News

Aloysian Debaters reach National Semi-Finals with Spirited Performance

Personal Excellence

Senior Aloysian debaters, Alistair Lockhart and Christopher McCarthy, will take part in the Semi-Finals of the Law Society of Scotland’s Donald Dewar Memorial Debating Tournament after triumphing in the second round of the prestigious competition with a passionate and spirited performance.

Organised each year by the Law Society of Scotland, the Donald Dewar Memorial Debating Tournament is the biggest schools debating competition in Scotland with around 90 schools represented each year by the country’s best young debaters.  

Competing in Round 2 of the competition at Woodfarm High School, the Aloysians, Alistair Lockhart and Christopher McCarthy of S6, displayed a notably spirited performance as they defended the motion ‘The House believes that compensation should be paid for the injustices committed by past generations’.

Commenting on their performance, the presiding judge, a lawyer and member of the Law Society of Scotland, said they displayed

  ‘passion in their arguments and impressive structure in their delivery as a team, each complementing the other very effectively’.

Joseph Burns of S6, who is pictured with the two debaters along with Mr O’Duffin, helped the team prepare and supported them from the audience, winning the prize for best question from the floor on the night.

Alistair and Christopher will now proceed to Round 3 of the Competition, the semi-finals, which will take place on Thursday 10 March in St Maurice’s High, Cumbernauld.

For this event, the St Aloysius’ College debaters will be asked to compete in a challenging and impromptu debate on an unknown topic with only one hour of preparation.

St Aloysius’ College holds a weekly debating club for pupils from S1 – S6 after school every Wednesday.