Cork student wins national debating competition
Henry O’Riordan, a student from Christian Brothers College, Cork who recently won the largest debating competition in Ireland.
A Cork secondary school student has won the largest debating competition in Ireland.
Henry O’Riordan, a student from Christian Brothers College, Cork emerged victorious over 500 fellow speakers to be crowned the best speaker in Ireland.
A mere ten months after it was initially due to take part and with speech writing and pre-recorded speakers replacing 20-minute preparation and speaking partners, 80 national finalists were whittled down to the top eight speakers in Ireland.
Secondary school students representing every corner of the country debated the motion, “This House Believes Minister Norma Foley Should Resign”.
50 years since GAA scrapped its ban on ‘foreign games’
On April 11, 1971, the GAA voted to lift its ban on members participating in ‘foreign games’ such as soccer. DIARMUID O’DONOVAN traces the life span of the controversial rule
On April 11, 1971, the GAA voted to lift its ban on members participating in ‘foreign games’ such as soccer. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Diarmuid O Donovan
BETWEEN 1905 and 1971, members of the GAA, both players and non-players, were barred, under threat of suspension, from attending or participating in games that were seen as being of British origin.
These games included soccer, rugby, cricket and hockey and were sometimes known as “the Garrison Games” because they were strongest in the towns that had British army barracks.
How a North County boy became the first U.S. military officer ever to be convicted of treason
Martin James Monti went off to World War IIâand wound up an officer in an elite unit of the Nazisâ Waffen-SS.
JANUARY 26, 1948
Sergeant Martin James Monti steps off a plane at Mitchel Field on Long Island. With customary ceremony, he is presented with an honorable discharge.
Minutes later, federal agents clad in their own uniformâdark suits, white shirts, skinny tiesâapproach. Monti is taken into custody.
Cameras flash, capturing his strong jaw and finely carved features. He is only 23, but his childish softness is long gone. He stands a lean 6-foot-2, his hair wavy and dark against skin made even paler by the flashbulbs. As a teenager in North St. Louis County, he probably drew more admiring glances than he bothered to notice. Quiet, intelligent, and serious, he had no time for frivolity. His mind was consumed with serious ideas, and his convictions were rigid and u