French students travel to Eureka for debating tournament

The inaugural Wolfe Tone Debate Tournament will be held at Eureka Secondary School in Kells tomorrow (Saturday), in the presence of Minister Thomas Byrne and Vincent Guérend, French Ambassador to Ireland.

For the first-ever Tournament, the Kells school will welcome French students from École Massillon, an international school in central Paris, for a day of debate.

Twenty-four speakers from each institution, aged between 12 and 18 years, will argue their motions in front of an audience of students, parents, teachers, and guests. Topics of debate will include politics, the environment, tourism, and culture.

Eureka and Massillon are proud that the first Wolfe Tone Debate Tournament will be attended by Deputy Byrne who will preside over the prize-giving, and Mr Vincent Guérend, who will preside over the judging panel and give a speech on the year of the French, 1798.

Minister Thomas Byrne said : “As a local TD in Kells and as a former Minister for European Affairs I am honoured to be involved in the Wolfe Tone Schools Debate Tournament in Eureka School. "This event and the co-operation required to make it happen is a firm reminder that France is now our nearest EU neighbour. Ireland and France are cooperating more closely than ever before in a wide range of areas. We are working hard to develop links between our two countries. This event reflects the commitments of our two nations to develop our cooperation across a range of areas, including research, culture, education, infrastructure and business.”

The French Ambassador His Excellency Vincent Guérend said; “I am delighted to participate in the Wolfe Tone Debate Tournament and to witness the strong links uniting Irish and French youth around crucial and engaging themes reflecting both our rich and ancient common history and our common European future.”

The debates will be judged by a host of professionals from the worlds of arts, business and academia: Deirdre Kinahan, playwright and theatre producer, Laura Le Cleach Attachée for French Language, Embassy of France in Ireland, Dr Rhona Mahony, former master of the National Maternity Hospital and adjunct professor in healthcare leadership in Trinity Business School, Dearbhail McDonald, journalist, broadcaster and chair of the Strategy Committee at the Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris, Emily McKeown, Teacher, Virginia College, Cllr Sarah Reilly, Darragh Byrne, producer at RTÉ Documentaries, Myles Dungan, historian and broadcaster, Michael J Flynn, professor at the Trinity Business School and director of executive education, Trinity

College, Brian Ingarfield, chief people officer, Flipdish.

École Massillon is an international school in the centre of Paris, with English and German sections, currently celebrating its 150th anniversary.

Eureka Secondary School has a long and successful history of debating, winning the inaugural Concern debates in 1984. Both institutions are committed to debate as it develops

essential skills in young people such as critical thinking, public speaking, research and presentational skills.

The ambition is to open the Wolfe Tone Debate Tournament to other schools in France and Ireland with the tournament being held alternatively in each country, strengthening ties between French and Irish students from an early age.

‘I am delighted that Eureka will host the inaugural Wolfe Tone Debate Tournament,’ says Ms Caroline O’Reilly, principal at Eureka. ‘We are very much looking forward to welcoming the students from École Massillon to our school and hope that the day will herald a rich future of debating competition between our schools.’

In 2023, Ireland celebrates 50 years of membership of the EU and 225 years since the French Battalion recruited by Theobald Wolfe Tone, under the command of General Humbert, landed at Killala, County Mayo. The Wolfe Tone debater are a reminder that France has always been one of Ireland’s staunchest allies throughout history.