Three Donegal Town students have won a prestigious EirGridCleaner Climate Award for their project looking into the Deposit Return Scheme.
Caoimhín Cradock, Oisín Kerrigan and Rían McCallig from Abbey Vocational School took home the prize after triumphing at the SciFest@College 2025 regional competition, held recently at Donegal ATU.
Students and schools from across Donegal took part in the STEM exhibition, with students’ projects covering a broad range of topics and disciplines from health and physics to renewable energy and AI.
The top prize is awarded to the student or team whose project demonstrates both technical excellence and a tangible positive impact to energy and environmental sustainability.
The winning project, titled “An investigation into the initial success of the new Deposit Return Scheme. Why are 25% of people still not using it?” impressed judges with examination of the scheme.
Congratulating the winning entrants on their successful project, Catherine Daly, Sustainability Programme Manager at EirGrid, said: “For twenty years SciFest has been at the heart of inspiring innovation from secondary level students, and we are incredibly proud to continue to support this endeavour. As we work to ensure eighty percent of Ireland’s electricity comes from renewable sources, as per Government targets, we recognise the importance of fostering a future generation of problem solvers and critical thinkers, to transition to a clean, renewable energy grid.”
“EirGrid is playing a central role in achieving Ireland’s climate ambitions and the level of engagement from students at ATU Donegal today showed the interest surrounding the environment and renewable energy. Congratulations to Caoimhín, Oisín, and Rían on their award.”
Caoimhín, Oisín, and Rían will now progress to the SciFest National Final in November, for a chance to represent Ireland at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair in May 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona.
