Tommy Gavin
Following a meeting with the Junior Dean, Dr Tim Trimble, Piranha editor John Engle has begrudgingly admitted that the satirical newspaper will “probably run some sort of apology” to Sebastien Lecocq in its next issue. This comes after his defence of the now-infamous candidate profile the paper ran in its Students’ Union election issue, which drew wide condemnation across Trinity for its harsh tone. It called the Student Union Presidential contender a “douchebag from the moment of conception” and referenced a medical condition which the former candidate said is not open to public discussion. The article was broadly seen as disproportionately malicious towards Lecocq, whom joke candidate Aaron Heffernan referred to as having been “so atrociously slandered in some grubby publication” in his withdrawal speech.
Other student leaders who denounced the article included Students’ Union President Nikolai Trigoub-Rotnem, Philosophical Society President Declan Meehan and then-Players Chair Matthew Smyth.
The Junior Dean expects the Piranha to apologise according to University Times sources familiar with Engle’s predicament, but will not force the publication to do so. Engle was accompanied to the meeting with the Junior Dean by Senior Lecturer in Law, Eoin O’Dell, who is a member of the Trinity Publications Board and specialises in media law. He has provided legal advice to numerous Trinity publications including this one, but when contacted by The University Times, John Engle dismissed any inference of legal threats from O’Dell’s presence, saying that “he was helpful in formulating our position and it was good to have an advocate, but there were no legal issues”. Commenting further, he said that “nothing was mandated, if there is an apology it will be on the initiative of the Piranha team. We are not being mandated to in any way, though we probably will run something in the next issue, taking the human factor into account.” One member of the Trinity Publications Committee who asked to remain nameless said that the “whole committee (editors, etc.) want John to apologise. He’s being stubborn.” Both GMB and Trinity Publications sources claimed that the Piranha would be printing a “clarification” as opposed to an actual apology, but when Engle was asked about this, he dismissed it saying that “the difference is speculative, a clarification and an apology can both take the same form. So to distinguish between two things that haven’t yet happened is pointless.”
When asked about whether or not he has been happy with the level of support from the Publications Committee in the debacle surrounding the article in question, Engle said that “the Committee did what is required of it in defending Publications [the committee].” The committee has discussed the issue at length and has asked Engle to show Publications Chairperson Grace Walsh the apology before it goes to print. She has said to the University Times that this is merely a “precaution” and that “the committee recognises the importance of not publishing slanderous or offensive material, but the issue has been resolved with the Publications Committee so I have no other comment to make about it.”
As well as being editor of the Piranha, Engle is also the general manager of The Social and Political Review, a Committee member of the Student Economic Review, Vice Chair of Trinity Ógra Fianna Fáil, Treasurer of The Phil, and a section editor for Trinity News. Ricky McCormack, Deputy Editor under Engle, is set to replace Engle next year following his election at the Piranha annual general meeting last week, so the next Piranha issue will be the last under Engle’s tenure. He commented that he “was happy to see Ricky McCormack elected”, and that he plans to contribute to the satirical paper next year.
The next issue of The Piranha is expected to be published in week 12.
