The Hist

Trinity IV 2012 A Resounding Success

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:03:29 +0000

This year’s Trinity Inter-Varsity was held between the 26-28 January, and was organised together by The Phil and The Hist.

The Kingsmill-Moore Invitation competition kicked off the weekend of debating on the Thursday, with three rounds held before a break to the final. The final itself, on the motion That This House Would Go Nude, featured three Hist speakers: the team of Liam O’Neill and Emer Duffy, as well as Ian Curran who spoke with former Phil President Ruth Faller. In a 3-2 split between the judges, the winners were the entirely Hist-composed team of Liam and Emer, so huge congratulations to them!

On the Friday and Saturday the Claire Stewart Memorial Inter-Varsity was held. Featuring a staggering 90 teams from Ireland, the UK, Europe and the US, it was the largest IV ever held in Ireland. There were five rounds held before a break to the quarter finals:

Round One: TTHW Never Disclose the Ethnicity of a Sperm/Egg Donor to the prospective parents

Round Two: TTHB That governments should only fund bailouts of other countries, if they gain approval to do so from their own electorates in a referendum

Round Three: TTHB That the US Should give south Korea Nuclear Weapons

Round Four: TTHB Feminist Groups should not campaign for abortion rights

Round Five: THBT The United states should pay reparations to it’s Muslim population for policies carried out in the aftermath of 9/11

Quarter-Final: THB that Boston College Should Release the IRA Tapes

Semi-Final: TH wishes that Barack Obama had faced a primary challenge

Final: TTHW Welcome the Downfall of Global Capitalism

The competition came to a dramatic close with a showdown between UCD L&H J, UCD L&H A, LI A and Edinburgh MN, with the team of UCD L&H J (Ruth Faller and Muireann O’Dwyer) taking the cup in the end.

You can view the full Speaker Tab and the Team Tab for the IV on the website following those links.

Supreme congratulations are also due to the convenors of the competition, Adam Noonan (Hist DC) and Dave Byrne (Phil DC) for their impeccable organisation and for carrying off such an impressive IV.

The Hist Launches New Website

admin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:04:03 +0000

As you may have noticed if you’re reading this post, the Hist website recently underwent a dramatic regeneration and has been completely reformatted and redesigned. We hope you enjoy looking around it, and plan to continue adding content for the next few months.

We’re hoping for the site to become the hub for all information surrounding the society: from what we do to what events are coming up, as well as providing a complete archive of all our past news and debates, we hope that this will be a useful resource both for members and for those interested in getting involved or in the workings of the society.

The committee would like to extend its gratitude to Dara O’Cairbre, David Bowles, and the team at Modern Tribe for all their help while we were getting it working.

We would especially like to extend our gratitiude to Chris Rooke, MC, who worked tirelessly to create, design and upload the website.

We wouldn’t be surprised if there are a couple of teething problems as we get adjusted to our new layout, so if there’s anything you notice that shouldn’t be there or isn’t displaying properly, drop us a line at website@thehist.com, and we’ll try to get it sorted!

Hist Breaks at Worlds

admin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:50:53 +0000

Once again the Hist has been incredibly well represented at the World University Debating Championships, which this year took place in Manila in the Philippines.

Hist B, consisting of John Engle and Catherine Murphy, managed to break in a fantastic fourth position and get through to the octo-finals, as well as being ranked the best Irish team. Individually, Catherine came tenth on the speaker tab while John appeared in 15th position. Huge congratulations to both for those outstanding achievements.

Congratulations are also due to the team of Hist A who were Sally Rooney and Kate Oliver, who came very close to breaking as well.

John N. Ross, LL.B., ex-Auditor, Medallist, Former Senator for Dublin University Dies Aged 92

admin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:00:46 +0000

The Society is saddened to hear of the death of John Ross, ex-Auditor who was an esteemed and influential Dublin solicitor and a Trinity representative in the Seanad. In his Hist maiden speech he opposed the motion that ‘The Soldier is the maker of History’ and in January 1940 proposed a United States of Europe, he proposed welcoming a University Union and opposed the motion ‘That Life is not worth living’. He was elected Auditor for the academic year 1942-43.

Then, in November 1942, after a successful Opening meeting, he caused a minor sensation by resigning to join the British army. He enlisted in the Irish Guards and saw service in France and Belgium during the final year of hostilities. He returned to Trinity to complete his history degree and went on to take the post-graduate LLB. He spent three months on the Blasket Islands in 1950 to learn enough Irish to pass the testing examination to qualify as a solicitor.

Charles Lysaght wrote in the Sunday Independent that ‘his conviction that the religious minority must play a part in Irish public life led him to seek election to Seanad Eireann representing the university. As Senator he took issue with local authorities who refused to make their scholarships tenable at Trinity. He described the business methods of the ESB as autocratic and questioned their decision to demolish the Georgian buildings on Dublin’s Fitzwilliam Street.’

The Society wishes to pass on its regards to John’s late wife, Rubel Ross and his children, Barbara Ann, Pippa and Shane Ross TD.

- Ursula Ní Choill, Auditor

Czech Playwright and Dissident, Vaclav Havel Dies Aged 75

admin — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 12:00:58 +0000

The College Historical Society is saddened to note the death of dissident playwright and former Czech president Vaclav Havel. Recognised as one of the great Europeans and and men of our age, he orchestrated the peaceful Velvet Revolution of 1989 which toppled the ruling communist regime. After the Prague Spring of 1968, Havel used his success as a playwright to satirise the ruling class and was jailed for his dissidence. His life’s work was at the essence of what the Hist holds dear – contributing to public discourse and allowing his well-placed idealism to achieve real difference in the world. “I never wanted to be a political writer,” he once said. “I think that good writers and good art and particularly, good theatre, is always political, not because writers and directors want to be political, but because it is something which is in the substance of theatre.” One of the founding members of dissident initiative and human rights document, Charter 77, he highlighted the many restrictions on freedom under Soviet rule in Czechoslovakia that remained just 22 years ago. He left an enduring legacy to all who continue to work for individual and political freedom. Our thoughts and best wishes are with his friends and family.

Author, orator and intellectual Christopher Hitchens dies aged 62

admin — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:00:00 +0000

The College Historical Society notes with sadness the passing of journalist, orator and professional contrarian, Christopher Hitchens. It is one of our great regrets as a society that we were unable to confer our Gold Medal on Christopher. He was noted admirer of some of our most famous members including our founder Edmund Burke, who was the subject of one Hitchens’ most illuminating essays in his latest collection “Arguably” and Conor Cruise-O’Brien, our former President. Of the latter’s work “Writers and Politics”, Christopher once said, “I remember thinking very distinctly that I’d like to be able to write like that and on topics of that sort”. There can be no doubt that some of The Hist’s most notable members left an indelible mark on Christopher’s work just as Christopher’s work continues to leave an ineffaceable mark on our current generation of orators. Christopher isn’t just a talisman to members of the College Historical Society, he was a friend to any student society engaged in the pursuit of a free, progressive, accessible and fair discourse. Our thoughts and best wishes are with his family and friends.

Ian Curran,

Librarian 242nd Session

Hist Wins Cork IV

admin — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 12:00:22 +0000

Congratulations to Sally Rooney, Censor and John Engle, Treasurer on winning the Cork Invitational on 1 December.

Congratulations to Michael Coleman and to John Prasifika on winning the Cork Novice final.

Congratulations to Sally Rooney, and Kate Oliver, ex SMC, ex Rec-Sec on topping the tab at the Cork IV and to John Engle and Andrew Linn on reaching the final.

Hearty congratulations to Ian Curran, Librarian and to Adam Noonan, Debates Convenor on winning the Cork IV.

Mason Hayes & Curran Maidens Speaker Competition Final

admin — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 12:00:09 +0000

The Maidens Speaker competition was kindly sponsored by Mason Hayes and Curran. It was run all through Michaelmas term by our Records Secretary Hannah McCarthy. Caoimhe Stafford came in second place and Naoise Dolan came third in the competition. Sebastian is pictured here with Hannah McCarthy and Niall Michel of Mason-Hayes and Curran.

Vice-President RB McDowell Dies

admin — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 12:00:01 +0000

Vice-President of the College Historical Society RB McDowell passed away on Monday the 29th of August. RB McDowell was Record Secretary of the Society in 1936/37, and a Gold medalist in Oratory. Since then he has been been one of the closest friends of Trinity College and the CHS, working as a lecturer in history and also serving as the Junior Dean. A Private Business Meeting of the Society will be held in the Chamber on Wednesday the 7th of September at 6pm.

Stunning Performance at European University Debating Championships

admin — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 12:00:56 +0000

The Hist team of Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin and Catherine Murphy deserve another round of our heartiest congratulations, having reached the final of the European Universities Debating Championships, this year hosted in Galway. Niamh and Catherine – or TCD Hist B as they were known on the tab – were the top-breaking team on the Wednesday night of the competition and stormed through their quarter- and semi-final rounds to reach a thrilling final, on the motion That This House Believes the State Should Pay Reparations to Women. Despite a superb performance from both speakers in the final, they lost out in the end to Oxford A, the team of Hugh Burns and Benjamin Woolgar.

Both Catherine and Niamh were highly placed on the individual speaker tab, with Niamh ranked third in the competition and Catherine crowned the best speaker in Europe 2011. Many congratulations are due to both.