THE LIMERICK winner of the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE) has been announced as the Grand Marshall for the Limerick St Patrick’s Day parade.
Sean O’Sullivan, from Coláiste Chiaráin in Croom, will marshal this year’s St Patrick’s Day parade, which takes place on March 17 as part of the Limerick St Patrick’s Festival.
Seán’s project, ‘VerifyMe’, scooped him top prize at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in January.
His project explored the development of a new artificial intelligence (AI) detection system that uses past examples of an author’s writing to detect if AI was used to generate a piece of work.
The theme of this year’s St Patrick’s Festival in Limerick is “A Different Kind of Energy”, aiming to encapsulate the city and county’s constant evolution, where past and present combine to generate the Treaty’s unique energy.
Mayor of the City and County of Limerick, Cllr Gerald Mitchell, believes Seán is an ideal choice to lead out Limerick’s main St Patrick’s Day parade.
“Seán’s win at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition gave the whole county a much needed lift in January and I’m delighted that Limerick will be able to collectively celebrate his achievement on St. Patrick’s Day,” the Mayor said.
“AI is currently dominating the conversation in the technology sphere but there is certainly nothing artificial about Seán’s intelligence. He is a change-maker and the personification of the different kind of energy that sets Limerick apart. I look forward to meeting this impressive young man on the parade route on March 17.”
Young Scientist winner Seán said he felt honoured by the invitation to be Limerick’s Parade Grand Marshal: “It’s going to take a while for me to process this, but I’m honoured. I’ve been to the Saint Patrick’s Day Festival many times and it’s a celebration of everything that is Irish and I am forever grateful to be given this opportunity.”
“While I’m going to be there representing as the BT Young Scientist of 2024, this will be so much more than myself. It’s my parents, it’s the school that has nurtured this, it’s a combination of everything up until this moment and I think that if anything, it will be a celebration of science in Ireland,” the BTYSTE winner said.
