Students from North and West Cork won awards at the Student Enterprise Programme National Finals in Mullingar on May 7. Cork teams secured prizes across all three categories. Patrician Academy in Mallow earned second prize in the Senior Category and the Sales and Marketing prize in the Intermediate Category. The Senior runners-up team included Rory O'Leary, Bill Palmer, Conor O'Leary, and Ben Norton, while Dylan Walsh represented the school in the Intermediate Category. Their projects were Cruis AI, a business management app for hospitality and catering, and DW sports, a hurling helmet repair and customisation business. In West Cork, Micheál McCarthy won second prize in the Overall Junior Category with West Cork Skies, and Seán Fitzgerald was a 2026 national finalist with Fleet Monitor, a ship tracking software package. The finals featured 88 student businesses and were hosted by broadcasters Rick O'Shea and Ruth Scott, with Minister of State Alan Dillon TD announcing winners.
"The Cork students from across the county brought home awards from all three categories at the national finals in Mullingar, on May 7. Teams from the Patrician Academy in Mallow took home the second prize in the Senior Category as well as the Sales and Marketing prize in the Intermediate Category. Students Rory O'Leary, Bill Palmer, Conor O'Leary and Ben Norton made up the Senior Category runners-up team while Dylan Walsh represented the Mallow school in the Intermediate Category."
"Both teams worked up the guidance of their teacher, Ms Tahlia Fitzgerald, and their projects Cruis AI, a business management app servicing the hospitality and catering sector and DW sports, a hurling helmet repair and customisation business. Meanwhile in West Cork, Micheál McCarthy from Mount Saint Michael Secondary School in Rosscarbery won second prize in the Overall Junior Category with his West Cork Skies product, which turns local stories into digital experiences."
"Seán Fitzgerald from St Brogan's College in Bandon was a 2026 national finalist with his impressive Fleet Monitor product, a ship tracking software package. The event was hosted by broadcasters Rick O'Shea and Ruth Scott, joined during the ceremony by Minister of State for Employment, Small Business and Retail Alan Dillon TD to announce the winners across the three main categories. 88 student businesses were in contention across three main categories for the final in what is Ireland's largest entrepreneurship programme for second level students."
"The initiative, funded by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, through Enterprise Ireland and delivered by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities throughout the country, saw over 30,000 students from 500 secondary schools across the country take part. Minister Dillon said the award ceremony is "one of the great days for"
#student-entrepreneurship #cork-schools #business-innovation-apps #junior-and-senior-categories #ireland-education-programme
Read at Irish Independent
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]