In addition to securing a place at the competition’s three day National Final in London at the beginning of July, through sheer force of argument the feisty teenagers from Northern Ireland have also won their schools £500 worth of books and educational resources from publishers Hodder Education.

The Institute of Ideas Debating Matters Competition, which has only this year been able to include Northern Ireland, is renowned for being the ‘toughest debating competition in the country’. Expectations of students who take part in this competition are high; in the words of one Dalriada student:

“we are tested to the max!”

Following a month of thorough research teams are not only expected to be experts in the topics up for debate, but are pushed to defend their case to judges, prestigious individuals, from journalists through to molecular biologists, who ask students questions and challenge them to substantiate their case.

In addition to Dalriada’s impressive team win, two Dalriada students were singled out for recognition of their strong individual performances by a team of individual judges who were looking out for individual contributions to the days discussions. Both Peter McCully (17) and Luke McAuley (17) were given ‘Honourable Mentions’ from the judges.

Peter McCully, one of the debaters at Dalriada, said of the competition:

‘The expert judges really do scrutinise your arguments, more than I’ve had before. I was nervous, but after every round of Debating Matters I’ve felt my confidence improving as you learn how to improve your arguments and what to do better.’

Teacher Vincent Doherty spoke of his ambitious plans to build the debating society:

“We have been working with a big group of students who are committed and passionate about debating and exploring issues at the school. It’s really good to work with them. The plan is to encourage younger students to start debating, so we can develop our debaters’ skills over several years. We love debating matters due to the relevance of the topics and the standard of judges who aren’t amateurs, but experts in the field being discussed.”

Debating Matters is no ordinary debating competition. Renowned for being ‘the toughest debating competition in the country’ debaters were grilled by an audience of fellow students and members of the community and an ‘X-factor style’ panel of expert judges, who see through the spin, scrutinising their arguments to ensure they’ve done their research.

Nick Hastie, the director of the Medical Research Council’s Human Genetics Unit:

“It’s been fascinating. I’ve had a fantastic day and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. I was really struck by the quality of thinking in the debates. All the teams have put in fantastically strong performances.”

He added:

“These students are undoubtedly future leaders, and they have given me great faith in the future.”

Judges at the event included: Anne Johnstone, leader writer, The Herald; Professor Nick Hastie, Director of the Medical Research Council Human Genetic Unit, MRC; Sue Armstrong, Writer and broadcaster; John Penman, Head of Corporate Communications, Lloyds TSB, Scotland.

FURTHER HELP

Notes for Editors
(1) The Scotland and Northern Ireland Final of the Institute of Ideas Debating Matters Competition was held at the Informatics Forum, University of Edinburgh.
(2) This region of the competition is sponsored by Medical Research Council, a publicly funded organisation dedicated to improving human health. To achieve this, the MRC support research across the biomedical spectrum, from fundamental lab-based science to clinical trials, and in all major disease areas.
(3) Dalriada School in Ballymoney osforth School received £500 worth of Hodder Education books. Royal School Armagh won £250 worth of Hodder Education books and both receive a year’s online subscription to Encyclopaedia Britannica.
(4) Schools debating in Scotland and Northern Ireland Regional Final are: Notre Dame High School, Glasgow; Douglas Academy, Milngavie; Knox Academy, Haddington; Wallace High School, Stirling; Dalriada School, Ballymoney, Northern Ireland; The Royal School Armagh, Armag, Northern Ireland.
(5) Full details of the programme for the day, including all the debate motions and topic guides, can be found here. For further information about the competition, go to www.debatingmatters.com. Please contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 020 7269 9232.

Notes for Photo Editors: Dalriada School team L-R: Andrew Hanna, Charlie MacLaughlin, Sarah McQuillian, Peter McCully, Luke McAuley, Christy Gregg.