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IMAGINE TRYING TO run a company, write a book, or act in a film with only a handful of years on your shoulders. Now add that to the stress of doing the Leaving or Junior Cert at the same time and you will have some idea of how hard the following young people had to work.
We here at TheJournal.ie have compiled a list of the most extraordinary young people under the age of 20 in Ireland to highlight amazing achievements and success stories from those still in their formative years.
They range from writers, activists and entrepreneurs to actors, musicians and sport stars. This list is not exhaustive though, so if you feel we’ve left anybody out, let us know in the comments.
So, in alphabetical order, here is TheJournal.ie’s list of the 20 under 20.
1. Eilís Barrett
17 year-old Eilís Barrett from rural Galway published her first novel in 2016 which she had been working on since she was 14.
Published by Gill Books, Oasis is a young adult novel about a teenager who lives in the dystopian future world which was created after a virus drove mankind to the brink of extinction. Not content to rest on her laurels, Eilís has already written the follow-up, which is due to be published in March.
2. Edel Browne
Edel Browne is the 19-year-old founder of Free Feet Medical, a medical device company aimed at developing technology to help people with Parkinson’s disease.
Edel’s company is currently developing a device which reduces gait freezing, a very common symptom of the disease.
Edel herself is a third-year biotechnology student at NUI Galway. She previously won the Best Individual Award at the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition in 2013, and late last year she came second in Accenture’s innovation challenge.
3. Luke Byrne
17-year-old Luke Byrne came up with a solution to a tedious problem everybody has had at some point: tangled headphones.
His idea, which is called the Headphone Helper, arose from his own frustration of his headphones getting tangled when he was out running. He came up with a silicone band which is worn around the neck and which has loops to thread the earphone wire through to prevent them from getting tangled or falling to the ground when running or walking.
For his invention, Luke won the senior category at the National Student Enterprise Awards of 2015/2016 which is run by Local Enterprise Offices and he is currently negotiating with a major Irish retailer to stock his invention.
4. Rosie Carney
Rosie Carney is a 19-year-old singer-songwriter living in Downings in Donegal.
Rosie, who is originally from Hampshire in the UK, burst onto the scene after performing at Other Voices and gone from strength to strength, performing in venues in Belfast, Dublin, London, New York and Los Angeles.
She released her debut single in March of this year entitled What You’ve Been Waiting For and she also performed at the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas earlier this year.
5. Jordan Casey
Jordan Casey appeared on this list two years ago, but back then he was simply the 14-year-old who founded Casey Games, an app development company that released games such as the hugely popular Alien Ball vs Human.
However, Jordan is now changing his approach ever so slightly. Late last year, the now 17-year-old won €5,000 from the Accenture innovation challenge for his idea for KidsCode, an online resource to teach coding to kids.
According to its website, KidsCode “combines a fun, multiplayer virtual world experience with a visual programming language to inspire and teach the next generation of coders”.
The application was in beta testing over the summer and has yet to be rolled out, but it’s one of many new frontiers for the teenager.
6. Sean Collins, Úna McNicholas, Craig McSweeney, and Seunfunmi Solanke
This year’s winners of the Irish Young Carers of the Year Awards were Sean Collins (13), Úna McNicholas (17), Craig McSweeney, (16) and Seunfunmi Solanke (17), each representing a different region. Sean won the award for Ulster/Connaught, Úna won the award for Dublin, Craig won the award for Munster and Seunfunmi won the award for Leinster.
These four exceptional young people, who appeared on The Late Late Show to talk about their work, were all chosen as winners because of the help and care they provide to their siblings.
7. James Corneille
18-year-old James Corneille is an entrepreneur who came up with the idea of Positivity Packs – little monthly packages filled with goodies which are designed to give people a much-needed mood boost.
Corneille said that he mixed his two passions to come up the positivity packs: making a difference and entrepreneurship.
In addition to the positivity packs Corneille has also won many awards and developed Skizzie, a platform for young children to learn languages through animation.
8. Emily Duffy
A regular entrant in the BT Young Scientist exhibition, Limerick teenager Emily Duffy picked up headlines in January of this year for her latest idea – a nappy that can tell if babies are sick.
The Desmond College student’s entry in the competition the previous year – a sleeping bag for people who are sleeping rough – generated plenty of coverage too. The specially-designed bag is fireproof and waterproof, with reflective strips for increased visibility.
Dublin inner-city charity the Mendicity Institution picked up the idea and started producing the sleeping bags on a larger scale as part of a work project, with Emily’s support.
News of Emily’s sleeping bag went viral worldwide after a story in TheJournal.ie and the Medicity Institution has since received enquiries from as far away as the US and Australia.
The 17-year-old also went to the refugee camp in Calais at the start of this year to distribute 68 of the bags, and capped off a busy year by becoming an ambassador for the organisation Narrative 4.
9. Maria Louise Fufezan and Diana Buru
After winning the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition Maria Louise Fufezan (17) and Diana Buru (16) took their project to the European Union Contest for Young Scientists in Brussels finishing in an impressive 3rd place.
The two girls who are fifth year students in Loreto secondary school in Balbriggan represented Ireland in the EUCYS with their project entitled “An investigation into the effects of enzymes used in animal feed additives on the lifespan of caenorhabditis elegans”, which is a mouthful even if you can pronounce half of those words.
The 3rd place finish netted the two girls a €3,500 reward and a trip to the DuPont’s science and engineering plant in Denmark.
10. Jane Hayes Nally
Last April, Jane Hayes Nally was elected president of the Irish Second Level Student Union, becoming the first female president of the ISSU since it was founded in 2008.
The sixth-year student in St Mary’s High School in Midleton Co. Cork has been working in the ISSU for a few years, previously serving as Education Officer.
Since she was elected, Hayes Nally has been a strong voice for the interests of second-level students across the country, especially during the strike action by teachers in October and November.
On 8 December Hayes Nally spoke before the Oireachtas committee on Education and Skills, outlining the issues with student loans and the impact they will have on people going into college and university.
11. Jordanne Jones
Last year, at the age of just 14, Jordanne Jones received her first IFTA nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in the Frank Berry-directed film I Used to Live Here.
Since then, the promising young actress has gone on to appear in RTE’s 1916 Rising drama Rebellion, playing the character of Minnie Mahon, a poor child who is forced into a life of prostitution after her father joins the British army.
12. Leanne Kiernan
17-year-old Leanne Kiernan came out as the star of the Women’s FAI Cup Final in November scoring a hat-trick against Wexford Youths. Kiernan’s three goals added to the two scored by her teammates Gloria Douglas and Noelle Murray and made Shelbourne the decisive winners – and kickstarted a conversation about how she could be the next star of women’s football in this country.
The victory was made all the sweeter as it was Wexford Youths who handed Shelbourne a defeat in last year’s final during a penalty shootout.
13. Annie and Kate Madden
In 2014, Kate Madden set out to test the theory that giving a Mars bar to ponies made them run faster. She had entered the project into the 2014 BT Young Scientist competition in a bid to debunk the theory – and it turns out she was right.
The following year, Kate, now with her sister Annie, entered the competition again with a product named Fenugreek, a supplement designed to get horses to eat their food. After the competition, the supplements took off. Both sisters are still in secondary school but now they run their own company called FenuHealth through which they provide a number of animal supplements to 12 different countries.
14. Aoife Kearins
Like many on this list, Aoife Kearins got her start in programming and coding with CoderDojo in Sligo at just 15. From there Kearins has gone from strength to strength.
Kearins, now 17, developed an app to tackle drowsy drivers called Eye Opener, which won the top award at SciFest at ITSligo earlier this year. The app works with a device which takes in data, detects when the user is getting tired and notifies them when it is time to take a rest.
Kearins is also the senior maths editor for the Young Scientists Journal as well as being a writer for Echoing STEM, a YouTube channel and website aimed at inspiring young women to have an interest in science, technology, engineering and maths as well as promoting music.
15. Harry McCann
Here’s another young man who has made this list twice in a row. Last time Harry McCann was on this list he was the founder and managing director of KidTech, a company which teaches young people to code.
Building on his work with KidTech, the now 18-year-old established a new coding group called Let’s Teach Code, which aims to have coding established as part of school curriculums across 196 countries.
He is also the editor-in-chief of Trendster, a website aimed at students billed as the ‘Home of the views, opinions, reactions and stories of teenagers/students all around the world’.
On top of all this McCann is also the founder and director of the Digital Youth Council for which he and the rest of his team won the Eir Junior Spider Award for best group project.
16. Ellis O’Reilly
This summer 18-year-old Ellis O’Reilly made history by becoming the first female gymnast to represent Ireland in the Olympics, having made it to Rio through her performance in the Aquece Rio Test event in April.
Ellis’s Olympics ended in disappointment after a nasty fall during the beam exercise but despite this she made an encouraging finish on the uneven bars and the vault. Ellis’s display in the Olympics shows plenty of promise for the future.
17. Jack O’Sullivan
Two years ago, at the age of 17, Jack O’Sullivan became the founder of Vital Fixies, a bicycle company that imports fixed gear bikes from Taiwan. Spending his time in class emailing suppliers brought dividends as he was eventually able to negotiate a price with a Taiwanese supplier to manufacture the bikes.
The average cost of a fixed bike is between €400 and €500, but the cheaper costs has meant Jack has been able to undercut his competitors and sell the bikes for less.
Since then Vital Fixies has taken off with over 300 bikes sold as of April of this year.
Jack is now 19 and a student at IADT, looking abroad for the future of Vital Fixies having already sold bikes in Spain, France, Portugal and even Brazil.
18. Niamh Scanlon
Niamh is one of the brightest talents to come out of CoderDojo in recent years.
Niamh joined CoderDojo at age 9 and went on to to develop two apps, one of which earned her an award in the CoderDojo Coolest Projects 2014. The app was called reCharge my eCar which showed Ireland’s public car charging points and if they were in use or not.
Last year, she was named the EU Digital Girl of the Year at the European Ada Awards.
19. Olamide Shodipo
19-year-old winger Olamide Shodipo has impressed this season with QPR – so much so that QPR recently signed a new deal with him, keeping him with the championship side until 2019.
Olamide has been a regular and highly-rated player with Ireland’s U21 team for a while now, and could be one to watch as a player for the Irish squad.
20. Ferdia Walsh-Peelo
Not a household name just yet but 17-year-old Ferdia Walsh-Peelo is on the cusp of something big. Ferdia played the main character Conor in the John Carney-directed Sing Street, a film that wowed audiences at Sundance and the Audi Dublin International Film Festival, as well as being nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
Ferdia received widespread recognition for his role in the film, scooping the seventh Michael Dwyer Discovery Award at the Audi Dublin International Film Festival 2016 in the process.
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Won’t make any difference like their countless other schemes rural Ireland was killed in the last recession not helped by the last 5 decades of a strictly Dublin centred approach to policies the final nail In the coffin went in with covid.
@Cian: Record timing for buzz misery there
@Brian Fitzgerald: what’s miserable is walking through nearly every rural Irish town pre covid and seeing how deserted it was. Very few were surviving never mind thriving.
@Brian Fitzgerald: he’s telling the truth. People like you are the problem falling for and believing all this hot air. Try growing a brain
@Cian: Considering they have closed all small business they have plenty of buildings to choose from. Everything going to plan.
@Cian: I currently work for the public sector. Our head office is in Dublin but I work in the west of the country. In the past 18 months I have enquired about three jobs, all in the organisation where I currently work, and have been told each time that the job is only open to people who can attend the Dublin office on a daily basis, even though there is almost no reasoning behind this (as was proven when Covid arrived and everyone had to work from home). A complete culture change is needed, led by the government, to reduce the almost discriminatory Dublin-bias which has taken over the public sector.
@Cian: Must have been a long walk, going through every rural town in Ireland.
@Marc Power: rude…try finding some manners
@Shirley Hollingsworth: does your suggestion apply only to me or to the one shooting down Cians comment. Rather be rude than be inconsistent
Sounds like a good move. Covid has shown that many jobs can be done remotely, from hub or home. It would encourage economic activity in rural villages. It might also make the cities a bit more affordable as there wouldn’t be as much demand and surplus office space could be converted to apartments.
@Benny McHale: Ideal, but in the real world, the government may stipulate to the broadband provider to take the rough with the smooth, and ramp up the rural broadband, along with the lucrative towns and cities ….Oh wait, that takes a leadership with a spine to organise that …. Back to the drawing board….
@Benny McHale: Be careful what you wish for. If your job can be done remotely then why wouldn’t your employer get 5 of you for the same price in Bangalore or similar?
How do the government always find large amounts of money to come up with plans that are the bleed in obvious to most people but which seem to end up on a shelf somewhere. Plans like metro north, the national brand plan and many others. Seems like these plans are only there to make so called experts pockets a little fuller. Perhaps Nike was right with their advertising slogan a few years back that government should learn from
“JUST DO IT” ffs
@Marc Power: that’s all these “plans” Do they set up a board with their buddies on it to Pick more of their buddies to come up with the plan All the while the first board is being independently monitored by another board filled with their other buddies. Banana republic
@Marc Power: “national broadband plan”
@Cian: totally agree. In the time they’ve been talking about metro north London has built the docklands light rail, crossrail and the jubilee line extension. China has built over 60 metro systems in various cities. I know we’re small but they can’t even built 1 small metro line here. Totally pathetic
@Marc Power: and we had an extensive tram service in Dublin until they went and ripped it up! astonishing really.
Despite the fact that nothing will probably come of this, like so many other government ‘schemes’, I would love to be able to relocate to a more rural area. Living in Dublin has massive benefits but the pace of life doesn’t suit everyone – just because I was born here does not mean I want to be restricted to living here forever. Planning rules need to be altered (sensibly) and investment in small towns and villages needs to improve.
No local community left
Government over the years saw to that….
Local village and small towns dead years ago ..
Open the (rural) pubs, hairdressers, shops again. That might help for a start.
Bunratty, Co. Cork….???
@Mark O’Reilly: shows how many of the Dublin reared ‘journalists’ have holidayed in Ireland. Clare is a beautiful part of the world…on a sunny day!
Rural Ireland has been abandoned for years by successive governments, it must feel really bad to people who live there when we can have gardai out doing level 5 restrictions and responding to house parties and breaches, yet we closed rural stations years ago and basically left people to fend for themselves cos of budget cuts….maybe that magic covid money we are ballooning on pointless vanity covid restrictions can be used to reopen rural stations going forward, and make those living there feel a bit safer before asking others to consider living in rural Ireland
Need to completely abolish the local needs stipulation attached to new build planning permissions aswell.
@Derek Lyster: in any country that local needs thing would be discrimanation
To paraphrase another commentator .. Enough of the future plans and just get on with it. Dont be telling us what you are going to do, give us an update of the progress of what you said you were going to do in the past.
Why dont journalists question the the plans that were announced in the past when the plans for the future are announced, are these new plans part of the old plans ?
What happened the 5 point plan, the New ERA plan, The Ireland sometime in the distant future plan, the blah, blah, blah plan etc etc etc. Its like in the 2020 GE when FG stated in their manifesto that they would increase the USC bands and no one questioned them on what happened with their 2016 promise of removing the USC by 2021.
It amazes me that for many years people have being asking why more jobs are not located to the wider country side and the answer as always being the company’s wanted to be in Dublin near everything , like high housing costs , traffic congestion , and now lets move to the country, well lets hope it happens.
I’m nearly sure that’s the Mock Village in Bunratty folk Park.
@Padraic Burke: it is and they’ve thrown it into the article with no explanation. The park does massive business so I don’t get why any of it would be used as a hub
“regardless of where their employer is headquartered”.
Unfortunately it is not up to the Government whether you get to work from home, or from a local hub, that is up to your employer.
Here’s an idea, rural pubs have hot desks and remote working capabilities. I wouldn’t mind doing my job from the local…
The government’s of the last few decades made sure rural ireland and it’s regional cities were killed off with no investment or infrastructure.over half of irelands GDP is crammed into dublin with it’s roads beyond full to capacity.most eu capital cities only produce around 10% GDP.totally unsustainable that was done on political agendas
Great idea government, in theory anyway. I would be a willing participant in this plan but . . .
You need to start implementing it straight away, I can’t be waiting around for years while you get it sorted, life has been on hold long enough
I can look anywhere there is good broadband, so how is the Nat Broadband Plan going, has there been upgrades and where are they, why aren’t you providing updates on the NBP as a matter of course anyway, its costing us enough.
Can early adopters apply retrospectively for tax breaks and incentives if they get the ball rolling and meet some pre-defined criteria, success with early adopters might be the boost this plan needs?
Again, implement this plan today if you are serious about it, no-one is going to wait around for another non-starter government plan, we have had dozens of them over the years
Is it a bit ironic that the photo thats used in the article is of a fake village? One that is currently lifeless and empty
Uber needs to be allowed operate in Ireland. In small rural towns its virtually impossible to get a taxi to take you home sfter a few pints.
@Gerard O’Donovan: AFAIK Uber is operating here, but only people that have a PSV licence (taxi’s etc) can apply. So they would have to change the laws around that in order for regular people to apply, but I doubt that would happen. Uber wouldn’t take off here like it has in other countries due to our PSV regulations.
And yet the prices of Dublin flats will continue rising…
A bit late after the horse has bolted. With their actions the government has destroyed rural Ireland
This is a plan to yuppify the countryside, but seeing as rural services are in such poor shape I suppose they may as well try it as do anything else.
Auctioneers and Developers Bonanza, cost of infrastructure, lands and building cost will go through the ceiling. First time purchasers will end up on never ending housing lists. To date the Government have stifled house building on the back of Covid thereby causing a shortage of housing and an obvious cause for inflation in prices. This was a detrimental and backward step in the provision of necessary housing developments.
Great idea. Higher property prices and cost of living in rural areas so we can breathe a sigh of relief up here in this awful place called Dublin. Lololol
Rehash of a failed plan from years ago….
Should have been done years ago, unfortunately my job can’t facilitate remote work but I’d love to get out of Dublin and raise my family in the country. Can you imagine a thriving rural Ireland, full of people who work and have a good quality of life as they’re able to be at home with their families? In Dublin we have knife crime, rampant drug dealing, intimidation on public transport and crap traffic. This is something that could work but it has FFFG at the hilt so no doubt they’ll make a dogs dinner of it.
The photograph you’ve used to illustrate this is very illuminating as to the Dublin view. A theme park. That’s all we are to you.
Well, just at all the businesses and services that have been closed down in the last decade —Pubs shops Garda barracks post offices banks and medical services —I could go on and on. But just now, look at how Dublin has been prioritized and the rural areas neglected in the allocation of the Covid vaccine! Are the so-called planners just so stupid that they imagine that people will move out to these abandoned areas?
What could possibly go wrong.
“The hub in the pub”. You could not make thus stuff up.
@John Smith: yeah,can’t see to many wanting a sesh in a community centre
To quote a line from Heather Humphreys speech today.
‘COVID-19 has taught us all – Government, Citizens, Businesses and Communities – to think outside the box.’
I wonder how Heather came to that conclusion? If anything this sounds more like ‘national broadband plan’ is dead. Replaced by remote hubs in towns. Bringing money into council coppers. In a online world where to shopfronts fit in?
Basically sort out an alternative arrangement if you’re currently looking to buy in Dublin and are not cash loaded. Fair enough really. Need more trains and Broadband be sorted then.
So with one hand they’re trying to reinvigorate rural Ireland and with the other they’re banning one off housing and trying to force people to live in towns and cities!
@Sorcha Ní Shúilleabháin: rural towns would be the way to go. That way, it is easier to provide good broadband.
Yet another ‘plan’. Can they just get on with it? Didnt think so.
No details of actual targets or actual funding.sounds like a plan high on aspiration ( spin) but lacking in reality.I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Business rates in small towns should be looked at and reduced or even scrapped maybe.
Put people in accommodation over businessess and on side streets and main streets and back streets in all the smaller towns and villages would be a good start.
Cheap rent, cheap means to do business and people, that’s one answer and easily done, in my view.
No problem with that except it is the same as some of the inner city streets, structures left to rot because councils whether they are city or rural won’t let people have them to reinvigorate towns also according to some county councils they say the pumping Stations in some areas can’t handle an influx of people
Pure and utter tripe .
For what it’s worth, 100% remote work, gigabit fibre, train service, cycle routes, and an Educate Together school brought us to rural Offaly. It’s been nice!
Recently moved from swords dublin to thurles tipp. Thank God for work form home . Living on my own for less rent than I paid on dublin m and can actually consider saving for a house
Is Leo the Keyser Soze of Irish politics? I like all these plans and feel we’ll have the latitude to implement good changes post Covid. Keep up the good work government and don’t let opposition in.
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