St Catherine's VS student is Ulster winner of Oireachtas Essay Competition

St Catherine's Vocational School student Jamie Anderson landed the prize for best essay in Ulster at the third Oireachtas Essay Competition prizegiving in Leinster House.

Jamie received his prize from the Competition Founding Patron, former Ceann Comhairle, Seán Ó Fearghaíl TD, at a ceremony attended by the winning students, their parents/guardians, teachers, as well as Competition judges and sponsors. The prizegiving ceremony was followed by lunch and a tour of Leinster House.

The judges praised Jamie Anderson for “a very novel piece of work written in the style of a speech from the Commons by Daniel O’Connell. One might even call this approach audacious but it worked in that the examples covered got to the kernel of the argument proposed.”

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The event was attended by Mr Eamonn Crowley, CEO of PTSB and Mr Brian Gilsenan, CEO of CJ Fallon. PTSB has begun a three-year commitment to the Competition as Principal Sponsor and CJ Fallon is Associate Sponsor for the third year running.

The Competition was devised by Independent NUI Senator Rónán Mullen with the support of the Ceann Comhairle’s Office and the Oireachtas Education Unit.

This year, hundreds of Senior Cycle and AS/A Level students across the island of Ireland submitted essays in Irish and English on the theme ‘Parliamentary Politics Liberates’ / ‘An tSaoirse agus an Pholaitíocht Pharlaiminteach’ – reflecting the 250th Anniversary of the birth of ‘The Liberator’, Daniel O’Connell. Over €6,000 in prize money is awarded.

Winners are determined by an expert panel of judges which includes DCU Professor of Politics Gary Murphy and journalist, writer and academic, Alan Titley MRIA. Professor Patrick Geoghegan of TCD, author of a two-part biography of O’Connell also provided expert input to this year’s Competition.

Presenting the prizes, Deputy Ó Fearghaíl said that greater engagement by young people with the political system was “vital for the health of our democracy and for our ability to overcome the many challenges we face at home and abroad.”

“We are delighted with the growing support for Aiste an Oireachtais – with a significant increase this year in the number of entries received,” says Senator Mullen, the Competition Convenor. “Since Aiste an Oireachtais began in 2022, we have had registrations and entries from almost half the secondary schools on the island of Ireland (47%). “It is clear that schools recognise the importance of getting students to think about our democracy and the need to work it for the common good.”