Competitive Debating
At times, The Phil has had outstanding competitive debating record, especially in the domestic Irish Times and international Observer Mace (later John Smith Memorial Mace) competitions. The society first won the Mace (the premier British and Irish university debating competition) in 1997 when the all-Scottish team of Matthew Magee, Librarian, and Alex Massie, Steward, won the title. A second victory was claimed three years later by Fergal Davis and Robert Cuffe, President. Registrar Kiera Healy & former President Ruth Faller reached the Quarter Finals of the World University Debating championships in UCC in 2009, breaking in 9th position.
The society runs internal debating competitions: the Eamon O'Coine Memorial Maiden Speaker's Competition, for first-time speakers in college, the satirically-titled Margaret Thatcher Memorial Debating Competition (or Maggies), a series of impromptu debates, and the John Pentland Mahaffy Memorial Mace. External competitions include an intervarsity debating competition, the Claire Stewart Trinity IV comprising the Kingsmill-Moore Invitational and the Dean Swift Intervarsity - in association with the College Historical Society, and a secondary schools' public speaking competition, the AIB Phil Speaks.
Read more about this topic: University Philosophical Society
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