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Rí Anumudu and Kemka Ogbonda of Maynooth University took the top team spot at the first semi-final of The Irish Times Debate 2021, with Gavin McLaughlin taking the top speaker spot.
The first semi-final of debate was an intensely combative affair, as students debated the successes and failures of An Garda Síochána.
The debate was held online for the first time, but this did not stop it from being a black-tie event. Held on Thursday, it was the first of four semi-finals to be held over the month of April.
The motion up for debate: “This house believes An Garda Síochána is failing the State”, spurred energetic exchanges and compelling contributions from teams from Maynooth University, Trinity College Dublin’s (TCD’s) Phil, TCD’s Hist, University College Dublin’s (UCD’s) Law society, Queen’s University Belfast, and Solicitors’ Apprentice Debating Society of Ireland (SADSI).
From UCD’s Law Society, American Jack McGee drew upon his experience and understanding of policing in the United States to extol the merits of Ireland’s force. Arguing against the motion, he said An Garda Síochána is “flawed but not unredeemable”.
He said the organisation managed to set a “valuable precedent of non-lethality”. He invited listeners to think of the US during the summer of 2020 if it sounds unrealistic that there could be “armoured cars rolling around Ballyshannon in modern Ireland”.
For the motion, Maynooth’s Ms Anumudu said it is a “luxury” not to have a fear of the gardaí.
“I wish that I could say that it is a couple of bad apples and not a batch,” she said. She argued it is “well documented” that the organisation has “over policed and over criminalised” members of the Travelling and Roma communities.
Also for Maynooth, Mr McLaughlin argued that policing in Ireland is based on three principles; it must be done independently, it must support the effective administration of justice, and it must respect human rights.
He argued that these principles must be used as a “benchmark against which we measure failure in this debate”.
A solo debater, Ellen McHugh of TCD’s The Hist said gardaí have been too focused on ensuring “public buy-in”. She quoted a 2019 national survey that found 91 per cent of people trust the force. But this image is down to a “massively intensified public relations campaign” that deploys tactics such as performing the Jerusalema Dance and appearing on RTÉ’s The Late Late Show, she argued.
Opposing the motion, Jack Heron, from SADSI, said he would be bringing the debate “back to reality”, as he argued the force is underfunded, with gardaí often put in dangerous situations for which they are not properly trained. Despite being under-resourced they are key enablers of a “peaceful, orderly society”.
The debate was chaired by Independent senator Lynn Ruane, who has campaigned for justice reforms and changes to spent convictions to enable the rehabilitation of former offenders.
On Saturday students from TCD, UCD and SADSI will debate the motion; “This House regrets the prominence of political satire”.