PICTURES: Limerick minister tells JP McManus Scholarship winners ‘the world is your oyster’

“THE WORLD is your oyster,” Minister Patrick O’Donovan told 24 exceptional young students at a special function in Adare Manor to honour their achievements.

The night celebrated the 2023, 2024, and 2025 winners of the JP McManus Scholarship awards. The 24 former students of Coláiste Mhichíl, CBS Sexton Street - Mr McManus’ alma mater - were led on stage by a bagpiper, accompanied by loud applause from the large attendance in the Grand Ballroom.

Mr O’Donovan said receiving a JP McManus Scholarship award “ will stand to you for the rest of your lives”.

The fund was started by Mr McManus almost 30 ago with 233 scholarships awarded to former students of Coláiste Mhichíl, CBS Sexton Street to date. 

Eight scholarships are awarded each year, and they apply at the rate of €6,750 per annum for the full term of the undergraduate programme chosen.

The scheme is administered by trustees - Noel Earlie, Pat Hartigan and Gerard Boland.

Principal of Coláiste Mhichíl and MC, Denis O’Connor paid tribute to the late Eddie Fallon, a founding trustee who sadly passed away last year.

Mr O’Donovan, who presented the awards, shared in his speech how he went from growing up “back the road” to sitting around the Cabinet table.

“It was access to education that put me into the Cabinet room,” he noted.

“Looking down at me are people like Daniel O’Connell, Patrick Sarsfield and others. I'm wondering oftentimes - how did I get in there? And the reason that I got in there was because of the parents I was lucky enough to have. 

“To the young guys that are going to get their scholarships tonight - yes, you have brilliant teachers and yes, you had great opportunities, but the homes that you come from are the lighthouses in your lives that will keep you on the straight and narrow for the rest of your lives,” said Mr O’Donovan.

Guest of honour, Dr James Ryan, consultant endocrinologist and physician and team doctor with Limerick hurling teams since 2013, also had some sage advice for the recipients.

He recalled when he was a CBS Sexton Street student, a businessman, invited to give a talk, told them ‘when you go to college, be very careful about the friends that you make’.

“It’s always stuck with me,” said Dr Ryan.

“A friend isn't somebody who would make you feel uncomfortable or put you in uncomfortable situations.

"So, if somebody who you feel is your friend is asking you to do things you're not comfortable doing, putting you in situations you're not comfortable being in, that is somebody that you do need to move yourself away from I think.” 

As well as Dr Ryan and Mr O’Donovan, principal Mr O’Connor and Alexandr Arbuzov, on behalf of the winners, also spoke.

A theme among the four in their speeches was thanking JP and Noreen McManus and their family for their generosity and the transformative impact it has had in Limerick and the Mid-West region.

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