The Grand Final of the Irish Times Debate 2007-08 will be held in late February or early March of 2008. Institutions interested in submitted a bit to host this year’s final will be invited to do so in the weeks following the registration of teams for the competition. Submissions should be posted or emailed to The Irish Times. Email debates@irish-times.ie or post to Janet Stafford, The Irish Times, 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 2.

The aim of this document is to answer the questions that Auditors, Presidents and Debate Convenors may have from an administrative point of view, about entering the competition, and about hosting debates.

The competition aspires to be a truly national debating championships. Whilst it draws a large entry every year, it is true that some third level institutions rarely or never enter, and that colleges in Northern Ireland have not participated much in recent years. Last year, the competition attracted more societies and speakers than ever before and this year, the aim is to see such growth continue. I strongly urge any institutions who haven't entered recently to consider it this year. It would be my pleasure to help you familiarise your society and speakers with the format.

The competition enters its 48th year in 2006-2007, and for all that time, has been generously sponsored by The Irish Times. It has been a popular student activity on campuses all over the country. Institutions that have tasted ultimate success in the Team or Individual competition include UCD, Trinity, UCC, Queen's, Kings' Inns, UCG, UL, DCU, Maynooth, SADSI, the Cadet School, DIT Bolton Street and The Royal College of Surgeons.

• Many former winners are prominent today in public life, in disparate fields that share only the common thread that debating prowess proved an important skill in the career chosen. Former winners Derek Davis, Marian Finucane and Henry Kelly have all had prominent careers in television and the media, as has psychiatrist Anthony Clare. Law and politics are heavily represented among the ranks of former winners. Judges Adrian Hardiman, Kevin O'Higgins, Esmonde Smyth and former Attorney General Dermot Gleeson are all former winners, as is recently elected Senator Ronan Mullen whilst both Mary Robinson and Mary Harney were participants.
• The value of humour in the competition can be measured by the fact that writer Gerry Stembridge and comedian Dara O'Briain are both former winners.

• The only information that you need to compete is an order paper. At the first round stage, you will be selected by your union or society to compete in a particular debate, as DIT C, UCC Philosoph F, TCD Hist A or something similar. The alphabetical tag has no significance, and will be replaced by your names, at the first round debate.
• The order paper will detail the motion, your speaking position, and the time and place of the debate. On each order paper, a meeting point will be specified (sometimes a reception venue, sometimes the actual debate venue) for 30 minutes prior to the scheduled commencement of the debate. The debate will start punctually, and without you, so be there at the specified time.
• Each debate is hosted by a particular society or union in the relevant college. They are responsible for providing you with directions, and information on travel and accommodation in the location where the debate is taking place. A contact person and a contact telephone number in the host college are supplied on each order paper, if you need any help.
• Notwithstanding this, it is your own responsibility to arrange transport and accommodation for each debate. The college or society that you represent will often make some arrangement with you about defraying your costs.
• Once the competition starts the draw for all rounds and details of results will be posted to the relevant contact people in each society or college. They will be responsible for passing the details on to you.
• At this stage, teams and individuals will be drawn in specific rounds, and they may not "swop" their position on an order paper with another team or individual in the same institution.

• It is vital that the society is represented at every debate in which it has entered a team. Unexplained no-shows are completely unacceptable and if they occur, the Convenor reserves the right to:
• Bar the society in question from hosting debates in subsequent rounds
• Disqualify all other teams from the same institution
• Fine the institution
• If a team that was selected to speak in a round unavoidably cannot be present, the society in question should:
• Make every conceivable effort to send a replacement team
• As a matter of last resort, ensure that they contact the host institution before the start of the debate (contact details will be on the order paper), to inform them that they are unable to participate.

• From the point of view of the Institution, as opposed to the individual speakers, there are really only two competition rules:
• Speakers must be current registered students in the College which they are representing. Any third level educational institution can participate.
• Entry fees must be paid in full for the institution before any team is permitted to speak.