Rachel Murray from Christ the King Girls School showing her project Gorse Invasion Battled by Chemical or Flame to Deirdre Clune TD

Lorna Delaney & Kate McSweeney from Christ King Girls Secondary School showing their project Embryonic Stem Cell Research What the teenagers of today think to Deirdre Clune TD

Kelsie Fitzgerald, Aimee Donovan & Ciara Shorley from Carrigaline Community School showing their project Negative Effects of Texting to Deirdre Clune TD

As Fine Gael Spokesperson on Innovation I visit the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition every year and always find it positive and uplifting. In a country that continues to be dominated by negative stories of economic doom and gloom this exhibition is a beacon of hope for the future.

Richard O’Shea from Blarney, this year’s winner, joins John O’Callaghan and Liam McCarthy the winners in 2009 and Aisling Judge the 2006 winner in giving Cork an enviable record.

The fact that in three of the last five years the winners of the country’s most prestigious science competition for schools have come from Cork is a strong indication of the quality of science teachers and the talent of students across Cork.

I visited the exhibition in the RDS last week and met students from a number of local schools who were presenting their research. It was inspiring to see so many young Irish people getting involved in an area that is vital to our future development and central to our economic recovery.

In the future science, technology and innovation will be the driving force of the world economy and it is important that Ireland is prepared for this.

I feel confident that if the talent, enthusiasm and experience of the young people that I meet every year at the Young Scientist Competition is encouraged and developed then Ireland can play an important role in the knowledge driven global economy of the future.