Young Scientist - Harness our potential

The success of third-year students Ciara Judge, Emer Hick, and Sophie Healy-Throw of Kinsale Community School in winning the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition at the weekend should act as an inspiration to young people throughout the country.

This was the third time representatives from that community school have won the award in the past seven years.

This reflects enormous credit on themselves, as well as on their teachers and the community that inspired them. It should also act as an inspiration to young people throughout the country.

When people from a small community are so successful at anything on a national scale, it may be seen as a sad reflection of the national standard, but this is clearly not the case in this instance, because the young people of this country have actually been phenomenally successful in European young science competitions.

The Young Scientist winners represent Ireland at the annual EU competition. In the last 24 years, Irish representatives have won the overall EU title 14 times, finished second twice, and won third position four times. This is a phenomenal achievement for a small country with a relatively tiny population.

Ronan McNulty of the UCD School of Physics, a winner of the Young Scientist in 1985, was one of the judges who asked last week why Irish students lead Europe in the 14-to-17 age group but fail to retain this position in the following decades.

Next year will be the 50th iteration of the event, and it should be a national challenge to learn why the early promise has not been further developed.