REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE AWARDS CEREMONY OF THE ESAT BT YOUNG SCIENTIST EXHIBITION 2005
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE AWARDS CEREMONY OF THE ESAT BT YOUNG SCIENTIST & TECHNOLOGY EXHIBITION 2005, RDS
Tá lúcháir mhór orm bheith anseo libh inniu. Is iontach sibhse, aos óg na tíre – thuaidh, thiar, theas agus thoir - a bheith le chéile anseo agus suim san eolaíocht mar cheangail eadraibh. Gura fada buan sibh!
It’s good to be back again this year at the awards ceremony of the ESAT BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2005 among the brightest, the best and the most scientifically and technologically curious young people on this island. My thanks to Bill Murphy for inviting me to be here at this world-class showcase of Ireland’s young brainpower. And what a lot of it we have, with a record number of entries, more than a thousand this year, and huge public interest judging by the large numbers attending. Forty years ago 5,000 people attended the first exhibition. Last year a record 35,000 from every corner of this island came to pay homage to the intellect and imaginations of our young people revealed so amazingly here. This year schools from thirty counties are exhibiting a kaleidoscope of projects so original, sophisticated and wide-ranging that I would not be surprised if we had another record turn-out of visitors.
Each project represents a huge investment of time and talent on the part of the students, their teachers, their schools and their families. A big ‘Well done!’ to every one of them! This exhibition too represents a huge investment by the organisers, the sponsors and the judges and it is an investment in our country’s future through the affirmation and encouragement of scientific and technological excellence in our children. Our future competitiveness and prosperity is strongly linked to our ranking as a knowledge-based culture and it is a source of great pride that so many of our national prize-winners have gone on to win in other prestigious international competitions. In the European Young Scientist Competition we have had 10 prize-winners in the 16 years we have taken part and 20 top prizes in the American Science & Engineering Fair, so it is no exaggeration to say that these, our best, are among the best anywhere in the world.
Ireland is known around the world for its literary genius but we have too a long history of genius in the sciences from physicists like Robert Boyle to biologists such as Maude Jane Delap. These young men and women are their inheritors and living proof that science and technology offer opportunities for fascinating and exciting adventures and careers. I hope many of you will find fulfilling vocations as part of Ireland’s phenomenally successful science and technological community.
To keep that success on the road we need more and more young people with science, technology and engineering skills and it is great to see initiatives like the Discover Science and Engineering programme established in 2003 by the Taoiseach attract more young people into these areas and promote public awareness of their crucial importance to all of us.
Teachers are, of course, in the frontline when it comes to selling the sciences to our student body and it is good to see the Teachers Awards so generously supported by Intel, Analog Devices and the British Council Ireland. It is right that they should share some of the exhibition’s glory with our young stars. It was also great to see Dr Tony Scott getting recognition for his forty years of dedication to the Young Scientist Exhibition. The very distinguished Institute of Physics has made him one of its Honorary Fellows. There are only twenty-seven Fellows and eight of them are Nobel Prize winners. Tony joins luminaries like physicists Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose and Ireland’s only previous fellow, the late Nobel Laureate Professor E. T. S. Walton. I am sure you would all want to join me in congratulating Tony whose recognition by the Institute confers great distinction on his country and on this Exhibition.
Whether or not you are in the final selection made by Tony and his judging colleagues, Ireland sees each of you as a winner, as someone worthy of respect, as a person to be proud of. You took on the challenge demanded by this exhibition and I hope that you find great reward in simply taking part, in all the fun and friendships made and in knowing you are part of something that is absolutely vital to Ireland’s future. You are great ambassadors for your schools and for Irish science and technology. We are so lucky to have each one of you.
Go n-éirí go geal libh ‘s go raibh maith agaibh go léir.