Eureka welcome Parisian debaters for inaugural Wolfe Tone Debate

The inaugural Wolfe Tone Debate which took place at Eureka Secondary school in Kells on Saturday saw students from Kells and Paris argue fiercely over hot topics such as ‘Tourism does more harm than good’, ‘There’s no point studying Shakespeare at school’ and ‘Nuclear energy is necessary’.

Proceedings were opened by Principal Caroline O’Reilly as the school welcomed seasoned Parisian debaters L’école Massillon and their exceptional coordinators Maeve Jennings, a former student of Eureka, and Evi Ferenduros.

The high-profile judging panel included the French Ambassador to Ireland, Vincent Guérend, Minister Thomas Byrne, Dearbhail McDonald, Michael J Flynn, Deirdre Kinahan, Dr Rhona Mahony, Darragh Byrne, Cllr Sarah Reilly, Brian Ingarfield, Myles Dungan, Laura Le Cleach and Emily McKeown.

Eureka and Massillon debaters battled valiantly in the first round and audiences were bombarded with a plethora of fantastic facts and viewpoints supported with effective use of voice, humour and persuasion. At the interval, judges were given the monstrous task of choosing a victor which led to some heated scoring . Ultimately, Masillon were to dominate the round through effective use of key quotations and strategically selected points of interests.

However, Eureka rallied in the second part of day and senior debaters Lúcia Keane, Ciara Sheridan and Róisín Murtagh astounded the ambassador and Minister with their arguments on the suppression of the 1798 uprising preventing the establishment of a United States of France and Ireland’ and claimed victory over Massillon.

The Eureka Intermediate debaters Ava O’Connor , Gráinne Owens, Orla Cremin and Emma Hunt were also winners.

Proceedings were concluded by Deputy Principal, Ms Mary Mullaghy, who demonstrated her skill with the language Française through a moving multi-linguistic introduction to Mr Gúerend and Minister Byrne. His Excellency gave a rousing speech on the historic continual importance of Franco Irish relations. This was further supported by Minister Byrne who also presented trophies to the victors and certificates to all debaters, timekeepers and chairpersons.

Eureka Secondary School would like to thank everyone who attended the event and especially to judges, staff and students who helped on the day. The event would not have been possible without the outstanding work of the two Eureka English teachers Ms Igoe and Mr Lynn. They look forward to settling the score in Paris next year.