Carlow students to represent Ireland at European Money Quiz in Brussels

Maria Miller and Lily O’Connor from Presentation College Carlow won the Irish final of Europe’s largest financial education competition

Maria Miller and Lily O’Connor, winners of the Irish final of the European Money Quiz 2024, were presented with their trophy by Brian Hayes, chief executive of Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) and BPFI presidenet Cathy Bryce.
Maria Miller and Lily O’Connor, winners of the Irish final of the European Money Quiz 2024, were presented with their trophy by Brian Hayes, chief executive of Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) and BPFI presidenet Cathy Bryce.

Two 15-year-old students from Presentation College Carlow have beaten competition from more than 2,000 second-level students across the country in the Irish finals of European Money Quiz and will now head to Brussels to represent Ireland.

Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI), with the support of the Business Studies Teachers’ Association of Ireland, said Maria Miller and Lily O’Connor, who are both third-year students, would take part in the European final of Europe’s largest financial education competition.

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The European Money Quiz aims to promote financial literacy among students aged between 13 to 15 years old. The live European finals, hosted by the European Banking Federation in Brussels, will mean teams of two from 30 countries play directly against each other in an attempt to become European champions and share in a prize fund of €5,000 for their school.

Queen Mathilde of Belgium will attend the finals this year and participate in the awards ceremony.

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“It is the first time that Ireland is represented by a female duo and I hope this will inspire more girls to take part in the quiz next year and demonstrate their business and finance knowledge,” said BPFI president Cathy Bryce, who is AIB’s managing director of capital markets.

Ray Murray, principal of Presentation College Carlow, said understanding and learning about money and finance was strongly encouraged within the school, adding that the quiz brought financial education to life.

“We are tremendously proud of Maria and Lily’s success and the entire school community is fully behind them as they head to the finals in Brussels.”

Laura Slattery

Laura Slattery

Laura Slattery is an Irish Times journalist writing about media, advertising and other business topics