Minister Niamh Smyth launches National Problem-Solving Competition in Cavan

Students from four Cavan secondary schools gathered in Briefne College for the launch of the 2025/26 All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad (AILO) workshop series by Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation, and TD for Cavan–Monaghan, Niamh Smyth.

Students and teachers from St Patrick’s College, Loreto Cavan and Royal School Cavan joined their counterparts in Breifne College for an interactive AILO workshop run by Dr Cara Greene from the Research Ireland ADAPT Centre at Dublin City University.  Breifne College teacher, Alma Hitillambeau, has hosted local schools for the last number of years helping increase participation across the county.

Speaking at the launch, Minister Smyth said:

“Across government, we are working to ensure that current and future generations are in a position to explore and understand the world around us, to be engaged and informed, to embrace opportunities and make their own decisions. We must inspire todays young people to become lifelong learners, and provide them with the skills and opportunity to identify and solve the challenges that lie ahead.”

Dr Cara Greene, Head of AILO at ADAPT, said:

“It is wonderful to celebrate that more than 50,000 students across the island of Ireland have taken part in AILO since 2009.  Workshops like today’s introduce students to the logic, structure and pattern-matching at the heart of language and these are the same principles that underpin modern AI systems.  We are grateful to schools like Breifne College for championing these workshops, and for their ongoing leadership and enthusiasm.”

The workshop series runs until mid-January.  The Preliminary Round will take place in schools across Ireland during the week of 26th January 2026, with 100 top-scoring students advancing to the National Final in Dublin City University in March.  Finalists will compete for a place to represent Ireland at the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) in Romania in July 2026. Schools can register for AILO at https://ailo.adaptcentre.ie/enter/

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