Once again our auditor and vice auditor had abandoned us in the name of competitive debating, this time for the TCD invitational, leaving Mr. Sean Butler to chair the meeting. The minutes were read to no real objections by the ever dapper, handsome and some might say extraordinary recording secretary, Mr. Cluskey. Mr. Butler expressed grievances over the loss of his drinking buddy, Jeffrey Rocket PRO, who was sick. Very sick…

In other news the 13 th meeting of the 159th session took place on the 26 th January. Stewart Nealon (Middle child of an arts degree) proposed “TTHW allow magic mushrooms to keep their legal status” in a speech which really highlighted why the opposite should be true. Mr. Nealon rambled on about t-shirts and bongs and brought up the benefits that a fungi can have on the mind. He talked about mushrooms being enjoyable. Opposing the motion was Ms. Stephanie Joyce (arts), who showed why it was equally important not to allow mushrooms to remain on the market, just for altogether different reasons. She said that a teenager high on mushrooms had once wandered onto the railway track and was killed. Her speech became more and more confused, as if she had just flown into a tail wind. She finished by talking about the law. Donna Cummins (2 med. And health science) highlighted yet again to the house that she was very much in favour of mind altering substances for after all, one man's fungus is another man's hallucinogenic. She talked of some medical benefits and later connected Lit & Deb to the mushroom industry by saying that we had once accepted mushrooms from the mushroom shop. The chair denied all knowledge of such events. Next up was David Keane (corporate law), who after drinking for over 48 hours had already entered another state of mind. Managing not to slur too much, he stated the dangers of walking into rush hour traffic and the mentioned the ensuing detiriation of health of such any an action. Some old man had just walked in off the street, mistaking Kirwan for a soup kitchen. As he was here he decided he may as well speak anyway. Dave Finn said that if people only did the things they were allowed to do then the world would be a very boring place that would have too many librarians… John Moriarity (arts) said that we as a generation have already grown up consuming mushrooms that make us feel big, drawing a link between real life and Mario Brothers. He also said if we allow this, it opens Pandora's Box to allow everything. Sarah Bruen (law) said that a drug regulated by society is better than a drug that is not regulated by society… Patrick Cluskey (arts) was last up and said little of interest in what proved to be an unenlightened, humourless speech, touching on none of the key points, structuring his speech badly and finally bringing no substantive matter and practically no rebuttal to the debate. Shame… The motion was summed up and carried. Later that week the law was changed and magic mushrooms were deemed illegal.

Main business this week was the grand final of the Maiden's competition. The judges were Lorcan Price (arts), Sean Quigley (the internal convenor's boyfriend) and John Moriarity (last year's winner.) For once this week's prize was a real cup and not just honour or dignity. The motion: “TTHW negotiate with terrorists.”

Zita Casserly said that negotiating with terrorists saves lives and leads to peace, also saying that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Jack Evans was 1 st opposition and said that terrorism was different today and was undermining democratic principles. He also said that it is terrorists, not a government's decision not to negotiate, that kills people. For 2 nd proposition we had Ciaran Murphy (arts) said that “extremism begets extremism.” He also said that terrorism is a last resort to a lack of negotiation. For 2 nd opposition we had Nuala Kane who said that the ruthlessness of terrorism is not conducive with the “giving and taking” of negotiating. She said that by giving into fear, we are allowing the terrorists to succeed, effectively saying that hostage taking works. For 3 rd proposition was Ronan Harrington (arts) who said that because of such events such as the 1916 rising and the 1798 rebellion, we are all descended from terrorists. He talked about the Good Friday agreement working and securing effective peace with terrorists. Closing the opposition as a whole was Ronan MacDiarmada who said that by negotiating with terrorists we are giving their actions credence: if we give in once, then we will be giving in for all time. The judges then retired to consider the verdict and the motion was opened to the floor.

As I rushed to the toilet, I left Cathy to record the next person's comments. Luckily Zoe also recorded what happened as Cathy simply proved that she will never, ever be recording secretary. Alan lyons (arts) said that appeasing terrorists is bad as appeasement is what brought Hitler to power. A “point of support” was given to the speaker. There are NO POINTS OF SUPPORT IN DEBATING! Sarah “the spud II” Bruen (law) stood up. As no one noticed any difference in her height when standing and sitting she was asked to stand up again. She said that Hitler was brought to power as the German's were unable to negotiate the treaty of Versailles , a main cause of WWII. Bringing the debate back on track was Vincent “The Don” Lacey (arts) said that negotiating gives terrorists a sense of confidence. He also talked about the hard line extremism of Thatcher. Snowy (LLB) said that we give in to terrorism when we talk to them. As all human life is precious we should always pay the ransom when people are kidnapped, no matter what the price. If the price is the complete withdrawal of western influence from the Middle East , I wonder if you can pay by laser or credit card. Zoe “has sexually harassed half the house” Mc Nair (arts) talked about the primitiveness of terrorists and their use of bricks to kill people.

The judges returned and the speakers were complemented by the CA, John Moriarity. The tension rose as John offered comments and elucidation on the debate. The winners were announced:

•  Ms. Nuala Kane

•  Mr. Jack Evans

All retired to De Burgos for more elucidation, conversation and a little bit of mastication…