Dalriada make it to prestigious Stormont Schools Debating final

Disappointingly for the local school debaters, neither the Denny All-Ireland Schools Competition nor the Debating Matters Competition ran in Northern Ireland this year, citing sponsorship and organisational difficulties.

But their coach, Mrs Millican, discovered another province-wide competition and they have been enjoying some significant successes there. The competition is The Northern Ireland Schools Debating Competition, founded in 1993 by Fionnuala Jay-O'Boyle CBE during her time as Chairman of the Belfast Civic Trust. The final of the competition is held every year in the Senate Chamber of Parliament Buildings, Stormont. It is organised by the Belfast Buildings Preservation Trust (BBPT), and is sponsored by both the Telegraph Media Group and the T.E. Utley Memorial Fund. Dr. Alistair B. Cooke OBE has been President of the competition since 1997 and Mrs. Jay-O'Boyle is Chairman. Lord Trimble and Lord Dubs are patrons. One of the appeals for the Dalriada debaters is that each round's motion is chosen to reflect a particular civic, social, political or economic issue of the day.

An average of over 70 schools enter each year, and this year there were 86, making it the biggest NI Schools Debating competition in history. Dalriada's first round took place in November when the A team travelled to take on Belfast Inst., previous winners in 1997. Dalriada fielded two teams – the Upper Sixth A Team of Sarah Laverty and Patrick McIlveen and a Lower Sixth B team of Christy Gregg and Carla Hunter.

The first round motion was that This House believes that student debt is a fair price to pay for an education. The B Team played at home against St MacNissis's and both teams were put through to the second round.

Round Two came in December, The Upper Sixth playing last year's winners Bangor Grammar (see photo] under the motion, "This House rejects the use of nuclear energy as a solution to the energy crisis." The B Team took on Friends' in Lisburn and lost by one point to a team that has made it to the semi-finals this year. The A Team of Sarah and Patrick however achieved a significant win of 93.5 points to 80 over the Bangor team to secure a place in Round Three.

February brought a draw against Methodist College Belfast, runners-up in 2005, with the motion, "This House would welcome being governed from the playing fields of Eton." A tight and cleverly-argued competition ensued with Dalriada snatching victory by one point and landing a place in the Quarter-finals.

So, just last week the A team travelled to Newtownabbey Council Chamber to compete against the team from Friends' who put the B team out previously. The motion was that "This House believes that funding the 2012 Olympics at the expense of culture, arts and heritage represents very poor value for money."

This was a very close debate with both sides arguing and rebutting for every point. In the end, however, it was the final summation of the Friends' proposer that clinched their narrow victory and closed the door to the Dalriads… but not entirely. A partner competition is held in the Stormont Final in April for the Best Individual in NI and Sarah Laverty was selected to take one of the 6 seats around that table.

So, Dalriada's Senior Debating Society, Arguendo, will once again be seeking NI glory before the end of the school year.

Having secured a place in the top 8 teams out of 86 schools across Northern Ireland, they are now preparing for a great night of debate in the Senate Chamber of Parliament Buildings, Stormont. The team and the school are very grateful to their sponsor, Old Dalriad, Leo McKee of McKees Solicitors in High Street, Ballymoney who helps to fund their adventures across Northern Ireland.