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4th December 2012 • Volume 19, Issue 39 • Leader House, North Street, Swords, Co. Dublin. • Tel: 8•400•200 • info@northcountyleader.ie
Swords Students Invent Lifesaving Technology Five enterprising students from Swords have invented new technology with the potential to save lives. The device, iAwake, an earpiece worn while driving, aims to prevent those behind the wheel from falling asleep on long journeys. An in-built sensor will sound-off to wake the driver when it detects the driver’s head drop or body slouch. In September of this year, a new company “Lyetech” was set up by the five boys, 2nd year students at Colaiste Choilm in Swords, in order to develop, produce and market the product both nationally and internationally. The young businessmen, Sean O’Brien, Aaron O’Neill, Shane Tully, Karl Reilly and Dermot O’Hanrahan, aged between just 13-14 years old, are being heralded by business insiders for their exceptional business acumen and innovative new product. Each member of the group brings their own unique talents to the company. Karl handles Finance, Shane works on Production, Aaron is the Marketing man, Dermot is the Secretary in charge, and Sean commands the role of Managing Director. Speaking exclusively to the County Leader, Managing Director, Sean explains, “Lye” means “clean simple solutions” and our logo represents our own strengths and weaknesses.” The company was established on the back of an idea the group had from a car accident they had heard about. An incident involving a mother of a newborn child, who fell asleep at the wheel and overturned the vehicle into a ditch, had a strong impact on the boys. Sean advised, “Luckily they were both unhurt, but obviously it was not a nice experience. It got us thinking, if we could invent something to prevent that from happening, to save people’s lives, it could be a hit. And so far, it has been.” Road deaths resulting from a drivers falling asleep at the wheel account for 4,000 deaths annually across Europe. The boys are already developing the successor to the iAwake, the “iAwake 2.0”. This enhanced device
By Celine Quinn will have bluetooth capabilities to link to your mobile handset to your earpiece for handsfree usage while driving. Both versions of the iAwake also have an inbuilt “double-click function” to allow users who need to bend their head or body, for example to pick something up they’ve dropped, to tap the earpiece twice beforehand, which will prevent the buzzer from sounding. The young businessmen are moving fast. Sean advised, “We did all our market research - field and desk. For our field research we went to Dublin airport and surveyed taxi drivers, bus and coach drivers, logistic companies, and all those people who were used to doing long journeys and could fall asleep at the wheel. We had an excellent response, 92 per cent said they would buy the earpiece.” I asked the boys where this entrepreneurial driving force in their life had come from, Karl replied, “Our business teacher Mr. Foster introduced us to the Student Enterprise Awards last year and we started developing products.” For a company set up in just September this year, the young students have made impressive inroads. They showcased their product at the Colaiste Choilm Open Night at the end of September, less than a month after their start up, to an incredible response. Karl said, “We already have 40 orders on the iAwake, and we didn’t even have the product design. People were so impressed with it.” The boys contacted the DCU School of Engineering to assist them with their product design, and spent over 12 hours at the college developing their unique prototype. The earpieces are currently in production in China, as Sean advises “manufacturing costs are cheaper over there”, and they hope to have their first prototype this Friday. LyeTech have set up a website www.lyetech.net to reach consumers in Ireland and internationally. The
Pictured are Colaiste Choilm budding entrepreneurs, Karl Reilly, Sean O'Brien, Aaron O'Neill and Shane Tully. Missing from the photo is Dermot O'Hanrahan
website has an online store and has also been linked up to Lyetech Facebook, Twitter and Youtube pages, to promote the product across multiple social media platforms. The boys are creating some revenue from selling advertising on their websites. Over the coming months, the students plan to meet with logistics companies, taxi companies and coach/bus drivers to market and sell their product. The aspiring businessmen have such an impressive schedule of meetings, it is difficult to see when they fit in time for school or homework, but they insist they are each pursuing “all honours subjects” for Junior Certificate. They credit their business teacher Mr Foster for his guidance as well as their parents for constant motivation and encouragment. The innovative young students have developed extensive skills in research and development, product design, marketing, sales, finance, and a great understanding of all the key elements of a successful business start-up. I
asked the boys how they have managed to achieve so much in a matter of three short months, Sean remarked, “We feel all the hard work has really helped us, if we didn’t put in so much time, we wouldn’t be where we are today. But we believe it can’t be just only work. We take some time out to mess around and have a laugh, we are kids after all.” The budding entrepreneurs are gearing up for a successful pitch at the Junior Dragons’ Den National Finals on 9th December, to make it onto the live TV shows and a chance of earning a €2000 investment in their company. They are also taking part in the upcoming Student Enterprise Awards. I asked the group what did they think of their chances, Sean spoke candidly, “You have to believe you can make it, otherwise there’s no point in trying, and we do believe.” On hearing their extremely well-planned and wellpresented sales pitch, I’ve no doubt that this is not the last we’ll hear of these five bright young sparks.
Tragic Fall From Grace For Malahide Judge Malahide resident, Heather Perrin, who has become the first member of the judiciary in the history of the State to be convicted of a serious crime, has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison. She was convicted of attempting to deceive an elderly friend and client out of half of his €1m estate. Her crime had been described as “one of the worst cases of client betrayal to come before the courts.” The former District Court judge (60) who was appointed to the bench in 2009, deceived her victim, octogenarian and close friend, Thomas Davis into bequeathing half his estate, worth about €1m, to her two children. This was while she practised as a solicitor, just weeks before she was appointed as a District Court judge. Perrin, of Lambay Court, Malahide, had pleaded not guilty to deceptively inducing Mr Davis to bequeath half of his estate to Sybil and Adam Perrin at her office on Fairview Strand on January 22, 2009.
By Patrick Finnegan Prosecutor, Dominic McGinn said Perrin fought the case using “lies, half-truths and deceptions.” She was also criticised for putting 83 year old, Mr Davis through the rigours of a full trial. Perrin is a very well known resident of Malahide and acted as a former director of the Girls Brigade International Council, the Christian uniformed organisation. This is a particularly sad story about how a glittering legal career has been thrown away and the subsequent devastation for two families, who had been lifelong friends. She has been on long-term sick leave from the bench and has not yet served the minimum five-year period required, before she can draw down part of her pension. It is reported that her pension will be a mere €106 a week compared to the €2,845 she earned a week from her judicial appointment, because she served only three years in office. Perrin had been
on long-term sick leave from the bench. The 60year-old, who earned €147,961 a year as a District Court judge, is entitled to a modest pension of 3/80th of her salary for her three year’s service. It will be paid to her on reaching pensionable age. She is currently being held in the Dóchas Centre in Mountjoy Prison and, with Heather Perrin remission, will be due for release in September 2014. Time in prison will be particularly hard for her, considering her medical condition and the fact that she will share space with other prisoners, some of whom may have been sent there by her. In her short spell as a District Court judge, Perrin largely worked in the Children’s Court. When the deception first came to light, she claimed it was a mistake by her secretary, but later claimed she had drafted the
will in line with Mr Davis’s instructions. Her defence team suggested that Mr Davis suffered memory problems and had forgotten leaving half his estate to the Perrin children. But the prosecution produced medical evidence that Mr Davis had a good mental capacity and no memory problems. She was interviewed five times, giving apparently different versions of events each time. She claimed the Davises were old and couldn’t remember what their instructions were. She criticised Mr Davis’s nieces, claiming that he was unhappy with how they had squandered cash gifts - which the nieces later denied. She claimed that Noel O’Hanrahan, who took over her practice, was behind the allegations. She told gardai that Mr Davis had complained that he was a “bully” who wouldn’t stop contacting
him. She revised the date on which they first discussed making her children beneficiaries of the will. Following the sentencing by the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter said, “It is of the utmost importance that a client can trust a solicitor acting on his or her behalf to properly implement his or her instructions. Members of the legal profession are in a particular position of trust and to ensure confidence in the profession, all solicitors must honestly implement instructions received and at all times act in an appropriate manner. This obligation, of course, also attaches to any member of the legal profession who aspires to hold judicial office. The conviction and sentencing of Heather Perrin starkly illustrates the importance of the highest standards of honesty being observed. The victims in this case are to be greatly commended for their fortitude in seeing this difficult and distressing criminal prosecution through to conviction.” Mr Davis gave instructions to leave €2,000 each to Perrin’s children and it is believed that Mr Davis still wants the Perrin children to be included in his will.