Thursday the 6th of February saw our formidable debaters compete in the annual Royal Schools Debate, which was held by Royal and Prior, in Raphoe.
Representing ERGS were Tomás Roma and Luca Quinn in team 1, with Adrianna Hurst and Arron O’Donnell in team 2, all of whom were proudly encourage by their loyal supporters (Miss Armstrong, Miss Heap, Marc Hennessy, Simon Gorczynski, Dylan Thompson, Chloe Thompson, Nadine Curtis, Isabelle Martin, Niall McCabe, Harry Rees and, Tobey Liang)
After being warmly welcomed by Royal and Prior, the quarter finals commenced, with Tomás and Luca opposing the motion “This house believes that climate change is the greatest threat in human history.” And Adrianna and Arron proposing the motion “This house believes that violent video games contribute to youth violence.”
Both teams convincingly won their quarter finals, with excellent evidence, rhetoric and arguments being used by both teams.
Both teams, encouraged by their respective victories, braved the heat of the semi-finals, with Tomás and Luca proposing the motion “This house believes that women are still poorly represented in politics.” The debate was full of passionate arguments and striking statements, and despite convincingly winning the house vote, they narrowly lost the debate to Dungannon, whilst Adrianna and Arron opposes the motion “This house believes that single sex schools are better for students.” And after a heated and relative debate, they ultimately lost the debate to Armagh.
Despite not progressing to the final, both teams enjoyed being able to relax along with their supporters, as they watched the final debate “This house believes that a post-brexit Ireland is better aligned to London than to Brussels.” Which ultimately saw Armagh, who were opposing the motion, win over Dungannon, however the questions from ERGS students towards both sides in the house questions section challenged the teams and prompted intriguing debate.
After a long afternoon of debating, the debaters with their supporters headed home, being treated to some enlightening debates about society and politics on the way home, which would have put the Nolan Show to shame!
