7th DLS Public Speaking Projects

Above: The team from the 7th which won the 2003 Public Speaking Trophy on the last ever Melvin Competition.

Everybody passes the Leaving Cert

Except those who don’t

Everybody looks good

Except those who don’t

Everybody has a great life

Except those who are bullied and abused

Everybody has lots of friends

Except those who are isolated and alienated

Everybody has a great family

Except those that have broken up

Everybody should have no worries

Except those who are depressed and suicidal

The toughest thing about being a teenager is that its not supposed to be tough. We are all supposed to be able to cope with anything. Well the bad news is that it is tough and no we cant cope with everything

Last week 15 hundred people in Waterford got their leaving cert results. Some of them flew it and will get the course they want no bother. But there are those who failed and wont get what they want. Most of them will get over it but every year there are those who don’t. Every year there are those who cant cope.

Two weeks ago we spoke to a counsellor in Waterford who works with families of people who have lost their lives to suicide. He told us that more young men died by suicide last year than died in road accidents but we never hear about that. We have the highest rate of suicides for under 25s in the world. Last year there were even 4 children under the age of 14 who lost their lives to suicide.

Why is the mental health of young people our age such a problem?

Bullying, physical and sexual abuse, pressure on how you look, pressure from parents to do well, pressure from your friends, eating disorders, alcohol and drug abuse and even unplanned pregnancies. Teenagers from ethnic minorities and young asylum seekers even have to face up to racism and discrimination.

I don’t know how you fix these things. I don’t know how you fix things like why Ireland has the highest rate of alcohol abuse in Europe and that most suicide incidents are related to drink.

What's the point of saying the government should do this or do that? They’re not here.

The counsellor we spoke to made us promise to give two messages if people our own age were going to have to listen to us. He said tell them that being a teenager is tough and for some people its very tough - you are allowed to worry and your are allowed to mess up.

What you are not allowed do is think that nobody will listen to you or nobody cares. They do.

That’s what we want you to remember tonight - Just that - They Do.

Here are the Public Speaking projects given by the 7th De La Salle Scout Unit on the Ted Ryan Competition 1997. These two speeches were very well put across and were well received by the Scouts.

1.(Barry) My name is Barry O'Neill and this is Diarmuid Whittle, Kevin McGrath and Graham Ryan.

Today I want to ask you if you're ready for the Daz doorstep challenge? Will Lever brothers really give you your money back and will you know it's clean because you can smell it's clean? If the Millennium is an end then it should be an end to all those ads which really drive us nuts. Couldn't we really do without the dubbed German ads for Kinder Bueno, Kinder Surprises and Nutella with those weird looking foreign kids and their strangely shaped mother. And it's getting worse every day as the clock counts down towards the year 2000. If the millennium is to be a beginning then let it be the beginning of bad ad free TV.

2.(Graham) Ads are meant to pay for the telly programmes. With cable, satellite and new digital technologies we will probably have over a hundred channels by the coming of the year 2000. All of them will be showing worse and worse programmes between worse and worse ads. You can now sit down to watch an hour of Reruns on Sky One and see at least twenty minutes of ads. Most of them don't get any better then the one for "Reisen the Chocolate Chew" or those really bad ones for chicken tonight - or how about the ad with the jingle with "everybody's heard about the bird, the bird eye chicken, chickens the word". And do people actually watch those half hour long ads for products like ULTRA CAR WAX which costs about 40 quid? Who do they think we are? We just can't stand it any more. By the year 2000 when the ads come on it will be so that we can see some of the programmes.

3.(Diarmuid) We suppose that there must be some good ads out there - it's just that the bad ones are everywhere. They're now cropping up at the cinema in Waterford - like the one for 77710 taxis where the helicopter lands on a strange looking Ballybricken or the famous one for Strand Videos with the man with the pork chop sideburns. Where is it all going to end? As we approach the millennium more and more money will be spent on horrific ads which are supposed to be cleverly and scientifically designed but are so ridiculous that you'd like to shoot whoever came up with them. They want us as young people to part with our money but most of that money is going on paying for the ad itself and to pay the nutter who came up with the slogan "I feel like chicken tonight, like chicken tonight".

4.(Kevin) The millennium is an end and a beginning for ads on the telly. Remember that the next time you flick through the channels with the zapper and you hear the jingle from hell, that by the year 2000 it will have got a whole lot worse. 100 channels with 40 ads every hour or 960 ads a day on every one. What will a total of 96 thousand ads every day mean to the millennium generation. We believe that unless it can somehow be stopped or limited that telly will become unwatchable. But there is really no escape from those ads and when the man from the Daz Doorstep Challenge comes to your door - all of you must be ready. The end is nigh and time is running out.

1.(Owen) Hello, my name is Owen Griffin and this is my patrol - Seamus Farnan, Gavin Cooke and Tom Whittle.

How many times have people here have asked the woman down in Kentucky if she has any breasts?

This is a serious question! As we approach the millennium, it is we who are becoming the fast food generation. With 2 Mc Donalds, Supermacs, 2 Kentuckys, Eddie Rockets, Burger King, Johnny Jumbos, Abrakebabra, the Golden Fry and dozens more, we reckon that by the year 2000 half the population of Waterford will be selling hamburgers to the other half. The Fat, the Grease, the Cholesterol and the Fries are taking over. Who wants to think about healthy foods when you can choose between a snack box, a dinner box or even a bucket of chicken down in Kentucky. So what's going on - does the millennium mean a final and timely end to carrots, lettuce and peas and a new beginning for Big Macs, Whoppers, Scallops, Battered Sausages and Curry Chips?

2.(Tom) Peoples lifestyles are changing. Our mothers are going out to work in increasing numbers but our fathers still can't even turn the microwave on. If it can't be cooked in less then 20 minutes then we won't be eating it for dinner. People no longer have the time to spend 2 hours cooking a weekday dinner. The Millennium Generation finds it much easier to go down to the Chinese for a sweet and sour or to stick a ready made frozen lasagne from Quinnsworth in the microwave then going to the trouble of peeling potatoes, chopping carrots, grilling chops and hoping that you don't poison your family. We might as well get someone else to do all the hard work - It creates jobs, it saves us time and my skinny vegetarian sister is the only one that complains. This is the way that things are changing and who can say if it's good or bad.

3.(Seamus) Do we risk BSE or CJD? Probably not. It's all bits of the cows head and intestines that go into quarter pounders anyway. In terms of our health I'd say that all the grease can only help our circulation. The Woman on the Special K ad does look great but she definitely didn't get those legs from eating those pale cornflakes. The millennium is an end to the old style of health which meant exercise and a balanced diet. Its a new beginning for the well oiled, curried and fried stomachs of the fast food generation. Surely we still have as much chance of dieing of heart disease now then of being poisoned from an unwashed radish or leaf of lettuce. And now because there are so many different antibiotics in meat - it kills off any diseases that we come in contact with.

4.(Gavin) The signs are all here - We are the fast food generation which will be an important part of the next millennium. We don't have time to cook so we might as well drown it in grease, fry it up and digest it whatever way we can.. The millennium means the beginning of a new type of health - Fast Food Health. So the next time you order a Big Mac Meal with large fries and an extra cheeseburger, remember that it's the choice of our generation and it's all part of the millennium being an end and a beginning.

In the 1996 Ted Ryan Challenge which was held in Faithlegg, each team was asked to debate the above motion. The Patrol of 8 divided into two teams of four, one side debated for and the other had the more difficult task of arguing against. The debate held by the 7th Scout Troop is given below.

1. - Unlike some troops we don't need a long and boring speech written by our leaders to debate this point. I think the facts are simple and clear and we are going to convince you that drugs in all their shapes and forms are destroying our society today. The affects of E, heroin, cocaine and LSD are being shouted at us from the newspapers and television all the time and other drugs like alcohol and tobacco are also creating addicts, broken homes and unhappiness everyday. It is these points which the rest of the team will discuss.

2. -In our society Alcohol is the biggest cause of Heart disease and kills hundreds of people each year. Research shows that Alcohol Addiction is a major factor in causing the break up of marriages, violence in the home and road traffic deaths. Cigarettes too cause cancer and kill and it is these legal and accepted drugs that are costing our society its health, ruining countless lives and ending its peace of mind and its happiness. How can anybody stand up and say that drugs are not destroying our society?

3. -Ecstasy tablets are used at a rate of 40,000 a week in Ireland. The short term affects are meant to be small but it can kill the very first time it is taken. As well as that Ecstasy and drugs like LSD and crack-cocaine are very addictive and when people try to give them up it can lead to depression and mental problems. In our society the affects of E are seen mostly among young people, they are the same age as us and come from families that are no different to our own. I believe that drugs are destroying our society and its young people who are suffering the most.

4. -Heroin addicts with dirty needles sticking out of shrunken veins in their arms are my worst picture of how drugs are destroying our society. But you don't have to look that far. Drugs are everywhere - in our school yards, in our housing estates, in the main streets of the city and out in the country towns. If drugs aren't killing our friends and family then what is? If drugs aren't to blame for the disease, the cancer, the addiction and the overdoses, then what is it? If its not drugs thats causing the depression and the unhappiness then what is it? If its not drugs that are destroying our society then will somebody stand up and tell me what is?

1. -Everyone hears about and is effected by unemployment, homelessness, poverty, child abuse, crime and damage to the environment. I know it would be easy to blame drugs for causing all the destruction to our society but we've messed up in so many other ways that drugs is just one problem among many. Our team will convince you that the threat and destruction being caused by drugs is exaggerated.

2. -Drugs will always cause problems for some people in our society. There will always be addicts and alcoholics but the problems caused by drugs like alcohol only affect a few. I think that if people are responsible and do not abuse drink then its stupid to say that its destroying our society. Surely the fact that 300,000 people in this country have no jobs is a much bigger problem.

3. -Ecstasy can kill the first time it is used. Cocaine and heroin can lead to addiction. I won't deny the fact that these types of drugs hurt people and make them afraid. But people are becoming more aware of the problems and the risks all the time. Drugs kill and damage peoples lives but what causes people to turn to drugs. Thats what the next member of our team will tell you.

4. -Drugs are a symptom of a disease. It would be easy to be like the other team and start shouting about deaths and overdoses. But I think that they're missing the big picture and that they've forgotten the disease. Its no use blaming drugs for destroying our society if society is to blame for the drugs problem. Its society with its poverty and its unemployment that causes the depression and despair. Its society thats driving people to drugs and everybody here must understand that.