Ballina teams star at national quiz finals
The members of The Quay National School Under 11 team which won the 2024 All-Ireland Credit Union Schools' Quiz Finals. Back row, from left: John Sharpson (Quizmaster); Martin Busch (Irish League of Credit Unions President), Anne Treacy (Deputy Principal of the Quay NS). Front row: Aoife Hillery, Cian Gillespie, Gareth Doyle, and Michael Duffy.
Pupils from The Quay National School, Ballina achieved remarkable success in the 2024 All-Ireland Credit Union Schools' Quiz Finals at the RDS in Dublin on April 7 last.
Gareth Doyle, Michael Duffy, Aoife Hillery and Cian Gillespie triumphed in the Under-11 Competition A category as their parents, siblings, friends and teachers supported them.
Meanwhile, there was further success for The Quay National School as David Baynes, Noah Gallagher, Iarla Hannon and Rowan Harrison were the joint runners-up in the Under 13 Competition B section.
Competing against 90 teams from all over the country, the young pupils from Ballina, under the tutelage of deputy principal of The Quay National School, Anne Treacy, maintained their excellent record in this competition.
The questions challenged the contestants to dig deep into their reserves of knowledge with more than 25,000 students from schools across the island participating in regional rounds.
School principal, Seán Gallagher paid tribute to the teams adding that they were tremendous ambassadors for the school. He also praised Anne Treacy, the teachers in the school, and the parents who supported the teams so well.
"The teams prepared for the finals very diligently and their hard work and dedication paid dividends," he said. "It is a remarkable achievement to have teams from the school feature amongst the prizewinners at national level."
Mr Gallagher noted that it was not the first time the school has featured amongst the prizewinners in this nationwide quiz competition. Teams from The Quay National School have now won the Junior Quiz on three occasions but this was the first time that the school featured in the top places of the Senior Quiz competition.
The competition, structured into two sections (Competition A for children under 11 and Competition B for children under 13) challenged young minds and fostered a spirit of learning and collaboration.
The Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) is the largest credit union representative body on the island of Ireland and the quiz is part of its youth outreach programme, which aims to demonstrate the value of local credit unions to children and young people. The Quay National School teams competed at local credit union and chapter levels before progressing to the national finals.
Martin Busch, President of the ILCU, said the competition highlights community spirit, one of the values the credit union movement holds in the highest regard.
