Debating « Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh

27 May

C.S.N. Debating Society – “C.S.N – The Speech” competition

Our Debating Society has been keeping busy during the COVID 19 lockdown and have been holding virtual debates via Google Classroom.

Ciarán Meers and Michael Keohane came up with a novel competition idea, “C.S.N. – The Speech”.

Members of The CSN Debating Society were invited to submit a five minute video of themselves re-enacting a famous speech from history, politics, film, literature or similar.

The entries are as follows:

Diarmuid O Halloran (2nd yr) -extract from De Valera’s speech in 1945 responding to Churchill

David Cronin, 3rd Yr – The Gettysburg Address, by Abraham Lincoln

Rían Conway (3rd year) shared an iconic moment from John F. Kennedy.

Yousef Osman (3rd Year) – presidential address from Franklin D. Roosevelt

Leo Callanan (5th year) with a very relevant speech adapted from The West Wing.

Patrick Hayes (2nd Year) – a speech by Winston Churchill

Ciarán Meers (6th year) – Lyndon B Johnson’s 1968 speech, mid-Vietnam War, in which he announced he was no longer seeking the presidential nomination

Dylan O’Toole 5th Year. The Declaration of a New Order by Chancellor Sheev Palpatine from Star Wars Episode 3

We are delighted to announce that Dylan O’ Toole , (5th year), won the Senior Competition with his quirky and entertaining rendition of ‘The Declaration of a New Order’ by Chancellor Sheev Palpatine from Star Wars Episode 3.

The winner of the Junior Competition is Rían Conway (3rd year) with his rendition of an iconic speech by John F. Kennedy.

Well done to all of the students that took part and thank you to Ciarán, Michael for organising the competition.

Huge thanks to Ms Barry, Ms Fallon & Ms Callanan for all of their work throughout the year with the Debating Society.

06 Feb

Debating Society

We had two teams competing in the second round of The Philosoph Debating Competition in U.C.C.

Both teams were successful and have qualified for the next stage of the competition!

Congratulations to Dylan O’ Toole, Leo Callanan, Aidan Mamo Cooney and Robert Palmer .

They will join our third team, Ciarán Meers and Michael Keohane who had qualified after the first round of the competition.

Huge thanks to Ms Callanan and Ms Fallon who mentor the senior debaters and wishing our students the very best of luck in the third round.

10 Dec

Debating Society – Senior Christmas Debate

The Debating Society finished a very successful first term with the annual Senior Christmas Debate.

All participants contributed thoughtful, well researched and engaging speeches (this made the judging process very difficult!)

It truly was a Masterclass in Debate. Well done again to all the members.

More debating news:

The Junior students from the C.S.N. Debating Society recently took part in a competition held in St Aloysius school in Cork.

Patrick Hayes, David Cronin, Santiago Gonzalez, Michael O’Neill, Rían Conway, Diarmuid O’Halloran, and John O’Leary debated a variety of motions on topical issues including social media advertising and non-academic education.

They went head to head with over 80 other participants from across Cork City (and Tralee).

Our Senior members Ciarán Meers, Alan MacDonald, and Mannan Nazar adjudicated the rounds of debate throughout the day.

Well done to all of those who represented the school so well!

The C.S.N. Debating Society meets every Friday lunchtime in Room 17, and all are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Many thanks to Ms Barry, Ms Fallon, and Ms Callanan for coordinating debating within the school.

10 Oct

C.S.N. Debating Society

In early October, senior members of the debating society participated in the first round of the Philosoph Debating Competition, in University College Cork.

Ciarán Meers, Aidan Mamo Cooney, Leo Callanan, Dylan O’Toole, Robert Palmer and Michael Keohane represented C.S.N.

They were divided into three teams and each team was given a different motion. They were required to research the motion beforehand and prepare their debate.

Ciarán and Michael received TTHB That First World Countries Should Use Economic Sanctions to Encourage Better Environmental Practices, Aidan and Robert debated TTHW Colonize Mars and Dylan and Leo received TTHW Pay Known Gang Members to Not Commit Crimes.

Of the three teams, Michael and Ciarán advanced through to the quarter finals, which will take place in January, while the other teams will participate in a backdoor round, which will take place in November.

Everyone present made a valiant effort and all involved performed admirably in the name of the school.

- Robert Palmer, Recording Secretary

15 May

Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh Junior Debating Mace

On Wednesday May 1st, the Debating Society held the third annual Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh Junior Debating Mace.

Over 40 debaters participated in the debate, with juniors and senior adjudicators coming from schools all over Cork, including Presentation Brothers College, St Aloysius Carrigtwohill, Coláiste Dáibhead, St Aloysius College Cork, Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál Blarney, Scoil Mhuire, and Rochestown College.

Six of our own debaters participated in the event as well. Michael Keohane, Robert Palmer, David Cronin, as well as first years John O’Leary, Diarmuid O’Halloran, and Michael O’Neill gave an excellent account of themselves and their speaking abilities as they represented the school in the competition.

The participants debated two motions, “That This House Believes All News Should Be Media State Owned” and “That This House Would Restrict Immigration Laws”.

The prize for Best Team went to Eabha Murphy and Alice Neligan of Scoil Mhuire, and Runner Up Best Team went to Brian Sweeney and Matthew Kingston of P.B.C.

Best Speaker went to Arbaz Khan of P.B.C, and Runner Up Best Speaker went to Eabha Murphy of Scoil Mhuire.

We would like to thank those from C.S.N. who volunteered to help out on the day, both as adjudicators and organisers; Aaron McGee, Cian Morey, Tony O’Halloran, Jason Scully, Ciarán Meers, Aidan Mamo Cooney, Oscar Walsh, Dylan O’Toole, Leo Callanan, and Thomas Otway.

In addition, we would also like to thank the teachers who gave up their afternoon to ensure the debate ran smoothly; Ms Callanan, Ms Fallon, and the society co-ordinator Ms Barry.

The C.S.N. Debating Society meets every Friday. All are welcome and invited in the coming year.

05 Dec

National Model U.N. Debating Competition.

Six senior students represented C.S.N. in the National Model U.N. debating competition.

The competition was held in U,C,C, from 16th-18th November.

The students represented Italy in various committees ranging from closing the global gender wage gap to solving the Myanmar Rohingya crisis.

The students who attended were Aaron McGee, Cian Morey, Jason Scully, Aidan Mamo Cooney, Ciarán Meers and Oscar Walsh.

Four of the C.S.N. delegates won awards on their respective committees. Aidan Mamo Cooney won a best delegate award, Aaron McGee and Cian Morey won distinguished delegate awards and Jason Scully won an honourable mention award.

There was an extremely high standard of debate and the boys had a great time discussing world affairs and learning about the UN. Well done to them all.

Aaron McGee (6th Year)

01 May

National Finals – Matheson Junior Debating Competition

Two of our junior debaters recently participated in the national final of the Matheson Junior Debating Competition in St. Conleth’s College Dublin.

Michael Keohane (2nd Year) and David Cronin (1st Year) debated a variety of topics, including the divide in sports coverage among men and women, and secularity in schools.

The two debated against 90 of the top debaters from around the island (North and South), out of over 500 total entrants. While they did not win anything, they represented the school excellently at the national level.

They were accompanied to Dublin by Aaron McGee and Ciarán Meers, who adjudicated several of the debates, and Ms Barry, the debating co-ordinator.

Congratulations to Michael and David for an excellent performance.

Ciarán Meers – 4th Year

30 Apr

C.S.N. JUNIOR MACE 2018

Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh’s Annual Junior Mace Debating Competition took place on Wednesday 25th April this year.

The debate featured over twenty teams from schools across Cork who gathered at C.S.N. to tackle motions such as “TTHW Decline All Foreign Aid” and “TTHW Not Commemorate Those Who Die For Their Country”.

Congratulations to the prize-winning students from Rochestown College (David Leahy and Oisin McSweeney, Best Team), from Christian Brothers’ College (Fearghal Desmond and Oliver McKenna, Runner-Up Team), from St Aloysius’ College Carrigtwohill (Loulou McHale, Best Speaker) and from our very own C.S.N. (David Cronin, Runner-Up Speaker).

The event was organised almost entirely by the students themselves, from the collection of the registration fees to the layout of the rooms on the day in question, and the Committee of the Society would like to sincerely thank all of those members who helped out and ensured that the day ran smoothly.

Many thanks also to Ms Barry and Ms McGee who supported us every step of the way, to Mr Skally for his great help, and to Mr Foley for allowing us to take over half the school one afternoon so that sixty opinionated teenagers could get a bit shouty about stuff.

The 2018 Mace was a great success and was tremendously enjoyable for all, and we look forward to hosting another exceptional debate next year.

Cian Morey,

Chairman of the Debating Society