Concern Debates 2022/2023 - The League Phase

Our Concern debaters began the League Phase of the Concern Debates competition by proposing the motion that ‘GMOs are necessary in the fight to end world hunger.’ This debate took place on Friday, 21st October 2022 against St. Francis College, Rochestown, Co. Cork. Oonagh McCarthy did a great job of captaining the team and she was ably assisted by her teammates: Aengus Price, Saoirse Hayes and Rebecca Beecher. Siofra Skinner was our Chairperson for this debate with Grace O’Riordan acting as our timekeeper. It was a very insightful and entertaining debate which concluded with a unanimous win for Kinsale Community School. This means that KCS came away from this debate with the maximum of five points, a great start to the League Phase of the competition. The adjudicator for this debate remarked on the students excellent variety of sources, the vast amount of research that went into their debate speeches and their use of anecdotes helped to hammer home the points being made. She remarked on the good emotion the team portrayed throughout with great pace and lovely tone from all the speakers. Finally, she commented on the excellent teamwork skills that was shown throughout the debate. The entire team can be proud of their performance, especially considering that none of them had debated previously.

L-R; Rebecca Beecher, Oonagh McCarthy, Aengus Price, Saoirse Hayes, Siofra Skinner.

The second debate in the Concern Debates League Phase had our debaters opposing the motion that ‘Climate activists must give up eating meat.’ This debate took place on Thursday, 17th of November 2022 against Castletroy College, Limerick. A very challenging motion to oppose and our TY debaters did an excellent job of confronting this challenge. Saoirse Hayes did a fantastic job of captaining the team and she was ably assisted by her teammates: Siofra Skinner, Kiely Lehane and Rebecca Beecher. Oonagh McCarthy acted as our timekeeper, and as we were the opposing school for this debate, we did not need to have a Chairperson. Both KCS and Castletroy College gave very strong arguments in this debate and created stiff competition for the alternative teams. The debate concluded in a draw result, with both teams receiving three points each, which means that after the second round in the League Phase, Kinsale Community School had a stellar eight points out of a possible ten. The adjudicator commented on the teams excellent use of sources and how all statements were backed up by facts. She said that all speeches were very engaging. She commented on the teams excellent use of rebuttals and made a particular comment on how our captain, Saoirse Hayes, was very confident and she carried her arguments excellently. The entire team should be very proud of all the work they have achieved.

L-R; Siofra Skinner, Rebecca Beecher, Kiely Lehane, Saoirse Hayes.

The third and final debate in the Concern Debates League Phase had our debaters opposing the motion: ‘HIV and AIDs in the global south is the 'forgotten pandemic'. This debate took place on Tuesday, 13th of December 2022 against St Mary’s Secondary School, Newport, Co Tipperary. Aengus Price did a brilliant job of captaining the team and he was ably assisted by his teammates: Grace McCarthy, Rebecca Beecher and Saoirse Hayes. An incredibly interesting and well argued debate which KCS won with another unanimous win. This means that the team walk away with four points, leaving them with a total of twelve points at the end of the league phase. The adjudicator noted that the students made frequent references to sources, they were very engaging with decent efforts to refute and rebut, they chose to respond to definition rather than offer a new one, and they did this with authority and precision.

L-R; Saoirse Hayes, Aengus Price, Grace McCarthy and Rebecca Beecher

Due to the incredible success of this years Transition Year Concern Debates team, they will now progress into the Knockout Round which will take place in January. This is an incredible achievement, especially as they are the first team to progress into the next round from KCS in a number of years. We wish to congratulate our young group of debaters of their incredible success and we wish them the best of luck in the upcoming Knockout Round. The team will start the Knockout Round by proposing the motion: ‘The SDGs are a waste of time.’ They will debate against St Andrew’s College, Booterstown, Co. Dublin. We wish the team the very best of luck.

A huge thank you to Mr Shane Hartnett and Ms Janet Forrest for all the work they have done with the Concern Debates team this year.