Secondary school students gather for model UN conference in Cork

Among the debate topics for this year's event are: Taliban rule in Afghanistan; NATO expansion; drug-trafficking and the threat drug cartels pose; and the integration of transgender people in sport and society

Pictured on the opening day of the Davis College Model United Nations (DCMUN) at Cork City Hall were Deputy Secretary-General Cormac Shanahan, Chief of Staff Ava Howell and Secretary-General Charlie O'Callaghan.

Hundreds of secondary school students from across Ireland have gathered in Cork for a conference to debate some of the biggest issues facing Ireland and the wider world.

The sixth annual Davis College Model United Nations Conference (DCMUN) began in Cork City Hall on Tuesday and runs until Friday.

All in all, 600 students from 36 schools, including one from Valladolid in Spain, are taking part.

This year's event, which is structured as a mock EU parliament style conference, is being hosted by Mallow's Davis College, a Cork Education and Training Board (CETB) school. 

The conference will see up to 600 students discuss current political, economic and social issues facing the world. 

For the conference, students will assume the roles of representatives and delegates of various countries and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and discuss major topics including Taliban rule in Afghanistan, NATO expansion, gun control and access to weapons, drug-trafficking and the threat drug cartels pose, the integration of transgender people in sport and society.

Speaking at the DCMUN 's opening, chief executive of Cork ETB Denis Leamy said he was proud of how the event had gone from strength to strength in recent years.

Students on the first day of the DCMUN event.

Charlie O'Callaghan, who is serving as Secretary General of this year's DCMUN said the event gives he and his fellow students "skills that we can't find and develop anywhere else."

"This is, by far, the most meaningful thing I’ve done in secondary school,” he added.