Kosova (FR) Here is the committee of ECON I. It’s composed of Ross, Sarah, Chloe, Oisin, Daithi, Gavin and Laura. They are all at this session to talk about economic issues that EU is facing. The topic isn't a simple one, but we all believe that ECON will deal with it: ’With many tax havens inside and outside of Europe: How can the EU address the criminal avoidance of taxes, while still respecting citizens’ rights to privacy and the sovereignty of foreign states?’To get to know each other better, the committee started with some energizers and then spent quite a long time to know more each other with more ’talkative games’. By the end of the day they felt enough comfortable with each other to dance together on Rihanna with a red and black umbrella.The next morning the committee jumped straight into work with a long brainstorming session. The debate concentrated on the tax havens and their consequences in Europe. Everyone seems to be concerned and are excited about getting the resolution done today!

FEMM have been getting on great the past few days; everyone enjoyed the ’"squishy"’ game, which resulted in all seven delegates piled on top of Sonja and Aoife. There was a bit of controversy during the short game of ninja: ’ is the rule you have to be hit in the hand or does up to your elbow count? The committee shared childhood ’survival’ stories (don’t get locked in the bathroom Sinead OR your washing machine), and then Elizabeth outlasted everyone in ’"Matthew, Mark Luke and John". The night was ended with a fantastic acapella rendition of ’"Reach for the Stars"’ with Roisin and two others in the front, and Anna, Emily and the rest in the back row, however FEMM was robbed of first place.Darragh was a new addition to the team this morning - the FEMM Club 7 welcomed him with open arms. A few games and stories of everyone's early rising (5:30am?!) in the hostel got the day going and then it was on to committee work at 11. The topic was divided into facts, problems and solutions. The resolution is shaping up well, and lunch at 1 was a great success. Roll on the disco! #equalicious

femm with Hugh Whelan (IE)

cult 1

with Oisín O Sullivan (IE)

CULT 1, otherwise known as the devourers of teambuilding games. Any titbit of a game thrown their way was chewed up and spat out leav-ing us reeling for a new game, to the point where they even introduced their own games. Even the iconic EYP game Abigail, which turns the best of friends to the bitterest of rivals, was nothing to this committee. A conclusion was reached in a mere five minutes which may very well be an EYP record.

The clear favourite game was the ’20 Questions’ game, where two members of the committee launch a relentless back and forth of nonstop, with answering, laughing and pausing losing you the game. The questions pondered philosophical questions such as, "What do pigeons think of?"’ and ’"Is your face even a ques-tion?"Never have I seen a committee group bond so well. The gel that exists between this committee is strong enough to gel every single officials hair on end for the entire session. Speaking of which, rumour has it, that there is romance in the air, between a certain lad, and a certain cailín on the committee. One couldn't help but see sparks fly through the air.Yesterday evening we had the session dance off. Unfortunately we didn’t finish in the top three with our Fresh Prince Macarena mash up. However we believe that only one judge’s score reflected our performance accurately. Anthony Bates (no relation to Andrew Bathe) gave our act a 10/10 with zero bias. We refuse to accept any other harsh ratings as our committee is nothing but the best. afco with Jack Sargent (IE)So the first day of team building has drawn to a close for AFCO. They now face into a dynamic day of academic orientated debate and discus-sion. The definition of banter in the opinion of a rather strange Journal-ist.Over the course of team building I had the immense pleasure of witness-ing possibly the best game of ’Street Fighter’ in the history of EYP. Not only is credit due for their Chair team and their highly impressive voices, but the delegates who threw any hints of social anxiety to the wind and gave it their all. The highlight of this was the shock and awe on the fac-es of the other committees who paused to watch the demonstration of confidence and enthusiasm.After a brief coffee break the committees were charged with organising and running a survival themed debate, opting for a knife, map and com-pass.How they will utilise this, I do not know, but given the incredible capac-ity the committee as a whole demonstrates for asymmetrical thinking, I have the utmost faith in them to not only survive, but thrive.I feel privileged to sit here and listen to them highlight the demise of any anxiety they may have had, and discuss their growth as not only commit-tee members, but friends.

econ 1 with Anna Kosova (FR)

libe

with Conor Dunne (IE)

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to 45th annual Connaught-Ulster Hunger Games. After intense practise rounds in Mafia, Street Fighter and Ninja, we will start by introducing our tributes, representing their Districts and fight to death with ’post-its, a badly bruised grapefruit and clinical decisions!Each tribute is equipped with a skill that is required to survive their first round of committee work and save themselves from potential threats.District 1: representing ’"the Land of the Abyss"’ or known as Cavan (Cyavan), we have Conor and Kate. Conor's skill is showing his dominancy, wearing a dashingly attractive top displaying his muscles! But can his choc-olate addiction stay away? Kate's love of Kelloggs gives her a high level of iron. One to watch! District 4: due to a shortage of lads, 2 female tributes were selected to do "the ’tribesmen"’ proud! Aka Galway, we have Grace and Niamh! Niamh love of Nutella makes her go nuts! Literally! Seen in Ninja she can be dead-ly! Graces love of the colour green gives her an advantage with her camou-flage skills but is it enough?District 7: from the indecisive county, Monaghan are Ultan and James! Similar to District 4 but there’s shortage of ’mothz. Ultan's relationship with sea urchins is effective here and gives him a water advantage. James's interest in jam will come in handy as he comes across as "the ’sweet guy". Or is he? District 11: last but not least we have Aisling from Leitrim! Where is that again? Her talents come in the form of apples! The colour might make her envious of others but not one to mess with!

#whereintheworldisECON2We posed the question to you, and this is a list of your best theories. (Hint: regards ideas on becoming a private detective, keep the day job)

1. ECON II

is in a l

emon

2. Hann

ah Monta

na

kidnap

ped and sla

yed the

m

3. They a

re in N

arnia

4. They a

re in th

e

Mongolian

Illumina

ti HQ

5. James m

urdere

d them

6. They a

re disgu

ised as

gym eq

uipment

7. They

were sel

ected as

tribute

s for th

e Hung

er

Games 8. They w

ere kid

napped

by pirat

es for ec

onomic

advice

go wesht or go home

It has been clear from the outset of the session that things were going slightly ’"Wesht"’, or in more universal terms "not smoothly". Within the first few hours we had the dramatic and mysterious disappearance of ECON II, the shortage of digestive biscuits and milk, and unsurprisingly the dreary West coast weather. After the initial shock of all this it appeared as though the atmosphere had eased as delegates settled into their commit-tees. Following the mind blowing opening games by the enthu-siastic and energetic Journos, the reality of the situation

emerged. Cavan and Leitrim delegates everywhere, this unex-pected turn of events sent a shock of threat and worry through the spines of delegates and alumni alike. There was no longer the joyful harmless joking of the traditional slang in the differ-ent country, but the echo of the primarily Cavan and Leitrim terminology, "Cyavan"’ and ’"Cartown"’ can be heard in every dark corner and delegate infested corridor. The minority counties such as Sligo and Galway have been left to culminate together, to survive in a world of bad football and counties half the population of the Aran Islands. The question weighing on people's minds is how long can the Leitrim and Cavan delegates be allowed to run amuck. How will President O'Carroll keep a hold on this downhill situation? Will things continue to go slightly North-East for Connaught Ulsters? Will Cavan ever get trains? Will the Leitrim population ever recover from the fierce blow of the famine times? We sit and wait patiently as to what the outcomes will be.

Lisa Smith (IE) lays out the facts of some "alarming" findings sending us spiralling north(-east)

8. They w

ere kid

napped

by pirat

es for ec

onomic

advice

and now you know...You've all met your chairs, but have your re-ally met them? Naomi Foale (UK), Jack Sar-gent (IE) and Hugh Whelan (IE) get to know them behind the mask

JOHN MCGUINNESSWhat's it like being a milkman?

It's grand. It’s entertaining for all the wrong rea-sons.

CAOIMHE HEALYWhat's it like having to put up with John as a co-

chairHe needs mammying.

Would you rather be a vampire or a wizard?Wizard. Wizard. Wizard. Hands down. It doesn’t

need justifying.TOM CANTILLON

What's it like living your life as a leftie?You don’t have a lot of rights.

THOMAS MONAGHANWhat's it like living your life being able to do such

a good impression of a chicken?It's gotten me out of a lot of awkward

situations....and it's great for meeting birds.KATIE KILCOYNE

What's it like having the word jellyfish strike fear in your heart?

It stings.EOIN HENNESSY

Would you rather have a time machine that only goes back in time or a time machine that only

goes forward in time?Forward. [Dramatic pause.] Because the future is the only thing on earth we have never explored.

As a humorous gesture, and not in anyway out of bore-dom, I, along with fellow journalists, decided to pose a selection of questions to the Chairs of the Session. I was tasked with interviewing the Chairpersons of CULT II, AGRI and the Committee I write for, AFCO.Claudia, CULT II chair, likes the colour blue. ’"It's like the sea,"’ she mumbles. Claudia's vocalised day dream is interrupted by "Gem-ma", the gregarious chair of AGRI, who was apparently considered a ’"gem by her Ma", hence her name. I think that was an attempt at hu-mour, or outright insanity. Gem-ma's trademark saying is ’up the dubs, that’s why’ which evidently can answer all of life’s questions. During my impromptu double chair interview, I got a sense for unique and opinionated chairs tasked with ensuring smooth debate, and I feel their individual eccentricities will bring great fun and joy to the delegates.Unsurprisingly the Chairs of AFCO were a lot more tactful, providing poignant responses to a variety of questions. Laurens, who takes inspiration from Ed, has decided red is his favourite colour, following the logic of ’"...because Ed is red."’ James the co-chair felt that he had a lot in common with the food of Italy, which quite honestly makes no sense, but these must be viewed in light of the fact that coffee had not yet being made available to him. We are all at the mercy of our non-caffeinated selves.

If you could bring one thing to a desert island for 30 days what would you bring?

’I would bring’ a signed copy of like’ some classic book

like you’know, Les Miserables? - Peter (ECON)’An aeroplane, because I don’t really like desert is-lands’ I can't fly an airplane but I’ll figure it out! I'm

sure an instruction book would be included in the plane or something’- Yannick (ECON)

’I would take’ I would take my co-chair Brendan Byrne!! Haha will you actually include that’- Andrew (CULT I)If you could have one superpower what would it be?

’Mindreading, because, y'know, it’s really fun to know

what other people think about - Yannick (ECON)’

I would have mindreading, so I could know what Brendan was thinking all the time - Andrew (CULT I)One thing that you’ve learned from your past in EYP:

’Just be yourself, it works out - I know that’s cheesy as

hell, but it does - Tommy (FEMM)’

Always, ALWAYS bring flip flops ’ dem showers are rank! - Caoimhe (FEMM)

tús maith leath na hoibreKatarzyna Kessler (PL) reports on the Opening Ceremony of the session

The essential formal parts of every EYP session are the Opening Ceremony - when the session is officially declared open and the General Assembly (GA) - when committees come together to present, discuss and vote on resolutions written during Committee Work. On a less serious side, it is it is the first chance to show off all the fancy clothes, walking-in-heels skills and the ability to tie a tie.But after all, the Opening Ceremony is not all fun and games. It is a great reflection of what you can expect from a session - and what we have seen is this morning is definitely and lot of passion shared by officials and delegates. The first speaker of the Opening Ceremony, Ms Anna-Louise Hinds of National University of Ireland in Galway (NUI) gave a well received speech on benefits of EU membership and the responsibilities that come with it. She suggested that we looked at EU as an experiment that requires learning from the past, but also ac-tive participation of its citizens. Delegates, asked about the future of the European project, are generally optimistic. Catherine (AFCO) and Chloe (ECON) declare that they have both a national and European identity, while Dermot (AGRI) agrees there are common values that unite people of the EU. Mark (AGRI) thinks however that EU is mainly an economic union. But even if we don’t necessarily agree on the question of common European identity, freedom and respect for different opinions is something we all share at this session - and so is enthusiasm. As Jean Monnet, one of the founding fathers of the European Union, said, "We are not forming coalitions of states, we are uniting men."

europe: a handy guideAoife Watson (IE) gives us a bit of

background of Europe in plain English

So you're here at Connaught-Ulsters and you haven't a clue how the EU works. Not to worry! Here are all the facts you need to know to impress in GA.There are 28 member states in the EU, the most recent addition being Croatia in July 2013.Currently 18 states use Euro, namely Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Mal-ta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain.The EU (formerly called the European Economic Community) began as an economic alliance, but gradually developed into a political partnership.There are three main EU institutions’ The European Parliament, the Euro-pean Commission and the Council of the EU.The European Parliament is made up of directly elected MEPs from all of the members states. MEPs represent the views of their electoral region.The European Commission consists of a representative from each of the Member States. The Commissioners are only concerned with the overall interests of the EU, and not with the interests of individual countries.National ministers from every member state make of the Council of the EU. The ministers vary depending on the topic at hand.The legislative process is fairly simple. The Commission submits a proposal for a new law to the Parliament. The Parliament may adopt or amend this proposal. The Council then examines the proposition and can accept or adopts the Parliament's stance.If the Council decides to change the Parliament's stance, then the proposal has to go back through the Parliament and Council until both bodies have no more amendments to make to the proposal. The proposal can only go through this process twice before conciliation occurs.Conciliation is when an equal amount of commissioners and MEPs meet and try to come up with a joint proposal. If they succeed, the proposal is passed. Otherwise, it is rejected.

hanging at the topAnna Kosova (FR) sits down with the main man of the session, President Edward O'CarrollMediaTeam - Hi Edward! Can you introduce yourself?Edward - Hello! My name is Edward O'Carroll.I'm the President of the CU Regional Sessionof EYP Ireland.MT - Great! What do you do in your everyday life?Edward - I'm on my fourth year studying psychology and Dublin. I think people don't realize how much this subject is connected to the things that happens in EYP. MT - Alright. When was you involved in EYP for the first time?Edward - The first time was as a delegate in Cork in 2010. So, a long time ago! And my first time as an alumni was in this school. I think it a nice way to finish my EYP career being in this school too! MT - Oh yes this is your last session’ How old are you?Edward - I'm 21. But I don’t look it because I have a baby face.MT - Haha, it’s true! Can you remember your first time as a chair? You were a co-chair?Edward - Yes, my first time chairing was co-chairing with the Vice-President of the Regional Session of Cork. I remember that I was really nervous about the fact of charing with the VP. But on Friday she was called to work! I stayed on my own with the com-mittee, I remember it well.MT - Woah! Not so funny actually! And I suppose you have already been a vice-president, right?Edward - Actually at my four last sessions I was a Vice-President! But this time I’m happy to be president because I don’t have to chair now and in this way I can meet people of the session and not only stay in the Committee room the whole day. MT - Ok, thank you Edward! Hope you enjoy the rest of the ses-sion!

who is the mockingjay?

who is the mockingjay?

We have all been haunted in the last few days by the taunting tone of the Mockingjay through the freshly painted corridors of Jez. After intense and ruthless investing from the top notch Journos we have final-ly found the source of this never ending tune in the session. The Media Team has came to the conclusion that it is ECON II who have whistling day in day out, in a des-perate cry for help. C.C.T.V footage has been found of an unknown figure strolling the through the ses-sion undetected whistling the Mockingjay. The univer-sally known Mockingjay whistle was their last chance attempt to maintain contact to the earth. We are still unclear as to what has happened to ECON II, but we at least we now have a slight glimmer of hope, tak-ing comfort that ECON II are still alive and trying to keep contact.As time ticks away and the end of the session draws nearer, the hope of finding ECON II dwindles away. But alas the Media Team refuses to give up, the phrase’"no man gets left behind"’ grows louder and louder in our ears. Last minute pleas of information have been made and all theories as to ECON II's whereabouts are being taken into account. Further examination are being made but as the Mockingjay whistle fades away so does the hope of finding ECON II.

Finding the whistling around the session a bit distracting? Lisa Smith (IE) reveals the shocking truth behind the unsettling tones