The grand final of this year’s Great Agri Food Debate will be an all-Ireland affair, as South East Technological University (SETU) and University College Cork (UCC) are set to face off in London in two weeks’ time.

The two teams achieved the highest scoring in the opening rounds of this year’s leading agri-food debating competition and will now battle face to face to the motion that 'The solution to negative consumer perceptions of red meat is more honest communication'.

UCC will propose, with SETU opposing.

This is the eighth year of the Great Agri Food Debate, a joint initiative by Dawn Meats and McDonald’s, with the themes on this occasion focused on sustainability and its role in the future of the agri-food industry.

SETU

SETU is striving towards winning the grand final for the third year in a row. The university was formed through the amalgamation of IT Carlow and Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) in 2022. WIT was the winner of the Great Agri Food Debate in 2019, 2021 and 2022.

UCC

UCC made it to the last two by scoring highly in its win against Dundalk Institute of Technology (DKIT), where it proposed the motion that 'An exclusively plant-based diet is neither healthy for planet nor person'.

The best speaker in this debate was Edmund Casey, a fourth-year student from UCC, who is studying agricultural science.

This year is the first time the event will involve a hybrid of both online and in-person debates, with students eager to travel to the final at the elegant Butchers’ Hall in London on Tuesday March 28.

Great Agri Food Debate grand final 2023.

Dawn Meats chief executive Niall Browne said: “The Great Agri Food Debate is always one of the highlights of the year for our company.

"It is a superb competition and we are very proud to be involved along with McDonald’s, our partner. The standard of debating is always extremely high and that was certainly the case again this year.”

SETU team members include Patrick Shanahan (captain), Aoife Meagher, Owen Maleady, Cormac Loughran, Ciara Leonard and Maud O’Callaghan.

The UCC team members include Michelle Egan (captain), Edmund Casey, Paul O’Brien, Barry Stratford and Mairead Creedon.