Top honour: Kilkenny school emerge victorious at Inter Schools Senior Debating Competition

Abbey Community College emerged victorious over Gaelcholáiste Cheatharlach when they met at the Newpark Hotel in the final of the Kilkenny and Carlow Education and Training Board Inter Schools Senior Debating Competition 2025.

Debating the motion ‘AI should be Officially Integrated into the Post Primary School Education System’, both teams put forward compelling arguments. Chief adjudicator Clare Ryan spoke of both teams’ knowledge and understanding of the subject matter, remarking on the teams’ references being outstanding throughout. Ms Ryan also noted that the ‘teams worked superbly together, their arguments built in an incremental way’.

The motion was not carried, seeing Abbey Community College taking home the trophy for a second year running. Team captain Mara Matthews, along with her team Kate Ann Daniels, Vita Marohnic, with timekeeping by Saoirse Corcoran, set out their opposing argument to the motion with Mara stating that AI was ‘a serious threat to our school ethos…’
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“AI diminishes our critical thinking skills… and we do not need AI educating us,” they said.

Second speaker Kate Ann Daniels asked: “How long does it take for AI to become a crutch?” Remaining true to their school’s core values, third speaker Vita argued that: “it’s not progress, it’s a path that leads us away from our core values... do we want classrooms led by code or by compassion?”

Pauline Egan, acting Chief Executive of KCETB thanked students for ‘their courage to stand up and debate’ while also expressing gratitude to the teachers for coaching and mentoring their students .

The final was the culmination of 12 schools taking part in the competition, with semi-finalists from Borris College and Kilkenny City Vocational School also receiving their certificates.