On Wednesday, 16th November, St Malachy’s hosted Lurgan College in the first round of the Northern Ireland Schools Debating Competition.

The controversial issue of fracking was up for discussion; Year 13 students Aidan Toal and Caolan McKee were tasked with proposing the motion - This House would permit fracking in Northern Ireland.

Both teams were well versed in the economic arguments as well as the environmental and health concerns in defence of and against fracking. There was evidence of detailed and thorough research that provided those in attendance with much food for thought. However, it was St Malachy’s who were the most convincing in the end and came out as the eventual victors, 76-56. They now progress to the next round of the competition.

In his concluding remarks, the adjudicator, Mr Gerry Power (Head of Communications at Queen’s University) highly commended the house for the ‘exceptional standard of the questions’ put forward during the floor debate and offered some great advice to both teams going forward.

Congratulations again to Aidan and Caolan on this well-deserved result!