Teens to debate terrorism

A LUCAN school debating team will unleash words of mass destruction when they argue how to defeat terrorism at an All-Ireland final showdown this week.

The teen debating titans at St Joseph’s Presentation College are preparing for their war of words with Cross and Passion College in Ballycastle at the final of the acclaimed Concern Debates contest on Wednesday (May 18).

The two finalists – the last out of the 151 school teams who participated this year – will argue ways on how to defeat terror groups.

St Joseph’s Presentation College will argue for the motion that “to defeat terrorism the world must end poverty” while Cross and Passion will oppose the statement at The Helix venue on Dublin’s Northside.

This follows both teams – each made up of a captain and three other speakers – successfully arguing that Britain should remain in the European Union at the competition’s semi-final in The Honourable Society of King’s Inns in Dublin last month.

St Joseph’s principal Bernadette Fitzgerald said: “The motion for the final is very topical and the students are looking forward to grappling with it.”

Other motions debated in this year’s Concern Debates have included the argument that “young people should be trusted to vote at 16” and that “the EU can well afford to open its borders to refugees”.

The winning team will be invited to see one of Concern Worldwide’s many overseas programmes where the aid-agency is fighting poverty and saving lives.

Concern Worldwide, Ireland’s largest humanitarian aid agency, created the competition in 1984 to encourage further learning and debate about issues of global justice and human development – and it has grown to become the largest in the country for secondary schools.

Over 50,000 students have taken part in it and many went on to have successful careers – including RTE broadcaster Claire Byrne and TV3’s Xpose presenter Karen Koster.

Participants are given a topical motion around two weeks before each debate and one side opposes it while the other argues for the statement even if they disagree with it.

Concern Worldwide’s Schools Programme Coordinator, Evanna Craig, said: “Concern Debates have undoubtedly changed dinner conversations all over the country.

“We are very proud of all the teams who took part this year – which saw more schools than ever participate.

“We would urge any school or student interested in taking part next year to get in touch with us – there will probably be high demand so we may have to cap the numbers registering for the first time ever.

“The benefits are huge – and time and time again, our debaters tell us how it has inspired and helped them with their career choices by the time they did their Leaving Certificate exams, and really given them confidence starting out in college.

“And of course, for us, the hope is that they go on to become lifelong advocates of social change around the world.”

This year’s final will be chaired by Newstalk broadcaster Shona Murray – an honour previously held by other well-known broadcasters, such as Ray D’Arcy, Claire Byrne, Bryan Dobson, Tom Dunne, Anton Savage and George Hook.

Anyone who wants to participate in Concern Debates can email [email protected] or phone 01-4177733.