Westmeath students’ pollution-fighting boat design wins Engineers Ireland award

Students at St Mary’s National School, Collinstown are this year’s recipients of Engineers Ireland’s Young Engineers Award, which celebrates creative engineering ideas to tackle community issues.

The award winning students, who dubbed their team ‘The Famous Five’, are Lyra Allen, Seán Murtagh, Annabelle Pawluk, Danny Bartley, and Daniel Conaty.

The quintet won the award for their development of a boat concept that would help to keep their local lake, Lough Lene, clean by removing algae and debris. Named the ‘Lake Cleaner 10,000’, the boat concept includes an integrated device containing a filter and pipes to pull algae and waste from the water, protecting biodiversity and water quality at the lake.

Runners up in this year’s competition were students from Bushypark National School in Galway, with Highly Commended awards given to Carnaross National School in Meath, Holy Family Senior National School in Swords, Dublin, Ardfert Central National School in Kerry, and Kilcolgan Educate Together National School in Galway.

Now in its sixth year, Engineers Ireland’s STEPS Young Engineers Award encourages students, aged eight to eleven years old, to develop creative engineering projects to help or improve their local community. Children are tasked with identifying a problem and working in teams to come up with a creative engineering solution. They are encouraged to focus on sustainability when creating their solution.

The award is one of four primary and post primary student engineering initiatives coordinated by the STEPS programme, which is funded by the Department of Education, Arup, the EPA, ESB, Intel, and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII). The prizes for the Young Engineers Awards are sponsored by barrier-free tolling operator eFlow.

Previous winners of the STEPS Young Engineers Award have included projects aimed at supporting sustainability and accessibility, such as the use of drones to assist in fighting ash dieback disease, playgrounds with integrated structures for wheelchair users, and a solar and rain powered car design that could reduce CO2 emissions.

Commenting on the students’ win, Damien Owens, Director General of Engineers Ireland, said: “This fantastic achievement demonstrates the incredible innovation that is present in our young people. The Young Engineers Award encourages and celebrates that innovation. Water quality is not only an Irish issue, but a global one. Ensuring sufficient and sustainable water supply for drinking and domestic use, to supporting businesses, and providing for recreation, all while protecting biodiversity, is a challenge that we will require ingenuity to address. These students at St Mary’s National School, Collinstown, and all of those who entered this competition around the country are congratulated for their hard work and dedication.”