Useful app for people with disabilities wins top award for students of Tipperary school

new information app for people with disabilities highlighting accessibility features like ramps and toilets in public buildings and spaces has earned two students from a Carrick-on-Suir school the National Young Innovator Award.

Scoil Mhuire Secondary School Transition Year students Katie Lonergan and Saoirse Shanahan-Roche were presented with the prestigious national enterprise award at a special innovation event at Microsoft DreamSpace in Dublin for their enterprise Access4All?

It was among the top five most innovative student enterprise ideas in Ireland recognised at the event on Tuesday, March 3. 

The Greenhill school duo won the award after pitching their app idea to a panel of judges who were impressed by its creativity, innovation and strong social impact in addressing a real challenge faced by many people in everyday life.

The 16-year-old students followed up their national success by winning the Innovation and One to Watch awards for their social enterprise at the Tipperary Young Entrepreneur Final in Thurles last Friday. Fellow Scoil Mhuire student Navaeh Drennan won the Marketing & Sales Award in the county final for her enterprise Drennan Designs.

The idea for the Access4All? app came from Katie’s personal experience as a wheelchair user encountering difficulties accessing public spaces like shops and restaurants.

She and her friend Saoirse decided to create a useful app people with disabilities can look up to check how accessible a building or public space is so they can make an informed decision on whether to visit or not.

The app, which is at the protoype stage, lists out features like steps, ramps, disabled access toilets, disabled parking and whether the circulation space in a premises is tight or spacious.

Katie, who is from Owning near Carrick-on-Suir, said winning the award meant so much to her.

“I have had to experience this (difficulties with access) and I don’t really want it to happen to anyone else.”

She has a lot of friends who are wheelchair users and she hopes the app will be of benefit to them.

Saoirse, who hails from Piltown, said she was shocked when their enterprise was announced as the national winner as the competition was so stiff.

“It was amazing and it’s great to get our idea out there and let people know that we are trying to help with accessibility.”

Access4All? will be the first Irish app providing information on the accessibility features of buildings and public spaces when it is up and running. According to Katie and Saoirse, there are currently two UK based apps of this type with one giving accessibility information on fishing locations in Ireland.

Katie and Saoirse’s app, so far, lists the accessibility features of public buildings and spaces in Carrick-on-Suir, a number of public buildings in Piltown as well as shop and restaurants in McDonagh Junction Shopping Centre in Kilkenny and City Square Shopping Centre in Waterford.

They said they would love the app to eventually cover a much wider geographical area and help as many people with disabilities as possible in Ireland.

Katie, who is one of her school's Microsoft DreamSpace ambassadors, points out there is a form on the app that people can fill in detailing a place they know that is accessible to people with disabilities and want the public to know about. That building can then be listed on Access4All?

Katie and Saoirse are still working on finalising the app and plan to use the €500 prize money they received along with the National Young Innovator Award trophy to engage an app builder to further improve and develop it for users.

They paid tribute to their business teacher Ms. Catherine McConalogue and Tina Mulhearne of Tipperary Local Enterprise Office for their assistance and support as well as their enterprise mentor Mairead Cullen and Katie’s SNA Linda Garland.

Tina Mulhearne praised the students’ achievement. “Katie and Saoirse demonstrated real innovation with Access4All?, developing an idea that highlights the importance of accessibility and inclusive design in our communities.

“We are incredibly proud to see students from Scoil Mhuire Greenhill achieving national recognition and representing Tipperary so well on the national stage.”

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