Debates

History of the Competition

The Irish Times Debate celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2010 - Watch video

The Irish Times' Debate competition will be 51 years old this year. Since its inception the competition has aspired to be a truly national debating championship, for third level institutions, with the objective of promoting excellence in oratory and debating.

Competition details

From a starting field of around 300 competitors three students will ultimately triumph with the winning team claiming the Demosthenes trophy and the individual winner being awarded the Christina Murphy memorial trophy. Since 1960 the National Parliamentary Debate Association of America (NPDA) has invited the three winners to participate in a debating tour of the US. This three-week tour usually takes place about six to eight weeks after The Irish Times Debate Final.

The Institutions that have tasted ultimate success in the team or individual competition are the Cadet School, DIT Bolton Street, Galway (NUI), Kings' Inns, Maynooth (NUI), Queen's University, The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, SADSI, Trinity College, University College Cork, University College Dublin and University of Limerick.

Many former winners have gone on to take up prominent places 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, Henry Kelly and Marian Finucane have all been prominent in careers in television and media, as has psychiatrist Anthony Clare.

Law and politics are heavily represented among the ranks of former winners. Judges Adrian Hardiman, Kevin O'Higgins and Esmonde Smyth and former Attorney General Dermot Gleeson are former winners; both Mary Robinson and Mary Harney were finalists.

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.

Entry forms will be sent to college debating societies in early October.