26th ALL IRELAND CREDIT UNION SCHOOLS QUIZ WINNERS ANNOUNCED
Posted on: 02 Apr 2017
Donard National School (Co. Wexford) and Kilmacrennan National School (Co. Donegal) have been crowned the national winners of the 26th annual All Ireland Credit Union Schools Quiz. The winning teams were announced this afternoon following a nerve-wracking final where 100 teams battled it out at the RDS in Dublin. The new Credit Union Youth Ambassadors, sporting heroes Gary and Paul O’Donovan, were on hand to put the finalists at ease with an inspiring pre-Quiz pep talk.
The hotly contested event is run by the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) each year and attracts more than 25,000 participants. The local and regional knockout rounds were organised by volunteers from 400 ILCU affiliated credit unions, and took place in over 300 venues throughout the 32 counties over the winter months.
The 400 school-children who made it through the first gruelling rounds to today’s grand final forgot the nerves for a few hours when the O’Donovan brothers arrived. The Olympic silver medallists, who are fronting the ILCU’s ‘Inspiring the Next Generation’ social media campaign, joined in with some of the pre-Quiz fun and games and had some words of encouragement for the youngsters.
After that, it was down to the serious business of the quiz itself under the watchful eye of this year’s Quizmaster, radio and television personality Aidan Power. Following the final fiercely competitive rounds, the winning teams were finally announced:
Competition A Winner: Under 11 years of age: Donard National School, Clonroche, Co. Wexford representing Enniscorthy Credit Union (Shane Kehoe, Leah Murphy, Bridin Quigley, Cormac Fleming).
Competition B Winner: 11-13 years of age: Kilmacrennan National School, Co Donegal, representing Letterkenny Credit Union (Thomas Cannon, Eoghan Quinn, Ronan McGinley and Eilis Russell).
Speaking at the event, ILCU President Brian McCrory said “Every school child who participated in all rounds of the Credit Union Schools Quiz this year should be hugely proud of their achievement. I would like to congratulate each and every one of them, along with their teachers and parents, for the time they dedicated and the effort they demonstrated. A special word of congratulations must be given to all of the 100 finalist teams today. Making it to the national final takes a huge amount of effort and they should all be extremely proud. The competition was fiercely fought in the end and our two winning teams are extremely deserving of the title. I hope all of the children here today enjoyed the event as much as those of us spectating did.”
Mr McCrory continued “For 26 years now the ILCU has run the Schools Quiz because we see it as an important way of nurturing and developing children’s social, research and team-work skills and abilities. The numbers taking part in the quiz each year is a testament to its continued popularity in communities throughout Ireland and I would like to thank all of the volunteers who gave of their time to make this year such a success.”
The questions for the All Ireland Schools Quiz are compiled each year by primary school teachers and cover topics such as geography, history, music, literature and sport. The event is a popular fixture on the annual schools calendar and aims to encourage and develop teamwork and collaboration between schoolchildren.
About the All-Ireland Schools Quiz
The quiz is divided into two sections; Competition A for children up to 11 years and Competition B for children between 11 and 13 years. The winning teams at the national final receive €1,250 per school, with the runner up teams in each category receiving €750 for their schools, adding up to a fantastic prize fund of €4,000. Local and regional winners will also receive a range of prizes.