IRELAND
No doubt you have heard by now of the two young lads in Limerick who have landed themselves €3 million. No they didn™t win the Lotto, and no they didn™t rob a bank. Instead they used their brains. They set up a software company and sold it to a Canadian firm.
Their company provides software for heavy users of eBay, and Live Current Media have decided to buy it. The story goes that they were unable to secure funding from Enterprise Ireland, so relocated their company to California last summer after gaining support from an investment company based in Silicon Valley, called Y Combinator.
Then their US investors advised they merge with a similar UK-based start-up. And before they knew it they were paid over €3 million for the company. Patrick Collison (19) will now head over to Vancouver in May to take up a position as director of engineering at the new company while John (17) will finish his Leaving Cert but plans to spend the summer working for them too.
This is great news. The Media across the nation has picked up on the story and everyone seems well impressed. Well everyone but Enterprise Ireland! They must be raging that they didn™t jump on that bandwagon. I know I would be!
It never fails to astound me how much society underestimates young people. More often than not news about young people revolves around fights, drugs, drinking, antisocial behaviour, etc. Of course I understand that these are stories that sell papers, but they™re not painting a great picture of the youth of today.
Only the other day I was stuck in the middle of a mortgagee debate. and was firmly told “when I was your age I didn™t want a mortgage either. Can someone please tell me at what age you are allowed to be condescending and to address to others with “when I was your age?
We all go through different life stages, fair enough, but that doesn™t mean we should underestimate the abilities of someone who is younger than us. It™s sad to hear that Irish ideas have to be shipped across the waters because they are not being given the support they need here.
And now the teachers want to strike, again. I don™t mean to go on about education, and this is probably turning into a bit of rant right now but how can the Minister for Education say times might be tough? She told the INTO that because of economic hardship the Government could not deliver on their promises of smaller class sizes. Our young people are smart, sometimes smarter than us. Just because we have more years behind us doesn™t mean we should look down on them and jeopardise their education.
The only encouraging thing that has come out of this mess is that the teachers are standing their ground. It™s somewhat reassuring that teachers will take whatever action is necessary to ensure quality education for our children.
Without a decent education and trust in our children™s abilities we might never again hear of such savvy youngsters as Patrick and John. Perhaps next time someone comes across such young talent they will nurture and encourage it, and keep it in the country, instead of dismissing it.
Let this be a lesson learned!
Columnist
28 March 2008
