Colmcille Press to host Presidential Debate –Díospóireacht uachtaránachta á reáchtáil ag Cló Cholmcille
- Colmcille Press
- Sep 14
- 1 min read
Updated: Sep 15
Colmcille Press has written to the three largest parties in the South and to the independent Catherine Connolly, inviting them to take part in the North's first ever Presidential Hustings next month.
The event is scheduled for St Columb's Hall on October 8, and any independent candidate subsequently nominated before the window closes on September 24 will also be invited.
A panel of experts from the North West - Mary Durkan, Amie Gallagher, Professor Colin Harvey, Pat McArt , Catherine Pollock and Terry Wright - will ask questions of the candidates, and the event will be moderated by Colmcille Press chair Joe Martin.
The panel has been deliberately chosen to reflect the diversity of the northwestern community, and includes members from both Derry and Donegal, and also those whose tradition would not be to support reunification. The aim is to ensure broad, open and future-focused discussion.
St Columb’s Hall is one of the city’s oldest centres of debate, previously playing host to suffragette leaders such as Emmeline Pankhurst, political leaders such as Éamon de Valera, trade union leaders like Eleanor Marx and civil rights giants such as John Hume. It is, and has long been, a crucible for discussion and for change.
The debate follows Colmcille Press's summer 2025 publication of Paul Gosling's book 'A New Ireland: A Five Year Review', which examines the preparations for a unity referendum.
