A meeting of the Debating Society is held about once every one or two weeks. During those meetings the motions are suggested and decided upon. The actual order of the debates and the date on which they occur is voted on by the members of the Society.

 The debating society holds a debate about once a month (generally).  There are normally about 3 or 4 debates in a full term featuring a wide range of motions, from simple and light hearted debates like “health vs. money” to hard-hitting theological arguments like the old favourite “Does God exist?” But the society doesn’t limit itself to ordinary debates, throughout the year the society experiments with new formats of debates - for example "Who framed Roger Rabbit?" - and of course, the famous end of year balloon debate always attracts a crowd.

In 2008, the sixth year debaters went to Coleraine to take part in the nationwide “debating matters competition” with Robbie Redmond and Diane Erskine winning their debate based around the controversial topic of “open boarders” while Claudia McClung and Stacey Irwin proposed the motion: “the media lowers the level of public debate”. Having had a very successful day the team ended the competition in second place of their heat.

In early 2009 two teams of debaters (plus a whole crowd of spectators) travelled to Portora Royal School in Enniskillen for the second annual Harry West Memorial Cup debate between the five royal schools. RSD performed well, with both teams of Joshua Cuddy & Connor Murray and Stephanie Ferguson & Adam Trotter both winning their semi-final matches to end with a spectacular all-RSD final that all enjoyed.

ANNUAL 1608 DEBATE

This time last year, Royal School Dungannon had the pleasure of hosting an inter-school debating competition in celebration of the quarter-centenary anniversary of the five royal schools. This event was such a success that it was decided that it should become an annual occurrence.

Although there was only room for two teams of two debaters, they were strongly supported by the RSD debating society with a large group turning out to cheer them on.

The RSD group was warmly welcomed by the host school of Portora in Enniskillen, and it was no time at all before the debates began. It was very close at times, but after such topics as the legal status of euthanasia and if dislike of reality TV shows should be considered snobbery had been hotly contested, Royal and Prior, Cavan and the two RSD teams were through to the semi-finals.

Before the final three debates were started, Portora provided everyone with tea, sandwiches and biscuits. Between the food, chat, and an inter-school plot to snatch the teacher’s biscuit plate it wasn’t long before the time for the semi-finals came around.

The semi-finals started off with a very close debate between Royal and Prior and RSD on the role of victims in the criminal justice system.  Adding to the tension, the judges decided to announce the results after both debates had been finished. The moral problems surrounding intervention in foreign tyrannies were argued vociferously by RSD and Cavan, and then the time came for the judges to announce the two results.

Everyone was on the edge of their seats waiting to hear who would be going through to the final debate. After long consideration the judges announced that the two RSD teams were to face each other in the next round. The two teams were then given ten minutes to prepare what was probably the most entertaining debate of the night, contesting over whether or not CCTV cameras are a threat to our freedom in a manner that had the audience in stitches.

At the end, the Harry West Memorial cup was presented to the RSD team of Joshua Cuddy and Connor Murray (Vice chairperson) and runners up Adam Trotter (chairperson) and Stephanie Ferguson by Mrs West, whose husband was the MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone before his death.

It was a very enjoyable night for all involved, and one thing’s for sure: future debaters will find it hard to live up to the quality of this years debates!