Students from the L & H society at University College Dublin are through to the final of The Irish Times Debate after emerging victorious from the semi-final on Thursday.
Stéphane de Baréid and Coleman Hegarty were the students on the winning UCD team, while the winning individual, who also goes through, was Irene Kellegher from the Cadet School, which is responsible for the training and education of officer cadets for the Defence Forces.
The Irish Times Debate is 65 years old. It is the longest running intervarsity debating competition in Ireland, run as an all-island competition since it began and open to all full time third level students with the aim of promoting excellent oration and debating.
Thursday’s semi-final took place in Rathgar Methodist Church. The second semi-final, which was scheduled for Friday in Trinity College Dublin, has been postponed due to adverse weather conditions expected from Storm Éowyn.
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Among the other speakers at the semi-final included team members Beth Hamill and Jonathon Boylan of King’s Inns; Rehan Haneef and Ziyad Anwer of Trinity College Dublin’s Hist.
Individual speakers included Gabriella McMullin and Oran Lafferty of Queen’s University Belfast’s Literific; Morogh O’Flaherty of UCD’s L & Jessica Brown of UCD’s Law Soc; and Cathal Horgan of Trinity College Dublin’s Hist.
The convener for the competition was Louise Cullen, a previous finalist and was runner-up in the competition in 2024. The chairwoman is Bríd McGrath, director of public affairs with Oxfam, who was a team winner of The Irish Times Debate in 2001.
The judging panel included Bernice Harrison, Irish Times journalist and host of the In The News podcast; Eoin Ryan, judicial assistant to the Supreme Court and team runner-up in 2024; Kevin Brennan, consultant in Deloitte and two-time finalist in 2020 and 2021; Cian Leahy, GP and inclusion health registrar and team winner in 2018.
This year’s competition will involve four semi-finals, each producing one team and one individual winner, to decide the finalists for the grand final.
The competition has been an early proving ground for many who have gone on to forge distinguished careers in law, medicine, theatre, media and politics.
Former winners and finalists include presidents past and present (Michael D Higgins and Mary Robinson), politicians (Eamonn McCann, Mary Harney, Brian Lenihan and Rónán Mullen), broadcasters (Henry Kelly, Derek Davis and Marian Finucane), senior civil servants and judges (Adrian Hardiman, Frank Clarke and Donal O’Donnell).
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