The Army Equitation School

Allow me to first fill you in on some important details about the Equitation School. It is situated in McKee barracks, which also acts as any other barracks would. The School was set up in 1926 to “promote Ireland and the Irish horse.” It only uses Irish horses and all employees must have done general training in the army before specialising to be part of the Equitation School. In the case of riders, they must complete a two year Cadetship. When the school was founded in 1926, the facilities were top class. Since then, very few of the facilities have changed. An excellent example of how the school has not been allowed to update its facilities is the forge. This is where the horses are shoed. The forge has a wooden floor; made out blocks of wood, with smoothed tops, all fitted together to look somewhat like cobble stones. The reason wood was used instead of stone, was to allow the horse better grip and a kinder surface on their feet. This would have had been a “state of the art” forge in 1926, but now, rubber mats would a better job, for half the price and relatively no effort. The Equitation School’s funding has been continuously cut for a long time, with many suggestions for it to be abolished. Despite severe lack of funding, the School does very well in competition and most certainly gets the most out of the little funds they get.

When I arrived up to the gates of McKee Barracks on Monday morning, my eyes were met by an armed soldier standing at the gate. I was truly surprised that the soldier was armed, given that it was the Irish Army. Behind him I saw lines of men marching, also armed. I walked towards the soldier, and told him my business. I waited for a long minute while he called the Equitation School to get somebody to collect me from the gate. I was very intimidated by the whole picture. When somebody drove down to the gate to collect me, my only intention was not to offend anybody.

In the car, I was told to relax and that the soldiers at the gate are only armed because there is a parade the next day, and everything had to be very official for those two days. This put me at ease. Lynda, the lady driving the car, told me that the Equitation School was much more relaxed, and that people do not bother with second names, despite the stereotypes. I was given a tour of the School by Lynda, before being assigned to Captain Michael Kelly’s groom for the first two days.

Once assigned to the groom, I simply did what I was told, brush horses, take horses to and from the walker, clean stables, brush the yard, tack up horses. The work I was doing was very ordinary. The fact that I was able to see how a professional yard worked was the extraordinary part. It was a great experience to see how such a yard works and the numbers of different cogs that must fit together to allow the yard to function.
I would also like to add that I am in awe at how the Equitation School manages to scrape by with what little funding they receive.

Cian Weldon.

The Four Courts

This year as part of my work experience I spent a week in the Four Courts. During this week I learnt a lot about how the Irish Court systems work and how justice is served in Ireland.

Last year I got advice to start planning for TY work experience early and this proved very true when it came to organizing my week in the courts arrangements began last March, as like many TY programs it books out very early. This involved fmding a barrister accept me as his charge for the week and to sponsor me for the program. Although it seemed like a hassle at the time it was well worth it when it came to doing the work experience this year.

The weirdest thing about the week was walking out on Monday morning dressed in a suit and tie, as most barristers insist on a very strict dress code. Ironically while I couldn't take any photographs for this report I was photographed arriving every morning by the waiting press lest I later appear accused in an interesting case!

Each morning of the week we spent with our own barristers, shadowing them and observing their working day and work load. I really enjoyed this part of the day and I learnt a lot from the barrister I was with, Seamus 0 Tuathail SC, who prior to studying law was a secondary school teacher who spent a year in Belvedere. Throughout the week I spent with Mr. 0 Tuathail I saw an assortment of interesting and varied cases, most noticeably a wrongful dismissal case from an ex-member of An Garda Siochana. It was fascinating to watch both the barristers in cases arguing their points and the politeness between them despite the adversarial proceedings. I also found it amazing to see the etiquette and tradition which is still an integral part of the justice system.

During the afternoons of this week I spent time with the group of other TY students on this formal program run by the Bar Council of Ireland. This was an extremely well run program that gave us the chance to experience many ofthe different aspects of the Irish justice system.

The weeks program began with a talk from Judge Ann Ryan on the role of Judges in Irish Courts system. Following this we met with the Dean of Kings Inns, who outlined the training process for barristers in Ireland. Later on in the week we saw both the barristers and judges in action when our schedule brought us to an afternoon of sitting in on active cases in the Criminal Courts of Justice. As this is the highlight of the week for most students we were scheduled for another afternoon here later in the week. Over these two afternoons we got the opportunity to sit in on a variety of criminal cases, which ranged from public disorder through to assault and tiger kidnapping. While in the CCJ I was struck by the variety of testimonies given in court -some being merely a verbal account of events while others a forensic analysis of phone signals that allowed prosecutors to place an individual at a crime scene. My time in the CCJ was filled with amusing anecdotes and some soap opera like scenes. What impressed me most while in the CCJ was the manner in which most judges empathized with the situation of the accused in front of them.

During my week I had the chance to go to some very interesting cases with Mr. 0 Tuathail's Junior Councils, which for them was part of their continuous professional development. I benefited from this when I saw the high profile appeal against extradition by Ian Bailey in the Supreme Court before Chief Justice Denham.

To finish the week there was a presentation by various barristers all in different stages of their careers and pursuing different aspects of law such as family, commercial, European and criminal law. They told us of their experiences in law and how they had pursued their careers to date.

This was an excellent week where I felt I gained a huge amount of information that will help me in my own future career choices and broaden my general education while also enjoying the week immeasurably.

James Griffin, Syntax Xavier

Fr. Peter McVerry's drop in centre

Frankie McNamara

Last week, I did a social placement in Fr. Peter McVerry's drop in centre on Sherrard Street. I was curious about what the visitors to the centre would be like. A lot of the people I met there would have been on drugs like heroin or crack. Some still are. I was asked to interview some of these people and ask them why do/did they take drugs and before I got there I was very sceptical as to their responses and willingness to be open about their lives and addictions.

All of my preconceived notions of these people were discarded after the first half hour of my social placement. I was pleasantly surprised at how friendly, kind and open they all were. These are people who are in and out of jail most of their lives and nearly all of them had very tumultuous childhoods with either physically or sexually abusive parents, or even no parents at all. I was expecting them to be filled with hate and anguish. This definitely wasn't the case.

I remember one of the people I interviewed said that if he had another chance he would have never taken any drugs to begin with. He explained how he would love to be the same age as us again and how heroin took over his life and left him with nothing. He has lost three brothers and a sister related to drugs.

In my opinion the best way to describe this drop in centre is a very sad but happy place. Sad because some of these peoples lives are destroyed by drugs and happy because they are treated with dignity in this place. For these homeless people, the hardest thing about their situation is not finding a place to stay for the night, or trying to scrape up enough money for their next meal, it is the loss of their dignity. People are ashamed to be homeless and begging. The most important thing Peter McVerry does is not feeding them, clothing them or providing them with accommodation, he gives them back their dignity. I can't even say how important that is to everyone I met here.

Fr. Peter showed my brother Quincy and I around a few of the hostels that his Trust operates. We walked into a spacious room with big leather sofas and a fifty inch plasma TV in the corner. We were told this was the living room in one of the hostels. When I asked Peter why did they make the hostels so nice he replied that it was important to make them like this because he thinks it's really important that everyone in his care should feel valued and just as important as anyone else. That's a point I would definitely agree with. I think everyone should spend a few days with Peter McVerry so they would gain an understanding that homeless people are just people who have made a mistake over the course of their lives which led to their current situation and they are no less important than anyone else.

In my opinion I don't think the government cares much about homeless people. There are over 8,000 homeless people in Ireland and the government does little or nothing. They don't care about junkies. Being a junkie may be a part of their lives but it is only an aspect of their lives for most. The media brainwash the public that these "junkies" are scum. The truth is, the vast majority of these people aren't at all and unfortunately the media and the public pick up on the minority who are and then everyone gets tarred with the same brush.

Getting back to Peter McVerry, this was a great week for me and I would definitely do it again. I am hoping to give Fr. McVerry’s regulars, who visit his drop-in centre, guitar lessons on Wednesday afternoons after school in the New Year.

Quincy McNamara Syntax Kenney

For my social placement, I spent a week in Fr. Mc Verry’s drop in centre in Sherrard Street. This drop in centre finds homeless people and drug addicts (often both) on a daily basis, coming in for a chat with the people in the centre. They can get a cup of tea and a sandwich or talk to Fr. McVerry if they have a problem. They know that they will find people there whom they can talk to and that they will always be listened to in a friendly, non-judgmental way.

The week consisted of myself and my brother Frankie talking to people who are addicted to drugs. They told us how they started on drugs, their background and what age they were when they started getting involved in crime. They were very nice people and very open with Frankie and me. Some of them told us things that had happened to them in their lives that they had never told anyone before. Quite a few of them told me that they would give anything to be our age again – 16 and that they would take a different path if they could start all over again,

If I had to take one thing out of this week, it would be gratitude for the life I have, and that I won’t have to endure the pain and misery these people have become accustomed to.

It really was a great social placement, I couldn’t have asked for a better one. Fr. McVerry is very gentle and humble. He lives in very simple accommodation in Ballymun and his whole life is devoted to helping people on the margins of society, with no thought for himself. We found him very inspiring and talked a lot and thought a lot about the week we spent in his company. I was quite sad to finish up on the Friday because while we came across so many vulnerable and broken people whose lives are so hard, there was a lot of humour and laughter in the centre and it is a really good place for them to take a rest on every level.

Fr. McVerry is the kindest man I have ever met, and the people that attend the day centre really brightened up my day. For those two reasons and many more, I would like to help out in the drop in centre again in the near future.