Booterstown boys make the finals of national debates

POLITICIANS appearing on TV and radio election debates recently would surely have learned a thing or two from the speakers in the All-Ireland Finals of Comórtas Díospóireachta Uí Chadhain 2020. 

Comórtas Uí Chadhain is an Irish debating competition for all-Irish secondary schools with a junior and senior section.

More thean 50 schools nationally took part in this year’s competition which started back in October 2019.

The motions debated in the finals that were held in the Salthill Hotel, Galway, were extremely topical at the moment, with the juniors discussing ‘Tá cúis ghearáin ag feirmeoirí na hÉireann!’ (Irish farmers have a genuine beef!).

The senior motion was ‘Ba cheart dúinn bata agus bóthar a thabhairt don rialtas seo ag an olltoghchán atá le teacht!’ ( We should show the door to the present government in the forthcoming election! ) Four teams took part in each debate.

In the junior final the teams included Coláiste Eoin, Booterstown.

The Southside school was also represented in the senior contest.

The high standard of debating at the event posed a considerable challenge to the five adjudicators.

The winning teams in each section were each presented with a perpetual trophy and a voucher worth €1,000, while vouchers worth €250 each were awarded to the other teams who had participated.

Micheál Ó hÉanaigh, CEO of Údarás na Gaeltachta was the guest speaker on the night.

A former participant himself in years gone by he recalled memories of debates he had taken part in, and commented that the experience had stood to him along the way in his chosen career.

He praised all the young orators for their command of current affairs, and contributed his own opinions on the motions debated.

 Congratulating the winners on their great achievement, Sean Ó Ceallaigh from Gael Linn, said: “It is hugely encouraging to us in Gael Linn to see these young debaters achieve such high standards and no doubt we will be seeing some of them in years to come in careers that require the skills of public speaking and debating.”