I welcome Ms Catherine O'Neill from Kimmage who is a guest of Senator Andrews. I also see a couple of faces from Limerick in the Gallery. They are all very welcome. I hope they enjoy their visit to Leinster House today.

I call Senator McCormack.

Today, I have a good news story from County Laois. I want to talk about something that has made us all in Laois incredibly proud. It is an incredible group of students from Rosenallis National School in County Laois. Their RNS Robotics team represented Ireland this weekend at the Vex Robotics World Championships in St. Louis in Missouri. This is one of the biggest robotics competitions in the world. They came home with the prestigious judges' award. This is an incredible achievement for such a small school in a small community. The prestigious award was awarded by the judges who recognised the team for their excellence in multiple categories, including their teamwork, determination, innovation and the incredible spirit they brought to the competition. Out of just five Irish teams competing in the elementary division, RNS Robotics stood out on the world stage. They are not the only ones who showcased their robotics talents, but they proudly represented Laois and Ireland throughout last week, even teaching the American judges and MCs a few Irish words connected to robotics and sharing their inspiring stories of resilience and determination.

I would like to name these incredible youths for their achievements. The team members were Aisling Guinan, Bobbie Friel, Ollie McEvoy, Luke Somers, Ciara Dunphy, Katie Murphy, Grace Murphy, David Goodwin, David Moyles, Hannah Ormonde and Lauren Kenny. I also want to acknowledge the incredible work of their coaches Aaron Mackessy, Seanie Morris and Dean Hodge whose dedication and leadership helped guide these young people to international success. What makes this achievement even more remarkable is the journey they took to get there.

In just over two weeks, this local community raised an astonishing €124,000 to ensure these young students could travel and compete. That level of support shows just what can happen when a community rallies behind young people and believes in their potential. It is important that we acknowledge it here in these Houses as well.

I also acknowledge the two other Irish schools which brought home world awards at these championships. It is proof that across this country we have extraordinary young talent in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, STEM, coding, engineering and robotics. These students are future engineers, innovators and problem-solvers of Ireland. We need far more investment and visibility for programmes like VEX Robotics in our schools because the impact these programmes are having is absolutely enormous in building confidence, creativity and teamwork. To everyone involved, namely, the students, coaches, teachers, parents and wider community in Rosenallis, comhghairdeas ó chroí; you have made Laois and Ireland incredibly proud.