Home Kirwan Debates Thursday Nights
Thursday Nights
Annual General Meeting

Where: Kirwan Theatre

When: 1st April

Time: 19:00 – 21:30

 

This Thursday the society selects next years committee members.

If you are interested in getting involved next year, please talk to members of the current committee.

Student I.D will be required on the night in order to vote on elected positions like Auditor, Vice Auditor, and Treasurer.

As always, there will be a reception in the Dail Bar afterwards, and all are welcome.
 
Organ Donation Debate

Where: Cairnes Theatre

When: 24th February

Time: 20:00 – 21:30

 

Donating an organ can save someone’s life – yet every year people on the transplant list die due to a lack of donors and a lack of time. The government has tried ad campaigns, information sessions and many other mechanisms but nothing so far has worked to increase the level of organ donors in the country to the required level. A new approach is needed is lives are to be saved.

Every year, apathy and a lack of information mean that hundreds of badly needed organs are wasted. By changing the law so that every person is an organ donor unless they ‘opt-out’, we can save dozens of lives that would otherwise be lost. People’s laziness can be tolerated in many situations, but not where the cost is the lives of vulnerable people. People can still refuse, their rights are not harmed, it’s just changing the way they receive those rights.

But changing rights is significant, and where the State assumes rights over your body unless you sign the right form is an important difference. Consider the type of people this will really effect; people who don’t want to deal with the State’s bureaucracy or people who are illiterate are two obvious examples. Do we really want a society where our government owns us unless we state otherwise?

 

Join Lit & Deb and Sláinte Soc for a debate on saving lives, personal freedoms and the powers of the State.

 

 


 
 
Fiery Lisbon Debate in NUIG

EU Flag

Last Thursday (24/9/09) saw the Lit & Deb and Law Soc host the first event in the new Bailey
Allen Hall, a fiery debate on the motion “This House Believes No Means No”, referring to the upcoming Lisbon Treaty referendum. This event brought together six experts on the subject of the Lisbon treaty to thrash out the issues which still surround this contentious treaty.

 

Opening the event, Auditor of the Law Society, Aisling Dillon welcomed all those present to the event, adding that she hoped the debate would act to “inform their votes” on what is a complex issue. All speakers on both sides approached the debate from a unique angle, each trying to win the crowd and the debate by casting a different light on the key issues surrounding the Lisbon treaty.

 

Former Danish MEP, Jens-Peter Bonde spoke first, accusing the Referendum Commission’s leaflet of being “the most misleading document” he had ever read in any referendum. He accused the Yes campaign of not supporting a pro-Lisbon position, but a pro-Europe one, a theme which continued through the debate. John McGuirk, Communications Director for Libertas had the crowd hanging on his every word as he warned that the EU was “on the road to tyranny”, and only concerned with getting the answer they want, not reaching compromise. The final speaker on this side was former Sinn Féin MEP candidate Tomás Ó Searcaigh who insisted that for democracy to be upheld, the first No vote must be respected and we cannot be asked to vote again.

 

The opposite side of the house, by contrast, seemed to focus more on the content of the treaty, with Fianna Fáil TD and Member of the National Forum on Europe Timmy Dooley, explicitly stating that while Lisbon 2 is the same treaty, the legal guarantees mean that it represents a new package for the Irish people. Fine Gael MEP Jim Higgins supported this and also challenged the credibility of the current No campaign, imploring the crowd to ask “who they were siding with by rejecting the Lisbon Treaty”. The final speaker was Labour MEP Proinsias De Rossa, who highlighted that no speaker on the proposing side had attempted to highlight a single element of the treaty which harmed Ireland.

 

Following a debate which was heated at times, with De Rossa almost being shouted down as he refused to give up the podium and Ó Searcaigh throwing miniature copies of the Charter of Fundamental rights at the opposition speakers, there followed a debate from the floor. This became quite heated at times as was expected on this controversial issue, with topics as diverse as EU policy on Palestine being discussed. One particularly notable speech was given by Galway City Councillor, Catherine Connolly, who damned the military emphasis of the treaty and the “obscene” posters of the Yes campaign, urging voters to “do as they are told”.

 

After the debate concluded, the house was called to a vote, with the proposing side gaining a narrow victory and thus the Lisbon treaty rebuffed by the students of NUIG. Auditor of Lit & Deb, Jacqueline Driscoll was pleased with the event, commenting that “despite the late withdrawal of Minister Micháel Martin, the debate was heated, passionate and thought provoking for all in attendance”. Societies Officer Ríona Hughes added her praise for the inaugural event for the new Bailey Allen Hall, describing it as “a lively and entertaining first night in a wonderful venue”.