Between lectures, part-time jobs and ensuring no Pav Friday is missed, college life can overwhelm even the most organised of students. Staying on top of the endless stream of midterms, exams and the backlog of readings can feel impossible while juggling a life outside of academics. But by implementing a few small steps into your weekly routine, you can achieve the academic success you promised yourself in week one.

It is no secret that sea swimming in Dublin has recently become a regular hobby for many people. The Forty Foot and Seapoint beaches are now conquered by swimmers, dry robes, and flasks of hot beverages at the ready to brave the chilling waves of the Irish Sea. But why has this phenomenon risen in popularity? What are the benefits of facing the cold water that makes most people shiver at the thought of?

Today, October 6, Minister for Finance Simon Harris and Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers, unveiled Budget 2027. The €8.5 billion package, €1.65 billion of which will allow for tax reductions, was announced in the Dáil this afternoon, and is the second of the current coalition government.  Minister for Finance Simon Harris emphasised that, in the current geopolitical climate – marked by trade disputes and wars and conflicts that drive up energy prices and heighten global insecurity – we face significant global economic headwinds, underscoring the need to balance “today’s needs” with “tomorrow’s musts”. 

Healthy Trinity has released their 10 years of evidence and impact data, showcasing that smoking and vaping at Trinity has decreased since Trinity officially became Tobacco-Free Trinity in 2016, with a specific emphasis on the observed decline since 2024.  Healthy Trinity quantifies the amount of smoking and vaping on campus through observation. The numbers of observed smokers and vapers both decreased in 2025/2026 compared to 2024/2025, with vaping going from 2.4 vapers to 1.2 vapers per check and smoking going from 3.2 smokers to 1.8 smokers per check.

Both proposed student-wide referendums have passed, after their passing at the final council of last year.  The two motions, ‘Rún le Polasaí Fadtéarmach Gael-Ollscolaíochta a Thabhairt Isteach | Motion to Introduce a Long-Term Policy on Gael-Ollscolaíocht’ and ‘Motion on a Constitutional Amendment to Ensure the Quality of Irish Translations’, focus on the Irish language. The long-term policy mandates the union to lobby at the national and collegiate level for more extensive Irish-medium education, including the availability of courses in Irish, the ability to submit coursework and dissertations in Irish, and an increase in courses taught exclusively through Irish. 

Two College academics demand that climate change be named a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), warning in UK medical journal The Lancet of unfolding effects on health. PHEIC is a mechanism under the International Health Regulations for extraordinary events requiring a coordinated international response. Enabling it, according to the scholars, would allow better funding and a more organised, institutionalised response.

Peptides are the latest symptom of society’s relentless pursuit of self-improvement. Marketed as miracle compounds capable of everything from accelerating weight loss to producing the perfect tan, they have become the wellness industry’s newest obsession. However, as Shakespeare once said, “all that glimmers is not gold,” so as beauty becomes increasingly medicalised, what are the hidden side effects of this newest wellness craze? 

A strong showing of demonstrators gathered in the surroundings of the Aviva Stadium this evening to protest Ireland’s fulfillment of their UEFA Nations League fixtures against Israel. Large banners proclaiming, “Stop the game” and “Show Israel the red card” were on display in the build-up to Ireland’s Nations League encounter against Austria.  There was also widespread support on offer for Bolton Wanderers goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu, the sole player to have pulled out of Ireland’s first game against Israel in Hungary on Sunday, with banners dubbing him an “Irish hero” visible. 

Today thousands of students marched from the Garden of Remembrance to the Dáil to protest the cost of college in Ireland.  The demonstration comes ahead of Budget 2027, the national plan for tax and public spending. The protest has been held annually for over a decade, organised by Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn (AMLÉ), and saw participants from all across the country, although numbers differed every year. 

Trinity College Dublin is set to cancel all classes for one hour on Monday, October 5, according to an email to students co-authored by Vice Provost Orla Sheils and Director of Human Resources Séamus McManus. The email, circulated earlier this afternoon, said that the college had been “served notice by the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) of a one-hour work stoppage on Monday 5 October from 12pm to 1pm”.

Do dhuine ar bith atá ag iarraidh an Ghaeilge a fhoghlaim ar líne, tá go leor acmhainní ar fáil. Ach tá cur chuige difriúil ag aip nua, Madra Teanga: in áit aip a chruthú agus pobal a thógáil timpeall uirthi, tá na forbróirí ag iarraidh an aip a thógáil leis an bpobal. D’fhorbair Seán Hamaltún  ‘Madra Teanga’, agus deir sé gur “pobal le aip” atá inti, seachas “aip le pobal”.

Trinity has gained two places in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings for 2027, placing 171st in the world. According to THE, Trinity’s student body comprises 20,776 full time students, an increase of just under 600 on the 2026 figures. 42% of these are international students, also a slight rise on last year, with approximately 62% of the overall student body being female and 38% being male, consistent with previous years.

A new Irish language tool developed by College researchers is allowing non- and minimally-speaking children from Irish language communities to participate in school and their communities. Geabaire, the Irish word for ‘chatterbox’, is a symbols-based tool which allows users to generate Irish words and phrases spoken aloud by synthetic voices. The tool was made available for free to coincide with the opening of 24 autism classes in Irish-medium primary schools this September. 

In December 2022, a report commissioned by the United Nations leaked to an Australian newspaper with an awkward finding. Papua New Guinea, a country officially home to around 9.4 million people, may actually be home to closer to 17 million. When journalists asked Prime Minister James Marape how many people he governed, he admitted he genuinely didn't know. "Whether it is 17 million, or 13 million, or 10 million," he said, the country's problems of education, healthcare, and infrastructure were too vast for the distinction to matter much.

Today AJ Tracey addressed a packed debate chamber as he received the Honorary Patronage of the Udoma and the Phil. 32-year-old AJ Tracey, born Ché Wolton Grant, is a British rapper and record producer from Ladbroke Grove, London. He received the award in recognition of “his transformative role in British music”. He was introduced as “one of the defining voices of British music” who “represents the power of speaking in a voice that is unmistakably your own”.

On September 22nd, the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) published the results of the latest Union’s Public Service ballot, with 93% of those voting backing industrial action, saying that “education staff expect a credible settlement on pay, delivery of outstanding Local Bargaining commitments, and protection against unilateral changes to working arrangements”.  The union’s executive committee has authorised an initial programme for the strike, beginning with an hour-long withdrawal of labour from university personnel on Monday, October 5th, symbolically World Teachers’ Day.

The Just Transition Commission has called for the planned increase in public transit fares to be scrapped while cuts to fuel excise duty continue, according to a report by the Irish Independent. In a letter written to the government last week, the commission, which was established in 2024 as an independent advisory body to the government, recommended that they examine whether revenue from the carbon tax which had been “unallocated or underspent” could be redirected in order to continue funding subsidies for public transit fares, avoiding planned increases to adult fares averaging 15% expected to be implemented next January.

It’s 9 p.m., and the final curtain falls. The audience rises in booming applause, and with it the premiere of Rusalka at Dublin’s Bord Gáis Energy Theatre comes to an end. I’d been kindly invited to attend the opera by an ambassador I’d met at college a few weeks prior. A big opera aficionado, he had been excited by the fact that I’m Viennese and thought this would make me a good companion to go see the performance.

Trinity students will be permitted to miss lectures, tutorials and laboratories on Thursday to take part in a national student walkout organised by Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn (AMLÉ), formerly known as USI (Union of Students in Ireland), to protest what it says is a lack of adequate State investment in higher education. The walkout is scheduled to take place from 12 noon to 3pm on October 1, less than a week before Budget 2027 is announced on October 6.

Ten years ago, if you woke up feeling refreshed, you’d assume you’d slept well. Simple. Now, you wake up and see a sleep score of 65/100 on your Apple Watch. You start to question what your body is telling you. Did I wake up throughout the night? Was my room too hot? What caused my score to be so low? You may even suddenly start to feel tired.

The Electoral Commission (EC) of the Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU/AMLCT) has called for two student-wide referendums, following the passing of two motions, ‘Rún le Polasaí Fadtéarmach Gael-Ollscolaíochta a Thabhairt Isteach | Motion to Introduce a Long-Term Policy on Gael-Ollscolaíocht’ and ‘Motion on a Constitutional Amendment to Ensure the Quality of Irish Translations’, at the final council of last year. 

If you pay attention to people while walking around Trinity, you will notice something, no matter the time or place, you will always find someone with a coffee cup in their hand. Whether they’re strolling around campus, sitting down for lunch with friends, heading to a 9am lecture, or chugging one at the library entrance, coffee is always present. It is no surprise that, based in Dublin city centre, we are spoiled for choice with great cafes and coffee shops close to campus.

The Vintners' Federation of Ireland told its annual general meeting in Carlow in May that pubs are now closing at an average rate of 128 a year. Ireland had more than 8,600 pubs in 2005. Over 2,220 have shut since, close to a quarter of the total, and the federation's chief executive, Pat Crotty, told the meeting the pattern amounted to market failure in the sector.

The incoming team of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU/AMLCT) officially took up their roles in July. Meaning there is a whole summer of work that happens before any students even set foot on campus. Trinity News caught up with the incoming sabbatical team to discuss what they have been working on over the summer, and what students can expect to see from them in the coming year.

A College initiative won the 2026 IDEATE Ireland entrepreneurship competition, emerging as the overall winner out of 10 finalist teams. IDEATE Ireland is an opportunity that celebrates entrepreneurial skills and creative ideas. It is aimed to provide remuneration and mentorship to third-level students and graduates who come up with innovative projects, giving them a kick-start in commercialization. NOVAP Medical is a medtech startup comprising a team of Trinity researchers with significant ICU experience.

Israel have just equalised against Austria. The scorer, Sayed Abu Farchi, runs to the corner to celebrate. With a gleeful smile on his face, he picks up the corner flag, takes aim and fires, before simulating the recoil of a gun.  Just two months ago, experienced goalkeeper Saleem Al-Ashqar was cycling in the Gaza Strip. He was shot in the chest by a member of the Israeli Defense Forces and bled to death. 

There are certain people we are collectively advised not to sleep with. Your best friend’s ex. Your ex’s best friend. Your ex. Somewhere fairly high on this list sits your housemate. The logic is obvious. There are plenty of people you can sleep with and never see again. Your housemate, by definition, is not one of them. Sleeping with someone you live with removes one of the most useful tools in modern dating: avoidance.

Ireland has the second-highest overall excise duty on alcohol across the EU and UK, according to new research by Dublin City University (DCU) economist Anthony Foley. The study, commissioned by the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI), found that only Finland applies a higher combined rate of excise on beer, wine and spirits.  A pint of beer served in an Irish pub carries 55 cent in excise duty, compared to 5 cent in both Germany and Spain.

Some hikes are worth setting an alarm for. Others are not. Trinity News asked the chair of the Hiking Society, Patrick Drennan, for his verdict. Mount Brandon Ireland's second-tallest mountain is, according to Drennan, also its most underrated. The terrain, he says, is remarkably varied - huge cliffs, striking rock formations and hidden pools. He has never even hiked it on a clear day, when the views are meant to be spectacular, and it remains his favourite regardless.

It has long been said that college is a formative time in a young person’s life. This is undoubtedly true. Everything feels bigger at college – the stakes are higher, the parties are bigger, and the choices are endless. Now that I can look back on my university years with a somewhat removed perspective, it is easy to see the things I would have done differently.

Content warning: This story contains discussions of sexual violence and sexual assault. For a student who has experienced sexual violence, telling someone what happened might feel like the first step towards getting help. What follows is largely dependent on who they tell. There is no single route for reporting sexual violence in Trinity. A student may speak to a tutor or counsellor, contact the Dignity, Respect and Consent (DR&C) Service, make an anonymous report through Speak Out, make a formal complaint to Trinity or report the incident to An Garda Síochána.

For the better part of two years, I’ve spent quite a large amount of time outside of college studying the Irish language. As any prospective Irish learner will tell you, a lot of studying time is spent usually hopping around a handful of reference websites. Some of these sites, such as teanglann.ie, corpas.ie, and abair.ie, have had availability issues over the past couple of months.

Andrew Payne did not know what he wanted to do in college. So, naturally, he studied Business, Economics and Social Studies (BESS). Specialising in Sociology and Political Science, he graduated in 2005 and became Editor-in-Chief of Trinity News (TN) for the following academic year. His ability to keep his options open at all times enabled his success. For his Leaving Certificate, he had picked a broad range of subjects and found a course that piqued several of his interests.

The High Court has ruled that the state has until lunchtime on Friday to respond to challenge brought against its decision to deny a visa to a Palestinian student, who had been due to begin studying at Trinity College Dublin. Hafez Alrayye, a 20-year-old student from Gaza, had been due to begin a fully-funded engineering scholarship this semester, however was among 115 Palestinian students denied visas by the Irish government.

Welcome to Trinity! You have got the Campanile over here, the Book of Kells over there, and a person you will forget all about in two weeks sleeping in your bed. Soon, you will be taking your first lectures and doing your first assignments. But fear not: Freshers’ Week is all about meeting friends, enemies, lovers, and 50 or so people you will politely wave to on campus for the rest of your college career, wondering why they never took you out of their Close Friends stories after that one night out two years ago.

Humans have an inherent need for art in their lives; music and storytelling are two of the ways we connect to one another, and yet the cost of living in Dublin has left many students unable to attend professional-scale productions or concerts. While I appreciate that theatres like the Gate and the Abbey have to charge accordingly to stay in business and pay their employees, the reality is that, for many, myself included, seeing a play is a once-a-semester luxury.

Today activists gathered outside the High Court to support Gazan students who have been denied visas by the Department of Justice. At around 10:30am, the court heard Hafez Alrayye’s challenge against the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Jim O’Callaghan for refusing to grant a visa to allow him to take up his fully-funded scholarship to study engineering in Trinity.

A residential building on New Square caught fire last Friday September 18. Dublin City Council (DCC) told Trinity News that the first call was received at 5:39pm, and that the incident concluded almost an hour later, at 6:30pm. No injuries have been reported. In a statement, DCC said “firefighter/paramedics were dispatched to the scene from Tara Street and Phibsborough fire stations.”

Squalor Magazine is Dublin’s newest independent mag, launching this culture night at The Thomas House from 7pm.  The line up for the launch reflects the mag’s DIY ethos: screenings of independent documentaries directed by Cormac Nolan, one of Squalor’s founders, are to be followed by a debut set from the the freshly formed duo Principle Skinner, with Digdeep closing out the night by playing their signature noise and Bog Rock sound. 

For university students, summer break can feel endless when we put our pens down after our last exam. But somehow, by the end of August, it can seem as though the entire season slipped away in a matter of weeks. Between internships, jobs and travelling, college breaks have become something students are determined to make the most of.  For some, this meant leaving Dublin altogether.

There is, theoretically, such a thing as free sex. Two people meet, go home together, and part ways the following morning having spent absolutely nothing in the process. In Dublin, this seems unlikely. “Casual sex may be casual in commitment, but financially, it can be anything but.” Long before anyone ends up in someone else’s bed, the bill has probably begun accumulating.

The Railway Accident Investigation Unit (RAIU) has issued a recommendation for Luas trams to be fitted with technology to prevent trap-and-drag incidents following a series of four instances between April and June of people or their belongings being trapped between the doors. This resulted in them being dragged across the platforms once the tram departed. The RAIU warned that such occurrences could pose a risk of injury or fatalities to Luas passengers.

The number of “bike bunkers” and other shared mobility schemes will increase under “sustainable kerbside” policies being devised by Dublin City Council (DCC). The council has received more than 3,000 requests for the metal storage sheds, which can accommodate six bicycles over up to one car-parking space. A report presented to city councillors on September 9 noted that “demand for service is significantly greater than the number of spaces currently available”, therefore a “significant number of additional ‘bike bunkers’ will need to be accommodated”.

Nicole Flattery has been announced as the recipient of the 2026 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature.  Established in 1976 by the Irish-American businessman and former ambassador Dan Rooney, the prize is awarded annually to an emerging Irish writer under the age of 40, in recognition of an outstanding body of work. In celebration of 50 years since its establishment, the value of the Rooney Prize has doubled this year, from €10,000 to €20,000 as announced by the Benefactor and Custodian of the prize, Dr Peter Rooney.

Freshers' week operates on one unwritten rule: whoever shouts loudest gets remembered. Everyone else is left to make their case in the gaps between. Five of them make theirs here. What follows is the honest pitch from the people running Trinity's most overlooked sports clubs. Dublin University Cycling and Triathlon Club (DUCC) DUCC caters to cyclists and triathletes alike. Complete beginners and Ironman finishers train side by side.

A plaque confirming the renaming of Trinity College Dublin’s main library after the poet Eavan Boland has been erected, almost two years after the college confirmed the name change. The plaque, which reads “Leabharlann Eavan Boland - The Eavan Boland Library”, was installed on Tuesday, September 17th. The Eavan Boland Library was originally known as the New Library when it first opened in 1967, the same year Boland began working in the college as a junior lecturer.

Often forgotten in the conversation of the Palestinian genocide is the ecological perspective. The rewriting of local ecosystems forgets the indigenous relationship with the land that has sustained generations of Palestinians. By fundamentally altering the Palestinian environment, the people’s intimate knowledge of the land becomes less useful, and the coming generation of Palestinians will be living on an unfamiliar playing field.

As part of an emergency protest today, commencing at 4.30pm at the Department of Justice on St Stephen’s Green, five members of the Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU/AMLCT) and Trinity Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) have locked themselves to the steps of the building.  Among these were TCDSU/AMLCT President Amy Kennedy, Postgraduate Officer Ava Tuohy, and Chair of BDS Seán Radcliffe. 

September marks the start of a new term, which for many means moving into student accommodation with shared kitchen space and balancing eating well on a busy schedule, while staying within a budget. All these factors can make it challenging to prioritise meals that are nutritious, delicious and quick.  After a long day of classes and with a night of studying still ahead, the last thing you want to do is cook a meal you don't even enjoy; ordering Deliveroo sounds like the far tastier, more appealing option.

This coming September 18 marks the return of Dublin’s annual Oíche Chultúir to the streets of Baile Átha Cliath. A night of national cultural celebration, it offers an opportunity to explore Irish heritage for any and all curious souls. With over two decades of history and events ranging across what organisers describe as “culture, arts, heritage, education, hospitality, tourism, health and commercial and corporate enterprise”, both new and returning Trinity students have Ireland’s arts and culture at their fingertips.