Secretary’s Report

Literary & Debating Society

The 161^st Session of the Literary & Debating Society was arguably the best ever year for the Society. Throughout the year, many debates and events were organised by the Society that entertained and informed hundreds of students in packed lecture theatres. This year saw the second edition of the now annually-published ‘Lit & Debauched’ freshers’ magazine as well as the organising of the highly-successful ‘Freshers’ Fling’; a night out early in semester one to introduce first year students to Lit&Deb and college life.

The highlights of Lit&Deb’s weekly events this year included a video conference with noted academic Noam Chomsky, a debate on Islamic Terrorism with the Islamist Anjem Choudary, a debate on the Treaty of Lisbon with leading figures from both the yes and no campaigns, and a Literary Evening with Irish author Roddy Doyle. The Society also put on a play in conjunction with the Law Society, ‘The Trials of Oscar Wilde’, which won the award for Best Cultural Contribution to Múscailt’ at the Societies Awards in April.

In terms of internal competitive debating, this year saw the establishment of the Internal Mace competition as well as the continuation of the Inter-Faculties, Maiden Speakers and Speaker of the Year competitions. The Society also followed through on its commitment to developing young debating talent both among First Year students through weekly workshops on campus, and with Secondary School students through the numerous debates and competitions organised this year.

In terms of membership, the Lit&Deb continues to hold the title of biggest society on campus, with over 2,000 new students joining this year.

The highlight of the year for external debating was undoubtedly the highly-successful Irish National Law Debates, also known as the Galway Intervarsity, which was held by Lit&Deb in conjunction with the NUI Galway Law Society. The three-day event attracted over 100 competitors from across Britain and Ireland and was widely regarded as one of the best Irish debating IVs in recent years. Lit&Deb also had the privilege of hosting the Semi-Final of the Irish Times Debating Competition in semester two.

With regard to external intervarsities this year, the Society built on successes of previous years, with consistently good results from our debating teams at IVs across Europe. Current Schools Convenor Nuala Kane and former Auditor Steve Nolan won the prestigious Glasgow Ancients Intervarsity, while other Society representatives continued to punch above their weight in the many other external competitions throughout the year, including the World University Debating Championships in Thailand. During the summer, the Society will send both debating teams and adjudicators to the European University Debating Championships in Tallinn, Estonia.

This year also saw significant institutional changes to the Society, with an EGM being held in semester two which brought about a reformed committee structure designed to allow the Society to better handle the challenges of an ever increasing workload. The new committee structure, to be first adopted by the 162^nd Session, will see a three-person Executive, four Convenors, two Secretaries, and several Auditor-appointed Officer positions. The issue of the awarding of Honourary Life Membership of the Society was also addressed at the EGM and reforms were put in place in the procedures for nominating persons for HLM.

Patrick Cluskey, Sinead Barry, and Orlaith O’Connor were all made Honourary Life Members of the Society this year.

Committee of the 161^st Session of the Literary & Debating Society (2007-2008)

Auditor: Patrick Cluskey B.A. (Law)

Vice Auditor: Dan Colley (Arts)

Treasurer: Orlaith O’Connor (Arts)

Recording Secretary: Emmet Connolly (Law)

Corresponding Secretary: Anthony Doherty B.A. (Law)*, Niamh McNally (Arts)

Internal Convenor: Conor Kelly (Arts)

External Convenor: Zoe McNair (Arts)

Schools Convenor: Nuala Kane (Medicine)

Literary Officer: Natasha Dillon-Leech (Arts)*

Public Relations Officer: Niamh McNally (Arts)*, Paul MacEoin (Science)

Promotions Officer: Sinead Barry (Commerce)

Society Development: Sean Butler B.Sc. (Arts)

Clerk of the House: Dave Finn B.A. (Arts), H.L.M. (Lit&Deb)

* Resigned position during the year

Report Compiled by:

Emmet Connolly,

Recording Secretary,

161^st Session,

Literary & Debating Society, NUI Galway.