Leinster Junior Schools Debating in UCD

At 4 o’clock on the 5th of October Mr Whitty Mrs Davy, a group of students and I began the long journey to University College Dublin (UCD), for the first round of the Leinster Junior Schools debating competition. Within this competition teams of two from 1st to 3rd year compete to see who is the best debating team within the province. It is a league format with each team competing in 3 debates.
On the day we brought three teams and two spectators with us. Myself and Ronan Brennan were faced with the motion that the voting age should be lowered to 16, which we were proposing (meaning we were for it). Ryan Malone and Patrick Afolabi were also faced with the same motion except they were opposing the motion that sixteen-year olds should be allowed to vote (meaning they disagreed with the motion). Sam Hoffheinz and Finn Walsh were faced with the motion that tourism should be prohibited to countries with poor human rights records. They were proposing the motion. Evan Murphy and Darragh Corish came to spectate the debates.
Once we arrived on the campus we were led into a lecture theatre, where we were all split into different rooms. Ronan, Sam, Finn and I were brought into the art building whereas Patrick and Ryan were brought into the law building.
Ronan and I were led into a room where we were seated, and then the debate begun. There were 4 proposition teams and 4 opposition teams. Ronan spoke third and I spoke sixth. Once the debate had finished we were led out into the hall whilst the judges conferred. We were later called back in where we were told we had come first.  Sam and Finn had come 3rd and Ryan and Patrick had also come third. We all thoroughly enjoyed the day.
By Darragh Sinnott