Approximately 200 of the top second level science students from Republic of Ireland schools converged on DCU on Saturday 27th March last for the 2010 Irish Sciences Olympiad. (The Northern Ireland section of the Olympiad had been held in Queens University Belfast (QUB) and in the University of Ulster (UU) in January and February: - http://www.dcu.ie/news/2010/mar/s0310j.shtml ).

In January letters were sent to all second level school principals in the Republic of Ireland inviting them to nominate their most enthusiastic and keenest student in Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Computer Programming to take part in the 2010 ISO. Because of the known interest in participation over the years and the need to limit the number of finalists to a manageable size, each school was asked to nominate one student in each subject. Twenty five counties were represented.

Registration began at 10.00 am in the four schools and the tests were run simultaneously   from 11.00 to 2.30 pm.  Dr. Susan Townsend (Biology), Dr. Paraic James (Chemistry), Dr. Eamon Cunningham (Physics) and Dr. Ciarán O’Conaire (Informatics) with the support of colleagues in their schools managed each Olympiad. As well as competing for Irish Sciences Olympiad gold, silver and bronze medals, the finalists were also challenging for a place on the International Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Computer Programming (Informatics) Olympiads teams. The IBO will be held in Changwon, Korea; the IChO in Shinjuku, Japan; the IPhO in Zagreb, Croatia and the IOI in Waterloo, Canada during July and August.

Medal Winners

BIOLOGY

Medal	Student Name	School
Trophy	Youngmook Lim	St. Andrew’s College,  Booterstown Ave. Dublin 4
Gold	Gillian Crowe	Mount Anville Sec. School,  Goatstown, Dublin 4
Silver	James Behan	Hartstown Community School, Clonsilla, Dublin 15
Silver	Jameel Ramia	St. Andrew’s College   Booterstown Ave. Dublin 4
Bronze	Seamus O’Hanlon	Tarbet Comprehensive School, Tarbet, Co. Kerry
Bronze	Lorraine Healy	Ursaline Convent, Thurles, Co. Tipperary

CHEMISTRY

Medal	Student Name	School
Trophy	Dermot Gillen	Marist College, Retreat Road, Athlone, Co. Westmeath
Gold	Daniel Quill	St. Michael's College, Ailesbury Road, Dublin 4
Silver	Paul Stewart	Coláiste Choilm, Ballincollig, Co. Cork
Silver	Conor Feely	St. Attracta's Community School, Tubercurry, Co. Sligo
Bronze	Shane Lyng	De La Salle College, Newtown, Waterford
Bronze	Ciara Ottewill	Institute of Education, Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2

PHYSICS

Medal	Student Name	School
Trophy	Michael Moran	St. Jarlath's College, Tuam, Co. Galway
Gold	Ciarán Deasy	Bruce College, St. Patrick's Hill, Cork
Silver	Colin Egan	Clonkeen College, Blackrock, Co Dublin
Silver	Stephen Kerr	Templeogue College CSSp, Templeogue, Dublin 6W
Bronze	Seán Tong	Gonzaga College, Ranelagh, Dublin 6
Bronze	Mícheál Howard	St. Colman’s College, Fermoy, Co Cork

PROGRAMMING

Medal	Student Name	School
Trophy	Jared Auty	St. Colman's College, Fermoy,  Co. Cork
Silver	Donncha Carroll	St Brendan’s Community School, Birr, Co. Offaly
Bronze	Sam Boles	St Andrew’s College, Booterstown, Co. Dublin

The top students above in each subject will join with the top students from the Northern Ireland section of the Irish Sciences Olympiad to form panels. After additional training in DCU, UU and QUB a final test will determine the 2010 Irish International Sciences Olympiad team membership.

2010 Irish Delegation leaders

Biology: Dr. Susan Townsend
Chemistry: Dr. Paraic James
Physics: Dr. Eamon Cunningham
Informatics: Dr. Ciarán O’Conaire