The Senior Debating Final for the Brother McFarland Cup was held on Thursday 27th March in the Abbey Grammar CBS.
The motion for the debate was: This house believes that U.S. and British policy on Iraq is morally and politically unjust. Proposing the motion were Christopher Rodgers (Captain), Joseph Murphy, Colm O’Grady and Sean McClory. The opposition team comprised of Gareth Chambers (Captain), Daniel-Patrick Heatley, Eamonn Donnelly and James Rea. The debate was chaired by Dr. A Lennon and adjudicated by Mr. G Morgan, Mr. Rory Mc Shane (Competition Sponsor) and guest speaker, Mr. Malachi O’Doherty. At times the debate was both passionate and emotive and it was apparent that each student had researched, prepared and delivered their material superbly well. Before the final adjudication good-humoured entertainment was provided in the form of Ex Tempore motions when each student was given one minute to prepare a brief speech on a totally random motion. The motions ranged from This House Believes that Homer Simpson is God to This house would prefer Kylie to Jennifer Lopez. In the end the motion was defeated. The adjudication of the debate in terms of who won was difficult enough but trying to agree the top three speakers was almost impossible. Each student gave a very good account of themselves but in the end it was agreed that, for the second consecutive year, Daniel – Patrick Heatley was the winner with the debutant James Rea second and Colm O’Grady third. The guest speaker, Mr. Malachi O’Doherty, commended the students on their fine performances and made the point that in order to understand their own opinions and ideas, students must first learn to articulate and debate them. Only then will they come to a clearer understanding of what they believe.