Winners Katherine Dunbar (left) and Etsuko Lim (right) during prep time – © TCD Hist/Phil

The Trinity Open 2017 was won by Cambridge B (Etsuko Lim & Katherine Dunbar) in Closing Government. They debated against Oxford Tecks and Sophie (Teck Wei Tan & Sophie Large) in Opening Government,  Upgrading from Aodhan (Adam Stairs & Clíodhna Ní Chéileachair, UCD Law) in Opening Opposition and Edinburgh A (Tim Squirrel & Nish Hegde) in Closing Opposition on the motion “You are an author who has just been granted a power such that any book you write would be taken as gospel by all who read it. THW retire”.

The panel of the Final was Dee Courtney as chair, Rory Flynn, Duncan Crowe, Orla Delaney and Izzy Sweeney.

Best speaker of the tournament was Sophie Large with an average of 82.2.

The tournament was CAed by Lorna Staines, Orla Delaney, Owen Mooney and Rory Flynn.

The tournament was organized by Trinity Historical and Trinity Philosophical Society and convened by Julie Davis, Hannah-Sofia Cogan, Connor O’Malley, Harry Higgins, Jane D’Altuin and Andrew Conolly.

The Break

1. Oxford Tecks and Sophie (Teck Wei Tan & Sophie Large) – 13 team points
2. Edinburgh A (Tim Squirrel & Nish Hegde) – 12 team points
3. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicebag (Eoin O’Sullivan and Cian Luddy, UCC) – 11 team points
4. Cambridge B (Etsuko Lim & Katherine Dunbar) – 11 team points
5. Small Dicks, Big Dreams (Rory O’Sullivan & Daniel Gilligan, TCD Hist) – 11 team points
6. And I wouldn’t be fond of drinking but when I’d go at it, I do go at it awful and very hard (Eoin O’Gorman & Christopher Costigan, TCD Phil) – 10 team points
7. Upgrading from Aodhan (Adam Stairs & Clíodhna Ní Chéileachair, UCD Law) – 10 team points
8. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz (John Papantoniou & Ian Wu, Cambridge) – 10 team points

The Motions

R1: THW televise criminal trials.

R2: THBT the UK Labour Party should stand candidates in general elections in Northern Ireland.

R3: TH, as China, would abandon all claims on the Senkaku islands.

R4: TH, as Arturo Di Modica, would discontinue the loan of the Charging Bull statue to New York City.

R5: THBT school systems should build curricula in a way that emphasizes national pride.

SF: THB the African Union should focus on promoting ecconomic growth and global influence over democratic principles and institutions within its member states.

F: You are an author who has just been granted a power such that any book you write would be taken as gospel by all who read it. THW retire.

hh./jm.