Laois students win prestigious Naughton Foundation Scholarships

TWO students from Laois were awarded €24,000 each from the Naughton Foundation Scholarship.

Sarah Daly and Ella McNulty are formers student of Scoil Chríost Rí in Portlaoise. Both were awarded a Naughton Foundation Scholarship at a ceremony in the Trinity Business School in Dublin.

The prize winner’s former secondary school was awarded a prize of €1,000 towards its school’s science facilities, for their support of their winning students.

Sarah Daly has accepted a place studying Science at University College Dublin. While Ella McNulty secured a place studying Biomedical Health and Life Sciences at University College Dublin.

The awards were presented by founding patrons of the Naughton Foundation, Dr. Martin Naughton and his wife Carmel who were joined by An Taoiseach Simon Harris to present winning students with their awards and cheques.

Supporting academic and innovative excellence in Irish students, the Naughton Foundation Scholarship Awards are an investment in the future of Ireland's reputation as a country with outstanding graduates promoting the study of engineering, science, and technology at third level.

Since its establishment in 2008, Naughton Scholarships worth over €6 million have been awarded to more than 450 outstanding students.

The scheme started in three counties. It has continued to expand annually to become a nationwide scheme in 2016. There is one guaranteed scholarship (€24,000) for each participating county, with some counties awarded more than one scholarship and each scholarship is worth €6,000 for each year of a student’s three- or four-year undergraduate degree.

Speaking about the growth and development of the programme over the past 17 years, Dr. Martin said: “Both Carmel and I are delighted by the growth of this programme and the incredible community of alumni who are doing extraordinary work in education, research and industry at home and abroad.”