Ms Farrell competed with Michael White, Catey Clarkson and David Irwin, who all spoke on the motion: “This house believes that public houses should be permitted to remain open 24/7.”

King’s Inn benchers Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy, Ms Justice Emily Farrell, Ms Justice Niamh Hyland, Mr Justice Liam Kennedy, Constance Cassidy SC and Eddie Walsh SC judged their performance and selected Ms Farrell as the winner of the debate.

The typically humorous debate takes place at the King’s Inns every year to honour the memory of the late Supreme Court judge Mr Justice Niall McCarthy and his wife, Barbara, who died tragically in a car accident in 1992.

It is one of two ways in which King’s Inns marks the life and contribution to the legal world of the McCarthys; the other is through the McCarthy bursary.