Chai Brady
LOUTH: Darren Connor, Daniel Tumulty and Luke O’Hanlon, all aged 16 from Bush Post Primary school, present their project ‘Are we Witnessing the Downfall of Catholicism in Ireland in today’s society?’
Photo: Chai Brady 
Young people are more likely to view Catholicism in a positive light compared to their parents, students in a Co. Louth school showcased in the RDS, Co. Dublin, have found.
At the 55th BT Young Scientist and Technology exhibition last week thousands of students exhibited 550 projects under four categories: technology, biological and ecological, social and behavioural sciences and chemical, physical and mathematical sciences.
Survey
Three students from Bush Post Primary School in Dundalk investigated the subject: ‘Are we Witnessing the Downfall of Catholicism in Ireland in today’s society?’
Darren Connor, Daniel Tumulty and Luke O’Hanlon found, after surveying pupils in several schools and parent’s workplaces, that 83% of students and 81% of adults identified as Catholic.
Luke said: “We also found that students have a more favourable view of the Catholic Church than adults, 44% have favourable or a very favourable view of the Catholic Church even though only 21% go to Mass weekly.
“We also found that adults have a more neutral view on it, but the majority, if you’re going to compare unfavourable and favourable, unfavourable would be the majority.”
The overall winner was fifth-year Dublin pupil Adam Kelly (17) from Skerries Community College for his project ‘Optimising The Simulation Of General Quantum Circuits’.
Adam took home the €7,500 prize money and will now represent Ireland at the European Young Scientist competition in Bulgaria in September.
