Come along for a free night of debate and laughter with the motion. “That the Irish are no good at bowling”
Affirmative team: Chris Finlayson KC, Paul O’Hara DHM Irish Embassy, Xandi Cooke (Captain)
Negative team: Chris O’Connor, Aislinn Ryan. (Captain), Greg O’Connor. M.P,
M.C. Paul Samuels.
Adjudicator: Adrian Macey.
Thursday the 19th of March at 7pm, at The Wilton Bowling Club. 122 Wilton Road, Wilton.
Thank you to Sponsor The Pines for providing a light supper.
Speakers bios
Dr Adrian Macey is an Adjunct Professor, New Zealand Climate Change Research Institute (School of Geography and Earth Sciences), Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. He is also a fellow of the Institute of Advanced Studies, Nantes, France, where he was resident in 2019. He previously served in various positions in the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, including Official Secretary for Tokelau, Chief Trade Negotiator, ambassador to Thailand and to France, permanent representative to the OECD, and as New Zealand’s first climate change ambassador. He was vice-chair, then chair of the UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol negotiations in 20102011. He has served on a number of GATT and WTO dispute settlement panels, most recently in 2023-2025 as Chair in a dispute between the European Union and China involving intellectual property. He was New Zealand’s negotiator for TRIPs (the WTO’s intellectual property agreement) and dispute settlement in the Uruguay Round. He is an author or co-author on a number of scientific papers and articles, including two influential scientific papers on methane, which devised a new and accurate metric, GWP* (‘GWP Star’). This overcomes the misrepresentation of methane’s warming as it has customarily been measured in the UN climate change architecture. His research interests include climate change policy, the science-policy connections, intellectual property, international governance, and trade.
Chris O’Connor is general practice lawyer in Wellington for 46 years who has had the benefit of kissing the Blarney Stone!
Aislinn Ryan. A born and bred Wellingtonian, Aislinn Ryan learnt to Irish dance at the Wellington Irish Society clubrooms on Fifeshire Avenue, a hobby that went on to shape the course of her early life. She was the highest-placed New Zealand dancer at the World Irish Dance Championships, finishing second. - and was the Principal dancer of Riverdance, touring extensively through North America, Europe and China. Her final appearance with the company was as Principal Dancer on the Riverdance: Live in Beijing 15th Anniversary DVD (which indicates just how long ago her touring days were, given that no one actually owns a DVD player anymore! Aislinn also represented New Zealand at the 2008 Rose of Tralee. After studying English Literature and History at Victoria University, she built a career in arts management in London, before returning to Aotearoa with her young family to become General Manager of the New Zealand String Quartet. Alongside this role, she also runs the Ryan-Dorris School of Irish Dance in Brooklyn, Wellington, bringing things full circle.
Chris Finlayson KC. Christopher Francis Finlayson KC is a New Zealand lawyer and former Member of Parliament, representing the National Party. He was elected to Parliament in 2005. In the Fifth National Government, from 2008 to 2017, he was Attorney-General and Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations.
Greg O’Connor M.P. Greg is the Member of Parliament for the Ōhāriu electorate which represents the current boundary, of which includes 2 of the Wilton bowling greens, but not the 4th. This will shortly be rectified as the Ōhāriu electorate has vaporised into the political ether and the new Wellington North electorate will envelope the whole area. Greg emersed from a 41-year career in the police to be elected to parliament and is hoping to continue as a list MP. As a 4th generation West Coast Irish Catholic, living in a very high rainfall environment, bowls was not part of his upbringing!
Paul O’Hara. Paul O’Hara is the Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Ireland in Wellington. Paul has been in New Zealand since July 2023, having served previously in Malawi in southeast Africa and in a variety of roles in Dublin. His only experience of ‘bowling’ of any kind has been seeing his gentle off spin being hit to all corners of the Phoenix Park as a member of Dublin’s Civil Service Cricket Club, to the extent that his current teammates in Brooklyn do not let him anywhere near the ball.
Xandi Cooke is a third year LLB/BCom (Majoring in Economics) student at Victoria University of Wellington. Xandi is the current president of the Victoria University of Wellington Debating Society, which is one of New Zealand's oldest and most successful debating societies. Xandi is not Irish, although he does like a pint of Guinness. Xandi is equally not a 'bowler' although when he was a child, he did give a go like Paul O’Hara at some off spin. He only bowled wides and no balls about 50% of the time.
