Limerick school wins national debating contest

STUDENTS at a Limerick secondary school are celebrating this week after winning a national debating competition.

Classmates at Hazelwood College in Dromcollogher, Aisling O'Connor, Amy O'Gorman, Regina Burke and Lucy O'Gorman travelled to the Helix Theatre in Dublin.

It came after they qualified for the final of an all-island debating competition organised by the Concern charity, which helps some of the poorest and neediest people in the world.

The foursome became Ireland's new school debating champions, beating 177 other teams, by successfully arguing that world peace is the defining task of the 21st century.

They defeated Ursuline Secondary School from Thurles in Tipperary.

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"We are absolutely delighted and so proud of our team. It means the world to them – there were tears of joy here this evening,” said Hazelwood’s team mentor and school teacher Catherine Shanahan.

Now, the team from Hazelwood will travel to Brussels and The Hague to visit the European Parliament and The International Criminal Court as part of their prize.

Both teams were applauded by President Michael D Higgins who sent them a message before the final in which he stated that it is critically important that young citizens engaged with issues of importance.

“Yours is the generation on which so much hope rests,” said President Higgins, who also praised the Concern Debates itself which was created in 1984 to encourage further debating about global issues among young people.

"The schools debates programme has been an important and formative one engaging as it does with more than 60,000 people across the island of Ireland,” he added.

Well-known past participants of the competition include Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe and television broadcasters Claire Byrne and Karen Koster.

Concern’s Head of Global Citizenship, Lauren Wright, praised the hundreds of students who took part in the 40th year of the competition.

"We are very proud of the hundreds of students who took part in Concern Debates this year and we also applaud the volunteers who judge each debate in their local communities," she said. "Debating gives young people a chance to develop critical thinking, research and communication skills, all of which are vital for becoming active citizens both locally and globally.

"Learning how to debate can help people to learn about one another's perspectives and give them the skills to have healthy discussions about important social issues, which is so important in the world we live in today.”

Concern said anyone would like to volunteer as Concern Debates adjudicator or who would like their school to take part in next year’s competition to ring 01-4177733 or email debates@concern.net.