TY Update Summer 2018 | Page 34

On Thursday 03 May 2018 Concern Worldwide hosted the finals of their All-Ireland Concern Debates Competition in The Helix, Dublin. ALL- IRELAND CONCERN DEBATES CHAMPIONSHIPS It has been a nail biting year for Concern Debaters and keen observers from all over Ireland ! But after all the hours of preparation, competition and debating, there can only be one winning group and that is Dublin based school St Killian’s German School.   St Killian’s German School’s team of word-warriors successfully argued for the motion that the world must “rekindle the spirit of 1968” for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as zero hunger and gender equality, to be achieved. It was the first time the contest was won by St. Killian’s and the first time a Dublin schools has won the competition  in eight years.  The formidable runners-up, who opposed the motion w e r e  A t h l o n e C o m m u n i t y College, Westmeath, who were magnanimous in defeat. “We congratulate the winners and runners up in this year’s final, who showed exceptional debating skill, and the hundreds of students from all 140 schools who took part in the 2017-2018 competition,” said  Concern’s Head of Active Citizenship, Michael Doorly, who leads the team that organises the annual T Y U P D AT E S U M M E R 2 0 1 8 championship. As part of their prize, the debating champions; Leah Fellenz, Oscar Toomey, Aisling Burns and Isabel van Der Voort will travel this summer to Kenya, one of the 24 countries where Concern Worldwide works to eliminate poverty. Over 50,000 students have taken part in  Concern  Debates since it was created 34 years ago by international humanitarian aid organisation ConcernWorldwide.