btw that is actually a genuine artists impression of patrick. thankfully we've got him to stop wearing that lab coat around the apartment but he still sports that evil grin from time to time.
Apparently I sat the Leaving Cert exam (there's even a question on when), which is kinda odd, since I never did. Is dropping out really so unacceptable?
My Irish is a bit rusty, but I think this is the gist of it:
"...is Patrick Collison from County Tipperary who won the top prize at the Young Scientist Competition in 2005. Even though he was only in transition year in Colaiste Chaladh an Treoigh in Limerick at the time, he did the Leaving Cert the year after that and did so well that he obtained a university place for himself in the USA.
But when he came home on his Christmas holidays he decided to set up a company with his brother John - and he suspended his university course. They rented offices in Limerick and started work on developing software - business tools for people selling items on the internet site 'eBay'.
They failed to get investment from any company in Ireland, unfortunately, but the American company 'Y-Combinator' came to their aid - and put them in contact with two men in England who had developed a similar product. The two companies merged under the name Auctomatic.com. They continued developing the products and are doing so well that it looks like Patrick will not ever return to university!
Patrick is only 18 years old (soon?) and John is 16."
