135th Session (1984/1985)
From UCC Philosophical Society Wiki
Contents |
Committee
- Martin Owens
- Kieran Doran
- Leonard Hobbs
- Valer Sheehan
- [[Damian Riordan]
- Patrick Ahern
- Deirdre Knox
- Nick
- Patrick Fenton
- Denis J. Murray
Motions of the 135th Session
1 That the unitary state is the only solution
2 Politics calls too many shots in sport
3 EGM
4 That witchcraft bears mankind a benefit
5 Munster Schools' Debating Competition
6 That the Jesus concept is an aphrodisiac
7 The main political parties are not capable of ending the unemployment crisis
8 That the Arts faculty is a luxury we cant afford
9 That things rank and gross in nature possess the fourth estate AT Cross National Solo Speakers' Competition final
10
11
12 That UCC is a vomitorium Inter Societies Debating Competition sponsored by TSB
13 That the seeds of the Irish police state have been sown
14 That the Irish political party system fails to meet the needs of the people televised Irish Times final
15 That the world will end with a whimper not a bang Munster Schools' Debating Competition final
16 That the role of education is to produce revolutionaries
17 That the function of the church is to fight social and political injustice
18 There is nothing good or bad in this world but thinking makes it so UCC Philosophical Society Lord Mayor's Gold Medal final
19 That this house refuses to condemn the armed struggle in Northern Ireland (see below)
Guests
Gerry Adams
Michael Kelly (Chairman, Irish Council for Civil Liberties)
Sgt Michael Murray (Ass of Garda Sgts and Inspectors)
John Rodgers SC (Attorney General)
Frank O Callaghan
Des Gerraghty (Workers' Party)
Dr David Gwynn Morgan
Dr Des McHale
Damien Riordan
Sen Brendan Ryan
Fr Noel Kearn
Mick O Connor
Fr Neal Carlin
Sen Shane Ross
Fr Donal Godfrey SJ
Prof Leonard Wrigley
Denis Lyons TD
Eamon Dunphy
Ben Briscoe TD
Kieran Doran
Bresal Ó Caollaí (new Hibernia)
Fr Pat Hudson
Prof Leonard Wrigley
House Meetings
That This House Would Refuse to Condemn the Armed Struggle in Northern Ireland
Saturday, March 9th, 1985
Speakers:
Peter Barry (Foreign Affairs Minister)
Gerry Adams (Sinn Féin President)
Ulick O' Connor
John B. Lennon
Fr. John Carline
Former Philosoph member Leonard Hobbs gives this account of the night:
"Another memorable night which was also during the 135th Session in 1985 was when Gerry Adams came to speak. It was a dark time in Ireland back then, when Adams and his colleagues couldn't even speak on television. In fact if memory serves me right he had been shot around that time as well. Another memory I have of the night was that a lot of the students were worried about being captured in a picture with Adams for fear of being refused J1 visas to the US for summer jobs! The tension in G19 that night was like the same as the visit of the South African ambassador as in those days there were many who would have regarded Adams as a terrorist. However Adams was brilliant and all but won the debate; he was defeated narrowly only due to the speech by Fr Niall Carline from the Falls Road."
An article appeared in the Cork Examiner the following Monday giving this account of Gerry Adams' speech:
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams claimed that Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Barry and successive Dublin administrations had done nothing to alleviate the plight of Northern Nationalists. He also argued that the Irish Government's allegiance had been with the partitionists and the British ruling class and Mr. Barry's pronouncements on the armed struggle were "treated with contempt by those living under British rule".
He added that no Irish person, politicians included, should condemn any action aimed at securing a British withdrawal and re-establishment of democracy on this island.
Arriving late, and under a veil of uncertainty rather than secrecy, Mr. Adams argued that while terrorist organisations throughout the world, such as the PLO and El Salvador rebels, had gained an amount of respectability in their own lands, the Irish armed struggle has been widely condemned. Condemnation of the IRA was an acceptance of the British forces and the British pressure in Northern Ireland, he claimed.
"As I have said on many occasions, the armed struggle should be limited to these objectives: a British withdrawal and a re-instatement of democracy on this island."
