PICTURES: Students Shooting the Breeze at Shannon Foynes Port Company competition

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STUDENTS from across the Shannon Estuary took part in the fourth Compass schools competition final - organised by the Shannon Foynes Port Company.

Hosted at the Foynes Flying Boat and Maritime Museum, the competition, themed Shooting the Breeze, saw schools set out their vision for a future entirely powered from renewable energy by harvesting our infinite wind supply off the west coast through floating wind energy.

Some 250 plus attendees, including students and teachers, poured into the venue as four finalists from Limerick – two from Salesian College Pallaskenry and one each from Ardscoil Ris and Laurel Hill Secondary School - battled it out with the sole Clare finalist, St Joseph’s Secondary School Spanish Point.

The port authority organised competition tasked TY students in counties Clare, Kerry and Limerick to envisage, through a short film and presentation, what realising the unprecedented renewable energy opportunity on the Shannon Estuary can do for the region and nation’s future.

The judging panel included: Shannon Foynes Port Harbour Master Michael Kennelly, Assistant Engineer at Shannon Foynes Port Tom Treacy, CEO of Shannon Chamber Helen Downes; CEO of Tralee Chamber Colette O’Connor, Skillnet Manager at Limerick Chamber Michael MacCurtain and Theatre Producer, Film/TV Co-Ordinator and Arts Consultant Marketa Dowling.

In addition to the schools’ presentations the attendance was also treated to a motivational questions and answers session, compered by MC Seamus Hennessy, with Irish hockey star Róisín Upton, Performance Psychologist with Limerick Hurling Academy and Lecturer on Psychology of Exam Preparation & Performance Pat McCarthy, and Kerry footballer Jason Foley.

Shannon Foynes Port partnered on this year’s competition with the Hunt Museum, leveraging off its Nights Candles are Burnt Out exhibition, which charts the previous renewable energy revolution off the Shannon system via the development almost a century ago of the Shannon Hydroelectric Scheme at Ardnacrusha.

And it was the most westerly school in the competition, St Joseph’s Secondary School Spanish Point, that walked away with the top prize and a €2,000 cheque for the school, a school facing right into the teeth of the very offshore winds that inspired the competition and that will drive Ireland’s transformation into an international renewable energy hub.  The winning team members each received an iPad for their efforts and a Gold Commemorative Medal. Each of the runners up also received a silver medal and a days’ sailing on the Shannon Estuary sponsored by Foynes Yacht Club.