John McGuirk

Being one of those people who made the mistake of going to College and saying to myself “hey, you know what the cool kids do? Debating”, I often get asked to make guest speaking appearances at events hosted by the various debating societies that populate the country’s campuses. Generally, it’s because people who share my world view are hard to find. (There were, lamentably, only 6 of us at last month’s meeting of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, Irish Branch).

Accordingly, I am scheduled to speak before an audience of adoring fans at the Literary and Historical Society in UCD tomorrow night, the matter before the house being the re-introduction of the death penalty. The debate is academic, given our membership of the EU, but it’s always an interesting one nonetheless.

I’ve written here once before about my feelings on the subject. My view is straightforward – I don’t like the thought of execution, but I don’t oppose it. It seems to me that the best argument against the death penalty is that it requires, at some point, somebody to push a button or pull a lever that will end somebody else’s life. Still, I don’t think that is sufficient reason to oppose it. There have always been and always will be those willing to do that job.

Anyway, it promises to be an interesting discussion. I’ll discuss it further on Thursday.