The University of Limerick Debating Unionis a society devoted to the British parliamentary style of debating. A debating society has existed in UL in one form or another since the foundation of the National Institute for Higher Education in 1972.
The Debating Union holds in-house debates on issues of public interest and current affairs as well as private members motions on lighter issues. Debates in previous years have focussed on such issues as the American presidential election, the environment and the future of the European Union.
All Irish universities are active in debating and the Debating Union consistently competes in inter-university events both in Ireland and abroad. The Union hosts a competition every year in March, which attracts some of the best debaters in Ireland, Britain and the world. The Union has attended both the European and World debating championships for many years.
In 2009 the Debating Union adopted a new crest to symbolise the changing and evolving identity of the Union. The symbol of the Debating Union is a raven and its motto is “Verbum sat sapienti est” (A word to the wise is sufficient).
Read more about University Of Limerick Debating Union: Predecessors, Competition and Collaboration, Formation of The Debating Union, Structure, Honorary Life Members, Auditors Medal, Notable Alumni
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“In bourgeois society, the French and the industrial revolution transformed the authorization of political space. The political revolution put an end to the formalized hierarchy of the ancien regimé.... Concurrently, the industrial revolution subverted the social hierarchy upon which the old political space was based. It transformed the experience of society from one of vertical hierarchy to one of horizontal class stratification.”
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Fishes in the flood,
And I must wax wod:
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—Unknown. Fowls in the Frith. . .
Oxford Book of Short Poems, The. P. J. Kavanagh and James Michie, eds. Oxford University Press.
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Tralee is bad enough,
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Which is worst I cannot tell,
They’re everyone so filthy,
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Worst luck to Clonakilty.”
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