Gaelinn – Irish Debating

Students from John the Baptist Community School have been partaking in Irish debates for many years. During this period, various teams have been successful at provincial and national levels. In recent years, this success has continued and both our junior and senior teams have contended at competitive levels. Most notably, in 2016 our Junior Irish Debating Team received a runners-up award in the Regional Final and 2017 our Junior Debating Team are finalists once again in this competition.

The Junior Debating Teams is comprised of second year students while the Senior Debating Team is generally amongst Transition Year students. There is a vast amount of work, learning and responsibility associated with these debates. The students compete against some of the best Irish speakers country-wide. They must show knowledge of the topic at hand and the phonetics of the speech and language. Debating through Irish benefits the students socially and academically. They become comfortable performing in front of their peers and older adults. They also gain a grasp for the language that they may not develop through the curriculum alone. It is a life skill that will assist them into the future.