UCD Literary & Historical Society

The L&H was founded in 1854 by Cardinal John Henry Newman, who believed that there was a lot more to university than just studying for your degree. He said that real growth came from a group of people coming together and challenging convention, discussing big ideas and stepping out of their comfort zones to confront life’s big questions. Now in its 169th Session, the L&H remains the definitive College Debating Union. Every Thursday evening, students, lecturers and international experts are pitted against each other to debate the contentious issues of the day, in the purpose-built Garret FitzGerald Chamber. As well as House Debates, the L&H also awards the Honorary Fellowship, or the James Joyce Award of the Society, to outstanding individuals at the forefront their fields. These people come to address members of the society, and past recipients include Tom Felton, Bill Browder, Noam Chomsky, Dermot Kennedy, Emeli Sandé, Kristian Nairn, Armando Iannucci and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Of course for those of you with an interest in competitive debating, we take part in numerous intervarsity competitions across the UK and Ireland. We hold training for our members throughout the year. Over the past five years our members have travelled to Athens in Greece, Novi Sad in Serbia and Thailand representing UCD.