Our various debaters, ranging from 8th to 11th class have been doing very well over the first two months of the school year. Here is an update on their achievements to date:
1 | Leinster Debate (organised by UCD Literary and Historical Society and Trinity Historical Society)
TY students Gregor McCullagh-Travers and Gabriel Cullivan won the first round of the Leinster Debates on 26th September when they successfully proposed the motion that Social Housing should be built in wealthy areas – a topical and interesting issue for the speakers and members of the audience!
Suzi Nolan and Nora Lawlor (TY) made their debating debut in Trinity on 26th September and had the opportunity to go through to the next round on a wild card system. In the second debate on 17th October they successfully argued for an additional benefit in social welfare on the basis of educational performance of recipients’ children and will progress to the next round.
Sean Donoghue (TY) made it through to the second round of the Leinster Schools Debate on 10th October. He successfully argued in favour of the implementation of a universal basic income.
2 | UCD Junior Debating Competition
The Junior Debates began on 28th September and our three teams were: Hannah Shorten and Constanta Rata (9th class); Perry Sheng and Andrey Uliyanov (8th class); Eva Carthy and Hana Gysin (8th class). They all attended the workshop organised by UCD in St. Kilian’s earlier in September and were very keen to participate in the competition.
Hannah Shorten and Constanta Rata came second – they successfully proposed the motion that a fine should be imposed on those who do not vote in major elections.
3 | All Ireland German Debating Competition (organised by the Goethe Institute)
Congratulations to Cillian Walker, Ruby O’Connor, Daniel Lynch and Federico Handl (11th class) who won the first round of the German Debating Competition on 19th October against Sion Hill. The team successfully proposed the motion that co-educational schools prepare students better for life than single-sex schools. We look forward to the next round after the mid-term break.
4 | Concern Debate
11th Class students won the first round of the Concern Debate against Sandford Park on 23rd October when they successfully opposed the motion that GMOs have to be embraced to end world hunger. Captained by Leah Fellenz, Oscar Toomey, Aisling Burns and Isabel Van Der Voort argued convincingly that the causes of world hunger had to be tackled in order to find the solution. It was a unanimous decision and so gives them a great start in the national league.
Our debating club will continue to meet once a week at lunch-time for Juniors and Seniors and our numbers are growing.
