Griffith College Dublin

Extended deadline for entry   APPLY BY 5pm, March 5th

The Motion:

'This house believes social networking sites are a social and legal nuisance'

Submissions:

Teams should submit a summary of arguments both ‘for' and ‘against' the motion in no more than 2,000 words for each argument. Submissions should be emailed to legaldebatingcompetition@gcd.ie by February 22nd 2012.

Information:

Open to FETAC, transition, fifth and sixth year students. Based on their submissions, 8 shortlisted teams will be invited to debate their arguments on the motion in the National Legal Debating Finals. These will be held on campus in Dublin on March 21st 2012.

A transport contribution will be made to the schools which brings a supporting team to the finals. Further details can be found in the competition rules, available at www.gcd.ie/legaldebatingcompetition

For further information, please contact:

legaldebatingcompetition@gcd.ie / 01 415 0421

Prizes:

National Legal Debating Champions 2012 Title. Winning team members win €150 each in vouchers, runners up win €75 each in vouchers and the Best Speaker wins €100 in vouchers.

LEGAL DEBATING COMPETITION RULES

1. Entries will only be accepted by email to legaldebatingcompetition@gcd.ie.
2. Entrants must be registered as transition, 5^th or 6^th year students in a second level school or as FETAC students with a registered provider. Students must enter the competition as members of a team representing that school/FETAC provider.  One entry only per school/FETAC provider is permitted.
3. A team may consist of 4 members only. Shortlisted teams must consist of the same members at the debating finals as those named in the official entry form, except in exceptional circumstances.
4. All entries must be emailed to legaldebatingcompetition@gcd.ie and must be presented in font type Arial, size 12, 1.5 line spacing and must be no longer than 4,000 words. 
5. All entries must consist of original work and arguments must be made in essay style.
6. Four short-listed teams will be invited to Griffith College Dublin to take part in the debating finals to be held on March, 21st 2012.  Each team will debate either for or against the motion in a semi-final and will be notified of which side they are on well in advance of the event.
7. The two winning teams from the semi-finals will compete in a final on the same day.  A new motion will be notified to the teams for them to debate in the final.  The staff of the Griffith College Faculty of Law will assist the teams to prepare for the final.   
8. Teams are invited to bring along supporters to the finals in Griffith College in March 2011. A maximum of 25 people including teachers are invited to support the debating team. A monetary contribution will be made to each team who brings support for the hiring of buses - the contribution will be a percentage of the cost of the transport to facilitate that anticipated response from schools all over Ireland.
9. The judges will not enter into correspondence with regard to their decisions which will be final.
10. Due to the expected high level of entries, they cannot be returned so entrants are advised to keep a copy of their entry.
11. Griffith College will not be liable for loss of or damage to entries, however caused. 
12. Employees of Griffith College and persons directly related to them may not enter the competition.
13. All entrants agree to be bound by the rules of the competition and failure on the part of any entrant to adhere to any or all of these rules will render the entry in question invalid.
14. Griffith College reserves the right to change prize specifications if it is necessary to do so at the conclusion of this competition.    

Submissions must arrive to legaldebatingcompetition@gcd.ie no later than 5.30pm on 22nd February 2012. The four shortlisted teams will be notified no later than 2nd March, 2012.  They will be informed of the arrangements for the debating finals which will take place in Griffith College Dublin on 21st March, 2012.

Loreto College Fermoy, winners of the Legal Debating Competition 2011

Wednesday March 23rd saw the 2011 Legal Debating Competition take place in Griffith College Dublin. A great day had by all 8 schools participating across Ireland and a special congratulations to Loreto Fermoy from Cork who took home the cup along with some fantastic prizes.

This year’s finalists were from all corners of the country. The eight teams contesting included:
1.    De La Salle College, Wicklow
2.    De La Salle College, Waterford
3.    Ursuline College, Sligo
4.    Ardscoil Ris, Limerick
5.    Virginia College, Cavan
6.    Notre Dame, Dublin
7.    Scoil Chonglais, Wicklow, and
8.    Loreto Fermoy, Cork

Neither teams had an easy route to the Semi-Final’s with both De La Salle schools, Ardscoil Ris, and Loreto Fermoy progressing through. The Semi-Final’s consisted of De La Salle College, Wicklow vs. Ardscoil Ris, Limerick and De La Salle College, Waterford vs. Loreto Fermoy, Cork. A new motion was created by the Judges which stated that this house believes that: 'That Irish should not be on the Leaving Certificate syllabus.' Both semi-final’s went down to the wire but it was De La Salle College, Wicklow and Loreto Fermoy, Cork who progressed to the finals.

It was a strongly contested boys v girls final between De La Salle College, Wicklow and Loreto Fermoy, Cork. In the end the girls edged out slightly to claim the coveted prize of Legal Debating Champions. A special mention to James Kneale from De La Salle College, Wicklow who claimed the Best Speaker for award for his outstanding debating skills in the Final.