The Northern Ireland Schools Debating Competition is an annual competition involving schools from across

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. It was founded in 1993 by

Fionnuala Jay-O'Boyle Dame Fionnuala Mary Jay-O'Boyle, , DstJ, Hon.LLD (born 22 March 1960) is a British lobbyist, charity trustee, and public official. She is the Lord-Lieutenant for the County Borough of Belfast since 2014, and a member of the House of Lords Appoin ...

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

during her time as Chairman of the Belfast Civic Trust. The final of the competition is held every year in the Senate Chamber of Parliament Buildings, Stormont. It is organised by the Belfast Buildings Preservation Trust (BBPT), and is sponsored by both the

Telegraph Media Group Telegraph Media Group Limited (TMG; previously the Telegraph Group) is the proprietor of ''The Daily Telegraph'' and ''The Sunday Telegraph''. It is a subsidiary of Press Holdings. David and Frederick Barclay acquired the group on 30 July 2004, af ...

and the T.E. Utley Memorial Fund.

Lord Lexden Alistair Basil Cooke, Baron Lexden, (born 20 April 1945) is a British historian, author and politician who sits as a Conservative life peer in the House of Lords. Lord Lexden has been official historian of the Conservative Party since 2 ...

of Lexden and Strangford OBE has been President of the competition since 1997 and Mrs. Jay-O'Boyle is chairman.

Lord Trimble William David Trimble, Baron Trimble, (15 October 1944 – 25 July 2022) was a British politician who was the first First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2002, and leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 1995 to 2005. He was ...

and

Lord Dubs Alfred Dubs, Baron Dubs (born 5 December 1932) is a British Labour politician and former Member of Parliament. Early life and education Born in Prague in what was then Czechoslovakia, Dubs was one of 669 Czech-resident, mainly Jewish, childr ...

are patrons. An average of over seventy schools enter the competition each year, with the first round usually beginning in late October. Each team consists of two students, and each round's motion is chosen to reflect a particular civic, social, political or even economic issue of the day. Motions for the Final have included "This House would Tax and Spend", "This House believes that the power of the United States has increased, is increasing and ought to be diminished", "This House believes that Northern Ireland badly needs 'Bog Standard' Comprehensive Schools." In the 2010 Final the motion was, "This House would welcome being part of a European Federal State." In the 2011 final, the motion was, "This House believes that Northern Ireland requires an official opposition because it has reached political maturity." The 2012 Final motion was "This House Would Welcome the Break-Up of the United Kingdom." The motion for the 2013 final was "This House believes that Europe and America are no longer fit to compete with the rise of Asia and Latin America". Guest adjudicators at the final have included

Michael Gove Michael Andrew Gove (; born Graeme Andrew Logan, 26 August 1967) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations since 2021. He has been Member of Parli ...

MP, Secretary of State for Education; Viscount Cranborne, now the Marquess of Salisbury and former Leader of the House of Lords; the historian, Andrew Roberts; Guy Black, Lord Black of Brentwood, Executive Director of the Telegraph Media Group; author and parliamentarian Lord Dobbs, and the acclaimed journalist and leader writer of

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

, Rosemary Righter.

Winners

By School

(When sorted by years won or lost, the table is sorted by the date of each team's first win)

References

{{reflist Debating competitions in Ireland British debating competitions Competitions in Northern Ireland 1993 establishments in Northern Ireland Recurring events established in 1993 Schools Debating Competition

Winners

By School

See also

References