Mountbellew student enjoys legal essay success

A MOUNTBELLEW student has won second place at the national Gráinne O’Neill Memorial Legal Essay Competition 2026.

Aishling Heavey, a Transition Year student at Holy Rosary College, Mountbellew, received the award at a ceremony at the Law Society in Dublin.

The Gráinne O’Neill Memorial Legal Essay Competition honours the life and legacy of the late Judge Gráinne O’Neill, who became the youngest judge in Ireland in 2014.

The annual essay competition invites TY students from across the country to submit a 1,500-word legal essay on a specific topic.

Over 500 essays were submitted by students from 67 schools across 20 counties, each exploring the topic - ‘Protecting Voices, Preventing Harm: Legal Challenges in Online Freedom of Speech’.

Offaly student Rhea Schreiber was announced the overall winner while seven merit certificates were awarded to students from various counties.

The essay competition aims to inspire legal learning amongst students across the country, by encouraging them consider contemporary justice issues, and legal matters that they might encounter in their daily lives.

“Students were invited to explore how we balance our laws and rights when it comes to freedom of speech, preventing harm and how this translates to social media,” said Rosemarie Loftus, President of the Law Society.

“The judges were impressed the breadth of ideas and structured arguments put forward. Hundreds of students rose to the challenge, and it was heartening to read so many considered essay’s, identify individual thinking and to be enlightened by a younger person’s perspective and understanding of the legal challenges that online freedom of speech can bring,” she added.